Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000527A
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00:10 BREATH OF LIFE THEME MUSIC
00:20 PB: Let's get in the Word tonight. 00:22 If you would, take your Bibles. 00:24 Stand with me as we read the Scripture. 00:26 Exodus chapter 20, where we have been. 00:31 Someone said, "You know, Pastor Byrd, 00:35 if tonight is Commandment 10, 00:38 what are we going to preach on, Friday?" 00:41 So I'll tell you like I told him. 00:44 You just come and see for yourself. Amen. 00:47 Commandment number 10. Exodus, chapter 20, 00:51 and let's begin with verse number 12. 00:55 The final six, which deal with our 00:58 love to one another. The Word of God says 01:00 "Honour thy father and thy"--what, everybody? 01:03 Aud.: Mother. PB: "That thy days may be"--what? 01:05 Aud.: Long. PB: Upon the what? Aud.: Land. 01:07 PB: "Which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 01:09 Thou shalt not"--what? Aud.: Kill. 01:11 PB: "Thou shalt not commit"--what? 01:13 Aud.: Adultery. PB: "Thou shalt not"-- 01:15 Aud.: Steal. PB: Thou shalt not bear 01:17 false witness against thy"--what? 01:19 Aud.: Neighbor. PB: And then number 17, 01:22 verse. "Thou shalt not"--what? Aud.: Covet. 01:24 PB: "Thy neighbour's"--what? Aud.: House. 01:26 PB: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's"--what? 01:28 Aud.: Wife. PB: "Nor his"-- Aud.: Manservant. 01:30 "Nor his"-- Aud.: Maidservant. PB: "Nor his"-- 01:31 Aud.: Ox. PB: PB: "Nor his"-- Aud.: Ass. 01:34 PB: "Nor his"-- Aud.: Anything. 01:35 PB: Nor his ox, nor his ass, 01:36 nor any thing that is thy"--what, everybody? 01:37 Aud.: Neighbor's. PB: Father in heaven, 01:38 tonight we come to the 10th and final command. 01:41 And so tonight we ask that Your power 01:43 remain with us in this place. 01:46 Thank You for the melodious sounds 01:48 of the committed. God, now we want 01:51 to hear a Word from You. Disappoint us not. 01:54 Move in this place by Your power and 01:57 by Your Spirit. And God, when we leave 01:59 here tonight, may we clearly know that 02:01 there was a manifestation of Your Holy Ghost. 02:04 Thank You for this opportunity to share 02:06 Your Word with Your people. Forgive me of 02:08 my sins. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. 02:15 Commandment number 10, Thou shalt not covet. 02:21 Now, when we deal with this 10th command, 02:26 this 10th love letter, a lot of people 02:28 like to say, well this doesn't apply to me. 02:33 I don't covet. But more than that, covet 02:38 is an old word. Nobody walks around saying 02:44 "I covet what you have. I covet your possessions. 02:49 Or, I covet your property." So, tonight let's 02:54 put the word "covet" in a contemporary perspective, 03:00 and let's give a contemporary definition to 03:03 the word "covet." And the word, then, 03:06 could also mean greedy. Everybody say "greedy." 03:11 So, if we then apply the word "greedy," 03:14 then what the text is now saying is this: 03:18 You shall not be greedy for your neighbor's wife, 03:22 greedy for your neighbor's husband, 03:26 greedy for your neighbor's manservant 03:29 or maidservant or ox or any of your 03:32 neighbor's resources. Thou shalt not be greedy. 03:38 Are you hearing what I'm saying? 03:39 [Aud. reaction] PB: Because to covet 03:41 means I want what you have. To covet means 03:44 I want what you have, and I'll take it 03:47 by any means necessary. To covet means 03:49 I want what you have, and I'll take it 03:53 at any cost, so that I can have it, 03:55 because I want it. It's yours, 03:57 but I want to make it mine. 03:59 To show that this command is still 04:01 relevant for us today, Jesus deals 04:03 with this issue of coveting in 04:05 the New Testament. In fact, 04:06 if you look in Luke chapter 12, 04:09 he first talks in this chapter 04:11 about two brothers who are 04:13 having a dispute. Now, here quickly 04:15 is the story. The father of these two sons dies. 04:19 He does what, everybody? Come on, 04:21 he does what, everybody? Aud.: Dies. 04:22 PB: So according to Jewish heritage, 04:24 the older brother is now patriarch 04:26 of the family, which gives the older 04:28 brother the right to oversee as 04:31 trustee the estate that has been 04:33 planned and set aside for the family. 04:36 Now, the older brother that is now 04:38 the patriarch is now managing the 04:40 resources that his father has left behind. 04:43 Each brother is to receive a 04:46 certain percentage. But the management 04:49 responsibility belongs to the older brother. 04:53 But the younger brother has some 04:55 problems with that. He's not really 04:58 cool with that. And so now what he wants 05:01 to do is to bring in a mediator. 05:04 Bring in now an overseer to look over 05:07 this process and see if he can get more 05:10 out of the deal than his daddy has 05:12 left for him. It's apparent that the 05:15 younger brother is upset now, 05:17 because he doesn't have as much as 05:19 he thinks he should have. And so he asks Jesus, 05:24 "Jesus, would you come in and oversee 05:27 this legal dispute between me and my brother? 05:31 Because Daddy, apparently he was not 05:33 himself when he wrote his last will and 05:36 testament and left my older brother in charge. 05:40 I know what Jewish law says. I know what 05:43 Hebrew heritage is all about. And I know 05:46 the equal and symmetrical distribution of resources. 05:49 But there is something wrong with this." 05:52 He says, "I ought to get more than what I have." 05:56 But then Jesus says, "Look. I'm not an arbitrator. 06:00 Don't drag me in your mess. Don't drag me 06:03 in your dispute, because I'm not an arbitrator 06:06 or a referee. My purpose on this earth is 06:09 not to decide who should get one-fourth, 06:12 one-half, three-fourths or one-fifth. 06:15 In fact, you ought to be thankful 06:18 that your father included you in the 06:19 first place. But it's clear to me," 06:22 Jesus says, "that you have problems 06:24 not only with your brother but also 06:27 with your deceased father by saying 06:29 that he did not know how to leave behind 06:31 the right resources for his family." 06:34 So Jesus says, "I'm not an arbitrator. 06:37 I'm not a negotiator. I'm not a referee. 06:39 I'm not the one who comes in and settles 06:41 these disputes. But let me give you a 06:44 word of caution. Let me give you this word. 06:46 And this one word," Jesus says. 06:48 It's in the text, Luke 12. Is "covetousness." 06:51 He says, "Watch out. Be on guard against all 06:54 kinds of greed," because He says, 06:57 "your life doesn't consist in the abundance 07:00 of things that one possesses." 07:02 And yet in our world, it seems that we predicate 07:06 one's being, one's self, one's worth, 07:10 one's value upon how much one has. 07:15 And we believe in this world that 07:17 the more one accumulates, the higher 07:20 we value that person's life. And so, 07:23 the have-nots in the world are usually 07:26 those people who walk by, and we don't 07:29 give much attention or credence to them. 07:32 This has become not only a theological problem, 07:35 not only a sociological problem, 07:37 but also an ecclesiological problem. 07:41 That is, this problem has crept in the church, 07:45 because now even church folk subscribe 07:49 to the idea that unless you drive a Benz, 07:52 unless you drive a Beemer, unless you 07:56 drive a Cadillac or a Lexus, unless you 07:59 have a four- or five-car garage, unless 08:01 you have a 10,000-square-foot house, 08:04 unless you have tailored this and tailored 08:06 and custom that. And don't get it twisted- 08:08 -I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. 08:11 Come on, say amen. Like everybody else, 08:12 I like nice things. Do I have a witness 08:14 in this place? And I don't begrudge people 08:17 who have them. But what I'm saying is that 08:19 if you have that, that does not make you 08:22 more valuable than anybody else. 08:24 Because you can have all of that and still 08:27 be morally bankrupt. You can have all that. 08:30 You can have whatever you want to have, 08:32 but you are still a living soul. 08:35 You are still flesh and blood, like everybody else. 08:39 The Bible says in Genesis chapter 2, 08:41 verse number 7, "And the Lord God formed 08:43 man out of dust of the ground, breathed 08:45 into his nostrils the breath of life. 08:47 Man became a living soul." And friends, 08:50 the day is coming when your body is 08:52 going to turn back to dust. Your spirit 08:56 will return to God and your soul will 08:59 cease to exist. And all of the material 09:02 things you gained in this world will 09:04 not bring you the eternal security 09:06 that you need. For what shall it profit 09:08 a man to gain the whole world and 09:10 lose his own soul? Your life consists 09:13 more than in the abundance of things you possess. 09:17 So to further illustrate this point, 09:18 I'm like Jesus--repetition deepens the impression. 09:20 After speaking directly to the younger 09:23 brother in Luke chapter 12, Jesus now, 09:25 in the same chapter, tells a parable. 09:28 He says, There was a farmer. And this 09:31 farmer had the gift of horticulture." 09:34 Agricultural gifts were abundant to him. 09:37 Every year this man's crops produced bountifully, 09:41 so much so that this man would stand out 09:44 on the back of his house, and he would 09:47 look at the beautiful gardens. He would look 09:50 at the lush vineyards, and he would inhale the 09:53 ripening grapes and see the ripening fields 09:55 and see the ears of corn that had been 09:58 ripened and ready for picking. He would 10:00 look into one corner, he'd see a fig tree. 10:02 He'd look over into another corner and 10:04 he would smell the grapes and see the orchards. 10:06 And all around, there was nothing but agriculture. 10:09 Every year, this man had this. So much so, 10:14 that he was plagued with a problem. 10:16 What was his problem? What am I going 10:19 to do with all that I've got? Somebody said, 10:22 "That's a great problem to have." 10:24 Do I have a witness in this place? 10:26 So the man said, what am I going to 10:29 do with all that I've got? This is what 10:31 I'm going to do: I'm going to build a barn; 10:33 I'm going to build more barns. I'm going 10:36 to store my goods. I'm going to store my fruits. 10:40 And so the man has a construction project going on. 10:44 He builds a barn, then he builds a bigger barn; 10:47 then he builds a bigger and bigger yet barn, 10:48 and he has so many barns that he puts so 10:52 much food in, and then he's plagued again. 10:56 What in the world am I going to do with all 11:00 of what I've got? Grain is pouring out the windows, 11:05 and breaking out of the cracks and crevices. 11:08 I don't know what to do with all that I have. 11:11 And so in the middle of the parable, which is, 11:14 by the way, about 67 words--I counted them. 11:17 He refers to himself 11 times of the 67 11:23 words with the personal pronouns "I, Me, My, 11:29 and Mine." And He completely dismisses all 11:34 other human beings in the world. He assumes 11:37 that he was where he was because he got 11:40 himself there. But he has forgotten where 11:44 his help comes from. And so he just assumes 11:48 that I'm responsible for all of this. 11:52 Nobody told him what Job said" "Naked I came 11:55 in this world; naked I leave this world that 11:57 the Lord can give and the Lord can take away, 12:00 but blessed be the name of the Lord." 12:02 Because see, it doesn't take a genius 12:04 or a rocket scientist to know that wherever 12:07 you are in life, somebody helped you get there. 12:12 Wherever you are in life, somebody paved 12:15 the way for you. Somebody toiled in the 12:18 sun of existence for you. Somebody sweat 12:21 so you could smile. There you are tonight, 12:24 standing on the shoulders of somebody else. 12:27 I am very clear: I am not here of my own doing. 12:31 Are you hearing what I'm saying? Let me be clear: 12:34 Don't you forget where you come from. 12:37 But there are some of us, we can't rejoice. 12:40 We can't even smile. We can't smile at that, 12:42 because you think you are where you are 12:44 because you got there by yourself. But you'd 12:47 better check the road you walk. There have 12:50 been some bent backs, some bloody feet, 12:53 some tear-stained eyes that have come along 12:57 the way to make it possible for you to be in 12:59 a place like you are right now. You did not 13:02 get here by yourself. Folk in the '60s sweat 13:05 so you can smile. Folk fought so you can be free. 13:09 Folk marched and gave their lives for voting rights 13:13 and equal rights and civil rights, and let me 13:15 throw this in, in this election season. 13:17 I must admit, I've got a problem when we don't 13:21 register to vote or go to vote in an election. 13:24 But what's our problem? We've got big jobs now. 13:29 We make big money now. And some of us don't 13:32 give back to the very community that came from. 13:35 We operate in the philosophy: I've got mine, 13:39 now your get yours. But I'm not excited, 13:43 my friends, when I see people riding down 13:45 the street in their Benz, their Beemer, 13:48 their Jag, their Rolls Royce, and then 13:50 they don't put a dollar back into the place 13:52 that has been a blessing to them. If you're 13:55 all that and then some, you ought to be able 13:58 to put back into the coffer more than what 14:01 you've got on your back. More than what 14:03 you've got on your feet. More than what 14:06 you've got on your wrist. We want from life, 14:09 but we don't want to give back to life. 14:11 A whole lot of folk out there are crying 14:13 that they want more; but you've got to give 14:15 more if you want more. Because the more 14:18 you empty your barns, the more God will 14:21 fill up your barns. I wish I had a 14:23 witness in this place. [Aud. reaction] 14:25 PB: The more you empty your barns, 14:27 the more God will build your barns. 14:30 I once was young, but now I'm old, 14:32 but I've never seen the righteous forsaken, 14:35 nor His seed begging bread. Pressed down, 14:39 shaken together, running over. 14:42 God will make a way. Do I have a 14:44 witness in this place? [Aud. reaction] 14:45 PB: So the farmer says, I know what 14:48 I'm going to do. I'm just going to sit 14:51 back and I'm going to take it easy. 14:53 So he does. He kicks back in his nice chair, 14:56 and he lifts his feet and he takes his 14:59 weight off of the lower half of his body. 15:01 He leans back and he says, "Hmmm." 15:04 He says, "I know what I'll do." 15:07 Luke 12 records it. He says, "I'll eat, 15:11 drink, and be merry. And you know 15:15 what I'm going to say? I'm going to 15:17 say to my soul"--this is what he says--"Soul, 15:20 thou hast laid up much for many years. So eat, 15:26 drink, and be merry." But you know where 15:31 the man has made his big mistake. 15:33 The man confused the satisfying of a 15:37 stomach for the filling of a soul. 15:41 Somebody's going to get this in a minute. 15:42 Let me try it this way. He thought that 15:45 if you filled your stomach, filled your head, 15:48 filled your heart or filled your house, 15:52 that it would compensate for your soul. 15:55 But I believe I've got a witness in this 15:57 place tonight that your soul can only be 16:00 filled by the presence of an eternal God. 16:03 Some of you right now, you can't sleep at night. 16:05 Some of you right now, you're frustrated, 16:08 you're depressed, you're upset, you're mean, 16:12 you're mad, you're cutting your eyes. 16:14 You want more. And you've got to have more. 16:18 And some of you have more than what you know 16:20 what to do with. But you don't know what to 16:23 do with what you have, because there's 16:25 something fundamentally wrong with you, 16:27 and it has nothing to do with your money, 16:29 your cash or your resources. It's your soul 16:33 that's hungry. I said, it's your soul that's hungry. 16:38 And when your soul is hungry, you can't sleep at night. 16:44 When your soul is hungry, you can't look at the 16:47 bright side of life. When your soul is hungry, 16:51 you can't see the good in life. When your 16:55 soul is hungry, you can't see the good in people. 16:59 When your soul is hungry, you can't rejoice 17:03 on Sabbath morning; you can't lift those hands 17:06 and bless Him. You can't praise Him for what 17:09 He's done; what's He's doing; what He's getting 17:11 ready to do. When your soul is hungry, 17:15 you try to fill it up with a whole bunch of stuff. 17:18 But oh, when that man sat down, when the man 17:22 sat down that night. When he sat down that night, 17:26 he forgot one thing. He forgot--read the text 17:31 when you go home--he forgot that there's a 17:33 common denominator that becomes an equalizer 17:35 to all of us. It's called the grim reaper. 17:40 It doesn't matter who you are when the equalizer 17:44 shows up. That is a common denominator. 17:48 The man says, "I'll say to my soul: Soul, 17:51 you have laid up much for many years to eat, 17:54 drink and be merry." But Jesus said, "Man, 17:57 I don't want your barns. I don't want your grains. 18:01 I don't want your land. I don't want your property. 18:05 I don't want your manservant. I don't want 18:08 your maidservant. I don't want any of that, 18:11 but tonight I'm coming to get what belongs to me. 18:14 Your body's returning to dust. Your spirit 18:18 is returning to God, and your soul is going to 18:22 cease to exist. He said, "Thou fool." 18:26 And anybody tonight who's greedy, and covets 18:32 what somebody else has: thou fool! 18:37 Because you want what somebody else has, 18:40 and you don't even know the price they had 18:42 to pay to get what they've got. A whole lot 18:45 of us covet what somebody else has, 18:48 but you don't know how many tears they 18:50 shed at night. You don't know how many 18:52 nights they could not go to sleep. 18:54 Days they had to go without. No lights, 18:56 no water, no food, no car. You don't know 19:00 how many dark roads they had to walk. 19:02 You don't know their valleys, their shadows, 19:04 their deaths. You don't know their hurts, 19:06 their frustrations, their disappointments 19:09 and defeats. You don't know the price they paid. 19:11 Thou fool. So quit hating. Quit hating. 19:18 Quit envying. Quit resenting. Quit coveting. 19:25 And learn how to say: What God has for me, 19:30 it is for me. Oh, I feel my health coming now. 19:37 [Aud. reaction] PB: The day is coming when 19:41 God will ask us to give an account of ourselves. 19:44 And there are two words that are going to come. 19:47 If you've been right with God, the word you're 19:50 going to hear is "faithful." Everybody say "faithful." 19:53 But if you're out of relationship with God, 19:55 the word you're going to hear is "foolish." 19:58 And I don't know about you, but I want 20:01 to hear faithful. I don't want to live 20:03 and die a fool. I don't want to live in 20:06 an earthly hell, then die and go to an eternal hell. 20:10 That's just too much hell. Are you hearing 20:12 what I'm saying? I don't want to know all this about hell; 20:16 all this about God's Word, His commandments, 20:19 and still die a fool. Because if I die and my 20:23 soul be lost, it's nobody's fault buy mine. 20:29 Tonight, church of the Living God, do you 20:32 believe in God? Do you believe in God's Word? 20:37 Do you believe in God's commandments? 20:40 Do you believe that He stepped out on space, 20:43 and He created something out of nothing? 20:46 Do you believe that He parted the Red Sea? 20:49 Do you believe that He shut some lions' 20:52 mouths in Daniel's den? Do you believe He 20:55 made the lame to walk again; 20:57 caused the blind to see? Do you believe 21:00 He woke you up this morning, 21:02 He clothed you in your __. 21:04 Do you believe He healed you, 21:07 when you couldn't get well? 21:09 Do you believe He paid your rent when 21:14 you didn't have any money? Do you believe 21:17 He helped you raise those children by yourself? 21:20 Do you believe that He brought you 21:22 joy unspeakable? That the world didn't get it, 21:26 and the world can't take it away. Do you 21:30 believe that one day Jesus is coming back, 21:36 and He's coming back to get those who 21:39 have loved Him. Those who have followed Him. 21:42 Those who have obeyed Him. Those who have 21:45 kept His commandments. Tonight, do you believe? 21:49 And if you do believe, if your answer is yet, 21:54 then thou good and faithful servant. You've 21:59 been faithful over a few things, so come on 22:02 up a little higher. Come on up and enjoy the 22:06 inheritance of the Lord. Come on up and enjoy life. 22:10 Leave other folk's stuff alone. But while 22:15 you're getting your car, while you're 22:17 getting your house, while you're getting 22:20 your bank accounts, while you're getting 22:22 some investments, make sure you get you some God. 22:26 Get some Jesus that can stand the test of time. 22:30 Get a Savior that can walk with you, 22:33 that will talk with you, 22:35 that will tell you, you are His own. 22:37 You need a God that you can hold in 22:39 the midnight hour. A God that can rock 22:41 you in the cradle of His arms. 22:43 You don't have to covet anybody's anything 22:45 because your God owns the cattle on a 22:47 thousand hills. And my God shall supply 22:53 all my needs according to His riches. 22:58 I feel my health coming. Is there anybody 23:01 that knows about Jesus tonight? Jesus, 23:04 sweetest name I know. Jesus, I tell it 23:10 everywhere I go. Jesus, I tried Him, 23:14 I found out that He's all right with me. 23:20 Give God some praise tonight. God will, 23:22 He give you increase. God will give you increase. 23:29 God will enlarge your territory. 23:31 God will bless you more than you could imagine. 23:34 God wants to blow somebody's mind. 23:37 You know what's so good about God? 23:41 Even if the devil takes it away, God will supply. 23:43 God will satisfy. And your ladder is 23:46 always greater than your past. Which means, 23:50 whatever I lose, it will show up three times, 23:54 four times, five times, six times, 23:57 seven times more than what I lost. 24:00 Does anybody know what I'm talking 24:01 about tonight? Won't God make a way? 24:04 Won't God provide? Let the redeemed of 24:07 the Lord say so. Oh, some folk say it 24:12 doesn't take all that, but when I think 24:15 of the goodness of Jesus, and all 24:18 He's done for me, my soul cries 24:23 out Hallelujah! Thank God for saving me. 24:29 Say something! If the Lord's been good 24:32 to you, say something. If the Lord has 24:36 been your bridge over troubled water, 24:37 say something! If God has made a way 24:41 out of no way, Say something! [Aud. reaction] 24:46 PB: You've got to say something. 24:55 God has not given His people a spirit 24:59 of fear but a spirit of love, power, 25:01 sound mind. Say something! 25:04 I can tread on serpents. Say something! 25:08 I can speak and rebuke demons. Say something! 25:13 [Aud. reaction] PB: You can't just be a hearer. 25:19 You can't just say something. But you've got 25:28 to do something. I said, you've got to 25:31 do something. That's what Jesus says. 25:37 If you love Me, keep My commandments. 25:44 He does not say if you love Me, 25:47 hear my commandments. He said, If you love Me, 25:52 keep my commandments. Because He says, 25:57 blessed are they that do His commandments 26:01 that they may have a right to the tree of life, 26:05 and you run to the gates into the city. 26:09 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 26:12 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. 26:15 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord 26:18 thy God in vain. Thou remember the Sabbath 26:21 day to keep it holy. Honor thy father 26:24 and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. 26:27 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 26:29 Thou shalt not steal. 26:31 Thou shalt not bear false witness. 26:33 Thou shalt not covet, because here 26:35 is the patience of the saints. 26:38 Here are they that keep the commandments of God. 26:42 These are God's love letters. 26:46 Everything in life stems from these love letters. 26:51 When we worship; how we live; what we eat; 26:58 what we put in our bodies; how we treat one another; 27:03 how we give back to God. And God is telling 27:08 us tonight, love Me in the way I want to be loved. 27:12 God is telling us tonight, love your neighbor 27:15 in the way I want them to be loved. And when 27:18 you love God; when you've been taught God's Word; 27:22 when you believe in God's Word; when you repent 27:28 of your sins, then there's something that must 27:31 take place. You must be baptized. [Aud. reaction] 27:37 PB: Now go with me in the Word to Matthew 28. 27:41 Let me give you this little Word, and then 27:43 we're going to have the appeal and go home. 27:45 Matthew 28, verse number 19. The Word of 27:48 God is very clear that after you hear the Word, 27:51 you must now live and do by the Word. 27:54 The Bible is very clear in Matthew chapter 28, 27:57 verse number 19. If you have it, 27:58 let me hear you say amen. Aud.: Amen. 28:00 PB: Matthew chapter 28, verse number 19. 28:03 If you have it, let me hear you say amen. 28:05 Aud.: Amen. PB: The Word says, 28:06 "Go ye therefore, teach all nations, 28:10 baptizing them in the name of the 28:12 >: Thank you for joining us for another 28:14 exciting Breath of Life television broadcast. 28:17 Tune in next week at the same time, 28:20 as Dr. Byrd will deliver another dynamic 28:22 message from the Lord, just for you. 28:24 Until next time, may God bless you. 28:27 END |
Revised 2016-08-04