IDEA: Covetousness can cause us to make decisions that are destructive to people close to us.

"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s" (TEXT: Exodus 20:17)."

"You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s" (Deuteronomy 5:21).

PURPOSE: To help listeners see the dangers of a covetous heart.

When we talk about covetousness, what does the Bible mean by that?

Do you think covetousness is dangerous?

I. Covetousness can be dangerous because it can lead to what we call crime.

Young people will kill to get certain kinds of running shoes.

People will steal in order to fatten the bottom line.

People will lie so they don’t have to pay more income tax.

II. Covetousness can cause us to do destructive things, not to our neighbor who has what we want, but to those who are closest to us who stand in the way of our getting what we want.

Parents with small children can make decisions about both of them working, based not on legitimate need, but on the desire for new carpet or a new car our a new house.

Paul warns that those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men and women in destruction and perdition (1 Timothy 6:9). How can the desire to be rich destroy people and even cause them to be lost forever