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So you're there in Exodus chapter 20 and we're closing up our series on the Ten Commandments because we were on the Tenth Commandment and so I figured it would be Fitting to read that chapter as we go to the last one here, which is thou shalt not covet And so you see there in verse 17 We have the Tenth Commandment here It says thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife Nor his maidservant nor his manservant nor his maidservant nor his ox nor his ass nor anything that is thy neighbor's Okay So now what the Catholic Church does is they try to take this commandment and put it into two different Commandments Because they don't like the graven image commandment So they try to just hide that one in the first commandment and then they basically conveniently Rip this one into two parts, but let's go to Deuteronomy 5 I want you to just stick your finger in keep your finger in Exodus 20 go to Deuteronomy 5 and verse 21 and you'll see that Well, which one is it? Okay, because basically they'll say well thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house is one That's number nine. And then ten is thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. That's number ten. Okay Well, let's see in Deuteronomy 5 verse 21. It says thou shalt not I'm sorry thou shalt I'm neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife Neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house. So which one is it is the house the ninth or is it the tenth? Right. Is it thy neighbor's wife? The ninth or is it the tenth right and you know, I don't think anything's accidental in the Bible meaning that sometimes I think there's things that are just kind of worded like opposite or or it'll be in a different order Just to make that look stupid And I kind of hit on this with when it comes to end times prophecy unlike why there's 42 months 1260 days and a time times and half a time Why is it use those three different time periods to talk about the same time because you can't mess that up, right? You can't sit you can't try to say well this 42 is really not months. It's something else or this 1260 days it's not really days. It's years. And so it's just put in there to really show you that that's dumb Okay to think any different that this is you know, two separate commandments is ridiculous, okay, and Also, this also shows you here that covet It means to desire something. Okay? now one thing I want you to see here is that To covet coveting is not inherently wrong. Okay? Meaning to desire something's not inherently wrong. Okay, I'll show you that go to 1st Corinthians chapter 12 And so to covet something means to desire something but the commandment is talking about desiring something that's not yours Okay, so when it says thou shalt not covet it's talking about you're desiring something that doesn't belong to you It belongs to someone else. Okay, so that's the core of this commandment is that you know, that's your neighbor's wife You shouldn't be desiring your neighbor's wife. She doesn't belong to you. She belongs to your neighbor and that's your neighbor's house You should be desiring your neighbor's house. That's your neighbor's house. Not your house Okay, and so it's not saying that to desire your wife is wrong, right? You should covet your wife And you probably heard this terminology. I covet your prayers. There's nothing wrong with saying that Okay, so it's not like covet is this inherently bad thing It depends on what you're coveting though and in context Coveting here is talking about something that doesn't belong to you Okay, so when and in some places will say thou shalt not covet, okay And you can kind of bring it down to that level that should not covet but in context You're talking about coveting something doesn't belong to you now in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 in verse 28 you're dealing with spiritual gifts. Okay, so this whole chapter is dealing with the fact that You know, the Holy Spirit gives gifts to certain people meaning that they have You know basically talents if you will or you know Some people are better at some things than others and the spirit kind of gives gifts to people as that goes on And obviously we're not talking about some charismatic weird speaking in tongues thing, right? you know where you're barking like a dog and foaming at the mouth and Every time I say that there's always some charismatic person online be like we don't bark like a dog foam at the mouth I've seen it happen. So, you know what you may not have done it But someone has so and you know your Sith Lord Benny Henn slain people, you know And if anybody's not seen that video, it's hilarious right, you know where he's like hitting people with this this Coat or something like that and they made it into a lightsaber and he's like literally slaying people That's not what we're talking about when we're talking about spiritual gifts. Okay, we're talking about real things like wisdom Knowledge faith, you know helps, you know, yeah, you know a gift and healing, you know, you know how like You know different remedies different things like that that you can have gifts that the spirit will kind of guide you in that right to Get the prophecy being able to preach different things like that. Okay now First Corinthians chapter 12 at the end of the chapter here in verse 28 It says in God hath set some in the church first apostles secondarily prophets thirdly teachers after that miracles Then gifts of healings helps governments diversity of tongues are all Apostles are all prophets are all teachers are all workers of miracles Have all the gifts of healing do all speak with tongues do all interpret that's that's a rhetorical question You know that that the answer to that question is no Okay You should know that by saying are all apostles. Yeah, and then we're all apostles. Okay. No, that's ridiculous So it's basically saying hey, you know, there's different people that have different strengths and the spirits kind of is helping others in some areas Okay, so not everybody should be a preacher. Okay, not everybody, you know has that kind of gift from the spirit And listen, I'm not saying I'm gifted. Okay You know, I understand that, you know when it comes to preaching I'm not the top brass when it comes to it But at the same time there's some people that don't that they get they can't even get in front of people and talk Okay, and And if you struggle with that to that point where you get so nervous that you can't get in front of people and talk You're gonna struggle with preaching. Okay, and maybe that's just something that you shouldn't be doing. Okay, nothing wrong with that Okay, it's just stating the fact but that's what it says here in verse 31 there says but Covet earnestly the best gifts and yet show I I unto you a more more excellent way. So He's basically saying hey, there's these gifts and there's this order by the way Diversity is of tongues, which by the way is just speaking with other languages and interpreting other languages notice that's on the bottom rung okay, and Listen, I'm learning another language and many of you are learning languages and you know all that stuff, but that's at the bottom rung Okay, you say why is that at the bottom rung because people can get saved, you know There's people that are saved in every language right now Okay, meaning that those people can go win those people if all needs be I'm not against learning another language I'm learning Greek and I want to go out to Greece and preach the gospel to them Okay, but you know in all honesty most of them speak English anyway And so you can go over there and speak to them in English But that being said is that you know, you should covet the best gifts Okay, and notice in chapter 14 go to chapter 14 So first Corinthians chapter 14 verse 39 and what I really want to show you is that you can't just say like it's bad to covet anything, okay It's like the misnomer that jealousy is bad Jealousy is not bad because jealousy is desiring something that belongs to you Envy is bad because you're desiring something that doesn't belong to you. Okay, so if I'm jealous over my wife, that's good Right, that means I desire her she belongs to me. Well, I can't believe you say yes She belongs to me, but guess what? I belong to her okay, and so there's nothing wrong with me coveting my wife and Being jealous over my wife, okay And but to envy, you know someone else's wife or to covet someone else's wife. That's where it's wrong. Does that make sense? So so anyway desiring desiring your wife or Coveting your wife is not wrong. Notice what it says in verse 39 so your first Corinthians 14 verse 39 says wherefore brethren covet the prophesy and Forbid not to speak with tongues Let all things be done decently and in order now to give you a synopsis of that chapter He's basically saying don't come into a church and speak in a language that no one understands There there's your abridged version of first Corinthians 14. Don't go into a church and speak a language that no one knows. Okay Doesn't mean that that no one in the world knows it It just means that no one there knows it and he's basically saying hey, you know You should you should covet the prophecy. I mean he should covet the preach in the language that people understand Okay, you should desire to do that anything. It's not saying that you can't speak with another language But let everything be done this decently in an order if you're gonna speak another language You better have an interpreter there. You better have someone that's explaining to people what they mean You should not be the Catholic Church that speaks in Latin and no one can understand what they're saying or even in a Greek Orthodox Church speaking in Greek and a lot of people that go there don't understand it Okay, so that's what that's dealing with but saying you should covet the prophesy right you should covet you should desire to preach He you know, if any man desire the office of a bishop He desires a good work right and the idea is that you covet that right you desire it. Okay So there's nothing wrong with coveting something, you know things that are good things that you know Are godly or things that belong to you, but that's not what this commandment is talking about now go to Romans chapter 7 So this commandment is talking about a bad desire Okay Things you should not be desiring And ultimately what we'll see here is it's talking about lusting Okay, the desire, you know lusting after things that don't belong to you Romans chapter 7 verse 7 here. I Love when the New Testament clarifies things, you know or gives you a little more information about it In verse 7 here. It says what shall we say then is the law sin god forbid May I had not known sin, but by the law if I had not known lust Except the law had said thou shalt not covet So lost when it hath conceived bringing forth sin and sin when it's finished bringing forth death You know lust lusting, you know as far as lusting after someone's wife lusting after a woman That's not your own right if you lust with after a woman in your heart You've committed adultery already with her in your heart, you know these ideas Of you know, and it's interesting how adultery and coveting go hand in hand, you know Even in this verse of you know, coveting someone else's wife or desiring someone else's wife will lead to what? Adultery, okay. So these things are a lot of times linked when it comes that go to Luke chapter 12 Luke chapter 12 and Covetousness a lot of times gets into materialistic type stuff You know because in that commandment, what do you see you see that your neighbor's wife But then you see your neighbor's house and his ox and his ass and you know Just anything that belongs to him, right and you're desiring items or goods or riches, right? And that's what you're dealing with and I love this passage right here because this is what Jesus is saying about covetousness and this is one of my favorite verses in the Bible when it comes to Just I guess when you're a Christian and you know When the world has all the fancy things or the world has the boat they have the summer house You know, we went to that we went to the beach and we were in a beach house and and you know It's like man It'd be nice to have you just own this and come here anytime you want and then I'm just saying, you know We were talking about it. I was like I was like, yeah But how many times would you actually come out here? Like when do you have the time? To just be like, all right, we're gonna go out this week when you're out that week You know, it's just what you don't have time to do that type of stuff on top of the fact You don't have the money. Okay, you know unless you have a ton of money. You're just rolling in the Benjamins You're not gonna be like be able to buy that type of stuff But you look at that types of it man that'd be cool to have that it'd be cool to do this But in the end That's not what we're here to do. Okay, we're not here to just enjoy Every little thing in this life Okay This this what we need to really be thinking about is that this world is not our own meaning that we're pilgrims We're strangers. We're just so journeying here, you know and just to let go of the things of this life now Look at Luke chapter 12 Luke chapter 12 verse 13 Luke chapter 12 verse 13 it says and one of the company said unto him Master speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me and he said unto him Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? So it sounds like Jesus was just lording over everybody wasn't he? Right. No, obviously he wasn't and but notice what he says in his response to this, right? So he basically he comes up to Jesus said hey, can you divide the hair inheritance here? Can you can you deal with this and knows Jesus's response to this verse 15 and he said unto them? Take heed and beware of covetousness For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possess it And this should be something we all think about okay, there's nothing wrong with having things, you know Obviously you have things that you need to get by you need a vehicle you need this or that to you know They serve a function, right? but the idea here is the fact that You know, we need to not just be like that's what defines us right is what defines you your house is what defines you? Your vehicle is what defines you, you know any type of possession that you have because is your life Is that what your life consists of and to be honest with you? That's what that's what most people's lives consist of is the possessions they can get okay It's all about I'm saving up for this and saving up for that and I need this or that but is that what? Defines your life, you know, if you died would it be like man, he had some really cool stuff Or would when you die would be like man he did great things for God Okay, and that's the thing that you should be thinking about is the fact okay, you know What my life was not about the things that I possessed Okay, and I'm talking about material things because you're talking about land here and it this is not saying it's wrong to have land It's wrong to have possessions, but that should not be what your life consists of That should not be why you live that should not be what your endgame is That shouldn't be your goal and life is to have these certain possessions or to hold on to those Because listen those things can be taken away like that And if you're holding on to that then that could destroy your life, right? Let's say your whole life is possessions and everything got taken away you know Sometimes it may be better to take it all away and then you have to worry about any of it Okay, and I'm gonna get to that when it comes to ecclesiastes But notice what says as you keep reading here because he's gonna give a parable about it. Okay about having possessions or worrying about your possessions and all that That's what it says in verse 16 It says he spake a parable unto them saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth Plentifully and he thought within himself saying what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits And he said this will I do and this is always funny to me because it's like this guy talking to himself Right. He's saying this within himself. It's like this is what I'll do, you know This will I do I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods And I will say to my soul soul Thou has much goods Laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry. So this guy's just having a great conversation with himself and Notice what it says here in verse 19 and I will say to my I'm sorry Verse 20 but God said unto him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required to be then who shall those things be which thou hast Provided there's basically saying you don't know what you're gonna die. What is your life? It is even a vapor that appear for a little time and then vanishes away You know, you ought to say the Lord if the Lord will we shall do this or that? You know and live and you know continue in the city and buy and sell and get gain You know the idea is that you don't know when you're gonna die But notice what it says right after in verse 21 It says so is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God So the idea is that you're just laying up treasure for yourself and you're not rich toward God meaning that You know, there's nothing gonna be shown at the end of your life the whole book of Ecclesiastes is about this That if you live for all the things that are under the Sun It's all vanity and vexation and spirit because who's gonna have it after that not you Okay, because it's basically saying, you know, who's shall those big things be which thou hast provide He's basically saying all that stuff that you stored up is going to someone else now and You don't even get to enjoy it and you know what I have a I have a 401k, you know through my company, which is like a retirement, right, but I don't plan on retiring Okay, and my idea of like saving up money is for my children Okay, the parents lay up for the children and not the children for their parents meaning this is that You know, I I have it there You know if they need it later on or whatever or for my funeral or whatever they need, you know Whatever costs so that I wouldn't be a burden on my children Okay, but ultimately I'm not looking at that and be like man. I can't wait until that thing just yeah I can cash that thing out I'm gonna work until I die. Okay, and the thing is is that Obviously Christian Christianity wise I'm gonna work until I die, but I even plan on that in general anyway, and at least until I'm you know Not just mentally senile and don't know where I'm at, okay But that being said is that I don't believe there's anything wrong with laying up Okay, but it shouldn't be like I'm gonna lay up so I can just do nothing. Okay, anybody that retires Okay, I've seen this happen time and time again. They retire and then they just die real soon Because you go from like working hard doing this or that and then you go to like this sedentary like doing nothing and you just thought you just like fade away and I tell anybody that retires and I told my dad this you know when he retired I said you need to have a hobby you need to be doing something right you need to be doing something that That's gonna. Keep you busy. Keep you moving around. Just don't just sit there and just like Blah you know you know and the idea though is the fact that You know you need to be working. We were meant to work you know that's that's especially men we are meant to work by the sweat of our face and You know this idea of just working till retirement, and you have that idea like I'm working till Friday and You know I used to be that way. You know I first started working. I'm like I can't wait till Friday. I Can't wait till Friday now. I'm like Friday man. I need to start writing some Man I need to start doing this a little earlier during the week. You know before it gets to Saturday and And then Sunday comes I got to work on Monday, and I'm taking a break But I'm being I'm being a little facetious, but not really that much But all that to say is that this idea of working till Friday or working till retirement Okay How about we work till Jesus comes while we work for the night is coming while we work till we die And that's the idea that we should have not like this guy in Luke where he's just like I got everything now now I'm just gonna sit back relax Drink some sweet tea on my back porch and just you know You know not do anything, okay? Cuz what is what did God say thou fool this night my soul is required of thee now You're not even designed not even gonna Even enjoy it go to 1st Timothy chapter 6 1st Timothy chapter 6 and ultimately Cervaceousness comes into the aspect of loving money, okay? Loving money listen Ecclesiastes says money answers to all things and that's true You know I mean money you need money to pay the bills you need money I mean we need money to pay the bills for this building right here. We have an offering There's tithing all that stuff that goes into the aspect that you need money to go on a retreat you need money to you know Get materials to go out soul running, so it's not like money is inherently wrong, okay? But what is wrong is loving money, and that gets into covetousness you desire it okay, and you know what? you say well you you Gotta be for Trump right because of Biden listen. I'd be first squirrel over Biden I Mean I think a squirrel has a better mental capacity then You know creepy Joe okay, but Let's face it Donald Trump loves money Just openly says he loves money Okay, now is Donald Trump probably gonna be better for our country than Joe Biden. I mean like I said a squirrel Would be better, okay? not to like degrade squirrels or anything like that, but But go to first Timothy chapter 6 verse 7 It says 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 And that's the real lesson. We should be learning with covetousness is just be content with the things that you have right is You know you have what you have be content with that There's nothing wrong with getting other things and all that stuff but it shouldn't be this idea of like that's all you live for is to have new things or bigger things or better things just be content with what you have and Just let the blessings flow if God provides more for you in the end now verse 9 there says But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts Which drown men in destruction and perdition? for the love of money is The root of all evil, and I'm tired of people you know all the other versions Well, we'll say something to the effect of the love of money is a root of evil or a root of some evil No is the root of all evil okay? That's what it says here as you keep reading there Real love money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after see how that's anonymous there while men some some men coveted after They have aired from the faith and pierce themselves through with many stars you're dealing with Christians here, okay? I'm not talking about reprobate people right now. I'm not talking about Donald Trump I'm not talking you know I did mention Donald Trump But I'm talking about saved people can get caught up in this okay the love of money They're coveting after it and it pierced themselves through with many sorrows But thou o man of God flee these things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness fight the good fight of faith Lay hold on eternal life where into thou art also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses And so the idea is that you need to be content with the things that you have and just not Get caught up in that okay, and you can get caught up in that where it's just like and I know people I know you know people that work, and that's all they care about That's all they care about I still remember this day I got a job offer And they wanted me to like basically take over this whole like start up a structural department in a company and be be guy that's gonna travel around do all this stuff and I remember they offered me something and it was gonna actually be My company was gonna counter offer more than that, and they're like well You know when I when I started this company. You know I took a pay cut You know to come here, and I'm like well listen up Because I love it. You know this is what I live for I work I wake up in the morning, and I live to work. I was I'm like I'm just gonna be frank with you I work to live. I don't live to work. Okay, meaning that when it comes to Christianity. Yes I live to work for God. Okay, but when it comes to paying the bills I Work so that I can live and pay the bills and serve God okay But my mind isn't like I just wake up so I'd be like I need to make more money I Need to have more I need to you know get more on this or that And I'm all for being profitable in the company and doing great and all that stuff But that is not why I wake up in the morning Okay, and that's not the attitude as a Christian you just have and obviously you know the people that that love God And go to work and work hard, but they're not loving money listen. God will bless that that person They'll bless their work and that company ultimately will be blessed because they have godly people working for them, okay? But loving money is not the route to go and anybody that loves money is then it's gonna end up hurting people to get there okay, you're gonna step on people to get there and Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 Ecclesiastes chapter 5 In first Timothy chapter 6 and gives a warning to rich people, but it doesn't say It's it's that they're evil for being rich. It's just basically saying beware. You know don't trust in uncertain riches, okay, and You know you need to be aware of this because You're gonna be more susceptible to fall into covetousness Right the more money you have the more money It's it's just and what you're gonna see here in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 is the more you make The more you want the more is the more you're not satisfied, okay? Now in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 10 here It says he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase This is also vanity when goods increase they are increased that eat them and What good is there to the owners thereof saving the beholding of them with their eyes? so notice what it's saying here is basically saying and I remember my cousin saying this one time He didn't say it exactly like this, but he's basically saying the more you make the more you end up spending Okay, when you increase when you increase in what you make you increase in how you live okay, and We need to try to you need to try to tailor that back Okay, if you get a raise you shouldn't you'd be like all right now time to buy this okay? and Here nowadays. You know with everybody in the church. It's like get a raise like I could finally afford to feed that kid you know Not quite that bad, but you know what I'm saying. It's like you get a raise like oh, man It's struggling you know struggling with you know because we got another one on the way. You know and all that but But all I'd say is that it's very true. You know you you get paid more you get a raise And you're like all right. I can do this I could do that and it's just it's just a fact of life That's just the way the cookie crumbles is the way it goes, but what it's saying here is that? When you have things that you're not using okay? It's different if you let's say you had a whole bunch of money Let's say you're running a farm right that costs a lot of money Okay, you know like all the equipment that you have to have to do that you know you think about like bailing Hey, or doing something like that that equipment is you're talking Hundreds of thousands of dollars for all that stuff, okay? And so, but you're using it. Do you see the difference like you're using it? What it's saying here is that basically you have all these things, but the only thing you're really doing is looking at it, right? You buy all this stuff And it's like I can't use it because I don't have time to do it or you just have so much stuff to you There's just not enough time in the day to use everything you have so you should really think about this Does everything I have have a purpose am I using it or is it just like there for show? it's just there to you know it just kind of taking up space and And I'm not talking about the treadmill because everybody's got the treadmill right that just takes up space and no one ever uses it Right, but you know what I'm talking about though like as far as like buying things And then you just don't use it at all okay, and you know what? You could look at this in many avenues, but that's the way I kind of look at it. It's like am I using it Okay, and if I'm not using it. What's the what's the point? You know? Why don't why is this here? Why why you know is this just taking up space, but notice what it says in verse? 12 there the sleep of a laboring man is sweet Whether he eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep Okay, and this is the idea that if you have all these nice things, okay? I mean like you just you just have like riches galore, and you're wealthy Meaning that you're just afraid something's going to happen to it Right people are going to break in and steal it You know, but if you don't have anything There's nothing to lose right that's the the principle right there's nothing to lose if you don't have anything Then they can't take anything And I'm not saying to live like a pauper and that you got to live in poverty the Bible says that give me neither Poverty nor riches okay, so it's not saying live You know like like a bum on the side of the street okay with no house or anything like that and nothing over your head It's not that's not what the Bible is teaching at all But it's basically saying you don't you don't want to desire to be rich Okay, and to have all these things that you're just gonna be worrying about right is that you know do you care? If you care that much that something's gonna happen to the possession you have then it's probably not good to have it Right or do you say well if something happens to it so be it whatever? you know just deal with it and Ecclesiastes 5 there just keep reading there. It says in verse 13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the Sun namely riches kept for the owners Thereof to their hurt. Okay, so it's basically saying riches that are gonna end up hurting their owners, okay? but those riches perish by evil travail and He begateth the Sun and there is nothing in his hand as he came forth of his mother's womb naked shall He return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labor Which he may carry away in his hand the same principle You know that we saw in first Timothy chapter 6 is that you brought nothing into this world you could take nothing out listen the only thing that you're gonna have to Show for eternity are the things that you did that have eternal value Okay, and you're not taking Physical things with you okay, and so you got to understand that Hey, what is gonna have weight and what's gonna be last forever things that you don't see Okay, and you need to just remember that when it comes to coverage this we go to the Colossians chapter 3 Colossians chapter 3 Colossians chapter 3 And people take this too far okay when I say Not to cover it that doesn't mean that you can't eat organic food okay, and If you don't need organic food, that's fine, but you say that cost too much money I need to use less money over here to do this I'm not saying that you can't spend money And and you need to have higher money to have better things like food and nutrition and stuff like that doesn't make sense Like it's not saying like I just need to live off Doritos and Lucky Charms my whole life because I don't want to spend the money on stuff That's gonna be more nutritious or whatever which actually in the in most cases the nutritious stuff costs less anyway But all I have to say is that there's nothing wrong with like saying hey I need I'm gonna spend more money over here if it's for something like that Okay, so don't don't take it too far, and I've seen people do that whether just like I'm just gonna live off You know this stuff even though it's bad for me Because it's cheaper, okay You know that's not what I'm talking about Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 it says mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanness or inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry Okay, so notice how it links covetousness with idolatry so notice how we're getting back to the second commandment, right? You kind of saw cavities going back to adultery, but now it's going into idolatry, right? And you can understand how this can happen right You idolize someone's house you idolize someone's car you idolize You know some possession that someone has and that is like your idol. That is what you are basically Worshipping okay, or even something that you do have and it's just like that's your baby And I've seen people do that with their vehicles right and I'm not a wrong. I'm not against like Taking care of your vehicles, and you know All that stuff and keeping them clean and or whatever but to the point where it's just like You know no one can touch it No one could be in it like it's you know what I'm talking about when it comes to certain things that people have and it's just like this enshrined item That is their baby, and if they lost that they would literally lose sleep and just like be distraught okay, and You know when I when I got in a wreck with my truck, you know it was a new truck and everything You know I just don't care that much. You know like obviously it sucks Here's why here's why I didn't like it because I have to deal with the insurance And I have to deal with all these other things and I have to go find a ride here And I got to do this then that it makes your life harder, okay? That's why I didn't like it, but it's not like oh, that's my baby. You know it's like you know and the truck I have now you know what I feel the same exact way Okay Okay, meaning if that if that thing got total tomorrow. I'd be like all right whatever You know hopefully I'm not totaled with it, but but that being said is that Yeah, going through all that rigmarole of dealing with it. You know I don't like that But at the same time. I'm not like man. You know That's my baby. That's my pride and joy and all that stuff and my children are like we chop liver Yeah Now obviously you know what you should be really caring about is your family You know people the Lord and doing God's work, okay, and not idolizing items, okay? Go to first Corinthians chapter 5 ultimately this this can be a sin That's in a church that can cause people to be kicked out, okay? Because I don't want people in this church that just are just love money, and you know that's all they care about and I Have really I don't think I've ever met anybody in church That's been like this you know but people that come to the church, and that's all they ever talk about is money business Making deals like just it's all about money. It's all about everything that they possess. It's all about that type of stuff But this could be something that can affect the church meaning that you're like drawing people in start loving Covetousness and all that stuff and it's in it's veering you off the path And that's why this could be a sin to where you should you need to be kicked out of the church notice What it says in verse 6 your glory is not good. No you not that a little 11 11th the whole lump So the idea is that these sins can cause other people to do it, okay? That's the idea of why you would kick someone out of the church is that you don't want it to affect everybody else or in fact How you want to look at it? Purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump as ye are unleavened For even Christ our Passover sacrifice for us therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth I wrote unto you and in an epistle not to company with fornicators yet not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters for then must ye needs go out of the world But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous So notice that being covetous is on this list Okay It's interesting because idolatries on there too right after that and it says coverage is which is idolatry So these definitely have a hand-in-hand relationship here It says or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner which with such and one know not to eat So basically it's stating that hey, you know, these people are the ones that you should be put out from among yourselves You know and they can affect other people. Okay, think about it The love of money is the root of all evil Okay, so if there was a sin in the church that could cause a lot of harm, don't you think it's covetousness? That that would cause people to get out of the things of God or to Basically make things idols in their lives and all that. Okay, so this is something that you need to be careful of again I you know, we're not exactly in a metropolis here Or we have a bunch of Wall Street people in here that are you know, like that are like that But wherefore let him to think if he stand to take heed lest he fall, you know We should all be looking in the mirror and saying hey, you know When I'm talking to people is it about every everything that I have is it just possessions or when we come together? Is it talking about the Bible is it talking about, you know families they're talking about things that matter, okay Ultimately things that matter, okay So don't get me wrong you're gonna be like I'm not gonna show pastor that new thing I got you know, because you'd be like I'm talking about possessions. That's not I Hope you know that that's not what I'm talking about. You can never show me something be like I got a new puppy It's covetousness Puppy, you know, you bought that I'm pointing out Taylor because she's good. She's going to get a puppy or whatever, but Yeah Don't be silly with it You know what? I mean but at the same time if that's all you ever talk about is like the things that you have and the things that you want to Have and just things like that then that's a problem Okay, you need to just lay off the possessions and get into the things of God. Okay? No, sir. Go to Habakkuk chapter 2 back in chapter 2 covetousness Again if you say well, how is money the root of all evil? Well, think about the the devil. What did he do? What was the what was his the reason for his fall? Okay, he desired or coveted You know God's throne and his glory and everything that was about that and and so yeah obviously covetousness is is what caused the devil to sin, okay, and But Covetousness can cause all kinds of sins. It can cause obviously adultery it can cause murder It can cause idolatry So covetousness is last on this list, but I would not put that as being like, okay This is the least to worry about Okay so In Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 9 says woe to him that covet an evil covetousness To his house that he may set his nest on high that he may be delivered from the power of evil Thou has consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people and has sinned against thy soul For the stone shall cry out of the wall and the beam out of this timber shall answer it woe to him that buildeth a town with blood and Establish it a city by iniquity and this is listen today People that are in power are running off covetousness and greed and money the love of money all the Bureaucrats and all those people that are just in bed with the politicians and they're building cities off the blood you don't believe me New York City passed the bill that you can kill babies up the birth and New York City is one of the biggest cities, you know, obviously New York State's the one that passed it But people are clapping when they pass that bill and just cheering and just Elated that that bill passed and what you have is money and you say well, how does that apply to abortion? every abortion Ultimately comes down to greed. They don't want to pay for the child. You're like, well, what about rape? Well kill the rapist And then you go and and you know put the child up for adoption Listen there's tons of there's tons of people that can't have children or they're still you know They're having trouble having children that would you know would love to adopt children, but you know what gets in the way the government You have paid ten thousand dollars to adopt a child which most people don't have just laying around to do that And I don't know what it is I think that's last I heard people are having to go over to Russia or to China to adopt because it's just too expensive to do here So next time someone tells you well you're against abortion you wouldn't adopt yeah Well, none of us are rich enough to adopt half the time Because it's a racket half the time with with the government getting involved. But that being said You know when it comes to abortion Most all abortions. Okay, even if you took out incest and rape most all Abortions are done because people do not want to pay for the child or they don't want to pay with their time Right, they want to just go out and do whatever they want to do it's greed and it's covetousness and It's murdering 3,000 babies a day in America So yeah, there's some blood on our on our hands you say well, I want to you know, I think there's an actress. I Don't know who she is or what she was in I just know that there was a speech that she gave where she was happy that she had an abortion Because she would not have gotten that Academy Award or whatever she got, you know, whatever stupid award or golden trophy she got She would have never got it if she would have had the baby and people were just clapping and applauding her That's just pure wickedness I mean and she has children now and I'm just like How would you how would you feel if you were that woman's child? This woman just was happy that she murdered one of her children so that she can have this stupid Idol in her hand that means nothing and that will be burned up at the last day But just pure wickedness that goes along in the covetousness that goes along with that. Yeah, it's the root of all evil and It still goes on to this day. There's nothing new under the Sun but we need to hate coverage is good a Exodus chapter 18 Exodus chapter 18 Exodus chapter 18 verse 19 Says this in this it's just to give you the backstory this story right here is where Jethro Moses his father-in-law Comes in to basically give Moses advice saying hey You're gonna wear away if you try to do deal with every single person here being like he was taking every cause every Situation and he was trying to deal with them individually and this is where Jethro is saying Hey, you need to set up some people to help you out here, you know, let them deal with the smaller cases Okay, and that's what it says here in verse 19 harken now into my voice I will give thee counsel and God shall be with thee Be thou for the people to God word that thou mayest bring the causes unto God and thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws and Shout show them the way wherein they must walk and the and the work that they must do Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men Notice this so this is who he's picking Okay These are the people you're gonna pick to judge these causes and to basically help you out in this situation Able men such as fear God men of truth hating covetousness and place such over them to be rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds rulers of 50s and rulers of tens and let them judge the people at all seasons and it shall be that every great matter They shall bring unto thee but every small matter they shall judge So shall it be easier for thyself and they shall bear the burden with thee So this is very good advice right delegation of of work. Okay, and when I first started the church one of the first things that I delegated was cleaning the cleaning of the building and at first it was Holly and I we just cleaned the building every week and I was I mean You know how much I just want you to know how much I love the people that clean this building Okay, because that alone was just I was just wearing away Okay with everything else that I was dealing with that one little thing, okay, and the hardest thing for me is to delegate Okay, and say you're gonna do this you're gonna do that because I just like I'm just I'm gonna do it. Okay I'm just gonna make sure it's done. I'm gonna do it. You know, if you want something right do it yourself now, but The idea though is that that's a hard thing to do a lot a lot of cases But ultimately you want people that are competent. Okay, and the thing that is said here is that you want people that hate Covered justness you're dealing with people are gonna judge causes and deal with things like that You want righteous people that are not there to make money into fraud people Okay, and today we have a bunch of judges and leaders in our country that love covetousness They love money and it's all about that. It's all about being in power and making money you say well, why do people hate Trump? They don't really hate Trump. They just want power Right, they're not in the position of power they want to be in the position of power why so they can make money That's what it always comes down to they want power because they want riches they want money And it's always gonna be that way until the end. Okay? But we need to hate covetousness. Okay, we need to take it that far There is a time to hate and we need to hate that we need to hate coveting things that don't belong to us Okay, go to Psalm 119 verse 36 Psalm 119 verse 36 Psalm 119 verse 36 Psalm 119 verse 36 here says incline mine heart Are my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness if you want to get out of covetousness You know what you need to do. You need to start reading the Bible You need to start reading it and just getting into it and coveting that You know, it should really be desiring is to know God To know who he is to know the Bible in and out You say I know it all you don't know anything then If anybody says they know the Bible you don't know anything You need to start from the beginning and just keep reading Okay, the more you know the more you realize you don't know but you should desire that you say I don't have a desire to read then read it till you do Read it until you start desiring it You know to get the first love back. What do you do? You start doing the first works? Start working at it and at the beginning it may just be out of duty. It may help be hard You may not like it, but eventually you'll love it And if you don't love it to check your salvation because someone that's saved that's reading the Bible It'll eventually listen. The Bible is the most comforting book. I don't care if I'm reading through judges or Leviticus there is something about the comforting words and wholesome words of Jesus Christ that always Just speak to my heart and say this is home This is where I want to be And when you start reading this, you know, what you're gonna find out is that it's all about eternity It's all about things that aren't right now It's all about looking to eternity looking to things that you can't see and you know what you're gonna start thinking this stuff doesn't matter But people that are covetous and that just just hone in on things, you know, what that's telling me is that they're not reading Because if they're reading their mind would be on that So go to Proverbs chapter 28 and verse 16, Proverbs 28 verse 16 So coveting is not wrong inherently, but what are you coveting? Covet the Word of God Covet your wife Covet your children, covet your church, covet your church family, covet soul winning Those are the things you should be coveting But coveting material things and coveting things of this world that are gonna fade away that don't matter You know that that's just it's just dumb really in the end But Proverbs chapter 28 verse 16 says the prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor And just to kind of understand what that means there Wanteth means that it's lacking Okay, you know wanteth like it's meaning it's wanting you're found wanting this this prince has found wanting and understanding does that make sense? It's not that he's like wanting to be understanding. Okay, it means that it He's lacking it. Okay, so it's basically people that don't have understanding they're they're great oppressors. Okay This has been he that hateth Covetousness shall prolong his days and I love how the Bible puts that you know It puts that strong language on there that you just need to hate it You know if you start getting through that realm where you're just coveting after things and material things you should be like I hate that Hate that you know you should hate every false way You should just hate the fact that you would just desire these material things that don't matter You know one of the things that my dad taught me growing up was not to be materialistic Okay, and I remember he would like one time he bought me a dirt bike and a motorcycle one the motorcycle It was a it was a little dirt bike and stuff like that every time you ever got me something like that You know, I'd be excited and I want to ride it and all this stuff, but he'd always he'd always tell me He's like what's more important than any material thing and he'd always tell he'd always make me say it But he would always say that Jesus was more important. Okay, and It was just this grounding of like this material stuff is worthless, you know compared to Jesus. Okay, and You know that type of stuff sticks with you, you know, the fact is is that yeah It's not like he was saying it was wrong for me to have this or he wouldn't have gotten it. Okay But in my dad, you know gave me things and listen our we didn't grow up as the most rich people on the block Okay, but we also weren't the poorest But I had a good family still have a good family But you know growing up had a good family with parents that were together and they gave us things but at the same time one thing that my dad taught me is to be grateful for the things that you have and not to covet after material things and You know what? I needed that as a kid, you know where I just be like I want this I want that and anytime my kids get to that, you know There'll be there'll be points where they'll be like they just you get them something you're trying to be nice But then they they're just like then they're just like I want this I want that be like stop. You're not getting anything now You know, it's just one of those things where you got to nip it in the bud early that hey, you know, we need to stop Desiring all this material stuff and be like if you're gonna be like this I'm gonna take away what you already have You know, like it's just one of those things that you got to nip that stuff in the bud And you know what a lot of times it goes away, you know, and they they realize okay I don't need to have all this stuff I almost thank God that like all the Toys R Us is dead now and KB, you know, like all these toy stores Cuz like literally they only see what we get them, you know, and I know they're still like Walmart All is that but with COVID and stuff like that. We're doing everything online as it is So I know when they get older they can search up Amazon and look up that stuff but But you don't have all that so when I was it, you know when I was a kid and toys for us I mean good night, you know every aisle except for the girls aisles, obviously But go to fees in chapter 5 fees in chapter 5 We should not as Christians be known to be covetous, okay And really it's just we should just be normal does that make sense like don't be don't be ridiculous Where you're just like clothed in rags and you know, like you're like look at me, you know, I'm I'm so, you know Not covetous or something like that. It's like just be normal You know, I'm I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so Just be normal just live normal lives have normal clothes have you know, you know, you don't have to like drive a beater That's like, you know Popping and banging and people are hitting the deck, you know, like uncle buck or something like that You don't have to live like that But at the same time you need to know that hey We should not be known for being covetous people that just desire nice like everything that's new and you know The new iPhone all the time, you know, am I stepping on toes with the iPhone? Brother Dave's not here. He's always the iPhone. I watch thing, right? So, I don't know what's different about the iPhone, you know just on a tangent here But you know every time an iPhone comes out. I'm like what's different about this thing. They put a new number on it Is it the number? Is it just like there's a new number and that's just appealing. No, I'm just kidding Brother Dave's iPhones like not working right now, too. So he's not here to even defend himself Anyway, so going on here in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 it says be therefore follows our God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also had loved us and have given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor, but fornication and uncleanness or Covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become at Saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking Nor jesting which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks for this You know that nor no whoremonger nor unclean person nor a covetous man who is an idol at her notice How it just always links those two together Have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God let no man deceive you with vain words For because of these things come at the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Be not ye therefore partakers with them For ye were sometimes darkness But now are you light in the Lord? Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord? I know we kind of hit on that last part this morning But the idea is that you know what you need to walk in a new man and a new man is not a covetous person Okay If you're walking if you're covetous, that means you're not walking in the spirit Okay, and what it's saying here is that you know a covetous person hath no inheritance in the kingdom of God Okay, what people do with this is it'd be like well, then they're not saved. They're going to hell No, your flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Okay, and that and covetousness is a work of the flesh and so if you're coveting and you're coveting things that don't belong to you, that means you're in the flesh and the Bible stating here that it should not be once named among you as become a Saints meaning that as a child of God as A saint as someone that's sanctified by the Word of God by the blood of Christ We should not be it should not be they should not be looking at Christian be like those are covetous people Instead you should be looking at the they should be looking at us and saying hey those people live normal lives and They care about the things of God It should not be they care about all their possessions they care about all these different things we're not Kenneth Copeland Okay Kenneth Copeland is a great example of someone that is a covetous man Okay, the guy's not saved. I just false prophet. Okay, so I'm not I don't want to say that It's like become a saint, you know as become a saint this guy's not a saint It's a false prophet this guy has like a g6 plane or something like that or whatever it is And he's got all these mansions think of Joel Osteen and all that stuff Listen, I don't care how big our church gets and I don't care if we're rolling in millions of dollars I will not be living in like these mansions with swimming pools and all this other stuff. That's ridiculous No one needs to live like that in this life as a Christian and it's not needed Okay, they have like a million rooms in there and all these different things and it's just this luxury. That's ridiculous. Okay so That being said is that we need to not be as Christians be cabbages So thou shalt not covet is the tenth commandment, but do you see how it just melt? I don't wanna say it melts, but it just affects all the other Commandments to you know adultery Idol a tree it can get into murder Right why people would commit murder because of covetousness and just you know All those different things taking the names the name of Lord and vain I mean you could think of a lot of things that that would affect And how covetousness could can ruin that and you think about even honoring that father and my mother and how children will disdain their parents because they don't give them enough things or whatever the case may be and so Covetousness is just one of those that even Paul that was like, you know We use we use thou shalt not lie and I shall not bear a false witness as the one to say Hey, this is why you should know that you're in trouble, right? Paul's was I had not known sin And I had not known lust except the law it said Thou shalt not covet and that was his example of like I you know law slew me and I died You know and the idea of that commandment right there because it really does kind of affects a lot of other Commandments You know, why would people lie in a lot of cases because they want to make money Why do people steal? Why are you stealing something unless you want it right that doesn't belong to you and that commandment is just like all by the way Don't come it which is like, you know kind of the root of a lot of these other Commandments that you'd have there now So that's the Ten Commandments now. I gotta find Another series to do on this on Sunday afternoon Now I really do like an I enjoy doing series like these You know because it just really just personally it helps me to know what I'm gonna preach on But I enjoy just going through these and kind of digging into some of these things that are really well known. I might do You know, I was going through like Bible characters So I might go back to that and hit on some Bible characters and stuff like that So especially since we do like the candy at the end for the kids So those will be like good sermons for them to like remember things to get some candy Because the Ten Commandments has been a little rough for the remembering a lot of that stuff So but let's end with the word prayer. Don't forget that we're gonna have The baptism that the service as well. So there only follow we think for today and praise You'd be with us throughout the rest this week and we thank you for the Ten Commandments that you've given us here and given Moses on the mount and and will just help us to keep You know these Commandments but especially as we went through the covetousness for just praise you help us not to be covetous people and Lord to guard ourselves from that to hate it and Lord to just ultimately be viewing at things that are above Thank you for the souls that were saved this week and today and Lord just prayed you'd be with us and then bless Mount Baptist Church and families Lord praise you bless the travels with all those that are going home and when we love you in Praise in Jesus Christ name. Amen