We're turning in the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 20, for a reading today, Exodus chapter 20. It is a familiar chapter. It brings us to all that occurred on Mount Sinai and the giving off the law. And so we're reading these words. We are not those who believe in antinomianism, who believe that there is no law, but we believe that we are to keep the law, to keep the commandments of God. And so let's read the word as it is before us, Exodus chapter 20, and let's hear God's word. And God speak all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. I shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. I shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant. nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. Amen, and we'll end our reading at the end of the verse 18. Let's pray and seek the Lord's help. Not only to preach the word, but to hear it. O God, our loving Father, we thank thee for thy word. We rejoice, O God, that thy word is forever settled in heaven. We rejoice, O God, for that which we have been reading already. how it reminds us of our duties to God and our duty to our fellow man. Lord, we pray that we might fulfill our duties and that we might obey thy commandments because it is by this, O God, it is by obeying thy law, it is by the obeying of thy commandments that we show our love for thee. If ye love me, keep my love. commandments. O God, help us as we meet around thy precious word. Open our hearts, our ears, and our understanding to thy word, and help our hearts to be blessed and challenged. And may the Spirit apply the truth of thy word to the point of need in every heart and life. For we pray these, our prayers, in and through Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen and amen. I'm sure at some point in your life you've found yourself feeling jealous. And oft times it has been over some of the most trivial and unimportant things. Maybe you've been jealous that another person's dinner or dessert serving has been bigger than yours. It used to happen in our own home place when the Arctic roll came out. Do you remember Arctic roll? I think they still have it, it used to be a foot long, now it's only about half a foot. Well, you would nearly have needed a ruler to measure out how much arctic roll six people were going to get in our home place. It happens in restaurants, we see individuals, they order something, and someone across the table, they say, I wish I had ordered that, because they see their little portion, and then another individual's, they nearly have killed the fatted calf. and put it on theirs. At times we feel ourselves to be overcome with the emotion of jealousy. Others can be jealous that another individual's house has been furnished to a higher standard than theirs. Jealous at a friend's car. has been better pimped out than yours, jealous at another person's holiday destination, has been more exotic than yours, jealous of another Christian's walk with God, jealous of someone else's ability to pray, to preach, jealous of another person's success in ministry. There have been a times, I'm sure, that we all have found ourselves to be overcome with jealousy. Jealousy is a way that shows an envious resentment of someone or their achievements, their possessions. or their perceived advantages. The Cambridge Dictionary defines jealousy as a feeling of unhappiness and anger because someone has something or someone that you want. The Collins Dictionary states if someone is jealous, they feel angry or bitter because they think that another person is trying to take a lover. or a friend or a possession away from them. Now, it may come as a surprise to some here today that the word jealous is used in connection with the God of the Bible. When the Bible speaks of God being jealous, it is referring to God's unwillingness to bear with any other rival that would impinge upon his soul. and his absolute sovereignty. It is God's unwillingness to bear with any other rival that would impinge upon his soul and absolute sovereignty. It is then the jealousy of God that I want us to think about today as we behold our jealous God. As we behold our jealous God. Now as with the other attributes of God, let me first point you in the direction of a number of references that speak of God being a jealous God. We need to be biblical in our understanding of God. And so let me point you in the direction of the biblical proof that our God is a jealous God. Now the first reference to the jealousy of God is not the testimony of man concerning God, but rather it is God's testimony of Himself. That divine testimony is recorded here in Exodus chapter 20, the verses 4 and 5, when the moral law was being given to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai. On that occasion, God made this declaration as He dealt with the sin of idolatry. Look at the verse 4, "...thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I am the Lord thy God." I'm a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that take me and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. God declares here that he is a jealous God. He will not have any other God to be a rival to himself. God is jealous for certain things, and we're going to think about them today, but God is a jealous God. You can turn a few chapters to the next reference, Exodus chapter 34 this time, and the verse number 14. And it's very interesting that God takes to himself the very term jealous to his name. He actually takes to himself the name Jealous here, in Exodus chapter 34, the verse number 14. For thy shalt worship no other God, for the Lord Jehovah, whose name is Jealous. is a jealous God. Now you might think that this attribute of jealousy is unworthy, unsuitable, unfitting for the God of heaven, and yet not so. God says that his very name is jealous. Charles John Elcott put it this way, the one only God, if there be one only God, should claim and exact under severe penalties. An undivided allegiance is natural, reasonable, and in harmony with the most exalted conceptions of the divine essence. In other words, there is no incompatibility. with the God of heaven and this thought of jealousy. There is no conflict between God's essence and his jealousy. In actual fact, his jealousy is wholly compatible with his holy nature. His holy nature dictates that he is jealous. Now, the book of Deuteronomy has three references that speak to us of the jealousy of God. Deuteronomy chapter number four, and you'll find the verse 23 and the verse 24 of Deuteronomy chapter four, the reference with respect to God's jealousy again. Deuteronomy chapter four, verse 23 and 24. Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you. And make not any graven image or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. Deuteronomy 6, 14 and 15, you shall not go after other gods of the gods of the people which are round about you, for the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you, lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. And then Deuteronomy 32, verse 16, they provoked him, speaking of God, they provoked him to jealousy. with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger." Now, the first two references here in Deuteronomy contain warnings from God concerning the setting up of rival gods against him. But sad to say, those warnings went unheeded by the children of God, because we find them now at the end of Deuteronomy 32, verse 16, we find them provoking God to jealousy, provoking them to jealousy as they went after strange gods. Moses' replacement, Joshua, warned the people that God was a jealous God. Joshua 24, verse 19, and Joshua said unto the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is an holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. prophet Nahum in chapter 1 verse 2 stated, God is jealous and the Lord revengeth. God is jealous. These are but some, just some of the references that remind us that the God of the Bible is a jealous God. So we need to be established in that thinking. As we think of God, We think of God as being, yes, a God of love, a God of mercy, a God of grace, a God of compassion, a God of patience, a God that is wise, all-knowing, all-powerful, but we must remember that God is a jealous God. How many books have you seen in a Bible bookshop that deals with the jealousy of God? I would say you've seen very few. But God reveals himself in Scripture as being such a God. Now that moves us on to a second thought. Since God is termed a jealous God, we need to answer the question, is all jealousy wrong? Is all jealousy wrong? Now initially you may think that the emotion of jealousy is wrong in every instance. However, such thinking is wrong. A moment's thinking will remind you that jealousy can either be good or bad. Let me give you an example. Whenever a husband discovers another man trying to steal his wife's affections, that man is justifiably jealous of such an impingement upon the marital covenant. He is justly jealous of his wife's love and his wife's affection. But jealousy with respect to another person's possessions, that kind of jealousy is inexcusable. For the command is that thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, manservant, maidservant, wife, or anything that is thy neighbor's. And so such jealousy is founded in the sin of covetousness. And so all jealousy is not wrong and all jealousy is not sinful. And I say that because we have examples in the Word of God where men declared themselves to be jealous. And yet God did not reprove them or rebuke them for their jealousy. I want to take three of those examples. One from the Old Testament, two from the New Testament of individuals who were possessed with what we would call a holy. a godly jealousy, for there is such a thing. Such a thing as a godly, a righteous, a holy jealousy. Think firstly with me about the prophet Elijah. The prophet Elijah was a man who was consumed with a jealousy for God's name, for God's honor, and for God's glory. Just after his momentous stand against the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, we find God's servant running away from Ahab's wife, Jezebel. Elijah eventually reaches the Mount of God in Horeb, and he seeks refuge in a cave. While lodging there, God asks Elijah this question, what doest thou hear, Elijah? What doest thou hear, Elijah? I want you to listen to Elijah's reply. You can turn there if you so desire. You'll find it in 1 Kings chapter 19 and the verse number 10. You'll find how Elijah replies to that question, what doest thou hear, Elijah? And he said, 1 Kings 19.10, I have been very jealous. For the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. Elijah was a man, he was deeply grieved. He was filled with holy indignation as he became more and more informed about the terrible character and about the wide extent of Israel's defection from the living God. As a consequence, God's servant became jealous for the honor of God's name, and was possessed with a righteous indignation and jealousy for all that which opposed God. That jealousy for God's name and honor caused Elijah to become outspoken with respect to Israel's sin, fearing not the consequence of denouncing Israel for her sin of idolatry and her sin of departure from God. Oh, for men like Elijah today, oh, that I would be such a man, fearing not what sinners, fearing not what the sins say, but fearing only God and sin, fearing only God and sin. Oh, to be possessed with a jealousy for God's name, while happy to let our names perish and be forgotten. So let me ask you, as I ask myself, Have I, have you been very jealous for the Lord God as Elijah was? Does it trouble us? Does it trouble you that God's name is daily mocked in our nation? Daily mocked on the airwaves? Does it cause you concern that his cause is ridiculed in the press? That his church is scorned by society? Does it concern you that His gospel is rejected by the masses? As we see the advancing march of godless secularism in our nation, as we see the promotion of the most heinous sins imaginable, as we see the curbing of our religious freedoms, are we jealous for God's name? Are we jealous for God's cause? Are we jealous for God's honor? Or are we just indifferent? Is it our attitude that nothing can be done? Are you and I apathetic to the spiritual decline that has come into the church of Jesus Christ and into the nation over the last number of years? Oh, that God would impart to all of his children, all of his children, a holy jealousy for his name and his cause. And these days, Elijah was a man possessed with such a jealousy. God's name, God's name and honor and glory is at stake. I must become outspoken with respect to the sins of the nation. Oh, for a rising of that again. Oh, for men in pulpits, this pulpit included. to preach the word as God gives it, whether it be politically correct or not, that we would be faithful to God and to the standards of God's word, come what may. This is what we need, brethren and sisters, a jealousy, a godly, righteous jealousy for the glory of God. I don't think I have it. I don't think I have it. and know that I, God, would give it, to be jealous for God's name." Now, the second man who possessed a godly, righteous jealousy, a holy jealousy, was the Apostle Paul. Speaking to the Corinthian believers, the Apostle Paul, he said these words in 2 Corinthians 11, verse number 2. He said, 2 Corinthians 11, verse 2, "'For I am jealous over you with Godly jealousy. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 2, For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Can I say, brethren and sisters, that there is no such thing as an open relationship with respect to your relationship with God. Now, you know what an open relationship is. I don't need to go into it today. You find individuals that are in an open relationship. One individual stays one weekend, another individual stays at the home the next weekend. It is an open relationship. Everything goes. Every sin goes. Well, with respect to Christ and our relationship with Him, we are not in some sort of open relationship with God. We are exclusively His, exclusively His. He has purchased us with His own blood. So we are exclusively to be His. And that means that no other loves are to come into our lives and into our hearts. Now Paul here takes the imagery of a husband espoused to a virgin or a virgin espoused to a husband to portray, to picture the picture of the affection that he had for the saints of God here in the city of Corinth. He compares his jealousy over the Corinthian church as that of a father who has betrothed his daughter to a young bridegroom. A bride promises her heart to her husband alone. should she prove to be unfaithful, he would experience godly jealousy. Paul had an ardent love for the Corinthian church that he founded, but the Corinthians ongoing tendency towards error and and towards petty division within the church of Jesus Christ, grieved him much, and he feared that they were being spiritually seduced by the smooth talkers of false teachers, and such caused the apostle Paul to be jealous. He had a godly jealousy towards them. I wonder, do you and I possess a godly jealousy as Paul did for the bride of Christ, the church of Christ? I fear we don't. Let me tell you what godly jealousy does. Godly jealousy burdens us. Godly jealousy burdens us to intercede for our lost loved ones, for our neighbors, for our friends. Godly jealousy sees us do all that we can to further the gospel here at home and also abroad. Godly jealousy motivates us to confront and speak with a sinning brother or sister, even though we don't want to do it, in order that we might save such a one from the error of their ways. Godly jealousy causes us to discipline in the church of Jesus Christ. with respect to those members who are not living up to their obligations. That's what godly jealousy does. Godly jealousy keeps us in a denomination that I want to say is certainly not perfect, but at least it's outside the camp of apostasy, trying to keep faithful to the old paths and loyal to the fundamentals of the faith. That's what godly jealousy does. Paul had such a godly jealousy. But I believe the greatest example of an individual that was possessed with a holy jealousy is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. When the Son of God entered into the temple at the time of Passover, he cast from its precincts those who had turned the house of God into a makeshift market and into a bureau de change. We're told in 2 John, that the Savior made a scourge of small cords, and he drove them out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables. To those who sold doves, the Savior issued this directive, take these things hence. Make not my father's house a house of merchandise. Now as the Saviour's disciples watched on to the Saviour's actions that day, they recalled to their minds words that they had read, meditated, learned in their own lives, words that they found in Psalm 69 verse 9, "...the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." As they saw the Saviour's actions that day, purging the church, cleansing the church. They said, this is the fulfillment of that prophecy. The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. And that word zeal can be also translated jealousy. The jealousy of thine house hath eaten me up. These men saw Christ, they saw in Christ a jealousy for the purity of God's house. Are we jealous for the purity of the church? When we see a lack of power and progress in God's work, are we in any way concerned? Oh, that we would be jealous. Christ possessed jealousy for his own house, for his own cause. Oh, that we would be those possessed with such a jealousy. From the above three examples, I believe from Elijah, From Paul, from Christ himself, I believe that we can therefore say that all jealousy is not wrong. All jealousy is not sinful. There is such a thing as righteous, holy, godly jealousy. Oh, that we would be possessed with such. But in the third place, I want us to think about what God is jealous for. What God is jealous for. There are various things that God is jealous for. In the first place, He is jealous for His own person. For His own person. Now in the vast majority of cases, with respect to the Bible references concerning the jealousy of God, they are always found, or the majority of them are found, within the context of idolatrous worship. With respect to the idolatrous practices of the children of Israel, almost all of the references are found within the context of the setting up of such idols, such false gods. Since God is the only God, he cannot endure that any creature of his own hands or fiction of a creature's imagination should be thrust onto his throne and be made to wear the crown that is rightfully his." You know, whenever the false god Dagon, whenever it was carried into the presence of the Ark of the Covenant in the days of Samuel, over which the Ark of the Covenant would be the Shekinah glory, the glory of God above the mercy seat, God caused that idol to fall on its face. before His very presence. And by that incident, God is teaching us that God is jealous and that He will not tolerate any rival to take up His rightful place that He is to have within a nation, within a church, or within a person's life. Let me bring the application to our hearts. Is there a rival to God in your heart today? Well, your God may not be some carved image of wood or of stone. It may be the God of fashion, the God of ambition, the God of business, the God of pleasure, the God of sport, the God of leisure, all enthroned upon the heart. where Christ should be enthroned. Dare we place anything or anyone else before the God who commanded us to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, and with all of our strength. Dare we place another God there. God is jealous for the throne of your heart, and he will not cohabit or co-occupy that throne, there is no such thing as joint authority with God. God himself must be God of all, and Lord of all, or not God at all, or Lord of all. I address those in this house who know not Christ, because there may be a businessman here today, and you're only living for money, You're only living for advancement within society. You're only living for family. There might be young men who are only living here for our pleasures, young women who are only existing for their own enjoyment and amusement, farmers who are only living for livestock. for cereal crops, for some piece of machinery. You see, you're only living for success, the success of themselves or the success of maybe some sporting team, fathers and mothers. You're only living for the world and for the world's possessions. I say these are false gods. These are counterfeit deities. These need to be torn from the throne of the heart because God is a jealous God and He, in His righteous anger, will either remove you from those idols or He will take them from you. God will have no rival. No rival. He is either Lord of all or not Lord at all. May God be found in his rightful place upon the throne of our hearts. He's jealous for his own person. He's jealous, secondly, for his own glory. His own glory. Isaiah 42 verse 8 affirms that to be so. God is the speaker, and what does he declare in Isaiah 42 verse 8? I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. When God speaks of His glory, His honor, His dignity, His splendor is wrapped up in that very term, His glory. A. W. Pink said, the Lord is very jealous of His honor and will not share His glory with another. His people profess to believe that that is a cardinal truth, yet they are very apt to forget it. They too are human and prone to hero worship. prone to idolatry, prone to render unto creatures that which the Lord alone is entitled. Oh God forbid that there would be such would happen in this house, among this company of people, that there would be those that would accredit glory to an individual where it should be ascribed and accredited to God alone. It is God who always gives the increase. God zealously guards his glory and will not permit anything or anyone to rob him of it. We need to remember that in the work of God. We read in Acts chapter 12 of what befell Herod, King Herod, when he refused to give God the glory when others When others made him out to be a god, he was eaten of worms and died. C. H. Spurgeon said this, how careful, should we be when we do anything for God, and God is pleased to accept of our doings, that we never congratulate ourselves. The worms, he said, which at Herod, when he gave not God the glory, are ready for another mill, beware of vain glory. You know in God's work we are prone, we are prone to take glory to ourselves or we seek glory from another person. How did I get on today dear preaching? How did I get on in children's meeting today or tonight? We seek it. We seek to be glorified, whereas God should be glorified. Now dare we steal his glory? Dare we steal glory that is due alone to him? You know, as I thought of that, I thought at times we're a little bit like the nursery rhyme character Little Jack Horner. You know it well. Little Jack Horner sat in the corner eating his Christmas pie. He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said, what a good boy am I? You know, whenever we know God's blessing and God's work, sometimes we are a little bit like little Jack Horner. We give ourselves a little pat on the back and say, what a good boy am I? What a good boy am I? I tell you, that's self-glorying. And a jealous God will have none of it. Jealous God will have none of it. And it is the most difficult of struggles that Christians contend with, making sure that we do not take glory that belongs to God alone. Our cry must ever be, in the words of the psalmist, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. But unto thy name give glory, and for thy mercy, and for thy true sake. Now how do we safeguard ourselves from such self-glorying? This is how we do it. We have the highest possible views of our God, and we have the lowest possible views of ourselves. That's how we do it. Think of it in this way. The moment that we start to glory in self, We are setting up ourselves as rivals against the Most High. Have you ever thought of that? You're setting yourself up as a rival against the Most High. And because there is only room for one glory in the universe, God will always get the glory. And if that means removing you or removing me, He will do it. We need to learn to walk humbly with our God and ascribe all glory to God and to the Savior, Jesus Christ. In the third place, God is jealous for his day. His day. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The Sabbath day was not made for you. It was made for your benefit, yes, It was not made for your pleasure. It was not made for you to make money. God's day is His, and He jealously guards it. The Sabbath was made for God, for the benefit of man. and not man for the Sabbath, and only, and I repeat it again, only the works of mercy and necessity are permitted to be performed on that day. Anything else is a breaking of God's day. It's a breaking of God's day. It is not a day that you lie in your bed. It is not a day that you sit in your armchair in the evening time. That's not to happen. You are to assemble with the people of God and you're to assemble in the house of God. And anything else is breaking His day. And God is jealous for His day. It's His. He could have asked us for six days and gave us one to work. But He asked us only for one and gave us six to work. Can you not give that to God? God is jealous. God is jealous for his day. In the fourth place, and I know it need to go quick, he's jealous for his people. You know, in Scripture, God uses the imagery of the marriage covenant to depict the relationship that exists between him and his people. As our husband then, he is jealous over us, and that jealousy is inflamed. That jealousy is inflamed when he sees other interests encroaching into our lives. Other interests. Can I say in the first place, with respect to his people, God is jealous of our love. It is love that is the glue of any marriage. When that goes, the marriage goes. What then about our love? for God. Lovest thou me, Peter, more than these? God was jealous for Peter's love. Christ was jealous for the love of those that worshipped in the church in Ephesus. Thou hast left thy first love. God was jealous for the love of his people. You see, God desires the undivided love of his people and yet sad to say that many have allowed the love of the world to have a diminishing effect on their love for him. How is our love for Christ today? Not for the church, for Christ, for Jesus Christ, the one who bled and died for you in the cross, who went through all the agony and sufferings of death for us, who bore in his own body our sin to the tree. How's your love for him? How's my love for him? Is the flame of ardent love for God burning brightly? Or are there only smoking embers on earth or love's hearth? Are we in love with the world? It's fashion, it's possessions, it's pleasure more than we are in love with God. Brother, sister, I remind you, I remind you, you profess to know Christ. I want to remind you of something. I want to remind you that you are married to a jealous husband. He's a jealous husband. He's jealous of your love and he's jealous of my love. In the second place, God is jealous of our time. He's jealous of our time. It would be a very strange marriage, you would have to admit, if a husband never spent any time with his wife or vice versa, that would be a very, very strange marriage. Very strange marriage indeed. So why would it be then any different? When it comes to our lack of time when we spend with God, is that not strange? That we spend so little time with Him? You know, in the last week, brethren and sisters, we've all been given the same time. We were all given seven days. Those seven days were made up all of 24 hours. Your week wasn't shorter than my week, neither was it longer than my week. We were all given the same amount of time. But what did you do with that time? Did you give some time over this week to prayer? Did you take time to read the Word of God? Did you give any of your time to serve the Lord? the last seven days. I'm only speaking the last week. Did you give any time to serve the Lord? Did you invest any time to witness for Christ? Did you forfeit any of your me-time to gather with the saints of God in this house? This may be very blunt, but I believe it to be very true. If some of God's people treated their marital relationships Like they treated their relationship with God, their marriage would be in serious trouble today. God is jealous of your time. How did you use your time? Remember, we shall all give an account of ourselves to God. And one, I believe, of the things we'll give an account for is what we did with our time. Finally, God is jealous of our trust. He's jealous of our trust. Too often in life we're found trusting in ourselves or trusting in someone else rather than in God. Trusting in the arm of flesh, brethren and sisters, causes God to be righteously jealous. He would have us to trust in Him exclusively, to the exclusion of all other trusts. Psalm 118, 9 and 10. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Are you trusting God today? Trusting as the moments fly. Trusting as the days go by. Trusting him whatever befall. Trusting Jesus, that is all. Is that what you're doing today? He's jealous of your trust. He wants you to cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. He wants you to cast all on Him, for He careth for you. He's jealous of your trust. Or maybe are you trusting in a minister, a Christian? mother, father, friend, God would have you to trust in him alone. Have confidence in him that he'll bring you through, that he'll give you the grace that you need. Trust him first of all. Trust him first of all for your salvation, your salvation from sin and hell. And then after that, Trust Him to help and guide you through your life. God would have us to wholeheartedly trust in Him because He is jealous of our trust. God is a jealous God. May we be possessed with a jealousy for all that He is jealous for. And if asked the question by those in the world or even those within the evangelical church, why are you so precise? Why are you so rigid? Why are you so dogmatic in your Christian living? Let this be your reply. It is because I serve a jealous God. because I serve a jealous God. May we be reminded of this truth today, that God is jealous. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Oh God our Father, we bow before thee here today and we confess that We have failed Thee in many areas upon which we have touched upon today. O God, we cry to Thee that Thou wilt help us to love Thee alone, to love Thee only, exclusively. That is not to say that we are not to love our wives, our children. We are commanded to do so. But primarily, initially, help us to love Thee. Help us to love Thee fully with heart and soul and mind and body. Help us, O God, whenever we find ourselves wasting time on such trivial matters. Help us, Lord, to be reminded that Thou art jealous of our time. Thou would have us to invest our time in those things that truly matter. Lord, we cry to Thee that Thou wilt be, O God, to us the husband that Thou art, but help us to be, O God, the bride, the virgin that we ought to be. Help us, O God, to give Thee our love, our time. Help us to give Thee our trust and help us, Father, in these days to live a life, O God, reminded day by day of the fact that our God is a jealous God. Help us in these areas, we pray. Deal with all of our hearts. Help us not to be stubborn in these matters. Oh God, give me a willing heart. And whatever God has said, help us to obey the Master. Help us, dear Father, to follow through in all that God has said to us today. Answer prayer and bless every heart. In thy word, we ask these, our petitions, in and through Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen.