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HIDING FROM GOD
GENESIS 3:1-9
Introduction
In the matter of Biblical interpretation there is a principle known as “The First Mention Principle” The principle says that: “God indicates in the first mention of a subject, the truth with which that subject stands connected in the mind of God.”
i.e. The first mention of something in the Scriptures is especially significant because it sets the stage for how something is to be understood in the rest of the Word. And the first mention meaning will be consistent throughout the entire Bible.
Here in our passage we have some “first mentions” with regard to the fall of man. For Example:
1. We See The First Mention Of Satan!
(Although he is not called “Satan” by name here, there is no doubt that this is who he is.)
a. Satan Is Revealed As Being A Deceiver And Liar! (Vs 3-5)
The word “subtil” means “cunning; sly; artful; deceitful.”
We see that he was successful in deceiving Eve. (Vs 13)
John 8:44–“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
2 Corinthians 11:14–“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
b. Satan Is Revealed As Being An Opponent Of God And Man! The word translated “Satan” in the Old Testament comes from a word that means “opponent or adversary.”
Satan is God’s adversary and Satan is our adversary!
1 Peter 5:8–“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
Satan Is Revealed As Being A Deceiver And Liar!
Satan Is Revealed As Being An Opponent Of God And Man!
c. Satan Is Revealed As Being An Accuser And Slanderer!
(Vs 4-5)
In the New Testament, the name translated “Satan” means “accuser” and the name “devil” means “slanderer or false accuser!”
Here we see that Satan slandered God by accusing Him of withholding something good from Adam and Eve!
We know that Satan slandered Job before God and accused Job of being a paid lover!
The Bible speaks of Satan in Revelation 12:10–“. . . the accuser of our brethren. . . which accused them before our God day and night.”
d. Satan Is Revealed As Being A Tempter!
He tempted Eve by getting her to look at that which was forbidden!
We know that Satan is called the tempter in Matthew 4 where he tempted our Lord in the wilderness after His baptism at the beginning of His earthly ministry.
So, We See The First Mention Of Satan!
2. But We Also See The First Mention Of Sin!
(“Sin” is not mentioned here by name, but we know that’s what it is from the many references afterward that point back to this passage!)
What things do we see about sin in Genesis 3?
a. Sin Is The Transgression Of God’s Law!
Adam and Eve only had one law from God and they broke it!
1 John 3:4–“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
Sin Is The Transgression Of God’s Law!
b. Sin Separates!
Sin separated Adam and Eve from God!
Sin separated Adam and Eve from the life that is in God!
Ultimately their sin separated them from their physical life!
Isaiah 59:2–“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
Romans 5:12–“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”
The root meaning of “death” is “to be separated”
c. Sin Brings A Shame! (Vs 7, 10)
d. Sin Causes Men To Hide From God! (Vs. 8)
Why do men try to hide from God?
Men hide from God because they are confronted with God’s holiness and their own sinfulness!
There are examples in Scripture of men that were confronted with the Holiness of God and their reaction.
1) In Exodus 3:5-6, we find Moses at the “Burning Bush.”
Exodus 3:5-6–“And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.”
2) In the book of Job 42:6, when Holy God revealed Himself to Job, Job said, “. . . I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
3) In Isaiah 6, Isaiah saw “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
4) The apostle John saw the glorified Lord Jesus Christ in a vision on the isle of Patmos.
Revelation 1:17–And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:”
When we truly take time to see God as He is, then we see ourselves as we are! And when we see ourselves as we are we want to hide too!
Many times we as Christians are guilty of overlooking God’s holiness!
1 Peter 1:15-16–“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
God demands holiness! Adam and Eve were aware of that!
And so, when sin entered, something happened! Guilt entered!
Adam and Eve no longer felt worthy to stand before God, so their reaction was to hide from God!
Today I want you to see that nothing has really changed!
Men are still hiding from God because of the guilt of sin!
I want us to look at this matter of sin causing us to want to hide from God.
WHAT DO MEN HIDE BEHIND?
Again, we need to understand that nothing has really changed! The same things that Adam and Eve hid behind in the garden of Eden are some of the same things that men hide behind today!
I. MEN HIDE BEHIND RELIGION AND FALSE HOPES. (Vs 7)
Here we see Adam and Eve forming the first man -made religion!
I call it “The First Church Of The Fig Leaf!”
What do you think their reasoning might have been behind the fig leaves? You think it might have been, “Let’s cover our sin outwardly and maybe everything will be OK. Maybe God won’t notice!”
But notice they still tried to hide from God! You think that might have been because they weren’t sure that they had done enough?!
What does man-made religion do?
1. It conceals instead of confesses.
2. It doesn’t attack the inward problem, but rather it deals only with the outward.
3. It doesn’t alleviate the guilt or the condition!
4. In vain it attempts to hide the reality of the true condition!
Remember the rich young ruler in Matthew 19? He asked Jesus,
“What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”
Any time you try to “do” something to cover your sin, you’ll never feel like it’s enough because it never can be enough!
When we came into this world, we were all are guilty and spotted with sin before God!
Romans 3:10-11–“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”
Anything and everything that we might have done on our own to try to cover our sin was useless!
Isaiah 64:6–“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Mankind wants to cover sin outwardly with religion and good works, but sin is an inward problem!
You can put on the cloak of religion all you want to, but be warned, it will not work!
Matthew 7:22–“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
MEN HIDE BEHIND RELIGION AND FALSE HOPES!
II. MEN HIDE BEHIND FEAR! (Vs 8, 10)
A. They Were Afraid To Face God In Their Sin!
And listen, men are still afraid to face God with their sin!
John 3:19-21–“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
But, every one of us will stand before God to give an account!
Hebrews 9:27–“. . . it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
B. They Were Faced With The Awfulness Of Their Sin And The Surety Of God’s Punishment!
Example–Bro. Herschel Gregg’s story of the man who got drunk and unknowingly killed his infant child in a drunken rage.
1 John 1:17–“. . .the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Hebrews 7:25–“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
MEN HIDE BEHIND RELIGION AND FALSE HOPES!
MEN HIDE BEHIND FEAR!
III. MEN HIDE BEHIND IGNORANCE! (Vs 10, 11)
Mankind is oblivious to the fact that sin causes the problem!
Adam majored on the consequence of the sin rather than the fact of sin!
The humanist says that mankind is bad because of his environment.
WRONG!–Mankind’s environment is bad because of man and his sin!
People look at the condition of man rather than the cause of the condition!
MEN HIDE BEHIND RELIGION AND FALSE HOPES!
MEN HIDE BEHIND FEAR!
MEN HIDE BEHIND IGNORANCE! (Vs 10, 11)
IV. MEN HIDE BEHIND EXCUSES! (Vs. 12, 13)
This is where “passing the buck” really began!
Adam said, “Don’t look at me, it is that woman you gave me!”
Eve said, “Don’t look at me, it was that serpent that beguiled me!”
(i.e. “The devil made me do it!)
Today people still want to pass the buck and not take responsibility for their sin!
“I was born this way, I can’t help it!” (Homosexuals use this!)
“It’s my Daddy and Mama’s fault that I am like this!”
“It’s society’s fault that I am like this!” (Poverty, bad neighborhood, etc.)
“It’s because of all the hypocrites in the Church that I don’t want anything to do with God!”
V. MEN HIDE BEHIND INNOCENCE! (Vs 12)
Adam was essentially blaming God!
People still want to blame God!
“If God is so righteous, why did He let this happen?”
Don’t you know that it cut God to the heart to be blamed by Adam!
Again, there are those who want to blame God for their sin because they say they were born with certain tendencies!
Conclusion
As Adam and Eve were trying to hide themselves from the presence of the LORD among the trees of the Garden, verse 9 says that “. . .the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?”
How silly is it to think that you can hide from God in the first place?
Psalms 139:7–“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”
The fact is you can’t hide from God! God knew where Adam was at, just as He knows where you are at today!
God’s asking you the same question today! “Where art thou?”
I believe that God asked Adam that question because he wanted Adam to admit where he was at!
If you are lost here today, God is saying to you, “Where art thou?”
Are you trying to hide from God today? What are you hiding behind?
Behind Religion and False Hopes?
Behind Fear?
Behind Ignorance?
Behind Excuses?
Behind Innocence?
John 3:16-18–“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Romans 5:8–“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
If you are a child of God here today, God is saying, “Where art thou?”
Where are you in your level of commitment to Him?
Where are you in your faithfulness to Him?
What are you hiding behind that keeps God from really using you?
1) Is it an easily besetting sin?
2) Is it an unwillingness to do God’s will?
3) Or are you passing the buck and trying to blame someone else?
Home Page Contact Us Service Times Sermons Are You Going To Heaven?
NOTICE: THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!