School is going to start next week. So, what we're going to do to start adults Sunday school, I don't know if you folks know this, but the elders every this last year every meeting one of the elders took a topic a a contemporary issue of the day and we worked through those things to come to a place of biblical clarity on them and where do we land as elders and so we're going to work through those various topics in our Sunday school. And so we'll start that next Sunday 9:00 in the morning. So join us for that. You're all welcome to come for that.
Also we recognize that it's full. We understand that. We're not unaware of that. And so we are actively as a board looking on looking at how we can create more space. We get that. So, there's going to hopefully be some measures taken in the next little while where we can hopefully make things a little more a little less tight. But we're we're working on that. And in the meantime, pray that we would find land.
That would be the best solution. And so we would ask that you would pray with us about that. There is a piece of land we have inquired about and and you'll hear more about that at our annual budget meeting in November. But pray that the Lord would in his mercy and timing provide what is needed there. And so we trust him for that and we'll wait upon his timing. One other thing and then we'll get into our text this morning. It is a good thing when the pastors are stable. Would you agree? You don't want unstable pastors at every level.
And one of the ways of one of the things that brings stability is a home that you own. Pastor Bryce and Karen now own a home. So, they're here for a while and that's a good thing. We are encouraged by that. So, we're grateful for the Lord's provision for them and, if you have time on October 17th to move boxes, they would love to have your help.
So, we're between series. We finished our summer series and next week we'll get back into Nehemiah, which we'll finish by Christmas, Lord willing. So today is a how do we start the fall? That's that's the question that was on my heart as I was thinking about this sermon. What is a what is a way for us to begin our time in the fall? And I thought, you know, no better thing to do than to just gaze upon Christ. There is no there's no application today for you.
You know, sometimes we a lot of times we have sermons where we say, "Okay, this is how this applies to you." Today there's no application for you other than our desire like John the Baptist told his followers is that you would leave here beholding the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And if you behold Christ with more affection and joy, then that will have a ripple effect in your whole life. That's the goal today. And it comes from what appears to be a nothing verse to many.
You know, there's a plaque that marks Abraham Lincoln's birthplace near Hajinville, Kentucky. On the plaque is recorded a conversation. Here's the conversation that's on the plaque that records his birthplace. Any news down at the village, Ezri? Well, Squire Mlan has gone to Washington to see Madison sworn in. An old spellman tells me this Bonapart fellow has captured most of Spain. What's new out here, neighbor? Nothing. Nothing at all. Well, except for a new baby born to Tom Lincoln, nothing ever happens out here.
That baby, that seemingly nothing birth ended up in arguably one of the most consequential presidencies in US history. But it came from a very inospicious beginning. Well, today the text we're going to examine is one of those verses that you it's easy probably when we read through the Bible to just kind of read past it. And yet the ramifications of what we read here are significant. And so I want to ask you to take your Bible and go to Genesis 3 verse 15. I'm going to read the verse and then we're going to look at some context before we get into the meat of the sermon.
In 3:15, this is the Lord God speaking to the serpent. And he says this to him,"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." That's the verse we're going to look at this morning. When you're reading your Bible, it probably would be very easy to just kind of read through it, not think much of it, but there is depth here that impacts the entirety of the Bible.
But for some context, first of all, let me just say I was I I came to the idea of preaching through this verse by reading a book called Name Above All Names by Alistair Beg and Sinclair Ferguson. Excellent book. If you read through that book, if you read it someday, you'll notice that my outline is coming straight from that book. Now, the content isn't. I'm it's my I'm not plagiarizing, but the outline is coming from that. And so I don't want to give credit where credit's due, but it was striking to me some of the things that they mentioned.
And when I dove into it, I thought, "Yeah, that's that's true." In Genesis 1 and2, we have the creation of the world. And what did God say when he made the world? It is good. In fact, in ver the last verse of Genesis 1, God says that it was very good. Everything he made was good. In the course of that creation in Genesis 1:es 26 and 27, we read that he made male and female. Listen to what we read here. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image after our likeness.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every oh, pardon me, over the livestock, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. So here's the creation of male and female. By the way, notice that it's only male and female. There's nothing else. And the whole of the Bible testifies to that truth as well. Male, female.
Period. Full stop. Anyways, I digress. He created man and put him in the garden to work and to keep it. Let's go to verse 15 of chapter 2. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. And so having done that, he then gives Adam this command that was meant to ex for Adam to express his worship and his trust of God in obedience.
Verses 16 and 17 of chapter 2. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You must surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." So this command is given to Adam with enormous freedom with enormous opportunity for Adam and for Eve to explore all the joy of that garden that God created.
But this command is given to express obedience and thus worship. Now the serpent comes along in chapter 3. Now we are only told in Genesis 3 that he is a serpent. We are told we're given no other descriptor of him. It's not until the end of the Bible, the last book of the Bible, Revelation, that we read who the serpent actually is. Let me take you there. Revelation 12:9 says this. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.
So here we have given to us finally who is the serpent? He is Satan. And so here is the serpent now and he comes and he twists what God said in order to deceive and attempt to sin. Let me read it for you in chapter 3:es 1-5. 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?"
And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden." 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." It's interesting how Eve includes something that God actually didn't say, lest neither shall you touch it. We're not, that was not an instruction from the Lord. But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
And so, here is the serpent, Satan, twisting, mingling partial truth with lies in order to deceive. And what happens? Verses six and seven. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, that the tree was 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. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.
And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin cloths. So here we have the deception of Eve. And I say the deception of Eve because we read in second Timothy chapter 2, Adam was not deceived. Eve was Adam was not. He knew full well and he was given the role of headship of leadership. Romans 5 tells us that it was Adam's sin. That's what we read there. Adam is the figurative head of mankind.
It was Adam who was responsible to lead his wife and failed. More on that in a minute. And so now they have sinned. And we read that they tried to hide from God. As you can imagine, that went about as well as an Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup final appearance. That is to say, not successful. I was waiting for that one.
They felt shame. Sin had entered the world. Death came into the world. God now had some statements to make to Adam and to Eve and to the serpent. And it's here that we read what we read, what our key verses in verse 15 is God is speaking to the serpent. And he gives here the first ever name of Jesus in the Bible.
Now Jesus is certainly part of the trinity in chapter 1. Let us make man in his image. We know that. But here's the first explicit name for Jesus in the Bible in verse 15. Her offspring or as a lot of other translations word it seed of the woman. This is clearly a picture of Jesus. And so we want to look at what this what this means.
Then before we look at some of the key descriptors of Jesus that come out of this, let me just tell you this that this thread carries through all of scripture. This thread of he is going to try to bru he's going to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman but the seed of the woman is going to bruise the head of the serpent or the seed of the serpent we see that thread through the whole Bible and I just want to take a few minutes to show you that we see it here in Ephesians 2:2 we read that he is the prince of the power of the air that we must be delivered from Ephesians 2 1:3 talks about our sin and our depravity and who we are apart from the Lord's intervention.
And in there it says he's the prince of the power of the air who who is reigning over us, if you will, those who are dead in their sins and transgressions. And we need to be delivered from him. And this deliverance we see pictured throughout scripture. Go with me if you will to 1st Samuel. In 1st Samuel 17, we have a very famous account, David and Goliath. And the the Philistines have come up against the Israelites and they've brought their champion out and he is going to take on someone from the Israelites.
And whoever wins the battle, the the the losing nation, the losing people will now become servants and slaves of the winners. It's a quite a moment. And in verse 10, the Philistine, that is Goliath, says, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together." He's taunting them, seeking to bruise their heel. But then, drop down, if you will, in that same account to verses 45 to 47. David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth. That all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves, not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand." What a moment. And I want you to know, lest you've never heard it before, you are not David in this story.
I am not David. Goliath is not those tough things in your life. No, this is a picture of Jesus and the enemy, a foreshadowing of that. And here we have the enemy saying, "Come on, fight with me." And David as this picture of Christ saying, "I will destroy you." The picture carries on. Go with me to Matthew chapter 4. Here, of course, in Matthew 4, we have the enemy right after the baptism of Jesus coming to to tempt Jesus to to try to get Jesus to turn from righteousness to following Satan.
And he tries again and again, and Jesus continues to answer with scripture, with the word of the Lord. And finally, in verse 10, we read this. Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." Then the devil left him, and behold, the angels came and were ministering to him. You can see here the devil was trying to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, but the seed of the woman with a word says, "Be gone." And he departs.
We read the parable just a few chapters later in Matthew chapter 12 that Jesus told about binding the strong man which has been butchered. By the way, that parable has been mistaught by the word faith prosperity gospel preachers horribly. The strong man here in Matthew chap 12 is the enemy Satan and Jesus is the only one who can overpower him. If the spirit of God that pardon me, if it is by the spirit of God that I cast out demons, this is verse 28 of chapter 12, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Jesus is the one who can defeat the strong man. He's the only one who can defeat the strong man. And so we have this picture again given to us of Jesus crushing Satan in Hebrews chap 2. Here's what we read in verses 14 and 15. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. Do you see that there?
Jesus came to destroy the devil, to crush the devil. And then of course we come to the end in Revelation 12. Listen to what we read here. I read one of the verses already, but let me read the whole passage. 7 to 12. Now war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
And the great dragon was thrown down. That ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of the brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God, and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, for they love not their lives, even unto death.
Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. But here we see the conquering ongoing victory of Jesus. And then in verse pardon me chapter 20 of Revelation, we read this. When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle.
Their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Do you see it here? He sought to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman and he did. It's called the crucifixion.
The crucifixion is where the the seed of the woman had his heel bruised. But what's amazing is that at that moment we have the seed of the woman crushing Satan in utter defeat. In fact, in that passage that was read to us by Dennis earlier in 1 John 3:8, we read this. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, and the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
And now listen to this. The reason the son of God appeared. Whenever you see a statement like that, you should pause. The reason the son of God appeared, that's how the statement begins. Why? The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. This thread that begins in Genesis 3:15 carries through the entire Bible. And the father saw fit to send his one and only son, the seed of the woman, to crush the head of the serpent that in so doing he would ransom and redeem a people for himself.
Isaiah 53 in that great passage it says this. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, for he shall bear their iniquities. You see, what Satan may not have realized is that by bruising his heel, he was doing exactly what the father desired.
It was the father's will to crush Jesus in order that many would be made righteous, that their sins would be atoned for. This is all the plan of God. Praise the praise his name. And so as we go back now to our text, Genesis 3:15, we read some things here about who Jesus is. And I would say the first thing is he is a mighty warrior. We have a lot of descriptors that are given about Jesus. A lot of things that pop to our mind, but that might not be the first thing that pops to your mind.
And yet it's the really it's the first description of Jesus in the Bible. The NIV, I don't know how many of you here have the NIV today. It uses more punchy language here. The NIV says that he shall crush your head and you shall strike his heel. Crush. And that's an appropriate word actually. It's the same exact Hebrew word that is used in Job 9:17. Let me just take it just for a moment so you can see the parallel.
Job 9:17, for he crushes me. Same Hebrew word with a tempest. So it's appropriate that the NIV actually translates this as crush. The Lord Jesus crushes the head of the serpent. He crushes him in battle. He destroys him. He wages war on Satan. Look no further than Mark chapter 5. Let me read you this text.
And you may be familiar with it if you've grown up in the church. But I want I want you to hear this starting at verse one. Mark 5 starting in verse one. They came to the other side of the sea to the country of the garrison. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. No one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.
For he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart. He broke the shackles and pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus, from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? I adure you by God.
Do not torment me." For he was saying, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit." And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name, my name is Legion, for we are many." And he begged him earnestly not to send him out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, "Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them." So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs.
And the herd numbering about 2,000 rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. Why is it, have you ever thought about this? Why is it that this man has a legion of demons within him? One demon is plenty sufficient to inhabit a man and destroy him. Why does he need a legion?
In fact, at one point here it says that they could no longer subdue him. They couldn't bind him anymore, implying there was a time they could. Verse three, why is it that suddenly he has a legion of demons? I surmise and I I'm not going to die on this hill. But I wonder if perhaps it was because Jesus was coming to town. And the target of the attack isn't so much this man, but Jesus. But Jesus comes and with a word says, "You're done."
No one no one could subdue him. There was no power on earth strong enough to to bind this man. Even the strongest man here in our midst could not do anything with this man because of the legion of demons within him. But Jesus with a word says you're done. And they beg him. They beg him not to destroy them. Cast us rather into the pigs. And Jesus says here gives permission. They are at the mercy of Jesus and what he would do with them.
That is how strong he is. That is the mighty warrior that he is. Go with me if you will back to Revelation chapter 20. Let me read to you this description of Jesus given in verses 11 to 16 to 15, pardon me. Oh, hold on. That should not say. Did it say Revelation 20? Should say 19. Revelation 19 11-16.
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure were following him on white horses.
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God, God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He came to destroy the devil. This was a blitz of war at the highest level. And he is the conqueror.
We have seen over the past few generations an ungodly feminization of the church and the men have wilted. Why is it that statistics are showing that men increasingly are not coming to church? Well, there's a lot of talk in most evangelical churches today about things that are true. The love of God, the kindness of God, the mercy of God. Yes and amen. Though Jesus is mercy. Yes. Praise God for that. He is love.
Praise God for that. He is kindness. Praise God for that. Yes. And amen. But then what has been added to that message in many churches across the land are faulty teachings about an ungodly unbiblical tolerance and acceptance and all of these things. And it's pro been infiltrating our preaching and teaching and singing and fellowship. When's the last time you heard this the hymn sung onward Christian soldiers fighting marching as to war with the cross of Jesus going on before men you need to know Jesus is a king of war and he's won you need him we all need him to be a warrior because if he is not a mighty warrior who wins the battle, we are lost. We need him to win that war.
We can't win the war, but he can with the word of his mouth. He is mighty in battle, winning against the enemy and securing our salvation. He has truly as the seed of the woman crushed the head of Satan. And we are the beneficiaries of that. Praise God for that. But not only that, wait, there's more. From Genesis 3:15, it's very evident that Jesus is the greater Adam.
Adam was given counsel in the garden and he failed to obey. He was to resist the enemy and he failed. He was to lead his wife well, his bride and he failed. And everything he did, he failed. But God in his mercy then brought about a second Adam, the seed of the woman. God says, "Okay, Satan, here's the thing. You're going to try to bruise his heel, but but this seed of the woman, he's going to come and he's going to crush your head.
You're going to think you've won this war, but you have not. This Adam has failed, but I'm bringing another Adam, Jesus, and he will win." and he will obey and he will do everything that the first Adam failed to do. We read about this in a few texts in scripture. Go with me if you will to Romans chapter 5. Romans 5 starting at verse 15. We read this. But the free gift does not like the trespass.
For if many died through one man's trespass, the one man of course being Adam, much more have the grace of God and the free gift of grace by of the of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. Do you see the the the distinction here? Through one man, Adam, came transgression, trespass, sin. Through one man came grace which abounded for many. Verse 16. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.
Do you see that condemnation because of Adam? Justification because of Jesus, the greater Adam. For if because of one man's trespass, death reign through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Praise God for that. Death reigned because of Adam, but now eternal life reigns because of Christ for all those who believe.
What hope is there in that? Go with me to First Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15. Listen to what we read here starting in verse 42. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable and what is raised is imperishable. It is swn in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is swn in weakness. It is raised in power. It is swn a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living living being. The last Adam became a lifegiving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust. And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
This is good news. Because of Adam, we are people of dust. To dust we shall return upon our death. But those who are in Christ, we shall raise with an incorruptible body and an incorruptible spirit, eternally in the presence of God, made in the image and likeness of God to the glory of God. All because of what the second Adam, Jesus Christ, did in conquering. The first Adam ate from the forbidden tree.
The second Adam hung on the cursed tree. The first Adam was characterized by disobedience. The second Adam is characterized by full obedience. The first Adam was told to not partake of the fruit. The second Adam was called to partake of the cup of wrath. The first Adam brings death. The second Adam brings life eternal through faith in him. This is good news.
There's a hymn we sometimes sing called Man of Sorrows. By the way, as an aside, songwriters, if you're a songwriter here, can you do something with the melody of that song? Like such triumphant lyrics, but it sings like we're at a funeral. And it's not a funeral. The tomb is empty. Why are we singing it? Man of sorrow. Like, what are we doing, people? This is great lyrics. Let's sing it like it actually means something. I digress.
In that song, it says this in part. In my place, condemned, he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah. What a savior. This is true. What Adam failed to do, Christ did perfectly. And through his obedience, we are adopted into the family of God. The family that the first Adam rendered us not part of, but through the work of the second Adam, the greater Adam, we are now adopted in that we might live eternally with him.
One more thing in Genesis 3:15, I pretty it's pretty clear that Jesus is the better gardener. I don't mean that in terms of like, you know, getting on his knees and I mean, I'm sure he would be the best gardener, too, as far as like the actual practical gardening. He did flowers like no one. But rather, what was what was Adam's original call? Well, in Genesis 2, we read it before. Let me read it for you again in case you missed that. In Genesis 2:15, the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.
This was his call. He was to be there to work and keep in the garden. And the fall of man happened in the garden. Alistister beg and Sinclair Ferguson put it this way. Adam was to garden the whole earth for the glory of the heavenly father. But he failed. Created to make the dust fruitful. He himself became part of the dust. That's true. That which brought death happened in the garden.
But where was it that the second Adam, the greater Adam, brought life? Where was it that he crushed the head of the serpent? Go with me if you will to John chapter 20. For the communion, we looked at John 19. Now I want to take us to John chap 20 starting in verse 11. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb.
And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her,"Woman, why are you weeping?" And she said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" supposing him to be the gardener.
She said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you where you've laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Raboni," which means teacher. Jesus said, "Sir," not clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brothers and say to them, "I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God." Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. What a moment.
It happened in the garden. The tomb was in the garden. Where was Jesus raised? In the garden. Sin and our our death took place in the garden. And what does Jesus do? Because he is always about redemption. He redeems. And in the garden, he rose victorious from the grave, crushing the head of the serpent, rising and giving us newness of life in him. He is by far the greater gardener. What a great wonderful God he is.
The one who created all things was unccreated and he created most importantly eternal life in himself. Colossians chapter 1, we read this. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
This is what he did. He did wondrous things. God is so good. This year we will all encounter high times, good times, easy times, and we will all encounter hard times. Everyone here, it's reality. We live in a broken world. While Satan and sin are defeated foes, the full culmination of th of sin and Satan being cast into the lake of fire is yet to come.
And so we live in a broken sinful world. And so we will have trials and difficulties and hardships. And so in the midst of those things, we I would ask you to look on Jesus. Look on who he is consistently from beginning to end. The warrior that he is, the greater Adam, the greater gardener, the redeemer. This is consistent through the entirety of scripture. In Romans 16, we read this. For your obedience is known to all so that I rejoice over you.
But I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. The God of peace will crush Satan soon, the final culmination of it all. But until then, let us keep our eyes fixed on him. It was interesting through these humble beginnings, this this verse that's easy to skip by, we see a key lynchpin in the whole of salvation.
Humble beginnings do not mean they're not fruitful beginnings. In 1886, a pharmacist named John, Dr. John Peton concocted a caramelcoled syrup in a three-legged brass kettle in his backyard. He took that caramel colored syrup down to the local pharmacy and they entitled it Coca-Cola. It was going to be nothing.
39 years later, studies have shown that over 97% of the world's population have heard of Coca-Cola. 72% of the world has seen a can of Coke. Over 51% of the world's population have tasted a can of Coke. Take that, Pepsi. Let me tell you those were humble beginnings but it turned into one of the largest corporations in the world.
Far greater than that, from what seemed very humble and small in Genesis 3 came the the conqueror who defeated sin who was a mighty warrior crushing Satan under his feet and brought about the greatest salvation, the only salvation in the world that is secure and perfect and unfailing. Put your hope in him when times are good. Put your hope in him when times are hard.
Put your hope in him. He is unfailing. We have seen through this that he has not changed. It's fitting that in Hebrews it says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so we can put our hope in him knowing that he will never change. He is immutable. He doesn't change. The mighty warrior that he was in Genesis 3 and in Revelation 20, he is today. And so, anchor yourself to him.
Put your trust in him. And may God be pleased and glorified through our life. So, God, I pray that indeed you would anchor our us to the hope of of eternity through Christ. That we would fix our eyes squarely upon you and in you alone. You are good. You are faithful. We love you. We trust you. We pray, Father, that in times that are hard, we would remember your faithfulness. Remember the work you have done, the war that you have waged and won, the way in which you redeem.
May we not grow weary in this life, but rather may we fix our eyes on the author and finisher of our faith. Keep us steadfast we pray and lead us on and the way is everlasting. These things we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
