1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,100 Good morning. How are you all doing today? Awesome. I want to welcome everybody that 2 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:11,400 is joining us here in our sanctuary for the first time or if you're watching 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:15,600 online for the first time, welcome. We're so glad you're here to worship with us 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:22,060 here at Hosanna. This morning we are going to be continuing our study of the 5 00:00:22,060 --> 00:00:28,080 fall of mankind, looking at the curse and the judgment on the serpent. I was 6 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,760 trying to get through the serpent and the curse on the woman and I didn't make 7 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:34,760 it. So we're just gonna be doing the serpent this week and then we'll be 8 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:39,960 looking at the curse of the woman and possibly the man next week. But if you 9 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:43,960 guys have been with us for our study of Genesis, you'll remember in our previous 10 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:50,000 studies we saw how Satan tempted Eve in the garden through the use of the snake. 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,840 Some people think Satan possessed the snake or he appeared in the form of a 12 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:58,720 snake or whatever it is, but the Bible doesn't tell us. It just connects the 13 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:05,440 serpent to Satan and so we know that Satan spoke to Eve and subtly introduced 14 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:11,960 the idea that maybe God wasn't good. Maybe God was being stingy by saying they 15 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:15,080 couldn't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That maybe 16 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:21,120 God was actually withholding good from them and we read as Eve contemplated 17 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,840 that concept, contemplated that idea, she eventually got to the point where she 18 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:32,960 accepted Satan's suggestion. Satan's ideas took hold in her mind and then it 19 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:37,320 got to the point where Satan was no longer or moved past suggesting to 20 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:43,720 outright declaring that God is not good. That God is not having her best interest 21 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:49,280 in declaring that God was wrong, absolutely wrong. And so then we read how 22 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:55,240 Eve then deceived by Satan's words, took of the fruit of the tree and ate thinking 23 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,840 maybe she was doing a good thing. Maybe she was possibly helping God out or 24 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:02,720 helping her husband out. That's all speculative. We don't know, but she took 25 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:07,560 of the fruit and then it tells us that she gave to her husband who ate with 26 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:12,800 full understanding that what he was doing was wrong. Speculatively we think 27 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:17,420 they'd possibly rationalized to himself after watching his wife eat and she 28 00:02:17,420 --> 00:02:21,280 didn't die immediately that maybe he would get away with eating of the fruit 29 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:27,960 true or fruit as well. And so he then took and ate and it was that moment, it 30 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:34,320 was that moment that their formerly innocent perfect nature was poisoned by 31 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:39,840 sin. Where their entire nature was changed, corrupted because sin had entered 32 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:45,560 in to their lives and with sin death entered into existence. Physical death 33 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,040 would come in time but in that very moment their spiritual death was 34 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:53,920 immediate as their spirit died and they were separated from that fellowship with 35 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:59,160 God, their creator. And in that picture you might remember that we saw how the 36 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:03,480 creation order was completely flipped upside down, it was upset. 37 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:09,680 Whereas we had God the creator who created man first and then out of man he 38 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:13,460 created woman and so the creation order there that it was God who gave 39 00:03:13,460 --> 00:03:18,380 authority to the man who then led his wife who then both ruled over creation 40 00:03:18,380 --> 00:03:23,120 together. But in the fall there we saw that the creature, the serpent used by 41 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:29,840 Satan led the woman who then led the man and they were all disobeying God and sin 42 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:34,280 entered the world. But the beautiful part of this story is that God in his 43 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:39,760 infinite graciousness gave man and woman the opportunity to come clean in honest 44 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:44,840 confession as he engaged in dialogue with them and said where are you? What 45 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:50,960 happened? But unfortunately instead of confessing their sin and confessing the 46 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:56,520 responsibility for what they have done, excuses were given. We see how God 47 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:00,360 addressed them in the order of their responsibility as he addressed the man 48 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:06,200 first because the man is responsible for his family and so then God addressed the 49 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:10,960 woman after that. Now those excuses that were given were just the picture of 50 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:16,400 neither one confessing their sin but instead they blamed others for their own 51 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:21,640 actions that they chose to do. Man blamed the woman, this is the woman you gave me 52 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:26,840 God. And in that process more horrifically blamed God, tried to pin 53 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:32,240 the blame for his sinful decision on his creator and then we saw how the woman 54 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:37,880 blamed the serpent. And so now we come to the curse and the judgment that God 55 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:42,520 lays down on all three of them. The results of this curse that we still feel 56 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:49,560 today, we still see active in our world today but even so even in the curse we 57 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:57,600 see God's holiness, we see God's justice, and most of all we see God's grace. God's 58 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:03,600 grace is even apparent and available and just there in the midst of even his 59 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,240 judgments. And so that's what we're going to be looking at today starting with the 60 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,400 serpent but first we're going to worship God. We're so excited to be worshipping 61 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:14,920 God. The Lord is at work. I don't know how many of you were at Harvest Crusade 62 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:20,520 last night but that entire stadium was completely packed out. 60,000 people 63 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:26,520 showed up to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. And even more impressive than 64 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:32,000 that when they gave the altar call, the back field behind the stage was so full 65 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:36,960 of people coming forward to repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ that 66 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:41,760 they actually had to turn people away. The first time ever they've had to say 67 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:46,520 hey we're sorry there's literally no more room on the field and they 68 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,800 made means to be able to get with those people and get them a Bible and to have 69 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:56,240 follow-up counselors meet with them but the harvest was just huge. And we're so 70 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:00,440 excited with what God's been doing this whole month as his spirit is moving here 71 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,440 in Southern California and I'm so excited that our church is a part of it. 72 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,960 And so we're going to be just celebrating God and worship and praise 73 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:11,240 first and then we're going to get into his word and continue to learn from him 74 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:15,360 what he wants us to know about him so that we can then be the people who not 75 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,640 only know him as our Savior but to live in this world in the grace that God has 76 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:27,440 for us. Amen. Let's pray. Father we love you so much. God we just consistently see 77 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:34,920 Lord how graceful you are. Lord how you extend your hand of grace to all Lord 78 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:41,720 and those who call out to you and confess their sin Lord you extend the 79 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:45,600 greatest grace where you give us salvation. And Lord we know that 80 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:50,680 salvation is offered to everybody Lord. And God way back in the beginning of 81 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:55,120 course Lord humanity had this perfect relationship with you Lord but but we 82 00:06:55,120 --> 00:07:00,480 sinned. We disobeyed you God and and the results of that have been felt from then 83 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:05,840 until now. And yet Lord in the very beginning as we're gonna see today Lord 84 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:14,560 you told mankind what your plan was to save us. You told mankind what your what 85 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:19,760 your plan was to to bring us salvation from the sin that we entered into God. 86 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:24,400 And we're so thankful. And those of us that know you today God we have been set 87 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:28,280 free from the power of sin and death and we're so grateful for that Lord and we 88 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:32,280 can't help but to just praise your holy name. And that's what we want to do to 89 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:37,000 start our service today God. We love you so much. We thank you for every blessing 90 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,040 you bring upon us Lord and and any who are here here in this building this 91 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:45,280 morning in our sanctuary or watching online that do not yet know you as our 92 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:49,640 personal Lord and Savior. We pray for them right now God that your spirit 93 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:54,040 would even begin drawing them this moment to yourself. That you would open 94 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:58,480 their eyes to the reality of their sin and the coming judgment and that today 95 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:03,360 Lord they would give their life to you. They would submit to you to be saved 96 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:08,520 eternally. God we love you and we thank you. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. 97 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:13,920 All right we are going to be in Genesis chapter 3 and we're gonna be covering 98 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:21,640 two whole verses today. But you know I don't think it's unusual for us to 99 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:28,120 understand that we see very clearly very clearly and evidently today that humankind 100 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:35,320 has a tendency to think nothing I do is my fault. Right? That is a plague upon 101 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:41,600 mankind. It's not new but we see it happening in unique ways in our culture 102 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,560 and you know people have all kinds of reasons for that. It's how I was 103 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:49,680 raised. That's how they say it's not my fault or it's my spouse and that's how 104 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:54,080 they say it's not my fault or you know it's my parents fault. It's the 105 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:59,240 government's fault. Right? We're really good at blame-shifting and our society 106 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:04,960 really is in love with the culture of victimhood. Right? Everybody wants to be 107 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:09,440 a victim and not take responsibility for their own choices and their own 108 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:16,160 behavior and really our culture is just a fantasy land of those who who imagine 109 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:20,480 that they could blame someone or something else for their own personal 110 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:25,800 decisions. It's a huge huge issue and and they think that that the blame could be 111 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:30,120 placed on some other group or some other thing or some other person or whatever 112 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:34,760 it may be and really that goes all the way back to this fall in the garden. You 113 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:39,720 know the moment Adam sinned was the moment death was introduced into the 114 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:46,160 world. Now we commonly think of death as oh you you cease to be alive right? But 115 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:51,160 biblically death is so much more than that. It was the death of the Spirit. It 116 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:56,520 was the death of the connection man had with their Creator. That deep intimate 117 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:01,760 fellowship that that Adam and Eve had in the garden with God. That spirit that 118 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:05,440 that is dead in us now that is made alive when we believe in Jesus Christ. 119 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:10,120 That was the death. Now yes there's physical death that happens but the 120 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:14,480 Bible talks about an eternal death that is gonna come on those who die without 121 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:19,240 salvation and it's not just you cease to exist as some of the cults try to teach. 122 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:28,080 It's actually an eternity in hell. It is a forever suffering consciously paying 123 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:33,120 the price for your sins because you chose to reject the price that God paid 124 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:38,760 for you and that's what entered in when Adam sinned and that was the moment that 125 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:43,800 humanity through Adam and Eve were completely infused with the poisonous 126 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:48,600 stain of sin. Now the moment they made that choice the moment they chose to 127 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:54,280 disobey God was also followed by the immediate moment of feeling guilty. We 128 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:59,760 read about that. Victimhood and blame shifting and it's been the same ever 129 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:05,480 since. One of the very first things most people do when they're caught is 130 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,160 immediately try and think of a way to deflect it. Well it's not my fault it was 131 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:13,120 because of this it was because of that. It's been a plague on mankind ever since 132 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:19,920 and so this idea has permeated every culture. Nothing I do is my fault 133 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:24,160 therefore since it's not my fault there's no consequence that is gonna 134 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:28,280 fall upon me or there's no consequence I should expect to fall upon me because 135 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:33,920 again it wasn't my fault. But this is a lie from the pit of hell. This was a lie 136 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:38,720 that started in the very beginning because before God Almighty and before 137 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:44,440 his righteousness and his perfection we aren't victims. We are guilty criminals 138 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:51,680 facing a great consequence. The penalty for sin is death and try as we might 139 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:57,680 there was nothing and there is nothing we could ever do to purge 140 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:03,640 ourselves of the poison of sin. From Adam forward it has been a thing that 141 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:11,120 is built into our very nature. We are born sinners right and we've mentioned 142 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:16,240 these things before but nobody ever has to teach a kid to lie about taking a 143 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:21,960 cookie out of the cookie jar. You know my grandson just recently has learned the 144 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:28,400 word mine. That's fun right? Those of you that have dealt with that he picks up 145 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:32,880 his soccer ball and he runs around the house going my ball my ball and then he 146 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,440 wants you to play with him but then he goes my ball right and who taught you 147 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:43,520 that bro? It's just a part of our nature to be selfish to be to be blame-shifting 148 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:49,040 to you know it's just it's crazy I got so many stories but I'm not gonna you 149 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:54,320 know take up all the time talking about my grandson. So what the idea is this is 150 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:59,680 that nothing could purge us of the sin. Nothing could purge us of the venom the 151 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:03,440 poison as it was coursing through our veins. Nothing could purge us of the 152 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:09,760 nature until Jesus died on the cross. That was when we were cured when Jesus 153 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:17,000 God the Son willingly accepted the penalty for what we have done. When he 154 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:25,400 willingly he became the victim of sin. He became the victim of our sin having 155 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,520 never done anything wrong himself. He was without guilt without sin in every 156 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:34,680 possible conceivable way but he's the one that became the victim for us. He 157 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:41,240 suffered the full wrath of God in our place. Now this redemption this gospel of 158 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:45,960 God coming to this earth and living a perfect life in the flesh and then dying 159 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:50,280 on the cross for your sin and my sin raising from the dead on the third day 160 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:56,000 then through faith in him granting us redemption all of this was promised in 161 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:01,640 the very same breath in the curse that God pronounced on the serpent and Satan 162 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,800 in the garden and that's what we're going to be looking at today. Now the 163 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,280 first thing you'll notice as you read through Genesis chapter 3 here and you 164 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:14,200 look at these curses is that we see God dialogue with Adam you know where are 165 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:20,160 you? We see him dialogue with with Eve what have you done? But there's no 166 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:25,120 dialogue with the serpent. There is no conversation with the serpent or with 167 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,640 Satan working through it. There's no there's no what did you do? There's no 168 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:33,080 opportunity for any type of confession or repentance but God just goes straight 169 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:37,440 to cursing the serpent and through the serpent cursing Satan and really that 170 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:43,440 that teaches us something very important that there will be no hope for Satan. 171 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:48,080 Satan is irredeemable. There's no opportunity for confession or repentance 172 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,720 because he never will. When I was a young Christian I used to think as I was 173 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:57,080 comprehending the grace of God and comprehending like how much God forgave 174 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:02,280 me for I was like well can't Satan repent? Right? I used to have this 175 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,920 question would God forgive Satan if Satan showed up and said God please 176 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:10,920 forgive me I've sinned and depending on where you stand on the theological 177 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:15,200 spectrum my thing is if Satan ever did that God would but Satan will never do 178 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:18,440 that because it is his nature to be wicked and evil through and through and 179 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:23,960 so we see this picture here in the very beginning but in the curse that he 180 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,840 pronounces on Satan and the serpent there is embedded the hope of grace and 181 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:33,240 redemption for all humanity so read with me in Genesis chapter 3 verse 14 this is 182 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:38,920 so the Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this you are 183 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:44,120 cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal you will move on 184 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:51,400 your belly and eat dust all the days of your life and so what we see here is two 185 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:57,200 objects of the curse in the verses 14 and 15 here we see primarily in verse 14 186 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:02,400 that the actual serpent the reptile the creature is cursed but then through that 187 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:07,640 in into verse 15 we're gonna see that he kind of switches in in the same breath 188 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:13,200 to cursing Satan individually who is the one who controlled or spoke through or 189 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:19,560 appeared as the serpent to deceive Eve now this word curse here it's very 190 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:24,280 typical of prophetic language that you'll see in the Bible prophetic 191 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:30,120 language that addresses an object or a person first and then moves to the source 192 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:34,920 of the wickedness in the person this is something we see in a lot of prophecy 193 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:40,080 throughout scripture and so this curse goes from the serpent the object to 194 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:48,240 Satan the source who used the serpent and so verse 14 then for its in in its 195 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:54,040 broad look and its specific look is a literal curse on the literal serpent now 196 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:58,280 there is a prophetical and a symbolic curse on Satan through that who then is 197 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:02,840 called the ancient serpent in Revelation right he is tied back to this but verse 198 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:07,880 14 is really really looking at the serpent itself and we see that in a 199 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,920 couple of the descriptions here but if you go through scripture you'll notice 200 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:17,360 that anytime an animal a creature a part of the creation that was intended to be 201 00:17:17,360 --> 00:17:24,480 ruled over by man anytime an animal causes injury or harm to humans they were 202 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:29,320 dealt with very harshly in scripture one of the examples is in Exodus chapter 12 203 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:36,160 verse 28 which said when an ox gores a man or woman to death you kill the ox 204 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:42,160 very plain and simple there was also places in scripture that because this 205 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:48,000 stuff was happening where it says if a if a man or a woman used an animal 206 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:54,400 immorally both the man and the woman were killed they were they were put to 207 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:59,200 death because even though someone I'd say well the animal was was used why is the 208 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:05,240 animal killed too because the creature was used in a in a shameful way against 209 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:09,240 that which is the image of God man and woman and so anytime animals were 210 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:13,480 involved there was a harsh judgment and and really the picture is that any abuse 211 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:20,280 or any perversion on this order of man ruled over woman who ruled over together 212 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:25,440 creation the perversion of that order God dealt with very very harshly and so 213 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:31,040 it tells us here that he said to the serpent you are cursed this word cursed 214 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:37,480 means to cover with misfortune that's what it means it's the direct opposite 215 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:42,320 of the Hebrew word for blessed right when you hear the word blessing what 216 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:49,760 that typically means is is you are given or it is put upon you success or you're 217 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:54,280 favored with fortune that's what the idea of blessing is when God puts his 218 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:59,520 favor upon you the idea is that fortune is gonna come into your life because 219 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:03,680 blessing is upon you well curse then is the opposite of that it means to be 220 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:09,920 unsuccessful or disfavored with misfortune and so the curse the the 221 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:14,400 misfortune that is placed on the serpent here is expressed in physical terms 222 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,160 right he says that you're gonna move around on your belly and you're gonna 223 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:23,640 eat dust all the days of your life now there are some theologians and scholars 224 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:27,760 that that look at this and and I kind of lean this way as well as they say well 225 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:32,880 if the curse was to move on your belly then prior to this the snake the serpent 226 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,800 must have had some type of different form maybe it was upright right lizard 227 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:41,840 people maybe it had legs but there was some different form than what we see in 228 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:46,680 snakes today which is just this long slithering thing that gives people the 229 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:52,440 heebie-jeebies now but the the reason that I point out that this is actually 230 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:57,400 on the snake is because he says you are cursed more than any livestock and more 231 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:02,560 than any wild animal all right that's directly the serpent itself the snake 232 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:08,000 the creature right Satan wasn't part of the livestock that God created Satan was 233 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:12,280 not a part of the wild animals we read about that back in Genesis chapter 1 so 234 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:16,080 there is this literal creature again that either Satan used or possessed or 235 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:21,880 spoke through but it is cursed because it was used in a way to harm mankind 236 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:26,860 and so when he says more than any livestock or more than any wild animal 237 00:20:26,860 --> 00:20:30,440 that's actually the snake you know Satan was not part of those things now 238 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:35,160 scripturally though we see that there's a kind of a dual application here 239 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,120 because when he says you're gonna eat dust there is the idea that you know we 240 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:42,280 we were all familiar with snakes they crawl around on the ground they crawl 241 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:46,120 around on their belly and so the idea is that they're just inhaling dust all the 242 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:51,440 time that we know snakes diet isn't dirt but but being so low to the ground the 243 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:56,080 idea is that they'll just be inhaling dust all the time but there's also a 244 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:01,280 symbolic meaning to eating dust and in the Bible it's symbolic of total 245 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:09,080 humiliation or total defeat in Psalms chapter 72 verse 9 which is a prayer of 246 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:14,040 blessing on Israel's King it says this may desert tribes kneel before him and 247 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:19,600 his enemies lick the dust so there's a symbolic idea that that the king of 248 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:24,160 Israel would would rule that the enemies of the king would be humiliated would be 249 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:28,760 defeated and then in Micah chapter 7 verse 17 it says they will lick the dust 250 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:33,160 like a snake they will come trembling out of their hiding places like reptiles 251 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:39,320 slithering on the ground and so the idea here is that this creature the serpent 252 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:47,400 was was exalted above man who is actually its ruler right it exalted itself above 253 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:53,960 man and therefore it was then cursed to remain low in humiliation to remain low 254 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:59,600 in this idea of being defeated and put down and so the the symbolism there goes 255 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:04,040 along with the actual physical reality right and so from then on the snake 256 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:09,800 would forever be a creature that was repulsive and abhorred and and isolated 257 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:15,760 and just covered with misfortune through and through right for most of time snakes 258 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:21,920 and serpents have been viewed by most people as creepy and evil you know 259 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,960 there's not a lot of people that see snakes and go oh how cute and cuddly now 260 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,360 some of us do right when I was a teenager I thought snakes were cool and 261 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:35,420 to my mom's horror because I had you know different types of snakes and one 262 00:22:35,420 --> 00:22:39,760 of them was a Burmese python and I used to get waking up woken up in the middle 263 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,960 of the night and my mom would be like Nathan your snakes out of the cage get 264 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,360 it so I'm wandering around the house and I would pick up the furniture and it would 265 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:51,400 be coiled up hissing at me and my mom's like why do you have those things you 266 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:57,040 know I think they're cool so anyways but but historically they've been seen as 267 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:02,040 kind of like an evil thing interestingly enough snakes are one of the most 268 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:05,480 isolated creatures that exist in all of the animal kingdom right they come 269 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:09,800 together to mate but in the most cases they have no community they they don't 270 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:14,800 travel in herds or packs in that idea and so this whole idea of just being 271 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:19,720 isolated and I'm horrid and looked at wrong it's indeed fallen upon snakes and 272 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:26,160 so but symbolically how does this apply to Satan well every time we see a snake 273 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:31,240 slithering on the ground from then until now we see it on the ground limbless we 274 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:36,280 see it on the ground limited laid laid low it's supposed to be a reminder to 275 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:41,200 mankind of the fall and it's supposed to be a reminder of mankind mankind of the 276 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:48,760 effects of sin you see in Psalm chapter 119 21 it says you rebuke the arrogant 277 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:55,560 the ones under a curse who wander from your commands now that's speaking to us 278 00:23:55,560 --> 00:24:02,080 and people as obviously but but if you read that verse almost backwards what it 279 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:08,080 says is those who wander from your commands or deviate from God's Word they 280 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:14,080 are arrogant people who are under a curse right and we understand that curse is to 281 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,880 be covered with misfortune that word arrogant there in the Hebrew actually 282 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:22,500 means believing you know better than God so those who deviate from God's Word are 283 00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:27,880 people who think they know better than God but they're under a curse because of 284 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:32,000 that they're they're covered with misfortune well we go back to the garden 285 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:37,720 and we say what was suggested by Satan through the serpent to Eve you guys 286 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:45,680 remember right did God really say that like this is what God said but but really 287 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:49,920 maybe maybe we should deviate maybe we should do something different Satan 288 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:55,720 eventually said God is flat-out wrong you won't die he deviated from God's Word 289 00:24:55,720 --> 00:25:00,960 he tempted Eve to deviate from God's Word to to to wander away from it and 290 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:06,240 then so when Adam and Eve ate they themselves came into a sinful cursed 291 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:11,240 state because they themselves had also wandered from God's Word they wandered 292 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:17,200 from obedience and that was a result of this arrogant idea that maybe God was 293 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:22,160 wrong maybe we knew better than God or at least maybe he was not not 294 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:29,640 unarguably right and so we see this idea that that Satan's Satan himself from 295 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:35,600 then on and even probably before in the rebellion in heaven has been cursed has 296 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:40,360 had a state of lowliness as we read he was cast down to the earth and he will 297 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:44,560 be cast down permanently in Revelation that Satan is cursed with the state of 298 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:50,360 humiliation that he was once the the greatest archangel the worship leader in 299 00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:55,520 heaven beautiful in all ways and now he's this grotesque twisted creature and 300 00:25:55,520 --> 00:26:02,560 it just shows us this whole picture that Satan will ultimately be defeated and so 301 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,960 every time we see a slithering snake we're to be reminded of all of that to 302 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:11,400 be reminded of the fall the effects of sin and the fate of our enemy so then we 303 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:17,000 come to verse 15 he says I will put hostility between you and the woman and 304 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:22,120 between your offspring and her offspring he will strike your head and you will 305 00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:28,000 strike his heel so this is where the curse kind of is moving from from 306 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,800 directly pointed at the the snake and and then symbolically on Satan and it's 307 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:36,480 kind of shifting over to where it's gonna talk to Satan directly in the 308 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,640 curse that God lays upon him but we still see here that the serpent itself 309 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:46,040 the the object is also a part of the curse as Satan himself and so it says I 310 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:50,800 will put hostility between you and the woman that word hostility means to 311 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:56,440 become enemies it's talking about animosity or or enmity right the idea 312 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:02,680 is active hatred and active opposition now there are some theologians that that 313 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:07,000 read this and they only read it literally they say what this is only 314 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:13,600 talking about is that women and snakes will not like each other for all time 315 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:21,800 that's the curse now what I found very interesting in looking up this looking 316 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:27,120 and researching this a bit is that there was a huge study done at a Carnegie 317 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:33,800 Mellon University and they found in this study it was a lengthy study but they 318 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,680 found that women are four times more likely to have a phobia of snakes than 319 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,840 men are and I was like well that's interesting considering well there you 320 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:48,800 go that's the curse women you're not gonna like snakes no it can't be only 321 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:55,200 and just to the hats but if we look at this from a literal standpoint that that 322 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,320 this is applying to the creature the actual serpent that spoke to Eve then 323 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,720 then this is how it could be interpreted interpreted or how people interpret it 324 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:09,280 and it holds some some validity that the idea is that seemingly before this this 325 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:13,540 fall before this moment in the garden where the serpent spoke to Eve before 326 00:28:13,540 --> 00:28:18,000 that the woman and the serpent got along fine in some way right the Adam and Eve 327 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:22,760 were ruling over all the creatures and they had some type of relationship with 328 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:27,360 all the creatures and so there was no reason to distrust the serpent there was 329 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:31,240 no ooh snakes you know there wasn't you know Eve was four times more likely to 330 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:36,160 have a phobia than Adam right it was just that the creation the creation 331 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:41,360 existed under the rule of Adam and Eve and it was perfect harmony right it 332 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:46,640 could explain why and this is a question people have is why wasn't Eve weirded 333 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:50,600 out when the serpent spoke to her right we talked about that in a previous 334 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:55,080 study and you know it doesn't tell us in Scripture why but speculatively people 335 00:28:55,080 --> 00:29:01,240 go maybe animals spoke or some animals spoke back in the garden you know God 336 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:05,560 used Balaam's donkey to speak so you know it's possible in that sense but the 337 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,840 idea was that there was nothing weird there was no weirdness between Eve and 338 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,560 the serpent and so when the serpent starts speaking to her she's just like 339 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:21,520 hey what's up you know now but she listened she disobeyed and after the 340 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:27,160 disobedience what it tells us here is that God put hostility between the 341 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:31,480 serpent and the woman that word put means put right God placed it there God 342 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:36,800 introduced it to this relationship and so you could look at it this way that 343 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:41,520 that you know again dual application that the hostility between Eve literally 344 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:46,600 Eve and the serpent in the garden was that this hostility would keep the woman 345 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:50,800 from trusting the serpent again right if the serpent if Satan ever tried to use 346 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:55,440 the snake again to talk to her she hates it now she has this animosity towards it 347 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:59,480 so she won't listen to it it would protect her from the temptations that 348 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:03,040 that Satan might try to introduce through the serpent again and it would 349 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,520 prevent her and the serpent from agreeing together on anything in the 350 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:13,400 future remember the serpent has said you know is God really saying that like God 351 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:17,800 didn't say you will die and then she started going oh yeah right so he's 352 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:20,560 putting this hostility where she's like I don't like you I don't talk to you I 353 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:24,560 don't want to have anything to do with you as a serpent so there's that 354 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:29,640 applicational idea of it it's it's a little subjective and speculative but 355 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,600 but there's a possibility of that there but there's a far more reaching or far 356 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:38,280 more far-reaching effect that the hostility has here because he says I'll 357 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:42,280 put hostility between you and the woman and then he goes and between your 358 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:48,320 offspring and her offspring the Hebrew word for offspring there is an 359 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:54,160 interesting word because it can refer to a singular person but the same exact 360 00:30:54,160 --> 00:31:01,640 word can also refer to a group as a singular term like the idea is kind of 361 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:05,080 like that word Elohim we talked about it's a singular word that refers to a 362 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:09,440 plural the Father Son and the Spirit in the Trinity well this word offspring is 363 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:14,680 kind of like the word team right one team but there's many many members in 364 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,240 that group so this it could go either way and so this word offspring could 365 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:24,440 also mean being of or from something else like seeds in a plant and we 366 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,720 actually see that in some other translations older translations it 367 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:32,120 doesn't say offspring it says seed there will be there will be hostility between 368 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:36,960 her seed and your seed but I believe it's translated offspring in modern 369 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,800 translations because it's clear that we're not talking about plants we're 370 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:44,440 talking about living creatures and offspring so but when you look at hot 371 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,840 offspring and you're like well is it singular is it plural if you lean 372 00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:51,840 towards the plural side it's easy to say well her offspring being referred to 373 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:57,360 here is all of humanity right in verse 20 and we'll get to that later Adam 374 00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:01,400 actually renames the woman or names the woman Eve and it says because she's the 375 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:07,480 mother of all living right regardless of water what modern society is trying to 376 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:16,320 tell us only women could have babies all right every single one of you in this 377 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:24,160 room and watching we're born of a woman now of course there was the biological 378 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:29,480 contribution of of the father but we were all born of a woman right that was 379 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,840 part of the gifting that God gave to woman and then it's gonna be a part of 380 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:36,640 the curse that that falls upon her and how all that takes place but some people 381 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:41,640 go her offspring is is all of humanity right and then if you interpret it that 382 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,160 way then you have to go well when he says your offspring he's either talking 383 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:51,560 to the serpent and or Satan is he then saying all snakes for all time like all 384 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:56,160 of humanity and all of the snake population until the end of times that 385 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:59,280 God is saying there's gonna be a great eternal war between humans and snakes 386 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:07,160 forever I don't really see that right it sounds a little silly but the last part 387 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,960 of the verse is really what points us to how to interpret this and who he's 388 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:15,920 talking about here and really gives me the the picture that it's a multi 389 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:20,720 applicable interpretation it points us to the idea that offspring is being both 390 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:25,640 used as a singular and a plural word look at the last part of the verse says 391 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:31,520 he will strike your head and you will strike his heel so he goes from your 392 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,240 offspring and her offspring which could be singular or plural but then right 393 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:41,800 after that he says he will strike your head and you will strike his heel he 394 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:50,520 your you his they're all pronouns that are singular pronouns right it's not a 395 00:33:50,520 --> 00:34:00,520 they them it's not a zizzer her it's he singular male your singular individual 396 00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:05,960 and so it's referring to a single person or a single entity in the end of this 397 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:13,080 verse that he his is interpreted as Jesus the ultimate offspring of woman 398 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:18,240 and then the you and your is referring to Satan this is where it kind of 399 00:34:18,240 --> 00:34:23,920 switches over because the serpent it's an animal it's an it right yeah there's 400 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:27,560 genders within that but the but the you're here it's referring to an actual 401 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:31,720 individual and we know that it was Satan working through the serpent now this is 402 00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:35,720 why many people see what we see here and I agree with this that this is called 403 00:34:35,720 --> 00:34:41,840 the proto evangelium this is the first gospel this is the first time in 404 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:47,280 scripture that we see the gospel we see God's plan we see God's promise to deal 405 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:53,440 with the poison of sin that is in mankind now again people look at this 406 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:57,360 different ways and so if you go back and look at offspring as purely plural 407 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:04,000 meaning the offspring of woman is humanity and the offspring of Satan is 408 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:10,160 who some people look at this and they go well the offspring of Satan is is all of 409 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,520 humanity that follows after him right because Satan doesn't have babies and 410 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,600 then they go the offspring of woman is all humanity that follows after God ways 411 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:21,800 and God's ways and so the idea is here is there is going to be hostility between 412 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:26,400 Satan and all those who follow him and humanity and all those that follow God 413 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:29,760 and there's gonna be hostility to the end of times now that does hold true 414 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:34,800 throughout scripture but again we know that Satan and demons that are not born 415 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:40,840 of Satan or created by Satan but they are of Satan they are in line with who 416 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,920 he is and what he's all about and that is one of the the ideas of the hostility 417 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:49,240 here that there will be this forever war between humans this forever war 418 00:35:49,240 --> 00:35:53,960 between the demons humans were created in the image of God right the creature 419 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,080 was used against that that's why the creature was cursed and all this kind of 420 00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:06,000 stuff right but why is there hostility between Satan in mankind well it's very 421 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:12,880 clear that Satan hates us the Bible tells us that he hates us he hates us 422 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:19,400 because God loves us the Bible tells us that Satan comes and came to steal kill 423 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:27,900 and destroy that Satan is like a roaring lion prowing around seeking whom he may 424 00:36:27,900 --> 00:36:37,640 devour he wants to keep us poisoned he wants to keep us corrupted by sin he 425 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:44,160 wants to keep us separated from God dead in our spirit he wants to make sure that 426 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:48,680 that we stay that way all the way until we die in the flesh because once we die 427 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:52,680 in the flesh that's it you're gonna stand before God either saved or unsaved 428 00:36:52,680 --> 00:37:00,040 and and that is the the devil's goal that we would die without salvation but 429 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:05,520 in this curse that can be looked at as a plural that it's offspring of humanity 430 00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:10,680 and all that we also see that is offspring singular right in that sense 431 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:16,840 that the woman's offspring is a singular individual that although humanity came 432 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:21,120 from woman that eventually there was the ultimate offspring of woman and we know 433 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:25,040 that to be Jesus Christ this is where we see in the curse on Satan that there's 434 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:30,880 this prophetic hope of a Savior who is her offspring singular that God would 435 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:37,640 one day through man through the the the genetics of man would bring forth the 436 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:43,680 one he who would strike Satan's head that word strike there means to crush 437 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:50,960 to destroy utterly finally finally fully just just destroy him which we know is 438 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:57,080 gonna happen prophetically but in the process he would be struck by Satan now 439 00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:00,920 the word struck there is a different word in the Hebrew it means to be bruised 440 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:04,760 it means you got wounded you got hurt but it's different than being fully 441 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:08,840 finally defeated and that's referring to the terrible suffering on the cross 442 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:14,840 right we know that Jesus was wounded grievously for our sins and it looked 443 00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:20,080 like he was killed and defeated but we know he rose on the third day right he 444 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:24,840 defeated death so what looked like a fully final defeat of Jesus was just 445 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:29,440 simply a temporary wound now there are wounds that he's gonna carry with him in 446 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:33,440 his resurrected body that we're gonna see I believe in heaven but the point 447 00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:37,680 is here is that this is a prophetic multi-applicational thing there is direct 448 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:41,720 application to Eve and the serpent and the creature there is application to the 449 00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:44,600 offspring of Eve being humanity and those who are gonna follow after the 450 00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:49,240 devil and then there is singular prophetic application to her ultimate 451 00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:54,200 offspring and Satan himself now where the first Adam failed in obedience to 452 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:59,240 God in his word the second Adam Jesus would not fail he would live a perfect 453 00:38:59,240 --> 00:39:04,320 life without sin but then he would pay the penalty for our sin our failure to 454 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:08,400 do so and when he paid that penalty on the cross it would allow us to have the 455 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:13,240 possibility or the opportunity to be purged of the sin to be purged of the 456 00:39:13,240 --> 00:39:18,440 poison of sin and be reconciled to God through faith to have that sin nature 457 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:22,560 completely permanently dealt with as we are given a new nature a new heart the 458 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:27,500 Bible tells us one that wants to obey God and then ultimately restoring the 459 00:39:27,500 --> 00:39:34,160 perfect fellowship that we had in the garden originally guaranteed to happen 460 00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:39,040 one day when we're having the perfect reunion with God in heaven and so this 461 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:43,920 whole idea is in this proto evangelism here now this interpretation of this 462 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:49,400 verse that he is Jesus and you is Satan is supported by what Paul the Apostle 463 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:53,720 said in Galatians 3 16 he was talking about God's promise to Abraham but this 464 00:39:53,720 --> 00:39:58,240 is what he says well first I'm gonna look at Genesis 12 7 so put that one up 465 00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:03,520 there for me in Genesis 12 7 this is the promise that he gives Abraham the Lord 466 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:08,540 appeared to Abraham and said to your offspring I will give this land so he 467 00:40:08,540 --> 00:40:11,760 built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him and you go okay that's 468 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:16,360 that's Israel right but then in Galatians 3 16 this is what Paul says now 469 00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:21,080 the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed which is that word 470 00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:27,760 offspring he does not say and two seeds as though referring to many but referring 471 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:35,200 to one and to your seed who is Christ so that word offspring that is that is 472 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:40,160 rendered seed here in the Greek it's the word offspring in the Hebrew it's the 473 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:44,040 same word that we see here in Genesis 3 15 it's a word that can be both plural 474 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:48,800 and singular but Paul is making a point here that he says look this last part of 475 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:52,880 this proto evangelium that was a part of the promises given to Abraham it's the 476 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:56,880 ultimate offspring of woman that he's talking about there the ultimate 477 00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:01,320 offspring of Eve who is the mother of all life and that ultimate offspring 478 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:06,940 will crush the head of that great and ancient serpent it is he the one the 479 00:41:06,940 --> 00:41:13,440 Messiah the Savior God in the flesh Jesus Christ now I do believe when Jesus 480 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:18,320 was here on earth he understood this first gospel as we call it that we see 481 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:25,000 here in Genesis I believe he understood his mission that he was the antidote to 482 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,600 the serpents venom of sin running through all of humanity you see in John 483 00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:33,560 3 16 he says this for God loved the world in this way he gave his one and 484 00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:37,280 only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal 485 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:42,440 life we all know that verse right it's a very famous verse but if you look at 486 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:47,800 verses 14 and 15 the verse is right before that this is what Jesus said just 487 00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:52,000 as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness so the son of man must be 488 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:56,840 lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life then he 489 00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:00,640 says for God so loved the world in this way that he gave his only one and only 490 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:05,120 son his begotten son now what is Jesus referring to here this is a story we 491 00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:09,960 find back in numbers chapter 21 we're not gonna turn there read it I'm gonna 492 00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:13,600 summarize it for you but in numbers 21 Israel was wandering in the wilderness 493 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:18,240 and they had sinned they had started grumbling against God's provision they 494 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:22,680 had started possibly introducing the idea maybe God isn't good maybe God 495 00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:25,640 brought us out here in the wilderness to just die and then he gave us this 496 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,800 person Moses why did you lead us out here Moses and God had been providing 497 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:33,720 manna and God had providing water God provided everything they needed just 498 00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:37,920 like he did in the garden and yet the thought was being introduced oh maybe 499 00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:43,440 God's just not really as good as he says he is and they thought that maybe God 500 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:47,160 was withholding something from them by letting Moses lead them out into the 501 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:51,640 wilderness the same suggestion that the serpent gave to Eve well then the story 502 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:55,360 tells us in numbers 21 that God sent venomous snakes into their camp as 503 00:42:55,360 --> 00:43:01,360 judgment he's like you want to believe the lies of the snake you want to 504 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:06,160 entertain fellowship with the snake and disobedient well then here you go here's 505 00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:09,960 snakes dance with the snakes have fun with the snakes and what happened is 506 00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:14,280 that the snakes would bite people these were actual physical snakes they bit 507 00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:18,280 many of the people in Israel and many of the people actually died from the venom 508 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:22,720 that was put into them now the imagery of this story is is amazing right the 509 00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:28,600 snakes were were a result of sin right they sinned against God the serpent was 510 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:34,200 introduced and and they were bit by the serpents that the effect of sin was the 511 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:39,000 burning poison coursing through their system the effect of the disobedience 512 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:48,360 was death and that serpent was a perfect expression of sin why because Israel 513 00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:56,560 knew that in the garden it was a serpent who tempted Eve spewing venomous words 514 00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:00,720 suggesting then that God wasn't good or was withholding good and and that 515 00:44:00,720 --> 00:44:05,080 resulted in disobedience on Adam and Eve's part and that disobedience 516 00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:09,760 resulted in sin the sting of death the venom of poison entering into all of 517 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:16,440 mankind resulting in the very nature of all of mankind being polluted by this 518 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:22,280 venom and then in Numbers chapter 21 verse 7 it says this the people then 519 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:26,560 came to Moses and said we have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against 520 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:30,800 you intercede with the Lord so that he would take away the snakes from us and 521 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:36,680 Moses interceded for the people just like Jesus interceded for all of 522 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:42,520 mankind so in Numbers Moses then prays in the middle of all this death and 523 00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:47,000 dying and verses 8 9 it says then the Lord said to Moses make a snake image 524 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:52,160 and mounted on a pole when anyone who is bitten looks at the pole the snake on 525 00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:56,320 the pole he will recover so Moses made a bronze snake mounted on a pole and 526 00:44:56,320 --> 00:45:00,440 whenever someone was bitten and they looked at the bronze snake they recovered 527 00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:05,280 so we see this picture in Numbers that that all the people had to do to be 528 00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:09,520 healed of the venom that was gonna kill them the result of their sin and their 529 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:14,640 disobedience to God that was that was just wiping them out all they had to do 530 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:24,480 was to look at the serpent on the pole the very likeness of sin on that pole 531 00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:29,440 the very image all they had to do was look now this was a foreshadowing of 532 00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:35,040 Christ on the cross how so well you notice there it said Moses used a snake 533 00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:40,600 image wasn't an actual snake it was an image it was a likeness mounted on the 534 00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:45,520 pole well this is what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8 verse 3 he speaking of 535 00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:51,040 God condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own son in the likeness of 536 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:57,240 sinful flesh as a sin offering when Jesus hung on the cross he was the 537 00:45:57,240 --> 00:46:02,960 likeness of sin up on the pole he was without sin but being in the flesh of 538 00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:09,280 mankind he was the likeness of sin and then 2nd Corinthians 521 it says he made 539 00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:17,000 the one who did not know sin to be sin for us and then Galatians 3 13 it says 540 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:21,800 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us because 541 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:27,540 it is written cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree you guys see the 542 00:46:27,540 --> 00:46:33,620 connection you go back to numbers and you think with with with all of the 543 00:46:33,620 --> 00:46:38,760 animal kingdom that God had created every animal every creature that God 544 00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:46,400 could have possibly picked from he chose the perfect representation of sin the 545 00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:52,520 serpent and then Moses held up a likeness of the serpent that was biting 546 00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:56,400 the people that was causing them pain that was ultimately gonna kill them and 547 00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:01,480 if they looked up to that likeness that was up on that pole God said they would 548 00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:07,080 be saved and we just read that the Bible tells us Jesus God the Son came as a 549 00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:14,520 human in the likeness of sinful flesh but himself without sin that we were all 550 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:21,340 born with but what did we just read he became sin he became sin for us he 551 00:47:21,340 --> 00:47:29,520 became the curse in our place when Adam and Eve took what the serpent was 552 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:37,120 offering when they were bitten and poisoned by the venomous lies of Satan 553 00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:45,360 in the serpent that sin that poison that sin of exalting self over God that sin 554 00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:49,120 of the idea of we don't need God we're God ourselves maybe we don't have to 555 00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:53,000 listen to him we could disobey that all came into their life and they were 556 00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:57,120 cursed along with the serpent death physically and spiritually entered in 557 00:47:57,120 --> 00:48:05,680 but as Jesus is nailed to the cross when God poured out all his wrath on sin not 558 00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:10,920 his but ours when God judged it there on the cross we have to understand it 559 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:16,640 should have been us nailed to that cross I should have been nailed to that cross 560 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:22,800 because I'm the one who has sinned not Jesus we should have died in our sin we 561 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:27,920 should have been writhing on the ground with the with the venom of sin coursing 562 00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:32,320 through us and ultimately dying because we're the ones who chose to disobey God 563 00:48:32,320 --> 00:48:37,960 but God said no no no I'll raise up a likeness of that sin and I'm gonna judge 564 00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:46,480 that and if you look at it if you put faith in that the poison will be gone 565 00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:51,040 now you might say well I still sin here and now yeah the Bible talks about that 566 00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:55,280 too that we have this dual nature that we live with until we go to be with go 567 00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:59,440 to be in heaven but the point is is when that venom is dealt with your spirit is 568 00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:05,720 made alive that's what the Bible says being born again is your spirit is 569 00:49:05,720 --> 00:49:09,800 reborn reconnected to God your creator and from that point forward you are 570 00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:14,000 forgiven because you looked to the cross and you have the hope of heaven that 571 00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:17,480 when you physically died leave this world you will not physically die but 572 00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:25,600 instead you will be in paradise forever with eternal life with your creator 573 00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:33,760 Jesus became the curse for us he became sin for us he took all the judgment for 574 00:49:33,760 --> 00:49:40,920 us on the cross and he died the death we should be dying not just physically but 575 00:49:40,920 --> 00:49:45,200 eternally but if we look to the cross and believe and trust that our sin was 576 00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:51,360 dealt with there the promises will be saved numbers 21 9 said whenever someone 577 00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:57,160 was bitten and they looked to the bronze snake they recovered you know what that 578 00:49:57,160 --> 00:50:03,600 says that says no matter how horribly they were bitten no matter how many 579 00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:10,960 times they were bitten no matter how bad their particular venom was no matter 580 00:50:10,960 --> 00:50:18,720 how many times this person was bit over this person no matter about any of that 581 00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:22,920 no matter how sick any of them were from the venom coursing through their veins 582 00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:28,420 the opportunity of salvation was there for all of them all they had to do is 583 00:50:28,420 --> 00:50:35,600 put their faith in what was on the pole put their faith in God's provision even 584 00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:41,520 the worst most foul debased debauched sinner who looks to Christ alone in 585 00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:48,520 repentance and faith will be saved that is the beautiful gospel that is the 586 00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:52,160 promise that is prophetically given to us in the very beginning here right after 587 00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:57,160 they sinned when God judged the one who tempted the one who introduced the 588 00:50:57,160 --> 00:51:04,640 poison we see the hope of salvation for all of mankind this is the amazing grace 589 00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:10,560 that had its beginning right there in the garden yes there were consequences 590 00:51:10,560 --> 00:51:15,600 of sin that Adam and Eve would have to deal with and then ultimately 900 years 591 00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:20,480 later so there would be physical death prior they were going to be immortal so 592 00:51:20,480 --> 00:51:24,440 there were consequences but even in the face of those consequences there was 593 00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:30,640 hope there was hope right there in paradise lost that paradise would be 594 00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:36,240 regained it is the hope we have today you see what this tells us in Genesis 595 00:51:36,240 --> 00:51:41,560 chapter 3 is that God always had the plan of salvation in mind from the 596 00:51:41,560 --> 00:51:44,440 beginning of time before anything God knew what was gonna happen and he 597 00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:50,520 already came up with a plan to save you and me he had already come up with the 598 00:51:50,520 --> 00:51:57,360 solution to the poison of sin and it wasn't us trying to get the sin out of 599 00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:04,760 our own system because we can't but he could and he told us about it as soon as 600 00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:13,520 sin entered the world Jesus has already died in your place he was lifted up high 601 00:52:13,520 --> 00:52:17,720 where you should have been where I should have been he was lifted up into 602 00:52:17,720 --> 00:52:23,240 the place of a criminal who had broken God's law having never broken God's law 603 00:52:23,240 --> 00:52:27,080 himself and he did so that we would understand the effect of our sin that's 604 00:52:27,080 --> 00:52:30,880 part of the process and when we look to the cross we say that was for me I 605 00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:38,120 deserve that I'm the liar I'm the thief I'm the adulterer I'm the one who takes 606 00:52:38,120 --> 00:52:44,960 God's name in vain I'm the one who profanes God I'm the one who covets but 607 00:52:44,960 --> 00:52:55,160 then we see him brutalized beaten dying for us and if you would just look to 608 00:52:55,160 --> 00:53:01,600 that cross if you would just gaze upon the cross see Jesus hanging there in 609 00:53:01,600 --> 00:53:07,760 your place you have faith and you have faith in what he says to you that just 610 00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:11,080 as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness so the Son of Man must also 611 00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:14,800 be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life 612 00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:21,360 for God loved the world in this way he loved you in this way that he gave his 613 00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:26,400 one and only son though that everyone who believes in him would not perish but 614 00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:32,960 have eternal life but even more gloriously in first Corinthians 1521 615 00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:37,160 since death came through a man the resurrection of the dead also comes 616 00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:42,520 through a man for just as an Adam all die so also in Christ all will be made 617 00:53:42,520 --> 00:53:53,680 alive let's pray father we're so grateful that you sent your son Jesus 618 00:53:53,680 --> 00:54:03,000 we're so grateful you came clothed yourself in frail humanity lived the 619 00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:10,560 life that we live tempted in every way we are tempted and yet without sin Lord 620 00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:19,800 that you would then be able to be held up on that cross in our place in the in 621 00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:24,480 the likeness of who we are as fallen sinners corrupted through and through 622 00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:31,520 poisoned with sin and yet God you hung there that God would judge sin there 623 00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:37,320 that through the gaze of faith Lord we would be able to look to you and in 624 00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:45,920 faith and in trust receive salvation from our sin the effects of our sin the 625 00:54:45,920 --> 00:54:50,720 penalty of our sin but not just to be forgiven of the sin but then to be 626 00:54:50,720 --> 00:54:59,240 given the hope of paradise regained Lord we are so unworthy of your salvation 627 00:54:59,240 --> 00:55:02,920 but God you didn't give it to us because we're worthy you gave it to us because 628 00:55:02,920 --> 00:55:09,000 you love us and we are eternally thankful God there is nothing we could 629 00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:14,560 ever do to earn it and Lord you don't ask us to you just simply say to live a 630 00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:20,640 life in gratitude God we're so thankful for the salvation we have Lord and we 631 00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:25,880 know that there are still people in our lives that don't yet know you Lord there 632 00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:28,960 may be people here in the sanctuary this morning or watching online that don't 633 00:55:28,960 --> 00:55:33,840 yet know you and maybe they've been curious maybe they're watching because 634 00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:37,480 they have some questions God but I believe your Holy Spirit has convicted 635 00:55:37,480 --> 00:55:40,720 them has spoken to their heart has revealed to them that they have sinned 636 00:55:40,720 --> 00:55:47,280 against you God and that as that sin courses through their veins Lord without 637 00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:53,320 forgiveness without salvation they will die in their sin and it will be 638 00:55:53,320 --> 00:56:00,360 agonizing but Lord you have spoken to them your message that you have crushed 639 00:56:00,360 --> 00:56:07,640 the head of Satan that when you apparently died but not really because 640 00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:13,560 you rose from the dead you defeated Satan's power of death you defeated 641 00:56:13,560 --> 00:56:19,660 Satan's ability to hold us captive in sin and Lord you grant that freedom to 642 00:56:19,660 --> 00:56:26,120 all who would call upon the name of Jesus Christ and if you're in this room 643 00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:30,200 this morning or you're watching online and God is speaking to your heart about 644 00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:39,180 your need to be saved I just want you to pray with me right now there's no magic 645 00:56:39,180 --> 00:56:43,160 in these words per se the idea is this if you mean what you were saying from 646 00:56:43,160 --> 00:56:53,120 your heart the Bible says you will be saved and so it starts by saying Jesus I 647 00:56:53,120 --> 00:57:01,960 know I have sinned against you I know I've broken your law I've hurt people 648 00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:13,600 I've hurt myself the poison of sin it's agonizing Lord and I can't do anything 649 00:57:13,600 --> 00:57:23,800 about it on my own I've tried so God I look to you on the cross I look to you 650 00:57:23,800 --> 00:57:33,560 bleeding and dying because I messed up and I put faith that your death on the 651 00:57:33,560 --> 00:57:45,440 cross is paying the price for my sin forgive me God wash me clean of the 652 00:57:45,440 --> 00:57:58,320 stain of sin purge me of the poison of sin God save my soul come into my life 653 00:57:58,320 --> 00:58:10,120 Lord be my Savior be my master teach me how to live be my friend fill me with 654 00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:17,320 your Holy Spirit that I may live for you all the days of my life here on earth 655 00:58:17,320 --> 00:58:27,000 and have the hope of paradise with you forever when I die in this life I love 656 00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:34,440 you so much Lord thank you in Jesus name I pray amen you know if you prayed that 657 00:58:34,440 --> 00:58:40,760 prayer this morning you've started a relationship with God your Creator you 658 00:58:40,760 --> 00:58:46,240 have been restored you have been set free from the power of sin you are gonna 659 00:58:46,240 --> 00:58:51,400 have an ability you have never had before that when the temptation of sin 660 00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:55,140 comes into your life you're gonna have the ability to go I don't want to do 661 00:58:55,140 --> 00:59:00,760 that that's not who I am anymore you don't have that ability without Christ 662 00:59:00,760 --> 00:59:05,960 you do now but this relationship that you've started with your God it's just 663 00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:11,000 like any relationship you got to build it God is with you now and forever you 664 00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:16,200 have the hope of heaven but until from now until then God wants you to live to 665 00:59:16,200 --> 00:59:19,720 glorify his name and he wants to help you do it and so if you gave your life 666 00:59:19,720 --> 00:59:23,480 to the Lord today we have what's called a new believers packet up here on the 667 00:59:23,480 --> 00:59:26,960 front or out in the foyer as you leave and please make sure you get one of 668 00:59:26,960 --> 00:59:32,200 those it's just a bunch of resources and things to help you live this life and be 669 00:59:32,200 --> 00:59:35,720 in this relationship with God if you're watching online you gave your life to 670 00:59:35,720 --> 00:59:39,640 the Lord today just let us know in chat one of our moderators will connect with 671 00:59:39,640 --> 00:59:42,680 you we'll privately get your address and we'll mail you all this information as 672 00:59:42,680 --> 00:59:48,320 well God is doing a work not just in Southern California but God is doing a 673 00:59:48,320 --> 00:59:53,560 work worldwide people are getting saved people are hungry because people look 674 00:59:53,560 --> 01:00:02,120 around and things are hopeless we have the message of hope share it with people 675 01:00:02,120 --> 01:00:08,000 talk to people tell them about the God you know who saved your soul tell them 676 01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:12,800 that he loves them too and wants to save their soul God is gonna work through his 677 01:00:12,800 --> 01:00:17,880 church I am so excited for what God is gonna do I'm excited to hear what 678 01:00:17,880 --> 01:00:21,320 happens when our Paris team gets back and how many opportunities they had to 679 01:00:21,320 --> 01:00:25,600 to share the gospel and even to come back with how many people they had the 680 01:00:25,600 --> 01:00:29,120 opportunity to lead to Christ right there in the moment I'm excited for our 681 01:00:29,120 --> 01:00:33,640 outreach coming up this week to the Halloween convention right how unusual 682 01:00:33,640 --> 01:00:37,640 that God would open up a door into a place literally called the Hall of 683 01:00:37,640 --> 01:00:43,360 Shadows for us to go in and shine the light of the gospel praise God Lord 684 01:00:43,360 --> 01:00:49,440 wants to use you church just open yourself up to him say God send me I am 685 01:00:49,440 --> 01:00:54,240 here and God will do mighty things in your life amen let's worship church God 686 01:00:54,240 --> 01:01:20,520 bless you