The Death Trap Called Covetousness

Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. (1 Timothy 6:9)

Covetousness can destroy the soul in hell forever.

The reason I am sure that this destruction is not some temporary financial fiasco, but final destruction in hell, is what Paul says three verses later in 1 Timothy 6:12. He says that covetousness is to be resisted with the fight of faith. Then he adds, “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession.” What’s at stake in fleeing covetousness and fighting for contentment by faith in future grace is eternal life.

So, when Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:9 that the desire to be rich plunges people into ruin, he isn’t saying that greed can mess up your marriage or your business (which it certainly can!). He is saying that covetousness can mess up your eternity. Or, as 1 Timothy 6:10 says at the end, “It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (literally: “impaled themselves on many pains”).

God has gone the extra mile in the Bible to warn us mercifully that the idolatry of covetousness is a no-win situation. It’s a dead-end street in the worst sense of the word. It’s a trick and a deadly trap.

So, my word to you is the word of 1 Timothy 6:11: “Flee these things.” When you see it coming (in a television ad or a Christmas catalog or an Internet pop-up or a neighbor’s purchase), run from it the way you would run from a roaring, starving lion escaped from the zoo. “Take hold of the eternal life.”

John Piper 

Who Will God Use?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty…” 1 Corinthians 1:27

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

People say, “Well, I don't believe God can use me.” You’re insulting God. You’re limiting Him. “Well,” you say, “all right then, I'll just serve God in my poor little old weak way.” Quit it! He doesn't want you to serve him in your “poor little old weak way.” God wants to take ordinary people and do extraordinary things through them!

This is the kind of people God wants to use. He delights to use them. He’s done it from the dawn on time: Gideon, Deborah, young Samuel, Ruth the widow, David the shepherd boy, Esther the orphan, Matthew the tax collector. Don’t forget Cornelius, the member of an occupying army; Saul, the church-persecutor; Peter, the denier; and John Mark, the deserter.

It's not your fame; it's your faith.

It's not your scholarship; it's your relationship.

It's not who you know; it's Whose you are that counts.

ACTION POINT

God takes what the world calls a foolish message, combines it with a weak messenger, and mixes these two in the crucible of His love and wisdom. The result is glory to God. Be willing to be used of God, no matter how weak you believe you are. Trust Him to empower you. Remember— God doesn’t need your ability, only your availability.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

I Can Be Content in Every Circumstance

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11–13)

God’s provision of day-by-day future grace enables Paul to be filled or to be hungry, to prosper or suffer, to have abundance or go wanting.

“I can do all things” really means “all things,” not just easy things. “All things” means, “Through Christ I can hunger and suffer and be in want.” This puts the stunning promise of Philippians 4:19 in its proper light: “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

What does “every need of yours” mean in view of Philippians 4:11–12? It means “all that you need for God-glorifying contentment.” Which may include times of hunger and need. Paul’s love for the Philippians flowed from his contentment in God, and his contentment flowed from his faith in the future grace of God’s infallible provision to be all he needed in times of plenty and want.

It’s obvious then that covetousness is exactly the opposite of faith. It’s the loss of contentment in Christ so that we start to crave other things to satisfy the longings of our hearts which only the presence of God himself can satisfy. And there’s no mistaking that the battle against covetousness is a battle against unbelief in God’s promise to be all we need in every circumstance.

This is so clear in Hebrews 13:5. Watch how the author argues for our freedom from the love of money — freedom from covetousness — the freedom of contentment in God: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” Faith in this promise — “I will never leave you” — breaks the power of all God-dishonoring desire — all covetousness.

Whenever we sense the slightest rise of covetousness in our hearts, we must turn on it and fight it with all our might using the weapons of this faith.

John Piper 

You Might Be an Atheist

BIBLE MEDITATION

So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?”

2 Kings 7:2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

This officer, a government official, acted like he believed in God, but he was a practical atheist. He spoke of God but doubted His power. To me the biggest fool is not the man who says there is no God, but the man who says there is a God, and then doesn't live like it.

Here was a man who had a sterile religion. He believed in God in a way. He had a form of godliness, but he denied the power thereof. And he was the loser. He was robbed by the thief of unbelief. I want you to see in the next verse what Elisha, God’s prophet, said to him: And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

Unbelief always withholds God's blessings from us. When we say we believe, but act as though God is not in the equation, we are practical atheists. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

ACTION POINT

Are you captured by the thief of unbelief? Your sins are withholding good things from you and unbelief is the chief among them. Renounce unbelief as a sin. Confess it to the Lord. Refuse to let it hold you captive.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Faith Honors Him Whom It Trusts

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith giving glory to God. (Romans 4:20)

Oh, how I long for God to be glorified in our pursuit of holiness and love. But God is not glorified unless our pursuit is empowered by faith in his promises.

And the God who revealed himself most fully in Jesus Christ, who was crucified for our sins and raised for our justification (Romans 4:25), is most glorified when we embrace his promises with joyful firmness because they are bought by the blood of his Son.

God is honored when we are humbled for our feebleness and failure, and when he is trusted for future grace. That’s the point of Romans 4:20 where Paul describes Abraham’s faith, “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith giving glory to God.”

He grew strong in his faith, thus giving glory to God. Faith in God’s promises glorifies him as supremely wise and strong and good and trustworthy. So, unless we learn how to live by faith in the promises of God’s future grace, we may perform remarkable religious rigors, but not for God’s glory.

He is glorified when the power to be holy comes through humble faith in future grace.

Martin Luther said, “[Faith] honors him whom it trusts with the most reverent and highest regard, since it considers him truthful and trustworthy.” The trusted Giver gets the glory.

My great desire is that we learn how to live for God’s honor. And that means living by faith in future grace, which, in turn, means battling unbelief in all the ways it rears its head.

John Piper 

June 23

37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."

39 He also told them a parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. - Luke 6:37-42

1 Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

2 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.

3 Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:1-7

1 In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. 

2 Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. 

3 What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? 

4 A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree! 

5 Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! 

6 Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. 

7 I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!  - Psalms 120

1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.'"

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying,

3 "Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him:

5 "Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD,

6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake."

7 And Isaiah said, "Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover."

8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?"

9 And Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?"

10 And Hezekiah answered, "It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps."

11 And Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

12 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

13 And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon."

15 He said, "What have they seen in your house?" And Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them."

16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD:

17 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD.

18 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?"

20 The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place. - 2 Kings 20

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.

2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.

3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem will I put my name."

5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

6 And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

7 And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

8 And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them."

9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.

10 And the LORD said by his servants the prophets,

11 "Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols,

12 therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.

13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

14 And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies,

15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day."

16 Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

20 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done.

21 He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them.

22 He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.

23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house.

24 But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

26 And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place. - 2 Kings 21

Our God Cannot Lie

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord …”2 Kings 7:1a

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

We speak of the Bible as inerrant and infallible. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. I’ve noticed the more liberal a preacher gets, the more he doesn’t like to call the Bible the Word of God. But oh, dear friend, this is the Word of the Lord, spoken by His prophets, and it is authoritative.

Is it really important that we believe the Word of God is true and perfect? Yes. If any part of His Word is not true, then we must conclude God is a liar. But God cannot lie! Every word in the Bible can be trusted.

Billy Graham came to this conclusion in the early years of his ministry and prayed, “I have seen enough of the transforming power of this Word to know that You are behind it…. I take it by faith…and trust You to make clear to me what it means.”

F. B. Myer, one of the greatest devotional writers of all time, said if any promise of God should fail, “the heavens will clothe themselves in sackcloth, and the sun and moon and stars will reel from their seats. The universe will rock, and a hollow wind will moan through creation, bearing the tidings that God is mutable, that God can lie.”

ACTION POINT

A God of truth cannot inspire untruth. Praise God for His absolute trustworthiness. No need to argue or quibble about it. If it’s the Word of God and God is a God of truth, then it can’t contain error. A God of error cannot inspire, and a God of truth cannot inspire error. It is the product of the Spirit of God. It is thereby totally infallible because God is infallible. Thank God for the inerrancy of the Bible.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers