0:00 Exodus twenty seventeen. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. Let's pray. Father, as we come to your word tonight and as we have reached the last commandment of the 10 that we have been exploring week after week, we pray, Lord, for great grace.
0:33 We pray, Lord, that you would speak so clearly. We pray, Lord, that we would have this sense of gratitude towards Jesus Christ who has fulfilled all these things for us on our behalf. And Lord, we just pray as well that we would realize that we have been called to a standard because of this new heart that we've been given. And so Lord identify this one specific sin in us because we want the fullness of God in us. Lord, we just pray for humility.
1:01 We pray Lord for minds that are free from distraction and hearts that are open for correction. And we pray that every person here would realize that you have a specific desire for this commitment to be fulfilled in righteousness, and it all has to do with love. Lord, we thank you for being with us these past ten weeks, and we give you praise and glory for how your word speaks. And we're expecting for you to speak tonight. In Jesus' name we pray.
1:31 Amen. You may be seated. Past nine weeks, we are finishing the 10 commandments. We've been dedicating a week to each commandment, and here we are in the final commandment. And I anticipate and pray that we would receive great truths even And we praise God for all the truths that he has been revealing to us.
1:54 So here's the tenth commandment. You shall not covet. That's how we can pretty much sum it up. But he gets specific with a house, with a person. And before we dig deep into this, I wanna ask, have you made any observation about this specific commandment in light of all the other commandments?
2:13 There are two there are two observations to make just by understanding how this commandment is placed as it lines up with the other nine. What are some observations you can make from you shall not covet in comparison to the other commandments? Yes, Gil?
2:37 Well, at least, the commandments that are the horizontal commandments between person to person gives a lot more description about it, gives a lot more detail.
2:47 So it's pretty detailed when it comes to the latter part of the commandments about how specific it is and how it can be committed in a specific way. Sure. Yeah. It's like towards the possessions. Possessions?
3:01 It's a more focused like, I think you guys are on the same page. It's a more focused, command. Absolutely. It is towards possessions, but we hear we see it's even for a person. You can covet your neighbor's wife.
3:16 be more internal or in the heart. All the other things are physical.
3:21 Did you catch that? All the other commandments, if they are to be broken, can be observed and known by other men except this one. This one is completely internal. Nobody can know really if you are coveting somebody's possession or if you are coveting a certain individual. Who knows though?
3:43 God knows. God knows. And so if this commandment were to be broken, nobody would really be able to notice it. Nobody would be able to point it out, which is interesting because it doesn't fall in the first part of the sets of the commandments, it falls in the latter parts. Why is that?
4:05 If if this is something that only God can see, and we talked about the first four that deal with our relationship with God, why is this one placed here? Say that louder, please.
4:15 Our relationships with one another.
4:17 Does covetousness affect our relationship with others? It can if you don't deal with it right away. In fact, it is the root of many of the sins that are committed outwardly. It is. If you think about it, covetousness is a foundational inner impurity that leads to great outward acts of sin.
4:45 What other observations can we make about this commitment? In light of that last truth, you shall not covet. You shall not long for something or someone. Hold on to that thought because we're gonna realize that in this commandment, the 10 commandments come to full circle. There's a full circle now.
5:07 There's, there's a, there's an understanding that it connects with the first couple of commandments. And so here we are coming full circle with God's mind and God's heart and how all these things intertwine as we've been learning in these past few weeks. And so before we we jump into how that makes it into a full circle, here's another question. What does God mean by covetousness? When he says you shall not covet, what comes to mind?
5:34 Be holy. Yes. That's the appropriate response. But when we're hearing covet, do not covet, what comes to mind? Satisfying.
5:46 Being satisfied with what you have. Sure. Jealousy. To go after something. K.
5:55 All these things play into it. But thank God for the Bible. It interprets itself. Does it not? You don't have to turn there.
6:01 I'm just gonna read it. In Deuteronomy five where these things are repeated. Deuteronomy five twenty one. Look what the Lord says here. And you shall not covet.
6:09 There we are. The same word. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. If you're taking notes, Deuteronomy five twenty one. And you shall not oh, here's another word.
6:19 Desire. You shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. So what conclusion can we come to that? And we understand covetousness. It is in line with what?
6:36 It is synonymous with what? Desire. Covetousness is the understanding of desire. Now maybe that's not enough for us, and we need to we need to unpack it a little bit more. We do need to unpack it a little bit more.
6:51 What's the idea here? You shall not desire your neighbor's stuff or your neighbor's possessions. When we're understanding covetousness, I'm gonna read this and just hear me out. To covet is to strongly yearn, strongly yearn for someone or something that rightfully belongs to someone else. It is the constant craving that eats away at a person's heart and consumes their thoughts until that lust for that specific object is acquired one way or another.
7:34 So we have to understand it's this intense, intense desire, this yearning and this longing for something or someone else that does not belong to you. And you are willing to acquire that even at the expense of the person who possesses it. So this is what we're talking about covetousness. It's this really possessive sensation that consumes a person. And really, it can be hidden, but eventually will manifest if it is not tamed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
8:07 So this is how we understand covetousness. And now we understand how really this commandment is not separate from the other ones. In fact, they are in line with the other ones. Adultery is covetousness. Stealing is in line with covetousness.
8:23 Idolatry is covetousness in some sense. They all relate to this last commandment. And so my prayers as we examine this, we would we would really reflect because this thing can be justified by men so easily, by so many different excuses. It is amazing how covetousness can be justified by our own reasoning. And we're going to realize that God has a different, different opinion about that sensation that we get in our hearts.
8:53 So it's this longing and this pursuing in the mind and the heart. It involves the emotion. It involves the the thought process of somebody. It involves meditation, constant meditation. Over what?
9:06 Well, we learn over a possession and what? Over a person. But is that it? Look how he ends the commandment or anything. And so it's not just a person, and it's not just limited to a possession.
9:22 Fill in the blank, and you can covet it. What can you covet that's not necessarily a possession or a person? Popcorn, let's go. Prestige? Position.
9:41 That's a big one. What else? What can somebody crave that belongs to somebody else? Money, platform, job, the praise that is being given to somebody else? Can you covet the recognition that somebody's getting that's not coming to you?
10:02 Sure you can. Spirituality. What else can we covet? Opportunities that somebody else has that you do not have.
10:20 Beauty. Someone can covet somebody else's outward beauty. He says it's possible to covet anything. Anything. And that is where it gets dangerous because now we wanna know how do I identify covetousness.
10:39 If anything can be coveted, then how can I know that I am coveting someone something, opportunity, job, whatever? It's amazing because covetousness, it speaks in a certain way. It has a distinct voice. You are able to recognize it because it sounds something like this. Covetousness sounds something like this.
11:04 I really wish that was my husband. And you begin to meditate what your life would be like with that spouse that's not yours. If only I had that opportunity to minister like that person. If I just had that kind of car that my buddy has? It has a it has this voice of if only.
11:36 It has this this ring to it where it's like, I I I want that for me even if I have to take it from you. It's it's a very ugly sin, covetousness. The more you really meditate on what covetousness is, it's vile. And so there's this ring to it. And covetousness, if you wanna be able to identify it, is often coupled with the feeling of discontentment.
12:03 It's coupled with that. And so when when you wanna identify if you have covetousness, usually it's partnered with this sense of dissatisfaction inwardly. Why? Because you feel like the lack of fill in the blank in your life is robbing you of a sense of purpose or the ultimate source of your pleasure. That make sense?
12:30 Covetousness is hand in hand with discontentment. Why? Because you feel, you feel this, you feel this discontentment. You feel this lack because you lack that, or you lack her, or you lack him, or you lack the microphone, or you lack the job opportunity. And you feel like if I just had that, I would feel like I have a greater purpose and I have this greater pleasure that will be attained.
13:00 That's how you can identify it. And if that isn't clear enough, covetousness can easily be identified as a desire that is greater than your desire for God. It's as simple as that. How do we know that? How do we know that's not just extreme standard and that's Bible?
13:27 How do we know that's not an opinion of somebody that wants to get people fired up for God? This is how we know. Colossians three verse five. Colossians three five tells us that. Because we all have desires, do we not?
13:43 You know there's a right way of coveting. Things in life. You can desire marriage. You can desire ministry opportunities. But anything that begins to eclipse your desire for God, anything, is what according to Colossians three five?
14:14 Put to death. That's strong language. That's strong language. He's like, I want you to find this. He's gonna list.
14:22 He's like, I want you to find this, and I want you to literally suffocate it to death. Take it by the neck and make sure that it will never breathe again in your life. That's the command. So not put it in the closet, not deal with it for today. He's like, do whatever you need to do to make sure that this thing is buried six feet under.
14:42 What, Paul? What, Holy Spirit? Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. Mortify, destroy, go to war with sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Covetousness is idolatry.
15:15 Because you start thinking about that something you're doing.
15:18 Because you begin to think and ponder and adore and be consumed and be wooed and begin to give your affections toward something when it all belongs to Jesus. That's why it's idolatry because what? We talked about this more than once because all these things overlap. That that sense of you sitting in your room meditating upon that person that doesn't belong to you or meditating upon that opportunity that's not yours because God and his sovereignty has a different plan for your life or meditating upon anything, that pull that you feel, that constant bombardment of thoughts all belongs to him. He calls you and I to give all of that and to pursue him with it.
16:09 And so if it's not given to him and it's given to something else, if it's given to something else, if it's given to something else I wish I had my phone. If it's given to anything else, it's idolatry. It's idolatry. And so that sensation for something or someone is in direct conflict with your relationship with God. And God's like, uh-uh.
16:34 I'm jealous. I'm jealous. I want that what you feel to be towards me, which tells you and me something. That's possible. That's possible.
16:47 And so he says covetousness is idolatry. So here's a conflicting question then. Am I not called to enjoy anything in this life? Anything that's nest like, earthly. When I mean earthly, like, not necessarily spiritual.
17:04 Are we allowed as Christians to enjoy this? Are we?
17:14 Yes. How am I supposed to enjoy it? Because I know people that love to enjoy things, but it falls into this more than anything. There's there's extremes that we have to avoid. Right?
17:32 In the early church, there was this idea that if you were spiritual, you did nothing that made the flesh feel good. And so marriage, if if you if you were to get married, you were less holy. If you if you remain celibate, you are a holier person because you don't give yourself over to those things. You don't associate with you you try to eat the the the the least satisfying, the least appealing food because the flesh is bad and the spirit is good. And then you have the other extreme where it's like freedom in Christ.
18:03 Right? And just do whatever you want, and Jesus is nowhere in your pursuits, nowhere in your plans, nowhere in your passion. So how can you and I, in our freedom with Christ, enjoy things and not fall into a place in which we begin to idolize things?
18:21 Set it as a gift from God.
18:23 Okay. This is important. And and really we can summarize it with this, that you and I are called to, yes, enjoy all things, but we are to be God conscious in the midst of the pleasure that we are experiencing whether it's with a person or a possession. Remain God conscious. Remain worshipful.
18:43 Remain thankful in the midst of all of those things that you are enjoying. All of those things that are blessings from God. Every good and perfect gift is from above. And so how do I enjoy these things? I'm God conscious in the midst of it.
18:57 I'm God conscious in the midst of my friendships and when we're going out and having a good time and just fellowshipping. We're God conscious. I I drive home at night and I think to myself, God, thank you for bringing such and such into my life. I go away with my family. And as a family, as we are living for Christ, we are God conscious.
19:17 We are aware of the resort that we are on that, yes, God created all these things and we're enjoying it in light of him. And so it's this practice of worship in the midst of whatever I'm being pleased with and remembering that apart from God, whatever this is, it's not as pleasing. That everything I am involved with and everything that I am acquiring maybe and I'm involved, all those things is enjoyable because I am enjoying it with the revelation that God has provided it. And I'm looking at it in light of eternity. I'm protecting myself to remember that, God, as much as this is great, it's not greater than you.
20:00 Much as this is enjoyable, it's not as enjoyable as I do enjoy you. That is the way we are called to enjoy life. It's always an act of worship, and it really makes things enjoyable. It does. If that sounds like effort to you, you're failing to realize this.
20:18 It's it's all relational. This is not, I I just ate a meal and I forgot to say, god, you're awesome after I ate it. Like, that's not what we're talking about here. It's it's walking with the revelation that it's all dished out by him. It's all him.
20:34 It's all here, son. I want you to enjoy this in light of how good I am. In light of that, I am the provider of these things. And so it's always walking with this sense of relationship that he's a father, and he provides, and he blesses, and he allows me to experience certain things, and he brings people into my life. And it should only cause me to worship him all the more.
20:54 That's how you get there. How do you get there? Understand that you're in a relationship and that he is sovereign over your life and that he provides and he takes away just like Job understood. God you gave, God you take away. Blessed be your name.
21:06 I'm gonna worship you in light of both. That's important. And so if you wanna know your heart is free from covetousness, if you really wanna know that your heart is free from this ugly thing, you are able to quote Psalm seventy three twenty five with total confidence. Total confidence. You are able to say, whom have I in heaven but you, and there is nothing on earth I desire besides you.
21:35 That is the heart cry of a person free from the bondage of covetousness. That. And here's the sad commentary of our day. This is not just true for nonbelievers. It is true amongst believers.
21:51 It is too common where if you talk to a believer, you can you can understand that they believe in Christ, but for them to say there is nothing on this earth I desire besides you, very, very, very rare. And so I wanna ask you tonight, is that the hard cry in your bosom? I mean, if nothing else came into your life, you're okay because you only want him anyway. And here's the thing. Here pay attention to this.
22:21 I rarely ask that anymore, and if you wanna find out, you don't really have to ask somebody. You know what you just should do? Just listen. Don't ask it. If you really wanna discover it, do less asking and more listening.
22:34 You're saying, what do you mean? Jesus said, out of the abundance of a man's heart, his mouth speaks. You wanna know if this is the hard cry of somebody's heart? You wanna know if this is the very thing that motivates them in life? Don't ask them.
22:49 Just spend enough time with them and hear what they talk about the most. That's it. I've discovered that. See, when Jesus out of the abundance, it's the he's saying the thing that possesses somebody's heart the most, out of that, the thing that it it really makes them motivated, really wakes them up in the morning, really is the the the thing that they meditate upon the most, eventually, they won't be able to retain it. They can fake it, but just give it the right amount of time, they're gonna begin to it's gonna come out anyway.
23:22 It's gonna come out of their mouths. And when Christ dwells in somebody's heart, Jesus is the theme of their conversation. And guess what? It's effortless for them. It's not like they have to turn that thing on.
23:35 It's already there. It's just the overflow of what's possessing him in the first place. And so it's amazing, and we know this, how much you can discover by just hearing somebody, by just spending time with them and seeing how where does their conversation gravitate. And listen. Oh, please don't do this.
23:58 People try to fake that, and it is painfully obvious. Don't try to be this person and put the cart before the horse because I will tell you something. To the spiritually discerned, it is cringeworthy at best and sinful at worst. And I was just thinking about it. I mean, what can I compare that to?
24:24 And I'm not a sports guy by any means, but I I I thought of this. It's like you are a fanatic about a specific team or a specific sport, and you go up to somebody and and you ask them about it, and for some reason because they wanna get to know you, because they want you to build a relationship with them, they pretend to like that sport, and they begin to talk about it. And you know that even though they might know the stats they studied the night before just to get to know you, you know you know nothing. You're jumping on the bandwagon. And if you just if you just probe them a little longer and if you just ask them a little bit more questions, you can just hear it in the texture of the voice.
25:00 You have no clue what you're talking about. And this isn't a judgment thing. I'm not I'm not saying that you're supposed to sound super spiritual. I'm not saying that man, there are people that know more scripture than anything. They're devils.
25:14 It's not that. It's it's not it's not the only test to find out where somebody is is with the Lord, but it's a great indication that when Christ possesses your heart, it overflows and it usually comes out of this more than anything. So what's in your heart? What's there? Is Christ there?
25:33 Is that the theme of your heart? If that's is that if I were to if I were to saw open your chest, and if I were to look if I were to just look at your heart and see what was branded on it, would I see nothing on earth besides you? It's rare today. It's very rare today, and that's what God desires of us. That's what God longs for us.
25:54 That's what he expects of us. And oftentimes, maybe it is there, but it's on par with something else. It's it's there's something just above that. But Christ is inviting us for him to dwell in our hearts according to Ephesians three, to possess it, to sit on the throne of your affections. And that's effortless if you just do one thing, just fall in love with him.
26:21 Fall in love with him and watch how your heart will helplessly give itself over to him. It just will. It just will. And it's a beautiful thing when it does because when you meet somebody who has that kind of a heart, you can tell this isn't fake. You can tell this person loves Jesus.
26:43 This person has met with the Christ. This person truly does truly does pursue him, love him, and if you were to take anything from him, he'd be just okay. I don't know about you. That's the pursuit of my life. Not for anybody else to notice it.
27:01 If you fail to notice it, you could care less, but for him to know it. Just like if I broke this command and nobody knew it, I can get away with it, but I'm not concerned about if people can see it. I'm concerned what God sees. And so I don't want him to see covetousness. I want him to see a heart that says, God, it's yours.
27:17 It gets really real to this commandment because it shows how holy somebody is and wanting to keep it. True holiness is not who you are in public. True holiness is who you are in private. That's the pursuit of holiness, not what people see, but what God sees inwardly. And so I can be completely pious on the outside, but I am eaten up by lust And I can be perfectly okay with it because everybody else thinks I'm spiritual.
27:40 But when you're truly holy, you go, no, God. You see this. Cleanse me. Wash me. I can fool the world.
27:48 I don't care. I'm in this for you. And I want you to come in there and do surgery because I I'm more concerned about you more than any other relationship in this life. But the destructiveness of this sin goes beyond just this, though it is vital. This is the central thing.
28:04 This is the the main reason for covetousness being a sin because because it belongs to God. Your heart belongs to him. But here are here are two or three different reasons why it also is an ugly sin. Number one, it is evidence covetousness in somebody's life, it is evidence of a lack of love for a fellow brother. Somebody made a wonderful observation about this commandment.
28:26 When somebody covets something in general, specifically a material possession or money or wealth, when somebody covets that generally, it's not necessarily belonging to somebody, but just the idea of it or the lifestyle that comes from it. The main person in danger of that pursuit is usually you. So first Timothy six:nine says, those who desire to be rich fall into temptations, right, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. So a person that has set their life to say, I'm going to be wealthy. I'm gonna live my life so I can be comfortable in the future.
29:04 I'm gonna possess stuff. That's why I'm living. That person just tied a noose around their neck and is about to hang themselves. That person just tied something around their feet is jumping into the oceans. You're plunging yourself into ruin if that's what you're living for.
29:19 And usually the the the victim, though there are other victims that come with that pursuit, the main victim of that is you. But with covetousness, it is a specific type of lust. It is a, it's a lusting after somebody else's possession, somebody else's person. And when you begin to covet that way, the main victim of that pursuit is not necessarily you. It's the person who possesses it.
29:49 That's why it's very scary. So the thought pattern can get so bad. If covetous is not dealt with that a person can start thinking like this. Oh, man. If they just got a divorce, I would take her like that.
30:04 Do you hear me? If, if, if they just got divorced, I would take her like that. She'd be mine, and I'm willing to divorce too just to have her. Or you see somebody else's position, and you go, man, if they would only fail so that that position can be open again, and I would take over. Are you sensing the vileness of covetousness?
30:26 I hope so. Where somebody has a ministry, whatever, fill in the blank, and you go, I hope, I hope that they mess it up and they ruin their reputation. I hope they do that because I want that recognition for myself. Oh, people talk about how holy and how pious this man is. If only he just messed up and people would recognize me in such a way.
30:51 This is the thought pattern of a person that is being possessed by covetousness. Do you see how ugly it is? It is heinous. It is disgusting. Lack of love for the other person, for your neighbor, for your brother, for your sister.
31:10 Not only that, it's evidence of lack of faith in God. Evidence of lack of faith in God. Why? Oh, can we just turn to Philippians four together? Let's turn to Philippians chapter four.
31:25 Philippians chapter four Verse 10. Let's read in verse 10 together. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have hear this.
31:56 For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. You gotta read that slowly. So the the Christians that he was writing to were concerned about him, his condition, And he realizes that, and he goes, thank you so much. But I wanna let you know something that no matter what situation I'm facing, no matter what circumstance I find myself in, I'm actually content. And he doesn't say I'm content.
32:23 He says, I've learned to be content. I've learned to develop the sense of contentment no matter where or who or what situation I find myself in. So what does that say about you and me? We have to learn. We have to learn.
32:40 What does he say right after in verse 12? I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and need. This is a spiritually mature man.
32:57 This is somebody who has discovered a secret. May you take things from me? And he's not even talking about wants. He's talking about genuine needs. I mean, what is a more genuine need than eating and drinking?
33:08 He goes, listen, even if I don't eat, even if I don't drink, I have learned to be content. And so if that's just for needs, how much more should it be true for wants? That if you want something, it's not even a need. Shouldn't you and I learn to be content? I mean, what was the secret that Paul discovered to be content?
33:30 What was it that filled whatever void it was? Whether it was a need or a want. And he's talking about need in context here. This is how he figured out. Look at verse three 13.
33:38 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And we take that, and so many people have taken that, and they say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and they just use that some model to do stuff and to be ambitious and to be athletic. Listen. The context is I, because of the power of Christ in me, have learned to be content in all situations. So how do I remain content?
34:01 When I understand how to tap into the power of Christ who enables me and strengthens me to be content in those circumstances. And I believe even verse 19 is an insight too. And my God will supply every need of yours according to the riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So he he he had this revelation that he lived by. Listen.
34:27 I have learned that Christ's power in me, and I believe it was Christ himself according to Philippians three ten and now on. Christ in me is my source of contentment in all things. So if I'm rich, guess what? To live is Christ. If I'm poor, guess what?
34:46 To live is Christ. I'm not I'm not swayed back and forth by the fact that I have more in my bank account or less, or I have the latest clothes or don't, or have the latest phone or I don't I that does not matter to me. I'm content. If you're covetousness, you lack contentment in Christ. Plain and simple.
35:08 Not only that, Hebrews thirteen:five, keep yourself from the love of money. So he's talking to Christians or talking to nonbelievers? Talking to Christians. Hey, believers. Keep yourself from the love of money.
35:21 It's possible for you to fall in love with money. How do I do it? And be content with what you have. Be satisfied with what you have. Based on what?
35:35 Based on this, for he had said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So be free from the love of money. How do I be free from the love of money? This is so vital. Man, you it's amazing how many Christians you talk to.
35:50 It's amazing how many Christian men you talk to that the theme of their conversation is toys in this world. It's like, man, have you grown up yet? You're talking like a 13 year old boy. Keep yourself from the love of money. How do I keep myself from the love of money?
36:09 Be content. How do I be content with the revelation that He will supply all your needs? And whatever you do need, he will be there to provide it. He didn't say wants, he said needs. And so when you and I covet, what we are saying indirectly is, God, you're not providing for me enough.
36:30 And God, not only are you not enough, but the things that you've given me are not enough. That's why I'm feeling this strong craving and desire that's absolutely consuming my passions. He goes, you don't understand. I want to provide for you, and I can provide for you. And I'm willing to give you not only stuff, but more importantly myself.
36:51 I love how the King James puts Genesis 15. I love how it writes it out because what happens is Abraham rejects rejects reward from somebody else because he didn't want anybody else to take the credit credit other than God himself for his provision. And God says, Abraham, don't fear. I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward. I'm your reward.
37:18 Other translations would say, your reward shall be very great. But I like how the King James puts it. I am your reward. What a wonderful truth. God, you're the treasure of my life.
37:33 Whatever comes, whatever goes does not matter. You are my treasure. You don't find Christians like that anymore, do you? Rare breed of believers that have tapped into something in Christ, a revelation that has consumed them. Remember when David coveted Uriah's wife?
37:59 He coveted another person's wife according to he broke Exodus twenty seventeen. He longed for someone that did not belong to him. And we we we understand that Nathan the prophet comes, and he goes, here's a story, and he exceeds the judgment. He he's very zealous in his judgment, and that judgment actually fell upon himself with his own family. God took him at his word and says, fine.
38:23 If you wanna judge it, you'll be judged in the same manner. But there is an insight there about how Nathan responded as he spoke on behalf of God. Does anybody remember one portion of that response that is in light with this? Listen to what Nathan says to David. I'm gonna read it to you.
38:41 You don't have to turn there. In second Samuel twelve:eight. He says, and I gave you. This is God speaking. He goes, and I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.
38:57 And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight? David. I'm the source of all the things that you have. Did you fail to realize that all these things come from me?
39:19 You don't have that gratitude, do you? Secondly, if you even wanted more, I was willing to give it to you. But instead, you chose to sin and covet. You chose to pursue something that was not yours, which tells me something about the power of covetousness. Man, think about David's position.
39:40 Think about his wealth. Think about all the things that he had. All the things that he had. And in in spite of that, he still wanted more. I don't know if anybody in here thinks this way, but let let's just make this real clear.
39:53 If you're waiting for that specific amount of money you wanna make, when you get there, you're gonna want more. 100%. A million ain't gonna do it. When you get to a million, you're gonna want 10. When When you get to 10, you're gonna want a 100.
40:05 No. No. No. Oh, yeah. If that's what you live for, it's only gonna increase.
40:12 Greed, pleasure, sexuality, If that is the main source of pleasure in your life, when you get there, you're gonna be sorely disappointed and you're gonna realize I need more. That's the cycle of sin. That's the cycle of covetousness. And when you get there, guess what? David teaches us a valuable lesson.
40:32 Even for a moment in your life, if you fail to realize that God is the source of your satisfaction, if you fail to realize that even for a moment, you are preparing in your heart the soil for covetousness to bear fruit in your life. And when you feel that at any moment, here's some practical advice. I mean, if at any moment you sense covetousness creeping into your heart, sound the alarm within yourself. Sound the alarm and tell yourself, wait a minute. Red flag, alarm going off now.
41:11 I'm not supposed to be feeling this way. My heart is not supposed to be taking me this way. How did I get to this point? I do not know, but I know that this is not God's will for my life. And you begin to put to death covetousness.
41:28 Go to war with it. Kill it. Suffocate it. Sever it. Do whatever you need to do.
41:34 Take that time off to make sure that that desire is replaced by a greater desire for the holy one of God. And here's the problem. People don't see how deadly it is and they justify it. And so they let it sit there. And when they let it sit there, all these other things come along with it.
41:51 And it begins to infect your entire body and shut down other aspects of your common sense, how you relate to people, and how you make decisions. It is a cancer. Covetousness is cancer to the soul. What did Jesus say about it? Turn with me to Luke 12, and we're almost done here.
42:11 Luke chapter 12. Let's hear what the master has to say about covetousness. Luke chapter 12 verse 13. Someone in the crowd said to him, teacher yeah. That was a great sermon, teacher.
42:42 Hey, teacher. Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. You can tell that his mind was somewhere else during the sermon. I wonder how much that happens. Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
42:57 But he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? And he's like, you know what? This is Jesus was the master at doing this. You wanna talk about a preacher? You wanna talk about somebody that was so led of the spirit.
43:11 Whenever situations like this came, he turned them into teaching moments. He goes, okay. That's how you're thinking. Now I'm gonna use this to teach something. And he said to them, look what he says about covetousness.
43:21 Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. Stop. You need to be on guard at all times for any type of covetousness because it will come your way. What is Jesus saying there? Be alert.
43:43 Be aware. Be sensitive. Continually examine. Covetousness will come and will try to creep into your life. And so it requires you to continually be in check.
43:56 And here's a very practical way of doing that. Man, just throughout the day, just to catch yourself and see, man, have I lost my sense of awe of him? You know, you have to catch yourself in those moments saying, no. No. No.
44:14 Don't let your mind go. Did you you know, you can feel this. I don't know about you. I don't know about you, but I know about me. I know my weakness, and we should all know our weakness.
44:27 And people need to understand their weaknesses. And if your weakness is this, I know that if I give my attention to this, fill in the blank, whatever it may be, I I begin to feel my my my emotions. I begin to feel my affections. I begin to feel my per pursuits just being sucked out of me and being put into something else. Cut it off.
44:48 Do you understand that? We're in a war. And so you watch one show and you realize all your train of thought, everything is being drained out of you. All the things that you've worked up for at this point in your spiritual walk, you can feel it being drained out of you. All that desire for revival, all that desire for greater spiritual spiritual walk with the Lord, you feel that draining because you're supplying yourself with something out.
45:10 Cut it off. Cut it off. People fail to realize that. So they give themselves because there's there's a sense of immediate pleasure and next thing you know you're being sucked into something that you never thought you'd be sucked into. Happens all the time.
45:22 So many people have fallen victim to covetousness because they have failed to be on guard against it. He's saying be alert. He's saying be careful. Put your heart in check. You're on you're on your way to work.
45:34 He's saying, Lord, man, why have I been thinking about that when I should be thinking about him? Lord, consume me again. Lord, consume me again. Lord, take over again. And don't let this be some legalistic bondage on your life.
45:49 Please, if you leave here like, Lord, oh, I didn't think about you the last second. I was thinking about my order and I didn't think about Christ and now I can order you for the number seven. Hey. That's not what it's about. Come into the place in which you realize that he is a person, and he is to be adored and loved.
46:10 And Jesus says here, guard yourself against all covetousness. Why? For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And if you're pursuing pleasure, if you're pursuing possessions, you're setting yourself up for great, great, great disappointment and failure. Now he begins to give a parable of what this looks like.
46:34 And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what should I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. This is this is a this guy hit the jackpot. He won the lottery, so to speak.
46:51 And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be married. Is that not the American dream? Is that not the American dream?
47:13 Did you notice when this man was speaking of himself, there was somebody missing in his conversation with himself, was it not? Who? God. I, I, I, I, I. What does God think of such mentality?
47:33 What does God say to such type of thinking? What does God say to a person who lives to such a weak standard, but God in verse 20 said to him, Fool. Jesus. What are you saying here? This is how God thinks of a person that lives in such a way.
47:53 You're a fool. To the world, you might seem like the standard of life, but to me, you're a fool. You've missed it. Why? This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
48:11 You lived your whole life for this. And guess what? I'm calling for your soul, and I'm gonna hold your soul accountable. And let me ask you something, rich man. Where is all this stuff gonna go?
48:25 I have the same question for many people who are living for this, and they fail to see it, man. They fail to see the end of the line. Maybe they'll realize it the hard way unless God grabs them by his mercy. The last verse, verse 21. So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
48:45 You can be rich in this world and bankrupt with God. That's possible. Not just for the nonbeliever, for the believer. For the believer. Not talking about salvation here.
48:57 We're talking about the things that you will know in the next world, the things that you will experience in the next world. I and I know we all know this, right? Like, yeah, I know this. Live for eternity and and live for the next world and don't store up for yourselves treasures here and I but okay. Think think about what that day will be like though.
49:16 Think about what that day will be like when we all stand before Him and He He begins to reward every single person to how they treated treasures in this world. I believe we're all gonna be stunned. And for any per not even for those who are living for this wholeheartedly, even if we've given any attention, I believe in light of eternity, I believe we're gonna let me look at the the the small things that we gave things and we're like, oh, man. I wish I gave all that up. I wish I didn't even waste a dollar on that.
49:48 This is God's economy. This is how it works. If you give, if you handle your money in a certain way here, it's gonna invest in the next world. And and it just he says it so much. Does Jesus not talk about money so much?
50:01 It's possible to be rich in this world and bankrupt with God. I do not covet the man who has a yacht. I don't covet that man. And you shouldn't either. You shouldn't covet possessions.
50:14 You just shouldn't covet anything in light of this, that I can invest in God. I can invest in my relationship with him, and I can invest in what he has for me in this next world. And those people are hard to find too. How do I overcome this? How do I overcome covetousness if that's in your heart tonight?
50:38 For a person, for a thing, for a position, for anything. If you feel that, if you sense that cry, if you can hear that voice that says, if only if I just had, I wish. If you sense that, how do you overcome it? We're ending it with this verse, Psalms one nineteen verse 36. Psalms one nineteen verse 36 tells us, incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain.
51:03 The King James says not to covetousness. Psalms one nineteen verse 36. Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain, not to covetousness. You know what that shows me? That to deal with it, to deal with the cry of covetousness is to cry out to God and say, God, I recognize this.
51:29 God, I see this in my heart, and I'm calling to you to let your word and the practice of it bind my heart and to loose covetousness out of me. Drain it out, God. This is how we put it to death. We put it to death by the one who is only able to put it to death because this heart is so deceitful and this heart can trick us. And this heart often wants to convince us to pursue anything or anyone other than God himself.
52:02 To put God second, third, fourth, fifth when God says, I want all of you. How do you overcome it? Man, you daily pray like this. Daily. Lord, I begin to notice.
52:13 I'm beginning to notice that this object is taking more prominence, taking more of my emotion, taking more of my infection, taking more of my devotion than you. Come and kill it. I invite you to come in and to eradicate it completely. He prays it. He cries out to God for it.
52:33 He says, God, I realize it. I'm asking you to deal with it. What a hope that I don't have to deal with it myself. Imagine having to do surgery on your own self. What a terrible thought.
52:45 But to know that there is the great physician for the soul, not just for the body, he is willing and able to do it. So what's in your heart tonight? As as we as we land the 10 commandments here, ask yourself this. Lord, is there any pursuit in me greater than you? If it is, I wanna tell you today, just as a loving brother, it's idolatry.
53:06 It's an idol. And let me hopefully motivate you to desire God above everything else. Here's one way you can desire God in a greater way, when you realize his desire for you. I'd like to spend the next forty five minutes talking about the scriptures, the intimate language that God gives about his longing for us. And if you just really, by faith, understand that he has this for you, oh, don't you want to love him?
53:35 Don't you want to live holy? Don't you want to pray? And if you pray because you just wanna check that thing off on the day, you've missed it. Change the language. I have to fulfill my devotion today.
53:51 Change the language to I'm gonna go meet with Jesus. Makes all the difference. I'm gonna check off my chapter of the day. That's fine. But what about I wanna see what God has to say to me?
54:06 Change the language. You know, if you're talking like that, maybe it's because you're you're you're running this rev with this revelation of satisfying a boss rather than meeting with the lover of your soul. Meeting the quota of the week to make sure that if anybody comes on Sunday morning says, hey brother, how's your week been? Oh, every day I've been reading the word. Been reading, been praying.
54:29 I've met it. It's like, you missed it, man. It's meeting with him. It's meeting with him. And whether that's short amount of time or long amount, it's him.
54:40 I know this is so simple, but, man, we make it complicated. We really do. You explore where God expresses his desire for you and pray that you would sense the pull of God on your heart that he wants to meet with you. Now I'm not gonna spend too much time on this, but let's just for literally a minute or two, pray. Just pray.
55:02 No music. No worship team right now. Just pray and ask the Lord to cleanse our hearts as we land with this last commandment. Okay? Just in your own heart saying, God, I want the theme of my heart to be Psalm seventy three twenty five.
55:16 Father in heaven, as we examine this last commandment, we pray that you would incline our hearts to your testimonies and not to covetousness. Lord, may we be a people marked by that, that you are everything to us. Lord, if that sounds more like a command than an invitation to a greater relationship, help us. Lord, that you have instituted this because this is what we need as as humans. We need these instructions, but Lord, may we see the heart behind it.
55:51 You want all of us because you've given all that you have to us. And, Lord, we wanna be wrapped up in you. We wanna be lost in that. Lord, help us to be on guard against covetousness. Help us to be content not only what you've given us, but content in who you are in our lives.
56:10 Lord, may we be a people in this place that are not just known by our love for one another, but our love for Christ. Lord, we don't wanna we don't wanna put on a facade to impress others or to make sure that we we're okay and people don't have to try to approach us and ask us about our spiritual state or whatever agenda somebody might have to pretending to be being spiritual, well, help us. That's not even close to where you want us to be. But to be honest with you and to be honest with man and, Lord, no matter how far we grow in God, may we realize that as one preacher said, we never graduate from dependency. And, Lord, we are continually dependent upon you, and there's so much more to explore, so much more to experience, so much more to discover in you, a lifelong Lord, it would require 10 lives, but, Lord, it's more than that.
57:02 It's gonna it's gonna happen in eternity. We believe that. So, Lord, we just pray by the power of your word, by the power of the Holy Spirit to take that word and to implant it into our hearts deeply, Lord, that the alarm of our hearts would go off when we realized that we have a desire that's greater than God. And, Lord, if we are to enjoy things, you are calling us to do it in light of being God conscience, to worship you and to give thanks and glory to you in light of all things, whether it's marriage, whether it's a job, whether it's ministry, that you would be worshiped in light of all those things being enjoyed. Bring us to that place effortlessly, God.
57:41 Be with us for the rest of the night, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.
