Somebody talking about you could lose your salvation said well you might could jump out of his hand number one I don't know who'd want to Nobody on the right mind wants to jump out of God's hand, but then the Scriptures talk about how He holds the oceans in His hand. He's measured them out. And there are some areas of the Pacific Ocean about seven miles deep. I don't know if anybody can jump that high, do you? But anyway, I'm sure thankful for the good song tonight and the sweet spirit in our service. Thank you for being faithful. I have a prayer request now. Tom would echo this prayer request. We've got one week for revival, OK? And we need Tom here to lead the music, so we need Tiffany to have a baby, OK? So everybody pray about that this week. And she's not here. She's probably watching live stream, so I'll ask forgiveness later, all right? Would you forgive me, Tiffany, all right? But anyway, I'm just kidding. I sure appreciate her and Tom being on our staff. We've got a wonderful family. Sure is a blessing to our church. had no idea the blessing that he and his family, Michael and his family, would be that many years ago when God brought them our way and watched them grow in the Lord and mature. And I'm excited about what the Lord's doing through their lives here in our ministry. And it's keeping me and Brother Keaton and Brother Vernon on our toes around here, and I appreciate that. All right, Exodus chapter 20. I was wondering where you were at, Brother Keaton. I thought maybe you had left or something. I thought maybe you'd gotten up preaching today and had slipped on out. I couldn't see him. He's out of his spot. Exodus chapter 20, we've been studying the Ten Commandments. And I would encourage you, if you've not heard the entire series, to go and... We just quit doing what we would consider series packages, although we would make them available at a very reduced cost if everybody wanted every message in the series. But you can get them free off the website. You can get them from sermonaudio.com. Search Calvary Baptist Church, Kevin Broyhill. You can search the Ten Commandments on our section there on sermonaudio.com. There's even an app where I listen to messages of different preachers. on that website or on that particular app. Now you say, Preacher, why do you want to make a difference about that? Because I believe through this series that God has addressed some things that otherwise probably we wouldn't have touched on the pulpit. It's helped us in our worldview. as we talked about God's desire about life. I'm going to talk about euthanasia, and that meant things that would be what we would consider hot topic issues, hot button issues about abortion, about euthanasia, those type things, understanding life from God's perspective. We talked about purity. We talked about certain things within God's plan for mankind that otherwise we wouldn't have dealt with. I believe it's important as believers we have a correct and proper world view. And you would be surprised sometimes how the world affects our thinking and the way we think. And when we go back to God's Word and we begin to understand things from God's perspective, it cuts against the grain. It corrects our thinking. You wouldn't know the number of people that came through the door on multiple messages. And preacher, thank you for that message and the sense of this, alright? that it helped me in my thinking. It helped me. I knew it, but I needed to be reminded, or it answered a question in my life in a particular area. And I've been greatly encouraged about that. And so I appreciate that. I would encourage you to get the messages, listen to them in their entirety, as tonight we're going to finish up the tenth commandment. I began preaching this this morning, and I'm going to finish it up tonight. as we've talked about two tablets of timeless truth, God's absolutes, His laws for mankind, not to give life, God didn't give the Ten Commandments to give life, but to guide us in our life as believers. First of all, guide us to the Savior. It'll show us we're sinners. Every one of us has broken God's law. By the way, do you know to break one commandment is to break them all? They are a unit. It's like a ten-linked chain. And if you break one link in the chain, you've broken the chain. And when we break one law, we've broken all of them. That doesn't mean that necessarily I'm guilty of all ten, which probably chances are in some form or fashion, either in our life or in our spirit, we have been in some form or fashion. But if you just broke one of them, you broke the entire unit. You broke the entire law of God. and it shows us as guilty sinners before God. Friend, you and I will never make ourselves acceptable to God. We can't do it through religious routine and ritual. We can't do it through trying to be good or keep the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments shows me my guilt, and it drives me to the Savior, the One who can save me and rescue me and forgive me of my sins. And you know, Jesus is the end of the law for everybody that believes. He's fulfilled it for me. And fulfilled it in my place. He's my substitute. Not only in His life. He lived a life I couldn't live. But in His death, He died a death that I couldn't die. He's my substitute. But now that I'm saved, because I love Him, I want to obey Him. And I can't obey Him if I don't know what God says. And folks, that's why we need the Word of God being taught and preached and read in our lives on a daily basis. Because when I know what God says, then I can understand how to please Him, how to honor Him with my life. I can continue in walking with God and pleasing Him with my life as I seek to obey. Now, we've looked at nine of them. Tonight, I want to look at the final commandment. Look, if you would, verse number 17. Thou shalt not covet. 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." Now, as an agricultural setting, I mentioned this morning, the ox would be like, boy, I wish I had that big John Deere tractor he's got. Or, I wish I had that big Massey Ferguson. You see what I'm saying? Or whatever kind. That would be what would plow the field. That would pull the load. That would be the work animal. The ass or the donkey would be transportation in that day. You would ride that donkey. And he's saying, listen, hey, you might have a Cadillac donkey. I might have a Volkswagen donkey. Don't be coveting the guy that's got the Cadillac donkey. You know what I'm saying? Be content that you've got a donkey to ride. That's what God's saying. You could be walking, alright? Notice he goes on to say in our text, nor anything, nor anything, there it is, anything that is thy neighbor's. Do you know the entire law can be summed up like this? And here's what Jesus said. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. You know what he said? I'm to love God with everything in me. That will take care of the first five. Actually, the first six. And then verse 5, and then you come down, if you would please, to, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. When I love my neighbor, I love the people around me like I ought to love them. Do you know what? That'll take care of the rest of the commandments. I won't covet what they've got. I won't steal from them. I won't seek to kill them. I won't lie and bear false witness against them. I won't devalue them by being dishonest to them. Does that make sense? So God says all of the commandments can be summed up in loving God and loving others. And God said if I love Him the way I ought to love Him, and I love other people the way I love them, I'm going to be right vertically, and guess what? I'm going to be right horizontally in my relationship to God and my relationship to others. And God said, listen, thou shalt not covet. Now I'm going to flip that and I'm going to give you the positive side. Here's what God's saying. Let me give you the key to contentment. Let's pray and ask God to help us. Father, I pray that You'll teach us tonight as we look at the pages of Your Word. I pray You'll speak to our hearts and challenge us. God, help us to be people that out of a heart of love for You and others, that we seek to obey You, to put Your Word to work in our lives. Lord, if we're all honest, we all battle jealousy at times. There's times, Lord, that we desire what someone else has, whether it be their possessions, their prestige, whether it be their place in life, whether it be their appearance or their talent or whatever it is. Lord, there's times that we're dissatisfied with who we are and what we have. And Lord, when we're dissatisfied with ourselves, that in turn causes us to be dissatisfied with You. And it leads to a discontented life. I pray to Lord that today You'll help us to understand the key to contentment. The key to a contented life. And Father, I'll thank You for it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We've been looking at this matter of the Ten Commandments, and now we're looking at the Tenth Commandment as it relates to this matter of coveting. God said, Thou shalt not covet the key to a contented life. And you're going to find that this commandment, the word covet, means to set the heart on it. It means that I set my heart on something that somebody else has. It means to pant after it, to delight in it, to desire it in such a way that I want to make what somebody else has mine. Covetousness is the unlawful desire for that which is not rightfully ours, that's not been given to us by God. As a matter of fact, the problem with coveting is that we become dissatisfied with what we have and become jealous of what others have and want what they have whether God wants us to have it or not. And what we're basically doing is we're putting our wants before what God wants for us. Do you remember what Jesus prayed in the garden? Not my will, but thine be done. And I'm going to tell you, when we have a covetous heart, we're wanting our will our wants and our happiness before what God wants for us. Amen? And God said that we need to put things in their proper perspective. Now, let me tell you what it doesn't prohibit. It doesn't prohibit the idea of us having ambition or seeking promotion, working hard, providing for the family. It's not wrong to have things. It's not wrong to have position and authority. It's not wrong to be successful in all of these things. But let me tell you what is wrong. It's wrong when I desire what somebody else has, whether it's their wealth, or their paycheck, or their house, their car, their husband or wife, their appearance, their power or influence, their fame or talent, their intelligence, whatever it is. God said I'm not to unlawfully desire anything that is my neighbor's, that belongs to somebody else. Now listen, that doesn't mean that somebody can't be an influence in my life. There are people in my life that have influenced me to help me to be a better person, to help me to be a better preacher, a better Christian. And maybe there's some things in their life that I can emulate to help me to be better in life. There's not anything wrong with that. But when I have a covetous and jealous heart that I want what they've got, listen, God said that that is a breaking of the tenth commandment. Now, we mentioned earlier that this matter of the tenth commandment was a matter of the heart. It's a matter of the heart. As a matter of fact, it deals with the attitudes and not just the actions. And if I'm going to be a person who's going to have a continued life, that I'm going to have to avoid the covetous life. I'm going to have to avoid the covetous life. And I'm going to have to be careful of the subtlety of the sin of the covetous heart. You see, somebody said it doesn't leave fingerprints. It's a sin that doesn't trigger an alarm. It's a sin that doesn't set off any warning. As a matter of fact, it flies under the radar of our conscience and we can be eaten up with jealousy and covetousness and not even realize it. And boy, how important it is that we're sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Friend, listen, when you and I desire to be close to God, we will be sensitive to the sins in our lives. We'll be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit wants to tell us. I had somebody tell me one time that they just weren't convicted of drinking alcohol. And I said, well, number one, I said, let me ask you this, would you be willing to be convicted of it if God convicted you? I ask the question. You know, am I willing to be convicted of it? Am I willing, if God says, hey, that's sin, to say, God, you're right. You know, too often we have a hard heart rather than a tender heart, and we're insensitive when we ought to be sensitive to the Spirit of God and let God work in our lives. And too often, we don't want to call sin what God calls sin. And so he's dealing with the first nine deal with actions. The last one, attitude. The first nine, with my deeds, what I do in my life. The last one has to do with my desires. It's a matter of the heart. It's a sin that nobody can see. But friend, I'm going to tell you something. God sees and we see. Isn't that right? And you're going to find that it's a subtle sin that we have to be careful of it and guard ourselves against, but yet it's also a serious sin. I want you to look with me, if you would, to the book of Joshua. Turn over just a few books. The book of Joshua. Find the sixth book in your Bible. And we're looking at this matter of covetousness. And I want you to see a principle as it relates to covetousness in our lives, alright? And I want you to turn your Bibles to Joshua chapter number 6. Actually, chapter number 7. And Achan has taken the accursed thing. He's taken a Babylonian garment, and it wasn't just a suit of clothes. It was actually a set of garments that would be used in the worship to their pagan idols. A wedge of gold. And he took that and he stole it. The Bible called it the accursed thing. And it came time for him to begin to share what he did. Alright? And how he failed God. I'm actually trying to preach it and look for it all at the same time because I forgot to look it up when I was in my office a minute ago. And I'm looking for it real quickly and I'll get it. And look if you would, verse number 20. He said, I've sinned against the Lord God of Israel. This is Achan talking to Joshua. And thus and thus have I done. Look at verse 21. I saw." Underline those two words, I saw. Do you realize that many times, covetousness is a matter of what we see. The eyes are a gateway to the heart. When Eve saw that the tree was good for food. When David saw a woman washing herself. Folks, can I tell you, we need to be careful what we see. Now listen, I'm not talking about just going through life and looking at this and looking at that. I'm talking about gazing with desire. He didn't just happen on it and say, oh, there it is, I better take that. No, he gazed on it with desire. He looked at it, and when he looked at it, it affected his heart. Notice what happens. He said, when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian scarlet, 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight." Notice what he said, "...then I coveted them." Underline those two words. I saw them. I coveted them. I desired them. Now, let me ask you a question. What made it wrong? Let me tell you what made it wrong. God said all that city and everything in it is to be dedicated to the Lord. I want you to take that city. I want you to burn it with fire. And anything of value, all the spoils of that city, is to be dedicated to Me. It's Mine. It's the firstfruits. God said it's Mine. Don't you take any of it. It belongs to Me. Alright? And so you're going to find that he's coveting that that is not his. Any other time it would be part of the spoils of war. But it's not today. Because God said when you take this city, everything in it is to be dedicated to My temple to show that I'm the one who gives you the power to conquer. I'm the one who gives you the power to get wealth. I'm the one who blesses you. You wouldn't even be in this city if I didn't take you there. So he saw what belonged to God, and then he desired what belonged to somebody else. It belonged to God. And then watch this, I coveted them, and watch the next three words, and took them. Do you know that's the recipe for just about every sin that we commit? I see, I covet, I take. Wow. Wow. He saw it. He desired it. It belonged to somebody else. It belonged to God. And he said, I desired it. I wanted it. And then he took it. Friend, can I tell you that's exactly how Satan will tempt us through the eye gate. He'll enable us to gaze on something, to see it, to create and foster within our hearts an unlawful desire for that which is not ours. And then if we give in to the temptation and the sin, we will take it. and disobey the God of heaven. how we need to guard our lives. It's a serious matter, friend. Do you realize the Bible calls covetousness idolatry? And any time I put something or someone before God, any time I love something or someone more than I do God, any time I want something or someone more than I do God, I am guilty of the sin of idolatry. Friend, listen, I need to be careful and we need to be careful of putting our wants before the God of Heaven. Listen, He's to be preeminent in our lives. Amen? He is. So we find that we're to avoid the covetous life. But then I want you to notice number two, and this is where I want to part tonight. I want to pursue the contented life. The opposite of covetousness is contentment. And God doesn't want me to be a covetous Christian. He wants me to be a contented Christian. I want you to turn your Bibles, if you would please, over to the New Testament. 1 Timothy chapter number 6. I was talking to my college class this past week and I said for almost every major doctrine of the Bible, if not every major doctrine of the Bible, and subject to the Bible, there is a definitive passage. That means that there may be a smattering of verses, there may be teaching other places, but there will be what I call a definitive passage. James chapter number 3 is the tongue. Alright? 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the resurrection. Isaiah 53, the cross of Christ. Psalm 22, the cross of Christ. 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter of the Bible. 1 Thessalonians 4, the rapture chapter of the Bible. And so these are great chapters of the Bible that are definitive. When you come to 1 Timothy 6, it is the definitive statement on covetousness and money. and wealth. Notice what God says in verse number 6. But godliness with contentment is great gain. God said the greatest gain that we'll ever have in our lives is a life of godliness coupled with contentment. That I have a godly life and I'm content with God's will for my life. Friend, there's no greater place for your life, my life, your family, my family, than right smack in the center of God's will. Amen? Alright, look at verse 7. Here's why. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Alright? I came in with nothing, we go out with nothing. Right? I know we hear it all the time. When was the last time we saw a hearse pulling a U-Haul? Alright? And listen, the wealth doesn't go with us. Alright? Only what we do for Christ is what's going to last. Verse 8, "...and having food and raiment, let us be there with content." Look at verse number 9, "...but they that will be rich." Can I just say something? There's nothing wrong with being rich. Not a thing. God never condemns being wealthy. Never does. He condemns the unlawful desire to be wealthy. God never condemns anyone who through honest gain, makes wealth. God never condemns that. But what He does condemn is when I unlawfully desire wealth or when wealth becomes my God. That I worship wealth more than I worship the God of heaven. Alright? And so you don't have to be rich or have a lot of money to desire money. To have a covetous heart. You don't have to be John D. Rockefeller to want more. Matter of fact, you can be the homeless person out on the road that wants more. Notice verse 9, that means they unlawfully desire or they have the passion to be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. God said when you and I are eaten up with covetousness, it leads to a destructive way of life, and it leads to a destructive life, and it leads to a broken life. Look at verse 10. For the love of money, not money, but the love of it is the root of all evil. That means it is of no eternal value, which while some covet after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. God said, listen, being wealthy and everything, it's cracked up to be. That's what He's saying. He's saying two things that every Christian desires to be godly and to be content. That doesn't mean that I can't have more. That doesn't mean that I can't be more. That doesn't mean that I can't be successful in life. It doesn't mean that at all. But what it does mean is that that shouldn't be the drive and the desire of my life to the exclusion of what God wants for my life. How, preacher, do I pursue the content of life? Let me give you three reasons, three ways real quickly, and we'll be done. Letter A, or I used to go one, two, three, and I just said letter A because it's a habit of teaching class. Be glad for what others have. Be glad for what others have. Rejoice with them that do rejoice. And I mentioned this morning, I'm not going to labor it. When we look at other people and what they have, we'll respond in one of two ways. We'll either be jealous for what they have or we'll be glad for what they have. And friend, how I respond will determine the condition of my heart. If I have a covetous heart, there will be something within me that will turn with envy and it will almost desire, it will almost be bitter at the fact that I don't have what they have. I'll be angry that I don't have what they have. Or I'll think, why in the world, why in the world did they have it but I don't have it? And we'll become jealous rather than glad. 2 Corinthians 10-12, I want to show you another verse. Would you turn there? I'm going to make us look at several passages tonight. I don't normally turn to this many, but I want us to see it because God wants to cure us of the sin of covetousness and teach us to live lives of contentment. Look at verse number 12, 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 10, For we dare not, watch this, for we dare not make ourselves of the number, that word number would mean company, or group of people, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. Now what he says, watch this, but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves are not Wise. We talk to preachers about this all the time. Be careful that you don't compare yourself and your ministry with somebody else and their ministry. I remember when I first went to Lenore and God entrusted me with a whopping 18 people. And I began to pastor that church, and I'm going to tell you, those years were struggles. I mean, I had just a small church. I was working full-time, going to school full-time, had a family, pastoring a church, doing all of those things that I was doing all at one time. Some of the most difficult times of our life in the sense of just trying to juggle all of those things. I had no idea what God was going to prepare me for. But those early days, God was preparing me for the lighter years of my life. I had no idea. But I was just a church on a hill in the back country. Nobody knew where it was at. I never got invited to preach. I never got invited to do revival meetings. I never got invited to... As a matter of fact, I would think there were times that I thought I was the forgotten preacher at the forgotten church. It just seemed like we scraped and clawed for every person that came through the doors of our church. And I was thinking, Lord, what about so-and-so? Look what he has. And God, look what they have. And boy, I got so discouraged. And I was so down, and I felt like God had sort of just threw me to the side, to the curb, and set me on a shelf. And I sort of felt like I was off over here to the side, and the only reason this church wanted me to be their pastor is because they didn't know any better. I went to a revival meeting that night, and I was so discouraged. And the preacher said, you know what? There's a discouraged preacher. He didn't know me from Adam's house cat, and I never even went up and talked to him. I don't know if Adam had a house cat, but there were cats in that day. Anyway, he said, there's a discouraged preacher here, and he said, you're about ready to quit. I want to stand up and say, me! It's me! He's talking to me, everybody! And then he said this, he said, you know what, just stay faithful because God can trust you in a hard place. And I thought, wow, Lord, is that what this is? Did you place me here so you could trust me? and because you trusted Me to be." And you know what? That built and fostered within me a sense of faithfulness. And I want to say something to the young preachers in this building. There are some that God's going to bless quicker than others. And some are going to be in some places and their church is just going to seem like it's going to bloom and blossom. And somebody over here, they're just struggling and scratching and clawing for everything they can get. And they look over there and they think, what in the world is wrong with me? You know what the reality of it is? It might be that God can just trust you in a hard place. And God said, dear Christian, that when you and I begin to look around us at the blessings or at the circumstance or the situation of other people, and especially the unsaved around us, and we look at them and we think, my, why can't it go like that in my life? And why do I have this trouble? And why does it seem like I'm always fighting fire in my life? Listen, God said, number one, it's unwise to compare yourself and measure yourself because what I'm doing in your life is different than what I'm doing in their life. And it might be that they don't even belong to God. And so God's not doing anything in their life. But He's at work in your life. And He's entrusted you. And He's working in you and working through you. And you just need to be willing to be trusted in a hard place. And listen, here's what it teaches me. Be the person God created you to be. and the person God saved you to be. Because nobody can be the best version of who you are. I like the quote that was given to me by one of our staff members. I heard I was preaching on this. They said, I don't know who said it, but I wrote it down. I thought it was good. Comparison is the enemy of contentment. You ought to write that down in the fly leaf of your Bible. Comparison is the enemy of contentment. Young ladies, the danger of looking at the fashion of this world and thinking that because here's this woman who's a model or this or that or whatever, what the world is trying to make you look like and be like, and you're not successful if you don't look this way. Or you don't weigh a certain amount. You understand where I'm coming from? And we're not careful. The devil will use that in our lives to defeat us and discourage us. You know what the average person is? Average. Wouldn't we say that's what the majority of us are? You know, the reality of it is you're special to God. And God made you you, and you need to quit trying to be somebody else. Listen, if Hollywood was where it was at, they wouldn't have been married umpteen dozen times, killing themselves with drugs, shot through with alcohol, their lives wrecked and ruined. If that was the place, wouldn't you think that would be an oasis? Television is a lie. They want to try to create some kind of world that doesn't exist because I believe they're trying to fool themselves into thinking that they're happy and satisfied and content and they're the most discontented people on the planet. And when you and I can walk into God and who we are in Him, friend, and the sufficiency of who I am in Jesus Christ and who He is in my life, friend, thus contented we will be. Amen? Next, be grateful for what you do have. Oh, if I could just jot this down and remember it in my own life. Be grateful for what you do have. Hebrews chapter 13. Turn there if you would, please. Hebrews chapter 13. We're going to spend the rest of our time in Hebrews 13. Folks, what a battle this is. There are young ladies' lives that are ruined. There are men's lives that are ruined because of the society around us pressuring us to look a certain way and be a certain way and all of this. You just take this supplement. We'll even give you the first bottle free. Or maybe they'll starve themselves. And there's all kinds of issues emotionally and spiritually and physically that comes from trying to be like this world. And God said, be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. To understand, just be who you are. And I'm going to tell you what, you'll be beautiful for God. Amen? You say, Preacher, if I don't do this, I might wind up an old maid and unmarried and my whole life like that. Can I tell you that there's few people on planet earth that have the gift of singleness? You say, Preacher, how do I know if I got it? If you want to be married, you don't have it. And God's created somebody for you. Wait upon the Lord. Don't get ahead of God. It may not come when you want it to come, but as you're faithful to God, it may be that God is preparing you for who He has for you, and God's preparing them for you, and let's wait on the Lord! I couldn't tell you the number of people that maybe are in a second or third marriage and they said, you know, this is the mate God wanted me to have. And you wonder if maybe it's because they got ahead of God the first time, or the second time, and it was outside the will of God for their lives. Does that make sense? And they carry the scars of doing things their way rather than God's way. Look at Hebrews 13, 5. Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Wow. True joy and contentment doesn't come from what I have in life, but who I know in life. If you have everything without God, you don't have anything. But if you have nothing with God, you have everything. I'll never forget the first time I went to the mission field. I was shell-shocked. I'd never been to a third world country before. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. We were in Managua, Nicaragua. I mean, trash everywhere, dirty. I mean, I'd never seen anything like it in my life. I mean, here's a boy out of the back country of North Carolina going to Monongahua, Nicaragua, never seen anything like it. You know, goodness. And I'll never forget, I was riding by, and we rode by a preacher's house, and he had a slat house. It was just made out of what you and I would call pallets. And he had curtains that divided the room. That was all he had for walls. No plumbing. He was in the yard, squatted down beside a fire, cooking his food. And you know what he was doing? He was singing to the Lord. He didn't have anything of what you and I would consider that made somebody happy. But he was happy. He was happy. And didn't know, can I say it, what he even was missing. so to speak, from our perspective. But yet he was just so content, and so happy, and so satisfied. And I thought, wow. Because I felt for him. And the missionary said, don't feel for him, he probably feels for you. Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. Danny Simpson was a robber. In 1990 in Ottawa, Canada, 24-year-old Danny Simpson robbed a bank and he stole $6,000. He got caught, went to trial, received a six-year prison sentence for his crime. But that's not what's fascinating about the story. You see, robbery by small-time crooks like Danny Simpson happened every day all around the world, but what's fascinating is this crime that he did rob in the bank. He used a .45 caliber Colt semi-automatic pistol made by the Ross Rifle Company in Quebec, Canada that was patented in 1918. The gun was an antique. He stole $6,000, but the gun he held at hand that he committed the robbery with was worth, at that time, $100,000. worth sixteen times what he stole. You know what? If this man had just paid attention to what he already had, he wouldn't have wanted what belonged to somebody else. And when you and I realize that we have God, and we understand that God is all we need, and that God knows what we need, and God provides for us and meets our needs, we won't have any problem wanting what somebody else has. Be grateful. Look down at verse 15 of Hebrews 13, "...by Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name." Wow! I need to be grateful for God's provision in my life. And then here's the last one. I want to pursue the contented life. then be gracious with what you have. Did you see it? Be glad for what others have, be grateful for what you do have, and be gracious with what you have. There are two words that have to do with this matter of covenants. It's called getting and giving. You know, the root problem of covetousness is found in the word get. Get, get, get, get. And the opposite of getting is giving. Getting has to do with covetousness, and giving has to do with contentment. You see, every time I give to somebody else, whether it's giving my tithes and offerings to the Lord, or giving to someone in need, it breaks the grip of covetousness in my life. It teaches me to be a giver rather than a getter. I'm saying to that particular dollar bill, I can get along without you. Somebody else needs it more than I do. I don't have to have it. Isn't that something? There's a little exercise I used to do. We're going to do it real quick. Would you just take your hand and make a fist? Alright, do that and then just squeeze it as hard as you can. Just squeeze as hard as you can. Boy, you feel the tenseness in that hand? You feel that? Feel that? Feel that? Now turn it loose. But when you grip it, you know what? It just makes you tense. But when you give it, it releases something, doesn't it? We ought to be a giver rather than a getter. There was a congressman who took his son to McDonald's. It was interesting. His son wanted some french fries, so he bought him a super-sized order and they sat down to eat. Congressman sat there, he began smelling those fries and he thought, you know what, I might have a couple of my boys fries. So he reached over and started to take some of his fries and his son looked up at him with a mean look. He said, hey dad, those are my french fries. Congressman said, that went through me like a dart. He said, what a bad attitude my boy has. He said, in that very moment, that congressman, as he began to think about that, spoke to his very heart. And he said, here's what I said. He said, I thought three things about my son. He said, first of all, he said, my son had forgotten where the French fries came from, because I'm the one that bought them. Secondly, he doesn't understand I have the power to take them all away from him. And third, he doesn't realize I've got the money to go buy 40 orders of super-sized French fries and bury him in them. Or I could just go buy my own French fries and sit at a table and eat them by myself and not give Him any of them." And he said at that moment, God spoke to him and He said, that's exactly the attitude that you have toward me sometimes. You need to remember where your blessings come from. I'm the one that gave you what you have. Everything you have. And I can take it away from you anytime I want to. and I don't need what you have because I own everything." Wow! You see, folks, when we become people who pursue contentment and avoid covetousness, it's at that moment that we understand that all that we have and all that anyone else has comes from God. He owns it all anyway. And you know what the reality of it is? It can free us up to be glad for what others do have, and grateful for what we have, and be gracious with that that we do have. You see, that's the key to contentment. I'm glad when others get. I'm grateful for what God gives me and then I'm gracious with what gives me because God enables me to take and then give rather than get. You see, one of the blessings of the Christian life is learning to give. To give to God, to give to others. See, when we learn to give rather than get, it breaks the grip of covetousness in our lives. Friend, listen, God wants us to understand the key to contentment, and it's to pursue the contented life and avoid the covetous life. Let's stand to our feet, heads bowed, eyes closed. Friend, God's spoken to your