24-0811p Transcript

Preacher: Mike Mathis

(0:31) Good evening to everyone here. (0:37) Those who might be on the phone, conference line, we welcome you.

(0:46) Tonight we continue with the lesson that we started this morning on jealousy. (0:56) We learned that the definition to be jealous is to be intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness, (1:18) to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness. (1:23) We looked this morning at man’s being jealous.

(1:33) And we know that with man, sometimes the jealousy has no foundation. (1:47) But now, tonight though, we’re going to look at God’s jealousy. (1:56) And we want to start off with Exodus 20 and verse 5. (2:09) But we’ll start with verse 3. (2:16) You shall have no other gods before me.

(2:21) You shall not make for yourself a carved image, (2:27) any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. (2:39) You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. (2:46) For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, (2:55) visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children through the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, (3:08) but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments.

(3:18) So he is forbidding any other god to come before him. (3:32) When I was stationed at Fort Bragg, one of the men told me that God didn’t have the right to forbid others. (3:48) But first of all, he’s our creator.

(3:52) He created us. (3:56) And second of all, when God, in speaking to these people, (4:02) in verse 1 he said, God spoke all of these words saying, (4:08) I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (4:20) So God is our creator.

(4:24) He made us in his image. (4:27) You know, we worship something. (4:31) If we don’t worship God, we’re worshiping idols of some kind.

(4:37) Something because in man is that built-in desire to worship. (4:51) But yes, God does have a right. (4:55) When God was telling them, I am the one, (5:01) I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

(5:10) Sometimes a child will tell a parent, (5:17) you don’t have any right to tell me what to do. (5:25) But they need to be reminded that their parents, their mother brought them into the world. (5:37) Their father working to support them.

(5:42) They’ve had food and a place to stay, clothing to wear. (5:53) They pay for their doctor bills and worry so about them. (6:03) So yes, they have a right.

(6:06) And God has a right to tell us not to have any other God before us. (6:16) Or to make an image, a carved image of anything. (6:24) Or he said, you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.

(6:31) For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. (6:38) Since the one definition for to be jealous is to be intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness. (6:55) This is showing unfaithfulness to God.

(7:02) Now, man may suspect another of being a rival or being unfaithful. (7:16) But God knows. (7:19) He knows if we turn to other things.

(7:22) He knows if we’re forsaking Him and turning away from Him. (7:31) And if we do turn away from Him, we are going to get His anger. (7:43) Proverbs 27 verse 4 says, Who can stand before jealousy? (7:49) But when it comes from a man, man can do all kinds of evil.

(7:58) We really don’t know what to expect. (8:05) So when it comes to God’s jealousy, what do we think or expect God to do to us if we turn away from Him? (8:18) And He warned these people, His Israelites, that if they did, (8:27) that He definitely would visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children (8:35) to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. (8:41) So it would be far reaching.

(8:44) He’s warning them that God is one that shows mercy. (8:59) And He said this to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (9:06) And so we turn away from Him indeed.

(9:10) This unfaithfulness that we show toward Him and turning from God to idols, (9:19) we invoke His anger. (9:24) We invoke His jealousy. (9:29) In Deuteronomy 6.15, we’re going to look at that.

(9:51) In verse 14 it says, You shall not go after other gods. (9:57) The gods are the peoples who are all around you. (10:04) For the Lord your God is a jealous God among you.

(10:11) Lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. (10:20) This is Moses talking to these people now after they have traveled through the wilderness for 40 years. (10:32) And it’s getting close to the time that they will enter into the land of Canaan.

(10:45) And He’s telling them, in verse 13 it says, (10:52) You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him and shall take oaths in His name. (11:01) On the other hand, you shall not go after other gods. (11:07) So God is a jealous God, but His jealousy we’re going to see.

(11:15) He can be angry and if His anger is aroused against the people, (11:26) especially here, He can destroy you from off the face of the earth. (11:36) In Exodus 34.14, we have this reading. (11:49) Exodus 34 in verse 14.

(12:02) He said, in verse 13, (12:05) But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down the wooden images. (12:14) For you shall worship no other god for the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God. (12:31) His name is Jealous.

(12:35) It’s another name that He said that applies to God. (12:43) Because God is not willing to share His devotion for anything else. (12:56) He wants devotion fully to Him.

(13:02) And in the Tree of Life version, it says that He is jealous for His name. (13:16) So, here in this version, New King James, it says that His name is Jealous. (13:29) And then, in Deuteronomy 4, in verse 24, that was read in your hearing that John read.

(13:55) It says in this, (13:59) For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (14:07) Now, I know that you will not say this, but maybe someone might bring it up. (14:19) You’re talking in the Old Testament.

(14:25) Here it says, For the Lord your God is a consuming fire. (14:30) Well, we’re going to look at Hebrews, which is in the New Testament, in the 12th chapter. (14:46) Going to be verses 28 and 29.

(14:50) Now, after, in this chapter, Paul is giving the warning about not following God (15:10) and doing things that is not right. (15:15) And then, showing that the earth will be shaken. (15:27) But it says in verse 28, (15:31) Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, (15:37) let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

(15:49) For our God is a consuming fire. (15:55) That applies today. (15:58) It says He is a consuming fire here in Deuteronomy 4. (16:05) And there in Hebrews 12, 29, it says that our God is a consuming fire.

(16:17) So, just as the Israelites were supposed to take care to keep God from being angry (16:31) because they’ve turned away from Him, (16:35) we must stay true to Him today. (16:40) And we should come before Him with reverence. (16:48) Now, we want to turn to Romans 10.

(16:57) We’re going to use this as a conclusion to end this lesson. (17:10) Romans 10, 19 and 21. (17:22) Well, in Romans 10, beginning with verse 19, (17:45) But I say, did Israel not know? (17:52) First, Moses says, (17:56) I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation.

(18:04) I will move you to anger by a foolish nation. (18:12) And he is quoting Deuteronomy 32, 21, (18:23) where God is telling them that they will be provoked to jealousy (18:32) by those who are not a nation. (18:37) He says, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.

(18:42) But Isaiah is very bold and says, (18:47) I was found by those who did not seek me. (18:52) I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me. (19:00) Now, this is in reference to the Gentiles.

(19:07) He’s talking that God will be found by them. (19:16) And if we’re familiar with the things that went on in Acts, (19:22) that when Paul went into the synagogue for the Jews, (19:29) they were the first ones to hear the gospel. (19:34) But then they turned away from it.

(19:38) And so Paul said, you judge yourselves unworthy. (19:46) I turned to the Gentiles and to those that will listen. (19:56) But to Israel, he says, (20:00) all day long I have stretched out my hands (20:04) to a disobedient and contrary people.

(20:10) So the Jews were contrary to God’s commands (20:20) and rejecting to hear the good news (20:26) that God was presenting to them through the gospel. (20:32) They just didn’t hear that. (20:35) Well, they didn’t want to hear God in the Old Testament, (20:41) and they don’t want to follow it now.

(20:44) But he said, well, Moses said, (20:51) I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. (20:55) I will move you to anger by a foolish nation. (21:01) And all that.

(21:04) So there are those that really didn’t seek after God, (21:09) and yet God extended His grace to them. (21:15) And when the gospel of Christ was presented to them, (21:20) that was those of the Gentiles that obeyed the gospel. (21:27) And certainly it did provoke the Jews.

(21:36) In 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 22, (21:43) Paul asks the question, (21:48) do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? (21:53) When he was talking to them about (21:58) it was concerning the Lord’s Supper, (22:02) and then not being able to eat at the table of demons (22:07) and come to the table of the Lord and eat, (22:13) and shun, and this, he says, (22:19) you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. (22:24) You cannot partake of the Lord’s table (22:28) and of the table of demons. (22:31) Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? (22:37) Are we stronger than He? (22:40) Well, we should know what the obvious answer is (22:46) to the last question anyway.

(22:53) But we should not provoke the Lord to jealousy (22:56) by trying to partake of the table of the Lord (23:03) and then turn around and take the cup of demons. (23:10) Because God is not going to be tolerant of that. (23:14) He’s not going to accept it.

(23:18) And thereby He could be provoked to jealousy. (23:24) And then the final thing we want to look at (23:29) is in 2 Corinthians 11 and verses 2 through 4. (23:47) Paul says in verse 2, (23:49) For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. (23:57) For I have betrothed you to one husband, (24:02) that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

(24:11) But I fear lest somehow as the serpent (24:14) receive these by his craftiness, (24:18) so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity (24:23) that is in Christ. (24:27) For if he who comes preaches another Jesus (24:31) whom we have not preached, (24:33) or if you receive a different spirit (24:36) which you have not received, (24:40) or a different gospel which you have not accepted, (24:44) you may well put up with it. (24:48) And it seems as if this is a sarcastic remark

(24:53) to these Corinthians, (24:56) but he is saying that there is that thing (25:03) that we can provoke, (25:06) or we can provoke God to jealousy, (25:11) but are we provoking him to jealousy? (25:17) We are if we’re being unfaithful to him, (25:22) if we’re forsaking him, (25:25) turning to something else.

(25:28) These things are in place of God himself. (25:35) And so we need to understand (25:40) that there is a godly jealousy (25:44) if it is for the right thing, (25:50) and not concerning those things that are evil. (25:58) Now God in his jealousy, (26:03) he knows what to do, (26:04) and he knows who to do it to.

(26:07) We can make no mistake about it. (26:12) Man may presume in his mind (26:17) that somebody else is doing something wrong, (26:21) but God knows, as I said. (26:25) So if there’s anyone that needs the invitation (26:34) to come to God, (26:38) if you’re subject in any way to the gospel invitation, (26:43) may you proceed to do so by responding (26:47) as we stand and sing.