The sermon titled 'The Wages of Sin' by Jason Dohm delves into the biblical consequences of sin as narrated in Genesis 3:14-19. The phrase 'the wages of sin is death' from Romans 6:23 is explored, where the spiritual, physical, and eternal ramifications of sin are explained. The sermon introduces the concept of 'proto-evangelion,' or the first gospel, which foreshadows Jesus Christ as the champion who will crush the serpent's head. The speaker reflects on the altered human nature and relationships post the fall, highlighting the spiritual death and estrangement from God that Adam and Eve's rebellion caused. The notion of 'talionic justice' is discussed, where the punishment fits the crime, as seen in the consequences faced by Adam, Eve, and the serpent. The sermon concludes with an invitation to cast off the curse through faith in Christ, who bears the curse and offers eternal life.

The title of the sermon this morning is The Wages of Sin. And that's a very familiar phrase taken from Romans chapter 6 verse 23. Listen to what Paul writes to Roman believers in Romans 6.23, Paul writes, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We actually find that in today's text we have both. We have both that the wages of sin is death and all sorts of things that sort of go into the category of death like pain and sorrow and toil and sweat.

But we also have what commentators call the first gospel or the proto-evangelion. How do you like that for a word? Proto Evangelion, the first gospel. It is a bit veiled, but it's there. A promise that God would send a champion to crush the head of our great enemy is there.

Of course, Jesus is the great fulfillment of that prophecy. When the apostle Paul wrote those words, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. He wasn't bringing something forth new, bringing forth something new. This is not New Testament teaching, it is Bible teaching and we're finding it here in Genesis chapter three. Now, Before I get going on this week's text, let me do a little cleanup on last week's text.

I had a nagging feeling that I had forgotten important things. I started last week's sermon by saying, occasionally a preacher has to preach a sermon on a text that full-length books are written about, and certainly that was last week's sermon. I went back through my notes and I found a lot of things that I wish I had said. But let me give you three that I think are important just to say so that they've been said at some point. Number one, last week I didn't address God's assertion in the command that Adam and Eve would surely die in the day that the forbidden fruit was eaten.

The serpent had said, you won't surely die. But God had said, you'll surely die in the day that you eat of it. So I never addressed, what about God's assertion? Did that happen? And the answer is a resounding yes, that happened.

When you look through scripture, we saw this especially in our study of Romans, but when you look through scripture you find that death is not just the one single thing that we think of, physical death, you're breathing and then you're not breathing, your heart's beating and then your heart's not beating, but that biblically speaking it is a category that includes that but more than just that. There is spiritual death, estrangement from God, being dead to the things of the Spirit so that you can't even receive the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness to you. Why? Because you're spiritually dead. We're now all born in that condition.

More babies will be born here in this congregation. They'll all be born that way, spiritually dead, estranged from God with a bent away from the things that God loves and a bent towards the things that he hates. And then there's physical death, heart beating, heart not beating, breathing, not breathing. And then finally, eternal death. Revelation, the book of Revelation actually calls this the second death.

Your physical death is the least of your problems. The question is then what? And for those who are not found to be in Jesus Christ by faith, there is an eternal death and always dying but never dead, eternal estrangement from God, eternal punishment by God. Listen to Ephesians chapter 2. I know we go here frequently, but it's so fundamental that I don't think I should apologize for that.

Listen to Ephesians chapter 2. Paul writes to Ephesians, and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath just as the others." So Paul here is writing to people who are physically alive. Their heart's beating, they are breathing, so they're physically alive. And he says, you were dead. What does he mean by that?

He's talking, you were spiritually dead, estranged from God, dominated by your lusts and your natural inclinations, he says, you were by nature children of wrath. What does that mean? That means that God doesn't have to wait for you to act out of your nature and sin, he's angry just because of what you're like. And if he gives you just a little room and opportunity, you'll prove it by sinning. But he knew what you were like even before you proved it, given the opportunity, you were by nature just living out of what you're like.

God is angry about what you're like because he knows the things that he loves, you don't love those things, the things that he hates, you don't hate those things. That's number one. It didn't address God's assertion in the command that Adam and Eve would surely die in the day that the forbidden fruit was eaten. They surely did die. It was spiritual death and physical death would follow and for anyone who doesn't repent and believe, eternal death will follow that and you'll have every category of death that you would have experienced.

Number two, it isn't accurate to think of our many sins in exactly the same way as we see in Genesis 3. It's easy to read Genesis 3 and think well I said all the time they did that and just move on from there. It's not right to think of it in exactly the same way. Before Genesis 3, Ephesians 2, what I just wrote, by nature children of wrath, dead in sins and transgressions. Before Genesis 3, Ephesians 2 did not describe Adam and Eve.

You and I were born like that, but they weren't made like that. What happens in Genesis chapter 3 and rebelling against God and sin coming into the world fundamentally changed our nature so that we're born spiritually dead. Now this doesn't excuse any of our sins, but we were born with this corrupt nature which gives us a strong attraction towards our sins that Adam and Eve did not have before Genesis 3. This rebellion that you see in Genesis 3 is not coming out of an indwelling inborn strong attraction towards rebellion against God. You've never once in your life sinned in the way that Adam and Eve sinned because you do, you were born with this strong attraction.

This bent against God. Adam and Eve had a direct unburdened relationship with God. Even in Christ we don't think of our, we don't see ourselves, we don't experience what we're seeing in Genesis 3 with God showing up to walk in the cool of the day. This is a direct unburdened relationship with God and they didn't have this indwelling strong attraction towards disobedience which made Genesis 3 an act of treason against God that even surpasses our own sins against God. And therefore the sin that we see in Genesis 3 transformed the fundamental nature of our entire race in such a destructive way.

That's why destruction is coming in to everything that we know. That's number two. It isn't accurate to think of our many sins in the same exact way as what we see in Genesis 3. Number three, and finally, and then I'll be done with the introduction. Won't that be wonderful?

Number three, consider how gracious God's confrontation of their sin was. So God comes, Adam, where are you? And he starts asking questions, embarrassing questions, hard questions, challenging questions. And we say, uh-oh. And we should be thinking, God, that's so kind of you.

They're both there. It is uh-oh. But it is also a symbol of the kindness of God, an expression of the kindness of God. Listen to what Matthew Henry says, this inquiry after Adam may be looked upon as a gracious pursuit in kindness to him in order to his recovery. It's God showing up to recover him.

If God had not called to him to reclaim him, his condition would have been as desperate as that of fallen angels. This lost sheep would have wandered endlessly if the good shepherd had not sought after him to bring him back. I'd never thought that thought, but that's such an important thought. God showing up to confront him in his sin is the first step to his recovery. And it is so true that this lost sheep would have wandered endlessly unless God shows up to say, Adam, where are you?

Alright, here endeth the introduction. Let's pray. God, I thank you for this text, and I pray that it would do its purpose. We don't see sin as you see it. We don't see it as it is.

So we don't hate it like we should. I know this text is here to teach us to see it more like it is and to hate it more like we should and I pray that it would do this work among us in Jesus name amen. Let's subdivide starting in chapter 3 verse 14 so I'll read 14 and 15 we'll consider these two verses by themselves 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 in these verses we have God's curse on the serpent and the promise of a champion. So if you're filling in blanks, if you're taking notes that way, first blank curse fills it in, the second blank champion fills it in.

God's curse on the serpent and the promise of a champion. The first thing I should say is this. The implications of all that is said affects both the party that is spoken to and all that would come after that party from that party. So it's spoken to the serpent but it includes all the snakes up till today. It is spoken to the woman and it includes all women up to today.

It is spoken to the man and it includes all men up to today. This includes me. Snakes still crawl on their bellies and eat dust. Women still have pain in childbearing. Men still toil and struggle to provide.

So it is for the party right in front of God as he's speaking, but it's also, it is not just for that party, but all but for their descendants. The second thing I should say is this. Last week I said that the questions from God were not informational. God knew where Adam was. God knew the answer to all his questions before he asked them.

The point wasn't God getting information. The point was a revelation to Adam and Eve about what they had done. I said those questions were part of a sort of courtroom setting. Sort of what you would see play out in a courtroom. This text is a continuation of that.

Matthew Henry says this, the prisoners being found guilty by their own confession, God immediately proceeds to pass sentence. So we had the questions in a type of a courtroom setting and now God is proceeding to pass sentence. Now the serpent or the snake. Verse 1 said that the serpent was more cunning than all the animals. Now the serpent is more cursed than all the animals.

The serpent was actually is marked out as a sort of privileged creation and that God made the serpent more cunning, now he is more cursed. God says, because you have done this, because you've deceived the woman, led her into sin, attempted her to sin. You are cursed more. Is all the animal kingdom cursed? Watch a nature documentary.

Just pick one to watch it. It's a very brutal world. You're either a predator or a prey or both. Even the predators eventually become prey, you know that. Last week I quoted Romans 8, 21, and 22 that the whole creation groans under the bondage of corruption.

Sin did that. It makes the whole creation, including all of the animal kingdom, grown under the bondage of corruption. The animal kingdom was not a brutal world before Genesis chapter 3. Sin did that. Sin made nature documentaries horrifying in a way that you can't look away from.

Isn't that true? Like... But God cursed the serpent more than all other animals and sentenced serpents to crawl on their bellies and eat dust all their days. Listen to this note from the Reformation Heritage Study Bible. I found this fascinating.

Reformation Heritage Study Bible has this note. Snakes have the Jacobson's organ. Have you ever heard of that? I never had. Snakes have the Jacobson's organ in the roof of their mouths that helps the snake to smell by the forked tongue constantly sampling bits of dust.

They literally eat dust. They have an organ, They're always sampling the dust that's around them. That's what the fork tongue is all about. It's the way they literally eat dust, not for nourishment, but to detect their surroundings. I should also say that eating dust is used in the Old Testament as figurative language for being laid low by being conquered.

Like you eat dust according to the prophets. If you're laid low by being conquered here's here's an example of that Micah chapter 7 verse 17 listen to Micah 7 17 and it's talking about after God restores Israel What he'll do to the nations that oppressed his people. Here's what he says They shall lick the dust like a serpent It's what the nations will do who oppressed Israel they'll lick the dust like a serpent they shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth they shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of you so this eating dust is a symbol of being laid load by being conquered Now in verse 15 we see a shift and it's apparent that God is no longer talking just talking about a lesser creature or run-of-the-mill snake. When you get to verse 15 you say, whoa a shift has happened here. This isn't just talking about a North Carolina corn snake.

Something different is in view here. God declares that he has established enmity or hatred. Enmity means hatred. God has established hatred between quote, you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. So now this serpent is no run of the mill, North Carolina corn snake.

God is saying, I'm establishing hatred between you and the woman and your seed and her seed. Seed being offspring or descendants or your family line. We don't know it from Genesis 3, so I have to go outside our text, but we know from other clear passages in scripture that Satan is that serpent of old. That's what he's called in a couple of chapters of Revelation. Satan is that serpent of old.

What God is declaring here is an ongoing clash of kingdoms. And before Jesus returns to end this once and for all, the clash is going to be ongoing. The kingdom of the serpent and the kingdom of the seed of the woman. And it started with the serpent and Eve and it has gone down through the ages and is continuing today. You're subject to it, I'm subject to it.

And it is a clash of kingdoms. Alan Ross says this, the fall brought a perpetual struggle between good and evil. There are no days off. There's a perpetual struggle between good and evil. He continues, the second part of the serpent's curse pertains to a perpetual conflict that will end with the seed of the woman delivering a crushing blow after receiving a crippling blow.

That's right. Let me give you four New Testament commentaries on this. So this is how progressive revelation works. So you didn't get all the truth at once in Genesis. You get a deposit of truth in Genesis and it's all true.

It's perfectly true in Genesis but there's a fuller understanding that you get after God has revealed more through time and especially at the consummation or the perfection of revelation with the coming of Jesus and the teaching of Jesus and his disciples, when you have the full canon of scripture, all of scripture, that becomes the lens by which you look back through, even to the things that you understand so much better than they understood reading it until Jesus came. So this is what's happening here. This is commentary. You get the fullness of the truth. It was always true, it was always useful, but now it's you get the completeness of the truth the fullness of the truth listen to Paul in Colossians 2 so I'm gonna give you four here's number one Paul in Colossians 2 verses 13 through 15 he writes and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.

And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." This is all about the work of the cross. Now listen to Colossians 2.15. "'Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. So Paul starts by talking about the work of the cross and then he shifts to commenting on what's actually happening in the spiritual realm. It is the head of the serpent being crushed.

He is triumphing over wicked principalities and powers and making a public spectacle of them in the work of the cross. So his heel is being bruised or crushed in the work of the cross. He is suffering in the work of the cross, one in the same time he is crashing the head of his spiritual adversary, the devil. Two, number two, Maybe even better still. First John 3 verse 8.

First John chapter 3 verse 8. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." In Genesis chapter 3 we see the works of the devil on display. He came and he tricked the woman and she took the bait and she gave to her husband and was with her and our whole race was plunged into corruption. But we have this promise that the seed of the woman will come and crush the head of the serpent.

Why was the Son of God manifested? Why did Jesus Christ come to earth to destroy the works of the devil? Number three, maybe better still. Hebrews chapter two verse 14, listen to Hebrews chapter two verse 14. In as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood he himself speaking of the Lord Jesus He himself likewise shared in the same that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death that is the devil so he had to partake of flesh and flesh and blood to come and be a champion on behalf of mankind, he had to take on humanity and be born of a woman, to be the seed of the woman, the appointed champion to crush the head of the serpent on behalf of humanity.

So that he through death, through the work of the cross, his heel being bruised or his heel being crushed might destroy him who had the power of death. That is the devil. Number four, finally, maybe the best of all for us. Romans 16 verse 20. Listen to Romans 16 verse 20.

Paul writes to the Romans, and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. So this is saying something a little different. It's saying we get to participate. Participate. Union with Christ allows you, gives you the privilege of participating in Satan being crushed by the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ.

The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet, believer, shortly. But just understand there is another side of that coin. Meaning you get to be on the victory side of the warfare, but it means you're in the warfare. Listen to 1 John 3, 13. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.

Why would the world hate us? We just want to walk according to this book. It's a good book. It's telling it. It makes great neighbors out of us.

Why would the world hate you? This book makes great neighbors out of you. This is why. Because God has established hatred between these kingdoms. There's irreconcilable warfare.

It cannot be an end to this war until Jesus returns in victory. Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman who ultimately bruises or crushes the head of Satan, though his heel is bruised or crushed in the saving work of the cross. Jesus is the singular he of Genesis 3.15. So it's clear that this one being spoken of is one, it is he and that it is his heel that is wounded, but he crushes the head of that serpent of old, Satan. So in verse 14, God addresses the creature who was used by Satan to deceive the woman.

Satan worked through the serpent to deceive Eve. Matthew Henry says the devil's instruments must share in the devil's punishments. The serpent was an instrument of the devil And he gets to share in the serpent's punishments, or in the devil's punishments. And in verse 15, God announces this ongoing clash of kingdoms in human history and prophetically announces a champion of mankind, a man, one born of a woman, and for mankind. He's the champion for mankind, just the champion we needed.

Now we know his name, the Lord Jesus Christ. All that time, they never know his name. We can call on his name now. Who conquers and crushes the great enemy of image-bearing humanity. Why does Satan hate us we bear God's image?

Verse 16. Back to Genesis 3 verse 16. To the woman he, God, 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.

Verse 16 we have the wages for the woman. What's her pay for her rebellion against God? These are her wages. This probably seems strange to us. We say, of course childbirth is painful because we don't have a frame of reference for anything else.

But the implication of our text is that God designed pregnancy and childbirth to be radically different than what every woman experiences today. God didn't intend for it to be as it is experienced today. He designed something radically different than that. Our text has to mean that. It was sin that brought sorrow, pain, tears, suffering, sickness, and death into the world.

That means without sin there would have been no sorrow, no pain, no tears, no suffering, no sickness, no death in the world. Childbirth would have been radically different. The two words sorrow, your sorrow and your conception and pain, in pain you shall bring forth children are part of the same Hebrew word group and it means this, pain, labor, word group and it it means this pain labor hardship sorrow toil so all sorts of bad things wrapped up into one word group pain labor hardship sorrow toil We'll see this Hebrew word group again in the pronouncement on man, so put a placeholder for that. I'll come back to that. We're going to see this word group again.

The point is that pregnancy and childbirth have now become a source of pain, labor. A pregnant woman can tell you how exhausting it is. What did you do today? I laid on the couch. How do you feel?

I'm exhausted like I ran a marathon hardship sorrow toil and That would not have been had we not disobeyed God. Look at the second half. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. Now the interpretive key is chapter four, verse seven. So just as probably, it's like your Bible, it's on the same page.

You don't have to go anywhere to look at this. Look at chapter four, verse seven. This is after God had accepted Abel's offering, but looked with disfavor on Cain's offering. Cain hates that and God comes and addresses Cain and at this point it's just a murderous attitude. It isn't murder yet, It's a murderous attitude and here's what God says in chapter 4 verses 6 and 7 but the emphasis is on verse 7.

So the Lord said to Cain Why are you angry and why is your countenance fallen if you do well? Will you not be accepted And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door and its desire for you is for you, but you should rule over it. So in verse 7, the same thing is said to Cain, sin's desire is for you. It's right at the door its desire is for you but you should rule over sin it's the exact same Hebrew words and phrases that is used here in verse 16 in chapter 3 as sin desired to master Cain, it's at the door, you open that door, it's going to master you. As sin desired to master Cain, So the woman will desire to master her husband But as Kane should rule over sin and give it no say and no quarter So the husband will rule over his wife that doesn't sound fun Let's start here Both of these things are the consequences of sin.

A woman's desire to take over the role appointed by God for her husband is the consequence of the corruption brought into the human race by sin. God didn't make it that way. It wasn't that way from the beginning, but it became that way when we rebelled against God. And a man's heavy-handed exercise of authority, the word means to rule, to have dominion, is the consequence of corruption brought into the human race by sin. It wasn't God didn't design it that way, it became that way as a consequence of our rebellion.

So we've gone from a helper comparable and this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Adam sees the woman and he becomes a poet, starts writing poetry. God, you did this. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. And the two shall become one flesh.

I'll take the role God gave you thank you very much. And I'll rule over you with a heavy hand thank you very much the natural headwinds we experience in marriage are the result of mankind's rebellion against God. He didn't design it to be that way. We don't know a day of marriage without them. And we think of them as natural headwinds because everyone experiences that.

Now we surely do have the knowledge of good and evil. Congratulations mankind. This is what your rebellion bought you. Now you do have the knowledge of good and evil. Front row knowledge, experiential knowledge of good and evil.

But it never had to be this way. God didn't make it that way. These headwinds aren't natural at all. If you're going to remember one thing from the sermon, remember this, these headwinds aren't natural. They might be natural in the sense that we all experience it now, that it comes out of the corruption in our nature.

It comes from a rotten nature, okay? It's natural in that way. But it's not natural in the sense that God always intended it to be that way, He did not. That God designed it to be that way, He did not. Here's what Matthew Henry says and it should break your heart.

If man had not sinned, he would have always ruled with wisdom and love. Wives, you could have had a husband like that. Always governing your home with wisdom and love if man had not sinned he would have always Ruled with wisdom and love and if the woman had not sinned She would have always obeyed with humility and meekness And then the dominion would have been no grievance There would have been no sense of friction in that He concludes But our own sin and folly make our yoke heavy. Wouldn't have been a yoke at all, let alone a light yoke. Our own sin and foolishness, our own sin and folly made our yoke heavy before I move on I want to introduce a concept that Alan Ross introduces in his commentary creation and blessing and it's the concept of talionic justice.

What in the world is talionic justice? It is justice where the punishment corresponds to the crime. Here's an example. In Islamic law, if you steal, what do they do? They cut off your hand.

In other words, If you're going to use that hand to take what is isn't yours will just deprive you of your hand So there's a match between the crime and the punishment You use that hand to take something that wasn't yours, so we'll take your hand. You won't be doing that anymore. It's brutal, but it's talionic. It corresponds. Now think of what God pronounces on the woman.

Her place in the world was to be at the side of her image bearing husband as an image bearer herself comparable to him, helping him fill the earth and take dominion over it for the glory of God." So this is what God said in place. Now a part of that, a part that only she can do, how many men do you know of giving birth? You know zero. A part of that that only she can do, pregnancy and child birth, will be characterized by pain, labor, hardship, sorrow, toil. Now the two become one flesh union, which was designed by God to be the closest and sweetest of all relationships, is going to experience our natural headwinds.

You despise the good I planned for you? You want to be the master and not the companion and helper? Okay, I'll build those headwinds into the marriage relationship. Have it! You wanted it, have it!

You despised the sweet as bitter? It was bitter that you couldn't eat that one fruit? Okay. I'll add some actual bitterness. You need to learn about bitterness?

You can learn about bitterness. Hardship and sorrow will now be a part of pregnancy and childbirth, and tension and conflict and power struggle will now be part of the marriage relationship. Talionic justice. Verses 17 Talionic justice. Verses 17 through 19.

Then to Adam he said, Because you've heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying you shall not eat of it Cursed is the ground for your sake In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." these three verses we have the wages for man, the pay due for the rebellion of the man. God begins this way, because you have heeded the voice of your wife. The crime was not the crime of listening to his wife as if it is automatically bad for a husband to listen to his wife.

It's not what we should draw from this. A wife can be and should be a source of verbal encouragements to her husband, which are consistent with the word of God. Praise God for Proverbs 31 women who are godly and speak words of life to their husband may their tribe increase endlessly The crime was listening to his wife when her words contradicted God's words, that's the point that's the crime The crime was listening to her instead of listening to God. Adam tried to shift the blame to Eve. It's the woman that you gave to me.

It was her. God said, no, you never should have hated her when she contradicted me. You did this. You did this. Because Adam did that, God cursed the ground.

In chapter 2, verses 15 and 16, God put Adam in this garden of abundance to tend and keep it. A garden filled with fruit trees from which he could freely eat. Okay, so this is the beginning stage. All right, I have a garden of abundance. I'm putting you in.

Tend it, keep it. It's got fruit trees in it. You can freely eat from the fruit trees. Now he's going to have to toil for it Sweat for it Contend with thorns and thistles for it Plant it harvest it Store it to try to preserve it. Too much rain?

Not enough rain. It's almost ready to harvest and it hails and you lose every blade of what you've been hovering over for four months. Better luck next season. How long? Till death?

Toil, toil, toil. Sweat, sweat, sweat. Die. I formed you from dust. You'll struggle for a lifetime and then return to the dust.

How does that sound? My dad's dad was a wheat farmer. Grandpa Dome was a wheat farmer. And my dad couldn't become a biochemist fast enough. Too much rain?

Not enough rain. It's almost ready to harvest and it hails and you lose every blade of what you've been hovering over for four months. My dad knows that story. My dad has been part of wheat harvest on the cusp of harvest When it hailed out the whole thing and you got nothing from four months of labor Better luck next season. I'll be a biochemist.

Here's what my dad found out Biochemistry has its own version of thorns and thistles of toil and sweat So pick a profession and then learn that profession's version of thorns and thistles of toil and sweat. You cannot escape it by becoming a biochemist. So my dad learned. Again, this word translated toil is the same Hebrew word translated as sorrow in verse 16. The pain, labor, hardship, sorrow, toil that the woman experiences in pregnancy and childbirth will be experienced by the man in his work to provide.

This is just the man's version. The woman gets her version, the man gets his version. Again, talionic justice. You despise the light yoke? Tending and keeping a garden of fruit trees from which you may freely eat?

Fine. Have the heavy yoke. Eat from cultivated fields. Guess who's going to cultivate them? You hate the light yoke?

Have a heavy yoke. Chapter 5 verse 5 we'll see that Adam died when he was 930 years old. All that toil. All that sweat. Then he returned to dust.

We will be like God! God says, return to dust. So much for being like God. King Solomon says this in Ecclesiastes 2, 22 and 23. Listen to Ecclesiastes 2, 22 and 23.

For what has man for all his labor and for the striving of his heart with which he toiled under the sun for all his days are sorrowful and his work burdensome even in the night his heart takes no rest this also is vanity. Friends rebelling against a perfectly good God did this. Rebelling against a perfectly good God did this. Applications, I'll give you three. Number one, expect to be hated.

Don't expect a negotiated peace. If you negotiate the peace, the other side won't keep it, the other side can't keep it. Why? Because God has established hatred between Jesus and his people and the devil and his people. And there's no other kind of person.

You're in one camp or the other. John 8, 44, Jesus says, looks at unbelieving men and says, your father is the devil. Expect to be hated. What can I do different so I'm not hated? There is nothing.

If you want to hold to Christ, Don't expect a negotiated peace. It goes back to Genesis chapter 3 and until you understand that and embrace that, you will not understand the world that's around you. Number two, stop thinking of this as natural. This is a natural. God didn't make it this way.

When we think of it as natural just because everybody experiences it the same thing, so we label it natural, it only blunts hatred of sin. Women, when pregnancy is hard and full of sorrow and pain, childbirth is full of sorrow and pain, It should help us to hate sin. Don't say that's natural. It will only keep you back from hating sin. When you experience marital friction and this conflict that is being described in our text, we should hate sin.

It wasn't made by God to be that way. It should grieve us. Sin did that. Stop thinking of this as natural. Man, When work is frustrating and you get cheated and it seems like it's sucking the best of life out of your life, don't say, well everybody experiences that, that's This is natural.

It's not natural. Sin did that. Hate it. Number three, cast off the curse. Well, the curse is here, I guess there's nothing we can do about it, that's not true, I didn't say that.

There is both of what we saw in Romans 623, for the wages of sin is death. Amen, that's true, that's here in Genesis chapter three. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God has promised a champion of humanity, one born of a woman, for humanity. And it's all fulfilled.

It's before you for the taking. Don't reconcile yourself to the curse. Run to Christ. Turn to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3.

Precious words, Galatians chapter 3 verses 10 through 14, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. So you want righteousness by law keeping? You're under a curse. You want to try to be good enough? You won't be good enough.

You're under a curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law and the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them." Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that We might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Adam is under the curse in Genesis chapter 3. Jesus bears the curse. What is he doing hanging on that tree. He's bearing the curse. Do you want your relationship to God and with God to move back in the direction of before Genesis 3?

Let Jesus bear your curse. Do you want child bearing and child raising to move back in the direction before Genesis 3. Let Jesus bear your curse. Do you want the marriage relationship to move back in the direction of before Genesis 3? Let Jesus bear your curse.

Do you want work? What it's like? What it produces? To move back in the direction of before Genesis 3? Let Jesus bear your curse.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God, thank you for the proto-evangelion, the first gospel here. It's only the seed of it. I thank you that we stand on this side of A complete revelation and can look back through the lenses of Jesus Christ and see this first gospel, know all that it means that Jesus Christ has come to become a champion for mankind, for anyone who would repent and believe in him. Teach us to hate sin.

Thank you for bearing the curse. In Jesus' name, amen.