Amen. Let's take our seats together and let me announce the text. I'm going to be preaching from Genesis chapter 3 verse 1, but mainly 3 verse 15. I'll read 3 verse 1 for us. The title of the sermon, the contracted title is simply this. the serpent versus Christ or we may say Satan versus Christ let's call it that Satan versus Christ and then let me read Genesis 3 verse 1 And then Genesis 3 verse 15, and 3 verse 15 is what's known as the very first gospel promise in the Bible. Genesis 3.1, now the serpent was more crafty than any of the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made, verse 15, this is the Lord preaching to the serpent now with a congregation of two people, which is Adam and Eve. Genesis 3, 14 says, then the Lord God said to the serpent, verse 15, 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. Now we're going to turn to the Lord in prayer to ask the Lord for the Lord to help me, but then for the Lord to help all of us to hear what it is the Holy Spirit is speaking to his church in this time and in this place this morning. And I can't speak for you, I can speak for myself, but I need the Lord's help. How about you? Do you need the Lord's help to hear? And also for all of us to put the word of God into practice. So let me pray. Father in heaven. We cast ourselves down before you and we thank you for the church of Jesus Christ. And we pray that you would grant the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the understanding of Christ, that we may learn more of Christ and his kingdom this morning by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And it's in the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. Now these two verses really provide Genesis 3.1 and then Genesis 3.15, they provide the what should we call it, the back cloth of the whole of the Bible. Now you may think, well, that's a bit exaggerating. How come every time Kevin Midwell preaches, it's always as if what he's preaching is the most important thing, but he just feels one of the most important things. Genesis 3 verse 1 this is a dramatic change we have for the first time the entrance of a talking serpent who we know actually turns out to be the serpent is the mouthpiece for Satan himself And then in verse 15, if that sounds scary, in verse 15, we have good news, but it's mixed with warnings. And we have this first gospel promise. And there's one theologian I heard recently said that he believes that the rest of the Bible is basically a footnote of Genesis 3.15. That might be a little bit over-exaggerated, but what he's saying is that the whole of the Bible then works out Genesis 3 and verse 15. So we're going to take a look at this, and what we find is the background is this, the title is Satan versus Christ. We may wish sometimes, oh Lord, I wish we didn't have to think about Satan. And some Christians are very naive, and that's how they want to live. But that is not Christian living. Because the Bible introduces from the beginning, that the whole of the kingdom of God, this side of the second coming of Jesus, will be what? Satan versus Christ. And the reason why I say Satan versus Christ, and not Christ versus Satan, is because of this promise. What does it say in three verse 15? The Lord God, notice that name, the Lord God. That's the covenant name of God that Adam knew. The Lord God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. So Satan is an instrument of Almighty God. And God has promised, if that's the right word, a promise, given a warning, a prediction, that Satan will constantly fight against Christ. Is there anybody here who would say, I'm fully committed to Jesus Christ? Would anyone acknowledge that? Amen. Anybody else apart from the pianist? Well, if it's true, if you say I'm fully committed to Jesus Christ, You better be ready because you're a target for the devil. If you become lukewarm, the devil might leave you alone for a while. But if you're fully committed to Jesus Christ, it's difficult for us to understand how much Satan hates God and Jesus. It's difficult for us to understand because as a Christian you should have hatred ripped out of your soul and you should be pure in heart. But Satan is absolutely bent on hatred towards God. So much so, when we go through the Bible, we get to the ministry of Jesus Christ. This is how bad the fall works its way out when the Lord Jesus Christ is getting very close to going to the cross. to die for the sins of the church, that when he does, Jesus preaches one of his last sermons, and seven times, he says to the religious people in Israel, in Judah, he preaches this in Jerusalem, and seven times, he says to those religious people who were supposed to be teachers, he says, woe unto you. Woe unto you. Woe unto you. Woe is a tiny, tiny word, it really is. Whether it's in Greek or it's in Hebrew, whether it's in Latin, whatever, it's a tiny word. But it's a weighty word, it's a word, it's the last word you would ever want to hear directed towards you on the lips of Jesus Christ. Either in this world, or on the judgment seat. What are we doing right now in the church? We're preparing people for the judgment seat of Christ. Because everyone will be judged. I will be judged. We all will be. What are my headings? Heading number one is the craft of the serpent. Heading number two is the sincerity of Christ. What a relief, the sincerity of Christ. Heading number three is Satan versus Christ. And you'd be glad to know the conclusion comes to a climax on the cross. And I will be reminding us all of the victory of Jesus Christ. Amen? Who cares, you know, about football? I mean, it's okay. Doug's from Newcastle. They're all going fanatical up there because they won a cup recently. You know, and in Sheffield there were thousands on Friday night watching football matches. This is why we must be burdened with the reality of praying for a work of reformation and revival in this country. If God is going to do a work, it's going to come first through his true church. Because thousands are just worshipping at the altar of sports. People think, well, you know, this church, if it were in the city center, more would come. No, they wouldn't. Opposite is about three different sports stadiums. And when there's big events, and this is just for parents and kids, there's hundreds and thousands milling all around here. People can find their way to watch our Billy play basketball, or you choose another sport, netball. That wouldn't be Billy, would it? Would it be Barbara? Well, Bethany, let's say, Bethany. But yet they don't find their way to the Lord's house. Satan has blinded them. But if my people were called by my name, will what? And, and, and turn from. And then the Lord says, and heal their land. Does this land need healing? It really does. The first setting is the craft of the serpent. That's how he's introduced the serpent in three verse one. Now the serpent was more crafty. Crafty, what does crafty mean? Well, it's knowing more than just simply what it means, but what it means in its core is cunning deception at its worst. cunning deception at its worst. I mean, I'm not laughing, but I'm thinking about this wonderful wedding that's just taken place. This was the text that Adam and Rivka had in Genesis 2 at the end in their wedding. And imagine getting married and then we don't know how fast the fall happened. Some would believe may have been the first Lord's day. We don't know, but it seems to have happened fairly quickly. that the wife betrays her husband. The wife betrays Almighty God, starts talking to the serpent. And of course we can think about many things that should happen, but what we need to see is the cunning deception of the serpent, and cunning deception at its worst. Because this woman, and she only becomes Eve after the fall, We find from Revelation chapter 12 verse 9 that the serpent is the mouthpiece for who? Is the mouthpiece for Satan. Now I might disappoint some of you, and you can talk to me afterwards, but many Christians buy into a false narrative, especially Charismatics and Pentecostals, as to where the devil comes from. Have you ever thought about that? Where does Satan come from? And you may not like the biblical answer, but the answer is we do not know. The closest we get is John 8, 44. He just appears here. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Satan said to the woman, injected his craft. He has an end goal. And the end goal is to get the woman and the man especially to eat of the fruit. If the man eats of the fruit, The fall will happen. But John 8, 44, here's your answer where the devil comes from. What does it say? Jesus says to the Pharisees, you are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, Jesus says, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies, But because I tell the truth, you do not believe in me." What does the Lord Jesus say? He says, the devil was a murderer from the beginning. From the beginning. Well, when was the beginning? The Bible doesn't answer, but you may have heard it said. Oh, I know. Some people say they've heard a narrative which needs to be demolished. You know, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God. For the pulling down of strongholds. And preaching has to pull down strongholds. And a stronghold that's over some sections of the church is that they go to places in the Old Testament, such as Isaiah 14, you get a King James Version translation of the word Lucifer. And then you also get Ezekiel 28 about the king of Tyre. And then they join the dots and say, this is talking about the devil. Have you ever heard people say to you, the devil was leading the songs in heaven. He was the choir leader. Have you ever heard that? It's a false and very fragile narrative of people trying to explain what the Bible doesn't explain. Jesus simply teaches us that the devil was there in the beginning. We are never instructed the origin of demons. We just don't know. And we just need to leave it that way. But the fact is, the devil is a creator being of evil, and he's the arch enemy of God. But here's good news for you and I. The book of Job teaches us that Satan can never do more than God allows. Satan can never do more than God allows. He's an instrument of God. So I don't want anyone to be afraid of the devil. I don't want anyone to be afraid of what the devil might do. There's only one person we are to fear, Jesus says, and we are to fear God. Let me ask you a question. Do you fear God? Let me just say quickly, my main part of the sermon is on this first heading. And then the last two headings are more like a conclusion, really. But let me just bring a few things out about the devil. Number one is, now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God have made. And he said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? We're gonna just learn quickly five things about the devil. Number one, Satan uses a divisive method. What do I mean by that? Satan uses a divisive method. And people who are following the devil rather than following Christ, they will do similar things even today. Number one, the devil attacked the woman without the man. The devil didn't say, woman, do you mind if I could speak to you and your husband? No. He starts working on the woman. It's a divisive method. What God has brought together, let not man Separate. So the devil is working as a divisive method. Secondly, I don't know whether you noticed as we read the text, but in the text, did you notice number two, Satan downgrades the name of God? Did anyone notice that? Only the pianist. No, I'm kidding, I'm joking. No, not even Maria noticed. None of us noticed. But actually when you go through the text, do you notice? Look carefully at verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the beasts 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 when you read from verse one to six, every time Satan speaks, he doesn't refer to the covenant name, the Lord God, The only thing we find on his lips is, did Elohim say, did God say? It's the more general name for God. But what we find in Genesis chapter one, there's a transition that the Lord, this wonderful covenant name, is the name by which God has a relationship with men and women. But the devil drops that one out. So number two, we see there's a downgrade on the name of God. And you know, liberal theology is just as active today as ever, always wanting to bring downgrades in the church, reducing and distorting knowledge. Number three, Satan's cunning question. How does it begin? Verse one, did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden. I mean, I can't plumb the depths of this, except I can simply say it's a very cunning question. Satan is not saying to the woman, did God say? Yes, he did. No, but did God actually say? What does it do? That question disorientates the woman. Because let's not forget, When God spoke this promise, he didn't speak it to the woman. The woman had not been created. He only spoke it to the man in Genesis chapter two. When you read that, he gave the command to the man and said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil. So it wasn't an apple that Adam ate, it was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We have to rename the Adam's apple. We won't go there. It's a cunning question. The woman wasn't present in person, so she'll have got that information from her husband. But number four, Satan's deceptive contradiction of the covenant Lord. Satan now is beginning to put the pressure on, and you find the pressure's coming on, and now he's contradicting the Lord. For those who are parents, let me ask you, how much do you enjoy it as parents when your children blatantly contradict you? Do you enjoy that as a parent? That's like it's like a red light is it it's like that's chasing them up the stairs when all of you Territory, but that's what the devil does the devil Contradicts the covenant law. What does he say in Genesis 3 and verse 4? But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. God said, on the day you eat of that fruit, you will, dying you will die. It's emphasis on death. Adam and the woman probably didn't know what death was. They'd never been to a funeral. Dying you will die. And Aliudah, without trying to be insensitive, every funeral, whether the person is a believer or not, every funeral is a testimony to the veracity of the book of Genesis. Every funeral testifies the fall of man. Dying you shall die, but the serpent, Satan through the serpent says, you will not surely die. And fifthly, and probably the most important thing, is Satan's cunning, crafty distortion and lies. People who are not in the truth, they're not in the kingdom of God, they may profess the truth, but professing the truth will not get you into heaven. Professing faith in Jesus will not get you into heaven. You've got to profess true faith in the true Jesus Christ. Amen? Because you can profess and be a false professor. And false professors need to be driven out of their hiding places. Because here we see the devil says, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So Satan has vilified the Lord. Satan has defamed the covenant Lord. And let me say that deception is the trade of Satan. Distortion is the trade of Satan. And look at verse six, look at the action. The woman was deceived. Verse six, she took of the fruit and ate, and also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. They'd only just got married. Well, our second heading is the sincerity of Christ. The sincerity of Christ. And our third heading is the serpent versus, well, Satan versus Christ. Let me contrast now Satan and all of his tricks and craft and cunning and deception and distortion and wickedness and darkness with the Prince of Glory. Amen. Let me contrast it. With this second heading, the sincerity of Christ. Because in Genesis 3 verse 15, the Lord says, I will put enmity, hostility, between you, the serpent, which is really Satan, and the woman, which is predicting the birth of Christ through the Virgin Mary. and there's going to be hostility. It's predicting the virgin birth, the woman. But then it goes broader than that because the Lord says there'll also be enmity, there'll be hostility between your offspring and the woman's offspring. And it's contrasting two seeds. There are only two seeds. There's no such thing, by the way, as a Roman Catholic no man's land called purgatory. Can you say amen? It doesn't exist. It's a fairy tale. It's a satanic deception to mislead people. We don't follow Roman Catholic teaching. And if you look at the Roman Catholic catechism, they still believe what they believed in the 17th and 16th century. Can you believe it? They still believe in indulgences that you can pay money to get your sins forgiven. Do you believe that? No, it's absolute, horrendous, satanic lies. But anyway, the sincerity of Christ, it says, I'll put enmity between your offspring, that's the serpents, or Satan's, and her offspring. And Jesus has said in John 8, that really, and elsewhere, there are only two people. You're either in Christ, or you're in Satan. You're in Adam, whose Lord is Satan. If you're in Christ, you are delivered from Satan's dominion. Hallelujah. You're delivered. If you're in Christ, you're in the last Adam who defeated a death blow on the devil, which is predicted on the cross, is predicted here in this seed-forming shadow. It says, he, that's the seed of the woman, will bruise your head. And you, the devil, shall bruise his heel. The devil will strike back to bruise his heel, but the Lord Jesus Christ crushes the head, which is the devil himself. And I love this verse, and you shall know the truth. and the truth shall set you free. If you're in Christ, that's the time we get our tambourines out and start praising God. Because the devil will come against the church, he'll come against everyone who's in Christ. You have, well I can't speak for you, but I can speak for myself. I felt I had more problems when I became a Christian than before I was a Christian. Can you relate to that? Because I remember the pastor saying to me, he's saying, Kevin, I wanted to surrender my life to Christ. I was convinced that Jesus was the Son of God. I was convinced that I was a sinner. I was convinced that Jesus had died on the cross for my sins and that he'd been raised from the dead. And I said to the pastor, I want to surrender my life to the Lord. And the pastor said to me, it's awful, the pride in man. But the pastor said to me, he's now with the Lord, he says, Kevin, if the Lord asks you to change anything in your life, will you do it? Now, I just recently, it's ridiculous, I just recently had a very good quarterly review at work, and it went really well. And so I looked at my life and I thought to myself, Foolishly, I thought, I can't imagine is anything the Lord would want to change in my life. So I said to him, yes, and of course I meant it anyway, but thinking there's probably not much he wants to change. All I can say is that from the beginning of being converted and being born again and being in Christ, my life has, I've had to change almost everything ever since. But all things work together for good for those who love God. The devil will attack you. You've got to break free from sin. You've got two things living inside of you now. It's indwelling sin, but it's also the Holy Spirit. And guess who wins with who's living inside you? The Holy Spirit wins and begins to subdue the work of sin. But the thing is, my second adding is the sincerity of Christ. 2 Corinthians 11. I wish you could bear with me in a little foolishness, Do bear with me, Paul writes, for I feel a divine jealousy for you. I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ, but I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve. So we need to remember that. If you're a woman, the Bible loves women as much as men. Women have a propensity more than men to deception. The Bible says, but I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one We proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Three questions that God asked Adam, and again, I've said about a woman's propensity to deception. Man has a propensity towards transgressing. He hardly gets full marks on his homework, does he? Three questions, the Lord asked Adam. Not the woman. The Lord asked Adam three questions. Why Adam? Because he was the head, the authority of that family was Adam. This may shock you, but Christ is not the head of our family. I am. And I'm accountable to Christ. And one of the weaknesses of men is an unwillingness to take up their responsibility. But the Lord said to Adam, they're now hiding naked behind the bushes. And the Lord says to Adam, and here is the grace of God. Here is the purity of God. God's not asking any tricky questions. The gospel comes to Adam, not simply in a promise, but God in Jesus comes to seek and save that which is lost. And he says to Adam, where are you? Where are you? Secondly, the Lord asks a very sincere, simple question. Who told you that you were naked? And Adam in his sin can't even give a straight answer. Thirdly, Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat? That's just a yes or no answer. He can't even answer that. He just blames the woman. So what we see that the Lord comes is we see something of the sincerity of Christ, the grace of Christ. Where would we be if God had not come to seek you out? You were not seeking the Lord, the Lord came seeking for you. And thirdly, and lastly, as we close, the serpent or Satan versus Christ, who wins? Who wins, Bibi? Jesus. See, Bibi is one of our younger men or boys in the church, and he knows who wins. Jesus wins. But in the winning process between right now, we've sung it already in this third and last heading, Satan versus Christ, God promises that it will be Satan versus Christ. Satan will constantly, constantly seek to attack and undermine until you breathe your last and go to be with the Lord, or Jesus comes back. I will put, Genesis 3.15, as we come to a close, I will put enmity between your offspring and her offspring. Think about David and Goliath. Goliath came with all of his big mouth and his big weapons. And David was little five stones in his little slingshot. And we don't see any nervousness in David, but he says, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts. And he, and what happens, God guides that stone. And where did it land on his left knee? No, it landed in his forehead. and he falls down on the ground. It's a picture of who wins, Bibi. Jesus wins. The serpent versus Christ. What about the cross? Remember, in the ministry of Jesus, we come to a close, and we'll close thinking about the victory of Jesus. Adam was looking very dapper today in the clothes he was wearing, but he's got one of these t-shirts that says, tetelestai, which in Greek means it is finished. One of the greatest single words in the Bible, isn't it? And because on the cross, Jesus said before he gave his spirit to the father, he said, it is finished. What was finished? The work of redemption. What did Jesus accomplish? When he first began his ministry, after being baptized on the other side of the Jordan in Bethany, Then the devil just came at him. But then he stops coming at him directly and begins to attack him indirectly through the Pharisees. And what we find is that the Bible says that he, Christ, promised to come, will bruise your head, Satan. That on the cross, Jesus defeated the power of sin. so that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be delivered from their sin and sins and set free. Hallelujah. I had new problems when I became a Christian, but I had new freedoms. I used to be chained, addict to cigarettes. Praise God, I've not smoked a cigarette in years. I had a test recently, a kind of a medical interview about lung cancer. It's a general thing they're doing and I was a bit nervous thinking, what are they gonna find? They're gonna say, yes, you're smoking as a student has caught up with you, Kevin. But I was praising God because I didn't stop smoking. The Lord delivered me from smoking. I couldn't stop. So yes, there are problems. Yes, there are challenges. But if you're in Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to work to begin to subdue the sin in our lives and bring the victory of the resurrection of Jesus and sanctification. If you're a Christian, you can definitely say to us as elders this morning this, I may not be what I want to be, but I'm not what I once was. You will be able to testify, not over a few weeks, but over a year. I have grown over the last year. I've grown in my love of Jesus. I've grown in my love of the church. I've grown in my love of the Bible. Because you cannot be born again and not grow. And so my finishing thoughts, even though I want to say more, I want to just finish with these thoughts. And it's the victory of Christ. Jesus defeated the power of sin. He broke the curse that was against us on the cross. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. Jesus died naked on the cross. Why don't we ever preach that? It's because most pictures and depictions of Jesus have got him wearing this loincloth. Because obviously it would be a disgrace. One, to have a painting of Jesus, that's a disgrace. Secondly, if you are going to paint Jesus, you're not going to paint him naked. But the reality is Jesus died naked. He took Adam's humiliation to the very last. And here's the good news for you and I this morning, is that Jesus died naked on the cross. He took our humiliation and shame. so that those who call upon the name of the Lord can be clothed in righteousness divine, can be clothed in the credited righteousness given as a free gift. So as I look at you now, I can't see it, but God can. If you're in Christ, you've got a beautiful garment on that's invisible. but in heaven it will be visible. It's the righteousness of Christ. And the state of justification can never be taken away. If you're justified, it's an eternal gift. You're set free and there will be no Satan in heaven. But in this world, let's take up the whole armor of God. and let's resist the devil, and let's not forget we have an enemy, but Jesus is victor. But we'll stop there and we'll turn to our closing hymn this morning, which is 638, which we'll sing as best as we can.