Date:      7th January 2007                                                                    (Sunday AM)                                                                       Ref: A0280

Place:     Kambah P.S.

Title: The Balloon Will Burst

Text:        & Hebrews 13:5

Illust:     Blow Up Balloon:

          Australian Shoppers spent a record $23.7 billion in December

          Last week we learned that our national credit card bill is a record $37.3 billion. In the past 2 years it has risen by $4bn then $5bn.

          No Deposit, No Interest until Jan 2010 – “Paying only the minimum monthly repayment will not pay out the loan before the end of the interest free period.”

          Private debt in the 50’s was 20% of GDP, It is now at 147% of GDP

          Approximately 15 per cent of households regularly spend more than they earn. http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/diversity/main.html

          In all, households now have to devote 14 cents in every disposable dollar to paying the interest on their debts. This is six cents in the dollar more than applied during late 1980s.

****  BALLOON BURST *****

          It’s the second day of 2007, .. and the phones are ringing at the Consumer Credit Legal Centre. The first call comes in at 9:37, seven minutes after opening time, with a plea for help from a person who is in a financial crisis. – By the end of the day, the small team has taken more than 30 similar calls’

I.                   What is Wrong?

A.               Socialist Response

i.                 Understand, this AM, this is a disaster looming at the door. Professor Steven Keen of the University of Western Sydney was asked recently in a November radio interview: “from what you are saying, we are headed for economic breakdown” – He responded

         “I believe we are. .....I’m titling this ‘the recession we can’t avoid’ .... I’d say about one to two years away”  

1)                 When this happens as it seems inevitable the questions will be asked as they are now, What is the Government doing about this?

        Think about this; why is the government responsible?

          Is the Govt making individuals rack up thousands of dollars on credit cards for LCD TV’s, Coffee Machines, Computers, clothes, and furniture? Things they can’t really afford.

2)                 Then it must be the banks fault

         “There is a huge problem with irresponsible lending in relation to credit card debt” said Katherine Lane principal solicitor for the NSW Consumer Credit Legal Centre.  She relates a story of a woman living on social security with the aid of a small income from a part time job had credit cards from two banks. Her debt hit $70,000 after the banks raised her credit limit. “Every time she got close to her credit limit they offered her an increase.”

             Not nice of the banks, but again did they make this woman continue to use her 2 credit cards?

             In 1957 the British humour magazine Punch printed the following exchange: Q. What are banks for? A. To make money. Q. For the customers? A. For the banks. – Worth remembering!

ii.               This response is at its heart socialist, the denial of personal responsibility; the collective are responsible, the banks are responsible, let the Government/banks fix it, be responsible. But not me! – This running from personal responsibility started back in the garden. ~ Genesis 3:12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” (NKJV)

B.               Right Response

i.                 The right response a biblical response is to accept personal responsibility. The Bible makes it very clear that as individuals you will be held accountable – No escaping personal responsibility.

         Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. (NKJV)

ii.               The road to recovery never begins with blaming others; it is only through facing up & saying “It’s me & me alone, I am responsible for my spending habits” and then making a conscious decision to turn from this pattern of behaviour to follow a biblical path.

iii.             Encapsulated in one word – Repentance!  Ezekiel 18:30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. (NKJV)

II.                 Mammon Worship

A.               Covetousness

i.                 There is something deeper here than simple carelessness & foolishness regarding money, a deeper malady, an evil, vile wickedness in the heart that is the foundation of this problem. – The sin of covetousness.

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

         This is the gross sin that is the core of the problem

ii.               In the av The following Hebrew words are rendered as ‘covetousness’: (a) ḥāmaḏ, to desire a neighbour’s possessions (Ex 20:17; Mi. 2:2), (b) beṣa‘, the desire for dishonest gain (Pr. 28:16; Je. 6:13) and (c) ’āwâ, selfish desire (Dt. 5:21; Pr. 21:26). – All of these things encapsulate what it means to be covetous

iii.             The 10th Commandment expressly forbids covetousness– Strongs ~ 1 to desire, covet, take pleasure in, delight in. something that does not belong to you.

B.               Sin!

i.                  Is covetousness really all that bad, surely just wanting a new LCD TV like my neighbour can’t be a sin? – Not really hurting anyone!

        Really???

        Think about the misery that’s about to be poured out when ‘the recession we can’t avoid’ hits. The core is covetousness & covetousness is at its heart, idolatry.

ii.               To both the Ephesians & Colossians, Paul links covetousness with idolatry

         Ephesians 5:5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. (NKJV)

         Colossians 3:5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (NKJV)

iii.             The issue with covetousness is it places the acquisition of things above God. – Jesus said

          Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (NKJV)

iv.             Paul grouped it with fornication, evil desire and uncleanness as disqualifying you from heaven. This is the root cause of the problem in our nation, the sin of covetousness, a stronghold in this nation.

v.               Our national religion is covetousness, the worship of the God of Mammon – We are as a nation an idolatrous people.

III.              Serious Issue

A.               Spiritual Issue

i.                 This is not an ‘economics’ issue. The manipulation of the interest rates by the Reserve Bank and more government regulation of Banks & lending institutions is not going to solve this problem. It is a spiritual problem – The sin of covetousness.

ii.               A stronghold that we need to pray against. - to break it’s hold over this nation – Pray that men & women will accept personal responsibility, acknowledge their sin of covetousness and repent.

iii.             God is serious about idolatry and will judge a person or nation practising it. & Deut 7:1-6

B.               In Your Life?

i.                 What about you, this is a deceptive & wicked spirit that infests our culture, from billboards, magazine advertising, Junk mail, movies, television newspapers constantly bombard you with messages aimed at stirring your emotions

ii.               In Greek mythology the ‘Sirens’ were sea nymphs who lived on an island which was surrounded by cliffs and rocks. Approaching sailors were drawn to them by their enchanting singing, causing them to sail into the cliffs and drown. ~ The term "siren song" refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but that, if heeded, will lead to disaster.

         1 Timothy 6:9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. (NKJV)

         Our advertising & media are a constant siren song calling you to buy, to fall into the sin of covetousness.

iii.             Need to guard your heart. Luke 12:15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (NKJV)

         The key this AM is found in our text - &  ‘be content’

C.               Be Content

i.                 Contentment denotes freedom from a reliance upon others, whether other persons or other things; It is the satisfaction of your needs & the control of your desires in a complete reliance upon God. ~ 2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (NKJV)    

ii.               It is not a passive acceptance of the status quo, but the positive assurance that God has supplied your needs, this releases you from unnecessary desire. You can be ‘self-contained’ because you have been satisfied by the grace of God

         1 Timothy 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. (NKJV) 

iii.             Remember that this world is passing, this present appearance of material prosperity is a balloon about to burst

         If credit card is maxed out & in debt, need to get out of it as soon as possible. Put in place a strategy a plan – Stop spending

         House loan’s need to assume things get bad, pay more now if you can.

         Most importantly don’t submit to the siren song of mammon – Recognise your spending for what it is covetousness. Confess it as sin & Repent

iv.             Remember ~ Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; (NKJV) – Our real treasure is in heaven.

IV.             Altar Call

----

av Authorized Version ( King James’), 1611