Now the verse that I wanted to focus on tonight is verse number 5 where the Bible reads,
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have.
For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Now the last phrase there is a famous phrase of course from Jesus,
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
But the substance of the verse is about contentment and about covetousness.
He says, Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have.
Again, here's a case where the word and is connecting two parallel ideas,
not opposite ideas, but he's saying not coveting others' property is to be content yourself.
Here is where we get a little bit of a definition, thank you,
and throughout the Bible we see this definition repeated,
and you'll find these two words in the same verse many times, contentment and covetousness.
Now he's saying here, in order to be content with such things as you have, you must lack covetousness.
The opposite is covetousness.
Now I'm trying to view what Exodus, chapter number 20, and I want to help define for you what covetousness is.
Now, people are often confused about covetousness, it's one of the Ten Commandments,
and so you'd think that it would be something that we would be very familiar with or understand,
but a lot of people have trouble understanding what covetousness is.
People have asked me, I've preached about covetousness, and people ask me questions about this, like,
So is it wrong if I see something that I don't have, and I say, Oh, I'd like to have that?
They say, Is that sin? I mean, is that wrong?
For me to drive by a house and say, Wow, I'd like to live in that house?
Or, you know, and they said, well, other people have asked me, like,
Well, if I want something that belongs to somebody else, if that's the covetousness,
Is it wrong if I see that, let's say I see that Brother Dave has a nice MP3 player,
and I say, Wow, you know, I'd like to have an MP3 player like that, and I'd go out and buy one,
because I see his, I like it, I'd go out and buy the same one.
Or maybe a lady sees a woman wearing a certain dress, and she says, Boy, I like that, I'd like that,
and then she goes out and buys it. Is that wrong?
The answer is, No, that's not wrong.
And here's where I want to define for you, and draw the line where desiring what someone else has,
or desiring something that you do not have, becomes covetousness.
I mean, where, and don't tell me it's a gray area, because God's not the God of gray areas.
And so you can find clear dividing lines in the Bible for what is right and what is wrong.
Now, sometimes if we say that something's a gray area, what we're saying is we are not sure what's right and wrong.
We don't really know.
But I mean, God knows what's right and wrong.
God knows what's a sin and what's not a sin.
And so there is a division, there is a difference between that which is covetousness, and that which is not covetousness.
Now, look if you would at Exodus 20 verse 17.
Here's where we find the command in the Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
Now, keep that one in mind. We're going to get to that one in a second.
Nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, but watch the last phrase,
nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
So just because God listed a few things here that would be commonly coveted, that is not the extent of covetousness.
Anytime He says you covet anything that is your neighbor's, you're doing wrong, because He says anything.
Now, look at Deuteronomy 5.
Flip over to Deuteronomy chapter 5.
And let's get the wording from the book of Deuteronomy when God restates the Ten Commandments.
He's restating the same things, but He uses different wording to help us to understand exactly what He meant the first time.
He says in verse number 21,
Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife.
Notice the different word.
In Exodus, He used the word covet.
Here He used the word desire.
Neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbor's.
Now turn back to Hebrews 13 where we were.
So covetousness has to do with desiring that which belongs to someone else.
Desiring someone else's property.
Desiring someone else's wife.
Desiring someone else's employees or servants.
It's desiring what they have no matter what it is.
A physical possession, an ox, an ass, his house.
And it's even mentioned there as the house.
So the house was not mentioned in Exodus, but in Deuteronomy He said don't covet his house.
He even brings that up.
So we have a very broad description and then just a blank statement.
Anything that is thy neighbor's.
We'll look at Hebrews chapter 13 verse number 4.
And I think here helps us to get the division line here of what is covetousness and what is not.
It says in verse 4,
Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.
But, whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge.
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have.
For He has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Now what was one of the things that God said not to covet when He listed a commandment both times?
It was your neighbor's wife.
Here He talks about the fact that committing adultery is wicked.
Being with more than one woman, you know, as a whoremonger, going from person to person is wicked.
He said you should be content with such things as you have.
And He's saying that includes your wife or your husband.
Be content with the husband you have. Be content with the wife you have.
You see, covetousness is desiring something that you can't have.
That's covetousness.
Now, if I look at my neighbor's house, and I see my neighbor's house, and I say,
Boy, that's a nice house. I wish that I lived in that house.
That is wrong. That is covetousness.
Okay? That is... and you say, I can't believe that that would be wrong, just to want something that doesn't belong to me.
But yet, God says it is wrong to desire His house.
Now, let's say I see that Brother Dave, like I said, has something like an MP3 player, which is within my reach.
I mean, I can go down to the store and buy it. I can afford it.
God has given me the money to afford what I want.
And I see him. He has it. I desire to have the same thing.
I go down and buy it. That's not wrong, because I'm desiring something that I can have.
You see what I'm saying?
But when I desire something that I can't have, that's covetousness.
I mean, if I have something, and what God has given me is not good enough for me,
but rather I want what somebody else has, and I want something that's out of my reach, that is covetousness.
Now, if someone else's wife is out of my reach, therefore if I desire someone else's wife, I am guilty of covetousness.
My neighbor's house, let's say I look at a house that's at a half a million dollar house, and I can't afford that,
and I desire that house, that is covetousness. That's wrong.
Now, if I see some dump of a house and say, man, I want that house,
there's nothing wrong with that, because God's saying, well, that's where you want to live. You can afford it. Go ahead.
But wanting something that you can't afford is covetousness.
Wanting something that will be wrong for you to have is covetousness.
Covetousness is a desire for that which you cannot have.
Because what you're saying when you covet is that what you do have is not good enough.
And who gave you what you have? God.
Who gave you the house that you have? God.
Who gave you the clothes that you have? God.
Who gave you that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and cometh out from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, not a shadow turning?
All good things come from God. Every blessing that you have comes from God.
God's the one who gave you the ability to go to work.
God's the one who gave you the mind and the body and the strength to go out and work and make whatever money you do make.
Some people are smarter than others. Some people are more physically talented than others.
I mean, I've seen some people who can turn a screwdriver and run wire like no other.
They have a physical ability that's been given to them by God to be extremely good at a certain trade or a certain job.
Other people have a mind for business. Other people are a natural born salesman.
I'm a terrible salesman. I mean, I've tried to do sales, I've tried to sell, and I've been a flop at it every time.
Honestly. Because I believe that sales is something that you're born with.
I mean, some people are great salesmen, some people aren't.
It's not really something that it seems like you can learn to do. Maybe I'm wrong about that.
But I have strengths in other areas. Everybody has certain strengths and weaknesses.
God gave you those strengths and weaknesses. Certain jobs pay better than others.
You know, God gave you the abilities you have. God gave you the job you have.
God has you where... And look, sometimes God keeps us leaner financially than we want to be,
even though we are maybe smart and talented, just because that's where God wants us right now.
And we ought to be content with where God has us right now.
Wherever that is. And it's not about trying to compete with others or to be better than someone else,
or to covet and look and say, well, this person has this great job. I have a terrible job.
I wish I had their job. See, you're not being content with such things as you have.
So the sin... You say, why is it a sin to want something I can't have?
Because you're not content with what you do have. And so you see how those two things go hand in hand?
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have.
For he had said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Isn't that enough to make you happy?
I mean, isn't it enough to be happy about that Jesus Christ is never going to leave you,
that your sins are forgiven, that you're going to heaven, that you're saved eternally?
That ought to make you happy. You know, if you speak Spanish, you know the Spanish word for happy?
Does anybody know what it is? Contento. Contento. That's their word.
The word contentment is the same word in Spanish. Because contentment is happiness.
Being content with what you have will make you a happy person.
But when you're coveting, and anytime you're not content, it's because you're coveting what you don't have.
And it's a sin. It's wrong. I mean, you're breaking the Ten Commandments. Good night.
This is right there in the list with bearing false witness, and stealing, and committing adultery,
committing murder, creating idols. You know, God put it in that list as some major, very clear boundaries.
Obviously, God has many other laws and rules, but he gave us these ten just very clear rules, very basic rules.
And one of the basic rules is not to desire that which you cannot have.
Because covetousness may not seem like a very bad sin. The reason is because covetousness is something that takes place in your mind.
Right? Stealing takes place outwardly. Everybody sees it. Murder, everybody notices. It's an outward sin.
Lying is outward. Adultery is outside the body, right? Murder is outside the body.
You know, honoring your parents is something that you do. That's an action that you do.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy in the Old Testament. That was something that people did outwardly, physically.
Taking God's name in vain, everybody hears you say, making a graven image, having other gods before him.
But covetousness is a sin of the mind and the heart. It's not something that I can see. It's not something that people can see.
That's why maybe people think it's not that bad because nobody knows about it, right?
Because it's just going on inside of people's minds in many cases.
Now, but it obviously leads to sin. It can be spoken with the mouth. It can be expressed.
And that's even worse when it comes from your mind to you saying, I wish I had this.
Boy, God is not blessing me and I don't have enough money and I don't have enough of a house.
My car is a piece of junk and one of these cords are holding it together. You have a good car too.
You have to be content with that other nice truck that you have.
Oh, my car is a piece of junk. People sometimes get an attitude about what other people have.
And they start looking at other people and they become envious at other people's goods.
And what they have is wrong. It leads to worse sins.
Look at Romans chapter 7 and I'm almost done defining covetousness.
Then I'm going to show you some of the applications here of why covetousness is so bad and what it can do to you.
But right now I'm still just trying to get a clear definition for what covetousness is.
Is it making sense? Do you understand the difference?
Because if I desire something that I can have, whether or not I choose to go out and buy it,
if I have the means to have it, I say, you know, I'd like to have that.
That's within the means that God has given me.
I'm content with where God has put me in life.
But when I want something that's too expensive, or when I want something that belongs to someone else
that's one of a kind, like their wife, for example, then that's when I'm committing the sin of covetousness.
And by the way, be content with your husband or be content with your wife.
That could be a whole sermon in and of itself right there.
You ought to be content, because listen, God gave you the spouse that you have.
You say, well, I don't believe that. I made a mistake. I grew up a very strong person.
You know what, though? The Bible says, Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.
You know, God says that all authority is ordained by God. The powers that be are ordained of God.
I mean, you say, well, my husband is this, mine is that, but he's the authority that God gave you in your life.
You know, and you ought to be content with the spouse that you have.
Let me explain something to you, because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, isn't it?
But let me tell you something. Don't ever fall into the trap.
I'm talking about husband and wife, but really this goes for all areas of covetousness.
But here's just a great example that's easy for people to understand.
You covet your neighbour's wife because you don't live with your neighbour's wife.
Are you listening to me? Nobody's perfect.
But what happens is, when you live with somebody every day, you're going to see their flaws.
You know, they're going to see your flaws. And it's not the same as when you just look at somebody from far away,
and they look like they've got all their act together. They look like they're perfect and nice and they're happy all the time.
But nobody's perfect, and so the reason that you're coveting your neighbour's wife or your neighbour's husband
is because you don't know them, because you don't live with them.
Because whenever two people live together, you're going to get close to somebody,
you're going to begin to see that maybe they're not always going to be all that they're cracked up to be.
And they're not always going to be as perfect as you thought they were. They have faults and flaws.
And so it's foolish, I mean it's ridiculous, to sit there and wish that you were married to somebody else
because you don't know those flaws and faults because you haven't been with them or you haven't been married to them.
I mean, you ought not sit there and look over the fence and say,
oh, it's green or a fence, because you're looking at it from further away.
Listen, ladies. You're like, oh man, here it comes.
Listen ladies, you say, oh man, my husband just throws his dirty clothes all over the house.
Every husband does that. I do it. I'm not proud of it, I'm just telling you that I do it.
Oh man, my husband, he works too many hours. You hear the same things over and over.
Oh man, my husband works too many hours. He throws all the clothes on the ground.
Or how about this one, he never fixes stuff around the house.
Good night, do you know how much stuff at my house needs to be fixed right now?
I mean, I can employ a full-time handyman for the next three months fixing stuff around my house.
You know, but ladies get upset about that, and I'm not condoning that.
I'm not saying that I'm right for that. I'm not saying that I'm right to throw stuff on the floor.
I'm just saying that you're not the only one whose husband throws stuff on the floor,
doesn't fix stuff around the house, when it works too much.
And now, for the men. My wife spends too much money.
You know, everybody says that.
And there have been times when I have gotten down on my wife and thought,
my wife is out spending too much money, I can't believe how my wife spends money.
And then I get around somebody else's wife, and I got around somebody else's wife,
and I watched them just spending, I was thinking, my wife would never buy this stuff.
I was like, my wife is great!
I was thanking God for my wife, because I saw somebody else's wife just spending money like madness.
And so you have to understand that there's no temptation taking you, but such is common to man.
Whether you're a woman or a man, it's the same fights that men and women have.
Maybe they're differences from relationship to relationship obviously, but nobody's marriage is perfect.
Every husband throws stuff on the ground.
And then you say, well no, not my husband. My husband doesn't throw stuff.
Yeah, but there's something that he does. You know what I mean?
And there's little things, and if you get irritated by the little things, and get hung up about it,
and then you begin to covet, and you know what, covetousness leads to, that's where you lead to adultery.
Because that's why God mentioned them at the same breath.
Because you begin to wish that you were married to somebody else, the next step is to act on that, and to commit adultery.
You say, well my husband's this, and my wife's this.
Your wife is the wife that God has given you. That's God's will for your life.
You ought to be content and happy. You know, some people wish that they had a wife.
Right? And then you're complaining about your wife. Some people wish they had a husband.
And then you complain about your husband. Some people just wish they had a husband.
You see what I'm saying? And so there's always somebody who's worse off than you.
Be content with such things as you have. Don't worry about it.
Be content with your husband, be content with your wife.
The grass is always green on the other side of the fence.
The point is that people have flaws. And you know, men kind of have a lot of the same flaws.
A lot of women have the same flaws. You say, well I know a woman that doesn't spend.
And you know what? I'm sure you do. I just said my wife is good about not spending.
But the point is that a lot of the same faults... did you know this?
That if somebody gets divorced, they're more than twice as likely to get divorced a second time
as the person who's on their first marriage. Did you know that?
Most people who have been divorced have been divorced twice.
Because they find out that the guy that they married next was worse than the first guy.
They're worse than they were back with the first guy. Or they're worse than they were back with the first wife.
Because the second one's even worse. Because the problem was their covetous heart.
Not their wife. Their husband wasn't the problem. They were the problem.
Because they coveted that which did not belong to them.
And they had this pie in the sky idea that some woman out there was better than her.
I don't believe that there is a woman out there that's better than my wife.
I love the wife that God's given me. I'm not looking over the fence trying,
Well, what's that person's wife like?
And so that's what I have to do about that. Now look down at Romans 7.
We're still defining what covetousness is. It says,
What shall we say then? This is Romans 7 says,
Is the law sin? God forbid.
Nay, I have not known sin but by the law.
For I have not known lust except the law did say, Thou shalt not covet.
So the commandment dealing with lust according to God is covetousness.
Coveting, lusting, desiring, these words are similar.
These words are very much the same. The problem with lust is you're desiring something that's not yours.
You're desiring another woman that's not your wife. That's what lust is. That's what covetousness is.
Now look at 1 Corinthians 12.
And this is the last verse on, the last part where I'm telling you about what covetousness is.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 31.
It's talking about spiritual gifts. The ability to teach, the ability to preach, the ability to lead.
People are given gifts by God. The Bible talks about the gift of speaking with other tongues.
That's something else that's a gift from God. To have the ability to be able to speak another language.
There are some people, no matter how hard they try, they can almost never learn to speak a foreign language.
It's just an ability that they don't have. Other people can pick up foreign languages.
Some people can sit down at the piano and just start playing the piano.
Other people can struggle and try and get lessons and fail to learn the piano.
Because these are gifts that God gives. Some people are gifted in the area of preaching.
Other people have to work hard at it. Some people, no matter how hard they work, will never be able to preach.
And so these are varying degrees of gifts from God.
But look what he says in verse number 31.
But covet, and this is the only time in the entire Bible that God uses the word covet in a positive word.
Everywhere else it's negative.
Covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show as you a more excellent way.
Look at 1 Corinthians 14. Just look at the page. 1 Corinthians 14, 39.
1 Corinthians 14, 39 says,
Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
Let all things be done decently and in order to be seen.
Now wait a minute. If covetousness is desiring that which you cannot have, then why would God be telling us to covet?
Why would coveting be good here? Look at verse 1 of chapter 14.
Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy or preach, is what he's saying.
Now look, if you're a young man who's sitting in the pew right now, and you're saying,
I wish I was the one up there preaching right now. I'm tired of sitting here and listening to Pastor Anderson.
I'd rather be the one up there preaching.
You know, that's a good thought to have, according to the Bible.
God is saying, you ought to desire to prophesy. You ought to want to get up here and preach.
Now, you can't get up here and preach. I won't let you, because I'm preaching tonight,
and so if you try to come up here, I'll physically restrain you.
No, I'm just kidding. You're not going to come up here and preach tonight. You don't have that chance.
But is it wrong for you to want to get up here and preach? No, because God is saying,
He that desireth, 1 Timothy 3 verse 1, he that desireth the office of a bishop, desireth a good word.
God's saying that if you're a man, and you want to be a preacher, and you want to be a pastor,
and you wish you were the pastor, and you wish you were up there preaching, hey, that's a good desire to have.
And even though you can't have it now, someday you could be a preacher, someday you could be a pastor.
And so that's why it's okay for you to wish that you were up here preaching,
because someday you will be up here preaching if that's what you want.
God is saying you can have that. If you want to do it, if you want to be blameless,
you want to be the husband of one life, you want to raise your children and have them in fear and subjection,
then you can get up here and preach, is what He's saying. Someday, that's something that you should desire
and be working toward and want to do. And so there's nothing wrong with that.
So does that help you understand what coexistence is? This is something where you want to do it,
you can't do it, but you can work toward it because it's a godly goal, it's a godly ambition to want to get up and preach.
And to be a pastor. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a preacher.
When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a preacher. When I was an adult, I wanted to be a preacher.
And here I am today, a preacher. So that was a good desire, that was a good ambition that I had,
even though I wasn't able to fulfill it at the time, it was something that I wanted in the future.
But listen, let's say a guy is divorced and he says, I want to be a preacher, I want to be up there pastoring.
That's a bad covetousness because he can't have it, because he's been disqualified.
Now can he preach door to door? Praise God, he can preach the gospel to every preacher.
But is he going to be pastoring a church or is he going to be a preaching deacon in the church?
No he's not, because he's lost that chance.
So then that would be a wrong ambition for him, that would be the sin of coveting and a lack of contentment,
because he wishes he had something that he can't have.
Now look at Ezekiel chapter 33.
Ezekiel 33, those three big books at the end of the Old Testament, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the major prophets.
Look at Ezekiel 33, 31.
This is God talking to Ezekiel and explaining to him why the people that he's preaching to,
they come and listen to him preach, but for some reason they were still living in sin.
Look what he says, it's an interesting verse. This is God talking to Ezekiel.
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people,
and they hear thy words, but they will not do them, for with their mouth they show much love,
but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
So God's saying here that a person can come to a good church, sit there, and listen to good preaching,
Bible preaching, listen to the truth again and again, but if covetousness is in their heart,
they will be disobedient to what the message is that's being preached across the whole.
So what we can learn here is that covetousness, even if you're in the right church, even if you're hearing the truth,
covetousness can cause you to turn a deaf ear to God's preaching and to go out and to go into sin,
to commit adultery, to quit the church, to quit soul winning, to do what you know is wrong because of covetousness in your heart.
He says we'll turn you away from God's commandments.
Look at Mark chapter 7, Matthew, Mark, Mark chapter 7.
Here's Jesus talking about covetousness. He's giving the parable about things going into the belly not being harmful,
but it's actually what comes out of the mouth that's harmful.
And he uses this parable about his disciples not washing their hands before they eat.
Now, I'm often guilty of not washing my hands before I eat,
and I used to quote this verse to my mom when I was about 13 years old.
Honestly, my mom would say, you know, why don't you wash your hands before you eat?
And I'd say, to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man.
And I, you know, I'd quote that to her and she'd get upset because I didn't wash my hands as often as she did.
But here, they didn't wash their hands. Now, is it a good idea to wash your hands before you eat? Sure it is.
Are there some things that you could eat that could make you idle,
or eating with unwashed hands could make you become sick, right?
I mean, if you ate something that was left out on the counter, you could become sick from that.
But what Jesus is saying here is a parable. It's an illustration.
He's saying, why are you so worried about the food that's coming into your mouth
when really what's coming out of your mouth is what's the most destructive and defileth?
And so he says here in verse number 18, and he says unto them,
Are you so without understanding also?
If you cannot perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth command, it cannot defile them,
because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly and goeth out into the draft,
purging all meats. And he said, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
So he's explaining here that what comes into your physical body cannot reach the soul.
It cannot reach the heart. He's saying, somebody could cram something down your throat or poison you.
All they can do is kill the body. All that something bad that you eat can do is hurt your body.
But he's saying, what comes out of your mouth can actually defile your soul, your heart.
And he's saying that the heart is more important and more critical than the body.
And he says here, For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, theft, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, mischievousness,
an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things.
So covetousness according to that is an evil thing.
All these evil things come from within and defile the man.
So covetousness is something that's evil. Evil means what? Destructive, harmful.
We've talked about that recently in a few different sermons.
Destructive, harmful things that can come out of your mouth.
And by the way, according to Jesus, what comes out of your mouth, according to this parable, comes out of your heart.
Now what goes into your mouth doesn't go into your heart, it just goes into your stomach.
But what comes out of your mouth comes out of your heart.
And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth's feet, the Bible says.
And so what people say shows what's in their heart.
And when people have covetousness in their heart, they're going to begin to speak covetousness.
People are going to begin to talk about all the things that they want, and the money,
and talk about cars and houses and boats and things that they can't, that they wish that they had.
And then they begin to defile others.
They begin to harm others by dragging other people into their covetous way of life.
Don't find yourself falling into the trap of talking about things, things, things that you want.
That's defiling others, it's defiling yourself.
Luke 12 15, Jesus said, you ought to turn that.
He said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness,
for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of pains which he possesses.
Covetousness can lead you to a mentality and a way of life where your life becomes nothing but things.
And covetousness starts out just a thought in your mind,
but eventually you get to the point where your whole life,
how would you like your whole life to consist of what you own?
Think about what a sad life.
I mean, what a sad life if all you care about, all you talk about,
all you live for is things that you can't take with you anyway.
I mean, if all your life is about is money and things and cars and boats and recreation,
that's a very sad and shallow existence.
And God is saying that you must beware of covetousness,
because when you allow covetousness to creep in,
it will lead you to a point where things will become your life.
That's why He said beware of covetousness so that your life, He's saying,
doesn't become a life where it's just all about things that you can possess.
It's all about how much you can give.
And the Bible says, He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.
I mean, if you want things, if things is where you get your kicks,
buying things, if you get your enjoyment out of going to the store and buying something,
you will never be satisfied by that.
You're just going to want more and want more and want more.
You think Donald Trump is satisfied with the money that he has?
He's not. He wants more. More, more, more, more, more.
And that's what every person who has covetousness wants.
Psalm 119, 36, don't turn there.
Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
See, there's a contrast.
Is your heart inclined toward God's word,
or is your heart inclined on the things of this world?
Desire in other people's property, covetousness.
Exodus 18, 21, you turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 6.
Exodus 18, 21 says this.
This is God speaking to Moses, or actually it's his father-in-law speaking to Moses,
but later God reiterates this and it was God's will.
God was using Moses' father-in-law to give him some good advice here in Exodus 18.
But it says in Exodus 18, 21,
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, rulers of...
So here is a system of government being set up in the nation of Israel,
and God said that a leader must hate covetousness.
A ruler of ten, fifty, a hundred thousand needs to hate covetousness.
God said people who fear God in that verse hate covetousness.
So covetousness is something we should actually hate.
We should hate covetousness, and we're going to see that in 1 Timothy 6.
Our leaders today should hate covetousness.
Politicians, I'm saying.
They shouldn't be in it for a buck.
They shouldn't be trying to take donations and money from people and that's influencing their legislation.
But look at 1 Timothy 6.
The Bible says in verse 6,
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
So there's contentment. Look at verse 10.
For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after,
they have heard from the faith and pierced themselves through with many stars.
So the love of money is coveting money, is what he's saying.
And when you're not content with what you have and you covet money, that is the root of all evil.
Covetousness.
So really covetousness, in a way here, is the root of all evil.
Because he says, the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have heard from the faith.
So covetousness is a major deal here.
It's not a minor sin.
You can brush it off and say, well, it's just a bad thought.
But yet, God says, you need to clear out that thought.
You need to change your attitude.
You say, well, how do I stop myself from thinking away?
I mean, can I control the thoughts that just come into my head?
I mean, can I control it if a thought comes into my mind?
I mean, can I control what I want or what I crave?
Well, the way that you control it, and let me ask you this.
If you can't control it, then why did Paul say, I have learned in whatsoever state I am.
Therewith to be content.
This is something that you can practice.
This is something that you can work toward getting out of your life.
You work toward it, not maybe by eradicating the covetousness, as much as working toward being content.
Learning in whatsoever state you are, therewith to be content.
Learning what it means to be thankful for what you have.
Because that's what leads to contentment.
When you're thankful and grateful to thank God for the house that I live in.
This is a sturdy house.
It's big enough for my family.
It's comfortable.
It's heated in the winter.
It's cold in the summer.
Thank God I live in comfort.
Others are out in the cold, and I'm going to thank God for my house.
That's going to help you not to drive around looking at other people's house, wishing you had their house.
Being thankful and saying, thank God for my wife.
Thank God for all the positive things I can list about her.
That's going to help me not to just constantly be looking to someone else's wife.
If you're a woman, thank God for the good things about my husband.
What he does do right.
He does work hard.
He does pay the bills.
He does put the clothes in the hamper.
And if your husband puts his clothes in the hamper, you ought to be thankful for that.
That's like one in a million.
And so you ought to be thankful for all the good things.
List off.
Dwell on the good things.
Dwell on what you like about your car.
Dwell on what you like about your house, your car.
Dwell on what you like about your spouse.
Think about what you like about this church.
Maybe there's something you don't like about this church.
Think about all the things you love about this church.
There's a lot to like about 54 Baptist Church.
Now there could be some things that I don't know what you don't like about it.
I don't know what your problem is.
But if you sat down and thought about it, you could probably think of some things you don't like about our church.
But you know what? Don't sit down and think about it.
Sit down and think about all the things that you do like about it.
And then you'll be thankful for it.
And you'll be happy about it.
And you'll thank God that you have this church to go to.
That you have the car that you have.
That you have the house that you have.
That you have the spouse that you have.
Thank God for your kids.
Think about the good things.
And if you dwell on that which is good,
what sort of things are true?
What sort of things are honest?
What sort of things are pure?
What sort of things are lovely?
If there will be any good report, if there will be any praise, think on these things.
And by the way, did you know that that's the exact same chapter, three verses later,
he says, I've learned to be content.
So how did he learn to be content?
He said, by thinking about things that are of good report and things that are of praise,
he said a couple of verses later, hey, I've learned to be content.
Because I dwell on the positive things about my life.
I don't dwell on...
And look, if I sat down and thought about it, I could think of a lot of bad things about my life.
And if I sit around and dwell on those things, I will become covetousness
because somebody else has it better than me.
Or I could be thankful, praising God, praising the things in my life that are good,
praising my wife, praising my children, praising my house, and say, these things are good.
God gave them to me.
God's good.
God's taking care of me.
That's going to help you to be content.
So yes, you can learn to be content and you can get covetousness out of your mind.
Just like you can get rid of any other sin.
You're not going to be perfect, but what I'm saying is you can become a content person.
And if you're covetous right now, you can correct that
by dwelling on the things that are positive about your situation.
Now I talked about in Exodus 18 hating covetousness.
He said in 1 Timothy 6-11, in 6-10 he talked about covetousness.
Look at verse 11.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things.
He's saying you need to run away from covetousness.
You need to hate it, disdain it, get away from it,
run screaming in the other direction, and follow after righteousness.
Godliness, faith, love, patience, weakness.
You know what that means?
Don't turn on radio programs that are all about acquiring wealth.
Are you listening to me?
Because are you really fleeing covetousness when you're listening to somebody on the radio
who's just, their whole life is about money,
their whole life is about things,
their whole life is finances,
and do you think that listening to that radio show on a daily basis
is going to help you become content with what you have?
I mean, can you honestly say, what's the guy who has the radio show about this?
Does anybody know there's some radio show and it's all about,
something about Ramsey?
David Ramsey or something?
I don't know, I've never even, I've never listened to him.
But, you know, people have told me about it.
I saw billboards about it, you know.
It's finances.
He just talks finance, talks finance.
And it's all about money, money, money.
Now look, there's a time to learn about money, you know,
and you ought to be smart about your money.
Don't waste money.
Be smart.
Have a budget.
Budget your money.
Be frugal.
Be thrifty.
Don't waste.
Work hard.
Budget.
You know, great.
But I'm going to tell you something.
If that's your entertainment,
you know, you need to change something about your heart.
It's just fun for you to just listen to that all day.
Now, look, do you understand what I'm saying?
Like, if you're supposed to flee covetousness,
flee the love of money,
and yet you've got tickets to the Donald Trump seminar in your town?
Or Mr. Kiyosoto or whatever that guy's name is
that's like Donald Trump's helper?
You know, if you're going to the Kiyosoto wealth seminar this weekend,
if you just ordered a package of DVDs and CDs on creating wealth
and that's what you're listening to,
you're not fleeing covetousness.
You're not fleeing the love of money.
You're embracing it.
You're saying, let me listen to somebody teach me how to be covered.
Listen.
And by the way, Amway is wicked.
I'll just come right out and say that.
Amway is a wicked organization
because they teach people to love money and to covet what others have.
It's part of their program.
You say, what do you have against Amway?
The Amway meetings promote the love of money
and they promote covetousness.
And they promote, it's all about me, selfish type of principles.
Now, I'm going to close with this one story.
Turn to Joshua chapter 7 and we're going to look at this Bible story.
And I'm going to close with this.
But in Colossians 3, 5, while you're turning to Joshua 7,
the Bible, we read this earlier,
mortifies their four-year members which are upon the earth
and we're talking about dying in stealth,
fornication, uncleanness, inorganic affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
So, again, that's a major thing there that he's listing about
something that needs to die in you, covetousness,
your desire for things that you don't have.
Ephesians 5, 3, the fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness,
let it not be once named among you as become a saint.
He's saying, God forbid that somebody in your church is covetous.
I hope it never even pops up in your church.
I hope it's not even named among you,
that there's one among you who's covetous.
Did you know that in 1 Corinthians chapter 5,
when God said to throw out the young man out of the church
who was fornicating with his father's wife, his stepmother,
that it was told that if any man is called a brother,
be a railer or a drunkard or a fornicator or an extortioner or an idolater.
One of the things that's listed there is covetousness in that same list.
That you shouldn't even be around Christians who are covetous, he said.
Not even to eat with them. That's pretty major.
Now, look down at the story. This is Joshua 7.
Let me quickly explain the story.
Of course, the children of Israel have crossed into the promised land.
Their first battle is at Jericho.
God miraculously brings the walls tumbling down.
They have a great victory by storming Jericho.
They win the battle. They're praising God.
Almost every great victory in your life is followed by defeat many times.
This is the way life is, all throughout the Bible.
There's a great victory, often preface is a great defeat.
And so, here they are. They finish the first battle.
They say, oh man, the next battle is going to be a piece of cake.
A.I. Tiny city.
Jericho was this big walled fortress. A.I. is nothing.
They said, let's just send a few thousand people.
This is going to be a walk in the park. It's going to be nothing.
And what happens? They get defeated and discomfited before A.I.
And 36 men die in this battle.
And they're running away, embarrassed, ashamed.
And now, you know what momentum is?
I mean, when you win the first battle, the whole dread of them was on the whole nation.
I mean, everybody's thinking, wow, these people defeated Jericho.
What's going to happen?
But then they lose a battle with A.I.
That's going to embolden the enemy.
Because now they've lost that momentum.
Now people are thinking, good night, A.I. defeated them.
Maybe these people aren't so tough.
Well, Joshua was shocked by this.
He falls on his face before God and says, God, what are people going to think?
Our enemies are going to environ us around the battle
because they see us fleeing before our enemies.
What are they going to think of you, God? Did you bring us here to lose?
But God says to Joshua, get up off your face.
He says, there's sin in the camp.
Now this is where Joshua faces up with Achan,
who's the sinner that caused them to lose this battle.
Watch what happened in verse 19.
Joshua said unto Achan,
My son, give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel,
and make confession unto him,
and tell me now what thou hast done.
Hide it not from me.
He's saying, look, God has told me that your sin is the reason why we lost.
Tell me what you've done.
Just confess it to God.
Just tell us all what wicked thing,
I mean, what wicked thing must he have done
to cause the death of 36 people?
I mean, to cause them to lose the battle.
And Achan answered Joshua and said,
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, hand-naked, 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 in the silver room.
God has specifically told them
that this spoil that they would receive did not belong to them,
that they could not touch it.
You know, you read that earlier in the book of Joshua.
He said, don't touch it.
Don't take anything.
It doesn't belong to you.
You can't have it.
Other battles they were allowed to.
In the A.I., in all the F.C., they were allowed to.
But the first battle,
that stuff was supposed to be consecrated to the Lord
in this battle of Jericho.
Later on, they were allowed to take whatever they wanted.
But this man, this is the progression.
I saw, I coveted, I took.
That was his downward spiral.
First he saw it, then he coveted it,
and then he took it and stole it.
And because he stole it,
I mean, this is a pretty huge robbery here.
I mean, did you read all the stuff that he took?
A wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight?
Come on, man.
You know how much a shekel is, but I don't know.
But it's a lot of gold.
It sounds like a lot.
I don't know.
Maybe it's just as much as fits in your hand.
It sounds like a lot of gold.
I don't know.
Man, 50 shekels weight?
Good night.
Now, I don't know.
I guess you could carry it.
Gold's pretty heavy.
But still, I mean, he took a Babylonish garment.
Why does he want to wear the world's clothes?
But he's coveting the worldly clothing.
He's coveting their money.
He wants 200 shekels of silver.
How much that is.
And he says, behold, they're hid in the earth in the midst of my tent in the silver.
And he knew what he did was wrong.
That's why he's hiding it.
That's why he's burying it so that nobody else can see it.
So because of covetousness in his heart, lusting after gold and silver and fancy, worldly clothing,
this led him to steal.
And through stealing what belonged to God.
See, stealing what belongs to God is even worse than stealing what belongs to man.
I mean, I can see stealing from man is a sin.
But good night, the last person you want to steal from is God.
I mean, you steal from God, and look what happened when he stole.
Look what happened when Ananias lied to God.
You know, I mean, we lie to each other, unfortunately, as human beings.
And it's wrong, it's a sin, and we ought not, but there are times when we lie.
But you know what, when you lie to God, that's when God is really angry.
Ananias and Sapphira lied to God.
And they said that they sold the land for so much.
They wanted to claim that they gained everything that they sold the land for.
In reality, they were keeping back part of it, but they wanted to get the glory.
But we sold the land, and we gave it all to God.
And by lying to the Holy Ghost, God killed Ananias and Sapphira.
Here, in Joshua 7, God kills Achan.
And 36 other people die as a result of this sin.
Because of covetousness.
Because of stealing from God.
And so he says here, look what happens in verse 22.
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent.
And behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver on it.
So they go and check, and sure enough, just like he said, it's all there.
And they took out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua,
and unto all that took them Israel, laid them out before the Lord.
And Joshua and all Israel went with him, I'm sorry, with him,
took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment,
and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters,
and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent,
and all that he had.
And they brought them unto the valley of Achor,
and Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us?
The Lord shall trouble thee this day, and all Israel stoned them with stones,
and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day,
so the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.
Did you see that statement?
The Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.
Wherefore the name of that place was called the valley of Achor unto this day.
God was extremely angry about this.
Look, God's causing them to win all these battles.
He makes the walls fall down.
They run into Jericho, the battle is just given to them,
and then they sit there and steal what belongs to God.
I mean, that's pretty bad.
And so God turned from the fierceness of his anger,
when Achan and all that pertained unto him were stoned and burned up,
and Achan was buried with his wedge of gold.
He was buried with his battle on his garment.
He was buried with his 200 shekels of silver.
And this is a lesson to us today to beware of covetousness.
Because the first thing was, he saw it.
I mean, could he really help the fact that he saw it?
But you know what, you can help the fact of some of the things that you see.
Because when you turn on the TV, you're going to see women who are indecently dressed.
The next step will be covetousness.
You're going to see all the advertising, and forget the scantily clad women.
You're going to see the advertiser telling you,
you've got to have this car, you've got to have this house, you need to have these things.
And let's face it, TV is commercialism.
I mean, it's pushing the stealth in.
What's the purpose of TV?
Is TV like a free public service that they do?
Who pays all these millions of dollars to these actors?
They just have this desire to give you entertainment.
They just really want to improve the quality of their life with some good entertainment.
No, the purpose is to sell products.
The purpose of the TV show is to sell the products at a commercial break.
To get you watching so that they can sell you something.
And so TV, by nature, is promoting products and trying to get you to want things that you don't have.
Some of which you can't afford.
Some of us need to tighten the belt a little more and not just spend, spend, spend.
But the TV is promoting covetousness.
But you know, there are a lot of times when we see things and we can't help it.
You see something, you can't help it.
But you ought to let it stop there and not move on to covetousness.
Because the next step after covetousness is, I took.
You're going to start stealing.
Oh, I would never steal.
You know, you could get dishonest on your timesheet at work.
That's stealing.
You could start to, you could begin to cheat on your taxes.
That's stealing.
It hurts to even say that, but it's true.
You know, you could begin to become dishonest in your financial dealings, which is stealing.
You could do a number of things.
Besides, I'm not just saying that you necessarily have to go to the gas station and start stuffing stuff in your pocket.
You could be stealing.
How about this?
You could begin to not tithe, which is stealing.
Why?
Because you don't think that the 90% of what you make is enough.
You don't think God's given you enough.
So you feel like you need to tap into what God has not given you in order to get by, in order to make it.
I have a funny feeling that everybody can survive, even if they're dying.
You know what I mean?
Your body's still going to be able to eat and have clothing.
Now, you may not live in as nice of a house or have as nice of a car because you're giving 10% of what you make to God and to the Lord.
But, you know what?
The only reason why people don't tithe is maybe they just don't know to tithe.
Maybe they've just never been taught from the Bible.
But if they've been taught to tithe and they know that that's what the Bible says and believe that, if they don't tithe, it's really because of covetousness.
Really, when you take something that's not yours, it's covetousness that led to that.
So, if you're not titled, you're covetous.
If you are covetous, you may begin to, you may quit tithing.
You may become a thief on the job.
You may begin to cheat and move things around and cook the books or whatever.
And so beware of covetousness because covetousness is, yes, it's a minor sin.
At first, maybe it's just a thought in the mind, but covetousness becomes a very, very major sin.
It'll defile the whole body, God said.
It'll defile the people around you.
It'll harm others.
And it will reduce you to almost like an animal where it just, it's all about things that you can possess, which is really, it's almost like an animal.
Just whatever is good for me or that feels good, it turns you into just living in the flesh only.
It'll turn you into somebody who can come to church, hear all the preaching, and it goes in one ear and out the other because it covetousness.
Just like an Ezekiel's did.
This is what covetousness can do to you.
So flee covetousness.
Hate covetousness is what God said.
Let's bow our heads in that Word prayer.
Father, covetousness is something that we've probably been ingrained with in our society.