Exodus 34:14 “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:”
In 1 Kings 8:27, Solomon is in the middle of dedicating the newly created temple unto the Lord and acknowledges that the infinite God could not be contained in the heavens, even the heaven of heavens, and thus questioned how God could dwell on earth in a temple that was built by him, a man. One millennia later, Paul rhetorically asks the Corinthians,
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
Juxtaposing these two realities of temples – one built from stone, wood and other earthen materials, and a bodily temple from the God-breathed clay created in His image – we can easily conclude that anything taking space in these temples, no matter the size or significance, takes space that the LORD our God wants to utilize to give us fullness in Him. This is why God wants us to rid ourselves of idols; not a single thing should come before God in our lives as He commands in Leviticus 19:4 (idol(s) Strong’s H457: el-eel’ “of nought, good for nothing, worthless: of false gods”). God isn’t jealous out of insecurity, He’s jealous of the finite and limited space of your temple that rightfully belongs to Him as your Creator. He wants the fullness of Himself within you, and every nanoparticle and millisecond of space and time consumed by anything other than His will for you is keeping Him from giving you all He has for you and your life.
The question the individual believer must reconcile within themselves is simple, yet deathly difficult. It requires an honesty with one’s self that is rarely achieved (if ever) outside of the power given by the intimate indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is an exercise one must consistently contemplate with a repentant heart toward the Father as often as one communes with Him. Prayerfully meditate on your life, and take inventory of everything: From relationships to possessions, from knowledge to riches, even the very breath in your lungs that drives the speech from your tongue – anything and everything – and determine in your heart by the revelation of the Holy Spirit what you are holding onto that is possessing space within your temple where the Lord ought to possess. If one is “white-knuckling” their wealth, their health, their relationships or things else at all, unwilling to place it on the alter of sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2), they are in danger of making such a thing an idol before (or in front of) God. The tricky part in identifying these things is that it could be either the haves or the have nots. Whether you have health or have not health, if it becomes your identity, it becomes an idol. Whether you have wealth or have not wealth, if it becomes your identity, it becomes an idol. Idolatry can come also in the form of self flagellation. The Lord doesn’t want you to beat yourself up for falling short, He wants your attention in the form of praise for what He has done through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The key is to identify in what, or in whom, you place your identity. Considers Jesus’ words in the context of Matthew 8:21-22,
“And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.”
This disciple’s father has not yet died, but was concerned with receiving his inheritance from his father before departing to follow Jesus. The attention of his heart was divided and Jesus was having no part of that. He is jealous for all of you, and He wants all of you now.
We can avoid kindling the jealousy of our Creator by defeating the sin of idolatry in our lives, and identifying the idolatry is the key to its defeat. But make no mistake, this isn’t one simple sin that is defeated wherein you then move on to other things. This can be a seemingly perpetual onslaught of identifying and defeating idolatrous sins where the battle has an ebb and flow. The enemy takes his strategy of this battle seriously because he knows that if he can keep you in bondage to idols, you will be that much further from God which keeps you ineffective for God’s kingdom and His will. So, take some time to search out your heart’s condition, begin to identify things you are struggling to release, and read on to learn how to defeat that struggle.
[selah]
Defeating sin: Offering the sacrifice of praise
Do not beat yourself up for sinning, rather declare the truth that you are the Righteousness of God through Jesus Christ: 2 Corinthians 5:21 reads,
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
The Father made Jesus who was and is innocent to be sin in our place in order that we might be seen as the righteousness of God because of what Jesus accomplished. John writes in Revelation 12:10,
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
We already have an accuser, the devil. Why help him out when we’ve been forgiven and Jesus advocates on our behalf as our Defense Attorney in God’s court?
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” 1 John 2:1.
God created a situation for us where we are free from all charges, cleansed as innocent because Jesus took the penalty and paid it in full. This is our reality! This is amazing! This is praiseworthy! And praiseworthy indeed, as this drives our attitude going forward: to give continual praise and glory to God because, in spite of a sinful condition, He chose to pave the path to salvation through Jesus Christ. Our attitudes going forward should not be continual sorrow for missing the mark. We have been given the opportunity to shift our attitude from sorrow to awe and thanksgiving. In Hebrews 13:15, the “sacrifice of praise” is defined as continually offering the “fruit of our lips” to God – giving thanks to Him through Jesus. It represents a spiritual sacrifice of worship that replaces Old Testament animal sacrifices, requiring believers to praise God regardless of circumstances, often in the midst of hardship. It is the “fruit of our lips,” meaning vocal praise, songs, and thanksgiving. Hebrews 13:15 says,
“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
The “sacrifice of praise” aspect is described as sacrificial because it is offered even when a person is hurting, facing trials, or when praise feels difficult. It involves a “dying to one’s self” and choosing to trust God’s goodness. We do this “continually”: This praise is not meant to be situational, but a persistent offering, regardless of life’s challenges.
According to Psalm 50:23, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.” Related to such praise is a natural course of action born out of gratitude: Hebrews 13:16 instructs that this praise is paired with doing good and sharing, as “with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” It is a voluntary, heartfelt offering of thanksgiving that acknowledges God’s character despite external circumstances – it is unconditionally given, not a payment rendered for forgiveness.
Psalm 51:17 – What about the sacrifices of God being “a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart”?
While praise for one’s forgiveness glories God, godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation. Notice the direction of each of these elements: Praise goes unto God, sorrow works repentance in the man. It’s not that Godly sorrow should go unto God, but praise should be offered in gratitude for what was done for the believer. Likewise, one should never praise themselves for what God has wrought in them, but sorrow for their missing the mark. Sorrow comes naturally when the onset of understanding comes that their actions are what created the circumstance for Jesus to go to the cross. God does seek that we turn to Him with all of our heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning (Joel 2:12-14), but this is done as a reaction to the revelation of what one was doing out of their ignorance to God’s way. As God knows our own hearts better than we do (Jeremiah 17:10, 1 Chronicles 28:9, Psalm 139:1-2), we can be certain that He knows of our godly sorrow and thus is pleased and glorified when after we turn back to Him, such sorrow is turned into praise unto Him.
A penitent man is one who exhibits godly sorrow for sin, leading to a change of heart, mind, and action, resulting in forgiveness and salvation. Key scriptures indicate that true repentance is not about sorrow, but a turning from sin towards God and that such sorrow flows naturally from a contrite heart. While we know that God sees this in us, it is not necessarily for His benefit in as much as it is for us and our growth. He is indeed blessed by our repentance and obedience (Ezekiel 33:11) and that is a gain for Him, however, we read in Ezekiel 18:21-23 how if the wicked would turn from all their sins that they committed, keep God’s statutes, do what is lawful and right, they will live and not die. Paul expounds on this idea in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 when he shows where the Corinthians had godly sorrow it wrought carefulness, clearing themselves, creating a righteous indignation toward their wrongfulness, turning them to fear (reverence) the Lord, bearing a vehement desire and zeal to revenge all disobedience (2 Corinthians 10:6) with glorifying the Lord. In this, they proved themselves redeemed from their sin. So does repentance come before salvation?
Or is it that repentance is an evidence that salvation has been obtained? Salvation without repentance is a false conversion. But repentance cannot be done without first having the willingness to submit one’s self to the Lord for salvation, and thus repentance becomes a true mark of the saved believer. Consider in Acts 3:19 when Peter said,
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;”
The Lord, through the faith of Peter and John, heals this lame man who sat daily outside the temple at the gate called Beautiful, a man whom those who were present knew to be legitimately lame from birth as they too saw him daily. With this miracle that they saw with their own eyes, they in turn believed – but on what did they believe? Peter discerns that they are “greatly wondering” (v. 11) and compels those inside the temple to receive the gospel message (vv. 12-26), and most importantly to repent of their unbelief and iniquities and receive salvation (v. 19).
A penitent person is sorrowful for past conduct and shows a “change of mind” that includes a resolve to no longer sin. Jesus emphasized, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). The result of repentance brings joy in heaven (Luke 15:7) and results in the blotting out of sins (Acts 3:19). A penitent person turns to the Lord with all heart, fasting, weeping, and mourning (Joel 2:12-14), acknowledging sins and turning from wickedness and is humble before God (2 Kings 22:19). The broken and contrite heart is the sacrifice the Lord seeks (Psalm 51:17).