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Ten thousands. And Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him. He said, they ascribed to David 10 thousands, and to me they ascribed thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day.
On the next day, a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul. And he raved within his house while David played the lyre. As he did this, as he did day by day. Saul had a spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall.
But David evaded him twice. Saul was afraid of David because the Lord is with him, but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him from his presence and made him the commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. And David had success in all of his undertakings, for the Lord is with him.
When Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them. That’s God’s word for us this morning. Let’s pray.
Lord, it’s good to be together.
And Lord, this is just a gift that you’ve given to us, that we can be together as your people to not only fellowship and sing and pray, but to hear from you and your word. So, Lord, in the end, this is why we’re here. Lord, we want to hear from you from this passage. So, Lord, I pray that in your grace you would speak through me in ways that’s helpful and encouraging, that you’d use this time to shine light into our hearts, that you might use this time to conform us more and more into the image of your son Jesus. In his name we pray.
Amen. So I think one of the more interesting attributes of God is that God is a jealous God. So it says in a few different places in Scripture. But famously, Exodus 34 says this. For ye shall worship no other God, for a Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God.
So God is jealous. He’s jealous for his glory. He’s jealous for his people and their enjoyment of him. And because God himself is jealous, being jealous does not necessarily mean something that’s sinful. There is a right and holy jealousy that the scripture speaks to at times.
In fact, we should have jealousy. However, no, because we’re not God. We’re not perfect in holiness like God is when we are jealous. Somewhere between often and always, our jealousy is not right and holy. Rather, somewhere between often and always our jealousy is sinful and destructive.
Is it jealousy that can spread like cancer in our hearts? That can lead us into miserable places where not only does it lead us to own personal ministry, often our jealousy can bring others along into that miserable place as well. Now I say that to you this morning because we come to a passage where jealousy, sinful jealousy that is, is really at the front and center of our text. Where we see in our text today the further outworkings of all the sinful seeds that King Saul was planting in his hearts in the previous chapters of our study, and how those sinful seeds produce a harvest of miserable, destructive, sinful jealousy. Now, before we get into our text today, just a brief refresher of where we were just helps with the context.
So go all the way back to chapter eight, mentioned this many times already. The people of God demanded from God a king after their own heart to be placed over them because they wanted to be like all of the nations around them. And this acts is demand that the people had. This angered God. So in the act of judgment, God gave his people over to their heart’s desires by giving them.
Saul, who mentioned several times, certainly looked the part of being a king in terms of his outward appearance. Remember how he was tall and good looking, but his heart, his inward appearance. For Saul, this is far from godly. In fact, as mentioned throughout the last several chapters, we continue to see Saul actually had an evil heart, one filled with sin. A heart where Saul felt he could do whatever he wanted regardless of how his actions lined up or did not line up to God’s word, which included Saul deciding for himself that he could make an unlawful sacrifice, which is an act that was so egregious that the Lord rejected Saul as being king.
Addition to the unlawful sacrifice. The last several weeks we read about Saul refusing to listen to White’s counsel, really about Saul rejecting clear commands from God. We learn about Saul, how he would run his mouth. We learned how Saul was a person who was filled up with pride. He was a coward.
We read that Saul basically gave an appearance of godliness, but in the end denied its power. And all these things, all these sinful seeds in Saul’s hearts over time, led him to darker and darker places, into deeper and deeper sin, including as mentioned, more and more sinfully jealous, which we’ll see in our text today. As Saul particularly came more and more jealous to the man David, who was appointed to be the king over God’s people. But not like Saul, who was appointed from the heart of man, but Saul or David was appointed king from God’s good heart. We read about the last several weeks, multiple Times, including we left off last week as David was becoming more and more of a prominent figure among the people.
He also is becoming more and more popular among them. In our text today, this is impotence behind Saul’s sinful jealousy where we see he’s like raging mad, sinfully jealous towards David. So that is a bit of a refresher. Look back with me at the text starting at verse six. Look back there, we see some awards that help set the context of what’s to come.
Verse 6, he sees as they were coming home with today referring to the army of Israel. And as the army is making its way back home, which is after David returned from striking down the Philistine, our text tells us, which let me mention here, there’s a little debate exactly what this referred to. Possibly this is referring to the story of David and Goliath and David and his army returning home after that great victory which read about in chapter 17. Or perhaps this is just referring to some other military conquest that David had against the Philistines. After all, we read last week in chapter five that he was appointed over the men of war.
So it’s hard to know exactly what took place here, the exact time frame here. But we do know that as David and the army, as they returned home, we see they came home to a victory parade. In the text we read that the women of Israel who were home managing the affairs while the men were away at war, as they saw the men coming home, they poured into the city streets and all throughout Israel they celebrated the army coming home. And as David the army returned back home in celebration, we see in the text, this was quite the party they came home to. On the text.
There was singing, there was dancing, there’s this big party going on all throughout Israel. And we see in the middle of verse six, this massive party is not simply to celebrate David and the army, but the people wanted to celebrate their king Saul, who seemingly was actually going from place to place in this victory, prayed. And Saul made his way into the city, he did so the sound of tambourines being played, there are songs of joy being sung. This text is like every kind of musical instruments God’s people get their hands on were played loud. Based on verse 6, this phrase the author I think wants to see.
This is a huge, loud, over the top celebration. Lots of excitement, lots of laughter, lots of shouting, lots of singing. They’re so excited for the army to return. It’s almost like an ancient like ticker tate parade. Verse 7, as this over the top celebration was Taking place.
The author recorded for us one of the songs that was quickly spreading from city to city that the women were singing in this grand celebration. This is a song that’s, like, quickly rising up the Billboard charts in the number one spot, which is a song that sung, saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands. Okay, now let me mention here, scholars point out this song. This actually has a similar structure to other songs of the day, where there’s a little bit of a buildup in the lyrics as the songs progressed. So the song here builds up from 1,000 to 10,000 being struck down.
Let me also mention that scholars point out that the lyrics of songs are not necessarily like, pitting Saul against David. We’re like, you know, maybe, sure, Saul got a thousand, but David. David got 10,000. Rather, this song was actually meant to honor both men, with Saul actually being the most honored of them because his name was song first. And this song is actually a credit to David or to Saul, beseech the one who appointed David to kill the 10,000.
Okay, keep this in mind. This song here, this is not meant to be a slight towards Saul. Okay, back to the passage. At some point along the victory parade, it appears that Saul started to listen to hear, you know, this popular song, song that’s being sung. And he wasn’t familiar with this tune as the parade was going on.
But he kept hearing this song being sung. And at first, he didn’t really know what it was saying. You can almost, like, hear or see Saul listen in as he rides by, like, on a horse. Something like that. Like, trying to understand, like, what is it the women are singing?
Or maybe, you know, he can’t quite make out the song. So he started asking his bodyguards, hey, bodyguards, what is it that the women are singing? I can pick up. There’s something they’re singing about me. I know there’s something about David they’re singing about, but I can’t quite tell what are they saying.
Eventually, Saul either figured out on his own or finally someone told the lyrics. So verse 8, as Saul learned what was being sung, we see this song was not going to be added to his playlist. This would not be the number one song in Saul’s heart is. You see that this song made him angry. In fact, the ESP translation I read from you says, very angry.
Other translations say, like, Saul was, like, ferocious in anger at this song. I think this picture, like, Saul’s like. He’s, like, raging mad. Like, as he hears the lyrics, what they’re singing, like, he’s steaming hot. This song that the women are singing was causing Saul’s blood to boil.
Then in verse 8 simply says, this new song, it displeased Saul. Saul clearly did not receive the song that was meant to show honor to him. And in this displeasure, we see that Saul isn’t like silently fuming to himself in his own heart. Rather he’s like very vocal and displeasure on what is being sung. So he speaks up and he says, what did they ascribe to David?
10,000 To him. And to me they’re only ascribing a thousand. Like, this is ridiculous. Do they not know who I am? I’m the king.
I am the one, me, me alone, who’s brought forth this great victory upon victory. All these things took place in my watch, under my leadership. How dare they give any credit to David? I mean, after all, who’s David? He’s just a shepherd’s boy.
Yet if we don’t stop them from singing this song, if we don’t cut this praise off that David is getting. Verse 8, the end. All that can happen to me from here is that the kingdom, my kingdom, will be his. So this is where we see the jealousy start to really bubble up in the heart of Saul. He is sinfully jealous that David’s getting some attention, some praise in the song for jealous Saul.
This is too much. He wants all the attention, all the praise for him, for him alone to go back, which I kind of mentioned last couple weeks. So after David killed Goliath, it kind of feels in the passage in the text that Saul perhaps is starting to piece together who David was a couple times prior to the story to David and Goliath, the great prophet and priest. Remember how Samuel came to Saul? It was crystal clear with Saul that God was so displeased with him that he was going to tear the kingdom from Saul and give it to a man after God’s own heart.
And perhaps, maybe for a while, Saul, like, maybe like dismissed Samuel, maybe being like a crotchety old man, like he was like, maybe breathing idle threats of this kingdom being torn from him. But then after what happened to Goliath, at least for me, it feels like the lights are maybe starting to slowly turn on in Saul’s heart concerning David and who he was. It feels like maybe he has a little nagging feelings that maybe Samuel was actually telling the truth and that perhaps David is the king who will replace me. You know, up to this point, maybe he didn’t put a whole lot of stock in these nagging thoughts. Maybe he laughed off some of these thoughts.
I mean, a young shepherd boy to be a threat to him. But now, at this victory parade, with this song being sung out loudly by a good number of the people all throughout Israel, it feels like the lights are becoming more and more bright in Saul’s heart. And as these lights are becoming more and more bright in his heart towards who David is, sinful jealousy began to build. Let me think about Saul. He loved being the king more than anything.
He loved his power, he loved his control, he loved the attention. And the thought of someone else getting attention or someone else having power and control over him, that was too much in text, that Saul began to rage with jealousy. In our text, we see, also became more and more paranoid, which, by the way, I do think jealousy and paranoia quickly link themselves together. In fact, one of the commentaries I read this week mentions in the Hebrew grammar, there’s some grammatical links between the word jealousy in the word eye, which we see in verse nine, which, based on the context, is like an eye of paranoia. So verse nine tells us that in his jealousy, in his paranoia, Saul eyed David from that day on.
Listen, we know this. The more controlling we are, the more possessive we are, the more dependent we are, like the praise of man, the more sinfully jealous we become for those things. And we can’t handle the thought of not having them. And quickly what happens is we become more and more paranoid, more and more paranoid of the thought of losing them when we are sinful, jealous, when we’re filled up with paranoia. This is why we can’t sleep at night, why we can be filled with anxiety and worry.
This is why we can tend to analyze and overanalyze every conversation, every hint of body language that was given in the conversation. This is why we become more and more suspicious of every action or lack thereof that takes place. This is why we can come to some pretty major conclusions, simply how we feel, where we can start to assume everyone’s out to get us or that everything is simply doomsday. That’s Saul in verse nine of our passage. He’s jealous, he’s paranoid.
So he has to keep his eye on David and every action David makes. I keep saying it just for the sake of emphasis, for jealous Saul as he looked at David, as he eyed him, like there is no way he could lose his power, his control, his position. He could not handle the thought of losing the praise of man, losing his title as king. I think for Saul, his identity, his whole identity was completely wrapped up in those things. Verse 10 as Saul is becoming more and more jealous, more and more paranoid, he started to reap more and more of the sinful attitudes in his heart.
So we read that the very next day, another of the harmful spirits from God rushed upon Saul. Saul. So you may remember something we looked back, looked at a few weeks back in chapter 16, as God actively judged Saul by giving Saul over to his own desires, his own misery, by actively sending to Saul a harmful spirit. In verse 10 of our text today, as Saul is being tormented by this harmful spirit, we see that Saul is, like, now he’s like, raving within his house. And I think the picture is almost like he’s acting like a lunatic.
Now. He’s completely irrational. You know, in my mind, I can picture him, like, yelling, screaming at everyone with, like, none of the words coming out of his mouth or making any type of rational sense. My mind, I can almost like pictures like Saul’s servants, like, running around in disarray as he raved around the house. They’re trying to figure out, like, how to not further upset Saul.
Trying to figure out, like, is there some way that we can maybe console him, to bring him back to some semblance of reality and normalcy. And in the text, as Saul raved about the house in madness, we see that David went to run over to get his trusty liar, which at this point was something he was doing day by day, playing the lyre. So once again, back to chapter 16. May, you remember David had incredible skill of playing the lyre or the harp. So when Saul first started suffering from the harmful spirit, remember how David was appointed to play the harp for saul in chapter 16 as David played the harp, it was a means of grace on Saul, which is able to calm him down as a harmful spirit would leave his presence.
So once again, verse 10, I think the text of the picture, or the picture of the text, Saul is completely irrational, almost gone mad. Yelling, screaming, throwing things, servants trying to settle him down, including David, who’s playing the harp, seemingly to. His fingers were bleeding. It feels like almost like everyone was trying to calm him down, try to get him to sit down and relax. Reverend, the taxes.
Everyone is frantically trying to settle Saul down. We see at some point, Saul was able to get his hands on a spear. Now, in my mind, I wonder if the servants were a little bit uneasy with Saul having the spear, but maybe it was like a little bit of an emotional crutch for Saul to hold onto the spear. So they weren’t going to fight him on that one. Maybe think of Like a parent, like giving it to, like a screaming child of the store.
He didn’t want to stop holding onto the toy. Who knows how Saul got the spear, but we do know that he had it. And as Saul sat with the spear in hand, he wasn’t fondly calmed down by it. Rather, as he held the spear, his jealousy was still raging. His paranoia was not going away.
And even though David was there to try to be a blessing to him by playing the calming harp, verse 11. Irrational Saul, he could not see it. His jealousy, his paranoia, blinded him. The truth that David is actually there to be a help to him. All Saul could see was when he looked at David, was a threat to everything that he was trying to hold on to.
There was a threat to his power, a threat to his control, a threat to what Saul wanted to be, his identity. So the text that Saul looked at David, he looks at the spear, he looks back at David, looks back at the spear, and in short order, Saul comes up with a plan, which is to take the spear and act out on his jealousy by seeking to eliminate the paranoia he was feeling. A plan to use that spear to take out David once and forever. So in the text we read, Saul rise with all of his strength, hurled the spear right at David with the thought, with the intention, with the hope of pinning David to the wall with it.
Keep in mind, why was David there? He was there trying to bless Saul. We’ll talk about small in just a bit. This is how delusional Saul was with jealousy and paranoia. He’s trying to take out David, who previous passage tells us was like his most trusted servant, the very man who brought forth such incredible victories for Saul.
So he’s trying to take out, and we actually get no hint in 1st Samuel of David ever trying to wrong Saul or try to take his throne from him. Say it again. Sinful, paranoid, jealous, Saul is trying to kill David. Ever seen the text? The spear is hurled at David, the Lord protected his anointed, so David is able to elude the spear.
Factor tells us that not only is David able to elude the spear once, but he actually was able to elude it twice, which I think here probably indicates that after the first time Saul hurled the spirit Saul at David, that David and the others were able, like maybe to calm Saul back down, or like maybe perhaps they thought, but just a matter of time, Saul started to rage again, slipping back in the same state of delusion where once again he picks up the spear for the second time, hurls it at David. Verse 11 right. Saul is completely irrational, completely out of control, filled with jealousy, filled with paranoia, filled with rage, unable to control himself, his emotions blind, hard hearted to the very one who was a grace in his life, who now he’s trying to kill. Verse 12 with all these delusions, this leads Saul to now being filled with fear like worry, panic rush into his heart, which by the way also very closely tied to jealousy and paranoia. Saul was afraid to lose that which he was jealous about.
What he was paranoid about.
He was worried that everything he so desperately was trying to hold on to was starting to slip through his fingers.
In the text that Saul is becoming more and more afraid of David, we see that it was because the Lord was with them, David, not with Saul. Our text reminds us the lord in chapter 16 in terms of his empowering spirit, that the spirit the Lord has departed had left Saul to himself. Now for us as we read this, the authors wanted to see. Saul is an absolute miserable mess. He is completely burning up inside.
Jealousy, paranoia, worry, fear, panic. They’re consuming him. Friends, as we see in the text, we understand why he’s so frustrated, so wrapped up. It’s because jealousy was the match that lit the fire inside. A fire that quickly grew into out of control, infernal inside of Saul.
Listen, this is a strong warning for us. If we do not seek to put out the fire of jealousy in our own hearts through repentance as quickly as we can listen, we can end up in a similar place of misery. Verse 13a. Saul is a complete mess at this point. The only thing he felt he could do was to remove David from him.
After all, he was not able to pin David to the wall. So the next thing, best thing he could do was to ship David off. So see, in verse 13 we see that Saul put David in charge of a commander of a thousand based on what we know of Saul, what we’ll see in verse 17 of our next passage in our study of First Samuel. I don’t think Saul sent David to be a commander of a thousand as some type of like prayer promotion where perhaps David could increase his count by striking down maybe 20,000. Rather at least seems to me Saul sent David away as a commander because he’s trying to put David in a place of war with the hopes that through the means of war that David might be killed.
By the way, let me mention here, this act of Saul sending David away, this is obviously not in line with repentance. This is not Saul like seeking to change his ways, where he’s trying to have his heart changed, you know, a change from the inside, rather. Here Saul, he’s just trying to simply change that on the outside, he’s trying to get rid of David as if that would make all of his heart problems go away, which. It doesn’t work that way. In our text, as Saul sent David off at the hopes of being killed in battle.
Read, this action backfires greatly for Saul as we read, as David went out from Saul and he came in before the people. In verse 14, David is actually able to continue to find great success in all of his undertakings. Our text tells that David found this great success because the Lord was with him. Meaning David in himself wasn’t great. Rather, the God empowering David, he’s the one who is great.
Keep going. Verse 15. As David continued to find success in all that he did news of this success continue to make its way back to Saul. I’m sure every time a messenger came to Saul with various news, various reports like Saul, I could just kind of like see him sit up in his chair with the hopes that maybe hearing news about David’s death, or if not his death, maybe at least hearing something negative about David, maybe some type of military failure by David that would maybe make Saul feel a little more happy, which, by the way, is what we do when we consume a jealousy. Like, we’re only happy when negative things happen to those we’re jealous towards.
Apart from the text, Saul heard the reports in the field. You just kind of see him, like, sulk back into his chair to throw a big pity party for himself. Because every report, every single last report about David was yet of another success. And success story after success, story after success story came in. Saul, our text tells us further, stood in fearful awe of David.
And all this no doubt added to his jealousy, his paranoia, his worry, his fear, his panic, the madness that was taking over Saul.
For me this week, I wondered as this scene unfolded, as Saul is becoming more and more consumed by all this sinful misery. I just wonder, like, how this once tall and handsome man was like, just like withering away, become just like a shell of who he once was. Finally, this morning, our text ends, which has been a common theme since we first met David. In chapter 16, our text tells us that all Israel, all Judah, which is one of the tribes of Israel, they all loved David as he came out or went out and came in before the people. David, the king, after God’s own heart, continued to be the king that Saul never truly was, not for the rest of the time.
Here I do want to press on a little bit more on the topic of jealousy mentioned several times in First Samuel, even briefly here this morning. Saul is not just a historical figure for us just to be aware of this week and like, you know, play some type of Bible trivia. We know who he is, but he serves as a warning. Saul is a cautionary tale for us to see. As we read about Saul and we continue to see him fall into all these places of misery.
This should be like ice cold water running down our backs to wake us up in whatever areas of our life that we might start resembling him, including levels of sinful jealousy that maybe we are struggling with, that is consuming our hearts. Perhaps even sinful jealousy that maybe we walked into this place this morning, caring church. We don’t want to be like jealous Saul. That’s an awful, miserable, ungodly place to be. Not only is he gonna bring harm to you, but likely to all those around you as well.
Okay, so with that in mind, let me point out a few things from a text that relate to sinful jealousy just with the hopes of maybe exposing it in our hearts that we might forsake it and get healing in it. So first, as we think about jealousy, just understand jealousy is birthed in self idolatry.
That’s at the heart of our jealousy. We have made ourselves our own idol that we are consumed by. That’s the cautionary tale of Saul. He’s obsessed with self. He’s completely egocentric.
All Saul could ever think about was himself. He is self centered in every way, where if everything was not fully about him, he took it as an incredible slight, a slap in his face that he just could not handle it. The point in the text for salt, even the thought of David getting some attention that the woman as the women sang this song, this is too much for him. Idolatrous Saul. It all had to be about him.
Friends, when you and I, when we’re consumed with jealousy, this is the heart of the issue. It’s idolatry of self. We have made ourselves our own God. We have placed ourselves before the one true and living God. Second, our jealousy is connected to our insecurities.
So I think if we did an honest assessment of self and we like wrote out the areas of life that each of us are most insecure about. And maybe it’s something to do with relationships, maybe physical appearance, maybe like level of income, maybe we’re insecure about maybe some of our gifting or talents. Maybe we’re insecure about our place in life. Maybe we’re insecure by how well we’re filling responsibilities, whether it be at school, at work, in our marriage, or in parenting. Or maybe our insecurities is just how we want others to perceive us.
Whatever areas of life we’re most insecure about, that’s typically where we’re most jealous.
First of all, I think we see so many insecurities in him. But at least for me to say it again, I think where he is most insecure was in his identity. That’s why he had to be the king. He had to have the power. He had to have control.
He had to have it because that was his identity that he was trying to hope in without these things. Like, after all, like, who would he be then? Remember when we first met him in chapter nine, Saul? Remember, he’s just, like, kind of like some random guy from kind of like somewhat of like a random family. Remember all he was, he was just, like, wandering around aimlessly, trying to find some donkeys that escaped, which he was failing at.
Now, I don’t know this, but I wonder for Saul, up to the point of being king, if he was just, like, viewed as, like, a failure, maybe some type of, like, disappointment, maybe like a family letdown. The picture of Saul in chapter nine, outside of his looks, it’s not impressive, like, at all. So I do wonder, now that he’s king, he was finally someone that no one can criticize him anymore. And if Saul lost that power, that control, if he lost his title, all of those insecurities would come crashing back on top of him, where perhaps family and friends yet again could criticize him. How, yet again, Saul screwed it up, by the way.
I kind of wonder. This is why maybe Saul hated David in such a way. David was successful and all that he did.
Saul’s insecurity led him a place of jealousy and hatred towards David because David was the thing that Saul wanted for himself.
You know where you and I, where we struggle most with jealousy, Perhaps the people we’re most sinfully jealous towards. I would guess that somewhere between often and always, they’re connected to the areas of life that we are most significant insecure about. This is why we want to knock others down and eliminate others who have what we want for ourselves. This is why even in our own hearts, we try to pin them to the wall with the spear of hate and jealousy. Third, jealousy has terrible friends.
This last week from our text centered on what friendship looks like. The great picture of friendship between David and Jonathan. We connect in a strong, healthy relationship. Now, part of our text today details what unhealthy friendship looks like, where we see that the friends that jealousy has are terrible friends. The people that jealousy or the ideas that jealousy connects with are awful.
In the text, who are the friends of jealousy? Paranoia, Fear, worry, raging anger, church. These are not good friends, these things. These are friends who do not love us. They don’t care about us.
These things do not seek our best interest. Rather, these types of friends, they try to tear us down, to lead us into more and more miserable places. And in the end, these friends that come along with jealousy, in the end, they actually lead us into greater and greater isolation and loneliness. That’s the story of Saul in our text. And that will continue to be the story of Saul all the way up to his death at the end of First Samuel.
A miserable man who hitched himself to some miserable friends who isolated him even from the ones who cared about him the most, which is actually the fourth thing. Jealousy blinds us to that which is good. So once again, the story of Saul, not just in his text. We see this even in the weeks to come, that every so often, Saul might be able to kind of see good around him. He can maybe sometimes identify those who are trying to do good to him.
But overall, his jealousy, his blinding jealousy, got Saul so twisted around that he could not see those who were graced in his life. In the text, the song that the women sang was really meant to honor Saul, but he was so blind, he couldn’t see it. He was blind to the honor they were giving to him. David, his helpful, trusted, loyal servant, the means of grace in his life, who would play the lyre for Saul to bring calm and peace to him over time. Saul could not see it.
He was blind. All he could see in David was the threat that needed to be eliminated. Where twice in our text, he picked up the spear and he ships David off to war. That’s what happens when we’re consumed with jealousy. Jealousy acts like a blinder over our hearts, where even those, perhaps even especially those who are graced in our life, we start to see them maybe as a threat or like an enemy that we need to eliminate, where we maybe even get, like, more and more paranoid towards them.
That’s how messed up Saul is in this text here. And if we allow jealousy to take control of our lives, the same will be true of us as well. Sinful jealousy is blinding. It hardens our hearts. It leads us to more and more places of misery where we become just a shell of a person trapped into deeper and deeper hopelessness, which actually leads to the final thing I want to mention today.
There’s actually a message of hope for us and really the only hope we have when it comes to sinful jealousy, which is the hope that God is a jealous God. That’s our hope. Now let me mention if we say suck in her sin, including sinful jealousy like self adultery, if we’re unwilling to repent of our sin and turn to God for forgiveness, it’s actually not good news that God is a jealous of God. It’s not good news for us if that’s the case. In fact, that’s bad news with all those who are unwilling to turn from sin, unwilling to lead their idolatrous ways.
Scripture is clear that God, the jealous God, will judge sinners where we will have to give an account why we felt we didn’t need him, why we felt we could make ourselves an idol to worship over Him. The text I read warns us that you should worship no other God, including yourself. For the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. So if we are unwilling to repent of sinful jealousy, it’s not good news. So it’s that God is jealous.
That’s not a hopeful situation. Scripture warns us that we must turn to God because if we don’t act, God will actively give unrepentant sinners over into eternal misery. However, the good news for all who by faith repent and turn to God through Jesus Christ, this is good news. That God is jealous because in his jealousy for his own glory, for his people, that he is jealous for in accordance with God’s eternal plan, he desired to put his holy jealousy on display. How?
By redeeming sinful people to Himself, which He desires to do by coming for us, which in his jealousy he did by sending the eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is so perfect in jealousy for God’s glory for his people, that he came to us in great grace, where the Lord Jesus willingly laid down his life, where he was pinned to a cross by three nails, where on the cross the Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself the punishment of our sin, including sinful jealousy. So that through the death and the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ, all who by faith turned to him, they would be forgiven, including all here today. And not only would we be forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ, we also are brought into an eternal relationship with God, where our identity becomes that of his dear precious children. Friends, can I speak a word into that that identity? A child of God.
That’s more than enough. We don’t need to Be jealous for some other identity. We don’t need to be insecure about our identity. When we are the children of God. That’s the perfect identity we could ever hope for.
That identity being the children of God, the identity that Jesus actually promises will always be our identity. So we don’t even have to be like paranoid of somehow losing it. That’s because of the incredible grace of God found in Jesus Christ. Forever and ever we will be his children. And forever and ever we will be able to sing the song of victory to our King Jesus as we join the heavenly choir that now sings.
Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive all power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.
Just friends, this morning feel conviction where perhaps you are struggling with sinful jealousy. But don’t be blind hard hearted for the grace of God, the goodness of God found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brother, this morning let that conviction lead you to repentance by turning to Jesus, the very one who loves his people with perfect jealousy. And then live your life jealous for the glory of God they put on display. Jealous for the joy that only he can offer, Jealous for his people. Church all praise be to God that he’s a jealous God, which is such good news for us. Let’s pray.
Lord, you are jealous.
You’re jealous for your glory that you alone deserve and you alone truly have.
I thank you that you’re actually jealous even for your people, including us here today.
Thank you in your gracious jealousy that you sent Jesus for us to redeem us.
So by grace through faith we can call you Father as you call us your children.
Lord, this morning I pray through the power of your spirit that you would help us to put away sinful jealousy.
Lord, give us healing in our hearts.
God, please help us to rest in the identity of being your children.
Find our hope and our security in that and that alone.
God, we do pray that you continue to be jealous for our little church family here, that you would do a great work for your great glory and our joy in you.
We pray this on Jesus name, Amen.