Let's look in Genesis chapter
3 this evening. Genesis chapter 3. We talked
about the fall last week. Adam's fall into sin. He fell from his standing before
God until he had no standing. He fell from light into darkness,
from life into death, from righteousness into sin. And that's why we call
it a fall. He started at the very top. and
fell all the way to the bottom and carried everybody, all of
these descendants right down to the bottom with him, carried
us all. Oh, we read it tonight, wherefore
as by one man, one man, sin entered into this world. Death passed
upon all men, listen to this, for that all have sinned. And
where do we sin at? By that one offense or that one
sin, we all became sinners by one man's deeds. And as we didn't
do anything to become sinners, we didn't do a thing in the world
to become sinners. We absolutely do nothing to become
righteous. By the doing of one, we fail. By the doing of another, we was
raised up. By one, we lost life. By one,
we got life. By one, we lost righteousness.
By another, we got righteousness. And oh, bless His name. I'm thankful
it's that way. All right. Genesis 3, I read
those first six verses last week, and we understood that Eve partook
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, listening to Satan,
the subtlety of Satan, and gave to her husband Adam, and his
eyes were opened. And look what it says here in
Genesis 3, 7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked, and they sowed 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, Who 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 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 gavest 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
above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life. I want to talk about the fall
and man tonight. When Eve, our mother Eve, through
the subtlety of the serpent, partook of the fruit of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil. And then she turned around and
gave it to Adam, and he did eat. She said, see, I'm fine. But
the commandment was to Adam. He was the head of the race.
And so she gave it to him, and he partook of it. And the minute
that happened, the effects were so great, so great, so devastating. And even though we may know a
little something about sin, and we feel the effects of that transgression
that they partook of in that garden, but how little do we
know? And I know enough about, I don't
want to know anymore. I'll tell you that. I don't want,
I know enough about me. I don't want, God help me. Don't
show me anything else about sin. I've seen enough of it that I
know I have to go to Christ. I have to go to Christ. But the
effects of what Adam and Eve did here were eternal and they
were infinite. And when Paul said, when he tried
to describe sin, you know what he said it was? Sin is exceeding
sinful. That's how he described it. Sin,
how is it? What is it like? It's exceeding
sinful. That's how he described it. But
let me give you the first effect of the fall upon Adam and Eve.
And the first effect was this, was a realization of their shame. It said in verse 7, And the eyes
of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked,
and they sewed fig leaves together to cover their nakedness. Now
see, the first thing that they did, they realized they were
naked and they were ashamed. They had never known anything
about shame. They didn't know anything about
fear. They didn't know anything about sin. They didn't have no
clue, no idea that any of these things, what they were like.
But look what it says, the eyes of them both were open. Now look
what Satan said to them over here in verse five. And God doeth
know in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. And what they mean is that you'll
have an understanding. You'll have an understanding
you didn't have before. You'll have knowledge that you
didn't have before. You'll have a blessing that you
didn't have before. And you shall be as God's knowing
good and evil. And sure enough, and the scripture
says when they did eat, the eyes of them both were opened. They
saw things they never saw before. They had an understanding of
things they never understood before. They understood that
God's word is just as sure as God himself. He said, the day
you eat thereof, you're going to die. God said, and they died. And God, you know, here they
was, they lost this awful standing before God. And the first thing
that they realized was that they were naked and they were ashamed.
And through sin, man obtained what he didn't have before. He obtained a conscience. He
didn't need a conscience before. But God gave him a conscience
after this. And that's why they realized
they were naked. That's why they were afraid.
That's why they wanted to cover their nakedness. And this conscience
that he had, they had a knowledge both of good and evil. And here's
what happened. All they knew before was good.
God goodness, good garden that they were in, paradise they were
in. God said everything was good,
everything was good, everything was good because it come from
the hand of God. And now something happened to
them. They lost what was good and found out what was evil.
And that's why God said in just a few generations, man's imagination
was only evil continually. And that's what God says to him,
they had a knowledge of good and evil. And Adam, when he heard
God walking down in the Garden of Eden, he asked, Adam said,
I was naked, in verse 10, and I hid myself. God said to him,
who told thee thou wast naked? How did he find out he was naked?
He would always been naked. God made him naked. Why did all
of a sudden he know he was naked? What made him ashamed of being
naked? What made him want to cover up his nakedness? Because he had something he never
had before. He had a conscience. God gave
him a conscience. He didn't need it before. He
needed it now. And oh, listen, he was ignorant
of evil and all he knew was good. But as soon as he partook of
that forbidden fruit, his eyes were opened and he saw his fallen
condition. And let me tell you what a conscience
is. Everybody knows what a conscience is. Some people have, the scripture
says that they could be seared. Paul said he had a pure conscience
before God and men. And a conscience is, it's a mercy
that God gives to man to help us understand just how evil,
evil is. Now, I tell you what, here's
what happens while you keep Genesis here and look with me in Romans
chapter 2. Romans chapter 2, God in mercy
gave them a conscience and gave us a conscience. No man would
sit up in his in his own soul, in his heart, in his soul, he
would not set up a judge in his own heart. He would not set up
a tormentor in his own breast. And so a conscience, what it
is, it makes you either feel guilty or excuses you or accuses
you. It'll say you're okay in what
you did or else it'll tell you you're wrong in what you And
a conscience is something that God give us that we never had
until Adam partook of that fruit. And a conscience is not the result
of education. You can't educate a man into
sin or not to sin. And it's not because of our reason
or because of our memory. But look what he said here in
verse 14. Romans 2, 14, yes. For when the Gentiles," listen
to this, for when the Gentiles, that's what we are, which have
not the law, God didn't give the Gentiles the law, gave it
to the Jews, do by nature, do by nature, the things contained
in the law. We know not to steal. We know
not to lie. We know to honor fathers and
mothers. That's things that the conscience
teaches us. These having not a law. God didn't
give them a law and said, now this is what you got to do. They
are law unto themselves. How do you know they are law
unto themselves? We show the work of the law.
The things that are written in the law. Thou shalt not. Thou
shalt not. Thou shalt not. Thou shalt not.
These things are written in their hearts. God put them in our hearts. You know, I told a Reformed preacher,
a guy one time wanted to come here and he said, what do you
do with people that do all these sins in your church? How do you
discipline? That's the first thing they want
to know. I said, I don't. He said, what about people commit
adultery and lie and do these kind of things? Well, I said,
I hope they don't do those things. But I do know this. I knew all
those things was wrong when I was lost. When I was 16 years old,
I knew what was right and I knew what was wrong. And that's what
he's saying right here. Where do you get that ability
to know what's right and what's wrong? Where do you get that
ability? Where do you get that ability
to know that this is the right thing to do and that's the wrong
thing to do? How do you know that when you
lie, your conscience accuses you? And when you tell the truth,
it approves of you and excuses you? Now, listen to what he says.
And he says this law is written in their heart, their conscience.
also bearing witness to what goes on in what they do, and
their thoughts, whenever they do a deed, whenever they say
something or think something, their thoughts, the meanwhile,
it'll either accuse them, that was the wrong thing to do, or
else it'll excuse them, say, that's all right, it'll excuse
you of it. And that's what it does. And
that's why God gave them a conscience. They never had that before. So
they didn't need no excuse. Nothing accused them. There was
never anything to accuse them of anything they've done. But
when they partook of that fruit back over in Genesis 3, the minute
they partook of that fruit, God gave them a conscience. And that
conscience says, I'm naked! It began to accuse them immediately.
It began to tell them immediately that they were wrong, that they
had done something extremely awful, extremely sinful, and
oh, how far they fell. And oh my, and this conscience,
it approves us or reproves us. And you know, in John chapter
8, when they took that woman before the Lord Jesus, taken
in adultery, And our Lord said, he that's without sin, let him
cast the first stone. And he stooped down and wrote
twice. And the scripture said in John 8, 29, he says, they
being convicted by their own conscience, started leaving. Starting from the eldest to the
youngest. Being convicted by their own
conscience. He said, he that's without sin
among you, pick up the rock, pick it up. And so their conscience
convicted them, but they left. And here's the second effect.
Here's the second effect. So the God gave them a conscience.
They became ashamed. They didn't know what shame was
before. Do you ever get ashamed? Do you ever feel shame? And that's
what happens sometimes. We'll say or do something and
we just say, oh my goodness, why did I say that? Why did I
do that? How'd that come out of my mouth? Oh, listen. But
the second effect was an effort to hide their shame by providing
a covering for themselves. And this is what a conscience
does for a man. It's the first thing he'll do
is try to cover up how bad he is. That's the first thing he's
going to do. He knows he's naked. He knows
he's sinned. He knows he's fell from God's
and the height that God had him at. And the first thing he does
when his conscience accuses him, I've got to cover up. got to
cover up. Well, how did he cover himself?
And the eyes of them both were open and they knew they were
naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves
aprons. Now, here's the thing that I
see first and foremost about this. If he would If he fell
so far from God in that partaking of that fruit, instead of seeking
God, you'd think that's the first thing he'd have done. He said,
come to the Lord and said, Lord have mercy on me, forgive me,
I did what you told me not to do. And, oh, would you have mercy
on me? But he didn't know any of those
things. That instead of seeking God and confessing their guilt,
confessing their sin, they tried to conceal it from him and cover
themselves and hide it from themselves even. Oh, they were conscious
that something was wrong with him. And you know, they said
they sewed fig leaves together. And you know, they didn't have
no needles and thread. to throw these things together.
They had to get something, you know, some bark or something,
but they sewed them together. And they covered their whole
body. And man, he's always done that. Man has always done that. He's
always tried to cover up his nakedness until God covers him
with his righteousness of Christ. He'll always try to cover his
nakedness. He'll cover it by Calvinism,
He'll cover it by his own righteousness.
He'll cover it by his works. He'll cover it by his free will.
He'll cover it by his church attendance. He'll cover it by
his top hand. He'll cover his nakedness some
way, somehow. And oh, a man always being conscious
that something was wrong with him, he seeks a hiding place
behind his own self-righteousness. And I'll tell you something just
as quick as they covered themselves with these fig leaves. Do you
know what happens to a leaf when you pull it off a tree? It begins
to die immediately. So once they pull them big fig
leaves off and cover themselves, it ain't going to last long.
They're going to have to pull some more. They're going to have
to pull some more. They're going to have to keep
on doing something to keep their nakedness converted. Because
whatever you cover yourself with, it's a dead work. It's gonna
die. It don't amount to anything.
And so, they got to go get some more. And when those are gone,
they got to get some more. They're never satisfied until
God does something for them. They always got to be putting
something over their nakedness. Oh my. And I tell you, I tell
you these fig leaves won't stand the eternal test. And preachers,
this is something that's so sad, and I used to do this. I know
exactly how it works, and I wasn't conscious I was doing it, but
it's just the way things are. Preachers are continually, they
work to make people feel guilty, to feel slothful, to feel like
they don't pray enough, or they don't worship enough, or they're
not good parents. Always wanting to make them feel
guilty over something. And then what they try to do
is get them to renew up and get them to pray through and get
all this guilt taken back off of them until the next time they're
always wanting to make them feel guilty. so that they can get
them to cover up their nakedness again some other way. Because
they got to do that because they don't know anything about the
righteousness of Christ and God covering you with the blood of
Christ and the righteousness of Christ. So they got to do
that all the time. So, oh my, they had to provide
themselves a covering. And if God, I do know this, that
if God don't provide you a covering, if you don't have God's covering,
you don't want to face God in your own. You don't want to face
God in your own. And most people, that's where
they end up at, facing God in their own. They really do. And
that's a sad, sad thing. Oh, I don't know. I've heard
about a couple people passing here recently. No hope, no hope. And I just read it back there
a little while ago. Said, oh, the time is at hand,
Lee. That's filthy. Let it be filthy
still, Lee. That's unjust. Let it be unjust
still. He that's righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that's just, let him be just
still. So ever how life finds you, that's the way it's going
to be. And if God had not done something for Adam and Eve, if
God had let them die with those fig leaves on them, they'd have
been naked all the way through eternity. Ever how God finds
you, when you close your eyes the last time, that's the way
he's going to find you in eternity. If you're filthy, you'll be filthy
there. If you're unjust, you'll be unjust
there. If you're righteous there, now
you'll be righteous there. And that's the way it is. And
that's why it's so important, so important for folks to understand
that there ain't but one covering that God will accept. And that's
the covering he provided for us in his blessed son. That's why he said in Romans
5 when he read it, not as the offense, which were many, but
the righteousness, which is the free gift unto many offenses. One sin made us all guilty, and
then we had lots of sins, and God in free grace gives us Christ
and gives us righteousness. Oh, my. So, oh, my. They tried to cover their nakedness
A few and conceal it and hide themselves and conceal it from
God. They thought this, God won't
see this. What's so sad about it? They
said, God won't see it. God won't see it. And then look
what, you know, look at the third effect. This is, this is, this
is what happens. Oh, they hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord. And then it says in verse eight,
and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day. Now, God is a spirit and so he
don't walk. So who was that walking in the
garden in the cool of the day? The same person that God's always
dealt with sinners in. Oh, the person that God's always
spoke to men by in his blessed son. And here he comes, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day. And Adam and Eve and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden,
hid themselves, covered their nakedness and hid themselves.
You know, you're, but this old Barnard used to say this, and
I've said it before. He said, the safest place to
hide from God is by your Bible and go join a Baptist church.
And he said, you'll never be bothered. Especially getting
one of these great big ones, and they'll never know you're
there, never know you got there, never know when you leave. Safest
place in the world to hide from God is to join a church. That's
the safest place. And that's what they did. They
covered their nakedness, and then they were in such a, this
fall made them, this goes to show you that a man's conscience
does not bring him to God. A man's conscience won't bring
him to God. It won't do it, never has and never will. People say,
let your conscience be your guide. You better not. Our conscience,
we've overrode it too many times in our lives. There's not a soul
in this building who's conscious that they ain't overrode. Would
you all agree with that? And so here's the thing, conscience
won't make you come to God. What conscience will do is make
you cover your own nakedness and then try to hide someplace.
That's what conscience will make you do. And they hid themselves. When did they hid themselves?
When they heard His voice. They heard His voice. They heard
the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day. God come in there talking. God come in there speaking. And
He come there to speak to them and to fellowship with them and
commune with them. But now here's the thing, God
knew exactly what was going on. And I tell you what, here's the
thing, if a man's ever brought to God, the Holy Spirit's got
to be the one to bring him. And they knew that they could
not stand anymore in the presence of God like they had before.
And oh my goodness, here they hid themselves. Hid themselves
amongst the garden of the trees. Why did they hide themselves?
Well it says there in verse 10, and he said, I heard thy voice
in the garden. That's the first thing that will
trouble a man. make him want to start winning. The first thing,
and that's the parable of the sower, the first thing, when
a man hears the voice of God, he don't run to it. He don't
say, I know that's the voice of God. That's not what happens. First thing he wants to do is,
you know, it troubles him. When the first time a man hears
the voice of God, it troubles him. And he says, boy, that makes
me feel pretty bad. I don't know if I want to go
hear that again. I believe I'll go somewhere else.
But oh, they hid themselves among the garden. And oh, he was holy
and they were sinful. They were afraid of him. That's
what he says. They were afraid. He said, I was afraid. What was
he afraid of? What was he afraid of? What made
him afraid? What made him seek to hide himself
from his presence? And they hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord. Look over here in Genesis four
and verse 17, or 16, excuse me. Here's another man who went out
from the presence of the Lord. And Cain went out from the presence
of the Lord. Went out. I don't want to be
in God's presence. Adam and Eve didn't want to be
in God's presence. The old men don't want to be
in God's presence. And I don't know, you know, most
men and women don't want to be in God's presence. And then just
look at the amount of people here tonight. Why is not this
place running over with people? People get enough of God's presence,
just a little dab at a time. Why is the Bible so neglected?
Because it brings you into the presence of God. Why is the public
ministry so, and the ministry of the Word, the preaching of
the Gospel, why do so few attend to hearing it and come to hear
it? I'll tell you why, it brings men nearer to God. And people
don't like to be in the presence of God. But I'll tell you something,
especially it makes them uncomfortable in their sins. But there's a
difference between people of the world and that. But I'm telling
you something, believers, believers love to be in the presence of
God. And I'll tell you why. How many times do you go in the
presence of God in one day? You go into His presence to pray.
You come into His presence when you open your Bible. You come
into His presence when you think of somebody that you need to
pray for. You know why we come into His presence? Because He
brought us into His presence and He taught us what it is to
be in His presence. And one of these days we're going
to be in His presence face to face and we'll love it then much
more than we love it now. We do, we get in God's presence.
We're in God's presence right now and we're conscious of that.
Do any of you feel uncomfortable? No. You want to go hide someplace? No. You're through with your
fig leaves, you're through with hiding among the trees, you're
through with it. Oh my, it's so evident that we
all shared in the first sin and died in Adam. All his children
share his nature. and act like he did. And oh,
listen, here's the fourth effect that this had on Adam and Eve. And it says now, as they hid
in verse eight, they 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 are you? Where are you?
Now, when God asked questions, There are several questions God
asks in the scriptures. When God asks questions, He's
not asking questions for information. He's not asking questions. He's
asking questions to give us information, for us to know something. God
knew where Adam was. He wanted Adam to know where
Adam was. and that's what's and that's
why he brings us to the that's why there's convictions that's
why he comes to speaks to us that's why he comes in the gospel
and addresses our hearts that's why he comes in the gospel and
teaches us things because he wants us to know what we need
wants us to know where we are we're either in Adam or we're
in Christ we're either dead in sins we're alive in Christ and
have his righteousness But oh, look what happened. And so he
said, Adam, where are you? And he said, I heard your voice
in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid
myself. I hid myself. And God asked him
this. Who told you you was naked? Who
told you you was naked? Who around here told you you
was naked, Adam? Who told you you was naked? Oh
my. And here's what God said. Who
told you he was naked? And I tell you, a man won't know
he's naked till God lets him know it. But look what he said.
And here's what he says. Has thou eaten of the tree? Where
have I commanded thee that thou shouldest not? Is that what you've
done, Adam? He's gonna bring Adam to the
place. But now listen, you'd think Adam would say, come out
of that hiding place and throw himself in the ground before
God. and prostrate himself? You'd
think that's what he would do. Would he take this opportunity?
Would his heart be broken for sin? Would his heart be broken
over what he's done? That he had disobeyed his Creator?
That he was now afraid and now ashamed and now hiding himself
from God? Keep this and look with me in
Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Look at this. Adam, you know, he didn't want
to come into the presence of God. He hid himself. But look
what it says here. Oh my, did he take this opportunity
to sue for mercy? Was his heart broken over his
sin? Look what it says here in verse
16, Psalm 51. Or 17, excuse me. Psalm 51. The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit. Did Adam come to God with a broken
spirit? A broken and a contrite heart.
Why didn't he come with a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite
heart? Huh? And he says, oh God, thou wilt
not despise. Look in Psalm 34, verse 18. I believe this is right, yes.
Psalm 34 and verse 18. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart. And listen to this. and saveth
such as be of a contrite spirit." Now Adam, you'd think, boy, his
heart was broken, his spirit was contrite. You would think
that's exactly what he'd say. You'd think he'd come out of
there confessing his sin, but look what he does. Instead of
confessing his sin, he tried to justify himself and excuse
himself. And he said, if you eat of that
tree that I commanded you, you should not. And the man said,
The woman thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree. I'd hate it, but she gave it
to me. I wouldn't hate it if she hadn't given it to me. It's
the woman that you gave me. If you hadn't gave me this woman,
I wouldn't be in this mess. That's what he's saying. And
how many times have people say, I wouldn't have done that if
you hadn't have done this. I wouldn't have said that if
you hadn't said this. I wouldn't have treated you that way if
you hadn't have done this. and we got away boy we got away
so and so made me do it but oh listen he goes on to say that
oh my and then the Lord God said to the woman verse 13 what is
this this that thou hast done and the woman said the serpent
beguiled me the serpent beguiled me And I did eat. And oh, listen,
they both shifted the blame just right down the line. Adam started
out with his wife. Eve went to the serpent. And
if you hadn't let that serpent in the garden, this wouldn't
have ever happened. That's what she said. They want to always
shift the blame of their sin to somebody else. And I'll tell
you something. The very excuse a man makes will
be the ground of his condemnation. Be the ground of his condemnation.
Whatever excuse a man makes, you know, they told our Lord,
they said, he's a hard taskmaster. A man that thinks God's a hard
taskmaster and that he demands things that he doesn't give,
that's the way they'll face him. That's the way they'll face him.
And his excuse is the woman that you gave me. Well, that's the
ground of his condemnation. God gave the commandment to him.
He was the one that should have said, Eve. He should have said,
don't listen to that serpent. He should have stepped up and
said, now wait a minute. But he did. But he did. And look
at his condemnation. Because he listened to his wife
and because he used her as an excuse. Look what happens to
him in verse 17. And unto Adam he said, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake. You want to use
your wife and your woman as an excuse for what you've done?
I tell you what, since you listen to her, it's what's going to
happen to you. Cursed is the ground for thy sake, and sorrow
shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Oh, you want
to use her an excuse? This is what's going to happen
to you because of what you said. This is what's going to happen
to you. And I tell you, beloved, cursed is the ground. Cursed
is the ground. All the effects of this sin that
come upon Adam and what he did. We'll feel the effects of it
until God takes us away from him. Takes us away from him.
People, you know, they'll get a piece of ground and they'll
plow it up, plow it up. and they'll level it all out,
get rocks out of it, and they'll plant their beans, and they'll
plant their corn, and they'll plant their taters, and they'll
plant their cabbages, and they'll plant their onions, and never
no weeds grow in it, does it? You know why that does that?
Why you have to work so hard to raise something? It's because
Adam partook of that fruit of that tree, and the ground's been
cursed ever since. Been cursed ever since. The poorer
the ground, the poorer the stuff that grows on it. Ain't that
right? And oh, God, make us good ground to hear the gospel. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ, our Lord, thank you for allowing us to meet here
this evening. Oh, Lord, thank you that you provided us a covering
in our Lord Jesus Christ, that we no longer want to hide from
your presence. We no longer want to go and get
out of your presence. We want to come into your presence.
In fact, we come boldly to the throne of grace. We have access,
Lord, by the faith, and we have access by the Spirit of God and
by our Lord Jesus Christ. And we're so thankful for that
access that we can come into the holiest of holies through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, Lord, we thank you for taking
away that sin, giving us recovery, giving us life, for we're not
afraid to be in your presence. In our Lord Jesus' name, amen,
amen.