The reason I wanted to read Deuteronomy chapter 5 is because we have a...
Well, what did you hear there? You heard the Ten Commandments once again.
You know, commonly when we turn to the Book of the Ten,
to read about the Ten Commandments,
we go to Exodus chapter 20.
Well, it's again repeated for us in the Book of Deuteronomy.
And let's have a look at Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 21.
It says,
Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife,
neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house.
We learned that covetousness and desire is one and the same thing there.
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.
And as I told you, we're up to our final commandment, commandment number 10,
Thou shalt not covet.
And it is a retelling of the Ten Commandments, okay?
So, the first telling in Exodus chapter 20,
is when Israel comes out of Egypt,
and then Moses goes up to Mount Sinai,
he receives the Ten Commandments of the Lord,
he comes down and he presents it to the children of Israel.
And they all agree to basically come into this new covenant of the Lord.
Well, you know what happens, you know,
as the Lord was leading them into the promised land,
they rebelled, they were afraid of the so-called giants of the land,
and they were forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
And those that were over 20 years old would perish in the wilderness,
and the next generation would be the ones that would go into the promised land.
So, when we get to Deuteronomy chapter 5, we're now up to,
we're past those 40 years, you know,
God is preparing this new generation to go into the promised land.
And so, once again, Moses is retelling,
or, you know, the book of Deuteronomy is all about telling this new generation,
as they prepare themselves to go into the promised land,
all these great commandments, these laws that God has given to the children of Israel,
and chapter 5, of course, is a retelling of the Ten Commandments.
Now, the reason that the book is called Deuteronomy,
well, you know, kind of like the word duet,
when we think of the word duet in English,
that means two singers, two people singing a song.
The word Deuteronomy actually comes from Greek, all right?
And deuteros, maybe, brother, Les, you can correct me if I'm wrong,
deuteros means is Greek for second, or two, deuteros.
And the word nomos, Deuteronomy, nomos, is the Greek word for law, okay?
So, it's a retelling, it's a second telling of the law that is given to Moses,
to the children of Israel, as they get prepared to go into the new promised land.
Now, I'm going to get you to, we're going to turn away from there from Deuteronomy chapter 5,
please turn to Exodus chapter 18.
Turn to Exodus chapter 18.
So, as I said to you, the title for the sermon tonight is Thou Shall Not Covet.
We're up to the final commandments, the final sermon of this series on the Ten Commandments.
Exodus chapter 18.
Now, you may recall the story when Moses had led Israel out of Egypt.
Obviously, it's a large nation, you know, it's estimated there might have been 2 million, 3 million people that made up this nation.
And, of course, when you've got a large sum of people, and you've got to interact with people,
there are conflicts, there are problems that arise, and you've got this entire nation trying to get the ear of Moses.
You know, they're coming to Moses with their problems, with their concerns, and Moses is being overwhelmed with this.
So, his father-in-law steps in and instructs Moses, look, you can't be the only one that hears all the issues.
You've got to have people under you, and you've got to have people under them, and people under them, et cetera, et cetera,
so that issues get sorted at a lower level, and only the major issues, which others can't sort out, will they be brought up to you.
And so, I just want you to notice here what Moses' father-in-law says in verse number 19, Exodus chapter 18, verse number 19.
He says, Harken now unto my voice, so he speaks to Moses, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee.
Be thou for the people to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God,
and thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
So, this is talking about the supervisors, the people that are under Moses.
He's telling, look, Moses instruct these people God's laws, teach them God's way, so they can pass right judgment, okay?
Let's keep going there for verse number 21.
Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness,
hating covetousness, and place such of them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
So that way, yeah, if you've got one man that's ruling over ten, okay, he's the authority, and there's a problem within those ten,
then that man is able to sort out that issue, and if he can't, then he gets passed on to the one that rules over fifties, et cetera, et cetera.
So hopefully it limits, I mean, that would definitely limit how many problems and issues come to Moses.
But when Moses is being instructed to search out which men are going to be the men that will be good in authority,
that will pass righteous judgment, that will be fair and God-fearing, it's men that hate covetousness.
And you know, I think when it comes to covetousness, it's a sin that we've definitely all committed, it's a sin you've probably committed today.
You know, it is so easy to covet things that belong to others.
If you can please turn to Psalm chapter 10, turn to Psalm chapter 10 and verse number 3.
Psalm chapter 10 and verse number 3. Isn't it just so easy to covet, to desire things that belong to other people,
things that do not belong to yourself. Why? Because we live in a society where we're bombarded with advertisement.
We're bombarded with, you know, this idea that, you know, you need to have the next great thing.
And if you can't afford to have the next great thing, somebody else does. You know, you start to desire that.
You know, I remember when I was a kid, you know, I've mentioned this before, when I was in school and, you know, back then,
you know, I don't know, maybe it's the same thing today, but, you know, it really mattered what brand of shoes you wore.
You know, you wanted to make sure you had the Reeboks or you had the Nikes and because of Michael Jordan,
because of basketball and the heights of basketball in the 90s, everyone wanted the Reebok pumps.
You guys remember the Reebok pumps? Who remembers the Reebok pumps?
That was awesome. You pumped them out. Did it tighten the shoe if you pumped it? I can't even remember what it was.
But anyway, it was a shoe that everybody had to have and when you had a kid or a couple of kids in school having those Reebok pumps,
it was like, man, I want those shoes. It's covetousness. It's these iron things that belongs to others.
It's such an easy sin to commit. But I just want to show you just how serious this sin is here in Psalm chapter 10, verse number 3.
Psalm chapter 10, verse number 3, it says,
For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire and blesseth the covetous.
Hey, who loves the covetous? Who blesses the covetous? The wicked.
But then it says this,
Whom the Lord abhorreth. Who does the Lord abhor? The covetous.
What does the word abhor mean? It means to hate, but it means to exceedingly hate.
You know, God hates the covetous. It seems like such a basic sin.
Oh, Reebok pumps. Whatever it is, I wish I had what they have.
Oh, it's got such a nice car. I wish I had that car myself.
God hates it. God hates the sin. God hates those that give in to this desire, this sin, this sin of covetousness.
Whom the Lord abhorreth.
And I'll just read to you another passage in Romans chapter 7, verse 7. You don't need to turn there.
It says, What shall we say then? These are the words of Paul, the Apostle Paul.
Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law.
For I had not known lust.
The Apostle Paul says, look, I didn't even know what lust was.
You know, I didn't even know that I lusted for certain things.
He goes, For I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
So once Paul read man, the Bible says thou shalt not covet, man, I realize this is lust.
I've been given into my lusts. He says, I've been covetous.
The laws of God are there so they can point out our flaws, our failures.
Sometimes we don't even realize certain things are sins.
God, such a nice car. I wish I had that. Is that a sin? Yeah, it is. It's covetousness.
It's lust. Okay?
So we've seen before when we looked at Romans chapter 5, desire can sometimes be.
You know, if you desire something good though, it's obviously not covetousness.
But obviously if you desire things that do not belong to you, desire things that are wicked,
desire things that belong to others, that's covetousness. And we found that lust.
If you're lusting over certain things, that all falls under the umbrella of covetousness.
These words can be used interchangeably. Alright?
So you may not always find a passage in the Bible as you're reading it that mentions covetousness,
but if it mentions lust or desire for things that does not belong to that individual,
obviously that would fall under the umbrella of thou shalt not covet.
Alright. Now, sorry, I should have told you to stay back there if you can.
Please go back to Deuteronomy chapter 5. Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse number 21.
Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse number 21.
So obviously covetous, covetent is not a word we use in our common English vernacular.
And of course we use the words lust or desire. Alright?
But what is that again, that way we should not be lusting for?
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse number 21. It says,
Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife.
It doesn't say there's anything wrong with wanting to have a wife.
Like if you're a single man or a single lady and you don't want to get married one day,
it's not wrong. It's not sinful. I mean, that's God's plan for us to get married and have families.
You know, but it says,
That shalt not desire thy neighbor's wife, a woman that belongs to another man,
or a man, a husband that belongs to another woman.
Neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house.
Once again, is there anything wrong with having a house, buying a house and trying to find a place to live?
Of course not.
But if you're looking at your neighbor and going, Man, I want his house!
Hey, that's covetousness. Okay?
Then it says,
His field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, his ass, or anything that is thy neighbor's.
So brethren, there's nothing wrong with having a donkey,
nothing wrong with having an ox,
nothing wrong with having a house,
nothing wrong with having a wife,
nothing wrong with having servants if that's something you can afford.
Nothing wrong with these things of themselves.
But what is covetousness?
It's desire in things that belong to others.
It belongs to your neighbor, it belongs to your friend,
it belongs to your siblings, it belongs to others.
And you want that that belongs to others.
That is covetousness.
So I don't want you to ever feel that, Man, I want to get married one day,
and I'd like to have a house that we can live in,
and I'd like to have my tools and a car that I can get to work.
Those things are not covetousness.
Like, you need these things,
but if you desire in things that belong to others,
that's where the lust, the desire, things that do not belong to you,
the covetousness that comes in,
that's where the sin is.
That's the sinful issue, okay?
Desiring or lusting for things that belongs to another.
Now what we're going to do for the rest of the sermon
is because the Bible does a good job of breaking these things down for us, okay?
Deuteronomy 5 verse 21,
knowledge that I desire thy neighbour's wife.
So we'll do the same thing.
We'll break it down as we keep going to this issue.
So first thing we'll look at is the issue of your neighbour's wife, okay?
Please turn to Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews chapter 13.
And, brethren, if you know, you know,
if you're somebody and, you know, you're single,
you're trying to find, you know, someone to get married to,
and you find out, Man, this individual's married,
you know, they are not to be touched.
You know, you shouldn't even consider, you know,
Oh, man, I wish I could have that person.
They're taken.
They've committed themselves to someone else.
They've made marriage vows to death do us part.
You know, your eyes should not drift and start imagining
what would it be like to be with that person.
That's it. It's done, okay?
You may have had, like, some crush or something in your high school
for some girl or whatever it is,
and you find out later she's married.
Forget about it, you know?
You can't, you know, think about that woman potentially being your wife.
She's done. She's given to another man.
We're not to desire the spouse of another person.
Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 4, please.
Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 4.
The Bible says marriage is honourable in all.
You know, marriage is honourable, okay, in all,
and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Reverend, you're not going to get away with community fornication,
you know, giving yourself out as a whore or a whoremonger.
You're not going to get away by community adultery
on another man's wife or another man's husband.
God will judge you.
God will make sure that you receive a great chastisement for that kind of sin.
Why? Because marriage is honourable.
God created it.
As soon as he created Adam and Eve on day number 6,
he also created marriage.
One man, one wife for life, okay?
That's what marriage is.
And that's brought up in verse number 4 because look at verse number 5.
It says, let your conversation, that's your lifestyle, that's your behaviour,
let your conversation be without covetousness.
You see, when you desire adultery,
you desire someone that belongs to another person
or, you know, you don't want the marriage
and you want to just commit fornication
and take this person and that person, try before you buy.
Reverend, the Bible says this is covetousness.
Let your conversation be without covetousness.
Then it says, and be content.
And, brethren, that is the opposite of covetousness.
Desire what belongs to others.
What's the answer? What's the solution? What's the opposite?
Be content.
This is a major component to overcoming this sin.
Be content with such things as ye have.
Be happy with what God has given you.
If you're married, be happy with the husband
or the wife that God has given you.
You know, be content.
If you live in a house, be happy with the house that you have.
If God's given you a job, be happy with the job that God has given you.
Don't go, oh man, I wish I had this, I wish I had that.
Be content.
Because if you're not content, brethren, you're going to be covetousness.
You're going to covet things that belong to others.
And we saw that God upholds it.
You know, God hates it.
You know, He gives us so much.
You know, instead of being grateful and happy with what God has given us,
I wish I had something else.
You know, human beings are almost like never happy.
They always want more.
They always want what others have.
Learn to be content.
You know, there's been areas in my life, you know,
especially I'd say my 20s, maybe my early 30s,
where I coveted certain things.
You know, and I realized, man, this is a sin.
This is an issue.
You know, I shouldn't really want these things.
And then I realized, man, you know what, contentment.
And I just prayed to God and said, God, please make me content.
Please make me satisfied.
Please make me happy with what I have.
And, brethren, it took a little bit of time.
It took a little bit of effort.
You know, a bit of, you know, relying upon the Lord's strength.
But, brethren, I'm so content now.
And it's like when I was content
and I found joy in what God has given me.
God's given me more.
I was like, wow, wow.
You know, it's almost like, man, I wish I had more,
but then God gives it to me.
Once you are content, I mean, why would God give you things
when you're covetous and you're complaining about what you have?
You know, once you learn to be satisfied with what God gives you,
then he gives you a little bit more.
You know, find contentment in that.
Then he gives you a little bit more.
And find contentment in that.
Then he gives you a little bit more.
That's how God operates.
God is pleased when he finds that we're content with what he's given us.
Okay?
It said there, let's read verse number five again.
Let your conversation be without covetousness
and be content with such things as ye have.
For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Can you be content enough with that?
That God has said to you, I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee?
Man, if you find contentment in that,
man, God will never leave my side.
It doesn't matter what problems I go through.
It doesn't matter how downtrodden I am.
It doesn't matter if I lose everything in this world
and I'm hopeless and I'm just serving God and everyone hates me.
And if you find contentment that God will never leave you nor forsake you,
then brethren, you're going to be happy in life.
Because you've got God at your side.
And yes, God has promised us to never leave us, nor forsake us.
He knows what we need.
He also knows what we don't need.
Many times we might be desiring things
and God says, nope, you shouldn't have that
because you've just become a worse person.
You've just become spoiled.
You've become full of pride, whatever it is.
Many times God will hold things back from us
just to protect us, to keep us pure,
to keep us content with the presence of God in our lives.
But brethren, the key point that I want you to take away
because we are going to move on to other topics here,
but the key point I want you to take away,
if you have a problem with covetousness,
whether it's your neighbour's wife or some other issue,
the answer is to find contentment in where you are.
And you know what? It's a good thing to desire to get married,
but if you're single and that's your situation right now,
find contentment in being single.
And you know what? Once you find contentment,
then God will start giving you what you're looking for.
God will help you find cross paths with those that
may be future spouse potentials, things like that.
Alright, can you please turn to Matthew chapter 5.
Please turn to Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 27.
Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 27.
I'm not going to teach too much on this topic about
coveting or desiring your neighbour's wife because,
you know, one of the commandments that we already covered
was thou shalt not commit adultery.
So I've already kind of covered that topic in quite a lot of depth.
But just as a reminder here, in Matthew chapter 5 verse number 27,
these are the words of Christ.
And ye have heard that it was said of them of old time,
thou shalt not commit adultery.
But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust.
What did the Apostle Paul say about lust?
He found out that lust, he found out this is a sin
because the Bible says thou shalt not covet.
So what we're looking at in verse number 28 is covetousness.
It all builds up from this. It says in verse number 28,
but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her
have committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And so brethren, we've got to be careful.
We've got to be careful not just in what we do,
as we go about seeking the things that we might covet after,
but also what dwells in our hearts, what dwells in our minds.
You know, covetousness is very much a sin that operates within us.
And people don't see it. People don't know it, okay?
It's something that operates within our minds, within our hearts.
These aren't things that belong to others.
Can you please turn to Hebrews chapter 11 now.
Hebrews chapter 11.
The next thing that was mentioned in the commandment was,
after the neighbour's wife in Deuteronomy chapter 5,
it was thy neighbour's house.
Actually, when you read the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 20,
it's got it the other way around.
It's got the house first and then the wife, okay?
But we should not covet our neighbour's house.
And I think this is really relevant to us today
because there's another housing bubble, another housing boom.
I mean, houses, I don't know how people can even afford a house these days.
I mean, I have no idea.
I mean, I just recently purchased a house myself just this last year, okay?
I mean, it's just things are so expensive, so expensive.
And, you know, I remember as a young man,
and look, house prices were so much lower back then, okay?
But I just remember as a young man this pressure in owning a house,
being a homeowner, okay?
And I found myself a part of my life where I was recently married.
We did not own our house.
And, you know what, part of the reason why we delayed our marriage for so long
was I wanted to buy a house.
I wanted to make sure I had an income where I could actually borrow money
and buy a house and this delayed our marriage plans.
And eventually I said, you know what, forget about it.
I feel like maybe this is something that God does not want to give me
at this point in my life.
You know what, and I've got to get married, you know?
The Lord's found me a wife, I've got a job I can provide for her.
You know, we'll just rent.
And we rented a little granny flat, which wasn't a granny flat,
it was like a shed.
I mean, we literally live in a shed, right?
In summer it was too hot, in winter it was too cold,
and we were paying $150 a week for that.
You know, I think it was, yeah, it was $150 a week for this little shed.
But you know what, I was happy because I was married.
I was happy because I was married.
And think about Adam and Eve, you know, the first day they're married,
they're married, all right?
But you know, we have this sort of pressure in Australia
to go and buy a house, and again I said,
there's nothing wrong with buying a house in and of itself.
There's nothing wrong with making sure you've got a roof over your head
and having that to be yours.
But you know, sometimes God will restrict that from us,
you know, so we can find contentment in the situation that we're in.
It's so easy to covet a house
when maybe God does not want that for you in this time in your life, okay?
It might be something God has planned for you sometime in the future.
And it's easy to covet our neighbour's house.
Even once you own a house, you have your own house,
you might check your neighbour and go, man, what is he doing?
He's been on a double storey in his house.
Man, you know, my land is only like 700 square metres,
my neighbour's land is like 1,000 square metres.
Man, I kind of wish I had that one over there.
You know, it just never ends, brethren, it never ends.
And then you've got the guy with the double storey house
and the big land and he looks at another house and he thinks,
you know, man, but the house is near the beach.
You know, I'm here stuck in the suburbs, that one's near the beach.
You know, that one's got a sea view and then they covet in that house.
You know, it just never ends if you don't find contentment.
You know, I promise you this, if you covet
and you get the things you covet it after,
you're still not going to be content.
Be content with what you have now
and let God give you a little bit at a time, okay?
And I'm just reminded here in Hebrews chapter 11 verse number 9,
Hebrews chapter 11 verse number 9, speaking about Abraham,
I love this passage so much.
It says, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise.
Now, this is what's really interesting.
God promised Abraham this land, the land of Canaan.
We see as we got to Deuteronomy chapter 5,
finally the nation's going to come and take that land, all right?
But God promised Abraham this land, okay?
But then it says, as in a strange country,
dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, okay?
So, Abraham did not desire to set up like a building.
He did not desire to set up a permanent place
even in the land that God had promised him, okay?
Isaac, his son, Jacob, his grandsons, you know, grandson.
It says, the heirs with him of the same promise.
And then I love verse 10, for, this is why,
this is why Abraham never got settled,
he got never established in this land of promise,
for he looked for a city which had foundations,
whose builder and maker is God.
That's why. You know what?
Abraham looked at all the construction companies in the land of Canaan
and go, you know what? Nah.
If I hire them, you know, they're going to do a shonky job.
And if I hire them, they're not going to tile the house the way I want.
If I hire that guy, you know, his plumbers,
they're going to shortchange me.
You know, I want my builder and maker to be God.
I want God to build my house.
I want God to build my city.
And so even though he had a land,
even though Abraham had great riches,
he said, you know what? I'm content to just pass through this land.
You know, I don't need to settle down here.
I don't want to settle down in this land because I'm looking for the heavenly city.
I'm looking for the heavenly home.
And brethren, that's going to give you a lot of contentment in life.
You know, this idea of owning a house in a city,
I mean, I think the median house price in Sydney is like a million dollars.
Speaking to Brother Les today, he said back in our day,
if someone said they had a million dollars, we thought, man, you're set for life.
Now a million dollars doesn't get you verified.
You buy a house and that's it, okay?
You're still going to go hungry, even if you go, you know, we need more.
But here's a place that we can go to that's already been paid for.
It's free. It's been paid for by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
And it's free, but hey, the builder is God.
Instead of going to masters and homes, we get to go to God, the builder,
Jesus Christ, building these houses for us.
You know, just another reminder here, John 14, verse number 1, Christ says,
Let not your heart be troubled, but ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also.
Jesus Christ has promised us that his Father's house, this builder, this maker,
the builder and maker of God, this city of God, has great mansions.
Jesus promises us that he's got a place for us.
I'm sure it's going to be the best quality house we've ever seen.
It's going to be built upon strong foundations, foundations that have been laid by God.
And brethren, if you live in this, I mean, look, even though I own a house, I don't care.
To me, it's not this great achievement, wow, you bought a house.
Who cares? I want this house. Don't you?
I want God to build my house. I want to live with the Lord God. Mansions on high.
That's what matters.
So why should we look at other people's properties and go,
Man, I wish I had that. Man, Sydney's so expensive.
You know, I wish I bought earlier.
Well, just be content with what you have. Be content.
And brethren, if you have to rent for the rest of your life, be content being a renter.
Who cares? Lay up your treasures in heaven.
You've got a great house waiting for you in heaven.
Okay? Just, you know, don't give into covetousness.
Don't desire your neighbor's house.
The next thing that gets brought up in the commandment or in the passage is the neighbor's field.
You know, don't covet your neighbor's field.
And as soon as I think about your neighbor's field, I immediately think of this story.
Let's go to 1 Kings 21. 1 Kings 21, verse number 1. 1 Kings 21, verse number 1.
The story of King Ahab and his desire, his covetousness over a vineyard that belonged to a God-fearing man.
Okay? In 1 Kings 21 and verse number 1. 1 Kings 21 and verse number 1.
And it came to pass after these things that Naboth, the Jezreelite, had a vineyard
and was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
And Ahab, so Ahab was the king of Samaria, and Ahab spoke unto Naboth, saying,
Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house.
He goes, Man, I've got to have that vineyard. I've got to have this field. It's close by.
It's convenient for me as a king. All right?
And then he says, And I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it, for if it seem good to thee,
I will give thee the worth of it in money.
He goes, Look, Naboth, you've got a choice here. You know what? You can sell this to me.
I'll make sure you're well paid for this vineyard, or I'll give you a better vineyard.
Here's my question. If King Ahab has a better vineyard, why is he not just content with that better vineyard?
He's got to have this one. Why? Because it's just close by the palace.
Like I said, it's got the ocean views. It's got the right location.
I want that one, even though this one's better.
Do you notice how even if you've got great things, even if you've got the greatest vineyard,
you're still not content if you're given into covetousness.
You're never satisfied if you're given to this sin. It's amazing.
So how does Naboth respond? Verse number three.
And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto me.
This has been passed down the family. This belongs to the family. It means a lot to me.
And we know what the laws of God says. God wants the lands to continue being passed down to the same family members, etc.
So you can see that Naboth has a fear of God here.
And so, well, you know, so what? You say, King Ahab, you know, you've got the better vineyards anyway.
I mean, you've got the riches, you're the king, you've got authority and power.
I mean, I'm sure he owns a lot of properties. I'm sure he's got a lot of fields and he's got a lot going for him.
So it shouldn't upset him that much, right?
Verse number four. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him.
For he said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.
And he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face and would eat no bread.
Man, this guy just feels sorry for himself, doesn't he?
Oh, I don't have this field. I don't have this piece of land. I'm going to go home and mope and moan.
I've got everything else in the kingdom. I've got all authority. I'm the king. I've got better vineyards.
But brethren, if you give in to covetousness, if you don't find contempt in your life, you'll never be happy.
You'll go to bed and moan. I wish I had a better job. I wish I had a high-paying job.
I wish I had this. I wish I had that. Just find contempt with what God's given you.
Man, this guy's got a better vineyard. He's still not happy.
But this is the sin of covetousness.
You give in to covetousness, you're never satisfied. You're never content.
So I said to you, the opposite of it is to find contempt and be thankful for what God has given you.
Now, when we think about the neighbour's field...
So this is just a story there, but this is the first one that comes to my mind.
Obviously in the Bible, when we talk about the neighbour's field, you've got to remember that back in these days,
your field is where you would do your farming, whether you were farming animals or crops, agriculture.
This was their primary job.
So when we talk about your neighbour's field, they're not covered in your neighbour's field.
This is not just necessarily property, but you're covered in someone's workplace.
You're covered in someone else's position, someone else's job. Someone might be an engineer,
and you might be a fruit picker, and, man, I wish I was an engineer.
That would fall under this category kind of thing.
Instead of being thankful for the job and the workplace that God has given you, you're always chasing the next one.
Oh, man, I need one that pays more. I need one that's closer to my house.
I need that one that brother so-and-so has over there.
He seems to have it easy and relaxed, and I've got to work hard by the sweat of my brow.
I wish I had that easy, cosy job over there.
That's what the equivalent would be, desiring your neighbour's field to be desiring a different workplace,
a different job than what God has already given you.
You know when I said to you that in my 20s, 30s, whatever, I did suffer with covetousness,
because one of the things that I had, I was not satisfied in my job.
I was doing a job that I felt was just a dead-end job.
It's like I'm doing a job, I'm working hard, it's not paying that much,
and I've got a wife and kids, I'm going to have a mortgage, and I've got all these bills.
I just seem to be just getting through, and I wish I had a little bit more, and I wish I had a career path.
I wish I had something to attain for, you know, I wasn't very skilled, right?
I mean, you know, and I found that, I just found myself getting depressed.
I found myself not performing in the workplace because I just didn't have my heart in it.
And I realised at some point, I don't know if I heard a sermon, I can't remember what, I just read the Bible,
something just dawned on me and said, man, this is covetousness.
This is a great sin. Why? You know, I should be happy.
I'm married. I've got kids. I've got a house. I've got a job.
I'm paying the bills. But I want it more, you know, and I'm thinking, man, this is covetousness.
And I felt, you know, no, I've got to learn how to be content.
I mean, I've got every reason to be content. It's not like I'm just trying to be content with beans.
You know, it's not like I'm coming home to my wife and she's just serving me beans and rice or something.
You know, I'm having good meals. I've got, I mean, really, I'm looking at my life and thinking, actually,
I've got everything I need. You know, I've got more than probably what I need.
I've got probably more than what a lot of people have. I just couldn't find the content, man.
So that's why I had to go to the Lord and pray to him, Lord, give me content, man.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry for whining, God. I'm sorry for not being satisfied with what you've given me.
You've given me so much. And then a fear started to drop in my heart.
I'm thinking, man, this whole time, if I'm not content with what I've got, maybe God will take it away from me.
You know, that would be even worse. And I just thought, no, God will help me be content.
And, you know, I remember it just, it took a little bit of time, maybe a week or so, and something just clicked in my brain.
You know, I have to say to you, it's the working of God. Do you know, like, sometimes in your life,
like, as you mature and grow, you know, maybe you found interest as a child in a certain toy or certain type of entertainment.
Then you get a bit older and something just clicks in your brain and you're like, man, I don't even know why I enjoyed that the whole time.
Like, that's just, that's stupidity. Like, it's such a waste of time. I don't even know why I enjoyed that.
There's something that just changes in your mind sometimes, right? Well, the best way to explain this,
one day I just wake up and something just happened in my mind. I'm just like, man, I'm so happy. I'm happy.
You know, I've got a family. I've got a wife. I've got kids. I've got a job. My job's not even that far away.
I've got a vehicle to get to work. I can pay the bills. Man, I'm so happy. I'm so content. I'm so satisfied.
And I realized, man, you know, God did a work in my heart. God did a work in my mind, you know.
I took it to the Lord and He was able to help me change that mindset, you know.
And from that day forward, I've always been content with what God has given me.
You know, I don't desire more than what I have. And here's the thing.
And like I said to you, I just found that when I was content, then God gave me more.
And I was content with what God gave me. Then He gave me more. More kids, you know, more material wealth, whatever.
It's not like I desire, I really want these things. It just happens organically as you find contentment and joy
and satisfaction in what God has given you. You know, instead of forcing God's hand, just be happy
and then God will give you the gifts and the enjoyments of life.
You know, God wants us to have the right heart attitude with what He gives us.
You know, be thankful to God with everything that He's given us.
And let me just quickly read to you this passage. I've read it many times as I've been here down in Sydney.
But Colossians 3.22, this is what really, this was the verse that I really meditated on.
Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. I was in my workplace, dead end job.
You know what, Bible says I've got to obey my masters.
Brethren, this changed everything. Because I no longer thought of my boss as really being my boss.
You know, I no longer thought I'm just working for a man. I'm just working for a company.
No, the Bible says here, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord.
I just said, you know what, even in my dead end job, even in my low paying job, I'm working for God.
I'm working for Jesus Christ. Jesus is my boss. And Brethren, that changes everything.
I mean, as soon as that dawns on you, Jesus is my boss.
Even though I didn't like my job that much, but if this job is what Jesus has given me,
and He wants me to get through the hours and through the labor and the blood, sweat and tears,
then I'm going to find joy in it because it's something that Jesus wants me to do.
And Brethren, it changed everything. Dead end job, low paying job, now I was content.
Now I was happy. And guess what happened? Then you get the promotions.
It's like, well, I didn't really want that now, but then you get it.
Because God finally sees that, you know what, you are thankful, you are content in everything that He's given you.
Brethren, if you find a lack of contentment, just do it unto Jesus Christ.
Just do it unto the Lord. Whatever job you have, just do it.
Say to yourself, Jesus gave me this job, Jesus is my boss, and when times get tough, Jesus wants it to be tough.
Jesus has been a little bit tough on me today.
So I can get through the job and everything that I do, I end up pleasing Him.
I'm not here to be a man pleaser, I'm here to please Jesus Christ.
So we've seen the neighbor's wife, we've seen do not covet your neighbor's house, do not covet your neighbor's field.
And the next one that was mentioned is do not covet thy neighbor's manservant or maidservant.
So your neighbor, he's got servants. He's got men and women that are butlers and maids and nannies and whatever it is.
They've got the pool cleaner, you know what, your neighbor doesn't even wash his car, he's got someone there that comes and washes his car.
So what is he speaking about? Why would you covet a man's servants?
Well the thought there is basically, if you have servants, then what does that make you?
It makes you a master, right? A master over his servants.
So when you're coveting someone else's servants, what you're really coveting is that man's or that neighbor's status, that man's position.
He's got a higher position, he's a master in whatever sense of the word that might be.
That might be coveting your boss's position.
You've got someone else that has a higher job, a higher title, whatever it is, that's what I want, I wish I had what that person has.
Or maybe you're at church and I'm the pastor and you say, man, I want to be the pastor.
I don't think Pastor Kevin's like, I should be the pastor, I've got more knowledge than Pastor Kevin, I should be the one doing this.
Coveting someone else's status, their position, this is to covet your neighbor's man servant and maid servant because of their status,
because they've got a higher position than someone that does not have necessarily servants under them.
Now can you please turn to James 3, James 3 and verse 1.
Now again, as I said, a lot of these things in and of themselves are not sinful.
But if God's not given it to you and God's given it to others and you want what others have, that's covetousness, that's the sin.
Now, you may never have a higher position, you may never have a higher authority.
You know, when you get married, a man, for the men, you're the head of your wife, you've got authority right there.
You've got authority of your family.
If you one day become a supervisor, you've got authority right there, you're supervising certain people.
And sometimes people desire these positions, these higher positions, etc.
It's not something that I really, really ever wanted in my life.
I was always satisfied, okay, you're the boss, this and that.
Let's look at James 3, verse 1.
It says, my brethren, be not many masters.
Why?
Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
What is that saying?
You know, the higher authority you have, the higher status you have in life, God's going to judge you more severely.
You know what, if you and I do the exact same sin, you know what, because I'm a pastor of a church,
God's going to judge me a lot more harsh than he would judge you by committing the exact same sin.
You know, when God allows someone to take a position of authority, a higher status,
don't desire it so much, brethren, because there's a greater condemnation if you mess it up.
So, hey, be content, be thankful that, hey, all right, I don't have a high position,
yeah, but then you don't have that man's problems.
You don't have the same severity of judgment that will fall upon you if you make the same mistakes.
In other words, just be thankful, okay?
Be thankful with what God, what position you have.
And can you please now turn to Esther chapter 3, Esther chapter 3.
Esther chapter 3, please.
And again, when I think about this desire of status, you know, covetousness
and desire in a higher position to be seen, you know, higher than others,
I'm reminded of this story here in Esther chapter 3.
Esther chapter 3, verse number 1.
The story of Haman.
And it says here in Esther chapter 3, verse number 1,
After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman,
so the king promotes Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the agatites,
and advanced him, or promoted him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
So basically this Haman is like second in charge.
You know, the only one above Haman is the king.
You know, even amongst all the other people, the royalty, people in authority,
Haman has been advanced, he's been exalted above all these people.
What a great authority to have, all right?
I mean, Haman should be thankful.
Haman should be content.
You would think, man, you've got the riches, you've got the honor,
you've got the high status now, Haman, you should be happy, you should be content.
Here's the problem with covetousness, let's keep going.
Verse number 2,
And all the king's servants that were in the king's gates bowed and reverenced Haman,
for the king had so commanded concerning him, but Mordecai bowed not, nor did he reverence.
Then the king's servants which were in the king's gates said unto Mordecai,
Why transgress us thou of the king's commandments?
Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him,
and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand,
for he had told them that he was a Jew.
So, you know, they're all bowed down to Haman, he's second in charge,
all the people of the land bowed down to his authority, except one guy, Mordecai.
Verse number 5,
And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did he reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.
I mean, it just, it surprised me.
You've got the entire nation, you've got the entire kingdom, everywhere you walk by, they bow down to you.
Every man, you know, every man, every woman, every child, every prince,
anyone that might be related to the king, they see Haman and they bow down.
You know what, there's one guy that doesn't bow down, and it makes Haman angry.
Okay, makes him so upset, you know, Mordecai doesn't bow down.
Verse number 6,
And he thought scorn to lay hands of Mordecai alone, for they had shown him the people of Mordecai,
wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus,
even the people of Mordecai.
So once again, I just want to show you that, you know, if you desire a high position, you know what,
and you lust after it, you covet after it, and you get it, you get it, right?
And everyone bows down to you, except the one guy, you're still not happy.
You're still full of wrath.
This is why contentment is the key, okay?
You would rather have a lowly position and be content and happy and thankful with what God has given you,
than have the highest position, a high status, full of covetousness,
because even if one guy does not bow down to you, then you're still not happy.
You're still not satisfied.
But even people can have the entire world and still not be happy, still not be content.
I mean, I think about Hollywood, you know, I think about celebrities,
I think about the singers and stars, you know, that make millions of dollars, and everyone literally bows down.
Everyone wants their signature and wants photos and wants to know about their life,
and then they, you know, there's a reason why these people live such short lives.
There's a reason why so many of these people, you know, these Hollywood stars, get into drugs and alcohol,
because they're not happy, they're not content.
There's a reason why so many of them commit suicide.
And you know what, people are like, oh man, this actor, this actress, they committed suicide.
How sad. Yeah, they've been sad their whole life. They've never been content, they've been full of covetousness.
Doesn't matter what they get, they're never happy, they're never thankful toward the Lord God.
Brethren, please, never desire to have a high status like a movie star or a celebrity.
These people aren't happy.
And brethren, if you get it, you know, if somehow you get it, you're still not going to be happy.
You know what, and then you'll turn to the drugs and alcohol, just trying to find some happiness in life.
You know what, and you may very well take your own life, okay?
These people are never content.
And I'm just reminded here in the words of Jesus Christ, I'll just quickly read to you.
If you can please turn to 1 Timothy for me, please, you turn to 1 Timothy,
and I'll read to you very quickly from Matthew 23 verse 10.
It says,
Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ.
Okay?
Now, there's nothing wrong with being a master, that's a matter of authority,
but don't go around asking people, hey, call me master.
Hey, you come up to me, hey, Pastor Kevin or Brother Kevin, whatever.
Hey, guys, come on, it's a master.
But Jesus Christ says, don't be called that, okay?
Because it goes to your head, all right?
But Jesus Christ says,
Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ.
And I love the next words again.
Verse number 11, it says,
But he that is greatest among you,
you say, you know what, I want to be a great person, I want to have a high status.
Okay.
But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
It's opposite with Jesus.
You want to be great in the eyes of God?
Then lower yourself, become a servant.
Then he says in verse number 12,
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased,
and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
You know how you overcome the covetousness of a higher status?
Lower yourself even more.
Humble yourself down even more.
Lower yourself down, be a servant to others,
and you'll be great in the eyes of God.
You'll be great in the Kingdom of God if you learn how to be a servant.
Brethren, this is so true.
Just learn to serve.
Be content.
And not just be content.
Say, you know what, I'm going to lower myself even more.
Okay?
And then you're even more content
because you've got more than the lowering that you've put yourself under,
serving others, and God promises you great riches, great rewards.
He will exalt you.
He'll give you promotions, maybe in this earth,
but definitely in the world to come.
So this is something that we should not desire.
You know, another man's servants, his maidservants,
his position in life, his higher status.
Listen, get your higher status from heaven.
Okay?
Lower yourself and serve, and God says you are the greatest.
Okay?
All right.
First Timothy chapter 6 now.
First Timothy chapter 6.
The next thing that gets brought up there in Deuteronomy chapter 5
about covetousness is not to covet your neighbor's ox or ass.
Okay?
So obviously these are his animals.
These are animals the ox often use to plow the ground.
Okay?
The ass is usually used to ride.
You know, that's their vehicle.
So the idea there is basically your tools, your vehicle to get around.
Ultimately it's just, you know, if you own an ox or an ass,
this was more of a sign of wealth, that you've got prosperity.
You've got certain things to make your job a little bit easier.
You can plow, therefore you can do more.
You've got a way to, you know, not just walk from one town to the next.
You've got a donkey that you can get on or whatever it is, all right?
You've got some material wealth.
You've got tools, all right?
You've got a nice car.
You know, the donkey might be the nice car.
You know, I want that person's car.
That would be kind of under this category,
desiring your neighbor's ox or your ass.
Okay.
The Bible says there in 1 Timothy 6 verse 6,
Reverend, you want to gain a lot?
You want to have a lot of possessions, a lot of wealth?
Hey, go for the spiritual ones.
Godliness with contentment.
Learn to be more godly.
Learn to line up your will to God's will.
And be happy, be satisfied, be content in doing so.
The Bible says this is great gain.
This is becoming wealthy in the eyes of God.
Verse number 7,
Hey, that also helps us to remind ourselves
we're not going to take any of this material wealth.
I can't take my nice car.
I can't take my nice tools to get the job done to heaven, okay?
Verse number 8,
Let us be there with content.
This is so hard, right?
I mean, food is good, raiment, clothing is good.
But the Bible says if that's all you have,
just enough to feed yourself, enough to dress yourself,
be content in that.
Can you be content in that?
Like, think about everything that God has given you now.
And now what if you were left with just food and raiment?
That's all.
Would you be content?
I think we'd complain.
I think we'd be pretty upset, okay?
This is why contentment is the key to overcoming covetousness.
You know, as long as we have food and clothing,
we should be happy.
And then anything that we get above that is a bonus.
Great riches, great, you know, gifts given us by God.
Verse number 9,
So notice that.
When you fall into temptations,
you're given into these hurtful lusts, which is covetousness,
which drown men in destruction and perdition.
The Bible says the more you have, the more riches,
the more wealth, the more prosperity you have in this life,
basically the more troubles you're going to have, okay?
And this is something else I learnt in life, right?
Eventually we did buy our first house,
but then guess what happens?
Woo, got my first.
Oh, not really.
Now you're thinking, man, what if this house burns down?
Like, you know, what if there's a problem?
I've got to get insurance now
and make sure I've got to take care of this place.
You know, the more you have, the more problems you end up having.
This is the thought.
You know, I want to get rich.
Yeah, you're going to have a lot of problems
because you're going to want to retain and keep everything
and, you know, things tend to fall into destruction or disorder.
Let's keep going to verse number 10.
It says,
The love of money is the root of all evil,
which while some covet it after,
they have erred from the faith
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Brethren, it's not wonderful being very rich.
It's not good to desire riches and great wealth and prosperity
and the better car and the better jobs and the better raising, brethren.
It just brings many sorrows.
Be content with food and raiment and then go from there, okay?
Be content with food and raiment and then when God gives you something else,
man, wow, I was happy already with food and raiment.
Now you've given me, you know, a wife.
Now you've given me children.
Now you've given me a work job, you know, workplace, et cetera, et cetera.
Then you'll be content with all that you have.
Please remove your heart away from riches, the lust of being wealthy.
Now, listen, again, is there anything wrong with being wealthy?
No, there's nothing wrong with it.
God gives you wealth. God gives you prosperity.
Thank God, okay? Thank God.
But don't be someone that desires to be rich, okay?
Because really what you're just going to bring upon yourself are many sorrows.
So the things that people often covet for, brethren, it doesn't satisfy.
It doesn't give enjoyment.
In fact, it brings the reverse.
It brings the sorrows.
It brings the worries and the concerns that come along with it.
And you might say, okay, Pastor Kevin, you know, we look at this commandment.
It says, you know, don't covet your neighbour's wife.
Okay, yeah, I won't do that. I won't covet my neighbour's house.
I won't covet his field, his manservants or his maidservants or his ox or his ass.
But can we covet other things?
That's why I love the rest of this commandment.
It goes, or anything that is thy neighbour's.
Anything that is your neighbour's, don't covet it.
But just say, no, that's wrong.
No, no, that's wrong as well.
But just say, no, don't covet anything that belongs to another.
Be content with what God has given you.
Can you please turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 2?
We're almost done now.
Ecclesiastes chapter 2.
We're at the conclusion now.
Okay, Ecclesiastes chapter 2.
The book of Ecclesiastes is a really, really interesting book.
You know, it's about King Solomon.
And we know he's obviously a powerful king, great riches, great wealth, great possessions.
And I just want you to think about what King Solomon speaks of here,
because I'm sure there are some of us, maybe all of us,
that covet some of these things that King Solomon speaks about here
in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and verse number 4.
King Solomon says, I made me great works.
I builded me houses.
Because I didn't just build my own house.
I built many houses.
Isn't that what Australians want, right?
To get into the housing market.
Well, Solomon's had plenty of them.
And then he didn't just buy a second hand one.
He bought them. He got them built.
I planted me vineyards.
I made me gardens and orchids.
I planted trees in them and all kinds of fruits.
So he's got wonderful gardens as well.
I made me pools of water.
That's the ideal scenario.
A house with a pool in the back.
Yeah, maybe a pool for swim, but there was other reason for pools.
To water we're with the wood that bringeth forth trees.
So it's mainly fruits for the gardening, right?
I got me servants and maidens.
So he's got people serving him.
They're doing everything that he needs done.
And had servants bought in my house.
Also had great possessions of great and small cattle.
It's like ox in the ass, right?
Above all that were in Jerusalem before me.
So he doesn't have to go to the wool webs to buy some eggs.
He just goes out there, gets the chickens and boils some eggs.
Everything's available to him. He's got it all.
Also I had great, sorry, verse number eight.
I gathered me also silver and gold.
So he's got great treasures.
And the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces.
I get me men singers and women singers.
He goes, man, I've got these celebrities right here in my palace.
Instead of having to watch them on TV or something,
I've got them coming to my palace.
They're performing for me, these singers.
And the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all sorts.
All kinds of music is being here and enjoy.
Verse number nine.
So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem.
I've got more than anyone that's come before me.
Even more than my father, King David, he says.
Also, my wisdom remained with me.
And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them.
I withheld not my heart from any joy.
Anything he wants, he gets it.
Anything.
I don't know if there was a new Tesla car.
He's like, I want that. He gets it.
Whatever it is, the new iPhone comes out.
All right, this old iPhone, I don't want it. I want the new one.
Anything. Anything his heart desires.
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor.
And this was my portion of all my labor.
He goes, man, I'm wealthy. I've got it all. I've got anything I want.
Anything my heart desires, anything I dream for, I've got it.
Man, that sounds great, doesn't it?
It doesn't sound like, that's so awesome.
I wish I could be like King Solomon.
You'd think that.
But then he says in verse number 11.
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought.
And on the labor that I had labor to do.
And behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirits.
And there was no profit under the sun.
What's vanity? Emptiness.
How can this be empty, King Solomon?
You've got it all. You've got it all.
Because it's all empty. It's all meaningless.
And vexation of spirit.
It just brings sorrow. It just brings problems.
Now that I've got all these things, I've got to deal with all the problems that come with it.
And there was no profit under the sun.
You know what, brethren? You can have it all.
You can covet for it all, brethren.
It doesn't bring satisfaction.
Even someone like King Solomon.
You can have the whole world and it still won't give you joy.
The best thing to do is just be content with the little that you have.
Have you got food and raiment?
Do you have clothes on today?
Did you have a meal today?
Then go to God and say, thank you, God.
God, you've given me so much.
You've given me life.
You've given me blessed old Baptist Church.
You've given me a family.
You've given me a place to work.
God's given us so much, brethren. So much.
I mean, you know what, my house is full of...
My wife and I, we try so hard to not clutter up our house.
We look at things and we've just got so much.
Where does it all come from?
It's like, man, we've got abundance.
That's how we feel.
We're starting to pack up now and getting ready for Queensland.
We've just got so much things.
What things do we have to throw out?
What things can we give away?
It's not like we went out trying to get as much as we can.
But it's just, man, God's blessed us with so many things.
But again, you say, well, Pastor Kevin, you've got more than me.
Well, food arraignment. Be content.
Please learn to be content with food arraignment.
When you get your breakfast in the morning, say, thank you, God.
Thank you for this meal that you've given me.
Please bless it to my body.
You know what, then God will give you lunch.
Be thankful to God for lunch and then he'll give you dinner.
And then he'll give you more and he'll give you more.
Be thankful in your dead-end job that doesn't pay much.
God, thank you. I'm going to serve you, Jesus Christ.
Then God will give you a better job.
And then be thankful with that.
And God will give you more, a little bit by little.
You know what, don't desire to be like Solomon.
He's got it all, but he's not happy.
He finds out that's not where joy came from.
And yeah, 10th commandment, thou shalt not covet.
Such an easy sin to commit, isn't it?
But let's pray.