1.  Salvation must be the work of God and not man, it is God who makes the coats of skin.  Adam had no part in it.
2.  God’ plan, is through the death of a substitute the penalty or result of sin had already been spoken, it is death, and since God can not cross His word, the death penalty must be paid. God has always loved man, and wanted him to be in fellowship. He provided a substitute, an innocent, guilt free sacrifice which was probably a lamb, and He takes its life.  All this is implied by the fact that God took the skin of an animal, taking the skin would naturally involve the death of the animal.
3.  Salvation must be by the shedding of blood, for it says in Leviticus 17:17 that the life is in the blood. In order to pay the penalty for sin and restore life to the sinner, innocent blood must be shed. Again in Hebrews 9:22 we are told that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.

Here, then, in the 3rd chapter of Genesis, at the beginning, we are shown man’s way and God’s way.

Man sought to cover himself and be fit for the presence of God by the work of his own hands  Those fig leaves represent every effort of mankind to justify himself.  They represent a claim without reality, a profession with out possession, a form of Godliness but denying the power there of.

But God said it is not of works (1), it is a gift (2) it is by the shedding of innocent blood.

When Israel left Egypt, God impressed this great truth by giving them the tabernacle ritual and later the temple worship. It was a ritual of substitution, blood, and sacrifice.  A ritual which was to point them to God's lamb which was to come.  A shadow of the real thing, but not the substance.

But Israel started worshiping the ritual.  They took the ritual, made it into tradition and started worshiping the form instead of worshiping God. Then when God’s lamb did come they didn’t recognize Him. Their tradition got in the way.

Man is a creature of habit, he loves form.  He doesn’t like things to change too quickly and he clings to the way he has always done it. But God doesn’t seem to care if something has never been tried before. His concern is directed toward getting His desire for mankind accomplished.

The Bible indicates that God has always had a lot of problems with man and his traditions.  Just take a look at the Jews.  They loved their temple, their sacrifices and their Sabbath and Jesus ran up against the whole stubborn lot of them.

Did you see that?!!  WHY HE HEALED ON THE SABBATH. At every turn, Jesus tried to show them the truth... But they kept getting hung up on His methods.  Because He wasn’t traditional.  He kept doing things like touching lepers, raising the dead, hanging out with sinners, and whipping money changers.

 First it scared them.  Then it made them angry. You see, their religion was basically very quiet very peaceful and very solemn, and this Jesus person, had the whole place in an uproar at least once a week.  HE DISTURBED THEM.  He didn’t look traditional, talk traditional, or act traditional.

So they rejected His message, they rejected His miracles, and finally, they rejected Him.

 They chose the shadow of tradition, instead of the substance of God.

The nation of Israel was cursed for the same reason that the fig tree in Mark 11 was cursed. Israel had a lot of leaves, but no fruit.

 They prided themselves on their religious perfection.  They tithed, not only of their money, but of their goods, even down to the spices they used for cooking. They boasted of their law keeping and their traditions.

 Paul said, (Romans 10:3) that being ignorant of God’s righteousness they went about to establish their own.

Their leaders were so religious, that when Jesus was tried in the Gentile court of Pilot, they would not enter for fear they would defile themselves and all the while they were crying out for the blood of God’s own Son.  They hugged close to themselves all the rituals and traditions, their garments of fig leaves, and they rejected God.

Human nature has not changed much since then.  Our forefathers accepted God’s plan of salvation and His ordinances of baptism and communion.  Then as a means to point people toward God, we incorporated ritual.  The scripture reading, 3 songs, the Lord’s prayer and maybe the Apostles creed.

  NOW PAY ATTENTION HERE, I DON'T WANT YOU TO LEAVE CHURCH AND SAY.  MARY SAID ITS BAD TO SAY THE APOSTLES CREED AND THE LORD’S PAYER.  THAT’S NOT WHAT I AM SAYING.  I am NOT saying ritual is bad, in fact, if it is a celebration of being born anew by the spirit of God, it is good..

 But if you have not been born again, then ritual becomes for you, nothing but fig leaves, no fruit.

 The rejection of God’s remedy for sin in favor of, "I try to live a good life, I don’t cheat on my taxes, commit adultery or rob banks and I go to church."  This will leave you in the awful position of standing before God, with a lot of fig leaves and no fruit.

 If you were to search your Bible from Genesis to maps you would find that Jesus never cursed a harlot or a thief or a murderer.  He had only tender compassion for the sinner, but when it came to the self-righteous Pharisees and Scribes, who were all dressed up in their fig leaves of legality and religion, it was another story.

 He called them a generation of vipers, white graves, clean on the outside, but on the inside, full of dead men's bones and corruption.