Christmas in the Garden of Eden

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:06.400 Hey, man, please remain standing as we read the sermon text today, 2 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:12.640 so please turn in your bibles if you have them with you to Genesis three. 3 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:19.239 I'm gonna be reading versus fourteen through and just to give you a heads 4 00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:23.000 up, we're gonna spend the majority of our time looking at the implications of 5 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:29.519 verse fifteen, the first mention of the Gospel in the Bible. So before 6 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.719 I read the text, let's come before God in prayer. Let's pray. 7 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:38.640 M Father, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the Bible 8 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:46.119 that You've given to us, this precious, precious gift. We thank you 9 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:50.920 for this word. It's able to make us wise onto salvation through faith, 10 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:54.840 which is in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and grant your blessing now as 11 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:59.280 we read and study the scriptures together, and I pray this for jesus sake. 12 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:06.319 Men, Genesis chapter three, beginning with first fourteen and reading through verse 13 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:11.079 twenty four. This is God's holy and arrant infallible word. So I encourage 14 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:17.959 you to pay close heed to it. The Lord God said to the serpent, 15 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:22.799 because you have done this cursed, are you above all live stock and 16 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:26.519 above all beasts of the field. On your belly. You shall go and 17 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:32.359 dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity 18 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:37.719 between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He 19 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:42.640 shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise or crush his heel. I'm 20 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:49.319 sorry. He shall crush your head and you shall bruise his heel. To 21 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.040 the woman, he said, I will surely multiply your pain and child bearing. 22 00:01:53.560 --> 00:01:57.560 In pain, you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for 23 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:01.159 your husband, and you shall rule over and he shall rule over you. 24 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:05.680 And to Addam, he said, because you have listened to the voice of 25 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:09.080 your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you 26 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:15.000 shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you in pain. 27 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:17.919 You shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and 28 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.840 thistles that shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of 29 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:27.680 the field by the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread until you 30 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.719 return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you 31 00:02:30.759 --> 00:02:37.680 are dust, and to dust you shall return. The man called his wife's 32 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:42.639 name Eve, because she was the mother of all living and the Lord God 33 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:47.960 made her Adam and for his wife garments of skin skins, and clothed them. 34 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:52.599 Then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one 35 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:55.680 of us in knowing good and evil. Now less he reached out his hand, 36 00:02:55.719 --> 00:02:59.960 and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat and live forever. 37 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:04.639 Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work 38 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:07.280 the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and 39 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:12.800 at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cheruban and a flaming 40 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:15.400 sword that turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of life. 41 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:21.840 This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. M hm. 42 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:32.479 You know, there's always I think something unexpected about about Christmas, you know, 43 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:38.039 even when we've been anticipating it for months uh and and it's just not 44 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:45.479 the presence uh family visits. It's the grace of God in sending his son 45 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:50.599 as our savior, sending his son to die for centers. I think that's 46 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:57.240 unexpected, that's surprising. I don't have to tell you. We certainly do 47 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:02.400 not deserve grace. So whenever I think we capture even a small part of 48 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:10.800 what Christmas means, the message of God's grace is somehow always there, and 49 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:15.879 it surprises us. But you know, we really shouldn't be surprised, because 50 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:20.680 all the biblical references to the coming and birth of Jesus are like that. 51 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:27.240 And this is particularly true. I think of the first prophecy of the coming 52 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:32.360 of Jesus, which occurs in this passage, specifically Genesis three fift. Now, 53 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:40.639 what's surprising here is not the birth of Christ has announced, is announced. 54 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:45.199 I think we should expect that. I think what's unexpected is that the 55 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:51.560 scene in which it occurs is one of judgment. You know, Satan has 56 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:58.680 tempted Eve to sin. She did she ate from the tree of the knowledge 57 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:01.160 of good and evil. Both she her husband had been instructed not to do 58 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:06.120 that. Adam had also sinned a neating from the tree. And now God 59 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:13.360 has come into the garden to meet out judgment. He's told them that if 60 00:05:13.399 --> 00:05:20.519 they did that, they would die. Now I'm not sure they knew exactly 61 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:27.879 what dying meant, but they had done what God had told them not to 62 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:32.800 do, and they must have been terrified as he waited for a punishment from 63 00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:43.199 God. This would be a punishment perfectly suited to that particular crime. Now, 64 00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:51.240 for some reason, that scene reminds me of a Gilbert and Sullivan musical 65 00:05:54.319 --> 00:06:00.160 in which the Lord High Executioner he sings of his desire if he recalled all 66 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:06.240 to have each punishment punishment perfectly suit a particular crime. And one of the 67 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:15.319 standsas of the song concerns the perfect punishment meted out to a billiard player who 68 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:20.480 has cheated people out of their money in pool games. If you know the 69 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:26.399 song, you know the stands. It goes like this. The billiard shark 70 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:33.399 whom anyone catches his doom's extremely hard. He's made to dwell in a dungeon 71 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:40.120 cell, in a spot that's always barred, and there he plays extravagant matches 72 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:46.560 in fitless fingerstalls on a cloth untrue, with a twisted queue and elliptical billiard 73 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:54.600 balls. Maybe not the best idea, but I think you get the idea. 74 00:06:55.959 --> 00:07:00.319 You know, that's a perfect punishment for a pool shark who cheats people 75 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:06.600 out of their money. And I think we might well shudder as we think 76 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:12.120 of the perfect punishment suited to the much much, much greater crime of Adam 77 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:17.000 and Eve in their sin against their creator. We would expect that the perfect 78 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:21.879 punishment here for these two would be instant death. That's what That's what he 79 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:31.480 promised them. So but that's not what happened, is it. Instead of 80 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:39.920 dying immediately, God pronounced only a token judgment on them. We read about 81 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:46.360 it in verses sixteen through nineteen, paying upon the woman and childbirth, grief 82 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:51.600 for the man and earning a living but also wonder of wonders, a promise 83 00:07:51.680 --> 00:08:00.480 of a deliverer, a savior to come from Eve and her offspring. Dear 84 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:07.079 ones, this is the unexpected wonder of the first Christmas. This is surprising. 85 00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:11.920 This is the first appearance of God's grace in the Bible. And I 86 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:18.920 think grace is always surprising to us. You know, at first glance, 87 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:26.759 um Verse fifteen doesn't seem particularly wonderful and uplifting, doesn't seem to be full 88 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:31.919 of grace. It's actually talking about a war, talking about a war that 89 00:08:31.960 --> 00:08:39.519 began between Satan and Eve, between his offspring and hers, and it continues 90 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.559 to the time of Christ and beyond. Now, the word used here for 91 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:50.080 this conflict is enmity, which means ill will on one side or on both 92 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:56.080 hatred. It means especially antagonism. Now it's hard to see how that could 93 00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:01.759 be good. But this enmity is good, and I think we should be 94 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:07.000 alerted to that by the fact that it's God who created it. So let's 95 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:13.720 just take a look and how this antagonism is good and shows God's grace. 96 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:22.000 So let's look first at this antagonism between Eve and Satan. Now we have 97 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:26.639 to remember that Satan had already rebelled against God. No, Satan was the 98 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:31.279 highest of angels, but for some reason, he wasn't satisfied with that. 99 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:37.080 He wanted to replace God as as the ruler of the universe. Now he 100 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.840 wasn't successful. In fact, God tossed him out of heaven for trying that. 101 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:48.039 But now he appears on earth to attempt to do among this new race 102 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:54.600 of human beings what he failed to do earlier with God. And I think 103 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:58.759 his temptation of Eve. And in that temptation Satan had a couple of things 104 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:05.200 in mine. First, he wanted to seduce her for our first parents, 105 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:11.000 away from the worship of God. Second, he wanted to win their allegiance 106 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:16.840 and worship for himself. And sadly we know he's succeeded in that first objective. 107 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:22.360 He did break the fellowship of Adam and Eve with God. That happened, 108 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.840 as Genesis three describes for us. But he failed in the second thing 109 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:33.799 because God says here that he's putting enmity, He's putting antagonism between the woman 110 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:43.039 and Satan. Now there's something new here. The new element here is not 111 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:46.360 Satan's hatred of Eve. Satan hated Eve from the moment of her creation, 112 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:50.679 even when he was pretending to be her best friend in tempting her to to 113 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:56.960 eat from the tree. Now the new thing here is Eve's and Adams and 114 00:10:56.039 --> 00:11:03.399 all their offsprings hatred of Satan as one aspect of God's gracious preservation of and 115 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:09.759 provision for the human race. That's new. And you know, if you 116 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:15.799 think about that, what an amazing truth and blessing that is for us. 117 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:22.519 You know, it's certainly true that the human races ideas of truth and falsehood 118 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:31.240 are clearly corrupted. But you know, we nevertheless retain some ideas, some 119 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:37.519 inkling of right and wrong. And this is the important thing. We approve 120 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:43.120 of the good, or we think we should, and we oppose evil. 121 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:46.759 We try to oppose it. Now. C. S. Lissen, his 122 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:50.919 classic book Mere Christianity. Remember what he called this? He called us the 123 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:58.519 law of human nature. He says that all mankind, regardless of the culture 124 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:03.960 that he lives in, has as part of his DNA, this sense of 125 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:11.320 right and wrong. Now we know instinctively what we should do in certain situations, 126 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:16.480 even though we don't always do it. John Calvin calls this a divine 127 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:22.600 sense, that all human beings have a sense of the divine within them. 128 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:30.159 We know intuitively right from wrong. God put it there. John talks about 129 00:12:30.200 --> 00:12:35.000 this in the first chapter of his Gospel, verse nine. We thank God 130 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:41.919 rightly at Christmas for things like love, joy, happiness that the coming of 131 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:48.519 Christ has brought us, but we should never forget to thank Him for this 132 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:58.360 corresponding hatred of sin, sorrow. It sends ways an increasing minute misery when 133 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:07.039 we find our selves ensnared in sin's tentacles. When we sin, we often 134 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:13.240 find that we like it, but we want to escape its consequences. We 135 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:16.919 would like to destroy ourselves in comfort. We would we we would like to 136 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:22.440 go to Hell happy. But thank God, thank God is one aspect of 137 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:31.240 his amazing grace that he doesn't allow that to happen. He makes sin miserable. 138 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:39.440 He sets up an antagonism between ourselves, and Satan modifies its hold on 139 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:43.919 us, makes it possible for us to hear God's loving voice even in our 140 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:48.240 misery. So I think that is the first antagonism in this verse. It's 141 00:13:48.279 --> 00:13:54.279 between the woman and Satan. But there's a second one mentioned here. It's 142 00:13:54.320 --> 00:14:01.639 an antagonism between the woman's offspring and Satan's offspring. Now, I don't think 143 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:05.799 that this is speaking of the enmity between human beings and demons. I don't 144 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:11.200 think that's what's been said here. For one thing, Satan doesn't really have 145 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:18.879 offspring. He's not going around engendering little devils. The demons were created once 146 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.960 by God. I were created as angels before their fall, and they're not 147 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:28.960 increasing in number. You know. I'm pretty sure that what's envision here is 148 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:37.519 a conflict between the ungodly descendants of the woman Eve influenced by God and the 149 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:43.559 ungodly descendants of the woman influenced by Satan. In other words, it's a 150 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:50.120 conflict between two humanities, which is developed further if you read along here in 151 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:52.279 Genesis four and five. And so, if that's so, I think it 152 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:58.240 is. This is a message for the godly in every age for ours. 153 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:05.279 Yeah, there's this divinely created animosity between the people of God and those who 154 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:11.200 are not His people. And it's for our good, you know. I 155 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:15.919 think that conflict, it sharpens our sharpens our will to serve God. You 156 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:18.240 know. One of Isaac Watt's great hymns, am I a soldier of the 157 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:22.879 cross? Ask these questions, Are there no foes for me to face? 158 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:28.919 Must I not stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend of grace 159 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:33.879 to help me on to God? And I think in the context of that 160 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:39.000 him, the answer is clearly no. The world is no friend of grace. 161 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:41.879 It doesn't help us on to God. Fact, it hinders us. 162 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:48.039 And I think watches him says he wants us to fight against the world for 163 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:54.000 Christ's sake, which we have to do. So. I think our hatred 164 00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:58.960 of Satan the world's hatred of us. I think those are two great Christmas 165 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:06.159 gifts. They're the first gifts ever given to us by God. But there's 166 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:11.960 another antagonism here that I think is much more beneficial even than those two. 167 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:18.720 You see these first who give us hope. They tell us basically that God 168 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:25.440 has not abandoned us, that he's established this beneficial enmity between those who desire 169 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:32.840 God and those who desire evil. This last antagonism assures us not only of 170 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:40.600 hope, but dear ones. It assures us of victory. It's the antagonism 171 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:47.919 between Jesus as a specific and climactic seed of the Woman and Satan himself. 172 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:55.480 It results in the bruising of Jesus, but it also results in the crushing 173 00:16:55.639 --> 00:17:02.480 of Satan. You know, Satan is constantly aiming at the destruction of Jesus. 174 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:07.000 He has been since day one. And I think if you know, 175 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:12.480 if you look at it like that, then the entire Bible is just really 176 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:21.559 one story. It's the story of this antagonism, This this conflict between the 177 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:26.920 seat of the Woman and the seat of the serpent, between Israel and the 178 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:33.039 nations, between the Church and the world, between Christ and Satan. And 179 00:17:33.079 --> 00:17:37.920 even though we sometimes act, I think of as as if it's not true. 180 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:45.680 Christ is victorious in this conflict. He wins in the end. But 181 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:51.240 it's a fight, it's a battle. So I think it might be helpful 182 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:56.000 if we just go back in time a little bit, beginning right here in 183 00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:07.839 Genesis three, and just highlight in scripture the wonderful providence of God in ensuring 184 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:12.640 Christ's victory over Satan. You know, the battles joined right here in Genesis 185 00:18:12.680 --> 00:18:18.640 three, That's where it starts. It's here that God promised Adam and Eve 186 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:26.279 a deliverer. He promised that Jesus would come from even her offspring. Now 187 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:32.480 they thought it was Kane. It wasn't. They were mistaken. But these 188 00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:38.680 words spell out the war that will exist between Satan and the woman, between 189 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:47.799 his offspring and her offspring, between between himself and her great descended Jesus Christ. 190 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:52.720 The words of the promise and the conflict are spelled out for us here. 191 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:59.119 And I will put in the table between you and the woman, between 192 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:03.400 your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise or crush your head, and 193 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:10.720 you shall bruise his heel. Well, what happens very shortly? Children are 194 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:14.160 born of Adam and Eve. You remember who they were. Kine enabled, 195 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:21.559 but Kane kills Abel. Then Seth is born, and it's through him that 196 00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:26.359 the promised Messiah is to come. And Satan now begins to do all in 197 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:32.279 his power to destroy Seth. Remember he tells Seth's sons that they must marry 198 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:37.799 the daughters of Kane. He tries to destroy Seth's generations in order to annihilate 199 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:41.839 the promise concerning the Messiah. Well does he succeed? Looks like it? 200 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.319 Genesis six twelve says, and God saw the earth, and behold it was 201 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:56.359 corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. At Satan 202 00:19:56.359 --> 00:20:02.839 one looks like it, But no, he hadn't won. What happened among 203 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:07.720 the families that descended from Seth, there's one who feared the Lord. You 204 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.240 know who it was. It was the family of Noah. God saved that 205 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:17.839 one family, eight people, and destroys all the rest of the world with 206 00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:22.559 the flood. And it's in this one family that the promise is carried forward. 207 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:29.920 It's continued. The promise concerning the Messiah is now given to Abraham and 208 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:36.160 Sarah his wife. We hear the story in Genesis eighteen. It's later summarized 209 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:42.240 for us and Hebrews eleven. Humanly speaking, this promise was never going to 210 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:47.960 be fulfilled. You know why. Because Abraham was nine years old, Sarah 211 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:53.000 was a ninety, well past the age of child bearing. Her biological clock 212 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:59.240 could run out she'd been bearing all her life. Surely this is the end 213 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:04.279 of the line. Mhm. Satan has won. But then the miracle happens. 214 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:11.359 You know what the miracle was. Isaac is born. The promise is 215 00:21:11.400 --> 00:21:17.640 now given to Isaac. But the Lord tells Abraham to offer Isaac as a 216 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:22.160 sacrifice, and on Mount Mariah, Abraham raised a knife to kill his son 217 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:30.359 Giso. What now will become of God's promise? Surely Satan wins, but 218 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:36.640 we know that didn't happen. I believe the Christ himself appeared in the form 219 00:21:36.680 --> 00:21:42.799 of an angel and safeguarded his own birth according to the flesh. Well, 220 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:48.000 time goes on. The seed that was going to crush the serpent's head would 221 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:56.039 be born from the generations of Isaac and Rebecca. But there was another problem, 222 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:00.519 same problem. Rebecca was also barren. Again, Jehovah, the God 223 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:06.680 of promise, performs a miracle and Rebecca conceives, so that the promise has 224 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:12.799 continued in the line of Jacob. Now Jake Satan attacks Jacob's descendants, the 225 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:21.160 Jews. This time it surely seems that he will be successful, for though 226 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:23.799 the Lord and his mercy had remember he'd let his people out of Egypt. 227 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:27.079 They rejected him, and what did they do? They started dancing around that 228 00:22:27.160 --> 00:22:36.000 golden calf. Jehovah was not amused, and he said that Moses let me 229 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:41.279 alone, that I may consume them. Is this the end? Has Elvis 230 00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:47.440 left the building? Is Satan going to war, going to going to win? 231 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:53.480 Well, unless he will, Unless there's an intercessor, and there was. 232 00:22:55.880 --> 00:23:02.720 Moses intercedes and the promises saved. Again. We could go on like 233 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:08.319 that in the Old Testament. Let's just move to the New Testament where the 234 00:23:08.359 --> 00:23:17.480 final act of this drama occurs. The scene is Bethlehem. It's Christmas, 235 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:22.480 so to speak. They're in a manger lies to Christ child. But although 236 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:29.839 he's now actually born, Satan still tries to destroy him. You know. 237 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:37.000 In fact, Revelation twelve refers directly and specifically to the events that took place 238 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:41.160 in connection with Christ's birth. Verse four of Revelation twelve. And the dragon 239 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:48.319 Satan stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when 240 00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:52.680 she bore the child, he might he might devour it. Well, here 241 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:57.359 comes the wise man from the East to meet with King Herod. Be sure, 242 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:03.119 Herod says, m to report to me as soon as you have found 243 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:07.480 the child. Why because I want to come and worship him. That isn't 244 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:10.880 what he wanted to do. You know what he wanted to do. He 245 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:17.799 wanted to kill the child. But the men, who were wise warned by 246 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:22.960 God, they returned to their country another way after they had found and worshiped 247 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:32.079 the Christ. Still Satan refused to admit defeat. All the infants of Bethlehem 248 00:24:32.200 --> 00:24:40.519 and the surrounding area two years old and under are killed. Herod failed and 249 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:47.079 so did the dragon Satan. Why because the Christ child was safe in Egypt. 250 00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:52.400 But the battle doesn't stop, you know, it continues, and we 251 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:59.599 see Jesus grow into manhood. As Jesus began his public ministry, Satan struck 252 00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:03.880 again. He confronted Jesus in the wilderness. He tried to turn him away 253 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:07.200 from the path God had laid out for him. But Jesus defeated Satan, 254 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:14.680 how by applying scripture to everything Satan said to him. On one occasion, 255 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:21.440 Satan tried to destroy Jesus in a storm, but Jesus rebuked the wind the 256 00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:27.960 waves became calm. On another occasion, Satan moved the citizens of Nazareth to 257 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:37.720 try to murder Jesus by throwing him off a clift didn't happen well. The 258 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:42.759 conflict continued to unfold. Even in jesus final days on Earth. Satan enters 259 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:48.839 the heart of Jesus of Judas moved him to betray his master. Jesus has 260 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:56.359 arrested. There's this hastily arranged trial before a pilot in the san Hedren, 261 00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:03.079 the flogging, the sentence of death, the walk to gall Gatha, and 262 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:08.440 finally the crucifixion. I don't know what Satan was thinking, is that last 263 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:14.480 nail was pounded in the christ fleshed by these Roman soldiers. But he must 264 00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:22.119 have been euphoric. Finally the battle was over. He had one. He 265 00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:25.400 couldn't believe that God had been so full, he says, to come within 266 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:29.799 his grasp, and he had finally accomplished what he had wanted all along, 267 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:37.039 the murder of God. But you see, at the moment of apparent victory, 268 00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:45.599 Satan had forgotten the prophecy the way back in Genesis three, spoken by 269 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:51.839 God in the Garden of Eden. The prophecy was said that the coming one 270 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:57.200 would be bruised. But what at the same time crushed Satan? You know, 271 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:00.640 in a sense. I guess you know, Satan had wounded God, 272 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:07.480 but it was only a scratch. It wasn't a defeat, because on the 273 00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:12.599 third day what happened, Jesus rose victoriously from the grave. And what about 274 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:22.039 Satan. Satan didn't win. Satan laws big time. He was destroyed eternally, 275 00:27:22.039 --> 00:27:26.440 even though he didn't see it at the time. Satan is the ultimate 276 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:34.839 slow learner. Listen to how Dr. John Gershner describes Satan's hollow victory. 277 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:42.640 Gershner says, Satan was apparently majestically triumphant in this battle. He had nailed 278 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:48.759 Jesus to the cross, the prime object of all his striving through all the 279 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:55.039 ages was achieved. But he had failed for the prophecy, which had said 280 00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:57.720 that he would indeed bruise the seat of the woman, had also said that 281 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:03.640 his head would be crushed. H Thus, while Satan was celebrating his triumph 282 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:07.039 in the battle over the Son of God, the full weight of the atonement 283 00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:15.160 accomplished by the crucifixion which the devil had affected came down on him, and 284 00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:22.759 he realized that all this time, so far from successfully battling against the Almighty, 285 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:26.240 he had actually been carrying out the purposes of an all wise God, 286 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:37.079 dear ones, God's purpose can never be frustrated. Never. Christ's birth in 287 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:41.599 Bethlehem is God's victory over Satan, and our Savior's death on the cross, 288 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:48.000 his his resurrection, his ascension to his his his further and final victory. 289 00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:55.480 Christ triumphs the dragon, Satan loses, and the angels along with the Church 290 00:28:55.519 --> 00:29:00.440 saying glory be to God in the highest. That's probably a good place to 291 00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:03.880 close. But I got something else that I want to talk with you about. 292 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:10.000 One more point and I'm done. You know, I think it's clear 293 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:17.720 from this text that Satan didn't understand what was to happen by jesus atonement. 294 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:23.519 No one really understood it fully until jesus death, you know. Yet the 295 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:29.599 godly who lived before the coming of Christ, they had at least some inkling 296 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:34.519 of it, and they believed on the one who was promised here in Genesis 297 00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:41.519 three. In other words, I believe that Adam and Eve had some rudimentary 298 00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:48.079 understanding of all this way back in the garden, and they put that and 299 00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:52.559 put their trust in Jesus who was to come. Let me just tell you 300 00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:56.400 quickly why I think that. You know, the reason I say that Adam 301 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:02.279 believed in Jesus is because of Genesis. M You know, some people think 302 00:30:02.319 --> 00:30:06.279 that it was God who named the woman Eve. This is he had named 303 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:08.799 the man Adam earlier. But no, she was named Eve by not by 304 00:30:08.839 --> 00:30:15.680 Adam. But she was named I'm sorry. Some people think it was God 305 00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:25.359 who named the woman Eve, but it uh, she was named Eve by 306 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:30.680 Adam, not God. And I think the question is why did Adam give 307 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:36.119 Eve that name? Well, the answer is in the meaning of the name, 308 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:44.319 Eve means life or life giver, and Adam named her that because of 309 00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:48.440 the promise. And I think we see here in this text. You know, 310 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:53.160 Adam obviously had listened closely to God's speech to his wife. He understood 311 00:30:53.160 --> 00:30:57.880 that one of her offspring with crush the head of the serpent. He knew 312 00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:02.880 that his wife's pine and childbearing mean meant that she was going to have other 313 00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:08.119 kids, that the people would would follow all this. So I think Adam's 314 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:15.079 declaration here naming his wife was an act of faith on his part, faith 315 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:19.640 in the promise that victory over the Satan would come through the offspring of this 316 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:25.799 woman. And it wasn't only Adam, who believed the promise God gave him 317 00:31:25.799 --> 00:31:32.319 the garden on that first Christmas. I think Eve believed it too. When 318 00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:37.559 her first child was born, we read about it over in Genesis for she 319 00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:44.160 named him Kine, which means gotten winner. I think better here he is 320 00:31:45.079 --> 00:31:51.440 now. She was mistaken in thinking that this child was the promised deliverer. 321 00:31:52.119 --> 00:31:56.640 She wasn't holding the savior. In fact, she was holding the world's first 322 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:01.480 murderer. But you see, I think she had the right idea. She 323 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:07.319 was looking ahead to the one who would be born, who would save his 324 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:14.440 people, and she was staking her life on the reliability and truth of God's 325 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:19.079 promise I think stated here in Genesis three. And so have all people who 326 00:32:19.079 --> 00:32:23.240 have rightly understood what Christmas is all about, I think, and so must 327 00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:29.519 will if we're to be a true part of it. You know, those 328 00:32:29.559 --> 00:32:37.400 who don't have this same faith, you don't know God through Christ, you 329 00:32:37.480 --> 00:32:43.920 don't have this understanding of Christmas. They're never going to achieve their deepest longings. 330 00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:50.559 They're never gonna fulfill their dreams, They're never gonna escape their moral and 331 00:32:50.680 --> 00:32:58.079 spiritual and physical bondage. Why because God won't let them. You know, 332 00:32:58.119 --> 00:33:02.559 The history of mankind is the history of men trying to storm back into the 333 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:09.079 garden to find the tree of life eat its fruits. But God has closed 334 00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:15.359 that entrance, He set guards before it, and mere human beings will never 335 00:33:15.400 --> 00:33:21.640 make a way through. I think what's clear from this text is that we're 336 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:28.680 to see the garden of Eden and sort of a type of sanctuary, a 337 00:33:28.759 --> 00:33:36.519 place for God's presence dwells in all its life giving power. Man's banishment from 338 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:42.359 the garden, therefore, was banishment from that divine presence, all the blessings 339 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:45.839 of life that went with that presence. And you see, that's man's ultimate 340 00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:54.119 problem, his estrangement from God. And as we're reminded here in Genesis and 341 00:33:54.200 --> 00:34:01.400 throughout the rest of the Bible, that estrangement was was God's entirely just punishment 342 00:34:02.720 --> 00:34:07.000 for a man's sin and disobedience. You know, this might be controversial, 343 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:12.400 but I happen to believe that Adam and Eve did return to the garden in 344 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:17.039 their own lifetimes because of what the offspring of the woman would someday accomplish on 345 00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:22.920 their behalf. Could be wrong, but you know, the first human beings 346 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:29.920 disobeyed, they ruined life for all their descendants. But I believe they were 347 00:34:29.960 --> 00:34:35.559 also recovered by the grace of God to prove to their offspring that there was 348 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:40.119 in fact a way back to the garden for any and every human being. 349 00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:45.559 But it's God blocked the way back. It's only God who can open the 350 00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:52.360 way again. And he did that through Jesus Christ, who crushed Satan's head 351 00:34:52.400 --> 00:35:00.280 by his victory on the cross. You know, every man, religious or 352 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:09.960 otherwise, unless God's grace should change him, he's just like John Bunyan's Mr. 353 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:16.719 Loath to stoop who through you know Bunyan's second grade allegory of salvation, 354 00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:23.639 the Holy War, Mr Loath Stupid. He's He's engaged in an effort to 355 00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:30.400 beat down God's on alterable terms of salvation, to have his way back into 356 00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:36.880 the garden on his own terms, his own, reduced and easier terms that 357 00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:44.800 require no real stooping on his part, no acknowledgement of his terrible guilt and 358 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:50.320 need no repentance for his sin riddled life, no surrender of sovereignty to the 359 00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:57.480 Lord Jesus. But because he's blocking the way back in judgment of our sins, 360 00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:02.039 only God can open the way and that's what He's done through Jesus Christ, 361 00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:12.199 his son. So Christmas hid in about trees. It's not about tinsel 362 00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:16.880 and gifts, angels, shepherds and stars and wise men. Certainly those things 363 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:23.480 enter into the New Testament story. Christmas is about a savior, a deliverer 364 00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:30.079 from sin, promised to our first parents by God thousands of years ago in 365 00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:35.760 the garden of Eden. They had sinned, and they would have perished in 366 00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:38.639 those sins. But God said he was going to send his own son, 367 00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:44.079 the Lord Jesus Christ, to save them from it. And that's exactly what 368 00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:49.760 he did. You know, the Bible says Galatians. For but when the 369 00:36:49.800 --> 00:36:54.280 fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, 370 00:36:55.199 --> 00:36:59.960 born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, 371 00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:06.159 so that we might receive adoption as sons. That's the true meaning of Christmas. 372 00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:08.239 I encourage you to grab hold of it, don't let go of it. 373 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.480 And Carole and I fervently pray that as you think on Genesis three fift 374 00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:21.000 this week and following, you would indeed have a very very merry Christmas. 375 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:27.320 God bless you. Please pray with me our Father blessed these words to our 376 00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:34.079 heart. Let us see clearly the blessing of God's incredible, amazing grace to 377 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:39.519 us portrayed in this text. Bother, we see the Gospel so clearly proclaimed 378 00:37:39.519 --> 00:37:44.800 for us here the promise of a deliverer, a savior who would come and 379 00:37:44.840 --> 00:37:49.559 die to rescue us from our sins. Let us lay hold of that wonderful 380 00:37:49.639 --> 00:37:53.280 Christmas gift and believe it, and then go forth and proclaim it to a 381 00:37:53.400 --> 00:38:00.079 dying world, a disintegrating world, for Jesus sake, Oh man an Amen