The Promise of Salvation

We've got a few things this afternoon we're going to deal with, very important, just here in the church, just encouraging things, just want to share, so we'll deal with that this afternoon. But here now, I want you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3, the first book in the Old Testament. And we're dealing with the series on the promises of God that we began last Sunday morning.

And I want to continue here this morning by going to Genesis chapter 3, and I just want to read two verses here this morning. My promise, my message, I've got promise on the brain, my message here this morning, the promise of salvation. I would dare say the greatest blessing of the entire scripture, isn't a miracle, isn't a gift, isn't provision, isn't guidance.

The greatest blessing anyone in this world can receive, be given, experience, have, obtain, is salvation. You may not have many things this morning, but if you have real salvation, you are blessed beyond measure. You may have much that you think you can complain about, but if you know that you're saved, born again, washed in the blood, you are remarkably blessed.

Let's turn to the Word of God, Genesis chapter 3, verse 14 and 15. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou, notice who he's speaking to, because thou has done this, thou art cursed above all the cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the Word of God, the blessings that are contained within this book. We know, Lord God, that the blessings, the multiplied, numerous blessings of God are all found in Christ Jesus. Thank you that you've given us a written book in clear print, written clearly and distinctly.

Lord God, without doubt, without yea and nay, it is a yes message, a clear message, a definite message, a blessing, the gospel, the good news of Christ Jesus, of his atoning, redeeming, saving work, that Calvary, we've got a message for this world, for the drug addict, for the suicidal, for the atheist. Lord God, for all manners of person in this city, Lord God, even this morning. And Father, we pray here this morning, Lord God, that the message of salvation, the power of salvation, the blessing of salvation shall break in upon us.

Lord God, even those who are already saved, Lord God, open the eyes of our understanding. Lord God, we are so easily dimmed in our walk with you. Our eyes are so easily taken off you.

Open the eyes of our understanding this morning. Let us see the great blessing of salvation that you brought us into. Lord God, make our hearts glad this morning.

Make us to rejoice this morning. Make us to forget our troubles and our blues and our burdens and to set our eyes upon Jesus. Let them be high and lifted up this morning in this gathering in Jesus' mighty name.

We ask that you glorify Jesus Christ and that you draw sinners to him. Lord God, that you draw all of us to him. Lord God, to think on how great a salvation this morning in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen. As we read from Genesis chapter 3, we read a remarkable verse, verse 15. God speak unto the serpent, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.

It shall bruise thy heel, and thou shalt bruise his heel. I've got three points here, but within one of them, I've got seven points, so don't worry. But I've got three short points, brief points.

The last will contain seven points, and I want you to hear them so clearly. This message is on the promise of salvation. What do I mean by salvation? Being saved from your sin, being saved from an eternal damnation, being saved from hell, being saved from the wrath to come, being saved from judgment of your sin that you have committed, getting what you deserve, being saved from that.

Saints of God, salvation, the Bible says about our salvation, it calls it so great a salvation. Our salvation is not a small thing. It's not a small blessing.

It's not a side issue. Salvation decides your eternity, where you will spend all eternity, forever, and ever, and ever. It decides your destiny, your relationship with God.

Salvation is the greatest of blessings that God has ever provided or given in his Word. It is a remarkable thing. And so here this morning, as we consider the fullness of the blessings of God within the Bible, blessing after blessing after blessing, I want you to look at one singular thing, the promise of salvation.

I want you to hear that from the beginning of the Bible to the end of it, God's greatest blessing, that he promises time after time after time, in every book of the Bible, every story, in every command, in every area of Scripture, he actually promises salvation. You can't afford to miss this promise. This is not a promise that you can leave or take.

It's not that sort of promise. This is a promise that shows the full provision of God, that either you're in the most serious trouble, the most eternal trouble you can imagine, or you're one of the greatest of blessed people in the entire earth. You're one or the other.

You're a very, very overwhelmed blessed person here. Or you're sitting here in your seat, and you're in serious trouble here this morning. I'm in serious trouble.

It's one or the other. And so when we come to this, the promise of salvation, I'm taking you to a very strange Scripture. I'm taking you to the beginning of the Bible, not to Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.

I'm going to Genesis, Genesis chapter 3. I'm not going to a conversation with Jesus Christ. I'm going to a conversation with a serpent. In order to show you the greatest blessing, the promise of salvation, I am taking you inside a conversation between God and the devil.

Can you imagine that? Let me correct that slightly. Not a conversation. It's a one-way conversation.

It is a communication from God to the serpent. That's as one way as you get. And I want to draw three things out here this morning from verse 15.

Listen to what he says, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his head. My first point here from this verse, the promise of the suffering Savior.

You see, you don't have the promise of salvation without this first. You don't have salvation. You don't have forgiveness.

You don't have anything. You see, when was this said? When was the promise in verse 15? And listen, we're going to deal with this. I want you to see that in verse 15, when God speaks to the serpent, he makes a promise that you rely on this morning, that your salvation hinges on this morning.

He is speaking a serpent, a devil. But in that sentence, in that communication, is something of the promise of your salvation. In other words, what is contained in that statement, your salvation depends on.

Without that, you've got nothing. Absolutely nothing. And that's the first point, the promise of the suffering Messiah.

I hope you realize already that all the promises of God in the Bible are always connected to a person. Never, ever seek after the blessings by themselves. Don't go after the blessings, go after the person.

Listen to what we said last week. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 20. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him are amen, unto the glory of God by us.

In other words, God has put all of his promises in Christ, every single promise. What did we read this morning? If I can just find it very quickly here for a moment, because it's such a wonderful scripture. I know I've read it, but I want to read it again.

Well, in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He's saying that in Christ, he has blessed you with all spiritual blessings. Nothing is missing.

Everything you could imagine or hope for or dream about of any eternal worth, it is all in Christ and God has blessed you. You've been blessed and you've been blessed and you've been blessed. Your feelings may not seem blessed.

Your financial circumstances may not seem blessed. Even your physical health may not seem blessed. But do you know what the Bible says? God has blessed us.

If you have salvation with all spiritual blessings, every kind of spiritual blessing you could imagine in Christ Jesus. And so every promise of the Bible of God is found in Jesus. God never, ever makes a promise that isn't in Jesus.

That is the only place worth making it. Now let's look for a moment at Genesis 3, 15. What's it saying? And I will put enmity between thee and the woman.

Look at this. It's talking about a warfare. He's speaking to the serpent and saying, I will put enmity between thee and the woman.

There'll never be peace. Look at the second statement. And between thy seed and her seed.

He's talking about a war between the serpent and the woman. Who was the woman? It was Eve. He's talking about a war that is gonna carry on through generations.

6,000 years between a serpent and a woman. But he goes further and he says, this war is gonna be between the serpent seed and the woman seed. There's gonna come a seed, children, generations, many millennia, out of both of these lines.

The serpent and out of the woman. And these two seeds are gonna perpetually be at war. But do you know what? In this verse, he's not talking about many children or many seeds.

It is a promise. It is a prophecy about one seed. Look, it says, and it shall bruise thy head.

There's a prophecy here that a child should be born of the woman. A day is coming. A child is gonna be born.

And that singular child, that one child is gonna bruise you, Satan. Now look for a moment what happened here. Why would God give one of his greatest blessings and promises at this time? Look at the context of what has just happened.

You see this promise of a coming seed, a coming child born of woman, a promised Messiah, a savior from sin. When is the promise made? When Adam and Eve had just sinned. That's when this is just made.

Eve had just been deceived, lied to by the serpent, messed with in her brain. She had all the blessings of God. Everything belonged to her and to Adam.

All was theirs in creation. Everything had been created for them. But one serpent coming, telling a lie, leading them into sin.

And they fell. Eve fell. Adam fell from that position, that relationship with God.

What an attack on the person of God. And look at it. You find Adam and Eve.

They sinned. They're guilty. They're naked.

They're ashamed. They're condemned. They have failed.

They have disobeyed. God gave one command and they disobeyed it. And then when he comes walking, they run and hide amidst the trees.

And then they try to cover their body very ineffectually. What a disaster we have. You see, I'm telling you, when does God make a promise? When does God come seeking individuals to make a great promise of salvation? Right at the very darkest hour, an hour of terrible sin, terrible rebellion, a terrible fall, a terrible loss.

Adam and Eve had lost everything. Paradise lost. They're going to get put out of paradise.

They'll be forever shut out of paradise. No access to the tree of life. God had provided everything good.

There's no thorns, no sickness, no death. There's none of that. There's no anger, no bitterness, no murder, no jealousy, no adultery, no fornication.

None of this. But do you realize they have just sinned? They have just rebelled. All the blessings of God.

And what did they do? They have destroyed it by one act of sin. Sin will destroy the blessing of God in your life. You know that.

You know how dangerous sin is. Disobedience, rebellion. It undermines the blessing of God in your life.

God's blessing is so wonderful. It is so amazing. You can't earn it.

Imagine casting away, throwing away, breaking up the blessings of God. When you don't deserve them, you can never earn them. They're priceless.

They're innumerable. And they can only come by God's free grace and mercy. That's the only way you can get them.

And yet we see everything destroyed in one moment of time. Listen again to what I just said. When does God come with this promise? When does God make the promise? He actually makes it at the worst of time.

Even before he pronounces a curse on the serpent. Do you hear me? Before he pronounces the punishment on Adam and Eve. Even before he announces all the consequence on an entire earth and world that has fallen.

Way before he deals with sin. Way before he rebukes sin. Way before he brings curses.

Way before he shows them the terribleness of this. Do you know what he makes? He makes a promise. They have sinned.

They have lost everything. But do you know what comes here? What gets stated? In God speaking to the serpent. Listen again.

I will put enmity between thee and the woman. And between thy seed and her seed. It's her seed.

A child born of a woman shall bruise thy head. That was Jesus Christ upon the cross. This is the first promise ever in the Bible concerning the coming Messiah.

The very first. What is it? It's a promise. A promise is a vow.

A commitment. A binding statement. It is a verbal, vocal or written statement of clarity.

Saying this is going to be done. Do you realize from the beginning? God has always written down his word. Always spoken his word.

That's what the logos is. The logos is the spoken word as well as the written word. We have the logos of God.

The written word of God. Do you know how powerful that is? That God says, I am going to do this. I am going to bless you in Christ Jesus.

It is a powerful statement. And in God speaking to the serpent. He says, it, that seed shall bruise thy head.

It's going to crush the serpent. The serpent has pulled down everything. Lied, deceived, destroyed.

What did Jesus say about the devil? The devil comes to kill, steal and destroy. I once stood with an old man and I've met about 10 of them in my life. Of old wartime soldiers.

Who were on the beach at Dunkirk in the second world war. There's very few of them alive today. But I've met about 10 in my lifetime.

One day in Scotland on the high street as we're evangelizing. An old, elegant, brilliant man with his twirly stash. I stopped him and said, can I give you a gospel tract, sir? I'm here telling people about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he erupted into anger. He had been there at Dunkirk on that beach. And he got angry and began to rage on me.

Says, where was your God? Why did God allow sickness and death and murder and pain and suffering? I said, sir, my God didn't. Jesus Christ didn't. Jesus stated it very clearly.

It is Satan, the devil, the serpent who's come to kill, steal and destroy. Then what's the next sentence? What's the rest of the verse? But Jesus Christ has come to give life and give it more abundantly. Don't blame Jesus for what the serpent has done.

Do you realize how destructive the evil one is? The devil is. And yet here at the very fall, God makes the very first person, sorry, first promise. And it's in a person.

God never makes a promise to you outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not even in Genesis 3.15. It was Christ. He is the seed.

There's no promise, no hope, no redemption, no forgiveness, no fixing this. Unless it's through Jesus and it's a promise in him right there. God makes a promise.

It's going to take 4,000 years to literally be fulfilled. But do you know, right after this, if you believe this promise, it will save your soul. Do you know vast multitudes believe that promise and we're saved eternally.

Abel, the son of Adam and Eve. He was one of those. He grew up believing in blood shedding, sacrifice, forgiveness.

Where did he get that? How could he believe that there was forgiveness for him through the shedding of the blood? Because a promise is giving here in chapter 3.15. It shall bruise thy head and thou shall bruise his heel. Saints of God, the first thing we have here is the promise of a suffering Messiah. That serpent is going to bruise his heel.

There's coming a child. The serpent, just like he brought the fall in the garden of Eden. Like he destroyed the blessings.

Like he deceived Eve. Like he massacred mankind. He's come as a murderer.

He's come as a liar. He is the father of lies. He is behind murder and anger and bitterness and jealousy and lust.

He is the God of this world. He is a spirit pervading the atmosphere. Saints of God, if only we realize how dark this hour is.

I just wonder in this hour where world governments are suddenly beginning to open up and saying, UFOs, et cetera, et cetera, are real. They don't even know what they're dealing with. I believe there's a lot of sham out there.

But I'm telling you, there's a real spiritual supernatural world that they are delving into. And they're explaining in a very practical humanistic way. We know there's a spiritual world of other beings.

People say, do you believe in who's out there? Not Martians, not aliens. But I do believe in spiritual powers of darkness, the kingdom of Satan. And you know what? It's against the blessings of God.

That's my first point. The promise of the suffering Messiah. Here in this verse, you have a promise of a person of a seed that is going to smite the head of the serpent.

That's going to destroy his work. All the blessings of God are in Christ. There's a coming Messiah who's going to suffer.

And this promise gets repeated times without number in the Bible to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, to David, all through scripture until Jesus comes, is born of a virgin. And at 30 years old, steps out in the ministry, is crucified. The serpent smote his head.

But you know what? In that same action, Satan's power was destroyed. There was a promise given in Genesis chapter 315 that was going to save multitudes. Not one promise of a common Messiah, of a savior, of a redeemer.

How are you going to fix this world of ours? By a coming seed, a holy one. Number two, the promise of perpetual war. You may say that's not much of a promise.

Oh, I want to tell you, there is a promise of perpetual war. Verse 15, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman. You may say that's not much of a promise of having enmity.

It doesn't say you're going to be enemies. There's going to be enmity. Listen very closely what I say.

I'm not sure I've ever heard this said in my entire life. Do you know what I believe by this statement? This woman that had been defeated, she had come into a friendship. She had spoken with the devil, the deceiver.

She had come into unity, a bond of fellowship. She broke her fellowship with God. She'd come into an association with a serpent, with the devil, with Lucifer, with the great rebel against God.

But she was deceived. She didn't realize what she was doing. Her eyes were upon the serpent.

Her ear was open to the serpent. She was being led by the serpent. His cunning, his evil was behind it.

And he begins to make offers unto her. This is extraordinary. He begins to offer unto her certain things in a special way.

And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die. The serpent begins to make promises to the woman. Do you know the devil still makes promises to every sinner? There's not a sinner in this world that doesn't have promises made to them.

The devil actually comes to Eve. She didn't realize. She's deceived.

She's not there saying, oh, a wicked devil is destroying my soul. He's lying to me. She didn't say that.

She's not there just with eyes open saying, I'm going to walk out of the darkness. No, she's being deceived. The devil comes as an angel of light making promises.

Don't think all promises are good. Some promises can destroy your soul. Some things that seem to be blessings can actually destroy you.

And notice this enmity that God makes. Do you know why God put enmity? Do you know why it's a blessing? Do you know why it's a promise? God made a promise. I am putting enmity.

If he didn't put this enmity between woman and the seed. Do you know what it would have meant? It's an absolute unity faultless blend with the kingdom of Satan of all of humanity. Do you see why God gave enmity as a blessing? There's something we're rebels against the kingdom of Satan.

You know, there's an enmity in humanity. There's something where we don't rest. We don't rest at ease easily.

There is something going on in our world. There's a turmoil and a warfare in humanity. When Satan led a third of the angels in rebellion, not one of them moved away from him or was disloyal.

A third of the angels have remained loyal to Lucifer. But do you know what? All of humanity, Satan is constantly pursuing after what is righteous and good. There is a warfare going on constantly in the midst of humanity because the devil is real.

It's a demonic presence. It is a deception. And it says the devil beguiled her, deceived her.

He lied to her. How did he lie to her? Through promises. Ye shall not surely die.

That's a promise. Listen to me. You will not die.

Trust me. You can sin. You can disobey the word of God.

But you'll be fine. You ever heard that voice? I bet you have heard that voice because that voice is very real. That thinking of thoughts dropping into your mind.

Sure, it's okay. You better not play with that. The devil comes as an angel of light with promises.

He comes actually armed up with promises. For God does know that in the day that you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. Do you want eyes that are opened? Illumination? Well, religion is filled with us.

There's many people even in the conspiracy camp that say, we know what's going on. We see through all the politicians. We see through the new world order.

They think they're enlightened. I tell you, they're in dangerous ground. They think they know something.

And you shall be as God's, knowing good and evil, independent of God himself. You can retain this without relationship. You can have knowledge, the ability to decide, but not out of fellowship with God, not out of communion, not out of prayer.

I wonder how many Christians live their Christian life, but not out of prayer. It's not out of a prayer life. It's not out of a walk with God.

They're able to give all the right answers. They're able to evangelize. They're able to sing.

They're able to discuss and debate doctrine. They're able to do it all, but their life isn't flowing out of this sweet fellowship and communion with God. What a dangerous thing that is.

And here's the devil making promise after promise. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, notice she saw. Not that it was bad.

It was good. The fruit was good for food. And it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise.

She took the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband and he did eat. The Bible says, if our gospel be hid, it is hid from them that are lost. It says, and whom the God of this world, that's Satan.

That's the serpent. The God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not. Do you realize behind unbelief? There's a spiritual power.

We think we can argue and persuade. You're dealing with spiritual powers of darkness. Saints of God, you better realize you better live in the realm of the promises of God, because this world is plummeting.

It is a dark place. But you know what? We've got a God who comes right into the curse, right into the darkest place, right into the fall of man. And the first thing he does is make a promise about a coming Messiah, a bleeding, dying Messiah.

And you know what? That Messiah will contain all the promises of God. How do you get into the promises? Through faith in Christ, through the blood of Jesus, by way of the cross of Jesus. All the blessings are recovered through the cross once again.

But listen, the God of this world had blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine onto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. Paul is writing here that those who do not believe, that are opposed, don't realize they're being deceived and lied to.

The promises of the devil, promise after promise after promise, threat that you'll miss out on this. You'll miss out on this. You'll miss out on this.

You won't get this. The devil speaks like that. If you go that way, if you get radical for Jesus, you'll miss out on this.

You young people better watch it. The devil will come. See, you'll miss out on sexual satisfaction.

You'll miss out on all the things of the world. All your teenage friends are having loads of fun out there. You can be a part of that.

Ask the older ones in this room. They got caught up in drugs and almost destroyed themselves. Taken at once for a laugh, a joke, fun, entertainment, a kick of high.

Not realizing where it's leading them. Oh, how dangerous. The devil is a liar.

He makes multiplied promises. Remember what he said to Jesus? Bow down, worship me. I'll give you all these kingdoms.

I'll give you everything. Do you think he would have? Yes, he would have. Do you think he had the power to give those kingdoms? Yes, they're all in his possession.

He'll give you Egypt. He'll give you Babylon. He'll give you the Incas of South America.

I'll give you all of these kingdoms. Just bow down, worship me. I will give you all of this.

You know the big mega preachers? I believe the devil's gone whispered in their ears. Joel Osteen, right down to all these newer ones. All of them, one after one, goes to their ear.

If you listen to me, your church will be the biggest church. Sometimes it comes through a human vessel. Promises made by hell within the church.

Oh, bless you. You'll have a big church. Can't be bad, can it? A big church, worshiping church, world-reaching church, praise singing, the best worship team.

Are you telling me the devil would do that? Yes, I would. You don't realize how dangerous what we're dealing with in this hour is. You know, Brother Clendenin, years ago, there was a story of him walking out of John Osteen's church.

He was the father of Joel Osteen years ago. And Brother Clendenin knew his father, John Osteen, and used to preach in the church there. In Houston, Texas.

And this day, as Brother Clendenin was walking out, John Osteen said to him, Brother Clendenin, if you listen to me, your church in Beaumont will very soon be the biggest church in America. How could he know that? How could he say that to a man? That if you listen to me, your church will be the biggest in America. Who would dare ever say anything like that? But I'll tell you what Brother Clendenin says, I don't want the biggest church.

I want a Christ-glorifying church. And you know what happened? That spirit went to his son, Joel Osteen. And suddenly, this unable, ungifted, young man, who's never preached in his life before, his dad dies, he walks into the office, puts his feet in the shoes, and he becomes the biggest mega preacher in America.

Don't tell me that's natural. You're dealing with spiritual powers behind the scenes. Saints of God, the promise of a suffering Messiah.

Secondly, the promise of a perpetual war. It's still going on. But I want to close here with seven promised blessings.

Of salvation. What's my message? The promise of salvation. If you don't have Christ, if you don't have salvation, you've got nothing this morning.

If you're not born again, if you're not forgiven, you're in serious trouble here this morning. And yet it's promised to you. As I close, I want to give you seven blessings contained in salvation.

There's many others. There's hundreds of others. But I want to mention seven briefly.

Clear promises connected to salvation. That when you get born again in Christ, these are yours. And you know what? As a Christian, since becoming a Christian, hell, the devil has raged against you to destroy all seven of these.

And you need to know you're in a warfare this morning. If you're the seed of woman, the seed of Adam, there is a warfare of deception, of lies, of temptation, of seduction in around you. There is a spirit in this world, and it hates those seven blessings, promised blessings that come with salvation.

Let me give them to you here this morning. Because you're going to see you're in a warfare. These are not blessings you get on a picnic.

When did God first make his promise on a battlefield? Do you know when God made this promise of a Messiah? There's coming a seed that's going to bruise the head of the serpent. All the blessings are here. This isn't in some church somewhere.

This is on the battlefield raging in the face of the devil. God made these promises in the presence of three people. Adam, Eve, Satan.

Three people. I promise I'm going to have a seed. I promise.

And you know what? You cannot be saved and not in a battlefield. You cannot experience these seven blessings and have these promises of salvation and not find yourself in a real warfare over them. It's not that you don't have them.

It's that you have an enemy that says you got away and I want to destroy the blessings of God in your life. Number one, forgiveness. Oh, so simple.

What's the first great blessing or provision of salvation? Forgiveness. Do you realize how many promises there are in the Bible concerning forgiveness of God saying, I will forgive you all of your sins. Do you realize that's a promise? It's the greatest of promise.

Because your problem is sin. Sin separates between you and God. Sin brings the wrath of God upon you.

Sin destroys you. Sin is the fruit of the fall in the garden. Do you know what God says in the Bible? I will forgive you and remember your sin no more.

Listen to this in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins according to his riches of grace. You have forgiveness as a result of blood redemption.

When Jesus died, his blood was shed. The first great blessing of salvation is you're forgiven. God gives a promise in salvation.

I forgive you. I forgive your sins. That means to let go all of your sins.

All the words, all the actions, all the thoughts, all the deeds. God takes all of your sins that should drown you in hell. And he says, I forgive you.

I cancel it. I blank it out. I actually cancel the debt.

You've got a big debt. Each one of us has a massive debt. And yet the first promise of salvation.

I am forgiven. Forgiveness is an amazing thing. It says in Matthew chapter 1 verse 21.

And she shall bring forth a son, Mary. She's going to have a seed. And thou shall call his name Jesus, which is Joshua, meaning savior.

So why call his name Jesus? You, Mary, are going to have a child, a virgin child. When you do call him Jesus, why? For he shall save his people from their sins. What is salvation? What does it mean to have a savior? What does it mean for Jesus Christ to save you? You're saved from your sin, your specific sin.

Why is his name Jesus? I love the name Jesus. Why did I call him the name Jesus? His name shall be called Jesus. Why? Because he shall save his people from their sin.

If you're God's people this morning, you're saved from your sin. It's the first great promise. God has made a promise.

Are you saved this morning? Some of you know you're saved. But then I say, are you forgiven? Do you realize it's the first great promise of salvation? You're forgiven. I've forgiven you.

What's the rest of the promise? And I won't remember anymore. That's too hard for you to believe that God could blank out our sins, forgive our sin. When we repent, when we cry unto him, when we come to the blood, and he says, I forgive you, you are forgiven.

I've let go of your sin. You hold on to it. You carry it.

The devil can condemn you. What does the Bible call the devil? The accuser of sinners, the accuser of the brethren. Born again, blood-washed saints.

What's he doing? He accuses them. He's actually saying, look at this. And I don't believe he falsely accuses.

Says, look what you've done. He comes with words to accuse. Listen to what it says in Acts 14, 12.

Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It's in the name Jesus that we're saved. Over in Hebrews chapter 8, verse 12, it says, for I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness.

To who? Those who are saved. Those who have salvation. He's speaking about the sins of a real Christian.

I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness. Doesn't mean I ignore it. God doesn't ignore sin.

He convicts you of sin. He leads you back to the blood. When you fall, he picks you up and takes you right back.

That's how you know it's the Holy Spirit. The devil condemns you. Says, you're finished.

You're out. It's over. There's no way back.

See, when you're in a battle, do you see the battlefield that you're on? In around this promise of forgiveness, there is a battle waging around you. And you think you deserve to be condemned. Rather than following the leading of the Holy Spirit, repent quickly.

If you sin, you have an advocate. Do you hear me? If you as a Christian sin, you have an advocate with the Father. You've got a lawyer.

You've got one who stands on your behalf at the Father's side. He says, I'm representing Keith here this morning in court. You didn't know I went to court, did you? Oh, I've been dragged into court many a time.

But you know what? I have a secret. I have an advocate. I've got one standing for me.

I've got a promised seat. I've got a Redeemer. I've got a Savior.

And there's a promise of forgiveness. And you know what it says in Hebrews? He'll be merciful to my unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities. Well, I remember no more.

He casts your sins into the sea of his forgetfulness. But what about that Lord? What? He's not unmindful. He's omniscient.

He knows all things. He's not a dithering father. But he forgives your sin.

He blots it out. Second great blessing. I'm telling you, there's a warfare around this.

Don't you think you just have the promise of forgiveness and you get on with it? Oh, no. There's a devil that hates that you're forgiven. The devil hates the promise.

There's a perpetual war, you see, on the seed of the woman. Not just Christ, on you. You're the seed of the woman.

The devil hates you. If you got away from him and you're now in salvation, you're an enemy. You're opposed to him.

There's an anger against you. There's an indignation. He frosts at his mouth concerning you.

He wants to destroy you. And you know what? He'll attack the forgiveness of God. He can attack God, but he can attack your forgiveness.

Second of all, cleansing. The promise of cleansing. 1 John 1, verse 7. You'll say, well, isn't that forgiveness? No.

It's another promise. Forgiveness is God forgiving you. Cleansing is something happening within you.

Listen carefully. 1 John 1, verse 7. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

Notice that you can be walking in the light, but you need cleansed. Young Christians hear this. You can be walking in the light.

You can be saved. But there's things that need washed in the blood. You need cleansed.

Cleansed. To be cleansed means to be clean. You know, when you're first forgiven, when you first experience salvation, you feel.

Did you ever feel that? Where you go? I feel so clean, so unblemished. I feel like it's pushing the zero button back to zero. I start all over again.

I feel so free, so clean. I am clean. Do you know what? The Bible gives you a promise of being clean in the blood of Jesus, not just forgiven.

That is an amazing promise. But you have a promise. I will cleanse you.

I will clean you with the blood of Jesus. If you walk in the light, I know I would stay in the word of God. That's where the promises are.

Go look for the promises concerning being cleansed. Or listen in 1 John chapter 1 verse 9. If we've confessed our sins. In other words, you've committed sin.

In other words, now your conscience is bearing you down. The devil is coming to accuse you. If we confess our sins, if we're open before God.

He is faithful. And just to forgive us our sins. And listen, not just forgive.

To cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When you get forgiven, there's more. There's a promise of cleansing.

Not just God forgiving you. You could be forgiven and still feel unclean. Have you ever had that? Where you repent, you ask God to forgive you.

You still feel unclean. I'm giving you a promise. Not just forgiveness.

You shouldn't have forgiveness without feeling clean. Without being clean. He doesn't just forgive you and leave you messy.

He says, I will cleanse you. I will wash you through the blood of the lamb. You know, the devil is raging around some of you in this room.

He is raging around the sense of uncleanness. You know what? You need to come to the blood of Jesus this morning. You need to wash yourself.

You say, oh, but you only get washed in the blood. Once for all, only once at the beginning. No, you do not.

1 John here, verse 7, etc. Actually show this to say, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. The word cleanses there.

Any word with F means a continual process ongoing. If you're walking in the light, you're being cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ through faith in him. There's provision.

There's promises. The devil will talk you out of that. Oh, you had that at the beginning of your walk, the excitement, the cleanness, the purity.

Now you need to settle down. Yes, theologically, you know, you're forgiven. Theologically, you know, you're okay.

But I've got to live my Christian life with a sense of uncleanness and impurity. No, you do not. God has made a promise to cleanse you from the inside out, to wash you in the blood of the lamb.

So third promise, a new heart. All through the Bible, you see this promise within salvation, a promise of a new heart. He doesn't merely forgive you.

It doesn't merely wash you. But a part of salvation is he gives you a new heart. He doesn't fix the old heart up.

He doesn't patch it up, renew it and say, well, let's see how far you get around the block now. What he does is do heart surgery. This is salvation.

And God made a promise to be in salvation. He has said, I will give you a new heart. Listen to what it says in Ezekiel 36, 26.

And this isn't an old covenant. This is Ezekiel talking about the new covenant in the days of Christ. It says in Ezekiel 36, 26, A new heart also will I give you.

And a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. And I will give you a heart of flesh.

Do you see the promise of salvation? In real salvation, you get heart surgery. He doesn't only forgive you. It doesn't just cleanse you in the blood.

He actually changes your heart. He actually does heart surgery, takes that old heart out. That's why there's a radical change.

I'll take out of you that old heart. I'll take out of you that old spirit. I'm going to put a new spirit within you.

The Holy Spirit's going to live within you. I'm going to put a heart. What is a heart? It's who you are.

Fundamentally changed since I can never be the same again. He changed me by his power and his mercy and his grace. A new heart was put within me.

You know what it is? It's a promise of God. This is a part of my salvation. Oh, I'm feeling worn down and broken down and weary.

Saints of God, there's a new heart for you. Remember a few years ago, we taught a whole series on the heart of God. Going through every aspect, a heart to know him.

All the different kinds of heart that are a part of this. There's only one new heart. But it's got all these aspects to fear him.

All of these different aspects. Here's a fourth blessing. You need to hear me because I'm talking about things.

Promises made to you in salvation. And you're in a warfare over them right now in this church. Number four, peace with God.

Notice what I say. I didn't say the peace of God. That's different.

I said peace with God. If you don't understand the difference between peace with God and of God, you're going to make a big mistake. Big, big mistake.

Because they're not the same. Some of you don't feel a peace in your mind and heart. Therefore, you think you're out of search.

That's not peace with God. That's the peace of God. And it's different.

I need to do a whole sermon on that, you know. But I want to tell you about the promise of God's peace in salvation. Romans chapter 5 verse 1. Therefore being justified by faith.

Saved by faith. Made righteous by faith. Born again by faith.

Therefore being justified just as if I'd never sinned. Saints, that's where you're meant to begin your journey. Justified by faith.

Through grace. What's justification? Just as if you'd never sinned. If you're not careful, the devil is going to unleash in your life such a warfare of attacks, of temptations, lies and accusations that you're not going to feel justified.

You won't even be believing the promise anymore. Sorry, I'm getting off on to justification by faith. I don't want to do that.

I want to keep you at peace in God. But if you're not careful in attacking your justification and trying to undermine it, lying, sending lies against you, your peace is affected. Therefore being justified by faith.

We have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace. Do you realize you're an enemy? You're a rebel.

You're a sinner. You are actually at war with God himself in your actions and your thoughts and your deeds. You're a child of the devil, a child of wrath.

He might have been very nice and your granny might have kissed over all of your forehead, but you're a child of the wrath of God. And you know what it says, through the blood, through faith in Jesus Christ, you're justified and now you have peace with God. In other words, everything's right between you and God.

You are at peace with God. This is salvation. This is basic salvation.

Peace with God. Now, don't get it confused. Peace of God.

Don't get that confused because some of you in here have no peace this morning. You have no peace. You don't have the peace of God, but you do have peace with God.

You're forgiven. You're in a right relationship, but you don't have the peace of God. The peace of God is not guarding your mind in Christ Jesus.

You're not experiencing that peace that guards your heart, but you do have peace with God. Do you see what the devil attacks? As soon as you don't feel peace, you go, am I at peace with God? Yes, through the blood. That is salvation.

Man, we need an entire, remind me, we need an entire sermon on that. The fifth blessing is union. Union with God.

In other words, as soon as you are blessed in salvation, one of the promises is union. God makes a promise. You can't be saved and not in union with God.

So Jesus says in John 14, 20, I am in my father and ye are in me and I in you. Elsewhere, it says that Christ dwells in your heart by faith. Do you know in recent times, some people have said you can't ask Jesus to come into your heart.

Theologically, you're actually right. Come into my heart to stay. There's nothing wrong with that prayer, but we don't have a prayer like that in scripture.

You repent to your sins. You put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to tell you, if you're really saved, Christ does dwell in your heart by faith.

He is dwelling there. He is living in your heart in a very real way. What is real salvation? I in you, you in me.

There's this unity of fellowship. You're in me. Jesus says this time and time again.

There's a promise. You are in me. You're righteous in me.

You're accepted in me. You're beloved or you're loved in me. You have every spiritual blessing in me.

And guess what? I'm in you. I dwell in you. I actually live in you.

You know, there's a lovely scripture in the Old Testament. And it says he literally is living in us. Our walls are before him and around him.

He is inside you. His Holy Spirit dwells. If you're saved, you have the promise of union.

You may feel God has left me. God is not near me. I have failed God.

Don't you realize when you fail as a real Christian, you repent, you feel bad. You know, the first thing you lose when you sin as a real Christian is the assurance of salvation. That's why you need to come back to the blood.

That's why you need to cry. God, are you there? Yes, he's inside of you. He's in dwelling you.

He's closer than you can imagine. You can't feel him. You can't sense him.

You can't see him. You can't hear his voice. You can't perceive him.

Therefore, you say, where are you, God? I'm inside you. He's screaming. He says, my promises.

I will be in you. You will be in me. Since I'm talking about real Christians that wrestle through this Christian life, I'm not talking about the apostates that walk out there, stand on the high street and say, I'm born again and live like the devil.

I'm not speaking about them. They have no promise. No promise when they live like that.

I'm talking about real Christians who battle the flesh, who fail, who find themselves on the floor, who are victims of the accuser of the brethren. The sixth promise, knowing God. This is a vital part of salvation, that you know God.

In Jeremiah 31, it says very clear, there's my covenant with you. And then he goes on. He gives you many different distinct promises, but he says this, every man will not say to his brother, know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them.

Sayeth the Lord, I will forgive all their iniquity. I will remember none of their sin no more. You're going to know me.

This is the promise and salvation of intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A personal relationship. God promises you will know me even the least.

You've only got in the door a day. You know me. I'm going to reveal myself.

I'm going to teach you who I am. You can't be a real Christian and not God, not reveal himself and speak to you. You know, I'm a very communicative person.

I can't be in a relationship and remain silent. I can't do that. It would kill me.

It would drive me nuts. I'd have to sit in my hands. I'd have to do all sorts of things.

But to sit in a house with someone and to try and have a relationship and not commune and fellowship and enjoy them and live with them and labor with them. I can't imagine it. How can you be in a relationship with God and not enjoy this relationship? Since there is a promise, you will know this God.

I will know you. You will know me. Since there's a day when we're going to see him as he is and we're going to know him as he is.

But we do have it now in salvation. You're only saved and you know God. You have an intimate, personal access and relationship with Jesus Christ.

The devil hates that bond. He hates that relationship. He hates this union.

And so hell rages around the weakest saint. We see it in the Bible. But seventhly and lastly as I close, eternal life.

These seven blessings, I believe hell is raging against this morning. And I believe he's raging against in your life and in this church. I believe there's a perpetual war going on, raging in and around you, your conscience, your mind, your heart, your lifestyle, your prayer time, reading the word of God, your walk with God.

There's a perpetual warfare. And you go, why is this so hard? Because there's a warfare. You've been given all the blessings of God in Christ Jesus.

They're yours. You didn't earn them. You're given them, granted them.

You didn't work hard for them. Not a one of them. Not one of them did you work hard for.

They're given to you by free grace alone, by the sovereign grace of God. He came looking for you. You didn't look for him.

He chose you. You didn't choose him. You didn't see anything beautiful about Christ.

You know, when we were in the streets on Monday and the guys were saying there, some of these guys were all out there having our stag party, preaching on the high street in Dublin. What a stag party. All these guys saved out of, I felt the odd one out.

I hadn't touched a drug in my life. All these criminals around me. I thought if the guards come along, they might arrest me with this punch.

It could be very dangerous out here in the high street. Now I forget what I was preaching. Where am I going? I really need to cut back to this.

I've totally lost my train of thought now where I was going. One of these guys actually told me, what did he tell me? It's gone. Let me finish.

Eternal life. It says in John chapter 17 verse three, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John the Apostle wrote his epistle saying, I wrote this that you might know that you have eternal life.

The Catholic bishops in this city say, you cannot know you've got eternal life. It's anathema to say that you have presently eternal life. In other words, that you are going to be eternally with God in heaven.

That's against Catholic doctrine, though they've changed everything nowadays. Do you realize the seventh and last blessing I want to deal with here as we close is eternal life. Life without end.

Eternity in heaven. No, in the new heaven, a new earth, the new Jerusalem. Eternity with God is a part of salvation.

You don't attain onto it. You don't earn it as you go along. You get it right at the beginning.

When you're born again, you get eternal life. Eternal life. It's a certain kind of life.

It is eternal. It is from God. But look at Christ's definition of what eternal life is.

This is life eternal. That they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. What is eternal life? It is knowing.

It is a personal relationship. It's not a theological statement. I am tired of people destroying their soul by theological creeds and statements.

They have no life, no fellowship with God, no power in their life, but they build on creeds, theological statements. And I believe in sound doctrine and I believe in the authority of scripture. And I thank God for the teaching of God's word through the years.

But theological statements, cold creeds never saved a man. You say, do you adhere to the Nicene Creed? There's nothing in it that I disagree with it, but I'm not a Nicene Christian. I don't need the Nicene Creed.

I believe the Bible. The Nicene Creed was created by an emperor who threatened him. If you don't sign here and all unite to create the Catholic Church, that's what the Nicene Creed was.

I threaten you, you'll get put out of your house, your possessions will be taken, you'll be put out of your country if you don't sign here. Okay, we'll all sign. That's the Nicene Creed.

And you know what? All that they agreed to, I basically agree with. Nothing wrong with it. But how it was formed, how it was created, and why would I agree with a man's statement when I've got the scripture? Saints of God, we have eternal life in Christ and the devil hates it.

You need to wake up here this morning. This isn't about you having your ups and downs, your ebbs and your flows, doing well on your walk and not doing well. There is someone who is after you, raging, a real devil, a liar, a deceiver, who I can match him.

No, you cannot. Eve couldn't. Adam couldn't.

David couldn't. Moses couldn't. Paul couldn't.

Peter couldn't. You can't. But you know what? In Jesus Christ, the serpent's head is smitten, crushed underfoot.

And Jesus gave that promise to us. We have power and authority to take up scorpions and serpents. We can trample on serpents.

We are given that authority. And saints here this morning, I pray, listen to me. I'm talking about all the promises in Christ Jesus.

The greatest promise ever made was the promise of salvation. And in salvation, you've got hundreds and hundreds of promises. You're going to spend your entire Christian life working out all these promises, living it out, making them your own, fighting for them.

Hell is going to fight you over forgiveness and over cleansing and over peace and over eternal life and over knowing God. You're in a battlefield. You're in a warfare.

But saints, very soon, we're going to see the Lord Jesus. Very soon, we're going to gaze upon his face. And what a day that will be when my Jesus, I will see.

When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land. What a day. Wonderful day that's going to be.

Let's stand together. Can we just thank him this morning? Can we worship him? Can we praise him? What a mighty savior. We worship you.

We love you. Lord Jesus, thank you for all the promises that are contained in you. Thank you for your obedience and going to Calvary.

Thank you for bearing our sins there. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for taking responsibility for us, our salvation, our eternity. Lord God, the price that was to be paid for our sin, that you withstood the wrath and the righteous judgment of a holy God on our behalf.

Father, we love you. We thank you for all the promises. And I pray that you refresh us and revive us here this morning.

In Jesus' mighty name.