HIMK 1 (2)
HIMK • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 9 viewsNotes
Transcript
Greeting/Intro
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God uses the word ‘US’ when speaking. Who is us and who was He speaking to?
Jesus
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
Holy Spirit
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
30 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.
Jesus has been with God since before the beginning of time, before creation and during creation.
So we were created and given dominion over the earth.
We were to rule over it and tend to it and keep it. Man was given a companion, the bible calls the woman man's helper. We were given all that we would ever need.
There was only one rule. Don’t eat of that tree.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Why weren't they ashamed?
Because they were living in God's perfect design. Everything functioning as it was created to function. There was no hurt, pain, selfishness, loss. There was no depression, anxiety, murder, hate, oppression.
Many people want to blame the government, president, God for the oppression and hate and division that exists today, but the truth is, we were never meant to experience it. In God's perfect will and design for us, these things were not present because sin was not present!
Sin was introduced by an outside influence, but it was chosen by us!
We are surrounded by temptation every day, but it is up to us whether or not we are going to give in to it.
The serpent came and tempted Eve and she and Adam ate of the tree that they weren’t supposed to eat of, and look what happens.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Now they knew they were naked, now they were ashamed and attempted to hide themselves from God.
If you think about it, this was the first attempt at religion. Adam and Eve attempted to cover themselves up in order to hide their shame and failures so that they could present themselves to God and try to regain the relationship they once had with Him.
Isn't that why most people come to church?
We try to cover ourselves up with routine and ritual so that we look holy enough to present ourselves to God. Let me save you some trouble. God does not want our religion, He wants our surrender. We cannot save ourselves! Only God can save us. Which He did through Jesus.
God curses the serpent to an eternity of crawling on his belly and eating dust, but look at verse 15:
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
Which is why Jesus was
This is it! This is the promise of Jesus from God to the world. Jesus has not only been with God from the very start, but He has been made known to us from the very beginning.
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
Let’s look at some OT scriptures:
17 “I see Him, but not now;
I behold Him, but not near;
A Star shall come out of Jacob;
A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,
And batter the brow of Moab,
And destroy all the sons of tumult.
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”
There are countless scriptures and passages and foreshadows of Jesus in the Old Testament, too many to cover and unpack, there is isn’t enough time today to take us through the really cool journey that is Jesus in the O.T.
His love for you today is as strong as it was before the earth was created. He knew you then and He knows you now. But it’s up to you to surrender your life to Him and receive the gift He has given you, because there is still a promise of death from God.
The same is true in your life. Once you see Jesus in your life, you can’t unsee Him. His love for you today is as strong as it was before the earth was created. He knew you then and He knows you now. But it’s up to you to see Him and surrender to Him and receive the gift He has given you, because there is still a promise of death from God.
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis
God had to deliver on His promise of death. Not only was the serpent cursed, but so was the ground, and so were we. Because of satan's deception and our rejection, we brought death into the world.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
God cannot make a promise that He will not keep. He promised death to us if we ate of the tree and He had no choice but to make good on His word when we ate. He cannot be like you or I when our children do not listen. We sometimes make threats that we do not keep. But God is a Holy God, He is Just and He is Perfect, which we are not, so He cannot go against His word.
God cannot make a promise that He will not keep. He promised death to us if we ate of the tree and He had no choice but to make good on His word when we ate. He cannot be like you or I when our children do not listen. We sometimes make threats that we do not keep. But God is a Holy God, He is Just and He is Perfect, which we are not, so He cannot go against His word.
There had to be a payment of death for the sin we introduced into the world. The first death we will all experience is a physical death. It is the separation of the spirit from the body.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
This is a separation we will all have to endure. But the second death is the separation of the spirit from the Father. In this one we have a choice.
God said there had to be death, but He loves us so much that He decided to die for us. He took the punishment of our sin so that we would have a choice. That is why He sent Jesus, as a human child, so that flesh could be sacrificed for the payment.
Let’s look at one more foreshadow of Jesus before we close:
21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
Man's attempt at covering himself up was not good enough. God had to make clothing for them both. But in order to make clothing suitable to cover them, blood had to be shed and a sacrifice had to be made.
This was the representation of the sacrifice of Christ. His death would offer all sinners the clothing of God's righteousness.
Jesus is present in every book of the bible, especially the Old Testament:
In Genesis, Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman.
In Exodus, He is the passover lamb.
In Leviticus, He is our high priest.
In Numbers, He is the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. In Deuteronomy, He is the prophet like unto Moses.
In Joshua, He is the captain of our salvation.
In Judges, He is our judge and lawgiver.
In Ruth, He is our kinsman redeemer.
In 1st and 2nd Samuel, He is our trusted prophet.
In Kings and Chronicles, He is our reigning king.
In Ezra, He is the rebuilder of the broken down walls of human life. In Esther, He is our Mordecai.
In Job, He is our ever-living redeemer.
In Psalms, He is our shepherd.
In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, He is our wisdom.
In the Song of Solomon, He is the loving bridegroom.
In Isaiah, He is the prince of peace.
In Jeremiah, He is the righteous branch.
In Lamentations, He is our weeping prophet.
In Ezekiel, He is the wonderful four-faced man.
In Daniel, He is the forth man in life's "fiery furnace."
In Hosea, He is the faithful husband, forever married to the backslider.
In Joel, He is the baptizer with the Holy Ghost and fire.
In Amos, He is our burden-bearer.
In Obadiah, He is the mighty to save.
In Jonah, He is our great foreign missionary.
In Micah, He is the messenger of beautiful feet.
In Nahum, He is the avenger of God's elect.
In Habakkuk, he is God's evangelist, crying, "revive thy work in the midst of the years."
In Zephaniah, He is our Saviour.
In Haggai, He is the restorer of God's lost heritage.
In Zechariah, He is the fountain opened up in the house of David for sin and
years."
In Zephaniah, He is our Saviour.
In Haggai, He is the restorer of God's lost heritage.
In Zechariah, He is the fountain opened up in the house of David for sin and
uncleanness.
In Malachi, He is the Sun of Righteousness, rising with healing in His wings.
The point
Jesus has been made known to us from the very beginning. Before we were ever created, God knew that we would need a Savior, He knew that we would choose sin over righteousness, He knew we would reject Him, and He chose to love us anyway.
Jesus has been made known to us from the very beginning. Before we were ever created, God knew that we would need a Savior, He knew that we would choose sin over righteousness, He knew we would reject Him, and He chose to love us anyway.
He loved us and He gave us the greatest gift He could ever give us, Himself. He took our punishment of death and separation from Him upon Himself through Jesus Christ.
It’s not about religion. It’s about understanding:
Who Jesus is and what He did for you
Why Jesus was necessary
God gave Jesus for you