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.
During that time, they not only believed there was ONE GOD, some believed there were MANY GODS. God's Word says, in Psalm 55:1, "The fool hath said in his heart, THERE IS NO GOD...."
WHY DOES GOD SAY THAT MAN IS A "FOOL" if he does not believe in God? For anyone to say that there is no God, he would have to say, "I know everything; and there is nothing that I do not know!" Unless a person can truthfully say that, how could he say there was no God?
That is why there are no true atheists; because no man can make the claim he knows everything. He cannot be an atheist; he is only trying to FOOL HIMSELF and EVERYONE ELSE, and doing a very poor job of it.
The Bible reveals that God is a jealous God. God declared that He was a jealous God during a time of polytheism, where men believed in many gods.
SAD TO SAY, POLYTHEISM IS STILL VERY MUCH A PROBLEM. People still worship (though they may not recognize it as worship) a variety of false gods today.
Today’s gods may not be fashioned of wood, or stone, but our gods take on other forms, such as:
• Sports
• Actors and actresses
• Power
• Popularity
• Sex
• Food
• Clothes
• Jobs
• Family and friends
• Money
Illus: Someone pointed out that we have, "In God we trust," printed on our coins, but that we should hold them up and say, "THIS GOD we trust."
Any time we put any of these things ahead of the God of heaven, we make them our gods. ANY TIME!
What God told them, He tells us in no uncertain terms; He forbids idol worship. HE TELLS US WHY HE FORBIDS IT - "...FOR I THE LORD THY GOD AM A JEALOUS GOD."
We see . . .
I. THE DARK SIDE OF JEALOUSY
Just as there is a BRIGHT SIDE and a DARK SIDE to anger, there is also a BRIGHT SIDE and a DARK SIDE TO JEALOUSY.
• The DARK SIDE to anger is that many have gotten angry, and have done things they would not have done had they not been angry.
• The BRIGHT SIDE to anger is that anger, when channeled in the right direction, motivates people to do good. This is why God's Word says to His people, "Be ye angry and sin not!"
God does not want His people to BE CONTENT WITH SIN. He wants us to BE ANGRY WITH SIN! Why?
• Anger will cause us to go to the polls and vote godly politicians into office and vote bad politicians out of office.
• Anger will cause us to boycott businesses that are anti-Bible
You see, anger has a BRIGHT SIDE and a DARK SIDE. JEALOUSY also has a DARK SIDE and A BRIGHT SIDE. Both ANGER and JEALOUSY will motivate people.
Illus: Standing in front of a Walmart store, a very impatient looking young man approached an attractive woman.
• He said to her, “Would you mind talking to me for a few minutes and act like you enjoy talking to me?”
• “Why?” she asked suspiciously.
• He said, ”My wife has been in this store for a long time and I can’t get her to come out, but I know if she looks up and sees an attractive girl like you talking to me, she will come out!”
Jealousy will motivate people.
It is because of the dark side of JEALOUSY that we hear so much about, that we generally do not want to list jealousy as one of the attributes of God.
We see THE DARK SIDE OF JEALOUSY and . . .
II. THE DESIRABLE SIDE OF JEALOUSY
What can be desirable about jealousy? Before you can have jealousy, there has to be love.
The Lord commanded Israel, and us; "Thou shalt have no other gods before me...for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God...." Another way of saying that is, “Thou shalt have no other gods in your life because I love you.”
We need to ask ourselves a question, "WHY DID GOD COMMAND THIS?"
• Was it because He felt inferior to the other gods that the people worshipped?
• Was it because He felt insecure?
No! The reason the Lord commanded Israel not to serve other gods is because He LOVED THEM. Love always precedes jealousy.
Illus: Dr. George Morrison said, "Jealousy is the shadow cast by love."
• For example, we say that a man is jealous over his wife. Why? Because marriage is a love relationship.
• We do not say that he is envious of her, but that he is jealous of her.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "JEALOUSY" AND "ENVY"? LOVE PRECEDES JEALOUSY.
Many times people use these two words as if they were interchangeable. Well, they certainly are closely related, but there is one difference. YOU CAN ENVY SOMEONE AND NOT LOVE THEM, BUT YOU CANNOT BE JEALOUS OF SOMEONE AND NOT LOVE THEM.
God's jealousy is a DESIRABLE JEALOUSY. It is because He loved Israel that He forbade them to worship other gods.
Illus: A Christian lady told her pastor that she was going to divorce her husband.
• He asked her why, and she said, "He does not love me."
• The pastor asked, "Well, how do you know he does not love you?"
• She said, "Because, it does not matter if men say improper things to me and make improper advances, it does not phase him one iota. I believe a man could do anything he wanted to me, and my husband WOULD NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH!
DO YOU KNOW WHAT? If what that lady said was true, she was right! He did not love her. A man in love has a "DESIRABLE JEALOUSY" that says, "This woman is mine and you keep your hands off!"
That is exactly what God is saying about us - that we belong to Him - keep your hands off!
We see THE DARK SIDE OF JEALOUSY, THE DESIRABLE SIDE OF JEALOUSY and . . .
III. THE DIVINE SIDE OF JEALOUSY
What kind of jealousy characterizes God? God's jealousy is certainly not the result of His feeling insecure. It is the outgrowth of a…
A. LOVE THAT WILL NOT TOLERATE A RIVAL
If God did not care if you put all these false gods in your life, it would mean that God does not love you. It is because He loves us that He will not allow us to have any rivals in our life.
Look at our text again. God makes it clear that, as His people; we have been "STAKED OFF" and He will not tolerate any rivals.
Illus: We all have driven down the road and seen signs in large letters that said, "NO TRESPASSING." That means that the general public has no right putting one foot on that property. The only people to be on it are the owners and those who have permission from the owners!
In the first of the Ten Commandments, God wanted the children of Israel to know that they belonged to Him, and He did not want them to love anyone except Him!
B. A LOVE THAT WILL NOT TOLERATE REJECTION
As we come to the close of this message dealing with God being a jealous God, look at the two verses that precede the first commandment, which tell us that God is a jealous God.
Look at verses 3-5 as we read again, "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 does God's Word say will happen to you? Listen, you do not have to have God first in your life. You can have as many gods as you would like to have. You can do this, but if you do this, you will suffer the consequences.
The Bible says, “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."
Suppose you choose to have other gods in your life. You can do this, but as you do, your family and friends will know that the god of your life is not the true and living God. You can choose to do this, but you and your family will suffer from that decision you made with your life.
One of the reasons we live in this sinful world today, is because dads and moms served these other gods, and now their children are doing the same thing.
Listen, when it comes to JEALOUSY:
• A jealous boy or girl is a dangerous person
• A jealous husband or wife is a dangerous person
But, I submit to you, there is no love as great as God's love and there is no jealousy as strong and as dangerous as God's.
God is telling them that He is a jealous God, and when they commit spiritual adultery with the gods of this world, it is going to affect them and their children down to the third and fourth generations.
Conclusion:
Illus: A young African student was in the U. S.
• He said, “Before I came here, I was a good Christian. I dreamed some day of becoming a medical missionary. Now I am an atheist."
• He was asked how he could change from being a devoted Christian to becoming an atheist, and he answered, "Since coming here, I've discovered that the white man has two gods.
One that he taught us about, and another one whom he worships. A mission school taught me that the tribal doctrines of my ancestors who worshipped images and believed in witchcraft were wrong. But here you worship larger images – cars and electrical appliances. I honestly can't see the difference."
Many today are guilty of allowing things to enter their lives, and become rivals to the living God. God is not pleased with the way they have INSULTED Him with every little god they can find to put in their lives.
GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD. If you do not know that, then you do not know the God of the Bible. For those who are willing to show their love by placing Him first in their lives, look at the promise He makes, in Exodus 20:6, "And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
Do you want God's MERCY? Then love God enough to make Him God of your life.
I. THE DARK SIDE OF JEALOUSY
II. THE DESIRABLE SIDE OF JEALOUSY
III. THE DIVINE SIDE OF JEALOUSY
