Hello, good morning.
Good morning.
It's good to be back with you.
In the UK, wet the accent.
It's got to be a bit of an American scream.
It's flying, so it's time to come back and wet the accent for a few weeks.
So nice to be with you again this week.
And thanks to Paul and the elders again for the invitation to share God's word with you.
If you have a Bible, please turn with me back to the passage that we read this morning and to Genesis chapter 3.
And we're going to focus this morning on Genesis chapter 3, verse 15.
Genesis 3 and verse 15.
And as we come to think about God's word, let me pray for us again.
Father, in your light, we see light.
And so we pray that you would come now and by your Holy Spirit, illuminate the reading and the preaching of your words so that we might see Jesus more clearly,
love him more dearly, and follow him more dearly.
We ask this in his name, who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever prays.
Amen.
Genesis 3, verse 15.
Family trees.
We all have a family tree.
Everyone here belongs to a family, to a line of descendants, to a family tree.
I don't know if you're interested much in your family tree, but I've become interested in mine in recent years.
On my father's side, there's a long line of Ulster farmers from the north of Ireland.
And a Scottish faith mission pilgrim, my great-grandmother Christina, came from Scotland, was a travelling evangelist to the north of Ireland,
and then clearly distracted my great-grandpa James, an Ulster farmer who himself was an open-air preacher,
and perhaps she thought she could teach him a bit about preaching.
My father's side reveals a long line of Christians over generations.
On my mother's side, my great-grandpa George Roberts originated from Halkin in north Wales,
before he moved to the Werrell near Liverpool.
There were no signs of any Christian influence on his side of the family until later in his life.
He had two sons with his first wife, Sarah, who then died in her late 20s.
And then he married a young Scottish woman called Margaret Ann Houston, a young Presbyterian lady.
And together they had eight children, six boys and two girls.
My grandfather, Arthur, was one of those six boys.
His mother, Margaret Ann Houston, this Scottish Presbyterian lady, was a divine Christian.
Each night she would read the Bible with her kids and pray for them after dinner.
And as I've traced the lines of these eight children that she had,
there are two or three lines from Margaret Ann Houston that reveal strong Christian families.
I like to think of my great-grandmother's prayers still having effect down from certain family trees all these years later.
Looking at your family tree can be a really useful exercise because it can help you understand how you came to exist,
how it is that you came to belong in your particular family.
It can also reveal some sadnesses and conflicts and fallouts in your family history,
as well as graces and providences in the family line.
That's what I've seen in the family trees on both my father and mother's sides.
I've seen graces and providences on the one hand,
sadnesses and conflicts and fallouts on the other hand.
Which brings us to our passage this morning, and in particular Genesis 3, verse 15.
What we have here is the first mention of family trees in the Bible.
We have the whole human race reduced down to two genealogies.
Two family trees, stated in the most general of terms.
There is the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman.
And what we see in these two family trees is conflict and grace.
Conflict and grace.
We see the conflict at the heart of the human race.
We also see God's grace to the human race.
The great conflict at the heart of the human race is obvious enough.
It's stated in verse 15, right at the beginning.
I will put enmity between you and the woman.
The word enmity here is emphatic in the Hebrew.
And its presence is felt all the way through the verse.
The enmity begins with the serpent and the woman.
Then it continues between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman.
And then it comes to a climax in the fight between the individual offspring of the woman
and the serpent himself.
So we have two family trees.
Two lines of descendants in conflict with each other.
As I said earlier, looking at family trees can reveal sadnesses and conflicts.
And here in these two family lines of the human race,
we have the great conflict at the heart of the human race.
What Cornelius Van Til called the antithesis.
The great antithesis.
But there's something else present in this verse.
There's not just conflict.
There's also grace.
God's great grace.
A grace that relates to you and me here this morning.
Because if you're a Christian here this morning,
then you belong to this family tree of the offspring of the woman.
And you belong to it because of God's grace.
You belong to the family of God because of the grace of God.
And this verse reveals that to us in three ways.
Number one, we belong to God's family because of his electing grace.
We belong to God's family because of his electing grace.
Look at the beginning of verse 15.
I will put enmity between you and the woman.
At first sight, it's hard to see where we get electing grace here from.
But just think about what has happened.
God had made Adam and Eve as his own special covenant people.
But instead of responding in faith and obedience to God, their father,
they rebelled against him.
They chose to form an alliance with the serpent.
The serpent tempted them to eat the forbidden fruit.
And because they ate the forbidden fruit,
they formed an alliance with the serpent.
They stood against God now with the serpent.
Instead of living for God and fighting the serpent,
they changed sides and began to live against God.
Boys and girls, you know what this is like.
When you're playing a sports game in the park or at school,
and the player on your team changes sides to go and play for the other team.
They're no longer playing with you.
They're now playing against you.
Well, that's what Adam and Eve did.
They changed sides.
They started playing for the other team, the wrong team.
They started living for the serpent.
They joined with team devil.
Instead of staying on team God.
And when God came looking for them in the garden,
after they had sinned, after they had switched sides,
they didn't come out of the trees confessing their sins.
They came out excusing themselves and pointing the finger at others.
Adam blamed his wife.
She gave me the fruit.
The woman blamed the serpent.
The serpent deceived me and gave me the fruit.
And with this gleaming game, one thing became clear.
There was no repentance from them.
They were still on the side of the serpent.
The serpent still had control of them.
But then look what God said to the serpent in verse 15.
He said it to the serpent directly and to the first human pair indirectly.
I will put enmity between you and a woman.
You see that?
God promises to put conflict between the serpent and the woman.
Now think about it.
She's on his side.
So what's God doing?
He's bringing her back onto his side.
He's bringing her back onto God's side and against the serpent.
Eve, we might say, is the first elect member of the Christian church.
God elects her by putting enmity between the serpent and her.
This is God's electing grace.
Because just think about what God's doing.
He's rescuing Eve from the serpent.
He's rescuing Eve from herself in her sin.
Here was a woman whose attitude only moments or days earlier was hostile to God.
Her affections had shifted from God, from loving God to hating God.
Yet here is God now putting enmity between her and the serpent.
Which means that he must be changing her attitude towards God.
He must be renewing her affections for God.
In short, God must be giving her a new heart, a new mind.
And God does it not because she asks him to.
God does it because of his grace.
She's been making excuses when he confronted her with her sin.
Even in her opportunities to repent, she's still hiding behind her sin.
Yet here is God giving her something she doesn't deserve.
The only thing this woman deserves is to be judged alongside the serpent.
But God acts in grace.
He elects her back into his family.
He gives her what she does not deserve.
A new beginning.
A new heart.
A new mind.
That's what grace is.
Receiving a gift you do not deserve.
Boys and girls, this is a really helpful definition of grace.
You hear that big Bible word used all the time.
What is it?
It is receiving a gift you do not deserve.
Mercy is not receiving a punishment you deserve.
Not receiving a punishment you deserve.
But grace is receiving a gift you do not deserve.
And Eve does not deserve to be brought back onto team God.
She deserves to be judged on team devil.
But here is God electing her back onto his team.
It's the same for us.
If we are in God's family this morning.
If we are on God's side.
Then we need to realize that the only reason we belong to God's family.
Is because of his electing grace.
Is the only reason we have a positive attitude towards God this morning.
The only reason we have any desire for God this morning.
The only reason we can sing some of the songs we've sung this morning.
Is because God has chosen to put enmity between us and the devil.
Because God chose to renew our affections to him.
Because God chose to elect us onto his team.
And why did he do that?
Well just like with Eve.
Not because of who we are.
Or what we have done.
But because of who he is.
God of grace.
We were children of wrath.
Haters of God.
Lovers of self.
Jesus even spoke about people being offspring of the devil.
You are like your father the devil.
He said to the Pharisees.
He was referring back to Genesis 3.15.
We were like that.
Yet God chose us.
I think in Christian circles God's grace can become so ordinary.
So common.
So expected.
We hear about God's love and grace every week in our home groups.
On the Lord's Day.
And so we just expect God to be gracious to us.
Isn't that the business that he's in?
He has to be gracious to us.
Well no.
He doesn't have to be gracious to us.
He chooses to be gracious to us.
To give us something we do not deserve.
And if you're here this morning and you're a Christian.
Then you have received his electing grace.
And that is extraordinary.
Not ordinary.
That is uncommon.
Not common.
That is surprising.
It's unexpected.
We're going to sing at the end of this service.
A lovely hymn by Robert Murray.
He puts it like this.
Chosen not for good in me.
Waken up from wrath to flee.
Teach me Lord on earth to show by my love how much I owe.
Chosen not for good in me.
If we're Christians here this morning.
Then we belong to God's family because of his electing grace.
Second, we belong to God's family because of his preserving grace.
His preserving grace.
Look at the second part of verse 15.
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.
Now there is some question as to what the offspring of the serpent are.
Who they are.
Some people say that since the offspring of the women are real descendants.
From her family line.
So the offspring of the serpent must be some kind of real descendant from the serpent.
Some scholars say that they're real snakes.
Think about in the wilderness.
Snakes came and attacked God's people in the wilderness.
Others say that it must just be evil spirits.
I think the offspring of the serpent certainly includes evil spirits.
But the fact is that later in the Bible certain people are associated with the devil.
Like Cain is likened to the devil.
Or Saul or Judas.
Or even as I mentioned Jesus says to the Pharisees.
You are like your father the devil.
In other words you're the offspring of the serpent.
So the Bible speaks not just of evil spirits being the offspring of the serpent.
But actually people being the offspring of the serpent.
Who take on his image.
Who act like him in their lives.
And God promises that the enmity will continue between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman.
Now what does that continued enmity between the two offsprings reveal?
It reveals preserving grace.
Preserving grace.
Just like the enmity that God sovereignly put between the serpent and the woman reveals electing grace.
So the continued enmity between their respective offsprings reveals God's preserving grace.
Because just think about it.
If the enmity is going to continue between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman.
Then that means God must continue to preserve and elect offspring of the woman.
He must continue to put enmity between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the serpent.
What we have here in this second part of the judgment of the serpent is God's preserving grace.
He promises to preserve a people for himself.
Down through the centuries.
Down through the generations.
Who will fight against the offspring of the serpent.
Who will have affections for God.
Who will be on his team.
Not the devil's team.
And as you read the Bible, isn't that what you see?
You boys and girls, you'll know some of these stories.
Just think of Israel and Egypt.
When Pharaoh tried to kill all the newborn sons.
Had Pharaoh been successful, he would have wiped out the offspring of the woman.
The offspring of the serpent would have crushed the offspring of the woman.
Or just think about when Assyria and Babylon came and attacked Israel and Judah.
Had they been successful and wiped out both nations, then the offspring of the serpent would have crushed the offspring of the woman.
Would have annihilated them.
Or think about King Ahasuerus and Haman's plot to wipe out the Jews in the book of Esther.
Had they been successful, the Jews dispersed across the Persian Empire would have been extinguished.
The offspring of the serpent would have triumphed over the offspring of the woman.
Yet at every attempt by the offspring of the serpent to wipe out the offspring of the woman, what did God do?
He intervened and preserved a people for himself.
He continued to choose people.
He continued to ensure that there was enmity between them and the offspring of the serpent down through the centuries.
He raised up Moses from within Pharaoh's own house to fight against Pharaoh and rescue Israel from the Egyptians.
He preserved a remnant of people in the exile to ensure that King Jehoiachin was released from prison and et at the king's table in Babylon.
Later he stirred up the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to send his people back home from exile.
God raised up Esther to save the Jews from Haman's plot to wipe them out.
God's preserving grace runs like a golden thread through the pages of biblical history all the way down to us here today.
If we are Christians this morning, then we belong to God's family by his preserving grace.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I've become interested in researching my family history.
And as I've done so, I find sadnesses and conflicts and fallouts.
But I also find God's electing, preserving grace running like a golden thread through my family.
On my father's side, I come from four plus generations of faithful Christians.
On my mother's side, in my ancestral line, there is a child born out of wedlock.
It is called an extra-marital affair between a married man and a young single lady called Nellie Wallace from the Shefflin Islands.
Nellie became pregnant in the early 1900s.
She later gave birth to a little baby girl called Frances Maud.
And she took her to Glasgow and gave her up into a foster home.
home. Frances Maud was taken in by a foster family in Carlisle who very sadly had an abusive
alcoholic mother who was very unkind to Frances Maud. Frances Maud grew up in very difficult
circumstances, lots of conflict, lots of fallout, and it wasn't until her late 20s that she met
a young man called Arthur Roberts, the son of Margaret Ann Houston, that Scottish Presbyterian
woman I told you about earlier. They married in 1935. In their first two years of marriage,
Arthur and Frances had two premature boys. Neil was born at six months, he lived 55 minutes.
A year later, Arthur John was born. At six months, he lived nine hours. Year after year,
Frances would have miscarriages, never able to hold a child beyond six months. But eight
years into their marriage, they had a boy called Alan Houston Roberts. You can see what Arthur
was doing, naming his son after this woman, Margaret Ann Houston, after his mother. After
Alan, they had many more years of infertility and more miscarriages, until at 44 years of age,
Frances fell pregnant with a little girl. Evelyn Margaret Roberts. Again, notice her middle name,
Margaret, after this grandmother, Margaret Ann Houston, the woman of faith in Arthur's family.
Evelyn grew up in a non-Christian home. Arthur and Frances were not Christians. But one day,
when she was reading her school Bible, her prayer book at the World Grammar School for Girls, she
was converted on a sports field. And then started taking her mother, Frances Maud, to church with her,
who was later converted. Evelyn grew up, married a man from Ulster, and together they had three sons. And when
Evelyn had her third son, her mother said to her, you have the three boys I've always wanted. Remember Neil, who died
six months, Arthur John died at six months, and then she had Alan, who lived into his 40s. That's my family history on my
mother's side. I am one of those three boys that Evelyn and Margaret had. That's my mother, Evelyn and Margaret. My family history on my
mother's side is full of sadness and conflict and fallout. But it's also full of grief. There's sadness with the
deaths of Neil and Arthur John, these little boys who lived for six months, sorry, four and six months lived just a
matter of minutes and hours. There's conflict between my grandmother and her abusive foster mother. But there's also grace. The grace of the
Margaret Ann Huston and her prayers that were heard for my mother and her mother. Yes, there are sadnesses and
conflicts and crises, but there's also grace woven into my family like a golden thread. And I'm here today as a
Christian because of God's grace. Think about it. You read that family history, how did you become a
Christian? How did it happen? That God would step in and convert a young girl on a sports field. And I would encourage you to think about your family history. If you take time to think through where you've come from, you'll see sadness and
conflicts. You'll see sadness and conflicts. But if you're a Christian, you'll see grace running through your family like a golden thread. Or you'll see grace interrupting your family history and bringing you to faith perhaps as the first Christian in your family line of unbelievers. I mean, just think about why you are here today as a Christian. It's all because of God's electing and preserving grace.
God's grace. We belong to God's grace. We belong to God's family because of His saving grace. That's the last part of verse 15. Cast your eye down there. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. The enmity between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman comes to a climax in a final battle. Between an individual offspring of the woman. Notice it's a he, not a they.
The offspring of the offspring of the woman gets narrowed down to an individual person. He will bruise your head. And notice he doesn't fight the offspring of the serpent. He fights the serpent himself.
And notice how the order flips around. So far it's the, I will put enmity between you the serpent and the woman. Between your offspring and her offspring. And he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Notice the last part flips around.
I think to show us that in the end of the serpent.
The serpent.
Now there are a number of things we could learn about this representative individual in the line of the woman. But I just want to point out three this morning. Notice he will descend from a woman. Now that's so obvious, right? Offspring of the woman.
Well that's so obvious, right?
Well that's actually surprising. Because it's the man who holds the power of begetting descendants.
The seed required for descendants belongs to the man, not the woman. But notice how this son, this individual will descend from a woman without any reference to a man. There's no mention of Adam here.
This individual will descend from a woman without any reference to a man. Now in order for the woman to have any offspring, Adam would obviously need to be involved. But notice there's no mention of him. The focus is on this representative individual coming from the woman. What we have here I think is the faintest echoes of the virgin birth. The person will descend from a woman with no reference to a woman.
The second, he will be a son. The very fact that this person is a he who descends from a woman tells us that he will be a son. A son is going to come and fight the serpent. And all the way through the Bible, that's the controlling category for this person who is coming.
It's not prophet, it's not prophet, it's not priest, it's not king, it's not Messiah. The controlling category for the coming individual from the offspring of the woman is a son. A son is coming. Adam was called God's son. But he forfeited the right. So God promised another son.
Abraham was promised a son. Abraham was promised a son. Abraham was promised a son through whom he would be made into a great nation. David was promised a son through whom his kingdom would be established forever. All the way through the Bible we are waiting for a son to come.
a son who will come and fight the serpent
on behalf of his people
the offspring of the woman
will be a son
he will come from the offspring of the woman
without any reference to his father
he will be a son
and third
he will be a victorious but suffering son
the offspring will bruise the serpent's head
but the serpent will bruise his heel
precisely because the serpent has been cursed
to crawl on his belly all the days of his life
it can only bite at the person's heel
the curse in verse 14 ensures the victory
in verse 15
the serpent from its humiliated position can only injure
it cannot kill
but for this upright man
who is standing
he has the immediate advantage
and so he can stand on the serpent's head and crush him
and since he will crush him
the point is that he saves
the offspring of the woman
from the power of the serpent
the offspring of the woman saves those people
even though he himself becomes injured in the fight
it's as if as he goes to crush the serpent in the head
the serpent bites him in the heel
here is God's saving grace
God provides a representative son
who will descend from over him
to fight and triumph over the serpent
even though he himself is injured in the fight
he will be a victorious but suffering son
what's interesting
is to trace the development of this verse
through the whole bible
Sinclair Ferguson put it well
Genesis 3.15
is like the whole bible
with the rest of the old testament
as a footnote
so boys and girls
if you ever want to summarize the whole bible
just quote Genesis 3.15
and just say to your parents
the rest of the bible
is a footnote
Genesis 3.15
because what's interesting
is you trace this promise
through the bible
what you see is that God
gets victory over his enemies
often with a blow to the head
Joshua captures the five Aborite kings
and gets his commanders to lie on the ground
and then they stand on their necks
before he hangs them on the trees
Deborah and Barak fight for Israel
against Sisera
the representative of the king of Hazor
who eventually gets a tent peg
where?
in the head
also in Judges of Emelech
gets a millstone to the head
think about David
boys and girls
where did David throw the stone
that killed Goliath?
did it hit him in the knee?
no
it hit him in the head
it was a blow to the head
David was a mini Messiah
the son of God
fighting
the representative
arch enemy
of his people Goliath
and he killed him
with a blow to the head
in other words
as the Old Testament develops
you see that God
saves his people
through a chosen representative
who defeats their enemies
often by inflicting
a deadly blow
to the head
all of these fights
are miniature dramas
of Genesis 3.15
each of them pointing forward
to that ultimate fight
between the representative
of offspring of the woman
and the serpent
these were only little skirmishes
in biblical history
waiting for the great battle
between this son
and the serpent
and it's in the Gospels
that this fight
comes to its fulfillment
in the life
death
resurrection
of Jesus Christ
just think about
when Jesus was born
what did King Herod
try to do to him
try to kill him
during his temptations
what did Satan
try to do
he came to fight him
in the wilderness
and tempt him
just think about
during his ministry
the Pharisees
and the scribes
opposed him
and tried to plot
to kill him
later on
Satan entered
Judas Iscariot
who then betrayed Jesus
which led to his
trial
and crucifixion
Satan
the serpent
went to war
against Jesus
the son
he tried to strike him
in the heel
he tried to bite him
and at first sight
the strike looked
like it was a deadly one
Jesus hangs on a cross
dead
he lies
in a tomb
dead
it seems like
the serpent
has triumphed
over the offspring
of the woman
but when Jesus dies
notice
who is standing
near the cross
watching
you know how
the gospel writers
talk about
there were women
standing by
and it names them
two women
called Mary
one of her
was his mother
and we Protestants
get all very nervous
at this point
Mary's
getting too close
to the cross
you know
get her away
from the cross
so Jesus is our
savior
Mary's got nothing
to do with it
and that's true
Mary doesn't save us
in any way whatsoever
but why is Mary
mentioned
as standing
by the cross
because on the cross
is the offspring
of the woman
on the cross
is the offspring
of the woman
it's interesting
that in his
first miracle
miracle
Jesus refers
to his mother
as woman
woman
my time
has not yet come
he was alluding
back to
Genesis 3.15
and do you remember
the place name
where Jesus dies
Golgotha
the place of the
skull
and he
shall crush
your head
first Adam
failed to crush
the serpent
by a tree
and lost
his bride
Jesus
crushes
the serpent
on a tree
and saves
his bride
he kneels
the serpent
to the tree
puts it
in a grave
and he did
it for all
of us
if we trust
in the Lord
Jesus
this is the
gospel
of grace
Jesus
the representative
son
fought
on our
behalf
crushed
the devil
it cost
him his
life
he has
the scars
to prove
it
just like
any man
who's ever
bitten by a snake
has scars
to prove it
Jesus
has the scars
to prove
that he went
into battle
with the devil
he did it
to save us
this is God's
saving grace
this is the
third reason
why we belong
to God's family
because of his
saving grace
while we were
still sinners
while we were
still enemies
Jesus died
for us
while we were
on Satan's
team
Jesus died
for us
to bring us
back onto
God's team
God sent
his son
to fight
the devil
and bring us
back onto
his team
this is the
great good news
of God's
great grace
grace
the question
we each need
to ask ourselves
this morning
is
have we
experienced
this electing
preserving
saving
grace
so let me
ask you
which family
tree
do you belong
to
which family
are you in
the offspring
of the serpent
or the offspring
of the woman
you may say
well I don't
belong to either
family tree
whose are
viable family
trees
that's all
very interesting
do you know
what I mean
but not that
interested myself
well
listen to Jesus
if you are not
for me
you are against
me
if we're not
on God's side
this morning
then we need
to know
that we are
on the side
of the serpent
whether we like
it or not
whether we agree
with it or not
whether we believe
it or not
it doesn't
change reality
the reality
is
we are in
one of these
two family
trees
and Jesus
says if you're
against me
you're in
the serpent
the serpent's
family tree
you're in the
offspring of the
serpent
but if you
are for me
then you have
received
my electing
preserving
and saving
grace
if we are
Christians here
this morning
if we've
repented of
our sin
put our faith
in the Lord
Jesus
then we are
united by
faith to
that son
the son
of the woman
the victorious
but suffering
son who
crushed
the serpent
and if we
belong to him
then it is
all by
God's grace
we've sung it
this morning
already
what a mystery
I see
what a miracle
has joined me
to this life
that never
ends
let us pray
a dream