In Gen 3:8, the Lord was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.  Evidently, it was normal for Adam to be walking with God at this time, just like Enoch and Noah walked with God.  However, on this day, Adam wasn’t with the Lord.  That was unusual.

God called Adam in Gen 3:9, and apparently Adam didn’t answer.  After Adam and Eve sinned, they “hid themselves from the presence of the Lord,” Gen 3:8.  So, the Lord asked, “Where art thou?” in Gen 3:9.  Sin had interrupted their fellowship.  

Of course, God knew Adam was hiding.  No one can hide from God.  The Lord could tell more about where Adam was and why he was there than Adam could.  He asked the question, not so he could find Adam, but so that Adam could reflect on where he was and why he was there.

Often the Lord asks questions to get us to think.  For example, he asked Philip before feeding the five thousand, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”  Jn 6:6 says, “And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.”  He asked the chief priest and elders, “The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?” Matt 21:25.  He knew the answer to that question; they didn’t.

When reading about Adam in Genesis, we know where Adam was.  He was hiding from God.  And we know where he was hiding. But what about you? The question is, “Where art thou?”  Are you hiding from God like Adam was hiding?  Like Adam, are you:

Hiding your nakedness behind fig leaves? – Gen 3:7 – Adam and Eve thought they could hide behind the aprons they made.  Indeed, they hid their nakedness from each other.  But they couldn’t hide their nakedness from God.  “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do,” Heb 4:13.  Self-righteous sinners try to hide behind the fig leaves of their religions and good works.  

But self-righteous sinners are not here right now.  You are.  Are you dressed in fig leaves tonight?  If you would stop hiding and look at yourself the way God is looking at you this moment, what would you see?  What are you hiding?  You don’t need to tell us. You need to strip yourself down and come clean with God.  

God is asking you, “Where art thou?”  Why don’t you deal honestly with him about where you are and why you’re there.  Deal with the sin that’s interrupting your fellowship tonight.  Until you come out of that apron you’ve made out of fig leaves, God won’t clothe you with with his clothes.  God graciously covered Adam and Eve in coats of skins, Gen 3:21.  Innocent lambs had to be slain to get those skins.  And the innocent Lamb of God has been slain to cover that sin in your life.  Get it out and under the blood.

Hiding yourself among the trees? – Gen 3:8 – Adam and Eve thought they could hide from God in the trees.  Today, sinners do the same thing.  When Jesus healed the blind man in Bethsaida, he initially said, “I see men as trees, walking,” Mk 8:24.  It’s easy for sinners to hide in a crowd of people.  You ask them if they’re sinners and they say, “Everybody’s a sinner.”  They’re just trying to hide in the crowd.  When confronted with their sin, they say, “Everybody’s doing this.”  They claim, “herd immunity.”

But that crowd is not here tonight.  You are.  Are you hiding among the trees in here?  You sang just like the other folks here tonight.  You’re looking in your Bible, just like the other folks tonight.  You’re sitting here listening, just like the other folks tonight.  But God’s talking to you tonight.  God is asking, “Where art thou?”  And you’re thinking, “I don’t need to answer; he can’t see me in here.”  

We don’t need to worry about social distancing at an altar call tonight, because no one would come, anyway.  You’re thinking that as long as you’re here, you’re good.  Not if you’re here to hide among the trees.  God can’t deal with you when you’re hiding like that.  

Adam stepped out and answered God in Gen 3:10.  That’s how you start dealing with the sin that has interrupted your fellowship with God.  Quit hiding in the crowd.

Hiding your sin behind someone else? – Gen 3:12 – Adam blamed Eve and God for his sin.  He said, “The WOMAN whom THOU gavest to be with me…”.  He admitted that he ate, but he excused himself.  He’s implying that if it hadn’t been for God and Eve, he surely would’t have sinned.  People do this all the time.  For example, a person gets angry and then says. “You made me mad.”  People in some of the sexual sins today say, “God made me this way.”

Who are you blaming for your sin, tonight?  I know a fellow who would tell you that his reason for not being here is that someone offended him.  Someone else is to blame for his absence.  That’s not true.  God’s not going to be able to deal with him about his sin until he owns it.  He must quit blaming someone else for why he’s not doing what he knows he’s supposed to do.  

What about you?  Who are you blaming?  Who are you hiding behind?  God can’t deal with your sin as long as you keep blaming someone else for it.  It’s time for you to come out of your hiding place and deal directly with God about what you’re doing or not doing. 

Your sin is never going to get fixed until you are willing to quit hiding and admit that what you’re doing is YOUR sin.  It’s all on you.

Conclusion: Where art thou?  You’re hiding in your fig leaves, pretending that you’re not doing anything wrong.  Where art thou?  You’re hiding in the crowd, pretending that just because you’re here, everything else in your life is good, too.  Where art thou?  You’re hiding behind someone else, blaming them for what you’re doing wrong.  

It’s time for you to come out of your hiding place and deal with God one on one.  You’re never going to get this sin out between you and God until you do.