IDEA: Sometimes believers doubt what they read in the Bible. TEXT: "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" (Exodus 20:17).

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you' " (Hebrews 13:5).

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand why they struggle to believe what seem to be clear statements in the Bible.

A thing is not true because it's in the Bible; it's in the Bible because it's true. Would you agree with that?

I. Yet there are many times in which the Bible makes a statement, and if we're honest, we don't buy it. Why not?

There are at least three reasons why people don't buy a statement.

They don't see the connection. Suppose I say, "If you improve your relationship with your wife or husband, that will help your prayer life" (1 Peter 3:7). You may say you don't see the relationship between these two things.

It seems contrary to real life. Take the command, "Honor your father and mother that your days may be long on the earth." Immediately we think of people who died when they were 15 and were good kids. Or we think our parents don't deserve it. We see exceptions.

There's something even more important in my life now that keeps me from accepting what the Bible says. For example, Christians ought to marry other Christians: "marry in the Lord." But Mary meets Larry who is a lovely man from a good home, but he makes no profession of faith. So how does Mary think about all this?

II. What problems do people have with accepting Hebrews 13:5-6?

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'

We don't see the connection between being content, knowing Christ is with us, and not loving money. We feel that if we had more money, we'd be more content.

It seems contrary to life. A thousand voices tell us to get more and more of what we have enough of already. And, in fact, advertising is designed to make us discontent with what we have. We don't buy the text because everyone around us is saying the opposite.

There is something we crave even more than we do the promise of God's being with us.

Do people want to be content? Is it true that contentment is found in having more money and things money can buy? If we realize that the acquiring of things is like drinking salt water when we're thirsty, we can be open to what the writer of Hebrews is saying. We can be content with what we have if we recognize that what we wanted to buy with money, only Jesus Christ can give us.