Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Deuteronomy 4:23-24

Theme: God is real, and transcendent, but a person who desires to be known and encountered.

Date: 06/19/2022 File: KnowingGodByHisNames_08.wpd File #: OT004-04

Most of you have probably seen the Disney version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In the cartoon version, the Evil Queen's envy is nothing compared to her deep and destructive envy portrayed in the Grimm Brothers telling.

In the original story, the evil Evil Queen’s jealousy stops at nothing to destroy Snow White, who has usurped the Evil Queen as “the fairest in the land.”

The Brothers Grimm write that upon hearing she's no longer the fairest, the Evil Queen grows yellow and green with envy.

This is only the beginning of the working of envy for the Evil Queen who orders her huntsman to kill Snow White deep in the woods and to bring back the girl’s heart as proof of her death.

When the Evil Queen learns that Snow White is still alive she tries to kill her three more times — each time disguising herself as a kind, peasant woman.

The Evil Queen cannot handle that there is somebody more beautiful than she, even though she sits on the throne, while Snow White lives in the forest cooking and cleaning for seven little men!

Yet her jealousy gets the Evil Queen nowhere.

At the wedding of Snow White and the Prince, the Evil Queen is made to dance in hot iron shoes until she drops down dead.

I. OUR GOD IS JEHOBAH-QANNA

1. in Exodus 19 the Hebrews are camped before Mount Sinai

a. but Moses went up to God (Exodus 19:3)

b. there on the summit of Mount Sinai God lays out the requirement for being His people

“while Moses went up to God.

The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.

8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.”

And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.”

(Exodus 19:3–8, ESV)

2. after consecrating the people Moses goes back up the Mountain of God to receive the essence of God’s moral law that will guide the hearts, and minds and behavior of His people

a. we call them the Ten Commandments

3. it is the 2nd Commandment that is the focus of our attention this evening

““You shall not make for yourself a carved 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.

5 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 on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

(Exodus 20:4–6, ESV)

a. this command is closely linked with the first, which says, “You shall have no other gods before Me”

1) having other gods is idolatry

a) idol worship was rampant among the nations surrounding Israel

b) most of those nations had carved images to which they bowed, sacrificed, and performed various acts of worship

c) often that pagan worship involved infanticide and prostitution (Leviticus 18:21; Deuteronomy 23:17)

2) the Israelites were strictly warned to keep themselves separate from the pagan nations around them and to avoid any activities that resembled their vile worship rites

a) it is in this context that God tells Israel I am a jealous God

c. the 2nd Commandment is the only one of the ten that expressly describes one of God’s attributes

1) God is a holy God, an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God, He is a merciful and loving God ... the list can go on and on ... but here we learn that God is a jealous God

A. GOD’S JEALOUSY IS NOT OUR JEALOUSY

1. the world jealousy if fraught with negativity, and so to use it to describe God requires us to take a few moments to understand divine jealousy vs. human jealousy

a. without too much overstatement, human jealousy is almost always evil

1) human jealousy almost always involves coveting, envy and bitterness that can lead to hatred and then wrath and ultimately physical harm, even murder

ILLUS.

The very first murder among men was the result of jealousy.

God accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s.

In his jealousy Cain rose up and killed his brother.

ILLUS.

Joseph’s brothers hated him because he is so obviously “daddy’s favorite.”

Grown men in their 30's and 40's couldn’t handle that and they plot, first to kill him, but then merely sell him into slavery.

At the end of the story, Joseph is correct when he says, “You meant it for evil.”

Yes they did.

ILLUS.

Rachael is Jacob’s first love, but is barren for years.

Leah is loved, but she’s not loved like Rachael, BUT Leah is fertile, and all she and Jacob have to do is hold hands and Leah is expecting.

Leah regularly rubs it in her sister’s face, and Rachael is jealous.

ILLUS.

Of course the very best example of this in the Old Testament is King Saul.

Within a very short time after David’s victory over Goliath, Saul appointed David as commander over the entire Israelite army.

That alone must have bent some noses out of shape.

Under David’s leadership the army goes from one victory to another.

Saul’s kingdom is expanded, there is security for the populace and wealth flows into Saul’s treasury.

But when the women of Israel begin singing catchy ditties about David’s heroics verses Saul’s heroics Saul grows virtually insane with jealousy.

Ultimately, unresolved jealousy destroys Saul’s family and his life.

2. in the New Testament, we are regularly warned about the sin of jealousy

a. jealousy can destroy personal relationships

“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.”

(Romans 13:13, ESV)

b. jealousy can destroy churches

“for you are still of the flesh.

For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” (1 Corinthians 3:3, ESV)

c. almost everyplace we find jealousy in either Old or New Testaments the end result is sin

1) it’s sinful because it almost always involves our ego

2) human jealousy almost always replaces love with anger

3. there is only one exception to this — when the believer is jealous for (not jealous of) the people of God or the things of God

“For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.”

(2 Corinthians 11:2, ESV)

a. Paul inserts divine here so that his readers understand that this is not the normal human jealousy he is talking about

1) divine jealously drives us to want to be with the people of God — their family, indeed their sometimes closer than family — and godly jealously drives us to want to be with them

a) our hearts ache when we’re not

2) divine jealously drives us to become angry over those things that diminish another believer’s spiritual life and devotion to God

a) Paul writes in Eph.

4:4 “Be ye angry and sin not.”

... it is possible to be angry about those things that come between a believer and the full Lordship of Jesus Christ

4. God’s jealously is always perfectly balanced by His other attributes — His love, His grace, His mercy, and especially His holiness

a. this is why God can be jealous and not sin

b. that is rarely true of us

B. GOD IS JEALOUS FOR US

1. although the word jealous is frequently used in a negative sense in English, it also takes a positive sense at times

a. for example, Paul says to the Corinthians, "I feel a divine jealousy for you" (2 Cor.

11:2)

b. here the sense is "earnestly protective or watchful"

1) it has the meaning of being deeply committed to seeking the honor or welfare of someone, whether oneself or someone else

2. God is earnestly protective or watchful over His people

ILLUS.

Again, Biblical illustrations abound.

We see it in the presence of God’s shekinah glory as he travels with the Israelites in the desert.

When Pharaoh’s army approaches and the Hebrews literally have their back to the sea, God’s presence moves in between His people and the Egyptians.

If you read between the lines you hear God saying, “These are my people and you cannot have them!”

ILLUS.

In the New Testament, God gives us His Holy Spirit to indwell us.