Alright. Had to move that stool and stuff out the way because you know how much I walk around, so, I didn’t wanna trip on it. That would be fun for you, but not for me. So, anyway, I hope you see Jesus. And I hope today, if you hadn’t seen him, you see him by the end of this time together.
You know, this is a wonderful time. We’re beginning a series, and the series is called the savior. The savior. Now I know that this is a time of year that we spend a lot of time in the New Testament. Right?
We’re talking about Jesus, of course. We need to spend a lot of time in the New Testament. And if you’ve been in you know, I I’m I’m glad that we have all the pollen to grow all of the the vegetables and fruits and all of the food that we need, but, man, my sinuses don’t like it. Anyway, if you’ve been at any of our services recently, you know we’ve spent a lot of time in Genesis. In fact, we’ve spent so much time in Genesis, both I’ve preached on Genesis in here.
I’ve preached on Genesis on Wednesday night. If you’ve been around me or anywhere else, you might have heard about Genesis, along the way. And some of you may be saying, okay. Time to move along. We’ve been in Genesis a long time.
Well, hang on. We’re gonna be in Genesis a long time more. But today, I wanna go back to a passage in Genesis that we’ve talked about. Why do I wanna do that? Because I think it’s important, that we understand that Jesus was not a reaction to things that were going on.
Jesus was not a reaction. This is the time of year that we typically spend in the New Testament. But today, we are going to take a look at why we had to have a crucifixion in the first place. Why we had to have a crucifixion in the first place. Adam and Eve, the first couple, the very first couple, they brought sin into the world.
And so, oh, yeah. Blame it on Adam and Eve. Well, they did. If it had been, you know, Beth and John, they would have done the same thing. Right?
They brought sin into the world. They sinned. They listened to the serpent, and they decided with making a choice to do what God said don’t do. Therefore, they brought sin into the world. Every single one of us, according to scripture, have also sinned.
Every single one of us have had an opportunity where we looked at something and we knew a % I shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to anyway. I’m just gonna go ahead and do it, and we did. It’s sin. It’s still sin. It never changed.
It’s still sin. But I want you to understand that none of this caught God off guard. He already knew when he placed Adam and Eve in the garden. He already knew when he placed that tree there and said, don’t eat of that tree. He already knew they were gonna.
Well, how did he know that? Because he’s omnipotent. He’s all knowing. He knows all of it. He already knew that was going to happen, but he gave them that choice.
He gave them a choice. He put it there, and he said, don’t do this, and then they did. He gave them the choice. He didn’t force them to serve him. He gave them a choice, and the choice they made was wrong.
Okay? They didn’t do it. But I want you to understand, God had a plan from the very beginning. He did not react to the sin of Adam and Eve by saying, oh, now what do I need to do? We sometimes get this idea that that God created things in a certain way, and then man keeps messing it up, and God has to keep coming up with new plans.
God has to keep coming up with new plans. You know, we God created, you know, all of the stuff in the world, and he he created these vegetables that are good for us. Right? You grow all these vegetables, and they’re all good for us, and everything’s great. And along comes man and goes, man, this is good.
But what if I rolled it around in some flour and dropped it in some hot grease and cooked it up? I wonder what it would taste like then. Oh, man. That is really good. And then cholesterol happened.
And then God came along and invented bypass surgery. No. It doesn’t happen like that. We think sometimes that’s the way it happens, but it didn’t happen that way. God already had a plan.
He already knew from the very beginning exactly what was gonna happen. He already created the whole world. He knew what was going to happen, and there was a plan. So I want you to turn with me to Genesis chapter three this morning. Genesis chapter three verses fourteen and fifteen.
And I believe this morning, we’re gonna be in the King James. Right, Don? We’re gonna be in the King James this morning. And so Genesis chapter three fourteen and fifteen, it says this, and the lord god said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shall thy thou go, and the dust shall thou eat all of the days of thy life.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Okay. Genesis chapter three. Many people don’t understand. Hopefully, you know because you’ve heard me preach on Genesis chapter three quite a few times recently.
That’s the first mention of Jesus in scripture. Wait a minute. Jesus is in the New Testament. Mhmm. He’s also in the Old Testament.
There are places all throughout the Old Testament where it talks about Jesus. It might not use the name Jesus, but it talks about Jesus. And so here when it says the seed of the woman, why does it say the seed of the woman? The seed is always of the man. It’s not of the woman.
Why is he saying the seed of the woman? Because this seed was not coming from man, but coming from God. And the woman would be the vessel in which this seed would come into the world. That seed is Jesus. That seed is Jesus.
So the prophecy was already there. God had a plan from the very beginning. Many people read this passage, and they never know this was the first prophecy of the Messiah. Sin had entered into the world, and the first thing God said is, there’s a Messiah coming. There’s a Messiah coming.
He told Satan right up front, this is what’s going to happen. There’s going to be the seed of the woman that will come. And when the seed of the woman comes, Satan, you’re gonna strike this mankind on the hill. You’re gonna strike this mankind on the hill. But listen, that bite doesn’t have to be fatal.
The the the the bite that we get, the sin that we fall into, it doesn’t have to be fatal. Without Jesus, it is fatal. Without Jesus, it is an entire separation from God never to be joined back together with him that that sin keeps us apart, but it doesn’t have to be fatal. Why? Because the seed of the woman, Jesus, would crush his head, which would be the overcoming of death and the grave for all who believe.
Satan’s number one tool is the fact that if you die, then you die and you’re dead. He doesn’t pass on and let you know that, oh, yeah. If you die without God, it’s not just that first death, but it’s also a death of eternal hell. But he also doesn’t want you to know that there’s another opportunity that if you give your life to Jesus, when you die, the grave and death is overcome because Jesus overcame it. You see, can’t you just picture this when Jesus was crucified?
You got a whole crowd of people standing out there. These are people that are supposed to be God’s people. These are Israelites. These are Hebrews, those who have worshiped God, and they’re all standing out in the crowd. And what are they shouting?
Crucify him. Crucify him. These are the same ones that have been coming to the the sermons. You know? They’ve been coming and listening to Jesus.
They’ve been traveling all over the place to listen to Jesus. Now they’re standing out there, crucify him. Why? Satan had tempted them, confused them, and now they’re standing out there, crucify him. And you can just see Satan running around behind them.
Come on. Shout. Everybody yell. We’re gonna get him. They crucified him.
What a party they must have had in hell that night. What a party. Jesus is dead. It’s over. Satan won.
And all of a sudden, there’s a earthquake, and the stone rolls away, and Jesus comes out of the grave, and Satan is defeated forever. The seed of the woman was going to crush the head of Satan. How? By overcoming death and the grave. God told us that at the very beginning of time in the Garden Of Eden when the first couple sinned, god said the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.
He let us know right up front that Jesus would come and that his blood is what was going to save us. No. We don’t see it spelled out that way exactly, but it’s a prophecy. The thing about prophecies is they tell you things, but you have to look closely to find out exactly what’s going to happen. So the prophecy was there.
The seed of the woman would be there, not the seed of the man, the seed of the woman. The seed of the woman was going to crush the head of Satan. Now that’s wonderful, but guess what? There are consequences of sin that we all deal with today. Somebody asked me once.
They said, if a man has committed murder, he’s been sentenced to death, he’s on death row, and while he’s on death row, somebody shares the gospel with him, and the man prays to receive Jesus Christ. Since he repented of his sin and accepted Jesus, won’t he be let out? No. Why? Because the consequences of his sin here on earth are still to be dealt with.
Yes. He will die. Here’s the difference. Now he’s going to die and spend eternity with God. God.
Before that, he was going to die and spend an eternity in hell. The consequences of sin are still there. When we sin, the things that we do in our sin, we have to go through those consequences. There are things that still happen on this earth that we go through. But praise God, if we’ve given our life to Jesus Christ, this world is as bad as it gets.
And after that, we spend an eternity with him. There’s a prophecy. The prophecy said, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. We still deal with sin today. Adam and Eve dealt with sin.
Look at verse 16 through 20. Unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception and sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thou 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 has eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow, shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall bring it forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
Now in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground, for out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all the living. Consequences. Consequences of sin. The sin that they gave because of the sin, women have to deliver children in pain.
Women go through the things that they go through because of the sin of Eve from the very beginning of time, and so that is a consequence that continued. Today, man who is tilling the ground and all the stuff we have to work, you say, well, so many people don’t till the ground anymore. You still have to work. If you wanna eat, you gotta work. Right?
You gotta work hard. You gotta do what you gotta do in order to make money to buy food, and it’s not easy. When you till the ground, it’s gonna be hard. Everything you do is gonna be hard. It’s not going to be easy because of the sin of Adam.
Because of this first sin that came into the world, we still deal with the consequences of that. We will deal with the consequences of that all of the time of this fallen world. We’re going to deal with the consequences of that. Not only those sin, but all the sin that we have in our life. There are consequences that we deal with.
As we go through these sins in our life, we have to remember the prophecy that a savior is coming. The savior is coming. But that day, they were looking for him to come the first time. The savior is coming. The Messiah, the prophecy is being told.
In verse 16 through 20, we see the consequences of sin. We see all of the things that happened to the people, but there’s more consequences of sin that perhaps we never thought about. Verse 21 says, unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothe them. Well, that’s nice that instead of the fig leaves, they had animal skin that they were clothed with. Right?
This is the first time we see blood had to be shed because of sin. What do you mean blood had to be shed? Well, he had to kill the animal to get the skin. The animal had to be slaughtered in order for the skin to be taken to make clothes for Adam and Eve. There was a blood sacrifice because of the sin that happened in this world.
An animal gave its life for the sin Adam and Eve did. There had to be. There had to be a blood sacrifice. In fact, this is the first time we see it, but in Hebrews chapter nine and verse 22, it says this, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood. Without shedding of blood, there’s no remission.
Without the shedding of blood, there’s no remission. It has to be done. And all of the scripture and everything that we see, the law that that, god gave forth, the sin had to be cleansed with blood. But praise God, Jesus shed his blood once for all. For all.
Look at Exodus chapter 12 verses one through 13. It says, and the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel saying, in the tenth day of this month, they shall take, to them every man a lamb according to the house of their father, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of souls.
Every man according to his eating shall make your account for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of of the blood and strike it on the two side posts of the upper doorpost of the houses wherein they shall eat. And they shall eat the flesh that night roast with fire and unleavened bread, no, and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it.
Eat not of it raw nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, the head and the legs, with the, prudence thereof. And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning, you shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in a haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast.
And against all gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the lord. And the blood shall be for you a token upon the house where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. Now here’s what I want you to see about all of that.
God provided for the Israelites. He provided for the Israelites, and he gave them a command to have the first the lamb without blemish would be slaughtered. Why? To pay for the price of sin. That lamb would be slaughtered.
They would eat it, and he would they’re getting ready to rescue them from the land of, Egypt. And then he said, take the blood and put it on the post. Take the blood and put it on the post. Why? Because when you put the blood on the post, that was a symbol to the death angel that was going to pass through that night that you were of God, and therefore, you would not have the firstborn in your house killed.
But here’s the thing. It wasn’t necessarily the blood that was everything was about. It was the obedience. The obedience of following God and taking what he said to do and putting the blood of the perfect lamb over the doorpost, therefore, they were under the blood. They were under the blood.
In order to be saved from the sins that you have committed, you have to be under the blood. The obedience allowed the death angel to pass over. If they had done everything except put the blood on the doorpost, they would have had death in that house that night. But because they were obedient and did all of it and they were under the blood when the death angel passed by, they were saved. They were saved from the death that the angel would give to all.
All that were found not under the blood were destroyed. Everyone who were found not under the blood were destroyed. There was mourning like had never been in the land of Egypt. It was the firstborn of people, even the firstborn of animals were killed as the death angel passed through. But yet those who were under the blood were free from all of that death.
God saved them. It was salvation that they were given. They were not had any death in their home because they were under the blood. The reality is we still have to be under the blood. We still have to be under the blood.
We must examine the Old Testament and find the prophecies of the Messiah in order to see when he comes. When he comes. These two prophecies that we’ve talked about today, the first prophecy was the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. The second prophecy was when you mark your doorpost, when the angel of death comes, the angel will not enter into your home and kill your firstborn. Those were prophecies.
Why were they prophecies? They were things that were foretold of something to come. Those two things that we’ve seen today are evidence of the savior Jesus Christ. The first, we see is the seed of the woman, not the seed of the man. Therefore, this talking about the one that was born of a virgin, Jesus.
And that one that came in and saved the world. We see that from the very beginning in Genesis, then just a book over in Exodus as God’s beginning to bring his people out of Egypt. We see another prophecy foretold that if you’re under the blood, you will not suffer that death. And it happened. The death angel came, and those who were under the blood survived.
Those who were not, did not. Today, it’s the same. If you’re under the blood, when you die, you receive that salvation. But if you’re not under the blood, receive that salvation. But if you’re not under the blood, you’ve never received that salvation of Jesus Christ, then upon your death, you will experience eternal separation and damnation in a devil’s hell.
And so it’s important for us to know that. It’s important for the world to know that. We celebrate this month. We celebrate resurrection Sunday. The world calls it Easter.
If you didn’t know, Easter is a pagan holiday. Easter itself is a pagan holiday. It began as worship to the, goddess of fertility, and that’s why all the eggs that we have during Easter. That’s what Easter was. We celebrate resurrection Sunday on that same time, and we celebrate Jesus coming out of the grave.
We celebrate the resurrection that he overcame sin and death and the grave. And because of that, today, we can have salvation. The two prophecies today show us Jesus would overcome Satan, and the shedding of his blood would save us all. Now today, we know this. Jesus came to this earth.
Jesus came to this earth. There’s no doubt about that. Jesus came to this earth. Listen, even those who are not believers look upon the archaeological evidence, and they find evidence in, Israel and all across the that area of Jesus, the son of a carpenter, son of Mary. They find evidence of Jesus, the one who performed miracles.
They find evidence all throughout that area of this Jesus. Some will say, oh, but Jesus was a common name. It probably wasn’t him. But Jesus, the son of the carpenter, limits it to who it is. And so you know that it is Jesus that he walked on this earth.
Even those who don’t believe in scripture, who are looking at historical evidence will not argue that Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, walked on this earth. That’s evidence that you will see. He came to this earth. He walked on this earth. While he was here, he taught on this earth.
People followed his teaching. He had apostles that followed him. He had crowds that gathered. He had multitudes that came and stayed for days just so they could hear the teaching of Jesus. There were so many that were saved because they decided to follow Jesus all while he walked on this earth.
Jesus came. But if the story stopped there, it would be a problem for us today. Jesus died on the cross. He came to this earth, but he also died on the cross. We have crosses behind me that are symbolic of the cross that Jesus died on.
The one that Jesus died on was a old rough piece of wood. There was nothing smooth about it. It was made into a cross, and it was a vessel of execution. That’s what it was all about. It wasn’t just Jesus.
There were many that were killed on the cross. Jesus was one of the ones that were killed on a cross. Jesus died on the cross, but here’s the thing. Jesus died voluntarily on the cross. Well, how can you say that?
Because scripture tells us that he could have called a legion of angels to take him off the cross, but he did not. He didn’t have to go to the cross. In fact, he went to the garden and prayed that if it was father’s will, let this pass from me. But if not, then he would go through it, and he did. Jesus voluntarily died on the cross.
When he died on the cross, you were on his mind. Wait a minute. How was I on his mind, preacher? I wasn’t around way back then, but he already knew you were gonna be here. You see, God already knew.
He knows right now the babies that will be born in the years to come, God already knows who they are. He knows everything about them. He knows you specifically. Scripture says he even knows the number of hairs on your head. He knew you.
When he was on the cross, you were on his mind. And if there’d only been one person, he would have went to the cross, but he didn’t. He went to the cross for all of mankind that would ever accept him as lord and savior, and he died on the cross. But it didn’t stop there. Again, if it stopped there, we would be pitied among all because we’d be worshiping a dead man.
Didn’t stop there. Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Amen? He’s not in the grave anymore.
This time of year, as we begin to look towards the resurrection Sunday, we should be excited about this because we need to tell people, listen. I worship a living savior. He overcame the grave. He overcame death. And today, he sits at the right hand of the father, and he wants you to have a relationship with him too.
We need to understand that. We should be excited. It’s kind of disheartening when you walk around in the world today and people who say, yes. I’m a Christian. Yes.
I know Jesus as lord and savior. They’re not excited about resurrection Sunday. They’re not telling everybody, come and celebrate with us. We’re gonna celebrate on resurrection Sunday. Do you know what it’s even all about?
No. Instead, most of what’s happening is it’s all about bunnies and chocolate and Easter eggs and all of those things. We don’t tell them anything. You say, man, I hear what you’re saying, preacher, but aren’t we having an Easter egg hunt next weekend? This coming Saturday?
Yeah. We are. But you know what? We’re gonna have Easter egg hunt. We’re gonna have fun, and we’re gonna have all the children there, and we’re gonna make sure while we have them there, we’re gonna let them know what the resurrection Sunday is really all about.
So they come and have a good time, and then we make sure that they know all about Jesus and the fact that he came to this earth. He died on the cross, and he resurrected from the dead. We see that just like the Passover, in those days, those who are under his blood will not see the sting of death from eternal separation from God. So are you saying they won’t die? No.
I didn’t say that they physically won’t die, but they won’t have the sting of death. You know why? Because death will not hold them. If you know Jesus Christ when you die, death will not hold you. And the scripture says, death, where art thou sting?
There is none because you don’t have to stay in that grave if you know Jesus as lord and savior. You can be resurrected just like Jesus and be resurrected to be in heaven with him for all of eternity. The reality is that this time of year, we ought to be having to hold people back from telling people about Jesus because we should be so excited about why we can celebrate today. The reality is there had to be a crucifixion of Christ to pay the penalty for the sin in this world. But without the resurrection, that would be an eternal price that none of us could pay.
But because the resurrection, now Jesus did it once for all. We can accept him. We can have salvation, and we ought to be telling everybody about him. Let me ask you this question. Have you been placed under the blood?
Have you been placed under the blood? Well, I I don’t understand what you mean. Have you been placed under the blood? In other words, have you accepted Jesus as lord and savior and the blood of Christ covers your sin? Have you been placed under the blood?
Have you given your life to him? Have you received the forgiveness of your sin? Have you received the salvation that he offers? Have you done that? You see, it’s not something that’s automatic.
The reality is sometimes we think, well, you know, God loves everybody, so of course, he wouldn’t let me go to hell. He doesn’t let you go to hell. You choose it. Well, wait a minute. I would never choose that.
You choose it by rejecting him. You either accept him or you reject him. Those are your only two choices. But you make the choice. God doesn’t make that choice for you.
Jesus doesn’t make that choice for you. You make that choice for yourself. We’re excited, and we celebrate resurrection Sunday. But at the same time, it breaks my heart to think about how many people that have not been placed under the blood because they’ve never received Jesus as lord and savior. There are people probably that you work with on a daily basis.
There are people probably that you pass in Walmart. There are probably neighbors that live next to you somewhere that don’t know Jesus Christ. There might even be family. You may have family that you know. That family says, I don’t want anything to do with your Jesus.
Listen. When we have those in our life, those are people that need most desperately to know Jesus. And we need to be willing to share him. We need to be willing to tell them that the end is coming. The prophecy that was given in the Old Testament, they looked for it.
In the New Testament, that prophecy was fulfilled, and Jesus came. He was born of a virgin. He was raised by a carpenter. He walked in this earth. He preached to the people.
He died on the cross. He was buried and resurrected on the third day. And, eventually, he ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the father. Those prophecies were fulfilled, and Jesus came. But there’s another prophecy that says Jesus will return.
And on the day that he returns, that moment that we see him in the clouds, any opportunity to accept forgiveness is now past. Scripture says we don’t know the day or the hour, but we need to always be prepared because he may come like a thief in the middle of the night. He may come when we least expect him. And so if that happens, then those that we were thinking about, maybe we should tell them at some point, and we haven’t done that, then it’s too late. Then it’s too late.
If you have family, friends, coworkers, people that you know, and you know that they don’t know Jesus, I wanna encourage you this resurrection season, make sure they understand why we’re celebrating. Share Jesus Christ with them. Share the love of Christ. Share the opportunity for them to accept Jesus as lord and savior. Listen, the very least of which you could do is invite them to church.
Invite them to church. You can at least do that. That might just open the door, But we need to be willing and ready to share the gospel of Christ when the time presents itself. We need to be willing and ready. We need to seek those opportunities because we don’t know when he will return riding on a cloud.
We don’t know when that will happen. I can tell you now that we look at all these things that are happening. We look at all the storms. We look at the earthquakes. We look at the wars.
We look at all the things that are happening in the world. I don’t know how any of us can look at all that and think that it’s still gonna be a long time before Jesus comes. I feel that we are getting closer and closer, and we don’t know when it’s going to happen. So I wanna encourage you today as we celebrate this season, celebrate it by sharing the gospel with someone else. That’s the very best thing that you can do.
