THE BLACKEST OF ALL SINS.
Covetousness is one of the terrible sins of the last days that will shut people out of heaven!!!

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 men's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." You see, the sin that nobody admits is covetousness.

You break any of the other commandments and immediately you get into trouble, but coveting -- well, nobody knows whether you're coveting or not. But there it is -- it is a commandment of the Lord, and it is one that most people seem to overlook; yet in God's sight it's one 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." The point he was trying to get across was this: Every single sin has its roots in the sin of covetousness, and that's why God thought it was important enough to include in the Ten Commandments. It's the sin that comes before and leads to every other sin that you could possible commit.

God Called a Man a "Fool"
Now I may as well warn you ahead of time that there's no possible way of getting rid of coveting except through the Lord Jesus Christ - absolutely no way at all. It takes special power from heaven to overcome this sin. But now let's go back to Luke 12 for a moment. After Jesus said "Take heed, and beware of covetousness," He told a story to illustrate the point a little bit further. Let me read it to you, 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, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will 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 whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
Now, notice something. God calls this man a fool. Now I may call a man a fool and be entirely mistaken, but when God calls a man a fool, he's a fool. Now this man was a fool. Why? Well, because he was concerned only about himself - "I," "I," "I," - and he forgot all about the solemn fact that one of these days we all have to stand before the Lord in judgment. So God said, "You're a fool. Tonight your soul will be required of you. Then whose will all these things be?"

This is a very solemn story. Every single Christian should give it very earnest attention and heed its message. The Lord is just 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 choose, but when the day of reckoning comes and your soul will be required of you, then whose will these things be?"

You know, a lot of people think they are 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 grosser, outward sins. But mark you this: 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 their rotten, disgusting fullness. And one of the worst sins to be shown upon the judgment day will be the sin of coveting.

Money is a blessing when those who use it consider that they are the Lord’s stewards, that they are handling the Lord’s capital, and must one day give account of their stewardship. OHC 192.2

JUDAS’ UNPARDONABLE SIN WAS COVETOUSNESS (John 12:6). Why? Was it because God could not forgive it? No! It became unpardonable only because Judas refused to listen to the Holy Spirit and confess and forsake his sin of covetousness. Eventually he became deaf to the Spirit’s voice.

ANY SIN CAN QUENCH THE FIRE
Any unconfessed or unforsaken sin can ultimately snuff out the fire of the Holy Spirit. It could be refusal to keep God’s seventh-day Sabbath. It could be use of alcohol. It could be failure to forgive one who has betrayed or otherwise injured you. It could be immorality. It could be keeping God’s tithe. Refusal to obey the Holy Spirit’s voice in any area pours water on the fire of the Holy Spirit. Don’t put out the fire. No greater tragedy could take place.

When the Spirit makes His appeal, we can choose to respond or refuse, but we cannot choose the consequences. They are fixed. If we consistently respond, we will become like Jesus. The Holy Spirit will seal, or mark, us in the forehead as a child of God (Revelation 7:2, 3), and thus assure us a place in God’s heavenly kingdom. However, if we persistently refuse to respond, we will grieve away the Holy Spirit—and He will leave us forever, sealing our doom.