The curse and the remedy One thing that's for sure and
very clear in the Word of God is that sin never goes unpunished
You know the scripture says he that covers his sin shall not
prosper Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin, but God didn't
let it happen and you'd be thankful that Be thankful if God does
not allow you and me to cover our sins, but he exposes us to
ourselves, makes us able to see who we are, what we are, and
grant us repentance. But sin never goes unpunished.
Not even a thought of sin will go unpunished. God must deal
with sin. Last Thursday night in Hebrews
2, we read every transgression, every stepping over the line
received a just recompense of reward. Every transgression. God saw to it that whoever did
that, and we all do it, receives a just recompense of
reward. History proves that God will
punish sin, starting with Adam, kicking him out of the garden,
having to till the ground and the ground yielding thorns and
thistles. The flood, eight people were saved in the ark. It's hard
to say how many millions were drowned in the flood. God has
proven in history that he will punish sin. Sodom burned it to
the ground. Calvary. Calvary is the number
one example that God will punish sin. So what we have here, first
of all, is the sentence against sin and those who committed it. And you'll notice as we go through
these few verses, the infallible knowledge of the judge. You know, when you go to a court,
you go into a courtroom in this country, probably any country,
the hardest thing to get to is the truth. That is the hardest
thing to get to in court, is the truth. And the judge sitting
there in that courtroom, he's going to sit there and listen
and try to figure out what's going on here. But God, God has
infallible knowledge of all our sins, all our thoughts of sin. He has infallible knowledge.
Now the first thing God does here in verse 14, He speaks to
Satan, that old serpent called the devil. And if you'll notice
that God did not inquire as to what he had done as he did Adam
and Eve. He said, Adam, where art thou?
And he says, how do you know you were naked? Did you eat of
the tree? But when he speaks to Satan, he doesn't inquire
because Satan's already doomed. And God is not gonna show mercy
to Satan. And I thought about that when
I was putting this together, and I thought, my soul. What
a position to be in where God is not going to show mercy And he doesn't inquire And ask
satan. Why did you do that? No He's
already doomed. He's not going to have mercy.
He's going to show mercy to adam and eve Just as he has shown
mercy down through the ages to all whom he has chosen But with
satan he's not going to And God, now look, God passes judgment
on this serpent. Whatever this serpent was, I
don't know. It says it was more than any
of the cattle or the beast of the field. It must have been
something that was just, to me, something that was just glorious. And so God passes judgment on
this serpent. Now even though Satan is the
cause, yet the serpent whom he used must suffer. It must suffer. He said, upon thy belly shalt
thou go and eat dust. We know that creation, the scripture
teaches us that creation groans and travails. It groans and travails
because of the sin of Adam. That's why Adam was over and
God cursed him. God cursed him. Matthew Henry
said that the reason that our bodies must suffer in hell as
well as our soul is because we use our bodies so much to sin.
And because of that, it also has to suffer. So God says to that serpent,
He says that you're cursed. And on your belly you're going
to crawl, you're going to eat dust the rest of your life. And then
unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow. Eve is sentenced to a state of
sorrow and subjection now. What should be a joyful occasion
in having children Giving birth has now become a very painful
situation. Very painful. God said, I will
greatly multiply your sorrow. Job said, man that is born of
a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Isn't that so? I've lived long enough to find
that out. Few days and full of trouble.
And when a woman gives birth, she can thank Eve for it. She
can thank Eve for the pain that comes with it. The pain that
comes with giving birth to a child. The scripture says that she travails. That when a woman's in birth
pain, she travails. If you have it naturally now,
if a lady has it naturally, it's painful. It's painful. And that came from sin. That's
a sentence that God passed on Eve. And even her children, from
time to time, will bring her sorrow. Even her children will
bring her sorrow. When she had her first man child,
she said, I've gotten the man from the Lord. She thought she
had gotten the man that was promised, the seed of the woman, in whom
she got Cain. She got Cain. That's who she got. And children,
even though they are a blessing, it can be a blessing, they can
also be a source of great sorrow. Great sorrow. Multiplied sorrow. Sin always brings sorrow. It doesn't bring anything else
but sorrow in the end. And notice God said, I will. I will multiply your sorrow.
I'm going to do it. This is going to be my sentence,
Eve, against you and all women since. Every woman that has a
child is painful, painful. And she is now in a state of
subjection. Thy desire shall be to thy husband. You know, I believe when God
first created Adam and Eve, they both knew their place. Eve knew
she came from Adam. She knew that. I have no doubt
about that. And they knew their place, and
they worked together like a well-oiled machine. There wasn't none of
this, I told you to do this, why didn't you do that? They
knew each other. I mean, they could read each
other's minds, so to speak. And then this happened. And God
said, you're going to be in subjection now to your husband. Look over in 1 Timothy. Over in 1 Timothy chapter 2. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, listen
to this. Verse 11, it says, 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. For
Adam was first formed and then Eve. And Adam, then he brings
this up. He brings this up. Adam was not deceived. But the woman being deceived
was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be
saved in childbearing, even though it's painful. Even though it's
painful and causes great pain. He says she'll be saved in childbearing.
It's not going to end her life if they continue in faith and
charity and holiness with sobriety. That came, that sentence came
right back here from Eve. being deceived, you say, well,
that's not fair. I said, really, think about it. That's not fair.
She was deceived. Think about that serpent. He
didn't ask, that serpent didn't ask for Satan to take him over
and do what he did, but he had to suffer for it, whatever that
serpent was. And Eve, though she's deceived,
she still has to suffer for her choice to sin. She still has
to. And he says, you're gonna be
subjected to your husband. And then he says to Adam, he
says to Adam, but now let me go back here a minute. Let me
go back here a minute. She's in subjection to her husband,
but under the gospel, what does it say? Husbands, love your wives. And be not bitter against them.
Husbands, love your wives. As Christ loved the church and
gave himself for it. Even though the wife is to be
in subjection to her husband, it's a willing subjection, but
it's a subjection to one she loves and one that loves her.
And it's not hard to subject yourself or be in subjection
to someone you love. It's not this where the Bible
says you're supposed to be. Yeah, try that one. Now, see
how that works for you. No, it's out of love. It's out of love. Now, I know that men over the
years, especially religious men, but lost men, have used that
verse and just abused the daylights out of it. But if a husband loves his wife
as Christ loved the church, That subjection is pleasant, is pleasant. Now unto Adam he said, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife instead of
my voice, instead of what I commanded you, you listened to what she
had to say and you knew exactly what you were doing. Adam was
not deceived. He was not deceived. And God says, because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, God did not allow Adam's
lame excuse that it was the woman's fault whom God gave him. God
will take the excuses of men to sin and sentence them with
it. He'll take our excuses and sentence us with it. If we're not in Christ, he will. And he said here, and you have
eaten of the tree which I commanded thee not to eat of. Adam, you
listened to the voice of your wife and you ate of the tree that
I told you not to eat of. I commanded you, he said. You
only have one law, Adam. You only have one law. And you ate of the tree that
I commanded you not to eat." Adam's blatant disobedience is
brought up. That's what God is bringing up.
His blatant disobedience to this command. This one command. Don't
eat of it. Adam, who believed God, turned on God for his own purpose,
whatever that purpose was. You know, unbelief is the mother
of all sins. There was a point there when
Adam went from believing God to, hmm, maybe you're right. Maybe you're
right. Instead of saying, no, God said
don't eat of it, Eve, don't do that. He said not to do that. But instead, he considered just
like she did. And he ate of it. When he should
have said, no, I'm not going to. You know, there's been a
few times we've been out to eat and Vicki says, here, you want
to take a bite of this? You want to take a taste of this?
It's good. And I said, no, I don't want
to. I really don't want it. Go ahead, take a bite. She said,
take a bite of it. And I said, all right. I can
just see that in the garden. Eve saying, you know, and I have
no doubt she probably already ate of it. So that's all right. It's a it's a tree. It's good
for food. It's pleasant to the eyes. It's
a tree to be desired to make one wise. And then here's where
sin happens. Hmm. It's already happened. when you stop and consider. Our
Lord, when He was tempted in the wilderness, never for a second,
I mean not for a second, considered doing what Satan said. Not for
a second. But Adam just as soon, you know
the scripture says, the thought of sin is foolishness. And as
soon as Adam thought, when he thought of doing it, he did it,
it was over. He did it. When he considered
it and started mauling it over in his mind, it was done. Sin had already taken root. The seed had already been planted.
It was there. And now we have the extent of
the curse on Adam. God said the ground, the ground,
is cursed. The ground, Adam, from which
I made you is cursed. Creation. The animals didn't
do anything. They didn't sin. The birds, the
fish, the cattle, the beasts of the field, they didn't sin.
But they fell under the curse of sin. Because they were under
the dominion of Adam. God put Adam over everything.
And everything God put Adam over, fell when he fell. Fell when he fell. Look over in Romans chapter 8. In Romans chapter 8, look in verse 19. For the earnest expectation of
the creature, we can read that word as creation, waiteth for
the manifestation of the sons of God. Creation is right now
waiting for that last sheep to come in. That's what's going
on. Creation's waiting for that to
happen. For the creature or the creation was made subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason. See, Adam did what he
did willingly. But creation fell under him. not willingly, but by reason
of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature,
creation itself, also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now." It failed. God cursed this earth.
He cursed the ground. And now the ground bears thorns
and thistles. The ground bears the curse. These
are like enemies. They cause much pain. Have you
ever been stuck by a thorn? I mean, it hurts. It hurts. There was no thorns in the garden.
There was no thorns and thistles until this happened. And I thought
of this when I was writing this down. that when our Lord was
nailed to the cross well before He was nailed to the cross they
had Him in the judgment hall one of the things they did was
they made a crown of thorns that was the curse that was put on
this earth and they put it on His head and they drove it down
on His head just drove it down on His head bearing Bearing our
curse Adam the ground is cursed. It's going to bear thorns and
thistles and Then we see God Come into this world in the flesh
and bear the very curse. He laid on Adam for all his children And then he said and then God
said to Adam in the sweat of your brow you're going to Eat
your bread. Sin put sweat in work. Before sin, work was a pleasure. Before sin, whatever Adam put
his hand to in dressing the gardener, God told him to dress it and
keep it. And every time he dressed it
or whatever he did, it prospered. It prospered. And there was no
labor to it. There's no labor to it. When
you ladies had children, what happened? You went into what? Labor. You went into labor. And when you go out there and
you till the ground, you know what's going to happen?
Labor. Labor. and you're gonna eat your bread
by the sweat of your brow. Sin, sin put labor and sweat
into work. Sin made work to become unpleasant. How many people, and about most
people I know, don't like going to work. They don't like where
they work. Most people I know don't. Most
people I've known said, boy, I can't wait till I retire. I
can't wait till I go able to go do what I want to do. I know
a person that some years ago, this person couldn't stand where
they had a great job, couldn't stand where they work, made a
lot of money. I mean, made a lot of money, couldn't stand. I thought,
Man, you got a great job. You got a great job. You're making
a lot of money and you can't stand it. Sin. Sin has made work a burden
when it was a pleasure to go dress God's garden, to work in
God's garden. You know, in that new heaven
and new earth, we're not going to just be floating around on
a cloud. We're not going to be floating around on a cloud playing
a harp or something. On that new earth, I assure you, we are
going to be busy. But it's going to be a pleasure
because we're working in the Lord's vineyard. We're working
on his earth wherein dwells righteousness. And everything we do, everything
he gives us to do is going to prosper. It's going to prosper. And not one person Not one person,
I guarantee you not one person on that new earth is going to
complain. Not one complaint. Sin will be gone. Sin is the
reason why I complain every day. I have nothing to complain about.
I honestly have nothing to complain about but me. But when sin is
gone, I will not complain again. Never again. Now we have the remedy, let me
close with this. In verse 15, I'm gonna go back
to verse 15. God said, speaking to Satan, I will put enmity,
I looked that word up this morning, it means deep-seated hatred between
long-time rivals, enemies. It is a deep-seated hatred. And he said, I'm gonna put enmity,
first of all, between Eve, he said, I'm gonna put between Eve
and the serpent. Now, I don't know what that serpent
was, I don't know. And I really hadn't thought about
it, given it that much thought until this last couple of days.
But whatever this serpent was, I believe it was like, and I
don't know, for lack of a better word, I believe it was something
that was her favorite. It's like having a pet, like
your favorite pet. And whatever it was, I think this serpent
was her favorite of all those animals. And now whatever that
was, God put an enmity, a deep-seated hatred between her and it. And then this enmity that he
says here, I will put enmity between thee and the woman. This
enmity is between Satan and the church. There's a deep-seated
hatred that Satan has. to every one of God's children.
There's a deep-seated hatred that Satan has to this congregation. A deep-seated hatred. And there's
a deep-seated hatred that we have towards Satan. I don't love
Satan. The Lord said in the Psalm, do
not I hate them that hate thee? And then he says here, and I'll
put this enmity between thy seed and her seed. There's a deep-seated
hatred between Christ and Satan. No one, no one hates. Now, brethren, we don't really
understand the real depth of that word, but no one hates Jesus
Christ like Satan. He absolutely hates him. And
I tell you what, Christ hates Satan. If he loved Satan, he'd save
him. If he loved Esau, he'd saved him. Now, I know I'm in water
way over my head. I know that. I know that. But
this enmity, this enmity is a deep-seated hatred. between God, the devil, Christ,
Satan, Satan, the church, the Lord's people, all over this
world. Look over in Romans 8. In Romans 8, look in verse 6. For to be carnally minded is
death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace because
the carnal mind is enmity. It doesn't just say add enmity,
it's enmity. It is absolute hatred of God. Now, what is the carnal mind?
It's every mind that's not saved. Every person whom God has not
saved fits this description right here. Enmity. A deep-seated hatred of God. That's what it is. And he says
here, and he gives us here a very glimpse of the Gospel. He says
that Satan will bruise our Lord's heel, this seat of the woman,
which is Christ. Satan will bruise his heel, but
Christ is going to bruise his head. He says Satan is going to bruise
his heel. The human nature of Christ, the nature that God took
upon him when he came into this world, he suffered and he died
on the cross. That's the bruising of his heel.
But Satan's power is crushed. Satan has no power over you unless
God just allows him to do what he can do. Like Job, he had to
go before God, and God gave him permission to touch Job. And he can only
go as far as God let him go. He's not out there, he's not
a loose cannon running around out there. He can only do what God will
allow him to do. And he was allowed to bruise
the heel, he was allowed to cause suffering to Christ, But God said, but this seed,
this seed is going to destroy your power. This is the first glimmer of
the gospel right here in Genesis. And in this verse, we have the
first message of the gospel, Christ, the woman seed. Satan
used the woman to bring down Adam and the whole human race.
Adam, you hearken to the voice of your wife, and now God's going
to use the woman's seed to bring down Satan once and for all. Adam is not going to have any
part in this seed. The woman's seed. The woman's
seed. Not you, Adam. You're not going
to have any part of this. God's going to use this weak
vessel, this one that was deceived, He's going to come into this world through
her, and He's going to crush the power of Satan. And in verse
20, I close, And God made coats of skins, and He clothed Adam
and Eve. He gave us the gospel and a promise
back there in the seat of the woman. And here we have an example. We have an example of how God's
going to save us. God shed the first blood over
sin. God did. God did. He slew an animal. He shed its
blood. And then God took the skin of
that animal and He clothed the nakedness of Adam and Eve. He
didn't tell Adam and Eve to go out and kill this animal and
make some skin. No, God did it. God did it. It is through the blood of Christ
sin has been purged. We saw that in Hebrews chapter
2. And through His obedience our nakedness has been covered
with His righteousness. I believe Ben mentioned that
in his prayer. Yeah, even better. We have been
made the righteousness of God in Christ. We'll see this next week. Adam
couldn't make us righteous. God put a sword in front of that
tree of life and ran him out of the garden. Because salvation
is not going to be by our efforts. It's going to be by God's grace.
By God's grace. Alright.