Now I turn to the second portion of God's Word that we are reading, and that's Genesis chapter 3. And we can take our reading from verse 14. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 14. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 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. By God's grace and enabling us this morning, as we continue our study through Genesis chapter 3, just a quick recap for the benefit of those that have not been here. Remember that we have looked at the fall. God created Adam perfectly holy, upright, and he placed Adam in the Garden of Eden. to till it, to look after it, to work, and yet he had given Adam instruction, he had given Adam a command. And you remember that he said that Adam was allowed to eat of all the trees in the garden, but of one tree he was not allowed to eat, and that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And in the process of time, God said that it's not good for man to be alone. So he created, taking a rib from Adam's side, he created the woman. And now Adam could say that this truly is, born of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And then came an event. Now remember that when God created Adam and Eve, He created them with the ability to choose between right and wrong. They had that ability. The angels have that ability. When they were created, they had the ability to choose between right and wrong. And Satan, as you know, choose the wrong way. filled with pride, wanted to be like God. He fell, thrown out of heaven, as we read in Revelation 12. And now we come here on the serpent by the sovereign will of God. It is a question that we will never have an answer to on this side of eternity. Why did God allow those things? And I don't believe that we should be asking those things. Those things belong to the secret will of God. However, he's underneath the sovereign power of God. Satan never does anything without God's permission. And he comes into the garden and he deceives the woman. And then the woman comes and deceives the man and they fell. And then God comes and he asks a question that's filled with grace. Satan asked a question that was filled with venom towards God. Did God truly say? And now God comes in, and this question now is so filled with grace that he asks Adam, where art thou? And in asking Adam, where art thou? There is a confession from Adam. There is a confession from Eve. And then God now is going straight in as judge, executioner. And he's going to pronounce a curse, not on the man, not on the woman, a curse on the serpent. And then he's going to pronounce a promise And then he's going to say to the man and to the woman that I am going to be to you what you did not expect and what the devil would never be to you. So here now we come to this part. The separation, as we were saying, which Adam and Eve brought about, this is exactly what God seeks to bridge. God sought out man in the garden, said in asking Adam where he is, And while Satan's question was designed to draw them away, God's question here is designed to draw them back. And when God judges over Adam, the judgments, as I said, were laced with grace. The first man to be cursed in the Bible is not found in Genesis 3. The first man to be cursed in the Bible is found in Genesis 4, verse 11. And that is Cain. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand." Very, very interesting that God does not curse Adam and Eve. He's coming. He's coming, and He's going to judge them. But as I said, laced with grace. And you see, although this sin is still fresh, stinking in this garden, paradise lost, God's holy sanctuary stained now with sin. And the atmosphere all dull, broken fellowship, broken relationship, broken joy, nothing now but tears, nothing now but mourning and groaning because of what sin has brought in. And it's very interesting to note here the questions that are asked of the serpent. God comes straight in and he curses. No question. You'll remember that he asked Adam a question, he asked Eve a question, and now he's going to come straight into the serpent. There is no intention of restoration from God's part towards the serpent, towards the devil. His doom has already been sealed. His doom has already been sealed since the day that he was cast out of heaven, since the day that he rebelled against God. That very moment, as he and a third of the angels were thrown down to the earth, as Revelation says, his day was soon. He couldn't become any more worse. He couldn't become any more evil. He couldn't hate any more. He was, in a sense, in all those negative elements in relation to sin, he was the very personification of it, he was, in a sense, perfected in that state, and not in a good way, but in an evil way. Notice what happens here. The order of sequence here. Man fell in this order. Serpent, Eve, Adam. This is the opposite of God's chain of command. While God questioned in order of authority. He first of all questions Adam. He then questions Eve. And then he comes to make judgment on the snake, the serpent. But then he's sentenced in order of the fall. It's a very reversal. He comes, he asks, in order of chain of command. But then when the sentencing comes, it's a very reversal. It's in order of the fall. The serpent, then Eve, then the man. You see, the fall was, in part, the very result of the reversal of God's order. Everything now is chaos. There is no order in this world anymore. And this fall brought in, to man's experience, sin. And I don't believe in the whole English language that we have a word, a three-lettered word, that is so awful as that word. It brought in sin. But in a sense, what is sin? Why is God so aggravated here? Why is God going to pass such severe judgment? Why is God going to curse? Well, sin is a violation of God's holy law. You cannot overlook this. You cannot just put it aside and say, oh, well, there's been a little bleep. I hope the next time things will get better and you'll be able to pass the test. No, there is now a violation of God's law. There's a violation to God himself. And now God must deal in order that he himself and his justice will be satisfied. Sin violated not only God's law, it violated God's nature, it violated God's glory, it violated and destroyed paradise, it ruined the heart of Adam, it ruined the heart of Eve, it catapulted the whole human race into iniquity. And what's very interesting, it actually gives Satan a certain power. Because Paul in writing to the Corinthians states that the God of this age, in other words, the God that has this kingdom here on this world, in this world, he is now as if it were the God ruling, blinding the minds. darkening the hearts, hardening individual's hearts towards God. That's Satan's power given to him under the sovereign will of Almighty God. This is his kingdom. This is his rule. This is his time to reign. And God, in his sovereignty, has allowed those things to happen in order that he would have the glory and the preeminence in crushing the head of the serpent, in crushing his power in relation to sin, and taking a people out of darkness into light. And you see, that's exactly what's happening today. You ask yourself today, what is it? Why is it this world is in such a mess? Why is it that if you're unconverted, why is it that you're in such a mess? Why is it that the only thing you ever think is anti-thoughts towards God? You don't want God, you don't love God, you don't want the Christ of God, you don't want to be in fellowship with the people of God, you have no interest in prayer, and yet the fundamental question is, why? Why is it that you're able and willing to shun all that is good, All that is perfect, all that is for you in the salvation provided for you, you're able to say, no, but I'm willing to take all that Satan has given me for a temporal time in this world, and yet, at the end of it, the wages of those things that you've been obedient to is, quote, death. Death! You may think that you have life today, Yes, you're breathing and you're living, but you are dead in trespasses and sins. Why? Because of this event. Because the whole of history is hinged upon this very event. Every single second, minute, hour, day, from this event onwards, has completely and utterly, in one sense, changed. You see, it was never meant to be like that. It was never meant to be this way. When Adam and Eve were created, they were supposed to enjoy the communion with God under this test, and in passing this test, they would be elevated, and there would be no longer a test. But that's not the case. They fell. And if you're asking today one question, why is there so much evil, hatred, wars, famines, pestilence, earthquakes, it's all because of this event. Sin entered into the human race. You know, you can go to so many psychologists today and anthropologists and so on and so forth, and they'll all turn around and tell you, we've got to sort out this problem externally. If only we can do this in this community. If only we can get things set up. And I'm not saying that those things aren't good. to have certain groups set up, certain committees, so on and so forth. But they're dealing with the issue externally, and yet they're missing the fundamental point that the only way that society is going to be able to become better is by beginning in here. That's where the problem lies. It's in here, in the very core of man's being, that's where it all flows from. Every single act of evil that you're seeing today, being worked out, all begins in here. All flows. My whole imagination, all my thoughts, evil. detesting God, hating God, and you know something? Never ever at peace. You know, friend, today if you're unconverted and you're sitting here, I guarantee you that you will never find peace in this world. You may try everything, you may have everything, but you will only seek to want more and more, because sin is just exactly like drinking salt water. It'll leave you more thirsty, and more thirsty, and more thirsty, until eventually it just doesn't suffice. It doesn't cut it anymore. What used to give me pleasure, what used to give me joy, gets dull, gotta move on to something else. What I started off in, I become deeper and more than gets a hold of you, gets its claws around you, pulls you down and down and down and down. Until what? Until it's completely got you to annihilate you. To make your life a ruin. Now, there's a question here that we must ask and it's this. Why does God curse the animal? Because really, the serpent itself was not responsible for its actions. It was not willingly compliant. It was not rationally involved. It couldn't be rationally involved in the temptation, the sin, not even the curse. But what's the point of cursing? this animal. And notice God did not curse any other animal. He didn't curse the cow or the sheep and so on and so forth. He cursed this animal. Why? This animal doesn't even know if it's alive or dead. It's got no self-consciousness. So what's the point in this? Well, it's very interesting that cursing the serpent, it's actually turned into a symbol. It was a constant reminder of the degradation of Satan. Satan was really, in one sense, synonymous with the serpent. In other words, every time you read of the serpent, you're immediately thinking of Satan. Satan entered this animal, used this animal as a means to deceive Eve. Revelation chapter 12, the chapter we read, speaks of the serpent. the devil, the dragon. Revelation chapter 20 verse 2 calls him the dragon. And the snakes of this world are symbols of the divine judgment on Satan. Every single snake you see should be a reminder to you of divine judgment that has come upon Satan. And that is something not to be taken lightly. Now then, Satan now having been thrown out of heaven is now down upon the earth. And it's as if he raises now a little higher. And he's seen two individuals perfectly formed in the image of God, and his heart is more stirred with hate than ever before, and in he goes to work. And he believes that in his success in taking the man and woman into sin, he believes that he has the same success as he had with the other angels that fell with him. Notice none of these angels are offered salvation. But Satan now believes that this man and this woman, and all that will come from them, that he's going to have perpetually himself in his own grip. He doesn't know what's going to go on here. I don't believe he fully understands what this promise is about. And you know, it's as if when he tries to raise himself up against God in using Adam and Eve, it's as if God comes now and throws him again downwards. He's already been thrown out of heaven, but now it's as if he says, Well, I can't curse you anymore. But in judgment, and symbolically this is in judgment, this snake that may have been upright, it was a snake that was beautiful, that was attracting to the eye. That's how the Hebrew comes out with it. It was colorful and it was attractive. It was a beautiful animal and Satan used it. And now this animal, whether it had been upright on two legs or whatever it may have been, that's not important. The point is that this animal now is going to be crawling, slithering in the dust. And he says, on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. And you know, it's so interesting that there is not anything as humiliating and as downgrading As a creature that was once, if you want to say, upright, eating, is now slithering in the humiliation of the dust, put down and crawling on the earth. And that's exactly what God here has now told Satan, that you look at the serpent, And this is symbolic of what you are and what you will eventually become. But see here the shaklorious promise in verse 15. And now God speaks again and he says, not cursing, but here in grace, speaking to the devil about some event that is going to happen. Verse 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. Now then. This is what you call the protevangelion. Now, I know that is a long word, but basically it means before gospel. In other words, this is what a lot of people believe is the first promise of the gospel. And it is here that I have often wondered about Adam and Eve, about their own salvation. I also have been looking at this over the past few weeks with you. I'm fully persuaded, actually, now that Adam and Eve were born again. I believe that in relation to Adam because of what he says in verse 20, and Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. We'll reach that point, but let's just leave that there, but I just want to look at Eve just now. Look what it says here, verse 15, and I will put enmity between you and the woman. Okay, let's just stop there. If Eve, who has become the enemy of God and the friend of Satan, is going to become the friend of God and the enemy of Satan, something is going to have to happen. conversion. Every single child of God is an enemy of Satan. If you're a child of God sitting here today, then you're an enemy of Satan. If you're not a child of God sitting here today, then you're a friend of Satan, and you're an enemy of the church of God and of Christ and of God. It's as simple as that because if you look at the verse it says, and I will put enmity between you, that is the devil, and the woman. In other words, this woman who thought that she was going to have an extra friend, has now actually got an enemy. Not that he ever loved her or ever cared about her or ever wanted her, not at all. But now God comes in and says, you have violated this woman and now he's lifting this woman up, he's going to elevate this woman, he's going to see in this woman that this woman is going to produce a seed. And in this very first clause here, you have, I believe, the very testimony that Eve herself was going to be a child of God by the grace of God. And you notice in here also that you have great doctrines of the Christian faith. I know it may not be that obvious, but resulting from what's going to happen here, as you'll see in a wee minute, what's resulting here is this. You're going to have regeneration happening. You're going to have salvation. You're going to have forgiveness, atonement, free grace. Do you know anything, friend, of that today? Do you? Do you know what it is truly to have your sins forgiven and washed away? Do you know what it is to stand before God this morning and not feel ashamed? And not feel guilt? Do you know what it is to have joy in your heart and peace? And although mountains, and although seas, and although all those things may roar around, yet do you know what it is to be still and know that God is the sovereign God in control? Because friend, you see today, if you don't, there's nothing but chaos. Not only chaos in your heart, chaos in your life, not only chaos in your life, but this uncertainty. What of tomorrow? What of next week? What of my own life? What of my own death? What of my own eternity? What of my own coming into the presence of God with no covering and with no savior? What of me? hot off me, really. I'll tell you that when God came looking for Adam, the only thing Adam could do was run. Adam wasn't wanting to have a conversation with God because he knew his guilt already. His own consciousness told him of his guilt. And see, friend, that's exactly the same way as it's going to be if God finds you in your sins. Without Christ, without hope in this world, if you meet God eyeball to eyeball as a sinner, there you will be exposed and there will be no need for questions. There will be no need for you even to feel the need of having an excuse. It just will not wash. You will just want to run from the all-seeing, from the holy presence of your Maker, because you'll know your shame, you'll know your nakedness, and you'll know your guilt. And you know something what's even worse? You will say that my condemnation is just, because you will realize that you have neglected this Savior. Now, You see, what does offspring mean here? Well, it renders seed between your seed and her seed. What's happening? That the woman's seed struggles against the serpent's seed in a collective sense. So you have the woman's seed, the mother of all living, that is the Church of Christ collectively, that is going to be continually at war with Satan and his seed, which isn't we dragons, but the world, that is, those outside of God's elect. A perpetual warfare until the day that Christ shall come again to gather His own and to judge the world. Right here is that promise. Right here is that reality. And man, haven't we not witnessed that reality? Since this very moment, through all the generations and the thousands of years that has passed, there has been nothing but war. There has been nothing but the enemies of the cross. There has been nothing but conflict, and so on and so forth. Since only the head of the serpent is represented as being crushed, we must also take it from being collective to being an individual that's going to crush the head of the serpent. You see, notice what he says here. Singular he. It's not we, it's he. You remember that before he created Adam, he says, no, sorry, in fact, we can have it here. He says, and the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us, plural, verse 22, chapter three. He is speaking about a singular person. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Now then, The poison of any serpent, the venom of any serpent is found in its head, in its sting, its neck. That's where it comes from. And you take that venom away, you take that poison away, and that serpent cannot harm no longer. And this shall be the stroke which Satan shall receive from Christ. And you know, it is possible that he did not first understand the nature and extent of his own doom here. It is possible And then he says that he's going to, that is a serpent, the devil, he's going to bruise the heel of this single individual that's going to come through the seed of the woman. You see, the serpent wounds the heel that crushes him, and so Satan is permitted by God to afflict what? To afflict Christ in his own humanity. You see, what we have here is a promise given. And subsequent events from this promise are going to be all an outfolding in where the Old Testament profits and where all are going to be witnesses towards this climactic day in where Christ shall come, born of a woman, Galatians 4.4, made under the law, going to become a curse for us in order that we would become righteous in him towards God. Time it is going to take, but God does not work as we work with time. And you see, Hebrews 2 tells me this, he did not take on himself the nature of an angel. to destroy this angel. No. That would never have been able to have been the case. It would never have been able to have given us salvation. He must become in all points like man, except for sin. And when he takes our human nature upon himself, it is that nature that's going to become bruised. And Isaiah 53, as the minister, Mr. Stewart, was going through it with us, that he was going to be bruised and the iniquity of us all was going to be laid upon him. And in entering into Satan's domain, he's going to take not the nature of an angel, but the nature of man. And now he's going to come and do war with this angel as the God-man. And he's going to go into that terrain. He's going to enter into that domain of death. And he's going to be underneath the power of death in the grave. And he's going to be there in this grave. And he's going to be spoiling principalities and powers not only openly on Calvary, but there in the tomb. And he there, death, is not going to be able to hold this man, this God-man who is now going to be there and he's going to unshackle himself from the chains of death and he's going to say to the very plague of death, oh death, I will be your plague. You will not hold me. And just as that great unprofitable prophet Jonah was so unpalatable for that great fish that that fish vomited Jonah out of his mouth, so must death. So must death vomit Christ out as being the obedient prophet. And now that he is going to be bruised in order that he would crush the head of the serpent and all that venom that is going through the veins of humanity and the sin that's pumping round their bodies is once and for all going to be cleansed and washed away perpetually into the unforgetfulness of God's own sovereign power and his own mind, our active forgetfulness, I will remember your sins no more. And it's as if when Christ comes into your life, it's as if he takes the syringe of righteousness, and it's as if he takes all that sin out of your veins and pushes this glorious righteousness that he imputes to you, and you're free from the shackles of Satan. You know, it's an amazing thing here what happens, that the very crucifixion, the burial and the resurrection, that is what's going to crush and has crushed the serpent's head. It's been done, friend. It's been done. Now, there is this. The imagery of Numbers 21 is striking imagery, and it's so symbolic of this event in Eden. Now, you don't have to turn up Numbers 21, but just let me briefly explain what's happening there. Numbers 21. Children of Israel again playing at it, mourning against God, no water, rotten bread, manna stale, so on and so forth. God's angry, comes chastisement, what's it come with? Snakes. What are the snakes gonna do? Bite the people. What's gonna happen to the people? They're gonna become ill, violently sick, and die. So what happens? The people begin to cry out to Moses, intercede for us. So Moses goes again, intercedes on behalf of the people towards God, and what does God say? God says, make a serpent. Now don't take a serpent, an actual real serpent. Make a bronze serpent. Put it in a pole. Lift it high. so that every single Israelite, man, woman, boy, and girl who has been bitten by the snake lifted high and let them look at it in order that they will be healed, cleansed, and live. Now, what is happening? Well, let me also go to the New Testament. An amazing statement is made by our Lord in John 3, 14. And he says, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also must the Son of Man be lifted up. There's Christ himself referring to it again. And I believe he would have, I know he would know Genesis 3, 15. And I know his own mind would have known what that meant and that he himself would have to be that very one that's going to be lifted up And of all the animals God could have chosen to say to Moses to lift up, isn't it amazing it's a serpent? Why? Why again is this continually being a serpent? This symbolism is saying to us today that just as we have that our Lord became sin for us, and Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.21. And now Christ being lifted up on Calvary, he's now taking the sins of his people upon himself as symbolized by this withering serpent. In other words, What that serpent was to the children of Israel in looking at it when Moses lifted it up on a pole. Look and you shall live, look and you shall be cleansed, look and you shall be at peace and you shall be whole again. And now friend, it is this Christ of God who is now lifted and suspended between heaven and earth. And what does he say? Look unto me, all you ends of the earth, and be saved. It's the look, the look of faith, that look that sees that man, that God-man. Now there symbolized as sin itself in the middle of two other thieves, hoisted, raised between heaven and earth. Look to him. and ask, what is he doing there? What is he bearing? What is he going through? Ask, and you shall find that very answer because of your sin and because of my sin. Now, you know, it's very interesting that no matter how horribly they were bitten, the children of Israel, by these snakes, no matter how many times they had been bitten or how sick they were, the opportunity of salvation was always there for them. Even the most degraded and miserable sinner, even the one that was bitten a hundred times and could hardly move an inch, they were still invited to Luke. You know, friend, today, never think that your sin is so black that you can't look. Never think that you've done something so awful that there's no forgiveness for you. And lie from Satan. Never think that you have to, first of all, try and clean your own back garden before you can come and look. Because I tell you, you will spend an eternity trying to clean your own back garden if you're not going to be looking at Christ and this cross. Friend today, it is as you are. That's what He's asking the children to do. Those Israelites weren't asked to bring a sacrifice. They weren't asked to go into the temple to cleanse themselves first before they looked. They weren't asked to wash. They were asked to do nothing but one thing, look. And that's the way it is for every child of God coming into the kingdom. It's to look. And isn't it wonderful today that he, his heel, it was bruised. But it was bruised because it was his heel that squashed the head of the serpent. And it was a bruise in one sense that he will eternally carry in relation to the very fact that his people will always be a reminder to him of what he went through for them. And there were his marks. And it will be a reminder to us when we see his heel and the power of darkness squashed. It will be more glorious to us what he has done for us. You see, friend, today, this is gospel. In all its glory, unpack it as you may, but the very heart of it. Two seeds, always at war, but one seed continually victorious over the other. May we all know today what it is to be part of the seed that's victorious. Let us pray. O Father in heaven, we thank Thee this day for that glorious seed that came, that was born of Oman. And unless that corn of wheat falleth into the ground and dieth, then nothing can come from it. But we thank Thee that out of that death has become life to an innumerable number of people. And it is truly life indeed to know him, Christ crucified. And would to thee today that all of us would know, experience, feel, love, and be moved by the Christ of heaven and his gospel. And these things we ask for the forgiveness of our many sins. In his name, amen. We shall conclude our service by singing to God's praise from Psalm 18. Psalm 18 on page 22 and verse 48. A victorious prayer from the psalmist. You saved me from my enemies, exalting me above my foes. You rescued me from violent men who sought my kingdom to oppose. There's the seed of evil continually attacking. Therefore, among the nations, Lord, your praise and song I will proclaim. Before the peoples of the world, I'll sing the glory of your name. You gave your king great victories. Your loving kindness you will pour on David, your anointed one, and his descendants evermore. Let us sing these stanzas to the praise of God, and we shall stand to sing. You saved me. from my enemies and exulting me above my foes. ♪ You rescued me from violent men ♪ ♪ You sold my kingdom to your foes ♪ ♪ Therefore among the nations, Lord ♪ Your praises, O, I will proclaim before the peoples of the world, I sing the glory of your name. ♪ You give your king great victories ♪ ♪ Your loving kindness you will own ♪ ♪ One day when you are gone ♪ and his descendants evermore. O Lord, we thank Thee for all the gifts that we receive from Thine own hand. We thank Thee for food, for health and for clothing. And we especially thank Thee for the provision that's been provided for us upstairs in the hall. And we pray that Thou would bless those who have provided and that will serve. And we thank Thee for them and for their willingness to do so. Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest upon and abide with you all, both now and forevermore. Amen.