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,