Sermon details
- Scripture
- Genesis 3:8-24
- Speaker
- Various Speakers
- Date
- 15 September 2024
- Length
- 34 minutes
Read the sermon
A gracious inquiry
Good morning. It is a great joy to see each one of you this morning. I am so excited to be here with you, and I bring greetings from Sylvarius Central Baptist Church. On behalf of Sylvarius Central Baptist Church, I want to say thank you very much for your partnership in the gospel. We do not take it for granted. I also want to thank the elders for giving me the opportunity to bring God's word to you this morning. If you have the Bible with you, may you kindly turn with me to the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis, our sister did very well. She read from verse eight to verse 24. Let us read once again just verses eight and nine. The title of the sermon is A Gracious Inquiry. A Gracious Inquiry. Verse eight and verse nine. The Bible reads,
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. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you?
Where are you? A gracious inquiry. Shall we look to the Lord in prayer? Our holy God in heaven, The Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we want to thank you for your goodness. We want to thank you for sending your son, Jesus Christ, to come and obey the whole law for us, but also to die on the cross as our substitute to satisfy your wrath. And it is because of his death on the cross that sinners like us can have a relationship with a holy God. Father in heaven, now as we sit around your word, we ask, oh God, that you bless our time together, that you anoint these leaps of clay to be clear in the proclamation of your word, and that your word do come with power power to save sinners, and power to sanctify saints. This is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. The whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, documents a missionary God. A God on a mission to save sinners. A God on a mission to save sinners from their sins through the person and work of Christ. The Bible is a meta-narrative. The whole Bible is one big story. It is a love story. It is a story about God gathering worshipers for himself through the person and work of Christ. And there's a tendency, especially when we are reading the Old Testament, to only see judgment. And we rarely see grace in the Old Testament. But dear friends, the whole Bible, we see grace. Even in the Old Testament, we see the grace of God. Before we look at the text before us, allow me to give you the context in which the gracious inquiry is found. In Genesis chapter one and chapter two, we see God creating the heavens and the earth and everything in them. God created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden. For food, man was allowed to eat the fruit of every tree of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God promised man that the day he was going to eat, he was going to surely die. In Genesis chapter three, verse one to seven, we see man eating the forbidden fruit. We see man sinning against God. And when man sinned against God, observe with me, friends, in verse seven and eight, we are taught that
the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed 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.
It is in that context in which God comes to man in grace and asks the question, where are you? Friends, in this text, we see the grace of God. In this text, we see the mercy of God. We see the fact that God is slow to anger. We see the fact that God is abounding in love. He is a gracious God. Adam, where are you? Now, God doesn't ask questions because he needs information. He's omniscient, he's all-knowing. He doesn't need information. Being God, he knows everything. Psalm 139, verse 1 to 12 tells us that very fact, the omniscience of God, that to him, even darkness is light. He is all-knowing. So when he's asking, Adam, where are you? It's not like he's lost. Adam, where are you? It's not like he's lost. Rather, he asks questions for our good, to give us the opportunity to face facts. He asks questions for our good, to give us an opportunity to be honest, an opportunity for us to confess our sins. Friends, when we think of the question where are you, we must not think of God speaking to Adam and Eve the way a cruel master would speak to a disobedient slave. We should not think of God speaking to Adam and Eve the way an angry judge would speak to a convicted criminal. But we must think of God speaking to Adam and Eve the way a broken-hearted father would speak in love to his wayward child. It is a gracious inquiry. Observe that God called Adam to give him an opportunity to answer and to come out into the open. that God called him at all was an act of grace. For God could have spoken the word of judgment and destroy Adam and Eve. Another gracious wonder was that Adam could hear God's voice and respond. For his inner nature had been so polluted by sin that he didn't want to face God. Once Adam and Eve came out of hiding, Adam confessed their shame by saying they were naked. And he confessed their fear by saying they were guilty. Without saying it openly, Adam was admitting that they had eaten of the forbidden tree. However, when God asked him point blank if he had eaten of the tree, Adam never said yes. I did, instead he blamed God and his wife. It is this wife whom you gave me. He blamed God. But friends, we see here the nature of man. We see that man in his sins, he doesn't seek God. Man in his sins, he's ever running away from God. God must initiate the process of salvation. Salvation belongs to God. It begins with God. It proceeds with God. It ends with God. Salvation belongs to God. That's the truth we see here. Adam and Eve, they are not up to any good. They are running away from God. And God has to seek them. And dear friend, if you are here this morning and you are a Christian, it is not because you are a good boy, a good girl. It is not because you are a good man or a good woman. If you are a Christian, it is because God had to seek you and he found you in your sins and he forgave you your sins. Oh, come on pastor, but I had placed faith in Jesus. Well, even that faith was a gift from God. Even faith is a gift from God. Oh friends, sinners can't find God for the same reason criminals can't find policemen. They aren't looking, they are running away from God. In our text, I want us to see the acts of God's grace alongside his judgment. That even in judgment, God is gracious. He is gracious. Observe with me three acts of God's grace alongside his judgment. Now, they are not three because the baptism has got three points, but that's what I see from this passage. three acts of God's grace alongside his judgment. Number one, we see in our text God's grace in promising the seed of the woman. Number two, we see God's grace in providing clothing or covering for Adam and Eve. Number three, we see God's grace in blessing man outside the garden. We see God's grace in those three ways. Observe me in that order. Number one, God's grace in promising the seed of the woman. We see that in verse 15.
Read the full sermon
I'll put enmity between you
talking to Satan.
You and the woman and between your offspring and our offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
Here we see what theologians call the proto-Ewangelion, the first announcement of the gospel. How is this good news? How is this promise, the gospel? Well, allow me to share with you the bad news. Well, the bad news in our text is the fact that Adam has sinned against God. And Adam is our federal representative. All of us were in Adam, and the fact that Adam sinned, it follows that all of us sinned. Adam's foe was your foe. Adam's foe was my foe. Adam's foe was our foe. The fact that he sinned, it follows that all of us sinned. That's bad news, friends. that we all come into this world as sinners. We all come into this world as enemies of God. That's how we come into this world, as a people who love the world, as a people who love sin, as a people who hate righteousness, as a people who hate God. That is how we came into this world. And those who are children, yes, your mom and dad may call you a little angel. It's for your self-esteem. But the fact is that you came into this world as a sinner. You came into this world as a sinner. Even a child who was born today is a sinner. As someone has put it, that children, they are sinners, they are actually vipers in their diapers. Sinners. That is the bad news. But we see the good news in our text. God is promising, is making a promise that the seed of the woman was going to crush the head of the serpent. This is what theologians in covenant terms, they call the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace, the seed of the woman who crushed the head of the serpents. The question, who is this seed of the woman? Who is this seed of the woman who was going to crush the head of the serpent? After the death of Abel, Eve says of Seth in Genesis 4, 25,
God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, for Cain slew him.
For Cain slew him. That's Genesis 4, 25. Abel was her seed. Seth was her seed. But is this the seed of the woman, or is Abel or Seth the seed of the woman who was going to crush the head of the serpent? No, friends. The seed of the woman is our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Jesus is the one who came and crushed the head of the serpent on the cross. When he said, it is finished, he didn't say, I am finished. He said, it is finished. Our redemption was accomplished on the cross. Sinners can have a relationship with God by simply repenting from their sins and believing in Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? Jesus is the gospel. The person and work of Jesus is the gospel. Jesus is that promised seed of the woman who came to crush the head of the serpent. Friends, Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the God of the Old Testament who has now come in the flesh. Jesus is the promised seed of the woman. Jesus is the true priest who came to be sacrificed once and for all for our sins. Jesus is the true prophet who came to explain his father to us, to expound his father to us. Jesus is a true king who reigns in the hearts of believers, is a true king who reigns on the throne of his father, David. So the seed of the woman is not Seth, He's not Abel. He's not Noah. It's not Abraham. It's not Moses. It's not David. It's Jesus Christ. And he came and accomplished the will of his father. Well, friends, that is the good news. This world doesn't need more education. Education is important. The problem with this world is not education. The problem with this world is not technology. The problem with this world is not civilization. The problem with this world is not lack of good monetary and fiscal policies. It is not about governance. The problem with this world is sin. Sin is the problem. And Jesus is the only solution. He is our only hope. He is our Savior. And if you are here this morning and you are not a Christian, come to Jesus. He will save you from your sins. Jesus is our only Savior. And He saves, by the way. Oh, little children, He saves even children. You can come to Him this morning. He will save you from your sins. That's the first act of God's grace. the promise of the seed of the woman, the promise of Jesus Christ coming to accomplish redemption. Observe the second place, God's grace in providing covering for Adam and Eve. Remember when they sinned and they discovered that they were naked, Adam and Eve had to cover themselves with fig leaves. And that's what sin can do. Sin makes people foolish, makes people, you know, to stop thinking. How can you cover yourself with fig leaves, which when the sun comes, they can get dry? How? Cover themselves with fig leaves. But we see in verse 21, observe with me the text. Verse 21,
and the Lord God made for Ada and for his wife garments of skin and clothed them.
Garments of skin and clothed them. A few things I want us to see from this act of God's grace. First is the need for clothing. The need for clothing. Adam and Eve were naked. They were ashamed. Their shame needed a covering of some sort. In the seven, they sewed fig leaves. They had need of cloth, and God met that need. This nakedness that required clothing, God met that need. So we see the need for clothing. But second, observe the efforts of man to clothe himself. The efforts of man to clothe himself. Man clothed himself with fig leaves. We see here the foolishness of sin. The coverings we are capable of making for ourselves are inadequate, dear friends. This is seen in the case of Adam and Eve, but it is evident of us today. The most covering is good works. I'm a believer because I sing in church. I'm a believer because I preach. I'm a believer because I give tithe and offering. I'm a believer because I do that and that. Fig leaves. I'm a believer because I read the Bible every day and I go to church twice on Sunday. I'm a believer because, you know, I don't insult. I'm a virgin. I don't steal. I don't covet. Fig leaves saves the Lord. I'm a believer because I'm a blood donor. I save lives. Fig leaves. Your good works cannot save you. Good works they don't serve. The only one who can save you from your sins is Christ and him alone. But observe in the third place God's provision of clothing. We've seen the need for clothing. We've observed how man wanted to clothe himself. The do-it-yourself religion there. But also observe in the third place God's provision for clothing. Innocent animals had to be sacrificed.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
We see God's grace, friends, in covering Adam and Eve with animal skins. And we can learn a spiritual truth here. that you cannot clothe yourself to stand acceptably before God. God must clothe you with his righteousness. That is the only way you can stand acceptable before God. That is the only way. And if you are here this morning and you've been cheating yourself that just because you go to church that it means you are a believer, no. Salvation is found in the person and work of Christ. This morning, cry out to Jesus like blind Bartimaeus.
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
This morning, like the hymn writer, come to Jesus.
With naked I come for clothes. With nothing in my hands I bring, but simply to thy cross I cling.
Jesus is the only one who can save you from your sins. But observe in the third place, friends, God's grace in blessing man out of the garden. God's grace in blessing man out of the garden. Observe verse 22 with me. Verse 22,
then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us, a knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man. And at the east of the Garden of Eden, he placed a cherubim and a flaming sword that turned everywhere to guard the way to the tree of life.
This looks like a cruel punishment. But friend, there's grace in this. There is grace in this. If Adam and Eve ate of the tree of life, they would live forever on earth as sinners. Did you see that? Observe with me verse 22 once again.
Then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil, lest he reach out his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever.
That is God's concern there. If we leave man in the garden of Eden, he will reach out to the tree of life And when he eats, he will live forever. And that would mean living forever as an enemy of God. Living forever as an enemy of God and God in his grace. He says, let us drive out man from the garden. That was an act of God's grace. So that man could be saved. through the promised seed of the woman. There are lessons we can get from this text, friends. First, sin keeps us from life. Sin keeps us from life. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve anticipated an eternity of life with God. Sin keeps us. Sin separates us from God. Sin keeps us from life. And if you are here this morning and you are not a Christian, you've been alienated from God because of sin. You've been separated from God because of sin. You are not a friend of God. You are an enemy of God because of sin if you are not a Christian. Sin keeps us from life. It keeps us from life, it keeps us from God. But we see the grace of God in providing the seed of the woman to save us from our sins. Jesus, friends, is the only savior. Have you been to Jesus for forgiveness of your sins? Have you been to him for forgiveness of your sins? Have you called upon the name of Christ? Have you repented from your sins and have placed faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior? Jesus saves. He saves. Perhaps you are here and you are saying, you don't know my situation. I'm drowning in my sins. Yes, he came for a person like you. He didn't come for the righteous. He came to save sinners. Christ saves. And he can save you this morning. How are we going to conclude our time together this morning? Well, a few points to go home with. First is that in Adam we all sinned. You are in the state of contamination if you have not repented from your sins and believed in Jesus Christ. In Adam, we all sinned. The second is that the suffering in the world is because of sin. As I said earlier on, we don't need more civilization to deal with the evils in the world. We need Christ. Christ is the solution. Oh, preacher man, what are you talking about? How about marriages which are breaking down? Well, it is because of sin. Remember before the fall, how did Adam address his wife Eve? She's born of my born. This is flesh of my flesh. But after the fall, how does Adam address Eve? This woman whom you gave me. Not this sweetheart. He doesn't co-eve my sweetheart. He doesn't co-eve my bone of bone anymore. He doesn't co-eve my cardiac sucrose, no. This woman whom you gave me, even the problems in marriages, the divorce cases we are seeing in the church and in the world there, it is because of sin. And Jesus, Jesus is the solution. How is he the solution? Well, we must go to Jesus to learn how to love. We must go to him. We must love our wives as Jesus has loved the church. Well, my dear friends, here is the point. We need Jesus before we become born again, but we also need him after we become born again. We need him for our salvation. We also need him for our sanctification. Jesus must be our all in all. We need him. There's a tendency to say, well, I am saved. I needed Christ before I became saved. Now that I'm saved, I need deeper things. I need deeper things. There's nothing deeper than the gospel. There's nothing deeper than Christ, his person, and his work. Jesus is what the whole world needs. In Christ lies your only hope both in this life and death. The first Adam sinned. But the last Adam, he obeyed the whole law for us. He died on the cross for us sins. When he was on the cross, all our sins were put on him, past, present, and future. And he satisfied the wrath of God. Friends, this has got an effect even on how we evangelize, how we do evangelism. This has got an effect. When we are evangelizing, we must show people the bad news, how that in Adam, we are all fallen, and how that in Christ is where we find life. So this morning, we see friends once again, that God is gracious, that God is merciful, that God is slow to anger, that God is abounding in love. And for you who is not a Christian, God is slow to anger because he's giving you an opportunity to repent and believe in Christ. That is why he is patient. You must come to him while he may still be found. Because there's no forgiveness beyond the grave. But for you who is a Christian, this must cause us to be humble. Is there anything you have which you've not received? This must cause you and me to be humble. It must cause us to glorify the Lord, to praise the Lord for the salvation that is ours in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Transcript from SermonAudio. The recording is the authoritative version.