together. They deal with the root and source of all sin; namely, the
evil lusts and desires of the heart. [Matt. 15:19+, Jas. 1:14, 15]

THE OBJECT of these two commandments is to emphasize the necessity of a
right state of heart. [I Sam. 16:7+, Matt. 5:5] All the commandments
must, indeed, be kept in thought as well as in word and deed. But by
adding these two special commandments against coveting, God desires to
impress upon us most strongly that wrong thoughts and desires make us
guilty before Him. We are not keeping God's commandments unless we are
free from the _desire_ to transgress them. As a man "thinketh in his
heart, so is he." [Prov. 23:7]

THE HEART BY NATURE SINFUL. We are born with a sinful nature and a
natural inclination to evil (Original sin), which we have inherited from
our ancestors as a result of the fall into sin. [John 3:6+, Jer. 17:9]
This natural inclination to evil manifests itself in wrong thoughts and
desires which arise in the heart. [Rom. 7:18, 19+] These wrong desires
or lusts are in themselves sinful: and if they are not subdued, they
lead to sins of words and deeds. [Jas. 1:14, 15+]

These commandments _forbid_ us to covet anything that is our neighbor's.
They _command_ us to assist and serve him in retaining his own.

I. WHAT IS FORBIDDEN.

COVETING, To covet means to desire what we have no right to have. To
wish to obtain something in a lawful way is not coveting. But we must
not have

1. _An Unlawful Desire_ [Gal. 5:24+] for our neighbor's possessions,