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learn from God's Word together. If you would like more
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As we continue looking in Exodus 34 at the verse that we have
been covering for the last several weeks, we were going to
wind this little miniseries up here today with a message that I
feel will be of great importance.
To those of you who. Are paying attention this
morning. We begin with the same verse
that we began the series with. In fact, it's the only verse
that we have looked at in our last two other messages, this
being the 3rd. And we have been exposing here
not a book of the Bible, not even a verse of the Bible, but
one theme from this one particular verse here in Exodus
3414, and that is the jealousy of God.
He says this in verse 14 of that 34th chapter.
I'm sure you have it highlighted or underlined at this point in
time. But he says, do not worship any
other God, for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous
God. Let's pray together.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to you, thanking you for
your word, thanking you that your word reveals you to us.
Lord, it is in your word that we see who you are.
Lord, we have spent the past several weeks saying that you
are truly, as your word declares, a jealous God.
Not an envious God, and not an insecure God, but a God who is
jealous, protecting us by that jealousy, preserving us by that
jealousy, passionately loving us by that same jealousy.
God, I pray as we have that clear understanding, that that
understanding would. Spur us along that it would
propel us in our Christian lives to live.
Lives that bring you glory do your name that bring you glory
due to the. Fact that you have loved us and
you have jealously pursued us since before the creations of
the earth. God, we thank you and you have
revealed this to us. May we meditate on it.
May we focus on it. May it change us.
Lord, I pray for the lost soul who is here today.
I pray that as he or she hears about the jealous love of God,
that that love would propel that person to surrender to Christ as
Lord and Savior today, knowing the extent of that love as
revealed in Scripture as the gospel goes forth.
God, we thank you again for this time.
We thank you for this opportunity.
We ask that Your Spirit would teach us, enlighten us to the
truth today, and we pray these things in Christ's name.
Amen. We jump right in this morning
because we have some ground to cover, but as you can tell, we
are continually continuing to discuss the jealousy of God and
what we have labeled. Did this series, The Forgotten
Jealousy of God and oh, how it has been forgotten and
misunderstood. But I want us to gain
understanding. And I and I hope in the past
several weeks that you have gained some clear understanding
into the jealousy of God, right? And this is the time that you
give me some feedback, right? I don't want to do what I do and
feel that everything that I do is in vain.
I'm asking you, have you come to understand God's jealousy just a
little bit more and understand what that means?
Good, because we talk about it and we will review what we have
kind of covered up into this point so that we can get into
what we're going to get into today.
But we talked in our first lesson about what provokes God's
jealousy of the idols and the things in our lives and the
immorality that we participate in, how it provokes a God who
loves us with with an incomparable love and provokes
him to jealousy. It provokes him to act even in
that jealousy. And then we saw last week what
his jealousy proves, right? I know many people think that if
we talk about God being jealous, that somehow separates Him from
being loving. And that's not the case at all,
is it? In fact, the fact that He is
jealous for us proves the depths of His love for us.
And I'm thankful that I can know this, that God has loved me with
a deep love I love, that I can't fully comprehend, though I pray
each day. Lord, I want to comprehend this
all the more. I want to know how, how wide and
how long and how vast your love is for me in Christ.
I want to know these things and I want to know them to a greater
degree. But I do know this.
As we've looked at his jealousy, we see that this jealous love
proves that He doesn't love his children deeply.
So as we close this series out today with one last message,
many of you know this if you were paying attention.
I intended on preaching on the jealousy of God for one week.
And as God began to reveal to me things that I I was not so clear
on things that that I had not understood the depths of these
things, I said, there's no way that I can preach this for just
one week. And so today will serve as what
it would have been in the original message.
It would have been the the last or the Third Point to that
message, but it's actually the third week looking at the
forgotten jealousy of God. And I want us to look today at
how God's jealousy propels, how it propels as well.
As we close this teaching, I want us to see jealousy and the
jealousy of God as a great motivator, not a deterrent to
trusting God and following God and obeying God, but as a
motivator to do just that. In fact, when we have a proper
understanding of God's jealousy that he has had for his children
throughout the ages, we'll see that his jealousy actually has
been revealed to us so that it would propel us in certain areas
of our lives for his glory. We're going to talk about some
of those areas today. In fact, specifically four of
those areas. And the first one is this, as we
contemplate and we concentrate on the jealousy of God once
again, but now seeing it as something that motivates,
something that propels us. I want you to see this first,
that God's jealousy and his jealous love for his children
should prepare, propel us to surrender.
We live in a day where many people would argue the
importance of surrender, right? There are some who would teach
you this, that Jesus can be your Savior and then at some point in
time later you could surrender and he would then become your
Lord. Can I tell you that is
dreadfully unbiblical? Jesus, when one came to him and
said, what must I do to be saved?
He said deny yourself. What was he saying?
Submit to me, surrender to me, deny yourself and take up your
cross daily and follow me. He's saying surrender to the
lordship of Christ our Savior. That is what you need to
understand today as you have been learning about God and His
jealous love for His children. It should move us and propel us
to surrender. First, to surrender to the
Lordship of Christ as our Savior, submitting to Jesus as
the true King of your heart and as a lover of your soul, the one
who has pursued you since before the foundations of this earth,
with a jealous and unending and undying love, so that you could
be saved from your sin. I want you to understand, when
we see the magnitude of God's jealousy, our response ought to
be to bow and surrender to such an amazing and loving God.
Why would anyone ever pursue this Wretch, this scoundrel,
this filthy rotten center? Why would anyone pursue all of
you in this room who are exactly the same?
It is because of His jealous love.
And our response when we see the depths of that love ought to be
to bow ourselves in humility toward Him.
He being. Lord of all.
Bow hearts, bow our minds, bow our knees, bow every fiber of
our being in humility to Christ. Why?
Because He is worthy of our surrender.
Did you know that He is worthy of our surrender?
In fact, Scripture tells us this, that one day every knee
will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. One day everybody is going to
realize His worth. They are going to see His worth.
The unbeliever and the believer alike in every knee will bow and
every tongue confess that He is Lord.
There will be no unbelievers in hell.
You say what? Yes, there will be no
unbelievers in hell. In hell, they will have full
knowledge that they did not bow to Jesus Christ while they still
had time on this. Earth.
And they will spend eternity, and part of the torment of hell
will be reconciling that in their own minds, because that
soul will last forever. And they will have to again and
again think of every opportunity that they heard the gospel,
every opportunity that they saw his love on display and did not
vow the needs of the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Oh, I'm thankful. Today and before that time, God
has rescued many of us. Allowing us to see his great
worth, knowing that he is worthy of our.
Surrender. Oh, let us see him as the one
who, by his own jealous love, sought us, and he sought us with
the intention to save us. And He sought us with the
intention to save us so that we can then reciprocate the love
that we have received. By surrendering to Christ, we
can turn and love Him in return. There are many.
People who profess to know Christ, yet they have not
surrendered to Him. I would simply say this to you.
I don't think that you understand the depths of His
love, because when we see His jealous love, it drives us to a
place of surrender, seeing Him as that one who loved us and who
sought us, and bowing at His feet and embracing him and
thanking Him for the love that He has given us.
And in return, we give love back to Him reciprocating that.
Love in the form of surrender, seeing how much He has loved us
and responding by saying, Lord, I see the love that you have
given me and I love you, and because I love you I will do
whatever it is that the lover of my soul desires that I do.
That is full surrender to Christ.
In fact, in first John chapter 4 verse 9 it says this.
This is how God showed his love among us.
He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might
live through him. This is love, not that we loved
God. But that he loved us and sent
His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin.
What is he saying here? He's saying God has shown us the
depths of his love because He has pursued us in Christ atoning
for us. And then if you drop down to
verse 19, there in that 4th chapter, first John, it says
this. We love because he first loved
us. What do we see there?
We see him as the one who sought us.
And the one who sacrificed himself for us, and the one who
gave himself on a cross in our place, dying and bearing the
wrath of God that belonged to us, the Sinner, and then
exchanging his righteousness to us.
But then we have the opportunity to then love him in return.
Why? Because he first loved us, Owen,
when you see his first love, his jealous love, that love that has
pursued you before you were ever born, before the foundations of
the earth, It is in that love that we are drawn to reciprocate
love unto him, to finally be what we were before sin entered
in vessels created to love God and to bring him glory.
Now in Christ restored to that, but sadly many and even many in
this room, they're not swooned or unimpressed by the love of
God. Now I know that I make myself
dated and old when I use the term swoon.
But to swoon someone is this. Back in the day when you would
court someone, what you would do is you would actually court this
person and express your love to them, giving them gifts, saying
kind words, romanticizing them, romancing them so that they
would be then drawn to love you in return.
Church, let me make this very clear.
In His jealous love, God has swooned us in Christ Jesus.
He has shown us over and over and over the depths of His love.
And sadly, as I said, some of you are just not impressed with
that which I say, how can you not be impressed with the fact
that the God of this universe, the creator of all things?
Would love you enough that he would demonstrate this love by
sending his only son to die on a cross to show you the extent of
his love. More than flowers, more than
gifts, more than words of kindness, He sent his only son
to show you the deaths of his jealous love for you.
How could you not be swooned? How could you not be propelled
to to love him in return and to surrender to him?
Oh, you've shown us. The greatest of love, hasn't he?
That's what John records in John 15 verse 13, as he's recording
for us the words of Christ. He says greater love has no one
than this, that he laid down his life for his friends.
There's no greater love than the love of Christ that laid down
his life for those of you who are in Christ, his friend and.
That love ought to cause us. To surrender to Him, the one who
has loved us, according to Paul in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 2,
and given himself for us. Oh, to think for a moment just
on those words, that He loved us, and He gave himself for us
the willingness of God to love the wretched.
And the wicked, and to give himself for us, ought to bring
us to surrender. God's jealous love, as it's
revealed in the Scripture, ought to propel us to that point of
surrender, surrendering to the lordship of Christ as our
Savior. I pray today as you hear of his
jealous love once again, I pray that He propels you to surrender
to Him as Lord and Savior. Perceive forgiveness of sin and
eternal life. Receive the hope that comes with
knowing Christ. So God's jealous love for his
children should propel us to surrender, to surrender to the
lordship of Christ, but also to the leadership of the Holy
Spirit now surrendering to the Lordship of Christ.
We know that in that and in faith in Christ and in that
alone and he alone, we are saved.
But for those of you who have already in your life surrendered
to Christ, there is a continual surrender that must go on.
And when we really understand God's jealous love in regard to
this, that He has loved us so much that He has sent the third
person of the Triune Godhead to live inside of us, to actually
indwell us and make us a temple through the blood sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. That is clean and is acceptable
for the Spirit to dwell in, so that He can do what continually
express His love, His jealous love for us and to us.
How does he do this? How does the Spirit who lives in
US constantly remind us of God's jealous love for us?
How about this? By constantly convicting us
toward obedience and surrender to the Savior as we walk with
Him. Is that not what the the Spirit
does as we walk with Christ? He lives in US and He lives in
us. To do what?
To bring conviction, to assure to us that He is never going to
let us ever go back to where He has rescued us from.
I'll see the beauty of the jealous love of God there.
That God loved us so much that He sent his only begotten Son to
this world to die for us. And we are to surrender to
Christ as Lord and Savior. But that love is expanded when
we think about the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Now I notice some of you again. You're so afraid of being
charismatic or Pentecostal that you don't even like to
contemplate the Holy Spirit. But you must, because it is the
Spirit, and it is God in the third person living in US.
It is He who brings us to constant conviction, reminding
us that God is so jealous and His.
Love for us? That He will not let us return
to that which we once were, always reminding us of His word,
always empowering us by His strength.
Walk obedience to Christ. They die to our flesh.
Galatians 516 Paul reminds the Church of Galatia.
He says this, so I say live by the.
Spirit and you will not gratify. The desires of the.
Sinful nature, we all know it's true.
All of us still have those fleshly sinful desires in US,
and the only cure for those fleshly and sinful desires as we
are being sanctified is to walk in the Spirit of God, the Holy
Spirit who lives in you as a believer.
Let me just make this ever so clear.
If the Holy Spirit is not indwelling and abiding in you,
you are not a believer. You're deceived.
Romans 8 makes it very clear that if you're in Christ, the
Spirit lives in you, and if the Spirit does not live in you, you
are not in Christ. And so we must surrender to the
leadership of the Holy Spirit constantly.
Well, some of the people in the room you get surrendering to
Christ that. Salvation.
But unfortunately in your life right now, you're not
surrendering continually to the Holy Spirit who is sanctifying
you and conforming you to the image of Christ.
And so we must surrender to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
That's what the jealous love of God does.
Constantly reminding us that God is not through with us, that He
will finish the work that He has started in US, and along with
that what He does by the indwelling Spirit as we follow
His leadership in our life, He confirms that we really belong
to Christ. Romans 8 verse 12, it says,
therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the
sinful nature to live according to it.
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die.
But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,
you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are
sons of God. If you have no spirit living in
you, leading you, guiding you, if you were not surrendered to
the Holy Spirit in your life, Scripture says there you're not
a son of God, because the sons of God are equipped.
With the presence of God, did not Jesus promise that He will
never leave us nor forsake us? And His Spirit lives in US.
His Spirit lives in US to lead us to guide us.
To confirm constantly that we do belong to Christ.
First John 4 verse 13. He says we know that we live in
Him and he and us because he has given us his Spirit.
You know what He didn't say? We know that we live in Him and
He and us because we go to church on a Sunday morning,
because we read our Bible, because we attend Read Streets
on Wednesday nights, or because we go on Thursday nights to
men's Bible study. He says no, we no, and we can
have confidence that we live in Him and He and us because he has
given us his spirit. The Spirit confirms to us just
how jealous God is for us. He wants our lives, He wants our
love, and He wants our obedience to His Word.
And His Spirit is our constant and present reminder to lead us
into the will of God, into the plan of God, into the glory of
God, never letting us return back to what we once were.
God's jealous love should propel us to surrender to the
leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
So we see God's jealous love for His children should propel us to
surrender, to surrender to the Lordship of Christ as Savior.
I would implore you, if you've not yet surrendered to Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, today is the day of salvation.
Now is the appointed time, surrender to Christ.
He is the only one worthy of surrender.
He's the only one that has pursued you up into this point.
He is the only one who's allowed you to live up into this point
so that you can hear this message and so you can believe.
Surrender to Him, and then upon surrendering to Him, surrender
to the third person of the Triune Godhead who lives within
all believers, the Holy Spirit of the same essence of the
Father and the Son, a distinct person doing a distinct work in
the believer. Surrender Him.
Why? Because he's worthy of our
surrender. Isn't.
He, Jesus, is not any more worthy than the Father, the
Father not any more worthy than the Son, the Son not any more
worthy than the Spirit. If you understand the Trinity,
you know this. When you submit to Jesus, you
submit to God. When you submit to the Holy
Spirit, you submit to God. When you submit to the Father,
you submit to God. Because God is 1 represented in
three persons, distinct persons, all the same substance and so
when we understand that the Trinity, we know this that God's
jealous love is a constant motivator for us to surrender to
the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our.
Lives as believers again, some of you so afraid of the Holy
Spirit, so afraid of learning of the Holy Spirit, and you leave
him out of the equation. Be warned that leave the Holy
Spirit out of the equation of sanctification and there is no
sanctification in the life of the believer.
It's this power that is doing this work.
And how does he do it? By constantly reminding us that
God loves us continually with a jealous love.
Have you ever been to that point where the enemy has whispered a
lie to you that you've done so much wrong that God could never
ever love you again, and you might have believed that lie?
But if you're a true believer, at some point in time, the Holy
Spirit who lives in us, he wells up with inside of you, and he
reminds you of what the word of God says.
That you are in Christ, and if you were in Christ, no man shall
pluck you from his hand. What confidence you have there,
knowing that this love has not. Ceased.
And how do we have this confidence?
The leader of the Holy Spirit, the leadership of the Holy
Spirit. And if you're not surrendered to
the leadership of the Holy Spirit, you walk around just
flailing around hoping that all things work out for you in the
end. We don't have to be that way, do
we? His jealous love through the
Holy Spirit brings us confidence.
So we see God's jealous love for his children should propel us to
surrender. Secondly, God's jealous love for
his children should propel us to stay to stay.
Many people know about the doctrine of perseverance, but
most people don't understand the reason that we persevere.
We we persevere because we were first loved.
God loving us in eternity past with a jealous love allows us to
persevere. Why?
Because those He foreknew, those He foreloved, He did predestined
and predestined that they be conformed to the image of His
Son. God is not going to stop.
He's not going to stop loving us.
So what do we need to do? We need to stay in His love and
when you see how great His love is and that will be your
response. And the problem with many people
who abandoned the faith, and you know why they abandoned the
faith? Because they were never of the
faith. They never truly experienced the
jealous love of God because if they would have experienced the
jealous love of God personally, they would stay.
They would stay abandoned to His love finding their life and the
reason for their existence in the love of God revealed in
Christ. That's what Paul says in
Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. He says I have been crucified
with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me.
We see there again the the the extent of God's jealous love and
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And Paul is saying this is the
whole reason that I live. So I've been crucified with
Christ and my life doesn't matter.
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
He's abandoned to the love of Christ I I would to God that we
would find a group of people in our day that were just
abandoned. The jealous love of God that
that all that mattered is the love of Christ in their life and
sharing that and living that. So we must stay abandoned to His
love, finding life in the love of Christ alone in His jealous
love, finding fulfilment and the love of Christ alone, no longer
seeking after the toys of this world, the things of this world,
the pleasures of this world, the desires of our flesh.
The finding true fulfillment in Christ's love is on ending His
undying and His jealous love for His own.
Oh, I pray that God would raise up a group of people.
In this room, who would be like Paul abandoned to Christ's love
In first John 215 he gives us instructions and he says do not
love the world or anything in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. Oh, it doesn't take a very wise
person to interpret that passage of Scripture, does it?
What he's saying is this, if you're still finding fulfilment.
In loving the things of this world, you do not yet know the
depths of God's jealous love for you, because you would drop
those things quickly, you would release those things quickly.
You would abandoned yourself to the love of God as.
Revealed in Christ Jesus, no longer to play around with those
things because you know those things are fleeting, they don't
matter, they're not eternal. You'll quickly leave them,
desiring completely to abandon yourself.
And to stay in God's fierce, jealous and undying love.
So we see that His jealous love propels us to stay and to stay
abandoned to His love, but also to stay abiding in His love.
John, Chapter 15. We see a great.
This course there is. Jesus pours out what it means to
abide in God's love. I'll start at verse 9 and we'll
go back and look at the top in a moment.
But it says this in chapter 15 verse 9 of John.
As the Father has loved me, so I so have I loved you.
Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you
will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's
commands and remain in. His love.
Now let me just ask you this before you try to say this is a
text that means someone can lose their salvation.
Can Jesus lose salvation? No.
Jesus is not saying that it's possible to somehow lose the
love of the Father once that you gained it.
What He is doing here, He is teaching that abiding in His
love is proof that you truly have been saved.
It is the evidence that you can have.
In fact in John 15, the 1st 6 verses, He makes this very
clear. He says I am the true vine and
my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me
that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he
prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
You already cleaned because of the word I have spoken to you.
Remain in me and I will remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself.
It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in the vine. I am the vine, you are the
branches. If a man remains in me and I in
him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do
nothing. What is he saying?
Apart from him, you can't bear fruit.
Why? Because the fruit that comes out
of the life of the believer is the fruit of the Spirit.
I told you before, Romans 8 tells us that if we're in
Christ, the Spirit lives in us and we will be producing fruit.
We will be profitable to the vine, He goes on.
And he says this, he says if anyone does not remain in me, he
is like a branch that is thrown away in Withers.
Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
This is for all the people who think that because you made some
profession of faith with your mouth, you prayed a little
prayer, you ask Jesus into your heart that that means you were
saved. That is not the case.
Something that they never did in the New Testament and we should
not do it as well is assume that just because someone made a
profession that they are truly saved because even Jesus himself
in Matthew Chapter 7 verse 21 said not everyone who says to me
Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only he
who does the will of my Father and what is the will of the
Father? The will of the Father in the
context of John 15 is that you produce fruit.
And Jesus is simply saying this, If you abide in His love, proof
of salvation will be this, that you produce fruit from abiding
in His love. And if you don't abide in His
love, it proves that you aren't truly in Christ.
So let's not be confused about that.
He's encouraging us here to abide in His love, those who
abide in His love. Have proof that they have been
preserved by His love, that His jealous love has ran them down,
has traced them out, has sought them, has rescued them, has
cleansed them, has saved them, and then their response of.
Course, you believers you're going, yeah, they only response
and that could happen is that we love in return and that we abide
in his love. That is exactly what Jesus is
saying, that those who truly know Him will abide in His love.
They will stay there. They have no other option.
They have tried to fill that void with love for everything
under the sun and nothing worked.
They have tried religion, they have tried relationships, they
have tried money, they have tried fame, and none of those
things work. But yet when they understand the
jealous love of God, they see the magnitude of that, and He
demonstrates His love for us and the fact that while we were
still sinners, He died for us. Their response then is to abide
in that love. Where else could they go?
Where else would they go? That's what we see in John
chapter 6 that Peter says when Jesus addresses the the
disciples, he says they're in verse 67.
You do not want to leave too, do you?
Why does he ask this? Because there were many who were
professing Christ that are now leaving because they didn't
fully understand salvation, because they got to the part of
the message that it was not easy for us to grasp, to hold on to
the tough stuff. And So what happened is they had
a profession from their lips, but they were never saved.
And So what happened is they didn't abide in his love.
They abandoned. And he asked the disciples, are
you guys going to leave too? Y'all going to belt too?
And Simon Peter being the spokesman for the group, it says
this Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.
What was he saying? Where will we go to find love
like this? Where will we go to find eternal
life? Eternal life?
That that stems from your love? Is that not what John 316 says?
That God still loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, That whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
eternal life. He said.
You have the words of eternal life.
And those words come from God's jealous love to us.
Where else would we go? Where else could we go?
No, we're going to abide in you. Why?
Because the jealous love of God when properly understood.
Moves us and propels us to stay. Where else could we go?
As the psalmist said in Psalm 7325, whom have I in heaven but
you? And earth has nothing I desire
beside you. My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
The psalmist declaring exactly what Peter said.
Where else would we go? There's nothing else out there
that offers us the greatness of God's jealous love toward us.
We'll stay. That's why the believer, the
true believer, perseveres in in faith, because God first loved
them and they understand the magnitude of that love, and they
love him in return and they abide in that love.
They are propelled to stay there.
It isn't true that when his jealous love is properly
understood, that is the only good response.
See that God would love people like us, and to love us to the
depths that He has loved us. The only sensible response.
Is to abide in that love. Where else could you find love
in this world that would send their only begotten Son to die
in your place? When you don't care?
When you're still in your sin? When you're still in your
blasphemy? When you're still in your
drunkenness? When you're still in your drug
addiction? When you're still in your sexual
immorality and your paganism and your idolatry.
Where in the world would you find that kind of love?
Let me just help you out. You won't find that love
anywhere else other than the jealous love of God revealed in
Christ Jesus. Abide there.
Doesn't an understanding of that love propel us to do that?
Thirdly. As we began to have a deeper
understanding of God's jealous love for His children, it should
propel us serve. I know this is not popular in
many modern evangelical church movements because what we like
to do is we like to come in late, sit at the back, don't
really care if anyone knows our name.
We like to get out anonymous, never be asked to do anything,
never give any effort or any time to the Lord or to His
people. Can I make this clear to all of
you today at the risk of offending some of you?
And I pray that if you are offended that you understand
this is not me and this is not coming from me and this is
simply coming from God and the truth of His Word.
All of you who have been saved in this room, you have been
saved and not so that you can sit on a chair on a Sunday
morning feasting from the Word of God, only to go out and never
burn the spiritual calories that you have fed up to burn.
Isn't that what happens in the church?
That's why we have spiritual obesity.
We come on a Sunday morning. We're we're fed the word of God,
we go out and we never use any. Energy from what we have
received to actually burn the things that we have consumed.
Did you know this? That's the same with your body.
You. You in just too many calories
without burning them. Before you know it, you're going
to gain weight. You keep doing it, you're going
to be obese before you know it. You know what we have?
We have a bunch of obese Christians running around,
spiritually obese, never burning off the intake of the spiritual
calories that they receive serving the Lord.
You have been saved so that you can leave this church service.
And use what you have learned in this instance about the jealousy
of God. God does not want you serving
the things of this world and using your energy for that.
He wants you serving things that have eternal value, serving
things that bring glory to His name.
That is why He saved you, so that you will bring glory to
Him. You don't bring glory to Him,
not serving Him. You don't bring glory to Him and
coming in here and sitting down and remaining anonymous.
By design, we bring glory to Him by how we serve him.
We offer ourselves, as Paul tells us to offer ourselves, as
living sacrifices when our whole life becomes about serving the
Lord Jesus. Christ.
And why do we do that? Why would we be propelled to do
that, to lay our whole lives down when other people don't
even want to consider that? Because we understand this
jealous love for us, that had He not pursued us by that love?
We would have spent an eternity in hell, separated from the
goodness of God, only to experience His wrath and His
justice. Therefore, we serve Him.
We serve Him with every fiber of our being.
You understand God's jealous love.
You don't have to tell me you understand it.
I'll see that you understand it. I'll know that you're a part of
that 20%, right? Because I don't care what church
I've been in. Every church that I've ever been
in, 20% of the people do 80% of the service.
You know what that confirms to me?
Are you listening to congregation that confirms to me
only 20% of you are really saved?
That's startling, isn't it? Because if you really understood
the depths of His jealous love for you that He reveals to you
in Christ, he would be driven to serve Him.
It would be your every motivation.
But the reason that you wake up every day, every tick on the
clock, would be understood as time that belongs to Him, not
you and the things that you have, the things that you
desire. But completely to him.
So are you propelled to serve him?
Are you well? Let's just ask it.
This way, has he loved you enough?
Then it constitutes serving him. Oh, we've been talking several
weeks about the depths of Islam. We're talking about it now.
Is his love deep enough to move you to serve him?
Surely it is because in the past, when we look at at
Christianity historically, not only did his love propelled him
to serve him, his love propelled them to serve him even unto
death. You know, that's how Peter
served him. He started into the point that
they said, OK Peter, because you will not stop preaching this
exclusive gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are going to crucify you just as your master was crucified.
And you know what Peter said? The servant of the living God
who had been lavished with his jealous love all of his life.
You know what he said? I'm not even worthy to be
crucified in that manner. Turn me upside down and you
crucify me upside down. Because I'm not.
Worthy be crucified as Christ, the lover of my soul was
crucified. Oh, that's true service.
That's true devotion to the Lord.
That's that devotion to the Lord that we see in the life of Paul.
He surrenders this whole life to service to the God who loved him
and who gave himself for him. You know how his life ended.
It ended with him retiring in Costa Rica in a nice little
home. There on the beach.
No, unfortunately, that's Americanized ideology.
His service to the Lord lasted until they chopped his head off
in 67 AD because he would not stop preaching the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and serving Him with every oz and every fiber of
His existence. So when we understand the
jealous love of God, it should propel us to serve just as it's
propelled to those throughout history to serve Him and to
serve Him even unto death, to walk and loving service to the
Lord. Isn't that what it means?
Loving service to the Lord? And we're simply staying by our
service. Lord, I see that you have loved
me, and I'm going to love you in return by obeying you and
serving you wherever you would have me to obey and to serve.
And I'm going to serve you with zeal, just as Paul told the
Romans. Romans chapter 12 verse 11, to
never be lacking in zeal. But.
Keep your spiritual fervor. Watch what he says, serving the
Lord. He says never be lacking in
zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor.
You know what that is fire. He says keep your fire lit,
serving the Lord. You know what?
When we contemplate the jealous. Love of God, it lights our fire,
doesn't it? If you're a believer, it does.
It lights your fire. If you're a believer in this
room right now and you're not actively serving the Lord in
some capacity right now, there is a fire in you that is driving
you to say, Lord, show me where I need to serve.
You have done so much for me. You have loved me so much.
Lord, show me what I can do for you.
Isn't that true love? Isn't that what happens when we
are lavished with love? It propels us to serve with fire
and zeal. God's jealous love for us ought
to be the reason that we are zealously serving Him, shouldn't
it? Pearson?
Thomas Watson said. His jealousy should quicken us
to be zealous for him. You see how the 2GO hand in
hand? You know why I believe.
And we see a lack of zealousy in the church?
It's because we don't understand God's jealous love.
We don't understand the depths of his love for us because when
we talk about love in the church, we talk about sappy love
and we talk about syrupy love and we talk about teddy bear
love, Right? You just hug God the right way.
He'll hug you back and he'll give you the things that you
want. All your dreams will come true.
That's Disney World. No, when we talk about the
jealous love of God, we have to understand is the jealous love
of God is how God has propelled his people.
Throughout all of redemptive history, how he has propelled
his people to serve Him. I love because He first loved
me. I served because He came to
serve me. Do you not remember John chapter
13? Does anyone not remember John
chapter 13? Jesus there expressing his
service number one to the. Father, but also to the other
believers there were He after the mill took a basin and took a
towel, and he washed The Dirty feet of his disciples, and He
dried them, and he told them to do the exact same thing to
others. In fact, the first verse of John
chapter 13, it tells us what this was all about.
It's just having loved his own who were in the world.
He now showed them the full extent of his love.
What was the full extent of his love?
Service. And so shouldn't we express the
same thing in our loving service to the Lord, but also in our
loving service? To the people that the Lord
loves first. John, 316.
It does this. This is how we know what love
is. Jesus Christ laid down his life
for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Oh, please see that in the context of what we're talking
about today. Because Jesus loved us so much
that he laid down his life for us.
We ought to love others the same, laying down our lives for
them. In case you don't understand
what he's talking about here, watch If anyone has material
possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him.
How can the love of God be in him?
What what John is saying there is the love of God is not in
him. He does not know the jealous of
of God because if he knew the jealous love of God he would do
something about the brothers need.
He's doesn't. 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or
tongue. But with actions, and in truth
it ought to be. Seen that we understand God's
jealous love by how we serve the.
Lord, and how we serve others. Do you know this?
When you serve others, in essence, what you were doing,
you were serving the Lord himself.
He says, If you've done it unto the least of these, you've done
it unto me. We ought to be expressing love
to others in our service to them first.
John 4/21 it doesn't. He has given us this command.
Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
You have. Received that kind of jealous
love, he says. Take that love that you have
received, just as I have taken the love that I've received from
the Father and given to you. You take that love that you've
received from me, and you give that to others in.
Service, serving the Lord. Fervor, Zeal and passion this is
what Paul prayed for the church at thessalonica thessalonians
the first letter in chapter 3 he.
Says May the Lord make. Your love increase and overflow
for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you,
he says. As we've loved you because we
receive love from Christ, you love those among you.
You love others. And how do we express that love?
Can we just tell people? No, absolutely not.
Did you know this? Jesus didn't just tell people He
got up from the table that night and he took the basin and he
took the towel and he washed their feet.
And he displayed for them the fact that he loved them enough
to serve them. You love others enough to serve
them in a day and a time in the American church, what's all
about us being served, right? That's the whole purpose of the
church, isn't it? For you to come in and the
minister's here to serve you. Did you know that's not the New
Testament church? The New Testament church is that
the ministers of this church, the pastors here, equip you to
do the work of the ministry. We teach you by our example how
you are to love and how you are to serve others.
Just as you have been loved and served by Christ, you find
yourself propelled to serve due to an understanding of God's
love, his jealous love for his children.
Are you expressing that through your service to others?
This is Christ expressed that John 13.
Are you propelled to serve? Because if you get his jealous
love that we've been talking about, you'll be asking someone,
how can I serve? Where can I serve?
What can I do? Let me just prepare you.
The answer might be this. Clean the restroom.
Clean the restrooms, work in the nursery.
Go out and share the gospel with the lost.
In the world, go out and feed the hungry.
It's going to cost you time. It's going to cost you energy.
Was it not worth it? Let.
Me just tell you if it's not worth it.
You don't yet understand His jealous love for you, because if
you understood it, you would do anything, anything that the
lover of your soul requires that you do.
May you be propelled to serve by God's jealous love.
And lastly, God's jealous love for His children should propel
us to surrender, to stay, to serve, and then to speak, to
speak, to open our mouths and to tell what we know.
Because when we understand God's jealous love, when we understand
the depths of his jealousy for his people, you can read about
an author's scripture. When you understand the depths
of this, you will speak of it. Why?
Why do you think that we have Exodus 30?
Four, that reminds us that God is a jealous God because Moses
was propelled to speak of God's jealous love for his people,
reminding them for generations to come who he is.
Are you speaking that you're speaking that to your Co
workers? To your children?
Are you propelled to speak as you have been commanded?
Is isn't it true? We speak of so many trivial
things, don't we? Oh, I know what yesterday was.
It was Saturday. It was college football day in
America. You talked a lot about football
yesterday, many of you, which is fleeting and earthly and
temporal, and it doesn't matter. You said, well, how dare you say
college football doesn't matter? Watch me again.
It doesn't matter if college football ceased tomorrow.
The jealous love of God is eternal, and it will remain that
matters. The gospel is eternal.
It will remain that matters, but unfortunately, we've been a
country where we focus and major on things that don't matter.
Why? Because we don't really
understand the fullness of the jealousy of God.
Because when we understand that, we're going to be speaking.
Of God we're. Going to limit ourselves to
Speaking of trivial, non eternal, unimportant things.
We're not going to allow ourselves to again be consumed
by those things. We speak of all these things,
but isn't it saddened the church we rarely outside of the
building. Speak of God, I found myself
just last night in a restaurant looking at family after family
after family. Not in a judgmental way at all,
just in my own curiosity. Watch them sit down.
Table after table, eating from the very hand of God, not even
thanking him for it, not even thinking you remember.
Some of you remember when when Holmes, the dad, would lead them
in prayer and say thank you before every meal because he
knew that it came from a loving God.
I watched family after family. My family of course, usually
when they eat with me, they wonder what is wrong with you
because I am observing everything.
And I thought to myself how sad that our God and our Creator has
been so gracious to so many and yet they neglect to thank Him
for the very food that will sustain them until the next day.
Not Speaking of His provision and His love at all.
Speaking of trivial things, I'm an eavesdropper too, and let me
just tell you, all their conversations were trivial, if
there were conversations at all. Most of them just had a device
in their hand. Why do I say this?
Because I believe this according to Scripture, that when we truly
understand God's love for us, we can't help but speak of that
love. We will be like that soldier in
that war. Across the oceans, who has that
little picture tucked away of that one who his heart belongs
to and he pulls that picture out every opportunity that he has to
learn to long for and to yearn for the 1 he loves and who loves
him. And you know what else he's
going to do when that buddy? Beside him asked, Hey man, what
are you looking at? He's going to roll it over and
he's going to say that's Brandy. That's what I would say.
That's Brandy. And she's home.
She loves me and I love her. And he would begin to tell his
buddy in that foxhole about that great love.
Why are we not Speaking of the great love that Christ has for
us, the very lover of our soul, who has jealously pursued us
before? We were ever.
Born. Why do we not speak of him?
Is it shame? Oh, I think not.
That we need to go back to our lessons on the one true Gospel
and talk about what it means to be ashamed of the gospel.
Well, if you have been loved like I have been loved by God.
You can't shut up about it. In fact, you were literally
going to get on people's nerves. They are going to think you're a
fool because all you talk about is how God has loved you and how
God has saved you and how God has forgiven you and how God has
lavished this great love upon you.
And and all you do is try to convince them.
That he would lavish that same love upon them if they would
just believe and repent of their sin and turn to Christ.
Why do I do this? Because I'm a fool?
Not at all. Because I have been loved.
I've been loved with a love that I cannot even begin to fully
comprehend that I would never be able to deserve.
And I love him in return. I will not be ashamed to tell
everyone about my love for Him and His love for me.
Why? Because someone who really
understands God's jealous love, they will be propelled to speak.
It will speak of the greatness of God's love.
Are you doing that? Are you Speaking of the
greatness of God's love in your life?
Because it is because of His great love that you have any
hope of eternal life, that you have any hope of forgiveness of
sin. Are you praising Him from the
fullness of your heart? Matthew chapter 12, verse 34.
Jesus gives us a little tidbit that we need to understand.
He says from the overflow of the heart, the mouth will speak.
You know, he's saying what your heart is full of.
That's what's going to come out of your mouth.
That's that's who. You're going to praise, that's
what you're going to praise. That's what you're going to talk
about. That's what what you are
consumed with. Why are we not talking about the
God who has loved us as He has? It's very simple, isn't it?
When we talk, other things flow out, other things overflow out
of our heart. Why?
Because our heart is not for God.
Our heart is for those other things.
Well, see it for what it is. You can get mad at me if you
would like. I'm only just telling you what
Jesus said from the overflow of your heart.
Your mouth will speak if you were speaking praise for the for
the God who has loved you in the greatness of that love to
others. You get it in your heart.
But if you don't get it in your heart, you're OK with not
talking about it. You're.
OK with talking about the weather?
You're OK with talking about the latest and greatest conspiracy
theory in politics? You're OK with talking about
whether the earth is flat or round, like it even matters.
Speak of him and his love, because from the overflow of the
heart the mouth will speak. Aren't we always going to talk
about what? What's most important to us?
Huh? Yes.
Measure your life. Examine your life.
You know, it wouldn't even be a stretch today if I stepped out
here and I said this about the psalmist.
I would venture to say that if we went through the Psalms, we
would find him praising God for a lot of things.
But I don't think anything would compare to how much the psalmist
praises God for the greatness of his love.
His love is steadfast. His love is enduring.
His love is everlasting. He goes on and on and on and on
and on about his love. Why?
Because he understood God's jealous love.
And understanding God's jealous love, you see the greatness of
it, and you want to tell others from the overflow of your heart
about the greatness of God's love.
How He has loved you when you didn't deserve it.
How He loved you when you were in the filth of your sin, when
you were rolling around in your own vomit, when you were rolling
around in your own addiction, when you were rolling around in
your own sexual immorality. He loved you with this great
love that has pursued you and has rescued you.
How do you not talk about that to others?
The only explanation that I can give you is that you don't yet
really know about that love. Because if you truly knew about
that love, you would speak of the greatness of it.
You'd proclaim it from the mountain tops how he has loved
you and how He has rescued you by that love.
Tell how he sought you when you didn't seek him, how he found
you, how he drew you unto himself, how he showered his
love upon you. That's what John says.
And John, the first epistle verse chapter 3, verse 1, he
says how great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that
we should be called children of God.
He saw the privilege in it. The greatness of it.
How great is the love the Father has just lavished on him?
He has dumped that on us. John can't help but speak of it
that God would even call him his.
Child. And he says this, and this is
what we are. Reminding those who received his
letter that that is what we are. People who have had the great
love of the Father lavish upon us in Christ Jesus, adopting us
into his family, making us children of God.
And yet I find no time to talk about that great love.
Houston, there's a problem. And the overflow of your heart.
The mouth will speak, if you have received great love, that
great love has been lavished on you, you will speak the
greatness of his love. Not only that, in reference to
God's jealous love, propelling us to speak the greatness of
God's love, how about this, the gospel of God's love.
I love when I run into the believer or I spend time with
believers who they can't help. But proclaim the gospel of God's
love. Did you know that that is what
the gospel is, is it is the expression of God's love to the
center, the fact that is in that love that we see.
He demonstrates that love in the fact that while we were still
sinners. Christ died for us.
Why are we not Speaking of that? Why do we claim to know and to
understand the depths of God's love as displayed in the gospel
and never offering that to anyone else.
Selfishly holding it in. Not only selfishly holding it
in, but watch this, willfully disobeying the Savior who has
commissioned us to share it. Oh yes, that's what I said.
He has commissioned to us to share it.
Matthew chapter 28, He gives us what we know as the Great
Commission, where he tells us to do what to go in all the world
and make disciples. How do we make disciples?
We proclaim the gospel of God's love to them, that God still
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, and
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. Whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only
Son. That's the message that we
share. We share a message that says
this. You are condemned in your sin
already, as we all. Are there's a gun who has
jealously pursued all who will believe in Him?
He has jealously pursued you the entirety of your life as you
know it. When we know factually and
theologically He has pursued us before the foundations of the
earth. But as far as we are concerned,
from the moment we entered into this world, He has pursued us
for one reason and one reason alone, to reconcile us, to
reconcile us unto Himself, and to restore us to our proper
position. Restore us.
Back. To what he designed man to be
before sin entered in, and that is a vessel to bring him honor
and glory on this earth, to enjoy fellowship with him.
And he did that all by his jealous love, or to speak of
this and to share it with others.
I share that with you today that if you do not believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and that is not had knowledge, that is a
trust that is abandoning yourself to Him as Lord and
Savior. That is you throwing your hands
up in the air in complete surrender today and bowing at
the feet of Jesus Christ. That is what true faith will do,
because you see the extent of His love, and when you see the
extent of His love, you surrender to Him.
And I share with you today. That when you surrender to Him
in true faith, believing. He truly is the Son of God who
came to this earth to die on a cross to rescue wretched
sinners. Who will trust in Him for that
rescue? He will rescue you this very
day. I speak to you the gospel of
God's love, that He loved you so much that He sent His Son to die
in the place. If you will believe in Him
today, you will be saved. Believe in Him today and of your
sin. Give evidence of that faith.
Turn from your life, surrender to Christ.
That's how we speak the gospel of love with urgency.
It should be urgent to us that others know about God's jealous
love that we have received. And if you understand it, you'll
be propelled. Propelled to speak it, won't
you? Well, if you want to argue the
fact, I'll remind you of what Jesus said.
If you love me, you will obey me.
And he has commanded us to share the gospel.
In fact, in Mark's Gospel, the 16th chapter, the 15th verse, he
says He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the
good news to all. Creation.
That's for all of us. We are to speak the good news to
all. Creation, to share the gospel
with everyone who we have the opportunity to share the gospel
and what motivates us. The fact that we've been loved
with that kind of love and we want to share that kind of love
with other people. That's how the jealous love of
God propels us to speak, offering others the same hope
and forgiveness and eternal lives that we have received in
Christ. And urging them and encouraging,
encouraging them to repent and to trust in Jesus.
And I know what you're going to say because man's fear of
rejection causes them to say this, but.
What if they don't? Listen.
It's not on you to make them listen.
What if they don't get saved? It's.
Not on you to save them. You know what?
I've never saved a single person.
I couldn't even save myself. Don't have the power in me to do
it. But what I can do is I can point
them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I can share
with them the love that God has and the fact that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.
And I can urge them, don't miss out on God's jealous love that
you find only in Christ Jesus. Bow the knee, bow the heart, bow
the will. Today that Jesus as your Lord
and Savior and be saved. We must speak it.
May we see the seriousness of that.
To say we understand the love of God and to never open our mouth
and proclaim the gospel is to lie to ourselves, to lie to
everyone around us and to the light of God.
Amen. Are you being propelled by God's
jealousy? Be being propelled by God's
jealousy to speak. Oh, if you're a believer here
today, you're saying this. I can't remain quiet anymore.
If you're a believer here today, you're saying I can't just go
along and be a Pew warmer. I've got to serve the Lord.
How can I get involved serving the Lord in this church?
If you're a believer here, you're saying I've got to get
rid of the distractions of my life so I can stay and abide in
the love of Christ. Dwell there.
Live. There, let it be my entire life.
If you're a true believer here today, you'll say I'll surrender
to the Holy Spirit. If you're not in Christ today,
you have none of those desires. You don't yet know His love, not
in the way that I'm speaking about.
Oh, you have experienced His general love and you don't even
know it. I'm talking about the depths of
His jealous love. And I pray today that God would
reveal that to you. And He would reveal to you that
He has loved you since before the foundations of the earth,
and He has sought you. And this very day He is calling
you out of your sin and out of darkness into a right
relationship with Him in Christ Jesus.
And I pray that in seeing that as the true believer will, you
will surrender to Christ today as your Lord and as your Savior.
So God's jealousy does propel, doesn't it?
None of you in this room today would be saved had God's
jealousy not propelled you to surrender.
Whenever it was that you surrender, None of you would be
abiding in His love and enjoying it.
None of you would be serving Him.
None of you would be speaking the gospel, speaking greatness
of His love, but because of His love you have, because He has
propelled you by that love, by His design.
But you continually walk in your life being propelled by His
love. If you don't know Christ, again
a hearing of His love this very day propel you to Him as you
surrender and as you call in the name of Jesus to save you,
knowing that Scripture is true, that whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved.
See your desperate condition and desperately call upon Jesus to
save you from your sin in the wrath that is to come.
Let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we
come to you, thanking you for your jealous love, love that has
pursued us before we ever had any idea that we were being
pursued. God, I pray today that someone
in this group of people would realize that you have been
pursuing them all this time as you unveiled that to their
heart, to their mind this morning.
That your desire is to save them and to forgive them.
And that this day, by the power of your Spirit, you would
regenerate them to new life. That they would believe and that
they would repent and trust in Jesus Christ and be saved this
very day. Lord, I pray also for every
believer in this room who has been taking your jealous love
for granted. God, that they would get on
their face, that they would confess that they have been
taking that love for granted. That it has not been propelling
them, as we have seen today, that they would trust You to do
a work in their life. That they would trust You to
remind them by Your word, the greatness of Your jealous love,
that it would propel them in every one of these areas that we
have spoken of today, to stay and abide in Your love, to serve
you. Speak of You every opportunity
they have as they are surrendered to Your Spirit in
their life. And we pray, and we ask all
these things in Christ's name, Amen.
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