And if you'll take your Bibles and turn to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. What is in Exodus chapter 20? The 10 Commandments. That's right.

So we're gonna start out looking at one of those this morning. Commandment number two, Exodus chapter 20 and verses four through six. Exodus 24 through six. What is God like? He is a jealous God, so God's word declares.

But what does that mean? Verse four, Exodus 20, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in 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 and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for your word today, for your son Jesus Christ who gave his life for us, the opportunity to worship you here, to look into your word.

I pray, Lord, you'd give us understanding. I pray that your spirit would work in our hearts and lives to mold us more into the image of Christ. And if there be one here today that is yet to receive Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior of their life, I pray that today would be their day of salvation. In Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen.

So the second commandment, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images. Why? Because, well, God says, I am a jealous God. And those who generation after generation commit iniquity and idolatry, God will judge. And those who turn in love and faith, God will what?

God will bless. This is God's command here we read in Exodus 20 given to the nation of Israel. This isn't the only verse that that says this. By the way, Exodus thirty four fourteen says, for thou shalt worship no other god for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. Now, that's pretty emphatic.

God says, my name is jealous. I am a jealous God. Deuteronomy chapter four says this, take heed unto thyselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God. Again, he's talking in specifically to the nation of Israel concerning their covenant with God made at Mount Sinai. Lest you forget the covenant of the Lord thy your God, which he made with you and make you a graven image or likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.

For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. So what does the scripture mean that God is a jealous God? Isn't jealousy bad? And yet the scriptures clearly declare that God is a jealous God. So, let's discover together this morning why it is not only just for God to be jealous of us or for us but also an important character trait that intertwined with grace and love has brought us salvation.

So how do we usually use this word? Well, usually negatively, we use this word. Most often describe someone who is envious of another's accomplishments or perceived advantages or possessions. So, for instance, Bob was jealous of John when he showed him his brand new Corvette. I don't know why I chose Corvette.

I don't know why that is. Inside joke. Sally was jealous of Sarah after she heard that she had gotten the new promotion. That's often how we use the word. Bill was jealous of Dale's big muscles and Julie of Nancy's beautiful hair.

Now in those examples, jealous is a negative word. It it's describing something that is isn't just and right or or shouldn't be. Sometimes we use it to describe someone who is unjustly angered by the actions of another whom they perceive to be showing a lack of allegiance to them. Allegiance that they aren't quite owed, often born out of insecurity or selfishness. We see this a lot of times in young people and high schoolers.

Ron is jealous because Susie was talking to Joe at the ballgame. Why was Joe jealous? And why was Ron jealous? Because he didn't think Susie should be talking to anybody but who? But himself.

Petty jealousy. Now, God isn't God is obviously not petty and he's not selfish or insecure or envious of anyone for he has no need to be. So what are these verses telling us about God? What does it mean when it says God is a jealous God? Well, the meaning of the word jealousy, the translated from a Hebrew word here, is more closely aligned with the second example than the first.

The example of Ron and Susie than it is to the Corvette in the earlier passage. This word Hebrew comes from a root which also means zealous. Zealous. With a zeal for something or in this case, someone. And while the example above, Ron is insecure and self centered in his possessiveness of Susie, he had no claim to the degree of loyalty he was expecting.

But God does have a claim to us, to our allegiance, to our loyalty, and love. The the allegiance and loyalty and love which God desires of his children, he most certainly has claimed to. Jealousy is only bad when its claims are unjust or when its motivation is selfish. But God's claims are just as we will see in a moment. And his motivation is not one of selfishness, but one of what?

One of love. One of love. Bob has no just claim to John's car. That's John's car. He should be happy for John.

His jealousy is actually what? Covetousness. That's the tenth of the 10 commandments. Thou shall not covet. Ron has no claim to all of Susie's time and attention.

She has made made no such commitment to him. Ron's jealousy is therefore wrong. It's likely a sign of insecurity and selfishness. But God has does have the right to us, our allegiance, obedience, worship, our love, and our service. God has every right to be zealous and jealous for us and our allegiance to him.

Why? Why does God have that right? You will notice in these verses, God's jealousy is dedicated is declared in regards to worshiping other so called gods or idols. Giving allegiance or obeisance to others which should be reserved for a god who truly loves them. Not for idols made of of stone or imaginations of man.

God is rightly angered by unfaithfulness and spiritual adultery and betrayal. Just as of a loving husband or wife is justly angered or hurt should their spouse betray their vows against them. The husband and wife in love for one another took vows before God. Sworn a type of allegiance to their spouse. The spouse has a rightful claim to the other's faithfulness in that regard and the right to be jealous of their affection and loyalty, which shouldn't be given to another in the same manner.

In that regard, that type of jealousy is not wrong, it is it is right. If it is betrayed, anger and hurt will likely result and rightfully so. How about a different illustration? The guy you pick to play on your team, let's say you're playing a game of basketball, and you pick teams, and you pick a guy to be on your team. And so you start playing basketball, and in the middle of the ballgame, the guy decides he's gonna switch teams and start shooting for the other team.

Do you have the right maybe to be a little bit upset about the guy that said he was gonna play for your team and all of a sudden start shooting in the other guy's hoop? Probably. How about the man or woman who signs a contract to work for a certain company doing a certain job? Does the employer have claimed to a certain amount of their time and effort in regards to their job? Would it not be just for the employer to be jealous if they should take another job which keeps them from doing the job that they contracted and agreed to do?

Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with an employer expecting their employee to be, what, loyal. They made a commitment. So too, God has rightful claim to us.

A claim not born out of selfishness but a claim born of love and a claim born of reality. Therefore, a right to be jealous of our attention, our love, and loyalty. What just claim you ask? Well, let's start with this. We are all his creation.

Every last one of us is a creation of God. We are here because God decided to create us. We're not here as a result of some random molecules just happen to get together and poof. You know, there's Ian, you know? Now, Ian has a purpose.

Both Ian's have a purpose. God made us and as something he made, he has a purpose for us and he loves us because he made us and and we're his. Oh, every man and woman in this world is a creation of God and he has claimed to us. In regarding the nation of Israel, which is the subject of particularly of Exodus 20, the object of God's jealousy in these verses, we can deduce a few things. Who who chose Israel?

God did. God chose them to be his special people throughout the Old Testament. He chose Abraham and he chose Isaac and he chose Jacob and his 12 sons and the 12 tribes of Israel. He delivered them from Egypt across the Red Sea. He provided for them, among other things, manna in the wilderness.

He protected them. He led them. He made a covenant with them out of love for them. Not only did he create them, he chose them out of a heart of love. Deuteronomy seven eight says this, but because the Lord loved you, he's talking about Israel, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, Hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Why did God do that? He loved them. They were his. They belong to whom? To him.

Just like the song we just sang. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Malachi one two says, I have loved you, saith the Lord. Who is it that the Lord loves?

He's talking about Israel there. He loves them. So, when they went after other gods and made idols to worship, run faithful to the God who who chose them as his own, who loved them, God was angered and rightfully jealous of their worship and allegiance that they had given to someone or something something else. Regarding Christians, believers in Christ, are you chosen? You have not chosen me, Jesus said, but I have what?

Chosen you. We're chosen in Christ Jesus. Before the world began, chosen in Christ. So you're chosen. We too have been delivered.

Colossians one twelve through 14. Giving thanks unto the father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, and who we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Once I was lost in sins degradation, Jesus came down to bring me salvation. That's verse two of now I belong to Jesus. Once I suffered in the bondage of sin from which I could never free myself.

But who freed me? Jesus did when he died on that cross for my sins and has delivered me out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his marvelous light. We too have benefited from God's provision, both physical and most importantly, spiritual. We too benefit from his protection from the enemy. We too are led by his word and by his spirit which he has given unto us.

We too have entered into a covenant wherein we have sworn allegiance to him as our Lord, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, that Jesus is what? Jesus is Lord. Whose Lord? My Lord.

Your Lord. We come to him as receive him as our savior. We also receive him as our Lord. We are have entered into a most wonderful covenant. The new covenant, not the old.

As great as the old covenant was for Israel, the new covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ, which he shed on the cross, is far greater. All based upon God's love for us and God's jealousy of us. He could've just let us go. He could've just washed his hands of humanity and said, I'm done with it. But he refused because he is jealous of us, because he loves us, because he could not bear to let us go.

He sent his son to die on the cross to redeem us back to himself. Of what is he jealous? He is jealous for your soul for he does not want you to have to spend eternity in a place that he prepared not for you but for Satan. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. He is jealous of your worship.

He is jealous of Israel's worship because he is deserving of it. For he is the only true and living God. No other God deserves our worship. For no other God made us, no other God rules sovereign, No other god loves us. No other god is alive.

No other god is real. No other god can give you eternal life. He deserves our worship. You're here today to give that to him, I I hope. That's why I'm here today for he deserves my worship.

He is jealous of your mind and your body in his service. Who created that mind and body? Who died to redeem it? Romans twelve one and two. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Reasonable. How is it reasonable for you to give your life in service to another? Well, it's reasonable because he gave his life for for you. After he made you and you went astray, he gave his son to bring you back. It is reasonable.

Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You can't give your body really without giving your what? Your mind. As that mind controls your body without submitting to the acceptable, perfect, good will of God. He is jealous of our love.

He is jealous of our love. He is jealous of Israel's love. He loves us so much. Does he not deserve our love? We love him because he first loved us.

God didn't create robots or machines or computers that simply did what was programmed into them. He created created us in the image of God to have a free will, to to choose whether to to love him or not. He didn't want beings that that didn't have a choice because love is a choice. But he so desires that love and he so deserves that love. He said, here, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might.

God said, all I want is your what? All I want is your love. All I want is your love. And God is jealous of that. And God has rightful claim to that.

And God deserves that for he has loved us with a love that we cannot ever return in degree. Yes. He is displeased with us when we fail to give him the glory, love, and service which belongs to him. At times, he may even chasten us out of love. Yet God has not abandoned Israel and he will not abandon you.

Though Satan has been fighting to destroy a disobedient people called Israel for millennia, they're still there. They may be struggling because they've rejected his love for now, but one day, one day that's gonna change. God has said in his word to those who have chosen him as Lord and savior that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Why? Well, he's jealous of us in that he he wants to keep us because he loves us.

And he wants to share all the wonderful things he has made for us. He wants to fellowship with us, with me. I don't quite understand why sometimes, but he says he does for all eternity. So you see, God's jealousy is not a bad thing, it's a what? It's a good thing.

It's a good thing that God is jealous of you for you. He loves you. He wants you for his own. To love him, to worship him, and to serve him as he created you to do. Revelation one five says, and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father.

To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The question this morning for us is have we accepted his love? Have we received his love in the person of his son, Jesus Christ? Have we surrendered in faith to him as Lord who made us, who died for us, and he was willing to forgive all your sins.

If you have yet to do so, he so desires to have you in his family. For you to experience the wonders of heaven if you will receive him this morning, if you will accept his love, if you will accept his son and what he did for you, accept him as your Lord. He will forgive all your sins. Are you returning that love with the love and gratitude and faithfulness he deserves? Maybe you have received his love and and faith in Jesus Christ, but how are we doing returning that love?

We falling a bit short? Maybe maybe we should have a conversation with our Lord today about that. He deserves it. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for this day and we thank you Lord that you are a jealous God, that you're not willing to let us go so much you sent your son to die on the cross for our sins.

Thank you for the opportunity you've given us once again to to become your children, to show our loyalty, to give our love to the one who's given so much for us. Lord, we pray that you'd help us to show the gratitude and faithfulness in our lives that you deserve and to not share that love and faithfulness to other things which are undeserving. Lord, thank you for your patience and your mercy towards us. For where would we be without it? And, Lord, if there is one here today that whose heart you're working on to receive them, I pray they'll come as we give this hymn of invitation.

In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen.