I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter
3. Genesis chapter 3. I would like to read one verse
of Scripture, verse 21. Genesis 3, verse 21. The Spirit
of God reveals through the penmanship of Moses,
unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of
skins and clothed them. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you this
evening for this time to be together and to enter Lord, into your
presence through the precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I ask you this evening, Lord, bless this time of worship. Bless your word. Help us to hear. Help us to worship. Lord, may
we be reminded of the mercy and grace of God in our precious
Savior, for it's in His name we pray. Amen. Back in Genesis
chapter 3 and verse 1, the scripture reveals that the serpent was
more subtle, he was more cunning, he was more crafty, he was more
quick thinking. than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. When God made this world, made
this earth, made the heavens, made the animals, made fish and
everything, this is what God had to say about everything He
made. It was good. It was good. In fact, the conclusion
of the whole creation, it was very good. And the serpent was created by
God Almighty according to God's Word, and that serpent was created
this way. He was more subtle than any of
the beasts that the Lord had made. God made the serpent to
be a cunning creature. Subtle, that's what it means.
Crafty. Quick thinking. God Almighty made that serpent
that way. And the scripture says concerning
that serpent, And I'll be honest with you, if you have some light
on this, I'd be willing to hear it. We can look at the scriptures. Some writers say that Satan came
in the form of a serpent. I agree with that. That he actually
came in residence of a serpent, actually entered into a serpent.
I can go along with that. I mean, I know demons entered
the demoniac, they actually entered the body of a... But what I know is that Satan
took what God had created good, and obviously under absolute
watchful eyes of the Lord God of heaven. Nothing was done outside
of God's perception, God's will. God Almighty rules in the army
of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. And Satan did just
exactly what God Almighty allowed him to do. Now you can't say
anything other than that. Again, who's running this show?
And the scripture says that Satan approached Eve in the form of,
in the actual being of, as a serpent. Revelation 12.9 speaks of that
old serpent, the devil. But when he approached Eve, obviously
she had no reason to fear. It doesn't say that she was afraid. But Satan came to Eve and said
this, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of
the garden. Now in my Bible here, in the
marginal, in the middle, there's a reference right there by the
word yea, and it says yea because. Because. Satan came to Eve and said this. Is it true? Is it true? Is it because God said you shall
not eat of every tree of the garden? Is that the reason you're
not going to do it? Is it because God said so? Is
that your reasoning? Yea, hath God said, Ye shall
not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman, verse
2 and 3, said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of
it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Now, what she said, Number one, part
of it was not recorded like that. So therefore, she has said something
that God didn't say. In fact, she said two things
that God didn't say. She said, God said that we shall
not eat of it and we shall not touch it. Now that may be good
advice. That probably was Sound thinking,
but that's not what God said. And when we begin to tamper with
God's words, resting, twisting the Scriptures, it's always fatal. God does not bless what man thinks
God says. God Almighty blesses what God
says. God blesses His Word. So she added two. There's a warning of condemnation.
You add two or take away from. Be very, very careful. I tell
you, there's times that I'm aware. I try to be this way all the
time. Listen to what I'm saying. Listen to exactly what I'm saying.
And if I say something, And it's not exactly what I should have
said or meant to say corrected right now. It happened to me
in Mexico one time. I was speaking down in Merida
and I said something And I had to, I sat down and got to thinking,
I mean the service was over. And I, before we dismissed, I
asked Cody's attention and I asked him to say something to the people
and tell him I said I misquoted, I misquoted a scripture or misinterpreted,
I did something, I can't even remember exactly, but I remember
that I did it and I didn't want to leave that building. Let's
listen to what God has to say. And don't tamper with it. Don't
twist it. Don't try to make it fit. So
God said, we shall not eat of it, we shall not touch it. Then
she said, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. That's not
what God said. You look up the word lest, L-E-S-T,
do you know what it means? Peradventure, or perhaps, that's
what it means, that's what lest means. God said you shall not
eat of it, you shall not touch it, because if you do, you'll
possibly die, is what she said. And that's not what the Lord
said. What the Lord said in the day that you eat thereof, verse
17 of chapter 2, thou shalt surely die. Man by nature is born with
a heart that doesn't believe he's going to die. Men and women are born not fearing
death. Well, maybe we'll die, is what
she said. Lest you die, perhaps you'll
die. And the serpent, verses 4 and
5, said unto the woman, you shall not surely die. For God doth
know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened. You shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. Satan, right here, casts a doubt. That's what he's trying to do.
I want to cast a doubt on God's Word. I want to cast doubt on
God's justice and cast a doubt on God's goodness. He always
does. Eve had never heard a lie before. The only thing she'd ever heard
was God speaking. And she heard Satan say, when
she said that the Lord had said we shouldn't eat, shouldn't touch
it, because perhaps we're going to die, Satan says, you're going
to be so far from dying, I assure you, I give you my word. I give you my word. You shall
not surely die. Now he called God a liar. That's
exactly what he did. He called God a liar. And I'm telling you that every
man that stands in a pulpit and does not proclaim, thus saith
the Lord according to God's report of his son, is calling God a
liar. And you're not going to die.
And the day that you eat thereof, your eyes are going to be illuminated. Your eyes are going to be opened
fully. In fact, your eyes are going
to be opened just like God set forth the tree that He told you
to stay away from. illustrates, but of the tree,
verse 17 of chapter 2, of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. There's a tree, God said, it's
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's the one
that you're not to eat of, because the day you eat that, you're
going to die if you eat of that tree. God knows, verse 5 of chapter
3, in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes will be opened
and you shall be as God's, knowing good and evil, just like God
said that tree produced fruit that had that. That's what God
said. You're not going to die. You're going to be illuminated
and you're going to be like God's. You're going to be like God Himself. And when the woman, verse 6,
saw that the tree was good for food, she couldn't perceive anything
by observing the fruit that appeared to be bad or unfit to eat it. It looked good. It was pleasant to the eyes.
A tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her,
and he did eat." The fruit was beautiful fruit. It was pleasant
to the eyes. A tree to be desired to make
one wise, which would have been the most enticing You eat this
fruit, and you're going to be like God. You're going to know what God
knows by eating that fruit. And the scripture says, she took
it, she ate it, she gave it to Adam, and he ate it. And in verse 7, the eyes of them
both were opened. And they knew that they were
naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves
aprons. Their eyes were immediately opened
to this. I'm wretched. I am absolutely naked before
God. Their eyes were open. That's
what scripture says. but not to their need of humbling
themselves before God. They now had a conscience. A
conscience. Every man born in Adam got a
conscience. And here's the evidence of a
dead heart. They knew that they were naked before God. They knew
that. They had that conscience. Secondly,
They had a conscience that knew they needed a covering before
God, so they sewed fig leaves together. And they desired, thirdly, here's
another evidence of a dead heart, they desired to be separated
from God. They hid themselves. Verse 8, they heard the voice
of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day
and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden. They've got a conscience
that knows I'm guilty. I can make myself a covering
before God. And I don't want to be in the
presence of the God of this Bible. A spiritually dead heart thinks
itself powerful and wise enough to cover its shame. Now this
is the evidence of all false religious believers. Believers in false religion.
Remember how the serpent A dragon that spewed out the water and
false lies after the woman and the earth helped the woman back
in Revelation 12. Helped the woman and took it
in, took it in. That's the lie. That's what they're believing.
Man by nature knows that he's guilty. That's why everybody's
going to church. And if they're not going to church,
they've still got a conscience. Somehow they've appeased their
conscience. I'm okay. I'm okay. Listen, let me tell you something.
God Almighty has promised, He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son, savingly,
knowingly, personally, casting yourself upon Him for mercy,
listen to me, you die without Christ as your life, your hope,
casting yourself upon Him, You're going to spend eternity in hell.
You're going to be separated from God under the judgment of
God Almighty and there is no recourse. You're gone. You're gone. Fourthly, man's got a conscience. He thinks he can produce a covering
for himself. He has one desire to hide from
God. I don't want to hear God. I don't want to hear about God. And here's the next thing. He
does not see himself truly worthy of judgment because of his guilt.
Oh, he'll admit, I can produce, you know. But I'm going to tell
you something. It wasn't my fault. I was a victim
of circumstance. I was a victim. It wasn't my
fault. I was caught between a rock and
a hard place. Verse 9, the Lord God called unto Adam and said
unto him, Where art thou? He said, I heard thy voice in
the garden. I was afraid because I was naked. I hid myself. He
said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of
the fruit whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not
eat? The man said, The woman. whom thou gavest to be with me. She gave me of the tree, and
I did eat. And the Lord God said to the
woman, What is this that thou hast done? The woman said, The
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. If I wouldn't have been placed
in the environment that I'm in, I wouldn't be in this mess. No,
it is our fault. And we've rebelled against God.
And Almighty God is holy and just and good and will by no
means, no wise, clear the guilty. The soul that sins is going to
die. Adam and Eve was now exposed. Eve was beguiled,
she was fooled and Adam sinned against God with his eyes wide
open and Eve received the absolute same judgment as Adam did. She came out of him. Man is a
sinner before God. And that's all he is. He is a
deceived, lying rebel against God, who has no interest whatsoever
in God. But God, but God, who's rich
in mercy, chose to show mercy to whomsoever He would. Here
they were, they were caught, they were naked, they were caught,
they were hiding, they were casting the blame on another, not my
fault, not my fault, trying to sew fig leaves together, thinking
that God would be appeased concerning their nakedness The scripture
says, in mercy and grace unto Adam also to his wife did the
Lord God, verse 21, make coats of skins and clothed them. Here is the glorious declaration
of redemption. Redemption. Justice satisfied. An animal had to die that God
Almighty would take the skins of an animal, the coat of skins,
it was a skin, blood was shed. In that we learn without the
shedding of blood there is no remission. You think the fig leaves of a
man's own making is going to cover his nakedness before God?
not by works of righteousness that we've done. According to
His mercy, He saved us. Almighty God shed blood, and
in type we see the Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly, that was
about the end of that, whatever animal that was, You can speculate,
Scripture doesn't reveal, we don't speculate. Whatever the
animal was, God Almighty took and shed the blood of an animal
and took coats of skins and clothed them. God was going to have to deal
with their sin and set forth in a picture, in a type, death
is going to be administered. The Lord Jesus Christ, as that
innocent animal, He, innocent, holy, just, He knew no sin and
laid down His life. Just the same as the animals
in the Old Testament, in the tabernacle, they'd slay hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds. Go back and read. I was reading
through, I mean, thousands of animals killed. And one day,
thousands of them, thousands, not by the blood of bulls and
goats, but by his own precious blood, by one sacrifice for sin,
he perfected forever. And the skins of an animal set
forth the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there, God
set forth that judgment had to be administered. I'm a just God. Adam and Eve was naked before
Him, guilty before Him, and He shed the blood as a type of the
sacrifice of His precious Son for His people, for His own.
And a covering was provided, an atonement was made, a covering,
that's what, atonement, a covering. Their nakedness before God. This
is the only way of reconciliation. This is the only way of peace.
God Almighty must administer justice. Justice. This is the lie of Satan. You're not going to die. I'm
telling you. God Almighty is going to administer
wrath upon sin. Wrath. Wrath. This animal set
forth the appeasement of God's justice. That animal had to die. That Adam and Eve might be covered
for their rebellion. Man does all the sinning, God
does all the saving. Let us now remember Him. whose body was broken, whose
blood was shed. And as we partake of the Lord's
table, may the Lord cause us truly, with thanksgiving, remember
that which He's done for His own, for Christ's sake.