And Abraham lived at Beersheba.

Thank you, Simon.

When I was a student, one of the books on which we were nurtured as most of us young Christians was a little booklet called Sacrifice.

I remember it well.

It had a bright red cover.

And in it, we were exhorted to give our lives to Jesus and the gospel, whatever it cost.

It was an inspiring read.

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Thank you, Fergus.

Yesterday, we went right back to the beginning of the war.

And from today till Friday, God willing, we're going to focus each day on one episode early in the war from Genesis.

I've picked four episodes.

And in some ways, my choice is arbitrary, although I think each of the ones I've chosen is significant.

I don't think it's an unreasonable choice.

Therefore, to this day, the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Thank you, Lydia.

The, uh, spiritual battle is long and sometimes dark.

I love those words in the hymn that we sang, uh, Be Thou My Vision.

Those words, when victory is won.

And, uh, be assured, my brothers and sisters, victory has been won by the Lord Jesus, and one day victory will finally be won.

And what a day that will be.

Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me." But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?" And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

Thank you, Hannah.

If, like me, you are very painfully conscious of being part of this long war, even though we read at the beginning of the week in Genesis three fifteen that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head, even though we've seen that fulfilled in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, nonetheless, I'm sure I'm not the only one, uh, here or watching from a distance who asks himself or asks herself, "How will it end?" And this morning, I want us to immerse ourselves in the most wonderful story.

We love rags to riches stories, don't we? From, uh, Abraham Lincoln, John D.

Rockefeller, Alexander Hamilton, all the way to J.K. Rowling.

And if your neighbor is googling those now, dig them in the ribs and, um, encourage them to do that later.

We love rags to riches stories.

[laughs]

Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Eden.Thank you, Mervin.

Uh, Carolyn and I have happy memories of, um, uh, visiting the church in Stromness, where Mervin is, uh, uh, an elder.

And it's lovely to have, hear his Orcadian accent here at Keswick before my posh southern English one.

I'm going to preach this morning from Genesis 3:15, just that one verse, which begins with the words of God speaking to the serpent, "I will put enmity" The strapline of the convention this year is Strong in His Strength, and the keynote verse from Ephesians 6, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." That's our subject.

We are at war.

On a summer holiday morning in the Lake District, it's easy to forget that.