God's Great Love

Let me tell you why…

Illus: Most of us, have seen some of these little doll babies that the toy companies make. As these young girls hold these dolls in their arms, these words come from the play doll baby; “I love you!”

God could have created us to be like that if He chose to do so! HE IS THE CREATOR! WHY DIDN’T HE?

Illus: That does not compare to a grandchild hopping up into our laps, and with a great big hug, saying, “Papa, I love you!”

God does not want us to love Him because we are created to worship Him with a mechanism that does not give us a choice. Love is only REAL when it is FREELY GIVEN!

God is a GOD OF LOVE, but did you know that in a number of places in the Bible, the Bible tells us that God is a GOD OF JEALOUSY?

We are told THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF JEALOUSY. Some that we are familiar with are:

• Boy-girl jealousy

• Sibling jealousy

• A friend’s jealousy

The Bible tells us, in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” But we find it easier to WEEP WITH THEM THAT WEEP than to REJOICE WITH THEM THAT REJOICE!

We all have to fight jealousy…don’t we? It is in our DNA!

Now I do not see anyone scratching their head saying, WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT? You know exactly what I am talking about. We all have to deal with jealousy in our life.

• It may be that we become jealous of a person that got a raise or promotion in position on their job

• It may be that someone is jealous of a person that got a new home or car they wish they could afford to buy.

• It may be a child is jealous of a sibling because their parents showed favoritism.

But make no mistake about it; we all have to deal with jealousy in one way or the other.

Illus: It is said that jealousy started in the Garden of Eden.

• Eve accused Adam of having another woman in his life.

• Adam's reply was, "Don't be ridiculous. You know you are the only woman on this earth in my life!“

• Eve seemed pacified, but that night Eve waited until Adam was asleep and she reached over and counted his ribs.

Illus: I heard of a wife who was so jealous of her husband that one day he told her:

• “Woman, your jealousy is going to drive me to my grave."

• She said, “Well, did you expect to walk to your grave?”

Illus: Jealousy can be very cruel. One jealous wife vowed to kill her husband if she ever found him with another woman. Then one day she did see him with another woman, but before she had a chance to kill him, he fled. A couple of days later he was walking by the road and was hit by a car. The car was gone when the police arrived.

• The officer asked the nearly dead man, “Did you get the license number?”

• He said, “No, but I know who did it. I would recognize my wife's laugh anywhere.”

When it comes to jealousy, did you know that the Holy Word of God tells us that God is a GOD OF JEALOUSY? Look at Exodus 34:14, it says, “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."

If we had the time, I could show you many more scriptures that tell us that God loves us and that He is a jealous God. Jealousy is one of the attributes of God. The attribute of jealousy is very closely related to the attribute of love.

Look at Exodus 20:3-5, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."

WHAT WE HAVE IN THESE THREE VERSES, IS GOD CONDEMNING POLYTHEISM, which is the belief in more than one god.

The fact that people then worshipped many gods, probably accounts for the fact that nowhere in the Ten Commandments do we find a place where God forbids ATHEISM, but we do find a commandment where He forbids POLYTHEISM.

WHY WASN'T ATHEISM A PROBLEM THEN? Because, it was too soon after the time of creation. Creation was so fresh on the minds of the people of that age, that when the Ten Commandments were given, you would have been considered a fool by the rest of mankind if you said there was no God.