Faithful to the End

Introduction:

If you have your Bible open to Genesis 3:15. This will be our first stop among many as we look at a remarkable story across the pages of Scripture.

We live in an age of extreme skepticism. There is a general distrust that humans have toward one another and we see this permeate a multitude of dimensions.

Parenting: Stranger Danger.

Relationships: Where have you been?

Perhaps we see it most in our attitudes toward our leaders. A politician might make a multitude of promises while on the campaign trail and their ability to keep them will sway opinion on their ability to lead.

Promise Trackers

There could be a multitude of reasons for a politician not to keep a promise. Maybe they get into office and realize they don’t have the power they thought they would have, or maybe they made a promise that was too big and unrealistic, or perhaps their intention was never to keep the promise, to begin with.

When broken promises are coupled with the egregious scandals that are heard in the news no wonder we struggle to trust leadership.

If at the highest level of power in our culture deep-rooted trust issues exist, how are we supposed to approach a relationship with a God we can’t see and maybe sometimes we feel like we don’t know or hear from? When things don’t pan out how we think they ought it feels like a broken promise from the God above.

Yet scripture testifies to the faithfulness of God throughout the pages of each book and even when his people are not faithful, he comes through on his promises to redeem them.

God too has made a lot of promises, and some lofty ones at that. A promise to redeem a broken people, bent on running from him, even if they aren’t willing to comply.

The biblical story is an outline of the love of God towards his creation as he works out his plan to bring us back to him.

As we look today to one of God’s first and biggest promises we will see this truth ring out loud and clear: God’s track record proves one thing, he is faithful to the end.

Set-Up: What is the promise and why is it necessary?

Context

Genesis three is the first chapter of scripture after the creation narrative. Chapter one details the creation of the earth and chapter two examines in greater detail the creation of man and woman in the image of God, their role on the earth, and their relationship with God.

The man and woman are set in this garden and it seems perfect. They have everything they could ever need and it is seemingly perfect.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” -- Ge 2:15–17.

“And the man and his wife were both naked and unashamed”-- Gen. 2:25.

Adam and Eve had it made. Everything was right and at their disposal. But one thing, just one, is off limits.

They fail and they eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thinking they are seizing autonomy when in reality they have just enslaved themselves to darkness.

The land is cursed, the serpent who tempted Eve is cursed and Adam and Eve are punished with pain and banishment from the Garden. (Read 3:8-14).

In an odd way, this brings us to our text. I hope you had your finger on verse 15 because this is where our promise is pronounced.

The Promise

At a first glance, this may not seem like a promise. In fact, it is a curse pronounced on the serpent.

Much has been said about this verse. Some claim it speaks to the general animosity between humans and snakes (a point I understand fully: Fishing with Brandon on black water). It appears to be more significant.

An ongoing conflict between the woman and her offspring and the serpent. A real spiritual reality exists around us now and we sense it in the darkness we encounter in struggles with sin and suffering in the earthly realm.

Protoevangelium: the first pronouncement of the gospel. God is looking at the humans he has created and saying, “what you have ruined today I work for your good and my glory, and alas I will restore everything.”

Why is it necessary?

Perhaps it just seems like this is an Adam and Eve problem. Child rearing will now cause Eve a great deal of physical and emotional anguish and Adam will break his back over a cursed ground. They are banished from the garden and they discover their nakedness, but what does this have to do with us?

Federal Headship

Now humanity has this sin problem. We are endowed with sinful natures and separated from God.

Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

Genesis 3:15, however, shows us that baked into the fall was redemption. God does not concede his creation to the serpent. He had a plan, and in fact, always did have a plan. He is not surprised or scrambling around for ideas, He is in control even at humanity’s darkest moment.

From this moment forward we are looking for the deliverer. Any Hebrew reader would be stirred to hope that this offspring of the women is coming to set us free and you're looking for him earnestly.

Who is the Genesis 3:15 Savior?

The announcement of a deliverer

Genesis 3 announces this deliverer and offers a few characteristics of that deliverer to keep in our minds.

One particular seed, a singular male offspring, stands out as the hope for all humanity.

He will battle evil and receive a minor blow, but he will deliver a death blow and triumph.

Each offspring is a candidate for the one who will deliver the death blow.

It begs the question then, who is the deliverer?

Noah (5:29)

After Adam and his sons Noah is the next Notable character in the biblical story. A descendent of Seth he fits the description of a male offspring and he is in the line of a righteous man.

Immediately we are drawn to ask “could this be the deliverer?” In the genealogy that leads up to Noah he is proclaimed about him “Out of the ground the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief” (Gen. 5:29). It sounds like a perfect description of who this savior might be.

Noah means rest and out of the ground the Lord has cursed is a call back to Genesis 3:17. There is real hope in Noah.

Well, Noah is a male descendant he is declared to be one who will bring rest, so does he strive with evil and win?

To some extent, yes. We see in chapter 6 the ways of men on earth became so evil that the Lord grieved in his heart, but Noah found favor with God, and he walked with God. So, God chose him to build an ark and to be the one that would carry on humanity after the flood and he listens.

Don’t look over how crazy it looks to build this ark in that day, in a desert. But he does it even amidst the evil of his generation and the Lord blesses him. Not only is he carried through the flood, but God re-establishes his covenant and promises that he will never again wipe humanity out with a flood. It seems like Noah has won the battle with the Lord.

Turning a phone off and on to get it to work.

The tragedy of the vineyard. (9:20-28)

So Noah isn't the deliverer, His rest was temporary, only a few moments it seems by the reading of our Bible and we leave the story of Noah still looking as humanity continues its downfall.

So we keep reading and we get to Abraham. Through Abraham, we can begin to narrow down the candidate. God promises Abraham that it would be through him that the nations would be blessed. That promise is then passed down to Abraham’s son Issac, then God chooses Issac’s son Jacob over Esau to continue the covenant.

Joseph

Jacob has twelve sons in total, with four different women, but his favorite son is without a doubt, Joseph. He is the oldest and for some time the only son of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel.

As far as candidates for Gen. 3:15 deliver go Joseph is at the top of the list. He’s a male descendant from the covenant family and as we look at his story you will see that he indeed strives with evil.

Sold into slavery (37:25-28)

Joseph being the favorite son of his father was not received well by his other sons . . . obviously.

Adding insult to injury Jacob makes Joseph this elaborate rob of many colors and his brothers hate him.

Further, Joseph has these dreams where he sees himself ruling over his brothers and they bow down to him.

So his brothers devise a plan one day while they are shepherding. Joseph comes, in his robe, and they plan to kill him. So they throw him in a pit while they plot their course (Read passage).

They lie to Jacob saying he was killed and the story continues with Joseph in Egypt.

Joseph and Potiphar’s wife

Things pan out well for Joseph in Egypt and he is sold to Potiphar, the captain of the Egyptian guard, and the Lord grants him success and he is put in charge of the whole house.

Joseph has a problem though, he was handsome in form and appearance (a good problem to have). Potiphar’s wife sees this and desires him. Joseph is a faithful servant though and refuses. “8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.” (Ge 39:8–10.)

She is unrelenting and we read on. “But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. 13 And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, 14 she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” 16 Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. 18 But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.” (Ge 39:11–18.)

Potiphar, believing his wife, is furious and throws Joseph in jail, and again Joseph has nothing.

Joseph in Jail

Still in Jail God does not forget about Joseph. It just so happens that the cupbearer and personal chef of Pharaoh are in jail with him. And they have dreams, which Joseph has some experience with, and Joseph, by the power of God, interprets their dreams to a tee and he says they will be lifted out of jail. He requested that they tell Pharaoh that it was he who interpreted their dreams.

Well it happens just as Joseph says and they are lifted out and the cupbearer is restored to his office but forgets Joseph.

Until Pharaoh has a dream that cannot be interpreted.

Joseph perfectly interprets the dreams from Pharaoh predicting the famine to come and instructs Pharoah on what to do. Not only is he lifted from jail but he is put over all the land of Egypt. Only in terms of the throne is Pharaoh more powerful than Joseph.

Through this Joseph saves millions of lives in Egypt through the famine, including his family, and he is reunited with Jacob and his brothers before Jacob dies. He forgives his brothers and utters one of the most beautiful and theologically significant phrases in all the Bible, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Ge 50:20).

Jacob strives with evil and wins three times over and certainly, he is harmed in the process, but to what degree? Is this the triumphant death blow promised in chapter three?

At the end of his story, Jacob blesses his sons, and Joseph isn’t prescribed the blessing of royalty, which was given to Judah (best of the brothers, still gross), and Joseph dies and we move on to Exodus. It isn’t very triumphant and it isn’t what we expect the deliverer to look like, because he isn’t the promised one, so we move on.

Remember, Moses is recording these accounts, passed down from the generations before him, and is delivering to the generation of Israelites who have just left the land of Egypt after they had been oppressed for four hundred years and are now wandering through the desert because God has promised them a place to live. For these people, a redeemer is everything, and trust in God is necessary to hold on.

Joshua

After Joseph’s story, we skip 400 years to the story of Moses and the Exodus. The people of God are oppressed in Egypt and through Moses, they are delivered and God re-establishes His covenant with Moses. Moses dies without entering the promised land and his command is passed to Joshua.

Joshua is commissioned to be the leader to lead Israel into the promised land and give them rest.

The promise is about rest (Noah)

Noah is pronounced as one who will give us rest.

Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.- (Jos 1:2–7).

Joshua carries on God’s work of redemption and he strives with evil, the inhabitants of the land that Israel is to possess, and he is victorious as we just read.

Choose whom you will serve

Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”- ( Jos 24:14–150.

Joshua gives the people rest and helps to fulfill part of the covenant and as he dies he charges the people to stay the course, and they swear they will.

But turn the page to Judges and oh boy. Not only do they fail to gather all the land after Joshua’s death (Judges 1) and in chapter two they worship Baal, and the whole of the book is a truly gross picture of a nation that is not seeking God.

I see no reason in even trying to find the deliverer in the Judges. All of the judges are people of great compromise that God uses to keep working his plan. But all they do is offer a few years of peace before the county is thrust back into wretched idolatry and gross humanitarian atrocities. It's really tragic and the rest offered through Joshua seems to be just a fleeting moment in redemption history, so we keep looking.

David

By the time we arrive at the book of 1st Samuel Israel is fed up, they are tired of the uncertainty of the Judges, so they turn back to the Lord right? No!

They ask Samuel for a king, rejecting God, and continuing this cycle of unfaithfulness.

1 Samuel 8:4-9

So, God grants them their request and appoints Saul to be king of Israel. His heart is not with the Lord and God quickly takes from him the throne.

(1 Sam. 16:11-13)

Anointed to be king.

Humble beginnings

Shepard

We know of David’s many accolades in triumphing over evil throughout his story.

David and Goliath

David and Saul

David and Israel’s enemies (2 Sam. 8)

Philistines

Moab

Hadadezer

And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went (2 Sam. 8:14b)

At a glance David seems to be the guy. He defeats Israel’s enemies and enjoys great prosperity throughout his reign. In 2 Sam. 7 we are told that the Lord gave david rest. Remember again back to Noah the deliverer is one who will give the people rest.

2 Sam. 7: 8-17

Everlasting covenant

Established throne

Disciplined (bruised heal)

David’s sin

Sin with Basheba

Rebuked, his child days, and his sons are cursed with the sord.

Because of this his sons rebel and commit their own acts of wickedness

Absolom conspires to take his kingdom

David ends his life in bed with a young woman and its a tragic end.

David does nothing to settle the score with evil and ultimateley continues man’s sins problem and his sons are doomed to the same fate. They fail to establish David’s throne of righteousness and Justice. But God is faithful

God establishes his covenant with David though and further narrows the description of the coming Deliverer. A male descendent who will triumph over evil, though receiving a blow himself, and now we know from the line of David.

David’s sons are not convincing and the kingdom is splitand exiled. A continuous cycle.

Malachai 4

Then for 500 hundred years . . . silence.

The Revealed Messiah:

Matthew 1:18-25

To save his people from their sins.

I know you know the story and you’ve been waiting for me to get to Jesus sine I started, but don’t think about this with your NT lens on. The people of God waited thousands of years and for the past 500 years they heard nothing.

How long are we willing to wait for good news?

Just for someone to text or call us back?

And a baby boy? Born to a poor family in some barn in a small town. This is the promised deliverer?

We do know the story. Jesus grows in wisdom and stature and ultimately finds himself on a cross, bruised heel, and he dies. Just like everyone else we’ve tallked about. Sure he didn’t sin in egregious ways like the others, but he also did’e establish kingdoms like the others. He is the least impressive and his story ends the same way.

But it doesn’t, he rises three days later. He defeats evil, the death blow to the head. How do we know satan is defeated?

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Re 12:9–12).

So What?

Why spend the time retelling a story we know so well? Because once again we’re waiting. We live in an age where God has fulfilled his promise to conquer the evil one yet we are still waiting on his return, to seal the deal.

In the mean time though we have been called to faithfully live as servants. Patiently waiting and enduring.

The story of redemption from Genesis 3 to Revalation 22 should fill you with hope and encouragement that you can trust God to be faithful.

Not that everything will go according to your plan, but he will work all thinks out for his glory and your good.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Ro 8:28).

So whats the call? I don’t know your story what you’re still waiting on the Lord to accomplish.

Faithfull follower

Season of spiritual deprevation

Not a Christian at all.

You can trust God. He hasn’t failed once and the story of Christ proves he is faithful to his people.

If I did anything today I hope I showed you that he is immensely trust worthy. We often project onto God views we hold of fallen humanity, we had bad fathers and we don’t trust God as father, we feel betrayed my friends and partners and struggle to trust God. When we don’t trust God what were really saying is we don’t trust ourselves and the people around us and were projecting that onto Him.

If Genesis 3:15 and the Old Testament testify to anything it’s that when people mess everything up God “steps in” and says “I’ve got this, Ive got you, nd where you have failed I will work to bring glory to my name”.

How do we live like this?

Know these stories of faithfulness.

Practice generosity

Forgive those who have been unfaithful to you.

Conclusion:

“The work of redemption is carried on from the fall of man to the end of the world.”- Jonathan Edwards.

Whether you trust him or not God is moving and working even now.

God wants to use you. This work is carried out through Faithful individuals throughout history, but we must me workable. We must trust him.

I don’t know your story, where you are with God right now, and where your faith stands, but I do know this the God of the garden is the same God of Noah, of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, of Joseph, of Moses and Joshua, of David, he is the same God who spoke through the prophets, and he is the same God who took on flesh as a baby boy to die that sinners like you and me might find freedom in his hands. Thats a God I can trust and a God worth serving with everything I am.