Genesis 3:1-9 “Where are you at?” October 5, 2025 A.M.
I read a story this week that I wanted to share with you. The boss was puzzled about why one of his top employees was missing and hadn’t called in. Needing to solve an urgent work issue, he called the employee's home phone and a child answered with a soft, “Hello.”
“Is your Daddy home?” he asked.
“Yes,” the little voice replied.
“Can I talk to him?”
“No,” whispered the child.
Feeling a bit surprised and hoping to reach an adult, the boss asked, “Is your Mommy there?”
“Yes.”
“Can I talk to her?”
Once again, the small voice said, “No.”
Trying to find someone to leave a message with, the boss asked, “Is anyone else there?”
“Yes,” the child whispered, “a policeman.”
Wondering what a cop was doing at his employee's house, the boss asked, “Can I speak with the policeman?”
“No, he’s busy,” the child whispered back.
“Busy doing what?”
“Talking to Mommy and Daddy and the Fireman,” came the soft reply.
Feeling more anxious as he heard a loud noise on the line, the boss asked, “What’s that noise?”
“A helicopter,” the little voice answered.
“What’s happening there?” the boss asked, growing more concerned.
The child whispered again, “The search team just landed a helicopter.”
Feeling alarmed, confused, and a bit frustrated, the boss asked, “Is someone LOST, who are they searching for?”
With a muffled giggle, the young voice replied, “Me!”
Who all here likes to go to Silver Dollar City? I haven’t been to Silver Dollar City in quite a while but it hasn’t been quite long enough!!! Because back when I did go it was pretty crowded and boy you can get lost in that place. They keep expanding it. It keeps getting bigger and bigger. I used to kind of know my way around there when I was younger but now-a-days I think I would be LOST most of the time. But something I remember was MAPS. As you’re walking along there, totally LOST, you come upon a BIG MAP of the entire city. You see Grandfather’s mansion, Fire in the Hole, Wildfire and so on. But one of the most important parts of the map was a RED DOT. Do you know what that RED DOT stood for? It was YOUR CURRENT LOCATION!!! It’s where you are at STANDING RIGHT THERE. “YOU ARE HERE”
This morning I want to read out of the Book of Genesis. A familiar story of how Adam and Eve FELL. How SIN entered the world. And because of that FALL, both Spiritual and Physical DEATH came into the world.
So let’s turn in our Bibles to Genesis 3 and we’ll read Verses 1-9. “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 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.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?”
Do you know why that RED DOT is so important? You know, the one that says, “YOU ARE HERE.” Because you have to know WHERE you’re at before you can know WHERE you’re going. Let me say that again. You have to know where you’re at before you can know where you’re going.
And so that’s what I want to talk to you about this morning. “Where are you at?” When I’m finished with my message today, I PRAY that you can look at the RED DOT on the MAP of your life and say, “I AM HERE right where Good wants me.” But before we get into the message, let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.
Brother ____, would you lead us in prayer?
I. And so the DAMAGE had been done. SIN had been committed. The FELLOWSHIP with God had been broken.
Look at Verse 7, “And the eyes of them both were opened”
Nobody knows how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden before they sinned. 100 years? 10 years? 1 year? 1 day? 1 hour? We don’t know but what we do know is until this time, they lived in total INNOCENCE. They felt NO GUILT or REMORSE. But then their EYES were opened. They saw themselves as SINFUL. They LOOKED DOWN and saw their own nakedness.
Let me ask you something that might sound silly at first but what do you think God wears? He is a Spiritual being but yet He is someone that we will see someday. So what does He wear? Well, I think He wears LIGHT.
Psalms 104:2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:”
Matthew 17:1 and 2, “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”
And so I think it’s likely that Adam and Eve were covered with LIGHT. The LIGHT of God but then they SINNED and the LIGHT WENT OUT.
They saw themselves for who they had become...SINNERS. Separated from God. ASHAMED. NAKED for all the world to see. Yes, NOW they had eaten from the TREE of KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and EVIL. NOW THEY KNEW. THEY HAD the KNOWLEDGE. GOD WAS GOOD and THEY WERE EVIL.
Every Sunday before I preach, myself and usually my two deacons meet back in my office and we PRAY. If you ever want to join us you’re welcome to. But we don’t pray for a BIG OFFERING. We don’t pray for a RECORD SETTING NUMBER. We pray for God to SPEAK to all of us who are here today. We pray for EYES to be opened. Because we ALL need to figure out where we’re at today in this JOURNEY of LIFE. We all need to see that RED DOT on the MAP. Why?
“Because you have to know where you’re at before you can know where you’re going.”
I’ve heard people say this before and I think it’s true. When you’re trying to WIN someone for the Lord, you have to get them LOST before you can get them SAVED. And that’s one of the problems in the world today. People don’t even realize that they are LOST. And all they have to do is open their EYES.
Adam and Eve realized REAL QUICK that they were SINNERS. The LIGHT of GOD no longer shined upon them. And if you’re here today, you need to REALIZE that you’re a SINNER. You have SINNED. Romans 3:23
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
That’s YOU and that’s ME. NO ONE has ever lived a perfect life except Jesus.
And then you need to REALIZE that there is a PENALTY for SIN. There is a PRICE to PAY. Romans 6:23,
“For the wages of sin is death;”
I betcha Adam and Eve realized this real quick too. No longer were they clothed in LIGHT and I betcha their bodies felt different. As the CELLS in their bodies began to BREAK DOWN, they slowly began to PHYSICALLY DIE.
And the fact that we’re all dying is something that can’t be argued with because we all see it. Every time we go to a Funeral or a Memorial service we’re reminded. And every time we look in the MIRROR we’re reminded. Every time we do something these bodies aren’t used to we know don’t we?
So first of all, you need to OPEN YOUR EYES and REALIZE that you are LOST.
II. The second thing I want you to see is found in the second half of Verse 7.
“and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
I can just imagine this conversation, “Adam, we have to cover ourselves. We’re NAKED, what are we gonna do?” And Adam says, “Well, these fig leaves will make a real nice little APRON for us to wear. Let’s sew some of them together.”
Maybe it didn’t happen just like that but what you see here is, THEY TRIED to fix the problem themselves.
The Bible is full of people who tried to fix problems themselves.
Abraham was promised by God to be the father of a great nation. But he was growing old and him and his wife Sarah hadn’t had any children. So what does he do? He goes in to his wife’s maidservant, HAGAR, and they make a baby together. Ishmael was born and we still have his descendants with us today. The Arabian people of the countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait are descendants of Ishmael. And over the THOUSANDS of years, all the way up to today, they have been nothing but TROUBLE. Don’t be fooled.
They are NOT friends of Israel and they are NOT friends to the United States of America. We have these problems today ALL BECAUSE ABRAHAM wanted to fix things himself.
In the Book of Numbers, Chapter 20, Moses got sick and tired of hearing the Nation of Israel complain about not having water so, IN ANGER, he STRUCK the rock with his ROD instead of speaking to the rock like God told him to. They got water but it cost him his trip to the promised land.
He died in the wilderness without ever setting foot in the Promised Land.
Judas betrayed Jesus and instead of REPENTING, he HUNG HIMSELF and very likely wound up in Hell.
There are others in the Bible who tried to fix things themselves like Adam and Eve. And it NEVER WORKS.
Looking at Verse 8 they were covered. They had their little APRONS ON, but yet they still TRIED TO HIDE THEMSELVES amongst the TREES of the GARDEN. Now how silly is that? Trying to HIDE from God. A God who SEES ALL and KNOWS ALL. He knows where you’re at on the MAP of your life’s journey.
But you know, that’s what folks try to do even today. They try to FIX things themselves.
“I better clean myself up so no one will see what a MESS I LIVE IN.” Listen, God already sees the mess you live in. HE KNOWS.
“I better start going to church so I can live a better life.” Going to church is a wonderful thing. Everyone that’s able ought to go to church. It’s a good place for all of us to worship God together. But going to church doesn’t change ANYTHING on the INSIDE and that’s what God looks at.
“I’m SO BROKEN. There are so many things that are WRONG in my life. I better try to PIECE THEM back together.” You can’t.
ILLUS: Many years ago when I was a child there was a woman who would sing here at this church. Now this was the early 70’s. Over 50 years ago. I won’t say her name but she would sing a song,
“Pick up, the broken pieces and bring them to the Lord.
Pick up the broken pieces, trust in His Holy Word.
He will put you back together and make your life complete.
Just place the broken pieces at the Savior’s feet.”
And as a little boy I remember knowing that this woman’s life had been a mess. But yet she realized that she couldn’t fix things herself.
And can I say this today? If you’re here and you’re broken ... You can’t fix it. Only God can. I don’t care if life seems hopeless. I don’t care how badly broken you are. We serve a God today who can pick up the broken pieces and put them back together.
III. And so there they are. They have their little aprons on trying to cover their NAKEDNESS. They hear God’s voice there in the Garden and they try to HIDE from Him. Their efforts to try to COVER themselves are futile. And their efforts to HIDE from God are futile. Why? We might be LOST, WE might not know where we’re at, we might even be trying to HIDE from God but God always SEES US. He knows EXACTLY where we’re at.
You might say, then why did God ask “Where art thou?” He KNEW WHERE ADAM and EVE WERE AT.
He KNEW that Satan had LURED THEM and TEMPTED them to SIN. In fact, I’m sure God was listening into their conversation.
I’m sure God watched as Eve took that first bite and then handed it over to Adam. He knew that they had done the ONE THING that they were forbidden to do.
He saw their SHAME when they realized they were NAKED.
He saw them trying to sew fig leaves together to make clothes.
He saw them run and hide.
And so why did he say, “Where art thou?”
It was for THEM, NOT HIM. God wanted them to realize that their SIN had brought SHAME and that sin had broken the fellowship they had with Him. And I think God wanted to give them an opportunity for confession and repentance.
Do you know what this question actually was? It was an ACT of GRACE. UNMERITED FAVOR. God OWED THEM NOTHING but this was Him calling them to REPENTANCE.
And when God says to us today, “Where are you at?” “What are you doing?” “Where are you going?” “Why did you do that?” He’s doing that for us. He already knows the answers.
He’s trying to help us find the RED DOT on the map.
He’s trying to get us to realize where we’re at today.
What our relationship is with Him today.
Listen, I can EXAMINE YOU. I can look you up and down. I can talk to you. I can listen to what you have to say. See the things you do. See where you go.
I can even tell by looking and listening what’s important in your life. What your priorities are.
But here’s where I’m going. Only God truly knows what’s in your heart. And the HEART is what really matters.
Jeremiah 17, Verse 9,
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Do you remember what I said at the beginning of my message? “You have to know where you’re at before you can know where you’re going.”
That’s where the RED DOT is on the MAP. That’s our LOCATION. That’s where we ALL ARE. We’re way over here LOST and God is way over THERE. What are we gonna do?
We can’t fix it ourselves.
We can’t hide.
We’re in BIG TROUBLE.
But listen, God had a plan. Galatians 4, Verses 4-7
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Well, God made a way. He sent His only begotten Son to die for THAT SIN that Adam and Eve committed and all the SINS of the rest of the world. And now if we’ll ask Him, He will send His Holy Spirit to come into these OLD HEARTS that are deceitful and desperately wicked. That’s some good news.
ILLUS: I’m gonna tell a story on one of my kids. Mary had gotten her Driver’s License and decided she wanted to take Karate. In hindsight I understand now, because there was a fellow named Ethan Bavido who was taking Karate down there too. It all makes sense now. But anyway, she was driving home late one night from karate and she had gotten on to I244 in Tulsa and she was supposed to get off on Highway 11. She was gonna take it up past Tulsa International Airport and then catch Highway 75 and come home. Well, she missed the exit.
She finally realized what she had done and she got off. So I get a phone call and she says, “Daddy, I’m lost, I don’t where I’m at.” By the way, I later figured out she was down around 3rd and Peoria. Not the best neighborhood around. Then she says, “Oh, there’s some guys walking towards me.” And I said, “Mary, start your car, put it in gear and DRIVE!!! I don’t care which direction, just drive!!!” And so as she drove along I had her tell me what she was seeing.
See, I had NO WAY to tell her how to get home because she didn’t know where she was at and I didn’t know where she was at. By this time I had developed an ULCER. Anyway, as she started telling me what she saw and street signs along the way, I figured out where she was and I was able to tell her how to get home.
Listen folks, I don’t know where you’re at today. I don’t know what BATTLES you are fighting. I don’t know what BURDENS you bear. And I don’t know if you’re a follower of Jesus or not. BUT GOD DOES. He knows where you’re at and He knows all about you. And listen, this is the most important part. He loves you and He wants you to be His child.
Where are you at in your life’s journey? Where’s the RED DOT? Are you ready to meet Jesus or are you lost?
Let’s Pray
