ANSWERS TO LIFE’S GREATEST QUESTIONS
“WHERE ART THOU”
TEXT: Genesis 3:
INTRODUCTION:
1. Many of the most profound questions ever proposed and answered are found in the Bible.
2. Cain Asked the famous question,
Genesis 4:9 (ESV) Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"
3. Job asked,
Job 14:14 (ESV) If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.
4. Elijah,
1 Kings 18:21 (ESV) And Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." And the people did not answer him a word.
5. Jesus Asked
Matthew 16:26 (ESV) For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
6. Philippian jailer,
Acts 16:30 (ESV) Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
7. The apostle Peter asked,
1 Peter 4:17 (ESV) For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
8. The Bible answers every one of these questions.
a) Cain was his brother's keeper
b) There is life after death.
c) Elijah's people halted until they died and their nation was taken away.
d) There is nothing a man can give in exchange for his soul.
e) To be saved one must HBRB
f) Those who obey not the gospel will be lost
DISCUSSION:
I. The First Great Question
A. Today I want to discuss the first great question posed by God to man.
B. In addressing Adam God said,
C. Where art thou?
D. Somehow it has a more majestic ring to it than modern translations but at the same time somehow it is less ominous than it sounds in the modern vernacular.
“Where are you?”
E. Not where are you sitting, where are you living, or where are you working
F. But where are you in the eternal scheme of things? Where you spiritually?
G. Are you saved or are you lost?
H. Many good people will die and go to hell because they have failed to answer the question, where am I?
II. The context
A. In the words of D. L. Moody
“THE very first thing that happened after the news reached heaven of the fall of man, was that God came straight down to seek out the lost one. As He walks through the garden in the cool of the day, you can hear Him calling “Adam! Adam! Where art thou?” It was the voice of grace, of mercy, and of love. Adam ought to have taken the seeker’s place, for he was the transgressor. He had fallen, and he ought to have gone up and down Eden crying, “My God! My God! Where art Thou?” But God left heaven to seek through the dark world for the rebel who had fallen—not to hurl him from the face of the earth, but to plan him an escape from the misery of his sin. And he finds him—where? Hiding from his Creator among the bushes of the garden.
B. The moment a man sins, he has, of his own free will, separated himself from the Fellowship of God
Isaiah 59:1-2 (ESV) 1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
C. It was not God's choice, it was man's choice.
D. God wanted to have eternal fellowship with him, but he wanted that fellowship to be motivated by Adam’s love and appreciation for his Creator.
E. So he gave Adam and Eve a choice. He made the choice as easy as he possibly could. In a paradise of trees, he placed a single tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
F. He told them they could eat any of the innumerable trees of the garden except the one. But they ate that one tree.
G. Until then they had an incredible fellowship with Creator God. He walked with them in the garden and cool of the day on a regular basis.
H. The terrible news reached heaven instantly. God in his omniscience knew that Adam and Eve could sinned. And so he came reaching out to them.
I. When he came did he find them seeking his help?
J. No. He found them hiding in the bushes ashamed of the consequences of their sin.
K. They lost it all for a single bite.
L. They had trusted the lying words of the snake instead of Creator God.
M. Now they're hiding in shame and terror. What will a holy God to them?
N. Listen to the words of Scripture
Genesis 3:8-9 (ESV) 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
O. They heard the sound of God walking in the cool of the day in in the garden and they were terrified.
P. What a change. Until now when they heard the sound of God walking in the garden their hearts must have been filled with such warmth, joy, and security.
Q. Just to think the Creator of the universe has come down once again to commune with us.
R. But no more.
S. God cries out, "Adam where art thou."
T. One sin leads to another as Adam blames everyone but himself for his sin.
Six thousand years have passed away, and this text has come rolling down the ages. I doubt whether there has been any one of Adam’s sons who has not heard it at some period or other of his life—sometimes in the midnight hour stealing over him—“Where am I? Who am I? Where am I going? and what is going to be the end of this?” I think it is well for a man to pause and ask himself that question. I would have you ask it, little boy; and you, little girl; and you, old man with locks turning gray, and eyes growing dim, and natural force abating, you who will soon be in another world. I do not ask you where you are in the sight of your neighbors. . . . It is of very little account where we are in the sight of one another, it is of very little account what men think of us; but it is of vast importance what God thinks of us—it is of vast importance to know where men are in the sight of God; and that is the question now. Am I in communion with my Creator, or out of communion?
U. So the question is, where are you today?
V. There are only three options.
1. You are saved from your sins secure as a member of God’s forever family the church.
2. You were saved but have fallen away from God.
3. You are lost – separated from God and doomed to a Devil’s Hell.
III. The first group, I would ask those of you who are Christians where are you.
A. When you became a child of God you did so by obeying the gospel.
1. You heard the good news about Jesus Christ (Romans 10:17)
2. You believed the gospel (Mark 16:16).
3. You turned from Satan to God in repentance (Acts 2:38).
4. You confessed Jesus as the son of God and the Lord of your life (Romans 10:9-11).
5. You were baptized into Christ Jesus having your sins washed away by the blood of Jesus rising to walk a new life added as a functioning member of his body the church.
B. After your conversion when you sinned you freely confessed your sin to God and trusted him to wash all of that unrighteousness away (1 John 1:9-10).
C. But where are you now?
1. Is your faith as vital as it was then?
2. Is your faith growing as it was then
3. Are you seeking to serve God and others and become more like his son Jesus each day as you were then?
D. Or, are you coasting.
E. Are you bearing fruit are you just plucking fruit?
F. Are you growing in your knowledge and understanding of his word and your ability to share it with others?
G. Or have you become like the Hebrew Christians?
Hebrews 5:11-14 (ESV) 11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
H. Are you growing in the grace of God?
2 Peter 3:18 (ESV) 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
I. Jesus warned the Church at Ephesus that they had lost their first love and needed to repent, He warned the church at Laodicea that they were proud but in fact were lukewarm.
J. Have you identified your gifts and are you developing and using them?
K. Are you growing in service to God and others?
L. If you are – even though you aren’t perfect and you occasionally stumble and sin – you have the comfort of knowing that as you confess your sins God cleanses all of your sins and you are at peace with God.
M. Someday you will hear God say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”
N. Someday you will see Jesus. You will be like Jesus and you will see all of the Saints who have gone on before you, in a place where there's no sorrow, no pain, no tears, only eternal joy and bliss beyond anything the human mind can conceive.
IV. The second group that must answer the question, “Where am I?,” is that group of people who never become Christians to begin with.
A. Whatever your reason for not responding to the gospel, God will hold you accountable on the judgment day.
B. There is a judgment day coming it will be a great day for many and for others. They have great terror,
C. 2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Revelation 20:11-15 (ESV) 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
D. Who in their right mind would choose hell over heaven?
E. If you're not a Christian, why not?
F. Do you really enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin more than you would enjoy the peace and comfort that comes from knowing that:
1. You have eternal life.
2. You have a peace that passes understanding.
3. You have brothers and sisters in Christ that are a forever family that is here to encourage you, lift you up, help you, and pray for you.
4. You have a heavenly father who will allow you to call upon him as our father who art in heaven.
5. You have a God that has promised,
“The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, . . . yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me.”
6. You have a God who is promised, “my cup runs over. . . I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
G. Is your present lifestyle worth missing all of that?
H. You may be thinking, “But how could a loving God send me to a devil's Hell?”
I. The Scripture says that when we turn our back on the invitation of Christ we are counting the blood of Jesus as an unholy thing.
J. If you're not a Christian, it’s because you have turned your back on:
1. The pleadings of the prophets
2. The prayers of the saints and loved ones
3. The promises and warnings of the Holy Bible
4. And the sacrifice of Christ on the cross
K. How could anyone who spurned the sacrifice and invitation of Jesus Christ in this life expect to spend eternity with him in the next life?
L. The question is yours. Where are you?
M. Jesus said
Revelation 3:19-22 (ESV) 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”
V. The Third Group The unfaithful Christian
A. Now let us consider the second group — those who were once saved and slowly drifted away
Hebrews 2:1 (ESV) Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
B. Like Adam you may be in denial and blaming others for your current circumstances, but the reality is that God is asking where are you?
C. He is not asking:
1. What happened to you?
2. How did you get this way?
3. Who did what to you?
D. He knows the answer. You have become unfaithful.
E. God is constantly challenging us to examine ourselves to see whether we really are in the faith
2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV) Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
F. You may think you're okay, that other things have just gotten in the way of our commitment to Christ for a little while.
G. God will understand your stepping out of fellowship for just a moment.
H. You may see yourself as a good person and perhaps the people around you think you’re a fine upstanding person.
I. You need to see yourself as God sees you
2 Peter 2:20-22 (ESV) 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
Hebrews 6:4-8 (ESV) 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
J. If you're not bearing fruit for God, if you’ve turned you back on God and to the world, there is no hope for forgiveness until you repent and return to bearing the fruit of the Christian life.
K. If you're out of fellowship with God today, if you’ve wandered away and you think that surely you're not that bad off I would plead with you to consider your situation.
L. You may think you're fine your friends may think you're fine but in the eyes of God you are the prodigal wasting the blessings God bestowed on you and sooner or later you'll find yourself living in the pig pen of life paying the price for your lifestyle.
M. What rational reason could there be to avoid repentance?
N. The Angels of would rejoice if you were to swallow your pride and step forward this day when we sing the invitation song.
O. Step forward and say as the prodigal did, "Father I have sinned."
Sources:
Moody, D. L. (1880). Twelve Select Sermons (1–2). Chicago: Fleming H. Revell.
Stacy John (1985) Prime Rib (Choice Cuts of Spiritual Meat) Question No Man Can Answer, pp. 86-92, Newbern, TN: Stacy Publications
Watts, Wendell H. Chart the Gospel Vol. 1 p. 23,
