Advent: The First Promise

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back.

I hope everyone had a very good Thanksgiving holiday.

This morning, if you will turn in your Bibles to .

We are going to begin making a transition this morning into the Christmas season.

The first official Sunday of Advent is next Sunday but we are going to get things rolling a week early.

And for those who may not be familiar with Advent; Advent is traditionally the four weeks prior to Christmas.

On Christmas we celebrate and remember the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior to us all.

And Advent is that period of anticipation that leads up to the birth of Jesus.

Different churches and different denominations do things in different ways.

Some hang wreaths and others light candles.

Some do both.

Some do nothing at all.

And all these things are fine.

But what is not fine is us not remembering Jesus’ birth.

What else is not fine is us not preparing ourselves spiritually to properly reflect and remember Christ.

And to be honest I’m not just talking about during Christmas.

I am really talking about every single day of the year.

Yes, Christmas is a special time set apart to remember Jesus and to celebrate His birth.

But we should also be remembering Jesus every single day.

Everywhere we go, Jesus should go with us.

And if we practiced that, I believe we could avoid a lot of the trouble we tend to find ourselves in from time to time.

If Jesus was on our hearts and minds all the time, we wouldn’t do some of the things we do.

We wouldn’t say some of the the things we say.

We wouldn’t watch some of the things we watch.

And we wouldn’t go some of the places we go.

But we know that is not always the case.

So maybe starting today we can change that.

And we can do that right now during this Advent season.

Because it is during this season that we all share a common story.

That is the story of God’s people, the story of Jesus.

And we can also learn to wait on God and anticipate God.

Because let’s face it the whole premise behind Advent is jus that waiting.

It is receiving a promise from God, trusting God, and then waiting on that promise to come to pass.

And let’s also be honest, we don’t like to wait on anything.

Our culture tries to eliminate waiting at all.

Self-Checkout at Walmart.

Two lines at the McDonalds drive-thru.

Ordering your McDonalds on a big Ipad.

Pre-registering at hotels.

And, when we do have to wait we are constantly entertained or immersed in things like tablets and smart phones.

And even then when we find ourselves waiting in a line, we become frustrated and impatient.

That isn’t what God told us though.

God told us to be still and know that I am God.

He also told Moses to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

And what we are going to read about this morning is the darkest hour of the beginning of Humanity.

Sin has entered the world and with sin came death and destruction.

So, if you have found in your Bibles, I’d invite you to stand with me as we read about The First Promise.

Scripture Focus

Genesis 3:

Genesis 3:8–15 NIV - Anglicised

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

I Was Afraid (vs 8-10)

Now, I know that this passage is something that we have looked at a few times and from a few different perspectives, but it amazes me that every single time I look at it God shows me something different.

And what God has given me for this morning is more of the big picture overview of what is going on here.

Like I said, we pick up in verse 8, after Adam and Eve had sinned.

We know from reading the first part of the chapter that Satan came in the form of a serpent and tempted the woman first.

Told her she would be just like God and that really didn’t mean it when he told them they would die.

No, surely you won’t die, from eating this one little piece of fruit.

Oh, look how pretty and juicy it is.

No, God just wants to hold you back and keep you from doing what you really want to do.

God just wants to control you.

Sound familiar?

It does to me because Satan has played this same tape over and over throughout all of human history.

And I think it would be safe to say that at some point it has even played out in our own lives.

And we know what happens next.

Eve eats the fruit and then takes a piece to Adam who also eats it.

And the Bible says that . . .

Genesis 3:7 NIV - Anglicised

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Genesis 3:7

Immediately they realized that they had sinned and that they were now naked, which is a symbol of the naked exposure sin leaves in our lives.

Sin had taken the protection and covering by God and removed that from our lives and now we are completely exposed the consequences of sin, which is death and separation from God.

And Adam and Eve now realized this.

After the fact, when it was too late they realize that God was right.

Genesis 3:8 NIV - Anglicised

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:8

They, for the first time in their lives experienced fear.

And this fear was not of a wild animal or even of Satan, but of God.

The One who had created them, who had walked with them in the cool of the day, who had cared for their every need.

The One who had loved them unconditionally, and now they were afraid.

Because they knew what they had done and they knew that there would be consequences.

And they did just what we do many times, they tried to hide the sin, in this case themselves, from God, in an attempt to avoid the consequences.

But that they didn’t realize is that God already knew everything.

And all he was doing at this point was trying to get them to admit what they had done.

To come clean and be honest with God.

Because that is the only way redemption comes.

When we can be honest with God.

So, here they are hiding in the trees when God comes along walking and . . .

Genesis 3:9 NIV - Anglicised

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

Now, I guess at this point Adam and Eve realized that they couldn’t hide from God so . . .

Genesis 3:10 NIV - Anglicised

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

In our terms, “I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit, so I hid.”

What Have You Done (vs 11-13)

So, God confronts them.

And keep in mind God already knows all of this anyway.

Again, his point is to get them to admit it.

So God asks them . . .

Genesis 3:11 NIV - Anglicised

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

Genesis 3:11

Busted....And Adam thinking quick on his feet . . .

Genesis 3:12 NIV - Anglicised

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Pass the buck, pass the blame onto somebody else.

“It’s not my fault God, the woman made me do it.”

Genesis 3:

So, God turns to Eve . . .

Genesis 3:13 NIV - Anglicised

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

Genesis 3:13

So, she passes the buck and blames it on the serpent.

Which is exactly what we do.

We have a very bad habit of not taking responsibility for ourselves and our own sin.

We think if we can separate responsibility from our actions that it makes it okay somehow.

“Oh, did that God but it wasn’t my fault.”

And that is how we confess many times to God.

And it is not effective.

That is not a confession, that is just acknowledging an action that you have taken that God has already confronted you on.

When we truly confess, we admit to God what we have done, we take responsibility for it, and then we ask God to forgive us, and finally we don’t do it again.

What has gotten so many people into so much trouble is that there is no real repentance and no real taking of responsibility for our own sin.

We want God to forgive us but we don’t want to change our ways.

We don’t want to admit that our sin is our own fault.

We want to go to God with, “I know I punched them in the eye, but they shouldn’t have made me mad.”

Folks, what are we doing?

Why can’t we just admit that we have sinned and trust Jesus to help us?

That’s all God is after anyway.

He Will Crush Your Head (vs 14-15)

Genesis 3:14 NIV - Anglicised

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

So, God immediately deals with Satan and is role in all of this.

Which is precisely where the very first promise of salvation comes into play.

It is immediately after the first sin, that God offers the first glimmer of hope for humanity.

Remember this is at that point the darkest hour for all humanity.

This was the moment when humans went from being people who were going to live forever on a perfect planet in perfect fellowship and relationship with God to a people who are now cursed to work the ground and struggle all the days of their life.

And not only that but also they were now resigned to death.

There was no hope and no cure for the disease they had contracted because that disease was sin.

But God makes them a promise.

Genesis 3:15 NIV - Anglicised

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The only issue here is they had to wait.

They would have to wait until that little baby was born in a manger, thousands of years later, in order to see their eternal redemption.

They had to deal with the consequences of their sins for ages until Jesus came and even though Satan bruised him on the Cross, Jesus crushed his head and defeated sin, death, hell, the grave, for all time and for all people.

Altar Call

And this entire plan of salvation began to unfold the very minute that Adam and Eve took that first bite and introduced sin into the world.

The good news for us though is we celebrate advent as a remembrance.

We remember because Jesus has came.

And because Jesus has came, we can also put our faith and trust in Him this morning.

Now, that doesn’t mean that we have stopped anticipating because He is coming again.

But this morning we can enjoy the fruit of his promises of salvation and eternal life right now.

Maybe you are here this morning and you have sort of confessed.

You have came and admitted you’ve done wrong but have never changed anything.

Or maybe you’ve spent your life blaming others for your own sin.

Well today is an exciting day.

Today is the day that you can finally get that burden off your back and fully admit to God and yourself that you have sinned and that you are responsible for it.

Today you can make all things right with God.

Today is your day of salvation!

If, you will come and accept it.

Will you do that today?