What Drains Happiness from Your Home
Category: Fear & Worry
Key Passage: Exodus 20:17
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: February 7, 2021
Your Bibles, if you would, to Exodus, chapter number 20, Exodus, chapter number 20, if you would please. We have said that in the month of February, Sunday mornings, we’re going to preach on a Christian home. We’ll do that, maybe a little different for a family message this morning, but let it be what God has for us.
Then tonight, Brother Jacob Woods will be preaching for us, and then every Sunday night after that, and one Sunday night into March, we’ll be preaching on the end times. By the way, maybe you could use that to get someone into church. Folks are very interested in that subject. We’ll just preach on the end times. Folks, we’re living in the end times, and we’ll discuss a lot of that in the coming Sunday nights.
But family, I want to preach on this subject—I believe the Lord has it for us—on what is draining all the happiness from our homes. Now, it could apply to your marriage, it can apply to young folk, and it could apply to someone that’s single, a widow or widower, just a single person. All of us—the Lord, the devil really can use this thing just to drain us of happiness. We want to look at it. We’re really just going to focus on one verse this morning, and we’ll go back to it a lot. We’ll maybe use other verses, but we’re going to focus on one verse in God’s word this morning: Exodus 20. If you’re a Bible student, you’ll know this is where God, one of the places where God gives us the Ten Commandments.
We’re going to look at one of those, Exodus 20. If I say the verse, you’re not going to listen to me anymore. Amen, you’re going to look down the verse. That’s all right if you’re looking at your Bible. That would be a good thing to do. Exodus 20, verse number 17, if you would. Would you please stand as we read the Word of God together? Exodus 20 and verse number 17 of God’s word. Just out of respect to the Word of God, if you’re able, we like to stand in short respect.
Verse number 17, the Bible says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”
Would you pray and ask the Lord to maybe stop the draining of happiness in our homes a little bit this morning? Lord, thank you for a wonderful book, Your word to preach from. Lord, I do ask that you would take this truth in this verse. Lord, would you apply it to every individual today? Lord, none of us are perfect at it, but Lord, would you grow us in this area this morning? Lord, let us leave with happier homes that shine brighter for you. Father, I’m not just going through a ritual; I’m asking in faith, would you do this, Lord, please? Father, I’m asking for that in your Son, Jesus. Then we pray and believe. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
Both of my brothers live in Alabama, and that just got a mixed reaction from some of you. One, he just sold his place, but he had 14 acres. Back behind his house, he had a pond, a pretty good-sized pond, that he was trying to get water to stay in. It was the rainy season; it did pretty good, but in the dry season, it pretty much dries up. He said, “Man, Paul, it would be so hard, be very expensive, and a lot of work to stop the draining.” He said, “Either we’d have to put some kind of—it’s a pretty good-sized pond—either we’d get some kind of liner in there or get a lot of clay that is dumped in there and spread the clay out.” He said, “Really, it just wasn’t worth it. They never stopped the draining.” So in a dry spell, that pond’s just dried up.
A lot of homes are like that. They have some happiness from time to time, maybe periodically, but it gets drained. What is the thing that is draining? So often, the thing that is draining… Michael, Michael, look up and stop talking, Michael, if you would. Michael, look at me here. Look up and want you listen, buddy. I say that because I love you. I want you to grow and learn from it. But what’s the thing that is draining our homes?
This verse here is one of the Ten Commandments. By the way, all of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament besides the one: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” That’s very interesting; we won’t get into all that, but I want to just kind of point that out real quickly. Look at this one here; we just read it. It is verse number 17. It’s the last. That’s very interesting. The first and the last one are commandments of the heart, actually, not something you maybe do outwardly; it’s something in the heart going on. It’s like bookends of the Ten Commandments. So look at this one here; we read it already, but look at verse number 17. We want to point out just a couple words from that verse number 17, all right?
Here’s the first word we want to point out, verse number 17: “Thou shalt not…” What’s the next word? Covet. “…thy neighbor’s house.” “Thou shalt not…” What’s that next word? Covet. That word covet, by the way, that’s the first time that word is used in your Bible: covet. Just a longing after. I want something so bad, a desire, a strong desire, a little bit stronger than the word desire, a strong desire for something. Covetousness, we say. How many ever heard of covetousness? Be honest, have you ever heard of that covetousness? I think the vast majority has. I think the vast majority of us know what it’s all about, but it’s longing after something.
How does the Lord feel about covetousness? If we’re just a covetous person, we’ve just got a major flaw in our life of coveting. How does God feel about that? Let me read it for you a couple of verses. Maybe if you look over in Luke chapter number 12, there is a classic verse on this subject. Luke 12, verse number 15. Jesus himself, God in flesh, gives us a warning about this thing of covetousness. Luke 12, verse number 15, real quickly here. Jesus gives us a warning about covetousness. Luke 12 and verse number 15. And when you find that, would you say, “Amen?” Luke 12:15, and He, Jesus, said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness.” By the way, He said, “Well, I’ve got no problem in that way, and don’t beware.” Jesus said, “Beware.” All of us can fall to that trap. “Take heed and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” It’s very easy for Americans to get caught in this trap: your life consists of things you have. Those that got the most toys win, that kind of philosophy. Jesus said, “Beware of that right there.” It’ll come knocking at every person. It’ll come knocking at your door: covetousness.
How does the Lord feel about it? Ephesians 5:3: “But fornication, all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints.” Hey, the Lord God abhors it. If you really—He hates covetousness. Psalms 10, verse number three: “For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.” Did you know whom the Lord abhors? The covetous. Isaiah 57:17: “For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him.” God said, “I brought my chastening hand because of covetousness.”
Hey, the Lord can’t use you. Stick with me in the beginning here. Stick with me as we look at some verses. Look over in Exodus, if you will. You’re already in Exodus 20. Look at chapter number 18, chapter number 18, verse number 21. This is when Moses’ father-in-law comes and says, “You can’t do it all. You need to get some leaders to help you and pick out somebody and lead thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens and get you some organization going.” Notice what the Bible says about the type of person that can lead. Exodus 18, look in verse number 21. Exodus 18:21: “Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.” He said, “Find somebody that hates covetousness; they’ll make a good leader.” The Lord likes it when we hate covetousness. Did you hate covetousness? I hope you have it just a… I hate it when I’m covetous. All of us are there from time to time. God likes it when we hate it.
Proverbs 28:16: “The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.” You say, “I like to live a little bit longer.” Hate covetousness, and God says it will prolong your days. You say, “Well, I thought we all have an appointment with death.” We do. If you study the Bible, you can lengthen or shorten that. The wicked man shortens that. The guy that obeys the commandments of the Lord, you can lengthen that a little bit. If you hate covetousness, you can prolong it a little bit.
Covetousness. In the last days, we’re living in the last days. How do you think the Lord is going to come back pretty soon here? Who knows the day or the hour, but it’s coming, friends. Signs are all there. What’s the last days going to look like? The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3:2: “For the men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous.” A whole lot of covetousness will be going on in the end times we’re living in. Can I say, don’t be so foolish as to spend your life wanting what you don’t have? Young people, don’t get in the habit. Young people, it’ll start when you’re young. You want to be like everybody else. You want to have a personality like them. You want to look like them. You want to have their girlfriend, their boyfriend. You want to play basketball like so-and-so. If you’re not careful, you’ll start this habit of growing up being covetous, and you will not be happy. Don’t be so foolish to spend your life wanting what you don’t have.
There was a wealthy Swedish man one day. He was a businessman, very wealthy years ago. When he was a boy, he was very poor, just dirt poor. His family took care of some cattle, and that was his job as a boy: take care of the cattle. Somehow he got a hold—they say it was a little bit less in our economy, 50 cents. You know, preachers always have their two cents. Look at there, I’ve got two cents in my pocket for him. I’m going to give you my two cents this morning. He tricked his sister. He said, “Hey, sis, if you watch my—I think it was sheep as well—if you watch my sheep all day long, I’ll let you hold my money.” Well, it was just a rare thing for them to even have or see money. So she said, “Oh, man, I’ll do it.” And she watched those sheep all day long, holding on that little bit of money.
Years later, this wealthy businessman was talking to a group of people, and he was kind of making fun of his sister and laughing about, “My sister watched those sheep all day long just to hold that money for a day.” Now, the man was saved, they say he was saved, but he had lost his passion for the Lord. He was just backslid. There’s a good Christian in the audience, just a handful of people, friends. And that Christian spoke up and said, “Hey friend, that’s all God’s let you do: hold that money until your day’s done.” That’s all any of us do for it. Don’t spend your life just caught up on things; you’re not happy. You spend your life wanting what you don’t have.
Now, the first word, just covet. I think you’ve got the grasp of this: covet. Now let’s go down through the list that God gives us here in this verse. I want you to notice a couple of things about it, all right? First of all, we looked at the word covet. Now I want you to notice a couple more words over here in Exodus 20, verse number 17. Y’all still with me this morning? Good deal. Chapter 20, verse number 17. If you hear there, he says, “Thou shalt not covet thy…” What’s the next two words? “Neighbor’s house.” Well, that’s interesting. He uses more than once this word “neighbor,” thy neighbor’s house. “Thou shalt not covet thy…” What’s the next two words?
Notice how God puts an importance on your neighbor in this verse, those around you. Now, He doesn’t use that term “neighbor” every time, but He starts using this term “his,” replying back to the neighbor. Watch it; you’ll see it a lot in this verse here. “Nor his man-servant, nor…” What’s the next word? “His maid-servant.” “Nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy…” Now, I want you to notice how God, when it’s talking about coveting and covetousness, He talks a lot about those people around you, your neighbors, if you will.
Here’s the thing: I believe that God is trying to point out to you and me this morning: if I’m not going to covet, I’m going to have to get my eyes off of all those around me. You see, if Satan can get me where my eyes are on the Joneses—you know the Joneses—where are they at? They took off. They knew I was going to preach about them today. They left. Look at that. So many people, if you’ve got your eyes on the Joneses, the guy next door, and the marriage next door, and the kids next door, and somebody else in church, Satan knows he can drain your happiness. The key for you and me, if I’m not going to covet, is to get my eyes off of everyone else. That’s the key. That’s why the Lord keeps talking about your neighbor, your neighbor.
Look, friend, you can have a pretty good wife; she’s pretty good to you. But yet, if you’ve got your eyes on somebody else’s wife, you’re not going to be happy. You can have pretty good kids, but if you’ve got your eyes on somebody else’s kid saying, “I wish my kid did like their kid,” then you’re not going to be happy with your kids. Hey, you might have a pretty good home, and if you’re always looking at everybody else’s home, “I wish I had that,” and “I wish I had a mom and dad to give me the latest phone and all the rest of that,” you’re not going to be happy with whatever you have. You’re just not going to be happy. So this key, the key to this thing about covetousness, is getting my eyes off of my neighbor.
Let’s follow, let’s just look down, let’s just be very biblical about this thing, and let’s just see what all God says here in this verse. Go back over verse number 17. He said, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s…” What’s the first word he uses? House.
There was an article in The Atlantic. The title of it was, “Are the Mansions Making People Any Happier?” Several years ago in the article, this is what they said: Homes have gotten bigger, but Americans aren’t any more pleased with the extra space. In 1973, when the Census Bureau started tracking home size, the medium size of a newly built house was just over 1,500 square feet. That figure nearly—or excuse me—in 2015, was 2,500 square feet. This rise, combined with the drop of the average number of people per household, has translated to a whole lot more room for homeowners and their families. By one estimate, each newly built house had an average of 500 square feet per resident in 1973. Nearly twice that: 971 square feet four decades later. We’re getting bigger and bigger and bigger houses.
Somebody said, “I wanted to build me a 1,200 square foot house.” They don’t build houses like that nowadays. You won’t let me out there; they just don’t do it. You have to find one that’s built pretty much—you have to find one like that. We’re just wanting bigger and bigger and better and better. And friend, somewhere along the line, we got caught up in this rat race of coveting, and I’ve got to have it because everybody else has got it. It doesn’t mean everybody else is happier. So often this covetousness is draining us.
Never think about Sodom and Gomorrah. God said, “I’m going to bring that fire and brimstone; get out of town.” I can’t bring my judgment. By the way, there’s a good side of the rapture right there, amen! Praise the Lord, He’s going to deliver us from the tribulation to come. We aren’t going to be here when the tribulation goes on. He brings down His great wrath. Praise the Lord, I’m going to be in heaven having some—drinking some sweet tea, amen! That’s what it’s talking about. When God brought Lot and his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah, He said, “I can’t bring my destruction like I like to remember that?” You don’t remember that? What happened? They’re leaving, man; they’re getting out of Dodge. And what happens? Oh, Lot’s wife, she knew better. God said, “Don’t you look back.” And she turned, looked back, turned a pillar of salt. That doesn’t mean for us Tennesseans a pillar that you lay your head on, all right? That’s not what it means—a pillar. You’ll get that a little bit later on. I used to think, why was it? What made her look back?
It’s interesting. The New Testament tells us—look over in Luke 17. The Bible gives us a little insight into what it was that Lot’s wife was doing. Why was she looking back? Remember, they went over the well-watered plains. The economy was good over there. That’s what it means in our day and time: good jobs over there, big houses, big cars over there. Everybody’s got a Cadillac in their driveway, you know. Whenever it’s silent a morning, God says, “Get out of that wicked place; I’m bringing my judgment on it.” Lot’s wife looked back. Why? What was she looking back for? What made her look back?
Luke 17, look at verse number 31. Luke 17, verse number 31: “In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away.” He said, “Look, when I’m coming back and this judgment’s coming and whatnot, don’t you go back and try to get all your stuff. Just forget about all that stuff.” That’s what He said. “And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.” What’s the next verse? “Remember Lot’s wife.” He’s saying Lot’s wife had a hard time just leaving all that house and all that stuff in the house alone. When she was leaving, she just could not help it; she had to turn back and look at all her stuff. In front of my heartstrings and the eyes of my mind are always looking at all the stuff. Jesus said, “Beware of that covetousness.” A man’s life does not consist of the things that he possesses.
The first thing He says: If we don’t covet their house, a whole lot of people are living in big old houses and are miserable. Those things don’t bring happiness. Sometimes we get so caught up in them, the Lord calls us home, and we’d be stuck looking back for a minute or two, if you will. No, that’s not the big thing. Can I say this? It’s very hard to be happy in your home when you want to live in a bigger one. You want a better place and more luxuries. You’re not going to be happy in your home. You can have a beautiful home; it doesn’t matter where you live. It’s a matter if your mind and your heart is wanting something else. You will not be happy where you’re at.
If we’re not careful, we get caught up in the rat race of America: “I’ve got to have more, more, more.” The person whoever it is in this auditorium here that lives in the quote-unquote worst house or apartment or trailer, whatever you live in, I guarantee you there are billions of people in this world that would love to live in your place. Yet Satan will get you caught up looking at what everybody else has around you, and you will not be happy where you are because you’re coveting everybody else with that. The first thing God says: “Hey, don’t covet their house.” Sad thing, many marriages have lost their joy and their fun and just enjoying life because they want bigger and bigger and better and better. Sometimes you get caught in the rat race where you just can’t enjoy what you have. It’s a sad statement. So many Americans are stuck there.
Can I say this? And I’m not trying to hurt someone, and I understand there are situations where you can’t do this. But can I just encourage husbands and wives: if there’s any way possible, Mama, when those kids are little, stay home with them. I’d rather do without and shop at Goodwill and every yard sale there is than have my wife working when the kids are little. I understand sometimes, but I’m just saying, do the best you can; stay home with those kids if you can make it all work. That must be a joint agreement between husband and wife. But if you can…
You say, “Man, it’s just hard to be happy with what I have.” Friend, it’s not a matter of what you have; it’s a matter of what you’re looking at. That’s what it’s about. How many of you have a car with a check engine light on in it right now? How many? Be honest. I know I have had more than just—we’ve got several of them. Yeah, man, you can have a car where the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree, all those warning lights going on, you know. And you can still be happy. You say, “It’s what God gave me. I’m going to do the best to care of it.” But you can have the 2021 model just came out, got all the bells and whistles and got everything new on it, nice, and yet you’re going to find somebody that’s got a better car than you, and you’re not going to be happy. It’s not a matter of what you have; it’s a matter of what you’re looking at: your neighbors. The first thing He says is the neighbor’s house.
Can I go back for just a second here? Young people, you better cover your ears if you will, because you won’t like this. Okay, maybe young people, cover your parents’ ears, all right? You don’t want them to hear this. Mom and Dad, let me say something: sometimes your kids need to do without. These guys are saying, “Oh, no!” They’re saying, “Praise the Lord, my mom and dad is not here today.” If you’re always giving them everything they want, they’re going to grow up wanting and expecting everything they want. Life’s just not like that. You’re allowing it to be miserable.
One of my best Christmases—and I mean this, it’s crazy, and I don’t know exactly why—my parents were in full-time Christian service at the time, but we lived in a camper at the time. Our Christmas tree was about two feet tall. I got a pair of tennis shoes. That’s it for Christmas. Snickers bars, some of them cold. I know I remember this. My dad, he got one Christmas present. He went to a men’s fellowship at the church. We were trying to help out at the time, and he got a little bitty shoe—not the big ones. I mean, one of the kind of, almost like the kind you fix your eyeglasses with. It was a little bit bigger than that, but kind of like that’s what we got. All I got was a pair of tennis shoes. And yeah, I remember that as a fond memory, one of my best Christmases. They might need you to stop trying to give them everything and give them yourself. Happy homes happen like that. But if we’re not careful, we get caught up, having to have what everybody else has, and we get caught up in the rat race of coveting and coveting, and it will never end because the Joneses always got something a little bit bigger and better. They’re trying to keep up with the Joneses they’re looking at.
So the first thing He says over here, He says, “Thy neighbor’s house.” Let’s look at the next thing He says here. Look at the next thing, verse number 17, chapter 20. He says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant.”
Now, hopefully you’ve figured out He’s talking to the men here. Amen. Nowadays, you have to point that out a little bit, you know. Men, men, this philosophy—this philosophy: “Well, I’m all right as long as I don’t touch; I can look without touching.” First of all, that’s a lie out of the pit of hell.
Remember what Jesus said over there? Jesus said, “Hey, if you look at a woman to lust, you’ve committed adultery already with her in your…” What’s the next word? “…heart.” What does Lamentations 3:51 say? It says, “Mine eye affecteth mine heart.” Now, here’s what He’s saying, men: You cannot—you cannot love your spouse like you ought to when your eyes are looking elsewhere. It’s going to drain your heart of the love and the appreciation and the sweetness you ought to have towards your wife because your eyes are elsewhere, and your eyes affect your heart. Then here’s the cycle that happens so often: your eyes are elsewhere. She might not even know what’s going on. So it’s messing up your heart toward your wife, and then you’re a little bit cold toward your wife. You’re not appreciating her like you ought to, and the wife is a responder. Then you go around complaining that your wife’s as cold as a fish, but really, you’re not giving her the stimulus you need because your heart’s not there. And then it’s a never-ending cycle; you’re tempted to look elsewhere even more because your wife’s cold because your heart wasn’t there in the first place.
The media goes around promoting very wickedly dressed women, hurting marriages across our country. You can say amen right there. Pornography, and even commercials—you can’t even go down the highway sometimes without seeing billboards. And then the dress—if you go to the mall, and a sad thing, even sometimes in church houses—the dress is horrible. Amen. Have we wondered why we have such a problem? Friend, your eyes are affecting your heart; you’re committing adultery already with her in your heart. You’re not going to love that wife like you ought to; your heart’s messed up. Some of you men—that’s why God, that’s why God thought it was important enough. He singled out this thing. Actually, He repeats the commandment over in Deuteronomy, and He puts “desire” in your neighbor’s wife first, if you read it over there, Deuteronomy 5. We have a major epidemic problem of the eyes of men; your heart’s messed up. Some men then say, “Hey, Lord, would you—would you clean my heart up?” Start working on your eyes and stop the draining of your home. You’re not going to have a happy home like that; you’re not. God points it out very, very clearly. He said, “Hey, don’t you desire, don’t you covet your neighbor’s wife.”
Now let’s go home. Some of you say, “Phew, let’s go home, preacher.” Amen. Let’s go to the next one. Look back over there, verse number 17, if you would please. Verse number 17. Next is Exodus 20, verse number 17. He says… I’m out of breath, man. Goodness gracious. Getting old and fat, man. What’s going on? Thank you, Brother Gordon. He shook his head, “No,” I’ll take that, brother. Amen. Verse number 17, he said, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant.”
You say, “What would they equal in our day and time?” His employees, if you will. It would be equivalent for Lot: his career. However many man-servants he had was basically his workforce or his career. You’re saying, “Look, I don’t want you to spend your life wanting someone else’s career.” Now listen, you know this. When I say it, you’ll say it’s true. You’ll know this, but it’s just good for us to hear it: there are a whole lot of people that have a great career, and they may be way up the ladder, and they are as miserable as a day is long. I’m not saying, and the Bible is not saying these things are wrong as far as having man-servants or a career; that’s not wrong. But coveting someone’s career—that’s wrong. It may be God doesn’t want you to have that career because if you had that career, it would ruin you. So He said, “Hey, stop the coveting.”
I would rather—I would rather, now listen, I mean this—I would rather work at a warehouse, a factory job, whatever it may be—and I’ve worked plenty of factory jobs over the years, welding and machines—I’d rather have a factory job and yet go home and be happy and enjoy life and serve God than have some big career and be miserable. By the way, you can’t serve two masters. Some people can have a good career and keep their eyes on the Lord, and praise the Lord for them. Money is not the root of all evil; the love of money is the root of all evil. But some people cannot handle that; it just grabs a hold of them, maybe from their childhood or something; they can’t handle it. Hey, if you’re one of those people, just enjoy that factory job, whatever it may be, and say, “I’m going to be happy with what I have.”
Let’s keep going. We’ll go right out of time. What does He say here, verse number 17? “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant.” Maids—maybe that might help us understand—maids. Usually, typically the women, typically they would help around the house there, the tent there. We don’t have—I don’t know of anybody here that has servants cleaning their house. Maybe there are. I know some folks that clean other people’s houses that are churches. And if you have someone, you can afford another role with them, not trying to say that. But can I reword it a little bit or maybe take it at this angle? This would apply to most of us here. We were not—most of us are probably not going to hire a maid to clean your house or do work for you or whatnot. And I’m not against that if you can do that. But this may apply to us more: just modern conveniences.
Isn’t it amazing how long back in the day—my wife and I have been on a little Little House on the Prairie binge. We’ve been watching Little House on the Prairie left and right, you know, just high and low, low and high, man. It’s hard to find anything decent. We enjoy those, you know. But isn’t it amazing how long it took them to prepare a meal? My wife—I think it was Mother’s Day or something—we had a kids’ get-together, and we got her one of these Instapots. You don’t know what I’m saying that right? That works on Wi-Fi. When she first got it, you know, she could have set the timer before she left the house on Sunday morning. But she wanted—she wanted—she doesn’t do this anymore. I’m really telling on you, baby. I’m going to need a couch to sleep on tonight. But she liked it when she’d come down off the organ, and she’d get her phone, and she could turn her Instapot on so when we got home it’d be ready. She could turn it on from here in the church. Man, we’re somebody, folks. I tell you what. Back in the day, you know how long it took them to do those things?
They have vacuum cleaners nowadays. If I vacuum the house, I would want one of these. I would covet one of these things where you don’t even have to vacuum—it’s just motorized, you know, it kind of just rolls around the house and bounces off everything. We were talking about that day, “Wasn’t it amazing?” If we had one of those, our little Yorkie would go crazy. She’d have a nervous breakdown, this monster, you know. But it does go around the house, vacuums everything up, cleans it up. And then it will go back into its port and drive back there and kind of plug itself in, if you will, get charged again. About 25 people after church today are going to be looking up to see how much it costs on Amazon and eBay. Now that would be a little bit more like equivalent nowadays in time. He’s saying, quit coveting all the latest conveniences. If they got something you don’t have, say, “I’m glad for them to have it. I’m just going to be happy with what I have.” That’s what it’s all about. Get your eyes off your neighbor, what all they have.
Let’s keep going. We’ve got to hurry along. We’re going to be done with these words in just a few minutes here. He said, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox.” That would be—and I’m not going to be long on these—that would be equivalent to tools, if you will, things you work with. Could be your truck, your table saw, your miter saw, all your—whatever you do. Can I just say this on—can I just say this? This one kind of hits men a lot, this is for men more. Hey men, you’re never going to get all the tools you need. As soon as you get that impact wrench, whatever it is, they’re going to come out with a better one. That’s just what it is. Don’t covet it. I like my old hand ratchet instead of the air one, you know. Don’t covet.
The last thing He says: “Nor his ass.” Now, He’s not cursing there. A donkey, if you will. Kind of put it to be a little bit equivalent—not equivalent in our day and time—your car, your vehicle. I like my truck, I mean, I love it until once in a while somebody will pull up beside me and they’ve got a little bit bigger, a little bit better, better tires on it, looks better, sounds better, and if I’m not careful, I don’t like mine anymore. Go on now, man. You can have—you can have some Lamborghinis, but somebody’s going to get a better car than you. He said, “Don’t covet.” Stop looking at everybody else’s car. Just enjoy the one you got. That’s what I was told about. Isn’t it amazing, by the way, speaking of cars there? Isn’t it amazing? Somebody living in a cardboard hut and they’re driving a Lamborghini. Come on now, you know what I’m talking about?
Let’s get the last part in here. We’ve got to be done pretty soon here because restaurants are getting lines formed already, and you’re going to be late, so just let him eat. Don’t covet the front of the line at the restaurant. Don’t covet that. Watch the last little phrase here. Watch what He says. We’ll just read that last little phrase: “Nor anything.” Did you hear that? “Nor anything.” Their kids, their house, their cars, their husband, their wife—“nor anything.” Is that pretty clear or not? “Nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.” If they got the latest and greatest phone and you got a flip phone, quit looking at their phone. Be happy with your flip phone. Is that it? No. You’re never going to—by the way, on most phones, they’re going to come out with another one in a couple months down the road. Just quit falling for the game. Be happy with what you have. “Nor anything.” Don’t spend your life in covetousness.
Here’s what you do. Here’s what you do: Stop looking at your neighbor, what all they have, and start looking at what you have. There was a man, he wanted to sell his house, and he called the real estate agent. He said, “Oh, all right, sir, tell me something about your house.” He said, “Man, I’ve got an acre of land, and it’s well-manicured. It’s just—it’s just—I’ve got the flower beds, everything, just so good. We just finished screening the porch that runs around the house. We’ve got four bedrooms, got two baths. We just recently put a new floor in the house. And, man, he’s got a three-car garage. We just drywalled inside and painted; it looks good.” And he said, “Let me read it back to you.” And the real estate agent said, “Hey, got a one-acre lot, and it’s got a well-manicured lawn, a porch around that had just been screened in, got new floors inside the house, and it’s got four bedrooms and two and a half baths.” And the other guy said, “Wait, wait, wait.” He said, “Sir, would you read that one more time?” He read it one more time. He said, “Hold on, hold on.” He said, “All my life I wanted a house just like that, and I’m about to sell it.” And that’s exactly where we’re at because we’re watching our neighbor, not enjoying what we have.
Some of us ought to go home and say, “Praise God for my wife,” give a big old kiss, and say, “I want to—I want to enjoy what I have.” Somebody ought to go home and look at your kids and say, “They’re far from perfect; their room’s a mess right now, but praise God, I love the kids that God gave me. I’m glad you’re my kid,” and give me a big old hug and kiss. So now you’re still going to clean your room, though. I’m telling you, the key is getting your—on your way home from church, say, “Man alive, the tires are bald, the steel belts are hanging through the tread, but it’s my car, and I like my car.” That’s the best way to live. Stop looking at your neighbors and say, “Praise God for what I have.”
I’ll never forget—I’ve got to close that—but I never forget visiting the widow lady over here in Smyrna down Weekly Lane years ago, just out witnessing the folks going door to door. She was very kind, and she was saved and whatnot. I remember she invited me and whoever was with her inside her house. I remember the story. Her husband had passed a year or so before, and I’ll never forget her with tears saying, “You know what? I never dreamed I would miss just having a man around the house.” She said, “Just things you never dreamed about: hanging a picture. If anything breaks.” You know us wives, we want to change the furniture every month. And I remember her just crying, “I never dreamed I’d miss out on the man around the house like this.” I’m saying, enjoy what you got.
There’s not a perfect—not a perfect wife, not a perfect husband, not a perfect—young people, there’s not a perfect parent in the world. You look at someone else’s home and you say, “Man, they got perfect parents.” Friend, if you were in that home, you’d realize they have all kinds of flaws in that home, too. Say, “This is my home. I’m glad God put me here. I enjoy what I have.” I enjoy all those kids before the Lord. That’s the key: get your eyes off the neighbor. Get your eyes on what you have.
Can I say, even young people—excuse me, not just young people, single people: Hey, there are some advantages to being single. Might as well enjoy it. Don’t spend your life on something you don’t have; just enjoy where you are. There are advantages to everything. Look at it.
Last thing, we didn’t get—we’re just going, we’re just going. He said, “Thou shalt not.” That’s pretty strong language in the Bible. Shout! God never gives you a command He wouldn’t give you the wherewithal to do it. God says, “I want you to go there.” You say, “I can’t win over that.” Yes, you can, by my God’s grace, He can. If you’re a born-again Christian, God has given you what you need, and He’ll always give you what you need. That’s why Psalm 23, you know Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Is He your Shepherd? If you’re not a born-again Christian, He’d love to be your Shepherd. He’d love to save you and make you one of His fold. He gave you what you need so you don’t have to go through life coveting. He said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Actually, that verse, Hebrews 13:5, He talks about coveting in there. You don’t have to covet because He’ll never leave you nor forsake you; He’ll be with you. If you’re not a born-again Christian, He’d love to save you. You’d be aware with all to serve Him.
An old preacher, an old preacher, Charles Weigel—he’s in heaven now—he was an evangelist for years and years and years. His wife just got tired of the ministry. She said, “I can’t do it anymore.” And as a middle-aged, older man, his wife actually left him. Charles Weigel—he actually ended up living at a Bible college that isn’t out there anymore. He used to be at Toccoa Falls Temple University in Chattanooga. Dr. Robertson had a little apartment, a little dorm room, and Charles Weigel could live in that. My old preacher said, “I was there preaching one time, and he said, ‘I told Dr. Robertson, where’s Mother Weigel at?’” He said, “Well, sometimes his health is—he can’t come to the meetings, and you can go over and check on his apartment over there.” He went up there, and he said, “The door just happened to be open a little bit, and he said, ‘I could hear somebody in there talking.’” He thought, “Man, I don’t want to interrupt,” so he waited outside the hallway for a while. It got a little bit loud. He said, “Man, what’s going on in there?” So finally he poked in the door, and Charles Weigel—he was an old man at this point, white hair, from what I’ve been told—and he was barefoot, and he was standing on top of his bed, just kind of like a kid would have a slumber party type thing. He said, “Brother Weigel, what are you doing?” He said, “Oh, man, I didn’t know you were outside there.” He said, “I was just meeting with the Lord and hearing me and the Lord, and He said, ‘It got so good, I just had to take my shoes off, get on the bed for a little while, just praise the Lord.’” He’s the one that wrote the song you’ll sing sometime: “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus.” It’s not a matter what you have. If you’ve got the Lord, you’ve got enough, really, no matter where your eyes are.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Heads bowed, eyes closed. You say, “Preacher, I—the Lord’s not my Shepherd. I’m not saved. I’d like to get saved today. I’d like to be a part of His fold. I’d like to become a child of God. I don’t know that heaven’s my home, preacher. I’d like to get saved today.” God spoke to my heart; He pricked my heart. Friend, I love you; I’m not going to call your name; I’m not going to embarrass you. I’d love to be a help, but you hear this morning: He said, “Preacher, I—I’d like to get saved. I’m not a born-again Christian on the way to heaven; I’m not sure of that.” If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up. Just slip it up.
Maybe you hear this morning, you said, “Preacher, I need to get my eyes off of others.” It may be something I did not even mention, but I need to get my eyes off of others. I’ve just—it’s been a bad habit in my life. Now, I’ve got my eyes on others and what they’re wearing and what they’re doing and what they’re saying and what they have, and I want to get my eyes off everybody else. God spoke to my heart about that. If I had you this point of their heads by and I’m going to preach, I need to get my eyes off others. Just lift your hand. Preacher, I need to get my eyes off of others. Just lift it up. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Oh, I’m there; we’re all there from time to time.
Preacher, God spoke to my heart. Maybe a young person, you say, “I haven’t been getting my eyes on—I want a personality like him. I want to be like him.” I need to get my eyes off of someone else. Maybe that’s you. There’s more; you slip your hand up. God’s pricking your heart a bit there. That’d be a young person. Anybody else? Anybody else? God bless you. Wonderful. Thank you for letting the Lord work in your heart. Thank you so much.
Maybe you hear this morning and say, “Preacher, I need to enjoy what I have. I need to get my eyes on what I have. I just need to enjoy what God’s given me.” “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” I just need to enjoy what I have, and God spoke to my heart about that this morning. That’s you this morning; you need to enjoy what I have. God bless you. God bless you. I need to enjoy where I’m at, what God has in my life. God bless you. God bless you.
Maybe it’s a young person, and you say, “I need to start a pattern.” If we’re not careful with Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat and all the rest of those things—I don’t know them all—but you’ll always be looking at everybody else, not enjoying what you have. You’re a young person who says, “I want to start a pattern in my life: to live where I’m at, enjoy what I have. I want to work with that. I want to start off my life just enjoying what I have.” God spoke to my heart about it. Maybe a young person. I want to create a pattern in my life where I enjoy what I have. God has spoken to my heart. Young person like that, you slip your hand up. Any young person like that? I see that. God bless you. Any other young person? God bless you. I see that. That’s good. That’s good. That’s so important. You get a pattern in your life so often when you’re young on that. I encourage you: just enjoy what you have.
Could I ask this? We won’t be long with the invitation, but I think it would be great for a lot of married couples. Maybe all of our married couples just come to an old-fashioned altar and a husband and a wife come down and maybe get on their knees before the Lord and say, “God, I want to thank You for my wife. Thank You for our kids. You’ve been so good to us, Lord. Lord, we’ve got a great house. We live in a great country. We’ve got good kids. We’ve got a good church.” It would be great for husbands and wives, maybe even families, just to come. “So, God, we want to be grateful. We’ll be thankful.” It’ll be a great time in the invitation. Just husbands and wives come and just have a sweet time praying together. “Thank You, God, for each other.” Would you do that? Would you do that?
I’m going to ask all of our couples if you would, just a moment to do that. Let’s all stand if you would, please. Let’s stand. We won’t be long. Won’t be long. We’re going to pray as soon as we get done praying. We’ll sing the invitation time. Boy, it’ll be a great time to come and come, just thank God for what He’s been so good to every one of us. Let’s rejoice and enjoy what we have. Would you come?
Father, thank You, thank You, thank You. You’ve been better than I deserve. Forgive me, Lord, I covet. Help me to enjoy my wife, my kids, my house, our church, all of it, Lord. Grow us in this time. Lord, let it be a sweet time for meeting a husband and wife this morning for the next five minutes. Would You make it sweet for them, Lord, please? Well, thank You, Father, for what You do in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Would you come as we sing? It would be a great time for husbands and wives. That’d be great. Yes, you come and say, “Thank You, God. You’ve been so good. You’ve been so good. I want to enjoy my husband. I want to enjoy my wife. I want to enjoy my kids.” There’s love on them. Thank them. It’ll change the spirit of your home. It’ll bring the happiness back. It’ll stop the draining. You get your gratitude back. Gratitude is the thing. Gratitude is the thing that just sweetens up everything. If I’m coveting, I won’t have gratitude. Maybe I need to grab a friend. Maybe I won’t grab a friend. Oh, I’m glad for you. I’m glad for you. I mean, you’re standing; you just want to slip over and just tell a friend, “I’m so thankful for you. I want to appreciate what I have.” That’d be all right. That’d be all right. A sweet time will sweeten up the home like nothing else. Wonderful thing. It’s amazing. Someone said if we’re not careful, we’ll just get so used to having so much, we’re not enjoying it. God bless you. We’ve got something done in front. Take your time. We’re not going to rush you. That’s a sweet, wonderful thing, and praise the Lord for it. We’re glad you’re here this morning, every person here. Thank you for coming to church today. And every Sunday morning we’ll be on the home—a little different angle this morning, just as the Lord leads. Then tonight, Brother Jacob Woods. I’m looking forward to that, excited about it, and praise the Lord for it. Be back at your place six o’clock tonight. Thank you for being in God’s house this morning. And we’re just thrilled to have every person here. Praise the Lord for you. And that’s a great thing.
Original File: What is Draining Happiness from your Home - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday am 2-7-21