(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen, so I actually intended to have you read Jeremiah 6, but it's always good to get another chapter in too, so keep something there in Jeremiah, we're actually going to be coming back to Jeremiah 6. But keep something there, we'll come back later in the sermon. But if you would, turn over to 1 Corinthians 5 real quick as a review, just as a reminder. These Sunday afternoon services, I'm going through 1 Corinthians 5, and what we're talking about is a series called Get Right or Get Out. Get Right or Get Out. We talked about briefly last week, and I don't want to restate everything I said in last week's sermon, about how there are certain sins that a person can commit that would actually get you kicked out of the local assembly. And again, last week we talked about the fact that that was a biblical concept, that Jesus himself even drained people out of the temple. And then we have the clear teaching of 1 Corinthians 5 that there are certain people that are to be put out from the assembly, as it says, delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. What we're doing is just going through each one of these sins and looking at them, these specific sins that would get a person kicked out of church. And really it's important to do, maybe not because anybody in here is guilty of that, but you always want to have an attitude of preventative maintenance. We always want to be practicing this preventative maintenance to prevent people from falling into these sins. If people are aware of the consequences, the grave consequences that come when a person commits sins like this, they might be more prone, or excuse me, less prone to not commit these sins. So you're there in 1 Corinthians 5, if you look at verse 9, it said, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world. So he's saying, look, I don't want you company with fornicators, but then he goes on and says, not with the fornicators of this world. Meaning this, he goes on and explains, if we were to, for then we must needs go out of the world. If you were to separate company from every person that was guilty of these sins, you probably couldn't, you'd have to go live in a monastery somewhere. Every time you went to the grocery store, you couldn't say hi to somebody unless you clarified whether or not they were a fornicator, a covetous, or an adulterer. That's not what he's teaching here, but what he is teaching down there towards the end is it says, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator in verse 11. Saying somebody that's come to church long enough that they've gotten to the place where you were to consider them a brother in Christ, they're a regular in church, if a person such as that is found to be guilty of these sins, we are not to have any company with them. And that would include church. And this chapter teaches that they are to be put out from the assembly. And again, I don't want to re-preach all that. We're going to focus in specifically on this sin of covetous this morning and be reminded about what it is and the dangers that come with being a covetous person. But again, it's important to preach this because we're going through a time where people are out of church because of the precautions that we're taking. People are staying home from church. And a lot of times when people find themselves out of church that they haven't grown to a place and matured spiritually, they can begin to backslide. They can begin to say, let things get loose. They can start to say, well, I'm not going to be in church for a while, so it doesn't matter if I get into this or that. But what you have to understand is that we have not put a pause on church authority. Church has the authority to put certain people out for specific sins, and that authority has not been stayed. We haven't temporarily suspended that. So we want to be careful, and even when things resume and go back to normal, it'd be good to have all of this in mind. So getting into this sin of covetousness where it says there in verse 10, So here we have this litany of sins that if they're guilty of it, we are not to have company with them. Now covetousness is something that is condemned throughout the Bible, and we're going to look at that here in a minute. If you would, go over to 1 Timothy chapter 3. When you get to 1 Timothy, keep something there. I know I got you over in Jeremiah 5 as well. Keep something there, and if you'd like, also keep something in 1 Timothy 3. We'll be back several times this afternoon, but it says in 1 Timothy chapter 3 that there are certain qualifications that a person must have in order to be a bishop, which is a pastor or a deacon, and that if you don't have these or if you're guilty of certain sins, you are not allowed, you are disqualified from that position. And covetousness is one of them. Covetousness in the Scripture is something that is condemned from the top down, from leadership down. Nobody gets a pass from this, okay? It will actually disqualify leadership. It says in 1 Timothy 3, chapter 3 verse 3, not given to wine, this is of course the qualifications for the bishop, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. So he narrows it in on several different things, and he says, look, you cannot be a covetous person and be the pastor. You cannot be covetous and be the bishop. And he goes on in verse 8 and says, likewise must the deacons be grieved, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre. So again, what is that greediness for filthy lucre? That is a form of covetous, to be greedy, to desire to have money and wealth that is unwarranted. And he goes on of course, and if you would, turn over to 1 Peter chapter 5, keep something in 1 Timothy, but 1 Peter chapter 5, he says again of the qualifications in Titus chapter 1, a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre. And I believe that falls in that category of covetousness, where somebody is desiring money, desiring ill-gotten gain so much that they're going to preach lies or heresy or they're going to hold back the preaching of the Word of God so that they can have financial gain. If we were to trim the message or hold back certain portions out of the Word of God, we could probably grow a very large church, much larger than it is. And we see this all the time. There are mega-churches out there that are raking in the dough. They have preachers that are getting up there and just preaching everything that everybody wants to hear, they're ear ticklers, they're back scratchers, they're just having people come in and just telling them what they want to hear. Not what they need to hear, not what the Bible actually says, and why are they doing that? Because they're greedy, a filthy lucre. Why are they greedy? Because they are covetous people. The Bible says in Exodus 18, moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men such as fear God. So again, this is God commanding Moses that he is to appoint certain men at that time to be leaders in the nation of Israel. He said, such as fear God, men of truth hating covetousness. So even in God's eyes, it's not enough if you're going to be in leadership to not just not be guilty of covetousness, but God is actually expecting people who would stand up and be an example or be in leadership to actually hate covetousness. And hopefully by the time we get through this sermon, you know, everyone in the room will learn to at least the reasons why we should hate covetousness, because covetousness is a sin that opens up a doorway to many other sins. A lot of other sins will be committed if a person becomes covetous in their heart. And God says that what he wanted leaders picked out of the congregation for leadership in the house of Israel, that they were to be men that loved truth, men of truth, that feared God and that hated covetousness. Not just, you know, avoided it, not just had a disdain for it, but they actually hated it. It was something that they didn't want to have anything to do with. And why is it? Why does God give these qualifications, this specific qualification to not be covetous, to not be greedy of filthy lucre, but to actually hate covetousness? Why does God insist on this when it comes to leadership? Well, this is because of the fact that leadership is an example to others. They are an example to others. That's why leadership, that's why the bishop, the elders, the deacons, that's why people in those positions should hate covetousness and never be found guilty of being a covetous person, because they aren't samples to the flock. That's what it says there in 1 Peter 5 in verse 1. It says, the elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. He's saying, look, you're going to be an example to the flock. You're going to, as it says there in the end, verse 3, neither is being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. And part of that being an example or being an example, as we would say today, is that they are to not be in it for filthy lucre, that they are not to be a covetous person. So why is that important? Why is it important that the leadership not be guilty of covetousness or greediness? Because of the fact that they are an example, and because they are examples, we have to understand that covetous leaders will create covetous followers. Covetous leaders will create covetous followers. We could look at this on the positive side of things, of how if a leader is doing something that is good and right and positive, often the congregation will. And I think we have a great example of that here in Faithful Word. Why is it that Faithful Word Baptist Church is a soul winning powerhouse? Why is Faithful Word Baptist Church a church that does a great deal of soul winning? It's because the leadership, the pastor, and others have a heart for souls, because they want to do lots of soul winning. So we can see, just from that, that as goes the leadership, so goes the church, and therefore God is condemning covetousness even amongst leadership. Because again, they are the example that the followers will follow. And covetous leaders will create covetous followers. If you're there in Jeremiah chapter 6, if you kept something there, go back, we'll see that here. It says in verse Jeremiah chapter 6 verse 11, Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary with holding in. I will pour it out upon the children abroad, upon the assembly of young men. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken, aged with him that is full of days, and their houses shall be turned unto others, and their fields and their wives together. For I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. From the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. He's saying, look, from the greatest to the least, it's affected everybody. But I guarantee you, it started with the greatest. It started with those that were in authority. It started with those that were in leadership. We could see this even in our own country. When we have wicked rulers, then we have wicked people. The leadership is often just a reflection of the people. He said there, For the least of them, even the greatest, every one of them is given to covetousness. From the prophet even unto the priest, everyone dealeth falsely, saying it's affecting everybody. We could look today at modern examples of this, and one that comes to mind are a lot of these prosperity gospel preachers. The health, wealth, and prosperity. I'm not saying God wants everybody dirt poor. Of course, God gives wisdom and knowledge and understanding to where people can go out and earn a decent living. If a person is making money, there's nothing wrong with that. But what we see today is a lot of people, that is their God. That is what's being preached. God wants you to have the six-figure income and the mansion and everything else. These preachers are out there. If you're not decked in gold from head to toe, if you're not driving the $70,000 plus sports car, you just must not be blessed of God. You have people like Kenneth Copeland. He's a great example of this. The guy who has to fly in a private jet because he can't be with ... I didn't see the interview, but apparently he was making the case of why he needs a private jet, because he can't be with a plane full of demoniacs or something like that. I didn't look at the figures, but I've had before in the past. That guy makes a lot of money. I think he's a millionaire, if not close to a billionaire. He's just raking in all this money through his televangelism, through his churches. What he's doing is he's preaching lies. He's a charlatan. He's a fake. There's so many of them out there today, or so many preachers that are just going to teach, tell you the things that you want to hear. Often, as it's been said, it's not what they say, it's what they don't say. It's the parts of the Bible that they just flip past and say, oh, let's not talk about that. Let's not go there. They only want to talk about all of the positive things, the word of God, but the Bible's a negative book. There's a lot of negative things in here that people need to hear because of the fact that people need to be warned that God is one who punishes his children. We've talked about that even recently, but this sermon's a great example of that. How many of these Creflo dollars and the Kenneth Copelands and the Joel Olsteins of this world are getting up in their pulpits and telling people to not be covetous as they're going home to their mansion, as they're going home to their resorts, practically, is what they are. If you look there in 1 Timothy chapter 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6, if you kept something there in 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 6, the Bible says in verse 3, if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and stripes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men that corrupts their minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing what that gain is godliness, and saying, look, we should have this abundance of wealth, we should have all these extra things, all these luxuries, everything, we were entitled to this, because we're so godly. That's what's in their mind, but what they don't understand is that they're supposing that gain is godliness. Not every God-fearing child of God is going to be rich. Not every person that's right with God is just going to have an overflowing bank account. I can attest to this, personally, and I'm sure if we went around the room this morning, many people here would say, look, we're not exactly living in the lap of luxury, we're not flying around in the private jet, we're not driving, often many of us not the most up-to-date vehicle, we're not the Kenneth Copelands, we're not these people, but what are we? We are godly, at least we ought to be, and I heard this said a while ago, a preacher once told me, look, God would rather have you holy than happy. God would rather have you holy than happy. If it came down to you being a holy person or a happy person, we should side on holiness. Even if it means us having to go without, even if it means having to suffer a little bit, God would rather have us holy than happy. People think all this excess and all this wealth and all these things, this is what's going to make them happy, but it's not the case. We have plenty of examples out there in the world today of covetous leaders who are leading their people into covetousness themselves, and the Bible condemns it. The Bible says it's not something that we should have in the church, that a person who's guilty of this should be put out. Kenneth Copeland, for many other reasons, would not be allowed here. Mainly, the application of this sermon is because he's a covetous person. He has more than heart could wish. The Bible says in Jude chapter one, it talks about people like this. You say, well, I can't believe you'd mention that person's name in such a way. Why would you even bring that up? Well, the Bible condemns people like this, people that, in Jude chapter one, go to Revelation chapter three. In Jude chapter one, it says, woe to them, for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward. So there is God. He's bringing up a name, Balaam, and what was Balaam guilty of? Of preaching, wanting to preach lies and to bring cursings upon the people of God so that he could get rich, so that he could have the reward. He ran greedily after it. He was somebody who wanted filthy lucre. He was somebody that only cared about his bank account. He only cared about was lining his pocket, not preaching the truth, not edifying God's people. He wanted to get rich. Look there in Revelation chapter three, this can affect the whole church. You know, that's why God condemns this in leadership. Because covetous leaders, they create covetous followers. And it says in Revelation chapter three, verse fourteen, and under the angel of the church of the loudest eons, write, these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou work cold or hot. So then that thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. Doesn't that sound like a lot of churches today? They could say, oh, we have the, you know, 20,000 square foot facility. We've got a parking lot that's bigger than most churches. You know, we've got, and I'm not saying having a big church is wrong. It's good to God that this church grows to that extent, but not at the sake or the expense of the truth. You know, but most churches, by and large, the mega-type churches, you know, the Hillsongs and these type of churches like this, you know what I'm talking about. The mega churches that are just getting up, they're preaching out of a false Bible, they're doing their 90 Days of Grace series or whatever it is, you know, a six-part series on the love of God. Every other sermon is just about how, you know, God just loves you, everything's fine, you don't have to give up any of your sin. They grow a very large church. And they say, obviously, God's behind this, look at what's going, look how full the offering plate is. Look how much we're able to do with all this money that's just come pouring in. But what does he say here? What does Christ say of the Laodicean church? He says, thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And he says this of them, and knowest thou that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. You know, if we could see those same churches spiritually, that's what they'd look like. Just you know, malnourished, just skin and bones, people without a stitch of clothing on them, just miserable wretches spiritually. He says in verse 18, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. And really that's the direction we need to go in the sermon is, you know, what are the true riches that we're endeavoring to gain? Is it earthly riches, or should we be working towards heavenly riches? He's saying here in verse 18, Christ is saying, look, counsel to buy gold of me, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, you know, put some clothes on. Maybe it's not going to be the name brand, this or that, but put on some white raiment, you know, put on the white raiment of a godly life, put on the white raiment of clean living and holiness. Read your Bible, get the fire, you know, get the fire, get the gold of God's word that's been tried in the fire. That would be some real riches. That thou mayest, you know, white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed in the shame of thy makest not appear, anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. So we see why covetousness is such a dangerous thing, especially among leadership, is because it inspires other people, it motivates other people, it leads others within the body to go down that same path of covetousness and greediness. Now if you would, turn over to James chapter 4. Keep something in 1 Timothy 6, or 1 Timothy rather, I should have told you that, but keep something there, you know, if you've moved already, you might want to get back there, but we're going to go to James, and keep something in James as well. And the real danger of covetousness is, you know, what it leads to. You say, what's wrong with being covetousness? All it's going to lead to is a big bank account. All it's going to lead to is nice things, and having, you know, having all the world's goods. No, the problem with covetousness is that, one, it takes your focus off the things that really matter in life, and two, it will lead you down a path to other sins. You know, I think a lot of the reasons why God keeps some people poor, or keeps some people from always kind of financially lean, is because He knows they can't handle it. He knows they can't handle coming into money. You know, money is one of the, you want to ruin people, you know, give somebody an abundance of wealth. I mean, if you come into money suddenly, without having earned it or anything like that, if something, you know, the proverbial long-lost uncle, you know, who just leaves somebody, just a huge inheritance out of the blue, that will ruin people, the vast majority of people, saved or unsaved. Look there in James chapter 4, it says, from whence come wars and rumors, excuse me, from whence come wars and fightings among you, come they not hence, even of your own lust, that war in your members, you lust and you have not, you kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain, you fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not. So we see here one of the things that covetousness can lead to is the sin of oppression. You know, a lot of oppression takes place in this world because there's people out there that are coveting things that aren't theirs. We could talk about this more on a global scale, you know, on a national level, or international rather, where we have countries that are invading other countries, you know, under the pretext of, you know, freedom and democracy, but they're really there for the mineral rights. They're really there for the opium field, you know, the poppy plants. They're really there for, you know, the oil. They're desiring to have, right, and they have not. And then what happens? They have wars and fightings and they come of their own members. So this is another one of these sins and that's a problem with covetousness is that it leads to other sins. And I believe oppression is one of them. I'll read to you from Proverbs chapter 28. It says, the prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor, but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days. So notice how those things are contrasted one with another. The prince that wanteth understanding is a great oppressor, right? But he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days. You can see how being a great oppressor and being covetous are interlinked, how these things are related. You know, if we become covetous people, we might just start stepping on some heads to get what we want. We might start treating our fellow man poorly just to get what we want because we're covetous. You know, this could happen, you know, in the job setting. You know, the promotion's out there, you know, it's opened up, there's a possibility, you know, people are competing. You know, people might start, you know, doing other people dirty or trying to make other people look bad in order to get that position. Why? Because they're covetous. They're trying to oppress others. Micah chapter 2, I'll read to you from verse 1. It says, woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds. Talking about somebody who's laying there in bed at night thinking about, you know, working, devising iniquity, how they're going to work evil. You ever go to bed at night and think about all the things you got to get done the next day when you're trying to fall asleep? You're probably thinking about, you know, I got to get up and do this and I got this task and that task to accomplish. You're probably not there in your bed just like hmm, you know, stroking the shaved cat or whatever, you know, stroking your beard and wondering how you're going to devise iniquity, how you're going to work evil the next day. You know, we can't understand that, but the Bible says there's people out there that do that. And you know what? Woe to them. Woe to the person that's going to sit there and just, their every thought is just how they're going to do evil and iniquity. When the morning is light, they practice it because it is in the power of their hand. And what is it, what are they, what is their problem? Verse 2, then they covet fields and take them by violence. You know, that's, that's what their whole goal is. That's what they're staying up late at night about. That's what they're scheming is how they're going to get things that aren't theirs. How they're going to go out and get those things that they covet. They're going to take it by violence. They're going to take it by force. They take them away. So they oppress a man in his house and a man and even a man in his heritage. I mean, people who will just come and take things that don't belong to them, you say, does that happen? Oh, I don't know. Maybe in the form of, I don't know, the IRS maybe when someone's just taking money that you didn't even give them before you even see it. You know, and that's a whole other sermon, but that's called theft, you know, in most people's book, at least it ought to be. So what is the problem with covetous? Covetousness, why is it so condemned in the Bible? Because of the other sins that it leads to. It leads to oppression, it leads to extortion, you know, and that's another sermon that's coming because that's another sin that, that 1 Corinthians 5 deals with. You know, it, the sin of, you know, the sin that is being committed, the sin that covetous will lead you to is really dependent upon, you know, what you're coveting. You know, we talked about oppression a little bit, but people, if they start to covet certain things, you know, that's going to lead them down to certain sins, or down the path to certain sins. Think about, you know, coveting someone's spouse. You know, somebody says, oh, I want that wife, or I want that husband for myself. I want that person's spouse. You know, we talked about fornication last week, you know, they see somebody that they're attracted to, and they want to go commit that sin, you know, they covet something that they don't have. They want to make it theirs. You know, coveting someone's spouse is going to lead to adultery. You know, that's something, a sin that covetousness could lead you down, okay? Or coveting someone's possessions, right? We see somebody has something that we want, we're going to steal it, and now we're committing other sins, because why? Because we covet things. Coveting things, you know, leads to other sins, and coveting things is, that we don't have, ultimately, you know, even if it's not sinful, per se, maybe it's not, maybe you're coveting something that inherently is not sinful in and of itself, but your pursuit of that thing was just going to lead you down, or will lead you to living a vain life, is what I'm trying to say. You know, maybe it's not something sinful that covetousness is going to lead us to, but maybe it's just you, your pursuit of that thing that you desire, that you're greedy for, that you have to have, that's just going to lead you down a life of vanity, of worthlessness, that has no spiritual value for eternity. Now here's the thing, you know, covetousness is a serious sin. Usually we see that, you know, from the little bit of Scripture that we looked at, and the fact that, you know, 1 Corinthians 5 is saying it's something that if you're guilty of it, you're to be put out of the church, right? That's pretty serious. The Bible doesn't say that about every sin. There's a lot of sins that you can be guilty of and not get kicked out of the church, but there are certain ones, and covetousness being one of them, that will lead to that. But here's the thing, everybody is covetous to some extent, you know, even children are guilty of this. They see the toy that their, you know, their sibling has, you know, and it's not the fact that it's that toy, it's the fact that they have it and they don't. That bothers them so much that they have to go over there and sock them in the nose and take it, right? And then it turns into a whole big ordeal, right? So even as young as, even children are guilty of this, you know. Does that mean we should be kicking kids out of the church? You know, I heard, you know, little Johnny, you know, you took your sister's sucker, you know, for yourself, because you wanted it, and now we've got to discipline them by putting them out of the fellowship. No. You know, we all deal with covetous to a certain degree, but I believe that there's a limit, you know, when a person becomes so covetous, we have to determine on a case-by-case, you know, scenario, situation, how covetous do you have to be to get kicked out of church. I mean, I'm sure everyone in here could admit that they've probably been covetous at one time or another. I mean, it just comes so naturally to us. Are you there in James chapter 4? In James chapter 4, I'll let you look at this, this is an important scripture, especially with the subject. It says in James chapter 4, verse 5, do you think that the scripture is saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. Now, I've heard people, you know, I believe preach this wrong by saying it's referring to the Holy Spirit. I don't believe that that's referring to the Holy Spirit. I believe that's referring to the spirit that is within us, the spirit of man, right, and that the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. I think what he's teaching here is that we, by nature, are envious people, that covetousness and greediness and envy are things that they dwell in us, and it's something that in our fallen nature, it lusts after these things all the time. You know, we probably do this without even realizing it, and it comes so naturally. You know, maybe our car's a late model, you know, maybe the electronic locks aren't working anymore, maybe when you put the AC all the way up, you know, the full blast has quit working, now you've only got medium. Maybe the liner in the roof is starting to sag and the foam's starting to come out. You know, I'm talking about my car, you know, maybe the passenger window can't be rolled down anymore, you know, maybe it's leaking a little coolant, maybe it's, you know, like almost 13 years old and it's got high mileage. I don't know anybody in the room else that's got that problem, right? It'd be real easy for me to be driving that vehicle and just start looking around at all the, you know, pulling the church parking lot and see brother so-and-so and sister so-and-so, and they're a nice, brand new, shiny, you know, fully loaded, decked out vehicle that, you know, they got through, you know, working hard and everything else, and not saying that them having it's wrong, but what would be wrong is for me to pull in and to look at what I have and to look at what they have and say, well, I want that. But that happens, doesn't it? You know, we find ourselves, you know, and I've preached about this topic of covetousness in the past, and I think another great example is, you know, we get discontent with the things that we're given, and we find ourselves, you know, driving by the car dealership, you know, and start rubbernecking. We start looking. We start, you know, touching on the brake a little bit, you know, to see what's available. We drive through the nice neighborhood and start looking at all the homes that are for sale or for rent, and think how much better it would be for us to live there. And what we're doing, without even realizing it, is that we're beginning to covet. And if we're not, now does that mean that if we do that we should be put out from the local assembly? You know, I think if that was the degree of covetousness we're talking about, this building would be empty every Sunday. Because I think everybody deals with that to some degree. I mean, to one form, I mean, whether you want to talk about a car or a house or clothes or, you know, just so many different things we could talk about. We're always, as it says there, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. You know, there's something about man that just, he's always wanting what other people have. He always wants whatever's better. We have a, we're prone, we have a proclivity to not be content with such things as we have. I mean, I believe that's why God has to address this in the Ten Commandments. I mean, are the Ten Commandments the only sins, or the only commandments there are in the Bible? I mean, if we've read through the Bible we would know there's a lot of other commandments that God gives. There's a lot of other sins that we could be guilty of besides just the ten, you know, in Deuteronomy and Exodus. You know, but he's, so really the things that are on that list in those chapters, you know, he's probably, God's kind of putting a premium on it. He's saying, look, especially these, if he's going to take the time to write down Ten Commandments and pick out only ten. Covet just makes that list, doesn't it? It says in Deuteronomy 5, 21, I'll read to you, neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field or his manservant or his maidservant, his ox or his ass, and then he just says, or anything that is thy neighbor's. You know, he said, well, I'm not coveting my neighbor's spouse. I'm not coveting, you know, his house or his field or his servants. I'm not coveting, you know, his ox or his ass. That would be the equivalent of, you know, the new vehicle or something like that. But, you know, he didn't say anything about me not coveting his pool, didn't say I couldn't covet his tennis court, didn't say I couldn't covet the things that are in his house. So God at the very end just says, anything that is thy neighbor's. Now again, I'm sure if we were all honest, we've probably done that. We've probably at one time or another looked at something that somebody else had and said, boy, I wish that was mine. I wish I had that. Why can't I have that? And without even knowing it, we're coveting. Does that mean we should be kicked out? No. It's, you know, and it was covetousness, too, that led to Eve eating of the forbidden fruit. I mean, this is how ingrained it is in human nature. This is the point I'm trying to make, that covetousness is something that comes so naturally to every one of us that now we have to kind of define, you know, where is that boundary where obviously any bit is a sin, but where is that boundary where, okay, now you need to be put out of local church. You've gone too far with this, okay? Not saying that, you know, you, you know, doing some window shopping and just staring at things you'll never own and wishing you had them is not right, you know, because it's not right, but, you know, I'm just trying to make the point that this is something that's ingrained in us. You know, it was covetousness that led to Eve eating of the fruit. If you recall the story in Genesis 3, how did that, you know, she didn't just run over there and grab the, grab the, grab the fruit and eat it. It was a process. You know, it says when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, you know, she starts looking at it and she starts to think about this and she says that it was pleasant to the eyes. Well, it looks nice. You know, it's, it's drawing, drawing her in and the tree, a tree to be desired to what? Make one wise. You know, what was Satan's lie? You shall be as God. She said, well, that doesn't sound so bad to be like the Lord. Hmm. I wouldn't mind being like that. That's covetousness. It wasn't her place. And then she, of course, we know the story, she takes it and eats it. So the point I'm trying to make right now is that covetousness, you know, is a part of our fallen nature. It's the spirit that is in us that lusteth to envy. Now you can maybe understand why a sermon on this topic is important because we all deal with this and if we don't, you know, if we're not proactive and keep this in check, this could lead us down to sin, other sins that are far worse that will destroy our lives. It could lead us to getting kicked out of the local church or at the very least just have us pursuing things in life that are just complete vanity and have no eternal merit. So covetousness, you know, it's part of our nature and it's something we have to guard against because of the consequences that come. And if it's left unchecked, it's going to affect us, whether as individuals or even entire churches. You know, this is something that can affect an entire church. You know, churches will get their focus off the things that matter, you know, preaching the Word, winning souls, and start to just try and make it about building this luxurious facility, you know, trying to have some, you know, edifice to man, some great big building or something like that. And they get their eyes off what really matters and become covetous of things that have no eternal merit. So the degree of covetousness, you know, we talked about how we all have some degree of it, right? We all have some degree of covetousness in us, you know, not saying that it's ever, that makes it okay. It's just that's the way it is. You know, we're, that's, we are fallen, man, we are, we're living in a fallen world. But there is too much of it. There can, you know, it can reach a degree that would be subject to church discipline. You know, if we let it go unchecked and just, and just let it run wild in our lives, you know, it would lead us to being kicked out of local church. Because that's what 1 Corinthians 5, if any brother would be called a fornicator or covetous. So now, you know, we have to, we have to step back and say, well, what, where is that line? You know, what, what would be a degree of covetousness that would lead to that? Well, I could, I thought of just a few examples, you know, how about people who would just go around, all they ever do is just boast about their possessions. Every conversation you have with them is just I bought this, I just got that, I'm saving up for this. You know, you can get a sense of this with people. You know, people who are always just trying to talk about their things, trying to talk about what they're going to buy, buy next. Now, I'm not saying if you ever have a conversation where you talk about something you got recently that you're some covetous, wicked person that needs to be kicked out of the church. But when every conversation goes that way, where every, you know, every conversation by some, you know, this person is always steering it back to them, back to their possessions, back to their wealth, back to all the things they're going to get and have, you know, that's, we're probably dealing with a covetous person at that point. Or how about people who are trying to involve others in money making schemes? You know, people come to church and they do this. They come in and they start, you know, they start their pyramid scheme, they start, you know, their Amway sales pitch. You know, they're trying to just, they're not there for the preaching of the Word of God. They're not there to be edified by the preaching. They're not there to edify the brothers and sisters in Christ. They're not there to do the work of the ministry. They're there to see how many suckers they can rope in so that they can make some money. They're covetous. That's the whole purpose. And, you know, unfortunately, churches, just because of the nature of Christianity and how we're commanded to be forgiving people, you know, that makes churches soft targets for people like this. They feel like, oh, because Christians tend to be very forgiving, very trusting, you know, which is a good thing, but unfortunately, if we're not careful, if we're not, you know, wise as serpents, you know, we could be taken advantage of in this regard, as well as others. But people will come in and say, well, you know, I'll just go to some church Sunday. There's a lot, I can make a lot of contacts real quick. You know, and I can see how many people I can get to come over and, you know, buy my new product. Now look, I'm not saying that every time you put on, you know, what are, you know, the pampered chef or something like that, that's you, you know, people do things outside of church and stuff like that and ladies get together and they have, I'm not referring to that. Okay. I'm referring to people who are coming to church with the sole purpose of making money off of and fleecing the flock. So that would be one. How about promoting your business in church? You know, you just come to church and all you're there to do is just, you know, advertise your services. And again, I feel like, you know, I have to clarify this point because I've had people come to me and confess their faults or what they perceived as a fault as, hey, you know, so and so came to me and asked for a business card, is it okay if I give them one? Yes. Okay. I don't think, you know, if somebody finds out you're an electrician or a plumber or you own some business or, you know, you work in some field or something like that, they know that about you just because, just from having gotten to know you, not because, you know, you're advertising, but just because that's, that's, you know, because people talk, hey, what do you do for a living? You know, people understand what everyone does for a job and they say, well, hey, I'm having a plumbing issue. Let me go talk to brother so and so and see if I can, you know, get his card if I need it. You know, that's not what I'm referring to. But, you know, if somebody came in and was just like handing out their cards unasked, unsolicited, just say, hey, here's one for you, here's one for you, here's one for you. You got any problem, problems? You got any, you know, I cut you a deal. Is you got a problem at your garage door? Hey, how's your pool? Right? You know, if you consider it, you know, and just, just giving the sales pitch after, before and after every service, we have to say, whoa, buddy, what are you here for? You know, it sounds like you're dealing, you know, that's the degree of covetousness that we're talking about, where people are coming into church for, for just to promote themselves and their businesses. So that's, that's the degree there. So again, I'm just trying to clarify all this to say, look, we all deal with covetousness, but hey, we're not all here, you know, trying to get people involved in a pyramid scheme. We're not all here, you know, promoting our business, right? Do we all deal with covetousness? Yeah, but we're not all to that degree. You know, coveting could, could lead to a lot of other sins that can lead to you living a very vain life. Now if you would, go to Psalm chapter 119 and we'll start to wrap this up, Psalm 119. So again, you know, this, you say, what does this got to do with anything? You know, with everything that's going on, you know, there's probably a lot of other things that you might feel like are way more relevant to preach about right now, but, you know, we, we don't want to, we don't want to neglect these things, we don't let these things slip either. We need to be reminded of these things, that, you know, there are certain sins that we should always be on guard about in our life. You know, not everyone's going to have to deal with the sin of fornication, you know, for some people that's just not going to be a very strong temptation. You know, perhaps they're married or they're just, you know, it's just not a thing for them. It's just not something they're struggling with. But covetousness might be, you know, in any, in any phase or, or of life, you know, that's something that could affect us. And these are the things that we always have to kind of keep ourselves, guard our hearts about because of the fact that, you know, it's part of our nature and it's part of the world that we're living in. I mean, this world wants you just chasing your tail and, and, and trying to make it all about just making money. They want to get you on that, you know, the, the, the, what do they call that? The, the, the rat race or the, the, the, the wheel, right? Where you're just, you know, just trying to just make money, make money, make money. And you know what? People get on that wheel and they find out real quick, there's, you'll never have enough. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, the Bible says. And you hear it all the time from these, these celebrities and people who've made it big and got all the riches and things like that. They end up being some of the most miserable people there are because all they've made their life about is vanity and we don't want that for ourselves. And that's the purpose of this message. Not just to warn you about, Hey, don't be guilty of this or we're going to kick you out. But Hey, you don't even want this to creep in your life because it's going to lead you to other sins and it's going to lead you to a vain life. So hopefully that's, I've convinced you. And you know, now we ask ourselves, well, how do we avoid covetousness? You know, we see that it's something we all have to deal with and we, it's not something we want to just leave unchecked. So how do we deal with this? Well, you deal with covetousness, you avoid it by learning to be content. It's really that simple. You know, that sounds easy, but in practice it's something else. All right. Did I have you go to Psalm 119? Okay. You're there in verse 33. Look at verse 33. I say, well, I don't want to be a covetous person. I want to avoid this. Well, learn to be content. He says in verse 33, teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law. I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight. You want to avoid covetousness? You know, you should delight yourself in God's commandments. Delight yourself in the Bible. You know, understand that you have a great treasure in the word of God. But covetousness, if you're in guard against it, and where I'm going with this, is that at the end of the day it's a heart problem. You know, it's something that comes from within. That's why it goes on in verse 36 and says, incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not covetousness. You know, you have to deal with what will, you know, if you're struggling with covetousness, you know, it's something that's wrong with your heart. You know, and really what we have to start with is just confessing that to God. You know, just confessing that sin to God and praying and asking Him to incline your heart after things that are not vain, after His commandments. Help say, Lord, help me to delight in thy law. Help it to be my meditation all the day long. He says in verse 37, turn away my eyes from beholding vanity. You know, if we're dealing with the sin, it might be a good idea to just, you know, stop getting the sales catalog. Might be a good idea to just quit going on, you know, that certain website where you could just, you know, maybe Amazon's just not the place for you right now. You know, where it's, you know, customers also bought this. They also searched for this. This is suggested for you. And look, people, this is a, I never understood this, but this is a real thing that's out that I've met a person like this, where they had a shopping addiction to where they were just maxing out credit cards. They would just buy things. I'm not even kidding. This lady, and it ended up costing her marriage when it came, when it was found out. I'm not saying that's right. I'm just saying, look, that's where these things go. But she was just, you know, she was, I believe dealing with covetousness at the, at the root of it, but she would just buy things and then she would just take them to a storage container that she had rented and just put it in there. Not even open it. The husband said when he found a lot of it, it was still in the shopping bag with the receipt in it. It was just, you know, retail therapy. It was just something about going out and spending the money and knowing that she had it and she's just buying, and I'm saying she's filling up an entire storage facility from these, you know, these, these self storage bins with just stuff she just went and bought. Just toys, just gadgets, gizmos, just worthless, useless things. You know, turn your eyes away from vanity. I am dealing with covetousness. I got a spending problem. You know, I never have enough. Well, maybe you just need to put your, you know, get your face in God's book instead of putting your face, you know, in the internet or maybe the shopping mall isn't the place for you. You know, if you're dealing with covetousness, maybe you shouldn't be spending your time just window shopping. You know, he says, turn away my eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me in the way. Establish thy word on thy servant who is devoted to thy fear. Over to Mark chapter seven, Mark chapter seven. If you're going to guard against covetousness, you're going to have to learn to guard your heart because covetousness is a problem with your heart, with your desires. It says in Proverbs four, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Bible says in Psalm 62, trust not an oppression and become not vain in robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. Mark chapter seven, look at verse 20. What did Jesus say? He said that which cometh out of the man, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth him. For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts. I mean, any one of these sins that we've talked, we've listed just now, we would say, yeah, it's wicked as hell. I mean, can you imagine being accused of adulteries or fornications or murders or thefts? We kind of gloss over covetousness sometimes, or covetousness, but there's nothing wrong with me just hopping in after service today, just getting in my old beat up van and going down to Chapman or, I don't know what the dealerships are around here or whatever, go down to the dealership and just walk around and just look at all the nice new shiny vans and think about how nice it would, sure it would be nice to have it, can't afford it, never going to get it anytime soon, but I'm just going to go look at it. How do you think it's going to affect my heart if I did that? How am I going to feel when I climb back into my van and drive home? You think I'm going to be thankful and grateful for the van that I have, for the vehicle that I have? If I go down to men's warehouse after church today, if they're even open, and go down there and start looking at their five, six, seven hundred dollar suits and think about this one I got from Pennies, the fact that it's one of the only ones I own, am I going to be grateful for this? No, it's going to affect my heart. So covetousness is on this list of very wicked sins and it's something that comes out of our heart and that's why we need preaching like this, that's why we need to be reminded that covetousness is a very dangerous sin. He goes on and says wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these things come from within and defile the man. He said in Jeremiah, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? You know, if we just let our heart just do whatever it wants, if we just acted on every impulse and just indulged every temptation that came our way, it could lead us down some very dark paths. And I'm here to tell you that covetousness is one of those sins that could take us down a dark path. It really could. So we want to avoid it. Well, you want to avoid it? Guard your heart, guard your eyes, you know, meditate on the word of God. How about this, realize how rich you are in Christ. You know, it's funny that some of the most covetous people in the world are usually some of the poorest. You'd think you'd be the rich guy, but some of the most covetous sounding talk I've ever heard of comes out of, you know, the people who were not considered very wealthy. Remember I used to work with this one guy and he was just like this running joke with him. At least he thought it was a joke, it wasn't very funny, but he always talked about how he just wanted to win the lottery. You know, he said, not a lot, you know, just a million, just a cool mill, just take the edge off. You know, it's like, what are you talking about, man? Well, you know what, he was a covetous person. And you know, that's where you hear a lot of the most covetous sounding talk, it's ironically from some of the poorer people, because they're not thinking about all the good things that they do have, they're just thinking about things that they don't have. And that all the things that everybody else has, and it's not fair, what they don't stop and think is that, you know, some of those people have worked very hard to get those things, right or wrong, you know, I don't think there's anything wrong with having nice things if you've gotten through them, you know, through honest means, you know, God's blessed you and so on and so forth. But if we want to guard our hearts against covetousness, one of the best things we could do is realize how rich you are in Christ. I don't care how, what your bank account, what your bank statement says right now. If you're saved and serving God, you know, you could be, you know, I'm trying not to, I'm trying to use the right name here, if I say the wrong name I'm going to get in trouble. You could be the Warren Buffet of heaven, is that his name? Yeah, really rich guy, right? You want to be, I want to be, I was going to say Bill Gates, but with everything that's going on, I don't think that's appropriate. You could be the Warren Buffet of heaven, right? You could be the guy with all the crowns and the big mansion and everything up there, you know, if your heart was centered on the Lord, you know, when I was writing this it reminded me of that, that him, you know, turn your eyes upon Jesus, you know, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. You know, when we start to focus on the things of God and eternity, all the, all these big fancy things, they just turn, they're not as, you know, the gold loses its luster. You know, it's not quite so fancy anymore. It's when we take our eyes off Christ and we take our eyes off eternity and the riches that we have in Christ that everything in this world seems so much more attractive. You know, and I was thinking about this and I think I've said it before, but you know what's ironic about, you know, people who have these huge homes, you know, when you go into these neighborhoods where they have just these huge mansions and stuff like that, it's made out of the same stuff your apartment is. It really is. It's still just wood, cement, drywall, stucco, some paint, flooring. I mean, is there anything there that they have that you don't have? The difference is they just have more of it. You know, it's really not anything that special, but you know what, if we, you know, the only reason we can look at it that way is if we have the right perspective. You know, they can have all that. They can have these homes. I mean, is it Jasper? Is their driveway solid gold that's clear as crystal? No, but that's what we have in heaven. He said, you know, Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you might be also. You know, he's gone to prepare a mansion for us, he says. In my father's house there are many mansions. We already have all that and it's not, you know what, the one in heaven, the mansion you have in heaven, it's not stucco. It's not wood. It's not dry walled, okay? It's jewels and gold. It's all these things that are beautiful. And what we need to do is get our eyes and our focus on the Lord. You know, we need to guard our heart. If we're dealing with covetousness and it's something we're struggling with, you know, where's your focus? What are you really focusing on in this life? Is it just things and stuff and abundance and wealth and having more things or is it on the spiritual things in life? Is it being able to do, to serve God? Is that what, you know, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. You know, Job said, naked came I, my mother's room and naked came into this world and naked and I'm butchering it. Naked came I and naked I go, I'm paraphrasing, right? So you know, here's the thing, you can't take all that stuff with you, rich guy. And we just make our lives all about gaining all this stuff, we're going to leave it all behind to somebody. So we need to guard our hearts against covetousness. How do we do that? You know, realize how rich you are in Christ and learn to be content. You know, and that sounds easy, but again, it's called learn to be content. That's why Paul said in Philippians, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. He didn't say I was, you know, I just found myself content in whatever state I'm in. It just, I just happened to be content. He said, no, I learned. You know, it's something you have to be taught. It's not something that's just going to come naturally to you. Contentment is something that you have to practice. You know, so if we're going to pray for contentment, okay, you better be careful about that prayer. It's kind of like praying for patience, right? Say Lord, make me patient. Well, God, God's going to put you in some circumstances where, you know, you have to develop patience, you know, put you in some stressful situations. Same with contentment. Lord, help me to be content. All right. Well, let me see how lean I can make you so that you can learn to be content. The Bible says better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. If you're still there in 1 Timothy chapter six, we'll wrap it up here. It says that godliness in verse six, 1 Timothy 6, 6, godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out and having food and raiment, let us be there with content. Those are the two things that, you know, if we have those, everything else is just gravy. If we have food and raiment, we have everything that God has promised us. Everything else is extra. You know, that 13-year-old van out there, that's extra. You know, I could get the wrong attitude about it and start coveting somebody else's van or I could just be grateful for the fact that God's not making me walk to church today or take the bus or anything else like that and, you know, if we're in that situation, there's no shame in that. You know, I've taken the bus to work but, you know, we should learn to be content is the point I'm making. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. People think that this money is what's going to make them happy. It's what's going to destroy them is all this wealth and abundance and that's what's going on in this country. People just have, they don't care about God because they have all the wealth and all these things that make life easy and nice and comfortable. The Bible says a love of money is the root of all evil. So here's the thing, at the end of the day, you know, you can't buy happiness. That expression is true and we need to get that through our heads that just acquiring things and having stuff is not what's going to make us happy in life. You want to avoid covetousness, you know, get your eyes on the Lord, learn to be content and understand that all those things that the world is chasing after is not making them happy and it's not going to make you happy either. So rather than focusing on what we don't have, let's just be grateful for what we do have. And at the very least, you know, at least we should be grateful and value the privilege of being able to attend the local church. I mean if you're discontent with your dwellings or your clothes or what you drive or what you have to eat or the way you look or whatever it is, if there's something in your life that you're just discontent about and that you're coveting over other things, at the very least just value the privilege that you get to come to a local Baptist church where the Bible's being preached. And that'll at least keep you from going overboard with your covetousness and getting kicked out. Because people are chasing after a lot of things out there, aren't they? People want a lot of extra things and it's never enough. But I don't care how much you accumulate in this life, how much wealth you build up and how many things you have. For me, there's nothing on this earth that's going to compare to those words that we all have the potential of hearing from our Savior, well done, thou good and faithful servant. I mean if you could live a life that allows you to hear that, everything else just pales in comparison. To know that I shall have praise of God one day. And if it means I have to live a more meager life, be content with such things as I have, then so be it. And so be it. But here's the thing, if we have left, if we're leaving our hearts unguarded, and an inordinate level of covetousness is beginning to take root, we need to check that. And we need to get right. Because as we read in 1 Corinthians 5, that's one of the things we can get kicked out for. Let's get that right. You know, either get right or get out as the series goes. Let's go ahead and pray. Lord, again, thank you for all the good things you have given us, Lord. Help us to focus on those things and understand, Lord, that there's so much to be grateful for and that you've given us so many good things, Lord, that we don't deserve. And Lord, you've promised us food and raiment and everything else is just extra. And Lord, help us to live lives that are, Lord, invested in heaven, that we're going to have a reward there. Help us to set our affection on things above and not on things on the earth. Lord, I pray you'd help us to always be mindful of our standing in the local church and to cherish it. And Lord, to not take it for granted and to help us to guard our hearts from those things that would have us put out from it. Lord, I pray that you would just bless us as we go. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. All right, thanks for coming, everybody. We are dismissed.