Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she
was the mother of all living.
And at this time, I'm sure Cain and
Abel had been born after the fall.
Now will you notice verse 21, Unto Adam
also, and to his wife did the Lord
God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
And you'll find that in order to have
the skins of animals, the animals have to
be slain.
They just don't go around without their skins,
you see.
And so these animals were slain.
And I believe that this is the origin
of sacrifice, that God made it clear to
man.
Now, when God rejected the fig leaves, and
now he makes skins, and when Adam and
Eve left the Garden of Eden, they looked
back upon a bloody sacrifice.
And they saw the cherubim there, as we
shall see in a moment.
And when they left the Garden of Eden
and looked back, they saw exactly what God
had Moses put on the mercy seat, two
cherubim looking down upon the blood that was
there.
And that was the way to God.
Now will you notice that I think there
are four great lessons here that we see
from the fig leaves now, and the fact
God clothes them.
Number one is, man must have adequate covering
to approach God.
You can't come to God just as you
are.
That is, if you're bringing good works with
you, you must come just as you are
a sinner.
That's the way that you come.
And number two, fig leaves are unacceptable.
They're homemade.
God doesn't take a homemade garment.
Number three, God must provide the covering.
And then number four, the covering is only
obtained through the death of the Lord Jesus.
May I say to you, man must have
a substitute between him and God's wrath.
That's important, and even in these days, for
man to consider.
You know, the hardest thing in the world
is for man to take his rightful position
before God.
And I have a little poem here.
It's on prayer that I think reveals even
in our own hearts the necessity of this.
Listen to this.
I asked for strength that I might achieve.
He made me weak that I might obey.
I asked for health that I might do
greater things.
I was given grace that I might do
better things.
I asked for riches that I might be
happy.
I was given poverty that I might be
wise.
I asked for power that I might have
the praise of man.
I was given weakness that I might feel
the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might
enjoy life.
I was given life that I might enjoy
all things.
I received nothing that I asked for, all
that I hoped for.
My prayer was answered.
May I say to you, salvation comes when
you and I take our proper place as
a sinner before God.
Now will you notice verse 22 of Genesis
3, 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 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.
And all I can say to that is,
thank God that God did not let him
live eternally in sin, that God's not going
to let him do that.
And that's really a blessing.
Verse 24, So he drove out the man,
and he placed at the east of the
garden of Eden cherry beams and a flaming
sword, which turned every way to keep the
way of the tree of life.
Now that doesn't mean that he put up
a roadblock.
It really means that the way of life
was kept open for man to God.
And now it doesn't come through the tree
of life.
But now salvation must come through a sacrifice.
And when man looked back, as I've indicated,
this is what he saw.