Message Notes

Message Title: Houston, we have a problem
Text: Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:24, James 4:5-6.
Speaker: Dr. Chris Hopf
Date: June 15, 2025

Human jealousy is described as a “feeling of resentment against someone because of that person’s rivalry, success, or advantages. It is characterized by or proceeds from suspicious fears or envious resentment”
(Dictionary.com).

My definition: Jealousy is being mad because someone else has what you don’t have.

Wayne Grudem defines God’s jealousy as “God continually seeking to protect his own glory”
(Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000], 205).

God’s jealousy is always connected to his glory.

There are three things that we must understand about God’s jealousy:

Point 1: We must understand the nature of God’s jealousy.

Point 2: We must understand the consequences of idolatry.

Point 3: We must understand the redemption in God’s jealousy.

Point 1: We must understand the nature of God’s jealousy.

“Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
Exodus 34:14

Point 2: We must understand the consequences of Idolatry

“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Deuteronomy 4:24

Idolatry is the track on which the train of demons rides.

How do we know if something is an idol?

Fill in the blank: I cannot live without

Reveal Answer

If someone or something besides God is in your blank, it is an idol.

God does not want to be one of many things we worship; He wants to be the only thing we worship.

Our choices always have consequences, and forgiveness doesn’t erase them.

Point 3: We must understand the redemption in God’s jealousy

“Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to dwell in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace.”
James 4:5-6

This passionate love drives redemption, reminding us that His jealousy is not about punishment but about bringing us back into His presence.

Because God is a jealous God, Christians should turn away from all that provokes his jealousy.