Sunday, May 13, 2018 pm
PROVOKING GOD TO JEALOUSY
1 Corinthians 10:22
a.
Texts
– Exodus 20:5 – in the 10 commandments, we are told, “I am a jealous
God”
Joshua 24:19, as Israel is being warned to finish the task of driving
out the inhabitants, we note, 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.
Nahum 1:2 says, 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;
Our text shows that it
is possible to provoke God to jealousy.
b.
How is He jealous?
The Greek word in our text is a word that means to make or provoke one
to be jealous. He is
provoked to jealousy.
Contrary to what some want to believe, the nature of God has not
changed. He is who He has
always been. While His
attributes may have been manifested differently in certain situations at
different times, we are still dealing with the same God as we read about
in the Old Testament. The
law has changed, but not the giver of the law.
But His jealousy is not like the
jealousy of man.
Man is jealous usually with an ungodly attitude – we envy toward
others. Often this jealousy
leads to misbehavior of various kinds – treating others with suspicion
or despising them, competing against them, even seeking to harm them
(associated with envy).
Jealousies is a work of the flesh – Galatians 5:20, 2 Corinthians 12:20.
It is sometimes translated envy – James 3:14-16 – bitter envy.
God’s Jealousy is always
linked to idolatry or man preferring other things over Him. His
“jealousy” has to do with expecting man to properly reverence Him and
obey Him.
Rebellion against Him grieves Him and will lead to His wrath if we do
not repent (1 Samuel 15:23, Proverbs 17:11).
Romans 11:22 reminds us that God is both good and severe.
12:19 – vengeance belongs to Him.
Hebrews 12:29 describes Him as a consuming fire.
One source compared this to the faithfulness of a married couple.
Each has a right to expect their spouse to remain loyal and
faithful to them. This is so
significant, it is the only cause God gives for one to put away their
spouse (Matthew 19:9). When
they find one “cheating” or even considering another, it provokes
jealousy – hopefully a jealousy to win them back.
This is God when man goes after idols and is unfaithful to Him.
THIS brings us to the new we want to notice.
Do we provoke God to jealousy?
a.
By following other gods
–
Again, this is the primary way we are warned about the jealousy of God.
Exodus 20:3-5 – no other gods, no carved images.
It will bring about His iniquity.
Exodus 34:14, in giving instructions about what was going to happen when
they entered the promised land, they are told to destroy all other
altars and idols. Why?
(for you shall worship no
other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
1 Kings 14:22-24
– Judah, did evil provoking God to jealousy.
They built for themselves altars.
What is idolatry? In its broadest sense it is anything one puts before
God and worships.
1 Corinthians 10:14 – we are called upon to “flee from idolatry”.
1 John 5:21, “Keep yourselves from idols”
Be reminded that covetousness is idolatry – Ephesians 5:3-5 warns that
the covetous man is an idolater and has no inheritance in the kingdom of
God.
b.
When we fail to give Him
the glory
–
God demands that we reverence Him. – that’s what “godliness” is about (1
Timothy 4:8, 2 Peter 1:6-7).
1 Corinthians 10:31 calls for us in whatever we do to give glory to God.
We have emphasized the need to give God glory throughout the
psalms and in other places.
Sadly, far too few seek to glorify God.
We see a completely broken society that has all but abandoned
God. Now they seek to
villainize those who desire to serve him.
2 Timothy 3:5 describes the selfish man who has a “form of
godliness but denies its power”.
Psalm 36:1, David wrote,
An oracle within my
heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is no fear of
God before his eyes.
It is quoted also in Romans 3:18
and describes this attitude.
Acts 12:21-23 – Herod
was struck ill and died because he did not glorify God.
Romans 1:20-25 – because men fail to glorify God, therefore God gives
them over to an ungodly world.
But there will be consequences – 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9.
Another example of this is when men won’t stand up for Him – John
12:42-43 – many believed in Jesus, but they wouldn’t confess Him because
they loved the praise of men more than God.
Matthew 10:32-33 – notice what Jesus said about those who deny Him.
God jealously expects us to give Him glory, and stand up for Him, or we
will answer to Him.
c.
When we do things our way -
Leviticus 10:1-3 describes Nadab and Abihu as they offered “profane
fire” to God and He struck them dead for it.
Vs. 3 explains how God demands that He be regarded as holy.
And a part of that is doing what He says the way He says it.
There are plenty of examples of this.
- Adam and Eve – cast out of the garden for eating the forbidden fruit
(Genesis 2:15-17, 3:2-3, 22-24)
- King Saul failed to utterly destroy the Amalekites and lost His throne
in God’s eyes because of it – 1 Samuel 15:22-23 – notice Samuel’s
response to Saul’s excuses for not doing things the way the Lord says.
- Jeremiah 2:13- “For My people
have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living
waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no
water.“
Colossians 3:17 calls for us to do all in the name of the Lord (by
His authority)
When we start doing things the way we want to do them, even when they
are different than what God has said, we provoke Him to jealousy.
d.
When we leave Him and
return to the world
-
As we have seen, much of the world has no fear of God whatsoever.
Sadly, many who profess to follow Him fail to emphasize the
necessity of remaining faithful.
They teach “once saved, always saved”, or that God overlooks our
sins, or they distinguish between salvation and reward in heaven.
For many, this leads to
abandoning Him and returning to their former ways.
We are continually warned to remain faithful until we die (Revelation
2:10, 14:13)
Peter warned in 2 Peter 2:20-22 that those who return to the world are
in worse shape than when they began.
Jesus Himself taught in Luke 9:62 – one who looks back is unfit
for the kingdom of God.
1 John 2:15-17, we are called upon to not love the world or the things
of the world – if we do, God’s love is not in us.
God jealously demands that we remain loyal to Him.
To return to the world is like one returning to idols.
e.
When we are caught up in
immorality or ungodliness
1 Kings
14:22-24 – not only was Judah guilty of idolatry, there were perverted
persons in the land. Jude 7
described Sodom and Gomorrah and the vengeance of eternal fire they
faced.
We too are continually reminded God expects us to live moral and pure
lives – 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
When we think of the jealousy of God, we are not talking about the
jealousy of man that leads to spiteful attitudes and actions.
We see our Creator who wants what is best for us and anything
that threatens that will provoke a response from Him.
IF we choose to reject Him, we have been warned that we will face
His eternal wrath. It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God – Hebrews 10:31.
Are you provoking Him to jealousy?