Let's open our Bibles to the
first chapter of the book of Genesis. It is good to see you folks out
tonight. It is somewhat of a miserable
evening, and the temperature's dropping, and I'm very much aware
of that, and so I'll try to get you out of here a little earlier
this evening. But I want to talk to you tonight
about, here's the subject, the promised seed. That's my subject,
the promised seed. And I'm going to begin here in
Genesis, the first chapter, as Moses is given this account of
God's creative abilities and step by step he goes day by day
with the creative glories of God in preparing all things for
the habitation of the people of God. But I want to read a
few verses to you here. Keeping in mind my subject is
the promised seed. And of course, Bill read my text,
chapter 3, verse 15. First of all, look at verses
11 and 12. Genesis 1, 11, and God said,
let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the
fruit tree yielding fruit, after his kind, whose seed is in itself
upon the earth, and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass
and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding
fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind, and God saw that
it was good. Drop down to verse 21. And God created great whales
and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought
forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after
his kind. And God saw that it was good. Verse 24. And God said, let the earth bring
forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping
thing, and the beast of the earth after his kind, and it was so. And then 26 and 27. And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness, that is, after our kind, and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth, So God created man in
his own image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them. Here's what we discover from
all of these verses. It is this, that like produces
like. produces like. And those of us
who know God through the Lord Jesus Christ, we are predestinated
to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We were in him
before the world ever began. And he is referred to as the
seed And we are of his seed, like
produces like. It is said that you can count
the seeds in an apple. But you can't count the apples
in a seed. Because there could very well
be an abundance of apples found in just a little apple seed. And that little seed will produce
after its kind. And this is the rule that God
set in motion all the way back here at the beginning. Now, go
to Genesis 3.15. and I will put enmity, God says
I will appoint, and this is the Son of God speaking, and I will
appoint, I will fix, I will set enmity between thee, he's speaking
to the serpent, that is to the devil, between thee and the woman, between
thy seed, and remember, like produces like. The seed of Satan
is a group of people who are, by nature, God-haters, embracing false religion, and
they will do so until they die. They're the seed or the offspring
of the evil one. You remember our Lord Jesus said
to the Pharisees, ye are of your father, the devil. Like produces like. I'm sure you'll recall in Matthew
chapter three, John the Baptist referred to those who believed
in a work salvation. He called them a generation of
vipers, thus tying them to the serpent,
that is to Satan. I will put, the Son of God says,
I will put, I will fix enmity between thee, devil, Satan, and
the woman. and between thy seed and her
seed. You see, even as Satan produces
his seed, that's like him. As I said, John the Baptist referred
to those who opposed our Lord Jesus Christ as a generation
of vipers, and our Lord did as well. between thy seed and her seed. The seed of the woman is our
Lord Jesus, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel.
And the Lord Jesus is speaking about a combative relationship
between himself and Satan. there will be a awful war that
broke out at Calvary. But it wasn't anywhere near equal
in the wounds inflicted by the one and the other. Because the
wound inflicted by the serpent upon our Lord Jesus was the bruising
of the heel. And you can understand that because
Satan had entered into a serpent. And what the serpent crawling
on the ground goes after the foot or the heel. But our Lord Jesus, he didn't
bruise the heel of the serpent. He bruised the head. You find
a poisonous snake, you go for his head. That's what you go
for. I remember many years ago when I was a little boy, I had
a dog. His name was Brownie. And it
was in the summertime, and I leaned up against an oak tree, and I
was taking a nap, and all of a sudden, Brownie started barking,
barking, barking. And I woke up to see a poisonous
snake very close to me. And I ran and got a hoe and cut
his head off. And my neighbor, Mr. Mason said,
hang it up and it'll rain. He said, hang the body of the
snake up and it'll rain. Well, I don't remember whether
it did rain or not, but I knew this. I knew to go after his
head. And you see on the cross of Calvary,
our Lord Jesus, his heel was bruised, was wounded. He was wounded for our transgressions, but in that great conflict upon
the cross of Calvary, he dealt a fatal, mortal blow to the serpent. Here we have the Son of God setting
forth the gospel in Eden's garden. He sets forth the defeat of the
enemy of our souls and the victory that he would himself secure
over the head of all evil. He would secure that victory
for himself and for all of his seed. Now the words are addressed,
the words of this verse are addressed directly to the deceiver. And yet in these prophetic words
concerning the destruction of Satan, Adam and Eve could draw
forth comfort. Though they had been brought
to their very lowest, lowest point in the fall. Yet they were encouraged. They
were encouraged, first of all, because the Lord came seeking
them. And He didn't come seeking them in a thunderstorm with lightning. Rather, He came seeking them
in the cool of the day, in the breeze, the evening breeze of
the day. And they were encouraged here. Because though they had sinned,
the one who mercifully came after them in seeking grace, he would himself deal a fatal
blow to that one who was their enemy, even Satan himself. Concerning the Lord seeking them,
you remember the words of Isaiah chapter 65 and verse one, I am
sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. That was Adam and Eve. They were
not seeking the Lord. They were not seeking to have
that relationship repaired They were not seeking the mercy of
God. When they heard the voice of
the Son of God in the garden, as they had so often heard, they
ran to hide themselves behind the tree. But God would not let them go. And here he comes down to verse
15, even though the words were spoken
to the serpent, to the devil, Adam and Eve could draw great
comfort from this because now they find out there's somebody
who's going to come to get them out of this mess that Adam had
caused for them. And our joy and our hope is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, that one who came into this world, the
seed of the woman, born of a virgin, not born of the result of the
union of a man and a woman. You see, our Lord Jesus was not,
the fall of Adam was not imputed to him because he was not a son
of Adam. He was and is the son of God. And the life that he had in himself,
he willingly laid down in this conflict. For though Satan wounded his
heel, God wounded his heart. And he died the death of a substitute. He died the death of a sacrifice
offered by God himself. And in the offering of himself
to the justice of God, he saved his people. So really, What we
have in Genesis chapter three and verse 15 are all the articles
and all of the mysteries in a nutshell concerning the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. In the seed of the woman is contained
all the doctrine concerning the incarnation of our Savior. And in the bruising of his heel
is found his sufferings and his death, the penalty for sin. But Satan could not inflict that
penalty for sin, which is death. Our Lord Jesus Christ died by
his own will. He said, I have the power to
lay down my life. That's what he said. I have the
power to lay it down. No man can take it from me. The
devil couldn't take it from him. He said, I have the power to
lay it down. Why did he lay it down? To satisfy justice and
to save his people. And in doing so, he endured the
penalty for sin. And in the bruising of the serpent's
head, We see the glorious victory and the conquest of our Savior. Contrary to what many people
believe, Calvary was not a tragedy. It was a glorious victory over
the enemy, a victory over our sins. Verse 15 is the first promise
that was ever given to fallen man. The occasion was this. The serpent
had beguiled our mother Eve, and through her influence, her
husband also ate of the fruit that God had commanded Adam not
to eat. God had entered into a covenant
with Adam. Here's what you're prohibited
from doing. Don't eat of the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For in the day thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And as all of you are well
acquainted with this, and most of you who are watching, Adam
was our representative. He was our federal head. So when
he fell, we fell. But in this great promise of
Genesis 3.15, you'll notice this, nothing, nothing is required
of Adam. In that first covenant that God
made with Adam, who is a whole lot dependent upon him, Obey and live. Disobey and die. And everybody that you represent's
gonna die with you. He was a representative man. But in this chapter three, verse
15, nothing is required of Adam. There's no If you do this or if you follow this line of obedience,
nothing like that. All of the responsibility for
the salvation of a numberless group of people rested upon the
seed of the woman. Now, this much we know about
Him from Isaiah and many passages of Scripture, He cannot fail
because He is God Himself. And this all worked out to the
fulfillment of the purpose of God, to magnify Himself in the
salvation worked out. by the Lord Jesus Christ for
all of his seed. So, I'll just give you a few
points here real quick. Who is the speaker? The speaker
is the Son of God. He is the divine spokesman, he's
the divine preacher in this passage. as we know that God will not
speak to nor be spoken to by any son or daughter of Adam apart
from a mediator. And I'm gonna try, ever how many
years God gives me to minister the gospel to you, I'm gonna
say that so many times, it's gonna burn into your brain, I
hope, and into your heart. God speaks to people through
Christ, and you speak to God through Christ. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father.
What's the rest of it? But by me. But by me. The way into heaven, the way
to righteousness, the way to forgiveness, the way to salvation
is through the Lord Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, risen again,
and ascended and exalted. The speaker is the Son of God.
The very one who would rescue sinners. Here he announces how
he will accomplish the victory. By bruising the head of the serpent. Well, when was the promise given? Well, it's right after the act
of Adam that had a devastating effect upon the whole human race.
God had been provoked. God had been offended by Adam's
transgression. And in turning against his creator,
he had become alienated from God. And in his act of disobedience,
we became alienated from God as well. But the Lord, having
already arranged all of this, comes to Adam in the cool of
the day as a refreshing, life-stirring, life-giving breeze. The Son of
God came forth, even as it says in the book of Luke, with healing
in his wings. No doubt Adam and Eve thought
when the Lord came after them, it would be with a hammer to
just mash them, with judgment to punish them. But that wasn't
the case. Our God is merciful. Our God
is full of compassion to our fallen parents. And he makes this covenant promise
to the serpent, but Adam and Eve are within hearing distance. This is a covenant made for Adam. The first covenant back in the
second chapter was a covenant made with Adam, right? With Adam. This is a covenant or a promise
made for Adam. I like this one better, don't
you? Because this one, this one requires nothing of me. I'm just a poor sinner. I'm nothing
at all. I have no abilities. All my thoughts,
all my ways, all my actions, all my motives are always tarnished
by sin. I can't get rid of it. I'd like
to, and one of these days I will be free of it, but that's the
way I am, and we have to be honest about that. But God requires
nothing of me in this promise. All of the doing and the dying
and the rising, all of the representation required to satisfy a holy God,
somebody else is responsible for that. One who is mighty and
one who will always be loyal to the glory of God. Here is the first gospel sermon. Messiah would come. And he's not gonna be the seed
of the seed of Adam. He was not a son of Adam, he
was the son of God. Therefore the sin of Adam was
not charged to him. The word was made flesh. and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The
scripture says, but when the fullness of the time was come,
Galatians chapter four, God sent forth his Son made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.
that we might receive the adoption of sons. A virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son, and his name shall be
called Emmanuel, which shall be called, or which interpreted
is, God with us. Here's the first proclamation
of the gospel. Let me show you a verse I looked
at quite a bit in Hebrews 11. You got a couple of minutes here,
turn to Hebrews chapter 11. The gospel of Genesis 3.15 was
the only gospel that these early believers had. Let me give you
a long word And I'll tell you what it means. I'm not gonna
give you a long word and then cause you, make you go home and
look it up. The only gospel that the antediluvian
fathers had was Genesis 3.15. Now Jim, what in the world does
antediluvian mean? Before the flood. That's what
it means. You know, you're reading, maybe
you're reading in a doctrine book, or maybe a book that has
a spiritual meaning to it, spiritual nature to it, and you read of
the antediluvian fathers, it talks about those who lived before
the flood. Now look at Hebrews chapter 11,
verse one. Now faith, And you'll notice in verse 39,
the previous chapter, it talks about believe. Them that believe
to the saving of the soul. Now faith, believing, is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now here's what I'm getting to,
verse two. For by it, by faith, the elders,
who in the world is he talking about? He's talking about the
antediluvian fathers. He's talking about Abel, Seth,
Enoch, Methuselah, all of those men, the elders who lived before
the flood. It says, for by it, by faith,
the elders obtained a good report. That is the elders, the antediluvian
fathers, they received a good report. And what was the good
report that they received and held on to? Genesis 3.15. That's all they had, that's all
the gospel they had. The gospel which our Lord Jesus
stated in Genesis 3.15 and then illustrated when he killed the
animals and clothed our parents, Adam and Eve. And the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ is hidden in this little verse in Genesis 3.15. And that's
all they had. Think about that. That's all
they had. And the word is passed down to
them from Adam and Eve to Abel, and we don't know how long he
lived, but Cain killed him as we know, and then to Seth. Then to others in that lineage
who believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. of the seed of the woman. In
fact, Abraham of Abraham and is written in Genesis chapter
three that he wrote about not seeds in plural, but seed as
in one. And the apostle identifies that
seed as being the Lord Jesus Christ. And this report that the fathers, the elders,
the antediluvian men, this report that they received, that they
embraced, that they believed, it was a
good report, and the same report was enlarged by Isaiah, and Isaiah
even begins chapter 53 by asking, who hath believed our what? report, and the first report
was back in Genesis 3.15, that the seed of the woman would overthrow
and defeat the old serpent. You see, there was a terrible
conflict at the cross. If you read some of the old writers,
they'll talk about the the active obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the passive obedience. And by active obedience, they
refer to his life. And that was a life of obedience.
We know that. He always obeyed the Father.
But when they say his passive obedience, they're talking about
what he did on the cross of Calvary. I disagree with them. That was
not a passive obedience. He entered into a conflict. He entered into warfare. And
he smote the serpent in the head. It was a mortal blow. It didn't cause him to cease
to exist, but it took power away from him. Because here you have
in Genesis 3.15, the heads of two kingdoms. And the two kingdoms
are the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. Satan being the king of darkness,
the king of the kingdom of darkness. And we were under his influence
until we were translated, Colossians chapter one, until we were translated
out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear
son, as by God's effectual grace. In the conflict upon the cross,
Satan was cast out. John 12, 31, the Savior speaking
again, now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And John
spoke in 1 John 3, verse 8, for this purpose the Son of God was
manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. And you'll notice back here,
and I'll give you this and I'll send you home. You notice back
here in chapter three, it talks about thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel. The children of Satan, that's
his seed. And they are his seed, the non-elect,
Those not chosen unto salvation, that's his seed. Like produces
like. As he has always been the enemy
of our Lord Jesus Christ and salvation by grace alone, through
the doing and the dying of the blessed Savior, his offspring
are just like him. They hate the gospel of grace
too. But there's another seed in Christ. Go back to that little illustration
I gave you concerning the apple. The seed in the apple. Bless the name of God. We have
been the seed of Christ hidden in him from old eternity. And that seed flourishes and
it's still flourishing. Producing like, like produces
like. And the scripture says we are
predestinated to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
Like produces like. And we're not perfectly like
him as of yet. But before God, we are. Because God sees us in his son. We have always been in Him. We're the seed in Him who is
the seed. We were hidden in Christ before
the world began. Think of that, hidden in Christ. And you know what? We're still
in Him. We're hidden in Him safely. The
one who fought our battle for us. And it wasn't anywhere close
as far as the outcome was concerned. There was never a doubt of that.
Because of our Savior, his heel was bruised. Of the devil, his head was bruised. And our Lord Jesus By His sacrifice,
by the bruising of His heel, He saved His people from our
sins. And we are predestinated to be
like Him, because like produces like. Well, let's sing the closing
song. We say,