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gather, we'll sing one or two
favorites. Hymn number 50, Once in Royal
David's City, Stood a Lonely Cattle Shed. We'll sing a couple
of verses of this, please. standing to the lowly mountain
chair, where the Father made her waiting in the manger for
his bed. Mary was the mother kind, Jesus
Christ her midwife, He came down to earth from heaven
to his Father, Lord of hosts, and his shelter holds us safe
and is free. Wonderful story of love, tell
it to me again. and to be again. Onward, O story
of love! With the immortal stream, angels
with rapture at night sing, chanters with wonder receiving. of love, though we are far away. Wonderful story of love, sending
a call today, calling from Calvary's mountains. Alleluia, alleluia. In a humble manger, I think we
all knew this one. A couple of verses of this. In a humble manger, said from
the Father above, Jesus Christ, Jesus, Jesus, oh, what a wonderful
day! He has no eternal rest. world we make. One is the King
above them, and by His star in the sky. All who make love in
Him worship Him there. Jesus, the Lord from on high. Jesus, Jesus. What child is this who laid to
rest on Mary's lap with sleeping? is singing, and angels greet
with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping. This, this
is Christ the King, while shepherds guard and angels sing. they make the sound of many rings. My eyes, here, in such meaning
see, where alms and gladness are feeding, where grace can
feed His silent word is meaning. This, this is Christ the King,
whom shepherds guard and angels sing. He stays to bring him laud,
the Name, the Son of Man. O come, all ye faithful, joyful,
triumphant, to Bethlehem hasten now with glad accord. O come, all ye faithful, joyful,
♪ Lo, with a manger lies the King
of Angels ♪ ♪ O come, let us adore Him ♪ ♪ O come, let us
adore Him ♪ ♪ O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord ♪ God speed. God speed. O come, let us adore him, O come,
let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. Great, great choirs of angels,
songs of lifeless Through heavens, high arches, we your praises
call. God to our God be. Glory in the
highest. O come, let us adore him. This, sorry, this was going to
be, Mr. Parks said, don't be saying anything.
My mistake, hands up. My glasses weren't strong enough.
This was supposed to be the opening hymn. I apologize. I'm not used
to this. We are very glad to have in our
congregation tonight Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Johnson from
England. Mrs. Johnson is Mr. Park's sister. And we're going to ask Stephen,
if he'll make his way to the pulpit, and after we sing this
final verse, to lead us in prayer tonight, please. So, we'll stand
for the final verse. Lord, for our salvation. O Jesus, forever be my name adored.
Word of the Father, now in prayer. O come, let us adore him, Christ
the Lord. Let us come before the Lord in
prayer. Let us pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, we
thank you that we do not have access to earthly kings, but
we have access through our dear Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And we
thank you, Lord, that we know that we are heard because we
come in the name of our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you, Lord, that
the very hairs on our head are numbered. We thank You, Lord,
that You call Your own sheep by name and You lead us forth.
We thank You, Lord, at this Christmas time for the remembrance of the
Incarnation. Our dear Lord, who was in heaven
from all time, came on earth and was born in a manger. And
He lived a perfect life, a life without sin, And He laid down
His life on the cross for our sins. And we thank You, Lord,
that with His stripes we are healed. And we thank You, Lord,
that we walk this earth with Him. And we know that He has
gone to prepare a place for us. And one day we'll go to be with
Him. Lord, we pray that You'd bless this time together. Help
us to worship You in spirit and in truth. Bless your servant
as your words are sent forth. We pray that you would build
up your people in their most holy faith. And if there's any
that don't know you this evening, Lord, we pray that you would
do a work of grace in their lives and draw them into the kingdom,
that there might be rejoicing in heaven and rejoicing on earth. Forgive our sins now, Lord, we
pray, and be with us, for we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Stephen, thank you for leading
us to the throne of grace. Our second hymn tonight is hymn
number 85, Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown. Standing to sing. Thy throne and thy kingdom come,
when thy name is heard for me. Thou in Bethlehem's home wast
a kind Lord, for thy holy utility. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
where And torches bright when the angels
sigh, O waving thy royalty free! God of holy birth, praise our
Lord on earth, and in great humility. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
there is room The foxes are rest, and the birds
their rest, in the shade of the cedar tree. But thy Christ was
a song, O thy Son of God, in the deserts of Galilee. O come
to my heart, Lord Jesus, Our name is the Lord with the
living Word, that should set thy people free. Love with all being strong and
true. before thee to Calvary. Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
thy cross is my only need. Final verse. When heaven's arches
frame and earth's fires shall sing, Then thy voice call me home,
saying, Yet there is room, there is room at my side for thee. And my heart shall rejoice, Lord
Jesus, when thy power Well, I want to welcome everyone
tonight to the meeting. Good to see all who have gathered.
This is one of our special services throughout the month of December.
We welcome our Ukrainian friends. They have come this evening.
They swapped over today. They had their own service this
morning with a view of reaching other Ukrainians who live in
Northern Ireland that they can travel in in the earlier part
of today. And so some of them are with
us tonight, and we welcome you very, very especially to the
meeting. Good to see Linda and the twins in tonight, and we
trust that they'll be blessed. And other visitors that are here,
welcome in the Savior's name. And if you're joining us on the
internet, and we do have an audience that listen in every week, we're
so glad to have those that are on YouTube, Sermon Audio, or
on Facebook. Now, supper will be served out
in the fellowship area. You're welcome to stay for a
cup of tea and something to eat, and a wee time of fellowship
and friendship together. This afternoon, these Sunday
afternoons, we're going into different homes to sing to the
older people in the residential and nursing homes of Ballymunny,
particularly. And I want to thank those who
came and sang with us, including the children. And there was a
very strange resident in one of the homes today, and his name
is Mr. Bassett, I think. Is that what
you call him? And some of the children, they wanted to pose
for a photograph with this licorice allsorts guy. Tomorrow morning
is the Hebron Tots at 10 o'clock. Tomorrow evening is our discipleship
class. Recently folks have been saved,
and we're having these classes for them, and others who feel
the benefit of coming, and that's at 8 o'clock. There's one more
this year on the 16th, and for a number of months next year
we'll continue with these classes. Thursday night is our midweek
service. Lucci Bongio and his family in
Graziella are traveling here on Wednesday, and they're going
to be in Northern Ireland for a week. And so, a report will
be brought from Lucci on Thursday night. He will sing and his family
will sing, and there'll be special prayer for our youth ministry.
Thursday needs to be a preparation day for Friday. On Friday, we're
having the schools coming in for a carol service, and we're
feeding them, we're giving them lunch, and so we need to prepare
boxes, and there'll be a carton of juice, there'll be a chocolate
caramel wafer, there'll be a packet of tatoe, cheese and onion, or
other flavors. Tatoe's the best, isn't it? You
might disagree with that, but Northern Ireland's very famous
for its tater crisps. And then there's going to be
a hot dog as well. But we assured our congregation this morning
that the hot dogs will not be put in the day before. They will
be cooked fresh on Friday morning. But from 10 o'clock onwards,
we need to prepare the boxes. There's over 600 pupils and staff
that are coming to the service. And so there's a lot of preparation.
What we don't get done On the Thursday morning, we will finish
after the prayer meeting on Thursday night, and the rooms and that
need to be all set out right from the Bible classroom through
the church hall into the fellowship area for the children to be properly
and safely accommodated for their lunch. We appreciate whatever
help that you can give. We want you to be very much in
prayer as you have been for this special service. We did it for
the first time last year. It was very successful in the
sense that the schools were responsive. The children came. We had about
400 last year, and there's an increase this year. Some extra
schools are coming. And so, therefore, let's really
pray that God will bless what we do with them, the presentation
of the gospel that we give to them. I had the privilege of
speaking to the children last year, and Christina Logan has
been asked if she will come this year. She's our children's evangelist
in this area, and she will be speaking to the boys and girls.
Friday is also the Sunday school Christmas party. It's seven o'clock
for the children of our Sunday school. At the same time, our
youth fellowship will be coming in, and this is a night that
they visit around the seniors of the congregation and give
them a little gift from the church. Saturday evening is the Christmas
dinner. And this year, we're traveling
a little further than we normally do, down to Ballymena, to the
Tully Glass Hotel. And you need to make sure, if
you're going, your name is on the list by tonight. Now, some
people need transport. And therefore, it was suggested
to me this evening that the minibus go. We've got a driver for that.
If there's anyone else that would need to be transported to the
dinner and back again, and you need the bus, please just let
us know. Next Lord's Day begins with the
early time of prayer at 8 o'clock. The Sunday school is at 10.30,
Bible class at a quarter to 11, the worship service at 12 noon. In the afternoon, we're going
to two homes, Knockin Lodge at 3 o'clock and the Covenanters
Flats at 3.45 with the carol singers from the church. In the
evening, it's our Christmas Youth and Children's Night at 7, and
there's a prayer meeting at 6.30. We encourage you to get to that.
But members of the church will take part next Sunday night.
The Hebron Choir will sing, the Hebron Youth Choir will sing,
the Sunday School Choir the Ukrainian Sunday School Choir, the Bo and
Gio family, and Lucia and Rebecca have a piece to sing as well.
Supper will also be served. And ladies, if you can do what
you've done tonight and last week and bring in the eatables. On Monday, the 16th of December,
at least three schools will be visited with the Bo and Gio family. And Luci and his wife and two
children, and Graziella, will be going to these schools. And
they'll have a presentation, more of a Romanian presentation,
to make to them. On Tuesday, the 17th of December,
the senior fellowship that day will have their Christmas tea
at 11. And the family from Romania will be there with them. On Tuesday,
the 17th in the evening, the carol singers will be going around
the doors of our shut-ins, and then as they do by tradition,
come back to the manse for refreshments. Wednesday, the 18th of December,
the Sunbeam's Christmas play will take place here at the church
at 10 o'clock. And then the Hebron carol service,
just looking two weeks from today at seven o'clock, members of
the church taking part again, the choir, the Youth Challenge
Choir, that's the children from Tuesday night, the Ukrainian
Choir, the Word of Truth, Rebecca. There'll be a piano recital from
our sister, Diane, our pianist. She'll be playing that night.
We look forward to it. One final announcement just to
make this evening, and that's to do with the book that has
been published. It's the third book of its kind, entitled 100
Days of Encouragement and Exhortation. And you can get that book here
tonight, or at any time when you're at the church, or you
can get it at Macaulay's Bookshop. And we thank them for accommodating
us there. All the proceeds will go to the
poor and the needy of Romania. Now, we have a shorter program
tonight. We're delighted that some of our young people from
the Youth Fellowship will read God's Word, and one of our young
people will also do a piano recital for us, and our Hebrew Enquirer
will sing. First of all, we have a reading.
And we're going to ask Leah Atkinson if she will come and bring that
reading for us. So, Leah, thank you. And immediately
after that, Rebecca Ray. Rebecca will be giving to us
a recital tonight. Thank you. We are reading from Matthew chapter
1, verse 18 to 25. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on the wise, when, as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph
before they came together, she was found with a child of the
Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thy son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from
sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took
unto him his wife. And he knew her not till she
had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. you you you you you I'd like to thank Leah for reading
the Scriptures and for Rebecca for playing so skillfully and
beautifully tonight. I don't know whether they will
have pianos in heaven, but I hope I'll be able to play the piano
in heaven. Some people might say, well,
you can't do it now. We've always played a little bit. Whenever
I was a child, I used to play. We had a piano at home, and I
went to some music lessons, but I could always play better by
ear than I could by music, and so I just gave up doing any lessons. I'm so delighted that my sister's
here tonight and Stephen, and we've been praying for Stephen.
Stephen's come through a lot of health issues and cancer treatment,
but he's doing well. We're thankful for the Lord's
touch in his life. But just to tell you the story about my oldest
sister, her name's Audrey. She wouldn't be here very often,
but that's why I'm delighted to have them here tonight. Whenever
I was playing as a little boy the piano, she put in a very
special request. She asked me, can you play On
a Hill Far Away? All right, I'll take some of
you a wee bit of time just to work that out. I tried to play,
and then I realized what she was actually saying, and I couldn't
find that hill far away. But anyhow, we're going to have
another Bible reading. Arthur Newell is going to read
the Scriptures, and then our choir is going to sing, and then
with one final Bible reading, and Catherine Macaulay is going
to read God's Word, and we'll take them just in that order.
First of all, Arthur. Thank you. Luke chapter 1, verses 26 to
31. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto the city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel
came in unto her and said, that art highly favoured, the Lord
is with thee, blessed art thou among women. saw him, she was troubled at
his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this
could be. And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt
call his name Jesus. Joy to the world, the Lord is
come, let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room,
and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven
and heaven and nature sing. No more let sin and sorrow grow,
nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings
flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far
as, far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth
and grace and makes the nation the glories of His righteousness,
and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders,
and wonders of His love. You. ♪ Christmas in your heart ♪ Make
it Christmas in your heart ♪ Open wide the door and let Jesus in
your heart ♪ As the Savior looks today ♪ Will you coldly turn
away was, making Jesus in your heart. Jesus came to earth and laid
aside his grisly crime. Came to his creation, yet our
root could not be found. At this special time of year,
the call is heard anew. Will you hear his pleading voice? Let Christ be born in you. Christmas in your heart. Make it Christmas in your heart. Open wide the door and let Jesus
in your heart. As the Savior walks today, will
you calmly turn away, this Christmas, making Jesus in your heart? You may sing the carols that
exalt the baby's name, But when Jesus calls to you, the answer
still will stay. There's no room for Jesus, He
is grounded out again. Will you open wide your heart
and let the Savior in? Christmas in your heart. Make it Christmas in your heart. Open wide the door and let Jesus
in your heart. As the Savior loves today. Will you coldly turn away? This Christmas, making Jesus
in your heart. This Christmas, making Jesus
in your heart. I'll be reading from Luke chapter
1, starting at verse 34. Then said Mary unto the angel,
how shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered
and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore, also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. Verse 46. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For
he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold,
from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he
that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his
name. and his mercy is on them that
fear him from generation to generation. He has shown great strength with
his arm. He has scattered the pride in
the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from
their seats and exalted them of low degree. He has filled
the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away. Thank you very much, Catherine. Thank you, Arthur, for reading
the scriptures. And of course, to the choir for
singing those beautiful pieces. May the Lord make them a blessing.
We come to bring our tithes and offerings to the Lord. If you
didn't come prepared for an offering, don't worry about it. Just pass
the collection plate on to the next person. We're going to sing
together 264, keeping our seats for the opening part of the hymn. In loving kindness, Jesus came,
my soul in mercy. to reclaim. Ring out in kindness, Jesus, ring. My soul in mercy turn. From sleeping sound he lifted
me, with tender hand he lifted me from chains of life and death. O praise his name, ye that fear
him! Ring, all ye loud! The Lord will say, what will
I do? If at His word, Lord, You deal
with me. From sin and death, He lived
with me. With tender hand, He lived with
me. From chains of life. O gracious name, give it clearly. His purple streams, with many
a pour, resounds my grief. with love he lifted me. From sin he set, he lifted me
with tender hand. Let's all stop for the final
verse. My soul I know to dwell, yet
far or wide I cannot tell. He should have lifted me from
sleeping sound. He lifted me with tender hand. Let's open our Bibles to Genesis
3 for our reading tonight. Genesis chapter 3, and we'll begin to read at verse
1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea,
hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
The woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden, But of the fruit of the tree, which is in
the midst of the garden, God has said, ye shall not eat of
it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent
said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. For God doth
know that in the day that ye eat thereof, your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took off the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave
also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." And the eyes
of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and
they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the
garden. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked,
and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? The man said, The woman
whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and
I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the
woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord said
unto her, Unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field,
upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust 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 shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman
he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it, curse it is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow, shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field. In the sweat of thy face thou
shalt eat bread till thou return unto the ground. For out of it
was thou taken, For thus thou art, and unto thus shalt thou
return.' And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she
was the mother of all living." And we're ending our reading
there, and we do trust that the Lord will bless His Word to every
heart. I'm going to bow together and
seek the Lord just in a wee moment of prayer. and ask His help and
His blessing upon the preaching of the Word this evening. Our
God and our Father, we thank you for this service and for
all who have taken part. Thank thee for the joy that is
in our hearts as we think of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior
of men, the one who came into the world 2,000 years ago to
be the Savior, to give himself as an offering for our sin, to
die the sinner's death, to take our place fully, that we might
be reconciled to God. And we thank thee for your word
tonight that we've read. And we pray that you'll bless
it to us and help us to hear what God is saying to our hearts.
Bless this congregation, all who have come, May there be a
word for each one, and give me the help that I need to bring
the message. Fill me now with God the Holy
Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. I announced this morning that
I want to speak on the very first promise of the Savior, and we've
read it here in God's Word tonight. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse
15, where the Lord says, 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 heel." Many of the wonderful
and the glorious promises of a Savior who would come into
the world that we have in the Bible. The Old Testament Scriptures
are full of types, shadows, symbols, promises, and wonderful prophecies
concerning the first coming of Christ, as well as the second
coming. And I suppose we will automatically
think about the predictions of the prophets, and we have in
the Bible What the prophets had to say, we have four main prophets,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and then we have the
12 minor prophets, and many of them speak so vividly about that
day when Jesus Christ would come into the world to be the Savior
of man. And maybe your thoughts tonight
are immediately and particularly drawn to Isaiah, Isaiah the evangelical
prophet, because he speaks so clearly about the days of Christ.
If you're at the early morning prayer meeting this morning,
you will know that we read from the prophecy of Isaiah. Let me
just read some of the verses that we thought about at the
prayer meeting. First of all, in Isaiah chapter
7 and verse 14, The Lord himself shall give a sign. Behold, a
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel." What a beautiful prophecy and promise concerning the coming
Savior. When you go into chapter 9, you
have these words in verse 6 and 7. "'For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon a shoulder,
And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase
of His government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne
of David and upon His kingdom to order it and to establish
it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.
the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." And you go
on into the chapter, or into the book of Isaiah, and what
Isaiah had to say, especially in Isaiah 53, I'm sure known
to every Christian here tonight, the wonderful prophecy about
the Lord's coming, and particularly His death, how that He would
be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and
so forth. And we think of how in the previous
chapter we read about the visage of Christ being marred more than
any man, speaking about the terrible sufferings that were to be led
upon the Savior who would come. For others, your thoughts might
fly away to the Messianic Psalms, which speak so vividly of a Savior
who would come into the world to live, to suffer, and to die
upon the cross. And you might think of Psalm
22 or Psalm 69, pointing so vividly to the cross, to the redemptive
work of Christ, to His sufferings and His sacrifice. However, tonight
I'm going to take you back some 6,000 years to the very first
promise of a Savior. It's the beginning of creation,
when everything was beautiful and pure and delightful There
was no sin. God had created man in perfection,
spotlessly pure, as pure as God Himself, for Adam was made in
the image of God, and that image was holy and righteous and perfect. It's hard to imagine a world
without sin, isn't it? You look out into every nation.
and we see sin abounding in every hand. From our own town here
in Balamony to the most distant place on planet earth, sin is
abounding. But there was a time when there
was no sin whatsoever in the world, at the beginning when
God made all things, when God saw that everything that He had
made was very good, as Genesis chapter 1 and verse 31 tells
us. God provided for Adam everything to make him happy, contented,
satisfied, and fulfilled. He gave him a day of rest, the
Sabbath day. He gave him a beautiful home,
a beautiful environment to live in, in the Garden of Eden. He
gave him all good food to eat and to enjoy. He gave him a pleasant
climate, not like what we've experienced this past few days
with all the rain and all the terrible stormy weather that
has come here to Northern Ireland. But there, before the fall of
man, before sin entered into the world, it was a beautifully
peaceful climate to live in. There wasn't even any rain, we
believe. all the earth was watered by the dew and by the rivers
that were there in the garden or flowed through the garden
of Eden. The Lord gave him a helpmate,
a wife. Eve was brought into the world
gave him a job to do, to tend to the garden, gave him a task
in naming all the animals, and gave him sweet fellowship with
deity. Just imagine those days when Adam talked with God, walked
with the Lord every day. When God came, it seems, in the
cool of the evening, just to fellowship with His creation,
with Adam and with Eve upon the earth. There was one command
that God gave to Adam, and that was not to eat of the forbidden
fruit, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And there was
a punishment if he disobeyed. In the day that he would eat
thereof, he would surely die. A death sentence was decreed
by God if Adam disobeyed his commandment. A dark day. overtook the human race when
Adam fell from his original state of righteousness. Eve was the
first one that was tempted. The serpent came to her, the
weaker vessel, as the Bible calls woman, and challenged her about
eating the fruit off the tree that was in the midst of the
garden. He tried to suggest to Eve in some way that God didn't
really love her, that God didn't really care for her. that indeed
God had withheld something from her and Adam that would make
them wise and more understanding and even powerful. They would
be as gods. Sadly, Eve listened to the voice
of the devil. She took of the forbidden fruit.
She gave also to her husband and he did eat, and so sin entered
into the world. The Bible reminds us wherefore
as by one man, Adam, our representative, sin entered into the world, and
death by sin. The punishment came immediately,
for immediately Adam died. He didn't die physically, that
would come. And he was also liable to eternal
death, but that moment that he disobeyed the Lord, he died spiritually. He was cut off from the fellowship
of God that he had once enjoyed. He used to walk with God in the
cool of the evening. He enjoyed sweet fellowship with
his Maker, but that was all gone. And the Lord came looking for
him, searching for him. And when Adam heard the voice
of God, he hid himself among the trees of the garden. But
God called him out of his hiding place and challenged him about
his sin, and we know what followed. As a result of sin coming into
the world, the curse came. The serpent, the devil, was cursed,
the ground was cursed, for it would bring forth thorns and
thistles. Man came unto the curse of the
fall also, for now woman would suffer in childbirth. Unto the woman he said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou
shalt bring forth children. And Adam himself would now labor
with the sweat of his face, the sweat of his brow. However, no
sooner had man sinned against God than the Lord in love and
in grace promised the Savior. That's what I want to talk to
you about just for a little time tonight, the very first promise
of the Savior. We call it the Proto-Evangel. Proto meaning first, evangel
is the word for gospel. Here's the first promise of the
gospel, the gospel that is all about Jesus Christ. What we have
in our text is a prophecy concerning the Savior, something that would
happen 4,000 years later with the incarnation, with the coming
of Jesus into the world. That is what we are celebrating
at this time of the year, and I want you to know about the
Savior. I want to tell you tonight about
the One who came to redeem you, who came to save you from your
sin. to call you from the darkness
of this world into the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
to take you off the broad road that leads to destruction and
set your feet upon the narrow road that leads to heaven. I want you to know, before you
leave this meeting tonight, that you can be saved by the grace
of God. And we're going to think about
the gospel as we have it in the first promise of the Savior.
I want to suggest to you, first of all, that we have the mercy
of this promise. When we read a text like this,
we are reading about the love, the grace, and the mercy of Almighty
God. What should God do? Man has sinned
against Him. Man has failed Him, has disobeyed
Him. What does man deserve? A man
deserved to be cast out forevermore, not just to die physically, but
to die spiritually and eternally. That's what all men deserve. The Almighty, He came in love
and in mercy, and He gave this promise of a Savior who would
come into the world. In loving kindness, Jesus came,
my soul in mercy to reclaim. And from the depths of sin and
shame, through grace, he lived in me. It is a wonder that God
would step into the history of this world right at the beginning
of time and give such a gracious promise. In the fullness of time,
one would come into the world to be the Savior of man, and
his name is Jesus. We looked at that wonderful name
this morning. The angel said, thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. In the very
name given to Him, we have reflected the great work that He came to
do. He came to be the Savior, and
He became the Savior in living a perfect life of obedience on
our behalf. and dying an atoning death upon
the cross of Calvary. I want you to know that there's
mercy for you tonight. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what background
you come from. It doesn't matter what sins you
have committed. It doesn't matter how far away
from God you might be. There is a remedy for you. in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
mercy for you tonight. Let me remind you of the wonderful
conversion story of John Newton, who penned the beautiful hymn,
Amazing Grace. It was one night on a stormy
sea, or off the northwest coast of this island, the island of
Ireland. Newton thought that he was going
to die, It was a little bit like Friday and Saturday. Terrible
storm had come, and the waves of the sea had been beaten into
a fjord. His mother was a godly woman
who taught her child the things of God, taught young John the
gospel, taught him how to pray, but she died when he was just
age seven. He had only two years of school,
and at the age of 11, his father, who was a sea captain, took him
to sea for the first time, and his seafaring life is well known,
the scoundrel that he became, the wicked young person that
he developed into. His conversion took place on
the 10th of March, 1747. That 10th of March, says Newton,
is a day much to be remembered by me, and I have never allowed
it to pass unnoticed since the year 1748. For on that day the
Lord came from on high and delivered me out of deep waters. The storm was terrific. When
the ship went plunging down into the trough of the sea, few on
board expected it to rise up again. The hold was rapidly filling
with water. As Newton hurried to his place
at the pumps, he said to the captain, if this will not do,
then the Lord have mercy upon us. And his own words startled
him. Mercy? He said to himself in
astonishment, mercy, mercy, what mercy can there be for me? This
was the first desire I had breathed for mercy for many years. About
six in the evening, the hold was free from water and then
came a gleam of hope. I thought I saw the hand of God
displayed in our favor. I began to pray. I could not
utter the prayer of faith. I could not draw near to a reconciled
God and call Him my Father. My prayer for mercy was like
the cry of the ravens, which yet the Lord does not disdain
to hear. In the gospel, says Newton, I
saw at least a paraventure of hope, but on every other side
I was surrounded with black, unfathomable despair. On the
paraventure of hope, Newton staked everything. He sought mercy and
he found it. And John Newton's testimony is
this. By the grace of God, I am what I am. This is my testimony. This is my confession of faith.
This is my hope. It is certain that I am not what
I ought to be, but blessed be God, I am not what I once was. God has mercifully brought me
up out of the sea, the deep Mary clay, and set my feet upon the
rock, Christ Jesus. He has saved my soul, and now
it is my heart's desire to extol and honor His matchless, free,
sovereign, and distinguishing grace, because by the grace of
God, I am what I am. It is my heart's great joy to
ascribe my salvation entirely to the grace of God, 1 Corinthians
15 and 10. He went on to pen his testimony
hymn. And as your testimony tonight,
isn't it also, if you're a child of God, amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind, but now I see. Can I ask you, have you experienced
the mercy and the grace of God? Do you know the one who stepped
into human history 2,000 years ago to be the Redeemer of men? because my friend, you can come
to know Him, and you can come to experience this mercy. Secondly,
there's the miracle, just very quickly, the miracle of this
promise. This first promise proclaims
a wonderful miracle, and it is the miracle of what we call the
incarnation, and that is God becoming man, taking upon Himself
human flesh. A woman would conceive and bring
forth a son, She would bring forth a man-child. This is a
declaration of what would happen 4,000 years later after this
promise was given. Jesus Christ would come into
the world. He would be made of a woman. He would become truly
human. He would possess not only a divine
nature as God, but he would possess a human nature as man. This is the greatest miracle.
that has ever taken place in human history. in the history
of the entire world and universe. There have been many great miracles
during the process of time, miracles that we read about in God's precious
Word. But here is the greatest miracle
of all, when deity joined itself to our humanity in the incarnation,
in the God-man, when God planted the seed of divinity in the womb
of the Virgin Mary. when the Holy Spirit overshadowed
her, and that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost. This, my friend, is the greatest
miracle. God becomes man, and He dwells among us. And if that
happened and it did, there must have been some mighty purpose
in God becoming man, and that's to do with our salvation that
we've noticed already. And then thirdly, there's the
manifestation of this promise. The Scripture speaks about a
bruising of the heel of the seed of the woman and the crushing
of the head of the serpent. Where did that take place? It
took place at Calvary. It was there at the place called
Golgotha, the place of the skull, that the heel of the Lord Jesus
was bruised. But praise God, the head of the
serpent, the devil, was bruised, or crushed. Praise God, he was
defeated. Doesn't John tell us, for this
cause the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works
of the devil? And this leads us to the suffering
and the agony of the blessed Savior when he died for us. Here
is the great promise of the incarnation. Jesus came to die. Jesus was
born to die. Jesus lived. to die. His whole ministry came to a
climax at the cross when He laid down His life for His sheep,
when He paid the price for our sin, when He suffered that we
might not suffer, when He took our hell that we might not go
there, when He took the punishment of God upon Himself so that we
would not be punished, when the wrath of God fell upon Him instead
of us." Oh, this Christmastime, if you have any thought about
the Savior coming into the world, if you have any contemplation
of the incarnation If you have any regard of what happened 2,000
years ago, my dear friends, I say to you tonight, do not miss,
do not miss the reason of his birth, to die, to die for us,
to die in our place, to pay the price for our sin, to shut the
gates of hell and open the gates of heaven. And this is something
that we must receive by faith. And this is something that you
must receive tonight. And it's our prayer, God's people
that are here, that you will come to this Savior. that you
will come to know Him as your Savior, and this Christmastime
you might close in with the offer of His mercy and grace and find
Christ. That's the desire of our heart.
That is what we've been praying for as we hold these special
meetings in December, that the One who came from the heights
of glory in fulfillment to this very first promise that was given
in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 might become your Savior. Do you know Him? Is He your Savior
tonight? Praise God, He can be. You must
come to Him in faith. Will you do that? Will you do
it now? Will you do it tonight before you leave this church
building? I trust that you will. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we thank You for Your precious Word. We thank You for the promise
of a Savior given in the midst of the darkness of the fall when
God could have abandoned the world could have forsaken His
creation, could have said goodbye to Adam and to Eve forever, and
justly so, and yet in His mercy, love, and grace He opened up
a way of salvation. He gave this wonderful promise
that there would be one who would come to defeat the devil and
to defeat sin in our lives forevermore. His name is Jesus, and we thank
you for that. There are some among us here and listening in
on the internet who do not know Christ. Lord, we pray that they
will see that He is a wonderful Savior and can save them from
their sin. save them from the penalty and
the punishment of sin, but also save them from their sins in
this life, that they might live a victorious, God-glorifying
life. May they come to Him. May they
come to know Him tonight, in Jesus' name. Amen. I thought it would be appropriate
to sing Newton's hymn in closing, that hymn of amazing grace, How
sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I'm going to sing down
these verses. They're full of testimony, but
it's victory all the way, isn't it? Let's sing with joy as we
close this service tonight. Praise God's sacred song, the
Savior praise thy King! Thy walls, O Lord, crowned with glory, now I see, those grace that taught
my heart to fear and grace my fear to fear. in the praise of thee, the honor
I first believed. Through many dangers, horrors,
and scares, I have already come. God, we say thus far, and praise
will lead me home. The Lord has promised good to
me, his word My shield and portion be, as
long as I live to. I shall possess within the veil
a life of joy and peace. The earth shall soon dissolve
like snow. will be forever mine. And we
may learn to love. Many years ago, when I was in
the town of Tavistock, leading a group of young people
on outreach. It was a youth council outreach.
It's a very, very difficult place, very, very dark place going around
the doors. There was little interest in
the gospel, but I always remember an open air that was conducted.
And one of the students who had a lovely voice, he sang this
hymn. And that was the first thing
that really got the attention of the people. because they stopped,
many of them, they stopped and they listened to this hymn of
testimony about God's amazing grace. And even out there among
people who don't go to church, it's a hymn that's known, and
I just pray that people will come to really understand it
and come to know and experience God's amazing grace. Lord, may
it be so. Bless Your Word. Bless the message
to every heart. Enlighten sinners. bring them
to the place where they see their need of a Savior, and flee to
Him, that they might experience grace in the sight of the Lord.
Dismiss us now with your blessing, and in your favor, bless the
refreshments to us, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. So, So,
The First Promise of a Saviour
- The MERCY of this Promise
- The MIRACLE of this Promise
- The MANIFESTATION of this Promise
| Sermon ID | 128241854176037 |
| Duration | 1:25:56 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Genesis 3:1-20 |
| Language | English |
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