The Lord, in the previous nine commandments, has told us, "Thou shalt not...”. The tenth commandment deals with the thing what will CAUSE US TO VIOLATE ALMOST EVERY ONE OF THE OTHER COMMANDMENTS, THE SIN OF COVETING.
Illus: Joseph Exell said, "The history of the world is stained and darkened by the crimes to which nations have been driven by the spirit of covetousness,"
This is a sin that can be committed by an individual or a nation. Covetousness is one of the oldest sins around.
It was covetousness, if you remember, that brought about the first sin.
Look at Genesis 3:6 We read, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
We see one of the best examples of covetousness in the book of Joshua.
Illus: Scripture tells us that Joshua gave specific orders. The soldiers were not to take any of the Babylonian possessions in this particular invasion. However, we read in Joshua that a man, by the name Achan, did just that. As a result, when they went to battle against the small nation of Ai, a lesser foe, they were beaten, all because of the sin of covetousness.
Israel began to seek the Lord to find out why they lost this battle that they should have easily won. God revealed to them it was because of sin in the camp and God revealed that Achan was the guilty party.
He confessed in Joshua 7:20-21, We read, And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I COVETED THEM, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
Because Achan coveted and sinned by taking that which he had been told not to take, many men lost their lives in the battle of Ai and Israel lost the blessings of God upon them.
Proverb 21:26 shows us how each day evil men and women violate this commandment, He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not.
The devil sees to it every day that the billboards, newspapers, magazines, television, etc., give us plenty of things to desire (covet).
He knows if we are busy seeing and seeking things, we will not have time to seek the Lord.
This is why, if you talk to the average person about the church, he will tell you how busy he is and that he does not have time to attend church.
I. WHAT IS THE SIN OF COVETOUSNFSS?
A. Covetousness is a sin of selfishness.
The Lord came to save us from ourselves. One of the biggest problems we humans have is the problem of always wanting to do WHAT SELF WANTS TO DO.
Illus: Someone said, "The selfish man, like a ball of twine, he is wrapped up in himself."
God said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self.”
When a person covets something that someone else has, the only thing he is trying to do is PLEASE HIMSELF!
Illus: When we think of selfishness. We can not help to think of the mother who said, “Why son, you ate all that cake without thinking of your little sister.” The little boy said to his mother, “I can assure you I was thinking of her. I was afraid she would come before I finished it.”
Someone said, “The greatest difficulty with the world is not its inability to produce, but is unwillingness to share.”
I can assure you this applies to the covetous person, he lives only for himself. The covetous person is a person who is saying, "My will be done, not thy will be done!"
Illus: Years ago there was a ship called the “Kent” It was sailing from England to East Indies. We are told that it was a large ship that had many passengers. On her voyage she caught fire and the flames could not be put out. While she was burning another vessel came in sight and offered to take off her crew and passengers. The sea was very rough, and the only way to get the people off the burning ship was to let them down by ropes from the end of a boom into the little boats that were tossed about like corks by the rough sea. One of the sailors, who knew that the ship captain had a large quantity of gold in his possession, determined to get it and take it with him. He broke into the Captain’s office, forced open his desk, took a large pile of gold pieces, put them in a belt, and fastened it round his waist. His turn came to leave the burning ship. He got out to the end of the boom, slipped down the rope, and let go, expecting to drop right into the boat that was beneath him. But a sudden movement of the waves carried the boat out of his reach, and he plunged into the sea. He was an excellent swimmer and had it not been for the gold that he coveted he would have been able to save himself but the gold that he had coveted pulled him deeper and deeper into the sea and he perished.
So it is with the person who covets, he goes deeper and deeper into a life of selfishness until soon, he lives only for himself, he serves no useful purpose to anyone else.
B. Covetousness is a sin of seeking the wrong things.
We do not like to give the devil credit for anything good, but the fact is, he does a splendid job of making sin look attractive.
Illus: In all the television beer commercials we see Satan making it look like that a person could not really have happiness unless he drinks their booze. They always show attractive people that look healthy and happy.
• They do not show all the fatherless and motherless children that do not have their parents because of booze.
• They do not show you the filled divorce courts due to booze.
• They do not show you the people who have incurable liver conditions due to their drinking.
• They do not show you the people who have lost their homes, health and jobs due to booze.
• They do not show you all the cemeteries that are filled with people who died a pre-mature death because of booze.
They only show you what they want to show you so that you will crave, and buy their damnable products.
The devil is a pro at making sin look good. Why? Because he wants mankind to SEEK THINGS instead of GOD! If he can get people possessed with seeking things they will not have time to seek the Lord.
Many live their lives looking at what someone else has.
Illus: That reminds me of the story of the woman who said to her husband, “Did you see that hat Mrs. Jones was wearing in church?' Her husband said, “No. I did not notice it.” She said, “Did you see the car that Mr. and Mrs. Smith were driving?” He said, “No, I did not notice what they were driving?. She said, “It doesn’t do you a bit of good to go to church, you do not notice a thing!”
The devil has many people trapped at looking at things and then desiring to have what they are looking at, but God's Word states, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maid servant, not his ox, nor his ass, not any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”
C. Covetousness is a sin of degradation.
When a person is coveting something that belongs to someone else, in his heart he is degrading that person to be less than an item.
Illus: Suppose you love chocolate candy. You take your hard earned money and buy yourself the biggest Hershey candy bar you can purchase. It is your candy bar. Suppose then that I come along and I look at that big Hershey candy bar and I covet your candy bar. In fact, I want that candy bar so bad that when you turn your back, I sneak it and hide it so when a convenient time comes I can eat it. What have I done? I have degraded you to be of less worth than that Hershey candy bar. I have had no concern for you whatsoever. All I cared about was that candy bar that you had.
Anytime a person covets something that someone else has, he has degraded that person. He considers the item coveted to be of more value than the person possessing it..
D. Covetousness is a sin related to thievery.
Illus: One person illustrated this by saying, “Here is a chicken almost ready to be hatched, and there is a chicken that is a already hatched. What is the difference between them? There is nothing in the world but the thickness of that thin shell which separates them one from the other. A slight tapping, a very little pecking on the end of that shell, and it is broken through, and then out comes the chicken, as lively and active as its little brother that came out yesterday. Now, such is the relation that exists between a covetous person and a thief. There is nothing but a thin shell that separates them from each other. The covetous person is a thief in the shell: the thief is a covetous person out of the shell.
The thief and the covetous person both have the same evil desire to take something that belongs to someone else. The only difference is the covetous person has the evil desire in his skull and the thief does not. He carries out his desire. The only difference between the two is wall of the skull.
II. WHAT CAN WE DO TO OVERCOME COVETOUSNESS.
In Phillipians 4:11, Paul said, “For I learned in whatsoever stat I am, therewith to be content.”
It was because he learned as he said,"...In whosoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
We should not covet because it brings only disappointment.
Covetousness is like a tub without a bottom, the more you pour in, the more you have to pour in and never are you ever satisfied.
Did you know that the covetous rich man who has an abundance of wealth is as miserable as the man poor man who has none.
Illus: A preacher was trying to explain this one day to some folks. He did it by calling a little lad over and reached into a fruit bowl and handed little Johnny the apple. The little lad smiled and the preacher reached in the fruit bowl and handed him one even larger than the second. The young fellow had both hands full when the preacher reached in the fruit bowl and handed him another apple. The little fellow had more than he could carry and he dropped two of them on the floor. The preacher said, “There is a perfect picture of a young man with more riches than he can enjoy!”
• The devil will get you to crave one alcoholic drink, but soon you find that one drink does not satisfy and so you take another one and another one, and only God knows how far you may fall before you, come to your senses, if you ever do.
• The devil will cause a person to crave dope. First one is tempted to take one fix, he gives into the temptation just to satisfy the craving, but soon finds out that fix does not satisfy and he trys another and another and soon he is a dope addict.
• The devil will tempt people to gamble and to satisfy that craving, they try it. When that does not satisfy, they gamble again and again and soon they are compulsory gamblers.
• The devil will get people to lust after their neighbor’s wife. They commit the act one time to only find, like all sin, there is no satisfaction and so they go from one affair to another. The satisfaction that man craves for cannot be found in a person.
• The devil will get people to indulge in pornography. They give into the temptation only to discover that it does not satisfy and they get deeper and deeper in pornography, trying to find satisfaction only to find they are not satisfied. The more they are exposed, the more they crave it.
The sin of covetousness never satisfies!
Illus: There was a documentary on television some time back dealing with these 900 numbers that they are showing on television for men and women to call. One man was tempted to call. He gave in to the temptation and called. He soon felt unsatisfied and wanted to call again. He soon reached the place he was calling so much that his phone bill was over four thousand dollars in one month.
Illus: Same thing goes for eating. The devil will cause people to lust for food even when they are not hungry. They yield to the temptation and find out that the food did not really satisfy and they eat and eat trying to find satisfaction as their waist line gets larger and larger.
Every time that Satan tempt mankind to covet, they soon discover what they are seeking does not satisfy.
God tells us to seek Him because He is the only one that can bring satisfaction to our lives.
B. We are to set our affections on things above.
Colossians 3:2 states, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Certain things are necessary to our survival, but the list of things that we really have to have to survive is actually a short list.
Illus: People have lived quiet, comfortable lives on deserted islands without all the luxuries that we have and enjoy.
Mankind has three basic needs, Food, clothing, and shelter. Everyone of us could live, and probably live better, with only these three things.
Yet, we can go to one of these big malls that covers acres and acres and are filled with all kinds of merchandise and we have been told that we must have these things if we are going to survive. We have been brain-washed into thinking that we need to have lots of things in our lives.
Illus: In fact, we have been brain-washed into believing that we should love these things. When people talk about things like cars, boats, homes, clothes, etc., today, they have the same affection in their eyes that a young man has when he meets a young lady that he is falling in love with.
God's Word tells us not to love things. We may want them and enjoy them, but we are to love God. When we start loving things, we will soon see something our neighbor has and we will soon covet what he has.
When we break the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maid servant, not his ox, nor his ass, not any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”
When we break this commandment and choose to covet we are also making what we covet a god that we love and worship more than the true and living God. May we all look to the Lord for help in obeying this tenth commandment.
Conclusion/Summary:
I. WHAT IS THE SIN OF COVETOUSNESS?
A. Covetousness is a sin of selfishness.
B. Covetousness is a sin of seeking the! the wrong than.
C. Covetousness is a sin of degradation.
D. Covetousness is a sin related to thievery.
II.WHAT CAN WE DO TO OVERCOME COVETOUSNESS?
A. We are to cherish contentment.
B. We are to set our affections on things above.
