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Alright great, leave your Bibles open there in Luke chapter 12 and look at verse number 15. We get the title for the sermon from verse number 15. It says here, and he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness. The title for the sermon this afternoon is, Beware of Covetousness or Sins That Will Get You Kicked Out of Church Part 2. Sins That Will Get You. We continue this series on the sins that will get you kicked out of church. On Tuesday I preached on the sin of fornication. That is a sin, that is a wicked sin that will get you kicked out of church and covetousness is also a wicked sin that will get you kicked out of church. I'm going to read a portion to you very quickly, 1 Corinthians 5.11. You guys stay there in Luke 12 because most of our sermon will be in Luke 12. But 1 Corinthians 5.11, this is just that portion of scripture, it says, But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, so I preach on fornication, or covetous. Now that's the second thing on this list and that's why I'm preaching about covetousness today, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such and one known not to eat, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without, God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. As I go through this series I'm going to read that portion to you at the beginning every single time. Because I want you to remember these sins are wicked sins. There is a false teaching saying that every sin is equal to any other sin. You know if you tell a white lie that's equal to murdering. That couldn't be further from the truth, that is a false doctrine. There's a reason why God had more severe punishment for some sins than for lesser sins. Why some sins had the punishment were considered a criminal offense and the punishment for that was the death penalty. And other sins, other criminal offenses, the punishment for that was being whipped or something like that, right? Being beaten, being whipped. And other punishments was just to make restoration. But there are many sins that are committed and some sins are considered wicked. And one of the wicked sins that are being counted here is covetousness. Now here's the thing about covetousness. I'm sure we've all coveted at some point in our lives. Maybe we've even coveted at some point this week in our lives. And the thing about covetousness, the thing about it is a lot of us think that it's not this big sin. What is covetousness? Covetousness is you're someone who has a strong desire for possessions that do not belong to you. You've got a strong desire for things that do not belong to you that is being covetous. And the Bible tells us this is a wicked sin. And the reason why we don't think of it as a wicked sin is because we live in a Western world. We live in quite a rich world in Australia. And we've been constantly bombarded with advertisement, constantly bombarded with our television commercials. Buy this, think about this. We had Valentine's Day not long ago. So what's being advertised? Flowers and roses and chocolates. We just had Easter, all the advertisement for that, so Christmas. Now Easter's coming around the corner. The shop's already full of Easter decorations. Buy for Easter. There's always something to buy, buy, buy. Constantly people are trying to throw this to your face. And the idea that we have is we need to have these things in order to fulfill our lives, to make us happy. That's the deception. The deception is if you covet things and you desire those things, you attain those things, then you'll be satisfied. But the problem with covetousness, no matter how much you desire, no matter how much you have those things, you're constantly going to be wanting more. You're never going to be satisfied. And I think it was Brother David used this example when you've got the latest iPhone and maybe you buy it on a discount. And the reason it's gone on a discount is because the new iPhone's coming out. And then you have that one, it's like the new one's come out, and all your friends have the new one. And you're like, oh man, I wish I'd just waited for that one. And then you buy that one, then it's like another one that's coming out. This world's programmed us to continually want the newer things, the greater things. Hey, this is covetousness, desiring things that do not belong to you. Look at verse number 13, Luke chapter 12, verse 13. And the reason Jesus teaches on covetousness is because he had this situation where one brother, one person came up to Jesus to ask him a question. It says here in verse number 13, And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. So the first thing you notice here is there was a man who was following Christ that had a financial dispute with his brother. He's saying that my brother has kept this inheritance from me. Can you go tell my brother that I need to have, you know, half of that inheritance? Now I don't know, the Bible doesn't tell us who's right and who's wrong. We don't know whether this brother that's asking this question, we don't know whether he already received half the inheritance. Maybe he spent it all. We don't know that. And now he's desiring whatever was left, you know, we don't know what the situation is. We don't know who's right and wrong. But look how Jesus responds in verse number 14, And he said unto him, Man, who have made me a judge or divider over you? Think about these words. These are the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, right? God himself is saying these words to this man who have made me a judge or a divider over you. You know what Jesus is saying? This is not my business. This is not my problem. You're coming to me with these questions, with these issues, these family problems, but they're not mine to deal with, okay? And I have taught about the, you know, God-ordained institutions, right? I have taught you guys about this, that every family unit is independent, it's separate from every other family unit. You know, this church is an independent church. What we do here has no effects on some other church, or what some other church is doing shouldn't have any effects on this church. You know, God has created separate institutions, and when it comes to family matters, when it comes to these institutions, God has put authority in those places. In the family unit, it is the Father. You know, if the Father hasn't divided the inheritance evenly, then that's his problem. The brother should be going to his father, if the father's still alive, and saying, Dad, you know, this is not fair that I didn't receive whatever I think is right. And it's the Father's job to deal with his family situation. And what I see here with Jesus Christ is his, you know, even though he's the Lord God of all things, he's the creator of all things, but when it comes to family business, he says it's not my problem, okay? It's not mine to fix. And the quick lesson I want to take out of that, brethren, is when it comes to your family, I'm not responsible for your family. You know, husbands, I'm not responsible for your wives to be obedient to you. And wives, I'm not responsible that your husbands love you as Christ loved the church. And children, I'm not responsible that you be obedient to your parents or to your father. The responsibility of the family comes to the dad, comes to the father, comes to the head of the home. Hey, when it comes to responsibilities in this church, hey, it's my responsibility when we gather together to make sure that we can have services, that we have what we need to run church effectively and correctly. Hey, that's where my authority comes when it comes to the church, the congregation, but guess what? When church is over and you head home, I don't have responsibility. I don't have accountability of what goes on in your house, okay? And we see, look, and you say, well, that's not right, Pastor Kevin. I know many pastors out there that are always involved in people's lives. Well, listen, if we see an example of Jesus, who's the good shepherd, who's the great shepherd, and he says, look, he's dealing with his business, his business is to do the works of God, to preach the gospel, right, to ultimately sacrifice himself for all of mankind, and we see him not getting involved in the family business, then that's a great example for pastors, right? That's a great example that we are to follow. And so, you know, even though God has created all these different institutions, the family, the workplace, government, the church, at the end of it, all of those heads are accountable to the Lord God, all right? So if you're having difficulties in your family, and you say, I need to bring this to the pastor, hey, I'm not accountable, okay, but you know what, if Dad is not taking responsibility, if he's not fixing things, you know who you take that to? You take that to his head. You take that to Jesus Christ. You go in prayer, and you say, God, this man, you know, I love him, but he's not doing what he's required to do. Can you please get him in order? Because when it comes to who he's accountable to, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? Now look at verse number 15, and this is what Jesus says to this man. Now look, you could take the side of this brother, or you could take the side of the other brother. That's not what Jesus does. Look what he says in verse number 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 possesseth. So what is Jesus saying? He's saying, look, it's not my responsibility to deal with this family problem, but one thing I am required to do is to be a preacher, and what he preaches is to beware of covetousness. So listen, if I see issues in your life, if I see issues in your family home or certain sins that you might be strong with, again, it's not my place to go into your house and make things in order, but it is my responsibility to take the word of God and to preach it, to preach what is right, to preach what is wrong. Jesus gets behind the pulpit, or I guess it's not a pulpit there, but he preaches this, he says beware of covetousness. So here's the thing, this brother, yeah, maybe he got cheated out of his inheritance somehow. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time this family disputes about money. I'm sure there are people here that can say, yeah, you know, I've had family disputes about money, that's nothing new, but what Jesus warned us that we should beware of covetousness. We shouldn't be desiring and thinking wealth and possessions make us who we are. What did he say there at the end of it? He says, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. You know, when God looks at your life, he doesn't see, oh, brother so-and-so, look how successful he is, you know, look how much money he has in the bank account, look at the size of his house and the beauty of his car, and God makes a judgment of you based on your possessions. No. You know, God makes a decision on you, well, first of all, you're a sinner, you've come short of the glory of God, all right, first of all, your righteousness are like filthy rags to God, okay, which is why we need salvation, but secondly, God is looking at our character. God is looking at whether we're walking godly, whether we're walking after his commandments, whether we're reflecting Christ. That's what's important to him. You know, you can be a poor person without many possessions, but you can be walking with God, you can be doing the commandments of God, and you can be richer than any person in this earth that has the great possessions. You can be rich in heaven. That's where the treasures are, and this is where this story leads, of course, you know, and let's keep going. It says here, and sorry, one thing that I do need to say here, the world, our society will tell you, you are worth or you are made up of the things you possess. You know, they will respect you if you're the homeowner. If you're just renting, you know, you're not doing well in life. But if you own a house, oh man, yeah, you've made it, you know, I mean, that's how the world thinks, brethren, and you, because we're made of flesh and blood, and because we want to be acknowledged by men, whether we're right or it's wrong, we should be seeking the acknowledgement of God, but it's going to happen when you're weak, there's going to be times you're desiring the things that this world is telling you to desire, and many of those times, that is just covetousness. Beware of covetousness. Verse number 16, then Jesus tells this parable, it says here, and he spake a parable unto them saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentiful, okay. Now first of all, is there anything wrong with being a rich man? You know, if you've worked hard, you know, you've invested in the right things, you know, maybe you started a business and it's gone well, you know, you've been able to buy yourself a nice house and have great possessions, is there anything sinful in that of itself? No. In fact, many of the great men in the Bible, Abraham, I'm going through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob for the church up in Queensland, these men were very wealthy, very great men, okay. But you know who they serve? They serve the Lord God. God made them wealthy. There's nothing wrong with being wealthy in of itself. Now here's the thing, if you've been given above and beyond what you can use, then you need to learn that God has given you that so you can be a blessing to others, so you can be a blessing to your brothers and sisters that are going that are struggling, that you know, might be going for a difficult time. I'm not saying be the person that gives to the guy that doesn't want to work, you know, the guy that doesn't want to work, neither should he eat, the Bible says, okay. We should all be people that work hard, but there are times when people will just go through some difficulty, right? Some trouble, some difficulty, and if someone has much, hey, you're called to give of that, right? Or they're a brethren. Hey, even if this church, if maybe there's great works this church can do and you've been given possessions, maybe God has given that to you so you can be a blessing to your local church, okay. So there's nothing wrong in of itself of being rich. We see that this certain man, not only is he rich, but he brought forth plentifully. So he was a great businessman. He was very successful. He was very productive, right? He made use of what, of the skills and the talents that he had. That's not a problem. The problem continues in verse number 17, and he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. I've got so much, you know, I don't even have enough room to put the things that I've been able to obtain, right? So he has a lot of wealth. Verse number 19. Now here's, before we read verse 19, if you cannot contain brethren, you can't even fit your possessions and your wealth in what, you know what you should do? Who needs it? All right? Who needs it? What's the point of me having all of this when I can't even hold it all and I can't even contain it? Go and find somebody, be a blessing to somebody, be a blessing to a church, be a blessing to some ministry. That would be the right approach. But what does he say in verse number 19, or verse number 18, sorry, and he said, this will I do, I will pull down my bonds and build greater and there I will bestow all my fruits and my goods. That's a very self-centered approach. That's a very selfish approach. It says, look, I'm just going to build more. I'm just going to keep building more and more. I'm just going to keep it for myself instead of being a blessing to other people. He says, no, I'm going to keep it all for myself. Verse number 19, 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 who does he acknowledge for his possessions? Does he acknowledge God for the great things God has given him? No, he says, soul, you've done so well, you've done so well with all these great possessions. He says, now I'm going to retire. This is what he's saying, right? He's got all these goods. Now he's going to take ease. He's just going to eat, drink, and be merry. He's just going to enjoy life for the rest of it. That's his plan. That's his purpose. Now I've got into an age. I've got more than enough. I don't have to work anymore. I can take it easy, and I can just enjoy the fruits of my hands. But look at verse number 20. But God said unto him, thou fool. Now you know what? The average Australian would say, you are such a wise man. Look how much you've built up. Look at your superannuation. Look at your investments. Look at all the houses you own. Wow. Look at your cash flow. Wow. You're so wise, this word will say. What does God say? Thou fool. Thou fool. Why? Thou fool. This night, thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou has provided? You know what God is saying? He's saying when you die, and you will die, you can't take any of those things that you've accumulated in this life. He can't take it with you to heaven. You worked so hard to accumulate all these things. You worked so hard to have this reputation in this world, but God's going to take it away that very night, he says to that foolish man. And what for? Who are you going to give it to? And it looks like this man was a very selfish man. He had nobody to even leave these things for. And Brevin, look, I'm not against retirement. You know, I recognize that you get to a certain age where you're just not productive anymore. You can't do the amount of work that somebody that is younger or that you could have done when you were younger. You know, I'm not against that in of itself, okay? But you know, there's a lot of problems that come with retirement. People suffer from things like dementia because a lot of people think, they think life is about how can I get to a point when I don't have to work, when I don't have to use my brain anymore. I don't have to use my hands anymore, my feet anymore. But listen, if you stop using your hands, stop using your feet, your body's going to break down. You need to keep active. You need to keep doing, even if it's not a full-time career, you know, but you know, I would encourage anyone that's retired, keep active. Just keep serving God. Just keep doing something, you know, just keep it, you know, do things that, you know, increase your knowledge, you know, go and study, you know, go learn new things. Keep your brain, you know, your brain is a muscle. If you don't use your brain, it's going to deteriorate. And I truly believe one of the reasons we have this epidemic of, you know, people that are struggling with their minds and their bodies as they get older is simply because they thought their life was about retirement and then they no longer use their bodies and their bodies just give up. Okay. Now, we ought to be people that continue to serve. And look, if all you can do is serve God, all you can do is serve Him in this body, all you can do is preach the gospel, do it, you know, if anything's going to keep you alert and motivated and living for God, it's winning souls, it's making sure I can get out there, preach the gospel of the good news. But this man, he said, I'm going to retire, and I'm just going to sit back and enjoy life. I'm just going to, you know, just turn on the TV, watch sports and have my beers and all these possessions. And God says they are fooling took it all away from him. And Brevin, look, I don't know how long we have to live, you know, 70, 80, 90 years, 100 years, if you're lucky, you know, I don't know how long we have to live. But Brevin, please use this time wisely. Don't be a fool. Don't think it's all about possessions. Don't think it's all about covetousness. It's not going to satisfy you, okay? This God has given us this life so we can be focused on eternity, so we can lay up our treasures there. That's our retirement. And actually, there's no retirement. We keep working in heaven. God has things for us to do in heaven. So let's keep going. Verse number 21. Look what he says here. So is he, the fool, so is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God, and is not rich toward God. You see, Brevin, it's not 50-50. It's not 50%, you know, I'm going to serve myself and 50%, I'm going to serve God. No, you either serve yourself, or you're serving God. If you decide to serve yourself, and you just live for yourself, you're not going to be rich toward God. You're not going to be rich in heaven. I'm not sure if we're going to need more seats, Brevin, if you are. I don't know if we've got anything. All right, look at verse number 22, Luke chapter 12, verse 22. And he said unto his disciples, so this teaching on covetousness continues here in verse number 22, Therefore I say unto you, look at this, Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, neither for the body what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. All right, so, you know, what this is saying here is that God will make sure he provides your food and your raiment. Okay, he's going to make sure that he does that. But look at verse number 23, the life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. You know, if you thought your life was to, you know, eat at a five star Michelin restaurant, you know, every week, no, your life is more than food. You know, if you thought your life was about getting all the brand names, right? I think I gave you this example when I was in primary school, the Reebok Pumps, you know, I thought it was about raiment, I thought it was about those shoes, I thought that's what's going to make me popular. No, it says my life is more than raiment, it's more than what you wear. Okay, verse number 24, Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them, how much more are ye better than the fowls? Brethren, did you know the birds out there don't have a full time job? You know, the birds don't have superannuation, they don't have a bank account, but they still have food, they still have somewhere to live, they still have their feathers, you know, God has provided everything the bird needs to live its life, and the Bible says, how much more important are you to him than those birds? You know what, if you just serve God with your life, you know, you just go and men, you be a hard worker, you do the best you can, you put your best foot forward, you serve the Lord in your workplace, you don't be lazy, God's going to make sure that you're provided for. You're never going to go without. And that is the great fear of men, especially me as a father, with children, married, right, the great fear is, do I have enough to provide for my family? You know what, if you just serve God, you just do everything to serve the Lord, you serve him, you follow his commandments, God's going to provide for you. If he can provide for the bird, hey, you're so much better to him than birds, alright? Don't tell the greenies, the greens, that, you know, you're better than the birds. You are. Your life is better than any animal, okay, you're greater than any animal, you're a greater creation than that. Verse number 25, and which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? You know what, I kind of wish I could add a few cubits to my stature. I wish I was a little bit taller, alright? But here, you know, this is foolish talking, right? This is coverage, you know, this is coverage, you can't change what you look like, you can't change how tall you are, you know, you can't change these things about you, about yourself. God has created you the way you are, verse number 26, if ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? To the lilies, how they grow, they toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothed the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? You know what God is saying to you right there? He's saying God's going to provide your clothing for you, alright? You're never going to go, besides the time that you're born, you know, naked without clothing, you're never going to go without clothing. That is one great promise God has given us. He's saying, but who cares about clothing? Well, no, actually it's quite important, okay? Look at verse number 29, and seek ye not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither by ye, neither be ye of doubtful mind. So not only will God provide your clothing, he says he's also going to provide you food. He's going to provide you your daily bread. But you say about food, that's easy to come by. What are these provisions? Let's keep going. Verse number 30, for all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your father knoweth that ye have need of these things. You know Brevin, and I don't blame you if you've just grown up in Australia and you're used to having all the clothing, you probably have multiple pairs of shoes, you probably have plenty of pants, plenty of shirts, you probably don't even think about the food. There's always food in the pantry, there's always food in the fridge, but you know Brevin, the vast majority of this world is constantly thinking about what to eat, constantly thinking about what to clothe themselves. Think about some of those African nations, where they don't even have the clothes. Come a cold night, they don't even have anything to put on. They don't even have clean water in some places in this world. If they could just have your shirt, if they could just have what you eat for breakfast, not even your lunch or your dinner, you know how much rejoicing they will have? You know how thankful they would be to God? But we've grown up in Australia, we've grown up in a very rich nation, and we complain because we can't buy the Ferrari. We complain because we can't rent, but we can't afford a house maybe. We complain about that. Listen, we have so many riches, and if you're covetous, if you're thinking about these things of this world, you're going to forget how to glorify God, how to be thankful for even the smallest things, even your clothing, even your food. God wants you to appreciate what He's given you, and He wants you to give thanks to Him. This is the thing about this brethren. If you can learn to just be thankful for your clothing, just be thankful that you got to eat this morning, or maybe you haven't eaten yet, maybe you're going to have lunch. If you can be thankful for these small things, then everything else that you have today, everything else that God has given you, your family, all the pairs of shoes that you have, your house, whatever, your phones, your computers, whatever, your car, all the things, the great things, your workplace, your church, your friends, whatever God has given you, how much more thankful would you be to God for all these things that He's given you if you can just be thankful, first of all, for the food and the raiment that God has given you? And this is the problem with covetousness, is that covetousness will make you unthankful. Covetousness will say, well, I want more. I'm not happy with what I have. I need more. I need another house. I need another car. I look at Brother Stone and say, look, how come he gets there? I want to have what he has. And what's that going to make happen to you? That's going to make you unhappy. That's not going to make you satisfied with what God has given you in this life. God just wants you to be thankful for the food and the raiment. You follow God. You serve God. He's going to make sure those minor things are given to you. And listen, if you're God, like just say for a minute, you are God, okay? And you have given somebody the food and the clothing, and they're unthankful for that. Do you think God's want to give you more? If you're unthankful for those things, but if you're thankful for the food and the clothing, don't you think God would want to give that person even more because they've been thankful for even the smallest things? Look at verse number 31. But rather, instead of seeking all the things of this world, but rather seek ye the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. Hey, all the things this nation seek for, all the things that you need in life, God will give you those things if you just seek the kingdom of God first. You say, how do I seek the kingdom of God first? Well, being in church, that's a great start, right? Reading your Bible, going soul winning, praying to the Lord, living after the commandments that God has given us, setting eternity in your mindset that everything I do in this life matters for eternity. Doing everything as you would to do to God. If you're serving a brother, do it as if you're serving Christ. If you're serving in your workplace, do it as though you're employed by Christ. Whatever it is that you've got to do in this life, Reverend, you've got to homeschool the kids. Maybe we've got some homeschooling mums. They're children of God. Homeschool them as though they were children of God. Serve God to your fullest capacity. You seek first the kingdom of God, and He will add all these other things to your life, Reverend. He's already given you so much. He's already blessed you with so many things, so many rewards on this earth. But if you do it unto the Lord, He's going to also lay up treasures for you in heaven. Look at verse number 32, Luke 12 32. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that you have, and give arms. That means that's give to the poor, right? Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, when no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupt. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You know, brethren, you can tell, you can look at your own life, you can examine yourself, and you can examine whether your heart is in the things of God, or if your heart is on the things of this earth, okay? And all you need to do is see where your heart is. You know, what is it you spend most of your time thinking about? You know, you're spending most of your time thinking about, you know, the newest gadgets, you know, the latest technologies, the, you know, like I said, the fancy car. What is it that you spend your time on? Or is your heart set on the things of God? And if you say, well, my heart is set on the things of God, Pastor Kevin, but I don't have a lot of earthly possessions. Well, what does God promise you here? God is promising you a bag, what does it say in verse number 33? Bags which wax not old. Hey, you'll have a bag that will never wear out. A treasure in the heavens that faileth not. Those treasures in heaven will be there forever when no thief approacheth. Hey, the thief's not even still in it. There is no thief in heaven. No, you'll never lose it. Neither moth corrupteth. It can never be rotted away. The treasures you lay up in heaven will always be there. And you say, what's the point of those treasures? What am I going to do with it? But what's the point of treasures on this earth? When you're only here for 70 years, 80 years, 90 years, it's going to be gone. All right, you're dead. You can't take it with you. But when you're dead, you can be in heaven. And you can have the great treasures that God has given you. And listen, you don't need a safe. You don't need a, you know, you don't need a bank, you know, to put your treasures in. You can just leave them in the open because no, there's no thieves. Okay, no one's going to steal it from you. And listen, I don't know what the economy is like in heaven. I don't fully understand it. Okay, all I know is God says work for heaven, lay up a treasure in heaven. There must be a purpose behind it, right? There must be a purpose for it. And I'm sure many of us will get to heaven. And we're going to be like, I just wish I did more for the Lord in this earth. I wish I laid up more treasures in heaven. And I don't want you to have those regrets for heaven. I want you to understand that God, He doesn't tell us exactly how it all works out in heaven, how the economy is. But you're going to want those treasures and you're going to want more, you know, and to lay out more means that you got to have your heart set on those heavenly things, serving God, putting the things of God first. Now, please go to Romans chapter seven, go to Romans chapter seven for me. Covetousness. You know, covetousness is such a wicked sin, such a major sin, that it's even one of the Ten Commandments. You know, I mean, there's hundreds of commandments in the Bible, but most of the commandments are, you know, compiled down into Ten Commandments. You know, the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses in Exodus 2017. It says, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his axe, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. That's one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not covet, okay? And it started there with saying, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Reverend, be happy with what you have. Be happy with whatever you have right now. Now, don't look at your neighbor. Don't look at your brother in Christ and look at the bigger house they've got and say, Well, I wish I had what they had. No, that's a wicked sin. That's covetousness. Be thankful for what God has given you. Listen, God has given some a bigger house and some a smaller house. What's it to you? All right, God has his reasons for that, okay? You be thankful for what God has given you. You know, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. And then it says, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. Look at Romans 7-7, please. Romans 7-7. It says here, you know, covetousness is not just desiring physical things, but it's also tied into lust. Look at Romans 7-7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid, nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. You know, when the Bible says thou shalt not covet, you know another way of saying it? Thou shall not lust, right? And the Bible says that we should not lust, we should not covet our neighbor's wife. You know what the Bible's saying? Be happy with the wife that you've been given. And it's important for men not to have drifting eyes, not to be looking at other women, and especially not to be looking at wives of other men. Be thankful for what you have. And brethren, if you're single and you want a wife, praise God. That's a godly thing to have. You know, God, that's God's plan for your life. Learn to have your eyes fixed on that one woman, that person that you have made that vow to. You know, till death do us part. You know, you vowed in richer, in poorer. You know, you vowed in sickness and in health. You know, men, if your wife is sick, that's not your time to look at other women. That's your, you've made that vow in sickness. Doesn't matter how healthy you are, even in sickness, I'm going to be with you forever. I'm going to be with you till death do us part. And lust is covetousness, brethren. You know, the Bible says not to covet your neighbor's wife. And brethren, I'm going to just tell you now, this includes pornography. This includes pornography. Okay, pornography is lust. You're lusting after another man's wife or you're lusting after another woman. And listen, pornography is addictive. It's addictive. You know, listen, covetousness is a sin that will get you kicked out of church. And if you're someone that's strong with pornography, get right with God, get rid of that junk. Because if you're found out and you have an addiction to that, that's a sin that will get you kicked out of church. Covetousness is a sin that will get you kicked out of church, brethren, okay. And obviously, again, I don't want to have to kick people out of this church. Let me explain to you why pornography is addictive. You know, people have said pornography can be as addictive as cocaine. You know, as some of these hard drugs that people, once they start, that's what their life is all about. You know, they're so addicted, they can't get off it. Pornography will do that to your mind. You know, don't dabble in it. If you start dabbling in it, I'm telling you, it'll start becoming a very addictive thing in you. And you're going to want to go back more and more. The reason for this, brethren, let me explain to you, is your brain has this chemical or this hormone that it releases, dopamine. I don't know if you guys have heard of that before, dopamine. And this is just a natural chemical reaction in your brain. And what it does is, it basically, when you need to accomplish a task, let's say you need to go to work. It's Monday morning, you got to get up, go to work, right. What drives you to get out to work are these chemical releases, dopamine, okay. And when you finish the job, like, okay, I've done my hours. That subsides in your brain. It no longer produces it because you finished the job and you have a sense of satisfaction. I've done whatever I accomplished to do. That's what that hormone does to your body. That it triggers you to get you motivated to get to accomplish the task, the goal that you need to accomplish in your life. And what pornography or other drugs does, I did some research into this. It tricks your brain into overproducing dopamine. You produce more dopamine in your brain than what you normally would do normally. And this is where, you know, people that are on drugs, you say that person's high. Or, you know, they're on a buzz or something like that. You say that person's high. It's because of that release. Well, that chemical makes them feel good. It makes them, you know, feel like they're accomplishing a task or something like that. And it gives them that sense of satisfaction, okay. But it's a high amount of dopamine that gets released. When you're looking at pornography, your brain is tricked into doing the same thing, okay. So this is why it's very similar to a hard drug. And the thing about that is, if you're releasing that amount and then, you know, and you stop taking those drugs or you stop looking at that pornography, then that feeling will subside and you won't have that same high again. And you're going to desire. You're going to get used to your body will be wanting that high, wanting that desire. And that's why you're going to be going back to the pornography again and again. Every single day, you'll be going back to that or to those hard drugs because you want your brain to continue to release those chemicals, Reverend. And so this is why once you're hooked on some of these drugs, once you're hooked on pornography, Reverend, it's very difficult to give up, very difficult to let go of it. That's why, you know, say no to drugs, say no to pornography, okay. It has the same effect on your brain. And this is important because pornography hurts your marriage. Pornography will hurt your marriage. And the reason for that is because when you're having that natural affection to a woman or to, you know, even women, you know, there's a high number of women looking at pornography these days. It's so accessible. You know, we all have phones. We all have access to the internet these days. And, you know, any weak person can fall and look at some of that stuff, right. And, you know, even, I mean, you've all experienced, I'm sure you've all experienced this. You're not even looking at a bad website. Maybe you're looking up the news. Maybe you're looking up something. But then some advertisements pop up. It's like, click here, you know. And it's just in your face. You know, everybody has this ability to fall into this great sin. But it can hurt your marriage because when you're physically attracted to your wife, you know, again, your brain will release those dopamine. But here's the thing, when you're looking at pornography, it's not going to be releasing the same level as what the pornography was giving you. And so the desire that you should have for your wife, it's not going to reach the levels that you would have when you're looking at pornography because you're used to that high level of chemical releases in your brain. And that can cause you to not have the necessary, you know, physical affection toward your marriage spouse or the same feelings toward your spouse. So it can have an effect in your marriage. It can be a real problem in your marriage. The other reason why you shouldn't look at pornography is because it will make you lose respect for women. You know, the way that the whores are in those pornography magazines and videos, you know, I'll never forget the first time I saw something like this. I was a high school student. I think I was like 13 years old. So I think I was like seven or something. I was catching a train back to my back from school to my house. And there was a pornography magazine. This is before the internet, you know, on the train. And one of my friends picked it up and was like, oh, look at this, right? It's like excited. And he wanted to show me. Yeah, look, I'm thankful because I was saved. I'm thankful I had the whole spirit in my heart. And I was like, no, I don't want to look at that. I was like, that is disgusting. I mean, these women are whores. These are not women that I would consider for marriage as wives. And Brevin, when these images pop up, whatever it is, Brevin, we need to have that resistance say, no, this is not good for my eyes. This is sinful. This is wicked. Hey, this can be an addiction if I give in to these things, Brevin. And so we need to be careful because it'll cause you to lose respect for women. You know, if you think of women in that sense, those magazines, those videos, you think they're all like that, you're not going to be able to maintain good relationships, especially in your marriage, if you think that's all that women are for, you know? And the next thing here is pornography will lead to divorce. Pornography leads to divorce. Now, I've got some stats here. I struggled to find some good stats, but I found something here in 2005. This is 15 years ago, okay? Now, Brevin, if this was 15 years ago, do you think things are getting better or things are getting worse? It's getting worse, okay? But let me tell you how bad things were 15 years ago in 2005, right? There was a United States Senate hearing on pornography's impact on marriage and family. And these were some of the stats they found. 56% of divorces in America, 56%. More than half the divorces involved one party having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites. That's why they divorced. More than half of it, their spouse was just addicted to pornography. They couldn't get off it. And of course, how's the other party going to feel? Like undervalued, right? Unappreciated. And that was the cause of divorce. Another one, 68% of divorce cases involved one party meeting a new love interest over the internet. Okay? 68% found another lover on the internet instead of their, you know, husband or wife. Let me just show you some other stats that don't really have to do with pornography, but 47% of the divorce cases involved one party spending excessive time on the computer. So like, again, half the divorce is one party just constantly on the computer, not maintaining a good relationship between husband and wife. 33% of divorce cases cited excessive time communicating in chat rooms, a commonly sexualized forum. So a third of divorce cases, you know, people are going to these chat rooms and talking to other people about sexual matters. And so, listen, that was 15 years ago, brethren. Okay? I don't think everyone had smartphones back in 2005. Everyone's got them today. All right? I mean, the internet's faster today. There are more websites today. I have no doubt these figures are even higher than they were in 2005. And so, brethren, please, if you are struggling with your sin, get right with God, go to God, confess that sin, and brethren, if you need accountability, I'm happy to help you. I'm happy for you to come and tell me, this is a problem I'm struggling with. Can you be praying for me? Can, you know, having someone that you're accountable can really help you? Because like, you can go to that person and say, look, I've been two days without this drug or two days without this pornography. You know, I've gone a week, I've gone a month. And having somebody that you can go back to that is reaffirming you, you know, helping you, praying for you, can be a real help when you're struggling with these addictive things. Okay? Be careful, because pornography, that's lust. What is lust? Covetous. And covetousness. The covetous person is someone that should get kicked out of the church. All right? What else would it say in the Ten Commandments? Moving off on that topic, but in the Ten Commandments, it said that we should not covet someone's servants, someone's servants. So, you know, I mean, we don't really have this today, but there are some cultures where you can actually afford to have somebody work in your house and be a servant. So obviously, it's someone that's a little bit better off, a bit more well off, where they can get helpers, you know, you shouldn't covet those things. You know, maybe you could say someone that starts a business, they have employees, you shouldn't be coveting what they have, you know, you should be thankful that God has given them the ability to have the servants, have the employees, you know, please don't covet somebody else's position. You know, the other one says, it says he covet in someone's ox. You say, why would God say ox? All right? Well, you know, in the times, you know, a lot of the Israelites were farmers and things like that. And obviously, an ox can make you more productive. It makes you plow the ground even harder. You know, some of my family in South America, Chile, they've got farms and they've got oxes. And what's that thing they've got behind the ox? It's called a plow. Oh, yeah. So they're plowing and they're using the ox to dig in that dry ground. You know, some people might have better tools. They have maybe better skills. They have better talents than you. You know, they're more productive than you. You know, I mean, you do the best you can, but they're still more productive than you. Hey, don't covet their productivity. Don't covet their ox. You know, this is one big problem that we have today in our society. You know, we have a lot of young people that leave school or they leave university and they think, you know, they've not really worked a hard job in their life. They've never really, you know, started from the bottom. And they think, well, you know, I've come out and I should be earning the big bucks right now. And they think they ought to be on the high salary because they just finished high school or something. That's wrong. You know, you should be someone, no matter how much, how educated you are, you know, you should be someone that wins. Just start with the entry job. I don't care. You know, work is work and honest day's job. God is seeing you. You just lower yourself. You just start somewhere and God will promote you. God will help you, you know, get into higher positions. God will increase the finances and provide, already said, you know, provide the needs for you. But one common problem I'm telling you in this world, people think they're so entitled. I finished high school. I ought to be, you know, the manager of some, you know, some CEO. Wrong. You know, you got to start somewhere. You know, don't covet what other people have. The reason other people have what they have is because they worked hard. You know, they started with the low jobs. They started to work their way up and they're there now. Yeah, you can't start that. You've got to start where they started, you know, and work your way up. Don't covet where they are. It also says don't covet somebody's donkey and or the, you know, it said they're an ass. You know, that's a donkey. And, you know, a donkey, you could maybe say that's your car. You know, they would often ride a donkey or your luxuries. Maybe these are things that are like your, maybe like your non-essentials in life. People, you know, we all have possessions. I'm sure if you went through your house right now and said what are the things we must have to live and what is just stuff that we've collected, I'm sure you'll be able to get bags and bags and bags of stuff you've collected that have no real meaning to life, right? I mean, you know, we buy our kids Lego. I think Lego is a great thing because it educates them, you know, puts things together. But the thing with Lego that after a while there's Lego pieces everywhere, you know, and then, you know, we'll find a Lego piece over there. So we'll tell the kids, can you pick that up? And they put it in this spare container. Well, that spare container is growing and growing and growing. And it's like your non-essentials, you know, you don't even need those things, right? You know, God has given you so many things, but, you know, you know, you shouldn't be coveting the non-essentials in life. The things that people have that, you know, you don't need, don't covet those things, brethren. Please go back to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. Covetousness. Why is this a sin that we would kick somebody out of the church for? I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. If we have someone in this church and you'll know them, you'll know them when they're here, okay? And all they talk about is money, you know, how much money they've made. All they talk about is the new car. All they talk about is material wealth and possessions. You know what's going to happen? If they come in here, we're all flesh. We're all flesh. You're going to start not being satisfied with what God has given you and you're going to start thinking, yeah, brother so-and-so has mentioned all these great, amazing things. I want a bit of that too. Why can't I have a bit of that too? And that'll cause you to lose contentment. Instead of being happy with what God has given you, this is like a plague. And then everybody in the church will be money, okay? And you'll just be taking advantage of one another. Instead of trying to say, how can I be a blessing? How can I give to my brethren? Your mind will start to change. What can I get from the brethren? What can I take out of these people? And that will cause major problems in our church. This is why this is a sin that we need to take care of. And if someone, look, again, I'm sure we all covet to some extent, okay? But this is someone that has a problem, right, with covetousness. That's all they're thinking about. All they're thinking about are the physical possessions in this world. All they're thinking about is riches. Luke 12 15. Let's just end on this. Luke 12 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 possesseth. Brethren, your life is more important than your possessions. You know, you've been given your life by God. God wants you to serve Him with all your life. With all the days of your life, with everything that He's given you, God wants you to serve Him. Don't live a life that's just serving yourself, okay? Let's pray.