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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Genesis chapter three. Genesis chapter three, I want 
to thank everybody for your prayers. Many of you know that I'm trying 
to finish up my degree by the end of August. I still have quite 
a bit of work to do this past week. I've been in biblical and 
covenant theology, so I thought we'd look at covenant theology, 
at least a study of the various historical covenants. that the 
Bible relates to us in the next few weeks, the next several weeks 
in our Lord's Day evening worship this evening. We're going to 
look at the Adamic covenant or the covenant made with Adam. 
Specifically, that covenant that came after the fall. Prior to 
the fall, there was a covenant of works. which will touch on 
briefly, but our primary focus tonight is to look at the covenant 
of grace and its first historical expression in the Adamic covenant. So I'll just pick up reading 
in chapter three at verse one of Genesis. Now, the serpent 
was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God 
had made. And he said to the woman, as God indeed said, you 
shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said 
to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, 
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the 
garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch 
it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the 
woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day 
you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like 
God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the 
tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, 
and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit 
and ate. She also gave to her husband 
with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them 
were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed 
fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they 
heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the 
cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves 
from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam 
and said to him, Where are you? So he said, I heard your voice 
in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid 
myself. And he said, Who told you that 
you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree 
of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Then the 
man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave 
me of the tree and I ate. And the Lord God said to the 
woman, What is this you have done? The woman said, The serpent 
deceived me and I ate. So the Lord God said to the serpent, 
because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle 
and more than every beast of the field on your belly. You 
shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And 
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your 
seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and 
you shall bruise his heel. To the woman, he said, I will 
greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception in pain. 
You shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your 
husband and he shall rule over you. Then to Adam, he said, because 
you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from 
the tree of which I commanded you saying you shall not eat 
of it. Cursed is the ground for your 
sake. In toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. 
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you 
shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you 
shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it 
you are taken. For dust you are, and to dust 
you shall return." And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because 
she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife, the 
Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. Then the Lord 
God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us to no good 
and evil. And now, lest out, lest he put 
out his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live 
forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent 
him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which 
he was taken. So he drove out the man and he 
placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, the flaming 
sword, which turned every way to guard the way to the tree 
of life. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we thank 
you for the Holy Scriptures. We thank you for the unity of 
the Bible. We just pray now that you would 
fill each one of us with your spirit and cause us to see your 
arrangement here in the Garden of Eden, cause us to see and 
reflect upon the promised deliverer, the one who would come and crush 
the head, the seed of the serpent. How we thank you for our Lord 
Jesus Christ. How we thank you for his total 
victory for his conquest and for the fact that he now sits 
enthroned at your right hand, where he must reign till all 
of his enemies are made his footstool. We just pray that you would forgive 
us, Lord God, for our sins and transgressions. We know that 
sin is a darkening influence upon our minds and hearts. We 
pray that you would wash that away now and cause us to receive 
your word and do edify each and every one of your people here. 
And Father, for those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, 
the Savior, we pray that you would work in their hearts and 
cause them to believe the wonderful truth that Jesus Christ is Lord 
and Savior. And we pray in his blessed name. 
Amen. Now, I'm going to say the word 
covenant a lot. I'm just going to let you know 
that. But we do need to get this concept down because it is an 
organizing principle or a structure by which the Bible is given to 
us. In other words, when we look 
at the covenant or when we look at How do we interpret the scriptures? The covenant model is one that 
is quite that is crucial for a proper understanding. Now, 
there are three overarching covenants that I just want you to be aware 
of. One is called the Covenant of Redemption, and that's more 
of a theological identifier for the agreement made between the 
persons of the Godhead to save his people from their sins. Ephesians 
1 seems to indicate this covenant of redemption, or at least it 
fleshes it out in the life of God's people. The Father chose, 
the Son redeems, and the Spirit applies that work of salvation. The covenant of redemption, theologically, 
refers to that pact made between the persons of the triune God. 
The second is the covenant of works. And we'll refer to that 
briefly here in Genesis chapter 2. And basically the covenant 
of words applies to all men. For Paul says in Romans 5 that 
in Adam all died. And basically what it was, was 
God's prohibition placed on Adam as a representative, as a federal 
head over all of mankind. If he would have obeyed God, 
he would have been granted eternal life. But, of course, we know 
that he did not obey God and he fell and plunged the entirety 
of the race into sin. And then the third overarching 
covenant is called the covenant of grace. And the covenant of 
grace is basically God's agreement or plan to save his people through 
the Lord Jesus Christ. This covenant of grace is seen 
in the various historical covenants made in the Bible, and there 
are six of those historical covenants. Those will be the ones that we 
look at under the general theme of the covenant of grace. The 
first is the Adamic covenant, or this covenant made with Adam, 
what O. Palmer Robertson calls the covenant 
of commencement. For those of you who want to 
study these things, I recommend Robertson's book. It's called 
The Christ of the Covenants. It's a very helpful study on 
covenant theology. The second is the Noahic covenant, 
the covenant made with Noah, and that is a covenant of In 
that covenant, God promises to preserve the earth as it will 
be the theater for redemption. But we'll see more of that, God 
willing, next week. The third is the Abrahamic covenant, 
or the covenant of promise. Notice we name these after the 
particular heads in the covenant, the Adamic, the Noahic, and the 
Abrahamic. where God promised to Abraham 
a seed and blessing and land and various other good things. 
The fourth is the Mosaic covenant or the covenant of law, which 
again is made with the people of Israel as a whole. But Moses 
is sort of the mediator or representative of that. The fifth is the Davidic 
covenant, the covenant made with David, which 2 Samuel 7 relates 
to us, and that is the covenant of the kingdom. And then the 
sixth and the final is called the new covenant, which is made 
ultimately with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the head, he is 
the fulfillment, he is the one in whom all the promises of God 
are yea and amen. In fact, he is the unifying or 
central theme in each of these various historical covenants 
as they are worked out in God's plan. The three things we want 
to do this evening are, first of all, define covenant. Secondly, look at the background 
for the Adamic covenant. And then thirdly, look specifically 
at this Adamic covenant in chapter three, verses fourteen to nineteen. But the definition of covenant 
in its most basic form is an agreement between two or more 
persons. That's on a human level. We see 
covenants enacted by men. Jonathan and David entered into 
a covenant together, and what it was was an agreement between 
two or more persons. But when we talk about the divine 
covenants, When God enters into covenant, it's not bilateral. In other words, it's not as if 
man agrees and they interact and they figure out the best 
terms of this agreement. It is unilateral. God imposes 
the terms. God initiates. God carries it 
out. God is the one in control. O. Palmer Robertson defines a 
covenant this way. He says it is a bond in blood, 
sovereignly administered. It's a good definition, however, 
the Noahic covenant is not a bond in blood, so it falls short in 
that particular aspect. Another man says that it's a 
sovereign administration of blessing and cursing. I think that's a 
good working definition of covenant. And in each of these covenants, 
you see various elements. You see parties. In the Adamic, 
you see God and Adam. In the Noahic, you see God and 
Noah, and of course, all the people under those particular 
heads. So there are parties, there are 
stipulations, certain things that must be done, certain things 
that are not to be done. There are promises, God makes 
promises of blessing, but also there are threats. If you break 
or violate the terms of this covenant, then this will happen 
to you. So those are the various elements 
involved in a covenant. Now let us look at the background 
for the Adamic covenant. As I mentioned, there is a covenant 
of works specified specifically here in chapter 2 in verses 15 
to 17. And while the word covenant is 
absent, the concept is present. Remember this morning I said 
that though the word alone may be absent, the concept is present. Take the doctrine of the Trinity. 
If you take out your concordance and you look under the T's, you 
will not find the word Trinity anywhere in your Bible, but you 
will find the Trinity everywhere in the Bible. So, though the 
word itself is absent, if all of those elements are present 
and they are, then it is indeed a covenant. In fact, in 2 Samuel 
7, that Davidic covenant, the covenant or the word covenant 
is never mentioned, but in Psalm 89, 3 and 4, it is very clearly 
identified as a covenant made with David. And so, though the 
word, the old Hebrew word berit, though that is absent, all of 
the elements are present. There are parties, there is a 
stipulation very specifically here, do not eat from the tree 
of the knowledge of good and evil. There is a threat. If you 
eat, the day that you eat, dying, you shall die. And of course, 
the promise by implication is, if you do not eat from the tree 
of the knowledge of good and evil, you will live. you will 
not die. So all of those various elements 
of covenant are present. Also, in Hosea 6 and verse 7, 
there is a reference to this covenant with Adam. And then, 
fourthly, there is a parallel between Adam and Christ in Romans 
5 and in 1 Corinthians 15, which underscores the reality that 
this arrangement was, in fact, covenantal. In Adam, all die. In Christ, all shall be made 
alive. As God looks upon the history 
of the world, he looks at it in terms of two men, the first 
Adam and the second Adam. And I want to tell you tonight, 
if you are here in the first Adam, if you have not believed 
the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will go to hell. That is the 
ultimate threat. That is the ultimate curse of 
breaking God's covenant. In Adam all die. But in Christ, 
all shall be made alive. When you believe on the Lord 
Jesus, as the Bible says, you are transferred from the dominion 
of darkness of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of 
the son of his love. By believing on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, you receive all the promises, all of the benefits, all of the 
blessings, all of the good things that the Lord God has for his 
people. Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 
1. He said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the 
heavenly places in Christ. So you believe the gospel and 
you are recipient of joint heir with Christ of all those good 
things. So there was a covenant of words 
in place, and that is the immediate context in which we find Adam 
and Eve. We noticed that they did not 
continue in obedience. We find their fall into sin in 
chapter three verses one to six. We have rehearsed this In some 
degree or other, over the last several weeks, just a couple 
of observations here, we notice that the serpent is ultimately 
a tool of the devil. It is Satan who is operating 
through the serpent here. Later revelation makes that clear. 
Revelation 12, 9, Revelation 20, and verse 2, highlight that 
the serpent of old is that devil, or is Satan. Jesus in John 8, 
44, says, you are of your father, the devil. He was a murderer 
and a liar from the beginning. When he speaks, he speaks of 
his own, because the truth is not in him. Jesus is clearly 
referring to this event, to this scenario. So though it is a serpent 
who is functioning as the instrument, it is the devil which is moving 
him, which is guiding him, which is directing him. We are alerted 
to the fact that he is cunning. He is subtle, he is crafty, and 
the very first thing that he does is introduces doubt upon 
the word of the living God. He says in verse one, has God 
indeed said you shall not eat of the tree or eat of every tree 
of the garden? And kids, I want you to be aware 
of this. Very often challenges to Christianity are not these 
overt on slots. Very often it is not the case 
that people say, how in the world could you ever believe the Bible? 
How in the world could you ever believe God? How in the world 
could you ever believe that a serpent was talking in the Garden of 
Eden? How could you believe there was a Garden of Eden? Very often 
it comes a lot more subtly. Has God indeed said just a question 
to introduce doubt, just a question to stir up your mind, just a 
question so that you will begin to entertain something of that 
doubt that we find here in Eve and Adam. And so notice the woman 
said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the 
garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of 
the garden, God has said you shall not eat it. Nor shall you 
touch it, lest you die." Now, she adds to the commandment, 
or she adds to the prohibition. God never told Adam she wasn't, 
or they weren't to touch the tree. Many people have wondered 
why that is. I actually think Adam said, not 
only should you not eat it, don't even go near it. That's my own 
suspicion on that particular thing. So I'm saying she's adding 
to the command, she's a fundamentalist or a legalist, and she is hedging 
up the things like that. It could very well be the case, 
or it could be that Adam, when he's giving instructions, and 
just notice the very language itself. God said, you may freely 
eat. She kind of makes it sound like, 
we may eat. You may freely eat. In fact, 
the devil imitates God, but the devil's language is more like 
God's than is Eve's. So the devil is aware of the 
arrangement. He knows what's going on. He 
is seeking to corrupt. He is seeking to deceive. He 
is seeking to destroy. Then the serpent sets it up in 
verse four. Then the serpent said to the 
woman, you will not surely die again. The very language that 
God uses. God said in the day that you 
eat dying, you shall die. The devil says the day you eat 
dying, you will not die. He is imitating God. He is parroting 
what the Lord God had said. Verse five, for God knows that 
in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will 
be like God, knowing good and evil. You see what he's saying? 
God doesn't want you to be like him. God is a mean, mean God. God is unjust. God is unkind. God doesn't want you to be all 
that you can be. God doesn't want you to have 
it all, baby. There's a cigarette ad for women 
directed particularly at women. I don't know. I did a college 
paper on this. That's why I'm not thinking about 
the cigarette ads. I was just recently salivating. 
I'm just remembering that the ad is the woman dressed in a 
very risque sort of way on a motorcycle. And the caption for the cigarette 
is have it all, baby. Yeah, have lung cancer. End up 
as a road pizza because you crashed your motorcycle. Yeah, have it 
all, baby. Well, that's similar to what 
the devil is doing here. God doesn't want you to have 
it all, baby. God wants to keep you down. God 
wants to keep you subjugated. God doesn't want you to flourish 
and to thrive. So, when you initially hear the 
doubts or the introduction of doubt, the devil will always 
elevate it. We need to be on our guard. We 
need to be watchful. We need to be prayerful. We need 
to be more attached to the word of God than to the challenges 
to the word of God. We need to be those who follow 
God's word and show our allegiance to God's truth. Then notice verse 
six. So when the woman saw that the 
tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and 
a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and 
ate that quick. She looked at it, she surveyed 
it. Well, it looks yummy. It's desirable to make one wise, 
though. It's the key. She wants more. She's not happy. She's not content 
with what she has. She wants to have it all, baby. 
But you know what? Adam is right there with her. 
You don't get the idea for the rest of the text is not. She 
went and found out and he's right there with her. And he took any. A lot of times the enemies of 
biblical Christianity say, man, what's the big deal is a piece 
of fruit. It was the principle. God gave them a command. It was 
disobedience. It was rebellion. This was the 
actual symbol, this was the actual act, but the core of the issue 
was autonomy. And what autonomy means is when 
a man asserts his independence. Autonomy is when a man wants 
to shake off the government of God. Autonomy is seen when the 
fool says in his heart, there is no God. This was an autonomous 
act. They wanted to remove themselves 
from under the rule of God, and they wanted to become the determiners 
of what is good and what is evil. They wanted it all. And of course, we know what happens 
in verse seven. The eyes of both of them were 
open and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig 
leaves together and made themselves coverings. That was their immediate 
response, seeking to cover. Isn't that interesting? Later, 
we'll see that God covers. But in this instance, they seek 
to cover and they literally make girdles just to cover the area 
of their nakedness. And then what happens? They try 
to hide. It's almost as if they knew that 
these coverings that they made were insufficient. They knew, 
they realized, they were keen to the fact that this was not 
enough. Because when the Lord God comes 
walking in the garden in the cool of the day, Adam and his 
wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among 
the trees of the garden. You need to notice something 
at this particular point in the narrative. Up until this point, 
when the devil refers to God, he refers to God as Elohim. Elohim means God, Lord, Maker, 
Supreme Being. From this point, the narrative 
on, it's the Lord God. This means Jehovah Elohim or 
Yahweh Elohim. So right at this point, we're 
supposed to appreciate the covenant God has come. The covenant Lord 
is come to fix things. We often interpret this as if 
God has come to sort of ruin the day when nothing could be 
further from the truth. They cover themselves and then 
they go and they hide among the trees. That garden that was to 
be tended by them, which was to yield its fruit, has now become 
their refuge to hide from the Lord God himself. You need to 
observe this, that man's response in sin is to flee from the presence 
of God. God's response to our sin is 
to flee to us, to seek us out, to initiate a merciful relationship 
and to enter into a gracious covenant. Remember what Jesus 
said in Luke 19. He said the son of man has come 
to see and to save that which was lost. Man runs from God. God comes to man. That's what 
the whole early portion of Genesis instructs us. After the autonomous 
rebellion of the Tower of Babel, when they tried to shake off 
the rule and the reign of God, it is on the heels of that event 
that the Lord God calls Abraham Out of her of the Caldeans. Why? Because he wants to bless 
him and he wants to bless the nations in him. I suggest or 
I submit that when we interpret this Adamic covenant, we see 
it first and foremost as a gracious expression of a merciful God 
who is seeking to bless his people and to save them from their sins. Notice, it's interesting too, 
just backing up a bit, he comes in the cool of the day. It's 
the idea of suggestive up. The workday is over. you know, 
generally, after the workday, you relax, right? That's hopefully 
the way we live. I mean, we sat up for six days, 
labor one day of rest. The same idea is present in the 
workday. God didn't intend for us to work 24 hours a day. The Proverbs say, Do not overwork 
to be rich. Work hard if you have to work 
overtime. Do so. You know, there are those seasons 
of rest, and it seems as if on those seasons of rest at the 
end of the workday, it was then that the Lord would come. The 
Lord would commune with them. The Lord would bless them and 
encourage that they knew this. They understood this. They were 
conscious of this reality. And on this particular day, because 
they had fallen into sin, they run from that place of communion 
and of engagement. Verse nine, then the Lord God 
called to Adam. and said to him where are you 
on a Internet forum debating a man and he said why would God 
ask this if he's an omniscient God omniscience means God knows 
all things. Why would he ask where are you 
if he is omniscient. That's foolish. He's asking obviously 
for Adam's benefit and not his own. The fact that he says, where 
are you, highlights the reality that God knows that he's hiding 
among the trees. He is not asking to find information. I believe he's asking to elicit 
a confession. The idea here is Adam come clean. What does Adam do? I heard your 
voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and 
I hid myself. And he said, who told you that 
you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree 
of which I commanded you that you should not eat? We all do 
this as parents. You walk in on your child. They've 
got a crayon and they paint it all over the wall. When you say, 
did you just draw on the wall? You're not seeking information, 
are you? You're seeking confession. You're 
seeking them to own it, to deal with it, to make amends and to 
repair the ruptured relationship. That's what's going on there. 
The Lord God is not seeking information. Notice what Adam does in verse 
12, and the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, 
she gave me of the tree and I ate. Adam's the victim in this arrangement. Adam would fit right smack dab 
in the 21st century in North America. Nothing is ever our 
fault, is it? We are always the victim. When 
we do something wrong, it was our upbringing. When we do something 
wrong, it was because I didn't have enough money. When we do 
something wrong, it's because I didn't have enough information. 
We are the embodiment of what Adam is in the garden. The woman 
whom you gave me, she took and she gave me the fruit. What's 
he doing? He's blaming his wife. Certainly, 
Lord, I and myself am so noble, I would never do such a thing. 
It's this one next to me. It's not wicked. It's not evil. I mean, look at the total reversal 
of what's going on in this situation. And if that's not bad enough, 
not only does he blame his wife, not only is he trying to hide 
behind his wife, he actually has the goal to blame God, the 
woman whom you gave me. Lord, if you hadn't fashioned 
this one, if you hadn't taken her out and made her from my 
rib, I wouldn't be in this mess right now. Isn't that the way 
we live? I mean, face it, this is us, 
right? We blame everybody else. There 
are precious few people who actually say, yeah, I did it and I was 
wrong and please deal with me mercifully. Now, the Bible tells 
us that that's the way we ought to be. Proverbs 28, 13. Whoever 
covers his transgression shall not prosper, but whoever confesses 
it and forsakes it will find what? He'll find mercy. You cast 
yourself on the mercy of God and he is merciful to you. You 
young people and children, the temptation might rise up in you 
to lie to your parents, to cover evil. Don't do it. Confess it 
and forsake it and you will find mercy. Adam shifts the blame. The woman whom you gave to be 
with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate. And now the Lord God 
said to the woman, what is this you have done? She's a victim 
too, right? Isn't she? The serpent, he deceived 
me. It wasn't my fault, Lord. I didn't do it. If that serpent hadn't have been 
in this garden, hint, hint, maybe you shouldn't have made such 
things, then the devil would have never used him and we wouldn't 
have been in this mess. What a sad testimony on the history 
of man. Ever since we are blame shifting. Ever since we are the victim. 
Ever since we are amazing at shifting blame to others and 
the responsibility for our sin. So that's the context or the 
background, rather, for the Adamic covenant. There was a covenant 
of works in place. The Westminster Confession defines 
it this way. The first covenant made with 
man was a covenant of works wherein life was promised to Adam and 
in him to his posterity upon condition of perfect and personal 
obedience. They fell, they broke the covenant, 
and now God comes in answer or in response with this gracious 
covenant with Adam. Notice the divine initiative 
here, as we've already observed. God comes to them. God deals 
with them. God is gracious and merciful 
and not just killing them physically and throwing them out and starting 
all over again. And as well, we need to realize 
that this is all a part of God's ultimate plan to bring glory 
to his name. Robertson says, clearly, redemption 
cannot be understood in a man-centered fashion. God's glory as the great 
creator has been assaulted. His handiwork has been disharmonized, 
not simply for the sake of man, but for the glory of God. Redemption 
is undertaken. And as the parties transgress, 
so the Lord deals with them. He addresses the serpent. Then 
he addresses the woman and then he addresses the man notice to 
the serpent. He says, because you have done 
this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every 
beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and 
you shall eat dust all the days of your life. Again, Robertson 
said the Lord rightfully curses the serpent more than all the 
other creation. He is humble. The snake must 
crawl as tool of Satan. He bears in himself the symbolic 
reminder of ultimate defeat. I don't know if Mike's gonna 
go home and get rid of the snakes as a result of this, but at least 
in this depiction in biblical history, the snake is not the 
friend of man. God condemns the serpent, but 
as I said before, based on John 8, 44, Revelation 12, 9 and Revelation 
22, the main opponent here is the devil himself. And notice 
in verse 15, and I will put enmity. This is divinely initiated enmity. Don't miss this. This explains 
the history of the world. This explains why there is such 
animosity between the light and the dark. This explains why Jesus, 
the light of the world, came to his own and they received 
him not. This explains Jesus' statement in John 3 that men 
hate the light. Men do not come to the light 
lest their evil, their darkness be exposed. God has made this 
a place of enmity. The canes hate the ables. We see that already fleshed out 
in Genesis chapter four. The devil has a seed The seed 
of the woman, genetically considered, are the righteous, the godly, 
those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to see that God 
puts enmity in this world and underscores the continuing warfare 
that would go forth until the consummation. We ought not to 
be surprised when we as Christ's people receive the mockery of 
men, when we receive name-calling, when we receive persecution, 
when there are things that happen to us that are harsh and difficult 
in a trial. This very passage explains to 
us why in places like North Korea, why in places like India, why 
in places like China, there is such a deep-rooted animosity 
between these two warring factions. It is God-wrought, it is God-intended, 
and it is ultimately going to be for His glory. God says, I 
will put enmity, first of all, between you and the woman. It's 
interesting that she is given this promise first. Not that 
she will be in harmony with the serpent, not that she will be 
a follower of the devil, but that there would be enmity, that 
there would be opposition, that she's not consigned now to follow 
the devil. You see this act of grace in 
the God of heaven and earth. He doesn't come and say, well, 
you've chosen the devil, go ahead and follow after the devil. No, 
the Lord says, I'm going to put enmity between you and the woman. She was the first seduced, so 
she is the first in a sense delivered. Man had no ground, ultimately, 
to disparage his wife. Adam couldn't get mad at her, 
angry with her, because God has restored her graciously. And woman is mentioned primarily 
because it would be from her that this seed ultimately would 
come. So there is enmity between the 
devil and the woman. There is enmity between your 
seed and her seed. And while we know that this is 
primarily a reference to the Lord Christ, there is a general 
a generic reference. The seed of Christ, according 
to Galatians three, are those who believe the gospel. The seed 
of Christ are Christians. The seed of Christ are those 
who, by God's grace, come to know the Lord Jesus. The seed 
of the devil, of course, are those who are not saved, those 
who remain unregenerate, those who remain in their sin, those 
who remain impenitent. There is a general application 
in these words, and as I said, it is fleshed out in Genesis 
chapter 4. Cain is the seed of the serpent. 
Not in some, you know, strange, genetic, cursed race sort of 
It is spiritual in nature. All those who are outside of 
Christ are considered the seed of the serpent or the seed of 
the devil. That's why Jesus could say, you are of your father, 
the devil, in John 8, 44. But then, ultimately, this enmity 
would be demonstrated between Jesus Christ and Satan. Notice, 
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your 
seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and 
you shall bruise his heel. As we work our way through redemptive 
history, as more light is given to us, as revelation progresses, 
as we get to the fullness of the times, we see that this is 
speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ. The deliverer of man would be 
a man. In other words, our deliverance 
does not come from an angel. Our deliverance does not come 
from anywhere other than a man himself. This is the whole idea 
behind Hebrews 2, 14 to 17. The deliverer, according to this, 
would accomplish redemption through suffering. Isn't that the thrust 
here? He shall bruise your head and 
you shall bruise his heel. His heel will be bruised. There 
will be suffering. There will be trial. There will 
be difficulty. We get to the pages of the prophet 
Isaiah and the suffering servant of the Lord is introduced to 
us in four various songs in the book of Isaiah. The suffering 
servant is given to us. And then, of course, when we 
get to the latter portions of each of the gospel accounts, 
we see all too well what this promise meant. His heel was bruised 
as he's crushing the head of the serpent. He nevertheless 
does this through his own suffering and through his own death at 
Calvary. So the Deliverer would be a man. 
The Deliverer would accomplish redemption through suffering, 
and the Deliverer would accomplish total victory. While his heel 
is bruised, he crushes the head of the serpent. Isn't that a 
glorious and wondrous image? Isn't that a beautiful picture? 
of what our Lord Jesus wrought at the cross. We get to the New 
Testament, and this is fleshed out for us. John 12, 31 and 32. The Lord speaks of being raised 
up and drawing all men to himself, casting Satan out. We get to 
Colossians 2, as we've seen recently on our expositions. He has disarmed 
all principalities and powers. He made a spectacle of them at 
the cross. In Hebrews 2, we read that he 
destroys the devil, and in 1 John 3, he destroys the devil. So this promise of Genesis 3, 
15 given to the devil is ultimately a promise for man's salvation, 
that this enmity would be overcome, that this enmity would be destroyed, 
that this enmity once and for all would be removed when we 
get to the new heavens and the new earth. Now, quickly, we'll 
just run through these final parties in this covenant arrangement. The Lord addresses the woman 
again. We often just associate this 
with the pain involved, with the difficulty involved, with 
the horror involved. But it's a promise of blessing. 
It is a promise of blessing, I will greatly multiply your 
sorrow and your conception in pain, you shall bring forth children. You will be fruitful, you will 
multiply, you will have a seed, you will issue forth a posterity. Yes, there will be attendant 
difficulties. Sin weakens the body. It won't 
be, you know, always an easy road to hoe, but you will have 
that blessing of offspring that was emergent or that came up 
in Genesis chapter one. God doesn't obliterate the creation. God doesn't stop it. He doesn't 
reject it. He puts in place the means by 
which these things can be carried out. And then he addresses the 
man again. We often just see the difficulty, 
the thorns, the thistles, the hardship. But God promises he'll 
eat. That was part of man's whole, 
whole reason for creation is that he be a worker, that he 
be diligent, that he engage in the cultural mandate, that he 
till the ground. And that doesn't just mean in 
the agrarian fashion, the idea of culture. Has the idea of telling 
the ground, but it's not just in terms of ground and the dirt. We tell the ground when we use 
our minds. You tell the ground when you 
work the computer. You tell the ground when you 
engage in those various aspects of the Lord God has called you 
to. That's not obliterated. God says 
there will be attendant difficulties. There will be thorns and thistles. 
You're gonna have to work hard. You're gonna sweat. You now live 
in a sin-cursed world. But the promise is you're going 
to eat. You will be able to live. God 
hasn't just cut them off. He's not just cast them to hell. 
The Lord is displaying his grace. He does, of course, promise the 
eventuality of physical death. Now, the day they ate, they died 
spiritually. The day they ate, in principle, 
they died physically. It was at that moment their bodies 
started that process of decay. And God underscores that, that 
you will return to the dust. Now, just quickly notice the 
faith of Adam and Eve. Often people say, was Adam and 
Eve saved? Yes, they were. They were saved. How do you know? Because they operate in faith 
from this point on. Don't miss that Adam renames 
his wife. Remember when God first brought 
Eve to Adam, what did he say? Whoa, man. So R.C. Sproul says, whoa, man. He called 
her woman. Just coordinate with it. Coordinate 
with his name. Man works that way in Hebrew 
to. You know, man and woman sound 
alike. It's that way in the Hebrew language as well. The idea is 
that she is coordinate with him. She is from him. She is his helper. Now Adam renames her in light 
of the promise of 315. He calls her Eve. The mother 
of the living. He's looking to the whole. He's 
looking to the promise. He's hearing the echoes of 315 
in his ears. God, from the seed of the woman, 
is going to bring forth a victor. It's going to bring forth a deliverer. 
It's going to bring forth a champion. He's going to bring forth one 
that crushes the head of the serpent. It's interesting when 
we get to Cain and Abel. Cain means I've acquired a man 
from the Lord. Abel means worthless one. Useless 
one. The idea might possibly be that 
when she had Cain, 315 was in her mind. She names Cain accordingly. Acquired the man. Created the 
man with the help of God. This is the deliverer. Abel comes 
along. Why do we need him? It's a tough 
place to grow up, isn't it? Come to dinner, acquired of the 
Lord. Come to dinner, seed of the woman 
that's going to save his people. Oh, and you too, worthless one. 
Perhaps some of that nurture reflects how these boys grew 
up. The favored one became proud 
and arrogant and independent and autonomous. The other one 
was humble and lowly and depended upon the Lord God. The point 
is, brethren, Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was 
the mother of all living. Walt, he said, Adam's naming 
of Eve is the beginning of hope. Adam shows his restoration to 
God by believing the promise that the faithful woman will 
bear offspring that will defeat Satan. While this story is filled 
with death, judgment on the serpent, painful labor, conflict of wills, 
A ray of hope, I would say it's more than a ray of hope. I disagree 
with Waltke on this ray of hope. I think it's a bigger beam of 
hope that is shining upon this couple. A ray of hope remains 
in the promise that the seed of the woman who feels enmity 
toward the serpent will defeat the incarnation of evil. And 
then, of course, God undertakes in verse 21, also for Adam and 
his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. These 
were not girdles. They were not plant based. These 
were full body coverings and they were animal based. And I 
think what the Lord is doing here is highlighting three things. 
First, he underscores the total and thorough effect of sin upon 
man. When Adam made the girdle and 
hid himself among the trees, he had no idea how bad sin really 
is. He felt shame, he felt his nakedness, 
he felt the desire to run from God. But God's activity highlights 
or underscores the totality and the thoroughness of sin. Secondly, the Lord underscores 
the necessity of atonement as the basis for fellowship between 
God and man. Up to this point, there was no 
death. Up to this point, they had not seen death. I was just 
kind of meditating, thinking about this. What must this have 
been like when they had seen these animals that graced their 
garden, that lived among them? And now God is killing them and 
tearing off their skin so that he can fashion a garment to cover 
them in their sin. It's a powerful object lesson 
that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And then thirdly, the Lord underscores 
that what man is unable to do, God himself does man in his own 
feeble attempt, man in his own desire to sow some fig leaves 
together and hide himself among the trees to try to escape the 
searching eye of God will always fail. Most high Lord of the covenant 
comes and he undertakes. He makes these garments and he 
covers them in his grace, in his kindness and in his mercy. This is a gracious covenant of 
gracious arrangement. The provision of God most high 
is clearly seen in Genesis 3, 14 to 24, all the way down to 
the Lord God. driving them out of the Garden 
of Eden. In their fallen state, if they 
would have taken that fruit from the Tree of Life, they would 
have sealed their fate. They would have lived forever 
as fallen human beings. That's what the text seems to 
suggest. Waltke said, in their fallenness, 
humans must not participate in immortality. We don't want to 
take that fruit from the Tree of Life when we have these bodies 
of sin. We want to be purged. We want 
to be cleansed. We want to have thorough atonement 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't want to take of that 
tree of life till we're in the new Jerusalem, when we have no 
more sin, when we have been cleansed and we have no more fallenness 
in our being. So God in his grace, God in his 
mercy, as he planted the man and garden in the garden. Now 
he drove out the man and he placed cherubim at the east of the Garden 
of Eden and a flaming sword, which turned every way to guard 
the way to the tree of life. Well, brethren, that in brief 
substance is the Adamic covenant Again, it's foundational for 
all that we find in terms of the various other historical 
covenants. You'll see the relatedness of these covenants. You see, 
they build upon each other. You see, there is unity. They 
are organic. They are a blessed revelation 
of God most high. and his intention to save his 
people from their sins. The New Testament acknowledges 
these things. The New Testament picks up the 
very language of these things and the New Testament displays 
for us this deliverer who was man, this deliverer who achieved 
redemption through his own suffering and this deliverer who engaged 
in total victory. Even our Lord Jesus Christ will 
let us pray. Father, we thank you for the 
word of God and for the covenants that we find in the scriptures. 
We thank you that you have made these these blessed bonds, these 
blessed promises to save us from our sin. And we thank you for 
the Lord Jesus. We thank you for his work at 
Calvary. We thank you that he crushed 
the head of the serpent. And we thank you, Lord God Almighty, 
that you have made a way for us to enter into heaven, to enter 
into eternal life and to eat from that tree of life. and to 
live forever with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ. I just 
pray now that you would go with us. I pray that you would help 
each of us to seek you daily, God, to read the scriptures and 
to learn of our beloved Savior more and more. And may you conform 
us unto His image. And we ask in His blessed name. 
Amen.