And as you find your seat, if you would open your Bibles to
the book of Genesis chapter 3. I apologize if my giant Band-Aid
on my nose is distracting. Some of you have asked and I
guess I should just let you know.
Friday night I've been sick all week and Friday night after
church wasn't feeling well and went to the the bathroom and I
was feeling nauseated and was trying to go throw up.
All I remember is closing the door and locking it and that's
all I remember. I passed out and face planted on
the bathroom tub and broke my nose and so Lauren took me to
the ER or the ambulance took me to the ER and they ran test.
Everything was fine. I just have a broken nose.
I've broken it like 3 or 4 times playing basketball.
So it's, it's, he told me how to get surgery done.
And I was like, man, you can't fix this thing.
It's, it's, it's already messed up.
So, but yeah, thankfully Lauren heard the thud.
It was so loud. Thankfully she heard it up
because I would have been sitting there for a while.
So, so yeah, I'm grateful to be able to be here this morning.
The Lord has sustained and feeling a lot better and so I'm
thankful to to be here with you and to be able to preach and so
I'm I'm excited to look at God's word this morning.
Genesis chapter 3, verses 8 to 15.
So as you turn there, type that in if you'll read along with me
and your copy of God's Word Genesis chapter 3, beginning in
verse 8. And they heard the sound of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are
you? And he said, I heard the sound
of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I
hid myself. He said, who told you that you
were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of
which I commanded you not to eat?
The man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me
fruit of the tree and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the
woman, what is this that you have done?
The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate.
The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done
this cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts
of the field. On your belly you shall go, and
dust you shall eat. All the days of your life I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and
you shall bruise his heel. Let's pray Lord, I pray God,
that You would give us understanding into Your word
this morning. You got to pray that You would
help me and sustain me to preach this message.
I pray that you would help all the listeners sustain their
ears, their hearts and minds to receive the implanted word that
your Spirit is speaking to them. God would you conform us and
teach us, make us more like Christ this morning.
God that is our hearts desire is that we would we would look like
Christ. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
John Calvin writes this. As soon as the voice of God
sounds, Adam and Eve perceive that the leaves by which they
thought themselves well protected are of no avail.
The Sinner thinks himself well fenced until God's voice strikes
his conscience. Left to ourselves, we can grow
fairly comfortable with our self-made fig leaves.
Left to ourselves, we can grow quite comfortable living in the
so-called shadows. But God won't let us settle for
fig leaves. He won't let us settle for
living in the shadows. He calls us out of the shadows.
That's what the sermon is about this morning.
I'm going to start by giving you context.
If you haven't been here with with us the past few weeks, I'm
going to give the context and then be giving us exposition,
application woven together this morning.
So here's the context of of where we are.
Last week we were introduced to a new character, a serpent.
We are told that this serpent is crafty and we see that to be
true. He comes to the woman and he
asked her a question that is essentially a lie.
Did God actually say that you shall not eat of any tree in the
garden? The woman says, Oh no, we we can
eat of of all the trees except for one, for if we eat of that
one, we will die. And the server replies, you will
not surely die. God doesn't want you to eat of
it because God knows that the day that you eat of this tree,
you will be like him. You will know good and evil.
The serpent's crappy scheme works.
She takes the fruit and she eats of it.
And then to make matters worse, she gives some to her husband.
Their eyes are immediately opened and they knew they were
naked. And that's where we left off
last week. So let's jump into our text here
this morning. I'm going to, as I mentioned,
I'm going to be doing expedition application woven together.
Let's start in verse 8. Then they heard the sound of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the
man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
God among the trees of the garden.
The text tells us that that Adam and the woman heard the Lord God
walking in the garden. Now we know that God is a
spirit. So what is being described here
is either anthropomorphic language or God took a physical
form in the garden, that there was some kind of theophany that
God took and he is actually walking around.
Either way, we learned that God would walk among them.
I want to pause and just consider that for a moment.
When God made this earth and the man and the woman that he placed
in the garden, it wasn't as though God made it.
And then he says, OK, I'll be in heaven, you guys, you know, call
on me if you need me. That's not the case at all.
The text says that God, when he made the earth and he made the
garden, he would come to the earth and walk among them in the
garden. Now just stop and think about
that for a moment. What made this garden special
wasn't just that it was filled with fruit trees or that it was
some blissful paradise. What made this garden special
was that God would come and walk among them.
What an unspeakable privilege to have Almighty God walk among
you, to have uninhibited fellowship with God.
Church family, there is nothing more precious than unbroken
fellowship with God. We don't know how many times God
has taken a stroll in this garden, but on this particular
day, something was different. They hear God walking in the
cool of the day. Now, normally when a child hears
their father's voice, they run to him.
You know that when dad comes home from work, he walks through
the door. The child hears their their
dad's voice. They they run to their father.
Daddy, Daddy, you're home. But this time, the man and wife,
they don't run to God, they run away from him.
How ironic that what they wanted was to be like God.
The whole reason they ate this fruit was to be like God.
And now they are hiding from the one that they wanted to be like.
Now I want to point out how pitiful it is that the man and
woman attempt to hide from the presence of God.
They attempt to hide behind the very same trees that God had
made. It's a pitiful attempt of
hiding. This reminds me of when my boys
were really young. We used to love to play hide and
seek. We used, you know, it's, it's
Seattle, so we have to play in the house.
We, they would go and hide and it was always somewhere where I
could see an arm sticking out or a leg sticking out.
Young children are poor hiders, and so are sinners.
How illogical it is anytime we believe that God doesn't see us.
They have not yet learned what the psalmist teaches in Psalm
139. Where shall I go from your
spirit? Where shall I flee from your
presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are
there. If I make my bed and she'll, you
are there. Church family, we cannot hide
from God. He sees everything.
He sees your thoughts right now. He knows what you're thinking.
Are your thoughts on Him or are they something else?
He sees everything. He sees our emotions.
He sees our secret sins. He sees it all.
If you need to hide, hide in Him, not from Him.
Look at verse 9. But the Lord God called to the
man and said to him, where are you?
You know what's interesting is that in this passage, God asks 4
questions. Initially, God, initially God
doesn't make any statements to the man and the woman.
In this passage, He makes 0 statements to the man and woman,
but he does ask them four questions.
Why does God only ask them questions?
Because God wants them to be accountable, as Derek Kidner
writes, God must draw rather than drive them out of hiding.
God wants to draw them out of hiding, not drive them out of
hiding. These questions are intended to
draw Adam out of the shadows. This is a strategy that God uses
all throughout Scripture. God asked Elijah the same
question twice. What are you doing here, Elijah?
God asked Jonah the same question twice.
Do you do well to be angry? God asked Cain.
Where is your brother Abel? Jesus asked Peter the same
question three times. Do you love me?
Brothers and sisters, if you are still, you will hear the voice
of God asking you questions. You will.
You will hear the Holy Spirit asking you, why are you doing
this, Why are you doing this? Why are you here?
What is your motive? Why do you feel like you need
this? God's questions are always
intended to reveal the truth of our hearts.
They are designed to bring our hearts out of the emotional
shadows. The man and the woman are hiding
among the trees in the garden. But it's not as though God is
going to look for them. And after he spends a few
minutes, you're looking for them, he says, oh, well, I don't
know where they're at. I guess I'll go back to heaven.
No, like a Good Shepherd, he stays and he calls out for his
sheep. The Lord God called to the man.
I want to pause there and mention what tremendous grace
this is. God is omniscient.
He knows what has happened. You know, he could just say,
fine, you don't want to do what I tell you to do, fine, go to
Burger King, have it your way. You are on your own now.
But God in his mercy and grace calls to the man.
Sometimes we wish that God would just leave us alone, don't we?
And we sometimes wish, like God, just just let me have my cake
and eat it too, for this season, Like for just this one decision,
just this one thing, just let me have my cake and eat it too.
But God will not let us go. He won't let us go.
He comes to us, He calls to us, He draws us out of the shadows.
Now notice who did God call to? Not the woman.
Not the man and the woman, just the man.
He only called to the man. Why Paul writes for the husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church. God calls to Adam because Adam
is the spiritual head. He is the spiritual authority
and therefore he holds a greater accountability than the woman
does. Look at the first question that
God asked. He says where are you, you?
There is singular meaning. He is specifically asking Adam.
He calls to Adam and he ask Adam where are you Adam?
Now obviously God knows where Adam is, but this question has a
purpose. This is such a simple question
and yet a profound one at the same time.
Where are you? Trust family of God were to come
to you today and ask the same question.
How would you answer Where are you?
Where are you spiritually? How would you answer that if God
asked you? Where are you spiritually?
Where are you salvifically? Where are you in your walk with
God? Where are you in your commitment
to killing your sin church family?
Where are you in verse 10? And he said, I heard the sound
of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I
hid myself. Now what's interesting is that
Adam doesn't answer the Lord's question.
He doesn't. We would expect him to say I'm
over here behind these trees. That's not what he says.
He feels the need to explain himself.
He says I heard the sound of you in the garden.
And what he says next is pivotal.
And I was afraid. This is the first instance in
history of fear. We are already seeing the
effects of sin upon mankind. Fear has now forever entered the
world. We are given the indication that
prior to this the man and woman enjoyed unbroken fellowship with
the Lord, but now that sin has entered the world, so has fear.
One of the most difficult doctrines to understand is the
fear of God. The Bible tells us that we are
the fear of God. The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. However, there is a wrong type
of fear of God. The proper fear of God causes us
to run to God. We we know His power and His
love, and we we fear being separated from it.
So we run to God. We desire to stay close to Him.
In other words, my fear of God actually keeps me close to him
because I fear being away from Him.
I fear his displeasure. I fear not being under his
protection. But the improper type of fear
causes us to run away from God. We forget who God is.
We assume that God will meet us with condemnation.
Isn't that why Adam hides? If he trusted that God was
merciful and gracious and slow to anger, he would have gone to
God and confessed his sin. Notice the reason that Adam
gives her why he was afraid. He says I was afraid because I
was naked. If you remember from last week,
originally the man and the woman, they were created naked
and and and they lived that way unashamed.
And the reason they weren't ashamed is because they don't
have a framework for it. They have no paradigm for
nakedness. But the moment that they ate the
fruit, their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked
and that. And this feeling of nakedness
produces a feeling of shame. And that feeling of shame pushes
them into the shadows. Church family, if any of you are
engaged in secret sins, I understand you might, you feel
like maybe I could never confess this to anybody.
And I get it. Like as a pastor of, you know,
people will confess things to me that they never tell anybody
things, that if I were them, I don't know that I would ever be
able to admit it. I understand there there may be
things in your life you feel like I could never confess this
to anybody, like confessing this struggle would be as difficult
as walking through those doors naked.
But I'm here to tell you, you don't have to hide.
You don't have to be afraid of God.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus. You are free to come out of the
shadows. Look at verse 11.
He said, Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten at the tree of which I commanded you not to eat
God? Second question is this, Who
told you that you were naked? Now why does God ask this?
It seems to imply that both the man and the woman that they
would have never realized they were naked on their own.
They they just would have lived in, in in, in this naked bliss.
They would have never known any, any any different.
They didn't have this knowledge on their own.
But now that they have this knowledge, it means it came from
somewhere. They know they're naked.
And God says, if you have this knowledge, this knowledge came
from somewhere. Which is why God then asked his
third question. The only way that you would have
gained this knowledge is if you did something I told you not to
do. Have you eaten of the tree of
which I commanded you not to eat?
Now again, God knows good and well what they have done, but
God is once again calling them out of the shadows.
God asked Adam a point blank question.
Have you eaten of the tree that I commanded you not to eat?
This is an opportunity for Adam to come clean and confess his
sin. To say yes Lord, I have eaten of
the tree that you commanded me not to eat.
I did so. Will Adam confess his sin to
God? Look at verse 12.
The man said the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me
fruit of the tree and I ate. Notice Adam doesn't answer God's
question. God asked a very simple
question. Have you eaten up the tree of
which I commanded you not to eat?
A simple question warrants a simple answer.
Yes or no. The correct answer is yes.
Yes, I have eaten of the tree that you commanded me not to
eat. That's the correct answer.
But that's not how Adam answers. Instead, he deflects his blame.
Church family, there is great freedom of being able to confess
our sin humbly, directly, immediately, with no deflection,
no explanation, no justification.
Isn't it our tendency that when we confess our sin, we say, yes,
I did this, but here's why I did it?
Or you don't understand, like the is there.
There is a great freedom in confessing.
No deflection, no explanation, no justification, just an
acknowledgement that we have sinned.
But that's not what Adam does. Look at how he responds.
The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of
the tree and I ate. This is such a tragic response
because Adam had the opportunity to own up to his sin, to take
responsibility for his actions, and instead he deflects the
blame not just to one person, but to two people.
Look at who Adam blames #1 God. He says, the woman whom you gave
to be with me, the woman whom you gave.
It's almost as if Adam is blaming God for giving him this
woman. Adam initially received the
woman as a gift from God. Now he thinks of her as a
liability. Satan will tempt us to blame God
for our sin. He will.
I have met many people through the years who have blamed God
for their sin. God gave me the same sex
attraction. I didn't choose it.
It's not my fault I have it. God gave me such strong
heterosexual attraction. It's not my fault that I lost.
God didn't want me to lost. Why did he make it so difficult?
God gave me this disability or infirmity.
How am I not supposed to be bitter?
God made me this way, therefore it's his fault.
God allows so much evil in this world.
How can I not doubt Satan will attempt to convince you that God
is the one to blame for your sin?
The second person Adam blames is the woman she gave me fruit of
the tree. The woman who you gave to me,
she gave it to me. Now this excuse sounds a lot
like Aaron's excuse when he made the golden calf.
Remember when Aaron made the golden calf, Moses came down the
mountain and he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
And when he confronted Aaron, this is what Aaron said.
You know the people, they are set on evil.
So I said to them, let any web gold take it off.
So they gave it to me and I threw it in the fire and out
came this calf. He just threw gold in the fire
and out came a calf. Adam is like he ate of the fruit
because she gave it to him. Like, like you didn't have any
choice in the matter. You didn't eat it.
You ate because she gave it to you.
That's why you ate. You didn't eat because you made
a willful choice to eat it. Brothers and sisters, there are
always factors that play into our sin.
There are always external factors that are playing into
our sin. But there is always just one
person who is responsible for my sin, and that is the man in the
mirror. No one is ever to blame except
me. Let me say that again, because
inevitably you and I both will blame somebody else.
No one is to blame or is responsible for our sin except
us. Look at verse 13.
Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you
have done? The woman said, the serpent
deceived me and I ate. God asked His fourth and final
question and this time He asked it to the woman.
This is the first recorded words that God speaks to the woman and
they are piercing ones. What is this that you have done?
This question is meant to express shock.
It's it's similar to our statement.
What in the world have you done? The question is designed to
bring a a healthy level of shame and remorse.
It reminds us that that our sin grieves the heart of God.
God is not a robot who remains unaffected by our choices.
God is a person, God is a father, and he is grieved by our
sin. Now how might the woman answer
God's question when he said, What is this you have done?
How might she have answered God's question?
Well, she could have said, I took from the tree that you
commanded us not to eat from, and I ate from it.
Or my eyes saw the forbidden fruit and I coveted it, and so I
ate. Or I have sinned against you.
O God, those would be appropriate responses.
But just as Adam knows how to play the blame game, so does the
woman. Look at what she says.
The serpent deceived me and I ate.
Now is her statement true? Is her statement true?
In content yes, in content, yes. We know that the woman was
deceived. Second Corinthians 11/3 But I am
afraid that is the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning.
Your thoughts will be LED astray from a seer, sincere and pure
devotion to Christ. First Timothy 214 And Adam was
not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a
transgressor. Her statement is true and
content. But truth is not merely measured
by content, it's also measured by implications.
What does her statement imply? It implies this because the
serpent deceived me. It's not my fault that I ate.
That's what it implies, and that is not a true implication.
Being deceived is not an excuse for sin.
That is why four times in the New Testament we are commanded
do not be deceived. Being deceived is not something
that just happens to us and we have no control over it.
Being deceived is something that we let happen to us because we
didn't fill our minds with the word of God.
The woman knew the truth. God clearly said you will surely
die. It wasn't as though God, you
know, said something kind of ambiguous and she wasn't sure.
And then Satan played on that ambiguity.
No, she knew the truth. God said unequivocally, you will
surely die. She failed to fill her mind with
these words and instead let her mind be taken hostage by the
words of a serpent Church family.
Make it a priority in your life to not be deceived.
Let the truth of God's Word be tattooed all over your mind so
that there is no space left for Satan's ink.
Look at verses 14 to 15, our last section.
The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done
this, cursed are you, above all livestock and above all beasts
of the field. On your belly you shall go, and
dust you shall eat. All the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, in between your
offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and
you shall bruise his heel. Now what's interesting is that
God asked the man and the woman for questions.
He asked them four questions. But God asked the serpent no
questions. Nor does he ask the the serpent
for a confession of any kind. God knows the serpent is beyond
redemption. For the first time in history,
God is going to hand out punishment.
Before God addresses the man and the woman, he's going to punish
the serpent. He doles out three pieces of
punishment #1 cursed. Are you above all livestock and
above all beasts of the field? We often talk about being under
the curse. Sin brought in a curse upon this
world. It's why we have death and
sickness and famine and, and every unimaginable tragedy in
this life. And the curse starts with the
serpent. God pronounces a curse upon this
serpent. Two.
He says on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat.
Now, of course, people always want to ask this question.
Does does this mean the serpent originally had legs?
I don't think so. I don't think that's what that
means. Serpents don't eat dust.
So I think this is metaphorical language.
I think this is a way of saying that the serpent will now be
humiliated. Three, there will be enmity
between you and the woman. This enmity will last throughout
all generations. Look at what God says.
He says He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his
heel. And what does that mean?
This verse is highly debatable. Not everybody agrees on this,
but some scholars see here the earliest foreshadowing of
Christ. The offspring of the woman,
thousands of years later, came down to this earth to bruise the
serpent's head. The serpent will bruise his
heel, meaning he will get first bite, but the victory will
belong to the woman's offspring. This is good news for us all
because there are still serpent out there.
He is a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
He is a poisonous serpent that still strikes at our heels.
He is a slander attempter, an accuser, a liar, an adversary, A
deceiver. But we need not fall for his
schemes because Jesus has taken away his power of deception.
This serpent can wound us, but he can no longer keep us in the
shadows. Jesus has bruised his head.
It is a decisive blow, and now he invites us to walk freely in
the light. Church family, do you hear God
calling to you? Do you hear him come out of the
shadows into the light? Let's pray.