Today I want us to be looking
again at Genesis chapter 3, and I want to begin reading in verse
7 and read down through the remainder of the chapter. It says, The
eyes of Adam and Eve, of them both, were opened, and they knew
that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons. And 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 among
the trees of the garden. And the Lord God 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. And he said, Who told thee thou
was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I have 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. The Lord God said unto the woman, What is this
as thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent
beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the
serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all
cattle, above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt
thou go, and thus 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. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel. And to the woman, he said, I
will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow
thou shalt 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 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 thistle
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat of the herb
of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground. For out of it
thou wast taken, for thus thou art, and thus thou shalt return.
And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother
of all living. And to Adam and also in his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them. The Lord
God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good
and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand and take also
of the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord
God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from
which he was taken. So he drove out the man and he
placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming
sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life. Last week we tried to look at
verses 1 through 6. And we mentioned just a little
bit of verse 7 showing here the fall of man, how that Satan came
and tempted Adam and Eve, and they partook of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil. And because they disobeyed God,
they were brought under the judgment of God. It's important for us
to understand what's going on here in chapter 3 of Genesis
because if we don't understand what happened here in the fall,
we won't understand the rest of God's Word. I understand that
God must enable any of us to understand the message of this
book. But if you don't understand it, like I said, you'll miss
everything else, all the other great truths that are in this
Word. The world tells us that we were made low and that we
are evolving into a perfect being. We don't see that here. Here
we see that Adam was created perfect and upright and that
he has ruined himself. God created us very high and
we brought ourselves very low. But you see how the world has
changed it, how they've turned it around. Man's not evolving. Man's depraved. And we find out
that here in the Word. Adam was placed in this perfect
environment and he still fell. You know, the world tells us
that man's problem is an environment. If you can change his environment,
well, then everything will be fine. But Adam was in a perfect
environment, perfect environment, and he still sinned. What about
us who live in a sinful environment? The problem is not what's on
the outside of man. The problem is what is on the
inside of the man. which is man's heart. And that's
what we see here in Genesis chapter 3. Author Pink said, here in
the fall, we see the will of God was resisted, the word of
God was rejected, and the way of God was deserted. When our
parents first took of the fruit, they took that which belonged
to God only. That's what they were doing when
they rebelled against God. God gave them all the other trees,
and the only stipulation was to not partake of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. And they took what was rightfully
God's, it was not theirs, and when they took it, they rebelled
against God. And because man, because Adam
is the federal head, he brought all of us, all men. Whereas for
as one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men. For all men have sinned, no exceptions. So now let's go and begin today
in verse 7. Here in verse 7 we see that when
Adam and Eve sinned, when Adam partook of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil, that the eyes of them both were opened, and
they knew that they were naked, and they sewed themselves fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons. As soon as man sinned,
As soon as his eyes were opened, here we see the consequences
of man's sin, of the consequences of man's rebellion. Most people
don't understand what happened here. They don't understand that
when Adam sinned and Adam rebelled, he came under the judgment of
God. You notice here it says their
eyes were opened. Now notice this, their eyes were opened,
not enlightened. The eyes of their conscience
was opened. They saw things, they saw, didn't
say things pleasant, but disturbing. They saw themselves deceived.
They saw that they were lost. They saw that they had lost fellowship
with God. They saw that they had exposed
themselves to the wrath and judgment of God. That's what they saw.
When? When their eyes were opened.
Not enlightened, but opened. Now listen to me. Adam knew God,
knew good and evil before the fall. He did. He knew no sin
by experience, but he knew the nature of sin. He knew that it
was contrary to God's being because God told him. He knew the consequences
of sin because God told him that in the day that you eat thereof
you shall surely die. He probably knew both good and
evil more fully before the fall than he did after the fall. See,
man, today he don't understand the fall. Our natures, though,
we don't understand sin. We don't see sin in the light
of God and how God sees it. Now, that's how Adam saw it before.
But now that he's sinned, his eyes were opened. And notice
the next thing it says, and they knew that they were naked. They were naked before, but now
they have shame. Now the shiver comes over them,
and they need something to cover their nakedness. But more than
anything, this is not just showing a physical nakedness, this is
a spiritual nakedness. This is a soul nakedness, nakedness
of the soul. They now are conscious of the
fact. What are they conscious of now that their eyes have been
opened and they knew that they were naked? Now listen. They
were stripped of all their honor, their glory, and the privileges
and the power that they once had. They realized this. They were naked of and they were
realized and they saw their lost condition. They saw that they
had lost the image of God. Instead of being more now like
the image of God, they look more like a beast. This describes
man. This was the true nakedness.
They saw the nakedness of their soul. When we think about physical
clothes, why don't we have physical clothes? They're for our covering,
for our protection from shame and from warmth. They were afraid
of the judgment of God. They had exposed themselves,
their souls. before God, before they needed
no protection. Now they realized that they needed
something to cover them and to protect them from the wrath and
judgment of God. And this is how all men are.
They are naked before God, naked before God. So when their eyes
were opened, they knew that they were naked. What did they do?
What was their response now that their eyes were opened? And they
sewed fig leaves together and they made themselves aprons.
Why did they try to braid these fig leaves together to try to
cover their nakedness? They were trying to hide their
shame, first of all, from one another. And man had rather save
face before men than to seek pardon from God. These fig leaves
represent man's attempt to be righteous. And man most, I think,
first and foremost, he wants to save face before men. Our
Lord told the Pharisees, he said, all these works that you do,
you do to be seen of men. Men are more concerned about
what somebody else thinks about them than about what God thinks
about them. Notice this. What they did didn't
make matters better. It only made matters worse. It's
where it says here that they sowed these fig leaves. When
our Lord walked upon this earth, he came one day to a fig tree
looking for some fruit and he found none on and he cursed that
tree. The fig tree was the only thing
which our Lord ever cursed while he was here upon this earth.
And what we learned from this when he cursed this fig tree,
that that which man employs to hide his spiritual shame is directly
under the curse of Almighty God. It bears no fruit, and it is
doomed to quickly wither away. That's what these fig leaves
represent. It's man's feeble attempt to try to cover up his
shame and his nakedness, and it's cursed. It cannot work. It quickly fades away. in the sight of Almighty God. Verses 8 through 11, we see the
grace of God. Amazing grace. When Adam and
Eve sinned, they didn't go running to God. The first thing they
tried to do was try to reverse what they had done. And it says,
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 among the trees of the garden.
The Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art
thou? The Lord Jesus Christ come walking in the garden that he
had made, comes walking, not running, but walking in the cool
of the day. This is grace. God came to Adam. Adam didn't go running to God.
God came to Adam and he came in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
say, well, how do you know that? All through the Word of God.
If God is ever going to speak to anybody, He speaks to man
through the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and
man, the man Christ Jesus. He is coming not to destroy Adam
and Eve, but to save them. Can you imagine, Adam and Eve,
now that their eyes are open, we can't even imagine what they
felt, the shame, the horror. Now that they hear his voice,
hear him coming, they probably heard him afar off. They probably
heard him like a still small voice. Adam's conscience accused
him. And every man's born with a conscience.
And God speaks to a man in his conscience. He knows the difference
between good and evil. Why? God gave him a conscience.
That's God's voice speaking to this man. The conscience of man
speaks to him. The conscience now either accuses
him or else excuses him. Romans 2.15, would show the works
of the law written in their hearts. their conscience also bearing
them witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else
excusing one another. When God came to them, Adam and
Eve, when they heard him coming, they ran and they hid themselves. Man will never on his own seek
God. He will always run and hide.
Why? He's failed. He's depraved. He won't never
come to God. People say, well, oh, there's
all these people seeking God. No, they're not. If a man ever
seeks God, it's because God sought him first. We see God coming
to seek Adam and Eve. He's coming not to destroy them,
but to save them. Oh, what grace. Man is totally
depraved. Before they fell, they would
have run to have met God. Now they're filled with confusion.
They're terrified, terrified. And this is why today men don't
want to think about God. It terrifies them, terrifies
them. The Lord said unto Adam, where
art thou? Here we see the call of God. He called to Adam. And what did
he ask Adam? He said to Adam, notice he called
Adam by name. Where art thou? Where art thou? God is not asking this question
for God's information. He's asking this for Adam's information. God knew where Adam was at. He
knew exactly what Adam had done. But he wanted Adam to know that
he knew what he had done. God speaks through his word today,
and he still asked this very same question. And he asked you
today, where art thou? God knew all along where Adam
was, and God knows where you are. God knows where I am. God
knows. God said, Adam, where art thou? Why was God asking Adam this
question? He wanted Adam to acknowledge
and to confess what he had done. Now listen to me. As Christ come
to Adam and Eve, this is not the voice of a policeman to arrest
them, but the call of a father's love seeking a son who was lost. It was the call of divine justice
that cannot look over sin. God can't just look over sin,
but it's a call of divine love that cannot be quenched. It's
a call of divine grace which cannot be resisted. Can you imagine
this dark background here? Here, Adam was God's prince creation. He created him in his own image
and now man's sinned. And upon this backdrop of sin
and depravity and them trying to sow fig leaves together to
cover their sins and hiding among the trees of the garden, God
comes to them. God comes to them and God speaks
and God says, where art thou, Adam? Listen, when Adam and Eve
sinned and they sinned and they rebelled, God could have cast
him into everlasting chains under darkness. And that's what God
did to the angels that fail. They was a third of the angels
that fail and God reserved him into chains of darkness and to
judgment at the last day. And he could have done this to
Adam and Eve, but he didn't. But he didn't. He could have
and he would have been just in doing it. God didn't have to
show them grace. It was not, they didn't merit
grace. He showed them grace. And if
it's ever merited, it ceases to be grace. But here we see
God's abundant mercy. God designed to be the seeker. He came down to Eden crying,
where art thou? And listen to me, God's question
to you today is still the same. Where art thou? Where art thou? Verse 10. So when God speaks
to him, and God asked Adam, said, Adam, where art thou? Here's
what Adam said. Here was his response. I heard
thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and
I hid myself. And God said to him, who told
thee, Adam, that thou was naked? And he asked him another question,
hast thou eaten of the tree where 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. Just imagine what Adam thinks
now, now that he had rebelled. He thought that he could hide
himself among the trees of the garden, but now he founds out
that he had been discovered. He said, I was afraid. The fall
brought upon man fear. He said, I was afraid. Why was
he afraid? He was naked. Adam realized that
God is coming in justice because of his and Eve's rebellion. And when a sinner sees himself
under the judgment of God, it will bring about fear. God could
have destroyed them right here. But God came to dispose them,
I mean to expose them for what they had done He did not leave
them alone. That's grace. A lost man will
sit right where he's at, trying to clothe themselves with fig
leaves, trying to hide himself among the gardens, among the
trees of the garden, until God comes to him. And when God comes
in his Word, he comes to expose a man for where he's at. That's
grace. If God leaves you alone, you'll
go on in your rebellion. God could have left Adam and
Eve alone in this state, but I'm glad that he didn't. He came
to expose them. And Adam said, notice what Adam
did. He didn't confess what he did.
He wanted to blame somebody. The man said, the woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree. And I did
eat. So what is he doing? He's trying
to excuse what he did. He's saying the woman, this woman
that he loved, now he turns on her. Now we see hatred for this
woman that God gave him. He not only blames the woman,
he's saying, God, if you hadn't gave her to me, I wouldn't have
done this. Do you not hear those same excuses today? Men want
to blame somebody else. Like I said in the first of the
message, they want to blame their environment. And then some people
want to blame God, and they say, well, God made me this way. Man's
born to sinner, but a man does what he does because he chooses
to sin. He's a responsible creature,
and he's held accountable for his actions. Well, then God said
to the woman, what is this thou hast done? And the woman said,
she's going to cast blame. The serpent beguiled me. and
I did eat. Everyone tries to make excuses
for their sins. Why? That's the result of the
fall. Everybody wanted to make excuses. I had to go a couple
of weeks ago. We went to a hearing. There was a man I knew. They were taking him to court
because he wasn't been paying child support. I was summonsed
also to go there. That's why I was there, to speak
against this man. And when they called the man
up and everybody else that was there that was going on, what
was going on in court that day, when they called these people
up, they asked them a question. They said, why did you not pay
this child support? And most everybody there wanted,
the first thing they wanted to do was offer up excuses. They
say, well, I didn't have nothing, didn't have a job and all these
things. Everybody wanted excuses. No
excuses don't fly in God's courtroom. They're guilty. That every mouth
may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. When
a person gives an excuse, they're trying to justify what they do.
Trying to relieve the guilt and the shame and the fear. And that's
what's going on here. Look in verse 14. God had done asked Adam and Eve
why they did what they did. And now he asked the serpent.
The Lord God said unto the serpent. He didn't ask him why he did
it. He's a father of lies from the beginning. Because thou hast
done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above all beasts
of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. We don't know
what the serpent looked like before the fall, but he was affected
by the fall also. And now he's brought under the
curse of God. But what I want us to see here mainly is verse
15. There's so much we learn from
this chapter. But here we learn the first promise ever given
in the scriptures about Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man
coming into this world. And God said, I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Here we have the first gospel
sermon, this good news. We see here the first preacher
was God himself, speaking to Adam and Eve, these two sinners. They're still standing there
clothed in their fig leaves. And what does God say here in
this sermon? God tells them that there will be a conflict, a war
between the serpent seed and the seed of the woman. I will
put enmity. Who put it? God put it. God said,
I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy
seed and her seed. Listen to me. Here we see God
dividing the sons of men from God's, those that he elected
and chose and predestinating love before the foundation of
the world. And God says, I'm going to put an enmity, a division
between these two seeds, between the seed of the woman and the
serpent seed. We see this, if you want to take
time to read in chapter 4, Cain and Abel, the first two men that
was born upon this earth after the fall. Cain, who was of that
wicked one, and Abel. Abel brought, both men brought
offerings. Cain brought his own works. Abel brought a sacrifice
which looked to Christ. And Cain killed his brother Abel
over this right here. Why? They was an enmity between
the seed of the woman and the serpent seed. But here we see
the promise of one that would come, the Lord Jesus Christ in
his incarnation. And it said, between thy seed
and her seed, talking about Christ. And he shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel. Listen, Galatians 4.4. But when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that are under
the law, that he might receive the reduction of sons. Because
your sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. When Christ was born into this
world, he was born of a virgin without the aid of a man. He's
not the seed of man. He's the seed of woman. He came
to take upon himself human flesh, to undo what Adam lost. He had to be perfect to redeem
us. And like the first Adam, he represented
someone. Someone. Provided by the disobedience
of one, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. Hear this promise, that one day
the seed of woman is going to bruise that Satan would bruise
his heel, but he would crush the serpent's head. What does
this mean, he bruised his heel? That was the only part the serpent
could reach. This is talking about his humanity
when he was made to suffer. in our stead. But listen to me,
when Satan could only bruise his heel on his humanity, but
when he bruised that heel, our Lord Jesus Christ crushed the
serpent's head. His head represents his authority,
his rule, and his kingdom. Do you see that our Lord is telling
Adam and Eve and he's telling us that one day the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the seed of the woman, shall come into this earth
and undo what Satan did. He will restore unto us all that
Adam lost. Now that's good news. This is
why God came to Adam and Eve, not to destroy them, but to show
them grace and mercy. This is good news. It's not what
you do, but it's what God's done. Oh, the exceeding riches of His
grace. Listen, by the woman came sin. By the woman should come the
Savior. By the woman had come the curse,
and by the seed of the woman would come him who would bear
and remove the curse. By Eve, paradise was lost, yet
by the woman should be born the one who would regain it." Oh,
what good news. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of
the same, that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death." Now I want us to just look at verse 21 just
for a minute. And then to Adam also and his
wife, the Lord God made coats of skin and clothed them. Here
we see the garments of God's salvation. God took those fig
leaves off Adam and Eve. He stripped them of these aprons
And the only way a man will ever give up his fig leaf aprons is
for God to strip him of all those self-righteous efforts that he
tries to do. But when God stripped him, God
didn't leave him naked. Look at this. God took an animal. He killed an animal. He shed
blood. An innocent animal is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ who died the just for the unjust
And God took the skins from that animal. And God got, now notice
this, who made the coats? God made the coats of skin. And what did he do with those
skins? He clothed them. He covered them. He protects
them. What their fig leaves couldn't
do, God did. This is not what Adam did. It's
not what God and Adam both did together. This is what God did. Salvations of the Lord. This
shows us that from beginning to end, salvation is in God's
hands. God showed them here in this
picture, a picture of redemption. The innocent lamb had to die
for the guilty sin. Christ, the Lamb of God, died
the just for the unjust.