You don't need to be religious in any way to see that the world is in a terrible mess, and really, this is where it all went wrong. So Genesis chapter three this evening, and let's pick up where we left off last time. Genesis three and verse number six. Genesis 3 and verse number 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and the tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. The eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou givest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed of all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus thou shalt eat all the days. of thy life. Amen. And we know the Lord to bless the reading of his word. Let's just pause again and ask for God's help as we come to his word. Our Father, we are thankful tonight, indeed, that you have been merciful to us who are sinners. Our Father, we thank you that you have given us this wonderful gospel of your grace, our Father, that's centered around the person of your well-beloved Son. And Father, as we go back to the beginning and as we consider this very first sin that ever happened, our father we do just pray that you would be pleased to speak to each heart tonight young and old alike father those watching on the internet lord be just now the spirit of the living god take the word of the living god and burn it into our hearts convicting of sin and father converting souls to the glory of your name father we need you now we commend ourselves to you in jesus name amen You know, it's hard to imagine a world without sin. It's hard to imagine ever going through a day without ever committing a sin. But there was a time in history where a sin had never been committed. There was days in past where there was never anything done against God until the very first sin was ever committed. And tonight we come to consider this passage Where did it all go wrong? It went wrong here in Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 6 when Eve engaged with sin. We've looked already in our weeks in Genesis 3 at the enemy of the fall, we've looked at the enticement of the fall, and tonight we come to look at the engagement in the fall. On one occasion, this portion of Genesis 3 was the reading for the day in one of the little Our Daily Bread booklets. Before getting into it and coming to the devotional message, as is the style with Our Daily Bread, the author used a practical illustration to make his point. And he said the events of this passage in Genesis 3 are like buyer's remorse. Now, buyer's remorse is that feeling you get after you have just bought something. The writer says, just prior to making a purchase, I feel the surge of excitement that comes with getting something new. After buying the item, however, a wave of remorse sometimes crashes over me. Did I really need this? Should I have bought it? Should I have spent all of the money that I have on it? And he says in Genesis 3, we find the first record of Byers' remorse. The whole thing began with the crafty serpent and his seal's pitch. He persuaded Eve to doubt God's Word. He then capitalized on her uncertainty by casting doubt on God's character, and he finished his pitch by promising that her eyes would be opened and she would become like God. I thought that was a rather fitting introduction to the meeting tonight. You see, so convincing was the devil's pitch that Adam and Eve now indulge in what God had forbidden. You see, we are about to see how immediately, following their indulgence, remorse so quickly comes in like a flood. You see, here's the truth for you and I tonight. Should we not be seeing Satan will always show us the shiny side of sin. Satan will always dress up sin to look delicious and to look delightful and to look enticing, but Satan never wants us to see the sorry side of sin. Satan never wants us to see the disastrous side of sin. He never wants us to see the cruel consequences of our sin. He never wants us to be remorseful. Dear friend, tonight I want to show you how from this passage it's paramount in giving us an insight not only into the reality of sin and the remorse of sin, but it also gives us a vivid insight into the ruin of sin. You see, as Eve has listened to the evil one and as Eve has been enticed she engages, disaster so quickly follows. I've just got four very simple things to leave with you this evening. Number one, I want you to see their willful rebellion. Verse number six, and I know we considered it last week, but I want to focus on the last part of it. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Oh, here is their willful rebellion. You see, having been tricked and tempted, we now come to the crunch point. Would Adam and Eve heed Satan, or would they flee and honor God? Of course, all of us tonight already know the answer to that question. In fact, the answer to the question, it is the answer to the question we have been asking for several weeks, where did it all go wrong? And that question is answered in just three simple words, those words, and did it. That's where it all went wrong, those three words, that one action. You see, the moment Eve plucked the fruit of that forbidden tree, put it to her mouth and bit into it, from that moment everything went wrong. She had now indulged in the first act of rebellion against God. And what had made the whole thing worse was the fact that she didn't sin alone, for look at what the verse says. And she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did it. And here she brings not only herself down, but she collapses her family. Last time we considered the warning that sin never just affects us. The two of them sinned together, the two of them fell together, the two of them rebelled together, and it was through this one simple act of rebellion that, as Paul wrote in Romans 5, that sin entered into the world and death by sin, and as a result then, death was passed upon all men. This one act of disobedience brought in a world of ruin. You see, one seemingly simple act of rebellion and the world moved from a state of serenity to a state of sin. A place of life became a place of death. A place of fellowship became a place of separation. A place of innocence became a place of guilt. None of those things ever existed before Eve took that bite and suddenly everything goes wrong. As we saw this morning from the example of Judah, so here on a grander scale, we find that the saddest part of this story is of this whole disaster, this whole fall could have been avoided. You see, Satan may have tempted Eve, and Satan may have tricked Eve, but Satan did not force Eve to sin. Oh, it could have been avoided. God had given Adam and Eve a free will. An ability to choose between right and wrong, and yet in that moment they fail to flee from both sin and Satan. Here's the thing for you and I tonight. Unfortunately, because of our nature, while we may be able to flee from the presence of sin, we cannot flee from the sin that is within us. We are sinners by nature, and there's nothing we can do about that. We can't flee from that sin. But the thing is this, God has given every single one of us a free will to flee to the Savior. Dear friend, tonight, in a moment, Adam and Eve could have fled from the consequences of sin, and tonight, dear friend, in a moment, you can flee from the eternal consequences of sin by coming to the Savior. But if you reject the Lord's offer of mercy and continue on, oh dear friend, there's a great price to be paid. Dear friend, tonight you can avoid catastrophe, you can avoid condemnation, you can avoid all of the things that are sure to come upon us, but you must come to Christ. You see, here, in that moment, Adam and Eve didn't flee. In this moment, Adam and Eve were being driven by impulse. They were being driven by desire. Their consciences had become clouded, meaning that neither Adam or Eve saw the end of their sin. They were fascinated with the fruit. They were fixated upon the promised benefits that Satan had deceived them into believing. They ignored what would happen if they disobeyed God. In the moment, none of that mattered. They were fixated on what was in front of them. And likewise, you and I this evening live in a world where we're told to live for the moment. We aren't told to think about the fact that we're sinners by nature and sinful in practice. We're not told to worry about the consequences of our sin. We're never told to see the end of our sin. We're told to just enjoy the moment. Seize the day. Live for now. Don't worry about dying. Young people, don't worry about dying. That's something far off. Older people, don't worry about hell. That's a fairy tale. Don't worry about the hereafter. So long as it feels right, it must be right. Oh, dear friend, that's not what the Bible says. You see, the Bible says a life of sin always has a very sorry end. Oh, dear friend, can I encourage you this evening to see the end of sin? Two very simple verses sum it up, and they both say the same thing, Romans 6 and 23, the wages or the payment or the reward of sin is death, not physical death, because saved or unsaved, we all die. But that word death means eternal separation from God. James says exactly the same thing in James 1 and 15, sin when it is finished bringeth forth everlasting separation or death. Oh, if we keep on ignoring the warnings and keep on sinning without coming to the Savior, then we will find that our sin will catch up with us in death where we will have to face the condemning judgment of God. Oh, if only We could see the end of our sin as condemnation, but dear friends, so much more than that. If only we could see the end of our sin in the cross. You see, it was our sin that caused the cross. I wonder if you ever thought about that, the great event that divided history in two. What caused that great event? It wasn't just a random chance happening. Oh, it wasn't the fact that Roman soldiers got together and Jewish leaders got together and they formed this great plan and they decided to put the Lord Jesus Christ upon a cross. That's not what caused the cross. The cross was not born out of man's schemes. Rather, the cross was born out of man's sin. That's why there was a cross. It was upon the cross that God dealt with sin. Our sin, your sin, my sin. That's what caused the cross. If there had never been sin, then there would never have been need for a cross or a Savior. But because you and I have sinned, there was need for a cross. And you see, it was our sin that put the Lord Jesus Christ upon that cross. It was your sin and my sin which caused Christ. Such unimaginable pain, the beating, the bruising, the scourging of his back, the shame, the spitting upon his face, the piercing of his hands and feet, the plucking of the hairs from his face, the spearing of his side. In the end, it was your sin and mine which caused Christ His unblemished life. Dear friend, that's the end of our sin. We must face up to the fact that it was our sin that done that to Him. Have you ever thought about that? Well, sin doesn't just have consequences for us, it had the consequences for Christ, who took our sin upon Himself. But here's the other thing I want you to see as we consider this. It was also at the cross where the Lord Jesus Christ made an end of sin. You see, for there upon that middle cross, the Lord Jesus Christ blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. He took them out of the way and he nailed them to his cross. All the sin that you and I have led to our name, Christ has made an end of it at the cross. I want you to see, first of all, their willful rebellion. But secondly, I want you to see their frightful realization, their willful rebellion, their frightful realization. Verse number 7 says, and the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. After eating the forbidden fruit, it wasn't long before the sweet taste turned sour in their souls. Their euphoria quickly dissolved. Their excitement quickly deflated. The eyes of Adam and Eve were now open, and the shame of their sin suddenly clung to them like a wet garment. In a moment, their innocence evaporated, and the pure radiant light of their souls went out. Remember how they were dwelling in purity and innocence, and their souls were places of light, rooms of light. And suddenly that light went out, and now they did indeed know good and evil, a knowledge they had sold their place in paradise for. They were now aware that the fulfilling of their God-given commission in the future would be corrupt. You see, in being fruitful and multiplying, which is what God required of them, they knew that that was now corrupt, that every time that a child would be born, that child would be born corrupt. You see, every child born out of this relationship would be tarnished by their trait of disobedience. And even today, every child that is born into this world never needs to be taught how to disobey, never needs to be taught how to sin. Why? Because they're born from this Adamic relationship. They're born from Adam and Eve. By nature, there's something wrong. And in this moment, Adam and Eve have become acutely aware that they're naked, exposed, and subsequently they felt ashamed. And so they've done what we, as humans, still continue to do. As soon as we've done something wrong, what do they do? Try and fix the mess. Whenever a child does something wrong, they panic, and then they go into cover-up mode. What can I do to fix this? Adam and Eve hoped their sin wasn't as serious as they feared and could be fixed without consequence, and so they tried to hide their shame, and they took fig leaves and they sewed them together, and they made the first clothes in history. Don't think they would have made the catwalk, but here they took fig leaves and they sewed them together to cover their naked parts. But you know, we have something more sinister here, for we have the first human attempt to make ourselves acceptable in God's sight by our own efforts. They thought they could undo what they had done against God, hoped He wouldn't see into their souls. We hope that He overlooks their sin. And still today, so many people, so many good people, are trying to cover their sinful soul with good works and with good living. And here we have the first cut template for all future false religions. Oh, we must fix our relationship with God. We must reach out to God. We must try and please God. So, and I know that I'm a sinner, but so long as I pray, so long as I participate, so long as I do penance, so long as I'm charitable, so long as I live like a Christian, so long as I, I, I, But as we will see, these fig leaves were futile. They were insults to God. He saw through them from the start. Why? Because sin cannot be hidden from God. I cannot fix myself. You cannot fix yourself. There's no church in the world you can go to, no faith that you can pray to. Nothing you or I can do can fix what we've done. Oh, it might appease our conscience for a while, but it'll never save our souls. Because sin cannot be hidden from God. It can be concealed to those around us, but when it comes to God, our sin cannot be covered by our own good works and good living. In Isaiah 64 we read, but we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags in God's sight. We cannot make ourselves righteous. We cannot make ourselves good enough for God. We cannot undo what Adam done through the works of righteousness, which we have done. You see, the Bible says clearly there is none righteous, no, not one. And that verse is speaking of every human being born from Adam and Eve. However, there is one exception, and that's the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, while he was born, From the virgin womb of Mary he was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Stepping from eternity into time, Christ came outside of sin. Dear friend, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only truly righteous one who has lived on this earth in the sight of a holy God, and that is what qualified him to die on our behalf. We are guilty, so he, being the just one, died for the unjust that he might bring us to God. Meaning, therefore, the only way we can be good enough for God and good enough for heaven is to be clothed metaphorically in Christ's righteousness. And this is the wonder of the gospel. You see, the Bible says that God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. You see, when a sinner gets saved, he exchanges metaphorically the garments of sin and the garments of self-righteousness for the garments of the Savior. garments of his righteousness, meaning that from that point onward, when God looks at us, he no longer sees our sin, he no longer sees us lost, but rather he sees us clothed in the wonderful, righteous robes of Christ. Dear friend, God sees through everything else. As God looks at your life and mine, does he see us in Christ? Oh, we see, first of all, how their willful rebellion, we see them frightened, and then we see, thirdly, their fearful remorse. Oh, we see their fearful remorse, for in verse number 8, listen to what it says, and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called on to Adam, and said, where art thou? You see, not only did they try to cover their sin, but they tried to hide themselves from God. Frightful realization turned to fearful remorse. They now feared God as their fellowship with Him was broken. You see, up until now, they walked dearly with God and they talked freely with God, but things had now changed, and not only were they ashamed of each other, but they were ashamed before God. Now the plot thickens, and the spiral tightens as Adam and Eve seek refuge among the trees of the garden. God had come among them, as He regularly done, but they were afraid to face Him, so they fled. They tried to hide, but where do you go to hide from a God who is everywhere, a God who sees and knows everything about every single one of us? You see, while on the earth The Lord Jesus said in Luke 8 and 17, for nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. Hebrews 4 and 13, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Nothing can be hid. There's no part of this planet where God is not there. Certainly, we can run from God, but none of us can hide from God. Again, the psalmist, as he pondered this, he said in Psalm 139, And Adam and Eve thought they could outwit God. They thought they could outrun God. They thought they could hide from God, but God knew exactly where they were and knew exactly what they had done. And yes, God called them, but that wasn't because He couldn't see them. Rather, it was to bring them to their own realization that God had to be fierce. There's a very searching verse in the Bible, perhaps the most searching verse or one of them, and it emphatically says, be sure your sin will find you out. That's what happened here. God had to be faced. They had run, but they couldn't hide. I wonder, folks, tonight, is that you? I wonder, you're here tonight and you're running from God. You've buried your sin deep down in a compartment in your soul, and if you don't think about it, it'll simply go away that God will not notice it. Dear friend, God sees you. And He knows you, and He calls you, and He's calling you again, where art thou? And if you're not saved, no matter how rosy life looks, you're lost. You can deny it, you can doubt it, but in the end, the truth is the truth. Nothing can be hidden from God. The facts can't be twisted. God can't be deceived. Adam and Eve had come to the point of realizing that it was against God and God only they had sinned, and they had to step out of the shadows and stand before Him. Likewise, dear friend, we urge you to heed the convicting call of God in life before having to face the condemning charge of God in death. In life, God is calling all men to repentance. He's calling them of their own free will. While there is time, you better make that step to Jesus tonight. You see, when life is over, it'll be too late. For after death there's judgment and all the hidden things will be uncovered, the books will be opened and God will judge. Realizing there's nothing hidden from God, do you not think tonight, dear friend, it's best to step out of your sin and into the Savior while you are still in time and not yet in eternity? Isn't it interesting that they hid among the trees? Dear friend, the only place that we can go is to the tree of Calvary. Oh, they tried hiding among the trees of their choosing. There's only one tree to which you and I can go, and cast a roll on the tree of Calvary." Time has beat us this evening, but let's finish off very quickly. Fourthly, we see their pitiful reasoning. In verses 11 to 13, Naturally, following their fall comes the blame game. Isn't it amazing that here we are, as I said last week, 7,000 or 8,000 years later and things have never changed? You see, God asked Adam a very straight question. He says, have you eaten of the tree that you shouldn't? And notice right away Adam doesn't give him a straight answer. A city employee in Lodi, California once sued the city for damages after he had backed a dump truck into his own parked car. The 51-year-old man argued that because the city's vehicle damaged his private vehicle, the city owed him $3,600. Now, apparently that's a true story. And being in America, you could well believe it. But as ridiculous as that sounds, blaming others has been a basic human trait since the beginning. Naturally, we don't like owning up to our own guilt. We don't like feeling guilty. So naturally, we always want to be able to blame someone else other than ourselves, look for someone worse than ourselves, find a way to make our mistakes someone else's fault, pin their blame on them. And that's exactly what happened here. God said, Adam, did you eat of the tree? And right away, he pointed to Eve, and he said it was her fault. Instead of coming out into the open and taking full responsibility for his actions and bearing the consequences, Adam immediately turned the blame away from himself. First it was Eve's fault, she made me do it. Then it was God's fault, for he was the one who gave Adam the wife. And turning then to Eve, she said it was the serpent's fault for tempting her. And in this moment of confrontation, neither Adam or Eve wanted to face up to their sin. And even though all the evidence was there to condemn them, they went into denial. And how times haven't changed. How so often God still gets the blame for permitting bad things in our lives. Others are blamed for being bad influences us or steering us down a bad path. Christians get blamed because of their inconsistency. I'm not a Christian because of how another Christian I know treated me. I'm not saved because of this one or that one or the other one. But the reality is, dear friend, tonight, and I say this very carefully, if we die unsaved and end up in a lost eternity, the only person we can blame is ourselves. Now, that's a solemn thought. We can't blame God. We can't say He didn't love us because I've already taken you to the cross. where there God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Dear friend, tonight you can't blame God. Your love is an everlasting love. God himself is love. God wants you to be redeemed and reconciled to him, which is why he calls you to repent. But if you reject that love, whose fault is it? Your loss. Nor will you ever be able to say, do you know what? I never got a chance or choice to see you. Here's your chance and choice tonight. Jesus, for your choice is waiting. God again says loud and clear, behold, now is the day of salvation. Behold, now is the accepted time. God cannot ever be blamed for loss. Others cannot be blamed, no matter how bad a background we have come from, no matter how hard a life we have lived, no matter how much a church has failed us. Ultimately, God holds us all individually accountable for our own lives and actions. God will right all the world's wrongs eventually. But for now, God calls you and I to consider our own You see, it's easy to list any number of people who, in our opinion, need God more than us. That's just delay and deflection tactics, trying like Adam and Eve to appease our own consciences before God. But the truth is, no matter what side of the broad road we're living on, all of us are lost. And we cannot deny the fact that we're sinners. Rather, there must come a point when we throw down the arms of rebellion, give up the arguments of rejection, and come away to the author of redemption. Dear friend, tonight, until you or I face up to the fact that we're sinners, and it's our fault that we're part of that fallen race, then we'll never be saved. If the Word of God opened your knee tonight, and as we come to the closing moments of this meeting, can I ask you tonight why you're not seeing? Right away as you sit in your seat, trying to run through the excuses, oh friend, quit with the excuses. They may appease your mind in time, but they won't stand up in eternity. Dear friend, and I say this so lovingly to your heart tonight, quit playing the blame game. Quit playing the blame game. Quit with the excuses. Dear friend, turn while the Savior in mercy is calling, and steer for the harbor light. How do you know but your soul may be drifting over the deadline tonight? Oh, why not, dear friend, tonight step out of your sin and into the arms of the Savior and be saved once and for all? Tonight you can be. He's ready and willing and able to save you if you'll but come and trust Him by faith. Let's just pause and pray as we close.