Well, tonight I invite you to turn, as you can see in the order of worship, to a couple of different places again. A portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 6, as we read together verses 19 through 34, Matthew 6. So, turning to Hebrews 13, verses 1 through 6, paying particular attention to verse 5. And that is, of course, in connection with our consideration of the Tenth Commandment. Once you've found those two places, Matthew 6 and Hebrews 13, and I'll ask you to turn in the back of the Psalter hymnal to page 56. Matthew 6, Hebrews 13, and page 56 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. The Tenth Commandment we have printed for us on the front of the order of worship. You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. We consider tonight's Just Question and Answer 113 of Lord's Day 44. So that is the one that we will give expression to verbally tonight. Page 56 in the back of the Psalter hymnal, Lord's Day 44, question 113. What is God's will for us in the Tenth Commandment? That not even the slightest thought or desire, contrary to any one of God's commandments, should ever arise in my heart. Rather, with all my heart, I should always hate sin and take pleasure in whatever is right. And we read first from Matthew chapter 6, beginning at verse 19. Hear now the Word of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness? No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body. What you will wear is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes. Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow? They do not labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, Will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. And then turning over to Hebrews chapter 13, the last chapter of the book of Hebrews where the writer gives some concluding exhortations there. He has just talked about the fact of our citizenship as it were in heaven, coming to Jesus Christ versus coming to God simply on Mount Sinai by coming to Mount Zion to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then with these concluding exhortations, he says, on loving each other as brothers do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure for god will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. So we say with confidence, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Verse five again, keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, as you know, in just a few short days, we celebrate what we call Thanksgiving Day. The day on which, in a particular way, Christians at least pause in a particular way to remember all of God's blessings poured out upon us, His undeserved blessings that we enjoy, and we take time, again, in a particular way, something that we are to do every day of our lives, but we take time out to come together to thank Him for all of His blessings. But I find it ironic, once again, in this season of the year, that even before we celebrate Thanksgiving Day and remember the blessings of our God and all that He has given to us, I find it ironic that even before we do that, our appetites for more and more and more and and more are already being tempted. Maybe you've noticed that too. You see, Christmas is coming. It's right around the corner. Christmas, of which the true meaning for many is nothing more than shopping and spending and getting. Now boys and girls, you've already seen the commercials. You've already seen the magazines from Toys R Us and other magazines that have come in the mail with all kinds of merchandise and toys listed there and the merchants, you see, they want to try to convince us that we need this or that we cannot live without that. Their job, you see, is to try to convince us to buy what we really don't need and to tempt us with desires of the things of this, to tempt our desires with the things of this life. They don't want us to be content. And the truth is, beloved, as we all know, the economy runs largely on covetousness. Always wanting more and not being content with what you have as the writer of Hebrews 13, 5 says. Because as far as the merchants go, it's not good for their bottom line, is it? They can't meet any sales records if you and I are simply content with what we have. And we must confess that we also get caught up in this a little bit, at least as parents, don't we? We ask our children. We ask our children. Not, what do you need? We say, what do you want for your birthday? What do you want for Christmas? As grandparents, what do you want? I want to buy you something. Give me a list. And we send them to the magazines to look through those magazines and make a list of all the things that they would like to have. What do you want? And again, beloved, it's not intentional, I don't believe, but we do, in a way, promote setting the heart's desire on things. Now, the Tenth Commandment says you shall not covet. And the Catechism, as we just confessed together, treats the Tenth Commandment really as a summary of the rest of the law. And on the one hand, that's okay, because coveting deals with a lack of contentment, and the sins addressed by the other commandments really are the result of not being content. Not being content with what we have, and therefore stealing. Not being content with your spouse, therefore committing adultery. However, the Tenth Commandment is much more than simply a summary of the other nine commandments, even though Jesus taught that adultery and murder are also committed from the heart, as his discussion with the rich young ruler shows, and I trust you remember that discussion, but as his discussion with the rich young ruler shows, it is possible to deceive oneself into thinking, well, I've kept all of these perfectly. Outwardly. I don't have any other gods. I honor my father and mother. I don't steal. I don't commit adultery. I don't murder. I don't lie or bear false witness. I've kept all of these. It's possible to deceive ourselves when it comes to the outward keeping of the commandments. And therefore, just as Jesus did with the rich young ruler, the Tenth Commandment goes directly to the heart. To your heart and my heart and deals with not only evil deeds, but also evil desires. Not only with what we do, but also with what we want. The Tenth Commandment, beloved, searches deep into our heart with regard to earthly things, with regard to the things of this life, with regard to our earthly existence, and causes us to examine and ask ourselves, what do I want most of all? And ultimately, it forces us to consider the question, who or what sits on the throne of your heart? Because whatever you and I want the most, that's what sits on the throne of our heart. That's where our treasure is. And we need to be aware that as Paul says in Ephesians 5, verse 5, the greedy, the covetous person is an idolater. You see, the Tenth Commandment wraps right around again to the first, dealing with who sits on the throne of your heart. The Tenth Commandment, beloved, is a command for Christian contentment. It's a command for Christian contentment, first of all, with what God gives, and secondly, because of God's promises. First of all, it's a command for Christian contentment with what God gives. Coveting, we know, deals with what we don't have. It deals with that which belongs to our neighbor. It deals with something that is not our own possession. Yet we want to possess it all. We want to possess it in the worst way. And therefore, obedience to this command begins with, as the writer says again, being content with what you have. recognizing the true giver. And that true giver, beloved, is God Himself. He is the true giver of all things. As James says in James 1, verse 17, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. He is the true giver of all things. And all we have to do is look back at the history of Revelation. Think of Israel in the Old Testament. It was God who gave them manna day by day. And they barely had to work for it. They had to go pick it up. It was God who gave them water from the rock. It was God who gave them the clothes that did not wear out the whole time in the wilderness. It was God who gave them protection from their enemies. It was God who gave them the land flowing with milk and honey. And it is God who provides, as Jesus says in Matthew 5, verse 45, the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. And even the animals, as Psalm 104 says, all look to God to give them their food at the proper time and that they are satisfied with good things. The true giver is God Himself who is the giver of all things because all belong to Him. It all belongs to Him. You see, beloved, He is the Creator as we know. And the Bible says that the cattle on a thousand hills all belong to Him. And the Bible says the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. It's all His. And therefore, not only is He simply the giver, but He is the giver of what is needful and beneficial. Again, as we read in Matthew 6, if God takes care of the bird, if God takes care of the lily of the field, how much more will God take care of His image bearers? He knows what we need, Jesus says. And in Matthew 7, part of the Sermon on the Mount as well, verses 9 and 10, Jesus says, Which of you, if His Son asks for bread, will give Him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a snake. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him? He is the giver of that which is needful and beneficial. And I believe we also see that with David and Bathsheba. You remember after David fulfilled his covetous desires with Bathsheba, and Nathan the prophet comes to David with the word of the Lord. And that Word of the Lord says, you know, I gave you everything. I gave you riches. I gave you houses. I gave you servants. I gave you wives. And then the Word of the Lord says, and if all this had been too little, I would have given you more. But I believe part of the point there is that it was enough. It should have been enough. God gives us what is needful and beneficial. He gives us exactly what He knows we need. He gives us what He knows is for our good. He gives us in such a way to draw our attention to Him that we might see that He alone is the true giver and that He also gives then through means, doesn't He? You see, beloved, we don't just sit back and do nothing and wait for provision to fall out of the sky from God. He gives through means. For example, He provides for the physical blessings, the physical possessions of life, not by stealing, but by providing jobs by which we are able to earn a living. And along with that, He provides us intellect and strength and skills and opportunities to do our work. And all of these, you see, are gifts from God. It all comes from Him. And therefore, this is a call for being satisfied. You and I are called to be content with what you have been given, with your spouse, with your position, with your material possessions, with whatever you've been given, boys and girls, with your very life. But at the very same time, it is a call for us to be content with that which we have not been given. We are to be content with what God has seen fit to keep from us, for whatever reason. A reason that he knows is for our good. But even saying all this, we must also say that desiring in and of itself is not wrong. It's not wrong to want a certain gift for Christmas, boys and girls, or a present for your birthday. It's not wrong to desire certain things. It's not wrong to desire the things that are needful for this life. It's not even wrong to desire things that we don't necessarily need, but simply would like to have. We are to desire a godly spouse. That's the kind of spouse we should desire, right? It's okay to desire a good job, even a better position or a higher paying position. It's okay to desire opportunities for our children. It's okay to desire to have a new outfit or a new skateboard or to do well on that exam. It's okay to desire the necessary food that we need for our bodies to live from day to day, but the difference, you see, is seen in the contrast between contentment and coveting. Contentment is to acknowledge that God supplies our needs and that it is to properly accept what it is that He offers. Contentment includes trusting God, trusting that He will care for us in answer to our humble prayer and to our honest effort. Contentment includes rightfully desiring something, praying for it, working for it, being satisfied then with what God provides. But see, coveting is something far different. Coveting includes an intense, out-of-control desire or a passionate longing for something that's not yours. Something that belongs to someone else. Your neighbor's house or wife or servants or animals or anything that belongs to your neighbor. or anything that belongs to your friends, boys and girls, that you don't have. But, oh, that's cool. I want to have it. And it includes wanting it so bad and so intensely that you're willing to deprive them of it. Or it also includes desiring something sinfully, something that doesn't necessarily belong to someone else, but something you just simply want, desiring something simply, or desiring something for a sinful purpose. And since everything belongs to God, beloved, coveting includes a sinful desire for what He has not given to you and me. And that intense desire, that passionate longing is like this. You can't take your mind off of it. You're obsessed with it. You can't live without it, you think. You've simply got to have it. And coveting then includes conniving and scheming and conspiring, planning, boys and girls, how you can get your hands on it. The Bible is filled, really, it has a number of examples of coveting. We think of Achan. Remember Achan? When the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, Achan just couldn't resist the goods that God said, no, they belong to me. He simply couldn't resist taking some for his very own. Or we even remember King Ahab. He wanted Naboth's vineyard so bad that he was almost sick about it. Queen Jezebel said, what's the matter with you? What's the matter with you? He was beside himself. We think of Gehazi when Elisha told Naaman, no, I'm not going to take your goods. It was God who healed you, not me. But Gehazi simply had to have some of what Naaman was offering. You see, beloved, covetousness is most often expressed through greed, greed of money and greed of property, and therefore the warning that we see in various places in Scripture to keep from the love of money. One falls into a love for money because money helps us to satisfy covetousness. But covetousness is for more, we know, than simply money or material things in life. It includes health and fame and position and power and even people. It's possible to covet all those things as the commandment teaches us. And very simply, covetousness is to not be satisfied with your own spouse or with your job or with your clothing or with your popularity or with your things or with your health or even to not be satisfied with your God. And covetousness then leads to murderous and adulterous thoughts. It leads to thoughts of stealing and bearing false witness in order to get your hands on, in order to gain ownership of the object of your covetous desire. And that's why the Catechism makes clear that keeping the Tenth Commandment includes a heart hating all sin. And instead, a heart that's taking pleasure in whatever is right. And beloved, it's only possible to have a heart like that because God also gives the gift of Himself. He gives the gift of Himself through new birth as He has brought us out of darkness into the wonderful light of His truth. And in Jesus Christ, He brings us to confidently sing, No earthly father loves like thee, no mother hath so mild, bears and forebears as thou hast done with me thy sinful child. And that means as our Father in heaven, He knows, as Jesus said, He knows and He provides what's best for us. And as His children, then we are called to take pleasure in and to desire what God desires. To take pleasure in that. And to want what God wants for us. And God desires, beloved, that we look to Him. That we trust Him. He desires that we obey Him. He desires that we be satisfied in Him. We are to enjoy what He has given to us and that which He intends for us to enjoy. Our own spouse, our own possessions, and our own God. We are to desire righteously. Even as we pursue knowledge and education and the things of this life, it's not wrong to pursue them. It's not wrong, but we are to desire them righteously. It's not wrong, beloved, to desire a better position or a new car or better health. But we are to desire these things righteously. We are to do so and to seek these things in a God-glorifying way all the time, our attitude being, if the Lord wills. the Tenth Commandment is a call for Christian contentment with what God gives. And why then is it possible to exercise Christian contentment with what God gives? In the second place, because of God's promises. Again, the writer of Hebrews says, because God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. What a promise from God. A promise of His unfailing presence and care. Now the context, as far as the beginning of this verse again, Keep your lives free from the love of money, or as it's also translated, let your conduct be without covetousness. It seems quite different, doesn't it? But here the love of money and covetousness are considered one and the same thing. Now, it is believed that the writer here was addressing those who were anxious in the face of some sort of threatening situation. Some sort of situation they had faced before, some years before, and the situation, whatever it might have been, It was a trouble that caused them a loss of property. And it is believed that that possibility existed again, and therefore with the prospect of suffering again, that possibly encouraged some to try to secure their future through the accumulation of material resources, and therefore if that trouble came, then they would use their material resources, they would use their money to avoid persecution, maybe to pay off their persecutors. But the writer then is addressing a danger that they would be caused then to disregard the unselfish love that they were called to give in verses 1, 2, and 3 because of fear. And instead, the writer says they are to find confidence in the pledge of God. And what a pledge this is. Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. He pledges His constant presence and His care. And we find this idea of never will I leave you, never will I forsake you In various places in Scripture, we find the Lord says something similar to this to Jacob. Moses says something similar to this to Israel and Joshua as he is about ready to be taken from them. And the Lord Himself says something similar to this to Joshua. Never will I leave you. And we don't see it in the English translation, but there is a double negative here. Never, never, or I will not, I will not leave you. And the idea is, I will not cease to sustain you. I will not cease to uphold you. I will be with you. I will stay with you. And I will do these things for you. And also, never will I forsake you. And there is a triple negative. I will not. I will not. I will not. You talk about emphasis. I will not forsake you, the Lord says. And the idea of to forsake there is forsaking someone in a state of helplessness. In the midst of hostile circumstances. And beloved, it may not always seem clear to us, we might not always see clearly how that is true for us, especially how God does that when the bills are piling up or when the creditors are threatening us knocking at the door or when we can't pay our mortgage or when we're having trouble putting food on the table or lately putting gas in our car. It might be hard for us to see how this is true that God does not leave us or forsake us when we don't seem to have all the things that we think we need. But God says, trust Me. He says, I am sufficient. And even more than our physical possessions of life, He has proven His Word through Jesus Christ who has not left us in our sinful circumstances with the danger of eternal punishment. He is our Redeemer. He has purchased us. We are safe in Him. And He has sent His Holy Spirit to comfort us, to live in us and with us and to guide us. And therefore, beloved, our God is to be our portion. We sang about that this morning in connection with Psalm 73. You remember the psalmist in Psalm 73. He was busy looking at the green grass on the other side of the fence. He was looking at the heathen, the wicked, and saying, hey, what's going on here? They curse God and they get by with it. They're healthy, wealthy, and wise. They have everything that they could ever want and they're wicked. What's going on here? Am I living righteously for nothing until God brought him into the sanctuary and he saw the true end of the wicked and he also saw exactly what it is that God had done for him. And then when God revealed that to him, he was able to say with full confidence, you alone are my portion. God is to be our portion. Our delight, beloved, is to be in Him. He is to be the object of our confidence. Confident, we are to be confident in His protection. The psalmist in Psalm 27, verse 1 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? And the answer is no one. And we are also to be confident in His provision. Psalm 55, verse 22 says, Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never let the righteous fall. And as our Lord Jesus Christ says again in Matthew 6, to those who seek His righteousness, He says, all these things shall be added unto you. Beloved, we are the objects of God's desires. We are the objects of God's desires because of His grace. And He has demonstrated that through Jesus Christ, who was not willing to leave us to our own selfish, covetous desires which would only lead us to hell. But our Lord Jesus Christ looked away from Himself. He looked to His own glory and He gave Himself for us. And He promises to provide for us both now and forever and to work all things for our everlasting good. And that means that our God knows what's best for us. He gives what's best for us and He even withholds from us that which is in our best interest. And as the objects of God's gracious desires, beloved, we are then to recognize God's faithfulness when we come to recognize that only God truly satisfies spiritually to be sure. And that is of utmost importance. But once we understand that God provides spiritually, then we also understand that He provides for us in this life with all that we need, then we have no need to worry. We don't have to be anxious. We don't have to be afraid, but instead we can say, as the writer of Hebrews says in verse 6, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? And boys and girls and young people, when we begin to understand that our God Himself through His Son satisfies for us and gives us exactly what we need, then we have no reason to think that we are missing out because we don't have what our friends have. We don't have the same toys we have. We don't have the same opportunities they are given. We have no reason to believe that we are missing out because we're not. You see, when we understand and believe by faith that God truly satisfies our greatest need through His saving love, then even the little that we might have is more than sufficient. And we are able to see then that we have everything we could ever need. only when we recognize God's faithfulness then too can we believe the words of Jesus in Luke 12 verse 25 when he says watch out be on your guard against all kinds of greed a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions that's the very opposite of the message of the advertisers isn't it the advertisers try to teach us that our life does consist in the abundance of our possessions but the Bible is true the word of God says a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions and when we understand that we can also confess with confidence that a man's life does consist in the abundance of God's presence beloved without the confidence of Christ's satisfaction you can only find temporary contentment in the things of this life you can only covet it. And it will be a dead end. But those who look to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith are given peace with God. They are given that peace with God. And beloved, there is no greater contentment than to have that peace with God. And then too, they will find all they need in Him. Jesus Christ always hated sin. He always took pleasure in righteousness. Not At once did the slightest thought or desire against any of God's commandments rise up in his heart. He took nothing that was not his. Instead, people of God, he gave all he had that we might find contentment in all he is. May we find that contentment only in him. Let's pray together. Father, we must confess that once again you have touched us in our heart in a bit of a difficult way. For as we examine our lives, our day-to-day lives, there are so many things that we are not content with. We suffer from a lack of contentment when we don't have the kind of cereal in the cupboard that we want. When we run out of certain things for our table. When we don't have the right thing to wear on any given day, we think. We're in so many bigger things in life. And Father, we covet so much. We want so many things in such a passionate way. And Father, we pray that You would drive all sinful desires far from us. We pray that by the power of your Spirit would help us to desire righteously and then to be content, satisfied with what you see fit to give us. May we see these things as precious gifts from your hands and rejoice and give thanks and sing because of all that you provide. Well, Father, help us to see all these things in the light of your great salvation of us in Christ Jesus and to recognize that the things of this life are simply temporary and will not last. But that which we have in Christ Jesus will never end. For that we give you thanksgiving and praise, O Lord. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.