God's calling the hiding heart, God wants you!

Opening

I first want to Give honor and thanks to My Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ for if it wasn’t for Him, I wouldn’t be here today. To the Angel of This house, God’s Under-shepherd and my Father in the Ministry Pastor Mims, I thank you for being a great Man of God, teacher and leader. To the other Ministers in the pulpit and any that may be in the pews, to the Deacons, Trustees and all of you that God gathered here today. I love you all so much but God loves us so much more. I’m here today on a divine assignment as a servant of God and a slave to Jesus the Christ. I don’t take this assignment lightly. I greet you all in the matchless name of Jesus. It is so good to see you all and even better to be seen, rather than viewed. I thank God for giving me a wife that is truly my help meet. She makes life so convenient for me and and I wouldn’t want to share life with no one other than you baby.

Introduction

There is a word from God for us today on this Communion Sunday so let’s hear what it is and get into His word. We will be coming from the Book of Genesis so turn with me if you will to Genesis 3:1–10 and then we will drop down to Gen. 3:21.

Father I come to you this morning humbly asking you to search me o God and know my heart, try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Move this morning and have your way. Decrease me that you my increase and let every ear and heart be open to receive what you give this morning. In Jesus name amen.

Sisters and Brothers, The creator of the Universe, the God we serve is a relational God. He created each and everyone of us for a purpose, and He deeply desires for us to be in a personal relationship with Him. Not only does he want us to be in relationship with Him, He wants us to be in good relationship with each other. God never intended for man to be separated for Him or to be lonely. That is why after he created man and saw that he was lonely, he created a woman from the rib of man so they would be relational and bring Him Glory. We read in Genesis 1:27 that “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” The primary reason for humanity’s existence is to Glorify God. Isaiah 43:7 says “Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”

to reflect His image- We bear His likeness in moral nature, creativity, relational capacity, and authority over creation.

to display His character- our lives are meant to mirror His holiness, justice, mercy, and love.

God did not create man because He lacked something, He is eternally complete in Himself, but because His nature is love, and love naturally desires fellowship.

However, we have a foe in satan that don’t want us to be close to God and truly get to personally know Him. The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy relationships, especially our personal relationship with God. This enemy knows that he have a short time on earth so he wants to destroy as many relationship as he can and the main relationship he want to block is that between man and God. The enemy knows that if he keep us from a personal relationship with God, he can effect every other relationship we have.

The Relational Nature of God

God’s relational nature is seen very early in scripture. As I read Genesis 3, I felt it was one of the saddest passages in the bible. Picture this, God created Adam and Eve and placed them in paradise. That is literally what Eden means in the bible. God entrusted Adam with dominion over the earth. which is to govern, manage, and exercise authority, not exploit, but care for the world as God’s representatives and enjoy Him forever. Man’s Chief end is to Glorify Him forever.

When you look at it, they only had one command from God and that was to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They could eat anything else there, all of it pleasing to the eye and good for food, except that of one tree. They could eat all the watermelons, all the plum, bananas, peaches they had everything to include the tree of life which was also in the middle of the Garden. They had it all and walked around naked but had no shame. We don’t know how long it was before the old dirty devil came into the picture. He was angry because Man had dominion of the earth and him. The enemy’s main purpose is to kill, still and destroy, he had to break the fellowship God and man had. It is hard to imagine isn’t it, God and man personally talking and communing with each other. I know that was a wonderful sight, but the enemy couldn’t stand it. He had to do as he is still doing today, mess up that fellowship.

We read here in the text that the serpent was more crafty that any of the animals the Lord God created and he went to the woman and did what he is still doing to us today. The enemies number one tool used then and today is doubt, that is his number one tool against us. The tactic of the devil is doubt, The devil did not tempt Adam and Eve to murder anyone, he didn’t tempt them to tell a lie, or steal, he tempted them to doubt God’s word. The serpent asked as soon as he showed up on the scene, Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Then Eve replied, “we may eat the fruit of the tree of the garden, but the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, God has said you shall not eat it, nor touch it, least you die. God never said that if you touch it they would die. Eve didn’t know God’s word and that is how the enemy get us today. The serpent lied to them about the outcome of their disobedience. He made it sound like their life would be better if they ate the fruit, but it turned out worse. We must learn the word of God. God’s word is our weapon to beat the enemy. The serpent told the woman, you will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. They was already like God but they only knew good. Once Eve looked at the tree and saw it was good for food, pleasant to the eye and a tree desirable to make one wise, she touched it and didn’t die then she ate and gave it to Adam and he ate. Then every thing changed. Immediately their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked. Prior to them eating the fruit, all they knew was good. They didn’t want to hide rather they were used to communing with God daily just as they were. Then we are told Adam and Eve 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 the trees of the garden. Let’s think about this for a moment from God’s perspective. He created this man and woman to be in relationship with Him and now they’re hiding from Him. It was the most painful thing they could do. God created them because he wanted a relationship with them, and now here they are trying to hide from Him. These are inspired words from scripture. God is giving us a picture of His heart, that His heart is broken at what had gone on. Imagine how God could have responded to this. God had created this perfect world. He had everything set up, it was literally paradise, and what did this man and woman do? They wrecked His perfect world. Now there would be storms and death, disease and deception and satan would wreak havoc in this world.

The Consequences of Sin

The consequences were so enormous at the very moment Adam and Eve sinned, the Father and Jesus, the son, knew exactly what that meant. I believe they knew ahead of time but now it was set in motion. They knew that the Son would have to go to the cross and bear the sin that Adam and Eve brought into this world and all his descendants, that the Son knew He would have to take the weight of that sin onto His shoulders and that for one horrific moment He would feel completely forsaken by His Father. They knew as they looked forward to all the misery and pain and hurt in this world, all the awful stuff we see today, that there would be disease and war and rape and poverty and oppression. They had designed this perfect world, and now it had literally been ruined in so many ways. Now we get the first recorded question God ever asked humanity. It really wasn’t a question of location, it was a question of relationship. As a human you may think that God’s first response to Adam after he’d done this would be, “ What have you done? I set this world up and everything was perfect, and you messed it all up. It would be an honest response don’t you think for God to say, “Do you have any idea what this is going to cost me? Do you know what this means now for my Son? Do you know what this means for me as a father to watch my son have to go through this? Adam, do you have any idea just what you’ve done? As an earthly father, I know that would have been my response. I would want my son to know this is just terrible. Son you don’t have a clue what you have done. Any of those questions I could imagine coming from Gods mouth, but that is because I am not God. God is so much different that we are. Here in the text we see the very first question in scripture is God asking this fallen man that He had created, where he was. His question wasn’t “What have you done? It wasn’t “how could you do this to me? His question was this, Adam where are you. God is asking us today, Where are you? Now I want you all to just think about that. Recognizing the severe consequences, God’s first concern is still that this relationship had been broken. God is saying to Adam and all of us, Look, I know you have messed up! He was saying to Adam, I know you’ve broken this world. I can make a million worlds just like it, But there is only one of you. Sisters and Brothers, God only made one of you and He want more than anything to be in a relationship with you, even when you rebel, even when you do something really stupid, even when you wreck what He made, He is saying, Don’t hide from me! My desire is to be in relationship with you! Just think about this, why else would God ask that question? He certainly was not lacking the information, He knew where Adam was, He knows where you are. God didn’t have to round up all the angels and go see if they could find out where Adam was. He didn’t have to say I can’t find the man, God knew exactly where Adam and Eve were. He wasn’t asking for information, God was making a proclamation. He was proclaiming to Adam and Eve, and to us, who can understand through the revelation of scripture, that He is a relational God, that even when we really blow it and we mess up this world that He made, His desire is still to be in a relationship with us. That was what this is about, God was making a proclamation. God knew where Adam was, so He was asking, to expose Adam’s condition. God is still asking that of us today? He is asking, are you hiding, not out of anger, but out of love. God loves us so much and is calling to every soul who is hiding, Where are you in relation to Me? In verse 6, Eve, who was deceived by the serpent ate the fruit and Adam who was with her also eats it. Though Eve was deceived, Adam disobeyed knowingly 1 Timothy 2:14 says, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” This was not just breaking a rule, it was breaking fellowship with God. The response to their sin was, once their eyes were opened, Adam and Eve felt shame and fear. They sewed fig leaves to cover themselves and hid from God’s presence. Sisters and Brothers, sin always brings a barrier: not just between people and God, but also between people and each other. When a child who breaks something hides, its not because the parent doesn’t love them, but because of guilt. Yet, we as parents look for them, we want to restore them. The God of Christianity, the God of the Bible, is a God who calls us to relationship even in the face of rebellion. His first revealed question was, “Adam, where are you? Don’t run from me, don’t hide from me? This is a relational question. In Hebrew: Ayyeka translate in English is “Where are you? a metaphorical question asking where are you morally and spiritually, prompting a train of thought in the hearer, well, where in deed am I? It is meant to prompt the hearer to pause and consider your spiritual course. It’s not about GPS, its a spiritual Question, only the hearer can answer. God is asking: Why are you hiding, why did you pull away from me? Even today, this question echoes in the heart of every person who’s wandered from God. God isn’t asking to crush us, rather to call us back. This is a question that invites confession. Adam answers, I heard you, I was afraid and I hid. He is no longer walking in communion, he is living in fear. But I want you to notice, God didn’t come to destroy Adam, but to restore. Before judgement, there is mercy. Before banishment, there is conversation. This isn’t just Adam’s story it is all ours. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” God is still calling: Where are you, O man? O woman? Are you hiding in your work? In religion? In shame? To the unbeliever, or if you haven’t learned personally who God is, God is not asking you to clean yourself up. He is asking you to come out of hiding. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus tells us to Come to Him, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest.” Like in the parable in Luke 15, God searches for the one lost sheep, not to scold but to save. God is saying to the straying believer those that finds themselves distant, hiding in discouragement, compromised, or in fear. God still calls to you not in judgement but in gentle correction. Revelation 3:19–22 says, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” I ask the Church, the body of believers, Where are we as a body of believers? Are we hiding from our mission? Are we weighed down in fear or spiritual apathy? God is calling His people back to boldness, holiness and intimacy with Him. As we read in Genesis 3:21, “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” Whenever there is sin it must be covered by blood shed. God temporarily covered them from the skins of a sacrificed animal. It was a provision of garments as a symbol of God’s grace and salvation. He permanently took care of sin by sacrificing His only begotten son so that we can be free of sin. If anyone open their eyes in hell, it won’t be because of sin, it will be because they refused to accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. We no longer have a sin problem. But what sin does is it give the enemy access to our body. Romans 10:9 says “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Christ was the sacrificial covering for our sins, the true garment of righteousness. For those that has accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior, I ask did you only get saved to keep from going to hell? God saved you for more than that. He want to be in a personal relationship with you. He want you. There is no one like you and you’re special to Him. He created you for a specific purpose and He is asking where are you? When we were saved we immediately recieved the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead, lives is us. But in order to be in a personal relationship is we must draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to us. This is not what the enemy want. He want us to have failed relationships. If we don’t have a right relationship with God we will have problems with all our relationships. I’m getting close to closing but may I ask you, Will you come out of hiding?

How do we come our of hiding you may be asking, I’m glad you asked. Coming out of hiding is less about finding God and more about letting God find us. When we hide it is usually because of fear, shame or guilt just like Adam and Eve. God’s question is not a demand for location, it is an invitation for relationship. Here’s the ways to step out from behind the fig leaves.

First you must admit where you are. Confess to God honestly even about your secret sins, even if they are messy. Just say “Lord I’ve been hiding, avoiding You. I’m here, even if you don’t know what to say God already knows but confession clears the barrier in your heart. Open all areas of your heart to God.

Second you need to trust God’s character. Hiding often means we have imagined God as angry or disappointed. You must remember, what He say in Psalm 145:8, “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.” Just like the prodigal son Who came to his senses, you’ll be running to a Father who runs to meet you! I’m getting ready to finish but I have a couple more things to tell you to help us stop hiding.

Third we must drop the fig leaves. What I mean, we must stop self-covering our sins. We can’t keep putting on religious masks. It is time to stop playing church coming and going through the motions. As I heard Pastor say many time we need to not just sing hymns while not knowing Him. Making excuses or justifying what we do. We can’t keep avoiding Him, skipping Sunday school, bible study, prayer meetings. We need to seek first the kingdom of God and we can have the abundant life Jesus offers us. Just think, if God had not guarded the tree of life that was also in the middle of the garden, we would have had to live separated from God for ever. Aren’t you glad God instead sent His Son whom was the perfect sacrifice and the tree of life? Don’t allow the enemy to deceive you like he did Adam and Eve. In John 10:9–10 Jesus tells us, I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” We must sit in the presence of God and let His forgiveness and love soak in. We can never make up for our past but we can stay in His presence going forward.

Lastly, the fourth thing we must do to stay out of hiding is Return to Jesus daily. We can’t come out of hiding in one big leap, it is a daily choice to walk with God. Even if we think yesterday was a big failure, meet God again today, His mercies are new every morning. Here is a Daily declaration you can make to stay in God’s presence:

I am forgiven and free in Christ, I walk in the light as He is the light. God’s grace is greater than my shame. The Lord is my refuge, not my hiding place, from Him. I am loved, accepted, and fully known by God and today, I will remain close to Him and live in His presence.

Let us pray, Father, We hear your voice calling, Where are you? Today we answer: here I am, Lord- broken, afraid, and in need of you. We’ve been hiding behind our shame, excuses and our fear, but we cannot outrun your love. You know our thoughts our sins, our wounds and our weariness yet you still draw us near. Forgive us for turning away, for covering what You wanted to heal. Wash us clean by the blood of Jesus, and restore the joy of your presence in our life. We lay down our masks and our self-made coverings, and step into the light of your grace. God we thank you for being slow to anger and rich in mercy. Thank you that in Christ we are not condemned but forgiven. Lead us back to the path of closeness with you, where we can walk openly, honestly and humbly everyday. We are yours Lord and we chose today to come out of hiding, In Jesus’ name and everybody say, AMEN!