Turn over there with me to the
third chapter of the book of Genesis, just for a few minutes
here this evening. Chapter 3 of the book of Genesis. In that seventh verse it says
in regard to Adam and Eve, And the eyes of them both were opened. We talk a lot about that, don't
we? That men's eyes need to be opened. Their understanding,
they need a miracle of grace in regard to their understanding
of who they are and who God is. Man by nature is blind and he
can't see. The eyes of them both were open,
and they knew that they were naked. They found out that they
were naked. Yet they had fig leaves sewed
together and made themselves aprons. And yet they knew they were naked. 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. And the Lord called unto Adam
and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy
voice in the garden, and I was afraid. because I was naked and
I hid myself." His eyes were open, and they
knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and
made themselves aprons. But yet when the Lord called
unto him, wondering where he sat, he said, I heard thy voice and I
was afraid. Why was he afraid? Because I
was naked and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And 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 unto the
woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord said
unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed
above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. And upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days
of thy life. And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. And unto the woman, he said,
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, and in sorrow
shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy
husband and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of
the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee. Thou shalt eat the herb of the
field, the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou
return unto the ground. For out of it wast thou taken,
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." And Adam called his wife's name
Eve. because she was the mother of
all living. Unto Adam also, and to his wife, did the Lord God
make coats of skin, and clothed them. Now, Adam might learn in the
light of the divine testimony about the seed of the the worthlessness
of his fig leaf apron. Now, I said he might come to
that conclusion, Adam, but the magnitude of what was done, the
sin that was committed, transgression that was made by Adam, whose
He's our man. He's our head, our headship. He's our federal head. He represents
us all. The magnitude, the awfulness
of that which he done, the sin that he committed, the transgression, prove beyond a shadow of a doubt
the sinner's inability to do anything about it. That is, because
he had sinned and all of his seed that was connected in him
in his loins, yet to be at that time, all of those were under
that charge of sin. Sin had to be put away somehow.
Sin's got to be put away. That's all they are to us. Sin's
got to be paid for. But man couldn't do that. Man
could not put sin away. Adam couldn't put sin away. He'd
become the serpent's slave. He listened to the voice of the
serpent, and he obeyed the serpent. So he became the serpent's slave. So he is not in any shape or
form to be able to put sin away in that it was by him that sin
had come in. The serpent's head had to be
bruised and God's claims had to be met. God's claims must be met. Could Adam do that? No. He had already trampled underneath
his feet the claims of God. Now death had to be abolished. Could Adam do that? No. He, by sin, introduced death and imparted the terrible and
awful sting to death. So Adam, as I said, he might,
in the light of the divine testimony, concerning the siege of the woman
down here in verse 15, he might have learned something about
the worthlessness of that fig leaf apron that he made with
his hands and clothed himself along with his wife. But it certainly
if he had any light at all, proved his inability, his hopelessness
to do anything about it. If anything is ever done about
it, then someone far greater than Adam must take up the cause. Someone must come, and as a man, must stand in Adam's place, must
do it. So, in whatever way we look at
it, we see the sinner's complete inability, and as the result
of his inability, we see the presumptuous foolishness of anybody
and everybody who attempts to assist God in the work of redemption. Now, this whole religious world
tonight is made up almost to the man of those who are trying
to assist God in the work of redemption. If a man has not
If God has not revealed unto man who He is and opened His
eyes to see who God is, then that man is in a hopeless condition
and a hopeless state if God had not done that for him. If you
are a believer this evening in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is
because God has revealed, we talked about God's salvation
cometh by revelation, and we said that when God reveals who
the Lord Jesus Christ is, two things take place. Man finds
out who he is, and he finds out who the Lord Jesus Christ is.
Now, I said that the majority of this religious world tonight
or any other given time, are doing their dead level best to
assist God in the great work of redemption. Well, if Adam, the federal head of the human
race, if he couldn't do anything about it, I wonder why sensible
men and women in our time think they can do anything about it. If it's to be done, God must
do it. All the assists of man just add
to the fury of the wrath of God against their sins. It's seize
your doing and trust in Him. who has already done it. Well,
we see here from what I have read in this third chapter that
God graciously, lovingly, and kindly took the whole matter
into His own hands here. He made it altogether a question
between Himself and the serpent. Listen to what He said. And the
Lord said unto the serpent, now that was after he asked Adam,
Who told thee thou wast naked? Verse 12, And the man said to
woman, Whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree,
and I did eat. And the Lord said unto the woman,
What hast thou done? And the woman said, The serpent
beguiled me, and I did eat. Now, I said that the Lord made
it altogether a question between Himself and the serpent. And He said, Because thou hast
done this, the serpent. Because thou hast done this. Now, don't misunderstand me. Although the man and the woman,
Adam and Eve here, were called upon individually in various
ways to reap the fruit of their disobedience and their sin, yet,
in spite of that, it was the serpent that the Lord God said,
Because thou hast done this. So, you see, in this chapter,
the serpent, the devil, That fallen angel, Lucifer, who said,
I will be like him, was the source of the ruin of Adam's seed, of
Adam and his seed. And the seed of the woman was
to be the source of redemption. Now, Adam heard all this. Adam heard what God said to the
serpent, and he heard what he said to the woman. I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. Her seed shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel." Adam heard all this. Now listen
to me, and I believe this is right. Adam heard this, and he believed
it. He believed it. And in the power,
in the power of what he believed concerning the seed of the woman,
the promised Redeemer, in the power of that, he called
his wife, up here in verse 20, he called his wife the mother
of all living. the mother of all living. Now,
looking at it from nature's point of view,
Eve should be called the mother of all dying. The soulless sinneth
shall die. But Adam called her the mother
of all living. not the mother of all dying. See? He called her that, and
that's what she was in the judgment of faith, not from the viewpoint
of nature. Now, it was God and His wondrous
mercy that allowed Adam to hear what He said to the serpent before
he was called to listen to what God had to say to himself. It's up here in verse 17. God allowed him to hear what
he said in verse 14 before he was called to listen to what
he had to say to himself up in 17, 18, and 19. That was the
mercy of God that let him overhear this conversation between God
and the devil and the woman. That was the mercy of God. Now
listen, this is the only gospel, this was the only gospel that
Adam and Eve had ever heard. This right here, just this one
verse, that's all they heard. And they got from that a promised
Redeemer that her seed, her seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, would
come and make atonement, accomplish redemption for those that God
gave unto his Son before time ever was. And Adam believed it. And that's the reason he called
her the mother of all living, not the mother of all dying. Adam got to hear that. He got
to hear that before he heard about the curse that had fallen
upon him. Now listen, had this not been
so when he He is called now to listen to what God says to him.
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the
voice of thy wife, and eaten of the tree of which I commanded
thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it? Cursed is the ground
for thy sake, and in sorrow shalt thou eat of all the days of thy
life, and all the rest of it. Now had this not been so, Adam
would have been plunged in the darkness of despair. It's despair. I mean despair to be called upon
to look at myself without being able to look at God as revealed
in the cross for my salvation. If I just see myself and never
see God in the cross, God in Christ, if I'm made alive unto
myself who I am and my transgression and my sins and what I am, If
I'm made alive to that, if my eyes are open to that, and I'm
not able to see God in the cross accomplishing redemption on my
behalf, then what am I in? I'm in the darkness of despair. I'm without hope. It's to be
in despair. to be called upon to look at
yourself without looking at the cross. There is no child of fallen
Adam who could bear to have his eyes opened to the reality, to
the reality, to the truth of what he is outside of Christ. He would be plunged into despair
unless he could see God in Christ. Find out who you are. That's the reason why I believe
that this work of redemption, when it takes place, when God
works in a man's soul, that it is such a convicting, conforming,
complete, a permanent work. And if so, the man sees the awfulness
of himself Christ in His beauty is revealed to him. And the call
of the gospel to him is irresistible. He can't resist it. He comes
to the Lord Jesus just as He is. He is going to meet God in
Christ. If a man ever meets God in Christ,
there is hope for his soul. Listen, let me say this again. I said there's no child of fallen
Adam, man or woman, boy or girl, has his eyes open to the truth
of who or she is and what he has done without being plunged
into the deep well of despair. unless he could hide himself,
unless he could find refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in the place to which all
who reject the Lord Jesus Christ, in the place to which all who
reject the Lord Jesus Christ must finally be consigned. Hope cannot come to that place. There men's eyes are opened to
the reality of what they are and what they've done, and there they shall remain unaided
and unassisted throughout the boundless ages of the eternities
to come. They will not be able to find
any relief. They will not be able to find
any refuge in God. It is only here in time. What God is will then involve
hopelessness, hopeless perdition. The holiness of God. The holiness of God. I've been
reading the Bible and preaching from the Bible all these years,
and I know very, very little. I only know a smattering of the
holiness of God. I know His holy, holy, holy Lord
God Almighty. But I know what God is will involve,
at that time, hopeless perdition. And I know that the holiness
of God itself will be eternally against them that are consigned
in that place where hope can never come. Holiness will be
against them. Oh, my soul. Look for a minute,
then I'll quit, to this blessed truth presented to us in God-preparing
coats for Adam and Eve. Adam called his wife's name Eve
because she is the mother of all living, not the mother of
all dying. She is the mother of all living
because it was through her, the seed come through her. The promise is the mother of
all living. Unto Adam also, and to his wife,
Adam and Eve, did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed
them. Coats of skin and did clothe
them. We have here in picture very
very vivid portrayal of the salvation of God. We have the great doctrine
of divine righteousness set forth here. The robe which God provided
out of the skin of an animal was an effectual covering. The
robe that Adam made for him and his wife was an ineffectual covering. He had it on, but he said he
was still naked. It did not satisfy his conscience. Now the robe, the skin, the coat
that God made out of killing the animal, out of the foundation
of the coat of skin was founded upon bloodshedding, the shedding
of the blood of that animal. And that skin which God provided
was an effectual covering. Now, I'll tell you why it was
an effectual covering. It is because God provided it. That's what made it effectual,
because God provided it. The salvation that I'm talking
about is the salvation that God provided. God provided His salvation
in Christ Jesus for the worst and most awful sinner. that ever walked the face of
the earth. He provided it for him if he
will receive it. Now listen, it was an effectual
covering because He provided it. The Lord Jesus Christ was
provided by God. God sent Him. God provided Him. to meet the needs of a sinner,
to pay their dues, to establish righteousness, to honor and magnify
the law of God. God sent him to do that, and
he began to do it the day he was born. And he continued to
be our substitute and our sacrifice from the time he was born. the climax of the life of suffering on the
tree when he said, it's finished. I've finished the work. I've
provided a covering for every poor, hopeless sinner that's
found out that he's a sinner and found out that he can't save
himself. It was an effectual covering because
He provided it, just as the apron was an ineffectual covering because
Adam provided it. God's coat was pounded upon,
bloodshedded, and Adam's coat was not. He made it. out of fig leaves. When Adam
stood clothed in the coat of skin provided by God, founded,
grounded upon bloodshedding, he could not say that he was
naked, or did he have any reason whatsoever to hide himself. When he clothed himself, He said,
I'm naked. He said, I'm afraid. And I hid
myself. But after God clothed him, he
had no reason to hide himself. And he never did say, I'm naked.
Because it was an effectual covering. The sinner, whoever he may be, may feel perfectly
at rest when by faith he knows that God has clothed him. But to feel at rest till then,
but for a man to feel at rest till that happens, is the result
of presumption or ignorance. One of the two. Oh, listen to me, to know tonight
that the dress I wear in which I will appear before God is of
His own making. If I know that, that which I
shall wear before the throne of the Holy God. That dress,
that covering that I wear must appear before the throne. If
I know that it's of His appointing, it's of His making, then I'll
be at rest. That's my hope. My hope is not
built on anything except His blood. and righteousness. I look to Him. This, if I know, must set my
heart at perfect rest. There can be no permanent rest
to be found anywhere or in anything else apart from God's providing. Remember over there in the book
of Genesis, where it says about Abraham offering up his son. His son said, Father
Abraham, there's the altar, there's the wood, There's a fire. But he said, where's the sacrifice?
Where's the sacrifice? You've got to have a sacrifice.
Where's it at? And what did Abraham tell his
boy? He said, God will provide Himself
a sacrifice. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ does what to God? It enables God to be just and
justifier to him that believeth in Jesus. It's the satisfaction
of the holy justice of God. God's satisfied. God's pleased
with the sacrifice. This is my beloved Son, whom
I'm well pleased. I'm pleased in Him, aren't you?
Oh, if you're here tonight and you haven't trusted Him, you'd
better trust Him right now. You'd better say, He's mine and
I'm His. Quit attempting to justify yourself
before God by some little act you do. It won't cut the mustard. It won't do it before God. Oh, no. Listen, Adam was a happier
and safer person outside the garden than he was inside the
garden. He was in the garden of paradise. Everything was in bloom. Everything
that was needful and necessary to make Adam and Eve happy was
there. God was there to visit with them,
talk with them. As a man talks to his friend.
But outside the garden, he was a happier man. and a safer man
than what he was inside the garden. Now, let me tell you why. Because
outside the garden, he didn't have to depend upon himself.
Inside the garden, he had to depend upon himself. He had to depend upon himself
to keep everything that God commanded him to do And he couldn't do
it. He knew he couldn't do it. So
he labored hour after hour under this. Happier outside. Safer outside. Because he depended upon another
to do what God required. And he that done what God required
is he who is of God's appointed. What God provided, God will accept. What God's provided, He'll accept.
There's no question about the sacrifice. If the sacrifice is
yours, you feel your need of it, and you see that your need
is met in the sacrifice, there's no question that God will accept
you on the basis of the sacrifice. No question at all. He'll accept
you as you are. There's a point where God and
man must meet, and don't you forget it, whether it's in grace
or whether it's in judgment. And that point is this, where
you and God are both revealed as you are. And happy and blessed
is the man that meets God on the ground of grace. he's ever blessed and happy,
and he'll find out.