Three Kinds Of Jealousies - The Dark Side Of Jealousy, The Desirable Side Of Jealousy The Divine Side Of Jealousy

(1) They may go into a neighborhood asking people do they…

• Know this individual?

• Know where they can find this individual?

(2) They may go to a family member and ask if they

• know this individual?

• Know where they can find him?

(1) They may go to his job site and ask them do they…

• Know this individual?

• Know where they can find him?

They do everything they know to do to find this individual.

Now just suppose someone you knew was not save and they are trying to find Jesus to save them, and they came to you and ask you:

(1) Do you know Jesus?

(2) Do you know where they can find Him?

Can you tell them?

(1) YOU DO KNOW HIM

(2) YOU KNOW HOW THEY CAN FIND HIM

WHAT COULD YOU TELL THEM ABOUT JESUS BASED ON WHAT THE BIBLE HAS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT HIM?

For example, DID YOU KNOW AND COULD YOU TELL THEM THAT GOD IS A GOD OF JEALOUSY!!!

A lot of folks never associate JEALOUSY with God.

We all associate jealousy with mortal man, not God!!!

• It starts in a child at an early age and can last a lifetime.

• It can wreck the love between two people who thought they were inseparable.

• It can bring nations to war and the most powerful people to ruin

Illus: It is said that jealousy started in the Garden of Eden.

That is…

• Eve accused Adam of having another woman in his life.

• Adam's reply was, "Don't be ridiculous Eve. You know you are the only woman on this earth in my life! “

• Eve seemed pacified, but that night Eve waited until Adam was asleep and she reached over and counted his ribs.

However, speaking of jealousy did you know that the Lord un-ashamedly admits that He is a jealous God?

Look at Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.

God’s admission of jealousy is something that most of us would be ashamed to admit.

This admission of God being a jealous God doesn’t sit well with us because we have a better opinion of God than for Him to be a jealous God.

Let’s talk about WHY God tells us He is a jealous God.

In this sermon I want to talk to you about three kinds of jealousy:

• The dark side of jealousy

• The desirable side of jealousy

• The divine side of jealousy

Let’s look first at…

I.THE DARK SIDE OF JEALOUSY

From what we know of jealousy we think of jealousy in a negative way.

For example, we see jealousy today in three kinds of relationships.

1) Boy-girl jealousy

2) A friend’s jealousy

3) Sibling jealousy

There are some notorious examples of sinful jealousy and envy in the Bible.

(1) The life of Joseph

Illus: For example, because of Joseph's favored position with his father and because of that majestic coat Jacob gave him, "his brothers were jealous of him" (Genesis 37:11).

Their sinful attitudes resulted in sinful acts…

• First, they plotted his death,

• Then decided to throw him in a pit and sell him into slavery.

Selfishness was written all over their lives.

(2) We see Jealousy against His disciples.

Illus: The apostles in the book of Acts preached with power and performed miracles of healing. Multitudes were added to the Lord and the Jewish religious rulers were furious. The Bible records that "they were filled with jealousy" (Acts 5:17).

• First, they threw the apostles into prison,

• Later had them flogged.

When we are jealous in a sinful way, we often try to hurt others, just as both Joseph's brothers and the Jewish leaders did.

We see jealousy demonstrated in these relationships frequently in a negative way and we cannot help but conclude that all jealousy is bad.

BUT WHAT IF I SHOWED YOU IN THE SCRIPTURES ALL JEALOUSY IS NOT BAD!

For example, if I was to ask someone in this congregation are you a jealous individual? They would state, “There is not a jealous bone in my body!”

Why would they say such a thing?

Because of two reasons:

(1) Because to admit jealousy is shameful.

(2) But another reason might be you would respond to that question like that because perhaps you do not understand that:

• There is a BAD SIDE TO JEALOUSY

• There is a GOOD SIDE TO JEALOUSY.

Let me demonstrate that in this way…

For example:

• Just as there is a BRIGHT SIDE and a DARK SIDE to anger.