The 10th commandment deals with covetousness and we may not yearn after what is given to the neighbor. The commandment declares that when the slightest inclination against any of the commandments arises in us we are wretched sinners and transgressors.

Covetousness is the desire of our hearts to reach out and take what is not ours and that which we desire to have. Scripture sometimes uses the word coveting in a positive way, but we are dealing with it in a negative fashion here. God desires from the inward being that we live perfectly and in conformity with God's law. He judges the heart and it is not outward conformity that God is after. Then the hearts inclination (not the doing or not doing) against God's law is transgression. Do we keep all the commandments of God? No....but the question is CAN we keep the law of God?!

We cannot keep the law of God and even our good works are the workings of the Holy Spirit in us. Keep His law is not possible and man is saved ONLY by the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ! The things that we should do we don't and those things we should not do we find ourselves doing. This is because we have only a small beginning of that new obedience as we are regenerated in Christ...still in the body of this flesh and we cannot keep Gods' commandments perfectly. It is by faith that we begin to keep the commandments of God in principal now in the body of this flesh. In heaven we will serve God perfectly, but only have a sincere resolution to keep the law of God in the new man in Christ as we are still in the body of this flesh. We therefore need the law of God strictly preached to us to:

1. Point us to our own sinful nature

2. That it may point us to Christ after we are shown the depth of our sinfulness.