WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: 2020 Jealous God Publishing Date: 2019-10-20T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/2020-jealous-god/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.040 Yeah, guys, so starting today till we get this done, we'll be looking at Zechariah 8, 00:00:11.040 --> 00:00:17.680 because Zechariah 8 is almost like an inheritance chapter or an inheritance passage that is 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:26.340 being given to us as a church so that we can plot the next 12 to 15 months in terms of 00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:37.180 what God wants us to do. And so it's like a field that has been given to you and in 00:00:37.180 --> 00:00:45.820 the field are either nuggets of gold or oil. And so getting the field doesn't call for 00:00:45.820 --> 00:00:49.540 much celebration. You can celebrate it, but it doesn't do you much good because the oil 00:00:49.540 --> 00:00:56.020 has to be drilled or the gold has to be mined. So that's the thing with most directions or 00:00:56.020 --> 00:01:01.740 prophetic words that God gives. It's good to get excited about it because it's God speaking. 00:01:01.740 --> 00:01:06.300 And if you heard Maya reading again and again in the chapter, you hear the whole idea of, 00:01:06.300 --> 00:01:11.940 and this is what the Lord Almighty says. So we can get excited about that. But on the other hand, 00:01:11.940 --> 00:01:17.060 it has to be mined and drilled. And so that's what we'll be doing over the next eight weeks. 00:01:17.060 --> 00:01:24.540 One of the first things I want to say about this is just imagine, what if what if what I'm saying 00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:30.100 is absolutely true, then here's what it means. It means that the Lord of heaven and earth has a 00:01:30.100 --> 00:01:38.700 plan or a strategy or a blueprint for a group of nobodies who he wants to work with. I just want us 00:01:38.700 --> 00:01:45.220 to be aware of that. That this is the creator of the universe. The cosmos exists because he allows 00:01:45.220 --> 00:01:52.020 it to exist. It consists in him and he decides that there are a group of people who meet and the group 00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:59.100 of people will keep growing, keep changing in its composition. But this is a group of people I want 00:01:59.100 --> 00:02:06.780 to work with. And therefore, this is what I have for them over the next 12 to 15 months. So one of 00:02:06.780 --> 00:02:12.140 the things we need to understand as soon as we come to a place where we believe that it is God 00:02:12.140 --> 00:02:18.540 who has plans and he who is speaking is everything that is said must be clearly heard, 00:02:18.540 --> 00:02:36.220 humbly received, joyfully believed and diligently worked out. 00:02:36.220 --> 00:02:48.700 Diligently outworked. Everything that God says, it doesn't matter. It's not like this applies only 00:02:48.700 --> 00:02:54.220 to what we're doing right now. But whenever God speaks or whenever you sense God directing 00:02:54.220 --> 00:03:00.840 something specifically towards you, these are four steps that have to go into play. One, it must be 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:09.640 clearly heard. And the quality of your hearing determines the output of the seed. It must be 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:15.120 clearly heard. It does require that I speak it clearly or whoever is speaking it speak it clearly. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:22.200 But once it's spoken clearly, it must be clearly heard. And Jesus said this again and again, 00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:26.040 hey Jacob make sure that you hear correctly because if you don't hear correctly, you either 00:03:26.040 --> 00:03:32.200 produce 30 or 60 but you can actually produce 100 fold. Once you clearly hear it, you must humbly 00:03:32.200 --> 00:03:37.560 receive it because many of the things God says are impossible or go against the grain of what I'm 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:43.040 presently doing or will require a change in plan. And there is a tendency in the heart of man to 00:03:43.040 --> 00:03:49.880 resist that which is impossible or that which goes against the grain of present thinking. So humbly 00:03:49.880 --> 00:03:55.360 received. Once it's humbly received, then I go into this place called joyfully believing it, joyfully 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:01.800 believing it. Not grudgingly, not off and on, not like a turtle that pulls its head back every so 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:08.640 often. Joyfully believe it and then joyfully believing it is good. But after belief comes the 00:04:08.640 --> 00:04:14.760 actual outworking that must be done diligently. Diligent carries in it the sense of consistency 00:04:14.760 --> 00:04:26.440 and long haul. It's long obedience in the same direction. And the great thing about any inheritance 00:04:26.440 --> 00:04:35.560 that God gives is that God usually gives it to a people. And so once he gives it to a people, 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:42.560 let's say God gives you land, gives the people land. He gave Israel land. But whenever he gives 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:53.200 people a land, then what happens is each tribe and then each family gets allocated a portion. 00:04:53.200 --> 00:05:05.280 This is so cool about God. And these are eternal principles. So let's assume that what we are saying 00:05:05.280 --> 00:05:10.600 right now is absolutely true, that this is what God has for us as a people. And I don't say as 00:05:10.640 --> 00:05:15.600 Acts 29 because Acts 29 may be 20 people today. What if it's 60 people tomorrow? So that's why I'm 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:23.080 calling it a people. Anyone who comes under this roof and decides, hmm, nice roof. So whenever God 00:05:23.080 --> 00:05:30.200 gives people a promise or a blueprint, know that there's a tendency in the church to think, well, 00:05:30.200 --> 00:05:34.720 then the leaders and the pastor will take care of it and yeah, we'll have to attend and clap and sing 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:40.400 every so often. No, when God gives people something, it trickles down to the tribe and to the family so 00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:45.680 that every family benefits. And the strange thing is you can benefit even without being a part of 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:50.920 it. You cannot buy into it. But the strange thing is because God is giving it to everybody, 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:58.360 whether you buy into it or not, you get it. The problem arises when you try planting seed that 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:02.000 you get regardless of whether you like it or not. The more you're into it, the more the seed 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:08.960 produces. But the seed will be given to everybody. Let's assume you're all my children. My God. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:15.840 Let's assume you're all my children. And so it's Christmas and I come with gifts for everybody. 00:06:15.840 --> 00:06:22.000 And so everybody here gets a gift. But how you use the gift depends on your connection with the 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:28.400 giver. But will everyone get a gift? Yes. Will everyone use it the way they need to use it? No. 00:06:28.400 --> 00:06:34.120 Why? Because that depends on coming and asking the one who made the gifts for the instructions 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:43.640 to play with the gifts. I won't say this every time we continue down with Zechariah 8, 00:06:43.640 --> 00:06:47.240 which is why I'm spending as much time as I'm doing right now. The other thing is guys, 00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:56.080 as we work with this, we got to ask two questions. One, what is it that I presently have in my hand? 00:06:56.080 --> 00:07:10.880 And what is it that I'm reaching out for? What is it that I'm reaching out for? 00:07:10.880 --> 00:07:22.720 Keep asking this question throughout your life. Because God looks at two things. With one hand, 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:28.000 He says, Hey, Jacob, I've already given you stuff to do. So stop looking at looking for something 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:34.080 new. Stop looking for what's the next exciting mountain that you need to climb. Stop looking for 00:07:34.080 --> 00:07:38.000 what's the next prophetic word you need to receive. Look at what you have in your hand 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:46.880 and deal with that faithfully. While with the other hand, keep reaching out for the things that I have 00:07:46.880 --> 00:07:52.800 for you. And this is how Jesus lived. First 30 years of his life, man, he was faithful at home 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:59.680 as a small time businessman taking care of his family. While he's reaching out towards his 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:07.200 messianic role, which is soon coming. And how you're faithful with what you have in your hand 00:08:07.200 --> 00:08:11.600 determines the capacity and the ability to manage what God is going to give you. 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:17.520 What you have, how you deal with what you presently have in your hand 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:25.280 determines the ability and the capacity to manage what lies ahead. Because as Christians, 00:08:25.280 --> 00:08:28.640 especially if you go to a charismatic church where the prophetic is often at work, 00:08:29.200 --> 00:08:33.680 everybody wants the next new prophetic word that God has for you. But God will give you a prophetic 00:08:33.680 --> 00:08:39.600 word, but you will not be able to manage it or rule over it with the capacity that you need. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.920 With the capacity that you need, unless you've been faithful with what you've had. 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:51.680 What do you have in your hand? A little bit of oil. Well, then be faithful with it. 00:08:51.680 --> 00:08:54.640 Make cookies and bring it and give it to Jacob and then see what happens. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:00.800 I'm looking at some of you who haven't done that for a while. 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:08.880 So, so what do you have in your hand? Deal with that faithfully and it creates a capacity and 00:09:08.880 --> 00:09:14.080 the ability to rule over what God has for us in the future. And then the last point I want to make 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:30.560 before we go into Zechariah 8 is this is just crazy man. God, I don't know, I throw out these 00:09:30.560 --> 00:09:33.840 pens every week and they still make it back into this bag. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:56.080 God is giving this inheritance to a people first and then to individuals second. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:04.480 That's the way he works. He didn't call out Moses and say, hey Moses, you and your family, 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:08.720 I really want to give a whole lot of land to you. He didn't call out Jacob and say, hey Jacob, 00:10:08.800 --> 00:10:14.320 you and Joseph and Benjamin, let's a lot, a whole lot of stuff to you. God always works with the 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:18.560 people. He's been looking for a people right from the beginning of time. Every time he starts 00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:23.600 something, he may start it with one man, but he's always been looking for a people. And at the end 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:29.680 of the day in Revelation chapter 21 and 22, it ends with the people. Christ came not to draw 00:10:29.680 --> 00:10:35.200 individual believers to himself. He came so that he could have a body made up of individual believers. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:40.160 If your body is whole, then the members in your body are whole. If your member is painting, 00:10:40.160 --> 00:10:46.640 it means, I mean, what I'm trying to say is when the entire body receives what is from God, 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:52.400 then there is no part that is left out. We have a tendency because we have a highly individualized 00:10:52.400 --> 00:10:57.760 society to have a few brilliant individuals who run the entire thing. And that is not the God way. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:03.520 The God way is always, can the entire body get what I want? Then you know what happens, even if 00:11:03.520 --> 00:11:06.560 an individual is resistant, he gets swallowed up by the body. 00:11:14.640 --> 00:11:18.640 Does that mean that you lose your identity or your individuality? 00:11:18.640 --> 00:11:22.880 No, it becomes secondary. You don't lose it, but it becomes secondary. 00:11:24.640 --> 00:11:29.840 This is the cool thing about God. It is not that you lose your individuality or identity, 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:35.200 but your individuality and identity is now secondary to the character and the personality 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:44.640 and the identity and the individuality of just one, the Christ. So it's not that it disappears, 00:11:44.640 --> 00:11:48.480 it just becomes secondary. Any questions on that before we go on to Zechariah 8? 00:11:51.680 --> 00:11:56.720 Any questions guys, anything you want to add? Hey, Evan, did you really turn the heat on or turn it off? 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.520 I think it's higher than you know. 00:11:59.520 --> 00:12:00.020 Pardon? 00:12:00.020 --> 00:12:02.320 I think it was about 73. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:07.600 No, it can go up to 73. Just make sure you turn it off because then they find out. 00:12:10.160 --> 00:12:10.660 Oh, shucks. 00:12:13.920 --> 00:12:18.240 Said Derek, yeah. Any questions on what was just said? 00:12:20.400 --> 00:12:24.640 No? Okay, let's go to Zechariah 8, verse 1 and 2. Can someone read it out? 00:12:25.280 --> 00:12:26.880 Zechariah 8, 1 and 2. 00:12:34.400 --> 00:12:42.160 Zechariah 8, 1 and 2. Okay, the word of the Lord Almighty came to me. This is what the 00:12:42.160 --> 00:12:49.360 Lord Almighty says, I am very jealous for Zion. I'm burning with jealousy for it. This is God 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:54.480 speaking. Oprah got really put off because she once went to a church where the pastor was 00:12:54.480 --> 00:13:00.720 preaching on jealousy and on jealous God and she got totally cheesed off with God because she 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:04.560 heard the preacher talking about a jealous God. So that's why she turned her back on 00:13:04.560 --> 00:13:10.000 the God of the Bible. This is authentic, I'm not making it up. But today we'll be talking about a 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:18.640 jealous God again and thank God Oprah is not here. So Zechariah 8, 1 and 2. The word of the Lord Almighty 00:13:18.640 --> 00:13:24.800 came to me. This is what the Lord Almighty says, I am very jealous for Zion. Have you noticed again 00:13:24.800 --> 00:13:29.520 he starts with the corporate, he doesn't say I am very jealous over an individual. He says I'm very 00:13:29.520 --> 00:13:35.040 jealous about Zion. What is Zion? Zion is not Israel. Zion is a resting place of God. Where does 00:13:35.040 --> 00:13:44.800 God rest now? He rests in the midst of a people. We are Zion. Whenever we talk about Zion in the New 00:13:44.800 --> 00:13:51.840 Testament one must not think ah shucks Zionist Israel. Nope. If you go to Hebrews 12, 22 to 25 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:58.560 it says that you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the place of his saints. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:05.040 Zion is now the resting place of God. And where does God say he rests? If you go to Psalm 32, 00:14:06.640 --> 00:14:13.120 I think it's Psalm 32. It says that I have found you as a resting place, as in a people as a resting 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:19.200 place. So he says I'm really jealous over Zion and then as if that isn't enough he takes it a 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:25.920 step further and he says I'm really burning with jealousy, burning with jealousy. You know the idea 00:14:25.920 --> 00:14:35.200 of jealous, how do you define jealous? Jealous is what happens when the one you love goes after another. 00:14:36.640 --> 00:14:41.840 Jealous is what happens when you find that someone is competing for the one you love. 00:14:43.920 --> 00:14:49.440 Jealous is a very human word that most humans experience at some point or the other. 00:14:50.400 --> 00:14:56.880 Jealous is either when the one you love goes chasing after someone else or jealous is when 00:14:58.160 --> 00:15:01.840 there are others who are competing for the one you love. 00:15:04.800 --> 00:15:10.160 That's what jealous means. I've got to say I feel jealous over you. I'm actually burning with jealousy. 00:15:10.160 --> 00:15:13.920 I remember I used to really like this girl and this was ages ago. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:18.640 And then my best friend liked her too. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:27.520 And when he and I were alone he would tell me how much he liked her and man I really wanted to put 00:15:27.520 --> 00:15:32.000 him out of his misery but I couldn't find a baseball bat so I would just sympathize. But 00:15:32.160 --> 00:15:39.040 even at that age I was hardly 18, I started young, there was this sense of my god the jealousy you 00:15:39.040 --> 00:15:44.640 feel when someone else is competing for the person you love. That's exactly what God is saying here. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:53.120 I mean look at the scriptures with jealous God. Exodus 20 verse 5, Exodus 20 verse 5. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:54.400 Verse 5. 00:16:00.160 --> 00:16:07.840 It says you shall not bow down to them in worship for I the Lord your God I'm a jealous God. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:17.760 Look at Exodus 34 14, Exodus 34 14. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:30.320 It says do not worship any other God for the Lord whose name is jealous. I mean he calls himself 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:38.160 jealous. I mean which God has the audacity to name himself jealous and yet that's what he names 00:16:38.160 --> 00:16:44.640 himself. As we find out why he'll blow your mind man. It's a great name for a God to have 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:52.160 but no other God would dare call themselves jealous. That's what he says here. Do not worship 00:16:52.160 --> 00:16:56.320 any other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. Guys we're going through the book 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:00.160 of Zechariah. Why are we going through these verses? Because as we look at these verses we'll 00:17:00.160 --> 00:17:05.120 realize the kind of people he expects us to be over the next 12 to 15 months and the kind of God 00:17:05.120 --> 00:17:13.920 he wants to be over the next 12 to 15 months. Let's look at Deuteronomy 4 23. Deuteronomy 4 23. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:16.560 Deuteronomy 4 23. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:32.160 Deuteronomy 4 23. It says there be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:37.840 he made with you. Do not make for yourselves an idol in any form or anything the Lord your God has 00:17:37.840 --> 00:17:43.680 forbidden for the Lord your God is a consuming fire and a jealous God. So you have a consuming 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:47.680 fire and a jealous God. This is the whole idea of listen I'm burning with jealousy. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:55.600 So here's the fascinating thing guys. It's fascinating that God chooses to enter into an 00:17:55.600 --> 00:18:03.600 intimate relationship with me to the point that he now feels sadness and anger when I give to 00:18:03.600 --> 00:18:10.640 someone or something the affections that belong to him. Just think of that again. It's fascinating 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:17.040 just think of that again. It's fascinating that this invisible God of the universe 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:26.960 has entered into an intimate relationship with me to the point where he actually feels sadness and 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:34.480 anger when I give to anything or anybody the affections that belong to him. 00:18:41.120 --> 00:18:43.440 What kind of God is this? 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:51.040 He feels he feels angry when I give to something or someone 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:59.360 the affections that belong to him. He feels sad. Hey this whole idea of grieving the Holy Spirit 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:05.120 we don't know what it means. We think if Emily misses the line in the song or the Holy Spirit 00:19:05.120 --> 00:19:09.120 will run away because he was grieved by our by missing our two lines in the song. That's not 00:19:09.120 --> 00:19:15.280 grieving the Holy Spirit. Grieving the Holy Spirit is when the affections that belong to God 00:19:15.280 --> 00:19:22.640 are taken by me and given to something or somebody else. This God has become so intimately in love 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:29.680 with me that it actually saddens the Lord of heaven and earth the king of the universe the creator of 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:38.560 cosmos now actually feels sad or angry when the affections that belong to him are given by me to 00:19:38.560 --> 00:19:42.080 something else or somebody else. That is grieving. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:50.800 And so you might think well he shouldn't feel angry. You know what he did with that anger? 00:19:50.800 --> 00:19:54.640 He put it on his own son Jesus so that you may be spared his anger. 00:19:59.840 --> 00:20:05.840 Odd God man. Once you become aware of it the more you become aware of it the more aware you will be 00:20:05.840 --> 00:20:13.040 of your affections going places where it shouldn't go. You think that wives don't notice when husbands 00:20:13.040 --> 00:20:21.120 heads are on a swivel? I've watched man. It is so grieving to a woman when she's walking with her 00:20:21.120 --> 00:20:28.560 husband and his eyes are darting and looking at other women. You should see how women feel when 00:20:28.560 --> 00:20:33.360 they find that their husbands are actually flirting while they're standing there with another woman. 00:20:33.520 --> 00:20:40.480 So the grief it causes Mark, the grief it causes is tremendous. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:48.080 It just rips a woman's heart out because standing there it happens. 00:20:55.040 --> 00:20:58.480 I just want us to understand what jealousy is really like guys. 00:20:59.280 --> 00:21:06.000 I cannot understand this kind of love that the father has for me. It's odd on one hand he's the 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:10.400 father on the other hand Christ looks at us as his bride because he's the bridegroom. 00:21:13.760 --> 00:21:14.800 Any questions? 00:21:15.280 --> 00:21:21.920 You know divine jealousy is actually holy because God expects the same fidelity and character that 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:29.680 he has in his covenant people. Stranger just think of that line divine jealousy, 00:21:31.120 --> 00:21:35.680 divine jealousy. This is not Don John this is the son of God. 00:21:35.840 --> 00:21:42.320 Stranger just think of that line divine jealousy, divine jealousy. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:51.040 This is not Don John this is divine jealousy. Divine jealousy is holy. Divine jealousy is holy 00:21:51.040 --> 00:22:02.640 because God expects the same fidelity and character he has 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:13.040 in his covenant people. Think of that man. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:20.640 Hey his fidelity is so absolute he'll never be faithless. He will never be faithless. There is 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:25.920 not a moment in my life where God will not be faithful. He will only be faithful. He'll never 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:31.200 be faithless. His character will not change. It's immutable. It won't change. It doesn't matter how 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:37.120 I treat him. It doesn't matter how saddened he is. It doesn't matter how I provoke him to jealousy. 00:22:37.360 --> 00:22:41.840 The one thing that doesn't change is his fidelity and his character towards me and does not a God 00:22:41.840 --> 00:22:48.000 who dwells amongst the covenant people have the right to demand of the people the same fidelity and 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:53.840 character that he has? Does not a husband demand that of his wife? If you being as evil as you are 00:22:53.840 --> 00:22:59.520 can demand that of your spouse what about an absolutely holy God who lives in unapproachable light? 00:22:59.600 --> 00:23:04.560 How can he expect less? You see when Paul says now approach the throne of God for he has shared our 00:23:04.560 --> 00:23:09.680 frailties and he understands our condition he is not saying that God has lowered the bar. He's saying 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:16.080 God sympathizes with your weakness but he cannot expect anything less because holiness if it is 00:23:16.080 --> 00:23:23.840 lessened does not stay as holiness anymore. He cannot expect anything less because he is 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:29.120 not accepting anything less because holiness if it is lessened does not stay as holiness anymore. 00:23:31.600 --> 00:23:35.760 You don't need the cross. You don't need bloodshed. You don't need any of that. If 00:23:35.760 --> 00:23:41.280 holiness can be lessened all God has to do is reduce his holiness by a little but if he reduces 00:23:41.280 --> 00:23:45.360 his holiness by a little we become acceptable and he ends he stops being God. 00:23:45.360 --> 00:23:52.720 That is why every other God in every other religion can always dumb down their holiness 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:58.720 and people become acceptable to a ritual. Not this God because he stopped being God. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:10.720 Divine jealousy is holy. Divine jealousy is also loving. Divine jealousy is also loving. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:21.760 Divine jealousy is also loving but guess what it's an intolerant love. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:34.080 It is an intolerant love. What do I mean by intolerant love? This it is intolerant in that 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:46.720 it fights. It resists and fights when the oneness that was forged 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:50.960 at Golgotha 00:24:54.560 --> 00:24:59.440 is squandered or wasted on someone else or something else. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:07.360 Divine jealousy is loving. Divine jealousy would not exist if God wasn't loving. If he wasn't 00:25:07.360 --> 00:25:15.120 loving there was no need. I mean what do you care if someone else's spouse is running after 00:25:15.120 --> 00:25:19.680 somebody else? You'll feel bad. You have your Christian sensitivities now. You'll probably 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:24.560 pray but it doesn't affect your life because you're not in love with that spouse. But what 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:31.120 when it's your spouse? We just can't understand it because Paul said it's a mystery that Christ 00:25:31.120 --> 00:25:36.960 loves the body. His bride like a man loves his wife. He said it's a mystery. We don't understand 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:45.120 the depth of it but divine jealousy is loving but it's an intolerant love because it fights for 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:51.760 the oneness that was forged at Golgotha between the spirit of God and my spirit that have become 00:25:51.760 --> 00:25:56.160 one according to Romans 6 19. He fights for it. It's an intolerant love. 00:25:59.280 --> 00:26:06.320 It's an intolerant love. God doesn't sit by idol as you wonder. 00:26:11.840 --> 00:26:16.800 There is not a single story in the New Testament that Jesus spoke that portrayed the father's love 00:26:16.800 --> 00:26:20.320 where the father was sitting idle. It is always the father who starts running. 00:26:22.080 --> 00:26:36.960 So whether it be stone idols, whether it be self that becomes an idol, whether it's the cares and 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:42.960 the rewards of the world, hey guess what? This God of yours and this is rarely spoken of demands 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:50.000 exclusive faithfulness. He demands it. He has a right to demand it because he's done everything 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.720 in this relationship. He demands exclusive faithfulness. 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:07.360 He demands it. He's the one who stands at the altar and says through sickness, through joy, 00:27:07.360 --> 00:27:14.400 through you didn't have to make an oath. You just had to receive his love. He's the one at the altar. 00:27:15.120 --> 00:27:17.280 In this marriage only one swore 00:27:19.760 --> 00:27:25.840 his love. The other just received it. We'll read a passage from Ezekiel. It's so beautiful 00:27:26.800 --> 00:27:32.160 where you see God as one who marries you and he's the one who's doing all the work. 00:27:39.360 --> 00:27:43.600 The strange thing is guys discipline is actually an outworking of God's jealous love. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:50.800 Discipline is an outworking of God's divine jealousy. If he wasn't jealous he would not discipline. 00:27:57.040 --> 00:28:01.840 My dad disciplined me because it was important to him that I do well in life. 00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:10.080 Hebrews 12 talks about it. Discipline is an outworking of divine jealousy 00:28:11.040 --> 00:28:18.400 because he knows that your affections if they lure you away will come back to knife your soul. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:29.440 In 2nd Corinthians 11, Paul puts it this way. I've pledged you as a virgin to one husband but I am 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:36.480 afraid that just like Eve was deceived by the serpent you are being deceived and your affections 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:41.680 are being drawn elsewhere. And what happened to Eve when her affections drew her elsewhere? 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:45.680 She was knifed in her soul and we still suffer the gash. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:52.080 The reason discipline kicks in is because he's so jealously in love with me. 00:28:52.080 --> 00:28:54.960 Oh my God Jacob if I don't step in now 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:04.080 because of my divine jealousy over you then the very affections that are seducing you away will 00:29:04.080 --> 00:29:08.080 come and knife your soul and that will perhaps be more unbearable. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:23.440 He is jealous for me. Love's like a hurricane that could just about begin to define the force of his love. 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:33.360 Somehow David got it. He would sit amongst his sheep and with his harp and sword and he would 00:29:33.360 --> 00:29:38.560 harp and start playing and singing songs that talked about how much God cared. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:49.280 Jealousy is also spelled 00:29:49.280 --> 00:30:05.760 as zeal. Jealousy is also spelled as zeal. That's another word that well represents jealousy. 00:30:12.080 --> 00:30:18.720 I'm excited about what God has for us guys. I like God becoming bigger than he presently is 00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:24.720 because just when you think you can begin to wrap your arms around his wrist he turns up 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:32.560 bigger and then you realize ah shucks. Jealousy is spelled zeal and God is zealous about his 00:30:33.280 --> 00:30:41.440 splendor and expects us to be too. Guys the word glory which comes from a Hebrew word called 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:54.480 kabbod basically means his weight, his magnificence, his splendor, his power, his 00:30:56.160 --> 00:31:03.680 excellence. All this is taken together. I've put in a word called kabbod which is what we now say 00:31:03.760 --> 00:31:11.840 called glory and so God is zealous about his glory as in this is an immutable unflogged character 00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:21.200 and he does not allow it to be treated like sewage. He's zealous about it 00:31:23.120 --> 00:31:29.840 and as a people we need to begin to understand that he expects us to be zealous about his splendor. 00:31:29.840 --> 00:31:36.880 We see the jealousy of God. We see this jealousy in John chapter 2 verse 14 to 17 00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:42.560 where Jesus enters the temple and he begins to flip tables over and then he begins to drive out 00:31:42.560 --> 00:31:47.840 the money changers with a whip and the disciples who were watching were later reminded of a 00:31:47.840 --> 00:31:53.840 scripture in psalm 69 which said the zeal of his house has consumed me. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:57.360 This is something that the holy spirit should cause to break upon our lives 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:05.040 because you'll be surprised at how different life is when zeal falls on a people. Throughout the old 00:32:05.040 --> 00:32:11.120 testament zeal caused people to do things that had them enter hebrews chapter 11. In the new 00:32:11.120 --> 00:32:16.720 testament zeal exists because the holy spirit exists not outside but inside and just needs to 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:23.760 be stirred up and you'll be surprised if you work on it. You'll be surprised if you work on it. 00:32:24.320 --> 00:32:30.320 When you go home that oh God stir up oh God stir up that zeal that is present in me by your spirit 00:32:30.320 --> 00:32:35.120 you'll be surprised at the things that you will reach out for while being faithful over the things 00:32:35.120 --> 00:32:42.960 that are in your hand. This is not a message trying to explain Zechariah 8 1 2. This is a message 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:52.080 trying to show us what God wants of us. I pray God that the zeal that you feel stirring in your heart 00:32:52.080 --> 00:32:59.600 as I speak will not go dormant because of the cares that choke out what we hear for two hours on a Sunday. 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:16.640 Take guys like Phinehas numbers 25 6 to 9. What did he do? He saw a man called Zimri bring a woman 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:24.080 called Cosby into the camp. She was a Midianite and while people were worshiping God he brings 00:33:24.080 --> 00:33:29.680 her in and scripture insinuates that he was caressing her and what does Phinehas do? He 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:37.600 takes a javelin and he thrusts it right through Zimri and Cosby and the plague that begins to hit 00:33:37.600 --> 00:33:44.800 the camp stops and God says of Phinehas this man is possessed with the zeal of God. Zeal has consumed 00:33:44.800 --> 00:33:52.800 him and this man will always have a part in the priesthood. What do you think happens to David? 00:33:52.800 --> 00:34:00.880 He's brought cheese and honey and cranberry perhaps it was Thanksgiving to the front lines 00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:06.160 and he sees this Philistine giant marching up and down and you know what David begins to say? 00:34:06.160 --> 00:34:10.480 Why is it that there is nobody here who is beginning to step out