Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Genesis

Genesis 3:7-13 12/02/01

Intro: Americans are especially good at making excuses. Am I right?
                                 Leigh Rutledge has come up with Five Cardinal Rules for excuse making.

1. The feebleness of an excuse should never be a deterrent to its use.

2. Always put the blame on something that can't defend itself. Children, pets, inanimate objects and relatives living far away
    make great scapegoats.

3. Whine convincingly

4. Certain ailments work better than others as excuses. No doctor in the world can prove that  you don't have a headache.

5. Try to remember that you only have two grandmothers to attend funerals for.

     We may be good at making excuses but it  isn't a good practice, especially when we start making excuses for our spiritual lives.

    Paul, in Rom. 6:23 tell us 'the wages of sin is death' and I believe he had Gen. 2:17 in mind where God says to Adam 'in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die'

     Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate...they sinned and with sin came death. Death, was both immediate and future. The death that was immediate brought with it shame, fear and guilt. This is what we shall examine in our text his morning.

     But we also will see that God didn't leave Adam and Eve in  their  shame, fear and guilt...God in His great mercy, sought out Adam and Eve and spoke to them.

     We too are disobedient to God, we sin, we die...and we experience the shame, fear and guilt associated with our sin...AND praise be to God Almighty we too experience the mercy and grace of His seeking hand and call of His merciful voice.

Trans:  Turn in your Bibles to Gen. 3:7 where we will see how mankind confronts sin and how God confronts sinful mankind.

Read: Gen. 3:7-13

I. Mankind Confronts Sin
    A. Shame/Covering
     The first thing Adam and Eve felt when they disobeyed God was shame. Now the text does not use the word 'shame' but the contrast between how they handled their nakedness in 3:7 and 2:25 suggests it.

     What is shame but the feeling of embarrassment. That is how Satan works. Before you commit a sin, he makes it seem exciting, and pleasurable. But afterwards you feel dirty, and ashamed.

     We know this new experience was painful for Adam and Eve because we have felt it ourselves...but we no longer feel it as deeply as Adam and Eve did because we have learned how to deal with it.

     Sin ought to make us ashamed. God has placed in each of us a conscience, an inner judge...but even our conscience is easily neutralized.

ILL: A Native American Christian compared his conscience to an arrowhead in his heart. If I do wrong the arrowhead turns and hurts me until I make it right. But if I keep on doing wrong, the arrowhead keeps turning and wears down its point so that it doesn't hurt anymore.

     The bible calls this a 'seared conscience' that no longer functions properly. Why? Because we have learned to protect ourselves from shame by concealment.  Think about this.

     Sin, having opened Adam and Eve's eyes caused them to now focus on their differences instead of how they were both alike. When they saw their differences they were reminded of the God who created them. This was too painful and  terrifying, so they sewed fig leaves to cover their differences, so not to remind them of their sin or of God.

     We do the same thing. At first, the cover up  may seem to work.  With enough fig leaves and enough time the feeling of shame may fade...we often tell ourselves.
        -A student can cheat on one test after another and get good grades and perhaps never get caught. The fig leaf for this students sin is that his cheating on tests really doesn't hurt anyone and that everyone does it.

         -Someone may use God's name in vain or use Jesus name as a swear word. The fig leaf for this persons blasphemy is that it's just 'letting off steam'.

         -A man and a woman can abort their baby and feel relieved of a burden. Their fig leaf for murder is the word 'choice'.

     With enough fig leaves we become like the people the Bible describes in Jer. 6:15 ' Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all, they do not even  know how to blush.'

     The fig leave approach may fool others and even ourselves into thinking we don't have a sin problem. But the moment we hear the truth of God's Word, the second we hear God call us, all that will collapse. Then our shame will increase and will be accompanied by fear.

    B. Fear/Hiding
     Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden and all of a sudden, the fig leaves weren't enough. As God approached, they sought not just a few leaves but an entire forest to hide in. Adam and Eve were terrified by God's presence.

     Now, God did not come with a clash of thunder or a bolt of lightening, He came with the quiet sound of footsteps as a gentle breeze in the cool of the evening. I believe Adam and Eve enjoyed peaceful walks with God in the Garden on a regular basis. But this time it was different. God was the same God, but He was no longer their supreme delight; He was their ultimate terror. His coming filled them with great fear. Adam and Eve knew they had sinned so they fled from God's presence and hid in the trees of the Garden ...and God let them hide, as best they could. They hid because they did not want to face God, their sin, give an account of their behavior or suffer the consequences of their sin.

    Notice that it was not God who hid from Adam and Eve when they sinned. In their shame and fear, they hid from God. They pulled away from Him. But thankfully, God didn't leave them in hiding.

     A voice shattered the silence of the garden and any hope they had of  hiding from God. The Lord God called to Adam and said 'Where are you?'  Adam knew that there were only two people God could be talking to, and they were both hiding behind the same tree.  He knew there was no escape from God and he came out of hiding.

     We sin and fear makes us flee and hide as well. And as sinners, we have been running and hiding from God since the days of Adam and Eve.  But each of us must come to realize, like Adam and Eve did, that there is no hiding from God.

Heb. 4:13 'And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to His eyes.'

Ps. 139:7-8 'Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence?'

    Hiding from God is pointless.  But we still do it.

         -We hide when we stay away from Sunday worship and other church activities because we don't want to be around other Christians. We are ashamed of what we have done and afraid that some one will see through our fig leaves.

         -We hide by refusing to read and study the Word of God because it's truth penetrates and burns in our hearts.

         -We hid by ceasing to pray to God because we are ashamed and afraid to talk with Him.

     Once you realize you can't hid from God you begin to experience guilt. And since that is painful you do what you can to remove it...what do you do? You play the 'blame game'.

   C. Guilt/Blaming

ILL: In Discipleship Journal, Dom McCullough wrote ' John Killinger  tells about the manager of a minor league baseball team who was so disgusted with his center fielder's performance that he ordered him to the dugout and assumed the position himself. the first ball that came to center field took a bad hop and hit the manager in the mouth. the next one was a high fly ball, which he lost in the glare of the sun until it bounced off his forehead. the third one was a hard line drive that he charged with out stretched
arms; unfortunately it flew between his hands and smacked his eye. Furious, he ran back to the dugout, grabbed the center fielder by the uniform and shouted 'You Idiot! You've got center field so messed up that I can't do a thing with it.'

     We laugh, but we all do this. We make excuses for our behavior and try to place the blame on others for what is truly our responsibility. And playing the 'blame game' taints all our relationships...as it did with Adam and Eve. Let's look.

     God pins Adam down when He asks 'Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?'  Adam knew God had him dead to rights. he knew that he could not escape what he had done. So he handled it like a true man. He tried to shift the blame. Notice what he does.

    Adam blames the woman. He speaks of her not as his beloved wife..bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh...but as an object...the woman, he calls her. Adam because of his sin, is no longer  willing to protect her, in fact he takes a stand against her. No longer companions because of the shame, fear and guilt of sin, they are now competitors.

     Adam would make excuses to cover his sin and see his wife suffer the wrath of God rather than confess his guilt.

     And if this wasn't enough, with one hand pointing at the woman...Adam points the other hand at God. Basically he told God that if it wasn't for the woman that HE GAVE to him, he would not have sinned. So in reality, God, you are partly responsible for my sin. What hutzpa!

     With no excuses left, Adam finally admits that he ate..not that he sinned, not that he was disobedient, but that he ate. And Eve was no better, she blamed the serpent for deceiving her as if she didn't have any choice in the matter to say no. Eve too finally admitted that she ate...no real confession of sin, just an  acknowledgment of an act.

    Adam has abandoned his wife, quit his job, plunged his family into danger and poverty, defected to the side of the Devil, audaciously accused God of contributing to his sin and all he can do is whine about his circumstances and about how uncomfortable he feels. Adam may be ancient history, but his family resemblance is all too modern.

     Because we do the same thing. Ever since Adam and Eve people have had a victim mentality and blamed others for their circumstances and actions. But this game doesn't impress God or excuse our sin.

     On the final day of judgment, when God calls your name, there will be no blame shifting. Those who have cleverly manipulated the laws of men will one day find that God and his laws are inflexible. And they will stand alone and fully responsible for their sin before a holy God.

     Whose fault is it when I sin? Mine. Whose fault is it when you sin? Yours.

Trans: Adam and Eve tried cover-ups, hiding places and passing the blame, but God saw the man and the woman as the disobedient sinners they were.

     No fig leaves could cover their shame, no hiding place could calm their fear and no excuse could remove their guilt. So rather than cover up, hide or blame others, we need to surrender to God and ask Him to search our hearts and show us the truth about ourselves. Then we need to admit that we can't deal with the shame, fear and guilt of our sin by our own efforts and we need to throw ourselves on God's mercy.

     Adam and Eve, in their actions and their attitudes, demonstrate nothing that is deserving of God's mercy. And yet it is God's mercy that is the highlight, the hope of this whole passage.

II. God Confronts Sinful Mankind
     How does God react to all this? What does God do as we experience the shame, fear and guilt associated with our sin?

    A. God Seeks
     Genesis 3 shows a God who seeks people even after they have fallen into sin and run from Him. God simply could have stayed away from Adam and Eve when they sinned or He could have immediately killed them and started over...But He came and called out to them. Even though we will find that He judged them, His judgment is bathed in mercy and love.

     You see, God takes the initiative to save lost sinners.

         The God who came to Adam and Eve would oneday become human in Jesus Christ who came to seek and to save that which was lost' (Lk. 19:10)

Jn. 3:17 says 'For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him.'

 God sought out Adam and Eve and he still seek those who will be forgiven and saved by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.

    B. God Speaks
     And in loving mercy God sought and spoke to them. God knew where they were and what they had done, but He asks them questions which will give them the opportunity for self examination and acknowledgment of their sin.

     God gave Adam the opportunity to come out of hiding. That God called out to him was an act of grace.

     Another act of grace was that Adam and Eve could still hear the voice of God after they had sinned.

     Notice that when God spoke to Adam he answered immediately. He didn't think it over, consider all the options or discuss it with his wife.

     God called and spoke directly to Adam and Adam answered. The will of God was that Adam and Eve would come forward and because this was the sovereign, mighty and efficacious Word and will of God they had to respond.

    God one day will call your name ..and speak to you personally. Your running and hiding will end, and you will be without excuse....you will come before his presence and hear Him speak. What will you hear?

Conclusion
     It was God who sought Moses while he was a fugitive in Midian and spoke to him through the burning bush.

     It was God who sought David when he had sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed and spoke to him through the prophet Nathan.

     It was Jesus who sought out the Apostles while they were fishing so that he could say 'You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you'.

     Therefore Paul can write 'We love him because He first loved us.'

         Yes, God still seeks and speaks to sinners today.

    God's mercy is shown in a very symbolic way later in chapter 3 when he covered Adam and Eve with animal skins..which was the first sacrifice in the Bible, the foretaste of the animal sacrificial system in Israel and eventually finding it's fulfillment in the substitutionary and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.

     This is the sacrifice that Jesus told us to remember as He broke the bread as a symbol of His broken body and poured the wine as a symbol of his shed blood.

     As we participate together in the Lord's Supper, let us do so in the knowledge that it is God who has sought us and has spoken to us and has brought to us salvation in Jesus Christ.

     Let us approach the Table of the Lord in thankfulness for He has clothed us in the righteousness of Christ, just as surely as He clothed Adam and Eve in the skins of an animal.

Let us answer the call of God and come in repentance and with great rejoicing to the table of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.