"Dead Men Walking"
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The 2015 American Freshman Survey asked thousands of incoming students about their goals and aspirations. The highest proportion (81.9 percent) checked "becoming very well off financially" as an "essential" or "very important" life objective. But research indicates that if we pin our hopes of happiness on money, we are likely to be disappointed. While the literature is complex, there is good evidence to suggest that beyond a basic level of security, increased wealth is only slightly correlated with an increased sense of wellbeing, and the correlation tails off after $75,000.
As researcher Jonathan Haidt observes, "Wealth itself has only a small direct effect on happiness because it so effectively speeds up the hedonic treadmill … As the level of wealth has doubled or tripled in the last fifty years in many industrialized nations, the levels of happiness and satisfaction with life that people report have not changed, and depression has actually become more common."
Interesting that for some of us in society all that we covet in life will not make us happy and in many cases might actually make us more unhappy in life. And yet we keep on coveting. We still covet, still press, and still yearn. And the communication for many who have is not necessarily favorable. They become more and more unsatisfied, they always need more, they always want more. Many do tell me that they are more miserable than they were when they were poor. But we still covet. Why? DC talk has a song where they sang… “Some people gotta learn the hard way, I guess Im the kinda guy who’s gotta find out for myself.” We are warned, we are urged, we are dissuaded, and yet we still want it. We can’t be told… I gotta get myself to see this for myself.
Hey, Shane whatever you do, do not take crystal meth because if you do you will destroy your life, it will destroy your family, you will be addicted for life, it will damage you physically, it could kill you. Thank you kind sir for your warnings and experience but you do not understand… I cannot believe you unless I find out for myself. But did you know that its not learning things the hard way… it is also putting us in the way of judgement. Coveting does not just affect us here and now, but we will experience consequences for eternity. It seems that we do not understand just how serious coveting is… this is a horrible horrible sin. And we will see why today… lets take a look.
What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night,
thinking up evil plans.
You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out,
simply because you have the power to do so.
When you want a piece of land,
you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house,
you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property,
stealing his family’s inheritance.
But this is what the Lord says:
“I will reward your evil with evil;
you won’t be able to pull your neck out of the noose.
You will no longer walk around proudly,
for it will be a terrible time.”
In that day your enemies will make fun of you
by singing this song of despair about you:
“We are finished,
completely ruined!
God has confiscated our land,
taking it from us.
He has given our fields
to those who betrayed us.”
Others will set your boundaries then,
and the Lord’s people will have no say
in how the land is divided.
The grass withers, flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.
The Crime
The Salvation
The first thing we will look at today is the reason or the crime bringing the coming Judgement of God on the people. Second, we will see the plan of salvation from what God has taken to what God has given.
Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to be lost in the true insanity of coveting, it is the truth of the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to see that all that should be desired is Christ and Christ alone.
I. The Crime
- What sorrow awaits you dead men walking.
A. Here we got the Hebrew “Hoy.” Alas, Woe, what sorrow awaits. This is a word that is commonly used to signify death. It is understood that 6 times it is used for mourning someone who is already dead. Is it that these are dead men walking. The Lord is referring to them as dead men already. I am looking at a dead man.
B. All you dead men walking are so consumed with coveting that you spend all day and all night thinking up evil schemes to acquire more and more.
Dr. Mackay writes, “These people are so intent on amassing wealth that they spend sleepless nights devising schemes to satisfy their desires.”
They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots.
Their actions are never good.
They make no attempt to turn from evil.
And this is not just sinful, but something that God hates.
a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
Ahhh the next part of the accusation...
C. Then you rise at dawn so eager to carry out the plan you planned. You race to do wrong… It is not simply a race to get out of the gate to get busy. But its not just that… the idea of first thing in the morning… that is what gets them out of bed in the morning. It is the motivation for waking up… it is the motivation for these living dead men. What is it that gets us out of bed in the morning?
D. The next part … when translating, I needed some extra help… “for their hand is for a god.” This is the more literal translation. But what it means… “they worship their own strength. But the idea is that the people in focus in this oracle is that of those who are able to commit these crime. These are people that have the ability to these crimes. They are in positions of influence and can do these things. They are in positions that require trust.
You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over
and the religious festivals to end
so you can get back to cheating the helpless.
You measure out grain with dishonest measures
and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales.
And you mix the grain you sell
with chaff swept from the floor.
Then you enslave poor people
for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals.
E. They would violate the 8th and 10th commands of God.
“You must not steal.
“You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
F. Thou shall not covet… It is said by Dr. Dempster that this passage of scripture is the most direct commentary on coveting. The word used for stealing … is more “Seizing” than stealing. It pictures them adding violence to stealing “Robbing with force.” It will later be used to describe people skinning a person alive. In 1 Kings 21 we see an example of how king Ahab coveted and how he seized Naboth’s vineyard. They take it by fraud and violence. We are commanded by God not to covet what our neighbors have. Envy and coveting is a sin and a sin that strikes form the very heart of an individual.
“You must not covet your neighbor’s wife. You must not covet your neighbor’s house or land, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.
This does not end here. Remember the worse thing about coveting… it never ends… it is never done… it is never satisfied. And never ending coveting care nothing of others
What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field,
until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land.
G. They coveted and seized violently and fraudulently the lands, the houses, the properties, and the inheritances of the people in the land … the very thing the Lord has clearly forbidden and is making clear something detestable to Him. This is a really big deal… we see people lose all this and it is devastating even today. But in their cultural context this meant everything. It meant much more than the physical structures, but everything that is connected to it. They were robbing the people of the land with violence, but not brute force, but with forclosures, buyouts, creditors, political policies. But it is more than just the economic consequences. There were huge theological and spiritual ones as well. Really… Shane how so?
H. The land and the inheritance were a gift from Jehovah as a real example of His generosity so that the people could thrive and flourish with their share of the divine blessing that was given. The land and portion was a picture of God’s blessing, His compassion, His generosity, and you just robbed the people of the gift that God had given, what God desires to teach us, and what God desires us to show us about His faithfulness. And YOU dead men walking you have robbed them and if they lose faith in Me I will hold you accountable for their destruction. They will no longer be spiritually rooted in Me. To lose this for an Israelite is to lose everything. And no inheritance for the future.
I. This my dear family… is the extent and depravity of what we call coveting. Do we not realize why it is so bad to envy another person. It is not only because we will scheme and possible try to seize what belongs to another, but we are robbing them of what the Lord has given and what He promised to them. Sure you think that taking their possessions is simply that, but you have no idea what they went through to get it, what they sacrificed, how much they prayed to the Lord to get it. This was a huge miraculous gift that the Lord had given to them and you just stole it. You think there will be no consequences for this? Look at what happened to Ahab and Jezebel for what they did to get Naboth’s vineyard. Look at what happened to David after what he did to Uriah.
J. It is clear in our culture that we have a mission to satisfy greed. But greed cannot be satisfied. It is a “god” that will never have its full… oh yeah it is idolatry.
So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
K. It causes us today to do the despicable, the unthinkable, trade away our inheritance, and rob a person of the true revelation, intention, character, and promise of God. Do not think that causing a person to lose heart and lose trust in Christ is a small thing.
But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.
L. Are we coveting on our beds at night desiring, envying, lusting for the things that do not belong to us. And waking up first thing in the morning scheming as to how we can get all that we were coveting the night before… rushing into evil doing that which is detestable to God. Many of us have the ability to do the evil we desire and are we gonna abuse the power we have to take from others what the Lord has given to them to show them the faithfulness of His promises. We get it through manipulation, lies, scheming, and sometimes by threats and force. Awful behavior because of the awful thing called coveting. Its not like it take a while in our modern culture to recognize the evil results of coveting in the world and even in the church. I have been privy to ministries that have no concern about lying to people who have little and take what they got. You only got 2000 in the bank give it to us and the Lord will bless you with double. Without realizing that the 2000 was a blessing they received from God and you just took it.
M. Coveting is a horrible horrible thing and the judgement of God will come upon us because of it. The Lord will reward our evil with evil. What a scary way to announce it. V.3 essentially says since you are up all night devising and scheming evil, I will be up all night devising and scheming as to how I will reward you with evil. You plotted evil, I am plotting your disaster. You will not be able to talk your way out of it… you will not be able to stop the coming disaster. You think you are good, you will not be able to walk proudly… I will put you to shame. You will also be ridiculed by me, it will all be taken from you and given to traitors. You will lose it all.
II. The Salvation
- The new heart of the new covenant.
A. Because this is the judgement of God that is coming and it is coming because of the sins we commit. It is no secret… the wages of sin is death. And no one is exempt from this. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. No one is righteous no not one. There is judgement coming… this is clear in the scriptures. Judgement is real. Judgement is coming. And the judgement will be terrible. But can we be saved from it. You bet we can