All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. Going through these precious
scriptures in this third chapter of Genesis, in particular, Satan
has beguiled Eve, and she being deceived, has taken of the forbidden
fruit. She gave it to her husband. He
took it. The eyes of them both were opened,
their understanding, their mind. Now they behold, by experience,
evil. They just died. They died spiritually. As soon as Adam ate of that fruit. They died. Fellowship with God
gone. Guilt, shame, fear is now the
order of the day. The Lord in mercy calls and said,
Adam, where are you? Obviously not out of ignorance,
but he's going to passionately, graciously bring Adam to an understanding,
realization of his state. Now, here we're taught that God must
and does seek out his lost sheep. This is not the question of a
policeman, one who now is going to question The issue of the
law, the broken law, but what it is, it is the merciful shepherd
seeking his sheep. Now, being naked, fearful, which
the Lord obviously knew, the Lord asked Adam, have you eaten
of the tree whereof I commanded that thou shouldest not eat?
Every object of God's mercy is going to be brought to this place
where he's going to take responsibility for what he's done. Just like
David did when he took Bathsheba, God sent a prophet, Isaiah 51.3,
for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me
against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. Here is the voice, here's the
heart, that has been touched, made new by Almighty God. A vessel of God's mercy says,
I'm the problem. I have sinned against God. Then the Lord asked Eve, what
is this that thou hast done? And now we see the reality of
mankind's rebellion. All have sinned. and come short
of the glory of God. And now, being dead. Now here
they are. They're dead. They're dead. And
dead in trespasses and sins, immediately we behold the effects
of being dead in trespasses and sins. Now they're ashamed, they're
guilty, and they refuse to accept the responsibility. It's not
my fault. Adam was asked by the Lord, did
you eat? Eve was asked, what is this that
thou has done? And then the scripture declares
that Adam went so far as to not only accuse his wife, Well, the
woman, but also insinuated that God was the first cause of his
rebellion that thou has given me. The woman that you gave me,
that's the problem. Eve did the same thing. She blamed
the serpent. Now, the just and holy God has
set forth now in our scriptures today the reality of judgment. What sin deserves? And we're going to hear now,
and I'm going to try to deal with a few verses. I'm going
to look at verses 14 to 16. I'm not going to deal with the
whole curse. I just don't think that time will allow it, but
I'm going to look at this first part of the curse. I'm going
to see what God said to Satan, what he said to Eve. And then
Lord willing, next time we'll look and see what he said to
Adam and what God did. But for today, we're going to
behold the message of the gospel, the first gospel message that's
ever recorded in scriptures. It starts right here. And the
Lord begins by dealing with the first cause of man's rebellion. Verse 14, he says, and the Lord
God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, Thou art
cursed above all cattle, above every beast of the field. Upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days
of thy life. Now, from the wording of Scripture,
it seems that the devil actually entered into the body of a creature. Whether it was a serpent as we
know it, a snake, and I think it was, and I'll tell you why
in just a minute. I think it was actually, the
devil refers to it as that old serpent, but he's entered into
a creature. He's come into an actual animal. And just like Satan entered into,
and you can read it if you want to, Luke 22, when Satan entered
into Judas, Luke 22, the scriptures declare, verses one to six, now
the feast of unleavened bread, Drunai, which is called the Passover,
and the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him,
for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas,
surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. Satan actually
entered into him. And it says, and he went his
way, that is Judas, and communed with the chief priests and captains
how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad and
covenanted to give him money. And he promised and sought opportunity
to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. You're
going to do this thing under stealth. It's going to be secretive. But that Satan can enter into,
you know, a creature. Obviously he did. He did in the
garden and he did in Judas. That's what the scripture said.
So Satan was filled with this serpent. Again, I'll tell you
why I think it was. And just like he entered into
Judas with the the purpose to do what he did. And the curse,
now what we just read, because the Lord said unto the serpent,
because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle. Now the curse that was pronounced
upon Satan had its effect not only upon Satan but upon the
serpent, the actual natural snake that he inhabited. Now, obviously,
the physical serpent, I have to differentiate so you don't
misunderstand what I'm talking about, the physical serpent,
the natural snake, had no part in the temptation, meaning he
didn't connive it, he didn't plant it, but being inhabited
by Satan, God rightly and justly punished not only Satan and cursed
him, but also punished the creature being used of the devil for God's
glory and for the good of God's people. And the effect of the
curse is seen today. You know how the scripture says,
you know, nature declares the handiwork of God. Well, the effect
of the curse is seen today when we behold a snake crawling on
its belly. Now, we have absolutely no right
to question what the Lord did in cursing Satan or the creature. We have no right. You know, who
art thou, old man, that replies against God? Somebody says, well,
I don't see why God would do that. Well, again, What difference
does it make, what we think? That the Lord did it. The natural
snake's part in the curse, being inhabited by Satan, shouldn't
present any more of a difficulty to us than the Lord's cursing
the earth, which Lord willing, we'll look at next time. Cursing
the earth for Adam's sake. What did the earth do? God cursed
him. The result of God's curse upon
Satan and that physical serpent ought to remind every man of
the temptation and the fall of mankind in the garden. Snakes
crawl on their belly and eat dust all the days of their life
because man is a rebel against God by nature. Every time you
see a snake, every time a man or woman sees a snake crawling
around on their belly, this is what the Lord said. The Lord
said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle, but every beast of the field, upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days
of thy life. Every time we see a snake, we
are without excuse, no excuse. I read where some think that
it was, that the snake, obviously at one time, maybe was upright,
maybe it had feet, that's, you're guessing, you're guessing. Maybe
it did, maybe it didn't, I don't know. But now it's cursed. When you see a serpent, it's
cursed, it's disgusting, it's despised, and it continually
speaks of the fall. There's nothing There's nothing
that is more repulsive concerning an animal than a snake. And to the devil, who inhabited
the serpent, the Lord asked no explanation from him. He asked
Adam, where are you? He asked Eve, what is this that
thou hast done? He didn't say anything but the
serpent, except you're cursed. Why is that? Because there's
no possibility, there's no repentance that's going to be granted, no
salvation to the angels, to the fallen angels. Satan was a fallen
angel and the Lord never promised to redeem or save the fallen
angels. The scripture says, Hebrews 2.16,
he verily took not on him the nature of angels, but he took
on him the seed of Abraham. So there's no possibility of
salvation for Satan and those angels that fell with him. Jude
chapter 1 verse 6 says, And the angels, which kept not their
first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved
in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great
day. So therefore, the Lord, in absolute justice, judgment,
condemned, cursed Satan. And then the Lord, continuing
His curse upon Satan, said in verse 15, And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.
And it, and that word it right there, I'm telling you, and every
concordance there I find agrees with this. Actually that word
right there is he, he, he. He shall bruise thy head, and
thy shall bruise his heel. Now, here is part of the curse. The Lord said, I will put enmity
between you and the woman. Naturally speaking, if you want
to consider that, that's fine. That's true too. But spiritually,
between Satan and his seed and the woman and her seed, it was
absolute promised that for this reason, God was going to put
enmity between both, naturally and spiritually. So we know this
because the Lord said, I will put enmity between you and the
woman. Well, we know that there is a
war, a spiritual war going on. God said, I did that. I did it. And we know this, that
the result or the end of this battle, this war, is not in question,
not any question about it. There's no question as far as
what's going to come out. Revelation 12, 9, and the devil and the
great dragon, I'm sorry, was cast out, that old serpent called
the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast
out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. It's
a battle that shall never end. until the Lord comes back the
second time, receives all of his people unto himself. It's a spiritual battle, and
it's a spiritual battle that's being waged between the seed
of Satan and his followers, and the seed of the woman, that is
the Lord of glory, and his people. Now it's a warfare that is not
fought with conventional weapons. The scripture says, for though
we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, being mighty. through God to the pulling down
of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
That's 2 Corinthians 10, 3-5. So, the scripture says, the Lord
told Satan, I'm going to put enmity between thee and the woman. your seed and her seed. And he shall bruise thy head
and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now, scripture declares that
we're not walking after the flesh. We're walking in the flesh. What
does that mean? Well, that means that we're walking
in this world in a body of imperfection. That's what it means. We're not
walking after the flesh, after the dictates of the flesh, after
the thoughts of the flesh, after the hungerings of the soul, but
we are actually walking in the flesh. So we're struggling. We're in a battle and we're struggling
with our fleshly weakness, our infirmities, But the glory of
God is the desire of a believer. We're not after the flesh, we're
in the flesh, but our hope is Christ alone. So we're engaged
in a battle, spiritual battle, and we don't and we can't use
the principles or methods of the world. It's just not the
way. I got a phone call just a little
while ago. And someone said to me, you know,
I'm calling to, you know, we're going to have, we're going to
get 24, trying to get 24 churches to agree to covenant together in the month
of October. And what we want to do is get
24 churches and get the pastors of those 24 churches to agree
to pick out people within the congregation that will agree
to, for 24 hours a day, you take a slot, you take a slot, slot,
slot, slot, slot. For 24 hours a day, for that
entire month of those days assigned, I don't know why it's 24, but
it's 24. And what we want to do is have
continual prayer going up to God so that we can take Fairmont
and turn this whole thing around by us bombarding. I just said
I'm not interested. That is not, that's not something
that, you know what that is? That's pride. That's pride. I'll tell you why. Because you
just let me take the time, let me have the time, you know, for
me from, say, 1.30 to 2.15 in the morning or whenever it is.
And you know what I want to do, the first thing I want to do?
I want to tell you. I want to make sure you know
that I was the one. Now, if we're going to pray,
what did the Lord say? You enter into your closet in secret, in
secret. And you pray unto your Father
in secret. And the Father that hears in
secret is going to reward you openly. If you want to have your
reward, tell somebody what you're doing. Put your name out on the
list, out on their bulletin board. They'll say, oh wow, look what
Marvin's got. We don't walk after the flesh.
We're in it. But the scripture declares, and
you want to turn over to Ephesians, read this many times, Ephesians
6. What does the scripture say? Ephesians chapter 6 concerning
this battle that we're in, the weapons of our warfare. Ephesians
chapter 6, verse 12. For we wrestle not, Ephesians
6, 12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness or wicked spirits
in high places or heavenly places. Now let me ask you this, how
are you going to war against a spirit with a conventional
weapon? What do you think a stick or
a gun or a knife, what do you think it's going to do? We don't
wrestle against flesh and blood. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. Now here's the weapons
that believers have. Stand therefore having your loins
girt about with truth. What is the weapon of our warfare? Number one, it's the truth of
God. Who is He? Who are You? That's
what Saul of Tartarus... Who art Thou, Lord? It's the
truth. Tell me who God is. Having your
loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness. Whose? Ours? These filthy rags? No. Know that you stand in the
righteousness of Christ. That's the only righteousness
that is accepted. I'm standing here in Him alone. And your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. We're grounded and we stand and
we preach the gospel. The power of God unto salvation. Now this is how our battle is
waged. In truth and His righteousness
preaching the gospel and above all taking the shield of faith.
This is the faith of God's elect. Faith that is given. Faith that
not all men have. God must give me faith to believe
him. You take the shield of faith where that you may be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. We're in a real battle
and we're really having fiery darts. They come from everywhere,
you know, make through somebody or something, you know. How are
we going to quench those fiery darts? I believe God. I believe
that God Almighty is ordering all things after the counsel
of His own will. And whatever is allowed by the Lord to come
my way, God's going to take care of me. God's going to put this
armor and I can quench the fiery darts and take the helmet of
salvation. Salvation that is by the grace
of God. Salvation's of the Lord, not
salvation by man's works. Take the helmet of salvation,
the word of the spirit, the sword of the spirit, which is the word
of God. And listen to this, here's another
weapon. Verse 18, praying always with
all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there
unto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Now the world doesn't know anything
about this kind of warfare. God's people believed God. Now
the Lord told Satan, He said, I'm going to put enmity between
you and the woman and between her seed. And He said, it's going
to be a battle. So from the time of man's fall
in the garden, God's curse upon Satan and his seed. There's been a real battle. There's
a conflict that's being fought to this day. Now, in the declaration
of these two seeds, I'm going to put enmity between thee and
the woman, and thy seed and her seed. Now, let me tell you something. Just in that statement right
there, the Lord made a difference. He declared a difference. Satan
and his seed, the woman and her seed, and that means that there's
two different kinds of people. And my only question is this,
do we not behold God's glorious sovereignty and right in electing
and predestinating grace? God Almighty established there's
going to be a battle between Satan and his seed and a woman
and her seed. He has the right, if not the
power over the clay of the same lump, to make one vessel under
honor and another under dishonor. The Scripture declares the earth
is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, they that dwell therein,
Psalm 24. So whatever the Lord does is
right. And here the Scripture declares
that there's two types, seed of the devil, seed of the woman,
the world, and God's elect. and there's enmity between them.
But what is this enmity all about? What's it over? There's enmity. There's a battle that's going
on. But what is it all about? Well, here's what it's all about
right here. Who rules? Who rules? Who's in control? Who's God? Who's God? Satan's
desire was revealed. And the Lord told the Pharisees,
He said, you are of your father the devil. Here's the basis. Isaiah 14,
13, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit
also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. And
that desire to have and to exercise A free will. What do I mean? I mean a will that is separate
and opposed to God's will. That is the natural inclination
of a carnal heart. So the seed of the devil. We don't know who they are. I
don't know who God's elect are. But I can tell you this, the
seed of the devil, just like the seed of the woman, that is
Christ, the seed, and all found in Him, is going to be shown
by before they leave this world, whoever they are, they're either
going to die in rebellion against God, believe in a false gospel,
or they're going to be made willing in the day of God's power and
they're going to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's how they're
going to be known. He that believeth hath life. That seed, the seed of the woman,
Galatians 3.16 tells us who it is. Now to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. He saith not to seeds as of many
but as one to thy seed which is Christ. So the Lord Jesus
Christ was not conceived by a carnal man. The Holy Spirit conceived
him. So he was said to be the seed
of the woman. So that enmity that is now found
between Satan and the woman and between the seed of Satan and
the reprobates and the Lord himself and his bride, the end is going
to be a struggle all the way to the end of Satan's demise
and all of his people. It says, and he shall bruise
thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. The enmity is truly
a struggle for God's people. It's a real struggle. But the
remedy was and could only be accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ who came into this world to save his people. First John
3.8 says, he that committeth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning for this purpose. The Son of God was manifest that
he might destroy the works of the devil. I can tell you right
now, Satan's head is going to be crushed. It's going to be
bruised. Hebrews 2.14 says, For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had power of death, that is, the devil. So this truth is that
Satan is going to be cast out. His head is going to be destroyed.
That was declared by God. He said, he shall bruise your
head. But then he said, but thou shalt bruise his heel. Now, here
was the Lord's promise to his people. Those who had fallen
in the garden that he would redeem, He was going to redeem them by
His power and His purpose. And when the Lord was made sin
for His people and died under the wrath of God's judgment,
being made sin, He truly died. It was there that Satan's head
was bruised. It was there. It was Satan's
head was bruised at Calvary. And the amazing thing in the
bruising of Satan's head was that the Lord Himself was the
one that bruised the Son. God bruised Him, yet it pleased
the Lord. This is Isaiah 53.10. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. And when the Lord bruised him,
he put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see a seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord, that is to save a people
from their sins, shall prosper in the hands of Christ, in his
hand. So the Lord promised Satan, he said, he's going to bruise
your head. How did he do it? whenever Christ was made sin
and hung upon that, willingly hung upon that cross, being the
absolute substitute of His people. And God bruised Him. It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him. And He bruised Satan's head.
So bruising of Satan's head was an act of sovereign mercy to
God's people but a sovereign act of God's wrath and justice. I'm a just God and a savior. The scripture says in Colossians
2.15, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it or in himself. So here's Satan's head bruised,
but how is it that the Lord's healed? was bruised. I shall bruise his heel. Well,
it was the only thing that Satan could do to him. And that by
God's permission. The devil couldn't bruise the
Lord's head. Satan couldn't do that. God bruised him and him
being made sin, but that's when Satan's head was bruised. But
concerning the devil, in this life But upon the earth, when
the Lord was made flesh, He was buffeted, He was blasphemed,
He was ridiculed by the mouths and by the actions that opposed
Him. He was buffeted. But in that
buffeting, God said that's just His heel being bruised. And His
people, which are His body, That's him, the Lord said, you do it
unto the least of one of these my brethren, you do it to me.
Are we not being bruised and are healed? But what power does
Satan have over us to destroy us? None. There's no destruction
in the bruising of the healed. Now you crush somebody's head,
now you've got a problem. But they're healed? No. Verse
16, unto the woman. He said, I will greatly multiply
thy sorrow in thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee. Now certainly, the Lord now continues
to set forth the result of Eve's part in the transgression. He
first declared that she was going to suffer many sorrows in conception,
and in childbearing. He said two things, I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. And so the woman had listened
to Satan's temptation and now she's going to bear a result
of her listening. She's now going to be experiencing
in conception and birth, sorrow and pain. And certainly that
first part of, you know, and secondly, about subjection to
her husband, I'll tell you about that in a minute. Certainly that
first part of God's declaration to the woman is that she's going
to go through tribulation in the pregnancy and in the birth. And I've never experienced that. You women that have, you know
The problems don't just start the day of the birth. I mean,
there's problems throughout. And so every time that a woman
is going through travail in the pregnancy or in the birth, there's
a reminder. God left us a witness. This is the result of man's rebellion
in the garden. So she goes through tribulation
and trials in conception and in birth. And then it says, and
thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Now, I know this day of, you
know, women's liberation and all this kind of stuff, but it
doesn't change what God has set forth as far as the divine order
of things. The scripture declares, because
Eve listened to the devil. Her desire would be to her husband. I'm going to tell you what it's
really meaning. It means that now she is in subjection
to him that is looking to and clinging to her husband for all
of her needs. She acted independently. She
didn't call her husband. You know, hold on just a second.
Let me go get my husband and ask him what we need to do right
here. Was that temptation? No. She
handled it. She handled it. She thought. And now the Lord said, now you're
going to be in subjection. Thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee. Now the reason that the man is
the head of the woman, is from the result of the fall. This
is the reason. Well, why should a man be in
the head of the one... I mean, he doesn't, you know,
browbeat her. I'm not talking about that. I'm
talking about there is a divine order between a man and his wife,
between a man and a woman. And this is what it is. Because
she listened to the devil. Now, here is the woman's place
in society, in the church, in the home. When it comes to the
assembly right here, it says in 1 Timothy 2, 11 and 12, Let
the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer
not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over the man, but to
be in silence. Show me in the Scriptures where
it's okay for women preachers. And I'll take back what I'm about
to say, but there is no place for a woman to be standing in
a pulpit teaching or usurping authority over the man. Why? Because of the garden, because
of the fall in the garden. God's going to have a remembrance.
that we're going to remember. Why is the man the head of the
wife? In the home, Ephesians 5, 22-24. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. He's
the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything,
what political, domestic, you know, ecclesiastical, whatever,
whatever area. The husband is to love his wife,
watch over, protect her. But the place of the woman, because
of the fall, there's a reminder and she is to be In subjection,
her desire shall be to her husband, and he shall rule, that is, he
is the head. He's responsible. He's responsible. There we see the Lord Jesus Christ
and his bride. That's what Paul said in Ephesians.
He said, this is a great mystery, but I speak of church and the
bride. So it's all about teaching us. Our submission unto the Lord
Jesus Christ as the woman is in subjection to the husband,
that we are in subjection as the man is to rule over and to
guide, not browbeat her, but guide her and direct her and
be her husband, be her head. The Lord is the head of the church,
that's the truth. But even in this sentence, in closing here, oh the mercy
of God. that is found in the woman's
place of submission to her husband because of the fall. This, I
mean, what a, when, how merciful God was to tell Eve, you're going
to have sorrow in conception, in bringing forth the children.
And here's, here was a merciful statement. And your desire shall
be to your husband. What, what a place of of safety. What a place of ease in the Lord's
sentence to the woman. The Lord set forth that the woman
is now the weaker vessel and is to submit and be in subjection
to her husband that is to love her and give himself for her. He who is to watch over her,
and protect her, and guard her character, and provide for her
every need. What a place of safety, safety,
safety. Just, I mean, her husband, you
know, that is a, what a place of blessing and grace. And as
Eve would now be in subjection to Adam, Again, we behold the
believers place of subjection to Christ. Christ as the woman's,
the bride's husband who loved her and gave himself for her. You know, I'm appalled when I
see the arrogancy of men that take that scripture right there
And it's almost like that's a little whip for them. And they're going
to pop that whip right there and just say, you listen to me. Is that love? Is that giving
of yourself for her? No. No, no, no, no. I'm telling
you, this is a two-way street. A woman is to be in subjection
to her husband, and her husband is to love her. and give himself
for her. As the husbands are to be the
head, provider, and protector of his wife, are we not promised
that our Lord will supply all of our need according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus? We are constantly reminded in
nature and in the home of the result of the fall. I pray that
the Lord might be pleased to bless this word to our heart
and cause us to hear and understand for His glory and our good.