OPEN: Some wealthy hunters had come to Colorado and hired an experienced hunting guide to lead them into the mountains. They had been trekking into the woods for a couple of days when it became obvious that they had become hopelessly lost. It wasn’t long before the hunters became angry with their guide and one of them shouted at him:
"You told us you were the best guide in Colorado!"
"I am," said the guide slowly looking around. "But I think we're in Wyoming now."
Have you ever gotten lost?
I have.
When I first moved to Logansport I wanted to go to Monticello (due West of town). But a half hour later I found myself in Winamac (North of town).
I was frustrated.- irritated with myself.
I don’t like being lost.
That’s why I really appreciate these new GPS devises.
All I have to do is type in your address, and a little map comes on my screen and gives me a good idea as to where you live.
The devise is called a GPS for “Global Positioning System”
It helps you to avoid getting lost.
It helps you to know where you’re at… and where you’re going.
Now for the next few weeks we’re going to be talking about a different kind of GPS. I call it “GOD’S Positioning System.” God’s positioning system is designed to help you know where you’re at… and where you’re going.
The first time we see this GPS system used is in Genesis 3.
We’ve heard this story since we were little children.
God has created a beautiful garden for Adam and Even and has left them only one command: Not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that stands in the middle of the garden. It’s an easy command to obey… until one day the serpent comes along and convinces Eve that God has unduly restricted them. God had denied them the great blessings of that fruit because He really didn’t want what was best for them.
So Eve takes a bite of the fruit… then she gives it to her husband and he eats.
Once they take the bite from the fruit they know something’s wrong.
• they become ashamed.
• and they realize they’re naked.
They’ve taken the wrong turn back at that tree and now they know they’re lost.
AND they remember that God told them not to eat of that tree
They remember that God said “… you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:17
They’re lost.
They’re going to die.
But then they do the oddest things when they come to that realization
“…they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” Genesis 3:7-8
They try to hide their nakedness with fig leaves!
And then they try to hide from God behind the trees of the garden.
They try to hide the fact that they’ve messed up.
ILLUS: Their behavior is a little like a driver who lost. But instead of turning around and going the right way, he just speeds up. He’s lost… but at least he’s making good time.
So Adam and Eve try to hide the fact that they’re lost.
And then they hear this voice - the voice of God.
(pause) “Adam, where are you?”
Now wait a minute!
Doesn’t God KNOW where Adam is? (wait for response)
Of Course He Does. He’s God!
So why does He ask the question to begin with?
God asked the question because Adam needed to know where he was at.
That’s God’s GPS in action.
There’s a universal truth that is undeniable:
You can’t solve a problem in your life until you know there’s a problem in your life. The First thing a person (who is lost) needs to do is realize they’re lost. Until they realize they’re lost, they’ll just continue going down the wrong road.
I mean – if they don’t think they’re lost - why should they change course?
They’re making such good time.
You can’t solve a problem until you know there IS a problem.
That’s why groups like Alcoholics Anonymous believe the 1st step in handling alcoholism is to admit “I’m an alcoholic” – I’ve got a problem!
You can’t solve a problem until you know there IS a problem
Now Adam’s got a problem.
• He’s sinned.
• And he’s going to die.
But he’s fooled himself into thinking the problem has been taken cared. He’s covered his shame and his nakedness with fig leaves. And he starts hiding from God.
Now there’s two basic problems with his solutions.
1st - Fig leaves can only cover so much.
I don’t know how big these leaves were, but I’m pretty sure they weren’t real efficient for clothing. Even Adam realized that because when God asked why he was hiding he responded:
"I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." Genesis 3:10
The fig leaves weren’t really hiding his sin and his shame and in the same way the Bible tells us our cleverness will not hide our sins and shame.
God says: "… be sure that your sin WILL find you out.” Numbers 32:23
And Paul writes: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7
You can’t hide your sin. It just can’t be done.
And the reason it can’t be done is because - you can’t hide from God.
Jeremiah 23:24 God asks this question: "Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?… Do I not fill heaven and earth?”
Or as David declares in Psalm 139:7-12
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
You can’t hide from God.
And you and I both know we can’t hide from God.
But when we sin… what do we do?
We try to hide from God.
Some people will try hiding by filling their lives with all kinds of activities.
• They’ll fill their lives with noise from the radio and TV so they don’t have to face the silence where God can confront them with their guilt and shame.
• Or they’ll fill their time with games or work or other activities so they won’t have the time to be think about the things that make them uncomfortable.
• Or they might even just ignore God altogether… or decide He doesn’t exist.
After all – if God’s not there – the problem should go away shouldn’t it?
God is the symbol of judgment of our sins.
So if He’s not there, that should solve all of our problems.
ILLUS: It’s kind of like the Chinese businessman who visited the US back in the early 1900’s.
He visited a science exhibit where they were displaying the newest microscope on market. He was so intrigued he bought one and brought it back to China with him.
He could hardly wait to use it on everything he found and one day he decided to put some of the food he was eating under the microscope. BUT he wasn’t happy with what he saw. As he looked down into the microscope, there - crawling all over his food - were tiny little creatures.
So what did he do?
Did he throw out his food?
Did he change how the food was prepared?
Noooo… he destroyed the microscope. (pause…)
He figured: if the microscope didn’t exist… the problem would go away.
But it really didn’t.
Now you can ignore God all you want but the problem is NOT going to go away. Because you can’t solve a problem until you admit you have a problem. And ignoring God will not solve our problem because God is the only One who can help us with our problem.
And so God asks “Where are you?”
If you don’t know where you are at… you can’t get to where you want to be.
The Bible constantly tries to help us realize where we’re at.
The Bible repeatedly confronts us with the fact that we ALL have a problem
“ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
God knows that unless we come into His presence we’ll always find a way around that truth. And one of the ways we’ll do that is to being comparing ourselves with someone else who’s not as “pure” as we are so our sins don’t look as bad as they really are.
In fact, that’s just what Adam did.
When Adam admitted to God that he was hiding because he was naked God asked him: “Who told you that you were naked?
And you do you remember how Adam responded?
"The woman you put here with me— she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Genesis 3:12
It’s not really my fault!!!
Who’s fault was it? (Eve’s)
Adam – where are you?
Well, Adam was doing his best to be ANYWHERE… other than in God’s presence.
* He’d tried to hide behind his fig leaves
* He’d tried to hide behind the trees in the forest
* And lastly he tried to hide behind the sins and shortcoming of someone else.
But it wasn’t going to work.
Because you can’t hide from God.
I can’t help but wonder if the story would have turned out differently if Adam hadn’t tried to hide. Adam’s sin had been bad enough but he seemed intent on trying to avoid taking responsibility for it. And it’s almost like (by asking His questions) God was trying to give Adam an opportunity to come clean.
ILLUS: I’ve had parents tell me that they’ll often do this with their kids. They know that their child has done something wrong but they’ll still ask “Tommy, did you take cookies out of the cookie jar?”
And they KNOW Tommy did.
But they want to give him an opportunity to confess.
If Tommy would just confessed, they wouldn’t have to punish him as harshly.
AND God does that with us.
In Psalm 32:2-5, David said: “Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’ and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
Just confess your sins - God says - and I can forgive you.
IT’S A PROMISE!
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Now we can confess our sins to God at any time.
But this concept is so important to God that He even incorporated a special place in the worship service dedicated to remind you to do just that.
Any body know what part of the service is dedicated to this?
That’s right: The Lord’s Supper.
In 1 Corinthians 11, God says “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” 1 Corinthians 11:28
None of us DESERVE to take communion (all have sinned)
But God says that before we take of the Lord’s Supper, we need to examine ourselves, confess our sins and partake of His forgiveness… and of His supper.
Especially at the Lord’s Table… we ought not to be hiding from God.
Because if you’re not walking with God… you’re gonna get lost.
But if you walk beside Him/ admit your sins and ask forgiveness you’ll not only NOT be lost you’ll be able to enjoy the blessings and the pleasure of being beside your Father.
CLOSING
A father was walking through the woods with his young son one day and wanting the boy to start thinking about finding his way if he were lost paused and asked:
"Do you know where we are?"
The boy looked up, and with a sweet smile replied that he didn't.
A little farther along, the father TRIED to look puzzled.
"Do you know how far we have come?"
"No," replied the boy.
A little later, the father pressed his son again, "don't you think we're lost?"
The boy grinned an unconcerned grin and said "I can't be lost - I'm with you."
You can’t be lost if you stay with your Father.
(PAUSE)
So the question for you this morning is this: Where are you?
Have you been trying to hide from God?
Have you been trying to cover your guilt and shame with flimsy excuses?
Have you tried comparing your sins to someone else’s?
Maybe you’ve even tried just ignoring God – hoping He’ll go away and leave you alone.
And have you finally come to the point where you’ve realized those things don’t work?
• If you’re a Christian… the time has come to confess your sins.
• If you’re not a Christian, the time has come to start walking with Him
I want to close with this significant fact from Genesis 3.
Man’s attempt at covering his sin was a flimsy garment of leaves.
But then God gave Adam and Eve garments of skins.
These were far warmer and far more covering than the leaves ever could be.
But there was something significant about those garment so skin:
In order for there to be skins for those coverings of Adam and Eve’s sin… something had to die. Something had to die to cover their shame and guilt. Something had to be sacrificed to deal with the sinfulness of man.
In the same way, there had to a sacrifice to cover your sins and mine.
Some one had to die to cover our nakedness.
It was Jesus who died for our sins and whose blood covers all our iniquities.
Won’t you accept that powerful gift from God and receive His healing from the sins of your past today?
