Exodus 34:13–14
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To Exodus chapter 34, we'll look at verses 13 and 14. It's also... If you want to look there as well, as perhaps you might take a few notes of some points that the Lord would have us to consider tonight. Exodus chapter 34, 13 and 14. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their ashram. For you shall worship no other God.
For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. What a serious two verses of Scripture. It was serious in my study this week, and wow, it's serious from this pulpit tonight looking at you as I proclaim it. Church, the Lord has gathered us tonight so that we would understand, so that he could make it clear to us from his passage of scripture, that he is jealous for us and he is jealous for our worship.
Because of this truth, if we rightly grasp it, it will cause us to respond in two ways. Because he is a jealous God, we will respond, as his covenant people, by worshiping him and him only. So the main point, God is a jealous God. Subpoint number one, we will respond by worshiping him and him only. Response number two, we will make no provision for false gods in our life.
Individually or congregationally. so let's look at it again verse 13 verse 13 is a command god to the israelites you shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their ashram and then we get that command grounded in a clause for you shall worship no other god and then we get that ground clause grounded in an ultimate ground for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
Well, what I want to do tonight as we work through this main point and two sub points is I want to flip the order. I want to take the text and turn it upside down, and I want to start out with some ground clauses that get us to an ultimate action. So here's how we could read it in another way, another direction you ready starting halfway through verse 14 the lord whose name is jealous is a jealous god therefore beginning of verse 14 you shall worship no other god therefore verse 13 you shall tear down their idols and break their pillars and cut down their asherah so the main point the lord is jealous his name is jealous he's a jealous god i want to lead us tonight in worshiping this jealous god and i want to do that by bringing five facets of this
jealous god to our attention and i would ask you to just listen and ponder these truths see if they can be substantiated in scripture and see if they could penetrate your heart and change your heart only for the better, where it needs changing, so that you might worship God more rightly. So here are five aspects to God's jealousy that we would do well to embrace individually and congregationally tonight. Five. You ready? Here we go. Number one, God's name is jealous. Who gave him this name. God did. God names God. No one else is able to do that. No one is qualified.
No one is capable. God has given us this name for himself, jealous. God names himself for our benefit god doesn't need a name for himself he's quite confident in who he is he names himself for us in our benefit we need a name so that we can rightly comprehend him so it's good of him to give us this god gives himself many names throughout all of scripture and for our benefit these names reveal to us his character his person his works and this for the end of us being able to rightly relate to him because he's a relational God who wants us to know his many names know his character so in this text God would have us to know him as jealous number two in case you're troubled by the idea of God being a jealous God
I want you to know that God's jealousy is not in any way shape or form remotely close to being sinful because why because he is ultimate and I want you to work that word for all that it's worth god is ultimate he is not inferior to anything or anyone he is not even equal to anything or anyone he is ultimate and by ultimate i mean first and foremost he is holy and i don't merely mean most holy i mean god is holiness just like god is love first john chapter 4 god is holiness by ultimate i mean god is first and more than that from scripture i mean god is only by ultimate i
mean he is creator and sustainer provider and protector giver and taker we sung about this just moments ago he's the lord of years he's the potentate of time i've always wanted to say that in a little message somewhere the potentate of time he's ultimate by ultimate i mean he is subject to no one he is dependent on no thing by ultimate i mean there is nothing that competes with him for glory or holiness thus because of this truth he is just in being jealous for his people and our worship human jealousy can run afoul god's jealousy cannot it is appropriate it is perfect it is just it is holy
number three god's jealousy is not baseless it is not random or unhinged jealousy like we so often see in the world that we live in so that we so often experience in our own lives scripture tells us that it is grounded in something it is grounded in a covenant god's holiness is grounded in a covenant exodus chapter 34 if you back up to verse 10 we see this god said behold i am making a covenant before all your people i will do marvels such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the lord for it is an awesome thing that i will do with you israel so god's jealousy is based upon a covenant that god made with his covenant people it's not unhinged
and irrational god's jealousy then is evoked out of unfaithfulness by those with whom he has made a covenant with and then number four god's jealousy is a tremendous blessing to us i'm so happy to say this to you why is it a blessing we should take comfort in god's jealousy for us it is born out of his endless kindness toward us this is why we sing hymns like we sang tonight and this morning i want you to just consider the alternative to god being jealous for us i'll give you two what if he were indifferent toward us we would be a desperate people if God were indifferent towards us
or what if God would share us with another can you imagine the chaos the mayhem that we would experience being tossed to and fro between these two no God's jealousy is to be compared to a husband's jealousy for a wife we see in the text of scripture that is real metaphorically is his wife and he wants israel or his covenant people's undivided devotion loyalty and satisfaction he's jealous for that relationship and so i want to say again to you tonight that we should we must take comfort in god's jealousy for us well i said there's five i've given you four i'm going to hit pause we're going to do the fifth one in my conclusion of tonight's devotion. So leave a gap in your notes. We're going to slide it in at the very end. Let's go next to this thought. Because God is a certain
way, we are to live in a certain way. Because God is jealous, we are to live in response to that in some way. And I'm going to give you two. Number one, if you want a one-word title sub point number one god is jealous so what we should be monotheistic and you find that right there in the first part of verse 14 the lord whose name is jealous is a jealous god go right before it therefore you shall worship no other gods monotheism one god so because he is jealous we are to worship none other here is a recitation of the first commandment over in exodus 20 verse 3 you shall have no other gods before me and i want you to just consider for a moment the foolishness to have another god before the one true god of the bible if you want
to spend some time on the folly of that exercise go read Isaiah chapter 44 verses 9 through 20 and you will see the folly of false gods and worshiping them anything else we worship in place of God is less than him and therefore absolutely pathetic and he would be right and good to be jealous of us giving ourselves to such what evil must it be to have another god before the one true god let me tell you what god says about it over in deuteronomy 32 verse 21 cite the reference right quick but listen to it god says they have made me jealous with what is no god they have provoked me to anger with their idols what a foolish folly it is to pursue no god in the place of the one true and jealous god
second response first one was monotheism second one is holiness for a one word so the lord's name who is the lord whose name is jealous is a jealous god therefore you shall worship no other god therefore you shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their ashram this is instruction to his covenant people israel right before they're going into the promised land the current inhabitants all these ites there's six of them named and in a couple of verses ahead of 13 they are worshipers of false gods with altars and pillars and ashram poles throughout the land and the israelites are commanded to tear them down to break them to cut them down all these idols to all of these false gods why because they are forbidden by the one true jealous god to leave them in place lest they and to use a metaphor that god has in the text in verses 15
and 16 of Exodus 34, lest they whore after these gods themselves. There again is a jealous husband metaphor. The Old Testament tells of ferocious wars against false gods. We've got it all through the book of Exodus here. You'll find it in Deuteronomy and Judges, Second Chronicles, Second Kings, Ezra. I could go on and on. Likewise, in the New Testament, we are told of a ferocious battle for holiness just this morning in Ephesians chapter 4 we are called by God to put off our old selves which belong to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness put off the old put on the new tear down the idols. Pursue holiness. So for a point of application, like the Israelites dwelling in the
promised land, we too are to be about denying the world's idols and their influence on our covenant relationship with God. This is not a new thing for God's covenant people, old covenant, new covenant people. This is true individually as well as congregationally. We are to realize together that the world presents us with voluminous alternatives to God, false gods, or as God calls them, no gods. Consider politics, health, finances, technology, education, career, reputation, sexuality. I could go on and on. You know which ones you have a proclivity to.
There is to be no provision for these idols in our life because our God is jealous. They must not gain our loyalty. They must not have a hand in gaining our dependence, our devotion, or our delight or one ounce, one ounce of our worship. And so I say again, because God is a certain way, we are to live in a certain way. Because God is jealous, we are to live in holiness as prescribed by his word. Well, let's come back now. I had four facets of God's jealousy that we needed to consider that we've already covered but I told you I had five well there are four things that we should revere about God's jealousy five that inspire us to worship him we've already seen the four God has a name it is jealous God's jealousy is without sin God's jealousy is grounded
in a covenant and God's jealousy is a tremendous blessing for his people let's finish with number five now. So jealous for us is God. So jealous for us is God that he gave us his son, Jesus the Christ. And Jesus the Christ has a name. He has the name that is above all names. Jesus Christ was without sin he's the only perfect true and holy one Jesus Christ is the ultimate once and for all everlasting covenant promise and Jesus Christ is not indifferent for us nor does he share us so concerned and so jealous for us is he was he is he that he became like us and
took on flesh he gave his life for us and substitutionary atonement and he's gone to prepare a place for us and he just like we prayed a little bit ago is coming again one day to gather us once and for all and as Greg said to make all things right why because he's jealous so dear church tonight I say once more because God is a certain way we are to live in a certain way and the text that he has put before us tonight says this because god is jealous for us we are to live in holiness unto him let's pray father we thank you for your self-revelation to us of who you are with a name that tells us of your person your work your character and we pray that tonight in a brief meditation on this name jealous You have drawn us higher in our faith, higher in our reverence of you, more comfortable
in the peace that we have with you because of your jealousy for us. And may you find us and enable us to live in such a way that holiness comes out of us for your glory and for our eternal good. And we pray this in Jesus, our Savior's name. Amen.