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Transcript

Good afternoon, brethren.

If you could all, please turn over to Exodus chapter fourteen. Exodus chapter fourteen. When I, or maybe when we all think about Israel coming out of Egypt because that’s what this last day of unleavened bread is, frankly, the whole, all of the days of unleavened bread depict Israel coming out of Egypt. But when we think about the last day of unleavened bread, we often think about the Red Sea, Israel passing through the Red Sea, and the truly historic and monumental miracles that God performed not just at that moment, but leading up to this time.

And then obviously after the Red Sea when Israel was in the wilderness. But what’s also remarkable is when we think about the days of unleavened bread, we think about these incredible miracles. But what we also think about is Israel’s incredible ability to forget those miracles to so quickly abandon the God that brought them out through this tremendous miracle on the last day of unleavened bread going through the Red Sea, and they wanted to go back to Egypt. They wanted to return to the bondage and the hardship that they were under before because they simply forgot.

But it’s more than just forgetting. We’ll get into that. Of course, they complained once they were in the wilderness. But, brethren, have we considered Israel coveted after, they wanted to go back into Egypt, even at the Red Sea. Forgive me, don’t turn to Exodus fourteen. Turn over to Psalm one hundred and six. Psalm one hundred and six. Just read a couple of verses here and notice that Israel complained even before they left the land of Egypt, they hadn’t even crossed the Red Sea yet, and they were complaining and murmuring. Psalm one hundred and six and verse seven, “Our fathers understood not your wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude of your mercies.”

God gave, again, massive miracles bringing Israel out of Egypt, but they remembered it not. But instead, it says in the middle of verse seven, “They provoked him at the Red Sea.” They hadn’t even gotten out and they were complaining and murmuring. It doubles down and says, “Even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them for his name’s sake that he might make his mighty power to be known.” Again, just as incredible as were the miracles that God performed is just as incredible as that are Israel’s ability to so quickly forget and so quickly want to go back to Egypt.

Let’s add some detail. Go back to Exodus fourteen, spot briefly through the Exodus account. Exodus fourteen to begin and we’ll look at some of the things that they complained about even before they left the land of Egypt. Exodus fourteen, we’ll just start reading in verse one, “And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel that they turn and camp before Pihahiroth and Migdol the over the sea against Baalzephon: before it shall you encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land and the wilderness has shut them in.’ And God says that he’ll harden Pharaoh’s heart that he’ll follow after them. And I’ll be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts that the Egyptians may know that I’m the Lord. And they did so. It was told to the king of Egypt that that Israel fled. And they heard the Pharaoh and of his servants turned against the people and they said, ‘Why have we done this? Why have we let Israel go from serving us?” We want them to stay in bondage. Why did we let them go?

And of course, it was God’s purpose. “And he made ready his chariot and took the people with him. And he took six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, the captains over every one of them, all the high-ranking officials in Egypt. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt and he pursued after the children of Israel and the children of Israel went out with a high hand.”

Again, massive miracles. But the Egyptians pursued after them. “All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and the horsemen and the army, and overtook them in camping by the sea.” So again, they had not yet left or crossed the Red Sea. Notice that. So when these masses of armies are approaching Israel, verse ten it says, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold the Egyptians marched after them. And they were sore, afraid.”

They were sore afraid. “And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, ‘Because there were no graves in Egypt have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?’” They’re complaining to Moses now. “Why have you taken us out of the land of Egypt to die? Wherefore, have you dealt us with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell you in Egypt saying, let us alone?” They’re saying, “Weren’t we right in saying we need to stay here in Egypt. For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” Now, think about all that they had seen at this point.

They had seen all of the plagues in Egypt, the frogs, and the darkness, and the lice and you name it. They saw the stick turn into a snake and back and so forth. Think of the massive miracles that they saw, but yet they wanted to go back. Picking up in verse nineteen, “The angel of the Lord, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them.” Again, massive miracles. This is the account going down through the rest of the chapter of Israel actually leaving and going through the Red Sea. So, they’re complaining. And then come down to the very end of the chapter.

“And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians because he had swallowed the Egyptians whole into the Red Sea and the people feared before the Lord and they believe the Lord and his servant Moses.” Okay, so when a when a miracle is immediately in your face, it’s easy to say, okay, “Well, we believe you, God.” But up until then, they had forgotten all the miracles that were done by God before then. So then in chapter fifteen, Moses is singing a song.

We come down even to verse twenty. “And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand and all the women went out with her, with the timbrels and dances. And Miriam answered them, “Sing you to the Lord for his triumphed gloriously.” We just came out of Egypt. We just crossed the Red Sea. “The horse and his rider has he thrown in the sea. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days into the wilderness and found no water.”

So a mere three days later, verse twenty-three says, “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ And he cried unto the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree. And when he had cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. And there made for them a statue and an ordinance and there he proved them.”

Brethren, the accounts go on and on. Look at these two accounts that we just looked at in Exodus fourteen, and then Exodus fifteen. Israel has an unbelievable ability to murmur and complain and want to go back to Egypt despite seeing massive, massive miracles. So, let’s go back to Psalm one hundred and six. Now that we’ve fleshed out what we just read in Psalm one hundred and six, let’s go back to Psalm one hundred and six and see exactly what one of Israel’s great problems is. And that’s what the focus of this message will be.

Psalm one hundred and six, and we’ll pick it up in verse nine. Psalm one hundred and six and verse nine, “He rebuked the Red Sea also and it was dried up.” We just read about it. “So he led them through the depths as through the wilderness, and he saved them from the hand of him that hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. Then believed they his words: they sang his praise.” We just heard about the song that was sung in Exodus fifteen. “But they soon forgot his works,” verse thirteen it says, “they waited not for his counsel.”

What was their fundamental problem, brethren? Verse fourteen says, “But they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.” They lusted exceedingly. The word ‘lusted’ is to wish for, coveted longingly after the things of Egypt, they wanted desperately, brethren, to go back. They coveted the things of Egypt. They lusted after it. So verse fifteen, “And he gave them their request: but sent leanness into their soul. They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. And a fire was kindled in their company: the flame burned up the wicked.”

When people rebelled in ancient Egypt and desired to go back, and they disobeyed God, they were destroyed right then and there oftentimes. Then Aaron, verse nineteen, “went and made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.” How quickly even the leaders, some of the leaders, turned back away from God. But, brethren, let’s not forget the central point here. Israel immediately lusted after or coveted after the things of Egypt. When they left, their covetousness of the good things of Egypt made them want to go back. Brethren, today if we’re not careful, covetousness can draw us back into the world too. What is covetousness?

Well, covetousness is a big fancy word for lusting or desiring something. Even simpler, if we want to make the word covetousness less mysterious, because when you say, “I’m coveting after something,” it’s more complicated or harder to wrap your mind around exactly what that means than it is to say simply, “I want something.” Covetousness is simple, brethren. It means you want something. It means I want this or I want that, and it can be good or bad. Covetousness is not always a bad thing. When we think of covetousness, oftentimes we think of greed. We think of wanting to heap up money and things.

If you’re coveting after a big screen TV, maybe you saw that your neighbor had a big screen TV and you don’t have that, you can covet after that. You could desire it. Frankly, you want to have it. That’s what covetousness is. We can think of people yearning for the latest and greatest computers or technology, headphones, cell phones, video game systems. If you go back and read the tenth commandment in Exodus twenty, you can turn over there, a lot of this command, the tenth commandment, does involve physical things. God doesn’t want us to lust after or covet or simply over much want physical things in this life. Let’s read Exodus chapter twenty verse seventeen, the tenth commandment.

Verse seventeen, Exodus twenty, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house,” physical thing, “nor covet your neighbor’s wife,” again a physical thing, “nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Now, in modern-day terms, you could say, an ox or an ass would be like a plow, or a manservant or a maidservant would be one of these hundreds and hundreds of dollars fancy robots that clean your house on their own, that kind of thing. Now, it’s not wrong to want some of these things, but if we lust after them and want them too much, then that’s where we’ve crossed the line. That’s what this message is about. We’ll get into what is covetousness.

Because, brethren, it can be mysterious, but it ought not to be. One of great Israel’s fundamental problems was they coveted. If we’re trying in these days of unleavened bread to not be like ancient Israel in that way, we have to know what covetousness is, and it’s simple. It’s very, very simple. Covetousness, it’s much broader than just desiring possessions as we saw in Exodus chapter twenty. Turn over to first John chapter two. First John chapter two. First John two, and we’ll read in verse fifteen, “Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him, for all that is in the world,” the summation of this world is as follows, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world.”

Now, these three things, brethren, you’ve maybe heard it before, but they can be summarized in a simple way. They’re summarized as the three “Ps.” Passions, the lust of the flesh is passions, the lust of the eyes is possessions, and the pride of life is positions. Passions, possessions, and positions. The entire world and everything that you see out there can be pretty much summarized in those three things. All that is in the world is defined by passions, possessions, and positions.

All three of these things can be coveted. Typically, we think of possessions as being coveted, but it’s far greater than that. Possessions are just one third of the things that we can covet in this life. Israel sought after, back in Numbers eleven, they sought after physical things, physical possessions. They wanted to eat cucumbers and leeks and melons and onions and garlic. They missed those physical possessions, if you will, in Egypt. They missed them, so then they coveted after them. The grass is oftentimes, brethren, it’s so true, the grass is oftentimes greener on the other side. It’s easier to say, oh, I would rather have that thing over there than just be content with the things that we have here.

Again, I said this before and I’ll say it again, coveting is not always bad. Again, it just means to want something. First Corinthians twelve and verse thirty-one, you can turn over there. First Corinthians twelve, thirty-one says this, “But covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.” God wants us to covet. Have you thought about that? It’s a command in the Bible that we’re not supposed to covet, but it’s also a different kind of commandment in First Corinthians twelve thirty-one that God says we must covet. How is that possible, brethren? There are two categories of things to covet.

There are things that are good to covet and things that are bad, and God wants us to desire to covet, to simply want to earnestly want the best gifts. Psalm ten and verse seventeen says, “Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble.” A desire is something you want. You might covet it. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear. It’s good to covet things as long as it’s inside God’s boundaries. Turn over to First Thessalonians two. First Thessalonians two verse seventeen. First Thessalonians two seventeen, “But, we brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.”

I have desired every Sabbath and, frankly every day, because I work here at headquarters, I have desire to come into work and to see the brethren. And you all have desired every Sabbath to see the brethren. Paul had that same desire. It’s not wrong to covet that, to want to be around like-minded people in a world that’s filled with passions, possessions, and positions. It’s not wrong to want that. In fact, it’s good to want that. God wants us to covet certain things and he doesn’t want us to covet others. The last supper, Luke twenty-two fifteen says, the night of the last supper, Christ said he desired, he coveted to eat this last Passover with the disciples. He coveted that.

The Proverbs talk about us desiring and coveting kindness. So, brethren, we must know the difference between good and bad covetousness, good and bad lust. You can interchange all of these words, desire, lust, covetousness, want, all of those things are the same. Because wrong lust is truly dangerous. It’s easy to, or it’s good for us to lust after things, good, but it’s not good for us to lust after bad things.

Turn over to James chapter one. James chapter one and verse twelve. James twelve one, “Blessed is the man that endures temptation for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I’m tempted of God.’ For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.” We can lust after good things in life, but if we’re lusting after the wrong things, this is the path that lust takes you down. When we’re drawn away of our own lust, we’re enticed.

And verse fifteen says, “Then when lust is conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin when it’s finished brings forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” And I’ll say the same to you all and to myself. We must not err. We must not err in allowing bad lust in that leads to sin and then ultimately leads to death. Lust is where it begins. Lust is what caused Israel to fall. Lust and covetousness for the things that are wrong can lead us to fall too. So, brethren, what is covetousness? What is it tied to? What does the Bible say about it? And is there a cure for covetousness, for lust, for desire, for wrong lust and desire? So, we’re going to go through a series of points, things that covetousness ties to and relates to.

And you could probably think of a few on your own, that’s obvious. The tenth commandment connects covetousness to greed and money or things of this life, but let’s really break it down and let’s really understand just how broad covetousness is because it’s way beyond what you and I may have ever thought. So, turn over to Proverbs chapter twenty-one. The first point is greed. Covetousness is tied to greed. Proverbs twenty-one, we’re reading verse twenty-five. Proverbs twenty-one twenty-five, “The desire of the slothful kills him for his hands refuse to labor. He covets greedily all the day long, but the righteous gives and spares not.”

So covetousness is tied to being greedy, focused on yourself. Again, what we’re talking about when I say covetousness is tied to greed, we’re talking about bad covetousness, not good covetousness. We’ve got to, from now on, separate that from our thinking. What we’re discussing here is the wrong covetousness is tied to these various things, the first of which is greed. The word greed, dictionary definition of greed is an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, food. We can be greedy over all kinds of things, but it always comes back to self.

Covetousness is about you and me bringing things to ourselves that we want, keeping things to ourselves, but it’s an intense or selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, food. We can be greedy of food, or we can be greedy of all kinds of things in this life. You think about a little child, they’re taught to share. Share their toys with people, with other kids. Don’t be greedy and selfish and hold them to yourself. Let others enjoy the things that you get to enjoy, and it teaches them a great lesson at a young age. Covetousness is absolutely tied to self; wrong covetousness is tied to heaping things for yourself. The next point, First Timothy chapter six, you can turn over there.

Many of these will go quick, but some of them are a little bit more a little deeper. First Timothy chapter six. This next point is money. Money, obvious. When you think of covetousness, truly you think about money and wanting to keep your money or gain more money, yearn for it, amass wealth. First Timothy six and verse nine. Is that how God views money? How should we look at this subject of money? First Timothy six and verse nine, “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful loss, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root,” or it’s really a root, “of all evil, which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Money can be a truly problematic thing for people in God’s church. It can cause you, this is what it says, can cause people to leave. They pierce themselves through with many sorrows because they focus too much, or they have too much of a love of money. When we heard in offertory this morning, just a few minutes ago, contrary to that, explaining that we need to be givers, we need to love to give, not be selfish. Think about all the accounts in the Bible that that involve money and covetousness.

Covetousness was involved in selling Christ out the night that he was betrayed. When Judas betrayed Christ, money was involved. Money was at the center of it. Zechariah twelve talks about it, excuse me, Zechariah eleven speaks about it. Covetousness was at the center of Ananias and Sapphira’s death. They held back money that they said that they would’ve given. Covetousness was involved when Solomon sought his abundance. He became the world’s most wealthy man, but there was covetousness involved there. Covetousness was involved when the money changers were operating in the temple and Christ overturned their tables.

Covetousness for money drives this world, brethren, but it ought not drive us because God says that it’s a root of all evil. A root of all evil. Matthew six twenty-four says, “We cannot serve both God and mammon.” Mammon meaning money or even broader the physical things of this world. That’s the second point. The third point is stuff. Now, that’s broad, but stuff can be coveted. Generally speaking. Turn over to Luke chapter twelve. Whatever stuff you can think of, that’s what falls under this category.

Luke chapter twelve, reading verse one, “So in the meantime when they were gathered together, an innumerable multitude of people and so much that they treaded one upon another, they began to say unto to the disciples, first of all, beware you of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” And this account goes down, we can pick it back up in verse eleven. “And when they bring you to the synagogues, and unto magistrates and powers,” Christ is saying, “take you no thought or what thing you should answer or what you shall say for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you ought to say. And one of the companies said unto him, ‘Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.’”

This guy in the audience just interjects on Christ giving his powerful lessons about the leaven of the Pharisees and being sure that when you’re being taken up into a synagogue that you allow God to do the work through you. Then this guy comes in and says, “Master, speak to my brother that he’ll give me the inheritance.” What? Who is this guy and what’s he doing? And Christ said, in verse fourteen, “And He said unto him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And He said unto him, take heed and beware of covetousness for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things,” stuff, “which he possesses.”

Right now this is under the category of passions, possessions, and positions. This is possessions, the abundance of things which he possesses. So that’s stuff. Here’s another one, power. Turn over to Habakkuk chapter two. Power or authority or notoriety, doesn’t necessarily mean you become the CEO of a company or you desire that, but it could be that you desire to put yourself above other people, have authority over other people.

Habakkuk chapter two. Habakkuk chapter two. Just read one verse, verse nine, “Woe to him that covets an evil covetousness to his house that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil.” This is clearly talking about this evil figure who is coming in prophecy, but God connects his desire to set his nest on high, to be above all of the people of the earth, to basically set himself as God above all others and above God himself. He connects that power grabbing, if you will, to covetousness, covetousness. James three one tells all of us, “Be not many masters, for you’ll receive the greater judgment.”

There are verses that say it’s okay, it’s good to seek after the ministry, to seek to become a minister, but there are verses like James three one that say, be careful of that because you get the greater judgment. So, brethren, there’s a balance. Be careful when you seek authority, seek positions in life, in any area of life. The Pharisees wanted to kill Christ because he was threatening their authority. They coveted power and couldn’t stand the idea that a “backwards man,” Christ, who’s backwards from Nazareth would be the savior that they were all waiting for. They couldn’t fathom that. They didn’t want that. They didn’t want that man to reign over them.

They wanted to have power for themselves. We can very easily fall into that same mentality. This is the third P. Positions, passions, possessions, and now positions. You can lust after and covet for power. Turn over to Genesis three, the next point. Wisdom. You can covet wisdom, but the wrong kind of wisdom, brethren. Genesis three, the wisdom of this world, not the wisdom of God. We can wrongly covet the wisdom of this world all the way to the beginning of the Bible.

Genesis chapter three and verse one, “Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God made. And he said to the woman, ‘Yes, has God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ And the woman said unto the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God has said you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it lest you die.’ And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘You shall not surely die, for God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods.”

Think about the last point, power. You can covet power. You can have power if you eat of that tree, knowing good and evil. 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, coveted after.

The word desired is simple, brethren. It’s coveted or to be desired to make one wise. “She took of the fruit of the tree and did eat and gave it also to her husband and he did eat.” It can make you wise. This tree was able to make them wise. Brethren, it not only gave Adam and Eve the ability to feel as though they could have power and authority themselves, control over their own situation, but it also gave them wisdom. They lusted after and coveted after the wisdom of this world wrongly. This account exposes the true origin of the most evil sin, this most evil sin, covetousness, that Satan had and inspired Eve, and ultimately Adam to have also, and the rest of mankind that follows.

Wisdom is something that’s tied to covetousness, wisdom of this world, that is. What else can we covet after? As twisted as it sounds, brethren, Psalm seventy verse two, can turn over there, Psalm seventy and verse two says that one form of covetousness is to desire for other people to be in pain or to be hurt. Probably, I’m sure very, very few of us deal with this form of covetousness, but maybe we do. If we do, that’s why we’re explaining it here. Psalm seventy and verse two. “Let them be ashamed. Psalm of David,” so David speaking. Reading verse one, “Make haste, oh, God to deliver me. Make haste to help me oh Lord.” David’s in trouble.

“Let them be ashamed,” his pursuers, “and confounded that seek after my soul. Let them be turned backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt.” People were actually coveting for David to be hurt. Well you know Saul. Saul through javelins at David and things like this. Saul coveted David’s hurt. In today’s world, brethren, anger is something that we can covet. It sounds strange, but it’s true. It’s easy to fall into road rage. It’s easy to fall into all kinds of different problems. Think about this world and how given to anger and hatred and harming other people it is. We live in a society that’s up in arms about this abortion rights deal going on at the Supreme Court that it could potentially be overthrown in the near future. People are up in arms that they might be able to stop being or that they might be stopped slaughtering the babies in their wombs. It’s remarkable. We’ve come to a point where there’s almost no natural affection as it says in Second Timothy three, three. There’s almost no natural affection left in this world. So anger or harm is something we can covet. We can also covet bad friends.

Yes, God says that we naturally desire to be with bad people, or else He wouldn’t warn about it in Proverbs twenty-four. Proverbs twenty-four and verse one, for around people that are bad and we can naturally have a desire to be around bad people, that’s why this warning is in the Bible, that it will corrupt us too. Proverbs twenty-four, one, “Be not you envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them, for their heart studies destruction and their lips talk of mischief.” God wouldn’t say, “I warn you to be around these bad people. Don’t be around them.” If we didn’t naturally have a desire to be near them, to be bad ourselves.

We have human nature, brethren. It’s in all of us and we want to be like the world. We do. Christianity is about fighting that, pushing back against that human nature. Okay? So bad friends, simple points. Now, this is a bigger one, covetousness is also tied to lust. Now, lust is another word for covetousness but in this term, what I mean by lust is a sexual desire for other people. It could be a desire for fornication, a desire for pornography. It could be a desire for just looking at other people and lusting after them in that way.

Paul said that he was perfect in keeping the law except until he learned about covetousness in Romans seven, seven. And lust comes in many different shapes and sizes. In modern society when we hear the word lust, we often think of sexual lust, fornication, or adultery. This form is even outlined in the tenth commandment in Exodus twenty and verse seventeen, “Don’t lust after your neighbor’s wife. Covet not your neighbor’s wife.”

This is, of course, one form of lust or covetousness but the way the word lust is used in the Bible can also involve passion or desire for something wrong. We can lust after wrong things. So brethren, be cautious of this. Flee fornication, flee these things. If we find ourselves in a position where we are beginning to covet or lust after somebody else, particularly in that sexual way, flee, leave. Get yourself out of that situation.

Do everything in your power to put your mind on something good. Maybe begin to covet earnestly the best gifts at that point. Rather coveting the lust of this world, covet earnestly the best gifts, fill your mind with something else. Covet the fruits of the Spirit. Covet the ability to be temperate, to have the love of God, to have faith. Covet those things when times of bad lust come at you. So that’s another point, covetousness is tied to lust.

Covetousness is also tied to uncleanness. This is interesting. Turn over to second Peter chapter two. Second Peter chapter two, verse nine, second Peter two, nine, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government, presumptuous are they, self-will, they’re not afraid to speak evil of dignities.” And so on and so forth. But there is this thing brethren, called the lust of uncleanness. And the word uncleanness, it’s interesting. It means moral contamination. We have a lust, a desire naturally to be morally contaminated. Think about that.

You all recall the Flint, Michigan water crisis that happened years ago and how the water got polluted. Essentially what happened was they switched the water source from one body of water to, I believe, the river. They started drawing water out of the river instead. And rather than going back and adding certain chemicals to help protect the piping that the water was going through, the water then started to corrode the pipes in people’s homes. And people would have old pipes and they would become lead poisoned, or they would become poisoned by other substances that would come off from the pipes.

So many people got sick because of this. Many people were contaminated, they were poisoned. Now, oftentimes what happens with contamination is you get contaminated. We all have bacteria that comes into our body that isn’t good, but it comes in such small amounts that it doesn’t harm us. Our bodies are able to fight it off. As that contaminant gets more and more, the more glasses of water that you would drink in Flint, Michigan, the sicker you would become until you were very, very sick. And some people, I’m not sure if they died or not. I didn’t look into it. I can’t recall exactly. I’m sure, there probably were some people.

But think about moral contamination in the same way. If we allow ourselves to covet any of these things that we’re discussing, even just a little bit, it may not harm us “initially.” It may not really hurt us that much. We may not feel it, but over time, the more and more we allow ourselves to be morally contaminated, and if we covet that moral contamination, that lust of uncleanness, that’s what it is, then we’re in a terrible, terrible position at that point.

You can think of the moral contamination of America and the western nations. Allowing homosexuality. Openly allowing it and pushing it, pushing for kids that are tiny, little children to become transgenders and homosexuals themselves. There’s these things out there now called furries. I don’t even know if you’ve heard of this before. People believe, and it’s accepted, and it’s probably pushed in certain areas in life where people want to become animals. They dress up like animals. They walk around with collars on.

We saw somebody recently when we were out eating who had these elf ears clipped onto her head. I couldn’t believe my eyes. And she walked around with this tutu thing and just some of the strangest stuff, and it’s all accepted now. It’s all just normal and everybody in society is just expected to accept it. That’s what happens. Even back when I was in high school, only 15 years ago when I graduated, none of that stuff was even a thing, not even close, but it had begun. It had started. The more that it was allowed, the more the nation became morally contaminated.

So, brethren, we’re the same. We allow sins into our lives, even in little bits. The more and more we allow, the worse and worse it will stick and ultimately lead to death. Lust leads to sin. Sin leads to death. That’s the way that it works. And the more we allow lust to conceive, the more we will sin and the greater chance we have to die eternally, which is not a position we or anybody wants to be in. Next point, second Timothy Chapter four. Turn over there.

Second Timothy chapter four. It’s false doctrine. Covetousness is tied to false doctrine. That’s a curious one, but let’s read here in second Timothy chapter four and see why. We can covet false doctrine. That is dangerous, but it’s real, brethren. Second Timothy four, one, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing in His kingdom, preach the word; be instant in season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.”

People, we naturally want. You know, brethren, we’re in God’s church. We’ve wanted the truth. We wouldn’t be here unless we wanted the truth, but there is that human nature still inside of us. We want. At times, we may find ourselves wanting something doctrinally to not be true, or we may want some false doctrine in the world to be true. We may look at something and say, “Oh, I like this. I like the way that that sounds.” And you read something online or get caught up in some trash.

Brethren, false doctrine is real, and we naturally have a propensity to want it. There’s a reason the Bible says, I believe First Corinthians eleven, it talks about heresies. God says that there has to be heresy that comes through the church at times. People bring in heresies and false doctrines to lead other people out. God says that that’s a thing that He does in the church periodically to see who is willing to give up the truth.

Heresies come sweeping through the church and it can take people out if we’re not careful. If we’re not careful to hold onto the truth and not covet false doctrines. So, brethren, as we’re going through them, yes, greed is of course a form of covetousness. Wanting things and stuff is yes, covetous, but how often do we think of false doctrine? How often do we think of coveting bad friends? How often do we think of coveting the wisdom of this world like Eve did, or power, or authority?

We don’t often think about these things, so we have to in order to understand exactly what it is. And the last point here is idolatry. Turn back to Psalm one-oh-six again, where we began the message. The last part of point tied to covetousness is idolatry. Psalm one-oh-six verse fourteen. Israel lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert. Because they lusted, a series of problems ensued.

God swallowed up Dathan and Abiram. Fire was kindled in the company, you saw that, but because they lusted in verse nineteen, it says that Aaron made a calf in Oreb and worshiped the molten image. Now, covetousness is tied to idolatry because when you want something so badly, you or I, anybody is in effect saying, “I want that thing more than I want God.” And you have in effect created an idol of the heart. It may not be a physical calf. It may not be some pot-bellied Buddha.

It may not be anything physical like that, but if Aaron and Israel wanted that calf more than they wanted God, they created it. If we want anything in this life more than we want God, we have created an idol. Colossians chapter three and verse five. I’ll just read it. You don’t need to turn there. Colossians chapter three and verse five, just write it down in your notes, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate, affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Covetousness is idolatry. And even the word before that, we often see when we read these lists in Colossians 3, we look at covetousness and we see that it’s idolatry, but we don’t focus maybe on evil concupiscence, the one before covetousness. It’s basically the same thing.

Evil concupiscence is longing for something forbidden. We covet evil things. So brethren, we can’t underestimate just how covetous we are naturally, how our human nature yearns to covet the wrong things in this life. Israel did. Israel fell into it. And here on this last day of unleavened bread, we must not. We must learn from Israel’s mistakes. That’s one of the great lessons in these days of unleavened bread, is to simply learn from Israel.

Learn from these accounts, recall them, pull them back to mind, and learn great lessons from them because Israel’s sins of covetousness were written for all time for our learning. They coveted after the things they missed in Egypt. We too can covet or lust after the things that we left behind in the world, but the things we left behind in this world, again lead to death. So what should Israel have done?

For the balance of the message, what should Israel have done and what should we do to counter lust? What could Israel have done in order to not wanted to go back to Egypt? And brethren, what can we do to not want to go back to the Egypt of this world? Hebrews thirteen verse one holds the answer. What can we do to combat or counter covetousness? Hebrews thirteen and verse one.

The answer is simple brethren. Hebrews thirteen one says, “Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge.”

Verse five is the key. “Let your conversation or your conduct be without covetousness.” How? “Be content with such things as you have for He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And if we’re content with the things that we have,” if we’re content with our station and life, not coveting after this, that, or the other thing, not coveting after longing for passions, possessions, or positions, if we’re content, it says, ‘We may boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man will do unto me.”

Let your conduct be without covetousness. And we can do that, brethren, by being content. The word conversation, conduct there, it means mode or style. Let your mode or style, maybe some of you have heard the term modus operandi. A modus operandi is the mode in which we operate naturally in life. My modus operandi might be, I like to keep things organized. I always keep things organized so that’s my modus operandi. It’s the way that I function. It’s my mode of operating.

God says, let your modus operandi, let your mode or the way that you function in life be without covetousness. And He goes on to say the way to do that is to be content. Be content with such things as you have. First Timothy, chapter six. Paul showed us the way to not have covetousness is to simply be content with the things that we have, with our station in life. That means be content if we run across trials. Again, Israel was supposed to be content. The path out of Egypt was not easy. It was difficult. When they came to the waters of Marah, they were bitter waters.

It’s not like it was an easy swimming path, smooth path for them out ahead, but God nevertheless, he didn’t want them to covet after the things of Egypt. He simply wanted them to be content that God would provide for them, and we have to be the same. We have to be the same.

First Timothy six and verse one, “But as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed, and they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are a burden, but rather do them service because they’re faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. If any man teaches otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness. He’s proud, knowing nothing but dotting about questions and strifes of words, whereof comes envy, strife, and railings and evil surmising.”

Again, we can covet going back to the point about coveting false doctrine. It’s easy for people, for all of us to get caught up in picky little questions, picky little questions about anything. It could be any doctrine of the Church, it could be about the Sabbath, or it could be about Pentecost or tithe of tithe, or it could be about prophecy or whatever it is. People can get caught up into picky little questions and you can grow what’s called a brain baby, a little idea in your head that you’ve got something figured out that nobody else knows about, that nobody else has figured out.

Ooh, I’ve seen something that the entire headquarters ministry and the entire ministry for two thousand years has never seen. No, these kinds of things... that’s why it’s easy to fall into false doctrine. We can fall into these brain babies. These little ideas that we have in our heads and they’re dangerous and poisonous. They’ll corrupt us like that water in Flint, Michigan.

But coming on down, I got caught up in explaining that and then I forgot where I was. Hold on one second here. Timothy six, strifes about words. Yes. Here we go. First Timothy six, picking up in verse five, “Perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw yourselves.” Here’s the key brethren, if we covet anything in this life, here’s the resolution, but godliness with contentment is great gain.

Let’s say we have some idea about something, we read something in the Bible and we’re excited about it or interested in it. If it’s a picky niggling question and it’s something that’s contrary to the truth that you believe, simply brethren, allow first Timothy six, six to be your guide. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Just be content, not being able to answer that question, whatever it might be, because Paul warned that we can easily get caught up into little, picky questions.

“For we brought nothing,” verse seven, “we brought nothing into this world and it’s certain we can carry nothing out and having food and raiment, let us be therewith…” again, “…content.” Now, we brought nothing into this world and we’ll bring nothing out. This includes all the knowledge that we have. God gave you and I knowledge, he gave us the wisdom, the understanding, the knowledge that we have, and he can take it away just as easily. That’s what’s so terrifying, if you will.

We started with no knowledge in this life and God gave us massive knowledge to be here, so let’s be content with what knowledge and understanding we have. Not worrying about picky questions that we never would’ve had without the knowledge that God gave us, to begin with. If somebody leaves the church over some little, picky question, they wouldn’t have even had that picky question if it weren’t for God’s one true church and the knowledge that God gave them, to begin with.

Do you see the point? So then they’re leaving the church, the only church, the only God that gave them the knowledge that allowed them to potentially have a question, some little niggling question. Be content, brethren. Be content. Now, this is a curious thing too, because, brethren, we’ve talked about good covetousness and bad covetousness, but there is this funny middle ground and I want to explain that too. There’s cases where coveting something may not always be wrong, but it may not be God’s will for you at that time.

Now what do I mean by that? Let’s say you’re struggling with a health trial and it’s maybe a chronic health trial and you’ve been dealing with it for a long time and you covet, you yearn for, you desperately want God to heal you. Now, it’s not wrong to want God to heal you, but it may not be God’s will at that time, so be content. The best way to get through the situation is to be content with the lot God has given you.

Think about Paul. Paul was given a thorn in the flesh in Second Corinthians, chapter twelve. We could quickly go read over there, Second Corinthians chapter twelve verse one. It says, it’s not expedient for me... Okay, let’s actually just skip down, verse four, “How that he was caught up.” It was talking about Paul was being caught up to the third heaven. He doesn’t know if he was in vision or not, how that he was caught up into paradise and he heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for me to utter of such a one speaking of himself will I glory, excuse me, yet of myself, I will not glory but in my infirmities.

For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool for I will say the truth. But now, I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seems to be or that he hears of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations that were given into me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure.”

For this thing, Paul had a thorn in the flesh. For this thing, he besought God three times that he might depart from him, that this thorn in the flesh would leave. And he said unto me, God says, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So despite the thorn in the flesh that Paul had to deal with probably for the rest of his life, he became content with it because he knew that it meant that Christ’s power would rest on him.

Philippians chapter four, just a couple of pages over, Philippians chapter four, and we’ll read here in verse eleven, starting in verse nine, “Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last, your care of me has flourished again wherein you are also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content.

I know how to both be abased and how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” So if we’re content in whatsoever state we are, whether we’re living in the days of prosperity or the days of adversity. Paul said that he’s learned how to be content. He proves that trials can come. Paul does. Paul proves that trials can come both to those that are well off in this world and those that are poor in this world if you will.

Also, consider that this same Paul earlier in Romans chapter seven, verse seven, he was the one that said covetousness was the one law he realized he did not fully grasp and keep. So Paul, what did Paul do? He spent the rest of his years in his natural life mastering how to become content. The antidote to covetousness. The antidote to covetousness. One final verse, brethren. Second Corinthians chapter four. Second Corinthians chapter four, and we’ll pick it up in verse fourteen.

Second Corinthians four, fourteen, “Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. Free all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might be through the Thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction, which is but for a moment.”

Any issues that we come across, any trials that we come across, any covetousness that we have to fight against in this life is considered light affliction to God. And it’s but for a moment, verse seventeen. Brethren, all of these trials and learning how to become content, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

If we can remember that everything that we’re able to covet in life, passions, possessions, or positions, all of those things are temporary if we remember that, God says that He will give us the ability to be content. We have to remain content and focused on the things that are eternal instead. So brethren, again, on this last day of Unleavened Bread, think back to Israel’s covetousness. Let’s learn the lessons from them.

Had they simply been content with the massive miracles that brought them out of Egypt to begin with, and again, the miracles that they saw all the way through their time in the wilderness with the pillar and the cloud, had they just been content with those miracles, they would not have lusted after the things of Egypt. They would have been happy. They would have been joyful and grateful for what God provided for them instead. So, brethren, we must be the same. We must learn to be content. And in doing so we’ll be happy, joyful, and grateful with our lot in life that God has given us.