Who Is The Lord?

AFTERWARD MOSES AND AARON WENT TO PHARAOH AND SAID, "THUS SAYS THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, 'LET

MY PEOPLE GO, THAT THEY MAY HOLD A FEAST TO ME IN THE WILDERNESS.'"

BUT PHARAOH SAID, "WHO IS THE LORD, THAT I SHOULD HEED HIS VOICE AND LET ISRAEL GO? I DO NOT KNOW

THE LORD, AND MOREOVER I WILL NOT LET ISRAEL GO." (EXODUS 5:1-2 RSV)

"I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE. "YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS

BEFORE ME. "YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELF A GRAVEN IMAGE, OR ANY LIKENESS OF ANYTHING

THAT IS IN HEAVEN ABOVE, OR THAT IS IN THE EARTH BENEATH, OR THAT IS IN THE WATER UNDER THE EARTH; YOU SHALL NOT BOW DOWN TO THEM OR SERVE THEM; FOR I THE LORD YOUR GOD AM A

JEALOUS GOD, VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN TO THE THIRD AND

THE FOURTH GENERATION OF THOSE WHO HATE ME, BUT SHOWING STEADFAST LOVE TO

THOUSANDS OF THOSE WHO LOVE ME AND KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS. (EXODUS 20:2-6 RSV)

The God We Serve!

Our God Is A Jealous God!"You shall not make for

yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, (Exodus 20:4-5 RSV)

Notice that God is jealous when someone gives to another something that rightly belongs to Him.

God is speaking of people making idols and bowing down and worshiping those idols instead of giving God the worship that belongs to Him alone.

Jealousy!If a husband sees another

man flirting with his wife, he is right to be jealous, for only he has the right to flirt with his wife.

Being jealous for something that God declares to belong to you is good and appropriate. Jealousy is a sin when it is a desire for something that does not belong to you.

For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge.

(Proverbs 6:34 RSV)

God Has A Right To Be Jealous!

Know that the LORD is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalms 100:3 RSV)

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 RSV)

People of This Country "And He has made from one

blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; (Acts 17:26-27 NKJV)

Righteousness exalteth a nation; But sin is a reproach to any people. (Proverbs 14:34 ASV)

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

or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good."

(Joshua 24:19-20 RSV)

People of This Country

With what jealousy must the Lord regard the great mass of the people of this country, who have another God beside himself!

To you Jehovah is nothing. God is not in all your thoughts; you have no fear of Him before your eyes.

Like the men of Israel, you have set up your idols in your heart. Your god is custom, fashion, business, pleasure, ambition, honor.

God can perceive the idols in your hearts; he understands what be the secret things that your souls lust after; he searches your heart. (see 1 Chronicles 28:9)

“In God We Trust.”

Believers

God is very jealous of his deity in the hearts of his own people. Mother, what will he say of

you, if that darling child occupies a more prominent place in your love than your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

Husband, what shall he say to you when your wife reigns as a goddess in your spirit?

Wife, you should love your husband—you do well; but are you willing to forsake the Lord to please him? "You shall have no other gods

before me. (Exodus 20:3 RSV)

Jesus is Very Jealous of Your Love!

Did he not choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. (1 Cor. 6:19,20) Did he not buy you with his own blood? He cannot

endure that you should think you are your own, or that you belong to this world.

“He loved you with such a love that he could not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than that you should perish; he stripped himself to nakedness that he might clothe you with beauty; he bowed his face to shame and spitting that he might lift you up to honor and glory, and he cannot endure that you should love the world, and the things of the world. “ (Spurgeon, 1863)

The Lord is Jealous Over Our Love!

And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all

thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment.

And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (Matthew 22:37-39 ASV)

Do We Love God With Our All? Our general attitude

toward God. (Ps. 111:9) Our attitude toward sin. (1

Jn. 3:4; Rom. 12:9) Our attitude toward this

present world. (James 4:4; 1 Jn. 2:15-17)

Our love for the Son of God. (1 Cor. 16:22)

Love for the Word of God - the Truth. (Jer. 10:23)

Love for God’s people. (1 Jn. 4:20; 3:18)

What Do You Provoke The Lord’s Jealousy With?

What do you put in front of God? House Family Garden Sports Hunting Camping Vacation Business Skill

It is not consistent with the life of godliness for a man to be perpetually an idolater, but even true believers will sometimes be overcome with this sin, and will have to mourn over it.

No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the

other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24

ASV)

Do We Provoke God With The Dead?

A grief carried to excess, a grief nurtured until it prevents our attention to duty, a grief which makes us murmur and repine against the will of Providence is sheer rebellion; it hath in it the very spirit of idolatry; it will provoke the Lord to anger, and he will surely chasten yet again, until our spirit becomes resigned to his rod.

We may weep under bereavements, for Jesus wept; but we must not sorrow so as to provoke the Lord to anger,

we must not act as if our friends were more precious to

us than our God.

God is Jealous of Your Worship!

Are there some of you who never worship God? I know you go up to his house, but is it only to be seen, or to quiet your conscience by having done your “duty”? How many young men breathe only for

pleasure! How many young women exist only for amusement and vanity.

I fear that some among you make your belly your god, and bow down to your own personal charms or comforts. Talk of idolaters! They are here to-day!

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence,

Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him

only shalt thou serve. (Matthew

4:10 ASV)

God is Jealous of His Glory…

How, careful, then, should we be when we do anything for God, and God is pleased to accept our doings, that we never congratulate ourselves. The devil often tells God's servants a great

many things which they should be sorry to hear. Why, you can hardly be useful in a Sunday School but he will say to you—"How well you have done it!"

You can scarcely resist a temptation, or set a good example, but he will be whispering to you—"What an excellent person you must be!"

One of the hardest struggles of the Christian life to learn—"Not unto us, but unto your name be glory.“ (See 1 Corinthians 10:31)

So you also, when you have done all that is

commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we

have only done what was our duty.'" (Luke 17:10 RSV)

We Must Give God All Glory!Many a man has come to ruin

because his character and reputation had come to be the man's own, instead of being laid, as all our crowns must be laid, at the feet of Christ. Thou may build the city, but if

thou say with Nebuchadnezzar, "Behold this great Babylon which I have built!" thou shall be smitten to the earth. (See Daniel 4:28-33)

The worms which ate Herod when he gave not God the glory are ready for another meal; beware of vain glory! (See Acts 12:20-23)

for ye were bought with a price: glorify

God therefore in your body. (1 Corinthians

6:20 ASV)

"The Lord whose name is jealous, is a jealous God."

Who shall stand before him when once he is angry?

When his jealousy burns like fire and smokes like a furnace, who shall endure the day of his wrath?

Beware, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

Dreadful shall it be for you, if at the last you shall behold an angry God sitting in judgment.

For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will

repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the

hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:30-31 RSV)

Conclusion

Dear friends, let this jealousy which should keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us, for if we be married to Christ, and he be jealous of us, we can depend upon this jealous husband that He will let none touch his spouse. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what

you have; for he has said, "I will never fail you nor forsake you." Hence we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:5-6 RSV)

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 RSV)

Sources

Sermon by Charles Spurgeon - #502Speaking Truth In Love – Article by Bobby

Thompson

The God We Serve!Serve the LORD with

gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures for ever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalms 100:2-5 RSV)

God the Father

God the Son

God the H.S.

Apostles

Word

Faith Heb. 11:6

James. 1:21

John 16:13

John 15:26

John 12:49

1 Cor. 15:28