This sermon delves into Genesis chapter 3, focusing on the aftermath of Adam and Eve's sin, their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and God's provision of tunics of skin as a symbol of atonement through the shedding of innocent blood. It emphasizes the foundational importance of understanding sin, redemption, and acceptance with God based on His terms of grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Verse 20, Genesis chapter 3, And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, to no good and evil. And now lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. So we come now to the final portion of this third chapter. Let me just remind you in verses 14 through 19 that we've been looking at over the past few studies. God pronounced a curse on the serpent, the woman, the man, and all of his dominion. It is from those verses that we learn that everything from thorns and thistles to death are abnormalities. Things that as we've seen were not a part of God's original creation, but they came in as a result of sin. And so God having pronounced the judgment upon man and upon Satan, now we find the response of Adam. And Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Now we, of course, speak always of Adam and Eve. But it's an interesting thing, I think, to note that up until this point she did not have that name. As a matter of fact, no name was mentioned in regard to the woman up until this point. But Adam names her. He names her Eve, which means life or living. Adam believed the promise of God. God had declared that the seed of the woman would ultimately crush the head of the serpent. And, of course, all of this transpired as Adam was there in the presence of the Lord and listening to the judgment that was pronounced and the promise that was given. And we see that Adam, by faith, names his wife the mother of all living because he understands that through Eve life is to be restored. Through his wife life is to be restored. So he gives her the name Eve. Now, I've been asked the question, and I know Pastor Chuck has been asked this question, too, on pastor's perspective. Oftentimes, you know, younger children will call in and sometimes they call in with some of the most amazing questions. But one of the questions that we've been asked has to do with Adam and Eve and whether or not they will be in heaven. I think clearly from what we read here in the final verses of this chapter that Adam and Eve will be in heaven. That Adam and Eve were reconciled to God. They, of course, had to suffer the immediate consequences of their sin. But their relationship with the Lord, although it was altered from what it had previously been, it was a relationship that continued. And we see it here. We see Adam, again, he's exercising faith. He's putting his trust in what God has declared. And he shows that by naming his wife Eve. Now, did you notice how in verse 22, the Lord speaking, he said, Behold, the man has become like one of us. Notice the plurality there. We talked some time ago in one of the earlier studies in Genesis, we talked about the doctrine of the Trinity. And we talked about how even though it's not fully spelled out in the early chapters of Genesis, it's definitely hinted at. And I think we talked about the way the Bible progressively reveals things to us. And, you know, initially there's maybe just a hint or just some small indicator of something. But then through a process of time, that idea begins to be developed more fully. And so, remember the first time the title, God, appears in the first verse. We talked about the name of God being Elohim, which is plural. And so, there we have that hint. And then here, once again, we see a similar kind of a thing going on, where it's God who's speaking, and the question is, who's he speaking to? When he says, the man has become like one of us, who is he speaking to? Oh, he's speaking within himself as the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The communion is transpiring between the three persons of the divine nature. Now, the doctrine of the Trinity is one of those things that has been puzzling to people throughout the ages. And there's been a debate and controversy and those that have denied the doctrine. And that's one of the chief tenets of the cults today. All of the cults today deny the doctrine of the Trinity. And it is something that's difficult for us to get a grasp on mentally. There's one God who is three distinct persons, but yet, ultimately, there is just the one God. To really wrap my head around that, I don't know that I can. I don't know that any of us can. When you read theologies, you find some interesting perspectives. You find some people saying, the doctrine of the Trinity is so profound, it's so deep, we could never begin to even remotely comprehend it. And then you'll read some other theologian who says, oh, this is really simple stuff. We should all be able to get this. Then he'll give a few illustrations of what he thinks the Trinity is like. For myself, it's been one of those things that it's hard to really get a grip on it mentally. But, you know, it would stand to reason, if God is indeed who the Bible claims him to be, if God is incomprehensible, then I, as a finite creature, probably never would be able to fully understand or grasp these kinds of things. So, the doctrine of the Trinity doesn't really present a problem for me. It goes hand in hand with what you would expect from the infinite God, from the incomprehensible God. So, whether or not we can ever fully understand it, it is indeed what is taught in the Scripture. I might not be able to ultimately, you know, grasp it mentally. I don't have to. I'm simply called to believe it, and I believe it based upon the testimony of the Word. So, here once again we have that little hint, that little indication, God referring to himself as us. But notice also here in verse 22 and 23, where he says that the man has become like one of us to know good and evil. Apparently, we were not created with the capacity to handle the knowledge of evil. That is not a capacity that man was given when he was created. And when man sought to attain that knowledge that was never really a knowledge that was intended for him to experience, it crushed the human race. And we see that all around us to this very hour. We see how evil has inundated life and society and the world. And we see that inclination toward evil, and we see man's fascination with evil. And in all of it, we see the destructive element there as well. It was never intended by God that man should possess the knowledge of evil. But it's interesting to me that as we read here, we see that God puts a limit on the spread of and the duration, the spread and the duration of evil. And what does God do? It says that lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. God puts a limit on evil. He puts a limit on its ability to spread and the duration of it. Now, sometimes we think and many have thought how great it would be to have immortality. And of course, if you have immortality in the right sense or the biblical sense, the immortality that God gives that's an immortality that's a sinless immortality, that's a wonderful thing. But most people don't think of it in those terms. Most people just think of it in terms of, oh, if I could just go on living forever as we talked a few weeks ago. Oh, if I could just discover the fountain of youth and stay young forever. But this would be one of the most horrific things imaginable. Just think if wicked, wicked people never died. That's a frightening thought, you know, realistically. I mean, you think about all of the tyrants and all of the people who have afflicted people throughout history. All the monstrous people that have lived. And just think if those people just kept on living. So, God is not going to allow that to happen. Now, evidently, the potential was there that if man were able to go back into the garden and partake of the tree of life, that he would go on living forever. But go on living forever in the corrupted state. And so, God is going to prohibit that from happening. You know, these things are, they're mysterious things. But this is what it says here. And so, the Lord, we read, He expelled them from the Garden of Eden. And I think that verse 23 is a very sad verse. Therefore, the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground. You know, just kind of picture that in your mind, if you could. You know, here's man and woman. They've had this beautiful relationship with God. You know, maybe you could kind of liken it to the relationship that you might have within your family. Maybe between you and your children or something like that. Just, you know, the most ideal, most blessed, most wonderful experience you could imagine, relationship-wise. But now all of that has been radically altered. And in my own mind's eye, just to imagine the scene, the setting, at that moment, as we read here, that God sent them out of the Garden. Oh, how sad it is to think of them being expelled out from the presence of God. So, they're expelled from the Garden. And what has happened now? Their fellowship with God is now altered. It's not severed entirely, as it potentially could have been had God not intervened in mercy. But it's definitely altered. They're no longer going to enjoy that intimacy that they once had with the Lord. They're no longer going to have those times of meeting with the Lord, as they did in the cool of the evening in the Garden. The relationship is still there. God has kept the relationship intact. But it's definitely been altered. It's been affected. The presence of God is no longer an immediate presence. And so now they're going out from the presence of the Lord. And they will have, as we do as well, they will have those times where there's those occasional visitations from the Lord, and, you know, those types of things. Of course, we even have a greater experience of that now because of the New Covenant. But back with them at this time, there would have been a radical change in their experience with the Lord. And this, of course, is one of the tragedies of sin. Sin separates us from fellowship with God. Sin alters that fellowship. Sin puts us at a distance from the Lord. Like the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah. You remember He said, He said, My ear is not heavy that I cannot hear you. My arm is not short that I cannot save you. But your sins have separated you from your God. And this is what sin does. Sin separates. And so that beautiful relationship that was once experienced by Adam and Eve is no longer their experience. And they're expelled from the garden. And man is now subjected to the cruelty of a cursed creation. I don't even think that we could grasp the magnitude of all that happened there on that day. But we might have had a little taste of it here and there because although the situations vary, sin essentially does the same thing. How many relationships have been ruined over sin? I was just talking to Cheryl tonight and she was telling me about a friend of ours. And she said, I've got some really sad news. And then she proceeded to tell me about a friend that we know who's been married for a few years. And, you know, it all seems so wonderful. And Prince Charming has come along. And the man of her dreams. And all of these kinds of things. And everybody's excited about it. And it just seems so good. And, you know, seem to love the Lord and be in the ministry and all of that. And then, you know, you find out that it's all a big facade. It's not real. And there's infidelity. And there's brutality. And there's mistreatment. And all of these things. And, you know, you think of the heart-breaking situations that we encounter in this world because of sin. You think of those children, perhaps, that you raised, that you bounced on your knee, that you cuddled. And then they grow up and become teenagers and rebel against the Lord. And against you. And this person that you could have never dreamed of any experience like this. You could have never imagined that they would go in this direction. And, you know, there you are sitting face-to-face with them. And your heart is being ripped out of your chest. And you're just, you know, looking at them and thinking, Oh, God have mercy. You know, this is the reality of sin. Of course, the enemy and those who serve him are always, you know, painting a different picture, aren't they? Sin, that's where all the fun is. And we see it all around us. We see it in, of course, the advertising. We see it in the movies and the TV programs. And we hear about it in the music. And, you know, it's all this idea that, you know, there's so much fun to be had. There's so much excitement to be enjoyed. And, you know, basically it's just a big invitation to come and just engage in indulging your flesh and all that. But everything that the Bible would refer to as sin, the world is calling out saying, Come on, be part of this. This is wonderful. This is great. And it looks so good on the outside. But it's a very thin veneer. And it doesn't take too long before you begin to find out that, just as the Bible says, sin brings forth death. And it brings forth death in relationships. And it breaks relationships that should have stayed together. It breaks those relationships up. And ultimately, as we're reading here, it breaks the relationship between man and his maker God, God the one who loves us, and leaves us ultimately in a state of misery. And so that's where they were at. But there is, there is a bright light here at the end of this story of the fall. And the bright light is what is stated in verse 21. And it's interesting that just, you know, you just could perhaps just sort of read over it and not really grasp the significance of the statement. But this is, this is the silver lining in the whole picture. In the whole tragic picture, here's the silver lining. Also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin, and He clothed them. Now remember, back in verse 7, perhaps you remember reading there, that after they had sinned, and they realized that they were naked, that they were naked, and they felt ashamed. Remember what they did? It says that they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. They sewed fig leaves together and they made themselves coverings. Verse 21 is God's response to that. See, those two verses are connected. So man, as he has sinned, he's come to the realization that something has changed. Something is radically different. He feels ashamed. He feels naked. He is naked. The man and the woman, they're naked. And they suddenly know that they're naked. And it's not, I don't think it was just the physical nakedness. That was sort of the outworking of it all. But there was something deeper beyond that. There was just that whole sense of something had been radically altered in their relationship with God. And in a feeble attempt to reverse that, they sewed fig leaves together, and they make themselves a covering. But God, he covers them himself. And we read that God made tunics of skin and he clothed them. Now, here's the thing. Tunics of skin imply death. They imply the death of an animal. Now, think about this. Up to this point, now remember what God had said. He had said to Adam, you remember, You can eat of all the trees in the garden, but of the tree in the midst of the garden you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die. But think about it. They have partaken of the fruit. God has pronounced the judgments. But up until this point, no one has died. No one has died, at least from the sense that they could visually observe it. Now, they must have expected death as an immediate penalty for their sin. I would think that that would have been what was in their minds. And so when God came to them in the garden, they must have thought, this is it. It's just as God said. We're going to die. But, they didn't die. In fact, not even the serpent died. Not even the serpent died. Up until this point, there had been no death at all. And now, the death that does occur is not their death. Now, of course, they deserve to die. But the death that occurs is the death of innocent animals. Undoubtedly, lambs. And the one who killed those animals was God. Now, I would imagine, and that's all you can do, I guess, is imagine. But I would imagine that this would have been so sobering to the man and the woman. For now, they're beginning to realize. Remember, they had been told by Satan. They had been duped by Satan into thinking that the tree was beneficial. And God was withholding something from them, that there was a good thing that God was trying to keep back from them. And they bought into that deception. And now we find that they're beginning to see the repercussions, the ramifications of their action. And although it certainly is affecting them immediately, it's also affecting everything around them. You know, sometimes people say, in regard to sin, they say, well, you know, it doesn't hurt anybody else. It's just my thing. You shouldn't try to prohibit me from doing this or living this way. I'm not harming anyone else. There's not a single case in all of the world, in all of history, where sin didn't harm anyone else. The nature of sin is harmful. And it always harms somebody. But it always harms more than, you know, just the individual. The individual might think, well, hey, you know, it's my body. It's my life. It's, you know, what does it matter? I'm not hurting anybody else by doing this. Well, what about the people that love you? You're hurting them. See, you might think that you're independent of everybody else, and you're just doing this thing, and why should anybody else be affected by it? But that's just the way it is. You can't help but be affected by it. And so here's Adam and Eve, and suddenly the great reality of what their sin has done, and kind of the beginning of seeing the ramifications of it. Here are animals that have been slain in order for them to be covered. Now, the fig leaves, though they were real, they symbolized man's attempt to cover his own sin and to put forth his own efforts as a means of acceptance with God. So, of course, these are historical things. This is literally what happened in the garden. But there's spiritual lessons here as well. And so the fig leaves, yes, they were real fig leaves, but they were symbolic. And there's a deeper lesson here, one that's not limited just to the situation in the garden, but one that is actually going to work itself out all throughout time. And it's the picture of man attempting to justify himself versus God's means of justifying man, or accepting God's means of justifying man. So man covers himself in fig leaves. Essentially, when God provides the tunics, what He's saying to man is, the fig leaves, they're not adequate. They don't cover. They're insufficient. They won't work. And so God is going to provide something for them that truly does cover them. Now, the tunics that God provided, they show us two things. Number one, they show us that sin must be atoned by the shedding of innocent blood. Sin must be atoned by the shedding of innocent blood, or to put it in strictly biblical terms, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Now, all throughout history, up until this very day, most people all over the world, and Israel especially, had a concept that there must be sacrifice for sin. Our present humanistic, secular generation is perhaps the first generation in all of history that has rejected that idea totally. But all throughout history, in every culture, there was an understanding that God had been offended, and of course, depending on where you were at, the view of God varied. But God, or the gods, however they understood it, that gods had been offended, and there was need of a sacrifice. There was need of atonement to get right with God. Now, what you found throughout all of the various cultures and religions were corruptions of what was true. And what was true began right here, in the earliest stages of human history, and the true model of it, or the true version of it, was passed on through this redemptive line. And so, when we come to Israel, remember one of the main features of the Mosaic system was the sacrificial element. There was a tabernacle, there was a priesthood, and there were offerings that had to be offered continually, consistently. And it was all due to the fact of sin, and it was all there for the time being covered for sin, but it was all there to be speaking to the people, reminding them of the necessity of atonement, and of blood making atonement. And even today, if you get outside of our culture, the Western humanistic culture that we live in, you will find that still many, if not most people outside, if they haven't embraced some Western humanistic ideology, they're still thinking in those kinds of terms. They're still thinking in terms of a sacrifice. This has just been ingrained in the mind of man intentionally by God. So, this ingraining process began here with the provision of these tunics. And so, first of all, God showed that sin must be atoned by the shedding of innocent blood, and secondly, that acceptance with God is based on His terms and not ours. Now, that's probably one of the most rejected ideas today in our culture, because as a people, we want everything on our own terms, and we take that all the way out to the things of the Spirit, and we take it all the way out to a relationship with God. And so, we have the distorted idea that we're going to dictate to God how things are going to be done. We're going to lay down the rules. We're going to set the standard, and God's going to comply with whatever we decide about how we're going to worship Him or approach Him or something like that. Now, needless to say to you, that is a huge delusion. We know that, right? Because God doesn't conform to our will, our way, what we think is best. God has set His standard, and it is inflexible. It doesn't change. It can't possibly change. And we see here that acceptance with God is based on His terms, and His terms always include death and the shedding of blood, because the wages of sin is death. So, there has to be death and the shedding of blood in order for reconciliation to take place. Now, in the last analysis, there are really only two religions. There are really only two religions. Now, if you've been to a comparative religion course, maybe over at the college, you're saying, now wait a second, Brian, I know there are more than two religions. I've studied several of them. But here's the truth about that. When you take all of the religions in the world, and you boil them down to the essentials, to the real essence of what is being communicated in a particular religion, you find that every religion in the world, regardless of where it originated or what the variables are, you find that they all have the same essential components. And the one chief feature of every single religion on the planet, with the exception of Biblical Christianity, is the feature of acceptance with God or salvation, or however they describe it, it is accomplished through the works, the efforts, the merits of the individual. And so in the last analysis, there are really only two religions. Whatever nation, tribe, place, or period of history you consider, you find that there are these two religions. There's the religion of fig leaves, which is the religion of works. The other is the religion of skins, the religion of God's provision through the death of Christ. I'd love to point that out to people. And I think it's a powerful testimony. I was hoping to, and I just found out today that they shot us down. We were going to do a presentation over at one of the colleges on the uniqueness of the Christian faith. Last year I was able to go over to one of the colleges and we were able to do a presentation on the uniqueness of Christ. And so some of them said, hey, why don't you come back this year? And so we just presented to the philosophy department that this is what we'd like to do. And they decided, no, we don't want you to come and do it. So we'll figure out something else to do. But, you know, what I wanted to go and present to them was this very idea about the uniqueness of the Christian faith. Because as I'm saying, all of the other religions have several things in common, but I think the common denominator, the one consistency all the way through is that it is a religion of fig leaves. It is a religion of works. It is a religion of what you can do in order to obtain acceptance with God, of what you can do in order to obtain God's favor. But when it comes to the Christian faith, and notice a moment ago I used the term Biblical Christianity, and, you know, you do have to use that term today. And I think it's a good thing to clarify. I was speaking to a man last week, a Buddhist fellow. And he grew up in Sri Lanka, and, you know, it's a Buddhist country and so forth. But he went to an Anglican school. So he was educated in an Anglican school. But sadly, he knows very little about Christianity in the truest sense. And so as we were talking back and forth, he was asking me, well, are you an Anglican? And I said, no, no, I'm not an Anglican. And I tried to explain to him a little bit about non-denominational Christianity. But I found myself going back and using the term Biblical Christianity. And we need to do that today because, unfortunately, there's a lot of Christianity out there that isn't Biblical. And because it's not Biblical Christianity, there's a lot of Christianity that is very similar to the other religions in the world in that it is works-oriented. I mean, listen, I'll tell you. I spent, you know, quite a few years in the Roman Catholic Church. And I know for myself, and I think every other Catholic I knew, if you asked any of us what was our hope of heaven, we were going to tell you that, you know, well, I'm trying to be as good as I can. Or, you know, I'm going to keep working at it. You know, I hope that in the end my good works will outweigh my bad works. That is the mentality of, I would say, the vast majority of Catholics in the world today. It's the mentality of the vast majority of people who belong to the Orthodox Church today. And it's also the mentality of most of the people that belong to what we would know historically as the mainline Protestant denominations. We were doing a radio program last week, Chuck and I and Don, with Ray Comfort. And Ray Comfort was here on Saturday for the Evangelism Day. And Ray is an evangelist. And he spends, you know, all of his time out sharing the Gospel. And Don asked him the question. He said, Ray, how many people do you meet on the street that believe that they're going to ultimately get to heaven through their works? And Ray said, ten out of ten. Ten out of ten. Everybody, in some way or another, believes that same thing. But when we come to, it's only in the Bible that we find that that isn't the case. A few years ago I was traveling back from somewhere and I ended up getting bumped up to first class, amazingly. That's always a fun thing. And I was sitting next to this lady. And we struck up a conversation. And I began to share the Gospel with her. And she had the typical idea that so many have, that, you know, she wasn't too bad of a person and she was sure that on that, you know, final day, her good works would outweigh her bad works. And, you know, she was a pleasant lady and she was presenting her case and I was politely listening to her. I had my Bible there with me. And after she shared her view, her perspective, I said, you know, it's interesting that you feel that way and I understand the way you feel because this is the way most people feel. This is the way I actually felt at one time. I said, but did you know that what the Bible tells us about salvation is the exact opposite of what you think about it? The way to get to heaven is not through works. And she said, oh, I couldn't believe that. That can't possibly be true. I said, well, it is true. I said, it's in the Bible. And she says, well, you got a Bible right there, show me. I said, I'd be happy to. And so, you know, I just opened up my Bible to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8. For by grace you are saved through faith. That not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast. And I took her over to Titus. It's not according to works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. And, you know, a few other passages. And she was completely astounded. She was stunned. She just said, that's the Bible? That's what the Bible says? I said, well, this is the Bible. I said, well, look, Holy Bible. I'm reading to you from the Holy Bible. This is what it says. But people are astounded. And this is the great distinction. The great distinction between every other system and Biblical Christianity is grace. There's no such thing as the grace of God. Nothing even remotely like it in any other system where God freely forgives the sins of people based on the work of another person, Jesus Christ, and are simply putting our faith and trust in what he's done. You know, some people foolishly say, well, the Bible was written by men. Anybody who says the Bible was written by men, I am pretty certain they've never really read it. Or maybe they've browsed it, maybe they've skimmed it, but they certainly haven't understood it. Because men have never come up with these kinds of ideas. And so, there are the two religions. Now, most people come to God with big leaves. Most people want to make a contribution of some sort. You know, you would think that everybody, once they heard about the grace of God, the free gift of God's salvation, wouldn't you think that people would just jump right on that? Say, oh, that is the greatest news I've ever heard. Let me have it. But strangely enough, people kind of bristle at that. Well, what do you mean? God's going to do it for me for free? Well, you know, what's my part? Well, you don't really have a part. Well, what do you mean I don't have a part? I want to have a part. I want to do something too. Well, okay, you can believe. Well, I want to do more than believe. I think I've done some pretty good things. I think God's got to take all that into consideration. It's a strange perversion in the heart. But you see, God does not accept it. This is completely unacceptable to God. It's all grace or it's nothing. You see, again, we come to God on his terms, not on ours. And this is exactly what Paul meant. Now, think of the Apostle Paul as we project forward in history here from Genesis to the New Testament period. And think of Paul. Paul was, as you know, he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was a Pharisee. He was deeply committed to the law of Moses. By his own evaluation, he said regarding the law, he was blameless. And so here was a man who thought that his standing before God was going to be attained through his works. And yet you know the story. He's persecuting the church. He's on his way to Damascus to apprehend the believers there. And the Lord Jesus Christ essentially arrests him on the road to Damascus. And Paul goes through this marvelous transformation, and you know he becomes the great advocate for the faith. But remember, here's a man whose entire life, his whole life experience was rooted in a religious system that taught that salvation was through adherence to the law. This had been ingrained in him from the time he was an infant because his father was a Pharisee. And so this was a lifelong indoctrination, and it was something that was just so thoroughly a part of his thinking process that there's no way humanly speaking that could have ever been altered. But listen to what he says in writing to the church in Philippi. He says, But what things were gained to me, these I counted loss for Christ. Indeed, I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. Now, what Paul's talking about there, the context, the all things, are all of the things that he previously trusted in which would have been his works. And this is what he's saying about his works. He says, I count those things as rubbish that I may gain Christ, and listen, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness of God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. You see, that's, I think that's one of the greatest descriptions of what we're talking about here. And these tunics, these animal skins, are the first, they're the first glimmer, they're the first indicator of how God is ultimately going to save man, redeem man, justify man. He's going to do it, not through man's works or efforts. He's going to do it by the shed blood of an innocent victim and that shed blood covering and making atonement for their sin. And so the gospel, as we know it, as we preach it, as we thank God for it, as we glory in it, you see again here, the gospel in its most elementary form is being communicated to us right here in verse 21 of chapter 3. Now, I hope that, you know, I know we've gone rather slowly through these first three chapters and we will pick up the pace, but I intentionally went slowly through these first three chapters because they're foundational. You see, without an understanding of these things, we couldn't really understand what we're taught in the New Testament about the gospel. You know, sometimes people make the mistake of saying, well, you know, the Old Testament isn't important, we don't need that anymore, of course we've got the New Testament, we just throw that out. Some people maybe don't go to that extreme, but I've heard many people say, well, you know, Genesis, what's the big deal? You know, Genesis is about all those things that happened so far back then, and what does that matter to us today? It matters a lot because it's the foundation upon which everything else is built. If we have no Genesis, of course, we have no understanding of our origins, we have no understanding of why the world is in the condition that it's in, we really can't even have an understanding of the gospel because the gospel is related back to sin, and sin came in as we've been reading through Adam and Eve. So you see, these things are essentials, these are so important, they're foundational things. But I'm always fascinated as we go through to find just these, you know, almost seemingly sort of just incidental kinds of statements or descriptions, but yet if you take the thought and you follow it out, you find that this was the beginning of that thread. Some people have spoken of the scarlet thread of redemption, and to go back and to follow that scarlet thread all the way through to the coming of Christ, and as we make our way through Genesis, we will continue to follow that scarlet thread. But as we close tonight, let me remind you of kind of summing up everything that we're talking about here in regard to our salvation and the way God has always saved people and the way he always will save people. The words to the great hymn on Christ the solid rock I stand, those words really, I think they put it in perfect perspective, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand, but then that second verse there, when he shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before his throne. That's it, dressed in his righteousness alone, not my righteousness, not anything that I have done or any kind of a contribution that I might want to make. There's nothing left to do. Just as God slew those animals and he covered Adam and Eve with those tunics, so God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. And he made him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness that God requires in him. That's how you obtain acceptance with God, no other way, through Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the glory of the gospel. And Lord, as we're here tonight studying Genesis chapter 3, but we're glorying in your gospel because it's right there. And Lord, we think of that sad and tragic picture of Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden, Lord, but we see that silver lining there. We see that glimmer of hope, Lord. We see that you covered their nakedness. And Lord, you made a way for the relationship to be maintained. And Lord, what was for them a relationship that had been greatly altered and never again to be what it was for them. But Lord, for us tonight, because of what Jesus has done, you have brought us into the kind of relationship that they enjoyed before the sin. Lord, a relationship where we have intimacy with you, where we have consistent fellowship, where we, Lord, sense your presence and hear your voice and experience your touch upon our lives. And Lord, we just are praying that we might have more of that. Lord, more of you, more of, Lord, experiencing your presence and your power. Lord, any sin in our lives that's interfering with our fellowship with you, that's hindering and keeping us back from all that you want to do in us and through us, Lord, convict us tonight. Lord, things that maybe we're not totally aware of because of hardness of our heart. Or maybe, Lord, some are just trying to ignore it and pretend like it's not an issue. Lord, by your spirit, bring that conviction that we might be cleansed. Lord, that we might be able to be in that place where we're not missing a single thing, where you're able to do all that you want to do in us and through us. Lord, that's our prayer. We yield ourselves up to you tonight. Cleanse us, fill us, renew us, and use us, we pray. In these days, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's stand together. If you need some prayer tonight, anything going on in your life personally, maybe you've got family issues that need some attention, struggles, difficulties, whatever it is, we're here to pray for you, to pray with you. And so, come on up and let us do that as we close things out tonight. And if you would keep us in prayer over the next couple of weeks, I'm leaving for South Africa tomorrow. And we have a great couple of weeks going over to minister to the churches in South Africa and several missionaries and church leaders from different parts of Africa are coming to join us at the conference in Cape Town. So, if you'd keep us in prayer, we'd appreciate that and look forward to getting back in a couple of weeks with a good report of all that the Lord did. So, I asked Henry, I texted him today and said, do you know, on Christ the solid rock I stand? And he never texted me back, so I saw him tonight and I said, well, what happened? And he said, yeah, I know it. And he said, it was in my heart to text you back, but I didn't get around to it. So, he assured me that he would be able to close us with that song tonight. So, let's go ahead and just sing that one together. On Christ the Solid Rock I hope this builds on happiness that Jesus built and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest thing but holding me on Jesus' Name On Christ the solid rock All other ground is sinking sand He shall come with trumpet sound O may I then in Him be found Dressed in His righteousness unknown Fallest to stand before the throne On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand