He is Jealous or Me AM

Joshua 24:14-20, 14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” 19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.”

I. Is it true that God is a Jealous God?

• Exodus 20:4-5a: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God …” (Repeated also in Deuteronomy 5:8-9)

• Exodus 34:12-14: “Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God).”

• Deuteronomy 4:23-24: “Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

• Deuteronomy 6:13-15: “It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.”

• Ezekiel 39:25: “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name.”

•  Zechariah 1:14 says: “So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.’ ”

II. What is does it mean that God is a Jealous God?

1. Yes, normally the word jealousy carries a negative connotation.

1. Throughout the New Testament in places like Romans 13:13, and Galatians 5:20 it is listed as a vice not a virtue.

2. In I Corinthians 13:4, when the Apostle Paul lists the characteristics of true love, he says, ‘Love is not jealous.’

3. So how can God be jealous? That’s a great question

2. Jealousy vs Envy

1.  Jealousy can be good or bad dependent on the object of the jealousy and the reason for the jealousy.

2.  Envy which is a completely different word and emotion, and it is always bad and wrong.

3. Envy is a feeling of displeasure over the blessings someone else is enjoying.

4. Jealousy makes us want what others are enjoying, but envy makes us want to deprive them of that enjoyment.

5. Godly jealousy is zeal to protect another, or to protect and preserve something that is precious.

6. Godly jealousy is motivated by love – by single-minded devotion.

1. True love is never jealous OF someone you love, but it is always jealous FOR the person you love.

III. So if God is not jealous in the negative senses we have described, then how is He jealous?

1. A good illustration of the holy jealousy of God has to do with parenting.

2. Another good illustration of the holy jealousy of God has to do with marriage.

‘IV. The jealousy of God?

1. The jealousy of God is a reflection of God’s love.

2. The jealousy of God is a protection for us.

V. How should we respond to God’s jealousy?

Joshua said to the people: “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh. 24:14-15)

Clean out all our foreign and counterfeit gods and throw them away?