We are the eleventh and last message on the work days of God. The first three chapters of Genesis, as we've been taking them up. Chapter three, verse one. 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, He shall not eat of every tree of the garden. A 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 has said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest we die the serpent said unto the woman ye shall not surely die for God does know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be of God's knowing good and evil. 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 it ate, and gave unto her husband, with her, and he did eat. The eyes of them both were open, and they knew that they were naked. and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves able. 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, among the trees of the garden. 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 said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? The man said, The woman whom thou gave us to be with me gave me of the tree and I did eat. The Lord God said unto the woman What is this that thou hast done? And the Lord said, The serpent beguiled me an eye to thee. 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 valley 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. Thy conception, in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. onto 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 it is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and pistles shall it bring forth to thee. Thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face, shalt thou eat bread. Shall thou return unto the ground, for out of it was thou taken. For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Conclude me that. This is an amazing chapter we've been going through, and we've been noticing, especially last week, the activities of Satan in the beginning, of course, Satan sinned, and that's when sin entered into the world. But now we find sin entering into the God. Here you find Adam and his ruling and very happy with Eve, his wife, they're in a veritable paradise. and think of all the good things they had. There were many trees in the garden. Then you have also the fact that there were lots of flowers, lots of pets, all the animals, the birds, and so on. They had excellent health, plenty of fruits, plenty of vegetables. They were in a veritable paradise, and yet the devil drew to their attention one thing that was forbidden. He didn't tell Adam and Eve about all the good things that were there in the garden. He didn't draw their attention to the pleasant things. No. He drew Adam and Eve's attention to the one and only thing that God forbade them to partake of an eat. Isn't that true today with Christians? The devil will tell you one thing you've been denied, one thing you need and want so badly. But he doesn't tell you about all the good things, the wonderful things that you enjoy. He's always trying to draw attention to something that God hasn't given you. Do you think he should? This is the subtlety of the devil. And we wouldn't have any difficulty being happy before the Lord. If we thanked Him for all the things we did have, and do rejoice in, instead of fecking over something God didn't give us, or He hasn't allowed us to have. And so here you see the subtlety of the devil. And I want to know there's six threes in this chapter. The first one is Satan's threefold attack. What was his attack? His attack was against the word of God. Yea, hath God said. He's planting a little seed of doubt there. Are you sure, Eve, that God said that? And here he's seeking to plant a doubt. Yea, have God said? Today we find those, and they are questioning the inspiration of the Bible. I believe that some of the Bible is the Word of God, but I don't believe it always. God has given us His Word, and we cannot in any way detract from what He has said. We know there are some italics, little words dropped into kind of simplifying things, but the Bible is the Word of the Living God. and woe be unto the man or the woman who will tamper with and try and change God's word. And Satan's first attack was against the word of the living God. How sad today when we find the devil and he's trying to attack this blessed book. He said, oh, there are so many versions, there's so many translations. After all, man wrote it. These are some of the insinuations of the devil. We can't deny that man wrote it, for man must write something that man can read. But men were only tools in God's hand. Behind the Bible is the mastermind of God. When you write a letter, you don't or the party on the receiving end of that letter, you don't give credit to the pen. The pen did write it or the typewriter. No, but the pen or the typewriter were but two to convey the message, and holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God, and God took hold of men. He used them as an instrument of truth to write his will. to write his word to man. And yet you find today the devil is questioning this blessed book. Yea, have God said, are you sure that it really means that? Don't you question God's word. Because you'll find out in the end that it is true. Every word, yea, hath God said. and also the devil on this occasion deceived them as to consequences. He attacked them as to the word and then he deceived them as to consequences. Ah, says the devil, God won't punish you. No, he won't punish you. Yeah, God said, he shall not, he shall not certainly die. And the devil says today, God won't punish sin. Adam and Eve learned to their sorrow that he did punish sin. And those who today try and tell us that God won't punish sin are in for a fearful eternal joke. For God has gone on record that he will punish sin and he'll punish it severely. God says, in the day thou eatest thou rot, thou shalt surely die. The devil says, thou shalt not die. Contradicting God's word. If God doesn't punish sin, he has told a lie. For he said to Adam and Eve, in the day thou eatest the rot, thou shalt surely die. And God will punish sin. There are some lovely scriptures in your Bible about the consequences of not believing that God will punish sin. For instance, God spared not his own son. He spared not his own son, but delivered enough for us all. The Lord Jesus took our place, and when the Lord Jesus took our place, and assumed our state before God. God didn't say, well, this is my son. I'll spare him. Know when Jesus Christ took our place and bore our sins, God poured out his wrath upon the Lord Jesus Christ because he punished him as if we were punishing a sinner. He punished him instead of punishing me. Yes, God will punish sin. There's no question about that. He's got on record as doing it. And there are some lovely scriptures and whether they're lovely is up to you. Lovely in one respect that God will tell the truth. For instance, over in Second Peter, too. For God, if God spared not his own son, Living them up for his all. How should it also with them freely give us all? We've got Romans eight, thirty-two. And now notice this. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed that he spare not thee. He's talking about the Jewish nation. And now he's writing to the Gentiles. And Paul says, if God didn't spare the natural branches, Israel, his chosen people because they rejected their Messiah take heed lest God spare not you that is the Gentiles did God punish Israel he most certainly did punish Israel and he'll punish the Gentiles make no mistake about that God will punish the Gentiles there are two expressions that are remarkable in your Bible. One is in Romans eleven twenty-five. When I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery lest ye should be wise in your own conceit, that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Then he tells it in Luke twenty one four, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles." You have the fullness of the Gentiles and the times of the Gentiles. The fullness of the Gentiles have to do with the church from Pentecost to the rapture. God is visiting the nation to bring out of them a people for His name. and the time is coming when the last soul to complement the church, the last soul to complete the bride will be saved, and the fullness of the Gentiles has arrived, and God will take his people home to heaven. The pride will be gone. The fullness of the Gentiles has come in. But the times of the Gentiles has already run twenty five hundred years. The times of the Gentiles run from Nebuchadnezzar, king over Babylonia, until the Armageddon, when God will judge the Gentile nations who will be gathered in the veil of the ghetto and he'll punish them. He's punished Israel, and their worst punishment is still ahead. God spared not the natural branches Israel. Take ye that he spare not thee the Gentiles. God did not, and he will not spare Israel. He didn't spare his son. He did not and will not spare Israel, and he will not spare Gentiles. all because of their rejection of Jesus Christ. And he spared not the angels that sinned. That's another amazing verse. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them unto chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved nor the eight persons of creatures of righteousness bringing in the flood, upon the world of the ungodly. And he spared not Sodom and Gomorrah. Here are all these things that God will not spare. He spared not his son. He'll spare not Israel. He'll spare not the Gentiles. He spared not the angels. He spared not the old world. He spared not Sodom and Gomorrah, but reign hailed out of heaven upon them. Take heed. You as an individual, for he'll not spare you. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. And the Lord Jesus Christ said, Thou shalt be damned. They're weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. So said the Son of God. Going back to Satan's first insinuation, ye shall not. surely die. God won't punish sin. Yes, indeed, He will punish sin. You better tuck that back in your mind and recall these things, that God will punish sin, and the sin that He hates the most and will punish the most of you, is the rejection of Jesus Christ. That's the sin God will punish and punish for that. And so you have the devil's attack upon the word of God and then the consequences of not obeying that word. And we've just given the consequences. Then again you have his attack on God's goodness in verse five. Why? God don't know that if you read of that tree, you'll be as God's knowing good and evil. God's withholding something good from you. If withholding something that, if you touch my, you'd be like God himself. Yes, that's what the devil does today. He says, God's withholding some good things from you. And if you're only a baby, I'd give you better. I'd give you the desire of your heart. How he tempted the Lord, oh, he says that you'd only fall down and worship me. I'd give you everything. And he tempted Christ and he'll tempt you. Yes, the devil tried to tell you that God will give you more. The devil will get devil's side and say, he'll give you more than God will give you. I'll give you a good time. I'll give you all you desire, this world. He's a liar from the beginning. Because Adam and Eve didn't get what the devil promised, and neither will you. How the devil attacked God's word, asked the devil. He's put veracity on it. He also attacked the consequence of it. And also implied that God was keeping back something. He didn't want to give it to you. Knowing that if he gave it to you, my, you'd be wonderful. The devil says, I'll give you something. He even said to the Lord Jesus, I'll give you all the kings of the earth in the moment of time. If you'll just worship me. doesn't take the let devil long to show you all he's got he said the Lord Jesus show you all the kings of the earth in a moment of time on the devil doesn't need much time to show you all he's got whereas those of us who are saved it'll take God all eternity to show us what he does all the riches of God in Christ Jesus the devil today is preaching a social gospel. He doesn't want people to hear the old-fashioned gospel that you hear at the chapel. How that you're a sinner lost and going to hell, and now Christ died for you. The devil doesn't want you to hear that. The precious blood alone will put away your sin, and you may have all your sins forgiven. And after you're saved, live like a Christian. Oh, says the devil. I'll give you another gospel. And it's quite liberal, it's quite broad. You can become a Christian and you can drink. And if you swear, well, that's all right. You can enjoy a lot of this world. Yes, I'll give you another gospel. A gospel that's very humanistic. The gospel that tells you, well, you're going to heaven is such a place, but you can enjoy this world. God says there's a curse upon any man or even an angel that will preach any other gospel than the gospel that Paul preached. Yes, here's the devil's promising more than even God. promise. And so here you find the subtlety of Satan. Then you have age threefold mistakes on this occasion. Instead of turning a deaf ear to the devil, she talked to them. She should have gone, called Adam. That would have been the thing to do. But she got into a conversation. We mentioned this last week. She began talking. She took from the word of God. She omitted the word freely. Not only so, she added to the word of God. She added, neither shall ye touch it. God didn't say that. Not only so, she changed it. She used the word less instead of God says surely. That's tampering with the book. And that's exactly what the devil does. If you pay attention to him, he gets you into his meshes, the meshes of his subtlety, getting you away from the veracity and truthfulness of the Word of God. So here you find the Satan, first of all, he caused a doubt. Added to that, He presented a denial. He shall not surely die. And then added to that, it was a delusion. Ye shall be as gods. And they did not be as gods. They did not turn out to be what the devil said they would be if they obeyed him. Here you have Eve's threefold mistake. Then again you have the threefold temptation. You notice what he says about the tree? You have the tree, good for food, pleasant to the eyes, desire to make one wise. John sums all that up over in one of his epistles. First John, verse chapter two, sixteen. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. That's what the world is made of. And they're the very three things. that the devil used to tempt Eve. When she saw the tree was pleasant to the eyes, lust of the eye. Good for food, lust of the flesh, and Zion, able to make one wise the pride of life. That's all that's in the world. And that's what the devil's holding before you, the lust of the eye. the lust of the flesh and to be made proud, exalted, to be looked up to, a desire to be, to make one wise. There's the threefold temptation. And the threefold stage of that temptation. She saw, she covered it, she took. That was true of Acre. When Achan saw that Babylonish garment, that wedge of gold, and two hundred shekels of silver, he says, I saw it, I coveted, I took it, I buried it in my tent, and he was judged. And he found himself buried under a heap of stone, all because he looked, he coveted, he took. That's just exactly what happened in connection with Eve. We get away from God little by little, little by little. First a thought, then a deed, then a habit, then a character. How subtle Satan is. And that one simple act of disobedience brought ruin into this world. Disobedience is a heinous sin in the sight of God. But here you have these temptations on the part of the devil. Then you'll have the threefold questions by God. Verse nine you have. God says, we're not done. Of course they found themselves ashamed of what they've done and they fled and they hid themselves. God came down to the garden in the cool of the day. Adam, where are you now? That's question number one. Where are you as to your position before God? Where are you as to your condition before God? What about your position? Are you in your sins or are you in Christ? And what about your condition? Are you lost, vile, unholy, unclean? Is God in your condition? Or are you saved, born again, on the way to heaven? Where are thou? That's the first question. The second question was, who told thee God was naked? Who told you that, Adam, that you were naked? A second question is where conscience come in. At the end of chapter two, he and Eve were naked and they were not ashamed. Now something has happened to warp their minds and they're ashamed and they fled and they sowed with big leaves together. They were ashamed. Who told you you were naked? Adam, conscience. that conscience. He knew he was naked. You know you're a sinner this morning. Your conscience tells you that. Not only you've committed a lot of sins, but you've committed the worst one. You've rejected Jesus Christ, and your conscience doesn't let you sleep sometimes. You can't go to sleep the way you'd like to sometimes. Your conscience is bothering you. There's something you should do that you haven't done yet, and that's except Jesus Christ. Then again you have another question relative to Adam and Eve. What is this that thou has done? That's the third question. What is this that thou has done? What is this that thou has done? Only God knows the answer to all that. What you've done? You know, Adam and Eve, they tried to cover up their sin with big deeds, aprons. They thought, like some folks today, if my good deeds outweigh my bad ones, I'll go to heaven. What is this that all has done? All that you've done will amount to a roll of pin, if it's the works of your hand. There's an amazing portion of Scripture over in Psalm fifty. And I'm going to quote it to you. These things hast thou done, says God, and I kept silent. And he catalogs all their sins in Psalm fifty. These things hast thou done, and I kept silent. Oh, you see, I can get by with it. I've done it before. God's silent. Nothing happened. These things hast thou done, and I kept silent. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such and one as thyself. Brush it under the rug. It'll be forgotten. But God says, I'll reprove thee. I'll set them all before you. Not only I know those things, I'll put them on display. Yes, he says, I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. These things hath done. Adam and Eve, what hast thou done? You this morning? What hast thou done? The most heinous, hateful, God-dissolid thing in the world? is to reject the sinless, holy, righteous Son of God and His death on the cross. No sin in the world. That is the sin. Rejecting Jesus Christ, that's what you've done. Never mind other sins, drinking, swearing, cussing, so on. you rejected Christ and that's going to be the question when you meet a holy God what did you do with my son what think you of Christ said to the Pharisees yes friend you have rejected Jesus Christ and that's the one sin the Spirit of God is in the world to convict men and women of sin because you believe not on me says, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here you find God saying, what is this that God has done? Think of it. You've come in here, you've heard the gospel, you've gone out, you come back, you hear the gospel, you've gone out, rejecting it, when you know you ought to accept it. God says these things God has done. And I kept silent. I'll let you abide with me. The day is coming when I'll spread them out before you, and I'll judge you according. These things have to do. And you'll notice what happened. The grace of God on this occasion. God made them coats of skin. Adam, you and Eve, you've got fig leaf aprons on, trying to cover up your sin. That won't do them. The only way you can have fellowship with me, blood has got to be shed. And that's the first time in the Bible we read of blood being shed and life being taken. God took little Adam. He killed them. Think of God killing those little innocent creatures. And he covered Adam and Eve. And that's what saved them. and fed without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins and when the final analysis according to prophecy and symbol clothing covering illustrates God's salvation it also brings in the resurrection of Christ and your fitness for the wedding the marriage supper of the Lord I'm just going to read a verse to you and it's over in Zechariah I think three and he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him the angel is going to do something he's going to put away Joshua's sins and clothe them with a change of ring and here is Satan as in the garden He's going to resist him. And it says, and he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing in his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuked the old Satan. Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked me. Is not this a brand plucked out of the pious? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him, and unto him he said, Behold, that is to Joshua. I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will close thee with a change of rhythm. It's Eden all over again. Just this morning, friend, you're clothed with filthy rags if you're not a Christian. All our righteousness are a filthy rags. God wants to take away those filthy rags. He wants to put away all your sins, and he wants to clothe you with the robe of righteousness and the garment of his salvation. But the devil is going to resist that. Like this morning, the Lord, the Spirit is saying to you, get saved. The devil says, don't do it. The Spirit says, get saved now. The devil says, put it up. He's resisting the workings of the Holy Spirit of God. So we have the three sentences now, a sentence upon Satan. Satan might have been another type of creature than what we think up until this time. He was the wisest among the cattle, the beasts of the people. Now says, God, you're going to become a rising reptile, and on thy belly shalt thou go. And dust shalt thou eat. Was he another figure, form, a lovely beast? Now the curse, you're going to be a rising snake. Despised, feared, loathed, a reptile, eating dust. Not only so, God declared war right then. He said, the seed of the woman is going to bruise your head. Thou shalt bruise his head. Satan, I declared war on you for this. The seat of the Romans is going to come and he'll bruise your head. He'll deal with you. You may cause him some pain. You may bruise his heel on the devil's head. But the final victory is Christ over Satan. And God declared war on Satan right in Genesis three. And that battle has been going on ever since, and it's nice to know I'm on the winning side. That's God's sentence on Satan. And then God also sentences Eve. And upon Eve, verse sixteen, what was her punishment? sorrow, infanception, and subjection to her husband. The New Testament takes this up. She's got to be in the place of subjection because of her sin, and she'll bring forth children with sorrow. Every time a woman brings a son or a child into the world and suffers the pain, That's the punishment needed out to Eve for listening to the devil. The third sentence is on Adam. God sentences Adam, verses seventeen, nineteen. Here is Adam summoned. Yes, God summoned Adam. Where are thou? I want to talk to you, Adam. Where are thou? No need trying to hide. You can't do it. Where are thou? And then Adam was searched. What is this that thou has done? Adam began making excuses. Oh, he said, the woman you gave me, she didn't give me the food, and I didn't. So easy to put the blame on others, isn't it? So easy to say, well, so-and-so did that. In my younger days, I used to do some prison work. And I don't know on one occasion when I went to a prison to preach to those folks that some prisoner didn't call me over at the service room and said, preacher, he said, I wasn't a blame. I was trapped in the big, you can go and talk to the judge. No one's ready to admit their loss. Adam did not confess he had sinned. He put the blame on the woman. He was searched, but he was found out. Not only was he summoned, not only was he searched, he was sentenced. What's the sentence? You have that. in those awful verses, seventeen ninety. Curse, sorrow, thorn, sweat, death, the grave. That's what sin brought him to this world. It's a sad story if we stop there. Adam, you're summoned to appear before God. And you're searched. And here's the sentence. But Adam, you can be saved. And it was then that God clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skin. Blood was shed. And Adam had fellowship with God, only limited. Not like the fellowship he had before sin entered. Poor man has been toiling the earth ever since. He was swept. And he ends up a corpse, a little dust at the bottom of a coffin. But thank God he can be saved. The body, the soul can be saved, and God will give you a new body on the resurrection morning. And so Adam was saved. In spite of his blunder, so was he. He was a God of grace. God in government drove them out of the garden, but God in grace provided salvation. precious, precious blood of Jesus shed for rebels, shed for me. And you say this morning, I'm going to trust the precious, atonement, blood of Christ. God's provision for me, a guilty sinner. I've sinned against God. I can have all my sins forgiven. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin, A. Double A. not seventy-five percent or ninety-nine percent all your sins can be put away by the precious but totally efficacious powerful blood of Jesus Christ he'll do it now here is God in sovereign grace saving our first parents and the devil was foiled and that same precious person who said that same precious blood to save us is going to consign Satan to the bottomless pit where there shall be weeping, waving, gnashing of teeth. God declared war, but Christ is victorious in every soul that gets saved under devil's condemn. Will you trust Christ? Will you accept Christ? Will you do it this morning? What does it profit you to put it off? Why don't you trust them? Why don't you trust them now? God help you to say yes. Will you say yes? And come and tell us after me. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to thy holy presence. We thank thee for thy wonderful word, thy delightful word. We thank thee for thy government dealings and thy hatred of sin. Thou must punish, but we thank thee. Thou will pardon. All who trust thy Son and accept him as Saviour Lord shall have everlasting life. Shall not come into judgment in his past and death.