Where is Adam

Genesis 3, I want to read the first 11 verses once again. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths, 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. Verse 9, But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? Some of the translations say man, some say Adam, but it's the same. Adam, where are you? Man, where are you? Let me remind you, this is now I believe the seventh message, but back in the first one, I talked to you about the fact that we have modern evangelicals like Andy Stanley calling this myth. And you may remember Carl Sagan, he calls this a reassuring fable over against the hard truth. Or I mentioned to you that Richard Dawkins describes this as primitive superstition. And you know, there's probably a consensus, seems to be the modern opinion, that these stories back here, they may be interesting, but they have very, very little to do with the modern world. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time in these first few chapters of Genesis. And I am absolutely convinced of this. For people to think that these may be interesting stories, that these are nothing more than superstition or fable or myth is nothing but sheer ignorance. The fact is, Genesis is where it all begins. Genesis explains why man is the way that man is. The book of Genesis, and especially chapter 3, authenticates itself. It's self-authenticating. I mean, God says this is His Word, but it authenticates itself through our very experience. If we have but eyes to see. You think about it. Think about... Okay, you say, well, we're in a different place today. The world is different today. We're not walking around naked in a garden. I recognize that. But you think about this. With all of our innovations and with all of our technology and with all of our advances, we've got robots and we've got space travel and there's satellites that circle the world and we've got all of our computers and all the Internet and everything that we have, the medicine that we have. You look at all of that. I would just ask you this. Are things really so different? I mean, think about this. I just simply did a quick survey of Genesis. Adam rebels against the commandment of God. And then Adam runs. And Adam hides. And then Cain kills Abel. But you know, shortly after that, you have a young man strikes Lamech. Lamech kills the young man. Lamech, by the way, had two wives. I mean, you start looking. Homosexuality, Sodom and Gomorrah, God destroys them. The wickedness among men. Every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts. Only evil continuously. And God wipes out the whole world except for eight souls. So you start looking. You've got jealousy. You've got rebellion against God's commandments. You've got jealousy that leads to murder. You've got young men dishonoring older men, striking them. You've got Noah after the flood. He gets drunk. You've got his son wanting to look at his nakedness, disrespecting his father. Dinah gets raped. You've got prostitution. Tamar goes out to Judah. I mean, you start looking at Scripture. You have war. What have people been doing in San Antonio this weekend? I mean, drunkenness, sexual immorality, murder, jealousy. The reality is, if we've got eyes to see, the sins we commit, the sins being committed all around the city today, brethren, they've been thought of before. We're not original. You can go back here and you see it all. And here's the thing, with all man's inventions, there's an amazing man who has never invented anything to change himself. He still just goes on being the same guy. And see, people look at this, oh, this is dusty stuff. This is irrelevant. This is not irrelevant. This describes us exactly how we are and why we are how we are. We're not original. So the question I want us to absorb us with this morning is this, where is Adam? Verse 9, The Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? I have not been able to get away from that. That's the question of the hour. Adam, where are you? And I'm convinced of this, if we can find Adam, we can find ourselves. Look at the last half of verse 8. The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. And you know, the ultimate tragedy facing man then and now is he has a totally wrong view concerning the Lord. And so what does he do? He tries to put as many trees as possible between himself and the one thing that can put him right. And do you see what Adam's doing? I mean, isn't it obvious? What do you think was going through his mind? It's as much to say, well, here's what we're going to do. We're going to hide. We're going to get back there in the trees as far as we can. We're going to hide. And what God's going to do is He's going to come walking through the garden and He's not going to know where we are. And so He's going to kind of go on His way. We're going to avoid Him. He's going to come through the garden. He's going to pass on and He'll go away and then we'll come out. And if He comes back again, then we'll do the same thing. And so basically, we're going to avoid God and we're going to go on avoiding Him. But, that's not what happened. Because God is not to be avoided. Don't we read in the Proverbs that the eyes of the Lord are in every place? They were thinking they got rid of God. They were finished with Him. It's like God's saying to them, Adam, don't you know My eyes are on the back of the trees as well as the front of the trees? Adam, I know where you are. Adam, where are you? That is not a question of ignorance. That is not a question that means that God didn't know where they were. That's a question that's meant to get Adam to figure out where he's at. Adam, where are you? I'm not asking you where you are because I don't know. I'm questioning you. This is much like the question, the question that God posed to Job. Where were you? Now that was past tense. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? You see, Adam isn't in control here. This is God's creation. God comes into that creation. God came into the garden that day and He didn't come into the garden simply to walk past Adam. He came into the garden specifically not to be avoided. He came into the garden that day specifically to find Adam and let him not go on hiding. He came into the garden that day to call them out into the open. They had to come out of hiding. And you know what the truth is? Eventually, all of us do. Adam, where are you? Adam, where are you? I thought about that. God talking to Adam. And I was amazed by that. Maybe it doesn't seem so amazing, but just think about this. God addresses man. And I don't want you to despise the simplicity of it. God, the Lord God Himself communicates. God didn't design Adam like a rock or a dog. He comes into the garden and what did He look like? I have to believe that this was a pre-incarnate Christophany. That this is Christ and He is walking there in some kind of human form. And He speaks in a language that they understand. And there's this communication going back and forth. That strikes me. God is a God who in Scripture we see self-expression is innate to God. That's what He does. He reveals Himself. But He created us in His image in a way that we have self-expression and that we can express ourselves back and forth. God has very uniquely created man to be a God communicator and a God worshiper and a God fellowshipper. That's what it seems like. I think this way, the greatest thing in the world that a man can ever know is to be spoken to by God. I want that. Scripture, the Apostle John said, indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. The second thing that strikes me about this is this, the first thing is that God addresses man. The second thing is that God addresses sinful man. Think about that. Man spits square in the face of God and when God comes into the garden, He doesn't throw man into eternal silence. Adam, where are you? God's not silent to sinners. Listen, where are you? And when He comes out, what does He do? He clothes him. He gives him the promise of the coming Christ. And even his first child to die would go to glory. I mean, He calls him out. Not with words of wrath and judgment and hell. He speaks peace. But here's the third thing about His addressing him. He addresses him individually. And this is really what I want to get to. Individuality. He speaks specifically to Adam. There's no generalities here. There's no third person. He doesn't come into the garden that day and say, where are they? Adam is being spoken to. Not just about. God comes in there and He says, Adam, where are you? I have come looking for you very specifically, very individually. Where are you? Brethren, think with me here. You think about the progress down through Genesis 3. First, the serpent. He speaks about God. Has God said this and that? And then what happens? Eve responds. You see what's happening? They're having a conversation about God. Back and forth. God's not in the conversation. This is giving your opinions. And what happens? Eve comes with her opinion. Well, yes, God said this and He didn't say that and this other thing, and then the devil comes back and he says, well, let me tell you more about God. And look, and then you have the conversations that we don't have recorded. I scratch my head to think about what that conversation was like between Adam and Eve after she ate, but before he did. What did she say to Adam? What happened there? And then I think about this conversation. What about after they ate and while they're stitching their fig leaves together and they're waiting for the Lord to come in the cool of the day, what kind of conversation are they having then? And I'll tell you what's happening. You can imagine that it was exactly the same kind of conversation. What were they doing? They were talking about God. It's their theories. What's going to happen? God this, God that. But, something happened. You see, expressing their opinions, but then something happens. God comes into the garden and do you notice what happens? The positions are reversed. This is precisely what happens when a man or a woman is on their way to becoming a Christian. One of the first things that a person begins to realize is that we're no longer holding casual conversations about God. God comes into the garden. He comes to where we are. We suddenly recognize that we're no longer the ones doing the talking. We're now the ones being spoken to. That's what happens here. We're the ones being addressed. Thirty years ago, thirty years ago, the fourth of July was 29 years since the Lord saved me. Thirty years ago, if you would have come and talked to me about Christianity, I'd have had my theories. I knew nothing. I was this nominal Catholic. And I didn't know anything. When God first saved... I mean, I didn't know. Many of you have heard this before. I didn't know John 3.16. My friends and I scratch our heads about what that was. But I would have had my theories. And all those friends who didn't know John 3.16 either, they would have all had their theories. And my dad who didn't know, he had his theories. And my cousin, they had their theories. And my grandparents, they had their theories. Everybody has their theories. And we would have bantered them about. And we all talk about it. Because we're all headed to death and we all think about these things. We all have an idea about eternity. We're scared to death of death. But we know and we talk. And even though we try to suppress these things, they come out. What do you think about this? What do you think about that? Well, I think this and I think that and I think the other. But I'll tell you what happened. I came under conviction. And one of the first things I began to recognize is I was not the know-it-all with all my opinions. There was a voice. And I was being spoken to. And I was the one being called out. And I was the one under investigation. Suddenly, I recognized God was no longer the specimen to be held under the microscope. I was the one under there. And the thing reversed. And that's precisely what you see happen in Genesis 3. This thing reverses. Yes, people could talk about God, but suddenly God is there. God shows up. God erupts into the garden. And then there's reversal. Adam, I'm talking to you. Where are you? And suddenly, Adam's confronted by no longer talking and bantering his opinions around. Suddenly, the eyes are on him. Suddenly, he's the specimen. Suddenly, he's the one on trial. Suddenly, he's under investigation. Suddenly, God is calling to him. The voice is calling to him. Where are you, Adam? Where are you? Dear saints of God, is this not exactly what we find all around us? Modern man asserting himself, asserting his opinions. Everybody has an opinion. So bold to say what they think God is like, what they think God ought to be like, what they think God should never be like. I mean, I had a person in my family very close to me, and I was explaining to God in Scripture. He says if God's like that, you can have Him. I've had other people going out here door to door. And I've had people repeatedly, I have had people say to me, well, on judgment day when I stand before Him, I'm going to say and fill in the blank. And you just look at people like that. Oh, the pride of men. You see what happened to Adam? He and Eve are no longer viewing God as though God is the one to be studied and examined by them. Suddenly, something's happened. Adam, he's the one. And you show me a man or a woman who's moving towards becoming a Christian, I'll show you a man or a woman in whom a reversal like this takes place. Something happens. Suddenly, there's an awareness. Suddenly, there's a consciousness that we are being looked at. God is looking at us. God sees through us. God knows us. God is calling us out. Come out! Come out! Into the open. Expose yourself. You're hiding back there in the trees. Come on out. And we're the ones being called out. Where are we? Where are you, Adam? Where are you? See, this isn't just some relic from Genesis 3, musty and dry and dusty. This is God speaking to every one of us. And it happens today. And God talks. Where are you? Where are you? Adam, come out into the open. Adam, have you realized? Have you realized this? Among all the opinions and all the banter and all the theories and all the talk, have you ever come to the point where you recognize that in this life, you are the one on trial? God is not on trial. When people make those kinds of flippant statements about God, they're speaking far more about themselves than they're ever saying about God. We are the ones on trial. And I'll guarantee you on judgment day, there's no longer a bantering about opinions, what you believed about election. It's Adam, where are you? Where are you at? What have you done? Man rises up and says, my great brain is going to figure God out. God, You're on trial here and I'm going to figure You out and You better answer to me. I mean, man talks like that all the time. Well, there's genocide in the Bible. God, You better explain Yourself. You ever heard people talk like that? There's election in the Bible. We don't like that. God, You better answer for that. You choosing who You want. Who do You think You are? That's the way man talks. You know that. Sin. How did sin come into the world if God is sovereign, but God is not the author of it? And you see, people want to put God on trial. Well, God, You better answer for that. Because I can't figure it out. And I've applied my brain to it and it seems like it's an inconsistency. And if my brain thinks it's an inconsistency, then it is. And so You better explain Yourself. And that's how man is. God, I want an answer to why children get terrible diseases. You need to answer for that tsunami or that earthquake or that hurricane or that tornado. But you know what happens when God comes to a soul and He speaks? Adam, Eve, where are you? Suddenly, we thought God was the one being dissected and analyzed. We thought with our great brains we were going to examine the Scriptures and we were going to examine God and we were going to figure it all out, but then God's voice comes to us and we recognize... I just had this picture in my mind. Sometimes we think we're like we're spectators in the stands. We're kind of lost in the crowd. We're watching the game. And we applaud or we boo. We're the judges. But it's almost like the referee just spins around and he throws his finger up into the crowd and he says, you, you're no longer a spectator. You are the one on trial. And you can't just sit there in the crowd like a spectator because you have to do with God. Where are you? God's not asking us about our opinions. He's interested in us. Adam, where are you? I'm speaking to you. Adam, where are you? Men and women, they can throw around their opinions night and day until they wake up in hell. And you know what? Hell is full of people who've bantered about their opinions about God, about Scripture. Have you noticed this about yourselves? You Christians? That when God went to work in you for the first time in your life, you were made aware of yourself. Before that, you'd never really faced yourself. You remember how it was with Isaiah? He walks there into the temple and we hear all this glorious, the Lord is high and lifted up. And you might have thought Isaiah would have hit the floor and he would have said, oh, the Lord is great and the Lord is beautiful and oh, we're here to worship and we just feel all this fuzzy feeling. But you know, you know if you know Isaiah 6. That's not what came out of his mouth. He said, I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. The Lord had come. He came face to face with the Lord and suddenly, He's made aware and He comes face to face with Himself. Himself. God forces us to face where we are and what we are. Adam, where are you? Where exactly are you? And what are you doing there? And look, it is so easy to debate theories and opinions. You just look at the Internet. Quite honestly, I don't even know what the proper adjective would be to look for as to how I feel every time I hear about all this stuff that even some of the people from our own church are involved with on Facebook. Everyone vents. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone's an authority. And it's all so easy. Social justice. We're going to be the authority. Election. Calvinism. Miracles. Cessationism. Eschatology. We're going to be the authorities. And everybody wants to fix everyone else. And you know this. And how easy it is for people to spew forth their opinions on all sides of the matter. But it's much more difficult to face yourself. Oh, God, give us some people on Facebook who say, I'm not here to banter about this thing or that thing or the other. I was in prayer the other day and God showed me I'm not a good wife. I failed as a mother. The Lord showed me I'm not so honest as I thought. He's convicted me of anger or resentment. You see, you don't see that, do you? That's not what people want to talk about. But that's what God would have us do. Face ourselves. Adam, where are you? How'd you get there? What have you done? We're made aware of ourselves. Before that, we'd never really faced ourselves. No one wants to go there. Your thoughts. I mean, think about these things. Your thoughts, where are they? Your purity, where are you? Where is all of it? Where are we? Forgiveness, bitterness, resentment, jealousy, envy. We need to come out in the open. God calls you. You. Adam is man. Where are you? You see, this is the issue. When judgment day comes and you stand there, do you really think, what was your position on social justice? What was your position on Donald Trump? What was your position on election? You know, if you look at those different accounts that have to do with judgment day, you know this. It's very personal. Where are you? What have you done? What is your life? Where have you been? What have you said? You. You. All the trees have been taken out of the way. You've got to come clean. You come out in the open. It's all out in the open. And see, that's what God calls us to do here and now. Out into the open. God calls you. Where do you know you're wrong? Everybody's interested in teaching others. Adam, where are you? I mean, give an account. This is personal. God calls to individual. Remember, they're hiding back there. God owns the back of the trees as much as the front of the trees and you can't get away from Him. He's got eyes. There's no place to hide. You can go to the highest heaven. You can go down to the lowest ocean. You can't get away from Him. And He knows and He's watching. And we have to give an account. And this is personal. God calls to individuals specifically. Look at your life. When it's all flashed up there on the screen, God's eyes run to and fro. Face yourself. Face your life. Face what you are, where you are, what you've done. Adam, come out of that hiding place. And the thing about it is that Lord that walked in the garden, that is the same Lord that came incarnate into this world. And you think about Him. Rich young ruler. It's like Christ sees Him. I see you hiding back there in those trees, petting your idols, petting your riches and your jewels and your gold. I see you there. Come out in the open. Come out into the open. And He hangs His head and He walks away. Or you think about that woman at the well. You think about her. She was very clever, right? She could talk about, well, you know, we Samaritans, we think we should worship over here. And you Jews, you think over there. And when the Messiah comes, we think this. And that is so common. That's what we all do. We throw these opinions around. Well, we think this and you think that. And the Messiah is going to come. And she was just... I mean, we just recently had somebody in the church and they loved to debate baptism. It was just like this woman. And you see, Jesus cuts right through it all. Eve, where are you? Go call your husband. You see, that became personal. Very easy to talk vaguely, broadly. Eve, where are you? You see, she's wanting to discuss where we should be worshiping and she's an adulteress. Come clean. Come out in the open. She's enjoying the conversation. Arguing very skillfully. Enough, Jesus says. Eve, come out. Come out. Call your husband. This is what He did. Those people came to Him and they said, Lord, we want to tell you about some people over here. You know, Pilate killed them. They were making their offerings over here. He said, unless you repent, Adam, where are you? Come out of there. Unless you repent, you will likewise perish. And you know those 18 upon whom that tower in Siloam fell? Well, you don't be thinking about... We love that. We pick up the news and we all want to... Oh, look at those 18. He said, you think they were more sinful than any other sinners? Well, they weren't. And if you don't repent, you will likewise perish. Come out into the open. I know all about you. You, Adam, where are you? David, you think about that. David quite ready to have Nathan walk in and tell him this story. You know, he's very ready to make a judgment. Oh, this neighbor took his neighbor's lamb and he slaughtered that thing. That man deserves to die. Very easy. We very quickly make judgments about other people. In fact, that's one of the things on Facebook too. You hear all that chatter out there. I don't look at it often, but when I do, it's enough to make me recognize I don't want to know more. My wife shows me once in a while. And what you have is people, they're basically making accusations against each other. Oh, this person, that person... Oh, it doesn't foster unity. It just makes people hate each other. People very easily judge others very quick to give judgments on the matter. How like us all. Condemn, find fault. Thou art the man. It's like Adam hiding back there. You can't hide. The finger comes right at you. You! Where are you? You can't get away. You cannot get away. Adam, where are you? Where are you? I'm speaking to you. Thou art the man. Thou art the woman. You. Where are you? It is you. It is your life. We can't get away from this. And we can't hide. There aren't enough trees out there to hide. God brings it home to us. Your moral life, your moral behavior, your total person is under the investigation. And you know what? We're the ones who drift out of the pathway. We're the ones that end up somewhere where we shouldn't be. You can't get away from God. And the question to all of us is where are you? Where are you at this moment? There's like this native instinct. And I think the devil helps it. Run, run, run, run. You need to remember this. What we're constantly doing is we're running away from the very one who can help us. And when Adam comes out, God didn't slice him in half with the flaming sword. Yes, there was a curse. But you know, even in the midst of the curse and in the midst of the flaming sword and banishment from the garden, there was a clothing. God clothed them. And God gave the promise that there would be a seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head. And as you watch them go forth from the garden, I see that the very first tombstone that popped up, heaven took the first man, heaven, not hell, able by faith. We need to come out. And I'm talking even if we're Christians. Come out of your hiding place. God is kind. Those who acknowledge their sin, that's the safe place. Those who confess their sins, He's faithful and just to forgive them. Hiding away is not where you want to be. The one who conceals transgressions, the Scripture says, will never prosper. We need to come out into the open. Where are you? Adam, where are you? Where are you? How long have you lived in this world? How much longer do you think you're going to be here? What have you done with your life? I mean, think. Think. What have you made of it? What's your record? Are you happy with it? Are you proud of it? What are your achievements? What's your secret life? What goes on in your thoughts where nobody else sees? What's the record? What's the history of your mind, your thoughts, your imagination, your heart? Adam, where are you? Where? Where? Where? In every respect, where are you at? Come out of the hiding place and face the truth. You can't avoid God. That's what Jesus did to that woman at the well. Come out of there. Come out into the open. Come out. I know all about you. Come out. You can't evade Him. And you have to deal with Him. And if you don't listen to Him in this life, you'll have to listen to Him in death. Bring it out into the open. He is kind. You see, men have wrong opinions about God. That's the tragedy. Men are just convinced God is going to crush them. God is going to smash them. All you have to do is look to the cross to recognize. Those words, Adam, where are you? God was speaking peace. He did not slay them on the spot. You say, yeah, but in the day they ate, they would surely die. There was spiritual death. I'm thinking about doing a whole message just on that. But let me tell you, God was gracious to them. Were there consequences to their sin? Yes, there were and there always are. But God showed them mercy. And God calls us. And He calls to every one of us. Where are you? Where are you? Don't hide from the only one who can put you right. Come to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and come at once. You misread the cross if you think coming out of that hiding place is going to be to your detriment. Look at Christ groaning upon the tree and dying and rising again. You see, one of the apostles somewhere did say God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God loves sinners. And God speaks to sinners. He calls us out into the open. Adam, where are you? Where are you? Father, I pray that You would call some sinner out of their hiding place into the place of safety and light. We read in Your Word that men love their sin. They hate the light. They won't come into the light. Those that are of the truth, they do come into the light. And that is the truth. The light is the place of safety. Oh, it's the place we get exposed and we don't like to be exposed. But Lord, You know us. You know what we've done. You know what we've fought. You know what we've done on our best days. We need the washing. We confess, Lord. Lord, we have not had a perfect day here. Something in us desires to hide. There's a shame. But oh, we see the shame of the One who hung on that cross. And He didn't come down. Even when He was taunted and mocked, He didn't come down. He endured the shame. That's Your Son. And You sent Him. This happened of Your accord, of Your purpose, of Your will, of Your saving good pleasure. Father, speak. Speak. We pray that there would not be silence across our land, but there would be the voice of God calling Adam out of his hiding place. Please, Lord, call us out into the open. May we hear Your voice. It is the greatest gift of God that we would be spoken to by You, that we would hear, that You would speak peace to us, that You would speak salvation through Your Son to us. Thank You. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank You. Amen.