I hope you're all ready for our heart-to-heart talk regarding this, the tenth of God's commandments
or the tenth of God's rules for Libby. Let me read it to you. Here it is.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his
manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
And there it is. This is the tenth of God's rules for Libby.
Those first four words, thou shalt not covet. And in our last of the heart-to-heart talk regarding
this tenth commandment, we saw that this sin of covetousness is the one sin that can be committed
without the knowledge of any human being. The sin of covetousness can be in my heart,
and the one nearest to me, the one who knows me best, will not be able to discern that sin in my heart.
A wife may not be able to discern the sin of covetousness in the heart of her husband.
Neither can the husband discern this sin in the heart of his wife. Because of all sins,
this is one sin that can be committed without the knowledge of any human being.
And in speaking of sins, I think we can rightfully put this sin down as one of the
most treacherous sins that a human being can take into his life. I mean that.
I can prove it to you in just a few minutes. The very fact, my friend, that God lists this one sin
as the last of his rules for Libby,
the sin against which he has literally given a law, thou shalt not covet a written law from God himself,
makes us know it is something that's very treacherous,
a sin that involves an awful lot. Consider something. The highest possibilities in a
Christian's life are indicated in the Apostles' Arrangement of the Fruit of the Spirit.
Oh, beloved, is there anything greater than the fruit of the Spirit?
Oh, beloved, is there anything greater than to be in such a position where literally,
through this light of yours, from your personal life, there goes forth the fruits of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, kindness, long-suffering goodness. They're so thrilling,
the things that we desire so deeply. And yet, do you want to know something?
This sin of covetousness is the one sin that will rob you and rob me.
Of the fruits of the Spirit. You cannot have covetousness in that heart of yours,
and at the same time, had even one of the fruits the Spirit.
Take love, for instance, if there's covetousness in that heart of yours.
This poison of covetousness will rob you of that love and love will turn to hate.
Joy will turn to discontent. Peace will be given over to discontentment.
Show me any person, any man or any woman who has the sin of covetousness in his heart.
You will never find contentment. You will never find peace.
You may think there is peace, but it's something that's very surface and something that's only
temporary because a covetous person cannot have peace of mind.
The poison of covetousness will rob that one of their peace, their contentment,
and instead there will be a constant dissatisfaction. Where there was kindness, you'll find cruelty.
Where there was goodness, you'll find deceit. Where there was faithfulness, you'll find the
poison of covetousness robbing that one of that faithfulness and you will never find contentment.
Robbing that one of that faithfulness and you'll soon find infidelity. It's like that.
God knew exactly the treacherousness of this sin. That's the reason it was so important
and so widespread that he lists this as one of the sins in which he has given a written law,
saying thou shalt not covet.
Out of covetousness will spring sins that break every written law. I can prove it to you.
Criminal records will prove that in a great majority of cases,
unholy desire was the inspiration of murder.
I'm talking about something that you dare not take issue with me because our lives prove it.
The things that I'm saying to you are things that your own life will prove.
The life of your neighbor will prove these very things that I'm saying right now.
A fool is the person who will take issue with my statement that criminal records will prove
that in a great majority of cases, unholy desire was the inspiration of the murder that was
committed. The theft of every description is the offspring of desire to possess that which is
unreachable by lawful means. There's never been a theft committed. But what is unholy desire?
There's never been a theft committed. But what before the act of thievery, there was a desire
in the heart of that one who committed that deed, a desire to possess that which was
unreachable by lawful means. There it is. Therefore, in analyzing the whole thing,
we see that the whole realm of inner relation is broken up by the breaking of this 10th commandment.
God knew it. He knew the seriousness of covetousness, and yet we take it so lightly.
Now, in the study of these 10 commandments, I have not only taken the Old Testament,
I have also taken the New Testament to show you that in the coming of Jesus,
he did not destroy the law. He came to fulfill the law, and he even went further than just the law
itself. Therefore, turning out to the New Testament, nothing can be clearer or more emphatic than the
repetition of this commandment given from the lips of Jesus himself. Turn, if you will, please,
if your Bible is handy, to the 12th chapter of Luke, the 15th verse. The words of Jesus himself
leaves no misunderstanding regarding the sin of covetousness.
I read it to you, and one of the company said unto him, that's unto Jesus, Master,
speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
And he said unto him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
And he said unto them, take heed, and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisted
not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Let's just stop a minute and get the whole picture. Before we do, remember that human nature has not
changed. Know that customs have changed, means of dress has changed, but when it comes to the human
heart, when it comes to the mind of man, man himself, his ideas, his principles, his thoughts,
his greed, his desires, have not changed. They've always been the same. Human nature has
always been the same. And the human nature has always been the same.
And how true it is today, even as it was then, many a family can go on for years and years, and
there'll not be an unkind word spoken. As long as the mother is living and the father is there and
they've had nice training, good ideas, and why there was never a disturbance in the family, an argument.
Everything was wonderful until when? The father dies, the mother dies,
the will is read, and inheritance has been left. Then begins a great big family row,
a knockdown drag out, and you will soon find a brother not speaking to the sister or a sister
with an unforgiving spirit regarding another's son, and you will soon find a brother not speaking to
the sister with an unforgiving spirit regarding another's sister or brother. It's been like that
from the beginning of time. We're a part of humanity. It's that deceitfulness. It's that sin
of covetousness. Nine times out of ten, wherever there has been an inheritance left and it has to
be divided in the family, there's an ill feeling. It's like that. It always has been. So it was here.
Two brothers, and the one brother came with his problem and said to Jesus,
now Jesus, I've got a little thing that I wish you would do for me, please. Would you please
speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me? Now, it doesn't say in the Bible, but
I wouldn't be at all surprised, but what? Maybe he was right in asking for his earthly inheritance.
Maybe he deserved it. Who knows? Maybe he was the brother who had taken care of his father and mother
all of his life. Who knows? It doesn't say here, but anyway, there was a bad feeling there,
and he was a little concerned because his brother had gotten the inheritance
and his eye was on that money. And that's what he saw. He saw the money that was involved. He saw
the inheritance that was there and he wanted it, my friend. And when he came to Jesus and asked
Jesus to help him out on this problem, I do not believe that Jesus took a step forward. I do not
believe that he seemed disturbed whatsoever. He just stood there. And this is what Jesus said
and is profound. Take heed and beware of covetousness. Beware of it. Now, this comes
from the lips of Jesus himself. He leaves no misunderstanding regarding his attitude when it
comes to covetousness. Be careful. Take heed. Beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists of
nort in the abundance of the things which he possesses. And it's just like that.
Like that. Here came the man asking the master to satisfy his desire by compelling his brother
to divide the inheritance with him. Jesus in substance could have said, yes, I know it's there.
I know it could be rightfully yours in a way, but there's something more in life. There's something
more to living. Oh, would the God somehow. You and I wouldn't be so short-sighted. A lot of us need
our eyes examined. A lot of us need brand new spiritual glasses. We're so short-sighted. We see
but today. I want to say again to father's mother's listening to me. I have actually looked upon the
hands of precious old dads. And those precious fathers had literally worked their fingers as we
say in Missouri. The flesh to the bones. I mean that. I have seen little mamas with hands all
knotted from hard work. I have talked to many a dad and he has told me that he is working and giving
his life that after he is gone, he can lead to his children and inheritance. He doesn't want his sons,
his daughters to have to work as hard as he has had to work to make a living. He wants to spare them.
He wants to save them. He wants them to have the things in life that he did not have. Therefore,
that precious godly father has robbed himself of the most important things in life. He's been too
busy to really get any real joy out of living. He's been too busy to get any joy out of living.
He's been too busy to take time out for the things of God. He's been just too busy making a living
to leave to give to his children when really in the final analysis.
The greatest inheritance that you can leave your children is a good godly example.
And in many instances, the worst inheritance, the most unwise inheritance that you can leave
to your boy and your girl is money. I mean exactly that. I said the other day
from the public platform and of course I stopped long enough to remind our congregation that Papa
always did say that it was the old maids and the school teachers who could always tell you how to
raise your kids. And you know some, I think in many cases Papa was right, but what I'm saying to you,
is because of experience of what I have experienced myself.
I have found out that it's these youngsters, these boys, these girls who have to work for what they
get, who appreciate what they have more than when it's handed to them.
I'll show you a young man who'll really appreciate his education. He'll really appreciate things.
He'll really dig for what he gets out of that college education when he has to work to pay for
it himself. When a thing is handed to you and just given it to you without any effort on your part,
the things that I appreciate most in life is the thing that I had to make the greatest sacrifice for.
That's right. I'm not saying that you should be paying for it yourself.
It's a thing that I had to make the greatest sacrifice for. That's right.
I can appreciate what I have now because I can go back and remember the days when I had to sleep
in a turkey house. I am today what I am because of what I went through back there in those early
years of my life. I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't have the understanding
of human nature. I wouldn't be the sympathetic person. I don't believe that I would have the
feeling for people. I don't believe I would have the understanding.
I wouldn't have the character that I have today had it not been for back there when
I was hungry, had no place to sleep, didn't know what the next day held. Everything is a matter
of comparison. I have an appreciation now because of what I didn't have back there.
I didn't have back there. No, my friend, the greatest inheritance that you can leave
your son, your daughter, is not in money, in possessions,
but in leaving them the influence of a good Christian character when they can say,
hey, my dad didn't leave me money. He left me what money could not buy.
I had the grandest father in the whole world. He gave me his love. He gave me his understanding,
his confidence. That is what Jesus meant. Amen.