The Ten Commandments – X
by D.L. Moody
The Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt nor covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not cover thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s.
IN THE TWELFTH CHAPTER Of Luke, our Saviour lifted two danger signals. “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (v. 1), and “Take heed, and beware of covetousness” (v. 15).
The greatest dupe the devil has in the world is the hypocrite; but the next greatest is the covetous man, “for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Lk 12:15).
I believe this sin is much stronger now than ever before in the world’s history. We are not in the habit of calling it a sin. In his first epistle to the Thessalonians Paul speaks of a “cloak of covetousness” (2:5). Covetous men use it as a cloak and call it prudence and foresight. Who ever heard it confessed as a sin? I have heard many confessions, in public and private, during the past forty years, but never have ] heard a man confess that he was guilty of this sin. The Bible does not tell of one man who ever recovered from it, and in all my experience I do not recall many who have been able to shake it off after it had fastened on them. A covetous man or woman generally remains covetous to the very end.
We may say that covetous desire plunged the human race into sin. We can trace the river back from age to age until we get to its rise in Eden. When Eve saw that the forbidden fruit was good for food and that it was desirable to the eyes, she partook of it, and Adam with her. They were not satisfied with alt that God had showered upon them, but coveted the wisdom of gods which Satan deceitfully told them might be obtained by eating the fruit. She saw, she desired, then she took! Three steps from innocence into sin.
A SEARCHING COMMANDMENT
It would be absurd for such a law as this to be placed upon any human statute book. It could never be enforced. The officers of the law would be powerless to detect infractions. The outward conduct may be regulated, but the thoughts and intents of a man are beyond the reach of human law.
But God can see behind outward actions. He can read the thoughts of the heart. Our innermost life, invisible to mortal eye, is laid bare before Him. We cannot deceive Him by external conformity. He is able to detect the least transgression and shortcoming, so that no man can shirk detection. God cannot be imposed upon by the cleanness of the outside of the cup and the platter.
Surely we have here another proof that the Ten Commandments are not of human origin, but must be divine.
This commandment, then, did not, even on the surface, confine itself to visible actions, as did the preceding commandments. Even before Christ came and showed their spiritual sweep, men had a commandment that went beneath public conduct and touched the very springs of action. It directly prohibited– not the wrong act, but the wicked desire that prompted the act. It forbade the evil thought, the unlawful wish. It sought to prevent– not only sin, but the desire to sin. In God’s sight it is as wicked to set covetous eyes as it is to lay thieving hands upon anything that is not ours.
And why? Because if the evil desire can be controlled, there will be no outbreak in conduct. Desires have been called “actions in the egg.” The desire in the heart is the first step in the series that ends in action. Kill the evil desire, and you successfully avoid the ill results that would follow upon its hatching and development. Prevention is better than cure.
We must not limit covetousness to the matter of money. The commandment is not thus limited; it reads, “Thou shalt not covet … anything.” That word “anything” is what will condemn us. Though we do not join the race for wealth, have we not sometimes a hungry longing for our neighbor’s goodly lands, fine houses, beautiful clothes, brilliant reputation, personal accomplishments, easy circumstances, comfortable surroundings? Have we not had the desire to increase our possessions or to change our lot in accordance with what we see in others? If so, we are guilty of having broken this law.
GOD’S THOUGHTS ABOUT COVETOUSNESS
Let us examine a few of the Bible passages that bear down on this sin, and see what are God’s thoughts about it.
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Co 6:9-10, italics added).
Notice that the covetous are named between thieves and drunkards. We lock up thieves and have no mercy on them. We loathe drunkards and consider them great sinners against the law of God as well as the law of the land. Yet there is far more said in the Bible against covetousness than against either stealing or drunkenness.
Covetousness and stealing are almost like Siamese twins– they go together so often. In fact we might add lying, and make them triplets. The covetous person is a thief in the shell. The thief is a covetous person out of the shell. Let a covetous person see something that he desires very much; let an opportunity of taking it be offered; how very soon he will break through the shell and come out in his true character as a thief. The Greek word translated covetousness means “an inordinate desire of getting.” When the Gauls tasted the sweet wines of Italy, they asked where they came from and never rested until they had overrun Italy.
“For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph 5:5).
There we have the same truth repeated; but notice that covetousness is called idolatry. The covetous man worships mammon, not God.
“Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens” (Ex 18:21, italics added).
Isn’t it extraordinary that Jethro, the man of the desert, should have given this advice to Moses? How did he learn to beware of covetousness? We honor men today if they are wealthy and covetous. We elect them to office in church and state. We often say that they will make better treasurers just because we know them to be covetous. But in God’s sight a covetous man is as vile and black as any thief or drunkard. David said: “The wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth” (Ps 10:3). I am afraid that many who profess to have put away wickedness also speak well of the covetous.
A SORE EVIL
“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? The sleep of the labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich, will not suffer him to sleep. There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt” (Ec 5:10-13).
Isn’t that true? Is the covetous man ever satisfied with his possessions? Aren’t they vanity? Does he have peace of mind? Don’t selfish riches always bring hurt?
The folly of covetousness is well shown in the following extract: If you should see a man that had a large pond of water, yet living in continual thirst, nor suffering himself to drink half a draught for fear of lessening his pond; if you should see him wasting his time and strength in fetching more water to his pond, aIways thirsty, yet always carrying a bucket of water in his hand, watching early and late to catch the glimpse of rain, gaping after every cloud, and running greedily into every mire and mud in hopes of water, and always studying how to make every ditch empty itself into the pond; if you should see him grow grey in these anxious labors, and at last end a thirsty life by falling into his own pond, would you not say that such a one was not only the author of his own disquiet, but was foolish enough to be reckoned among madmen? But foolish and absurd as this character is,it does not represent half the follies and absurd disquiets of the covetous man.”
I have read of a millionaire in France who was a miser. In order to make sure of his wealth, he dug a cave in his wine cellar so large and deep that he could go down into it with a ladder. The entrance had a door with a spring lock. After a time, he was missing Search was made, but they could find no trace of him. At last his house was sold, and the purchaser discovered this door in the cellar. He opened it, went down, and found the miser lying dead on the ground in the midst of his riches. The door must have shut accidentally after him, and he perished miserably.
A TEMPTATION AND A SNARE
“They that will be [that is, desire to be] rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Ti 6:9). The Bible speaks of the deceitfulness of two things– “the deceitfulness of sin” and “the deceitfulness of riches.” Riches are like a mirage in the desert which has all the appearance of satisfying and lures the traveler on with the promise of water and shade; but he only wastes his strength in the effort to reach it. So riches never satisfy: the pursuit of them always turns out a snare.
Lot coveted the rich plains of Sodom, and what did he gain? After twenty years spent in that wicked city, he had to escape for his life, leaving all his wealth behind him.
What did the thirty pieces of silver do for Judas? Weren’t they a snare?
Think of Balaam. He is generally regarded as a false prophet, but I do not find that any of his prophecies that are recorded are not true; they have been literally fulfilled. Up to a certain point his character shone magnificently, but the devil finally overcame him by the bait of covetousness. He stepped over a heavenly crown for the riches and honors that Balak promised him. He went to perdition backwards. His face was set toward God, but be backed into hell. He wanted to die the death of the righteous, but he did not live the life of the righteous. It is sad to see so many who know God miss everything for riches.
Then consider the case of Gehazi. There is another man who was drowned in destruction and perdition by covetousness. He got more out of Naaman than he asked for, but he also got Naaman’s leprosy. Think how he forfeited the friendship of his master Elisha, the man of God! So today lifelong friends are separated by this accursed desire. Homes are broken up. Men are willing to sell out peace and happiness for the sake of a few dollars.
Didn’t David fall into foolish and hurtful lusts? He saw Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, and she was “very beautiful to look upon,” and David became a murderer and an adulterer. The guilty longing hurled him into the deepest pit of sin. He had to reap bitterly as he had sowed.
I heard of a wealthy German out West who owned a lumber mill. He was worth nearly two millions of dollars, but his covetousness was so great that he once worked as a common laborer carrying railroad ties all day. It was the cause of his death.
“And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it” (Jos 7:20-21, italics added) .
He saw– he coveted– he took– he hid! The covetous eye was what led Achan up to the wicked deed that brought sorrow and defeat upon the camp of Israel.
We know the terrible punishment that was meted out to Achan. God seems to have set danger signals at the threshold of each new age. It is remarkable how soon the first outbreaks of covetousness occurred. Think of Eve in Eden, Achan just after Israel had entered the Promised Land, Ananias and Sapphira in the early Christian church.
A ROOT EXTRACTOR
“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Ti 6:10).
This tenth commandment has therefore been aptly called a “root-extractor,” because it would tear up and destroy this root. No one but God can rid us of it. Matthew tells us that the deceitfulness of riches chokes the Word of God. Like the Mississippi river, which chokes up its mouth by the amount of soil it carried down. Isn’t that true of many businessmen today? They are so engrossed with their affairs that they have not time for religion. They lose sight of their soul and its eternal welfare in their desire to amass wealth. They do not even hesitate to sell their souls to the devil. How many a man says, “We must make money, and if God’s law stands in the way, brush it aside.”
The word “lucre” occurs five times in the New Testament, and each time it is called “filthy lucre.”
“A root of all kinds of evil.” Yes, because what will not men be guilty of when prompted by the desire to be rich? Greed for gold leads men to commit violence and murder, to cheat and deceive and steal. It turns the heart to stone, devoid of all natural affection, cruel, unkind. How many families are wrecked am the father’s will! The scramble for a share of the wealth smashes them to pieces. Covetous of rank and position in society, parents barter sons and daughters in ungodly marriage. Bodily health is no consideration The uncontrollable fever for gold makes men renounce all their settled prospects and undertake hazardous journeys–no peril can drive them back.
It destroys faith and spirituality, turning men’s minds and hearts away from God. It disturbs the peace of the community by prompting to acts of wrong. Covetousness has more than once led nation to war against nation for the sake of gaining territory or other material resources. It is said that when the Spaniards came over to conquer Peru, they sent a “: message to the king, saying, “Give us gold, for we Spaniards have a disease that can only be cured by gold.”
Dr. Boardman has shown how covetousness leads to the transgression of every one of the commandments, and I cannot do better than quote his words: *Coveting tempts us into the violation of the first commandment, worshiping mammon in addition to Jehovah. Coveting tempts us into a violation of the second commandment, or idolatry. The apostle Paul expressly identifies the covetous man with an idolater: “Covetousness, which is idolatry.’ Again: Coveting tempts us into violation of the third commandment, or sacrilegious falsehood: for instance, Gehazi, lying on the matter of his interview with Naaman the Syrian, and Ananias and Sapphira perjuring themselves in the matter of the community of goods.
“Again: Coveting tempts us into the violation of the fourth commandment, or Sabbath-breaking. It is covetousness which encroaches on God’s appointed day of sacred rest, tempting us to run trains for merely secular purposes, to vend tobacco and liquors, to hawk newspapers. Again: Coveting tempts us into the violation of the fifth commandment, or disrespect for authority; tempting the young man to deride his early parental counsels, the citizen to trample on civic enactments. Again: Covetousness tempts us into violation of the sixth commandment, or murder. Recall how Judas’ love of money lured him into the betrayal of his divine Friend into the hand of His murderers, his lure being the paltry sum of, say, fifteen dollars.
“Again: Covetousness tempts us into the Violation of the seventh commandment, or adultery. Observe bow Scripture combines greed and lust. Again: Covetousness tempts us into the violation of the eighth commandment, or theft. Recall how it tempted Achan to steal a goodly Babylonish mantle, (two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight. Again: Covetousness tempts Us into the violation of the ninth commandment, or having false witness against our neighbor. Recall how the covetousness of Ahab instigated his wife Jezebel to employ sons of Belial to bear blasphemous and fatal testimony against Naboth, saying, “Thou didst curse God and the king.”
HOW TO OVERCOME
You ask me how you are to cast this unclean spirit out of your heart? I think I can tell you.
In the first place, make up your mind that by the grace of God you will overcome the spirit of selfishness. You must overcome it, or it will overcome you. Paul said: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience” (Col 3:5-6).
I heard of a rich man who was asked to make a contribution on behalf of some charitable object. The text was quoted to him, “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again” (Pr 19:17). He said that the security might be good enough, but the credit was too long. He was dead within two weeks. The wrath of God rested upon him as he never expected.
If you find yourself getting very miserly, begin to scatter, like a wealthy farmer in New York state I heard of. He was a noted miser, but he was converted. Soon after, a poor man who had been burned out and had no provisions, came to him for help. The farmer thought he would be liberal and give the man a ham from his smokehouse. On his way to get it, the tempter whispered to him:
“Give him the smallest one you have.”
He had a struggle whether he would give a large or a small ham, but finally he took down the largest he could find.
“You are a fool,” the devil said.
“If you don’t keep still,” the farmer replied, “I will give him every ham I have in the smokehouse.”
Mr. Durant told me he woke up one morning to find that he was a rich man, and he said that the greatest struggle of his life then took place as to whether he would let money be his master, or he be master of money; whether he would be its slave, or make it a slave to him. At last he got the victory, and that was how Wellesley College came to be built.
In the next place, cultivate the spirit of contentment. “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb 13:5-6).
Contentment is the very opposite of covetousness, which is continually craving for something it does not possess. “Be content with such things as ye have” (Heb 13:5), not worrying about the future, because God has promised never to leave or forsake you. What does the child of God want more than this? I would rather have that promise than all the gold of the earth.
Would to God that we might be able to say with Paul, “I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel” (Ac 20:33). The Lord had made him partaker of His grace, and he was soon to be a partaker of His glory, and earthly things looked very small. “Godliness with contentment is great gain,” he wrote to Timothy; “having food and raiment therewith let us be content” (1 Ti 6:6, 8). Observe that he puts godliness first. No worldly gain can satisfy the human heart. Roll the whole world in, and still there would be room.
May God tear the scales off our eyes if we are blinded by this sin. Oh, the folly of it, that we should set our heart’s affections upon anything below! For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him” (Ps 49:16-17).
The Handwriting Blotted Out WE HAVE NOW CONSIDERED the Ten Commandments, and the question for each one of us is– are we keeping them? If God should weigh us by them, would we be found wanting or not wanting? Do we keep the law, the whole law? Are we obeying God with all our heart? Do we render Him a full and willing obedience?
ONE LAW, NOT TEN
These Ten Commandments are not ten different laws; they are one law. If I am being held up in the air by a chain with ten links and I break one of them, down I come, just as surely as if I break the whole ten. If I am forbidden to go out of an enclosure, it makes no difference at what point I break through the fence. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (la 2: 10). The golden chain of obedience is broken if one link is missing.
We sometimes hear people pray to be preserved from certain sin, as if they were in no danger of committing others. I firmly believe that if a man begins by willfully breaking one of these commandments it is much easier for him to break the others. I know of a gentleman who had a confidential clerk and insisted on his going down Sunday morning to work on his books. The young man had a good deal of principle, and at first refused; but he was anxious to keep in the good graces of his employer and finally yielded. He had not done that a great while before he speculated in stocks, and became a defaulter for one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The employer had him arrested and put in the penitentiary for ten years, but I believe he was just as guilty in the sight of God as that young man, for he led him to Cake the fist step on the downward road. You remember the story of a soldier who was smuggled into a fortress in a load of hay, and opened the gates to his comrades. Every sin we commit opens the door for other sins.
ALL HAVE COME SHORT
For fifteen hundred years man was under the law, and no one was equal to it. Christ came and showed that the commandments went beyond the mere letter; and can anyone since say that he has been able to keep them in his own strength? As the plummet is held up, we see how much we are out of the perpendicular. As we measure ourselves by that holy standard, we find how much we are lacking. As a child said, when reproved by her mother and told that she ought to do right: “How can I do right when there is no right in me?” “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Ro 3:23), “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Ro 3:10).
I do not say that all are equally guilty of gross violations of the commandments. It needs a certain amount of reckless courage openly to break a law, human or divine; but it is easy to crack them, as the child said. It has been remarked that the life of many professors of religion is full of fractures that result from little sins, little acts of temper and selfishness. It is possible to crack a costly vase so finely that it cannot be noticed by the observer; but let this be done again and again in different directions, and some day the vase will go to pieces at a touch. When we hear of someone who has had a lifelong reputation for good character and consistent living, suddenly falling into some shameful sin, we are shocked and puzzled. If we knew all, we would find that only the fall has been sudden, that he has been sliding toward it for years. Away back in his life we should find numerous cracked commandments. His exposure is only the falling of the vase to pieces.
FALSE WEIGHTS
Men have all sorts of weights that they think are going to satisfy, but they will find that they are altogether vanity, and lighter than vanity.
The moral man is as guilty as the rest. His morality cannot save him. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Lk 13:3, 5). “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3). I have often heard good people say that our meetings were doing good, they were reaching the drunkards, and gamblers, and harlots; but they never realized that they needed the grace of God for themselves.
Nicodemus was probably one of the most moral men of his day. He was a teacher of the law. Yet Christ said to him: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” It is much easier to reach thieves and drunkards and vagabonds than self-righteous Pharisees. You do not have to preach to those men for weeks and months to convince them that they are sinners. When a man learns that he has need of God and that he is a sinner, it is very easy to reach him. But the self-righteous Pharisee needs salvation as much as any drunkard that walks the streets.
I read of a minister traveling in the South who obtained permission to preach in the local jail. A son of his host went with him. On the way back the young man who was not a Christian, said to the minister:
“I hope some of the convicts were impressed. Such a sermon as that ought to do them good.”
“Did it do you good? the minister asked.
“Oh, you were preaching to the convicts” the young man answered.
The minister shook his head, and said: “I preached Christ, and you need Him as much as they.”
If you do not repent of your sins and ask Him for mercy, there is no hope for you. Let me ask you to take this question home to yourself. If a summons would come at midnight for you to be “weighed in the balances,” what would become of your soul?
Many are only making a profession. Are you ready to be weighed– ready to step into the scales? A great many would be found like those five foolish virgins. When the hour came, they would be found with no oil in their lamps. If you have only an empty lamp, or are living on mere formalism, I beg of you to give it up. Give up that dead, cold, miserable lukewarmness. God will have none of it. Are you lusting to your good works? Do you drink your Bible, your crucifix, your prayers, your churchgoing will help you?
Or do you set your hope upon your education, your wealth, your earthly distinctions? What will your university education amount to, and all your wealth and honors, if you go down through lust and passion and covetousness, and lose your soul at last? We are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ. If you have not Christ when God weighs you, “Tekel” will be your sentence.
DO NOT DESPAIR
I can imagine that you are saying to yourself, “If we are to be judged by these laws, how are we going to be saved? Nearly every one of them has been broken by us– in spirit, if not in letter.” I almost hear you say: “I wonder if Mr. Moody is ready to be weighed. Would he like to put those tests to himself?” With all humility I reply that if God commanded me to step into the scales now, I am ready. “What!” you say, “haven’t you broken the law? Yes, I have. I was a sinner before God, the same as you; but forty years ago I pled guilty at His bar. I cried for mercy, and He forgave me. If I step into the scales, the Son of God has promised to be with me. I would not dare to step in without Him. If I did, how quickly the scales would fly up!
CHRIST IS ALL Christ kept the law. If He had ever broken it, He would have to die for Himself; but because He was a Lamb without spot or blemish, His atoning death is efficacious for you and me. He had no sin of His own to atone for, and so God accepted His sacrifice. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. We are righteous in God’s sight, because the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ is unto all and upon all them that believe.
If we had to live forever with our sins in the handwriting of God on the wall, it would be hell on earth. But thank God for the Gospel we preach! If we repent, our sins will all be blotted out. “You, being dead in your sins . . . hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Col 2:13-14).
LOVE, THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW If the love of God is shed abroad in your heart, you will be able to fulfill the law. Paul reduced the commandments to one: Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Ro 13:10). Someone has written the following:
Love to God will admit no other God. Love resents everything that debases its object by representing it by an image. Love to God will never dishonor His name. Love to God will reverence His day. Love to parents makes one honor them.
Hate, not love, is a murderer. Lust, not love, commits adultery. Love will give, but never steal. Love will not slander or lie. Love’s eye is not covetous.
ARE YOU READY?
It is the height of madness to turn away and run the risk of being called by God to judgment and have no hope in Christ. Now is the day and hour to accept salvation, and then He will be with you. Do you step aside and say: “I’m not ready yet. I want a little more time to prepare, to turn the matter over in my mind”? Well, you have time, but bear in mind it is only the present; you do not know that you will have tomorrow. Wasn’t Belshazzar cut off suddenly? Would he have believed that that was going to be his last night, that he would never see the light of another sun? That banquet of sin didn’t close as he expected. As long as you delay you are in danger. If you don’t enter into the kingdom of heaven by God’s way, you cannot enter at all. You must accept Christ as your Saviour, or you will never be fit to be weighed.
My friend, do you have Him? Will you remain as you are and be found wanting, or will you accept Christ and be ready for the summons? “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 Jn. 5:11, 12).
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