It's hard to believe that it's Christmas already. Advent season is here with us and I don't know what you're expecting this Christmas season. Do you have any hopes for getting a gift or something? I don't know, but I do hope that you are, you're expecting something this Christmas. Today's message is coming from the book of Genesis chapter 3. We're going to be reading these two very important passages in all of scripture. So if you can turn to it and if you're able, would you please stand with me as we read from Genesis 3, verses 14 and 15, here now the reading of God's Word. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, first are you above all life and above all beasts of the field or your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Absolutely Father, we come before you knowing that you are the Son of God born to us and in us that we may have life everlasting. As your people gather before you this morning, we pray that you would open our hearts and minds that we may hear you, give us the eyes of faith and hope that we may know the things that you are teaching us this morning. Entire just give us hope in Christ's name we pray, Amen, you may be seated. I don't know if you like superhero movies, Batman, Iron Man, Superman, Captain America, all those great movies, just some of us have seen some of the superhero movies, there's one theme that runs through those movies and we all know what it is, there's always a fight against evil, the superheroes are fighting something, they're fighting a villain but there's always something else in those movies and even in most TV shows and movies that we watch, something that's always explicit and other times a little implicit, it's the fact that you see a superhero coming into the movie and fighting all this evil but at the end of the day there's something you know as you anticipate in defeating that the villain or the evil that you only win the fight once and live to fight another day, the villain will rise one more time and the superhero will have to come back and fight evil one more time. Meaning that the war is not over, the battle has not been won yet so even when Superman comes out and crushes all the villains that are you know in fights or the evil you know they're going to come up with another movie and superhero and Superman is still going to fight more evil but if you're watching the movie there's something a villain in movie theaters especially watching the Avengers when people have to clap because they were so happy after you know all the superheroes came together and they you know they won the battle and everybody's thinking oh yeah the battle has been won but there's something that happens during that time when you're watching that movie the great anticipation the great hope you are when when the movie starts it starts a little slow and then it builds up and it gets to a place where you're just waiting for that final great battle when the superhero is going to have the fight of his life and he's finally going to give the big blow to the villain that he's going to be crushed and dead that's what we go to the movies isn't it because of that suspense that great anticipation or passage this morning and I heard some groans as we're reading this passage evokes a similar feeling a feeling of a great anticipation of a great hope but I do hope that the hope that you're going to have by listening to today's message I hope that the anticipation that you have by hearing what great hope price is given to us through his word is not the same as the one that you get when you watch that movie or when you watch that kind of movie that I hope it's a better and a greater hope because Jesus is not a superhero and we will see why he's not won and so we begin on passage this morning by looking at verse 14 we're going to be looking at these two great passages in scripture and I just want us to look at three things there's so much that we can talk about in this passage the passages are filled with so much that we can talk about but I want us to see three things I want us to consider the punishment that God is granting to the serpent and to his people but I also want to see how that punishment is seen in a very special and a very interesting manner that we can identify with as God's people and that's the struggle that we see in it and then at the end of it I want us to look at the hope that God is giving us so let's look at the punishment the struggle and the hope that God is reading is giving to us when you read verse 14 we read the Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this curse to you above all livestock and above all the beasts of the field on your belly you shall go and just you shall eat all the days of your life now for us to understand this this passage this chapter three of Genesis which is about the fall of man in the first time that we see evil we really do need to go back just a little bit and consider Genesis chapter two we're not going to read anything but I'll give you a summary of what's going on in chapter two when you go back you see God creating man and woman in his own image and then after that he places them in the Garden of Eden and he gives them authority dominion over all things that he had made he gives them a command to go ahead and multiply and eat all the things that he's provided for them all the beautiful fruit and animals and and plants and everything that is given them but we know that in chapter two of Genesis that God gives them a command and he says there's one thing that you will not do and he says of all the things that I've given to you you can eat everything but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat and the day you do you shall surely die that is the command God gives people and then we get to chapter three and the worst that could ever happen has just happened we are faced with the story of the craftiness of the serpent who is really Satan who for sure of the image or the body of the snake or the serpent and he comes to even and deceives her and she listens to his deception she eats of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and gives it to a husband and there we are faced with the first disobedience God's people have disobeyed the command that God gave them and filled with their guilt and shame and playing blame game they they try to lie they try to to give excuses as to what they've done and so we're not wondering what is God going to do what is the Lord God Almighty going to do is he going to give the promise is he going to destroy them right there and then he could have he does not do so this verse 14 begins with God turning first to the serpent and it's interesting when you're reading through it when you read the punishment onwards that God gives to the people or when he starts talking to Adam and Eve he actually speaks to them he asks them Adam where are you what have you done he begins by talking to them but it's curious that God does not speak to the serpent he does not say anything to him he just turns to him and gives him the punishment this shall be your judgment and of course we know because God is giving his people hope Satan has no hope he's in danger he's the father of lies the father of evil his punishment is given that he deserves death for his sins but look at what punishment God gives to the to the serpent he says first are you today you shall crawl on your belly and you shall eat dust does that mean that snakes obviously we know the snakes don't eat dust do they snakes really don't eat dust and so there have been a lot of controversy of people talking about you know commentators thinking well what does that mean you know is the devil the snake or all of that but obviously we know that the devil we know who he is he's he's he's the nature that was screwed by God and fell he just took upon the body of a serpent now Moses doesn't tell us what the snake looked like before he was taken over by the devil we don't know and we cannot speculate to say whether he had you know legs or whatever but one thing we know since God created all things and said it was good we know that he was a beautiful creature that we can save for for fat but why is he telling him that he shall crawl on his belly that he shall eat dust it's really an analogy of object humiliation that the serpent that Satan will live in object humiliation and we shall see more of that today eating dust eating dust is knowing defeat God is telling Satan you shall know defeat listen to what Psalm 4425 says for our soul is bowed down to the dust our belly clings to the ground that's the curse that's the punishment that God has given to Satan in mind you it's not an appeal God is not making an appeal to Satan he's giving him a promise he's telling him that the seed of the woman the offspring of the woman and we will find out who this offspring is will crush your head you shall die obviously doesn't happen right then when God is giving them giving him the punishment but we know that God is delaying that particular punishment as he works out his work of redemption of redeeming his people and giving them hope but what about the man and the woman what about Adam and Eve there's is a little different story and we would have to go somewhere else to look at some of the punishment that they were given it's not really all focused me but I think it's important for us to look at it if you read from verses 16 of Genesis 3 you see specific punishment that was given to the woman God says to the woman that you I shall multiply your childbirth your desire will be for the for the man and he will rule over you and then to the man he turns to him and says cursed is the ground that you work from now on you shall toil for your rest that the ground will produce thorns and fizzles they will make it really hard for you as you try to provide for yourself that you will you will sweat you will work and sweat and toil for trying to provide for you and Eve this is how I would summarize this punishment and I think this is we can identify with this think of it this way Adam and Eve had life he had been given life by God but after the fall they have death they enjoyed pleasure with everything that God and they had given them now they have pain they had abundance God had provided them with so much now all they could experience was mega sustenance by toil they had a perfect harmony with God and with each other now they were eliminated from God and experience conflict between each other does this sound similar to you this morning and in that sound like a little bit about our life when you look at the world and Eve we are all faced with inevitable reality of death we are all faced with the inevitable reality of working so hard and sometimes making it other times not making it we are faced with the same reality of pain in our own bodies and in our own lives emotionally and mentally and otherwise Adam's sin becomes our sin as descendants of our first parents God could have ended the story right there after their sin could have punished them could have handed them the death that they deserved but praise be to God he doesn't leave them there praise be to God he doesn't hand them the punishment that they deserved for their sin that God at that very moment of punishment begin his work of redemption and so we see this punishment that God gives to the serpent God gives it to humanity but also the consequences that follow the struggle the antagonism that follows as you read in verse 15 and you you cannot miss it listen to what verse 15 says I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and our offspring he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel the struggle is between the serpent and the woman and some commentators again I've looked at it and said well it just seemed as this was the beginning of our hatred of snakes for obvious reasons that snakes would always bite us and when we see one if we know it's poisonous we put them to death John Calvin commented and says well some people argue and say there are people out there who actually look at snakes and they think they're good pets to keep but that doesn't doesn't make a difference at all because still we know that if you see a snake that has poison you're gonna put it in it's right place and if it binds you first it's gonna bruise your heel that's for sure but I think it's also important for us to look at this animosity this enmity this struggle that it actually begins with God did you hear what we read I will put enmity between you and the woman it doesn't say there shall be enmity between you and the woman it doesn't say that it says God himself I will put enmity between you and between you and the woman there's a reason for that it's God who is initiating this struggle Satan might have succeeded in deceiving Adam and Eve and allowing them to eat of the of the fruit that they were told not to eat God by initiating this animosity between Satan and his people is doing something he is destroying a relationship that could have developed between the serpent and the woman he's preserving his own people he's preserving his race and saying I want you to have a hatred over sin to have hatred over that which is evil they made it see see either the offspring of the woman obviously we know who it is and we'll see this struggle and how it plays out in life obviously who are the children of Adam and Eve they're came and able and we see that happening we see they at the struggle and then mastery that happens between these two sons came ends up putting to death his own brother here begins the struggle between those who love God those who do not love God can start the struggle of our hatred with sin and so God puts at odds evil and good but he uses this language of Satan bruising our heels what does this mean I think for some of us every time we think about that particular phrase you know we would only think well maybe it just implies the fact that a snake will bite you or you know we'll get in trouble when we're faced with an animal with a snake I think this is broader than simply a snake bruising your heel and I think it's God is really using this as a metaphor for suffering for pain for all the struggles that we face within our life in terms of pain and suffering and so the very fact that God is himself the one who initiates this struggle should give us hope it gives us hope because God is allowing suffering God is allowing the bruising of our heels for our good that's a little hard isn't it that God would allow suffering in our lives for his good the reason why I say that is because I honestly do not think that there is anything in this world that we go through that would allow you and I to listen to God and hear his voice more than suffering scripture is filled with instances of pain and suffering and the perfect example being Christ himself do you know those moments when you're faced with life struggles when you seek answers through money and drink and friends and family and nothing else will do when you are in a place of utter desperation and brokenness when nothing else will provide an answer and the only place you're able to look to is one I think that's why God uses suffering for our good that's why God is allowing Satan to bruise our heels because for one thing he knows that we'll get to that place of desperation and brokenness and we will look up to him and we'll listen to him it's a struggle between good and evil and sometimes I think we'll look around and realize man it seems like evil is really winning I mean think about it right now I mean we can give a thousand examples of what's going on as my brother Mark was praying this morning do you think about the turmoil that's going on all of the world think about the hunger and the poverty and everything else that's going on in the world and you think can we not get to a place where all this comes to an end can't the United Nations can't America with all its power and might put an end to all this war and all this misery
how is Satan bruising your heel this morning I really don't know your story I know mine but you know there's one thing I do know for sure it's not a question of if he will bruise your heel it's a matter of when it happens because I can bet your life it's gonna happen my family as we speak this morning is you know our heels are really being bruised especially on my wife's side her father lay in bed he can barely move he can do nothing for himself cannot use the restroom cannot do anything for himself he's in constant pain and he grown every minute of his life as he is being destroyed by the disease of cancer he has no solution the doctors have no hope for his life he's probably gonna die even if the cancer doesn't kill him he will die and we will die you and die now you're bruising but not be as bad as my father-in-law but I know you have one I know that Satan is bruising your heel in some way my question for you this morning is what hope do you have when that happens are you gonna turn to a superhero who will come and try to solve the problem just while a little bit and tomorrow evil strikes again and you have to seek for answers again or are you gonna turn to the one who is more than able to eliminate this bruising that Satan causes I cannot imagine facing my life at this moment I cannot imagine living my life as someone who does not hope who does not have hope in something and someone much bigger and stronger and more powerful than Superman I don't know how people do it in the world but I know for sure that I cannot imagine a purposeless meaningless miserable life without hope struggle between good and evil our own struggle as we strive to live for God but the greatest struggle that Moses I think is telling us about here this morning is the greatest battle the greatest struggle of all see in Moses in writing this passage I'm sure he had in mind Adam's descendants Cain and Aboin all the other generations that would come after them he had in mind you and I as we go through life of suffering and turmoil but the one thing that Moses wanted God's people to hear the greatest struggle that Moses wanted God's people to hear was the struggle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent between Christ and Satan that is the struggle that gives you and I hope how does that happen Moses is reminding God's people to read on the tail end of us 14 we read that phrase he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel Moses had in mind the Savior himself who would come to redeem God's people excuse me out of out of their bondage into sin he would not only fight the big fight and win the evil but he would restore humanity he would restore Adam and Eve he would restore Adam's descendants remember we are living in a world where things are not the way they are things are not the way they're supposed to be Moses once when Cain has got people to know that God created everything and it was good but after the fall everything was broken and God wants to restore it to what it was supposed to be and so it's in that struggle between Christ and the serpent that we see our victory that we can win the war between good and evil you remember last week what we talked about we talked about it from the book of Luke we saw the joy that filled Elizabeth as she was visited by Mary and the baby in her in her womb and guess what she said she said that she knew that Mary would be the mother of her Lord Mary would be the mother of Jesus do you see how this is a promise fulfilled already a promise that God had made right at the heart of judgment right in the middle of God giving judgment to his people and telling them you shall die God says no I would delay that because I'm giving you hope and one day there will be a seed there will be a child that will be born over woman that will bring about deliverance it's a confirmation that God is giving you of his promise that the seed of the woman will one day crush one day crush the head of the serpent but it's interesting though that the victor wins the battle as we've talked about suffering but Christ wins the battle not by military power you would think if he's coming to crossing he's gonna be like Muhammad Ali and crush him right in the head but no he doesn't come with military or political power he wins the battle who's suffering but the whole struggle starts somewhere else too and then we know the story of how Jesus is born don't we Satan begins struggling and fighting with Christ even before he's born and when he's born Jesus fans have to flee they have to run away from being killed by her they have to seek shelter Jesus is even being born in a stable because there was no room in the end for him he has to stop her he has to struggle even in his birth but even more importantly listen to what the prophet Isaiah tells us about this king this Messiah the seed of the overwoman Isaiah prophesying about this Charles says that he was one who was gonna be oppressed and afflicted like a lamb led to the slaughter despised and rejected a man of sorrows i'm sure Satan this time must be thinking he's winning the battle by bruising his heel the one thing that he doesn't realize and the one thing that we ought to realize and we see it because we're reading this passage on this side of heaven that God is allowing this struggle for good remember Jesus temptation is Satan takes him and tempt him three times promising all this lovely thing of the world just like he had done with Adam and Eve he doesn't win it he doesn't win the battle why because Jesus is the very son of God he's a perfect lamb of God he he's without sin and in him there can be no sin and so Jesus gives in to God's ordained plan of going to the cross and he does so without without sinning remember the punishment as we talked about it God had been disobeyed the people had disobeyed God's law was God just gonna overlook their sin and go like well yes i kind of like you guys so that's okay i'll just look over it and i'm not gonna punish him no God had to his divine justice had to be satisfied he had to punish him someone had to die remember he promised him that if you disobeyed me you shall die someone had to die to satisfy God divine justice his holiness and it's amazing how God even so early on in Genesis chapter 3 began painting for us this beautiful picture of how he's gonna rescue us you know the story i'm just going to remind us a little remember when when the people are cast out of the garden what does god do they had made clothes made out of these right what does god do he provides clothing for them and what is that clothing made up off skin you know what an animal had to die shed blood for god to make those clothes what a great analogy that god is actually providing a way for his people through an animal through a ransom that you know something had to die god's son had to be that perfect lamb of god remember he banishes them out of out of the garden not just out of the garden but out of his his blessings the hope we have is the hope is all hope is in this christ this perfect lamb that we are just about to commemorate the lamb of god who would offer himself as a sacrifice to die on our behalf so that we will be taken back to that place where we ought to be and god shows and paints this picture for us so early on amid judgment amid punishment amid all this evil that is going on that's the place that god provides hope for his people so i ask you again just like we started what is your hope this morning what is your hope this addent season what is your hope this christmas are you hoping that Santa will come bearing good gifts the things that you've been dreaming and thinking about every day since January and now your perfect gift is going to be given to you or maybe you're hoping for something even much better maybe you're hoping that there will be a reconciliation between you and a friend a family member someone that you are not together and you prayed for them maybe you're hoping that you will finally be healed from a disease that you've struggled with maybe you're hoping that you will stop shedding tears or things that have happened in your life that are psychological and mental maybe you're hoping for a better financial year maybe you've struggled this year financially and things have not been working out for you listen out bad things for you to hope for we can hope for that and let me tell you what i'm hoping this christmas let me tell you what i'm hoping i hope for for the rest of my life my hope is in jesus my hope is in this seed of a woman my hope is in this perfect land of god that we are just about to commemorate this thanks at this this christmas my hope is in this christ who will come to make all things right things that have been wrong my hope is not in one who is a superhero because superhero comes today fights the battle and tomorrow there is more tragedy for him to fight my hope is in the one who is more than able to eliminate all of evil that we face in our world today my hope is in the one who came and defeated Satan by crushing him to death on the cross my hope is in the one who destroyed the power and the dominion of sin and some day he's coming soon to destroy the presence of things that i never never have to deal with the struggle with sin see the war between good and evil shall one day be finally over because my hope is in this jesus one day he will come and he will wipe away every tear that i cry every day every single tear that i've shed because of disease because of family problems because of pain because of war because of knowing hunger and poverty christ he will come he will wipe it all away my hope is in this one this man of sorrows who's gonna come and take away every sorrow that i've had to experience in my life as Satan continues every day to bruise my heel but i know that my hope as Paul reminds me is in the one who was soon crushed Satan under my feet my hope is in this jesus so one day will come and whenever he's erected it's gonna give me a glorious new body and i'll be new i will know no sin i will know no disease i will know no more suffering it will be over that is my hope my hope is in one day christ will return again and we shall dwell in that new Jerusalem the garden that God had made for all things to be right the new Jerusalem that is my hope what is your hope this morning i hope it's in christ jesus so as you struggle with sin as you struggle with suffering look up look to him pray with me lord we have been battered and bruised and broken we have struggled with sin with pain and suffering we have known many tears we have known many sleepless nights we have known so much but we are so joyful we're so hopeful this morning because it's all not in vain we have known all this because our hope is in christ jesus father would you encourage us this morning as we go through life and traverse through different bruises on our heels but we know that it's not in vain that we hold on to jesus but we hold on to jesus and we've all done to jesus or i pray all this in christ name a man would you please rise with