In this sermon, the speaker discusses various topics related to the existence and nature of God. They explore the idea that it is reasonable to believe in God and delve into the concept of God becoming a man. The speaker also emphasizes that humans have been created in the image of God. They then focus on the fall of humanity and the explanation of what went wrong in the world according to the Bible. The sermon concludes with a message about the gospel being preached to the first two people and the importance of accepting Jesus as the payment for our sins.

If you remember we looked at the the existence of God was our first topic or just showing that it's a completely reasonable Proposition that there is a God We looked at the nature of God in in one of the messages we looked at how God became a man and all the significance of that and then we looked at how we have been created in the image of God and then in our time last night we looked at What do we look at last night we looked at the the fall and You know as we pointed out God in the after everything had been created He said that everything was very good, but then something went drastically wrong. And so we we looked at How the Bible? explains what's wrong in the world and And So tonight in wrapping things up. I want to look back at that third chapter of Genesis, but I want to concentrate on verse 15 and I've entitled this message the first gospel message Because the gospel was actually preached To the first two people and You know, we we tend to of course we connect the gospel with Jesus Christ and that's accurate But when Jesus came and brought the gospel that was a fulfillment of many promises But it was a fulfillment of the very first promise that God made found in this third chapter of Genesis, so Let's pray for just a moment. And then we're gonna look at this 15th verse Lord we pray as we have come once again to the scriptures we thank you that your word is living and powerful that it's sharper than any two-edged sword and it pierces and it divides between the soul and the spirit and it is a Critique of the thoughts and the intents of our heart and so Lord tonight. May you pierce our hearts? With your great love and the great truth of your gospel may it ring Louder and louder in our hearts and even as the song that Scott just sang Lord until the whole world hears may we Lord become Ambassadors for Christ in a greater way because we really do have the greatest message of all time So help us to understand it to lay hold of it embrace it and proclaim it we pray in Jesus name Amen. All right, so verse 15 in verse 15 God is speaking at this point and God is actually speaking directly to Satan and in the 15th verse he says I will put enmity Between you and the woman Between your seed and her seed He shall crush your head, but you shall bruise his heel now Back in the Victorian era There was a great Preacher in London named CH Spurgeon. He was known as the Prince of preachers. He preached on practically every single verse in the Bible but he said About this particular verse. I like what he said he said this is the first gospel sermon that was ever delivered upon the surface of the earth and He said it was a memorable discourse indeed with the Lord himself for the preacher and the whole human race and the prince of darkness as an audience so the gospel was first preached by God himself and The gospel is contained in this verse as we're gonna see in Just a moment here. We see God declaring to the first man and woman that one of their descendants would Ultimately defeat the devil and of course that descendant would be Jesus Christ, so what we want to look at is we want to look at the gospel in this passage But just really quickly before we we do that. I want to say one thing That I think is important to note The religion of Jesus Christ we call it Christianity You don't have to necessarily call it that that's something that men have sort of Labeled it by but let's just say the religion that's revealed by Jesus in the scriptures is the oldest religion in the world as a matter of fact The promise of his coming is given to the first two people at the very beginning of time now Why do I bring this point up? I bring this point up because liberals and skeptics tend to condescendingly Look down their noses at Christianity's exclusive claims Christianity is very exclusive Christianity basically says there's one God and there's one way to know that God There's one Savior There's not you know many options or alternatives It's a one-way situation with Christianity now liberals and skeptics They attribute this exclusivity of Christianity to some sort of chronological immaturity They say that well Christianity is such a young religion. It's one of the newer Religions and so in its Immaturity and you know a lot of times when a person is immature. They're very zealous so in its immaturity it's sort of you know made these grandiose claims of exclusivity and And that's kind of how they they try to dismiss it but The religion of Jesus Christ is the oldest religion in the world it predates Buddhism it predates Hinduism and every other religion it goes back to the very first two people Because God is giving a promise to them as he's addressing Satan He's giving them a promise that he's going to send a Savior into the world and of course We already know who that Savior is so just something to Make note of but let's look at the gospel notice first of all God's intervention the word gospel everybody knows what that means right the word gospel means good news and So when we say to somebody have you heard the gospel? We're really saying to them. Hey, have you heard the good news and What a wonderful thing to think that there's some good news today It's hard to find good news if you're you know watching on the telly or if you're you know picking up the newspaper and you're trying to You know scan the pages and find some some good encouraging news It's not that easy to do but the good news has been and still is today that God has intervened in history and God Has come to remedy man's problems. He's come to take care of the problem of sin And so we see the intervention of God where he says I will put enmity So God declares that he's going to actively break up this Confederation it seems like the devil was hoping to enlist man on his side in his effort to Overthrow God now, of course the devil, you know has done that to a large degree and he's been relatively successful But he hasn't been totally successful Because all throughout time there's always been a handful of people a remnant it in one place or another that have Held their allegiance to God, but God says I will put enmity now What this is telling us is that salvation is possible Not because of us but because of God You know if we were left to ourselves We would just join hands with the devil and march right off into damnation with him It's because of our sinful rebellious nature So salvation if it was left up to me or to you to get saved, you know what we'd never get saved God had to intervene God had to step in and that's what he's saying here. I will put enmity I'm gonna break this thing up. I'm gonna put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and Her seed now I mentioned this in the in the previous message, but it's interesting here God refers to the woman seed now some of you maybe were our biology students or you were biology students and you don't even have to be a biology student to know this a woman is Not the Bearer of the seed the man is the one who imparts the seed But here there's a strange reference to the seed of the woman and here in the very first prophecy in the very first gospel message God is alluding to What we would know later in history as the virgin birth the virgin birth Jesus Christ was born of a virgin Mary had never had a relationship with a man, but God Supernaturally moved upon her and imparted to her not through any sexual relationship But just supernaturally God moved upon her and implanted his seed in her womb That's what is is actually being prophesied here But it's in it's in its very earliest Stage of Proclamation but later on in history This would become clearer and in the days of the Prophet Isaiah He would actually say it like this behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call his name Emmanuel which means God is with us So from the time of Isaiah the Prophet the people really began to understand that there was going to be this Extraordinary birth that would take place Another one of the prophets named Micah who prophesied about the same time as Isaiah approximately 700 years before Jesus was born He said this regarding the birthplace of the Messiah. He said But you Bethlehem though you are little among the thousands of Judah yet out of you shall come forth Him who is to be ruler in Israel and it said who's going forth is from old even from eternity So Micah tells us that the one born in Bethlehem Would come out of eternity There's only remember the other night We looked at the nature of God and we saw that God is eternal and there's only one being that never had a beginning or an Ending that's God. So the prediction is the one born in Bethlehem is going to be God and then Isaiah in chapter 9 verse 6 For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given The government shall be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called wonderful counselor mighty God the everlasting father the prince of peace For unto us a child is born a son is given God gives his son But he gives him through this virgin birth now Let me just say something about the virgin birth The virgin birth is one of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith Which simply means this if you disregard it dismiss it deny it you end up undermining Christianity completely Now there are some people in the church Some theologians some church leaders who would say well, it doesn't really matter if Jesus was born of a virgin That's really not the important point. And you know, if we find out someday that he wasn't it doesn't really change anything We can still be Christians But that is nonsensical because if Jesus wasn't born of a virgin Then it means that he had a human father and if Jesus had a human father He could not have been been the Son of God and if he wasn't the Son of God He couldn't have been sinless and if he wasn't sinless, he couldn't have died to take away our sins So you see we cannot just play fast and loose with these ideas and You know because of the time just say oh, well, you know, the virgin birth doesn't really matter if it happened great If it didn't happen, it's okay. I'm still going to be a Christian If the virgin birth is not a reality Jesus is not the Savior But the virgin birth is a reality Isaiah prophesied it and when Jesus was born in Bethlehem Matthew in his gospel The first chapter the 22nd and the 23rd verse when he records the birth of Jesus. He said and this took place in Fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which said behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son So Matthew saw the birth of Jesus Christ as a fulfillment of the prophecies given by Isaiah now, what does it go on to say here? What does God declare? He says to remember he's speaking here actually directly to Satan but indirectly to the man and the woman So what does he say to Satan? He says he shall Crush your head, but you shall bruise his heel When God spoke of the bruising of the heel of the seat of the woman He was of course speaking about the the death of Jesus But the bruising of the heel in comparison to the crushing of the head Of course, the crushing of the head is a mortal wound where the bruising of the heel is a minor wound Jesus was Slain he did die But he rose again So it was more equivalent to a bruising of the heel Than what he would Actually do to Satan the crushing of the head but all his life long his heel that is his human nature Was perpetually being made to suffer When you look at Jesus He carried our sicknesses and sorrows the scripture says But the bruising came mainly when both in body and mind his whole human nature was made to agonize when his soul was exceedingly sorrowful even to death and his enemies pierced his hand and feet and He endured the shame and pain of death by crucifixion so God is going to conquer Satan. That's what he's saying here. He's going to undo the effects of sin But in order for that to happen the seat of the woman the Messiah is His heel is going to be bruised. He's going to suffer and so Jesus came and He suffered upon that cross and he died upon that cross He died the most painful type of a death imaginable You know, sometimes I've wondered You know, why did Jesus have to suffer so intensely? I mean, why couldn't he have just you know died a more mild type of a death But the reason why Jesus suffered so intensely is because Jesus was actually being punished for sin and when we look at the cross, you know, even especially today, you know, there's sort of a Kind of a light attitude towards sin and we a lot of people tend to think today that either sin isn't even an issue Or if it is it's not that big of a deal God's a God of love and he doesn't he's not really all that concerned with sin We don't understand God's attitude towards sin if you want to know what God thinks of sin and how Appalled he is by sin and how abhorrent it is to him and and and his hatred for it the greatest demonstration of God's wrath and judgment against sin is the cross of Jesus Christ and why Jesus suffered so intensely and was so Brutalized on the cross is because he was bearing the Punishment that we were due as sinners now for some people that's like, oh, I can't handle that. That's God punishing sinners What is that all about? That's too heavy We are sinners We are rebels. We have revolted against our maker and Our God is a righteous God a holy God He's a just God and as a just God He has to maintain perfect justice You know, some people say well, what's the whole big deal about sin? Why doesn't God just say it's okay. Don't worry about it Well, he might be nice if he did that, but he wouldn't be just You see if if evil has been committed and there is no punishment of evil Then there is no justice that takes place But God is just and his justice is inflexible so he has to punish evil So God has a bit of a dilemma in that he has to punish evil man is evil But on the other hand he loves man, and he doesn't want to destroy man. What's he gonna do? How is he gonna satisfy his justice? How's he gonna remain just but still have mercy on man? This is where Jesus comes into the picture Jesus comes into the picture and basically Jesus takes the punishment that was due to us How some people say all that is horrible. That's unfair. That's immoral Punishing somebody in the place of somebody else. That's that's an immoral act well, I would say there might be an argument there if the person punished was Punished against their will But Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice Jesus of course being God the Son he understood the dilemma and he offered himself father. I will bear their sin. I Will be punished in their place The the wrath that is due to sin can be poured out upon me so we then in turn can have mercy upon them and So God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all working together to bring about this redemption God sends his son Jesus dies and Through the Holy Spirit. He's able to suffer the eternal wrath of God against sin and That's what's being talked about here when it's talking about the bruising of his heel But then God goes on to declare to the devil. He will crush your head and It was at the cross that Jesus crushed Satan He crushed Satan at the cross and the Bible says that in many places It says having disarmed principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in the cross You see what looked like the greatest defeat was actually the greatest victory of all time When Jesus was dying upon the cross, he was crushing the head of the serpent in Hebrews chapter 2 It says in as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood That's us. He himself likewise shared in the same that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death That is the devil and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage So you see it was through death that Jesus crushed Satan He destroyed him through what he did upon the cross now We do not yet see all things put under the feet of Jesus who has obtained the victory but What do we see we see Jesus who temporarily was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death He's crowned now with glory and honor he tasted death for every man and one day he's going to make his victory over death universally known He's going to do that one day But in the meantime what he's doing until he does it on the universal level He's doing it on the individual level where we as we put our faith and trust in Christ We now have the promise that we'll never die. We will live forever and The death that spoken of there is primarily spiritual but there's coming a time when he will do away completely with physical death as well remember we talked about sin came into the world and death came by sin and we talked about how through Christ God is reversing this whole thing How many of you ever read? The Chronicles of Narnia any of you ever read those? The book the lion the witch in the wardrobe C.s. Lewis, of course was such a master at storytelling and In the Chronicles of Narnia, you know those of you that have read them you know that he's got the gospel woven through these stories and I love what he says in the Chronicles of Narnia right at the very end of the story there almost when Aslan has Given himself to the white witch and he's actually been slain and then he he comes back to life and nobody expected that and When it when it finally happens, I think it was Lucy who you know, she says to Aslan, you know How did you come back or what happened? We they saw him Sheared and they saw him slain and that he's and yet he's alive and he's more powerful than ever and I love what what Lewis Put there in the words in the mouth of Aslan. He said The witch knew the deep magic But if she could have looked a little further back She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery Was killed in the traitors stead The table would crack and death itself would start working Backward that is such a beautiful picture of what happened That's what Jesus did a willing victim who had committed no treachery treachery. He was killed in the place of the traitors We're the traitors God is speaking to Satan. Here's Adam and Eve standing alongside of them. These are the first two people and What Adam did he acted as the federal head of humanity, which means simply this what he did We inherited He acted on our behalf as the head of the human family And so as he was a traitor, we became traitors as well along with him but there is one who committed no treachery and that was the one who was born of the Virgin the Son of God and He was able to give his life in the traitors stead and what's happened now death itself would start to work backward And we will come to the point when the resurrected Jesus will come back to the earth He will take his people out of the earth. They will not experience death and He will establish an eternal kingdom Where death is no longer a part of that kingdom The gospel is this that Christ died So we could live So we could come into all week long We've been talking about this whole thing of a relationship with God and God made us for a relationship But sin is the barrier that keeps us from the relationship But God has dealt with the sin through Christ the seed of the woman having his heel bruised crushing the head of the serpent and Now as we come and we humble ourselves before him and we confess that we're sinners We acknowledge that we have sinned and we ask him to forgive our sins he then comes into our lives He gives us eternal life. He brings us into a relationship with himself He sets us on the road of purpose and meaning in regard to what he created us for and he's leading us ultimately To be with him in heaven eternally now I'm gonna finish right now and The band's gonna come up and they're gonna do some music and then Phil's gonna come up a couple more times tonight and he's gonna Give an opportunity because there might be some of you here tonight that have never really Turned your life over to Christ and that's what we want more than anything else We want to see you come to know Jesus to have your sins forgiven Because listen, this is serious stuff if your sins are not forgiven Then you have to pay for them yourself Jesus paid for them and if you embrace him that payment will be applied and you don't have to pay But if you refuse that payment for your sin as sure as you're gonna die one day You will have to pay for those sins and the price is eternal You can't pay for it. So forever you'll be separated from God and You don't want that and God doesn't want that. That's why he sent Christ And so think about that and when Phil comes up tonight and he gives you that opportunity to open your heart to receive Christ We pray that you will do that. Let me just close in prayer Lord Thank you for the gospel the best and greatest news to ever hit the planet that our sins could be forgiven that we can know you and have assurance of Eternal life and I pray there wouldn't be one single person that leaves this campsite this facility tonight Without knowing their sins are forgiven and knowing they're saved So bless Lord the rest of the night bless the guys as they come up to share in music Bless Phil as he shares and just pour out your spirit upon us tonight. We pray in Jesus name. We thank you Amen. Amen. All right guys. God bless