This is the tenth post in a series of ten dealing with The Ten Commandments. The content comes from “Basic Christianity”written by John Stott.

The tenth commandment is in some ways the most revealing of all. It turns the decalogue from an outward legal code into an inward moral standard. The civil law cannot touch us for covetousness but only for theft. For covetousness belongs to the inner life. It lurks in the heart and the mind.  What lust is to adultery and temper is to murder, that covetousness is to theft.
The particular things which we are not to covet and which are mentioned in the commandment are surprisingly modern. In the housing shortage there is much coveting of our neighbor’s house, and the divorce courts would not be so full if men did not covet their neighbor’s wife. “Covetousness……..is idolatry” wrote Paul, and by contrast, “ There is great gain in godliness with contentment” 1 Timothy 6:6.
Listing these commandments has brought to light an ugly catalog of sins. So much takes place beneath the surface of our lives, in the secret places of our minds, which other people do not see and which manage even to conceal from ourselves. But God sees these things. His eye penetrates into the deep recesses of our hearts: “Before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him “ Hebrews 4:13. He sees us as we really are, and his law shows up our sins for what they really are. Indeed, it was the purpose of the law to expose sin, for “through the law comes knowledge of sin” Romans 3:20.
When C.H. Spurgeon, the famous nineteenth – century preacher, was only fourteen, he experienced a tremendous sense of his own sinfulness. Two truths came home to him as never before: “God’s majesty and my sinfulness.” He had a crushing sense of his unworthiness.

I do not hesitate to say that those who examined my life would not have seen any extraordinary sin, yet as I looked upon myself I saw outrageous sin against God. I was not like other boys, untruthful, dishonest, swearing and so on. But of a sudden, I met Moses carrying the law……….God’s ten Words…… and as I read them, they all seemed to join in condemning me in the sight of the thrice holy Jehovah.

In our case, too, nothing can convince us of our sinfulness like the lofty, righteous law of God.

This is the ninth post in a series of ten dealing with The Ten Commandments. The content comes from “Basic Christianity”written by John Stott.

The last five commandments express that respect for the rights of others which is implicit in true love. To break these commandments is to rob a man of the things most precious to him, his life (“you shall not kill”) , his home or honor (“you shall not commit adultery”) , his property (you shall not steal”) , and now his reputation (” you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”).
This commandment is not only application to the courts of law. It does include perjury. But it also includes all forms of scandal, slander, idle talk and tittle-tattle, all lies and deliberate exaggerations or distortions of the truth. We can bear false witness by listing to unkind rumors as by passing them on, by making jokes at somebody else’s expense, by creating false impressions, by not correcting untrue statements, and by our silence as well as by our speech.

This is the eighth post in a series of ten dealing with The Ten Commandments. The content comes from “Basic Christianity”written by John Stott.

To steal is to rob a person of anything which belongs to him or is due to him. The thief of money or property is not the only infringement of this commandment. Tax evasion is robbery. So is dodging the customs. So is working short hours. What the world calls “scrounging” God calls stealing. To overwork and underpay one’s staff is to break this commandment. There must be few of us, if any, who have been consistently and scrupulously honest in personal and business affairs. As Arthur Hugh Clough wrote:

“Thou shalt not kill, “but need’st not strive
Officiously to keep alive;
“Thou shalt not steal”–an empty feat
When it’s more lucrative to cheat.

These negative commandments also imply a positive counterpart. In order truly to abstain from killing, one must do all in one’s power to foster the health and preserve the life of others. To refrain from the act of adultery is insufficient. The commandment requires the right, healthy and honorable attitude of each sex toward the other. Similarly, to avoid stealing is no particular virtue if one is miserly or mean. Paul was not satisfied that a thief should stop stealing; he had to start working. Indeed, he had to continue in honest labor until he found himself in a position to give to those in need.

This is the seventh post in a series of ten dealing with The Ten Commandments. The content comes from “Basic Christianity”written by John Stott.

Again, the commandment has a far wider application than just to unfaithfulness in marriage. It includes any sort of sex outside the marriage relationship for which it was designed. It includes flirting, experimenting and solitary experience. It also includes all sexual perversions, for although men and woman are not responsible for a perverted instinct, they are for its indulgence. It includes selfish demands within wedlock, and many, if not all, divorces. It includes the deliberate reading of pornographic literature and giving in to impure fantasies. Jesus made this clear when he said, ” everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Just as to entertain murderous thoughts in the heart is to commit murder, so to entertain adulterous thoughts in the heart is to commit adultery. This commandment in fact embraces every abuse of a sacred and beautiful gift from God.

This is the sixth post in a series of ten dealing with The Ten Commandments. The content comes from “Basic Christianity”written by John Stott.

This is not just a prohibition of murder. If looks could kill, many would kill with a look. If murder can be committed by cutting words, many are guilty. Indeed Jesus said that to be angry with someone without a cause, and to be insulting, are just as serious, while John draws the right conclusion when he writes, ” Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” Every loss of a temper, every outburst of uncontrolled passion, every stirring of sullen rage, every bitter resentment and thirsting for revenge– all these things are murder. We can kill by malicious gossip. We can kill by studied neglect and cruelty. We can kill by spite and jealousy. We have probably all done so.