The Promise of a Saviour Given

[0:00] Please turn your Bible to Genesis chapter 3.! And although our attention is going to be directed primarily to verse 15 in Genesis chapter 3, I want to read the entire chapter to give the context for Genesis 3, 15.

[0:48] So please follow along as I read. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Genesis chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

[1:08] He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.

[1:23] But God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die.

[1:39] 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 when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

[2:09] Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

[2:22] And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

[2:38] For the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.

[2:55] He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.

[3:13] And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above all beasts of the field.

[3:34] On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat, all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

[3:50] He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing.

[4:02] In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it.

[4:24] Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field.

[4:40] By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

[4:53] The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

[5:06] Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever.

[5:23] Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden, he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

[5:48] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word that you have watched over, your word that you have given to us as your people.

[6:07] Father, I pray that you would bless its reading to our hearts, and now bless its preaching to our souls. We ask, O Lord, that you would truly give us airs to hear what you would say to us.

[6:21] Lord, help us to see that you made a promise long ago, that you fulfilled that promise, and now we are commemorating both the giving and the fulfillment of that promise.

[6:39] So Father, I pray you would help us to so tune our hearts to your word this morning, that we may hear your voice and obey your voice.

[6:52] We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to begin this morning by making a statement that I trust will fertilize your mind to hear and benefit from this morning's message.

[7:04] And the statement is this. Christmas is about the gospel. And the gospel is about the cross. And the cross is about what God accomplished there through the death of Christ.

[7:26] I'll say that again. Christmas is about the gospel. The gospel is about the cross. And what God accomplished there through the death of Christ.

[7:39] I have two goals for this message this morning. And the first one is that we will see and rejoice in the gospel promise that is contained in Genesis 3.15.

[7:53] And we will see the gospel promise and we will rejoice in it that is found in Genesis 3.15. And second, in this sermon, what I hope to do is I hope to model for us how we should view and read the Bible as one book that contains one story.

[8:15] The one story of how God planned and fulfilled the redemption of fallen man. And I say this because there are many people who believe the Bible is a collection of books, unconnected books written by disconnected authors.

[8:37] But what we see is that the Bible is one book. It contains one story and though it is written by dozens of human authors, it really has one divine author and that author is God himself.

[8:52] And so if we're reading our Bibles without bearing this in mind, we are bound to misread our Bibles. We are bound to look at our Bibles and conclude from it what God never intended that we should include from it.

[9:05] for those of you who are a part of this church and you attend Sunday by Sunday sitting under the preached word of God, I think you will recognize in a short while that the way this message is being communicated is different from the way we would typically bring a message.

[9:26] And that's because what you're accustomed to is you're accustomed to a passage being read and the passage being expounded upon. But this morning we're going to be moving through a wide range of scripture passages starting in Genesis and we're going to end in the book of Revelation.

[9:47] And there's a term for what I will be seeking to do this morning and that term is biblical theology. And in a very simple statement, what biblical theology is, is it is a Bible study that traces a truth or a topic and how it is developed in scripture starting with its first mention and tracing it throughout the pages of scripture wherever it's mentioned, whether it's mentioned through specific words or through inference and imagery and trying to collate it all together to get an understanding of what the Bible actually teaches about that topic or about that particular truth.

[10:33] It unfolds through the pages of scripture. And biblical theology is necessary because what we find in scripture is revelation is progressive.

[10:43] God has given us progressive revelation in the pages of scripture. And I think that's part of God recognizing our limitations and not dumping on us all of the truth at one time but he unfolds his truth over a long period of time in human history and through the pages of holy scripture.

[11:09] So I hope this morning to abbreviate what biblical theology looks like and then model that for you as you consider your own study of God's word.

[11:22] So let's begin by getting our bearings. Genesis 3.15 is part of a larger account in the book of Genesis that we refer to as the fall the fall of mankind.

[11:38] And the fall is relevant to all of us because all of us have been affected by the fall. Every single human being has been affected by the fall. The book of Genesis is also the book in which we get a divine account of creation.

[11:56] God helps us to understand how this world in which we live came into being. It also helps us to understand the entrance of sin into the world and the consequences of sin coming into the world.

[12:10] And the book of Genesis also provides for us a historical context for the establishment of the nation of Israel. Now the aspect that I want us to see this morning is that God gave us the book of Genesis to teach us the beginnings of redemptive history from God's viewpoint.

[12:39] The whole Bible can be seen as a book of redemption. That's what it is about. And it begins in the book of Genesis where we're able to see the beginning of redemption.

[12:53] We have the fall but we also see in the book of Genesis the beginning of redemption. And what we'll see this morning is we'll see this unfolding storyline in the Bible of how God redeemed after the fall.

[13:11] again if we miss this about Genesis and Genesis 3 we really will misread our Bibles.

[13:22] Genesis the greatest act in salvation history that God accomplished is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

[13:35] That is the apex moment in salvation history the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. And so we read our Bible with those lenses we read our Bible understanding that the high point of all of Scripture is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

[13:56] And it's what Scripture is all about. So for example Jesus the way he read and interpreted his Old Testament Bible we read in Luke 24 verse 27 that after his resurrection Jesus helped two disciples on the road to Emmaus to make sense of his crucifixion and what we're told is he began with Moses and all of the prophets and he interpreted to them the things pertaining to himself.

[14:24] That's what Jesus did with his Old Testament Bible from Genesis to Malachi. He showed those two disciples the things that were written about him.

[14:38] Well now let's consider the text since we hopefully have a bearing. I believe that like many over many centuries Genesis 315 is the first proclamation of the gospel.

[14:59] After the fall had taken place when Adam and Eve rebelled against God Genesis 315 is the first announcement of the gospel the first announcement of the redemption that God would bring about to address the fall.

[15:19] And for some 1900 years theologians have referred to Genesis 315 as the proto-evangelium the first gospel. But then there are those who say that Genesis 315 really is not that significant.

[15:34] All it is is an explanation for why snakes are unpleasant and why there's great hostility between human beings and snakes. But I think when we follow Genesis 315 throughout the pages of scripture we're able to see something different.

[15:54] What we're able to see is that Genesis 315 is the first gospel proclamation and that it prophesies how God would reconcile sinners through the death of their Savior and the destruction of their tempter.

[16:09] So God does in Genesis 315 he announces his verdict to rectify what had been done.

[16:22] He came into that situation where Adam and Eve had been tempted and deceived by Satan and God says this is what I'm going to do.

[16:34] And he proclaimed the gospel and those words that we find in Genesis 315 prophesy how God would reconcile sinners through the death of their Savior and through the destruction of their tempter.

[16:56] Let's consider for a moment this conversation that we just read about in Genesis chapter 3. notice in Genesis 314 that God is addressing the serpent and in verse 14 he curses the serpent who was previously above all the beasts of the field but now is the lowest going about on his belly and eating dust.

[17:21] And then in verse 15 God further says he announces that he will put enmity or hostility between the serpent and the woman and between the offspring of the serpent and the woman.

[17:36] And he announces that the woman's seed would bruise the head of the serpent and the serpent would bruise the heel of the woman's seed.

[17:49] Now before we look at the other passages that we're going to consider this morning. There are certain aspects of Genesis 3 and 15 and also in Genesis 2 that we need to pay attention to.

[18:06] First of all in Genesis chapter 2 there are two special trees that are in the midst of the garden. And then here in Genesis chapter 3 we have this talking serpent.

[18:23] not just a talking serpent but a tempting serpent. And I think if we ignore these two trees and if we ignore this talking tempting serpent again we're bound to have the wrong interpretation of Genesis 3 15.

[18:41] We know that serpents don't talk. We know that serpents don't tempt people. and so a valid question is who is this talking and who is this tempting behind the serpent.

[18:58] And what about the two trees in the midst of the garden? These two special trees the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of the and the tree of life.

[19:10] life. What we notice in Genesis 3 15 is that there are two sets of offsprings who have hostility between them.

[19:25] And then in Genesis 3 15 we're also told that we have two singular beings who will be at war in their conflict. One is going to get his head crushed and the other one is going to get his heel bruised.

[19:40] And the question is who are they? Who is this one who's going to get his head crushed? Who is this one who's going to get his heel bruised? I just want to leave those questions hanging for a moment.

[19:54] But let's consider Genesis chapter 4. In Genesis chapter 4 we find two brothers Cain and Abel. And there's a distinct difference between Cain and Abel.

[20:04] In verses 1 through 8 we see the details of the struggle that ensued between them and how Abel was killed at the hands of Cain.

[20:17] And then in Genesis 4 25 we see that God blesses Eve with another son by the name of Seth which means God has appointed or God has replaced for me another offspring in Abel's place.

[20:34] In Genesis 4 17 through 24 we have this account of the family line of Cain and then in Genesis 5 6 through 32 we have the account of the family line of Seth.

[20:50] Now when you look at those two family lines it really doesn't take much discernment to see that Cain's family line is wicked every one of them. I would fit the representation of the offspring of the serpent.

[21:08] The rebellious against God and his ways. Interestingly here's what we're told about Cain in 1 John 3 12 1 John 3 12 we're told by John we should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother and why did he murder him because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

[21:40] Cain was of the evil one. He was of the offspring of the evil one. Now notice in contrast to Cain and his family line we see the family line of Seth in chapter 5.

[22:01] And what we're seeing is that they are characteristically representative of the righteous offspring of the woman. Again interestingly in Matthew 23 35 Jesus calls Abel righteous.

[22:18] And since Seth was the replacement of Abel Seth was righteous. And we see the evidence of this in the fact that in Genesis 5 26 Seth's first son Enosh resulted in man beginning to call on the name of the Lord.

[22:38] So here's a quick summary of all of that. From wicked Cain comes murderous Lamech. From righteous Seth comes godly Enosh.

[22:53] And God inspired Moses to put these two genealogies side by side almost as if to say don't miss it. This is the outworking of those two offsprings that we read about in Genesis 3 15.

[23:13] One group wicked and opposed to God and the other one righteous Jesus and serving God. Now as we move beyond Genesis and we begin to work our way through the rest of the Old Testament what we find is that there is an abundance of prophecies and events where the enemies of God are defeated.

[23:39] See the enemies of God and of his people they are defeated. In his book God's glory and salvation through judgment James Hamilton Jr.

[23:50] compiled a chart of all the references in the Old Testament that are reminders and restatements of God's promise in Genesis 3 15.

[24:01] This promise to ultimately and finally defeat all of the enemies of his people. And what James Hamilton did was he did a study where he compiled all of these references that pointed to the restatement of this promise in Genesis 3 15.

[24:22] And he put them in five categories. He found 50 references in the Old Testament. He placed them in five categories and these are the categories. Broken heads, broken enemies, trampled enemies, enemies licking the dust, and stricken serpents.

[24:42] believers. Remember, what God is doing is God is giving progressive revelation that we may understand his purposes in the pages of Holy Scripture.

[24:57] And James Hamilton serves us by doing this study and showing that Genesis 3 15 was not just something God said and kind of left, but God said it and God continued to show the revelation in the pages of Scripture restating, I will do this, I will do this, I will do this, I will do this.

[25:18] And he puts them in these five categories, 50 different references. This one, I want to consider three of them, which I believe you know most of them, if not, I'm pretty sure all of you know one of them.

[25:33] The first one is the death of Sisera in the book of Judges, chapter 4, verse 21. Sisera was a commander of a Canaanite army, and the Canaanites were the enemies of the people of God, they were oppressing the nation of Israel.

[25:55] And Sisera was killed when a woman by the name of Jael took a tent peg and drove it through his head, she hammered it through his head when he was asleep.

[26:09] I mean, you think about that, you have to ask the question about why in his head? Why did she put the tent peg in his head? Why not in his heart? Well, here's why.

[26:22] Because God sovereignly was reminding his people of his promise to crush the head of their arch enemy. the Israelites were bruised by Sisera and the Canaanites, but the enemy's head was crushed by the people of God.

[26:44] The second example is in Judges chapter 9, verse 53, the death of Abimelech. Abimelech's head was crushed when a woman threw an upper millstone on his head.

[26:59] And an upper millstone is a pretty large heavy stone. You think about that. Why did God sovereignly allow Abimelech to die by having his head crushed in this way, instead of dying in some other way?

[27:17] Again, because he was renewing his promise to his people that one day he would crush the head of the arch enemy who was behind all of their human enemies.

[27:33] And the last one, which I'm sure we all know, is Goliath. In 1 Samuel 1749, Goliath was killed by a mere boy who had a sling and he slung a stone in his forehead and crushed his forehead.

[27:52] Now, why was Goliath not killed by one of the men or Saul himself? Why did God sovereignly allow him to be killed this way?

[28:09] Why didn't he allow him to be killed in some other way? Once again, it is to renew his promise to his people that he was going to crush their arch enemy again, who was behind all of their enemies.

[28:30] And so, the only appropriate explanation for these events seems to be to connect them in some way to this promise in Genesis 3.15.

[28:41] Because again, remember, the Bible is not a random collection of words. it tells a story. It tells a big story of redemption.

[28:55] And these words are inspired by God and given to us to communicate this overarching story of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation.

[29:12] creation. And these are all, these stories are all connected to that one larger story. You know something that's interesting, and you may be aware of this, Satan is not mentioned many times in the Old Testament.

[29:31] He's hardly mentioned in the Old Testament. Apart from a passing reference in 1 Chronicles 21, a few times in the book of Job, and one time in Zechariah chapter 3, Satan is, other than that, not mentioned in the Old Testament.

[29:55] But when we come to the New Testament, Satan is directly or indirectly referenced and referred to in every single New Testament book.

[30:08] And this really is not a small point. This should really grab our attention because again, there is this unfolding of this revelation, this unfolding of the fulfillment of this promise that God gave in Genesis 3, and we see it cascading and coming to a crescendo which we find in the New Testament.

[30:35] In Matthew chapter 1, Matthew records the divine conception of Jesus, and through divine revelation, Matthew identifies the birth of Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah in Isaiah 9, 6, where we are told a virgin will conceive and bear a son.

[30:57] this event and the birth of Jesus echo back to God's word in Genesis 3, 15. And they help us to see why God passed over the man in Genesis 3, 15, and referred to the offspring of the woman.

[31:21] We see from this first book of the New Testament in the first chapter in the book of Matthew that the seed of the woman had come.

[31:34] And the apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 4, 4, that the seed of the woman, that Jesus was born in the fullness of time, at the right time, at the proper time, not at a haphazard time, but in the fullness of time in the unfolding of the revelation of God in human history.

[31:52] This is the right time that Jesus came in the fulfillment of this promise that was made in Genesis 3, 15.

[32:09] The gospel writers, Matthew and Mark, testify that Jesus went about preaching and that he demonstrated that a new day had come because he said that if I cast out devils by the finger of God, then know that the kingdom of God has come upon you.

[32:37] Jesus talks about how when a strong man is guarding his house, the only way to change that is for one who is stronger to overpower him and then he is able to plunder his house.

[32:54] And what Jesus said was the fact that the kingdom of God, the evidence of the kingdom of God had come was the fact that he was casting out demons. He was casting out demons and Satan's kingdom in that sense was the evidence that it was being plundered.

[33:13] And for those who are taking notes, the references to what Mark and Matthew 12, 28, and Mark 3, 23 through 27.

[33:28] Here's how the writer to the Hebrews describes what took place in the death of Christ. Hebrews 2, 14, Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil.

[33:57] That's not an insignificant scripture. The scripture tells us that Satan, something happened to Satan.

[34:07] Now, don't think for a moment. He's not saying that when Christ died on the cross, Satan is no more. Satan is still alive and still a tempter and and he is the enemy of our souls.

[34:19] He's still that. But even before we understand what destroy means, we have to conclude that the death of Christ did something to Satan.

[34:35] The death of Christ did something to Satan. What the writer to the Hebrews tells us is that through death, he destroyed the one who has the power of death.

[34:50] And without going into a very long explanation, what it means is that Satan was defeated and though he is alive and he's still able to go and tempt us and do all sorts of things, Satan is not the same powerful foe and enemy of God and God's people after Calvary that he was before Calvary.

[35:11] And so we're seeing the progressive fulfillment of this promise that God gave.

[35:27] In Romans 16, 20, we read, the God of peace shall soon crush Satan under your feet.

[35:39] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Now, Paul is saying these words obviously after Calvary. So we know that though Satan was defeated at Calvary, he is not finally defeated yet.

[35:53] And Paul says God will crush your enemy under your feet. And I think what's important about this verse is that Paul strongly alludes to Genesis 3, 15.

[36:06] And he identifies Satan as the one whom God will soon crush under the feet of the saints. And I think in so doing, Paul identifies Satan as the serpent.

[36:23] in 1 John 3, 8, we read, whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, meaning of his offspring.

[36:37] For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Now, when John refers to Satan as sinning from the beginning, no doubt he is referring to Satan's initial act of rebellion in heaven when he rebelled against God.

[37:03] But he also is likely referring to the tempting of Adam and Eve. And in so doing, he's identifying Satan as the true tempter.

[37:18] And then finally, we come to the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. And it is in this book that the puzzle of the identity of Satan is finally put together.

[37:36] And we're able to see him as the actual tempter of Adam and Eve in the garden. In Revelation 12, 9, Satan is identified as that ancient serpent who is called the devil.

[37:52] I quoted those words. That ancient serpent who is the devil. Here's what it says in Revelation 12, 9. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

[38:14] he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. He's not just referred to as a serpent, but that ancient serpent pointing back to Genesis and the Garden of Eden, no doubt.

[38:34] In Revelation 20, verses 1 and 2, Satan is identified as the ancient serpent who is the devil. I'll read that.

[38:46] Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years.

[39:05] So we read earlier in Hebrews 2, 14, that Jesus defeated Satan through his death on the cross. But in Revelation 20, verses 7 through 10, we see that Satan will only finally be destroyed in the lake of fire at the end of the age, at the end of the world.

[39:30] And so until then, Genesis 3, 15 will serve as the church's reminder that just as God fulfilled his word in the fullness of time and brought the past Satan's initial defeat, he will fulfill his word in the fullness of time and bring about Satan's final defeat.

[39:51] As we read here in Revelation chapter 20. What's very interesting is when you, we see the, we see the big story, and we see the symmetry in the big story, when at the end of Genesis, we see a very similar kind of imagery that we see at the beginning of Genesis, at the beginning, at the end of Revelation, sorry, we see the similar imagery of the garden that we read about in the book of Genesis.

[40:34] Genesis. Turn with me to Revelation 21, the book of Revelation, chapter 21.

[40:45] Revelation 21, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

[41:10] For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

[41:28] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people.

[41:41] And God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death will be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

[42:04] So if you want to think about it, this period between fall and up to this point, John says there will come a time when all that's going to be done away with.

[42:16] All the pain, all the toil, all the tears, it's going to all be done away with. And in a sense, we return back to this Edenic state of affairs that we read about in the book of Genesis.

[42:38] If you jump down to chapter 22, it says verse 1, And the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city, also on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month.

[43:10] The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

[43:27] They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more, and they will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

[43:49] Notice that we see now just the tree of life, we don't see the tree of the knowledge of good and evil anymore, but we see the tree of life, because all of that Satan and sin and all of the suffering that it brings to us is all passed away.

[44:10] the New Testament helps us to see the fulfillment of what God promised in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 15.

[44:29] 13. Now, I know that that's a lot of information, I know we've shared a lot of things, but let me just conclude by saying this.

[44:46] The coming of Jesus and his birth in Bethlehem were contemplated in that promise that he made, that God made in Genesis 3 15, and that promise is a promise of good news.

[45:03] It is good news. Sinners who deserve death were given mercy and grace. And when the words of Genesis 3 15 are understood in the full context of the fall, we should be reminded of the amazing, unfathomable grace of God.

[45:24] it's very recently, I'm a part of a particular group, a WhatsApp group of pastors and other leaders from around the Caribbean, and it sometimes it goes into different directions, and just two days ago, someone was, someone put up a post trying to make some drastic division between Old Testament and New Testament that the Old Testament shows a God of strictness and a God who is very firm, but the New Testament shows a God who is more gracious, and I shared some thoughts on that just really to say that's not a faithful reading of the Old and New Testaments.

[46:15] Grace is in the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, in this very dark moment in human history, where Adam and Eve rebelled against God, God demonstrated grace.

[46:35] God did not deal with Adam and Eve in that moment the way they deserved to be treated. What we see Adam and Eve doing was after they rebelled against God, they do what sinners do.

[46:52] They do what sinners do who are aware of their rebellion against God, they hide. Adam and Eve hid themselves. And if God had said, well, let me wait for them until they come to their senses to come to me, they would never come.

[47:10] Indeed, they could not come. The circumstance in which they were, they were dead to God and they could not do anything good to bring themselves to God.

[47:22] And so what we see is we see God as the one who in grace and mercy reaches out to them for those famous words when he says to Adam, Adam, where are you?

[47:37] If God didn't, Adam and Eve wouldn't again because they couldn't. God did not punish Adam and Eve immediately with physical death and eternal condemnation.

[47:55] Instead, his divine love extended grace to guilty Adam and Eve. And up to this point, grace had not been demonstrated in human history before.

[48:11] When Satan rebelled against God, Jesus said, it was like lightning. God threw him from heaven. He said, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

[48:24] Satan did not get grace. Adam and Eve got grace. They deserved what Satan got. But God gave them grace. God demonstrated his love for the guilty and he was gracious to them.

[48:50] Listen to how Gerard von Grongingen describes God's response to Adam and Eve.

[49:01] It's a kind of long quote but it's projected for you. He writes, Yahweh's love for Adam and Eve was also demonstrated by his being merciful to them.

[49:13] When Adam and Eve realized that their God was coming, they hid. They confessed that they were afraid, Genesis 3.10.

[49:24] This fear made them miserable and uncomfortable. Yahweh revealed his love for them in their state of anxiety. He did not reveal his anger much less his wrath against sin and sinners.

[49:38] Rather, Yahweh reached out to them in their wretched state of mind and heart. In a real sense, he comforted them by not pronouncing wrath and immediate death.

[49:51] He acknowledged the sin and guilt of Adam and Eve by pronouncing the mitigated or reduced curse upon them. They would continue to live and be able to serve his purposes.

[50:09] So, although Genesis 3.15 is a reminder to us of man's initial sin and his initial rebellion against God, Genesis 3.15 should also remind us of God's acts of mercy and grace towards Adam and Eve in the midst of their rebellion, in the midst of their hiding.

[50:36] And one of the things they should do for us is our natural tendency when we sin, when we know we have not pleased God, as a matter of fact, sometimes when we know we haven't pleased our own selves, we know that we have fallen below what we would want for ourselves.

[50:49] God's dealing with Adam and Eve should remind us that instead of running from him, we can run to him because he's a gracious and he's a merciful God.

[51:06] And Genesis 3.15 should also remind us that God's promise of redemption in the Satan's head being crushed by the seed of the woman was revealed in Christ dying on the cross and defeating Satan and rendering him powerless.

[51:33] God said it was what he would do in the aftermath of the fall and the fullness of time that's exactly what he did. Genesis 3.15 should also remind us that while it cannot be denied that grace and truth came in fullness through Jesus Christ.

[51:56] It cannot be denied that God extended grace even before Calvary and Adam and Eve had a foretaste of that grace extended to them after the fall.

[52:12] there's another side to Genesis 3.15 Genesis 3.15 should also remind us of the blessings of obedience and also the consequences of disobedience which is broken fellowship with God.

[52:39] but just as God kept his covenant with Adam and Eve the believer who sins and fails can be assured that although the Lord disciplines those whom he loves they're not cast off forever God will not cast off forever.

[53:05] And as Genesis 3.15 should be a reminder to all believers of the gospel hope that was offered in seed form and that has now come to us in fullness in the person of Jesus Christ.

[53:22] And this is what John says in John 1.16 from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. Jesus and so rightly understood as the first proclamation of the gospel Genesis 3.15 is the hope of the gospel magnified and the final defeat of Satan anticipated.

[53:48] And from Genesis 3.15 we should see that any view of the Christmas story that does not incorporate the cross of Jesus Christ is distorted.

[54:09] It's not an accurate view of what Christmas is. Christmas is God fulfilling what he said he would do in Genesis 3.15 that he would crush Satan's head but also anticipates the death of Christ that his heel will be bruised.

[54:34] God's promise in the Garden of Eden was fulfilled on the cross of Calvary and I pray that as we celebrate Christmas I pray that we would remember this first proclamation of the gospel and God fulfillment of it because that brothers and sisters is really ultimately what Christmas is all about.

[55:00] No doubt there are some this morning who are present and you're like Adam and Eve you're aware that you have sinned against God you're aware that you have not pleased God and like Adam and Eve's running from God and Eve's story the way God dealt with them to inform your thinking that God is not the one to run from but God is the one to run to because he is far more gracious than we deserve and he is far more loving than we ever dream and no sin there is no sin that taxes God's ability to forgive and to have mercy you know sometimes when we may forgive we deal with people and we think they are one nerve away from my last nerve not so with God not so with God there is no sin there is no sinner who so taxes his mercy and grace that it looks like they're barely forgiven you know they are abundantly forgiven they are abundantly pardoned because we have a

[56:24] God who is amazingly gracious I pray that we would remember that and so that's you this morning away from God know you have sinned running from God I said you run to God run to God confessing your sin and throwing yourself on his mercy and you will find pardon for your many sins let's pray together