Speak to us today from the book
of Genesis, first book in our Bible, and the third chapter. Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, you shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? The woman 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, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch
it, lest you die. The serpent 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, and you shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the
eyes and 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. And the eyes 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
God amongst 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 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 God said
unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed
above all cattle and 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. Unto 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 of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake, and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shalt
it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat 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 was thou taken. For thus thou
art, and unto thus 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 make coats of skins and
clothed them. And 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
whence 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. We began our service this morning
reading from Matthew chapter 16 where the Lord Jesus Christ
declared upon this rock that is himself, he is our rock. Upon this rock I shall build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The gates of hell, that is the
forces of evil, those forces of which Satan is the leader
and many demons along with him, shall not prevail against the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But all through this time, the
gates of hell, the forces of evil have attacked and continue
to attack the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we see this
in the word of God itself. Satan has used basically two
methods. The scripture says we're not
ignorant of his devices, the stratagems that he has used.
Number one, persecution. We see that early on in the Book
of Acts, how the believers in Jerusalem were persecuted. And
we know until the year 300, when Constantine became emperor of
Rome, believers were persecuted severely. You've all heard the
story of how Nero, one of the wicked emperors of Rome, he used
Christians set their bodies on fire to light his garden in the
night. Many, and we believe all the
apostles, all the apostles except the apostle John, they all met
violent deaths. The gates of hell, the gates
of hell, the forces of evil have always and continue and shall
continue as long as God's church is in this world and he will
have one here. until he comes again for his
church. But the second way that Satan
has come against the church, of course, is by sowing false
doctrine. And we see that early on also
in the Word of God. How many of the epistles were
written to teach the truth about salvation by grace, through faith,
apart from works, And the person of Christ has especially been
a target of Satan. And you study through church
history and you see one era after the other, one heresy after the
other, that has been brought forth and planted and sown in
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ that denies the person
of Jesus Christ. Satan attacks his person. that He is, as He was declared
to be by that confession that Peter made, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God, but also the Word of God. Now, Christ is the living Word,
isn't He? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. But
we have the written Word as well. And not only has Satan attacked
the living Word as he has his person, his work, but he has
especially attacked the written Word of God. And no part of the
written word of God has received more tax than the first six or
seven chapters in the book of Genesis. How many times have
you heard it said, well, those chapters are just an allegory.
That's all they are. So my friends, the Word of God,
if I cannot believe it here in Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter
3, why should I believe it in Revelation chapter 22? It's all
the written Word of God. It's all written for our prophet.
And listen, when men go wrong here in Genesis chapter 3, they
go wrong the rest of the way. If we do not get it right, what
took place, what happened here in the Garden of Eden, because
the truths are set before us as seeds and they grow as more
and more is revealed to us in the Word of God. Remember this about Satan, the
forces of evil. the Lord Jesus Christ in John
chapter 8 in verse 44. He tells us two things about
Satan. First, he's a liar. Now, all
men are liars. That's what the scripture says.
We all go astray from the womb speaking lies. I realize that.
But there is no truth in Satan. He is a liar. There's no truth
in him. And you see it here in these
verses that we have just read. If you look in chapter 3, verse
4, when he told Eve, you, you shall not surely die. Now what had God said? Now remember,
God is truth. He is truth. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. He is truth. There is no error. There is no
shadow of turning in God. He changes not. What had God
said? Well, look back in chapter 2
of Genesis and verse 17, and you know this is so. God told
Adam, But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou might, thou may, possibly, thou will die. Oh no. God said, In the day that
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And Satan He comes
along now who is a liar. You shall not surely die. And our Lord also in that same
verse not only said that he is a liar, that there's no truth
in him, but he also said this, he was a murderer from the beginning. Now we're reading about the beginning
here. When Adam named his wife Eve,
he named her Eve because he said she's the mother of all living.
When this took place, there were only two human beings on the
earth, Adam and Eve. And our Lord said Satan is a
murderer from the beginning. Satan was guilty of murder by
tempting first Eve and then Adam to sin, knowing surely that they
would die. He said, you shall not surely
die. And here's the reason, because
God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and you shall be as God's, knowing good and
evil. And notice there, there's so
much here in Genesis chapter 3. And I don't want to get off
track here. But that's Satan's way. He always
tells us, God's keeping something good from you. God's holding
something back. He's a liar. Teenagers, young
people here today, listen to me now. How many times are you
presented with that lie that your parents are keeping something
good from you, keeping back something good from you? And Satan all
the time is whispering in your ear, this would be good, this
would be enjoyable, this would be fun. Satan told Adam, told Eve, you
won't die, but the reason God has commanded you not to eat
from that tree is because He knows that when you do, your
eyes are going to be open and you will be as God. You'll be
like Him. God's sovereign. God's sovereign. You'll be like
Him. You won't have to pay any attention
to God. You'll be equal with Him. You'll be as God's. Your eyes
will be open. You'll know the difference between
good and evil. The problem is their eyes were
opened, but they had no power over evil. What happened when Adam ate? Well, what God said would happen,
happened. you shall surely die. In Romans
chapter 5 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul says, Wherefore, as by one
man, and that one man is Adam, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. Adam did not die physically. the day that he ate. But he did
die spiritually. That fellowship, that communion,
that spiritual life that he had from God, he was separated now
from that. They died spiritually as soon
as they ate the forbidden fruit. And they recognized it. They
recognized immediately that they were naked In other words, we've
exposed ourselves now to the wrath of God. God is holy. God is righteous. They knew immediately
that they were in no condition now to stand before God Almighty. And so what do they do? Well,
they take some fig leaves and sew together some aprons. They
knew, as Habakkuk the prophet says, that God is of pure eyes,
and to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. How many things do we hear and
read in the Word of God that God cannot do? He cannot lie. He cannot change. He cannot deny Himself. He cannot
look upon iniquity. They recognized immediately that
their Creator is such a being, so holy, that they were no longer
able to come into His presence. They needed a covering. You notice here in chapter 3
and verse 15, We have the first prophecy concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has spoken of here as
the seed of the woman. 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. He's spoken
of as the seed of the woman. In the fullness of the times,
God sent forth his son made of a woman. He's the only man who
is the seed of a woman. Every other person who has ever
lived on God's earth besides Adam and Eve, who were created
by the hand of God, all are the seeds of men. You are the seed of your Father. That's true of all men, all except
Christ. The seed of the woman. In the
fullness of the times, God sent forth His Son made of a woman.
I'm talking about the eternal Son of God. He who is equal with
the Father and with the Holy Spirit. That when the Holy Spirit
came upon the Virgin Mary, to prepare him a body that was joined
together, God and man. And he is the seed of the woman. And God told Satan here in this
text, his heel shall be bruised by
you, but he shall bruise your head. And it was at the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ that Satan's head was crushed. He was absolutely defeated. Now, I have four very important
truths that I want to bring to us that are taught here in this
part of the Word of God. And they're taught to us by God's
conduct towards Adam and Eve. We find them in verse 21. Four very important truths. And
they run all the way through the Word of God. They'll never
change. The scripture here in verse 21
says, unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats
of skins and clothed them. What are these four important
truths? Listen to me now. First, When
God made coats of skins and clothed them, He declared that their
man-made clothing would never do. They had clothing. They had made themselves some.
They had sewed together some fig leaves and made themselves
aprons. They had clothing. But God, when
the Scripture here says, made coats of skins and clothed them,
He declared by His conduct that man's clothing, man's clothing
that he makes for himself, will never do for that person to stand
before God Almighty. God showed that the clothing
of man, the clothing that man makes, that he made here, will
never serve him to appear in the presence of a holy and righteous
God. In spite of this, we know that
man down through the ages, and some of you here today, I have
no doubt in my mind that some of you here today, you still
have not learned this lesson. You still think there's some
work, there's some offering, there's some sacrifice, there's
some preparation that you can do on your part that will allow
you to stand in the presence of God and be received and accepted
by Him. That's just not so. Your works,
your best works, my best works, according to the Word of God,
just discount your bad works, your evil works, your best works
before God Almighty. Scripture says, or as filthy
rags. Keep your place here, but turn
over a few pages into Exodus chapter 25. In Exodus chapter
25, you know this is God in the nation of Israel giving commandments
to the nation of Israel. I'm sorry, chapter 20. The first
part of this chapter we have the Ten Commandments that God
gave, that covenant that was made with the nation of Israel.
But I want you to look at verse 25. This is God speaking now. And if thou
wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn
stone. Now watch this. For if thou lift
up thy tool upon it, Thou hast polluted it. Something wrong with the hammer? Something wrong with the chisel?
No, no. It's not the hammer. It's not
the tool. Then what is it? It's man. It's an evil heart. The heart is desperately wicked
and deceitful above all things, the prophet Jeremiah tells us.
You lift up your hammer and you've polluted the altar. What does
that stand for? It just affirms and teaches us
what is taught all through the Word of God, not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, But according to His mercy,
He hath saved us. You sing that hymn sometimes
that Augustus Toplady wrote, Rock of Ages Cleft for Me. Remember,
he said, In my hand, in my hand, nothing I bring. There's no device,
there's no clothing, there's no work. that men may perform
that will make them acceptable in the presence of God. If you're
here today and this is your thought, my prayer is God would shake
you. I mean, God would wake you up
before you turn into hell. There is no device. There's no
work. There's no labor. There's no
service. that you can do to make yourself
acceptable to God Almighty. Because everything you do is
polluted because of who you are. You know, in the message last
week, I made this comment. I said, God's people, God's children
are thankful people. And that's true. But you know,
Satan, he's a great imitator. And I thought about that, that
statement, and I thought, you know, Satan's children are thankful
too. I want you to look with me in
Luke chapter 18. They're not thankful like God's people are,
but here's a man. He was thankful. Luke chapter 18 and verse 10, two men went up into the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank Thee. I thank Thee. I thank Thee that I am not as
other men. That's a lie. There's no difference
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I
thank Thee that I'm not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. He just had a laundry list of
good things that he had done, and thank God that he had done
them, and he thought With all of his heart, he believed this.
You can be sincerely wrong, my friends. Sincerity. This man
was sincere, no doubt about it, but he was sincerely wrong. I've done all these things, and
I know if anybody makes it to heaven, it's going to be me.
What did the Lord say? Remember, two men went up into
the temple to pray. Now here's this publican, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven.
What is he doing? What is this showing us? He recognizes
his unworthiness, his need, that he cannot possibly, by his works,
make himself clothing that will put him right in the eyes of
God. And he smote upon his breast,
saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's all I am. We sang that, didn't we? Only
a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. God, be propitiated to me, the
sinner. And our Lord said, I tell you,
This man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Now that's the first lesson I
wanted us to see. When God made coats of skins
and clothed them, He declared that their man-made clothing
would never do. When God made coats of skins
and clothed them, He covered them. That's what He did, isn't
it? He covered them. This is important. This is important
because the Hebrew word, which is translated atonement, atonement,
it literally means to cover. God covered them. This word that
is translated atonement means to cover. The first time it's
used, turn over just a few pages here in Genesis. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 14. This is the first time this Hebrew
word is used in the Bible. And it's not translated here
atonement. It's translated by the word pitch. Pitch. Make thee an ark of gopher
wood, God speaking to Noah, room shalt thou make in the ark, and
shalt pitch it, shalt cover it, shalt cover it with pitch, some
kind of waterproofing. Thou shalt cover it outside and
inside Noah. The word atonement means covering. And that's what the Lord did.
He clothed them. He covered them. He covered their
nakedness. Now this same word is translated
mercy seed. Remember the Ark of the Covenant?
And inside the Ark, God commanded Moses to put that law, that covenant,
that law that you have broken, that law that I have broken.
But then God commanded him to make a mercy seat. And that mercy
seat, we could call it the lid. There was a lid placed upon that.
In other words, it covered that broken law. And it was upon that
mercy seat that the high priest went in to the holy of holies
on the day of atonement, one time in the year, and made an
atonement. for the nation of Israel. A covering. God Almighty is merciful. He's holy. He's merciful. But He will never be merciful
at the expense of His holiness. They needed a covering. and only
God could provide it. And atonement, grace reigns through
righteousness. The claims of God's broken law
had to be met. And by clothing Adam and Eve,
God showed them that to be in his presence, their sin would
have to be atoned. It would have to be covered.
And the psalmist said, blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered. The third lesson is when God
made coats of skins and clothed them, he testified, now listen
to me, he testified that without the shedding of blood, there
is no remission. Those coats, coats of skins,
they had to be taken from an animal or animals whose blood
was shed, whose death was given. That's just so. Here in the very
beginning, very beginning of the Word of God, we have the
foreshadowing of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, His death,
where He shed His precious blood all through the Scriptures, beginning
in Genesis all the way through to the book of Revelation. There's
this crimson card that runs all the way through it. The blood,
the blood, the blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. I noticed this, I was going to
have us turn to these verses, but I won't because of the time.
But in Romans chapter 5 and verse 9, it's the blood that justifies. In Revelation 1 and verse 5,
it's the blood that cleanses. Revelation 5 and verse 9, it's
the blood that redeems. Hebrews 13, 12, it's the blood
that sanctifies. And Hebrews 12, 24, it's the
blood that speaks. And it speaks to God for His
people. We've all heard that beautiful
hymn, The Love of God. Every time I hear it, I think
of this line in it. I think it's the first or second
verse. The love of God is greater far
than tongue or men can ever tell. It goes beyond the high star
and reaches to the lowest hell, the guilty pair, Adam and Eve. The guilty pair bowed down with
care. God gave his son to win. His erring child he reconciled
and pardoned from his sin. O love of God, how rich and pure,
how measureless and strong, it shall forevermore endure the
saints' and angels' song. God gave his Son as a sacrifice. to shed his blood to put away
the sin, to clothe Adam and Eve. I've heard people on television
make fun of Baptist churches where we sing about the blood
of the Lamb. God have mercy upon them. And
God have mercy upon any church when we stop singing about the
blood of the Lamb. God shows right here in the very
beginning, without the shedding of blood, that means the death,
without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And the fourth thing, when God
made coats of scans and clothed them, He taught the wonderful
truth of substitution. The word itself, substitution,
is not found in our Bibles, but the truth The truth of it runs
all the way through, doesn't it? The just must die in the
stead or in the place of the unjust. For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins that just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit. Those animals, they had not sinned
against God, Adam. Eve, they were guilty, but the
innocent had to die in the place of the guilty. Substitution. Two truths that always sound
forth when the gospel is preached, substitution and satisfaction. Christ substituted himself in
the place of his people, and yes, he satisfied God Almighty. God's justice is satisfied. Now let me close by asking every
one of us here this question. Who do you believe? I know this. You, every one of
us here this morning, we either believe Christ or we believe
Satan, one or the other. Do you believe Christ who is
the truth? Who said, go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature, whosoever believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. Do you believe Christ? Do you
believe his gospel? Or do you believe Satan, who
whispers in your ear, when I speak those words, you shall not surely
be saved? There's got to be more to it
than just believing, trusting in Christ. Who are you going to believe? I trust by the grace of God all
of us here this morning can say, I believe God. I believe Christ. He said it and it's so. You've
heard men say it. He said it, I believe it and
it's so. Well, it's so whether you believe it or don't believe
it. It's so. It's God's Word. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. May the Lord bless
this word to all of us here today. We're going to sing a hymn.