Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 14:30, 27:4 (Envy's Ferocity) (Part 65)

Please turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Proverbs chapter 14, where we'll read the 30th verse and then turn over to chapter 27, verse 4, Proverbs 14, 30 and 27. 4. Hear now, God's Word. A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the bones. And then chapter 27, the fourth verse. Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming. But who is able to stand before jealousy and thus far, the reading of God's Word. In the course of our series on the Book of Proverbs, we have had occasion from time to time to talk about human emotions and God's way of looking at those emotions. God's counsel to us about our emotions so that we might know how to evaluate and respond to our own emotions and to direct them into the proper paths that we might glorify God and enjoy him forever. I want to repeat, without at all preaching a sermon over again, repeat what I have said previously, that we who hold to a Reformed understanding of life, those of us who hold to a Reformed or Calvinistic in terms of interpretation of the Word of God, are not unemotional people. The emotions are not something that is put aside just because we have a strong interest in doctrine. We sometimes think of doctrine as being an intellectual matter. And of course, doctrine is intellectual in the sense that one must use his or her mind to understand the Word of God. God expects us to use that capacity to think. God expects us to use our intellect to glorify Him. In fact, you've heard me preach again out of the Book of Proverbs on how we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. That's what wisdom and intelligence is all about, as it is set forth in the Book of Proverbs and commended to us. We are to use our minds. However, the use of the mind and the emphasis upon doctrine, the zeal for truth that we find in the Reformed churches has never met when understood biblically and properly. That the emotions are subordinated has never meant that we become unemotional people. You see, the problem with emotions in the Christian church is not at all that they are set forth, that they are manifested or even emphasized in some cases. The problem is that the wrong emotions at the wrong time and in the wrong way are set forth in the Christian church, are followed in the worship services of some very emotionalistic groups and so forth. But the Reformed faith is an emotional faith. I mean, how can you help but be emotional when you Hear the doctrines of the Reformation. How can you help but feel something well up inside you? When we speak of the authority and the unchallengeable truth of God's Word, or the sovereign disposition of God over all things, does that not comfort us? Does that not instill some confidence in us? How can we help but feel something well up within us when we recognize that in all of our depravity and all of our lack of worth morally before God, he nevertheless has set his love upon us and that without any condition, he has loved us from all eternity and not because he foresaw that we'd be good people, that we would accomplish something worthwhile, or that we would even become Christians. We became Christians because He set his love on us. Now, that is an emotional doctrine. That's not just some kind of dry academic debate with Arminians. For us, it is emotional to me to know that Jesus died on the cross for me in particular, not just make some kind of mass appeal to all of humanity. There might be somebody out there who will complete the work of the Atonement by believing on him and actualizing some potential that he put there for me. But rather he saved me, he knew me, he loved me. When he went to the cross. Well, I could go on and on. The point is the Reformed faith and our emphasis upon doctrine has never been properly understood as the subordination of the emotions or of putting them aside. In fact, if you'll do a study of the expression that's found in the New Testament, especially in Paul's Epistles, I think you'll find it interesting to note that we read of doctrine in the New Testament being healthy doctrine, doctrine or sound doctrine, it's translated different ways. Actually, healthy or sound mean health giving doctrine. In Proverbs, the 14th chapter, verse 30, a similar Hebrew idiom is used where we read, a tranquil heart is the life of the flesh. Tranquil is not actually the best translation of the Hebrew, being a little too specific, but what we have here is, is a heart of health, a heart of health, a healthy heart, or even better, a health giving heart. A healthy heart is the life of the flesh. When the Bible looks at the subject of emotions, that which wells up from within us, when it looks at our hearts, it says they need to be healthy, health, giving. We need to have the right kinds of emotions. Emotionalism is not wrong. Emotions that are inappropriate are wrong. Emotions improperly applied are wrong. Emotions improperly expressed are wrong. But emotions themselves are to be commended. This morning we look at a particular emotion that of envy or jealousy, or coveting or ardent zeal. The difficulty is the Hebrew word can be translated in so many different ways. And part and parcel of our message this morning is going to rest upon that fact that we need to understand how that emotion is good in itself and is misapplied by sinners. In the 27th chapter, Proverbs, verse 4, I want you to notice that according to the word of God, envy is the most vigorous, the most forceful and strong emotion of all. And hence the title of this morning's message, envy's ferocity. We need to stop. If we are wise people, if we are not fools who just don't discern, don't have any insight and pass on and suffer because we don't understand what's going on, if we are wise and insightful people, we're going to see that envy is the strongest of all the emotions that we will express, that we will experience. In fact, envy is even stronger, more ferocious than cruel wrath and overwhelming anger. Proverbs 27:4. Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming. But who is able to stand before envy or jealousy? Another way of translating it. You know, of course, the truth of the fact that wrath is cruel. Is there anyone in the audience this morning who hasn't at some time, maybe during your schoolyard days, maybe even while you were a young adult in college, perhaps even after you were married, perhaps in your own neighborhood? Is there anyone here who has not seen the cruelty that is possible to be expressed by one individual toward another, that when you get angry or when someone gets angry with someone else, the measures they will take to express their disdain for somebody? Those events stand out in our minds. And if we are the object upon which such wrath has been vented, they not only stand out in our mind, they probably are something of a stake that still is in our heart. We know what it is to have someone who's angry with us be very cruel about that very cutting in something they said, maybe saying it publicly or in front of someone, you wouldn't want that to have been set in front of doing something to really embarrass you socially or to bring down your reputation, or to cut out some opportunity that you had for advancement in this world. There are many things people do. Anger is a terrible emotion when it is applied by sinners in the way that we so often see it in the world. Anger can be cruel. In fact, the proverb says it can be overwhelming. It can be something that floods us and just knocks us down. So you know how bad anger and wrath can be. And yet what we learn from this proverb is jealousy outdoes it all. Jealousy is stronger than anger. Jealousy is stronger than overwhelming wrath. The rhetorical question is, who can stand before jealousy? Who can stand before envy? Now, you probably have at one time or another been able to withstand, even though it emotionally scarred you inside or hurt you, you've been able to stand against someone's wrath. You've been able to take the assault and the cruelty. The rhetorical question, it's a generalization and not meant to be taken literally in every particular case. But the rhetorical question suggests that though you might even withstand the wrath and cruelty of an individual, envy is overwhelming. Envy carries the day. Who can stand before it? In fact, if you stop and think about it, the rage that sinners express is often fueled by what? Envy. By jealousy. Turn to chapter six, verse 34 in Proverbs. For jealousy is the rage of a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance. The context here is when you have violated a man's wife, verse 33 says. I'm sorry, verse 32. Back up another verse. He that commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He does it who would destroy his own soul. Wounds and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. Why? Because jealousy is the rage of a man, and he will not spare in the day vengeance. When the husband is jealous for the affection of his wife, he will be absolutely livid with you if you have intervened in his marriage, if you have done anything to alienate the affection of this woman that he cares for. He will not spare in the day of vengeance because jealousy is his rage. Jealousy is what leads people to kill one another in cases of adultery or marital infidelity. So what I'm getting at is not only does the Bible say that jealousy or envy is a stronger, more ferocious emotion even than anger, but then, as a matter of fact, some of the worst forms of rage and anger and cruelty in this world are fueled by jealousy, are fueled by envy. Recently, a movie came out that gave, I think, very vivid expression to that slogan that you've probably heard, that little proverb of our own culture, that there is no woman quite so ferocious as one that has been spurned. Why is that? Because a woman. By the way, I don't think it's only women that need to be picked on in this regard. But when we have had our attempt to express some kind of very sensitive, risky feeling towards someone, when our attempt to be affectionate to show love has been so spurned, then we are envious of what we did not get in that relationship. We are jealous of what others apparently can have and we can't have. And that leads us to be extremely angry, extremely resentful, to bear a grudge, and in some cases, to carry out the most heinous of actions and even crimes against the person that has created the situation, making us envious. Jealousy, envy, are often behind rage. Then this is a very strong emotion. Turn to the Song of Songs, chapter eight, verse six, perhaps the best known statement from this book of the Bible. The Song of Songs, the eighth chapter, verse six. Set me as a seal upon thy heart and as a seal upon thine arm. For love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as Sheol. The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, a very flame of Jehovah. We have this expression. Love is strong as death, jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. We need to understand what is meant by this. Love is strong. According to the author of the Song of Songs, love is strong because it's irresistible. And that helps us to understand why love is as strong as death. That's a strange comparison. In fact, it's led some commentators to do very weird things to suggest maybe this is some kind of a funeral rite that we're reading where the funeral has been mixed in with pagan rites because the word for death is also the name of an Assyrian God and all sorts of bizarre interpretations because the analogy doesn't seem to carry very well. But it's not difficult, really. You stop and think about it. Love is strong as death, where strong means it's irresistible. The Hebrew word takes that sense. It's as irresistible as death. When death summons, one goes. And what the Song of Songs is saying is when love summons, one goes. It's irresistible. It's hard to say no to love. It's hard to say no to death. They are both strong. They are both irresistible. And then the next expression which bears on our subject for this morning's sermon, jealousy is, and in my translation has, cruel as Sheol. The difficulty is that the word cruel is really a second or perhaps third order application of the basic meaning of the Hebrew word. The Hebrew word means, in some cases, hard. And hard is understood figuratively for that which is unyielding, that which is relentless. So a person can be hard in the sense that they're cruel. In fact, interestingly, we have that idiom in English, don't we? You know, when you show, you know, some kind of cruelty to somebody or a lack of Sympathy, we might say, don't be so hard, or don't be so hard on them. So you can see how the Hebrew word hard would be taken that way. However, hard also is used, in fact, more often used for something which is unyielding, something which is relentless. It's hard. You can't overcome it. And so what we read here is that jealousy, jealousy, a passionate zeal, is relentless. It's unyielding. It's an intense love that will not let go. It's a love that will not be turned back. By the way, I think that's the way you must interpret this if it's going to make sense in parallel with the previous clause in song 8, 6. For love is as irresistible as death. Passionate love, commitment, jealousy is as unyielding as Sheol. The point being made, then, both in Proverbs and the Song of Songs is that we need to recognize the ferocity of envy, whether you understand it in a negative way or whether you understand it in a positive way. That emotion that we call envy, that is jealousy, that passionate desire that rises up within us, is a strong emotion. It needs to be dealt with, it needs to be tamed, it needs to be channeled properly. The Hebrew word that we're looking at both of our verses in Proverbs denotes then, a strong emotion that's involved in desiring the possession of an object. However, it does not need to be a morally negative or personally negative emotion. It doesn't have to be envy, as we would translate it in English. It doesn't have to be the case that the object desired is illegitimate. There is a form of envy, a form of zeal or ardent desire, that is quite appropriate. Look at Psalm 69. 9 Psalm 69. The ninth verse uses exactly the same Hebrew word that we are talking about this morning. But there we read for the zeal. It could be translated. For the jealousy of thy house hath eaten me up. And the reproaches of them that reproacheth thee are fallen upon me. For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up again. See the ferocity. See the strong, vigorous nature of that feeling. It has eaten me up. It consumes me, the Psalmist says, but what consumes him is not something evil, not something negative. It's a passionate desire. It's a zeal, we would say in English, that is honoring to God, and that zeal for the house of God hath consumed him. And so the basic sense for this word is that of ardor, that of zeal. When this zeal for someone else's property rises up within us. We call it, in English, envy. When I have that zeal, that overwhelming emotion for something that belongs to somebody else, we would call it envy. And it's not at all appropriate. Another way we can speak of it is jealousy of something. I'm jealous of you because you've got a nicer car. I'm jealous of you because. Because you have a better reputation. I'm jealous of you because you are more intellectual than me. I'm jealous of you because your clothes are nicer than mine. I'm envious. I want something that belongs to somebody else. The Bible shows us that that application of zeal, the strong emotion to desire or possess something, is, of course, sinful. Psalm 37, verse 1. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against them that work unrighteousness. Don't be envious of the unrighteous. Here. Envy would be a very inappropriate thing. It would be a desire, a strong zeal for that which God doesn't want us to have. And yet that ardor, that zeal, as we've already seen, can also be for something that is quite appropriate. When it is an ardor or a zeal to possess that which is our own, it becomes a jealousy for our own property and rights. And that jealousy is honoring to God. That jealousy is the morally approved sense of intolerance toward any disruptive intrusion. A husband's jealousy for his wife is not a bad emotion. His zeal, his consuming desire to possess her love and not to have someone else intrude into that, is quite appropriate, according to the Bible. It's a mark of his love. It's a mark of his commitment. In fact, a husband who is not jealous for the affection of his wife is not a good husband. He's showing rather indifference to her. We see the same use of the word for zeal, for jealousy, if you will, for an ardent desire to possess something. Used in a religious context of the prophet Elijah in First Kings 19:10, First Kings, chapter 19, the 10th verse. Elijah has gone away very much discouraged about his preaching and about the moral condition of the people. In the ninth verse of chapter 19, we read, and he came thither into a cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of Jehovah came to him. And he said unto him, what are you doing here, Elijah? And notice Elijah's answer. And he said, I have been very jealous. For Jehovah, the 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. Now God's going to get into Elijah's pity and Elijah's failure to trust the victorious intentions of God with his people. But notice how Elijah uses that expression. I have been very jealous for Jehovah of host. I have been consumed with ardent desire that your prerogatives would be protected, that your name would be lifted up, that your altars would be guarded, that people would walk in your paths. I am jealous for my God. And so we have to understand that this word that the book of Proverbs sets before us, and we've seen it in Proverbs 27:4, this word refers to a desire within us, an emotion that's within us that is extremely strong, stronger than wrath, stronger than anger. No one can stand before it. It's a consuming kind of feeling. And yet it is morally neither right nor wrong in itself. It's the application of it to particular objects, legitimate and illegitimate objects, that makes the feeling wrong. That feeling, when applied to something we shouldn't have, my neighbor's wife, my neighbor's property, my neighbor's reputation, is envy. And God condemns it when it's applied to something that I should have, or even better, something which the Lord should have, that jealousy is morally approved. The fact remains, and this is what we see in our other Scripture verse this morning, the fact remains that for sinners the passion of which we've been speaking this morning is most usually a misdirected one, and thus a very unhealthy and a very self destructive emotion. Proverbs 14:30 teaches us that where we read that a tranquil heart is the life of the flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the bones. Here we have envy, not in the sense of jealousy for that which is right, jealousy for the Lord and his prerogatives and our own possessions, but rather envy, jealousy of other people, jealousy of their possessions for sinners. That's the passion we usually feel. Scripture tells us that in contrast to envy, one has a health giving heart, a tranquil heart, a peaceful heart, a sound heart, other ways you can put it. And when you have a heart that is set right, that is a healthy one, that is the life of the flesh, you have a good life, both in body and in soul, your life is pleasant. But when you are consumed with envy for the prerogatives or the accomplishments or the property of others, it not only is Something that destroys you within in terms of your feelings. Not only something that sets you off balance, makes you unhappy, creates unpleasantness in your life, but it actually does something to your very physical health. Imagine that you're nursing a resentment or a grudge. You envy somebody else. You're jealous of something. Imagine that you are desiring and constantly daydreaming about someone else's property. Imagine that you are upset that someone else has accomplished more than you. Or has a reputation that you wish to have. Or even if you can't have it, you wish they didn't have it. They'd be brought down to your level. Imagine that you're desirous of another person's privilege, another person's accomplishment, whatever it may be. The Bible says when envy, when desire, jealousy of others gets hold of us like that, it actually brings something bad to our body. And I can't explain that. That's something that I wish to do more study of. And I know there are some of you as well that are interested in that. There is a very definite connection between our emotions and the state of our bodies. Please don't go out and assume that everybody you see that is sick has got envy within them. You know, their bones are rotting away because that's there. I'm not drawing that kind of logical connection. I am saying, however, it is one of the causes of poor health, of sleeping disorders, one of the causes of not eating correctly. It can actually ruin your physical constitution. Proverbs 17:22 teaches something similar. Not the same emotions being dealt with. But we read here that a cheerful heart is good medicine. But a broken spirit dries up the bones. A cheerful heart is good medicine. Proverbs 17:22. Isn't that a great verse? The Lord's enabled me to learn something about that. Over the last year, I've been sick a few times. And even when I haven't been hospitalized, it hasn't been all that easy. And I can tell you very definitely that your pastor is not as sanctified as he ought to be, not as sanctified as the Lord would want him to be, or that he wants to be. And I sometimes in my bad health would have very grouchy, begrudging days. I get very down about that. There's no doubt about it that when my emotions get the best of me because I don't like what I'm going through, my health suffered. I couldn't accomplish nearly as much. I didn't have near the vigor that I could have had. A cheerful heart brings like good Medicine, health to you. And so there is a connection, the Bible teaches us, between our feelings and our bodily health. And in particular we need to recognize that envy, the sinful expression of jealousy of someone else, is destructive of the body, will rot your bones. So listen closely. You see, envy leads us to covet. Envy leads us to covet, to be jealous of, to desire illegally the possession of someone else. It leads to coveting. And you know very well as Exodus 20, the 17th verse says, the law of God categorically forbids us to covet. It's wrong to do that. Let me stop for just a moment and parenthetically explain that Coveting is not ambition. Coveting is not ambition. Let's say that you are studying under somebody at school and you see how accomplished this professor is in some particular field and you really respect that individual. And you say, I want to go out and study even harder. I'd like to be like him. I'd like to be able to understand the things he or she understands. That's ambition. That's a proper spur to accomplish what is good in this world. But it doesn't mean you covet the other person in the sinful sense that you don't want them to have it, because you want it for yourself. Coveting takes place when you're competing with somebody at work or at school or in your neighborhood or family for that matter. And you're competing in such a way that you don't want to also achieve what they've achieved, but you want to be the one who's achieved and you want them put back, you want them put down and you exalted. It's one thing to look at your neighbors BMW and say, boy, I'm going to work hard and try to get a nice car like that. Another thing to say, I don't want him to have one at all. I wish I had it instead. The Lord forbids the latter. Coveting that which belongs to someone else so that they won't have it and we will. The illegal desire to achieve things, to possess things. So don't think that God is against ambition. Like we all should be sitting around and contentment means we never want to get up and better our lot in this world. We never want to get smarter, we never want to have a better reputation. We never want to have more money to spend. Now ambition can be a godly emotion and motivation. Coveting, however, is more than ambition. It's negative, it's cutting. It wants to deprive someone else of something. And God says, you shall not covet. The Westminster Larger Catechism. You're all reading your catechisms regularly, I trust. And remember what our system of doctrine teaches us. The Larger Catechism says, what is the Tenth Commandment? The Tenth Commandment is, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, why doesn't the Commandment just say, thou shalt not covet? Why did God add all these extra words? It just seems to be more verbose than it has to. Right. I want to suggest to you that God knows us inside and out. God knows very well that it isn't hard for us to say in abstract terms we shouldn't covet. That sounds great. As long as there's nothing connected to it. As long as it doesn't step on our toes. As long as it doesn't really call for any practical application. So God says, you shall not covet your neighbor's house. Something specific. Don't covet his wife. I think you can go beyond that. Don't covet his family. Don't covet social relations, so forth that your neighbor has. Don't covet his manservant or his maidservant. All the nice amenities of life it is. Don't covet his car. Don't covet his clothes. Don't covet his ox or his ass. And then, as we see at the end, God sums it all up. Or anything that is thy neighbor's. We go through particular illustrations of God. We'll see that you need to be thinking, what are the things you're desirous of? What are you envious of? What are you jealous of in your neighbor? Don't covet it. And then the catechism goes on. What are the duties required then in the Tenth Commandment? The duties required in the tenth Commandment are. If you're going to hear today's sermon and you're going to apply the wisdom of Proverbs, remember this, that this duty is upon you. Such a full contentment with our own condition, in such a charitable frame of the whole soul toward our neighbor, as that all our inward motions and affections touching him, tend unto and further all that is good which is his. If we keep the 10th Commandment, our whole inward affection, our emotions regarding that neighbor will always tend unto and further the good that is his. We want to see our neighbors get ahead we're glad when they get honored. We're glad when they are happy. We're glad when they are successful. We do not covet them. We want rather to support them. That really gives a depth of meaning to Jesus, words. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The same sort of things you wish for yourself. Those sorts of things you sit around daydreaming about that you might get in this world. Desire them for your neighbor. Pray for your neighbor as good. And you say, but I don't like my neighbor. Jesus says, love your enemies. I can't do good to this man. Jesus says, if you see your enemy hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. The Old Testament puts it this way. If you see your neighbor's ass broken down, he has a burden upon him that's just made him crumble to the ground. Go help your neighbor. Don't sit inside your house looking through your windows, going, aha, you finally are getting what comes to you. I'm glad it's growing so poorly for you. You are coveting. When you do that, the catechism puts its finger on it. All of our emotion toward our neighbor should tend toward his prosperity and his good, his happiness, the furtherance of all that good which is his. Well, then, what are the sins forbidden in the Tenth Commandment? The sins forbidden in the Tenth Commandment are discontentment with our own estate, envying and grieving at the good of our neighbors, together with all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his. I thought when these puritans got around to talking about what God required, they knew what they meant. They knew what the word of God meant. They put it very well. The sins forbidden include. Let's talk about this, friends. Discontent with our own estate. Do you ever grumble and complain that things aren't going well enough for you? You don't have enough friends. You don't have enough money. You don't like your clothes. You think your reputation has suffered. The Bible says that's a violation of the Tenth Commandment as well. We are violating it when we envy or grieve at the good of our neighbor. The opposite of what we've just been talking about. Instead of desiring the advancement of his good, we grieve at it. Maybe I'm the only one in the audience who knows this, but I'll bet you felt it too. Every once in a while, there's somebody that you so dislike, you see something go well for them and you grieve over that. I wish that wouldn't happen well for them. The Bible says it's a violation of the commandment not to covet together with all inordinate motions or affections to anything that is his inordinate any illegal desire to have what he has. Envy is the rottenness of the bones. Envy is an overwhelming ferocious emotion. Envy leads us to covet and violate the law of God and envy will send us to hell. The story of the rich young ruler in the New Testament tells us that the other evening at Bible study we had occasion to reflect on this and let me just remind you how there was a young man, apparently a very noble, maybe a handsome, accomplished, well regarded man, who came to Jesus and asked him what he must do to inherit life. And Jesus says, you know the commandments, keep them. The response of the man was audaciously to be sure, but the response of him was, well, I've kept all of them from my youth. I haven't broken the law, I will inherit life. Then Jesus says, well, you've done well. If you've kept all the commandments, go sell everything that you have and give it to the poor. Now did Jesus say that? Because that's a requirement for each and every individual who ever lived to never have any possessions, give up everything he has for the poor. Well, if you stop and think about it, it couldn't possibly be log the case. Because if everyone was supposed to give up everything for the poor, there wouldn't be any poor to receive what we're giving up. Because the minute they received it, they're supposed to give it up and give it to the poor. So they're no longer the poor that receive it, they're the people giving up what we've given to them. And on and on it goes and it turns out there's no one to receive it that isn't Jesus. Point. Jesus is not a closet socialist here. Jesus is the discerner of men's hearts though. And if you believe, as Hebrews says, that the word of God discerns through the thoughts and intents of our inner being, of our hearts, you better know the living word of God does it all the more. And Jesus listens to this man say, I've kept your law, I've kept all the commandments from my youth. I'm spotless and unstained. And Jesus said, is that right? Then show me that you're not attached to these possessions. Give them to the poor. Trust me, I'll take care of you. The Bible says the man hung his head and walked away for He. And this is just one of those damning expressions, you know, that you catch every once in a while in Scripture. For he had many possessions, and they were his God, they were his attachment. And he so had an inordinate desire for the things of this world and to have the things he wanted kept for himself. And Jesus indicates that he shall not enter into life. Envy is a ferocious emotion. Coveting is a vicious crime against the law of God. And for it, God will send us to hell. And that's bad news this morning, my friends, because all of us are guilty. If you look at the Ten Commandments, there's an interesting structure to the Ten Commandments. The only two commandments which can be expressed. Well, I don't want to put it that way. The only two commandments which will not obviously have an outward manifestation of the 1st and 10th. Every other commandment, idolatry. We think of the outward things people do. Taking God's name in vain. That's something we do. You can do it internally. But again, you can think readily of these external expressions of the violation of commandments 2 through 9. And in every one of those cases, commandments 1 and 10 are being violated at the same time. In every case that we sin by stealing, by committing adultery, by telling lies, by being dishonest, in every case, we are not setting the Lord God before us as the number one authority in our lives. And in every one of those cases, we are desiring something we shouldn't have. Desiring property that isn't ours, so we steal. Desiring. Affection we shouldn't have, so we commit adultery. Desiring. Well, you know how many things we desire and try to get by means of lies and dishonesty. Over and over we see then the expression of the violation of the first and the tenth commandment. Every sin is a violation of it. All of us are guilty of envy. All of us are guilty of having inordinate desires for that which we shouldn't have. All of us are guilty of not desiring the outward estate of our neighbor to be prosperous. All of us are guilty of not being zealous above all, for the Lord our God. We are all guilty. All of us, like the rich young ruler, walk away from the claims of Jesus because we have something else. We want more. Even those of us who name the name of Christ are guilty of that. There are days when we act like there's something we want more than Jesus, more than the Lord in our life, more than obedience to his commandments. We come and we sing the songs. We make the profession before men. When we live like we are our own little gods, that everything is directed toward us. We are selfish and uncompassionate and uncaring toward others. What hope is there before the ferocity of envy? The Bible says the only hope in the face of envy's ferocity is the jealousy of God. There's only one thing more powerful than your envy, and that's God's jealousy. You know that God is called a jealous God in the Bible. Exodus the 25. Turn to that in your Bible. Exodus 25. In the Ten Commandments we read these very words about our thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them. For I, Jehovah 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 loving kindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. I am a jealous God. You think of a husband jealous for the affection of his wife, angry at any intrusion or alienation of that affection. God says, I'm a jealous God. You're my people and I love you, and I want your love directed toward me, not toward another. That's why when God sees His people going after idols, he says, you've gone a whoring after other gods. You act like a prostitute. You're my bride. My people are my prized possession, the apple of my eye, and I'm jealous for you. And Exodus 34, verse 14, we have an even stronger expression of this attribute of God. Exodus 34:14 doesn't say that God is a jealous God. It says, his very name is jealous, for thou shalt worship no other God. For Jehovah, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. That is one of the names, one of the proper names of God. His very name is passionate zeal, jealousy for that which is right, jealousy for his possession. His people. We could pray to our Heavenly Father. We could pray to our heavenly jealousy too, because that's his name. His character is so much that that he calls himself jealous. He is passionate in his assertion of the rightful claims of possession upon his own Psalm 79:5 which we won't turn to read to. But you should know God says it is because of his jealousy that his people will go into exile. Because of his jealousy and the violation of his people of that trough covenant relation that was supposed to be there, he will send them into exile. But the beautiful thing is that throughout the Old Testament and Ezekiel, many times in Isaiah 42:13 we read that it's the jealousy of God that will bring his people back and return them to the land and re establish them in favor. The thing that will set God's people up in a saved position, lift them up out of their damnable estate, is God's jealousy. Look at Zechariah 8:2. Just one has to be seen and appreciated. The beauty of this expression. Zechariah, the eighth chapter and the second verse. Remember, Zechariah writes after the exile, after God's people have been brought back. I'll read it in context. And the word of Jehovah of hosts came to me saying, thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. Thus saith Jehovah, I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts. It is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people. What is it that will restore Jerusalem? What will bring God's presence back to his people upon his holy hill of Zion? What will have people of old age living to prosperity and children laughing and playing in the streets? The jealousy of God will do it. Nothing else. Our envy and our sin alienates us and makes us subject to his wrath. But his jealousy is greater than ours. He loves us more than we love ourselves. Can we ever appreciate that that the jealousy of God far surpasses the ferocity of even our sinful envy? He says, out of jealousy for you and your good, I will love you you and again restore you and bring you prosperity. Friends, don't forget that that psalm we read earlier, Psalm 69. Nine zeal for the Lord's house has eaten me up was applied to the Lord Jesus Christ when he came to this world to finally and fully restore God's people. To favor. It was said of Jesus, zeal for his house, the Lord's house consumes him. It's that consuming zeal of the Savior, that consuming zeal of Jehovah, our Redeemer, that restores us. Those of us who do not deserve to be called the people of God, those of us who do not have the right to be betrothed to God as his wife. And how shall we respond to the zeal of God overwhelming our own sinful envy? With zeal, of course, with a proper jealousy. How does Paul put it in Ephesians 4? Let the one who stole steal no more, but rather do what the very opposite Work with his hands, the thing that is good, that he'll be able to give to others. It is crucial that people who have stolen learn to give to others, not just that they stop stealing. That's not enough. The thief must now learn generosity. And the person guilty of envy must now learn a proper form of zeal. And what is that? Zeal. Remember Phinehas of old, who for the zeal of Jehovah confronted the sinfulness of his people and the people were saved. Remember Elijah, who was zealous for his God? Remember Jesus, who was zealous for the Lord's house? Or if we can look at one more verse this morning. And finally, Psalm 119, verse 139, where David tells us we must must be zealous for obedience to God's word. My zeal hath consumed me because mine adversary hath forgotten thy words. Those of us who love the Lord and know that our love is only due to his overwhelming zeal for us, his jealousy to maintain that love relationship with us must now return, not in the sinful emotion of coveting other people's things, but must return with the zeal for the house of God and the holiness of His Word to be consumed. The great problem with the Christian Church today. What is it? You can put it a lot of ways, I suppose. And there are plenty of things to pick on, lots of things to criticize. I want to suggest that it all comes down to one basic problem. A lack of zeal for God. Let's pray. Lord, take away our indifference this morning. First of all, take away our indifference to our sins. Make us see what sinful people we are. Open our eyes. Make us sensitive to those things which are so polluted and wrong in your sight. Help us to see that we have been zealous, envious and covetous of things which should not be our we have not loved our neighbor as ourself. We have not loved you. Above all we have coveted. We have been self centered people and our emotions have been polluted by that. We pray also that you'd make us zealous to understand you and your jealousy for us. Why do you want to love us, Lord? Why do you want to maintain a relationship with us? Us? It's wonder of wonders, Amazing grace that you continue to care for us and that you will yet restore us. Be present with us and give us saved sinners prosperity in our lives. Because your jealousy is greater than our sin. Make us now jealous for you that we might be consumed and think of nothing else else but to glorify you and enjoy you forever. In Jesus name, amen.