would you turn back to Acts chapter
20, and this is Paul's conclusion to the message to the Ephesian
elders, and I have entitled this message, I have coveted no man's
silver or gold. No professional preacher could
make that claim. Not one. I have coveted no man's
silver or gold. Now, I suppose the first question
I need to try to answer is, what do you mean by professional preaching?
You get paid, don't you? Yeah, I do. Paid well. I'm thankful. So what do I mean
by a professional preacher? A professional preacher is somebody
who doesn't preach the gospel. It really is that simple. They
do not preach the gospel, and God never called them to preach. They are simply receiving a paycheck
for what they do. They go to work, they do what
they do, and they get a paycheck. Aubrey, you might not remember
this, but in the last, it's been the last few months, she asked
me something like this. How can you stand being a preacher
when you know nobody likes you? She wasn't talking about you
all, but she was talking about, you know, you go out in public,
nobody likes preachers, and I don't. I tell you what, when I meet
a preacher, just automatically, you know, I don't give him the
benefit of the doubt. You know, I'm just, I'm thinking, eh, what's
wrong with this guy? You know, I just, I don't like
him. And so it's difficult being a preacher. I don't go around
telling people. I'm very, I don't like to, what do you do? I hate
it when people ask me that, because I know what they're thinking
after I tell them what I do. And so no professional preacher could
ever make this claim, I have coveted no man's silver or gold
or apparel. They want something from you,
silver or gold, or you as a statistic to prove the validity of their
ministry. A soul that they have won, they
covet your esteem and praise to validate them. All of that
goes under this thing of covetousness. And Paul says, I've coveted no
man's silver or gold or apparel. A man who operates under that
principle will never preach the gospel. Covetousness in some
form is behind everything he says and everything he does. And look what Paul says in verse
33 and 34. I've coveted no man's silver
or gold or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that
these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that
were with me. I've not coveted anybody's silver
or gold. As a matter of fact, quite often
I've worked to support myself and to help others. And indeed
he did. We read where he had to make
tents in order to support himself. And I have no doubt he shared
what he made with others. Now, I should say this. If a
church can support a pastor, that he can give himself to the
prayer and to the ministry of the word, they should, shouldn't
they? They should. I wanna give myself to prayer,
to the ministry of the word, and I have said this many times,
I think in many respects, I got a lot easier than anybody else.
While everybody else is going out and dealing with the world,
I'm getting up and reading the Bible, and that's a lot easier. I grant
you that. And a church should, if they
can, support a pastor. That's very scriptural, but quite
often Paul had to work to support himself because he didn't have
the support of other churches, even churches who should have
been supporting him. He said, yea, ye yourselves know how that
these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that
were with me. I've showed you, verse 35, all
things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak,
and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said,
it's more blessed to give than to receive. That's what the Lord
said. Now I think it's interesting,
that's not in any of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. It's Paul who tells us he said
that, and I have no doubt he said that. It's more blessed
to give than to receive. And really the entire gospel
can be summarized by that statement. Now, Paul says, I've coveted
no man's silver or gold or apparel. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Exodus chapter 20? This is the 10th commandment. Verse 17. This is the last of the 10 commandments. What does coveting mean? Well,
you shall not desire that which belongs to someone else. That's
what covetous means, real simply. You shall not desire that which
belongs to someone else. Now look at the commandment in
Exodus chapter 20, verse 17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house. You ever done that? Sure you
have. Sure you have. Thou shalt not
cover thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy Now, I think it's interesting,
religion, even that deals with the Ten Commandments, rarely
deals with this commandment. They never talk much about the
Sabbath, because they don't know what it means, and they just
kind of, let's just move on, and they say very little about
covetousness. Now, I think it's interesting
that thou shalt not covet is the tenth. of the Ten Commandments
because there is an element of covetousness involved in every
sin we commit, in every breaking of any of God's commandments. As a matter of fact, the first
sin, you know what was behind it? Covetousness. Wanting what
belonged to God. You'll be as God. You'll be just
like God if you eat the fruit. Covetousness was the root behind
the very first sin. And there's an element of covetousness
in every sin, desiring what belongs to somebody else, usually desiring
what belongs to God and wanting it to be yours. You know, when Paul let us know
about when he learned that he was a sinner, do you remember
what he said? He said, I'd not known sin except
the law had said, thou shalt not covet. And he found out at
that point that all he did was covet, that he coveted nonstop,
continually coveting. And here he says, I've coveted
no man's silver or gold or apparel. Now there's only one thing that
prevents covetousness. You say, what in the world is
that? Having everything. There's nothing to covet. If
you have everything, you know what? You're content. You're
satisfied. There's nothing for you to covet. The writer of the Hebrews said,
let your conversation be without covetousness. He's speaking to
believers. Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content, be satisfied with such things
as you have. Now, let me tell you what that
doesn't mean. That doesn't mean, well, I've got a car that breaks
down every week and I ought to just be satisfied with it. Well,
I guess you should, but you won't be. Wouldn't you rather have
a car that works all the time? What a drag it is for your car to
always be breaking down. or you would desire to be able
to pay your bills. Everybody desires to pay their
bills. This is not talking about I'm
content in things like that. Although, really, whatever, you
know, whatever's going on with you now, in everything, give
thanks for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning
you. Whatever it is, whatever it is. I don't care what the
situation is, it's the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning
you, so give thanks for it. But when he's talking about being
content with such things as you have, child of God, what do you
have? You have Christ. You have the
forgiveness of all your sins. You have the promise of his grace.
You have a perfect righteousness that really is yours, that God
gave to you. You have adoption. You're a son
of God. You have an eternal inheritance. Like I said a couple of weeks
ago, Bill Gates is a pauper. His kids are paupers compared
to what you have. You're a joint heir with Christ
Jesus. You have the hope that on judgment day, God will say
to you, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord, and you know it's only because he
did well. And if he did well, you did too. You have the promise
of Romans 8.28. Everything is working together
for your good and His glory. Colossians 3 11 says, Christ
is all. Now, if you have all, what is
there to covet? Now, I don't know how many times
I've had people say to me, there's gotta be more. There's gotta
be more. After hearing the message, okay,
there's gotta be more. You ain't heard anything in the
first place if that's your response. You would not respond that way.
There's nothing more than Christ is all. Be content. Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have. If you have all, there is nothing
to covet. Isn't that so? Now you take that
away and all you do is covet. All I do is covet. I remember
one time I was trying to preach on this and somebody says, that's
the one sin nobody can ever suppress. It's always there. Coveting,
coveting, coveting. That's what Paul found out about
himself. One time, this has been years
ago, somebody asked me about contacting some people who had
left their church to invite them to come to our church. And somehow I guess I was dealing
with the fact that I was coveting having more people. That's what
it was. And I didn't feel comfortable
with it. Somehow it didn't seem right,
and I didn't really know what to do with it, because this person
had made this request to me. And I called Brother Mahan, and
I asked him what he thought I should do, because I didn't feel comfortable
contacting these people and trying to get them to come to church.
And here was Brother Mahan's response, and it resonated with
me. They've got nothing you want,
and you have everything they need. Sure, they're welcome to
come, but you're not gonna try to recruit them. They've got
nothing you want, and you've got everything they need. You know, that sounded good to
me. Of course, anybody's welcome
to come, and we want people to come. This is not talking about
an indifference about people coming, but trying to, quote,
get the church to grow, that's just another form of covetousness.
Me feeling that I'm doing better and so on, and that should not
be. That resonated with me. Verse
33, Paul said, I've coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. And if a preacher cannot say
that, God never put him in the ministry. You can just write
that down. If somebody's in this for what
they can get, God never put them in the ministry. If I'm in this
to earn a paycheck, God never put me into the ministry. You see, if I can't say what
Paul said, everything I do will be influenced by covetousness
in some form, I know nothing of that contentment that there
is in Christ Jesus. Isn't it wonderful to be able
to really believe when we seem content with beholding his face?
My all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. When blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear and prisons would palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. Verse 34, he repeats himself. Yea, yourselves know how that
these hands have ministered unto my necessities. You've seen me
making these tents. You've seen what I've done with
this. These hands have ministered to my necessities and to them
that were with me. Verse 35, I've showed you all
things. He's speaking to these elders.
I've showed you all things that so laboring You ought to support
the weak. That ought to be your intention.
You know, there isn't anything more irritating than a preacher
with his hand out. It just irritates me. I mean,
it's just so offensive. Paul said, you're not to be somebody
with your hand out. I've showed you all things, how
that so laboring, you ought to support the weak. You ought to
be the ones to do it and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Now, I've already stated, we
don't read those words quoted in any of the four gospels, but
they summarize the four gospels. It is more blessed to give than
to receive. Now, this is a true principle.
The giver is happier and more blessed than the receiver. It certainly ought to be that
way. There's more joy in giving a
gift than there is receiving one. And lost men and women can
and do experience that. The joy they give in giving their
children gifts. Oh, it makes them happy. They
would rather give the gift than receive one. It's a happier state
to be a giver than a receiver. But this statement actually summarizes
the gospel. I hope the Lord will meet with
us and give us grace to tune in right now. When the Lord says it's more
blessed to give than to receive, the Lord's the more blessed one.
He's the giver. Me and you are the receivers.
Isn't that so? He's the giver. Me and you, we
are the receivers. He is the blesser. We are the blessed. Now can I take that too far? He's the blesser. We are the
blessed. He is the more blessed one. Who's more blessed, Christ or
you? Without all contradiction, the less. is blessed of the better. That is always true. He is the
more blessed. Now, here is an example. Psalm 32 verses one and two says,
blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, let's don't leave that for
just a second. Would you count it a great blessing if the Lord
did not charge you with any of your sins? What could be better
than that? Blessed is he in whose spirit
there is no guile. Now, the blessed one, if your
sins are forgiven, the blessed one forgave them. What a gift.
You're the one blessed. He's the blessed one. If your
sins are covered, what a blessing that is. That's what the blessed
one gave you. You're the one who is blessed.
If your sins are not charged to your account, and I can't
tell you how much I desire that. Every believer desires that.
But if my sins are not charged to my account, who's the one
who's blessed and who's the blesser? The Lord gave that blessing to
me. If I have a spirit in whom is
no guile, and what that's talking about is the new birth. If you
have a new heart, if you have a new nature, you have a spirit
that's not deceitful, honest, pure in heart, is what the Lord
calls it. Blessed are the pure in heart. What a blessing that
is to you. The only reason you have that
is the blesser blessed you with it. He gave it to you. I love that passage in Romans
chapter 11, verses 33 through 36. I'm going to quote it. Oh,
the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, or who hath been his counsel, or who first hath given
to him? Hear that? Who first hath given
to him, and it shall be recommenced to him again. What have you ever
given God? Has there ever been a reason
why God had to pay you back for that which you did for him? For of him and through him and
to him are all things, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I love when the Lord said,
if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you. Cattle on a thousand hills
are mine. I don't need anything from you.
He's not worshiped with men's hands as though he needed Do
you think God needs anything you have? He's God. 1 Corinthians 4, 7 says, what do
you have that you didn't receive? Now, if you received it, why
do you glory as if you had not received it? Now, that verse
could go on and on What do we have that we did not receive?
That last breath you took, God gave it to you. And he can withhold
it. Everything about you, any gift
you have, any intelligence you have, any strength you have,
any ability you have, he gave you. It's so offensive for someone
to be proud of what God has given them. What do you have that you
didn't receive? You think of all the benefits
of salvation, being elected by God, having the love of God,
having Christ die for your sins, having God, the Holy Spirit,
give you a new nature, a new heart. He's the more blessed
one, isn't he? We are the blessed. We are the receivers. He is the blessed one. Now, in the context, Paul is
talking about our giving. He's talking about what he gave.
He's telling these people, you give because it's more blessed
to give than to receive. Now, there are four reasons that
men give that are all sinful reasons and wrong reasons, but
this is so simple. Here's the four reasons everybody
gives has who gives that doesn't know the Lord and doesn't know
Christ. Number one, duty. Duty. It's my responsibility to give.
It's my duty to give. That's why I tithe. It's my duty. Now, if giving's a duty, don't
give. Don't give. God doesn't need what you have.
You've got a completely wrong attitude about it. That's not
a reason to give. There are others who give out
of hope for reward. If I give, God will give me more. It's kind of like karma. You
know, if you're generous, generous things will happen to you. If
you're stingy and selfish, bad things will happen to you. That's
the way most people's view of giving is. It's like karma. Give, that's good karma. Good
things will happen. The third reason people give
is fear. I'm afraid of what'll happen
to me if I don't give. You ever get sick and think,
did I give this month? I've even heard preachers say,
if you don't give, God'll take it out in a coffin, or God'll
take it out in some kind of way of punishment to you, giving
out of fear, And then there's giving for the praise of men,
being seen of men. You know, if I give a big gift,
I'd like everybody to know about it. I'd like everybody to know
how generous I am. How magnanimous, is that the
word, the way you say it? Magnanimous I am. I'm such a
generous person. I always am tickled at those
pictures in the paper where somebody's giving somebody else this big
giant check, you know, that's really large, you can see the
amount, and it's, you know, look what I'm giving, you know? And
people give to be seen of men. Now, all four of these could
be placed under this word, sin. Sin. None of those reasons are
reasons to give. Now, I'd like to close by going
to 2 Corinthians 8 and looking at these Bible words with regard
to giving. I think it's interesting that
Paul, the apostle, devotes two whole chapters at once to giving. Verse 7 of chapter 8. Therefore,
as you abound in everything, in faith, that's a gift, isn't
it? Faith's called the gift of God's
grace. By grace you say through faith and that knowledge of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. In utterance, that's a gift. In knowledge,
that's a gift. In all diligence, That's a gift. In your love to us, that's a
gift. That's a gift of grace. Every
one of those things, aren't they? The gifts of his grace. See that
you abound in this grace also. What a privilege it is. It's
a gift of grace. Let me tell you one thing that
I'm sure of. The Bible doesn't teach tithing. It's a law. It's a law imposed in the Old
Testament. The Bible does not teach tithing. Giving is a grace. And that's
pretty much the same thing that he says in verse eight. He says,
I speak not by commandment. I'm not giving you an amount
to give. I speak not by commandment. There's not any rules here. There's
not any commandments. If you don't wanna give, don't
give. If you wanna give, give. If you wanna give 10%, give.
If you wanna give 1%, give. If you wanna give it all, give.
You know the very idea of giving 10%. It's all His, isn't it?
Not just 10%, it's all His. I'm not giving you a commandment
with regard to what you should do. I speak not by commandment,
but by occasion of the forwardness, the willingness of others, and
to prove the sincerity of your love. Love gives. That's what love does. I want
you to think about your kids. Why do you give to them? Because
you love them. And you enjoy it. Why? Because you love them. God so
loved. Now, if there's somebody you
love, you give. And if you're not willing to
give to that person, your love is very much questioned. The
root of giving is love. It proves the sincerity, Paul
says, of your love. Look in verse 12 of chapter eight. For if there first be a willing
mind, A willing mind. You know why you give? Because
you want to. It's a willing mind, not some
kind of duty, not some kind of law enforced upon you. There
is a willingness. If there be first a willing mind. Listen, if you're not willing,
don't give. It's not like God needs anything
you have or anything I have. But what a blessing it is to
be enabled to be willing. if there be first a willing mind. Look what it says next in verse
12. It's accepted according to that a man hath and not according
that he hath not. Now, if you've ever been in other
churches, they'll have pledges. You ever been around that pledge? give this much, pledge to give
this much every month. I was looking on a website of
a church here in town, and they had all kinds of ways to pledge
to give, and the preacher said, I've pledged so much, I don't
know what kind of position it's gonna put me in, I've pledged
so much. I was thinking, oh, I'm glad you're telling everybody.
And they even had ways to, if you pay off a bill, just keep
giving it to the church instead of just thinking you got that
kind of extra money. I mean, all these pledges, pledges. Give
this much next year, you don't plan. You're not called on to
do that. You're to give what you have,
not what you don't have, what you have. If there be first a
willing mind, it's accepted according to that a man hath, and not according
that he hath not. I mean, not that other men be
eased and you burdened. Look in 2nd Corinthians chapter
9, verse 7. How much should I give? Every
man giveth according as he hath purposed in his heart. That's
how much to give. Every man give according to as
he has purposed in his heart. Paul said to the Corinthians
in 1st Corinthians 16, Give as God has prospered you.
That's a good rule of thumb, isn't it? Give as God has prospered
you. Look what he says in verse six
of chapter nine. But this I say, he would sow it sparingly, shall
reap also sparingly, and he would sow it bountifully, shall reap
also bountifully, generously. What a blessing that is. I wanna, by the grace of God,
I wanna be a generous giver. I do, and I know you do too,
and that's what he says. Look what he says in verse seven. Every man according as he purposes
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity,
for God loveth a cheerful giver. One who enjoys giving. Literally a hilarious giver. And notice he says, every man,
according as he purposes in his heart, who's to give everybody,
everybody. And let me say this, we ought
to teach our children to give. You say, well, they're not believers.
I don't care. They still ought to be generous.
If they're not believers, we ought to teach our children to
give and to be generous. Everyone is to give. As unto the Lord, that's the
joy. It is more blessed to give than
to receive. Now back to our text in Acts
chapter 20. Verse 35, I've showed you all
things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak
and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said,
it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he thus
spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all and they all wept
sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him. sorrowing most
of all for the words which he spake that they should see his
face no more, and they accompanying him unto the ship." Now, how
these people loved Paul. They were so grieved to think
that they wouldn't see him anymore. They loved him. Now, what I thought
about that, and I thought, I want to be somebody, I'd like to be
this way, to where if I was gone and nobody would see me anymore,
they'd be not happy, but grieving. That is the case of Paul. All
those people fell on his neck and wept because they loved him. They learned the gospel through
him. Now, truly, this is a statement we all can get a hold of. We see it in light of the gospel,
and it's a desire we have for ourself. It's more blessed to
give than it is to receive. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your giving. The gift of your son, how you
spared him not. How he willingly gave himself
for our sins. Lord, you are the more blessed. And we are the blessed to have
been blessed by you. Lord, Give us grace, we won't
be this way except you give us grace. Give us grace to be gracious,
merciful, forgiving, generous people for the glory of thy son. In his name we pray, amen. Drew,
come, lead us in closing hymn. Closed with 212, nothing but
the blood, and number 212. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my part in this I seek, Nothing
but the blood of Jesus For my cleansing this my plea Nothing
but the blood of Jesus Oh, precious is the flow That makes me white
as snow No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can force in a tone,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow. That makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Okay. th th th Thank you. th th th th Okay.