Old Voices New Beginings: Part 1.

Introduction

Merry Christmas and welcome to our Christmas Series for the year. This year our theme is “Old Voices and New Beginnings”. In this series we are going to be going through prophecies in the Old Testament that were given about the one that God would send to heal the rift between mankind and God and then look forward to how Christ ultimately fulfilled those words giving us the greatest signals of God’s love that humanity ever recieved.

Tension

You see, we, as followers of Christ in the age we live in, are recipients of enormous benefits on this side of the cross. I say this every year but we often take for granted what it feels like to have the perspectives we have always having seen Christ as messiah. Before this the people longed for the messiah, hoping, praying, that they would see him in their lifetime. They wondered would he come as a political leader? A military messiah? A divine being of supernatural might? Would he powerfully mighty or mighty powerful? Would his enemies flee before him or bow in submission? All they knew is that he would be for them. He would come and bring new heights and prosperity to the Jewish people. Little could they have known that he would come and fulfill God’s plan in the most unassuming way they never would have imagined. This series is looking back at these old statements about the coming messiah and how they point towards Jesus fulfillment in ways that they never would have imagined. Today we start off echoing the words of Charles Dickens, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Genesis tells us many things from the origins of everything to the creative power of God but it also tells us of the greatest blunder humanity ever made. The one that kicked it all off the cliff and broke perfect creation. We are, of course, speaking of the fall found in Genesis 3. We will read this over today but I also want to point out, that in the midst of the darkest chapter a kernel of light was still planted to point towards hope. Lets read this morning, Genesis 3, starting in verse 1.

Truth

Genesis 3:1–15 (ESV)

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,

3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Pray

Exposition

This story is one of the most famous in the history of the church as it gives us insight into God’s creative work as well as one of the central questions of our existence, “What is wrong with the world?” Most world religions and beliefs take stabs at answering this question in various ways, but isn’t it interesting that they almost all seem to agree that something is in fact wrong with the world? War, sickness, famines, hatred, greed, abuse, poverty, homelessness, it doesn’t take much research to find out that something seems to be broken. Even if you’ve not taken part in any of those things you probably feel the weight of these things in your own life.

I was talking with a group of men the other day who asked a heavy question, “Why does it all have to be so hard?” Like everyday seems to expound upon the next and the weight gets overwhelming. Pay off one bill and two pop up, have a great day with one of the kids and another melts down, get a project finished to find out your missed a deadline, say something encouraging to a person only to find it backfires in a way you never meant and we feel it all more and more getting us one more step from Eden. We feel this as well as see it. In this passage the weight of all this pain is found. Breaking it down we see Satan, we see the woman and the man, and we see God’s response. Lets unpack it together.

The Adversary

Satan separated. He separated the woman and the man and attacked her alone without her leader and helper. Have you ever noticed the tactic employed here by satan. He didn’t come after them together. He didn’t come after them in the presence of God. He never seems to attack where and when we are strong and so it is here. He took the woman, alone and vulnerable.

Satan uses this tactic with us often. We find him using it even against Jesus himself. In Matthew 4:2-3 we see that after Jesus had been in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, he was starving, struggling, and weak, that is when satan came to tempt him. 1 Peter 5:8

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Maybe I’m going to deep into this but have any of you watched too much Discovery channel back when it was the discovery channel and all the animal kingdom and earth science shows were the main bread and butter? Today its become all garbage but I remember Dad always having it on and seeing the lions doing their thing. They would always be prowling in the grass close enough to attack but hidden from plain sight. Then they would go after the one gazelle that was alone an vulnerable. The one who was a baby or old or sick. Then would then run it down because it was weak enough it wouldn’t get away. I can’t hear this passage without thinking about that. Satan attacks when we are most vulnerable because he’s a lion. He is seeking his next meal, and in this case, the vulnerable Eve was alone and ready to be run down.

Satan twisted. He took what God said and twisted its truth and meaning, sowing lies. “Did God really say that like you think he did? Of course you won’t actually die. God is just keeping the good stuff away from you.” You see, outright lies tend to trigger our warning alarm quick but half truths taste a little better going down. To bring us back to Jesus’ famous temptation, Satan offers to give Jesus bread when he was hungry. He told him to prove his Sonship by commanding angels. He told him to worship him and he’d give him dominion over all the earthly kingdoms and powers. All the while he kept distorting and twisting what the scriptures say to try and confuse Jesus. Instead, Christ confronts each lie, each half-truth, each twist, with truth and scripture. I don’t need your bread because God’s word will sustain me. I don’t need to throw myself down to prove to you that I’m God’s son because I don’t need to put God to the test at all. I don’t need your permission to reign over the kingdoms of the earth because I already do, and I will never worship you. Satan’s tactic is to distort and twist things until they seem truthful to you. He did this with Adam and Eve, convincing them, not that God wanted the best for them but that God was holding out on them.

Satan enticed. He took a desire and hunger they had to be like God and know what he knew to preyed upon that appetite. From this failure in the garden we see Adam and Eve’s children perform the first murder and cover-up when cain killed able out of jealousy. And from chapters 3-6 humanity had become so mired in evil and so taken by their base wretched desires that they had all abandoned God’s ways to the point that he had regretted making them entirely sending a flood upon the world to wipe them all out. We then see Babel, where humanity tried to create a monument to celebrate all the greatness of their achievements only to have God send it all crashing down around them. Satan preyed upon a base issue found within all of us, the appetite to have it our way and be our own boss in our life. We celebrate it and applause it in the US as a thing to be cherished. Yet, that hunger for personal independence and a moral code of our own design spit in the face of a Holy God who is actually worthy and good and right. When we decide we can do it better, we tell him that he’s the one that’s wrong and to get out of the way so we can do it better. Satan fed that fire within them telling them if they ate of the tree they’d be just like God. They wouldn’t need him anymore because they’d know what he knew. Just like that he dumped gas onto the coals and an explosion resulted.

The man and his wife

We were deceived. They fell for his version of the truth forfeiting what they had heard from God himself. We love to beat up Adam and Eve because they aren’t in the room but rarely do we own the reality that we would have most likely made the same decisions. Why? Because we know what we are capable of as well. Our hearts are evil and often go for things that we know mean us harm. Why is it that we hunger after the things we know we shouldn’t want or that we know are bad choices for us but we struggle to do what we know we should do? That hunger pulls us onto greased slides that lead us towards wanting what we want to be true more than caring if it actually is though. Adam and Eve were deceived but deep down, they wanted to believe the lie too.

We wanted more. They hungered to be in charge of themselves and to have the same power and insight God did. Rebellion in doing things our own way on our own. We’ve all heard that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Because if you always just want more, contentment will forever allude you. You’ll always need more and you’ll never be happy. Adam and Eve, surrounded by literal paradise and an intimate relationship with God, their creator, wanted more. They wanted to exist in a world where they were coequal with God. Where they shared his power, his knowledge, and his authority. This led them to punch above their weight class and miss the mark. They were created to enjoy a relationship they were built for yet they wanted to be in charge of their own selves. I’ve played this game before with Bianca. She really wants to hold the spoon. She can do it. She doesn’t need you. Food on spoon, spoon in hand, spoon right into the side of our face, into our eye, then down our throat, instant tears and a look like “I thought you loved me why did you do this too me!” We often think we would do better than God with how often we question his plans yet, our plans most always blow up in our faces and their ambition did too.

We broke it all. The relationship was severed, the trust was broken, evicted from paradise, creation marred, life was given thorns. What God made perfect, we broke. The relationship and the intimacy with our creator was severed and sin created a chasm between us. Even creation was now subject to the consequences of our sin. Pain in childbirth, conflict, cursed ground, thorns, thistles, sweat and back breaking work, kicked out of paradise. Most of all sin had separated us from God’s design for us. We were created to live in harmony with him forever. Now, death had been given authority over us, a master we all had to bow too.

The Fallout

Perpetual Hostility between us and our enemy. John 10:10

John 10:10 (ESV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

We will always have an enemy that comes to steal kill and destroy us.

John 8:44

John 8:44 (ESV)

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

He is the father of lies and seeks only your demise. He is opposed to all of God’s plans and his love for mankind and the message that can save them. His name literally means the adversary. From the begining Satan has been against us, fanning the worst flames within us into fires of disobedience and death. His just deserts from his malice and deception was that he would never again be allowed to roam at full power. The serpent would be a belly walker for the rest of time and Satan would be allowed to only be the prince of this Earth and this time. His kingdom and his time would have a countdown, ticking down to his ultimate banishment and final defeat. That is, when the final things would be set in their place.

Yet, in the midst of one of the darkest chapters in all of scripture, all of human history, all of the redemptive story sits a ray of hope.

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

This begins today’s message of the Old Voices creating new beginnings. Let’s start with second first.

You will bruise his heel. Jesus was sent to set the captives free and deliver mankind from bondage of their sin, yet, Satan opposed him every step of the way, leading ultimately to Christ’s death and apparent defeat. The plan had always been from the first sin and the fall of men to redeem them from this fate they concocted for themselves. This is the meaning of “bruise his heel.” The victory won on Calvary is nothing more than the dragon ingesting lethal poison.

Satan, in all of his bluster, at the height of his power, influencing and manipulating the hearts and minds of evil men and self-righteous leaders corrupted those that Christ meant to save. When he preached, instead of hearing the truth, they saw only their ambition and their power threatened. Instead of repenting and finding forgiveness and justice satisfied on their account, they sought to silence the only voice that provided hope. Yet, in this apparent victory, All he was able to do was bruise the heel of God’s son but...

He will bruise your head. Jesus’ resurrection from death once and for all gave the victory to him. Satan had touted the victory only to find it to be his ultimate defeat. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection:

death no longer was the end but the beginning.

Sin no longer was the identity that we would all be known by

redemption was available for all that would call his name

separation between us and God was left not creating a way pathway for forgiveness and intimacy anew.

God sent his spirit to convey truth, convict of sin and of righteousness, and prompt our heart towards the need of a savior.

Jesus followers, when threatened with death and ridicule by religious leaders, political powers, and military might, didn’t fold but exploded on the scene with boldness and strength as the church encountered resistance or persecution it flourished all the more.

Landing

You see, as we start off this Christmas season, it is on us to remember that we have been given so much in Jesus Christ. Christmas is the day we celebrate each year the lengths to which God went to prove his love to us, even while we were sinners. We see today, even in the start of sin, in Genesis 3 that God was making known his ultimate plan for our redemption. Within the passage that recounts the first failure, God was already making a way for our redemption. That voice was given creedance finally in the person of Jesus Christ who did get his heel bruised. He was beaten, mocked, ridiculed, dishonored, and killed by and for those that he meant to redeem. By all outward apearences, he had lost. The adversary had won. The disciples scatter in fear and defeat. The world watched on in darkness, the darling of heaven, the long awaited messiah, laid in a tomb. Yet, Satan’s head would be crushed instead. 3 Days later Christ broke deaths hold over him and yes, over us as well. He walked out of a borrowed tomb and forever broke the shackles that death and sin would hold over you and over me.

That salvation is held out as the most perfect Christmas gift ever to all of those who would acknowledge their need of Jesus, repent of their sin, believe in his life, death, burial, and Resurrection, and place all of their faith, hope, and trust in him from this day forward.

Sign up for Christmas dinner 12/15/24. Do that today.