Turn with me, please, in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 3. We will be looking at Genesis 3, 1 through 15, with particular attention to verse 15, which has been known for centuries as the first gospel. It's the first promise of the Savior. It's appropriate to start Christmas and start a series in Christmas talking about the gospel. Chapter 3 of verse 1, this is the Word of the Lord. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you must not touch it or you will die. You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were open. And they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 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? He answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid. 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, the woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it. Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 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. It's great. A great and living God, ever lasting father. We ask that you would add your blessing to the reading of this word and that you would enable me as your servant to preach the big story. Thank you that there is a big story, that you explain why the world is this way, that this is not a mere myth, this is not fiction, this is truth. Convince us, change us, warm our hearts by it for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and whose name we pray on the end. There's a man that I've come to know over the past few years who was raised in France, brilliant man, came to the United States to do his postgraduate work, ultimately getting his PhD, and found himself in Mississippi. This man was raised in an atheist household, no faith, no religion, and he moves into a house where people are good, church-going, misuscipients. He didn't know what to think at first. He started going to church with them some, and then he finally decided to read this Bible, and he opens up the first pages of the Bible, and he reads the very chapter we just read. And he is converted, his eyes were opened, and the reason they were opened, because he realized that within that chapter, within those words, he found the explanation of his own heart. He found the explanation of why the world is the way it is. He saw the only real explanation of why there is evil in the world. He saw the big story, the true history, and that's what Christmas is about. Christmas is the time that we step back, and we see the big picture of the Bible, that there was a time where there was a wonderful creation, that we lived in paradise, but then there was this great fall. There was a time before there was any fear. There was a time before there was any shame, but because of disobedience, shame, and fear, and death had entered the world, this is the explanation. It's time for us to think about the big story. Let me say this as we start to look at the big story. Some of you, some of us in this room, look at this story as though it's mythology. It's just another story from the ancient Middle East that is a mythological story to describe origins. Some of you look at it as an allegory or something else, and some of you have been in the church for years, and you want to follow Jesus Christ, and you believe the gospel, but you look at this as some detached story that doesn't mean anything to you in your life. Let me make a bold statement here. If this story is not history, then throw your Bible away. If this story is not historical, if this is not truth, if there is no real Adam, then you have no real Christ. This is the truth. Are we separated by history? Are we separated by cultures? Are we separated by language? Of course, this is a bizarre story to us, but it is very true. It's very true. There are some stories that we read, and there are some stories that read us. This is one of those stories. This is the big story that tells you who you are. This is the big story of hope. If you look at your outline, you see that this is the story where we see the problem. This explains it. The problem of the story is our first point. The second point, the hero of the story, also a promise in history. And then finally, the victory of the story. I want to encourage you, as you think about Christmas this year, that this is the year of the big story. That in this big story, you see your story. That is St. Clair Ferguson said, the entire Bible is a footnote to Genesis chapter three. So let's begin. And the first point, the problem of the story. This is not a story that's outside of us. It's the story that explains who we are, why we are the way we are, why the world is the way it is, and it's historical. And the first thing I want to look about the problem, look at about the problem, is alienation. Look at verse six with me in your Bibles. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing the eye, she took some of it and she ate it and she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. And then the eyes of both of them were open. And they realized they were naked for the first time. And they realized they were naked so they hid among the trees of the garden. They sewed fig leaves together. They hid from God and then this great meeting. Then the man and his wife heard something. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And they hid from Him. And God said, where are you? They disobey God's command not to eat of this tree. And the serpent comes to them. And their disobedient comes because they have believed a lie about God and about his character. God is not good. You heard this lie before? And God does not care about you. God will not provide for you. The reason God doesn't want to give this to you is because he wants you to be miserable. So they believe this lie and they eat of the tree and everything changes. They covered themselves and they hide from Him and they hear Him. Get this. Walking in the cool of the day. This language, the Hebrew text here, is implying that this walking that occurred was something that happened daily. It was something that Adam and Eve and God did all the time. That Eden is actually a prototype of, or actually the full disclosure of the temple, of the tabernacle, where God and man meet together. In fact, the tabernacle, the temple, the sanctuary, is a type of garden of Eden. That this is the place where they would come and they would walk and they would talk together. But then God asked this question in verse 9. And it echoes down through time. Listen to this. Where are you? Let me ask you this question. Do you think the God of all creation who made every speck of that garden? Do you think you knew where they were? Absolutely knew where they were. This is a question that was meant to reveal that they didn't know where they were. It revealed that they were hiding. Where are you? In other words, what has happened? The alienation. What has happened to our relationship? We come together and we walk in this place. We talk. We are close. Why are you hiding from me now? They hid themselves from God. And God comes to them and he pronounces a word of judgment that is passionate. Now oftentimes when we read this, we think of God as sort of cold and detached. And he's sort of wiping his hands and saying, get out of here. But that's not really the picture. One writer describes it this way. God is not a cold, detached person in the garden. Walking in the cool of the day. He's a broken, hearted, holy lover who has been betrayed. Where are you? Where are you hiding from me? And then Adam and Eve do what we have all done countless number of times. They begin to blame each other and blame everyone else that their relationship is one of alienation now. They've been alienated from God and now their relationship is broken and shattered. This is why we have this. This is why we live this way. This is why we hide from God. This is why we reject God. This is why we are alienated from Him is because of this moment, this time. And we ultimately don't even know ourselves. The fall brought an alienation from our own identities as people made in God's image. You know, you hear talk of people saying, going to find myself. There's almost a cliche now. He's going to go find himself. Well, you know what? That means midlife crisis, right? But you know, deep down, it's true of all of us. The search for identity. You know, teenagers, I can so remember, I know that I have a lot of gray hair, but it wasn't that long ago that I was a teenager. I remember that desperate search to say, who am I? What am I supposed to be? Who am I supposed to belong to? Who do I need to dress like? What do I need to say? What are the cool things that are in? What are the things that are out? Do you know that there was a time in history when humanity didn't have to search for an identity? They had an identity. And you know what that identity was? To walk with God in the cool of the day. But now that's been shattered. Why don't you know yourself? Why are your relationship strained? Why is your relationship with God strained? Why do we run away from him instead of running to him? We were created for him because of a great alienation that occurred. It's the big story. And it's your story. There's also a great enmity too. Indity. Look at verse 15. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed, literally, your seed and her seed. enmity is a different thing. It's different than just disliking someone. enmity is hatred to the death. You may, if you go to one school, you may hate another school, but you don't want to kill the other school, right? I hope not. enmity is what we see in places like the Middle East and other places. That the parties will only be satisfied when the other party is dead. And God is pronouncing enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. He said this will only end in death. This explains folks the whole Old Testament and all of history. It unlocks it. You know, Eve gave birth to a son and his name was Cain. And it's odd that the first child that's born to Eve is full of hatred and murder. The first son that's born to Eve, named Cain, is a seed of the serpent, and he destroys the seed of the woman. Able, his brother. There's the conflict in those brothers. Fast forward to Noah, where evil is rising on the face of the earth. And God makes his promise to this man named Noah and says that he will preserve, he and his family will preserve him. And tells him to create this big boat and everyone makes fun of him for a hundred years. Can you imagine being made fun of for a hundred years? The New Testament calls him a preacher of righteousness. And he is preserved. He is the enemy in his family. And everyone else is destroyed. It's the battle of the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. On to a man named Abram, who is from Er of the Caldys, he's from Iraq. And here is this pagan man, and God says I'm going to bless you. I'm going to give you a great promise. I'm going to make a covenant with you. And my seed, my seed, the one that will destroy the seed of the serpent will come from your line Abraham. And there's this battle going on and on throughout the Old Testament. You see it between Moses and Pharaoh, seed of the serpent, seed of the woman. David and Goliath, seed of the serpent, seed of the woman. That there is this battle of enmity and it rages on until this very day. And here's the encouragement for you. Your struggle, your battle, is not just your little battle. The struggle that you know, Christian, in this world, the temptations that you're going through, your life, is not against mere flesh and blood. There is a very real enemy. Paul says in Ephesians 6 that our battle is not against mere flesh and blood, but against rulers, and against powers, authorities of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Now look, here are two errors that you can make when dealing with demons and the devil. You can either say he doesn't exist and is so foolish, or you can think that he's around every single corner. You can either make too much of him, or you can make too little of him. Guess where we are? We have a very real enemy. And your battle is a part of a cosmic, cosmic battle. And you have an opponent that hates you. We need to wake up and realize that we are in a battle in a really bad way. We think we're in peace, and so our church is being ripped apart. People are being torn apart. They have all of these things going on in their lives. Folks, underneath this is a cosmic struggle of enmity. Paul says in 2 Corinthians that the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. And let me tell you, if today you're here and you've kind of drifted away from Christianity, you don't really believe all this, I'll come, but I don't believe all this. Let me just tell you, from a biblical standpoint, from a Christian history standpoint, the reason you don't believe is not just because you're smart. It's because you have an enemy who does not want you to believe. And that darkness is profound, that the hearts of our children, the hearts of our children are in the midst of a great cosmic battle. That's the problem. There is enmity. There is a real battle, there is a real enemy, and I can tell you, I can promise you. As I was preparing to teach this sermon, I could promise you that I knew somewhere down deep in my soul that the battle would only rage the more that I talk about it. The more that you uncover the deeds of darkness, the more that he will come after you. But folks, the battle doesn't stop there. We have a hero. I want to tell you about something. And I want you to keep in your mind the intensity of the battle, the enmity, that goes all the way back to the garden, folks. I want you to keep in your mind that sense of alienation that you know. It's part of your history. You know it. And the reason is because it started here. And the reality of the enmity that's in this world, and the evil that's in this world. I want you to hold that tension in your mind and I want to go to our second point to the hero. There's also a promise of the hero that Jesus is greater than the God of this age. Genesis 3, 15, I will put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and her seed and he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. There is a seed, a promised one. I'll never forget the first time I saw Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Give me a second. I have to get a drink of water before I talk about Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, it scared me to death because the villains, they weren't these monsters, but they were people wearing regular clothes and they were Nazis. And they were mean and they were cruel and I was scared of these guys. And they found the Ark of the Covenant, what in the world? And they were going to use it for evil purposes. Remember the movie? But then there was Indiana Jones and his leather cap. Do you remember? And his 5 o'clock shadow and his whip and that song. You know the theme song.
I remember running through my yard with a fake whip singing that song. People's faces were melting because it taps deep, deep folks. The need for a hero taps deep within your soul. Do you know why there are hero stories in every culture and in every age? Because we know we need someone to rescue us. That's why we love those songs. That's the reason we love those stories. That's what Jesus is. That's what the promise is right here in the garden that there will be a seed of the woman. We need a hero and we need him to be very, very great. We see little by little. I want to read you a few passages. That the entire Old Testament is talking about the great hero. The great promise of the hero. Listen to this. Isaiah 9. The people who are walking in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwell in the valley of the shadow of death, a light has dawn. For to us a child is born. To us a son is given. A son, a seed he shall be called. Wonderful counselor. Mighty God, everlasting father, the prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne forever. Justice and righteousness will be his. And then there are 400 years of silence between Malachi and the coming of John the Baptist relative of Jesus from Nazareth. And I wish I could play the Indiana Jones music as I read this to you. The Paul says in Galatians, when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law. And Matthew says, this is the genealogy. You gave genealogies of great people in the Bible. This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham, the son of David. The big story is true. And here is what is so wonderful about this folks. Yes, there are stories about heroes everywhere. Even during the time of the writing of Genesis, there are stories of heroes. And all throughout ancient history, there are stories of heroes. There are even stories of the dying God. There are those stories. But people, modern man, arrogantly looks at it and says, Christianity is just like every other religion. It's just another story to help people deal with their sense of alienation, with their sense of brokenness. And it's a great story, but it's not true. C.S. Lewis wrote a essay called Myth Become Fact. And I want you to listen to what he says about that very truth. The statement that Christianity is not true because there are many stories of saviors. He said, the heart of Christianity is a myth, which is also a fact. That is, it is a movie. That's true. The old myth of the dying God and other civilizations and in other times, without ceasing to be myth in Christianity, Christ comes down from heaven of legend. And imagination to the earth of history. It happens at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable consequences. And the difference we have between all of these other stories of heroes and the Indiana Jones is down through time, where we don't know where these people came from, or where they died, you cannot go to a place where they are from because they are false. Jesus Christ was crucified under a man named Pontius Pilate, this story of the hero, which is so wonderful, far more wonderful than Indy. It's true. Is it wonderful? Does it sound like the other hero stories? It's far greater. But Jesus Christ had an address. The hero has come. Here's what your Christmas is about this year. Can I be so bold to say that? Here's what I want it to be about. The story of enmity and alienation has been invaded by God, the real God, into space, time and history. The only hero that actually lived here had an address and he claimed to be God. And his name is Jesus from Nazareth. He is the true seed of the woman. Now that will make you see joy to the world differently. There is a problem, there is a hero, and this hero will be victorious. Look at your third point with me. We're looking through this, we need to open our eyes to the reality, to reality that we have been asleep so much of the time, to the battle that is raging, but to the hero that has come, and then finally to the victory that will be accomplished and has been accomplished. Genesis 315, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, he will bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God says that the seed of the woman, the one that comes in the fullness of time, he will kill and destroy the great enemy. There's only one person that can do it, who's very God, very God, who's also man. John answers the question for us so clearly in 1 John 3. He says, why did the Son of God appear? Why did the Son of God appear on the face of this earth? He tells us in 1 John 3, the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. And he is going to destroy the works of the devil. And by destroying the works of the devil and everything that happened in the garden, he is going to bring us back into the cool of the day where we walk with our Creator. No more shame, no more fear, no more hiding together where we're created to be. And he'll do this through a great victory. And this victory will come only because he will be struck. He will crush the head of the serpent but he will be struck on the heel because in order to enter back in the garden, if you'll know at the end of Genesis 3, there is a flaming sword that is going around the garden of Eden. And the chair of them are protecting this place. The only way that you can get back into the garden is to be struck. That's why Jesus came. What a hero that he will crush the head of the serpent. Do you know the birth of Jesus Christ, the advent? Jesus Christ did not come to this earth just to give us warm fuzzies in December. Or a vague sense of hope in Easter. Jesus Christ came because he is the king, whether we like it or not. And his arrival, you ever notice whether angelic hosts coming to the shepherds? Do you know why angelic hosts showed up in the Bible? That means it's wartime. There's a great army. You ever wonder why royalty and wise men are bringing him gifts and bowing to him? Because he is the king. You ever wonder why Herod, the seed of the serpent, wants to snuff out this one? Because the powers of darkness did not want him to succeed. In fact, they thought at the worst moment, at the lowest moment, they thought that they had won when Jesus Christ is hanging naked on a tree, a curse, but it was at that moment that Jesus Christ won his final victory. That all the powers of hell were conquered by Jesus on the cross. Folks, powers that you and I aren't even aware of, Paul says in Colossians 2, that he made a spectacle of powers that if we even had a hymn of, we would be terrified about. Powers that explained the battle, Jesus Christ made a spectacle of them. And he carried them in, he made a spectacle of them because he defeated them. And he did it by dying. I want to read you the words of a song that will be sung tonight, and I want to invite you all to come tonight, less as the carols. Listen to this. This little babe, so few days old, has come to rifle Satan's fold. All hell doth at his presence quake, though he himself with cold that shake. For in this week unarmed wise, the gates of hell he will surprise. We are no match for our enemies, but Jesus was. Jesus is. That's the big story folks. In closing, it's the big story that we need to make front and center in our Christmas this year. In the midst of all of the craziness and of all of the busyness, folks, this is what matters. We must not be distracted of what the big story is to find comfort in your story. There are books that you will buy and read more than once because you really like the story. Or movies that you will purchase and watch more than once because you like them so much. And you ever notice if it's a really good movie when the plot thickens when all of the fear and difficulty, you can kind of go back there and experience it, but you can get through it because you know how it ends in the midst of your story. You know how it ends. I'm telling you this morning that you know how the story ends. Jesus wins. Jesus is going to take you, Christian, back to paradise. That there will be peace on earth. It also means that we are in a battle. And because of this big story, we need to expect to be in a battle. What's happening to you? What is happening to you is common to man. You have an enemy, folks. It also means that we should be making sacrifices to proclaim the seed of the woman has come that the great king has come. You know what that means? It means going out and moving out into places where we're not comfortable and showing love to people who are poor, to showing people who are down and out, to people whose lives are messy because you know in the darkest places the light shines the brightest. It means that we should go with zeal to proclaim the gospel, not because we made it up because it is true. And then finally, how do you explain your story if you don't believe the big one?
How do you honestly explain your alienation from your creator? How do you explain your alienation from yourself? How do you explain your alienation in your relationships? How do you explain those relationships? The big story is true. And now is the time to believe it. That's right. Well, Jesus, we come to you and we thank you. We thank you that it's true. Lord, you find us. You find us in our darkness and you tell us the great truth that a great light has dawned. The light of the world has come. And you have shown your light into the darkness of our hearts and you have shown us the light of the cross where we can be saved. Lord, change us. Convert those who don't believe. Holy Spirit, you can. To all praise. To all praise and glory and honor be unto the land that was slain. The seed of the woman. His name, amen.