Genesis 3:8-15 Where Are You?

 Genesis 3:8-15 8They heard the voice of the LORD God, who was walking around in the garden during the cooler part of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9The LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" 10The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." 11God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?" 12The man said, "The woman you gave to be with me-she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it." 13The LORD God said to the woman, "What have you done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 14The LORD God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the livestock, and more than every wild animal. You shall crawl on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel. Where Are You? I. They were jumpy. It's understandable to be jumpy when a sound assaults your ears out of the darkness at night. For one thing, the noise was enough to waken you from a sound sleep. What could it have been? It is something you have to isolate and identify or you will not easily fall back into restful sleep once again. You race through a mental checklist of possibilities. It could have been a pet moving through the house and knocking something over. Perhaps it was one of the children stirring restlessly; there might be a need for you to come and give comfort...or, if you wait a minute or two, they might go right back to sleep. The sound could have come from the outside. A tree branch could have scraped the side of the house. Listen again. Perhaps a distant rumble of thunder disturbed your slumber and signaled a coming storm. Maybe, just maybe, the sound you heard was more ominous; was your sleep disturbed by a would-be intruder? When the stillness of the night is disturbed, even a little bit, it brings a person up short. Looking around for the source of noises in the night-even the little ones-is perfectly logical and understandable. During the daytime it's different. It's the big sounds that induce a reaction. Squealing brakes and the crunch of metal will cause you to jump and turn your head toward the sound. Loud, angry voices will pique your interest. Laughter lures you in to want to get in on the joke. They were jumpy. It wasn't the middle of the night, but during the day. They were jumpy, and it wasn't loud noises, but little, soft noises. "They heard the voice of the LORD God, who was walking around in the garden during the cooler part of the day" (Genesis 3:8, EHV). If you happen to have the Evangelical Heritage Version pew Bible open, you will notice a footnote by "cooler part." The footnote indicates that a literal translation would be the "wind" or "breeze" of the day. A pleasant, light breeze rustling the leaves on the trees was enough to make the first couple jumpy. Why are people jumpy during the day? A person sitting in the office at work should not be jumpy by a ringing phone or the office doorknob turning. What does it mean if you are? Perhaps the jumpy office worker is doing something in the office he or she shouldn't be: wasting the employer's time by playing games or doing personal business on company time or using social media. A person at home should not be jumpy at the sound of the garage door opener, or the creak of a floorboard. What does it mean if you are? Perhaps you were looking at something online that you shouldn't have been. Perhaps you were hiding your spending from your spouse. A guilty conscience makes a person jumpy during the day. The verse before our text reads: "The eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for their waists" (Genesis 3:7, EHV). Adam and Eve were nervous about meeting God because they had a guilty conscience. At the advise of Satan, fruit had been coveted, plucked from the tree, and eaten. Inside their heads the voice of God immediately began to ring as soon as their teeth greedily bit the skin. God had said: "You may freely eat from every tree in the garden, 17but you shall not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for on the day that you eat from it, you will certainly die" (Genesis 2:16-17, EHV). There were consequences for taking that one, fateful bite; dire consequences. "They heard the voice of the LORD God, who was walking around in the garden during the cooler part of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden" (Genesis 3:8, EHV). The inner voice of their conscience screamed out their guilt. Already the guilt of what they had done had caused them to notice their nakedness, something that in their earlier perfection had never caused a second of guilt. Leaves had been hastily harvested to cover the nakedness. Now, the rustling leaves and the soft voice of God calling for them was enough to send them scurrying for additional cover. II. "The LORD God called to the man and said to him, 'Where are you?'" (Genesis 3:9, EHV). God is omniscient. He knew exactly where Adam was; he knew exactly what Adam had done. His question was an opportunity for repentance and sorrow over sin. Adam was not stupid. He knew that, despite his cowering behind some bushes wearing his brand new fig-leaf clothing, God knew where he was and what he had done. "The man said, 'I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself'" (Genesis 3:10, EHV). What to do when one is caught? Earlier he dove for the cover of the bushes. He wasn't through diving for cover. He tried to cover up with half-truths, deceit, and evasion. "Certainly, God, I couldn't appear before you naked; I had no choice but to look for the nearest tree and step behind it." "God said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?'" (Genesis 3:11, EHV). The commands of God's law always expose sin. With two quick questions God exposed Adam's deceit and evasion. "The man said, 'The woman you gave to be with me-she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it'" (Genesis 3:12, EHV). Even in the face of unequivocal facts, Adam still tries to deflect-he still tries to declare himself guiltless and pass his guilt off on someone else. In the New Testament, Paul says: "It was not Adam who was deceived, but it was the woman who was deceived" (1 Timothy 2:14, EHV). When Adam took the fruit, he understood full well what he was doing; he took it anyway. But he certainly didn't want to admit that. "The LORD God said to the woman, 'What have you done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate'" (Genesis 3:13, EHV). No simple, honest confession from the fruit-stained lips of Eve, either. Both of them tried to pass the buck and blame someone else for their sin. In both cases, their fingers of blame were ultimately pointed at God-he was the One who made the woman and the snake-and the tree, for that matter. The pattern of blame-passing has continued throughout human history. One of the strongest human desires after the fall of our first parents into sin has been to explain away sin-to make excuses. There are plenty of easy targets. Wasting a little time at work might be technically wrong, but everybody does it! As long as they weren't of anyone under age, looking at illicit images online isn't such a horrible thing. Nobody was really hurt, were they? Then, when all the other excuses are coming up short, there's always finger-pointing. What you did was really someone else's fault. Wasting the time of your employer is really the company's fault; since their business hours are the same as everyone else's, you simply can't get your personal business done off hours. It's your spouse's fault that you're hiding your shopping habits because he or she is so uptight about money. Like the first couple, ultimately you point your finger at God. He gave you that spouse. He is the one who made you the way you are. Surely you can't be blamed for the sinful urges you have-you were born with them. "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid...so I hid myself" (Genesis 3:10, EHV). Through all the blame game, the conscience still speaks. There are consequences for sin. Adam's first answer to God identifies the first consequence. From the moment of his creation, Adam had a personal relationship with God. He spoke with him regularly. He recognized the voice of God. Never before had the voice of God instilled fear. Things had changed. The relationship with God was broken. "The woman you gave to be with me..." (Genesis 3:12, EHV). Sin breaks our relationship with our neighbor. With Adam and Eve, it damaged their marriage. Every human relationship we have is marred by sin. Later God would list the earthly consequences Adam and Eve would have to face. The perfect relationship with the world has been broken. Hard work is required to live. Pain and sorrow and sickness are now a part of life. Because of sin, each individual has an identity crisis. The Psalmist David says: "Who can recognize his own errors? Declare me innocent of hidden sins" (Psalm 19:12, EHV). Sometimes we repress our conscience so much we don't even notice how sinful we are. Sin has ruined so much. Sin has made a mess of everything. III. "The LORD God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the livestock, and more than every wild animal. You shall crawl on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life" (Genesis 3:14, EHV). Despite the cunning of Satan, Adam and Eve are not excused of their own personal guilt. At the same time, God pronounces judgment on the snake. This creature had exalted itself above mankind. Forever after, it was to be degraded in human eyes. "I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel" (Genesis 3:15, EHV). Do you recognize the first gospel promise? It might seem obscure to us, but to Adam and Eve it was the sweetest music to their ears. God's love for human beings is undiminished, despite their faithlessness to him. "I will put hostility." God certainly couldn't leave things up to Adam and Eve, could he? They had already shown their weakness. They were susceptible to the attacks of Satan. One had been fooled; the other followed along willingly. Both wanted to be like God and thought that the fruit was their ticket. Hostility. God himself would create the hostility between Satan and the woman. Eve's faith in God and his promises would be restored by God. She became hostile to Satan. The seed of the woman were the people who would believe God and his promises. The seed of Satan were the unbelievers and the evil angels. "He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel." Out of all the seed of the woman, there would be One very important Descendant. There would be One special Seed who would crush the head of Satan, removing all his power. Jesus has come. Satan's power has been destroyed. Satan nipped at the heal of Jesus. Constantly throughout the life of Jesus, Satan tried to kill him. He couldn't do it. In fact, even when Jesus died on the cross, Satan had not taken Jesus' life. Jesus had willingly laid down his own life for the sins of the world. Satan's power was well and truly crushed. IV. "I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed" (Genesis 3:15, EHV). As a believer, you are part of the seed of the woman. God himself has given you the faith you have in the Lord Jesus. That faith believes that the work Jesus did for all people belongs to you, personally. There is hostility between you and Satan. God has given you faith in Jesus, which makes you hostile to Satan. You no longer love sin, but flee from it. Hostile tends to be a word we shrink back from. It has a negative connotation. Not this kind of hostility. Embrace the hostility God has instilled in you toward Satan and the sinful ways he would lead you into. Fight against sin every day. Fight against the evil of the world and the evil of the unbelievers who are the seed of Satan. Live as a child of God. Live as seed having faith in Jesus who has delivered you from the slavery Satan intended for you. When God calls out and asks "Where are you?" don't be jumpy. Don't hide in the bushes. Don't try to blame someone else for your sins. Recognize that God's question is one born out of his eternal love for you. He has already done something about your sin. Don't be afraid to confess your sins to him. Look to the Lord Jesus who has given you faith which has brought you back into God's family. Amen.