Genesis 3:21-24 NKJV Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. (22) Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— (23) therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. (24) 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.
- Well we have finally made it to the end of Chapter three of Genesis.
- If you have been with us from the beginning, then you have been with us for now 16 sermons, just on the first three chapters!
- Next week we will get into Cain and Abel, and then some genealogy that leads right up to Noah… so we got plenty of content to get through… but for now, 16 sermons just on the creation of the universe, the creation of man and woman, and the fall…
- But today we wrap it up, and how is it all wrapped up… well it is wrapped up with the gospel of course!
- If you remember on Christmas Eve we talked about the Proto-Evangelium… which is the first time in scripture where the Gospel is promised… that the Seed of Woman, Jesus Christ, would crush the head of the serpent, who is Satan.
- So thus we have already seen the Gospel prophesied in Genesis chapter three.
- But God loves the Gospel, and again this morning we are given the gospel through the prophetic acts of God.
- You see the name Genesis is not some fancy Hebrew word, it is an English word… it means “Beginning”.
- The Hebrew word for beginning is רֵאשִׁית (ray-sheeth’)… and ray-shaeeth’ means Beginning!
- So Genesis means “Beginning”…
- What does Genesis mean? (Beginning!)
- Yes! Genesis means beginning, you remember that as I read from Isaiah this morning… you ready? Here we go, God speaking in Isaiah 46:10
Isaiah 46:10 NIV I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
- God says “I make known the end from the Ray-Sheeth’!”
- From Genesis God tells us the end of how things will be. And ultimately the end will be Christ Crushing the head of Satan.
Genesis 3:15 NIV And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
- God declares the end from the beginning! For Satan, His end was declared in Genesis 3:15…
- But what about us? What about our end… because we are still stuck living in this cursed world… living around the curse… living in the curse… being effected by the curse.
- Man I have 99 problems, and all of them steam from the curse… all of them are because of sin… we talked about that last week…
- But this week I want to share with you that your end has also been declared from ray-sheeth’… that your end has been declared from the beginning.
- And one end is defined here in Genesis three… an end of separation from God… an end of death… complete and utter death…
- That is the bad news… man has been separated from God, and man is destined to die.
- But if you know my God, and I know most of you do, then you know that God always give hope… so even when giving the bad news, death and separation… God prophetically gives the Gospel… and for those of you who don’t know “Gospel” is a Greek word which means “The good news”.
- So church, what is the good news in Genesis 3:21-24… the good news is that God will provide us a way to be close to Him again, and that God will provide for us a way to live forever again…
- And that way has come, through blood and through death, and His name is Jesus… let’s get into it this morning.
- My first point that I want you to understand this morning is that only blood can cover sin.
Point One – Only Blood Can Cover Sin
Genesis 3:21 NKJV Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
- To understand this we need to think back to our sermon titled “The Burden of Conscience” from about a month ago… in that sermon we talked about how Adam and Eve tried to clothe themselves.
- If you remember, when sin entered the world for mankind… a new feeling came in… shame.
- We now had the knowledge of good and evil… and we knew that we were evil because of our sin… and we were ashamed… so we took fig leaves and sewed them together to try to cover our nakedness.
- And God responded to this saying “Who told you you were naked?”
- As in “Naked is not even a word that I put in your vocabulary, it is a concept you shouldn’t understand… you must have eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from!”
- So we are naked and we are ashamed, and our sin immediately brings us separation from God… before God even kicked us out of the garden, we were running from Him and hiding from Him… sin brings in shame and separates us from God…
Genesis 3:9-10 NKJV Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” (10) So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
- Sin and shame brings separation from God…
Isaiah 59:2 NKJV But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Micah 3:4 NKJV Then they will cry to the LORD, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds.
- Sin separates us from God… and we see this is such a real and physical way at the end of Genesis three from our key verses this morning don’t we?
- Sin separates us from God… first Adam and Eve, because of their sin and shame, try to cover themselves us, then they run and hide…
- But as Jonah knows so well, you can’t hide from God… God finds them, and says “No, you will be separate from Me” and God makes the firm separation…
Genesis 3:23-24 NKJV therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. (24) 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.
- Literally God kicks Adam and Eve from His presence, and not only that but God stations an Angel with a flaming sword to say “You are NOT coming back”.
- Sin separates us from God… that is the bad news.
- But the good news is, that God makes a covering for our sin… God washes away our sin.
- This morning if you are feeling separate from God, if you are feeling apart from God, if you are feeling far from God… then this sermon may very well be for you.
- Sin separates us from God… but God, not man, makes a covering for sin.
Hebrews 9:22 NKJV And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
- Without blood there is no remission for sins, there is no forgiveness of sins.
- When Moses read the Law of God to the people he took the blood of calves and goats and sprinkled the book of the law, the first Bible if you will, he sprinkled it with the blood of the calves and goats and said “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded.
- When the people of Israel where passed over by the angle of Death in Exodus, it was the blood of a lamb that marked their homes.
- Old testament law, Leviticus and Deuteronomy… it requires the blood of animals… blood sacrifice for the covering of sins, for the remission of sins.
- I mean God’s mark of who was a part of his covenant or not was the forskin of the men to be cut off, THAT IS A BLOODY AFAIR.
Exodus 4:25 NKJV Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!”
- Blood covers sin… not fig leaves… but blood.
- Now consider again this verse from Genesis three this morning…
Genesis 3:21 NKJV Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
- Let me ask you a question… before this moment in history, was there death?
- No.
- Was there blood?
- No.
- The first death recorded in scripture was the death of the animal used to make clothing to cover Adam and Eve’s shame.
- The first blood spilt, was not Adam pricking his finger on thorns and thistles… though that was promised… no the first blood spilt, recorded in Genesis three, was the blood of an animal used to cover the shame of Adam and Eve.
- You see the fig tree that Adam and Eve used to make coverings for themselves… that did not bleed… it was not the same kind of life as animals, it does not have blood, it does not have a soul… but the goat, or whatever animal killed, it did… it had blood, it had a soul… and it was killed… the first death…
- Adam and Eve Sin.
- Result -> Shame
- Adam and Eve try to cover their shame with fig leaves.
- An insufficient covering.
- Result -> running from and hiding from God.
- God kills an animal and makes coverings from the skin.
- A blood sacrifice.
- A more sufficient, but not perfect, covering.
- Result -> God continues relationship with mankind.
- You see mankind was still kicked out of the Garden, but as you will see in future chapters, God did not end His relationship with mankind… He still spoke with them, loved them, fellowshipped with them… it wasn’t the same, and it wasn’t in His direct presence anymore… but there was still fellowship… because the blood actually helped cover the sin.
- And so because the blood covers our sin, we can have a restored relationship with God…
- Do you see the Gospel connection church?
- It is by the blood of Christ, the ultimate sacrifice, that our relationship with God is perfectly restored.
Hebrews 9:11-14 NKJV But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. (12) Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (13) For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, (14) how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
- You see the blood of animals was not enough, it was a temporary covering, but it was incomplete…
- The blood of animals was a shadow of the things to come… it pointed us to the need for an ultimate sacrifice.
- Adam and Eve sinned, bringing separation from mankind and God… the only way to restore that relationship is through blood…
- And God sent us the blood of the perfect lamb to restore that relationship.
- Church this morning if you are feeling far from God… start by examining your life…\
- Where has sin crept in?
- What sin are you allowing to keep you from God?
- To keep you separated from God?
- If you are feeling separate from God the first step must always be repentance…
- Repent from your sins and plead the blood of Jesus.
2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
- Now there are other reasons you might feel far from God, but start here, start at repentance.
- It is the reason I preach hard against sin in this church…
- Because sin separates us from God.
- And God is the source of our blessings, our comforts, our gifts, our joy.
- And to be a blessed church we have got to stay away from our sins and stay under the blood of Jesus.
1 John 1:7 NKJV But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- So sin separates us from God, but there is another consequence of sin… DEATH.
- And not just the separation from God, but literal, physical, death… But God gives life…
- That brings me to my final point this morning… Through Death we Have Life.
Point Two – Through Death We Have Life
Genesis 3:22 NKJV Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
- Because of sin, God says “Man is not allowed to live forever anymore… I will appoint a time for each man to die”.
- As I preached through the first point this morning, maybe this question came up in your head “Why blood?”
- Without blood there is no remission for sin… but why? Why must there be blood?”
- Because church, the wages of sin is DEATH.
- When we sin, there must be punishment, and that punishment is death.
- God made this clear from the beginning… the wages for sin is death.
Genesis 2:16-17 NKJV And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
- Now God gave grace, and the death was not the death we expected… but we certainly did die… our flesh was now dying, our spirit was now dead, our morality was now dead, our relationship with God was now dead, and our ultimate death was now promised…
- But God gave grace in making our ultimate death, the end of our existence, the end of all hope… God gave grace and allowed us to live… God gave hope, and provision, and promises… we talked about that last week…
- But God did not forget that death was still required… when sin enters, life must leave…
- But the beautiful thing about God is that He allows for what is known amongst scholars as: Substitutionary atonement
Leviticus 17:11 NKJV For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’
- Sin demands death… someone had to die… but through God’s grace, He allowed a substitute…
- This is the idea of Substitutionary atonement… that someone else’s death can take the place for the death that we deserve.
- When Adam and Eve sinned, God provided a substitute for death they deserved… a goat, or a lamb, or some other animal God killed to cover their sins.
- God told Abrahm to sacrifice his son Isaac on the Altar… but God provided a substitute, a ram caught in the thicket.
- God institute animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins in Leviticus… animals would die, because of our sin, that we might live… they were a substitute… it should be our blood on that altar… but God allowed a substitute.
- But these substitutes were imperfect…
- If you are on Slack, which you should be on Slack because this is how we communicate as a church… but if you are on slack you may have noticed a question about “Would the saints of Old Made heaven if they followed the sacrifice laws perfectly”… and the answer to that question is, without Christ, no… the sacrifices can not forgive sin…
Hebrews 10:1-4 NKJV For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. (2) For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. (3) But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. (4) For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
- Remember, God declared the end from the beginning… all these sacrifices, all these dead animals, they were a place holder for the sacrifice of Christ… they pointed to Christ and His death.
- Christ is the Ultimate substitute… He was the only one truly qualified to take our place.
- Therefore I would define Substitutionary Atonement as this:
- Substitutionary Atonement:
- Christ’s death taking the place of the eternal death we deserve because of our sin.
- And this church is why a LITERAL Adam and Eve are essential to the Gospel.
- Because without a literal Adam and Eve this question DESTROYS Christianity…
- “Why can one man’s death take the place of Billions of men and women’s death?”
- You see I have eternal life because Jesus Christ died in my place.
- And hopefully you have eternal life because Jesus Christ died in your place.
- Hopefully all of us do, and if you don’t we will fix that.
- But how can one death, the death of Christ, pay for the 75 or so of us in this room?
- One death paying for 75… that doesn’t seem right.
- And not just us, but 2000 years worth of saints… millions if not billions…
- And not just them, but Christs death paid for all of those saints in the Old Testament who followed those imperfect Animal sacrifices… By faith they believed in Christ not knowing His name and Christ died for them too…
- How can this be, one man’s death bringing life to billions of men and women…
- Well it is because death came through Adam’s sin… one man’s sin brought death into the world, and one man’s death brought life into the world.
Romans 5:17 NKJV For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 NKJV For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
- You see sin and death entered the world through one man, Adam, and sin and death left the world through one man, called the new Adam, Jesus Christ.
- If sin entered the world through millions of years of evolution, then the Gospel does not make sense… A physical, literal, Adam, points to a physical, literal Jesus Christ.
- Just as sin and death entered the world through one man, forgiveness and life entered the world through one Man.
- Christ’s sacrifice perfectly destroying the curse.
- A perfect substitute atoning for our sin.
- Let’s conclude with Genesis 3:21 once again.
Conclusion
Genesis 3:21 NKJV Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
- From the beginning, God declares the end.
- Blood and death are required as the price of sin.
- It is only through blood and death that we can be forgiven, and only through blood and death that we can return to closeness with God.
- Thank you Jesus for your blood that covers my sin.
0 Comments