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We turn in your Bibles to Genesis 
chapter three for our meditation this evening prior to participating 
in the Lord's Supper. Genesis chapter three, I suppose, 
is a very familiar chapter to everyone here. And well, it should 
be foundational for not only creation, but for redemption, 
specifically the The first promise of the gospel is found in Genesis 
chapter 3 in verse 15. That's where we will focus our 
attention this evening. If I do want to read the chapter, 
we'll have cause to reflect on several portions this evening 
as we seek to look at and investigate more thoroughly Genesis 3.15. 
So I'll pick up reading in verse 1. 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. And 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. 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. Curse it as 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 were 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 he put out his hand and take also of 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. and a flaming 
sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree 
of life. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our 
Father, we thank you for this, your word. We pray now for the 
ministry and the guidance of your spirit. God, as we consider 
this scripture, as we consider specifically the promise of verse 
15, may we rejoice to call Jesus our Lord. May we rejoice in the 
fact that this announcement in the garden is so blessed and 
so wonderful and so inclusive as it has brought us out of darkness 
into marvelous light, confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior, tasting 
and knowing that He is, in fact, good. How we praise You for the 
Gospel, how we praise You for free grace, how we praise You 
for redemption through the blood of the Lord Jesus. And it's in 
His name that we pray. Amen. The Bible essentially presents 
to us three overarching covenants. Genesis chapter 2 indicates the 
covenant of works. There was an agreement made by 
God with Adam concerning the tree of the knowledge of good 
and evil. There was a positive prohibition, 
though the word covenant is absent. We see in other instances that 
the word covenant doesn't have to be in place for an actual 
covenant to take place. One instance is 2 Samuel 7, what 
we call the Davidic covenant. The word covenant is absent, 
but in Psalm 89 it describes that arrangement as the covenant 
with David. So covenant is absent here in 
chapter 2 as well as chapter 3, but what we see in chapter 
2 is a covenant of words, and then in chapter 3 is the first 
promise of the covenant of grace, our confession of faith describes 
it this way. The covenant of grace is revealed 
in the gospel. First of all, to Adam in the 
promise of salvation by the seed of the woman and afterward by 
farther steps until the full discovery thereof was completed 
in the New Testament. So what the confession accurately 
understands or depicts or summarizes is this statement of Genesis 
3.15, being the promise of a deliverer, the promise of a redeemer, the 
promise of one who would come crush the head of the serpent, 
to render the death blow to the devil himself and to vindicate 
and to save his people from their sins. It is truly a wonderful 
passage of Holy Writ, one I hope that finds its way into our hearts 
and into our minds and into our meditation as we consider our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Before we get to Genesis 3.15, 
let's just briefly look at the background to this particular 
promise. I've already indicated there 
was a covenantal arrangement made by God with Adam. in the 
covenant of works in chapter 2. 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. So Adam in this state, in chapter 
2, stood as a public person, as a representative of all of 
his posterity. He was given this prohibition. 
He was told the day that he ate, he would surely die or dying. 
He would die. So, God puts forth stipulations. He promises blessings. He promises 
cursings. There are parties. All the elements 
are there concerning the covenant of works. Now, notice their fall 
into sin in verses 1 to 6 in chapter 3. Again, this is hopefully 
familiar ground for all of us. Just a couple of interesting 
points along the way as we sketch the background to this first 
promise. Remember that the devil comes and his initial challenge 
is on the veracity of God. His initial challenge, the subtlety 
of the serpent, is just to introduce an element of doubt to the woman. Now, this is very instructive 
for us. Most of the time, you're not 
going to hear a knock on your front door or hear your doorbell 
ring. And you're going to open your 
door and you're going to see a man. or in a red suit holding a pitchfork 
with horns and with a long tail saying, you know, I'm the devil 
and I've come to collect your soul. Generally speaking, it's 
not an overt onslaught like that. Generally speaking, for the most 
of us, it will be a subtle temptation along the way. And it's how we 
resist that, or if we choose to entertain that, that will 
mean life or death ultimately. We see that subtlety expressed 
in verse 1. Has God indeed said, You shall 
not eat of every tree of the garden? Again, he doesn't come 
to the woman and say, God is a liar. You can't trust Him. 
He isn't worth anything. Just disregard everything He 
says. It's introduced subtly. Has God indeed said? It's a challenge. It's a subtle weaving His way 
in. He knows good and well what God 
said because the language that the devil uses reflects specifically 
what God has said. When he says, you will not surely 
die, he uses the same convention that God used. On the day that 
you eat, dying you shall die. That's precisely how the serpent 
expresses it, so he understands the nature of the command. But 
he is a deceiver. He comes in subtly. He weaves 
his way in to try and challenge the authority of God's Holy Word. This is why we need to be on 
our guard. This is why we need to understand 
the truth. We need to know good doctrine. 
We need to study our Bibles. We need to study our confession 
of faith. We need to know the truth so 
well that we're able to spot the counterfeit. We need to know 
the truth of God's holy word and standards so well that we 
can resist the challenges to it by the devil and by his minions. So notice the devil weaves his 
way in. The woman reports in verse two, 
we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden. She minimizes 
the privilege. I already see some problems here 
with E's thinking. Was this the privilege that God 
had said we may eat? No, God says, you may freely 
eat. You may enjoy. Go for the bounty. Except, of course, that one tree. So, she's minimizing privilege 
here. Notice, the woman said to the 
serpent, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden. Then 
she minimizes judgment when she says, 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. It wasn't 
a let you die, it was a dying you shall die. And then she maximizes 
the prohibition. She says we can't eat and we 
can't touch. God never stipulated that. So 
already there's something wrong in thinking at this particular 
juncture and the devil seizes upon this and he's capitalizing 
upon it. Now notice, after making this 
statement, the serpent again challenges, goes right for the 
juggler and says, God knows, verse 5, that in the day you 
eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, 
knowing good and evil. God doesn't want you as fellow 
gods. God wants to keep you down. God 
wants to keep you in a position of inferiority. See, here the 
devil has moved from a subtlety to a direct challenge upon who 
God is in terms of his authority and in terms of his character. 
Notice in verse 6, So when the woman saw that the tree was good 
for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree desirable 
to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. Kind of an 
interesting thing, isn't it? She took of its fruit and ate. 
She gives it to her husband and he ate. What do we do tonight 
in the supper? We take and we eat. This taking and this eating was 
rebellion against the living and true God. This taking and 
this eating resulted in God's condemnation. This taking and 
this eating plunged Adam and his posterity into sin and depravity. It would take the deliverer of 
Genesis 3.15 to take that terminology of take and eat and bring it 
to a place of blessing, to a place of joy, to a place of happiness, 
to a place of great celebration. She took, she ate, she gave to 
her husband with her, and he ate. Verse 7, the eyes of both 
of them were opened. They knew that they were naked. 
They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in 
the cool of the day. Great picture of blessing. The cool of the day. Right? God would come and commune with 
His creatures in the cool of the day. The implication seems 
to be after their daily labor, after engaging in that task that 
God had given to Adam, to extend that garden temple, to subdue 
the earth, to make it a place of consecration and worship unto 
God. When he was finished with his 
labor, the Lord God would come and would fellowship with them, 
would commune with them, would enjoy His creatures, not because 
of anything lacking, in God, not because God was somehow empty. That's this idea that is foreign 
and contrary to biblical data. We actually have this idea that 
God made us because he was lonely or because God needed something 
to complete him. God has eternally existed in 
blessed blissfulness as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When John 
defines God as love, That is not first and foremost God is 
loving toward His creatures. God is love among the persons 
of the Trinity. The Father loves the Son. The 
Son and the Father love the Spirit. The Spirit loves the Father and 
the Son. God created according to His 
sovereign good pleasure, and now He comes to visit with His 
creatures in the garden. And we notice what Adam does. 
Adam and his wife hit themselves from the presence of the Lord 
God among the trees of the garden. Adam tries to hide himself from 
God in the sanctuary of God. It's an unfortunate reality of 
our sinfulness. It's an unfortunate reality of 
man's attempt to deal with his wickedness. He sows fig leaves 
together and then he hides himself among these trees as if the sovereign 
of the universe can't find him. Sin is madness. Sin is folly. Sin is being reported here to 
us for what it really is. Then the Lord God called to Adam 
and said to him, where are you? Now, kids, you need to pay attention 
here. God's not asking for information. These questions are for Adam. 
They're not for God. It's like when you know your 
father or mother knows you've done something wrong and they 
say, did you take that? Are they really investigating 
for their own knowledge? No. They want you to acknowledge 
what you've done, own it, and come clean. The questions posed 
to Adam are for Adam. It's not as if God is inquisitive. It's not as if God doesn't know. 
It's not as if God did not witness their rebellion and their attack 
upon his authority. These questions are designed 
to elicit a response from Adam. 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. This, in the language of Meredith 
Klein, is an evasive half-truth. Why or how is Adam now conscious 
of his nakedness and fear? Because of his rebellion against 
God. See, that's what he should have 
said. I hid because I sinned. I hid because I rebelled. I ran 
because I have violated your holy covenant. But no, he's evasive. I heard your voice in the garden 
and was afraid because I was naked and hid myself. And God said, Who told you that 
you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree 
of which I commanded you that you should not eat? And here 
we see the exact opposite of Colossians chapter 3. Remember 
in Colossians chapter 3, the person focusing upon the Lord 
Jesus treats his wife with love, with respect, and with dignity. 
The person focusing upon the Lord Jesus Christ submits to 
her husband. She seeks to live in a manner 
that is consistent with God's will and God's Word. What we 
find in this fall of man is the complete reversal of all that 
is good and holy. God makes man to rule his family. He makes Eve to submit to her 
husband, and he makes both of them to exercise dominion over 
the lesser creatures. Here in chapter 3, we see that 
turned on its head. We see the lesser creature via 
the serpent on top, addressing the woman who then takes and 
gives to the man. It is a complete reversal of 
God's created order, and I think the author wants us to understand 
something of the gravity of sin. It is no light matter. It is 
no small thing. It is calm, and it has wrought 
havoc upon the created order of God Most High. It will take 
nothing less than the Deliverer promised in verse 15 to right 
the wrong, to reverse the criminal activity, to change things for 
the betterment of humanity. As you read through this chapter, 
you're supposed to read meditatively and contemplatively to realize 
just how bad sin really is. We know Adam's response. He plays 
the victim. The first person he blames is 
God himself. The woman whom you gave me, Lord. How many times has that risen 
up in our hearts? I'd be the holiest man in the 
world if it wasn't for that woman who God gave me. I'd be the most 
accomplished specimen of a woman if God hadn't hitched me to that 
drag or that one that drags me down. Adam's the victim. This is so rampant today. Everybody's a victim. Everything 
is everybody else's fault. No one is accountable. No one 
is responsible. A man can walk into a movie theater 
and open up fire and more than likely plead not guilty by reason 
of insanity. That is insanity. Sin is bad. We're not victims. We are perpetrators. We are criminals. We are cosmic assailants upon 
the good order of God Most High, the woman whom you gave me. If 
you hadn't have given her to me, Lord, I wouldn't be in this 
mess. I'd be able to commune with you, 
God. I'd be able to enjoy the cool day after having done my 
work. I wouldn't have had to make fig 
leaves. I wouldn't have had to run and hide in these trees because 
you gave me this woman that has made all this happen. But not 
only does he blame God, he's holding his wife up too. What 
a wimp. Men, if you've got problems, 
you've got problems. Don't blame your wife. This is evading responsibility 
at its core. There's nothing new under the 
sun. Some people might say, why revisit Genesis chapter 3? It's 
as relevant right now as it was back then, isn't it? I mean, 
isn't this what man does? God, you shouldn't have given 
her to me. Well, that's not going to work. God, this woman, she's 
a real piece of work. She listened to the devil. She 
took the fruit. She ate, and then she handed 
it to me. Of course I'm going to eat it, Lord. What do you 
mean, of course you're going to eat it, Lord? Exercise manhood. Man up, as they say, and deal 
with yourself and your family responsibly. Do not allow this 
inversion of the created order to take place on your watch. 
You're not a victim, Adam. So what happens next? We know 
the story, right? Eve's a victim. It wasn't me. I didn't do anything. It was 
that serpent. God, if you had protected the 
garden a little bit more discriminately, that serpent wouldn't have woven 
his way into my heart. It was the serpent's fault that 
all of this has befallen us today. I'm just a victim of circumstance. If I hadn't have been in the 
wrong place at the wrong time, I would have maintained uprightness 
and holiness. We know that's a lie. Our sin 
is such that it does not depend upon being in the right place 
at the right time. You know as well as I do, you'll 
find out sin. You will find it. We're like 
pigs in mud. We just find it. We're just like 
skunks in state. We just find it. It's there. We will roll in it. You see, 
they're passing the buck from one to another, throwing each 
other under the proverbial bus, as is common to say today. Adam 
throws his wife under the bus. The wife throws the serpent under 
the bus. No one's going to man up and 
say, Lord God, we sinned against you. Forgive us. But it's on 
that foundation, it's on that basis that the promise of grace 
comes. That it doesn't just end there, 
we ought to stop right now and sing Amazing Grace, really. You 
created, you're God, in perfect order, and this chaos has come. What is your first temptation? 
Again, I'm speaking as a man. God doesn't have temptation. 
We just say, forget it, let's start again. But on the heels 
of this tragedy, on the heels of this rebellion, on the heels 
of this continual plunge into sin, the Lord God undertakes. He then addresses the players 
in a similar order. He deals with the serpent, He 
deals with the woman, and He deals with the man. He undertakes 
and he initiates this covenant of grace, this promise, as our 
Confession says, that is revealed in the Gospel, first of all to 
Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman and 
afterward by farther steps until the full discovery thereof was 
completed in the New Testament. I submit to you that London Baptist 
Confession of Faith, chapter 7, paragraph 3, is a wonderful 
statement of covenant theology. The covenant of works is there, 
the covenant of grace is there, the covenant of redemption is 
there. The covenant of redemption is 
the pre-temporal agreement between the Father and the Son to save 
and elect people. The Father chooses, the Father 
gives to the Son, the Son is sent into this world as the eternally 
begotten son of the father sent to redeem those who had been 
given to him. But I digress. Let's look at 
what God says to the serpent. Says, So the Lord God said to 
the serpent, Because you have done this, you were 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. The Lord rightfully curses the 
serpent. This is Robertson. 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. But it's 
very interesting. After he curses the serpent, 
he then makes this statement that we're going to consider 
in verse 15. 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. The first aspect 
to realize is that God initiates this plan. So we need to understand that 
about the covenant of grace. We didn't initiate it. You know, 
men like to celebrate free will. Free will got us into the mess 
we're in. It's free grace that brings us 
out. This is grace I, God says. I will put enmity between you 
and the woman. I will put enmity between your 
seed and her seed. That one, that seed, that singular 
one will bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel. More 
on that in just a moment. But never forget the divine initiative 
in the salvation of our souls. Adam and Eve did not rescue themselves. Adam and Eve did not establish 
the covenant of grace. In fact, when God comes to deal 
with them personally and privately, it's God who kills the animal. It's God who clothes them with 
skin. It is God who atones for their sin. It is not them. They did not say, we need to 
fix this. Man by his own works, man by 
his own doing, cannot cover for his sin. It must be grace. It must be sovereign initiative. And that's what is highlighted 
in this particular instance. God says, I will put enmity. And notice the specific areas 
of this enmity between the devil and the woman, between the seed 
of the woman and the seed of the serpent, seed collectively. 
You ever notice there's a big difference between the children 
of God and the children of the devil? Oh no, I hadn't noticed 
that. It's a God-wrought enmity. It's 
a God-wrought antithesis. The sons of the world despise 
the sons of God. Why is that? It is by divine 
arrangement. This enmity has been imposed 
upon the creation. By God the Lord, I will put enmity 
between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. 
It doesn't take long to see that fleshed out. Turn over to Genesis 
chapter 4. You see the enmity between the 
seed. You see the enmity between Cain 
and Abel. You get to Genesis chapter 6. 
You see the godly line of Seth. and the ungodly line of Canaan. And you see that antithesis grow. You see it culminate ultimately 
in the fact that the Lord of Glory is crucified and is murdered. You see that ultimately as well 
as subsequent to Christ's death in the persecution of the church. 
Why is there a voice of the martyrs? Why is there prayer for the persecuted 
church? Why are we bidden in Hebrews 
13 to remember the prisoners? It is this God wrought enmity 
that is Genesis chapter 315. I will put enmity between you 
and the woman and between your seed and her seed. So there is 
this collective or generic application in the words, but there is also 
a singular. There is an individual. There 
is a particularization. And that's what the end of verse 
15 specifies. He, talking about the seed, shall 
bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel. Now, just to 
cut to the chase, because this isn't the cool of the day, I'm 
speaking of Jesus. He's the seed of the woman that 
crushes the head of the serpent. And in that crushing of the head 
of the serpent, he sustains damage to his heel. The contrast is 
sharp. At Golgotha, there was suffering 
on behalf of the Savior. But in terms of the cosmic application, 
it was as if he bruised his heel. In the execution of this redemptive 
plan, he took that heel and he crushed the head of the serpent. You see, Israel, way back, is 
taught to look for a man who would come to execute judgment. Genesis 3.15 indicates in the 
first place that the deliverer or the redeemer would be a man. He shall bruise your head. It 
is the seed of the woman. Interesting that only the woman 
is indicated in the verse. Now it's not a fully developed 
virgin birth, but it certainly foreshadows that reality in that 
only the woman is mentioned in terms of this seed coming forth. But Israel of old was taught 
to look for a man who would come and effect salvation on their 
behalf. As we turn the pages of Scripture, 
we learn of his birth. He would be born in Bethlehem, 
Ephrathah. This was a test. I hope that 
you would mark bubble A for Micah chapter 5 verse 2. It is from 
Bethlehem, Africa, that a ruler will come forth whose origins 
are from everlasting. It is Jesus Christ the Lord. 
This man, according to the scripture, would be a prophet. Deuteronomy 
18, God says to Moses, I will raise up from among your brethren 
a prophet. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. 
This man would also function as a priest. Psalm 110, they 
were taught to look for a redeemer who would be a priest in the 
order of Melchizedek. And he would ultimately be a 
king. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make 
your enemies your footstool. But as redemptive history has 
opened up, as revelation progresses, this man will be like no other. You see, he won't simply be man, 
but he'll also be God. He'll be the God-man in what's 
called the hypostatic union, the one glorious person of Jesus 
Christ who exists in two natures, human and divine. This is the 
promise that is here in substance, in sort of a seminal form. He shall bruise your head and 
you shall bruise His heel. That indicates, secondly, that 
the Deliverer would accomplish redemption through suffering. 
It says and indicates there that his heel will be bruised. Again, 
I would rather have my heel bruised than my head crushed. I think 
most of you would opt for that. But the language is typical. 
The language is anticipatory. The language is highlighting 
what will be fleshed out in passages like Daniel chapter 9. Messiah 
will be cut off. Fleshed out in passages like 
Isaiah 53. He is a man of sorrows. He is 
acquainted with grief. The chastisement of our peace 
is laid upon Him. There would be suffering associated 
with this Deliverer. Of course, in the midst of this 
suffering, in this bruising of the heel, He would deal the death 
blow to the serpent himself. He would destroy the devil. He 
would bring to naught that kingdom of darkness. But nevertheless, 
the Messiah they were taught to look for would be man, and 
the Messiah they were taught to look for would accomplish 
victory through suffering. That's what we celebrate tonight. his broken body, his shed blood. The New Testament fleshes this 
out even more fully. One only needs to turn to the 
Passion narrative to understand something of what this indicates. You shall bruise his heel. We 
see the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Man of Sorrows, and 
acquainted with grief at every step of the way, suffering to 
accomplish redemption. You know, oftentimes we talk 
about salvation is free. It is free for the one being 
saved. But for the Savior, it cost him 
everything. It cost Him His lifeblood. It 
cost Him communion with His Father. Remember that particular scene, 
that fourth saying of the Savior from the cross, where it's difficult 
to get in there and to do exegesis. It's difficult to get in there 
and look at the hypostatic union and to look at the triune God 
when we hear the Son say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
Me? Murray says, it's a wonderful 
statement. It is an amazing reality. God 
forsaken of God. Again, exegeting that's very 
difficult. All the ins and outs of Trinitarian 
theology and Christology and all those particulars notwithstanding. When we hear the cry of the Savior 
on the cross, why hast thou forsaken me? Hopefully we're reminded 
that his heel was bruised, that this man would accomplish victory 
through suffering. And then the third observation 
from our text. Not only would the Deliverer 
be man, not only would the Deliverer accomplish redemption through 
suffering, but the Deliverer certainly would accomplish total 
victory. Total victory. Absolute. Skull-crushing. Devil-stopping. Kingdom of darkness 
closing. Victory on the part of our Redeemer. You understand, brethren, when 
you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's 
death, not in the sense of, oh, our Savior died, but, oh, our 
Savior died and He rendered toothless that great fiend of hell itself 
and He is brought to frustration, the kingdom of darkness. He accomplishes 
total victory. He accomplishes total conquest. This idea of bruising your head 
to trace through redemptive history. There are incidents in the life 
of Israel where certain foes are met with this sort of destruction. Remember Jael and her handy tent 
peg. What did she do with that? She 
preached Genesis 3.15. She drove that tent peg right 
into the head of Sisera. What about the various instances 
where people got their heads crushed? It was an announcement 
to Israel that there is a Deliverer coming who will crush the serpent 
himself, will bring him to naught, and will defeat him completely. Yes, it will bruise his heel. 
He will accomplish it through suffering, but with reference 
to atonement and the covering for sin, sacrifice and blood 
are absolutely crucial and essential, and this is the means by which 
Our Savior delivers. It is based on this reality of 
Christ bruising the head, crushing the head, destroying the head 
of the serpent that Jeremiah 31 is in our Bible. And God says, 
I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house 
of Judah. Not like the covenant I made 
with their fathers that they broke. No, this one is going 
to be such. that they will know the Lord. 
This one will be such that my laws will be in their hearts. 
This one will be such that I will forgive their iniquities. This 
one will be such that I will call them my sons, and they shall 
call me Father." All those specifics that we read concerning Christ's 
redemptive plan in Daniel chapter 9 tonight, those were all glorious 
statements concerning His work. You get to the New Testament 
accounts. How does Jesus operate? Does He bring partial fulfillment? 
Does He bring partial salvation? Does Jesus pay some of it? Praise 
God that when we open the Trinity Hymnal, the 590, we don't sing, 
Jesus paid some of it, and I will pay the rest. That's not what 
we sing. We sing, Jesus paid it all. We 
sing, my sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin 
not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear 
it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 
We sing things like, Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to 
thy cross I cling. We sing things like, Foul I to 
the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die. Jesus accomplished 
victory at Calvary. When He said, It is finished, 
He meant it. Any sinner out there who has 
undealt with sin is bidden to come to Him. Christ is a Savior 
who saves to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God, through 
him. Believe his gospel, you will 
receive pardon, you will receive righteousness, you will receive 
everything that avails with God, because he is the man that accomplished 
victory, total victory, total conquering, through his redemptive 
death at Calvary. He was raised from the dead, 
he's now stationed at the right hand of the Father, and he has 
bidden us to come to the table, to take and to eat. Not to plunge 
ourselves into the curse and condemnation of sin, but to take 
and eat to remember Him who delivered us, who redeemed us, who saved 
us from the condemnation and curse of sin. Christ has taken 
eat and has brought it into a place of great blessing for the church 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So my dear brothers and sisters, 
never forget Genesis chapter three, verse 15, that first gospel 
promise. This covenant is revealed in 
the gospel, first of all, to Adam in the promise of salvation 
by the seed of the woman and afterward by farther steps until 
the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament. 
Again, I'm quoting our confession. And it is founded, this covenant 
of grace, in that eternal covenant transaction. that was between 
the father and the son about the redemption of the elect. 
And it is alone by the grace of this covenant that all of 
the posterity of fallen Adam that were ever saved did obtain 
life and a blessed immortality, man being now utterly incapable 
of acceptance with God upon those terms on which Adam stood in 
his state of innocency. The covenant of grace founded 
on the covenant of redemption because we can't keep the covenant 
of works. God most high sent his son to 
die and in that death he rendered the devil crushed, defeated, 
and cast out. Praise God for that blessing. Praise God for the destruction 
of the devil in his kingdom. Praise God for the dealing with 
our sins, our unrighteousness, our wickedness, our filth, that 
it has been blotted out through his precious blood. And praise 
God that he's given us the righteousness in him that ultimately avails 
with God the Lord. Genesis 315 is a wonderful passage 
for the people of God in the church to encourage us and to 
strengthen us. Well, let us pray. Father, how 
we thank you for this wonderful statement concerning the coming 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know it was the first promise 
fleshed out the rest of biblical history and ultimately fulfilled 
by our Lord Jesus when he inaugurated the New Covenant in his blood. 
How we thank You that You've made us partakers of this. How 
we thank You that You've brought us nigh. How we thank You for 
that great transaction wherein the Father chose a people, gave 
them to the Son. The Son comes in time. He comes 
in the fullness of the times according to the Apostle, born 
of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law. 
How we praise You that You have blessed us so richly and as we 
take and eat tonight, May it be for your glory. May it be 
for our own well-being. May it confirm and strengthen 
that faith that is in our hearts. May you cause us to grow through 
this means and may you build us up and may you strengthen 
each and every one here. And our Father, how we praise 
you for the blood of Jesus, how we praise you for his death and 
for his resurrection and for the way that he dealt with the 
devil at the cross. We pray in his most blessed name, 
amen.