God Seeks Us

Title: God Seeks Us By Pastor Lohn Johnson
Text:   Genesis 3:9-10 9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"  10 And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."… 14 The LORD God said to the serpent,… 15 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." INTRODUCTION:  My dear friends in Christ, one of my favorite Christian singers is Don Francisco – most of you have probably never heard of him.  But he has many great songs one of which pertains to our text for today.  It goes like this: That’s a great question: “Adam, where are you?” God came to the garden and called to Adam: “Where are you?”  Not that God didn’t know, but it was as if to say: “Do you think that I do not see you?” But it’s key to note that God takes the initiative.  He doesn’t wait for us to come to Him.  He comes to us.  That’s the picture we have in our text:
I. Here is a picture of God Pursuing the Sinner.  He pursues the sinner in order to save us from our sin and guilt.
	A. “Where are you?”  God takes the initiative.  He doesn’t wait for us to come to Him.  He comes to us.
				1. But you see what happened.  The sinner tries to hide from God.  He knew that He had sinned and that he was guilty.  2. But he was not yet ready to confess his sin and take the consequences.
						a. For that is the nature of sin; it causes the sinner to attempt to deny his wrongdoing.  He tries to run away and hide.  But where shall he hide?  The whole world is too narrow to be a safe hiding place.  Little children will try to hide in a closet, but there is no closet which God will not find. b. God Himself  says: “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?  Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord”  (Jer. 23:24).  Deep down in our hearts we sinners know this, and as a result we can find no peace in denying our sin. We need a Savior.
	B.  Adam was the first to discover that he could not hide from God.  God found him.
				1. But still Adam would not face up to his sin.  He made excuses: “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
						a. But what kind of an excuse was that?  Adam had heard God’s voice before, and he had not been afraid.  He had been naked before, and there had been nothing shameful about it.  b. Why should it be different now?  But that again is the nature of sin.  It can think of the most stupid excuses.
				2.  But God cuts right through all the excuses, and He asks: “Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  Here we are getting to the heart of the matter.
						a. But even now Adam wouldn’t break.  He wouldn’t confess. b. Instead he did what has been so typical of all sinners since that time; he tried to pin the blame on someone else.  “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” c. It’s like Adam was saying: “It’s her fault, Lord.  Why don’t You talk to her?  And besides that, it’s really Your fault, Lord.  If You wouldn’t have given her to me, this wouldn’t have happened.”  And would You believe that Eve had the same kind of an excuse?  “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.”  It’s all is an attempt to pass the blame on to God.  If God had not given the woman, this wouldn’t have happened.  Adam is not responsible because God gave him a gift--it’s God’s fault.  But Adam is responsible; it was his decision.  Eve attempts to blame a part of God’s creation, but it was her decision.
					3. And we today are just like Adam.
						a. In New York where a tourist from Utah was stabbed to death by eight young muggers, Time magazine says the eight belonged to a gang, membership in which required that they mugged someone.  Uly Mirales, the founder of the group, is believed by police to be the Sunday stabber.  He blames the dead tourist.  He tells police that the tourist “ran into” his knife.  b. We are much like this gang member passing the blame--we blame the devil, saying the devil made me do it. We blame others person saying, “He convinced me.”  We withdraw from God saying, “Someone has offended me,” but we are making the decision to withdraw.  We say that pastor has offended me, but we made the decision.  We say everybody’s doing it as if that made it right.  We try to excuse ourselves in any way possible as if our excuses hold any validity. c. We will even blame God as Adam and Eve did.  I don’t know how often I’ve heard people say, “If God were a god of love, then people would not starve or other bad would not happen.”   We are trying to blame God for the effects of our sin.  God does not cause these things, we do--our sin does.
II. But God’s pursuit does not end at a confrontation because of our sin, though God judges and must judge us, that is not His primary purpose in confronting us.  He comes also Promising a Way of Escape.
	A.  He comes not only in judgment to condemn, but He also pursues us in mercy.  That is something that is so hard for sinners to comprehend.
					1. Adam would never have guessed that it was mercy which compelled God to come to him.  2. We must be brought to realize that judgment Law prepares the way for the love of the Gospel.  For how could we get excited about our salvation if we did not first know that we were doomed to damnation?
		B. God pursues Adam and Eve to give them The First Gospel Promise—that’s mercy.
					1. God said to Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” There is going to be a war.
						a. On one side is Satan and all his hosts, all his devils, and all those who ally themselves with him. b. On the other side is the woman and all her descendants.
					2. And every one of us would go down to ruin if it were not for that One, that one Seed of the woman, who came to do battle for us and win the victory.  This Seed of the woman was to be the God-Man, whom we from fulfillment know to be Jesus Christ.
					3. Only God could help us, and he went into battle for us.
							a. But Even for Him it was no easy victory.  In the battle His heel was bruised.  He had to suffer intensely for us.  It was a fierce and dreadful strife.  He was nailed to the cross.  In untold agony He hung there.  b. In a way it’s like this: A man was successful in business, and had a well-educated son who was highly respected and honored like his father.  But one day to everyone’s surprise the young man was charged with embezzlement.  At his trial he appeared nonchalant and arrogant about his sinful actions.  When the judge told him to stand up for sentencing, he still seemed unrepentant.  Then hearing a slight scuffle on the other side of the room, he turned to see that his aged father had also risen.  The once erect head and straight shoulders of that honest man were now bowed low with shame.  He had stood to be identified with his boy and to receive the verdict as though it were being pronounced upon himself.  Suddenly his son realized the terrible grief he was inflicting on him, and tears welled up in his eyes.  He had tarnished the family name by his behavior.  Now his poor father was caught in the backwash of his son’s evil deeds, although he had done everything he could do to keep him on the straight and narrow path.  In a way, God planned to do a very similar thing.  He was about to take the punishment for sin upon himself.  This is the promise he makes. c. Jesus is God doing just that. In our place Jesus died.  And, momentarily, Satan, thought that he had won.  Ah, but it only seemed that way.  In reality the serpent’s head was crushed-- not his tail, but his head.  That means he has been vanquished.  For what is worse, to have the heel bruised or the head crushed?  d.  Three days later our Savior came forth victoriously from the grave.
III. “Where are you?” God calls out to you today. “Where are you?” It’s not that He is in need of knowing where you are. He sees us among the trees in our hiding places.
		A. He’s pursuing you.  He wants you to consider just exactly where you really are.
			1. And where we really are is to blame God, too. But who does God blame? He blamed His Son, Jesus Christ in our place. God sent Jesus to take the blame for what Adam and Eve had done, for what you have done. 2. Jesus offered no defense. He opened not His mouth. He took your blame, your sin, your guilt, your punishment. Jesus allowed Himself to be mastered by death. He died for you. But now He lives.
		B. Now He pursues you in mercy.
			1. And when you call out from your distress, “God, where are you?” Jesus says: Here I am in the water of Baptism for you. Wherever you go in life, you carry Me with you, for you are baptized into Me. 2. When you call out from within the clutches of your guilt, “God, where are you?” Jesus says: Here I am in the bread and wine of the Sacrament for you. I do not hide from you. I comes to you with mercy and forgiveness, for this is My promise: “Take eat...Take drink...My and body and blood...for the remission of your sins.” Yes He has come to you in mercy to give you forgiveness and life.
CONCLUSION:   Adam and Eve hid in the wrong place. They hid among the trees of the Garden. But God found them and promised them that a tree was coming--a tree upon which His Son would die, and under that tree every sinner may truly hide. Hide yourself in Jesus’ cross, and your sins cannot find you there, for you are forgiven. Hide yourself in Jesus’ cross, and Satan cannot master you anymore. He is defeated by Him who died on that cross for you. Hide yourself in the tree of Christ Jesus, and there God always knows where you are--safe with Him, your Savior--today, tomorrow, and forever.