Sermon: The Fallout of the Fall (Genesis 3:8-24)

Preached October 19, 2025

Introduction/Summary

Last week, we looked at Genesis 3:1-7, which is the explanation for why humanity, according to Pascal is not only the glory of the universe but also the refuse of the universe.

Genesis 3:1-7 captures the moment in which humanity chose to disobey God. Instead of listening to the voice of God, our father and our mother (Adam and Eve) listened to the voice of the serpent.

And in so doing, human beings fell into sin and corruption and the creation fell into corruption.

And as a result of the act, the consequence that God warned them of, became a reality.

God said they if they disobeyed, they would surely die, and this death isn’t just mere physical death, it’s the totality of what death means, which is both physical and spiritual.

In that moment, Eve chose to trust the voice of a snake rather than the voice of God.

This event was the most devastating event in human history.

Before this, there was harmony, goodness, beauty. There was harmony between man and the creation itself. Harmony between the man and his wife; harmony between man and God. They lived in the presence of God and experienced the fullness of God’s pleasure.

Genesis 3:1-7 changes everything, and we see that change in what follows in v[8-24].

The rest of Genesis 3 provides the devastating effects of [v1-7].

There is a disordering/corrupting of the good in several different areas of life.

Instead of harmony, conflict becomes the defining marker as a result of Genesis 3:1-7.

There’s a disordering or corrupting that takes hold over that which God declared good.

What’s important to see is that the disordering or corrupting that happens is not the creation of something new, but the disordering of something that already exists and was originally good.

Women bearing children already existed as implied in the command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, but now, that experience will be defined by pain. It’s a disordering of the good thing.

And that’s really what sin is. Sin is the corruption of that which is good.

The man was called to work the ground in Genesis 2, that was a good thing, but now he will experience pain in the process.

So what we have here is the distorting or corrupting of the good. 

_________

Let’s read [v8-24]

Pray

___________

Adam and Eve have taken of the fruit, and we’re told in [v7] that both their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

And it’s here where we begin to see the full repercussions of their actions.

And the first thing we see is the discord between man and God. We see the breakdown of the harmonious relationship between man and God.

Discord between God and man [v8-13]

Look at [v8]:

[8] And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day the cool of the day is literally the wind/spirit of the day. Symbolizing God’s presence.

[v8] is emphasizing God’s nearness and presence, which would’ve been normal, according Genesis 2. What’s not normal is their response to his presence.

[v8] and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence (face) of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

[v10] tells us specifically why they hid, because they were afraid.

Genesis 2, we see Adam and Eve experiencing trust, security, safety, peace with God. God is providing for them. He’s entrusted to them incredible responsibility.

And now, when they sense God drawing near, they’re overcome with fear, and instead of drawing near to God, they attempt to hide from God.

And this now becomes the posture of the sinful human heart toward God. It’s the posture of our hearts, apart from grace.

We turn from God. We hide from God. We don’t trust God.

What was it that caused this fear in them?

The text doesn’t say explicitly say, but I think it’s alluded to, when they attempt to cover their nakedness up.

We saw from last week that nakedness can be used as a metaphor for judgment.

Adam and Eve were overcome, I believe, with guilt and shame, and that guilt and shame drove them from God.

They were guilty because they broke God’s command, and as a result, they were overcome with shame at what they had done.

But look at God’s response. These are the first words of God after Adam and Eve sinned.

He comes as a shepherd seeking his wandering sheep.

[9] But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”  This is an invitation for the man and the woman to come out.

[10] And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

And then God asks his second question:

[11] He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

And the man responds in [v12], which further demonstrates the discord between the man and God.

[12] The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

Here Adam, actually blames both the woman and God.

“The woman you gave me.”

In other words, if you hadn’t given me this woman, I would never have eaten.

You see what’s happening here? Adam, instead of taking responsibility for himself, he actually thrusts the blame back onto God and the gift that God had bestowed upon him, a helper fit for him.

There is now a breakdown in the relationship between man and God.

Then the Lord turns to the woman.

[13] Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (ESV)

Now, the woman instead of taking responsibility for her actions, she blames the serpent.

And here’s what’s so important. Nothing that she says is untrue. The serpent did deceive her, but she’s allowing that deception to excuse her behaviour.

She’s allowing that deception by the serpent to excuse the fact, that she chose to listen to the snake rather than God.

She chose to trust the snake and doubt God.

Both Adam and Eve, in this moment, are preoccupied with self above all else. There in the business now of justifying and defending self.

These verses demonstrate there’s a breakdown in humanities relationship with God.

It’s not just Adam and Eve who relate to God in this way. This captures the human condition. This captures what each of us are like apart from the grace that comes through Jesus.

There is a severing of the relationship we had with God.

Instead of trust and delight in God, we now, because of our guilt and our shame hide from God.

There is a severing in our relationship to our Creator.

_______________

After this section, we see God is done with his inquiry, and it’s here where he begins to pronounce his judgments.

God’s judgments pronounced

And the first pronouncement of judgment is toward the serpent. And there are two ideas conveyed from God to the Serpent that demonstrates his utter defeat.

a.    God’s curse upon the snake [v14-15]

In [v14] the Lord God says to the serpent:

            “Because you have done this, (That is, deceived the woman)

                        cursed are you above all livestock

                        and above all beasts of the field;

            on your belly you shall go,

                        and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

Some have wondered, does this mean that snakes at one time had legs? But that’s missing the point of the text.

The imagery of “on your belly you should go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life” is communicating humiliation and total defeat.

The serpent will be humiliated and totally defeated.

Micah 7:17 uses similar language when speaking of the humiliation of the nations who have rebelled against God:

            [17] they shall lick the dust like a serpent,

                        like the crawling things of the earth;

            they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;

                        they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God,

                        and they shall be in fear of you. (ESV)

God has cursed the serpent and the cursing entails his complete humiliation and his total defeat. Though he’s disturbed and disrupted the created order, his craftiness won’t prevail.

And in [v15] we get a description of what this total defeat will look like:

[15] 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.” (ESV)

So there’s going to be enmity/hostility between the woman and the serpent and between the women’s offspring (literally her seed) and the serpent’s offspring (his seed)

We’re going to come back to this, but what’s being communicated here, is that the seed of the woman will overcome the seed of the serpent and also conquer the serpent himself.

And here’s what’s so important to see. The curse upon the serpent demonstrates that God still has a plan for the human race.

The defeat of the serpent is tied to the restoration and redemption of God’s image bearers, which we’ll see.

So this is God’s declaration of judgment upon the serpent.

________________

And now God turns to the woman.

And there are two things communicated to the woman and implicitly to the man.

b.    God’s discipline of the woman [v16]

[16] To the woman he said,

            “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

                        in pain you shall bring forth children.

Child bearing isn’t the judgment. It’s the multiplying of pain that is.

God commanded the man and the woman to multiply and fill the earth, and the woman would be essential in the fulfilling of this command.

But now the process by which this will come about, will be filled with pain. The entire process (not just the labour) will be defined by pain. (My experience of Gracie giving birth)

Also, God tells the woman that as a result of her disobedience, her desire will be for her husband, but he will rule over her.

What does this mean?

There are two things here, and both the sexes will suffer as a result.

Remember, the wife was made by God to be a helper that is fit for the man (Genesis 2)

But what we see here is that she will become a hindrance to the man.

But also, the man who is meant to be a godly head, will now dominate her. He’ll abuse the authority that he’s been given from God.

It’s interesting. This statement is almost repeated verbatim in Genesis 4:7 when it comes to Cain and sin.

Just before Cain kills his brother Abel God says to Cain:

[7] If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well,  sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.” (ESV)

“Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.”

“Sin’s desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”

What’s God communicating to Cain? Cain, sin desires to rule over you, but you must rule over it.

And here with the woman, God is saying, “you’re going to desire to rule over your husband, but he will rule over you.”

Your desire will be to reject your husband’s headship, and your husband will misuse his headship.

Both the sexes will suffer as a result.

And I’ve seen this on more than one occasion. Husbands misusing their authority, or neglecting their God given authority.

In fact, I would argue that the majority of wives who complain about their husbands, it’s not primarily because their husbands are tyrants, but rather, their husbands are passive and bear very little responsibility.

But I’ve also seen wives, who have sought to rule their husbands, and they’ve primarily done this through the power of their words.

That which was meant to be defined as, “To love and to cherish” becomes “To desire and to dominate”.

And this is partly why we see so much conflict between the two sexes. This is why so many marriages struggle and fall apart.

________________Now, after God speaks to the woman, he now addresses the man in [v17-19]

c.     God’s discipline of the man [v17-19]

[17] And to Adam he said,

            “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife (God held Eve responsible for listening to the voice of the serpent instead of the voice of God, and now God holds Adam responsible for listening to the voice of his wife instead of the voice of God)

                        and have eaten of the tree

            of which I commanded you,

                        ‘You shall not eat of it,’

            cursed is the ground because of you;

                        in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

            [18] thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

                        and you shall eat the plants of the field.

            [19] 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.” (ESV)

God curses the ground! He places a curse on the creation, and as a result, the man shall eat of it all the days of his life in pain.

There will be continual conflict for the man with the ground (the creation, the land).

Both the judgments given to the woman and the man are related to the primary roles that each were designed for.

God gave the primary responsibility of cultivating the land to the man. And the primary responsibility of multiplying and filling the earth would be given to the woman.

Here’s what you have to see.

The man’s primary responsibility would be related to first three days of creation, in which God brings form to the formlessness, order to the disorder, and the woman will primarily be responsible for the next three days of creation, filling that which is formed.

But now for the man, the call to form the formless, the call to cultivate the land, which was meant to be a blessing, will now become a curse.

It will now be done in pain.

Creation will not submit to the man’s dominion, as God intended before man’s rebellion. Man rebelled against God, and now God is saying, that the creation will rebel against man’s dominion.

The creation, the land will rebel against the man’s attempt to cultivate and work the land, and that which was meant to be a blessing will become a burden.

Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. This language is used in other places as an expression of God’s judgment.

The creation won’t cooperate. In fact, the creation will become destructive.

This cursing of the ground is the biblical explanation for all the natural disasters of our world.

Paul says in Romans 8:20-22 that the creation was subjected to futility. God subjected the creation to futility, and Paul tells us that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Every natural disaster is the groaning of creation, longing to be set free from its bondage to corruption.

That which was meant to be a blessing to the man, will now become a burden. In pain he shall eat of it all the days of his life.

On top of this, we see very clearly the outcome of what God had warned if the man chose to disobey:

            for you are dust,

                        and to dust you shall return.” (ESV)

Death is the end. You were taken from dust and to dust you shall return.

Sorrow, sweat and dust is man’s end, and it’s this reality that causes Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:8 to utter:

All things are full of weariness. The man and the woman will suffer, expressed here in the distinct ways that God has made man and woman.______________But there’s another pronouncement of judgment that befalls them, and this is what I think God meant when he said, “And you will surely die”, and this is found in [v22-24]:

d.    Man is banished from the presence of God and immortality is kept from them [v22-24]

[22] 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 also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” There were two trees in the midst of the garden. The tree of life which represented immortality, and God has declared that man will surely die because they took of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And as a result, God will now bar them from the tree of life. The tree of immortality.

[23] therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. [24] He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (ESV)

This to me is the clearest picture of what “surely you will die” means.

The garden of Eden represented the dwelling place of God. It was the place of fellowship between God and his image bearers. It was the place of immortality.

But God has now driven the man from the garden (God’s presence).

God is life and if man has been driven from God’s presence, then all that is left will be death for the man and the fullness of what that means.

And notice that God placed the cherubim (angelic beings) and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. Man has been banished from God’s presence, and therefore, has been sentenced to death.

Here’s what we have to see. The garden functioned like a temple. The tabernacle or temple actually reflects in design what the garden of Eden was like.

The temple was the meeting place between God and man (that’s what the garden was). The temple was built as a temporary means by which God could dwell with his people and they not die.

You could say the garden of Eden was the true temple and the tabernacle/temple built by Israel was God’s temporary and insufficient provision to deal with humanity being barred from God’s presence.

It’s interesting. God places the cherubim as guards to the entrance of the garden. These are angelic like creatures.

They have barred access to the dwelling place of God.

What’s interesting is that these cherubim are used elsewhere in the scriptures as symbolic guardians to the holy of holies, the place of God’s dwelling in the temple, where no one was allowed to enter except the High Priest, but only once a year.

You remember, how there was a veil that separated the Holy place from the Most Holy Place (The holy of holies) signifying that man could still not enter fully into the presence of God.

Do you know what was stitched on the veil?

Exodus 36:35

[35] He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; with cherubim skillfully worked into it he made it. (ESV)

Which means, when the High Priest drew near to the Most Holy Place (The place of God’s manifest dwelling), he would’ve seen the stitched cherubim on the veil as he was about to enter.

Here in Genesis 3, all of this is to communicate that man has been banished from the presence of God. Man has been banished from the tree of life which grants immortality, and therefore man will surely die.

Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent with the prospect of becoming like God.

But you want to know what was more important than being like God? Being with God.

They sought to become like God through sinful means, and as a result, they lost the joy of being with God.

________________These are the judgments of God revealed in Genesis 3.

And these judgments are not just the experience of Adam and Eve. This is ascribed to all of humanity, for we have all sinned in Adam and have sinned as his offspring. It’s not just Adam who will experience pain from the ground and it’s not just Eve who experience pain in child bearing.

The entire human race will experience these pains, and the entire human race has been banished from the place of God’s dwelling.

Now, you might say, “Why are God’s judgments so severe? It was just one act of rebellion and disobedience”

Only someone who doesn’t understand the worth of God’s nature would ask such a question.

They didn’t simply sin against another creature. They sinned against the majesty of heaven. They sinned against an infinite worth. We’ve sinned against an infinite worth.

The apparent worth of something often determines the severity of the offence. This is why our justice system is supposed to have more severe punishments against those who take another human life verses those who merely rob another person. Because we’ve rightly determined that a human life is of more worth than an object stolen. What kind of punishment, then, is deserving of an offence done against an object of an infinite worth?

Adam and Eve, you and I, have sinned against a being of infinite worth, of infinite majesty and glory, of infinite beauty and goodness, of infinite righteousness and holiness, of infinite love and mercy and compassion.

If we truly understood the worth of the nature of the One whom we’ve sinned against, it would appear, that the severity of the judgments is not as severe as it ought to be.

In fact, I would go so far as to say, that despite the severity of the judgments, Genesis 3 reveals more than anything, God’s mercy and compassion towards his image bearers, despite them being so unworthy of such mercy and compassion.

And this is now where I want us to turn our attention.

Despite Genesis 3 communicating God’s judgments against human rebellion, there are also patterns of his mercy and compassion all throughout Genesis 3. There are glimmers of hope.

God’s mercies that point to hope

First, notice the contrast between how God first approaches the man and the woman verses how he approaches the serpent.

a.    God comes to Adam and Eve like a Shepherd looking for his wandering sheep

He comes to Adam and Eve like a shepherd seeking his wandering sheep, like a father seeking his wandering children.

He enters into dialogue with them. “Where are you? Who told you? What have you done?”

There is an affection here for his image bearers.

You don’t see this with the serpent.

There’s no dialogue between God and the Serpent. God doesn’t allow it.

All there is, is a pronouncement of cursing.

It’s very clear that God’s posture toward his sinful image bearers is vastly distinct than his posture toward the Serpent.

God has a tenderness towards his image bearers.

It’s so important we understand this. God does punish Adam and Eve, but he doesn’t delight in his punishment. He doesn’t delight in the affliction.

If it grieved Adam and Eve to receive God’s judgment, it grieved God more to enact it. Remember this, God wanted to bless them above all else.

b.    God curses the serpent and the land but not his image bearers

Also, notice that God curses the serpent and the ground, but he doesn’t curse the man and the woman.

He does punish them. But the language of cursing is reserved for the serpent and the ground.

The man will feel the effects of the curse upon creation, but God hasn’t placed the curse upon the man himself.

That is a mercy!

c.     The woman will still bring forth children and fulfill the original command that God had given

Third, despite the woman experiencing pain in child bearing, she will still have the honour of bearing children and bringing life into this world.

She brought death, but God has said, “Life will still come from you.”

Every time a woman goes through pregnancy and labour and a child is born, we’re reminded of the horrific pain that comes as a result of disobedience, but we’re also reminded of the incredible mercy of God and the hope we have from God, that life has come and God hasn’t abandoned the human race.

He’s the God of life, not death!

d.    The man’s relationship to his wife is not so severe that there’s no hope for restoration [v20]

Fourth, in [v20] the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 

He gives her the name “life” that’s what Eve means.

I think this moment demonstrates two things in the narrative.

First, it demonstrates that the relationship between the man and the woman, though damaged, can be restored.

Though there will be conflict between the two, there is hope in healing for this relationship.

The other thing I think this act demonstrates is that Adam believed the promise that God made in [v15].

Eve’s actions didn’t bring life. It brought death, but Adam calls her Eve, and I think the reason he does so, is because he believes the promise that God pronounces in [v15] that there will be a seed of the woman that will crush the head of the serpent.

And instead of Adam blaming Eve, Adam now sees Eve as essential to God’s plan of bringing restoration.

There’s mercy and hope at work.

e.    God provides sacrificial garments to clothe their nakedness [v20]

Fifth, notice in [v21] that God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

This is the act of a loving provider, who meets their particular need in a tangible way.

They were attempting to cover their nakedness in [v7] by themselves, but now God gives to them garments of skins to cover their nakedness.

Another act of mercy on the part of God.

And I have no doubt, that this is a foreshadowing of the language that is used in the scriptures by which God will save us and clothe us in the righteous garments of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 61:10

            [10] I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;

                        my soul shall exult in my God,

            for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

                        he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

Our attempt to cover our shame and nakedness with fig leaves and loincloths isn’t sufficient. But God has provided garments that are sufficient.

Another act of mercy.

Genesis 3 is full of mercy and even hope, and no greater place is this communicated than in the words that God speaks to the serpent in [v14-15]. It’s devastating for the snake but full of mercy and hope for God’s image bearers.

f.     God promises that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the snake

In [v14] God communicates the utter humiliation and total defeat of the serpent, and in [v15], we get a glimpse into what this total defeat will look like.

I alluded to this at the beginning but I want to go a little deeper into the meaning and significance of this passage.

God says that he will put enmity between the serpent and the woman.

There’s a hostility between the serpent and the woman.

And this hostility is partly the result of the promise that God makes.

Also, there is an enmity between the woman’s offspring/seed and between the serpent’s offspring/seed.

What in the world does that mean?

The serpent has offspring? Not physical offspring, but spiritual offspring.

Remember, in this act of rebellion, human beings did not become free. They became slaves to the Serpent.

This is why 1 John 5:19 says that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

In Ephesians 2, writing to Christians, Paul speaks of their former life before they were saved by Jesus and he describes them as, “following the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”

1 John 3:8 [8] Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

Remember, when Jesus confronted the Pharisees, who did he say their father was?

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.

In other words, Genesis 3:15, the human race is divided into two communities.

The collective offspring of the woman, and the collective offspring of the serpent.

The offspring of the woman, collectively, is referring to the elect of God, those who love God and have entered into covenant relationship with God by faith filled obedience.

The offspring of the serpent, those who are under the reign of the dark lord Satan, who love sin and remain in a state of disobedience and rebellion against God, and don’t believe.

Here is the hostility in our world. There is a hostility from the serpent and his children against God and his children.

I don’t think it’s random, that right after this passage, we have Cain (representing the seed of the serpent) killing his brother (the seed of the woman).

But the text also demonstrates that there’s a specific seed of the woman, who bruises the serpent’s head. He will give a fatal blow to the serpent’s head, but also the serpent will bruise his heel.

In other words, there’s a singular seed from the collective seed that will give a fatal blow to the serpent, but also will himself suffer horrifically at the hands of the serpent.

This specific seed of the woman will also be harmed.

And in Galatians 4:4, Paul writes:

[4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, (ESV)

This is the seed of the woman that would bruise the head of the serpent but also have his heel bruised.

And when you come to the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), there is immediate conflict between Satan and Jesus.

Even in his infancy, Satan seeks to kill Jesus through the hands of king Herod, and Jesus as an infant, escapes to Egypt under the care of his mother and Joseph.

Satan doesn’t kill him in his infancy, so he comes to him as he begins his public ministry, and for forty days and forty nights the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness, hoping that he might fall as the first Adam fell, but Jesus prevailed once again there.

And all through Jesus’ ministry, Satan is taking blow after blow, because Jesus is continually overcoming the powers of darkness and setting people free from demonic captivity and granting the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life.

Jesus is setting the captives free, and the culmination of this war, when this moment of head bruising and heal bruising takes places, is at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ…. It’s the same event.

Satan enters into Judas to betray Jesus, and as a result of the betrayal, Jesus is arrested, falsely accused, and then flogged and condemned and nailed to a cross.

The snake has bruised his heel, but little did Satan know, that his striking the heel of Jesus would be the very act by which his head would be crushed.

Because the scriptures testify that it was through the death of Jesus Christ that he abolished the power of Satan.

1 John 3:8 says:

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (ESV)

But how did he do this? How did Jesus actually bruise the head of the serpent?

The simplest way to answer this is by asking, “What is Satan’s goal/aim? And what is his weaponry?”

What is his aim/goal? And what is the weaponry that he uses to try and accomplish his aim/goal?

Genesis 3 demonstrates, that Satan’s goal is to bring division between the image bearers and God.

He wants to destroy the relationship that the image bearers have with God. He wants to sever that relationship. He wants humanity to be driven out of the presence of God and experience the fullness of what that means which is both physical and spiritual death.

That’s his goal. When Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, because of their sin, Satan was rejoicing.

What’s his weaponry? What is it that separates us from God? What is it that destroys our relationship to God? What is it that keeps us from re-entering the garden to experience the fullness of God’s presence?

It’s a simple answer: Our sin.

The weaponry that Satan uses against us is our own sin. He drives a wedge between us and God because of our sin.

Sin condemns us before God, and Satan takes our sin and reminds us of our guilt and our shame and that before God we stand condemned. He’s trying to keep us enslaved to sin. He’s trying to keep us from returning to God.

So how then does Jesus bruise the head of the Serpent?

He eradicates the weaponry of Satan, and therefore, disarms Satan, and therefore Satan’s goal is futile.

When Jesus died on that cross, the Bible makes clear that he took our sin and he put it to death through his own death.

He eradicated the sin that condemned us, separated us from God, and therefore, Satan has lost the one fundamental weapon he could use to keep us separated from God.

In Colossians 2 14-15, Paul says that Jesus took our record of debt. This record of debt is our sin, and this record of debt stands against us. It condemns, and Satan uses this record of debt against us.

But Paul tells us that Jesus cancelled the record of debt that condemned us. How? He set it aside, made it null and void. How? by nailing it to the cross.

He took our debt of sin and put it to death. He eradicated our sin into oblivion.

Satan has lost his weapon against us, and that’s why Paul says that through this debt being cancelled, God disarmed the rulers and authorities (demonic powers, Satan and his minions), and because of this, he put them to open shame, triumphing over them in Christ.

And this is why in Romans 8, in Jesus paying our debt of sin, Paul declares emphatically, in Romans 8:1:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

It’s why several verses later, in Romans 8:33, Paul asks:

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? Who is to condemn? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

And the answer is, “No one and nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of Christ.”

As Paul says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”

Satan cannot condemn those who have received Christ by faith, because Christ has eradicated their sin forevermore, and Satan has no weaponry.

And this is why brothers and sisters, when Jesus was bruising the head of the serpent while dying on the cross, what happened in the temple in Jerusalem?

The veil guarding access to the Holy of holies (entrance into God’s presence) with the cherubim stitched upon it, was rend from top to bottom.

Matthew 27:50–51

[50] And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. [51] And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. (ESV)

The veil which had the cherubim stitched upon it, the veil that was a reminder that the way to God was still closed because of sin, when Jesus died, that veil was torn from top to bottom, and the way to God had now been opened, because sin had been atoned for and Satan was disarmed and defeated.

Entrance back into the garden is now possible through Jesus. (I am the way the truth and the life …. )

______________This is the mercy and hope that is foreshadowed here in Genesis 3.

God makes a promise that a seed from the woman would come in the fullness of time and crush the Serpents head and in so doing will suffer himself, and that seed is none other than Jesus Christ.

He is the seed of the woman but he is also the Son of heaven, and he is the Saviour of the world, the only and true deliverer of those who would but receive him and believe upon him.

Some of you are here, and you’ve never seen just how horrific the predicament is that you’re in.

Genesis 3 says that every human being is under sin and under the penalty of death and under the tyranny of Satan.

Your greatest problem is sin. Because your sin condemns you! Your greatest enemy is Satan because he holds you captive.

And there’s nothing you can do to deal with your greatest problem which is sin. You can’t overcome it. You can’t defeat it. Not only that, there’s nothing you can do to free yourself from your greatest enemy, the devil. You are bound to him.

But here’s the glorious good news of Genesis 3:15.

There is One who has defeated your greatest problem (sin) by dying on the cross for your sins, and there is One who has overcome your greatest enemy (Satan), by taking from him the power of death and destroying his condemning accusations against you.

But you must be willing to humble yourself and embrace Jesus and trust that what he has done for you is true.

The only way to receive his victory is to acknowledge that you can’t deliver yourself, only Jesus can.

It’s to humbly admit that you can’t break the chains of sin, but Jesus has.

It’s to humbly admit that you can’t defeat Satan’s tyranny, but Jesus has.

Or here’s another way to think of it. So long as you think you can cover your sin, shame and nakedness with your own fig leaves from the condemning accusations of the serpent, you will never know the gracious covering that Jesus can provide through the garments he gives.

Christ offers you his garment of righteousness, but it won’t be yours so long as you attempt to continue to clothe your nakedness and shame with the fig leaves you think are sufficient to hide your nakedness. You must come to Jesus with nothing except your nakedness and shame, and then you will receive his heavenly garments to clothe you.

He will take your sin and clothe you in his righteousness.

This is where salvation begins. It begins with you humbly coming to Jesus and crying out, “I’m naked, clothe me. I’m blind, help me to see. I’m deaf, cause me to hear. I’m dead, make me alive. I’m lost, find me. I’m a slave, set me free. I’m guilty, acquit me. This is where salvation begins. It’s to come as a poor naked beggar before the King of grace, believing that the King of grace and mercy will not cast you out, nor condemn you as a rebel, but will instead place his royal garment upon you and say with the deepest affections, “Come to my table and feast with me, my friend, my brother, my sister, come and be filled.”

What more does Jesus have to do for you to abandon your fig leaves and embrace the garments he offers you?

You don’t have to remain under the condemning tyranny of the snake. You can become a child of the living God by embracing the One who conquered the snake on the cross for your sins.

____________________To those of you who’ve already placed your faith and confidence in the snake crusher, let me say this to you.

Genesis 3 reminds us, that despite our salvation in Jesus, we still in this life will face many of the pains of Genesis 3.

But we have a hope that what Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection (our redemption and the crushing of Satan) will find its completion on the day of resurrection.

A day is coming when the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet.

Let's pray.