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

we have started the book of Micah. And so we did Micah chapter one, you may recall that Micah one was, well, actually, if you want quickly, look at chapter one for me, Micah chapter one, and look at verse number one, just as a reminder, it says, the word of the Lord that came to Micah, the Morashite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, concerning which, sorry, which you saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem, right? So Samaria being the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel and Jerusalem being the capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah. And so Micah is a prophet being used by God to preach against both nations. Many times in the Bible, when you read of the prophets, usually they've got one target audience. They usually only preach into the northern kingdom or preaching only to the southern kingdom, but Micah has been called by God to preach against both those kingdoms. And so when we get to Micah chapter two, quite often when I read through like chapters of the prophets, I can start to identify by the content in the chapter, whether it's directed to the northern kingdom or whether it's directed to the southern kingdom. But when I get to chapter two, I can't really differentiate. Like, you know, I can't tell which kingdom he's specifically preaching against. And so it's most likely both because what we end up with, God is again, threatening the nation with captivity. And we know that the northern kingdom was taken into captivity, of course, by the Assyrians and the southern kingdom was taken into captivity by the Babylonians. And so neither the Assyrians nor the Babylonians are mentioned by name, and the sins seem to be quite general still. And so this might still be just an overall prophecy from Micah to both those nations. Now in Micah chapter two, it begins by saying, verse number one, woe to them that devise iniquity. I was thinking about making the sermon to them that devise iniquity, but I'm not gonna use that as my sermon title tonight. I think we can be a little bit more specific, but we talk about people that are devising iniquity, people that are devising, coming up with sinful ideas, sinful solutions to their issues. And if you look at verse number two, how verse number two begins, this is why they devise iniquity. In verse number two, it says, and they covet fields. So we say what the problem is, covetousness. They covet fields, they covet lands, they covet people's houses. And so because they're looking at other people's houses and other people's possession, the sin of covetousness falls upon them. And when they have the sin of covetous, they begin to devise evil schemes, evil plans to take that which does not belong to them. So the title for the sermon tonight is, the dangers of covetousness. The dangers of covetousness coming there from Micah chapter two. Now, before we read Micah chapter two, I just wanna read to you some very familiar passages. In fact, come with me. If you can keep your finger there and come with me to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. Of course, Exodus chapter 20 is famous for the 10 commandments, right? It's where we find the 10 commandments when they were first issued to God by Moses, to the people of God. In Exodus chapter 20, one of the 10 commandments there in verse number 17 says, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house. So sometimes people have, I mean, I don't get the question so much these days, but I know in my early days as I passed, I got a lot of questions because there are times that people desire certain things. They might desire a certain car, they might desire a certain house, they might desire certain possessions. And the question that I was often asked is, how do I know if this is just something that I need to fulfill as part of my general needs of life? And how do I know when it's covetousness? Well, one thing that is clear about covetous, it's not just the desire of some item or some possession, it's desiring that which belongs to your neighbor. Look at verse number 17 again, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house. Is there anything wrong with a house in of itself? No, but when you look at your neighbor's house, an item that belongs to someone else, and you say, boy, I want that. That is where you are wrongly placing your desires, this covetousness, desiring what belongs to someone else. Not only does it fall upon someone's house, it continues, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife. Is there anything wrong with a wife in of itself? No, that's a good and proper thing. But if you desire a wife that belongs to another man, that is covetousness. Okay, so it's not just a physical possession, it could be a relationship. It could be the neighbor's wife. It could be the neighbor's children. You say, man, I wish my kids were more like, you know, brother so-and-so's kids at church or something like that. That's a wrong attitude to have, it's covetousness. Nor his manservants, nor his maidservant. These are employees where your neighbor might be a businessman. He might be running his own business. He's got his own servants that operate under his household. And you go, man, it'd be so great to have a business. It'd be so great to be self-managed and self-employed, and I've got people working for me. Well, you know what? That in of itself is not a bad thing. But when you desire in that which belongs to another, that's where the covetousness lies. It says, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. You know, whatever belongs to you, I rejoice in whatever belongs to you. If you've got a nicer car than I've got, I rejoice in that, okay? If you've got a better performing family, praise God for what you have. You know, or when I look at someone else's church and look at a pastor who's serving the Lord of my city, doing great things, I don't have the attitude, boy, I wish I was like that church was mine or anything like that. Oh boy, I wish those church members were my church members. That kind of attitude is covetousness, desire in which what belongs to another. And so this is something, of course, named within the 10 commandments, something that we are to be very clearly careful about, covetousness. Now you're in Exodus 20. Come with me to Exodus 18. Come with me to Exodus 18. In Exodus 18, we have the story of when Moses is managing and judging the affairs of the people of Israel, and he's overworked. There's just too many issues. And then Jephro, his father-in-law, gives him some godly advice, gives him some godly counsel. And the counsel is, hey, you know, you need to choose some men that can support you, that can work with you, you know, under your authority. So you're not taking everybody's problem upon yourself. You're sharing that with other good, honest men. And one of the things that he mentions, Moses' father-in-law, in verse number 21, Exodus 18, verse number 21, he says about these people you select to help you in judging over the nation. He says, in verse number 21, Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, that's a good quality to have, men of truth, great quality, hating covetousness. Not just someone that doesn't covet, but they hate covetousness. They hate this sin. It's like, why would I look upon the things of others and desire that for myself? Oh, when they fear others desiring the possessions of others, it's like, man, this is like the worst sin you can desire. It's in covetousness. And place such over them to be rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens. And so, again, Moses' father-in-law gives him some really good advice. When you're choosing the right man to judge and to be an authority, make sure that people that hate covetousness. Of course, that's a quality that a pastor should not have. You know, a covetous heart, possessions that belong to others. No, that is not fit for someone who fears God, that is not fit for someone who's going to be a leader, you know, over the affairs of God. So, like I said, the title of this sermon is The Dangers of Covetousness. We see it laid out as one of the 10 commandments that we are not to seek after. But also, if we want to be uplifting, you know, citizens of God's household and, you know, people with a great reputation, we should be people that hate covetousness even, okay? So coming back to Micah chapter two, Micah chapter two and verse number one, Micah chapter two, verse number one, it begins with people on the land that are covetous. Okay, and this is, I feel like almost in society as, you know, look, this can obviously happen amongst God's people, obviously, but just as a general, almost default position in the world, I feel, that covetousness seems to just be a regular desire of the unsaved natural world. Like, you know, I mean, I don't work a secular job anymore, but I just remember working a secular job, just any job and talking about people and covetousness just seems to always be on the agenda. Desire in what belongs to others. Boy, it must be good to have what that person has. That just seems to be the everyday conversation amongst this, you know, godless world that we live in. But in verse number one, it says, woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds. God says, there are people on your land that are coming up with some wicked evil thoughts, even at nights when they should be sleeping. They can't sleep even. They're just thinking about, my, how can I, you know, boy, how can I just come up with some wicked idea, some wicked imagination? They're just dreaming about it, thinking about it in bed. And it says here, when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. So all night long, they're thinking of wicked things. And when the morning comes, when the day comes, they go about and do wickedly. What are they doing? What's wicked? You know, verse number two. And they covet fields. So all night long, they're thinking, boy, I don't like the field that I've got. Man, that land that brother so-and-so over there has, that's so much better. They covet fields, look at this, and take them by violence. So instead of going to, you know, fellow Israelite across the, you know, the borderline, whatever it is, boy, I really like your field. You know, are you considering to sell it? Because man, I'd be an interesting, I'd be an interested buyer. You know, give me a fair price, fair value. You can work this out and we can make an agreement. There's nothing wrong with that in of itself. Of course, buying and selling. But how do they take the land? How do they take the field? By violence, violating the other person, not just the fields. It says, and houses, and take them away. So they oppress a man and his house. His house, there is his family. Cause they're meant to live in the house, right? The field is like they were an agricultural, you know, society that they were there to use their fields for their productivity. And so their work gets removed. The house over their heads get removed. They oppress a man, they oppress his family. It says even a man and his heritage. So of course, in the days of Israel here, the land was an inheritance. It was passed down from father to the next generation to the next generation. Well, that inheritance that should have been yours has been stripped away by violence, by some wicked people who have a heart full of covetousness. The dangers of covetousness, the dangers of covetousness, not only do you develop desires that are ungodly, desires of things that do not belong to you, but it may very well lead you to cause harm and evil toward other people who have been blessed with such things. The dangers of covetousness. You know what I think of this story where a man's field has been taken by violence in his house. I'm reminded of the story of King Ahab. You know, we won't look at the story today, but King Ahab who, he's the king. I mean, he's the wealthiest man on the land. He's the most respected man of Israel, I guess, as the king. He's got power, authority, prestige, and he looks out and sees a beautiful vineyard, a vineyard of Naboth. And he says, boy, man, I've got my own vineyards, but I really like his. I really like where his vineyard is positioned. And I want it for myself. So he goes to Naboth, says, Naboth, can I buy this vineyard off you? And then he goes, nah, look, I can't sell it. This is an inheritance from my father's. You know, this is a piece of land that's been given to us by God. I just, I can't sell it. So King Ahab's upset. Of course, he's got his wicked wife, Jezebel. And Jezebel comes up with a plan where she implants two false witnesses that said that Naboth was, is that right? Yeah, Naboth was, the false witnesses were saying that Naboth was blaspheming against the king and blaspheming against God. And so he's taken out and he's stoned to death. And once the man dies, then Jezebel says to King Ahab, hey, take the vineyard, take the land, it's yours. We have that little story in the Bible. You're probably very familiar with it. It's a very famous story. But you know, that's happening from the king, but that's also happening on the land. You know, I sometimes think about how difficult it is, it's seemingly to just own anything today. Like the more you work and the more you labor and what you receive as the result of your labor just seems to be coming short of just the most basic needs of life. You know, it's not uncommon for people to talk about how difficult it is to purchase a property or even to pay rent. It's like, you know, your value, your efforts are being stripped away silently. You know, silent inflation, high taxes, and the depreciation of your currency and all these things are working against you. You know, it's just being stripped away from being able to supply your most basic needs even or the needs of your family. And so we see covetousness as a major issue on the land of Israel and the land of Judah. And this is, again, I feel when I read this chapter, I do feel that it's about the southern kingdom, sorry, the northern kingdom of Israel. But I'm also reminded when you read the book of Jeremiah, one of the reasons that God led the southern kingdom into captivity was because they did not give the land rest. You may recall that the land needed a Sabbath rest. It was to be worked for six years and then on the seventh year, it was to be rested. It was not to be plowed. It was not to be, you're not to sow on the field and God would ensure that all you need to be taken care of, but that the land needed rest. Also, if you were to take a servant under these Old Testament principles, you know, you were to have a servant that would work for you a maximum of six years and by the seventh year, he'd be released from his contract. And again, when you read the book of Jeremiah, you realize, hey, the people of southern kingdom are not following these most biblical principles that God has laid out regarding the Sabbath rest. And they did it because of greed. You know, why would we allow the land to rest? We can make more profit if we continue to plant. You know, why are we going to allow our servants to go free? You know, we can utilize them more and more and, you know, extend their contract of work and not given their seventh year of freedom. And so again, when I read from Micah, so I'm not sure, it's probably both. You know, this sin of covetousness, this wickedness seems to be affecting both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Now, keep your finger there. Come with me to Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21. The rest of the chapter of Micah is pretty straightforward. We'll look at that in a moment, okay? But I just want to park it on covetousness because we obviously want to learn the lessons of the historical lessons of the people of the land. And then we want to learn the lessons ourselves because I think being covetous is quite natural almost. You know, to look at what others have. And again, we live in such a strange time where marketing and sales are just constantly pushing things down your throat. Things like, you must have this and you must have that. I must feel like we are so wealthy in Australia, but we're not happy with our wealth because we're always comparing ourselves to our neighbors and what our neighbors had and what our neighbors have achieved. And if our neighbors have achieved more than us, then that desire of covetousness starts to build up. Boy, it'd be nice to have what they have. Things like that. And so we want to make sure that, boy, if we have a heart of covetousness tonight, that I want to be able to give you some solutions, what the Bible speaks about. Now, look at Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21, please. Proverbs 21. Now, when I was thinking about covetousness, I sort of thought about how when you do covet something that does not belong to you, it seems to have an effect on you in three different areas of your life. Number one, obviously your physical. You look upon something, you want that as a physical need. It affects you in that sense. You know, a lack of a physical need. Also mental, it's a mental issue that you have because when you look at what others have, you start to not appreciate what you've been given. But also spiritual. There's also an effect that covetousness creates in your spiritual life. And I want to touch upon these three things. But let's start in Proverbs 21, verse number 25. Proverbs 21, verse number 25. I want you to notice something. It says, the desire of the slothful healeth him, for his hands refuse to labor. Now, before I keep reading, I'm not going to say that the only reason you feel covetousness, you feel like you're coveting certain things tonight, if that's you, I'm not necessarily saying it's because you're lazy. But what I am saying is if you are lazy, if you refuse to labor, if you refuse to work, the Bible is telling me here, you will become covetous. Because in verse number 26, it says, he coveteth greedily all the day long. Lazy people, slothful people, refuse into work, refuse into labor, what happens in their hearts? They start to covet greedily all the day long. They're like, my, it'd be great to have what that person has. Oh, look what my neighbor has over here. I want that. Oh, that'd be a nice house to have. That'd be a nice car to have. That'd be a nice wife to have. Well, why don't you get off your lazy butt and do something about it? Instead of being lazy and slothful and laboring not with your head, refuse into labor. Then when it says, look what it says in the second part of verse number 26, but the righteous giveth and spareth not. Look, we have two solutions here for covetousness. Number one, labor for your desire. If there's something you desire, instead of being lazy, instead of going, well, I'm just not gonna work for it, how about you just pick yourself up, and I want to encourage our young men, our teens, and this very much a very slothful generation. And I say that, I don't say that, my kids are pretty busy. We give our kids a lot of work. I'm not targeting my kids as a general thing, but like as a generation, we live in a society of such sloths, okay? And great desires. It's not like this person's unemployed, this person's not working, but when you talk to them, they have such great plans and such desires of things. Well, you know what? A desire in of itself is not a bad thing. And if you want it, what's the role? What do you have to do to satisfy your physical needs? Go and work and do something about it. Go in a paycheck, save up, and then buy yourself that nice car if you want it. There's nothing wrong with that in of itself, but it requires labor. You know, again, desires, again, when it says that the desire of the sloth will kill him, for his hands refuse to labor. He coveteth greedily all the day long. Let me give you another illustration. Like desire in of itself is not a bad thing. You know, it depends what you're desiring, depends what your heart is. You know, in the Bible to be a pastor, it says in 1st Timothy 3.1, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a Bishop, he desireth a good work. Okay, all right. So if someone desires to be a Bishop, someone desires to be a pastor, what are they not to do? Don't be slothful, all right? You're meant to, don't allow your hands to refuse to labor. If you want to be a pastor one day, you've got to work toward it. And that's not necessarily going and working a job, but hey, working and studying the Bible, getting yourself grounded in doctrine, all right? Being someone that knows how to explain and knows how to dismantle false ideas and false doctrines. You know, someone that's got a heart for the lost, someone that's got a heart for God's sheep, someone that desires to maybe relocate if they have to, to start a church in a certain location where God is opening the doors. You know, a desire again requires labor, requires efforts. You know, if you desire a job, you can't be lazy. You got to put your resume together and then you've got to send your resume and then you've got to contact the employers and you've got to try to set up interviews and you've got to turn up to the interviews and you've got to perform in the interviews. And then when they say, hey, we'd like to give you a trial, you've got to turn up to the trial on time and you've got to leave on time, okay? And you've got to work toward it to be able to achieve something that you desire. But if you refuse, if you're slothful, you will automatically develop a heart full of greed, full of covetousness. And it makes no sense to me because if you just worked for it, you'd do it, you'd get it done. You know, there are times in my life where I've had to work a second job or there are times in my life when 40 hours was insufficient in order for me to get the increase that I needed for whatever reason, I might need to make that 60 hours in a week. And again, when those periods happen, it's not forever, it's just for a period of time until, you know, we're able to have what we need to afford what we need to afford. But you know, every time we've needed something of a physical need, a physical desire, it's like, well, we got to work toward it, okay? We've got to put the effort in, or we've got to cut costs. We've got to get rid of the things that are useless and, you know, save up that for the purpose of whatever it is that we're trying to achieve. But what I'm trying to say to you Breville is that there are three solutions to covetousness. Number one is to work for it, work for what you desire. Instead of saying, it'd be nice to have that neighbor over there, well, go get your own, whatever it is, but you got to work toward it. This will satisfy that physical need that you have. Let's talk about the mental side of it. It's still in that proverb in verse number 26. He covetous greedily all the day long, but the righteous, notice this is the difference with someone that is covetous. The righteous does what? It says, the righteous giveth and spareth not. You know what's a second solution? Like all these three things need to come together for you to overcome covetousness. The second one is to give and be generous. To give and be generous. What is covetousness? It's selfishness. It's about self, what I want. What is giving and being generous? Being selfless. Saying, hey, I could use this, but I'm willing to hand this over. I'm willing to be sacrificial with my time, maybe with my money, maybe with my possessions to help this person, this brother, or this sister in the Lord to help them achieve what they're trying to achieve in life. Because that changes your mind. That changes the mental area of your head where you're trying to just amass things for yourself. Self, self, it's for me, for me, for me. And you start thinking, hold on, what are the needs of others? And how can I satisfy the needs of others? And when you do that, then your mind starts to shift from being satisfied to just, ah, what's for me? To how can I help? You know, the Bible says in Acts 20, verse 35, I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Covetousness is what can I receive? Okay, but when you're generous, it's what can I give? What can I give to others? And that begins to change your mindset. Because instead of being dissatisfied with what you have, you start to recognize instead of me and me and me, you start to look at others. Others have less than I have. This person's in a worse situation than I am. How can I step in and help them? That's solution number two with covetousness. Okay, physical need, work. Do the extra hours if you have to. Okay, solution number two, the mental part of it. Change about looking at what you want and start looking at what are the needs of others. And the third one, if you can turn with me to Hebrews 13, Hebrews 13, verse number five. Hebrews 13, verse number five, please. Hebrews 13, Hebrews 13, and verse number five. And this is the most important one. This is the most important one. Hebrews 13, verse number five. It says, let your conversation, that's your lifestyle, your behavior. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. The third point is learn to be content. And specifically, why should we be content? Because Christ said to us, they will never leave us nor forsake us. This is the spiritual side of things, right? Sometimes when you think you're lacking things and you're looking at the needs of things of others and you're covered up with things of others, you're kind of saying spiritually, God, you're not being fair to me. God, you're not coming through. How come they're being blessed and not me? And that can affect your spiritual walk with the Lord. That can affect how you're not appreciating the blessings that God has given you in life. And you're just focusing on the things that others have. It affects your spiritual walk with the Lord, right? Because truly speaking, when you count your blessings, you've been blessed above and beyond measure. In reality, if you sit down and really think about what you've been blessed with, even if it's just salvation. Naked came out of my mother's womb and naked shall return back to the grave. Naked, we can't take anything with us. But one thing we will always have, the Lord who will never leave us, not forsake us. What a great truth to be saved, eternally saved from our sins to know that no matter what happens, we'll be with God forever in heaven. That's contentment, that's true contentment. And that feels, that fixes the spiritual side of things. Again, there's nothing wrong with physical desire, but go labor honestly with your hands and go buy something nice. You buy something nice, I'll rejoice of you. Well done, brother. Well done working hard. You'll labor hard for something nice. Go on, praise God for the gift that God's given you and the mental side of it. Instead of focusing on just my needs, what are the needs of others? How can I be a help? Can I chip in? Can I buy the coffee this time around? Whatever, I don't know. Whatever it is that you're not able to do. How can I help, brother? Those things being given and being generous, it changes your mental state from being selfish to selfless. Back to Micah chapter two, please. Micah chapter two. Micah chapter two and verse number three. So I thought that was important that we just pause a little bit on covetousness. I wanna show you just the major issues in the life of these people. Okay? I mean, to be mistreating their neighbors with violence, taking away their land, taking away their houses. So then we can understand why God is so angry, right? Verse number three. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, behold against this family, do I devise an evil. God says, all right, you devised evil, I'm gonna devise evil against you. From which you shall not remove your necks, neither shall you go haughtily, for this time is evil. God says, all right, you've done evil, I'll return evil to you. And you shall not remove your necks. The idea of your necks is kind of like under bondage, under chains. And that's why it says, neither shall you go haughtily, you shall go, the idea is that captivity. That's the evil that God has devised for the people of Israel and the people of Judah, is they're gonna be taken into captivity. Okay? And then verse number four. In that day, shall one take a parable against you and lament with a doleful lamentation and say, we be utterly spoiled. He have changed the portion of my people. How have we removed it from me? He's turning away, he have divided our fields. So God says, all right, you're doing violence, you're stealing people's fields. I'll take it all from you. I'll take it all away from you. And there'll be lamentation. And again, I don't know if this is Judah, because we've got the book of Lamentations. So when Judah is taken into captivity by the Babylonians, the prophet Jeremiah writes the book of Lamentations. Lamentations is great grief and great sorrow, great sadness. As it sees God's judgment fall upon the Jews, all right? And of course, they're removed. They're taken out of their land, taken away from their fields, taken away from their houses by the hand of the Babylonians, and taken into captivity for 70 years. Man, covetousness, look what it does. You might act out of violence, but God's going to respond likewise. He's going to take away that which you took out of violence. He's gonna remove that what you've evilly sought to desire. Covetousness, something we need to get rid of our lives. Verse number five. Therefore, thou shall have none that shall cast a cord by lots in the congregation of the Lord. I think this is casting a cord by lot accord. I get the idea of like surveying. You know, when people surveying, they get like lines and they sort of measure, okay, this land is yours. This is where the boundaries are. And this land belongs to this family. That seems to be what's happening here, where it says thou shall have none. So there'll be no surveying. There'll be no dividing of lands. There'll be no inheritance being passed down from generation to generation because the people of the land have been taken into captivity. Verse number six. Now verse number six, sometimes in the Bible, I'll just share something with you. There are some verses sometimes, I read it, I just don't know what's going on. I can't read that verse. Like, what is that verse about? Like, what is it saying? One tip that I've learned over the years is when I'm struggling with a verse, sometimes instead of reading it from start to finish, I kind of start backwards. I kind of read it backwards. Let's read verse number six first. It says, prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy, they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame. Let's look at it, what is that saying? Prophesy not and a prophesy shall not prophesy to them. And then, okay, let's start backwards. So then, okay, what is it saying? That they shall not take shame. Okay, so that means that they shall not be ashamed. All right, so we know the people are covetous. We know they're sinful. We know that God's judgment is coming upon them. But what we see here, they don't want to be ashamed. So they're telling the prophets, prophesy ye not. Don't prophesy, don't preach that we should be ashamed of our covetousness. That's the idea, okay? Preach to us that we're doing the right thing. That's what the people of the land are saying to the prophets, okay? Now brethren, you know, what I take out of this is that when it comes to the dangers of covetousness, you know, if you do have a covetous heart, I want you to be ashamed. You ought to be ashamed of yourself if you have covetousness. If you look at what brother so-and-so has, or you look at what sister so-and-so has, and you say, boy, I wish I had what they have. Brethren, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Because what we see here with these wicked people, they're saying to the prophets, don't say this. Don't tell us that we should be ashamed. But I'm telling you, no, be ashamed. This is a great sin that must be removed out of our life. Verse number seven. O thou that are named the house of Jacob is the spirit of the Lord straightened? Okay, so we need to put verses number six and verse number seven together. So the people are saying to the prophets, don't tell us that we should be ashamed. Don't tell us that we're sinning against God. Don't tell us that we're in the wrong. So then God's response, or maybe even Micah's response to them is, O thou that are named the house of Jacob, so he's talking to the people, the Israelites, the Jews, is the spirit of the Lord straightened? So when we think about the word straights, we know that means narrow. The idea there is, it's kind of like saying, is the spirit of the Lord narrowed or restricted? So you're trying to stop the prophets from saying that you should be ashamed. But are you gonna really stop the spirit of the Lord? Do you think you can restrict the spirit of the Lord from preaching against you? That's kind of the response that's happening here. Are these his doings? And do not my words do good to him that worketh uprightly? So you see, the prophet's job is to not restrict God's word, not to restrict the spirit of the Lord, but to show shame, to preach against sin, but also not just to preach against sin, but to show the good, right? Do not my words do good to him that worketh uprightly? So we wanna also give instruction how to walk uprightly. So yeah, I can preach against covetousness and I've been doing that, but I've also told you how you can do uprightly, how you can walk uprightly, right? Like I said, number one, labor for your desire. Don't be lazy, right? Get yourself a job. Get yourself a second job if you have to. But number two, give and be generous. Change your mindset around possessions. And number three, learn to be content because God will never leave you nor forsake you. He's blessed you immensely. So Mike is saying, look, you can't stop the spirit of the Lord. Yeah, there are gonna be some prophets that you tell them, shut up, just preach us nice things. Don't tell us that we should be ashamed. Now, brethren, we ought to be going to a church with a pastor that's going to identify the sin and also tell you what the solution is. How can you walk uprightly? Verse number eight, even of late, my people is risen up as an enemy. So the people of the land are risen up as an enemy. They're not meant to be an enemy. They're meant to be God's people, but they've risen themselves up like an enemy. It says, you pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. All right, so what is making the people like an enemy to God? Their covetousness again, okay? Their wickedness, their violence, the iniquities, the things that they come up with to do violence one toward another. Now, can you come with me to Luke 16? Keep your finger there, come with me to Luke 16. Luke 16, Luke 16. Luke 16. While you turn there, I just want to tell you that covetousness and greed makes you as an enemy of God. That's a sad thing, because I want to be a friend to God. I'm his son, he's my father. We're a family, right? And we're brethren, we're brothers and sisters in the Lord. I mean, what kind of believer wants to be an enemy to God or as an enemy to God? But this is what covetousness will do in your heart. Greed, covetousness, it makes you an enemy of God. Look at Luke 16, verse number 13. Luke 16, 13. No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is a word for riches. If you're desiring riches. Greed, what can I have? The selfishness of one, to just consume possessions, desires and wealth upon your lusts. Boy, if you serve mammon, if you serve riches, if that's what your life becomes about, the Bible tells me you cannot serve two masters. You're gonna serve God or riches. You serve riches, you're not serving God. You're not serving God. Now, the reason I read this from Luke, because this same teaching was also found in the book of Matthew, but I like how Luke puts it in verse number 14. Who is Jesus speaking to? Verse number 14 says, and the Pharisees also who were covetous, heard all these things and they derided him. Okay, so Jesus is saying, look, you can either serve riches or God. Who's he speaking to? The covetous. And what I'm saying to you tonight, brethren, I don't know if you've got a covetous, I don't know. I hope not, I hope not. But if you have covetous in your heart tonight, then look, you can't serve God. You need to understand, you're not gonna be serving the Lord. Your heart's desires are gonna be on greed and wealth and riches to be consumed upon your lusts. It's not gonna be the heart of the generous and the giving and the heart to earn, to just provide the most basic needs that you have. And the contentment is gonna be far from you. There's a reason why wealthy and powerful people are just never satisfied. The rich always want more riches. The powerful always want more power. There's never satisfaction, there's never contentment. We're gonna learn how to be content with what God has given us. Have our hearts toward God, not toward covetous, covetousness. Back to Micah chapter two, verse number nine. Micah chapter two, verse number nine. So again, he's telling the people of the land that they've become enemies. And as enemies, they do this in verse number nine. The women of my people have ye cast out of their pleasant houses. So it's not like you're just affecting some man in his house and his little field, you're affecting their wives, the women of the field. From their children, have ye taken away my glory forever. Now this could be a reference to widows and orphans potentially, you know. Maybe people are taking advantage of these ladies without a husband or these children without fathers. Or fathers could just be hardworking men trying to make ends meet, trying to pay off whatever debts they may have, you know, whatever it is. And found themselves in a horrible situation and it's just been yanked away from them, taken away from them. And so it's not just affecting the men, it's affecting the women, it's affecting the children, their houses being removed from them. Verse number 10, you know, like this is, a house is supposed to be just a basic human need. And you know, I don't know if you guys are aware of this but in Brisbane, I can't remember what street it is, but there's just a growing homeless population living in tents. But they're not even sluggish, they're not lazy homeless type. Some of them have houses but they just can't afford to pay it. So they decide to just go live in a tent, have some in the city and rent it out. So they work their jobs and with the help of the rent, they're trying to pay off their houses. Like something that is supposed to be such a universally basic human need, something's happening in the world. Like it's affecting, not just Australia, it's affecting Western nations across the entire world. There's this housing crisis, this rental crisis, it's crazy. You say, what's going on, pastor? I tell you from the Bible, covetousness, wicked people taking possessions of other people by violence, corruption, stealing what belongs to others. It's just, this is like, you know, I feel like sometimes I read the Bible, so yeah, I mean, this is just, it's just 2024. It's the same thing, it makes me sad. Like the most basic needs, like people should be able to have food and clothing and a roof over their heads at the very minimum I mean, God ever promises you a roof over your head. He promises you clothing and your food, but look, if you're gonna have a family, you're gonna have children, I mean, look, you're gonna need some very basic needs. And look, there's corruption at the highest levels. I don't know who these are. You know, you can watch the conspiracy videos if you want, you can figure them out for yourself, I don't know, but there's great wickedness on the land and it's out of covetousness. And I'm just praying, I wanna be like Micah and say, well, the way you've taken these wicked powers, the way you've taken possessions away from the common man, I just pray that God just removes it from you as well. Takes you into captivity, locks you up for 70 years, you know, and just return the world back to some of the most basic needs that we have and to be able to just get on with life and raise a family and do something good for society, right? Like it boggles my mind that where people are so worried and concerned, and I know it's like, I get it. Like if I couldn't afford a place for my family, I've got a big family. I think about the stress and worry that'll create. And then because of that, then, you know, you're restricted from able to serve the Lord faithfully because your mind is so caught up on other issues and problems. The reason, brethren, we are in the society that we're in right now, and there's a lot of fears and concerns and homeless people that shouldn't be homeless because they work in full-time jobs is just the covetousness of men. Wickedness of powers in high places, destroying the livelihood of just a regular human being. Sorry, what am I up to? Verse number 10, back to Micah chapter two. Micah chapter two, verse number 10. Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest because it is polluted. It shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. So God is telling the people of the land, all right, you've done violence, you've stolen people's land, you've stolen people's houses. You think you can rest here? No, this is not your rest, okay? It's polluted, okay? So again, it's saying, look, you're not gonna rest here. You're gonna be taken into captivity. You guys, it's time to go. You're just a horrible generation, a horrible people right now, doing violence one to another. And then it says in verse number, look how corrupt the people of the land have become. In verse number 11, if a man walk in the spirits and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of these people. The people in the land are so spiritually corrupt that a prophet can preach to them, wine and strong drink. If I start to preach to you guys, guys, alcohol's okay. Drink up the alcoholic wine. Drink up a beer, brethren. Let's have a good time. And you're like, oh yeah, well, great preaching. Like that doesn't make sense to us, but that's what's going on in the land. Preachers can lie boldly to their face. And they're like, praise God, this is great preaching. You guys know that's my biggest fear, to preach lies. I don't wanna do that. And guess what? I've heard men, the office of a Bishop preach strong drink and wine's okay. And people are like, yeah, maybe so. And when that happens, it just shows me how spiritually deficient people are. Cause they say, no, no, it's drunkenness that's the sin. Okay, is drunkenness mentioned here? No, they're just preaching wine and strong drink. They're not even preaching drunkenness. Just drink the alcohol, drink the wine, it's all good. God says they're prophesying lies. Lies to the people. And just absorb it. The people of the land are so spiritually corrupt. And brethren, just as a reminder, it's good to have a healthy dose of criticism when you hear a preacher. Even tonight, as I preach, it's good to have a healthy dose of criticism. Think about what I'm saying. Compare it to the scriptures. And all the scriptures that you've read over your life, is this consistent with God's word? Is what passes preachers tonight, clearly what God speaks about in his word? That's the right approach. Never get to the point where you're like, all right, he's a preacher, he's got the title of a pastor, I guess he's going to tell me the truth. No, they prophesy lies. And we need to be spiritually mature enough to identify what is the spirit of God and what is another spirit. Verse number 12. Look, verses one to 11 has all been negative. Verses 12 and 13, now we have the positive side of it. Because God then says in verse 12, I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their fold. They shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. So God is saying now, look, there's going to be a remnant of you and I'm going to gather you together like sheep in my fold. I'm going to be your shepherd. Verse number 13, the breaker is come up before them, the break, some of that breaks, is come up before them, they have broken up and say, what is that? Okay, the next part I think makes sense. And have passed through the gates and had gone out of it. So you know, God is telling them they're going to be taken into captivity. And then when it comes to the southern kingdom, we know they went to captivity for 70 years. Well, at the end of 70 years, you could put in this way, they broke out. I mean, obviously, you know, they broke out of captivity. Obviously it was legal to do so. It's not like they had some type of rebellion or protest and broke out. It's just that God is saying, look, you're going to break out of that captivity, okay? And when they break out of that captivity, he's going to bring them into one fold as a shepherd over the sheep. And then it says this at the end of verse number 13, and the king shall pass before them and the Lord on the head of them. So as the Lord as the head. So they're like, God is overseeing this, okay? God is leading this sheepfold. And so I was kind of thinking about, okay, I mean, this is something positive. Like God's been judging them the whole, all from verses one to 11, but then God gives them this promise. Look, you're going to come out of captivity and you'll be taken care of by the Lord, okay? Now, what are the, you know, applications here? Maybe if you come with me to John chapter 10, we'll just end on this passage, please. John chapter 10. Like I said, I guess the first application, we might say this is the people of the land returning back from Babylonian captivity. Now again, 70 years took place. So the generation that was taken into captivity is not the same generation that is going back into the land, okay? If there were elders and older people that returned back, obviously they were very young when they were first taken into captivity. It's a brand new generation, a generation that fears the Lord. So it might be that. It might be that they're coming back into the land. They reestablished themselves a king over themselves. And for a brief period of time, the southern king of Judah were doing the right things. Okay? About a hundred years goes by and then they start doing the wrong things again. But anyway, that could be the first application. The second application might be when Christ came back the first time. In John chapter 10, verse number 14, we know these passages, John 10, 14, Christ says, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. As the father knoweth me, even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. So this might be a reference again of the sheep, the foal, the flock in the midst of the foal. This might be a reference of Christ. Again, Christ being the king of kings, the Lord of Lords and he coming in the first time, taking the people that are saved, the remnant of Israel that are saved and bringing them into that sheep fold. Or this might be a reference to the millennial kingdom. This might be a reference to millennial Israel, which is a spiritual nation of Israel. The Israel of God, as the Bible puts it, it might be a reference to that. I don't really know, like maybe give me your opinions on what that is. But the point is that even though God prophesizes this judgment, exposes their weakness, somehow our God is so amazing, he's still forgiven, he's still loving, he still wants a positive outcome, especially for his sheep, okay? And so one day, whatever period this is, and maybe it's all three, maybe it's written cryptically to cover all three aspects. Maybe they're literal return out of Babylon, maybe the first coming of Christ, maybe the second coming of Christ. I don't know 100%, but one thing that we do end and understand that our God is merciful. He gives us chance after chance. We may need to go to captivity for 70 years. I hope not, I hope you don't have to take 70 years to learn the lessons of covetousness. But brethren, if you are strong with covetous tonight, the dangers of covetousness, look, God is merciful, he's ready to forgive, he's ready to move on, he's ready to cause you to help you to overcome that sin and to lead you in the past of righteousness. So brethren, just in conclusion, three things to do if you struggle with the sin of covetousness. Number one, labor for your desire. Get to work, do some honest, hard labor, save up, pay for the thing that you desire rather than look at others and get upset about it. Number two, learn to give and be generous. And number three, learn to be content. Okay, let's pray.