Jesus told them, “You try to make yourselves look good in the eyes of other people, but God knows your hearts. There are things that people value highly that God can’t stand.
But once I did know about coveting, sin took that opportunity to make me want all kinds of things that belonged to other people! A person can’t sin by breaking a law if that law doesn’t exist.
Didn’t the land belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, you could have used the money any way you wanted. How could you do such a thing? You haven’t just lied to people, you’ve lied to God.”
The power of sin used to control us. The law told us we couldn’t do certain things, but that only made us want to do them more. So our lives produced only death.
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and controlled by all kinds of wrong desires and pleasures. We were hostile and envious. Other people hated us, and we hated them.