If you would, go to the book
of Genesis this morning. The book of Genesis. Actually,
I preach quite a bit from the book of Genesis in Honolulu. My typical day was to get up
early. The brother in whose home we
stayed, his name is Deshaun Dungy. His wife is Kavehi. And every morning Deshaun would
get up. He'd leave for work about six,
fighting the terrible traffic in Honolulu. And he works at
an Air Force base. And I would get up shortly thereafter
and fix my coffee, and then I would have Two or three hours of just
absolute quietness to study. And I enjoy that. I like getting
up early and being refreshed by the word of
God. And that's where I would prepare
the message for the evening. And I just felt led over there
to go deal with some verses in Genesis. And I didn't bring this
particular message to them, but I want to bring a message to
you from the book of Genesis once again. And I'm going to
start here in chapter 3, but here's my verse, and then I'm
going to go back and make a few comments. But Genesis chapter
3 and verse 8. So here's my subject. They heard
the voice of the Lord God. They heard His voice. And of
course, that's the reason I read Psalm 29 to you. But in verse
8, they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden,
in the cool of the day, in the light breezes of the evening. And Adam and Eve 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? My title is They Heard the Voice
of the Lord. Let's go back and see how this
chapter begins in verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." Now,
in this chapter, and you well know this, we're introduced to
this evil one, the serpent, that is, Satan, who had taken up his
residence for a bit in this serpent. At that time, the serpent wasn't
crawling on his belly. That was part of the curse upon
the serpent after the sin of Adam. But the serpent walked
upright in some manner of which we're not able to address. I don't know how he did that.
God just had him walking on his tail. But he was filled, that
serpent was filled with Satan. When it says now, the serpent,
he's specifically speaking of a particular serpent. You could
almost read it this way, now that serpent, that serpent. Here is the reality of Satan. And of course, also in this chapter
we have the beginning of the sin that afflicts all of mankind. But I want you to know this,
both the existence of the devil, and the existence of this problem
we have of sinfulness. These things are under the government
of God. I don't want you to think, I
don't want you to even entertain the thought that the fall of
Lucifer, when he became Satan and led one-third of the angels
in rebelling against God, I don't want you to think that his fall
or Adam's sinfulness or the depravity that afflicts all of mankind,
I don't want you to think that these things happen independent
of God. The Bible says all things are
of God. If God had not determined that
He would have a devil in this world, a deceiver, One whom our
Lord Jesus spoke of as being a murderer and a liar. If God did not want His presence,
the presence of the serpent, the presence of Satan to be in
this world, He would not be here. And if God had not purposed the
sinfulness of Adam, His transgression, and the existence of sin in our
universe, it wouldn't be here. I dare not lay the blame for
Lucifer's rebellion and for Adam's sinfulness. I wouldn't lay the
blame of that to God because only good can come from God.
But God made these creatures. He made this archangel of Lucifer
And He made Adam in such a way that they were capable of and
they would indeed fall into sin. And in that way, God purposed
to enhance His own glory. by the putting away of the sins
of Adam and the posterity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he
would overrule the sinfulness of Satan, who would later, hundreds
of years later, 4,000 years later, Satan would enter into Judas,
and Judas would then betray our Savior, and the Lord Jesus would
then suffer bleeding down the cross in order to accomplish
redemption. Though God works in mysterious
ways, as the hymn writer said, His wonders to perform, and though
He works in ways that we can't begin to commence to get started
to understanding, Yet all things are of God. You see, had sin
not entered into this world, then God's great grace and the
wisdom of God in providing a sacrifice to put away our sin, that would
never have come to pass. Know this, God does all things
for his own glory, that will work together for the salvation
of his people. When Lucifer fell, you can read
in Isaiah chapter 14, five times he said, I will, I will, I will,
I will, I will exalt, I'll be exalted above the most high God. That's what he said. But that
did not happen out from under the absolute authority of God. because God would be glorified
and will be glorified when finally, Lucifer, Satan, is put into hell
forever and ever, the lake of fire. But God is also glorified
when he casts Satan out of unbelievers and then fills us with his grace. based upon the doing and the
dying, the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
things honor God. Please understand that. All things
magnify His purpose and fulfill His purpose. That which God has
decreed before the world ever began, by His marvelous providence,
He brings all things to pass. And he brings all things to pass
for the glory of his name and for the good of his people. How could we ever have known
of the necessity of a savior suffering and bleeding and dying
for sin if sin had not entered into this world? It was against
the horrible black backdrop of our iniquities and transgressions
and sins, that God has made His glory to be known in rescuing
the perishing and saving the dying and washing away our sins
by the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the fall
of Lucifer and then the fall of Adam made necessary the death
of our Lord Jesus. And behold the manifold grace
and love of God in bringing salvation to poor, unworthy sinners like
ourselves. He uses sin which makes us miserable and
ends in death. He uses sin, the worst of all
things, sin. He uses that to bring wonderful
glory to His name by purging us of it by the death of our
Lord Jesus Christ. So I want you to understand right
from the get-go here that if it had been God's will and according
to His purpose, kept Adam from sinning, he could have kept Lucifer
from sinning. You would agree with that, wouldn't
you? God could have prevented sin from ever entering in. But
had that happened, the great wisdom of God and the purpose
of God and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ would have been
unnecessary. You see, a savior is only needed
when there's a sinner, right? Only when there's guilt. Only
when God's law has been offended and wronged. Only when man has
rebelled against God, only then was there a need at that time
for someone to make things right between the creature and the
creator. I'll tell you, all things are
of God. And if the Spirit of God would ever convince us of
that, what peace that would give to us to know that all things
do indeed happen according to the purpose of God, and they
work together for the good of God's people. For God's great
design in all things is to magnify himself and all things work together
for the good of his chosen people. First of all, we're introduced
to this absolutely evil creature, Satan. Satan. Satan is not opposed to religion. Let me say that. He is Himself
a spirit creature. And He is not opposed to religion. In fact, He is all for it, as
long as it comes between you and Christ. Satan's great design
for you, okay? His purpose for you. For all
of you who are watching, for me too, His great design in all
things is to come between us and the only Savior of sinners.
And He will use whatever tactic, whatever strategy is necessary
to keep between you and the Savior. I know there are a lot of gross
sins in the world. Our Lord Jesus says in Matthew
chapter 15 that out of the heart proceed all manner of evil. Satan really doesn't need to
work in those areas. He's already got people. I'll
tell you where Satan is this morning. He's in church buildings. He's being found where another
gospel is being preached. A gospel that involves man's
will, man's works, and man's worth. Where people are told
how much God needs them. Where people are told, won't
you let Jesus have His way? Won't you allow God to do what
He wants to do with you? That's where Satan is, because
he's the father of lies. Our Lord said that to the Jews
of John chapter 8. He was a murderer from the beginning,
the Scripture says. He murdered Eve. He murdered
our mother. And through the murder of Eve,
he was instrumental, therefore, in the destruction of Adam. Though
Adam himself was not deceived, nevertheless he willingly defied
God and took sides with his wife against his Maker. He took sides
with his longtime partner or his helpmate and joined her in opposition
to the Creator. Adam's fall was a horrible thing,
a horrible thing. But that which happened was according
to the purpose of God. Let me say this again about Satan
being a religious creature. I know how the world portrays
Satan. He's red-skinned, he has horns,
a pitchfork, and they think, well, he's at
work in the bars and in the drug houses and all of those sorts
of things. I say again, he's at work in
religion. And he always puts a question
mark upon the Word of God. He hates the Word of God. He
says to Eve here in the first few verses, Yea, hath God said? Hath God said? What has God said? What did God say to Adam? And
he passed this on to Eve. Don't eat of the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day ye eat
thereof you'll surely die." And then Satan proceeded to put a
question mark upon what God had said. Anybody or anything that questions
what God has said, that's demonic. It's opposed to God. The Word
of God liveth and abideth forever. It's the Word of God that is
utilized in regeneration in the new birth. Of His own will, James
says, of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth. You see, Satan will say it really
doesn't mean exactly what it says. I had the opportunity to talk
to a man about predestination. He said, I really don't believe
it the way you say it. I said, what? Predestination
is to destine something ahead of time. You don't believe that?
He said, well, that's your interpretation. I said, the scripture says that
all things are predestinated and purposed of God. And nothing
you can do or anybody else can do, nothing Satan can do to frustrate
the purpose of God in anything. You cannot cause God's purpose
to fail. I don't know your state before
God, don't know any of you. I feel pretty confident that
several of you have an understanding of the gospel, but I know this. If you have an understanding
of the gospel, it's because before the world began, God predestinated
you unto everlasting life. You cannot know God by your own
intuition. You cannot know God according
to your own knowledge. You cannot know God due to your
great study of the Word of God. The only way you can know the
God who saves, the God who rules, the only way you can know the
God of glory, the God of righteousness, is for the Lord to do a magnificent,
miraculous, powerful, effectual work of grace in your heart.
And if He does a work of grace in your heart, He purposed to
do that before He ever made the world. One day we were watching a little
bit of television and this preacher kept saying, let God, let God,
let Jesus, The word let should never be used alongside of the
name of our Lord. Who are you to let God do anything? You see, this society has so
elevated the will of man and the power of man, that really
it's man who is his own savior. God can't do anything unless
I let him do it. That's the thinking of today's
religion. But the fact of the matter is,
you can't do anything unless God wills it. And if you think you trace your
salvation back to your own will, you don't have an understanding
of the God who saves. You don't have an understanding
of the salvation that is of the Lord. Satan has deceived many. And he deceived you to begin
with. And only God can give us understanding. Well, we know that as a result
of the temptation that was put to Eve, she fell. And then when she ate of the
forbidden fruit, and the fruit wasn't poisonous, it was good
fruit. The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil was a tree that stood to remind Adam and Eve
of who had the absolute authority over them. They answered to God and you
and I answer to God. We're responsible to do what
He told us to do. Eve rebelled and she ate. Did she sin when she ate? Of
course she did. Did she die? No. Because she was not a representative
of anybody. She gave to her husband. And
in verse 6, right at the end, and he did eat. Famous four words. And he did eat. And that devastated
Adam and Eve. Because you see, he was Eve's
representative as well. For as in Adam, all die. And
their eyes were open. Apparently there was like an
illumination about Adam and Eve. And their eyes were open when
Adam sinned, not when Eve sinned. Her eyes weren't open when she
sinned. Her eyes were open the same time
Adam's were open because Adam's eyes were closed. He didn't realize the seriousness
of how this would affect him until it was done. Their eyes were open and they
were naked. There was a glory that Adam and
Eve had that suddenly departed. It was gone. The presence of
God forsook them. And they were naked and ashamed
and embarrassed. Something awoke within them that
had never been awakened before. What was it? Conscience. Conscience. Before this, they had no reason
to be concerned or worried or troubled. You see, the conscience, as long
as there is no sin, the conscience, it sleeps. But upon the presence of sin,
the entrance of sin, the conscience is awakened. And so their conscience
is awakened and they know they've done wrong. We've got a problem
now. What should we do about it? And
so they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons to
cover their shame, to cover their sinfulness. And this is exactly
what happens when people get a little concerned about their
sinfulness and the conscience is awakened and the conscience
says something is wrong and something's got to be done. And that's when
we start pulling fig leaves off the fig tree and making aprons. In other words, that's when we
get so concerned, I got to change my life. I've got to start doing
right. That's making fig leaves. That's
making a righteousness of your own. But then we come to verse eight.
They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day. What is the voice of the Lord?
Told you in Psalm 29, it's the thunder of God. It's the majesty
of God. But here, I think it's the voice
of the Savior who comes calling upon our fallen parents. They heard the voice of the Lord
God. John chapter 10, verse 27. My sheep, what's the next word? Hear my voice. They hear my voice. Adam and Eve heard His voice.
There's hope, you see. There's hope when God speaks.
This is the Son of God, by the way. This is the second person
of the Trinity. Because I've said it a hundred
times or more, God will not speak to nor be spoken to by any son
or daughter of Adam apart from a substitute. This is the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God. And He speaks to Adam
and Eve. Now watch it now. He comes to speak to them, not
to kill them. Isn't that wonderful? You remember
what the law of God said, in the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. Now they both died spiritually. But they did not die physically,
not till much later. And here comes the Lord walking
in the garden in the cool of the day, in the light breezes
of the day. The word cool here is wind. In the middle column of my Bible,
it says that. A cool wind, the wind. which
is the exact same word for the spirit. Hear me now. When you have the
word of the Lord and the power of the spirit, something good's
gonna happen. Something good's gonna happen. They heard the voice of the Lord. in the cool of the day. And verse
9 says, And the Lord called unto Adam, Where art thou? Not that the Lord didn't know
where they were. It amounts to this. What have
you done? Look at yourself. You walked and talked with me.
You fellowshiped with me. We had perfect communion. Adam and Eve and the Lord. And
now the communion is broken. There's something between Adam
and Eve and a holy God. It's sin, that's what it is. The Lord said to Israel, your
sins, your sins are like a mountain between you
and me. Well, Thank God that he comes
calling. Thank God that he speaks in the
voice of the gospel. But that which is necessary in
addition to the Lord speaking to us in life-giving power is
an understanding of, a belief of, the manner in which God puts
away sin. How's God gonna deal with sin?
Who's gonna put an end to it? Well, the Lord tells Adam and
Eve down in verse 15. Here's the answer. I will put
enmity, he says this to the serpent, by the way, with Adam and Eve
in earshot. I will put enmity between thee
and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The serpent nipped at the heel
of Christ. That's his substitutionary work
upon the cross of Calvary. But our Savior bruised the head
of the serpent. It was a mortal blow. And I'll
tell you something else. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ
was not only a mortal blow to Satan, It was a mortal blow to
our sins. How can sins be put away? Through
the death of Christ. Through his sacrifice. That's
the reason our message is Jesus Christ and him crucified. I can't
put away my sin. You can't put away your sins.
And all of us by nature have been busy picking fig leaves,
making aprons. That's just more self-righteousness. I know I can do better. Really? I know I can fix things. I fix
everything else. I'll fix this between me and
God. You can't fix it. Only the God of glory has fixed
it through the death of the sacrifice of the sacrifice of the Savior,
that is. Only He could fix it. and it's
been repaired. The breach has been repaired.
There is a way to God. Hear His voice. Our Lord Jesus said in John 5,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, everlasting life. Do you hear
the Word of the Gospel? Oh, may the Spirit of God speak
in life-giving power. May He search you out and find
you. And by the way, and I'll close
the message, but just let me give you this, who is doing the
seeking here? It's not the sinners seeking
the Lord. It's not Adam and Eve seeking
the Lord, saying, I'm sorry, we confess our sins. They hid,
and you will hide, and I will hide, and we'll take another
way, try another way to glory. The Lord has to pursue us in
grace. And that's what salvation is.
It's the pursuit of grace. Oh, Lord, track me down. Arrest
me. Speak in power that makes me
to live. Our Lord went to visit the tomb
of Lazarus. And he spake with a loud voice,
Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. Here's our problem. We're dead
in trespasses and sins. Oh, that the voice of God would
speak to us and say, Jim, come forth. Ron, come forth. And all the rest of you too.
And if he speaks in power, I promise you this, you'll come to him brought by
effectual grace. That's the only reason anybody
comes, isn't it? Well, let's sing closing songs.