Worship

Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sin like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.

You're rich in love, and you're slow to anger. Your name is great, and your heart is kind. For all your goodness, I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sin like never before.

O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. And on that day, when my strength is failing, the end draws me, and my time has come. My soul will sing Your praise on me. One-ending, ten thousand years, and then forevermore. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never. Before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul. I'll worship Your holy name. Yes, I will worship Your holy name. Lord, I'll worship Your holy name. Lord, I'll worship Your holy name. Holy is He. Sing a new song to Him who sits on Heaven's mercy seat. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Holy, holy is He. Sing a new song to Him who sits on Heaven's mercy seat.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings. You are my everything, and I will adore You. Clothed in rainbows are living color. Flashes and lightning, rose of thunder. Blessing the dawn of strength and glory and power be to you the only wise king. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord almighty, who was and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings. You are my everything, and I will adore you. I adore you. Filled with wonder, o'er struck wonder, at the mention of your name. Jesus, your name is power, breath and living water, such a marvelous mystery. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Peace. You are my everything, and I will adore you. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Test. Test. Test. Test. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good morning. We are glad that you are here with us this morning. Whether you're joining us here in person or watching with us online, we are thankful that you are here, and we hope our service this morning will be a blessing. I want to begin by reading from the 95th Psalm. It says this, "O come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise. For the Lord is a great God and a king above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry

land. O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture. We are the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day, Masa, in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test. They put me to the proof, although they had seen my work. For 40 years, I loathed that generation, and they said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. Therefore, I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest." And so, in the 95th Psalm, we have, first of all, an invitation to behold the greatness and the goodness of God. And an invitation to worship, "Come, let us sing to the Lord." And in verse 6, "Come, let us worship and

bow down." And this worship is predicated on who God is, and what He has done. That He is our rock of salvation. That He has given us many good blessings to be thankful for. That He is a great God, and a King above all kings. And in addition to calling us to worship this morning and to behold the greatness and the goodness of God, this psalm also calls us to evaluate our lives and to look at our hearts. And the psalmist used the illustration of the Israelites in the wilderness. It's quoted again in Hebrews saying, "Don't harden your hearts. Don't be like those in the wilderness who go astray in their hearts." So this morning we come to worship. We come to see the goodness of God, and we come to examine our hearts. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we

thank you for your word. We thank you for how it encourages us, how it instructs us, and how it convicts us and calls us to evaluate our lives. And so as we gather for worship this morning, whether in this building or online, I just ask that you would help us to see your goodness, to see your grace, to see the wonder of the blessings that you have poured out on your people. But you would also call us to moments of evaluation, where we look at our life, where we repent of our sin, where we recommit our lives to following after you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you would be standing with me, we're going to begin this morning by singing a song that's based a little bit on the song we just read, "Come, now is the time to worship."

This is the time to give your heart. Come, just as you are to worship. Come, just as you are before your God. Come. One day every tongue will confess you are God. One day every knee will bow. Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now. Come, now is the time to worship. Come, now is the time to give your heart. Come, just as you are to worship. Come, just as you are before your God. Come. One day every tongue will confess you are God. One day every knee will bow. Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now. One day every tongue will confess you are God. One day every knee will bow. Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now. Come. Now is the time to worship. Come. Now is the time to give your heart. Come. Just as you are to worship. Come.

Just as you are before you're gone. Come. Come. So we had the sound plugged into the wrong input, so I'm going to give them a minute to switch that over. And that was completely my fault. As we get ready to sing in just a moment how great is our God, I would just remind you from the 95th Psalm, verse 3. "For the Lord is a great God. In His hands are the depths of the earth. The heights of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land." Let's sing. The splendor of the King, clothed in majesty. Let all the earth rejoice. All the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in light. His darkness tries to hide. He trembles at his voice. He trembles at his voice. How great is Al Gore. Sing with me. How great is Al Gore.

Oh, see how great, how great is Al Gore. And page to page he stands. And time is in his hands. Beginning and the end. Beginning and the end. That God had given one. Father, Spirit, Son. The Lion and the Lamb. The Lion and the Lamb. How great is Al Gore. Sing with me how great is Al Gore. Oh, we'll see how great, how great is Al Gore. How great is Al Gore. Sing with me how great is Al Gore. Oh, we'll see how great, how great. How great is Al Gore. This morning, we're going to sing how deep the Father's love for us.

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away, as wounds which mother, chosen one, bring many sons to glory. Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders. Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. I will not boast in anything. No gifts, no power, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know in all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom.

Several years ago, I was in a car accident, and it was one of those weird situations where, I guess technically, it was my fault, because I was the one operating the motor vehicle, but there were exigent circumstances. So it was my fault, but also, it wasn't quite all my fault. And I remember getting the ticket from the officer, and he said, "I'm sorry. I don't want to give you a ticket, but our rule is that if a car leaves on the back of a flatbed truck, we have to give somebody a ticket." And so I thought, "You know what? I've never been to court before. Never really wanted to go to court before. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go to court. I'm going to explain my side to the judge."

And so we got there, and I got there a little bit early, and the judge comes in early, and he asked if anybody was there. You know, he started calling names, and I was the only one there at that point for traffic court. And so he calls me up to the front, and I'm standing before the judge. And even though it's just traffic court, there's something about standing before a judge that's a little bit frightening and a little bit terrifying. And so the officer that had written me the ticket comes up, and the judge asks for his side of the story, and he gives it. And then he asks me, "How do you plead? Do you plead guilty or not guilty?" And the police officer had done such a good job explaining things, he said, "You can also plead no contest." And I said, "Well, what's that?" He said, "That's where you agree with what he said." And I said, "Absolutely, I agree with everything he said."

And then the police officer did something startling. He pulls out a piece of paper and says, "Let me tell you about the exigent circumstances." And he explains exactly what I was going to explain, he hands the judge a copy of my driving record, which was clean, and the judge says, "All right, you can go." And I'll tell you what, the nervousness, even though it wasn't a big deal, it's just traffic court, the worst thing that's going to happen to you is a fine. But to have someone stand there and advocate for me, it was a wonderful thing, to know that you are guilty, and there is someone standing there pleading your case. In 1 John 2, it says this, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says, "I know Him," but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him. Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walks. And the picture that John paints is that we are standing in front of the heavenly judge, and we are guilty. And it's not like where I stood in front of the judge and I had a good excuse, right?

This is a standing before the judge with no excuses. And there is Jesus, the crucified Son of God, standing next to us, advocating for us, not because we're innocent, not because we have a good reason, but because Jesus has already paid the consequence and the punishment that we deserve. That's what John means when he says He is the propitiation for our sins. That Jesus Himself has paid the price. And as we stand before God the Father, the Most Holy Judge, we stand with our Advocate Jesus who says, "Yes, He is sinful, but my blood has paid the price for His sins." And John will say, as a result of understanding the sacrifice of Jesus and the encouragement that that brings to those of us who are weak and who are sinful and who are fearful, he says, "It also calls us to righteousness."

You see, when we break this bread and we drink this cup, we're reminded of what John says. We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He paid the price. We're a propitiation for our sins. And when we break this bread and drink this cup, we are reminded of that price. We're reminded of the beating, of the flogging, of the mockery, of the nails, and the cross. We're reminded that our sin is costly. And so this is a moment to be reminded of the Father's love who sent the Son. It's a moment to be reminded that we have an advocate with the Father. It's a moment for us to be called, to leave aside, and set aside our sin, and to walk in righteousness. So I'm going to pray, and I would ask that you partake together with me. We'll partake of the bread first, and then the cup, and we'll do so together.

Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that you loved us. Thank you that you provided for us. Thankful that you sent your son to die for a sinful people. We are thankful for his sacrifice and the suffering of the cross that pays the price for our wrongdoing. I ask that you bless this bread, that you bless this cup. May this nourish us. May this remind us. May this encourage us. May this call us to evaluate our lives. May this help us to walk in holiness. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. If you would, take the bread as Jesus took the bread with his disciples, and he said, "Take, eat. This is my body." And then Jesus took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Will you drink with me?

Father, I thank you for the gospel. I thank you that we do not have to be fearful. I thank you for forgiveness. And I thank you for hope. And I thank you for taking our shame and our brokenness. Thank you for the hope that you give us of the wonderful gift of the resurrection. In your son's name we pray. Amen.

Then the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and above all the beasts of the field. On 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 her offspring. He shall bruise your head." And you shall bruise his heel. To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the fruit of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed be the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat all the plants of the field. By the sweat of your

face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For fraud of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. The man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now lest he reach out his hand and take from the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed a cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for us.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps, for a good person, one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we now have been justified by his blood, and much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. If, while we were sin enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promises from his spirit through faith." This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Help us this morning as we consider the first gospel, as we consider that light of the Holy Spirit. That's shown into the darkness as we look toward your glorious plan of redemption. We just ask that you would be with us, encourage us, teach us, and strengthen us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now, all of us, I think every single one of us, have had those bad days where nothing goes right, nothing works right, there's conflict, there's frustration, there's struggle, and we end up discouraged and grumpy and yelling at everybody in the family. A few years ago, before Luke was born, there was a day for me that started with optimism. It was all these things that I needed to do, and I was ready to do them, and I was fueled up, and I was ready to go, and then it happens probably two or three times a year, the power in the subdivision goes out.

And worse, it was winter, and all of our heat is electric, and so here was all these things that I planned to do. Every single one of them required electricity or working internet service and all of these things, and so I tried for a little bit, and then what we did is Rachel and I put the kids in the car, and we drove to Cracker Barrel and soothed our grief with country-fried steak, right? Because sometimes days just go bad, and the only thing you can do is just go eat something that is probably really, really bad for you. And as Brent read in the third chapter of Genesis, this is one of the darkest chapters in the Bible. And if you consider Adam and Eve in this chapter, they're not just having a bad day that they can humorously fix by eating something from Cracker Barrel. They lose everything they have in a single day.

Right? They lose their innocence. Before this time, the world was light and joyful, and they weren't afraid, and they didn't feel shame. But in the moment where they took that fruit and they disobeyed God, shame and darkness comes into the world. And they can't fix it. They can't hide from it. They can't excuse it. Their relationships are broken and damaged where they once walked with God in the cool of the evening. Now they hide from Him. Their relationship with each other is damaged. In Genesis 3:16 it says, "Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, and he shall rule over you." And so you go from this design of creation where men and women work together in the garden for the good of all the people and for the glory of God to now relationships between men and women have become confrontational.

And the reason for that is because where God used to be at the center, we have placed ourselves at the center. And so men place themselves at the center, women place themselves at the center, and both of us fight with each other to be in the place of importance. And Genesis 3 says one of the results of the fall is now there are broken relationships, not just between man and God, but between men and women. And then they lose their home. Therefore, the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden, he placed a cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the tree of life. Everything for Madame and Eve has become more difficult. So they have lost their innocence. They have broken their relationships.

They're now homeless, put out of the garden. And more than that, everything becomes much more difficult. Look at what God says to Adam. "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you. And in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. Till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return." And so God says, "You're going to go out and work," which used to be something that was wonderful and a gift from God,

now becomes toil. And it's a struggle. And it hurts. And you are in pain. And there's competition in the ground, which once freely gave food. Now there's thorns and thistles. And we can see this even in how we care for our lawns. We have some friends who just moved into a new house. There's a little backyard. And the dad of the family, because dads like to kind of play with the lawn, he said, "I'm going to get some of that weed and seed stuff and spray it on the lawn. And so our lawn will be nice and green." And so you know what happens? Sprays the weed and seed stuff on the lawn. And it turns out it was all weeds and no grass. And so the lawn, which at least was green, now is brown because of all of the weeds. And it's a picture of how we toil in this world.

You have to fight and strive and it's in pain and in struggle. And then what does God say? At the end of the day, you die and go back into the ground. It's bleak. And what's worse is this isn't even something that you can blame on someone else. Right? We've all had those experiences where something has happened to us and it was bad and it was painful, but at least we could comfort ourselves by simply saying, it's not my fault. That's not the case with Adam and Eve. They can't look at the loss of their innocence, the loss and brokenness of their relationships, the loss of their home, the struggle that now lies before them ending in the day when they go back into the dirt. It's all their fault. God gave them one simple

command. Don't even hit this tree. It's not a hard command to understand. It doesn't need a lot of explanation. Just don't do it. And they did it. And all of the things that happen are their fault. They don't even have the consolation of saying someone else is responsible for this because at the end of the day they know that it is their sin that has brought these consequences. We find the truth in Genesis chapter three that life can be dark, and it is dark because of sin. And we said last week that the story of Adam and Eve, we like to sort of blame them and say it's all their fault and it is all their fault, but also the story of Adam and Eve is also the story of us because we have made the same decision to choose our

desires over God's desires, and we end up with our innocence broken. We end up with broken relationships. We end up with the pain and the struggle and the suffering of the fall. And so their story is our story. And their darkness is the darkness that we walk. And what's interesting about this darkness, it's not just dark, but it's the darkness of rebellion. It's not just that the lights went out, but the world is plunged into darkness because men and women have chosen their own way over God's, and we are rebels against God. We are trying to depose Him from His rightful place at the center of all things and put ourselves there in the center where we are the King. And if you think through history how we deal with rebellion, there's a lot of ways we can deal with rebellion. So sometimes we try to eradicate rebellion. And so there have

been nations where a political rebellion and uprising happens, and so the leaders send people to eliminate those who are rebelling. And so you can try to eliminate rebellion, but you can also try to sort of quash it, to push it down through cruelty and punishment, to force people to do the right thing, to listen to the king. You can try to reason and bargain with the rebels, to see the truth. Let's make a deal. Let's compromise. You can try to contain it, to keep it in one place. What's interesting is into the midst of the darkness of rebellion, God doesn't do those things. In a surprising move, He makes a promise. And in Genesis 3:15, a chapter filled with darkness, you have a glimpse of the good light of the Gospel. In fact, commentators call this the first Gospel. Genesis 3:15. I will put

enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. And I want to look at this glimpse of light that we see in the midst of the darkness of rebellion, where God, as King, has every right to crush and to destroy the rebels, but instead of doing so, He makes a promise. And what's interesting, if you read through, and we heard Brent read through, that entire section that the curse that God pronounces is against the serpent and against the ground. And men and women have consequences for our sin in brokenness and in childbirth and in our work, but God doesn't curse mankind. He curses the serpent. He curses the ground. But to those broken disciples, he makes a promise. And so the first thing we see about the light is that light reveals. Light shows us what is truly there. I learned this lesson this last week about turning on the light in the middle of the night when I walked down the hall and smacked my toes on a baby gate. I'm still limping. If I would just turn on the light, I could have seen what is there. And one of the things that the first gospel does, Genesis 3:15,

is that it shows us what's really there. And notice what it says. The first thing that it shows us is enmity. Right? This is personal hostility between the serpent and between the seed of the women. And what you have is anger and conflict. And it's not just a passing conflict where everybody forgives each other and they get to be friends again. This is lasting. So one of my favorite things, and I don't know if she remembers this, but Evelyn, when she was really, really little, we went to this petting zoo. And there was an alpaca, and we were there petting the animal, and the alpaca sneezed on Evelyn. And Evelyn did not take that lightly. So about a year and a half later, Evelyn and I were at another petting zoo, and we had a

little bag of food. We were feeding all the animals, and we fed the goats, and the sheep, and the camel, and the donkeys, and we get to the alpacas. And I didn't even remember that she remembered this incident with the alpacas. And Evelyn, the feisty toddler, reaches her hand into the bag of food, grabs a handful of food, and just flings it at the face of the alpaca, turns and walks away. Like, there was enmity. And the picture you have in Genesis chapter 3 is that between evil and the evil and good and people, there is enmity, that there is a spiritual battle that is raging. And so many times, you and I like to fight the physical battles and the physical arguments, and we miss the fact that so much of the struggle in our world is a spiritual battle. In 2 Kings, the sixth chapter, the king of Syria is going to war

against Israel. And Elisha, through the power of God, keeps warning the king of Israel about the ambushes the king of Syria is setting up. And so he will send a message to the king of Israel saying, "Don't walk down into this valley because the king of Syria is there." And the king of Syria begins to get angry because he thinks there's a spy. He doesn't realize that it's the hand of God. And so eventually somebody says, "It's Elisha's fault that none of your ambushes are working." So he sends his army to surround the city in which Elisha is staying. And one morning they wake up, the servant of Elisha, this young man, says this, "When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning, and he went out." You picture him, he walks out the door of his house. And behold, an army with horses

and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master, what shall we do?" And so you can sort of picture the servant walks out, looks out over the walls of the city, and surrounding them is this great army. And he knows what Elisha has been doing by warning the king, knows that this army is likely there for Elisha, and because he's Elisha's servant, now he's going to face the consequences. And he runs into his master and says, "What are we going to do?" And there's heartbreak, and there's hopelessness. And look at what Elisha says. "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And I imagine the servant goes, "Seriously? It's you and me, Elisha, and there's a whole army, and they've got swords, and they've got horses, and they've got

chariots, and they've got spears, and it's us." And look at what Elisha does. Elisha prayed and said, "O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see." So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Now the heavenly army, that is a good army. And so, this young man, in his fear, Elisha prays, his eyes are open, and he sees the heavenly army that surrounds him. The armies of God that will fight for him. He pictures and sees the realities of this world. That there is a spiritual conflict. And what we see in Genesis chapter 3 is that our eyes need to be opened at the fight that we fight. It's not just against people who are around us. In fact, we tend to demonize

and put down and yell and scream and argue with people. But what Paul says in Ephesians is, "Finally be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." And the Apostle Paul says, "The battle that we fight is not simply a battle against people." He said, "In fact, it's not against those people. It's against the powers of evil, the spiritual forces." And Genesis 3:15, it shines a light into the world and shows us the conflict that we face is a spiritual conflict that can ultimately only be fixed by a spiritual

solution. But it also shows us two lines of defendants. So at one time or another, all of our children, when they have gotten grumpy, have done the thing where they cross their arms over their chest and look really, really grumpy. And if you've been around our kids, you've seen that. And every time I see them do that, I look at them and I go, "Okay, little Rachel." Because one of my favorite pictures of Rachel was when she was really little between Penelope and Evelyn's age, and she's just standing there with the same look on her face, with her arms crossed over her chest, looking like, "Are you serious about what you're saying?" And you see this picture of descendants, right? That we look like our parents. And our kids, when they have that, they look like their mom. When they're being lovely and cherubic and

angelic, they're like me, and when they're being disagreeable, they're like their mom. Sorry, Rachel. Look at what it says in Genesis 3:15. "I will put enmity," so there's a spiritual war, "between you and the woman, and then between your offspring and her offspring." There's two lines coming from Eve. Remember, Adam will say to Eve that you're the mother of all people. So from Eve, you have the descendants of the serpent and the descendants of hope. So in Genesis chapter 4, verse 1, we'll say, "When Eve had conceived, she bore Cain, saying, 'I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.'" And so here we see Eve's hope, but she looks at her firstborn son Cain, and she's saying, essentially, with the help of the Lord, he's the one who's going to set things right. Genesis 3:15, he's going to be the one who crushes the head

of the serpent. And what happens? Instead of crushing the head of the serpent, what does Cain do? He crushes the head of his brother. And God sends him into exile. And Cain shows who he truly follows. And so, while God put Adam and Eve out east of Eden, Cain goes even further away. To get farther away. And he builds a city. And he names the city after his son. Essentially focusing himself on himself, what he has accomplished, and his line. And then seven generations. We find a man by the name of Lamech, who is a descendant of Cain. And in verse 24 of Genesis 4, if Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold. This is a call back to God's words. Remember what God said to Cain, "If anyone harms you, I will harm them." Seven times over.

And Lamech, in his pride says, "You think God's wrath is bad? Look at me. I'll be way worse than what God has done." And then in Genesis 4:25, we see the other line. "And she bore a son, called his name Seth. For she said, "God has appointed me another offspring, instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. To Seth also was born a son, and he called his name Enosh." And at that time the people began to call upon the name of the Lord. So instead of a city named after his son, the people call upon the name of the Lord. You see the contrast. And in the seventh generation, remember we have Lamech on Cain's side, and on Seth's side, in verse 24, Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

And so you have these two lines of descendants. One builds the city out of pride, puts his son's name on it and says, "Our family will last forever, because we have belted it with the work of our hands." And the other line calls upon the name of the Lord. The seventh generation of one boasts in his vengeance. The other seventh generation walks with God right up to heaven. And we don't just see this in Genesis 3, 4, and 5. We see it in 1 John 3, who says, "We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one, and murdered his brother." And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, and his brothers were righteous. And we see it in Jesus' words to the Pharisees in John 8, where he says,

"Do you not understand what I say? Is it because you cannot bear to hear my word? You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do with your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar, and the father of lies." And think about how insulting that is. Somebody comes to you and say, "Your dad's the devil." That's what Jesus says. You're coming from the line of the serpent, the line of the devil. There's descendants, and they will have enmity with the descendants of the woman. You see, Genesis 3:15 shows us reality. It shows us the spiritual nature of our conflict. It shows us two

diverging lines, one focused on self, and one who worships and calls upon the Lord and walks with God, and the light reveals and shows us how things really are. That the world is broken, and we have a choice. Will we walk after God? And so not only does the light reveal, but it brings hope. I remember one of the first times that I drove home from college and I was young, and wasn't as smart as I could have been, and I said, "I could drive 24 hours straight." And I was able to, with copious amounts of coffee and lots of caffeine, and the windows open, and I remember how tired I was, and I was getting home and it was dark, and I don't remember if it was either really early in the morning or really late at night, and

where we lived at that time in Vermont was on top of a hill, and you came down Plank Road over the top of that first hill, and you could look out, and you could see our house out there, and I could see the porch light on. My parents knew I was coming. They didn't know when, because I didn't have a cell phone, but there was a light, and that light symbolized the fact that there was hope, that there was going to be a place where I could go to sleep and maybe eat some breakfast that I didn't have to buy from McDonald's, and I was hopeful because of that light. And so the light that we see in Genesis 3:15, it shows us how things really are, but it also calls us to hope. I will put enmity between you and the

woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. And now we have the defeat of the serpent. There's a bruised head and a bruised heel. Now one is painful, right? We hurt our feet or our heels. It hurts, and it's uncomfortable, and we struggle to walk, and it's a huge inconvenience. But here's the thing: we survive. If your head is crushed, that's fatal. And the promise in Genesis 3:15 is that the end of the serpent is found in the descendant of this woman. The serpent will meet his end. His power will be broken. And it's just a tiny glimpse of that light in the midst of the darkness. And as history begins to unfold, and as God's plan begins to unfold, that light comes closer and closer.

And so we see it with Abraham. Through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. We see it through the line of David until we get to Isaiah who Matthew quotes in Matthew chapter 4. The land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali, by the way of the seas, beyond Galilee of the Gentiles. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light for those dwelling in the region of shadow of death. On them a light has dawned, and from that time Jesus began to preach, they repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so, Isaiah's prophecy interpreted by the Holy Spirit through Matthew says that the light that was dawning on the world comes through Jesus and there is hope that he would be the one who ultimately defeats the serpent.

We don't just get a glimpse of the fact that the serpent is crushed. We get a glimpse of how the serpent is crushed. And this is where it is so surprising. Think about how God deals with rebels. Remember we said there's a lot of ways in which he could deal with rebels. He could eradicate them, he could subdue them, try to bargain with them, he could isolate them, but that's not what God does. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows his love for us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. That the head of the serpent is crushed at the

cross, that sin's power is broken, the fear of death is removed through the resurrection. And Jesus comes and he dies not for good people who have proved how great they are, but for broken, sinful, shameful, excuse making, running and hiding, trying to fix it but it doesn't work, sinners. So while we were living in sin, Jesus comes and saves us and does so by giving his life. In Galatians chapter 3 it says "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so we might receive the promised spirit through faith." The crushing of the serpent's power comes through the cross. And it doesn't happen by God

subduing the rebels through force or through compromise. It comes by God stepping into our world and taking the place of the rebels. And bearing the punishment that the rebels deserve. And taking unworthy, ungodly, sinful people, dying for them, loving them, and giving them life. What I love about Genesis 3:15 is that this is a text that is an invitation. It's a call to be part of a family. And we saw there's two sides to this family. And a lot of us have two sides to our family. We have the in-laws and the outlaws, right? We have the people who are really good and the people who maybe we don't talk about as much. My grandma once said in our family we have preachers and horse thieves, right? The in-laws and the outlaws. In Genesis 3:15 we see

two sides to a family. Those who follow the serpent and those who hope and trust and worship in God. And so this text is an invitation for us to be part of that family that Genesis says calls upon the name of the Lord. That is family that is not in fear of the evil in the world. In Galatians 4, Paul writes this: "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law." Hear that? Genesis 3:15. The seed of the woman. To redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father." And you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an

heir through God that we all have chosen. To choose our desires over the will of God. We've all chosen to follow the serpent, but through Jesus, we can be brought into the family. That we might receive adoption as sons. We might receive the Spirit. And not just family, sitting on the outside, but sons who are close to the Father, who inherit the good gifts of the Father. And that's the invitation of Genesis 3:15. It's to be part of the family that calls upon the name of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, thank you for allowing us to open your word and to do so freely. Thank you that we can read it and hear it for ourselves in our own language. I thank you for all that you have done for us. Help us as we struggle and fight in a world

filled with spiritual battles. That we would put our hope in you. That we would follow you. That your spirit would be at work in our lives, strengthening, encouraging us and calling us to righteousness. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and sing "This is Amazing Grace."

Who breaks the power of sin and darkness Whose love is mighty and so much stronger The King of glory The King above all kings Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder Who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder The King of glory The King above all kings This is amazing grace This is unfailing love That You would take my place That You would bear my cross You would lay down Your life That I would be set free Jesus, I sing for All that You've done for me Who brings our chaos Back into order Who makes the orphan A son and daughter The King of glory The King above all kings Who rules the nations With truth and justice Shines like the sun In all of its brilliance The King of glory The King above all kings

This is amazing grace This is unfailing love That You would take my place That You would bend my cross You would lay down Your life That I would be set free Jesus, I sing for All that You've done for me This is amazing grace This is unfailing love That You would take my place That You would bear my cross You would lay down Your life That I would be set free Jesus, I sing for All that You've done for me I want to thank you for joining us this morning. We are glad and thankful that you are here. Just a couple of announcements as we get ready to wrap up this morning. I'm thankful for those who worked hard. We have spent the week, a little bit of this week, organizing and moving stuff out of the basement.

So Tiffany and Rachel redesigned some bulletin boards. So if you haven't had a chance to check those out, I encourage you to do so. We're thankful to Eric for his help. We're thankful to Russell for taking a lot of accumulated junk and boxes to the landfill for us over the past couple months, where we haven't been able to maybe go to as many places as we'd like. When we needed something as a church, we ordered it. So there's a lot of shipping boxes. We are so thankful for all of the hard work, and we're thankful for all of your help. This Wednesday night, we'll be continuing in 2 Peter, and so we will be here at 7. If you want to watch us, we'll be live on the live stream link on the front page of our website, on Facebook.

And we usually start the live stream around 7, but it actually goes live, and we start Bible study around 7:15. So if you'd like to join us for that, we encourage you to do so. Also, this Thursday, the Ladies' Bible Study is happening, and so that's July 16th, 1:00 p.m. So we'd encourage you to, if you're a lady, come and join our ladies as they study the Word of God. Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. Father in heaven, thank you for taking care of us. Thank you for providing for us. Be with us through this week. Help us not to forget the goodness of your grace and the greatness of your redemption and the strength that you have given us through your Holy Spirit. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to sing the doxology and be dismissed.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.