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

Part of the passage I wanted to focus on is starting in verse 5. Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness from such withdrawal by self. But godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be there with content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereinto thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. The title of the sermon this evening is Avoid Covetousness. We see this part of the scripture is really emphasizing to a preacher the importance of avoiding the love of money, the importance of avoiding being covetous. We see in verse 6, but godliness with contentment is great gain. So these things are not mutually exclusive. I mean, you could try to be godly and try to do good things, but be uncontent with the things that you have. Be uncontent in this life, and that would show itself in a form of covetousness. Go if you would to Luke chapter number 12, and the Bible says in verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil. The interesting thing about that is you don't have to be rich to be guilty of this sin. You could be dirt poor, you could have no goods, you could have nothing and still be in violation of this, because it's saying the love of money, meaning that you want money. That's your primary desire, that's the primary thing that you desire. We see a lot of celebrities today, if you actually looked at their net worth, it would be negative. They'd actually have like millions of dollars in debt, but they have the love of money, they're desiring to have lots and lots of money, they're filled with covetousness. So the amount of money you have, or the possessions that you have, does not determine if you're violating this, or if you're in this sin. The Bible says in Exodus 20, 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 ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. He's saying, look, it's not good to covet anything, his house, his wife, his car, his stocks, his bonds, his shirt, his whatever, anything that this guy has, his employer, his job, his haircut, anything that has to do with this guy, you shouldn't be desiring what's not yours. You should not be desiring that which is your neighbor's. You should not be fixated on things that you don't have. Says in Luke chapter 12 verse 15, and he said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists of naught and the abundance of the things which he possesses. You know, a lot of people today, that's how they measure their life, that's how they even measure their happiness. There's a lot of like online surveys and statistics, and they measure who's happiest. It's usually a lot of times based on the abundance of the things in which they possess. They say, oh, it must be, you know, America must be the happiest nation on earth, because look how many things we have. We have more than all the other nations of the world, so we must be happier than all of them. That's a lie. That's not true. Look, your life's value is not based on the possessions that you have. Go to chapter 16 now, just flip over a couple of chapters. The Bible says in Acts chapter 20, I have coveted no man's silver or gold or parable. We're not supposed to covet things, possessions, money. It says in 2 Peter 2, and through covetousness, shall they with fain words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. False prophets, they're covetous. The true prophet, the guy in Acts, he's not covetous. He doesn't want your money, he doesn't want your goods, he doesn't want the clothes off your back, he doesn't want you to give that extra over the 10 percent, oh, just keep giving the money, keep me giving money, no, the false prophet is the one that wants to teach things to make merchandise of you. They teach things with fain words, lying to you, to try and bring in money. Even in independent, fundamental Baptist churches, they have these traveling evangelists where their main focus is to preach on giving money. Their main focus is just to tell how everybody needs to be tithing more and giving more above their tithe and giving all this money to the church. I heard an evangelist come to an independent, fundamental Baptist church, get up behind the pulpit, and he said, the one thing the Bible talks about the most, the number one thing the Bible talks about is money. I mean, he got up, he said the number one thing is money? That's ridiculous. I would say the number one thing is just the Lord, just as a word, but maybe praise the Lord. That probably would be the most common command in the Bible. We have the longest book in the Bible that's all about praising the Lord and singing songs unto him. God said the Bible is telling you to praise the Lord, give thanks unto his name, all throughout the entire New Testament, Old Testament. It's not talking about giving money and tithing. That's not a major thing. And even Jesus Christ rebuked the Pharisees by saying, hey, they tithe, but they omit the weightier matters of the law, proving that is not the most important thing. Giving money and tithing and all these things, that is not the most important thing. That's not the biggest emphasis. God has to count on a thousand hills. He's not interested in you giving him your money. He wants your heart. He wants you to love him with all your soul. He wants you to praise him. That's what God's after. He's not after your money. He has plenty of money. He doesn't need it. But the lying preacher, he wants to make it all about money so that you'll give him lots of money. So you want to distinguish between the false prophet and the true prophet? The guy focusing on money, preaching about lots of money, this guy has a big warning. That's a big flag. This guy's probably a false prophet. I mean, almost 99% of the time. It's possible someone gets mixed up on this. Because we see in 1 Timothy chapter number 6, he's warning Timothy, hey, don't be like this. Don't go down this road. This is what the false preachers are like. The false teachers, they're tempted to preach things that say, ought not for filthy lucre's sake. Look at chapter 16 verse 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. He cannot serve God and man. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things and they derided them. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men. But God knoweth their hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. He's saying, look, the things that are most popular in the world's eyes, the things that people like the most, a lot of times the things that God hates. He says, this is an abomination. And these guys were very covetous. And God was saying, the Lord Jesus Christ here, he's saying, look, you can't be chasing money and me at the same time. You're either going to love one and hate the other, or vice versa. And it's just true that man cannot concentrate on more than one thing at a time. You know, they've done a lot of studies about people driving and trying to see how many days can someone focus on at the same time, because they're like, is it okay to be texting? Is it okay to be talking on the phone? Is it okay to be listening to music, eating, drinking, putting on makeup? You know, people reading a book, I mean, people getting dressed. I mean, people do crazy stuff in their cars. And the study found over and over and over that people cannot effectively concentrate on more than one thing. They cannot effectively multitask. It is going to divide your attention. It's going to take away from your judgment. You can only truly focus on one thing at a time as a human. That's one of our limitations. Obviously, there's ways to multitask, but you're not going to be doing anything with all your heart. In order to do everything with 100% concentration, it has to be focused, lasered in. And the Bible is saying, look, you can't be lasered in on money and God at the same time. Yet, you've got to pick one. And the person that picks money, they don't love the Lord. Their heart's not towards Him. And the person that loves God, his heart is not towards money. You can only concentrate on one thing. How you bring a lot of things into your life is through the eyes. It's through what you put in front of your eyes. Now, you have 100% control over what you put in front of your eyes. This is why I think television is one of the worst and wicked things that you can do to yourself because you're subjecting yourself to the television, but guess what? The television decides what it's going to put in front of you. You don't have control over what's going on. They can bring out all kinds of commercials and shows and all kinds of images and they just keep flashing all these things in front of you and you basically are putting yourself in a situation where you're not in control anymore. I'm just going to subject myself to whatever comes on the screen and they could just flash all kinds of filth, all kinds of wickedness and you're just letting that come into your life. You see, if you can only concentrate on one thing, why would I want to put a bunch of filth and wickedness in front of my eyes? Why would I want to just constantly, you know, subject myself to somebody else? I want to be in control of what my eyes see. I want to be in control of the things that I'm focused on. I want to be in control of what I'm unconcentrated on. I don't want to be a passerby. And this comes to my first point. Go to Joshua chapter number seven. I just want to give an introduction. Look, covetousness is a bad sin. It's a wicked sin and it's something that Christians can definitely be infected with. Safe people can be infected with covetousness and we need to beware and take heed that we don't get infected with this. So how do we avoid it? The first point I have is we need to look not. There's a lot of things that we should just not look at. And most people, they never exercise self-control on the things that they look at. They just look at anything and everything they want. They've never actually exercised any self-control over shielding their eyes from certain things. Especially, you know, growing up as a kid, I watched a lot of television. I watched every movie. I watched just everything. I had no filter. I had no self-control. Anything I could look at, I looked at it, whatever I wanted to. Anything that was pleasing to the eyes, I just looked at it and would think about it and all kinds of stuff. And we need to understand that the Bible teaches that you should, there's a lot of things you shouldn't look at. Look at Joshua chapter seven verse twenty-one. This is a story about Achan. It says, And when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonious garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weighed, then I coveted them. And took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. So in this story, the children of Israel are told to just wipe out this entire area and that none of the goods were supposed to come unto them. But Achan, what did he do? He saw, he looked at it, and he's like, that looks good. Then what did he do? Then he coveted it. Then what did he do? He took it. So there's a progression. People don't just start out being covetous, no. They put something before their eyes. They're feasting on something that looks good that they shouldn't be looking at, and then the covetous comes later. The covetous comes after that. Hey, I'm looking at this thing, and that's starting to look pretty good. Maybe I want that. Maybe I should get one of those. Hey, that sports car is looking really nice. That hundred thousand dollar Mercedes in the parking lot, that looks really cool. I want one. I want to get one. But if you never looked at it, if you weren't infatuated with it, if you weren't feasting your eyes on it, if you didn't buy the magazine and you were looking at all the models and all the editions and going on the website and looking at how much they cost and all the financing options and getting a billboard of it or a poster and putting it in your garage, and every time you walk in the garage, you're reminded, I want that car. I want to put that in here. I want to have it in here. The sin of covetousness starts with the eyes. It starts with what you're constantly looking at, constantly putting before your eyes. This is why the home shopping network works. This is why QVC works. This is why infomercials work. They have these like hour long programs on television where they're just selling a bunch of junk. They're just selling a bunch of goods and people buy it because obviously they wouldn't keep running these programs and nobody's buying them. They're making money off this deal. And a lot of times you look at it and you say, who would buy that? That's kind of silly. That's kind of dumb. But then you start watching it and they start explaining all the things you can do with it. And you know, Shannon, wow, look at this, you know, I mean, you can watch it. You can wipe all these things down and never, you know, just gets disintegrated and never gets destroyed. It never changes colors. Look how you do it on this wall and you just keep watching it and watching it and watch. Hey, that's pretty cool. Hey, maybe I want one of those. Hey, it's pretty affordable. Only three payments in $9.99. I could do that. Call now. I mean, this is how it works. They just have to put it in front of you. They just have to get your eyes on it. Some of the most successful salesmen, they realize that the best way to do is not cold calling but just showing up at the customer's door, putting the product in front of them and say, do you want it? And you know what? That's how door-to-door sales really took off. There was a guy in Chicago, he was selling like some type of a medical equipment, it was like a $400 machine that basically took some type of medical records or something. And he was the number one salesman in this company, like a multi-thousand person company. He made more money than the CEO. And they asked him, they said, what's your secret? Like how are you getting all these sales? He says, well, I'll wake up real early in the morning and I go to every medical office in the Chicago area and I just open the box and say, hey, you want to buy one of these today? And they say yes or no. And I just went to the next door. He says, he had no sales technique, he didn't try to convince them, he just got their eyes on it. He just opened the box, showed them the good, do you want to buy it? You know what? A lot of people will buy things when they get their eyes on it, when they get to see it. Why does Walmart put all the yummy treats at the front? Because if you get eyes on it, you want to buy it. This is how the world works. Go to Genesis chapter 3. In Proverbs chapter 28, the Bible says, he that hasteneth to be rich hath an evil eye and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. The Bible says you can have an evil eye, meaning what? When you look at things, you want things that you shouldn't have, that you have this covetous heart. When you look at your brother that has a good that you want, you actually are jealous of it or you're envious of it. You want that good, you're not happy for your brother. You're not happy for them. You don't have any joy in the good for them. You want it for yourself. It's being selfish. We could compare this with Matthew 20, I won't have you turn there, but there was a parable of a man who basically hired certain people. He said if you work for me in the field for a day, I'll give you a penny and then he hired some more people later and later and later and eventually he started paying them. He started paying and he paid them all the same wage and the guys at the end of the day thought they were going to get more than the guys that only worked like an hour or so. And he says at the end, when he rebukes these guys, he says, is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So they saw these guys getting an extra blessing, getting extra money, maybe more money than they deserve and they did not like it. They had an evil eye, they said, oh, I deserve more money than I should get that extra good. They were covetous of getting more money. They weren't content with the money they agreed to, they had an evil eye, they wanted more. They weren't satisfied with what they had. So a good way to think of an evil eye, no satisfaction. Your eyes are not satisfied with what you have, you desire more than you have. You're not content, you're desiring something you shouldn't. The Bible says in Proverbs 27 verse 20, hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of man are never satisfied. In the flesh, your eyes will continually want and want and want more and more and more. You know how you cure that? Don't look at it. Just don't feast it in front of your eyes because the natural man will want it. The natural man will desire it. When you see that cool thing that you've always been wanting, when you keep feasting your eyes on all the goods and the pleasure of this earth, you will want it. Achan should have just looked away. When he saw that garment, when he glanced at it, he should have just looked away and stopped focusing on it so he wouldn't get the covetousness to be built in his heart. We see those other men, when those other guys are getting blessed, they should have just turned away. Look at Genesis chapter 3, we'll see another example of this, look at verse 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. So how did Eve get started in this sin? She started looking at it, didn't she? When the woman saw the tree, hey, was it an ugly looking tree? How does it look good? She's like, this is pleasant to the eyes and sin will be pleasant to the eyes. That which is not yours will be pleasant to your eyes, it will look good. You will want it. You will desire it. And then what will happen? You'll start to covet it. And then what will happen? Sin will bring forth death, what the Bible teaches. So we need to be careful what we feast our eyes on. You know what Adam should have told his wife? Don't ever look at that tree. We're never supposed to eat on it. So you know what? Don't even look at it. Don't even look at the fruit they're on because guess what, if you never look at it, you won't be desiring it, you won't be coveting it, you won't decide, hey, that looks really good. I want to try that. I want to try that tree. Don't look at it. Look not on the tree, though you would to Deuteronomy chapter 8. The Bible says that in Job 23, neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. You know, the interesting thing about Adam is he was not in the seed, but you know what? He esteemed eating that food more than the word of God, than the commandment of God. To him, the food was more important than God's word. And we see the woman was not satisfied with what she had, she was looking for more. I mean, she had all the trees of the garden to eat from. You don't think the garden of Eden was filled with great trees? But there was one she couldn't have, and that's the one she was focused on. That's the one she's looking at. She's not content with all the trees she has, all the food she can be getting. She's just focused on the one she doesn't have. That's the only one I want. That's the only one that's going to make me happy. And guess what? Did it make her happy? Did she get really excited when she had that tree? No. Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3, And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that it might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord does man live. God does not want us to be more focused on food. He wants us to be more focused on the word of God. This is the temptation that Jesus was met with by Lucifer. He was tempting him with food. And what did Jesus Christ esteem more than food, than physically satisfying the flesh? The words of God, the commandments of God. What did Adam do? He esteemed the things of the flesh more than the commandment of God. We see the contrast of the first and the second Adam. The Bible says, Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. God said he wanted them to hunger so that they would understand it's more important to live by the words of God than by bread, by the things that we possess. That's what we need to think of in our lives. Hey, is it more important for me to live by God's word or just all the goods and the pleasures of the flesh and the things that I can have? What should I be looking for? What should I be feasting my eyes on? What should I be seeking after? We should be seeking after the word of God. Not money, not clothes, not goods, not food, not all the things of the flesh. And not only that, what do we also read? We shouldn't cover our neighbor's wife. Go to 2 Peter chapter number 2. There's a lot of lust of the flesh. A lot of lust as far as, you know, food, clothing, money. The Bible says in Matthew 5, But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. So we see the beginning of adultery starts where? With the looking, with the eyes. So what should you do to avoid that? Look not on the woman to lust after her. Look not on the tree which God commanded you not to eat. Look not on the things that are a sin. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 13, And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to ride in the daytime, spots they are, and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and in a heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children, which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray, falling away of Balaam the son of Bozeworth, who love the wages of unrighteousness. The thing about covetousness is it's never satisfied. When we see the false prophet who's not saved, who doesn't have the spiritual man, his eyes are just full of adultery. He's constantly lusting after the things he doesn't have, and he'll never be satisfied because covetousness will never be satisfied, the flesh of man will never be satisfied, the eyes will never be satisfied, that's why the false prophet, his eyes are full of adultery, and look what it says, he cannot cease from sin. He's just going to constantly be sinning and sinning and worse and worse and worse. Go to Job 31. In Proverbs 23 the Bible says, Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, at the last it biteth like a serpent and steameth like an adder, thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. The Bible says, look, you don't want to look on that woman with lust, you shouldn't even look at wine either, because when people get drunk, when people start lowering their inhibitions, when people start getting a not sober mind, they're going to start looking on people with lust and then it's going to lead to even worse sins, not only are they going to be committing adultery in their heart, many times they'll actually commit adultery, they'll actually go and lay with their neighbor's wife, they'll take covetousness to the end of that sin, which is death. Look at Job 31 verse 1, I made a covenant with mine eyes, why then should I think upon me? We need to make a covenant with our eyes if we want to be godly. If we want to avoid covetousness, we better shield our eyes from many things. If you never shield your eyes from anything, if you just let anything just come before you, if you're just turning on the TV seven hours a day, seven days a week, and you're just letting things just come pouring in, and you just look at anything and everything that sounds good, you will suffer the sin of covetousness. You will have the problem of covetousness. Covetousness will come upon you. There will be things that you do not have that you will begin to desire that are not yours. We must have a covenant with our eyes. He said, look, I'm just going to make sure I'm not looking at other women. Why? It's a sin. It's adultery. He said, look, I don't want to even think upon this man. And we see that the easy transition from the looking is the thought. That's my second point. We need to be content. How are you going to be content? Well, you can't be constantly desiring and thinking and dwelling on the things that you don't have. So obviously to get that idea planted in your mind, many times it starts with the looking. It starts with getting that glance, with getting that first little set of eyes on it. But sometimes, you know, it's just a flash. But then what someone can do is they can dwell on it. They can sit there and ponder on it. They can let it fester in their mind. They can constantly replay that image in their mind. They can constantly be thinking over and over and over and over this. Go to Proverbs 21 if you would. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, all things are full of labor. Man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. So we're not satisfied with our eyes. Looking on things is not going to be satisfying. You're not just satisfied with looking at something. You want it. You have to touch it. How many children can walk into a store and just not touch anything? I mean, they see, oh, this shiny, you know, red object. It might be really breakable. It might be really expensive. I got in touch with that. I got to get some hands on it. I got to do more than just look at it. Man is not satisfied with just looking. If he has the opportunity to lay some hands on it, if he has the opportunity to touch it, to do things, to get it, he's going to want more. We're not just satisfied with just looking. Don't be deceived. Oh, I'll just look. I'll just, you know, go in there and look around. This is how the stores get you. They know if you walk in the store, you'll buy more than you wanted because if you get some eyes on it, you're not satisfied with just looking at it. You're going to want to buy it too. Look at Proverbs 21 verse 25, the desire of the sloth killeth him, for his hands refused to labor. He coveted greedily all the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not. So you see the wicked guy, he's constantly desiring. He's constantly in want. It says that he coveted greedily all the day long. He's not willing to go out and work hard and earn things. Look, there's nothing wrong with going out, having an honest job, working hard, and buying stuff that you need, buying stuff that even you want. There's nothing wrong with that. We see the problem is this guy, he doesn't want to work, he just wants to lay around all day and just want stuff. Oh man, it would be so cool if I just had that Mercedes. Wouldn't it be so cool if I lived in that mansion? Wouldn't it be nice if I was just rich and I could just lay around all day? Oh wait, I lay around all day anyways, because I'm just a slothful person. You don't have to have money to be lazy, you don't have to have a lot of money to not have a job, there's a lot of derelicts that live on the corners, they don't do any work. We see they have this desire, they covet all day long. They're just constantly wanting these goods. This is not a godly person. A godly person is not just constantly coveting and desiring that which he does not have. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4, I'll read for you, Then I returned, and saw vanity under the sun. There is one alone, and there is not a second, yea, he hath neither child nor brother, yet there is no end of all his labor. Neither is his eye satisfied with riches, neither saith he, for whom do I labor, and bereave my soul of good. This is also vanity, yea, and is a source for veil. But I think it's saying here that there's one alone, there's not a second. It's like a guy who just doesn't have a family. Think of a guy who just, he doesn't have a family, he doesn't have a wife, and he's saying look, he can lay up a lot of riches, he can lay up a lot of goods, but hey, he's not even going to be satisfied. You know, there was a guy that worked with my dad when I was growing up, he worked as a computer programmer, never had a wife, never had a family, never had a girlfriend, just kind of a loner, and he worked like 80 or 90 hours, had tons of money, you know, but he wasn't satisfied. I mean he just keeps working, he keeps accumulating money, for what? It's not going to satisfy you. You can have all the money in the world that's not going to satisfy you. I had a boss say that each child costs you about a half a million dollars for their whole lifetime. That's about how much money you spend, and he says, just think Jonathan, how much money I could have had. He had like 4 or 5 kids, he's like, just think Jonathan, how much money I could have. I said, Steve, you wouldn't give any amount of money to trade your children. You wouldn't take any amount of money now to give up your children. Look, children are priceless, children have, you know, you can't put a price bag on your kids. I don't care how much money I would have had. Look, having riches is not going to satisfy you. You're not going to be satisfied, oh, wouldn't it be great if I just didn't have any kids? Just think how much money I could have and I could travel the world by myself and talk to myself and just do things by myself. That sounds awful. I want to hang out with my family. I would rather hang out with my family and have no money than be super rich and be by myself. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 9, Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all. The king himself is served by the field. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase, this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them. And what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. So he's saying, look, people think that if they just had a little bit more, then they'd finally be satisfied. They say, well, I have a hundred shoes in the closet, but if I just had that extra pair, I just need one more pair to go with that outfit. And then guess what? They get those shoes. Oh, I need, I need the other color too. Oh, I need another pair. Oh, I need those boots. Oh, I need those high heels. Oh, I need those, those, those new shoes that I saw on the magazine and I saw on Facebook and I saw the store and I saw this other lady have. Look, you're not going to be satisfied with the things of the flesh. You will always want more to, oh, I want that 2000 square foot house. Well, it'd be nice to have 2,500 square feet. Maybe 3000 would be even better. Maybe 3500, maybe 4000, unless you start cleaning it. Then you're kind of like, nah, I don't want a house that big. But we see the person, they say, oh, I wish I just had a little bit bigger house, a little bit nicer car, a little bit nicer clothes, a little bit more money. I was going to a little bit nicer of a steak house. I mean, you can never be satisfied in the flesh. You will always want more. There's always someone richer than you. There's always someone taller than you, better looking than you, that has more goods than you, has whatever you think you want. They have more and you're going to look at that if you're covetous and you're going to constantly be in want, constantly be desiring that which you don't have. You know, it makes me think of my wife. She does not like to drink lemonade a lot of times. Why? Because she'll say, it makes me thirstier after I drink it. She says, I'll drink it and I'll enjoy it, but then I want more or I need more water or I need something else to satisfy me because the drinking of the lemonade doesn't give any satisfaction. And that's the way goods are and things in the lust of the flesh. You are not going to be satisfied with these things. Go to Proverbs chapter 5 and Ezekiel 16 verse 28, this is a rebuke against some whores. It says, thou has played the whore also with the Assyrians because thou was unsatiable, yea thou has played the harlot with them and yet couldest not be satisfied. Thou has moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Calvita and yet thou was not satisfied herewith. He's saying there's these two whores that wanted to lie with all these men and they were basically an example of how the children of Israel were with God. But he's saying, look, they were just giving themselves to all their lovers, all the men that were desirable to them, they just were constantly trying to get satisfied with them and they were unsatiable, unsatiable meaning it's impossible for them to be satisfied with all these lovers. You know, there's so many people today, especially unsaved people that think, oh man, how could you just be with one woman for the rest of your life? How could you just have one woman? That sounds awful! And they'll teach a lot of young men, they'll say, no, just be with as many women as you can, just be with as many people as you can, that's the good life, that's where they'll be the best. But you will not be satisfied with them. Look at Proverbs chapter 5 verse 15, this is how you can be satisfied, drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad in rivers of waters in the streets, let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountains be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth, let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe, let her breast satisfy thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his good ones. You can be satisfied, but you know how you need that satisfaction? From your wife, from what God has given unto you. Man will not be satisfied with lots of women, he will not be satisfied by looking at other women than his wife, he will be satisfied by keeping his eyes only unto her, by being satisfied just drinking the waters out of his own cistern, just looking to his wife and being satisfied and ravished with his wife. This is how you have satisfaction in marriage is by only looking to them, by only dwelling upon them. That's how you get true satisfaction, not by constantly thinking about other women. You know, I would hang out with a lot of family and friends and they'd play this really stupid game, I hate this game, they would talk about, if you could, what celebrity would you marry? They would say, you know, oh I just think, you know, such and such a female actress or such and such male actress, that's my heartthrob, that's the person that I like the most, that's the person that I would want to be with, that's a wicked game and that's a dangerous and slippery road. The only person I should want to be with is my wife, the only woman that I should ever talk about that I would want to be with is my wife, the only person I should dwell upon is my spouse, not some wicked, God-hating, you know, reprobate that works in Hollywood that's like 99% chance of sodomite, I mean, goodnight, why in the world would I even want that? And these people are wicked as hell, they're not satisfied with anything, they wouldn't keep only unto me even if I had them as a spouse, and even if they were a godly person I should still not desire that, that's wicked, I should only be dwelling and thinking upon my wife, only dwelling and thinking upon that which God has given unto me, that's how I can have satisfaction, that's how I can have pleasure in this life, that's how I can not be in constant walk with unsatiable desires, desiring that which you do not have, a spouse or a person that you could be with is unsatiable. Look at Matthew chapter 6, Bible says in Matthew 13, he also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful. But time at this point that we need to be content, if you're constantly thinking of things you don't have, if you're constantly dwelling on things you don't have, you're not content, so how do you avoid that covetousness? You must be content, and that's a state of being, you must not look on things that you shouldn't be looking at, but not only that, you need to just be content in yourself. Look at Matthew 6 verse 28, and why take ye thought for raineth? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore have God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow's cast in the oven? Shall they not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we be clothed? For all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth the need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. So he's bringing up the thoughts, these people are dwelling and worrying about the things that they need. I've got all these clothes, and I've got all this food, and I'm just so worried about all this stuff. Look, God said you need to be worried about seeking righteousness, you need to be worried about seeking his word, you need to be worried about following his commandments. When you wake up in the morning, you should not be worried so much about what you're going to wear and eat that day. You should be worried about reading his word, understanding God's commandments, seeking the Lord. This is not to say that it would be wrong to go shopping, or to buy clothes, or to go to the store and get food. That's not what it's saying, it's saying when you wake up your main concern, your main focus should be on serving God, should be getting righteousness. I should be more concerned with skipping reading my Bible than skipping breakfast. The interesting thing about the flesh is if I skip a meal, by the time I get to finally have lunch, my flesh forgets about it. After I have that meal, it's not like I don't really feel the pains of skipping that meal anymore, once I finally get that lunch, or that dinner, or whatever. If I skip the meal or whatever, but if I skip reading my Bible in the morning, I feel bad the whole day. It just carries with me, my spirit feels bad, I feel out of sync, it feels like there's something wrong, maybe you could have a guilty conscience potentially, but if I skip that meal in the morning, by lunch it's over! It's fine! We need to be focused more on God's Word, on His commandments, on trying to be righteous and godly than satisfying the lusts of the flesh. Those will get taken care of, God's going to make sure you get taken care of, no one's going to vanish, no one's going to go out with want that's seeking His righteousness. We see the disciples and Jesus Christ were traveling all over the land, not taking anything with them. They didn't struggle, they were constantly having people provide them, minister on them, take care of them, that wasn't what they were focused on, obviously they had to sit down and take time to take a meal, sometimes they would fish or do certain things to get food, but that was not their primary concern, that's not what they were focused on. One example of this that's kind of interesting to me, is I've just had random strangers basically, just basically offer me and my wife tons of clothes, just like people at work that I've never even met, really, I don't even know their name, they just come up to me and say I heard you had a baby, I have all these kid clothes, can I just give them to you? I'm just like, sure, I mean why not, and this one lady, she gave us a bunch of girls clothes and you're kind of thinking like I don't even know if I can use this, it was like 99% dresses, it was like, how does this happen, how does someone just offer all this stuff unto you? But you know what, I'm not saying that that's just definitely the hand of God, but I think God works that way, God will bless you, things will happen that you're not even expecting, if you're just seeking God and His righteousness, He will take care of you, He will provide for you, I don't need to worry about all the things of the flesh, this is not to say that you should be a bad steward, I'm not saying that you shouldn't be diligent and you shouldn't take care of the things that God has blessed you with, but your primary concern, your primary focus should be on seeking the things of God, seeking His righteousness, seeking His commandments. You know a lot of His commandments are being a good steward, are being faithful, are being a provider, are taking care of your children, hey if your son asks for an egg, are you going to give him a scorpion, are you going to give him a rock? No, you're going to take care of him, right? Go to Psalms chapter 100, actually go to Philippians chapter 4 first, Philippians chapter 4, the Bible says, but godliness with contentment is great gain, how can we avoid dwelling on the things that we don't have, being content, if you're content within your person, if you're content within your mind, if you're content within your soul, you're not going to be dwelling on things you don't have, you're content, you're satisfied with that which you have. When you have a good relationship with your wife, when you're being satisfied with your wife in marriage, what God's given you, you don't have a reason to look at other things, you don't have a reason to be thinking of other things. Now in the flesh, look there's going to be temptation, and we need to have self-control in that diligence, the Bible says, for the things which I do, I allow not, for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I, if then I do that what I would not, I consent to the law that it is good, now that it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, for in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not, for the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do, but the Bible's saying, look, you're going to be tempted with the things of the flesh, the flesh wants to do bad, he says, then I find a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me, he's saying, look, but it's no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, our flesh is weak, our flesh is wanting to sin, so we need to walk in the Spirit, there is therefore no condemnation of them which are in Christ Jesus, which walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, so to avoid these things, look at Philippians chapter 4 verse 8, finally brethren, what sort of things are true, what sort of things are honest, what sort of things are just, what sort of things are pure, what sort of things are lovely, what sort of things are good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things, he's saying, look, our thoughts should be consumed with the Bible, with the things that are godly, the things that God wants us to have, pure, lovely of good report, this is what our focus and our mind should be constantly on, not on all the things of the flesh, not on all the things of the worries of the day, look, tomorrow's going to worry for itself, think on the things that are good, think on the things that are pure, think of how can I be serving God better, how can I know all of God's commandments, how can I be teaching them to my children, how can I teach them unto my wife, how can I teach them unto my sons, how can I be doing what God wants me to do, how can I live a clean and godly life so God can use me to reach people with the gospel, to get people saved, to do what God has for me in this life, look at verse 11, now that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content, he's saying look, it doesn't matter what state you're in, you should always be content, with little, with not much, with a ton, it doesn't matter how many things you have, we need to be weary of the love of money, you could have a lot of riches and be content and be in God's will, having money does not make you a sinner, having wealth does not make you a sinner, otherwise Joe would have been a really big sinner because he had a lot of wealth, the Bible says he was a perfect and a just man, we see there's a lot of men in the Bible that have wealth, that have riches, and it can be a big temptation, we're not supposed to seek after those things, we're not supposed to chase after those things, we're not supposed to be desirous of those things, but just as much, somebody that has no money, they can be just as much in this sin as somebody that has a lot of goods, it's not what state you're in that's important, it's learning to be content no matter what state you're in, hey, when I'm abounding, when I have many, when I have lots of blessings, when I have lots of money, I need to be content, when I don't have many goods, when I have not much stuff, when it's just me and my wife and a couple nickels, I need to be content, look at chapter 2, flip back, the Bible says the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, one of the most famous songs, look, we need to not be desiring that which we don't have, why can't you just be pleased with what God's given you, everything, every good gift comes from the Father of lights, in which is no variableness, do you think God really enjoys it when all the things that you've given him, you care less about, you just want what you don't have, oh I know you gave me all the trees of the garden of Eden, but I just want the one that I can't touch, God does not like it when we can't be thankful and be content with what we have, so we need to not look at the things we don't have, we need to be content with what we do have, and my last point to avoid covetousness is we need to esteem others better, look at Philippians 2 verse 3, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves, look not every man on his own things but every man also in the things of others, let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, better not rob her to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, the Bible says that Jesus Christ became a servant, go if you would to Ephesians 5, it will be the last place I have your turn, and Matthew 20 I'll read for you, Jesus called them unto him and said ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercised dominion over them, and they that are great exercised authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many, so we see in Philippians 2 he's saying look we should esteem others better, we should be like Christ who made himself a servant, we see in Matthew 20 where I read for you, he says look Christ came to minister, what does that mean, it's like serving, it's sending him with serving, he says you want to be great in the kingdom of God, you want to be a servant, Jesus Christ didn't come to be ministered unto, but to minister, a lot of people today they want to be ministered unto, they want to have people bringing them the food, bringing them the goods, serving them, doing things for them, praising them, it's very selfish, we see Jesus Christ was not selfish, no he came to serve others, esteeming others better, and when someone's constantly coveting, it's selfish, it's selfishness, no one is coveting for other people, they're coveting for themselves, they want that car for themselves, they want that house for themselves, they want all the goods and the things that they see on the TV for themselves, that's where the covetousness comes from, says he that is greedy of gain, troubles his own house, the bible says blessed ye the Lord all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure, if you want to be a minister, if you want to do what Jesus Christ did, you need to do what's other people's pleasure, you want to be a minister of the Lord, serve the Lord, you want to be a minister of other people, you have to serve other people, this is like, this is what the example is for leaders in the church, the leaders in the church are supposed to be ministers unto the people in the church, they're supposed to be serving those in the church, it's not to serve them, it's for them to serve others, not to be so covetous, that's why you see the false prophet, what was he doing? He wants to preach things that are false so he can get a lot of money from you, so he can be served, he can serve himself, the true preacher of God, he wants to give everything away, he wants to help people, he wants to minister unto other people, he's trying to pour unto other people, he seems other people better, it's more important for this guy to have goods, it's more important for this guy to have the things of this life, it's more important for this guy to be blessed, for him to not have want, I'll suffer, I'll go without want so I can serve him, so I can do his pleasure, he can be pleased. At the 25 it says, then shall they also answer him saying Lord, when saw we thee hungered or thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee? So he's saying look, when did we saw all these people doing these things and not minister unto thee, serve them. He's saying look, when you didn't do it the least of my brethren, you did it not of me. When we see our brethren you know without want, if we're not covetous we will be serving them and it's not possible for you to be filled with covetousness when you're esteeming others better than yourself. If you truly believe that other people are better than yourself, it will destroy that covetousness. What are we talking about? We're avoiding covetousness. So if I'm not looking at things that are not mine, if I'm not constantly gazing upon things that I don't own, it'll help me avoid covetousness. If I'm just content as a person, if I'm praising God and giving thanks for the things that he's given me, I can avoid that covetousness. I'm not going to be dwelling and constantly thinking of all the things that I don't have. But not only that, if I want somebody else to succeed, if I'm thinking of the betterment for other people, it's going to help me avoid that covetousness. I think of this as being married and then having children. A single guy a lot of times struggles with selfishness because he's only had to care for himself. He hasn't had to worry about other people. He hasn't had to take care of other people. When a young man gets married, he grows and gets a lot more mature because he realizes it's not just all about him, he's got to also help his wife. He's got to do things that are pleasing unto his wife. He's got to minister and serve and do things for his wife. He becomes to realize, hey, I don't need all the things that I wanted. I can lay some of those down. I don't have to get all the goods that I wanted. I don't have to buy that brand new car. I'd rather my wife have a nice kitchen. I'd rather my wife have the things that she wants. Or I'd rather us go on a trip that she wanted to go. I can sacrifice things that I wanted just to make her happy. And if I'm focused on my spouse's happiness, I'm not going to be worried about coveting all these things for me. It's going to help me avoid that covetousness. Not only that, how about your children? When a man finally starts having children, he starts realizing, you know, I don't need a lot of new things. I don't need, you know, a new car and all these things. I'd rather my kids have the things that they need. I would rather bless my children. I would rather lay down and sacrifice so that they can have the things that they want, the things that they need. When you esteem others better, it's going to help you avoid covetousness. You won't be so focused on yourself. You're focused on other people. And that will eliminate the covetousness. Look at Ephesians chapter five verse one. Be therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and have given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as we come to saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know that no foremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. So if we want to avoid this covetousness, God says it shouldn't even be named among us. And a person that's guilty of covetousness according to the Bible is to be thrown out of the church, is to be kicked out of God's house. Covetousness has no place in God's house. So how are you going to avoid that? Well don't be looking at the things that you shouldn't be looking at. Not only that, we just need to be content and thankful for the things that God gave us. And most importantly, the best way to do this, I believe, is we need to esteem others better than ourselves. If we're caring for the wants and needs of other people more than ourselves, it will help us, you know, avoid covetousness. Help us avoid the love of money. Help us avoid that temptation and seek the things that God has us to seek and to be like Christ. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Father so much for your word. Thank you for setting a perfect example of esteem in others better than yourself and coming down and giving us all kinds of riches and goodness through your mercy and your grace. Giving us the unspeakable gift of salvation. Not only that, but allowing us to serve you and to be blessed through your word. I pray that we'd seek first the kingdom of God. That we would shield and protect our eyes from things that we shouldn't look upon. That we could be content with the things that you gave us and be thankful and give praise in your name for all the things you've given us. And not only that, but we could see the importance of other people and helping them and that would help us just have a right heart towards them and you all our days. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.