<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Amazing Facts

Sin Nobody Admits

Joe Crews

Sin Nobody Admits Part 1

In spite of the highest level of income in years, there's an alarming rise in personal bankruptcies.

I'll return in a moment with the amazing facts about the mistake nobody admits.

Hello, this is Joe Cruz from the amazing facts broadcast, facts which affect you.

Our subject today is the sin nobody admits.

We must be afraid to mention because nobody ever mentions it about himself anyway.

Now People have confessed to me that they've committed some terrible dark sins.

I can recall people who've admitted being drunkards, who've confessed to stealing, breaking up another's home, murder, taking the Lord's name in vain, Sabbath breaking, all the rest of it.

But as far as I can remember in all my time in the ministry, nobody has ever admitted to me that he's guilty of the sin we're going to talk about today.

And I suppose the reason for it is that it's the root sin, the basic sin, the very foundation sin.

The Lord Jesus Himself solemnly warned us of this sin in Luke 12, 15.

And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness.

For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Now, the sin that nobody admits, friends, is covetousness.

We might define it before we go any further because we surely ought to understand what we're talking about.

Now I'd like to give you 3 definitions that might overlap just a little bit.

You may have some better definitions, but we need something anyway to build on in our discussion today.

The first 1 is this, evil desire for a good thing.

The second 1, desire to obtain a thing that's not rightfully yours.

And the third, a selfish desire to keep what is not yours.

Now these are the definitions of the sin that nobody admits, the sin of covetousness.

People just simply don't say, well, I'm a covetous person.

I want to reach out and grab and pull in everything I can get hold of.

And people never come to you and say, well, I want to admit something.

Don't you find it a strange thing, friends?

People don't mind at all admitting some of those grosser sins, blacker sins, but when it comes right down to those refined sins like covetousness, I guess it's just humiliating and nobody wants to say anything at all about it.

Of course, it's a sin that's not condemned very much by our materialistic age either.

It's not even condemned very much by the Church, it seems.

You break any of the other commandments and immediately you get into trouble.

Well, nobody knows whether you're coveting or not.

But there it is, it's a commandment of the Lord, and yet it's 1 that most people seem to overlook.

But in God's sight it's 1 of the blackest of all sins because it's the root of every other sin.

Remember what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 7, 7.

He said, I had not known sin, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

And so the point he was trying to get across was this.

Every single sin has its root in the sin of covetousness, and that's why God thought it was important enough to include in the 10 Commandments.

It's a sin that comes before and leads to every other sin that you could possibly ever command.

Do you realize that covetousness led to Lucifer's downfall?

The Bible says he was an angel, perfect in wisdom and beauty.

He desired God's place and God's praise and God's honor.

In Isaiah 14 we have a picture of this thing.

Sometime when you have the opportunity, you read that whole chapter.

Verses 12 and 13 mention this 1 word over and over again.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

If we can stay away from this 1 sin, we might be able to get away from other sins altogether, too, because it's a thing that leads to all other sins.

Now I may as well warn you ahead of time, friends, that there is no possible way of getting rid of coveting except through the Lord Jesus Christ.

It takes special power from heaven to overcome this sin.

But now going back to Luke 12 for a moment, After Jesus said, Take heed and beware of covetousness, He told the story to illustrate the point a little bit further.

Let me read it to you now, beginning with verse 16.

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do?

I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.

Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided?

So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God." Now friends, notice something.

Now I may call a man a fool and be very much mistaken, but when God calls a man a fool, he's a fool.

Well, because he was concerned about himself.

And he forgot all about the solemn fact that 1 of those days he would have to stand before the Lord in judgment.

Tonight your soul will be required of you.

Then whose will all these things be?" Now friends, this is a very solemn story.

Every single Christian should give it very earnest attention and heed.

The Lord is saying here, you go ahead if that's the way you want it, get anything you want, keep the things that are not yours, make provisions for more and more sins.

You have the right to do it, but when the day of reckoning comes and your soul is required of you, then whose will these things be?

You know, Solomon spoke of the same thing over in Ecclesiastes 11.

This is a very interesting passage of Scripture.

Notice verse 9, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes." Now what is this wise man saying?

He's saying, do anything you want to do, have a good time, but, let's come back to it now, but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

Sure, go ahead, have a good time, do anything you want, but just remember this, for everything you do in the flesh, someday you are going to have to give an account before God in the judgment.

And then in the next chapter, in the same book, chapter 12, verse 14, we read this, "...for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." You know, a lot of people think they're getting by with secret sins, things that are on the inside, things that don't show up, like coveting, for example.

A person can go along and be quite a respectable Christian as far as other people are concerned and yet be guilty of coveting.

It just doesn't show up like many of the gross or outward sins.

But mark this well, friends, on the great judgment day when the light from the judgment throne of God shines into every life, all of those things are going to be revealed and people are going to see them in all of their rotten, disgusting fullness.

And 1 of the worst sins to be shown up in the judgment day will be the sin of coveting.

I'm afraid we don't realize just how far this thing reaches.

Sin Nobody Admits Part 2

Embezzlers have been known to misappropriate a million dollars or more from a single corporation, causing near bankruptcy.

But 1 great owner of vast real estate interest has been robbed of billions without suffering financially.

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts.

♪ Hello, this is Joe Cruz and the Amazing Facts broadcast, facts which affect you.

You know, friends, we often pick up newspapers and read about individuals who have misappropriated millions of dollars.

These embezzlers often skip the country, taking the money with them, and leaving financial ruin for scores of people that lost everything they had.

Now we always secretly hope that the law will catch up with them and throw the book at them.

I don't care who you are, you handle money that's not yours.

Could it be that somebody who's listening today is guilty of embezzling heavenly funds?

Did you know that the greatest holder of lands and goods in the world has been chiseled and robbed repeatedly without going out of business.

And of course God is that great owner that I am speaking about.

And I am referring specifically to tithes and offerings.

In Leviticus 27, 30 the scriptures say that the tithe is the Lord's.

There is just no way to miss it, friends.

All the tithe of the land is the Lord's, it is holy unto the Lord." Notice all the tithe.

And then Malachi 3, verse 8, will a man rob God?

Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say wherein have we robbed thee?

A person who doesn't tithe is a robber, but in addition a person who doesn't give offerings is guilty before God of robbing also.

So your tithes and your offerings belong to God.

Now these things don't belong to us, friends, they are God's.

We are handling sacred funds, and the question is how are we handling them?

Could it be that some of us are guilty of misusing God's money?

Now Malachi 3.10 says, Bring ye all the tithes unto the storehouse.

That little word, all, is very important.

If I make a hundred dollars, I owe 10 dollars tithe.

If I only pay 9 dollars tithe, I am guilty of robbery.

In fact, I am not really tithing at all." You see, friends, you are not tithing until you give a tenth, because the word tithe actually means a tenth.

The scripture for that is Numbers 18 verses 21 and 24.

The Bible specifically teaches that the tithe is one-tenth.

Now that's why the Lord said, bring it all.

It's not for me to say, well, let's see now how much does a tithe amount to or how much can I afford to give this month?

God has already settled that, it's one-tenth.

Now turn to Numbers 18, 21 and 24, and notice how the Bible explains it.

Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, But the tithes of the children of Israel have I given unto the Levites to inherit." Now these 2 verses explain what the tithe is.

The tithe was given to Levi, and the Lord also called it the tenth.

So on the authority of this book, tithe is a tenth.

In fact, the word tithe itself means tenth.

You look it up in your dictionary when you get home, you will find that that is exactly what it means.

Now a great many people say, well, I go to church and pay my tithe, when what they really mean is they go to church and give offerings, because nobody is a tithe payer who does not give a full one-tenth of his own income.

And that is why the Bible is speaking of one-tenth of the increase.

Some people say, Oh, isn't that a great deal to give, one-tenth?

Well, now listen, friends, if somebody came to you and said, I'd like to set you up in business, I'd like to furnish the capital, the buildings, the equipment, everything, I want you to go and run it.

Then at the close of the month I want you to figure out the profit.

And when you've found the profit, I want you to keep nine-tenths and you give me one-tenth.

Would you say, you mean you want a tenth?

Oh no, you would look at the man and say, You've made a mistake, haven't you?

You mean you want nine-tenths and give me one-tenth.

Well, you've never heard of an offer like that, friends.

People don't make offers like that today.

But listen, that is the offer God has made.

This world and everything in it belongs to Him.

He made the whole thing, and the Bible is clear.

In Psalm 24, verse 1, "...the earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof, the world, and all that dwell therein." Psalm 50, verses 10-12, "...for every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know all the fowls of the mountain, and the wild beast of the field are mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.

And then Haggai 2, 8 says, The silver is mine, the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts." Now we forget that sometimes, don't we?

And Deuteronomy 8, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 19, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 56, 57, 58, 59, 59, 60, 60, 67, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 71, 72, 73, 74, 74, 75, 76, 75, 76, 76, 77, 77, 78, 78, 79, 79, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80 Now friends, when we add all that up and put it together, the Bible is simply saying this, everything is God's.

If you have anything at all, God gave it to you, or He gave you the power and the strength and the intelligence to obtain whatever you have.

And then He says to you, now 10% of what you receive is mine, I want you to give it back to me.

Oh, I submit to you today that you've never heard of anything more fair than that.

Now Leviticus 27 30 says, The tithe is the Lord's.

It isn't a question of us deciding whether we ought to turn it over to Him or whether it should become His or will become His, it already is the Lord's.

And so one-tenth of every man's income belongs to God.

He may be a complete heathen and know nothing about God, but still one-tenth of everything that enters his hands belongs to the Lord God of heaven." Now you might say, well now, wait a minute, wait a minute.

I thought this tithe was a part of the old Mosaic law that was given at Sinai and that it ended at the cross?

And the answer, my friends, to that is no.

I'd like to read you 2 verses of Scripture that will help make this very clear.

We go in our Bibles to the first book of the Bible, Genesis 14, and find the story of Abraham.

Abraham, the friend of God, you remember, that is what the Bible calls him.

And did you ever notice when he met God's priest what he did?

The Bible says in Genesis 14, 20, And he gave him tithes of all.

Now here is Abraham hundreds of years before Mount Sinai, a tithe payer.

And we go on into the Bible, 14 more chapters, and we come to Genesis 28.

Now Jacob was not always the most faithful servant of the Lord.

In fact, he really got off on the wrong foot a number of times, and his name Jacob really means deceiver, and that was his trouble.

But 1 day he reconsecrated his life to the Lord.

Oh, he had a wonderful little prayer meeting, built an altar, and I would like for you to notice what he did when he really began to be in earnest to serve the Lord.

Genesis 28, 22 says that he took the stone which he sat on, and he said, This stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house, and all that thou shalt give me I will surely give a tenth unto thee.

Now notice, friends, here we have 2 men hundreds and hundreds of years before Mount Sinai who were tithe payers.

You see, the law of tithe is God's plan for the support of His work.

It existed long before Mount Sinai and remained effective after the law of Moses was abolished.

I have heard people say that Jesus abolished the tithing plan, and I would like to read you a verse today and then ask if you really believe that.

Back to Menu

Series

Sin Nobody Admits

Sin Nobody Admits Part 2

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

Sin Nobody Admits Part 1

13m

Sin Nobody Admits Part 2

14m

Sound Doctrine