[Gospel Lesson 5] Humanity Departed from God — Part 2

“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, Where art thou?”— Genesis 3:8–9 (KJV)

In Lesson 4, we saw how humanity departed from God. This separation from God began when man turned away from God's Word and trusted another voice.

Satan questioned God's Word. Eve listened to another voice, Adam also ate, and mankind stepped away from trusting God into trusting its own judgment.

But what happened inside the human heart after that?

Genesis 3 shows us an immediate and dramatic change.

Adam and Eve became conscious of themselves. Shame entered their hearts. Fear followed. They tried to cover themselves, and finally they hid from God.

Yet while man was hiding from God, God was looking for man.

This is one of the most important truths in the gospel.

Their Eyes Were Opened—but What Did They See?

Genesis 3:7 says:

“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked...”

Satan had promised Eve:

“...your eyes shall be opened...”— Genesis 3:5 (KJV)

His words seemed to come true.

Their eyes were opened.

But what did they see?

They did not see more of God's glory.

They did not discover greater freedom.

They saw themselves.

“...they knew that they were naked.”

Before the fall, Adam and Eve lived before God without shame.

“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”— Genesis 2:25 (KJV)

But after sin entered, their attention turned inward.

What do I look like?

What will happen to me?

How can I cover myself?

How can I protect myself?

Man became centered on himself.

And once man departed from trusting God, he also lost the rest that comes from depending upon God.

The Prison of Self

This is one of the consequences of departing from God.

When God is no longer the center, I become the center.

Then I must carry everything myself.

I have to protect myself.

I have to make myself righteous.

I have to secure my future.

I have to solve my problems.

I have to make myself acceptable before God.

Life becomes heavy because everything depends upon me.

This is very different from biblical faith.

Faith does not begin with what I can do for God.

Faith begins with what God has done for me.

The Bible opens with:

“In the beginning God...”— Genesis 1:1 (KJV)

God created.

God spoke.

God worked.

And ultimately, God sent His Son.

This pattern runs throughout Scripture.

The gospel is not primarily the story of man's work for God.

It is the good news of God's work for man.

Fig Leaves: Man Tries to Cover Himself

After Adam and Eve saw their nakedness:

“...they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”— Genesis 3:7 (KJV)

This was man's first attempt to solve the problem of sin by his own effort.

They felt shame, so they made a covering.

But there was a problem.

Their covering did not restore their relationship with God.

When God came into the garden, they still hid.

Isaiah later describes the inability of human works to provide an adequate covering:

“Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works...”— Isaiah 59:6 (KJV)

This gives us an important picture of human righteousness.

When people recognize sin, our natural response is often:

“I need to become better.”

“I need to do more good things.”

“I need to become more religious.”

“Then perhaps God will accept me.”

Those things become our modern fig leaves.

But they cannot remove sin.

Isaiah says:

“...all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags...”— Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)

The problem is deeper than our behavior.

Therefore, the solution must also be deeper than our behavior.

Man Lost His Rest

When Adam trusted God, he could live under God's care.

But once he trusted Satan's word rather than God's Word, that rest disappeared.

This helps us understand an important difference between human effort and faith.

Religion can easily become centered on what man must do:

I must become good.

I must make myself clean.

I must make myself worthy.

But the gospel directs our attention to what God has done through Jesus Christ.

Jesus said:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”— Matthew 11:28 (KJV)

And Hebrews speaks of entering God's rest:

“For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works...”— Hebrews 4:10 (KJV)

The gospel brings us out of dependence upon our own works and teaches us to rest in the work of Christ.

“Where Art Thou?”

Adam and Eve heard God's voice and hid themselves among the trees.

Then God called:

“Where art thou?”— Genesis 3:9 (KJV)

Did God really not know where Adam was?

Of course He knew.

The question was not simply about Adam's physical location.

God was revealing Adam's spiritual position.

Adam, where are you now?

You once lived in fellowship with Me.

Now you are hiding from Me.

You once trusted My Word.

Now you are afraid of My presence.

Where are you?

This is also an important question for us.

Before we can understand salvation clearly, we must first understand where we are.

You Cannot Find the Way Without Knowing Where You Are

Imagine opening a map because you want to travel somewhere.

Knowing your destination is not enough.

The map also needs to know:

Your current location.

Without knowing where you are, you cannot know which way to go.

Spiritually, the same principle applies.

Many people want to go to heaven.

They want peace.

They want forgiveness.

They want eternal life.

But they have never clearly seen their present spiritual condition before God.

The Bible first shows us where we are.

Not to leave us in despair, but so that we can understand why we need salvation.

Jesus illustrated this beautifully in the story of the Good Samaritan.

The Man Who Fell Among Thieves

In Luke 10, a lawyer asked Jesus:

“Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”— Luke 10:25 (KJV)

Notice his question:

“What shall I do?”

His attention was on himself and his ability.

Jesus eventually told him about a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho.

“...a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves...”— Luke 10:30 (KJV)

The thieves stripped him.

They wounded him.

They departed.

And they left him half dead.

The man could not rescue himself.

He needed someone to come to him.

This story gives us a powerful picture of our spiritual condition.

Humanity departed from God and fell into sin.

Sin stripped us.

Sin wounded us.

And we could not restore ourselves.

The question is no longer:

“What can I do?”

The question becomes:

“Who can save me?”

The Samaritan Came to Him

Jesus continued:

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him.”— Luke 10:33 (KJV)

The wounded man did not climb onto the Samaritan's animal by himself.

He did not heal his own wounds.

The Samaritan came to him.

The Samaritan had compassion.

The Samaritan bound his wounds.

The Samaritan poured in oil and wine.

The Samaritan carried him.

The Samaritan brought him to the inn.

The Samaritan paid the price.

This beautifully illustrates the direction of grace.

Salvation comes from the Savior to the helpless.

In the gospel, Jesus Christ came to us.

He saw our condition.

He had compassion.

And He paid the price for our salvation with His own blood.

“I Was Afraid”

When God asked Adam where he was, Adam answered:

“I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”— Genesis 3:10 (KJV)

Before the fall, Adam was naked and was not ashamed.

Now he was naked and afraid.

What changed?

Not God's character.

Adam's relationship with God had changed because of sin.

Sin produced guilt and alienation, and Adam now viewed God's presence through fear.

Instead of running toward God, he ran away.

This pattern continues today.

When people see their sin but do not understand God's grace, they often think:

“God must hate me.”

“I cannot go to Him like this.”

“I need to clean myself up first.”

And so they hide.

But notice something important:

God never told Adam:

“Hide from Me.”

God was the One calling:

“Where art thou?”

“Who Told Thee?”

Then God asked Adam one of the most revealing questions in Genesis:

“Who told thee that thou wast naked?”— Genesis 3:11 (KJV)

Notice that God did not merely ask:

“Why are you afraid?”

He asked:

“Who told you?”

God was bringing Adam back to the source of the thought that had entered his heart.

This is an important spiritual lesson.

Not every thought that enters our mind tells us the truth.

Jesus described the devil as:

“...a liar, and the father of it.”— John 8:44 (KJV)

Satan works through deception.

He wants us to interpret God through his lies rather than through God's Word.

God says one thing.

A thought says something different.

Which one will we believe?

This is exactly what happened in Eden.

God said:

“Thou shalt surely die.”

The serpent said:

“Ye shall not surely die.”

Adam and Eve received the lie.

And once the lie entered their hearts, everything they saw began to look different.

Where Did the Problem Begin?

God continued questioning them.

Adam answered:

“The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”— Genesis 3:12 (KJV)

Then God asked Eve:

“What is this that thou hast done?”

Eve answered:

“The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”— Genesis 3:13 (KJV)

The conversation moved:

Adam → Eve → the serpent.

The serpent had deceived Eve.

But Adam and Eve were also responsible for receiving the lie and disobeying God's Word.

This distinction is important.

The Bible does not teach us to excuse our sin by saying, “Satan made me do it.”

Instead, Scripture reveals both realities:

Satan deceives, and man follows the deception.

This is why we need more than self-improvement.

We need deliverance.

God Came Looking for Man

Here is the remarkable part of Genesis 3.

Adam sinned.

Adam hid.

But God came.

Adam did not walk through the garden calling:

“God, where are You?”

God called:

“Adam, where are you?”

That difference reveals the heart of the gospel.

Man departed from God.

God came looking for man.

Man covered himself.

God would provide the covering.

Man hid in fear.

God called him out of hiding.

Man had been deceived by the serpent.

God would promise One who would defeat the serpent.

Genesis 3:15 gives the first glimpse of that promise:

“...it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”— Genesis 3:15 (KJV)

From the very chapter where sin entered man's experience, God began revealing His plan of salvation.

God's Covering

At the end of this passage, something very important happens.

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”— Genesis 3:21 (KJV)

Adam had already made clothes.

Why did God make another covering?

Because Adam's covering represented what man could do.

God's covering represented what God would provide.

Adam used leaves.

God provided skins.

An animal's life was involved for Adam and Eve to be clothed with skins.

Here we begin to see a pattern that will unfold throughout the Bible:

Sin brings death.

A covering requires a life.

And God Himself provides the covering.

Later, through the sacrifices, the Passover lamb, and ultimately Jesus Christ, this picture becomes clearer and clearer.

John the Baptist would eventually point to Jesus and say:

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”— John 1:29 (KJV)

Adam could not provide the covering he truly needed.

God provided it for him.

And that is the gospel.

Stop Hiding

Maybe you have looked at yourself and seen things you are ashamed of.

Maybe you have tried to cover them.

Maybe you have promised God that you would become better.

Maybe you have tried religion.

Maybe you have tried good works.

But God is not waiting for you to make better fig leaves.

He is calling:

“Where art thou?”

God already knows your condition.

You do not need to hide it from Him.

Salvation begins when we stop trying to cover ourselves and begin to see the covering that God has provided.

The wounded man could not save himself.

Adam could not restore himself.

And neither can we.

But the wonderful news of the gospel is this:

God did not wait for man to find his way back.

God came looking for man.

And ultimately, He came to us in Jesus Christ.