Well, please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. I'll be reading verses 8 through the end of the chapter. I will be focusing on verses 8 through 13. And I was telling my wife earlier, good news, you do not have to hear the sermon from this morning. Bad news, you do have to hear the sermon from last week. Hopefully it will still be good news in this, and helpful to review that as well. So I'm thankful for my family coming along this evening. But let's give our full attention to the inspired, inerrant word of the living God. I'll begin reading in verse 8, and then I'll conclude, as I said, at the end of the chapter. 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? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And 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 fruit of the tree and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? And 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, and 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, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head. and you shall bruise his heel." To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. And to Adam he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. The man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them. And the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us in 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 the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Pray with me now just to ask the Lord's blessing now on the preaching of his word. Lord God, as you have so carefully not only inspired but preserved your word for your people. That also, that gives us the confidence to call upon you to attend to the preaching of that word which you have inspired and preserved. Make that preaching glorifying to yourself and profitable to your people now. For we ask these things in the name of our crucified and risen Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. If you read all the way through the Bible, in the New Testament, but most certainly in the Old Testament, you will hear again and again of a certain day, which is called the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is a powerful day. It is a day where God will glorify himself in the judgment of his enemies and in the salvation of his people. Now, again, we sometimes think that though the day of the Lord is spoken of throughout the Bible, that it only appears relatively lately in the Old Testament. But I believe we actually see the first appearance, as it were, of the great day of the Lord here in our passage in Genesis 3. This is certainly not the final conclusive revelation of the day of the Lord. But the day of the Lord first breaks through, I believe, here in Genesis 3. And this evening, we'll consider the day of the Lord making its first appearance as we consider the sound of the day and then the summons of the day. And I'll just let you know, if you were to hear the follow-up sermon to this, you would hear about the sentence of the day and the salvation of the day. But this evening, we'll just hear the sound of the day and the summons. the day. Now, first of all, the sound of the day. Any kids here? Have you ever been in a situation where you've done something that you know is really displeasing to your parents? Perhaps it was when they weren't home and you might have thought to yourself, maybe They won't find out. Maybe they'll never discover what happened. Maybe I will never have to deal with this mess that I've made. But time and time again, they do find out. And the thing which dashes the hopes, usually, of you living in the dream that they aren't going to find out is typically a sound, a call, a voice, the sound of your parents' voice calling you when I was a kid and I heard my mom call my name, my full name, Adam Anthony York. I knew that nothing good was coming after those three words. Nothing good for me. I was in trouble. And our passage is like that, like this. In verse eight, we read that Adam and Eve heard They heard the sound of the Lord God. Now, those words should trigger us to be on red alert for what's going to happen next. They really should. Unfortunately, I think sometimes we don't get the sense of red alert in reading some of the English translations. I think that maybe because of the way in which the rest of the verse, it's sometimes translated in somewhat of a disarming way. Disarming, because we read in the rest of the verse They heard the sound of God, quote, in the cool of the day. I sometimes dislike having to address translations, but here I do believe that cool of the day perhaps may not really capture what's going on here. You see, the picture of God coming and walking in the cool of the day, it kind of conjures up an image of God being out for a nice, relaxing evening stroll. It almost brings to mind the idea that God is totally unaware, ignorant, that cosmic rebellion has just scorched his garden paradise. Nothing could be further from the truth. God is not sort of tiptoeing through the tulips here in the pleasant, cool evening breeze. And think about it, you don't even have to know any Hebrew to kind of sense this, there are clues in the text. Adam and Eve hear the sound of the Lord God and what do they do? They run. They run in terror and hide at the sound that they hear. In fact, the only reason At least in verse 8, we'll see another reason down in verse 10. But here in verse 8, the reason why they run and hide is because they hear this sound. They hear a sound which was a thunderous approach. And that becomes very clear that this is a roaring, thunderous approach when you follow out through the rest of Scripture, the Old Testament, The appearance of this phrase, which in Hebrew is the kol Yahweh, the sound of the Lord, often translated the voice of the Lord. When that phrase appears in the rest of scripture, it's not a quiet, breezy sound. It's a loud, deafening, thunderous roar. The best example of this, because The phrase sort of batters us like a battering ram is in Psalm 29. And let me read some portions of Psalm 29 to you beginning with verse 3. The voice of the Lord, which is the same phrase translated here, the sound of the Lord. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare and in his temple all cry, glory. The sound of the Lord, the voice of the Lord is the sound of thunderous judgment. This same phrase, the voice of the Lord, the sound of the Lord, the call Yahweh, it causes those at Sinai to say this, if we hear the voice of the Lord, our God, anymore, we shall die. Beloved, that's exactly how Adam and Eve felt when they heard the sound of the Lord God coming. That thunderous sound of God approaching in judgment is why they run for their lives. All of this then, this thunderous sound of the Lord approaching, coupled with their running and hiding, cowering behind the trees, that helps us to see why the disarming translation, cool of the day, It's somewhat lacking. In Hebrew, it's the phrase, the ruach ha-yom. The ruach ha-yom, which probably would best be translated quite literally, in the wind of the day, or even better, in the spirit of the day. The Lord comes in the spirit of the day. God comes in wind, in spirit, in storm. This is the very language that's used later in the prophets describing the day of the Lord. For example, Joel 2 describes the day of the Lord as a day of cloud and darkness and above all, spirit. The day of the Lord is the day when God pours out his spirit on all flesh. Beloved, it's the day concerning which Joel says this in Joel 2.11, for the day of the Lord is a great and very awesome day. Who can endure it? This is the day which makes its first appearance here. Though it's not its last appearance, it first appears here right in our passage. God comes with a roaring thunderous sound that puts all traitors to flight. Well, so far, we've seen how the day of the Lord breaks through, makes its first appearance here in the sound of the day. Now let's look at our second point, the summons of the day. Now I'm moving on to verse 9. Verse 9 reads this way. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you? Now, let me say this. Only the dullest, most foolish person would say that the omniscient, omnipotent, immutable God doesn't actually know where Adam is, as if he is saying, Adam, Adam, come out, come out, wherever you are. No. When we hear God calling out to Adam, where are you? This is a summons. It is a judicial summons to appear before the judge. It is a call for Adam to appear before the enthroned king of the Sabbath day as he comes in his spirit day. The God who comes in wind and storm wrapped in the blinding glory of light. Adam is over there in darkness and shadows, trying to hide. And God comes in the light of this glory spirit, the same phenomena which the recipients of the book of Genesis received at Sinai. They knew God coming in the glory spirit. Where are you is, in essence, God saying, stand before me. Show yourself, stop your foolish hiding behind the trees as though I cannot see you there. Adam should have been saying what the psalmist says in Psalm 139.7, where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? I wish they had the time to make some connections between Psalm 139 and our passage. There are quite many. Instead, he hides in the shadows from the one to whom even darkness is light. Adam says in verse 10, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Now earlier he hides because he hears the terrifying sound. There is something outside of him which puts him to fear. Now, it's something inside of him, an awareness that he is naked. Now, at the end of chapter 2, we are told that Adam and his wife, Eve, were naked and were not ashamed. And so what's changed? It's not the fact of nakedness that's changed. What's changed, what's new, is the appearance of shame. In saying, I was afraid because I was naked, Adam is saying, I am afraid, I'm now ashamed to appear before you as I really am. My friends, ever since that day, that is the story of humanity. These words perfectly reflect the human condition, the human response to God's presence. It is a response to run. to try to find something to hide oneself behind. For a rebel sinner to truly stand in the presence of God as they are in themselves is to draw back an instinctive sense of fear and shame. It's to try to find a way to hide from the all-seeing, all-knowing God. Humanity seeks to do that in so many ways, but the way really behind all other ways that humanity continues to try to do that, is almost like wishing God out of existence in ostrich-like way, denying that it's even possible for the God of the Bible, the judge, the creator and judge, to exist. The psalmist puts it this way in Psalm 10.4, in the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. all the faults of the wicked are, there is no God." That's stunning. That is psychological hiding of the highest order, trying to hide in the darkest corner of one's mind. That's exactly what humanity has done ever since this passage. Paul calls it suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. Now I want to come back to that theme of trying to hide from God in a few moments, but first let's see what Adam says next in verse 12. In verse 12 we read this, the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate. Now here Adam reveals himself to be a consummate blame shifter. The woman, she messed me up. And how many countless men have Follow the path laid forth in this text. Woman, my wife. If only my wife weren't so this way. Or if only my wife were better at this, then I'd be happy. Then I wouldn't be so messed up. The path of husbands throwing their wives under the bus, so to speak, begins here. And so beware, men. Beware. But of course, Eve shows that she's also capable of the same blame shifting tactic, doesn't she? She says in verse 13, the serpent deceived me and I hate. Now back to Adam for a moment. Adam's blame shifting is not ultimately, it's not ultimately directed at his wife. He says to God, the woman who you gave to be with me, Adam is essentially saying, you want to know the ultimate source of all my problems, God? It's you. You are the problem. And those words reveal that Adam is still clinging to the lie of Satan. I wish I had time to go through an exegesis of Romans 125. There Paul says, they, I believe, looking first and foremost to Adam and Eve, exchanged the truth for, I believe what should be translated, the lie. The lie of Satan is to convince humanity to reject the creator-creature distinction, that we would be like God, that we would be God. The fact that you're God and I'm not, that's the ultimate problem, God. Now, all of this may seem very depressing, and it is depressing. It's discouraging. Is there any good news from this text? Sometimes we think we have to wait to the motherlode promise of Genesis 315, the first preaching of the gospel, to get to the good news, but you don't have to wait for that. There is good news in our text this evening. It shines forth even here. Even in the midst of the arrival of the day of the Lord, Because scripture says the day of the Lord is not just a day of judgment, it's a day of salvation. And actually, God's grace has been on display the entire time, but maybe you've not noticed it. It's seen in the fact that God doesn't just come to Adam and Eve with words of judgment. He comes with questions. Every word, every word, God says in our passage to Adam and Eve is set forth in the form of a question. Verse 9, where are you? Verse 11, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? Verse 12, what is this that you have done? God already knows the answers to the questions. Why is he asking them? He's asking them not merely to as a means to condemn, as is the case with Satan. He doesn't ask Satan any questions. He just moves to judgment. God, through asking these probing questions, is seeking the lost. These questions give opportunities for Adam and Eve to confess their guilt, to acknowledge their sin. In the midst of judgment, there's a deep pastoral approach of God here that everyone needs to take note of. I need to take note of it. Church leaders here need to take note of it. Parents need to take note of it. As the rest of the passage makes clear, God's plan is to snatch his people out of the grasp of Satan while they are not seeking him out. He is seeking them out. Let me read to you a passage from the Belgic Confession, which I believe The same thought is going through the mind here in Article 17 of the Belgic Confession, which is entitled The Recovery of Fallen Man. We believe that our good God, by his marvelous wisdom and goodness, saying that man had plunged himself in this manner into both physical and spiritual death, made himself completely miserable, set out to find him. As man plunged himself into sin and misery, God set out to find him. Though man, trembling all over, was fleeing from him. And he comforted him by promising to give him his son, born of a woman, to crush the head of the serpent and to make him blessed. Yes, God asked questions. so that Adam and Eve might come as their own accusers, that they might start to have an awareness within themselves of the horrible situation they have really come into. They are not like God. They are under God's judgment. The path to restoration begins by acknowledging sin and offense and confessing it. Church leaders, You must follow the path of the Lord here when you see a little lamb of Christ straying. You must seek the lost. We, like the good shepherd, must go after them. Parents, when you see your kids sinning and rebelling, maybe your first response is to get angry and upset. And of course, you can't just sweep things under the rug. But behind every word you speak to them as you confront them about their rebellion, you need to be seeking to reclaim them, specifically trying to get them to have a heartfelt sense of what they've done, of their sin, not ultimately against you, but against the Lord, against their maker, so that they might genuinely throw themselves on the grace of God and there find true restoration. Let me close, though, by calling everyone not just to think about others, but to think about yourself. Is there anyone here who is still running, still trying to hide from God? Are you the one who in your true heart of hearts says, I can never really be who I truly am? before God. I must hide that. All I sense is fear and shame when I think about the thought of standing before God exposed, naked, uncovered. Stop running. Stop trying to hide. You don't have to blame shift any longer. Indeed, the good news of the gospel, the good news of the gospel is that God himself comes in his son, in the person of Jesus Christ, not to shift blame. to bear the blame of his people. He is not the blame shifter. He is the blame bearer. Acknowledge your insufficiency. Acknowledge your utter inability to stand before God as you really are. Verse 7, the verse before our passage, says, Adam and Eve, they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. You do need something to cover your nakedness, but God provides for that. He provides all the covering you need in the person of his son. And for those who look to Jesus Christ in faith, they lose their filthy, sin-stained garments, and they are clothed in his perfect righteousness. Look to Christ and live. Do not be like those who continue to run, who try to hide, who continue to try and trust in some aspect of creation to hide them from God. That's a theme that we see running from Genesis all the way to Revelation on the final day of the Lord. There will be those saying to the mountains and the rocks, Revelation six, fall on us and hide us. The same thing going on in Genesis three, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand on that day, there will be nowhere to hide. Flee today. Today is the day of salvation. Flee to the God who seeks out lost sinners. Look to Christ and live. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, we do thank you for the good news of the gospel, which is found even in the midst of the thunderous roar of your appearance on this Spirit day, this day of the Spirit when you come in power and in glory, even in the Garden of Eden. We thank you that Jesus Christ is indeed not the blame shifter, but the blame bearer for his people so that as he assumes our blame, as he is saddled with our sin, we might be clothed with his righteousness as we look to him and trust in him in faith. Hasten the day of his coming. We ask these things in his name.