Back to the Beginning No.8 The First Gospel

I'd like to introduce to you again Tony Chapman who's been to the tab on many occasions. We first got to know each other what, 33 years ago? Just over 30 years ago I think. Gentlemen, join the microphone here a little bit.

Right, just over 30 years ago I think. And I can still remember the day when you came to our flat in London with Rowena and myself. You made a commitment to the Lord in terms of the business venture that you were going to launch.

And God's just blessed you since then. He's done marvellously great things for us. And you have a connection with Youth for Christ? Well yes, I'm chairman of the local centre in Epping Forest.

We do quite a lot amongst schools these days. We have about four on our team. And I suppose we go into about 20 schools.

And it's a marvellous opportunity to present the truth. And our young men and women do that consistently with drama. And answering a tremendous number of questions that kids these days want to know.

They probably don't get it from their teachers, but they certainly get it from us. And we thank God for that opportunity. Although you've run this business successfully for all these years, you still nonetheless each year and during the year commit it to the Lord.

Why are you so dependent on Him when you seem at the human level to be so guaranteed in terms of success of your venture? What business are you into anyway? Well it's electronics, mostly in sophisticated communications. But you ask the question, it's a very good question. If God is in your life and you believe that He's interested in the details of your life, He's certainly interested in the details of your business.

And we've found it time and time again in the business that God does direct your life in regards to expansion, in regards to the staff you take on. And all the very difficult issues that come to us day by day, particularly with the EEC and God's overall. And why shouldn't we reflect from Him the desires that He wants to put in not only my life, but into the lives of His children everywhere? Thank you, nice to have you with us Tony.

You've got some friends as well and you're going to read the scripture. Yes I am. Thank you.

Well it's great to be with you and thank you for the warm invitation that you gave us here today. Last year we had our 25th anniversary at the company and Tony was with us, with Rowena, and he invited my friends Nicola and Malcolm to be with me, the vineyards, and they're just down over there with their little daughter Alexandria. And after the service it would be lovely if you could come and greet them and say hello.

So we're dealing with chapter 3 in Genesis as you know and we will start to read at verse 8. But the first seven verses of chapter 3, you will remember that serpent tempted Eve by saying that if she ate from the forbidden tree in the garden, she would not die. When she saw the fruit was good, Eve and her husband ate and their eyes were opened. Now if we start to read at verse 8, and so that we enjoy this reading together, if I read from verse 8, will you then read 9 and we'll go through to the end of the chapter.

So it's Genesis 3 and we start to read at verse 8. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, where are you? Now, in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. And he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? The man said, woman, will you appear with me? She said, yes, I will appear with you.

Then the Lord said to the woman, what is this that you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. So the Lord God said to the serpent, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.

He will increase your pains in childbearing. To Adam he said, because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, you must not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you.

Through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken.

For dust you are and dust you will return. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them and the Lord God said, It has now come like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever.

So the Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. Afterward he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword, flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. This is the word of the Lord.

May it be a real blessing to each one of us. Let's have our Bibles open at this passage. And let's just pray.

Father, we thank you for your word inspired, ever contemporary, always, therefore, applicable to all our circumstances. We ask, Father, that as we look into this remarkable passage of scripture, that something of its meaning, something of its value and its relevance to us as individuals may strike home for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Well, someone has said of this particular chapter, which we've looked at now for, this is the third week, that it's the beginning and the germ of all prophecy. Martin Luther, he was very enthusiastic. He said it's the most marvelous scripture.

And there he was referring particularly to the 15th verse, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. Charles Spurgeon says this is the first gospel sermon that was ever delivered.

Jehovah God was the preacher and the whole human race and the prince of darkness was the audience. The IVF commentary is a little bit more conservative. It says, here is the first glimmer of the good news.

Why do commentators and preachers get lyrical about the 15th verse of Genesis 3? Well, I guess because if you unpack it, if you really come to grips with what it has to say, then it stands in the Old Testament as John 3, 16 stands in the New. That verse speaks of the heart of the gospel. And here is the first as far as the Bible is concerned in the Old Testament.

The first inkling that the tragedy of man can be turned into the triumph of God's grace. The first is always exciting. The Times generally has some reader who writes in in the spring that they have heard the first cuckoo.

There are those who wax lyrical because, well, they've seen the first crocus. Something that's first tends to live on in your mind, in your recollection, doesn't it? Now, just pay attention here. It doesn't really matter what's happening at the back.

Let's try and be a little bit mature. What happens first is something that registers in your mind. Can you remember, let's shock you, the first time you kissed somebody.

She was seven years of age. Her name was Elaine. And it was on the swings at Fursill Park, Sheffield.

We were going to get married, but her parents thought that we were rather young. And in any case, she was going to be a ballerina. My pirouettes were as bad then as they are now.

You remember the first. Here is the first reference to the gospel of Jesus Christ in this third chapter of the book of Genesis. For those who've got eyes to see, it actually speaks about a spiritual warfare that there will be.

It speaks about Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus. It speaks about his particular coming into the world. It anticipates his death and also the benefits of his resurrection.

It speaks about the grace and the glory of God. It demonstrates that the mercies of God are new every morning and his compassions, they never fail. But you say, Mr. Preacher, I don't really understand how you can possibly get all that from this particular verse.

Well, let's go into the context just for a little while. It's the story of Adam who in his rebellion along with Eve have turned aside from what God wants them to do and from what God wants them to be. And Adam, as I mentioned as we were around the Lord's table, far from looking at the trees with astonishment and wonder because they are so glorious in their foliage and in their flowering capabilities, he uses these trees as some shield for him to be able to hide because he has disobeyed the Lord.

And that cry comes to Adam and Eve from the lips of God, where are you? Where are you? The old devil who is revealed more clearly in the New Testament in terms of his involvement in this incident in Genesis chapter 3 has endeavored to perform on earth what he successfully achieved in the heavenlies and that is to vie with God and to try to take glory from the Lord and accrue it to himself by marring the greatest piece of creative work that God engaged in the making of man and woman. So here are our first parents who have disobeyed the Lord. But you see we're not just engaged in a historical excursion into the first book of the Bible because there is a sense in which Genesis 3 is replayed in the experience of all of us here we too have disobeyed the Lord.

We know what it is to be embarrassed in the presence of God. And when God comes down in the garden of Eden he comes realizing that something is amiss. And the first principle that you must lift out in terms of application is this that when things go wrong we are not confronted with a bewildered God who doesn't know what to do.

God sizes up to the situation in this particular chapter and he responds in a way which is consistently portrayed throughout the whole of the Old Testament and the New Testament and that is that when men and women are in difficulty God comes looking as the father in the story of the prodigal was looking for that pig smelling lad as he returned to the environs where he was brought up as a boy. So God having summoned Adam and Eve to himself having questioned them having interrogated them then turns his attention to the devil and he speaks to the serpent who has been incarnated by the evil one and he directs condemnation to him. Cursed are you above all the livestock and above all the wild animals and it's within the context of that curse that God speaks what in effect is a promise of a future deliverance.

Isn't it interesting that when God curses the serpent he uses this as an opportunity to have his eye upon Eve and Adam and to give to them hope. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will cross your head and you will strike his heel.

This verse first of all speaks of potency what God will do when confronted with human sin we do not have a bewildered God. We read in the first chapter of Genesis in the beginning God created we read throughout the whole of the second chapter that God is sovereign and when man blows it God does not divest himself of his sovereignty and so he speaks in the language of activity I will what will God do? I will run a rescue mission whereby men and women who are in distress as Adam and Eve are in distress nonetheless receive my grace. I will take on the sin that has been perpetrated I will deal with the being that caused sin to come into this world.

I will put enmity between you thee and Satan and her Eve and by proxy her husband. Why does God engage in this rescue mission? Here's another question what is the purpose of the gospel? And you say well it's easy the purpose of the gospel is to save men and women no it's not. The first priority of the gospel is to bring glory to God.

Listen to C.H. Spurgeon speaking about God's words to Adam and Eve in this particular context here in Genesis 3 Not for your sakes do I do this O fallen man and woman not for the sake of your descendants but for my own name and honor's sake that I be not profaned and blasphemed amongst the fallen spirits I undertake to repair and restore the mischief done by the tempter that my name be not diminished among the immortal spirits who looked upon the scene. God is able to do abundantly more than all we could ask or think and here is an illustration of God's potency God will activate a rescue work I will put enmity in effect God is saying this I will separate Eve and humanity from the malevolent intentions of the devil look go back in the story there was a sense in which Eve had become a friend of Satan not so? I mean in one sense it was partially excusable here is the serpent it's like any other of the animals that God has made it is perfect there is no reason why she should be afraid this is before the fall and this animal had an ability to speak and as he speaks to Eve then dangled in front of her is the suggestion that what God has prohibited actually should be bypassed in preference to the temptation that is dangled before Eve and she submits to what Satan has said knowing what is the right thing to do she goes in the wrong direction and in so doing it seems as though she prefers the serpent, Satan as her friend rather than God and the first thing that God does as he intervenes on this scene is to predict that he will put enmity between Adam and Eve and their seed and the desires of the evil one look, let me put this to you in salvation language what is the best thing God ever did for you? and you say he took my sins and he separated them as far as the east is from the west so far has God removed my transgression from me and God's concern here as he deals with the first people is to show them that far from being friendly with the evil one they are to be hostile to him and the mature Christian is a person who has discovered the exceeding sinfulness of sin God acts and God separates that intention men and women fallen men and women from the sin and the one who caused them to sin Satan in this case Satan incarnated in the serpent and what is more God in his potency not only activates engages in an action not only separates, divides or suggests to Eve that she should no longer have any truck with the evil one which incidentally was recognized by Eve, not so because when God interrogates Eve as to what has gone wrong she turns the blame onto the devil here is the first quarrel between a human being and the devil and God exploits that quarrel and endeavours to show Eve and Adam and those of us who read this story that the wisest thing for us to do is to distance ourselves from sin and God will stimulate Adam and Eve because God will always give a message of hope to the sinner who wants amends to be made only God can do that you see, he had said earlier on had he not, the soul that sins it shall die and here is Eve and she's sinned, here are you and you've sinned here is Adam, he's sinned, here are men and we have sinned but Eve is still to have hope and later on at the end of this chapter you discover that she is described as Eve, the mother of the living as though even when she is expelled from the garden of Eden there is still hope that despite the decay of sin in her body and the fact that she will not have a pilgrimage through this world as Enoch did, who lived for 366 years as though a day stood for a year and at the end of 366 days stroke years Enoch was taken to be with God, which I think was probably God's ideal intention for Adam and Eve, but they are expelled from Eden but not without hope what is the hope? Well it's here, the germ of the gospel I will put enmity between the devil and the woman, between the devil's seed and her seed I will cause someone to come from the seed of the woman who will take on evil and deal with it who will punish the serpent to the effect that it will die even though there will be a struggle that he engages in for Satan does not give up easily So I suggest to you that here in this address here in this narrative there is an illustration of the potency of God, what God will do He will activate a rescue ministry He will cause Eve to separate herself from her sin and the tempter, and what is more, God will stimulate Eve and Adam and all who are to come to believe that here in this promise there is a hope for the human race. You see those of you who are well knowledgeable in terms of the gospel and the contents of the Bible, you have to get rid of that from your mind when you think back to Adam and Eve and the early people in the book of Genesis, they had no Bibles they had no tracts, they had no commentaries what did they have? They had this significant hope, this little crumb, this promise from the Lord that one day from their seed, from their generation would come someone who would be able to put to rights what had been done in the paradise that God had created and so you move from considering the potency of God to the progeny to the fact that God anticipates that from the woman shall come a deliverer.

There are two seeds that are made reference to here, two offsprings, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring, literal word seed and hers we often think in scripture at any rate about the seed of the woman and Eve of course she embraces as the mother of humanity in great excellence the title grandmother we trace our pedigree back to her we are part of her line and Adam's line but here is a conundrum because the realm of gynecology will not allow what is in this verse but theology will here the reference is to the seed of a woman but a woman has no seed but when 3000 years have sped their course and been consumed by history a woman will have a child she'll bear a son a woman who's not been touched by a man a woman who will sing that the Lord has done great things for me unto me a child is born unto me a son is given Galatians 4 chapter 4 Paul makes reference to this he talks about the Savior born of a woman and here in Genesis 3 and verse 15 is the prediction that from the seed of the woman will come someone who will out do the evil that has been perpetrated who will come into this world if you please as a second Adam better as a last Adam to disentangle the mess that the first Adam has got humanity into and don't you see that down the years of Old Testament history it's that promise that keeps the righteous people ever optimistic believing that one day somehow in God's grace a deliverer Messiah will come to fulfill the prediction in the first gospel but it's not just the seed of the woman the reference also is to the seed of Satan and here is the Bible setting up with the authority of God for he is the preacher this whole scenario of a kingdom of darkness and a kingdom of light here is the suggestion of spiritual warfare here is the anticipation of a confederacy of evil which will be seen throughout the whole course of human history and will be headed up one day in the antichrist as God will fulfill his purpose for Eve and Adam and the righteous in the person of Jesus Christ there is the seed of the tempted and the seed of the tempter and it's all here encapsuled in just a few verses I will put enmity between the woman and between your offspring and hers he will crush your head and you will strike his heel and whenever you look down the course of biblical history you will find those two principles the seed of the woman, the seed of Satan, if there is a Jacob there is an Esau, if there is an Abel there is a Cain, if there is the opening of the land of Palestine back to the descendants of Abraham so there will be the Amorites who will try to crush the Hebrews and snuff out any possibility of the fulfillment of this prediction if the Persians rule then they will take on the Jews and there will be hatched up the policy of ethnic cleansing and was it not for the righteousness of Esther and those who are featured in that little red book of the Bible then there could have been no fulfillment of this prophecy how will God disentangle the problems of Adam and Eve and the human race he will do it through the seed of the woman but there will be opposition from the seed of the Satan but finally the prophecy is made very clear God will use one who comes from the woman in a most remarkable fashion once when I was in the Congo staying with some American missionaries a snake slid across the floor of their house and being a brave Brit I was the first one out of the door at the other side but a very calm courageous 12 year old American missionary's son got the snake and smashed it on the head dead that's the way to kill the snake here is the suggestion no here is the prediction that our Lord Jesus Christ shall come into the world and there will be a conflict between him and between the devil he will eventually crush Satan's head but there will be a preliminary kickback you will strike his heel and when Jesus was born it wasn't long before Herod has intelligence and decrees the death of all the babes under two or the male child children in that area when our Lord commences his ministry the devil takes all his artillery and ranges it against him there's malice, there's craft, there's falsehood Jesus Christ enters into the territory of the evil one, he casts out demons and they speak to Jesus and say who are you, have you come to destroy us before the time Jesus sends out his disciples into the territory of evil and as they come back and give reports as to the way they've been successful in exorcisms Jesus said I saw Satan fall Jesus is always goading Satan, Jesus is always attacking Satan and there is the kickback the garden of Gethsemane, your hour is come, the hour of darkness and on the cross when all the foul fiends of hell are let loose against our Lord Jesus and the darkness that covers the cross is equaled by the darkness that there is within the heart of our Lord as he cries out Lam, Eloi, Eloi, lamas sabachthani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me it is by his stripes we are healed he's bruised he's broken, there is the kickback, the seed of Satan, endeavors to consume the Lord Christ but he defeats him and on the third day he's raised in the power of an endless life so when you get to the book of Revelation that mysterious book that concludes the Bible as we know it we read the great dragon was hurled down, that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan who leads the whole world astray, he was hurled to the earth and his angels with him, then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ you see it's on the cross and as a result of the resurrection that you and I have no need to cringe in the presence of God we come boldly before him, we can come out from behind the trees we can come out from behind our excuses, we can be honest before the Lord, here I am a vile and wretched sinner but I don't feel naked Lord God why not? not because of some stupid endeavor to patch a leaf upon leaf, so leaf upon leaf of good works and cover myself up no I can stand before God because I'm clothed in the forgiveness in the righteousness which Jesus Christ has granted to me look, and with this I bring this little study to a conclusion when Adam and Eve left the garden of Eden in what dress do you find them? God has dispensed with the aprons an animal has been killed and skins are placed around them I don't want to read more into that than scripture will allow but it is a consistent principle in the Old Testament and in the New Testament that without the spilling of blood there is no forgiveness it's God who caused the sacrifice at the end of Genesis 3 to be made as it is God the Father who sends into the world his only beloved son it is in meek humility and with a sense of contrition and repentance that Adam and Eve move out from Eden and live east of Eden amidst a world which is now hostile with thistles and with undisciplined growth with the problems of ecology and the problems of sociology just looming up into the distance and yet despite all the problems that they will face living east of Eden where they were not intended to live they have this lifeline that God has clothed them in skins blood has been spilt and the promise that one day somebody would come into the world to do for them what they could not do for themselves and all the typology and all the prophecy comes together and is fulfilled in our blessed and glorious Lord Jesus who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities but in that tremendous hour of his death and resurrection he delivers the fatal blow to the devil despoiling principalities and powers and gaining back for himself the ability not only to grant salvation now but ultimately to restore this world not back to its original glory but to lift it to a higher and greater glory here my friend is the first gospel and it's as good as the last gospel because actually there is only one gospel the remedy of God for human misdemeanor may you embrace it more and more let's bow our heads in prayer and then I think Linda Sherry's mum is going to come to the front and just bring an anthem or a song that fits in with what's been preached and then I pronounce the benediction and we shall go There is a Redeemer Jesus God's own Son Precious Lamb of God Messiah Holy O Holy One Jesus my Redeemer Name above all names Precious Lamb of God Messiah Hope for sinners slain Thank you O my Father for giving us your Son Believe in your Spirit till the work is done When we stand in glory we shall see his face and there we'll praise our Lamb forever and see his Holy Place Thank you O my Father for giving us your Son Believe in your Spirit Those of you that can read that's great, otherwise just follow me now it's nice if we can do a bit of clicking for this one and then if you make noises that's right clicking like that let's see how we do I'll tell you what, let's sing Beautiful Wonderful just the chorus and let's really enjoy singing to God and thanking him for the beautiful wonderful things that he's made, just the chorus first of all Beautiful Wonderful Glorious Things Beautiful Wonderful Glorious Things I just want to praise you with the songs that I sing for these beautiful wonderful glorious things Amen It's lovely, I think it's a little bit too fast for some of you little ones to get your mouths around the words so we just slow it down a little bit, we'll sing the chorus again and then we'll go through the verses and sometimes I'll think of some actions and sometimes I won't, you can invent your own actions that's fine and when we get to the chorus we'll click and if you want to you can sway as well because it's that sort of song isn't it that makes you want to sway a little bit just for the choruses, okay thanks Janice, I think you better stand up you children Sorry Beautiful Wonderful Glorious Things Beautiful Wonderful Glorious Things I just want to praise you with the songs that I sing for these beautiful wonderful glorious things You made the oceans blue You made the oceans blue With the itty bitty fishes that coasted me through The water spouting waves and the crocodiles The rivers that flow for miles and miles Ready to click Beautiful Wonderful Glorious Things Beautiful Wonderful Glorious Things I just want to praise you with the songs that I sing for these beautiful wonderful glorious things The trees so green You made the trees so green with the little hair the berries that came sing sing sing The apples and the oranges and the tangerines The flowers and the leaves past the holly leaves Glorious Things Beautiful Wonderful Glorious Things I think My family You made my family a very special place to live in for people such as you You can give yourselves a clap because you did really well If you're empty tummy rumbly You don't need your hides babies If it's lightning or it's a rain You don't stand beneath the trees If you climb the heights deep You don't fear the views and hell Unless you're best friends You don't treat it like a joke You don't run across the high street If you want to grow old You don't look down at your feet If you want to score a goal If it's raining If you want to know about today Don't put your mind all out of sight If you want to know what