1.     The book of Genesis tells us the beginning of everything except God.

2.     The book of Genesis has been called “the seed plot of the Bible.”

3.     It is a book of firsts: first man, first woman, first marriage, first commandment, first temptation, first sin, first war, first birth, first death, and the first question.

4.     It is this first question that we will look at this morning.

I. WHO ASKED THE FIRST QUESTION?

II. OF WHOM DID HE ASK IT?

III. THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH HE ASKED IT

IV. WHAT WAS THE QUESTION?

I. WHO ASKED THE FIRST QUESTION?

1.     Genesis 3:9 tells us who asked the first question.  Before going any further, we should stress that God knows all the answers.  He does not ask questions to find information, the way a man asks questions.

2.     When God sought out Adam, and brought him face to face with his guilt, God was giving Adam a fair and full opportunity to confess his sin (cf. Genesis 4:8, 9).

3.     God’s questions are very profound and soul searching.  Let me give a few more examples.

4.     “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36, 37).

5.     “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (I Peter 4:17, 18).

6.     “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).

7.     These are all important and thought-provoking questions. They are worthy of careful consideration, but this morning we will look at the first question (so far as we know) that God ever asked.

8.     W Griffith Thomas wrote, “God’s question to Adam still sounds in the ear of every sinner: ‘Where art thou?’  It is the call of Divine justice, which cannot overlook sin.  It is the call of Divine sorrow, which grieves over the sinner.  It is the call of Divine love, which offers redemption from sin.  To each and every one of us the call is reiterated, ‘Where art thou?’”

II. OF WHOM DID HE ASK IT?

1.     Genesis 3:9 says, “And the LORD God called unto Adam…”  Adam was the first man.  This is plainly taught in Genesis 1 & 2. 

2.     In I Corinthians 15:45, the apostle Paul refers to “the first man Adam.”  Some people believe in a so-called “pre-Adamic race,” but this is contrary to the Bible.

3.     Genesis 1:26 says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

4.     Genesis 2:7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

5.     In Luke 3, the Bible traces the genealogy of Jesus back from Joseph, his stepfather, all the way back to Adam, the first man.

6.     Romans 5:14 says, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses.”

7.     First Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

8.     First Timothy 2:13 says, “For Adam was first formed, then Eve.”

9.     Our Lord Himself said in Matthew 19:4, “Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female…”   that is, God, in the beginning, made Adam and Eve.

10. Evolutionists deny this.  Probably the most forceful public proponent of Darwinian evolution today is Richard Dawkins, a science professor at Oxford University.

11. Dr. Dawkins is a secular humanist, an atheist, and a zealous evolutionist.  He calls Christians ignorant, stupid, deluded, or insane.  He says it is child abuse to teach children about God.

12. Dawkins’ latest book is called The God Delusion – “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

13. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”

14. Humanism and atheism and materialism and all of the other philosophies that accompany evolution are a major reason for society’s decay. After all, once children are taught that there are no moral absolutes, and that they have evolved from some beastly ape-like ancestor, most of them lose their sense of purpose and meaning in life.   Life becomes nothing more than the selfish pursuit of money and pleasure. 

15. It is no coincidence that those who strongly advocate evolution, also promote homosexuality, abortion, promiscuity, and pornography.   They are anti-Bible and anti-Christ.  If they had their way they would close down every Bible-preaching church and school in America.

III. THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH HE ASKED IT

1.     Let me spell it out with three letters: SIN.   This is the context of Genesis chapter 3.   The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world…”

2.     One cannot understand the message of the Bible, unless one first understands the fall of man.  

3.     One cannot understand the Gospel, unless one first understands the fall of man. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

4.     In fact, one cannot understand what is going on in the world today (terrorism, crime, unrest, etc.), unless one understands the fall of man. 

5.     The problem isn’t Osama ben Laden or Sadam Hussein or Adolph Hitler or any other notorious villain.  All men are sinners.

6.     Adam was not only hiding from God.  He was hiding from himself. 

7.     David wrote, “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin…My sin is ever before me… Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight… Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:2-5).

8.     According to the Bible, man is a fallen creature.  Man was made in the image of God, but that was before Adam’s sin.

9.     The image has not been obliterated, but it has been marred.   Man has been broken and defiled.  Man is a fallen creature.

10. Our Lord said in John 8:34, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”  The majority of people in this world are slaves to sin.

11. So the context surrounding the first question in the Bible is the first sin in the Bible – the fall of man.

IV. WHAT WAS THE QUESTION?

1.     “Where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9).  Adam was trying to hide from God.  It is foolish to try and hide from God.   There are many people who will not come to church because they are trying to hide from God.  They are afraid the preaching will bring conviction.  Some sinners get convicted even before the preaching. 

2.     A few years ago we invited a man to preach who had been a RC priest for many years before he was saved.  He had a friend who often accompanied him on his preaching tours, and the friend would tape his sermons. 

3.     This friend had an unsaved aunt who lived in Manhattan.  Since he was in town, he invited her to the meeting.  During the song service she started shaking violently and she got up and left the auditorium. 

4.     This is why most sinners prefer to avoid church altogether.  Or they will seek out one of these liberal, purpose-driven churches, where there is no mention of sin or repentance or judgment or hell.

5.     Earlier I referred to evolution.  The teaching of evolution brings comfort to sinners.  It helps them imagine that there is no God.   In fact, one of the most popular songs of this generation is John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

Imagine there’s no heaven.
It’s easy if you try.
No hell below us,
Above us only sky.
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries.
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion too.
Imagine all the people,
Living life in peace...

6.     They actually sing this foolish song in churches!   It has been sung at the UN, at the Olympics, and at many other places where worldly people try to imagine life without God, without heaven, without Christianity, without the Bible, and without hell.

7.     In Genesis 3:10 we find Adam’s answer to God’s question.  Adam was afraid, because he was naked.

8.     But notice back in Genesis 2:25 – “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”  What happened between Genesis 2:25 and Genesis 3:10?  SIN.

9.     Sin always brings shame and fear.  Sinners try and cover up this shame and fear by drugs, alcohol, rock music, evolution, unusual religious experiences, etc.  

10. But nevertheless, there is always this shame and fear.  After Adam and Eve sinned, “they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Gen. 3:7).

11. Notice that God also clothed Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21).

12. Public nudity is shameful!  Do you remember the naked demoniac in Mark 5?  After the devils came out of him, we are told that he was “clothed, and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15).

13. After the fall, public nakedness is always spoken  of in the Bible as shameful.  Yet today, millions of people watch movies with nudity.  They look at magazines with nudity.  They go on the computer and look at nudity.  And many people walk around half-naked.

14. You may have heard about the Air Force staff sergeant who recently got into trouble for posing nude in a pornographic magazine.  She was relieved of her duties.

15. “This staff sergeant’s alleged action does not meet the high standards we expect of our airmen, nor does it comply with the Air Force’s core values of integrity, service before self, and excellence in all we do,” a spokesman for Lackland Air Force Base, said in a statement.

16. This deluded woman says that she believes she is “standing up for her rights.”   “Of what I did, nothing is wrong, so I didn’t anticipate anything, of course,” she told The Associated Press. “I didn’t do anything wrong, so I didn't think it would be a major issue.”  She is married with two children.

17. This woman does not recognize herself as a disgraced sinner.  God is saying, “Where art thou?” but she apparently is not listening.

CONCLUSION:

1.     The first question was intended to show Adam where he was as a lost sinner, in order that he might see his need of salvation.

2.     Do you see yourself as a lost sinner?   Do you recognize your need of salvation?

3.     The first step toward salvation is to see oneself utterly lost, ashamed, guilty, and helplessly and hopelessly defiled by sin.

4.     Sinners today are very sophisticated and educated.  They do not see themselves as God sees them.  But in order to be saved they must realize they are under the judgment of God.

5.     “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already” (John 3:18).

6.     “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).