Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Beware of Covetousness Pt.2

Amen. I'm looking forward to tonight. The Missions Team will be coming to share some of the good reports from St. Kitts; a lot of great testimonies, I know, have come back from there.

A good report from Africa: Tony said he awoke the next morning feeling much, much better. Can you say "Praise God"? Take authority over that malaria. He was on his way that morning to Nairobi to help shore up the Umoja church, and encourage them, and strengthen them in the way, so continue to be prayerful.

The Kwa Njenga church (we're excited) had (I think) seventy-eight adults in service and about forty kids, praise God. There is tremendous growth there in Kwa Njenga so, those of you who have been there, it's a good testimony, praise God. There are a lot of good things going on.

No news on Chacha, so I'm assuming that's good news. Amen? As you heard, those of you who were in prayer-for those of you who might not have: There's been a contract put out on Chacha to kill him. We're just believing that the angels of the Lord encamp round about us, amen? No weapon formed against us shall prosper. Every tongue that rises against us in judgment we condemn; that's our heritage, praise God. I know that's what I was believing and speaking on his behalf, and God's able to take care, praise God, of His own, and preserve us to that day.

I got an exciting call this week from Tennessee. There are some great things in the ministry going on down there. The young people have been not only successful in winning over these last years-our girls for many years now (I don't even know how many) have never finished out the top three-but are doing just a tremendous job there. The guys, these last few years, winning back to back the junior high school [championship], and that same group of boys coming on and winning back-to-back national championships. Some more fruit of it came out of it this year: we got a call saying [Pastor] Jeff was elected Male Coach of the Year of all divisions, praise God. We want to congratulate him and the coaching staff. Jeff's done a tremendous job keeping all those guys in line, but with all those men helping. Of course, Jeff's first response was that there's no way any of this could have been done without that help. Yet, he's the catalyst: it's his inspiration; it's his direction that takes those gifts and uses them properly. A good leader isn't intimidated by people who are more talented than they in certain areas; they just use them for the glory of the Lord; amen? He has very wisely done that. We're proud of him and all of those men, so it's an exciting thing. That's quite an accomplishment. That's throughout every division of coaches this year, and we're just very, very proud and thankful for that.

The missions team will be sharing tonight. We're looking forward to that. Men's softball, for the first time in many years, will be playing their first games tomorrow night if it doesn't rain, and get there early; there's not as much seating as there used to be. Our walkers are taking up space, and all of the crutches and heating pads and ice packs that we didn't have to use [before]. We'll be having a good time. I don't even know how we got ourselves into this mess; but anyway, we'll be there and having a good time of fellowship. So, if you're interested, just ask around. I think we're playing down at Algonkian [Park] tomorrow night, so [we'll have] a good time there.

Let's turn to the book of Luke. We want to pick up where we were, finish this thought this morning. We were talking about the spirit of the age we're in, and the need to guard ourselves against this spirit of discontentment, covetousness, and that spirit of avarice, which just reeks in our society. Many times there's confusion in the body of Christ when we say, "Well, doesn't the Scripture say that God wants us to prosper?" The answer to that is "yes." "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy [Say it!] soul prospereth" (3 John 1:3). We know it's the blessings of the Lord that make rich, but the key is they (Say it!) add no sorrow (Proverbs 10:22). We realize that God's ways aren't man's ways. God wants to bless us. He wants us to prosper, and He defines prosperity: healthy soul, healthy mind, rich toward God. We see all of these things that are very important, that there's no sorrow in them.

To be wealthy doesn't cost you your integrity. To be blessed of God and prosperous doesn't cost you your family. The things God bestows upon us don't become idols, and they don't cause us to be subdued into that spirit of covetousness. We possess the things; they don't possess us. There are contrasts here, yet every one of us, as the children of Adam, has that spirit of discontentment, don't we? Remember, our father Adam possessed everything, but wanted the one thing God had said he couldn't have. What is it that men usually want? What they can't have. That spirit's in us. We had so many different sayings as we're growing up: "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." We've seen it in nature. It's amazed me to see. Have you ever seen it? Have you ever seen cattle? They're pressed up against the fence just as hard as they can, leaning to the other side, when there's grass right under their feet! I've watched that before and thought, "That's me." It's within us in every area: stolen waters (Proverbs 9:17). Don't deny it; it's in you. It's in every one of us.

I've shared many times, and this morning I thought: "As I share this, I want to make sure that a lot of our young people understand where we're coming from." As I've shared on coming through many of these trials in my life, I want you to understand: that sensation is normal. Don't feel like you're strange because you want good stuff and more stuff. That's natural, but we live in the supernatural. Amen?

Don't think for a moment that anybody in this room is free from that. Now, it might not be so for all of us in the same area. For some people, it might be material things. For other people, it might be that need for relationships and having folks around. It could be positions or titles. It might not be things: some people are just content to have a lot of zeroes [following] the number in their savings accounts, and they're trusting in that number, that amount. Their delight and their idol is not the stuff that money can purchase; it's just the number; it's the achievement; it's the security that comes. "I don't have to have that [thing]; I am just secure in knowing I could if I want it." It expresses itself in many different ways, but it is selfishness; it's pride. The spirit of covetousness is idolatry, and it is sin. Amen? We need to see it for what it is, and we need to see that it's in every one of us in many different ways.

Contentment is not saying, "I don't even desire anything else." I don't know about you, but I desire everything else. I'd like to have everything. I'd like to have two of everything. Covetousness, though, the spirit of covetousness, is not just saying, "Hey, you know, I'd like to have..." I like nice things: I'd like to have a Ferrari Enzo; I'd like to have a new Rolls Royce to go along with it; I'd like to have a Lear Jet; I'd like to have a house on the Riviera, Malibu, and Hawaii. You say, "Pastor, I didn't know you were so covetous." I'm not covetous; I'd just like to have everything. Covetousness is when the desire to have causes you to be poor toward God. Here's the context, and I want you to see. There's nothing wrong with liking things and even wanting to have things. There's nothing wrong with the abundance of things, which we'll see here in just a moment in this context. The reproof of the Master (look with me in this passage) makes this very clear. Chapter 12 of Luke, we'll begin reading at verse 13: "And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." Now, this could be the older brother, who has the double portion, who's responsible to distribute and make sure that, as the executor we would call him, he distributes everything accordingly. This individual very possibly could be the elder brother, the one with the double portion, who isn't distributing these things as the law would require.

Remember that Jesus came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). He's going to take this principle a little deeper, as He always does. He's not saying that this guy didn't have a right to his inheritance when he said "[Listen!] Who made me a judge or a divider over you?" He's not saying, "I don't care about justice." He's saying that there's a deeper truth here you need to learn. "That's not why I'm here. The law is in place to take care of the lawless. Here's what I'm here to tell you. Here's the message that I have for you: "...Take heed, and beware of covetousness ..." Take heed, and beware of covetousness. It's interesting: the phrase "take heed" has some real strength to it. You might want to jot this down and get it into your thinking. It means "to focus on" or "to stare," "to discern". "Look at this until you can judge through it properly," is what it means. Look on it and learn. Look with purpose. Don't just look at the surface of what I'm saying to you, but there's a truth here, as it pertains to the spirit of covetousness, that you need to learn. Take heed! Beware! It's an interesting aspect. Beware! Be on guard!

May I ask you: What are you doing to protect yourself from this spirit? Because that's what it says: Beware! Be on guard! Protect yourself! Put on the full armor of God! We're living in this society. What are you doing to protect yourself from this constant bombardment of the spirit of covetousness? Have you surrounded yourself with counselors? Before you do something, do you ask advice? How many of you have gotten rid of your credit cards, which have dominated you? If your eye offends you, what do you do? If you've got a problem with credit cards, then what do you think the smart thing to do is? Get rid of your credit cards! How can you live without credit cards? Well, I don't know: people have only done it for thousands of years. The credit card phenomenon is only fifty years old, or thereabout. How can you live without credit cards? "The just shall live by..." (Hebrews 10:38). Well, that's a novel approach, isn't it? We begin to see that we have to guard ourselves. If you get in trouble because you're always watching the shopping channel, and you got to respond because there's only one left and thirteen seconds to get it. Right? So you think, "Yes, give me, I want that last one." You got the special price, $29.95, "and that's not all!" Have you ever noticed that for $29.95 you can get seven thousand dollars worth of stuff? "And that's not all!" These guys are geniuses at playing on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Get rid of your credit cards! Stop watching shopping channel! Stay off the Internet: surfing and whatever! Stay out of the mall! Get rid of all of those-I get them all the time. It's so nice, really nice of those people. Nordstrom's: they like me. I'm special, so they send me this catalog. It's got color pictures of all [this stuff], and they just send it right to my house. It says, "Look! You don't have any of this stuff!" They care so much about me that they wanted to inform me that I'm lacking in life, and there are things I need and should have. It's nice of these people. Another very nice company: [its catalog] just came in my mail yesterday. They're very friendly people: Sharper Image. They send me this thing. They invent stuff, something that had never existed, so you have to have it. You say, "Man, look at this! That thing's cool!" It is. You can paint your house and trim your nose hairs at the same time. I've never seen anything like it. I've got to have that. We're in trouble, and constantly being inundated. What are you doing? Don't look at it! "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out" (Mark 9:47). Beware! Take heed! Beware of covetousness! Be on guard! Do you understand who you are as children of Adam? Yes, we are redeemed. Yes, we are the sons of God, but that sin is still in our members, amen? "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," is what connects with us constantly (1 John 2:16).

The only guard against it is the renewing of the mind. The only guard against it is the pulling down of every evil imagination when it first tries to impregnate your consciousness. The only guard is the full armor of God, to be saturated with the Word of God, the promises of God, to be absolutely content with God's presence, so that we can say, like Jesus, "The world has no hold on me. There's nothing for it to grab hold of. I value nothing in that realm." You know, we can't [honestly] say that. Jesus could say that because there was no sin in His members. We can't say that. I can't say that the world has nothing to get a hold of in my life. The world has everything to get a hold of in my life. Every thing in my members wants to fulfill its passionate lust, pride, slothfulness, and gluttony.

You say, "Gluttony?" See, you don't think deeply enough. How many of you would eat everything you loved if you didn't gain weight? See, it's about pride. It's not about not wanting to eat the food. "I'm disciplined, that's why." No, you're proud; that's what your problem is. "Do you mean I should be fat?" I didn't say that. That's another problem, but don't pat yourself on the back for how disciplined you are, how controlled your life is. You're controlled by pride and fear and lust. Amen? "In me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth..." (Romans 7:18). So guard yourself! Guard yourself! As powerful as that spirit is, and we're constantly being inundated with all of these carnal inputs, little slogans: "Where's the..." "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun." Quote a scripture! "Um...‘Jesus wept'." We're being bombarded with these things, and we think we're okay; but we need to guard ourselves.

Keep your finger here in Luke 12, and go to Romans 1: let me show you what I'm talking about. Romans 1:28: "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind [this is as vile and nasty as things get], to do those things which are not convenient. Being filled [that's a powerful word in the Greek. There's room for no more. This is total depravity, being filled] with all unrighteousness [because they don't want to retain God], fornication...." We talk again about that spirit we live in: that Sodom-and-Gomorrah society we're in, where they're just throwing it in our faces constantly. The reason for the rise of the homosexual movement and the sin of Sodom was their prosperity and their idleness. That's what gives way to this type of a lifestyle because nothing else has been restrained from them, and there's always something different, something that has to be experienced that's out of the ordinary. So not wanting to retain God, God gives them over to reprobate minds. Now, as he's listing all of these things, he's talking about the unrighteousness: this lifestyle of pornography, fornication, homosexuality, vileness, and wickedness; and right in the middle of all of that, he uses another term. Look what comes right after "wickedness": "and [what?] covetousness," the Scripture says, which is idolatry (Colossians 3:5). "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3).

Covetousness, and the idolatry, is not (as we shared the other day), idolizing the car or the house or the garments. The worship is of self. "I deserve it." The idol is me. It's pride. It's selfishness and "I deserve that; until I get it, life is not just." We judge God, and we're unhappy, and we sigh, and we're depressed because we're not getting our just deserts. That's what covetousness does to us. It keeps us discontent, then we begin to judge God and say, "How come everybody else has everything they want, and I'm stuck here?" Well, the fact of the matter is, everybody doesn't have what they want because everybody wants everything. The key is to learn to become godly and content in this godliness, is to realize that your Father knows what you have need of, and He gives us richly all things to enjoy.

When he speaks here about the total depravity of man, in the midst of all of these horrendous sins, look what he goes on to say: "...maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things [covetousness] ..." Ephesians 5:3 says to not let covetousness be named once among you as becomes the children of God. I wonder if we could find it named in here once. I wonder if any of us in this room might be covetous. It's not to be named once in your life, in my life.

Now, we've seen that it's in our members. We've seen that it's one of the original contributors to the downfall of our father Adam. If you study the scriptures, you'll find that it's really the root of all wars, all conflicts that are going on in and among nations and individuals, personal possessiveness, wanting more, wanting to be prominent. Once we become prominent, we want to become dominant. Then you'll begin to see as we study this a little bit farther that that spirit begins to drive people to insanity like it did Ahab and Jezebel. It comes into the life of the righteous as it did in Solomon and David, so we must guard ourselves. What are you doing to guard yourself? What are you doing when you're seeing all of these advertisements? What are you doing when you're checking out all these new fads?

We were laughing the other day, as we were talking about one of the new fads: the Bluetooth. It's the thing those people-I saw a guy with two of them. People are such sheep. We were standing there, and one of [us] took a gum wrapper and put it in his ear, the silver gum wrapper. It stayed in place, and he was sitting there. He said, "You know, from a distance probably nobody could tell. I could just drive down the road with this thing, and everybody will think I'm cool." I said, "No, somebody will see that. Then they'll go to go to the store and say, "I saw this new one: it's thin; it's about the size of a gum wrapper; it's silver; and it's like this. I've got to have it. I've never seen another one like it." I guarantee you, because it's what's in man. What are doing to guard yourself? Beware! Guard yourself!

Look what he goes on to say: "...for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." When Jesus says our life doesn't consist of these things, He's not just saying that you can live without these things. He's saying that this isn't what gives your life value in the eternal realm. A man's life is not measured in the spiritual realm by the things he possesses. There's no security in it. There's no value in it, from the perception of the eternal. He gives this illustration. He shows us what he means. He says that your life doesn't consist-it's not judged by; it is not measured by-the things you possess. There's no contentment, there's no safety in these things. He said, Listen, "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods." Now, some people would act like the parable stops right there, as if this guy was absolutely wrong for tearing down his barns and building bigger barns. I mean, after all, he already had sufficient. He had more than enough. The logical question would be: If it's wrong to build bigger barns, then what should he do with the rest of this increase? "Well, he should give it to other people." That's really not a scriptural principle because, as stewards, it's not ours to give until God says to give it. If Father's entrusted it into your hands for keeping, for care as a steward, then it's God's; it's to be distributed for God at His discretion, used in the way that would be pleasing to Him, that would be lawful to Him. Don't think that there's some place [called "enough"], because no limit's given here. If it was wrong to go past a certain amount, then the amount would be given in the Scripture. That's not what this parable is about.

Here's what the parable's about. Read on: "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years [Say the next phrase! Stuff is laid up for many years]; take thine ease..." We can't trust in uncertain riches. Amen? There's no place to take your ease. There's no place to trust in these things. There's no place to say, "I have many years to kick back and relax." The biblical principle is: We can't even say anything about tomorrow. We can't say I'm going to do this tomorrow, much less years in advance. What I say about tomorrow is, tomorrow I'm going to go and do thus and so, the Lord willing (James 4:15). You see, this guy got outside of trust in God. This guy got outside of believing that the Lord was the source, that he was being blessed of God. Did God say, "Okay, I'm ready to turn the blessings off"? This guy needed to keep working and get blessed more and possibly build bigger barns again as God prospered him. Many times, the laying up in the seven years of abundance is because there are coming seven years of [famine]. It's not about us. It's not our decision. We're stewards; it's not our own.

Now, watch what He goes on to say. This is vitally important: "...take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. [You have all of this time; it's in your hands.] But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" Here's the conclusion of the whole matter, verse 21: "So is he that layeth up [Say it!] treasure for himself..." It's not in the abundance; it's whose it is in your eyes, and whether you count yourself rich, and whether you count yourself a faithful steward of God. The requirement of a steward is that he be found faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2). Are you faithfully administering God's will?

Now, watch! Rich toward self instead of-this is a great phrase; I think we need to get it into our thinking this morning. Say it with me!-"rich toward God." That's the question this morning: Are you rich toward God, or are you desiring to be rich toward yourself? Where are your treasures? What are you spending your time and your energy on? Are these things that you have in abundance distracting you from being rich toward God? There's nothing wrong with the stuff because, hopefully, it came from God. If it came from God, it's not going to distract you from being rich toward God. It's not going to distract you from being ready to distribute, ready to communicate, as 1 Timothy 6 says, to the rest of us in need. It's not going to distract you from being able to give to the poor who are among us. To step back (Isaiah 58) and fast, and withhold from partaking of your own pleasures, so you can distribute to others who are in need and honor God when the Lord speaks to you. The real criterion becomes: Am I rich toward God? Covetousness, as you begin to really look at it, is discontentment. Even though we have abundance, we want more; we want different, and, tragically, covetousness is in very close relationship to envy. We see that in the scriptures.

Go back to the original commandment concerning this, and let me show you what I mean. Turn back to Exodus. In Exodus we find a couple of different comments that are important to us. Let's look at Exodus 18, and we're going to look at Deuteronomy 5; but look at Exodus 18 for just a moment. In this passage, Exodus 18, verse 21, "Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:" people who can't be bought off. Covetousness is in evidence in the life of a man who can be bought. Can you be bought? What's your price?

I've shared the illustration; I know it's crude, but it so aptly gets the point across: A guy approaches [a woman]. He says, "If I give you five-thousand dollars, [will you sleep with me]?" Her response is, "Well, yes!" So he says, "How about fifty?" The response of the woman is, "Fifty dollars! What do you think I am?" The guy replies, "We've already established what you are, we're now negotiating a price." What are you? How many of us are prostitutes? We're supposed to be a chaste virgin, the bride of Christ. Yet, the world is constantly soliciting us. Are you for sale? What will it take? That's why we've shared with some of the young people here, and people look at us kind of strangely saying, "Why would you say that?" We've told the young people: "If you're going to sin, if you're going to sell out and neglect Jesus, go get all you can get. If you're going to be a whore, then get top dollar! Don't piddle around!" I'll tell you one thing: that's the way I approach it. If I'm going to backslide, man, I mean hide the women and children. There is nothing safe. If I backslide; if I'm going to go out there and live for myself... See, that's why I don't have any trouble understanding these guys. If you've got something I want, I'm taking it. If I've got to pop one on you, I will. That's where natural man is, when you give yourself over to it. "Well, that's horrible! How could you think that?" What's the difference? Sin is sin. For the guy who goes out here and takes this other man's wife and steals his new car is going to the same hell you are for not honoring God with your tithe. You're just giving it out of obligation; it's the same covetous heart. Oh, you're tithing; you're in church; and you're sinning just like he is. Beware of covetousness!

What are you doing to take heed, and guard yourself, and realize what's in man? People of integrity whom you can set in leadership are people who can't be bought. "You can't buy me off. I'm not living to please you. I'm going to say what God says about this situation. It's going to be the justice and the judgment of God." The indication given here by the Lord and by Moses speaks very clearly to us. Do you understand, beloved? Don't just simply let this go as a doctrine! Do you understand what God, through Moses, is saying? Most men are for sale. We got to come to grips with that: "I'm going to make the determination, I'm not selling out. You can't buy me." I've been approached in a lot of different ways over the years: thank God for His grace and His mercy. One who is given to unjust plunder takes advantage of position and power; that's why we're not allowed, in the body of Christ, to lend with usury to the brethren. We don't hold our blessing as a place of power to take advantage of others around us. If a brother has a need, so I give him the money; I don't charge him interest. It's not my money, so how can I charge interest? You say, "Praise God, I'm coming to you for a loan then, Pastor." I did use a term: it was "need". You probably don't want to hear the biblical definition of that.

What we're looking at is the care of one another and what's in men's hearts. Constantly, as you read the passages we did in Ezekiel in our last session, even the priests and the prophets were given to covetousness. They were for sale, and they were being hired to prophecy blessings; and they were, as we shared many times, having all types of illicit orgies in the Temple of God, and all of this [sin] was going on in the hearts of man, the continual wickedness. We're a people who have need of protection, guarding ourselves; for iron will sharpen iron, where brothers and sisters will lift up your hands. We need one another. We need to be vulnerable. We need to be truthful. We need to speak toward these things that are damaging. We'll show you a little more as we look at this, but let me show you a couple of other things.

Look at Exodus 20. In Exodus 20 is the passage with the Ten Commandments, which you're very familiar with. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." Interesting phrase: now, in the Hebrew, it literally means "to delight in" or "to count precious, to put a value on it, to desire it." Now, you'll notice the spirit behind this. It's not saying that you want an ox like he has: you want his. We talked about the stolen waters; we talked about the position of prominence and dominance, our phraseology in the day we're living in: We want to keep up with the Joneses. We don't want to just have what they have, the same thing. The implication here is that something in us wants theirs. Not just something like it. It's the same thing as that spirit of envy. We want to have ours and theirs. We want to be prominent.

Like David as he was taking his ease, like the rich man-"I'll take my ease instead of continuing in the work of God, the presence of God, the warfare of spiritual godliness"-David was home taking ease, and in his ease, he looked on Bathsheba, as we shared in our last session. He desired her. He coveted her. Now, why in the world would a guy like David or his son, Solomon, a guy with wives, who could have had [any of] the different virgins of his choice, choose another man's wife? There's no rational explanation for that. It's the insanity of sin; it's this force of covetousness; it's that thing that rises up, that taking what is another person's [gains] a position of dominance, of lordship. It's not just in the possession. It's not just in counting how many you have, how good it is, that's where covetousness leads you. It doesn't start there. When do you get satisfied? How many is enough? It's not enough just to have abundance. Now, I've got to have his. There's a certain thrill in the dominance, in taking what is somebody else's. That's the spirit that drives this, because that's what Adam wanted when he wanted that fruit. He wanted what was God's. He didn't want what God had given him: he wanted God's. That's a scary thought! If you think you're going to be content with just more of yours, you're fooling yourself. Beware of covetousness! You won't be content with the abundance of the things you have. You will not be satisfied. You will continue to move out, and pretty soon you will become predatory; and you begin to have to manipulate and work a deal that will wreck that guy and take that guy and dominate him. It's no longer good enough to have more than him and him still be in business. I want to dominate his business and have him working for me. "Well, that's not how I am." Yes, that's who you are; Romans 1 says that's who you are. "But, really, I'm not that way." You've just not had opportunity. You've never been there, but that's where Satan takes men who are given to covetousness; and it begins with the little foxes (Song of Solomon 2:15, Luke 16:10).

Do you want to know how it begins? It begins over in Deuteronomy 5; take a look over there. In Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, verse 21, are the same passages, but there's another emphasis being made. It's really an interesting rendering. For the word covetousness, the word desire is used this time. "Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife..." A whole other Hebrew word [is used], and it's very interesting. This particular word is talking about a sighing, a longing for, and, again, counting precious; and, when unable to attain this, we begin to get cast down. Like Ahab, you're bummed [depressed] over not being able to have what you want. "Well, you can't have that; it belongs to somebody else." "Yes, but I want that, and I'm not going to be happy until I've obtained it." You wait longingly; it occupies your thoughts; you begin to count it precious. Now your imagination begins to kick in [concerning] these possessions-the wife, the land, the houses-and how you would use them for your own purposes. The next thing you know, you're remodeling your neighbor's house in your mind. It's dominating your thoughts, and you can't pull that [imagination] down. "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). Jesus is speaking of covetousness there. He's not talking about the look; He's talking about the desire, the longing, the imagination, the anticipation. Beware of covetousness! Don't let it once be named among you (Ephesians 5:3), that covetousness, which is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).

What are we talking about here? We're talking about disciplining ourselves. How do we do it? Find things that you delight in and deny yourself. Practice saying "NO" to yourself. Do you practice saying "no" to yourself? Whenever I notice tendencies in my life begin to move in this direction, the first thing I do is start making choices against my desires. I purpose to say "no." Is it lawful? Is it sin? No, but I need to practice saying "no." I need to discipline myself. I need to begin to practice being rich toward God because I'm beginning to focus on myself now. There's a discontentment. There's a dis-ease here. There's an inordinate attraction to that title, that land, that car, that chocolate chip cookie dough chunky monkey rocky road delight, so I say, "no."

I shared with you [concerning] a friend had, who loved to eat cereal at night. I eat cereal at night, but I eat it for different reasons. I just love that multi-bran: it's good stuff, man, good cereal, so I'll have a bowl of cereal each [evening]. My friend loved cereal. At times, he would just make his cereal. You can think of whatever food you like. Make your favorite meal; just make it, and get it all ready. He'd set it there on the table, he would just look at it for about ten minutes, and then throw it away. Just say "no." Mrs. Reagan: "Just say ‘no.'" "Well, you can't just say ‘no!'" How's that for kids? The drug addict said, "You can't just say ‘no.'" The fact of the matter is: Yes, you can, just like you can say "yes."

How many of you think you could sell that slogan: Just say "Yes." Say "yes" to lust. Say "yes" to covetousness. Say "yes" to personal ease and prosperity and gain. Say "yes" to personal dominance. No! "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you...in due season...if [you] faint not" (1 Peter 5:6, Galatians 6:9). That's who we are. That's the war we're in, so I would encourage you right now to become rich toward God. How do I do that? "Think on these things," the scripture says (Philippians 4:13).

Covetousness causes those evil imaginations to rise up: "You're not getting your [due]. You're not getting a fair shake in life. Everybody else has." Everybody else doesn't [have]. "Well, everybody else has a Rolls Royce." Do you know anybody who has one? Somebody made a comment yesterday, I think. I don't remember what the figure was, something like two-million dollars. Somebody said, "Two-million dollars! That's a lot of money for a year." It was a young person. They were young: under thirty. I said, "Do you realize that probably 99.9% of all men who ever lived didn't make a million dollars in their lifetimes?" Stop and think about that. We're living in a society of such abundance that it's ridiculous. In this little window of time we live in-I mean, beloved, some of you are here: you're not that old, and you remember. "Oh, here we go with the stories again." How many of you remember the cardboard in your shoes because of the hole in your soles? How many of you had to put cardboard in your shoes because you had a hole in your soles? Hold your hands up! Yes, that's what I thought. You'd wear your shoes out, and to save your socks (Some of you are thinking, "You had socks?"), you put that cardboard in there. I used to love it. It was cool because you could pick things off the street without even bending over. You'd walk along and go "whoosh" [swinging foot] and just pick that thing up you happened to see down there; you'd pick it up and take it home with you. That wasn't that long ago. The shirts: the homemade shirts made out of the flour sacks (I've shared with you) that my mom used to make. Now, we did have store-bought pants. We'd get those good Levi's, back when they used to be thicker gage. You know: those nice, good, blue, Levi Strauss jeans that the mules couldn't pull apart. You could stand those baby's up, man, and just run and jump in them in the morning and be on your way. Put on your PF Fliers; run like the wind; stop on a dime, and give you nine cents change.

Beware of covetousness. I knew it was in me back then because my dad used to always tell me. He'd always try to keep me down because he was raised in the depression, and we were raised with the benefits of that. He'd always tell me, "Do you know what your problem is, Bob? You've got champagne taste on a beer budget." Well, I didn't even have a budget, but I had champagne taste; there was no question about that.

One of the greatest protections you can have is to realize the wickedness of your own heart. I know what I am. I know my tendencies. I'll close with this: I think I've missed it sometimes, but I think I've missed it on the right side. There were times when I would turn down offers. I would turn down the invitations from people of prominence. I turned down opportunities to go to the Inaugural Ball; I turned down the opportunity. I wish I had done some of these things. I don't think it would have harmed me. I thought it would then. I turned down the opportunity to go into the Oval Office and pray, and turned down the offer to put us on nationwide television. I turned [them down] because, like Abraham, I said, "If Father's going to prosper me, I will not have it said that any man made Abraham rich." I am not going to manipulate this, because my tendency is to manipulate, to make things happen the way I want them to happen. I think I could have been successful in the world. I think I could have manipulated, in whatever area of business I wanted, and made it. Some people have that ability, and I have to guard against it. I know what my natural tendencies are. That's why I've tried to, over the years, from this pulpit to be as vulnerable as I can be, to be as open as I could be. I've been criticized for it. People have misunderstood, but there's nothing secret about my life. What you see is what it is. You might like it. You might not like it, agree or disagree with the things I'm doing, but nothing's being done in the dark; everything's there to be spoken toward and challenged by people around me who love me and can speak toward these things.

Are you guarding yourself against these tendencies? You see, the fact of the matter is: I might be in worse shape than you in that area but it's in you, too. What are you doing to guard yourself? What are you doing to be rich toward God? If David had been out being rich toward God, warring at the right hand of those who were laboring in the vineyard, who were out preaching the gospel, who were out ministering to the poor, who were out caring for the rest homes, who were out ministering in the prisons, who were out passing out tracts, who were out caring for the little ones in the parking lot, who were out in the foyer, lifting up the hands that were hanging down and caring one for another regardless of what the ministry is, being rich toward God, instead of living for self, there wouldn't have been the opportunity to take his idleness like this rich man was who was a fool, whose his soul was required of him, and he was a pauper toward God. You wouldn't be like David, being idle, and look over and see Bathsheba. The problem is: I don't think David would have done it if he knew where it was leading him.

You never fully understand where that bad choice is taking you, and what you'll do to guard your own wicked heart. That's why Jesus said to beware of covetousness. Give no place to it! How? By being rich toward God; seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Let everything else be added to you. If God is not the source, don't take it! If God's not the source, if He's not the provider, don't take it! I'm not for sale. That's what the wisdom of God is telling us.

Father, we thank You for Your Word this morning. We just thank You for Your wisdom and Your strength. Help us to see that the things that are of You, yes, they might come through a government job. They might come through a private enterprise, but we see You as the source. We don't compromise Your integrity or ours in the process. We don't trust in the job; we trust in Jehovah Jireh, You alone who are our provider. We don't trust in the uncertain riches. We don't have a love for money. We don't desire to be rich. There's not a longing for it. We won't do anything to obtain it. That spirit of covetousness starts making us compromise and become willing to do almost anything; then it's not almost anything, it's anything. That's not who we are. We understand that riches take wings and fly away. We do not trust in uncertain riches. We're aware that the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of other things, enter in and choke the Word of God out of our lives. We're rich toward You. We choose the Word over the things, to study the Word, to do the Word, to bear fruit in the kingdom, is where our contentment is, is where our wealth is. We lay up in the heavens. We're rich.

Which bank account are you building? Are you rich toward God or rich toward self? Take heed! Beware of covetousness!

Let's stand before the Lord. As Gary plays, take just a moment to survey your life. What kind of an effect is all of this stuff having on you? How content are you? How driven, how distracted, are you? Are you focused on the eternal? Does the decision toward the eternal always win out in your life? When there's a choice, you have to make a decision to do what's rich toward God, or what will get you a little bit of gain in the temporal. You get a few extra bucks; you get a few extra brownie points, whatever it is. What gains out? What kind of decisions do you make? Beware of covetousness!

Let's sing it together, and just worship the Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Father, we meditate on the sin of Sodom, and we see that that's exactly where we're living today. As it was in the days of Noah, that's where we're living today. As the Word came forth this morning, You stand, weeping, looking for a remnant that would be gathered to You. Father, cause us to run toward You and be safe. It's dangerous in this hour in which we live, and we ask for Your grace. We ask for Your wisdom. Give us the capacity to discern, Father, what's of Your Spirit; and let us be content in our pursuit of godliness. As Your blessings would overtake us, help us to not be distracted, but to seek first the kingdom of God. Be glorified in our lives, Father, that we could be rich toward You, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Turn to somebody and say, "Be rich toward God." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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