Well, it is a joy to be with you tonight and a particular privilege, as ever, to bring the Word of God. And I will trust the Lord. I have a little bit of a cold, so I'm singing baritone today, which I enjoy occasionally being able to do that. I hope it's not too distracting and we'll be able to focus entirely on the Word of the Lord. Our scripture reading tonight is from Genesis chapter three, very familiar, the fall of man in this section, Genesis three. and we'll be reading here the first 15 verses. This is the word of the Lord. 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 of 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, 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. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them 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 a Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of a Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. He said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God's holy Word may write it upon our hearts. Let's pray together. Our Father, we seek you now. We seek that work of your Spirit in our hearts to illumine our understanding. Give us grace, we pray, to see in fuller measure the amazing grace displayed as you seek out the lost. Give to us, Father, then to rejoice once again tonight, to be refreshed in this grace and to praise you for it more and more. Deepen our faith, deepen our love for you and for one another. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Brethren, sisters, there are various passages in the scriptures in which we see men in their sin and God graciously seeking them out. In Genesis 3, we encounter the first such instance. Here, of course, is man's original fall. has fallen to sin, and here we see God in His amazing grace seeking out lost man. We should be reminded as we come to this passage of what the writer of Hebrews puts before us, that the Word of God is living and active sharper than any two-edged sword, able to bear us to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." We bear that in mind because we see something of that going on in this passage, don't we? The Word of God, living, active, sharper than any two-edged sword, opening up man exposing his true need and all in grace, wonderful grace. Now, I know I titled this message Grace Seeking and Interrogating Lost Man, and that is what we see here. Perhaps it would have been better put Grace Seeking and Saving Lost Man, because I'm convinced that's what we see happening here. but certainly there's an interrogation as well. So what do we see here? First of all, we're gonna see, we're gonna think on man in his fallen condition, and then we'll consider together the three questions of grace. Three questions of grace. First of all, then, man in his fallen condition. It's so difficult for us to grasp fully what has taken place in Genesis 3. The magnitude, the dramatic magnitude of man's fall into sin. Really, we need to say, it's impossible for us to grasp it fully. Man has become, with his fall, a sin-dominated being. Cataclysmic change has taken place with this fall, what we can properly call a mega shift in his mindset. A rival center has been established in the universe. Again, it's just about impossible to grasp the magnitude of this change. Man has established, certainly in his own mind, he's established his own authority as final. He has determined in the fall, I will be the final arbiter of truth. I will determine what reality means. I will determine what the world should be like. It's that dramatic, isn't it? And we see, of course, here as well, immediately, man divided from man, man divided from the woman, his helpmate, his most intimate companion divided. Because of course, first and foremost, there's this radical division from God. Death has entered. Everything's changed from what it was. But man has a conscience, fallen man has a conscience. Doesn't that mean he'll still evidence some tenderness toward God? Since conscience is still intact. Doesn't that mean we could expect some tenderness toward God? Doesn't this bring him to repentance? Doesn't it drive him to look for grace? And so we see here something of the stirrings of conscience, but they're the actions of a rebel. And so in the scripture we read, the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. What do we see here? There's a sort of conviction. Conscience convicts. Man is smitten with guilt and shame, but this is insufficient to drive him to God and to grace. No, no, the stirrings of conscience in a sin-dominated heart do not result in one seeking God or looking to God. Instead, what does man do? Well, he devises ways whereby he might insulate himself from guilt and shame, from sin and its consequences. His life is falling apart, various respects, and he figures out ways to patch it up. That's always fallen man's endeavor apart from grace. I'll patch my life up somehow. He feels the consequences of his sin, but what does he do? His conscience is stirred, but what does he do? Well, I'll patch my life up somehow. When confronted with the symptoms of his sin, yes, he finds various ways to cover over them. The eyes of both of them were open. They knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. So yes, fallen man, he is in fact prone to merely treat the symptoms of his sin, and apart from saving grace, that's all he does. That's all that he can do. That is all that he wants to do. So he's resistant, isn't he? Resistant to identifying the root cause, which is his sin. So we say he is in fact prone to merely treat the symptoms of his sin, resistant. He will not deal with the root problem, and he resents it, he resists, if you seek to identify the root. He resists. So does this sense of guilt and shame registered in his conscience bring him to God and to repentance? No, it does not. No, it only causes him to hide, to cover himself from the gaze of other men, even those closest to him, to cover himself from the gaze of God. Now, what does God do in the face of such sin and rebellion. Mega shift has happened in the world. It's a mega shift. Man has rebelled against his creator. God has every right to judge rebel man immediately, doesn't he? End of story. It's over. It's over. But God doesn't judge. as has been his gracious pattern since the fall. He doesn't immediately judge, does he? And the Savior came into the world not to condemn the world, not to judge it, but that he might save the world. So what does God do? It's amazing, really. He seeks man out. Very graciously, he seeks man out, and God approaches. What does man do as God approaches? Verse 8, they heard the sound 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. When God approaches, man knows his covering is useless. It's really sort of irrational, isn't it? The whole thing. Can he really hide from God? He tries, though he knows his covering is useless. Much easier to cover things up before man. It's another matter entirely to avoid the scrutiny of God. And another thing entirely, to avoid the scrutiny of God when he's seeking you out graciously. It's amazing, really. Adam and his wife, they know God is there. They know he's present, but will not come to him. Man prefers to hide and to maintain his self-contrived dignity, and it is, brothers and sisters, only the power of the Word of God that can bring him out of his hiding and out of his rebellion. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce through the dividing of soul and spirit and joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Man has much to hide with his fall into sin. But how do you hide from God? Here's the glorious news of grace, isn't it? How do you hide from God when he is seeking you? How do you hide from God when he's seeking you to save you? This is really good news. And encouragement to pray, isn't it? Man has much to hide. Thankfully, when God graciously seeks a man, there's nowhere to hide. Isn't that beautiful? When God seeks a man in his grace, there's nowhere to hide anymore. So yes, we see God graciously seeking man out, and it is all of grace because, of course, God knows exactly where man is. And it's a man who must be brought to understand the gravity of his sin and rebellion. And so we consider here what we call the three questions of grace. Now, obviously, God knows the answer to these questions. It's an interesting thing going on here, isn't it? God knows the answer to these questions. It's man who is examined wonderfully, graciously. It's man who is examined by these questions of grace. They're penetrating questions. They're efficacious questions because the gracious God is the one who poses the questions. They find their mark. We can be sure of that. They penetrate the heart. They open the heart, they expose the man entirely. Three questions of grace. Now just a few things to note before we treat the specific questions. We see here, first to say, we see something of the mystery of God's work in a soul to save it. We say again, God's word has a divinely powerful effect. He draws man out into his light, graciously peeling back the layers of sin and deception. This is what God's doing by means of these questions. Again, he's peeling back the layers as only he can in a fallen heart. Now we note this too before we think on the questions. At no point Is man perfect and pure in his answers or response? I think that's very important to keep in mind here. In other words, has there ever been a perfect repentance? There's been true repentance. For someone to be saved, there must be a true repentance. But does a man, when he's saved, when he's being saved, does a man see all of his sin? No. Did Adam and Eve, did they see fully, fully the gravity of their sin? Exhaustively, did they? Of course not. Thus, we're to see again that it's all of grace. At any point, God could quite just leave man to his sin, to his imperfect repentance. Aren't you thankful? that Christ in saving you did not require that you see and confess all of your sin, all of it. Aren't you thankful today on this Lord's Day when together as a congregation we confessed our sin to God? Aren't you thankful that God didn't require that you think of all your sins before he would forgive you? Aren't you thankful that though your confession of sin, as a believer, Though your confession of sin this morning was an imperfect confession, because it's brought in faith, faith in Christ, God hears it. He forgives. And amazingly in Christ, that truth we understand and we find great encouragement and we have no more consciousness of sins. We're aware of our sins, thinking of that great change described in the book of Hebrews, right? Sacrifice of animals, blood of bulls and goats, repetition, constant reminder of sin. Our brothers and sisters of times past, they still had consciousness of sin. They knew something of sins forgiven, yes, to be sure, and the mercy of God. But isn't it amazing here? We could say at any point God could just, He could quite justly leave man in his sin, say, that's not good enough. You've made an excuse. The woman whom you gave to me, right? The serpent deceived me, right? And God could say, it's all off, forget it. He doesn't do that. Grace prevails in its power and beauty. Grace penetrates the darkness of man's heart. Grace, efficacious grace, does a wonderful work. God makes man willing and that is evident here. It can hardly be said that here you have man cooperating with God's grace. That's not happening here. This is rather divine power performing its wondrous saving surgery. So that's one of the great privileges I think we see as we think on this passage, great privilege. We witness here a divine surgery of the soul. It's marvelous. So the three questions, the three questions of grace. What is the first? Where are you? Where are you? Now, let's be very clear about this again. God knows where Adam is. Where are you? The question is for Adam to answer. Where are you? which is to say the word of God penetrates into man's hiding place, into his darkness, and he cannot hide from this gracious voice, this penetrating word. Where are you? Isn't it marvelous to think when God does a saving work in a person, this happens in every instance, doesn't it? Well, almost every instance. We think of children who are regenerated, you know, Where are you? But God graciously calls him to consider his condition, his true state, his actions. His hiding is a feature of his rebellion, and he must confess that it is so. He knows, again, he knows that God is present. Now the works of the law are written on his heart. His hiding is a feature of his rebellion, and he must confess that it is so. What must he say then? Well, first, of course, he says, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. I heard the sound of you. He knew God was present. He's afraid because he's naked. He's exposed and he hides. I hid myself, he says. So what must he say? I'm hiding from you. I've been hiding from you, he must say. I've got these symptoms. My life is a mess, really a mess. I don't want you to see me as I am now. I don't want my nakedness exposed. So yes, man hides in various ways. He seeks to cover his nakedness in various ways. And we could say, here's true gospel preaching. What happens? What's going on in true gospel preaching? Well, in true gospel preaching, there's an exposing of man's moral nakedness. He's exposed, and he knows it. I've been hiding from you. Now see, think of applications of this. A man, he's brought to salvation. I've been hiding from you my whole life. That's what a man says when he's brought to repentance. Something like that, yes? I've been hiding from you my, I've been in rebellion. And I know you're there. Every man knows that. But I was afraid, because I know I'm exposed. It's marvelous to think of God bringing that question to a human heart, isn't it? Where are you? And when God does a saving work, every man answers. I've been hiding. I'm ashamed. Second question. Who told you that you were naked? Who told you that you were naked? In other words, whence this sense of guilt and shame? whence this sense of guilt and shame. So yes, Adam must look beyond the symptoms of his shame and fear. Why do you feel guilt? Why do you feel shame? Why does he hide? Where's the love and devotion to which God is so worthy? Why does Adam and El know shame and fear? What's the source? What's the source of this guilt? What's the root cause? Look behind your symptoms. Look at the root. And the third question. which you see immediately follows from the second. Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? See this also, by the way, in verse 13. What is this you've done? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded that you should not eat? Again, God knows the answer to this. It's man who needs to confess his sin, his rebellion. What is this you've done? What's at issue here? A very specific transgressing of God's word and his authority. When one is brought to true repentance, they speak to this. God says, in effect, have you transgressed my authority? Is not the source of your guilt and shame your rebellion against me? Here's the root of man's problem. All sin is transgression against the law of God. So man's sin, it's not some vague and general sort of thing. It's not some unintended misstep, not some mistake. It's personal, specific rebellion against God's specific personal authority. That man must answer. I've sinned against you. Against you only have I sinned and done what's evil in your sight, Psalm 51. All of his sin is a striking out against God, all of it. an intensely personal affront against the God of the universe, rebellion. Your word is very clear. I violated it. In fact, I violate it constantly, though I'm under full obligation to obey it always. Now we note here again that both Adam and Eve's confessions are tainted, and this is often brought out. It's an important point. There's this tendency to point at the other person, correct? But I think these are genuine confessions of sin nonetheless. Though Adam, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree. And I ate. Eve, the serpent deceived me. And I ate. Now I say I think these are genuine confession of sin, though they could say they're mixed, in a measure they're mixed, but genuine confessions of sin. Why do I think, or why would we assert, why would we allege that these are genuine confessions of sin? I think for four reasons. First of all, this. Adam and Eve don't run. They come out of hiding. Where are you? God says. And they come out. They come out of hiding. Now, left to myself, what would I do, or what would you do? Left to ourselves. If they were left to themselves, what would they do? If God was not doing a saving work, a work of grace in them, what would they do? They would run. Well, that would be silly, wouldn't it, to run from God? Men do it all the time. He knows where they are. They still do it. It's a little bit like the woman caught in adultery, is it not? Dragged by her accusers before the Lord in a wonderful, providential work of God. The woman's dragged, kicking, screaming, perhaps cursing at her captives, brought into the presence of the savior of the world. Wow. Exposed. And what happens? Well, once her accusers are dispersed, what does she do? It's most remarkable, really, that she stays, isn't it? I know what I'd do. I'd find some place to hide. She stays. because she senses mercy and grace in what our Lord has said. And Jesus, of course, says to her, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. Much like that, I think. Adam and Eve do not run. Why else do we think this is a genuine confession? Well, The first pronouncement of the gospel immediately follows here. Should we say it's not effectual? I think it is. And of course, there's the sacrifice of blood, the killing of the animals, innocent victims, and God clothing the man and his wife with the skins. The word of God finds its mark. Word of God is living and active. God's saving work effectual. Questions of grace. Where are you? Who told you you were naked? Whence this sense of guilt and shame? Have you violated my word? Both the man and his woman confess, I hate. I'm guilty. Isn't it amazing now when you think of this? Amazing. But this is grace. Upon their confession, they're not immediately judged. That's it, right? You send, you're done. Condemned. That's not what happens, we know. So to summarize, brothers and sisters, we say this is what man does, I'm sorry, what God does powerfully when he brings a man to himself. What does he say? You've been hiding all along. all along trying to hide your true condition, trying to avoid the righteous gaze of God, even the lesser judgment of men around you. You feel guilt, shame, isolation. There's a reason for it. Will you own the reason? You have rebelled very personally, very specifically against me. Do you own that? Do you side with me against yourself? That's what every man does when he truly repents. He takes sides with God against himself and he appeals to mercy. So God sends his son into the world in order to save sinful man out of their guilt and rebellion. It's his voice that saves. He approaches. He's the one who by his powerful word is stripping away the layers of sin and deception. This is what we pray for, is it not? We pray for those we love who are yet unsafe. We pray for this, we understand it, we pray for this work that only God can do. We know only he by his word and spirit can penetrate the heart of man which is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked. Only he can peel back the layers and bring them to the place where they stop hiding. And they stop trying to cover up, patch up the problems in their life. and they recognize the symptoms as symptoms and they confess the root of it all. And every believer speaks this language very clearly. I'm a sinner. I have no excuse. My chief problem is my sin against the living God. Nothing rivals that. I've been a rebel. I stand in entire need of the grace and mercy of God in Christ. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the Gospel. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? The first communication of the Gospel, the enlightening of the eyes, a man persuaded enabled to embrace the God of grace promised in Jesus Christ, freely offered in Jesus Christ. So this Lord's Day, don't you rejoice in this gospel, what good news this is, of a God who not merely provides men a possibility of being saved, but a God who saves men out of their sin, a God who does not leave men in their hiding place, but pursues them and opens up their hearts and shows them his grace. It's a wonderful thing. We rejoice in it. We're refreshed this day, aren't we? As we think on it again. Amazing grace. It's amazing grace. What a sweet sound. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for this grace. We thank you for this privilege of seeing, of your describing to us, revealing to us what it is you do in a heart when in your grace you pursue that heart. You illumine them. You make them willing. You persuade. and enable them to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered in the gospel. We thank you for this wonderful gospel tonight. Deepen us, we pray again, Father. Deepen our love for you, our love for our Savior. We ask it all in Jesus' name, amen.