Sermon Central
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Not Ok, That's Ok
Contributed by Samuel Fulkerson on Apr 7, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: We are not perfect. We aren't OK. We have failings and weakness. We all make mistakes. So we are not OK. Yet Jesus went to the cross knowing what we would do right and do wrong. Knowing the good, bad and ugly of it all; He went all the way for all of us
Quotes:
“Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.” -Anne Frank
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ― Oscar Wilde
“Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.” ― Judy Garland
“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” - Havelock Ellis
“It is the eye of other people that ruin us. If I were blind I would want, neither fine clothes, fine houses or fine furniture.” - Benjamin Franklin
“Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.” -James A. Michener
“When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up.”
-Les Brown
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” –Unknown
Galatians 2:16-21 (20)
Not OK, That’s OK:
Adam and Eve failed the test of Obedience in the Garden of Eden; As they partook of the forbidden fruit.
I Timothy 2:13-14 “13-For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14- And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” –Adam willfully chose to do wrong.
Genesis 3:5 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Their understanding was opened that very day.
The same wording is used in Genesis chapter 2:
Genesis 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
They both died spiritually that very day.
Young’s literal Translation of the Bible renders it this way:
Genesis 2:17 “and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it -- dying thou dost die.”
Eating of the forbidden fruit was Not OK.
However, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
Isaiah 28:18 “And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand…”
Ephesians 4:8 “Wherefore he [Jesus] saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”
Here in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse the writer is quoting from Psalm 68:18 “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.”
Adam and Eve received these promises in Genesis chapter 3:
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity [extreme hatred] between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
--Death on Calvary was a bruising our savior’s heel; Resurrection was the crushing of his head.
That’s OK.
The Ancient Roots Translinear Bible has an interesting rendering of this verse:
Genesis 3:15 “I establish enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. She will tromp your head and tromp you with her heel.”
Jacob was deceiver. Not OK.
(Genesis 25:19-34, Genesis 27:1-36, Genesis 32)
God still loved.
To clarify: Sin is not ok. Paul said in Romans 6:1-2 “1- What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2- God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
Romans 5:19-21 “19- For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20- Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21- That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Jacob wrestled with God and struggled to find his way.
God loved him anyway.
God gave him a prophetic dream:
Genesis 28:12 “And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”
John 1:51 “…Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
That’s OK.
David… Lion and Bear slayer, Giant Killer; King Saul replacer because Saul failed to stay the course that the LORD had put him on. Even so David fell prey to his own imperfections. He who gave us so many wonderful words of wisdom, fell headlong into lust and a torrid affair. David lied and had her husband killed.
