The Blessing of Serving a Jealous God Our
The Blessing of Serving a Jealous God
Our God wants us to know His character so He can bless us • If one seeks a relationship with God they need to clearly understand what God is like. (Jn 17: 3)
Our God wants us to know His character so He can bless us • John 17: 3 - "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Our God wants us to know His character so He can bless us • God actually tells us not to serve Him if we do not recognize His character and the changes that must come in our personal lives! (Josh 24: 19 -20)
Our God wants us to know His character so He can bless us • Joshua 24: 19 -20 - But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 "If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.
Our God wants us to know His character so He can bless us • When you come to know God it will change how you view everything. • The fad movements of “easy believism” are seen as empty when you know God. • We live in a time where the culture has become aggressively hostile to Christian morals. A clear view of God is the rock that will allow us to stand. (1 Jn 2: 13 -14)
Our God wants us to know His character so He can bless us • 1 John 2: 13 -14 - I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father.
Our God wants us to know His character so He can bless us • 14 I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.
What does it mean when God proclaims that He is a jealous God? • Jealous - (1) as commendably striving for something desire, show zeal (for), set one's heart on (1 C 12. 31); (2) of a strong personal concern for someone be zealous or jealous (over) (2 C 11. 2); • Someone has described it as the zealous love of God.
What does it mean when God proclaims that He is a jealous God? • “The root idea in the Old Testament word jealous is to become intensely red. It seems to refer to the changing color of the face or the rising heat of the emotions which are associated with intense zeal or fervor over something dear to us. In fact, both the Old and New Testament words for jealousy are also translated “zeal. ”
What does it mean when God proclaims that He is a jealous God? • God is zealous—eager about protecting what is precious to Him. ” • Satan can direct men into another kind of jealousy that can destroy the mind and the soul. (Gal 5: 20, 2 Cor 12: 20)
What does it mean when God proclaims that He is a jealous God? • Galatians 5: 20 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
What does it mean when God proclaims that He is a jealous God? • 2 Corinthians 12: 20 - For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults;
What does it mean when God proclaims that He is a jealous God? • Those who crucified Christ did so because of jealousy (envy). (Mt 27: 18)
What does it mean when God proclaims that He is a jealous God? • Matthew 27: 18 - For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy. • Churches have been divided because of the jealously (zeal) of men. (Gal 4: 17)
What does it mean when God proclaims that He is a jealous God? • Galatians 4: 17 - They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • God is jealous because we are a special treasure to Him. (Ex 19: 4 -6; 1 Pt 2: 4 -5)
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • Exodus 19: 4 -6 - 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. ' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. "
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • Consider God’s relationship to Israel. (Ps 135: 4)
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • Psalm 135: 4 - For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure.
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • John 3: 16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • God’s jealousy for us is likened to the marriage relationship. (Hosea 2: 19 -20)
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • Hosea 2: 19 -20 - "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; 20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • We are so important to God that He has a zealous love for us. • It is possible for us to love something else more than God. When this happens we have become unfaithful. We must guard our hearts. (2 Cor 11: 2)
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • 2 Corinthians 11: 2 - For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • Consider the importance of guarding our hearts in our marriages. An unfaithful mate is a pain worse than if they had died. • God’s jealousy has provided us with a covenant. • A covenant with God defines the relationship. What a privilege to have a relationship with God! (Consider the covenant of marriage)
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • This gave Noah courage before he entered into the ark. (Gen 6: 18)
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • Genesis 6: 18 - "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark -- you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • Our covenant was made possible by the blood of Christ. (Mt 26: 28)
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • Matthew 26: 28 - "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
God’s Jealousy shows us how important we are to Him • We should be greatly reassured by the fact we have a defined relationship.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • God will take care of His children. (Nahum 1: 1 -3, 7)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Nahum 1: 2 -3 2 God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; The LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies; 3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • He will punish the enemies of His people. • He will provide for His people in the midst of adversity. (Rom 8: 31 -37)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Romans 8: 31 -37 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. " 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • God knows our weaknesses and has made abundant provision for us. • God wants us to be jealous for His people and His covenant. • Consider the stand of Elijah contrasted to the “open minded” cowardice of the people he sought to persuade. (1 Kgs 18: 21; 19: 10, 14)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 1 Kings 18: 21 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him. " But the people answered him not a word.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 1 Kings 19: 10 10 So he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life. "
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 1 Kings 19: 14 14 And he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life. "
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Phineas killed many who by their actions were openly influencing God’s people. (Num 25: 3 -8; 11 -12)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Numbers 25: 3 -8 3 So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel. 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the LORD, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel. "
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor. " 6 And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 7 Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Numbers 25: 11 -12 11 "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. 12 "Therefore say, 'Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace;
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • I am shocked to see those who “like” those openly departing from the faith. (Deut 4: 23 -24)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Deuteronomy 4: 23 -24 23 "Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24 "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Paul openly opposed the “non-traditional” of his day. (2 Cor 11: 2 -4)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 2 Corinthians 11: 2 -4 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted -- you may well put up with it!
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Jesus showed us this jealousy (zeal) in His life. (Jn 2: 14 -17)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • John 2: 14 -17 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 16 And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up. "
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • We must flee idolatry. • An idol occurs when we make something more important than God. (Col 3: 5)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Colossians 3: 5 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • It is better never to serve God than to begin to serve Him and fall to idolatry. When you lose your heart you have turned from God. (Josh 24: 19 -25)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Joshua 24: 19 -25 19 But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 "If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good. " 21 And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD!"
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 22 So Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him. " And they said, "We are witnesses!" 23 "Now therefore, " he said, "put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel. "
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 24 And the people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!" 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • We cannot regard our relationship with God lightly. • God’s love for us is so strong that He is jealous for our devotion and love. How would you feel if you had a spouse that you deeply love and have provided and then found out that your spouse was not faithful to you? (Ps 78: 58 -59)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Psalm 78: 58 -59 58 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. 59 When God heard this, He was furious, And greatly abhorred Israel,
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • We must be jealous for God’s people and to who they extend fellowship. (2 Cor 11: 2, 19 -20; 1 Cor 10: 20 -22)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 2 Corinthians 11: 2 -4 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. … 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted -- you may well put up with it!
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 2 Corinthians 11: 19 -20 19 For you put up with fools gladly, since yourselves are wise! 20 For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face.
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 1 Corinthians 10: 20 -22 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Fellowship is the acid test for what we are really putting first. Too many want the name Christian but have full fellowship with the world. (James 4: 4 -6)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • James 4: 4 -6 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble. "
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Too many Christians have joined the world in criticizing “negative preaching. ” • What if we get it wrong? God wants us to know that His name is jealousy! (Ex 34: 12 -14)
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Exodus 34: 12 -15 12 "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. 13 "But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 14 '(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • 15 "lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice,
Assurances that come from God’s jealousy • Let us be moved to be jealous (zealous) for our God and His ways!
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