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Bro. Otis Fisher
We left off last Sunday with and their eyes were opened, the eyes of them both were opened. This come about because of sin. A new element has been introduced. Adam and Eve discovered that they were naked and the Lord wanted to know why.
I think as I said last Sunday, it is at this moment that time began to run backwards. Now I cannot explain that nor experience that because I have never lived when it run the other way. But I think that it is true that all things begin to deteriorate, to decay.
Death has been introduced. Satan didn't have to tell anybody, it just happened. But Adam and Eve were ashamed because they were naked. My, what a what a change in the world. Verse 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord, Lord God, walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God, Lord God, amongst the trees of the garden.
Now let's look for a moment at the things that Adam and Eve learned. Besides being naked, what else did they learn, John? All right, they learned a whole bunch of words. Words that they had not known before.
In fact, they learned to speak in a language the language of sin. And we all come with that. We're all born with that. No matter what nationality you are or what language your parents speak, it is learned.
If there was never anybody here, you would grunt for your food. They learned shame. They learned remorse. They learned fear. A sense of guilty feeling to which they had been strangers before. They learned that they needed to cover themselves up.
Now they made aprons of fig leaves. That's rather scratchy. Yes, they knew there was something that had happened. There was something that had taken place. Now, yes, guilt came and they, I don't know the judgment if they understood that, but now remember before this when it was in innocence, I think that the Lord walked with them and they just communicated.
They didn't need words because they had the mind of Christ. Now the Lord starts to judge them and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? Dennis, had they hid from God? Ninth verse of 3.
Greg, they hid from him. The hiding was on their part. Is that right? Not on the part of the Lord God. He knew where they were. In fact, he could see them, but I want to know why did the Lord call to Adam?
David, that's a good point. All right. There's another big reason and it's spoken of throughout the Bible. That's a good point and that was part of the reason, but I want you to figure out why the Lord called to him.
Where art thou, Adam? That is exactly right. You see the Lord came to seek and to save that which was lost and it's right here that it was lost. Now, what if the Lord had not called him? It would have been chaos.
I think it's so beautiful that we have a record that the Lord called to him as soon as him knew that he was saved, not the Lord, or knew that he was was not in communication with the Lord. The Lord called him and he says, Where are you, David?
Where are you, John? Where are you, Dennis? This inquiry after Adam may be looked upon as a gracious pursuit in order to his recovery. If the Lord God had not called to him, his condition would have been as desperate as that of the fallen angels.
Do you see that? You see that, Debbie? I can't see or hear. Thank you. You see that, Dennis? We have a record from the very, very beginning, the first step. Yes. Yes. He sought me. Adam run from God. He wouldn't call him and he hid and I'm the same way.
But one time in my life, he called me so I would hear. Now, he didn't call me to satisfy himself, but to satisfy me and I didn't know I was unsatisfied. Anything else you can dig out of that, David? That's just as foreign as it can be to the way of God.
They're playing the part of Adam. That's right. Well, let's move on. Yes, that's true. He called only his own at that time and who were his own? Adam and Eve, the only two on earth. And he said, Adam speaking, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.
This is the first recorded speech of Adam and it came after he sinned. I really believe before that they communicated by thought. But now, well going back to the animals, excuse me, perhaps Adam, well, if he called the name out, who would be there to hear?
Up to this time, the Lord and Adam had just thought to communicate. Adam had the mind of Christ. Speech was not necessary. And how did Adam learn the word afraid or naked? How did he know to go hide himself?
How was that possible, Greg, Fred? Well, all right. Then he he gained a whole new vocabulary when he dropped into sin. Is that right? All right. He had no reason to be afraid. But I want you to learn fear came with sin.
The fact that he was naked, that came with sin. To hide himself came with sin. After he sinned, what language did Adam speak? What speech did they use? Well, we don't know. We've traced the language back.
And unfortunately, they cannot trace it to only one. It's Arabic or Hebrew, and where you can't find the root in Hebrew, you can in Arabic. And where you can't find it in Arabic, you find one in Hebrew.
So, right now, that's a little bit of a mystery to me. But now, the Lord knew where Adam was, and he went looking for him. Now, was Adam saved at this moment? Dennis? Well, that's not what I asked. Joy?
Fred? Tell them, Greg. What was that? Well, he was and he wasn't. What? All right, no one had salvation until after the cross. That's when it appeared. But, was Adam even potentially saved at this time?
Sure. For one reason. David, can you do anything to bring about your lostness? Then, he was not lost at this point. So, Adam did something that produced his lostness? Do you see, do you see how David keeps talking in order to get a hold of his point?
He's thinking as he's going. All right. The Lord sought him. Now, he sought him. Well, why did God seek him? Let's go back to that question again, John. Why did God seek? Now, I don't want to know the results.
We talked about that. But, why did God seek Adam, David? That's right. I think that the Lord sought Adam to establish the fact that he sought us. He seeks us. And he had to start with Adam because he was one of his.
Yes, that's right. That's right. He was running and God running down. Yes. Yes, that's true. Verse 11. And he said, who told thee that thou was naked? Hath thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou should not eat?
Now, the Lord God knew whether he had eaten of that tree or not. Up to this point, Adam knew the fact that there was good and evil. He didn't understand it. He didn't understand what evil was or what good was.
So, he knew that the tree existed, but that was all. Now, he understands that great transformation took place. Who told thee that thou wast naked? That is, how come you to know of your nakedness? Hast thou eaten of the tree?
Though the Lord knows all our sins, yet he will know them from us and requires from us a confession of them. And that he may be informed, but that he, not that he would be informed, but that we can hear ourself say them.
And we see example after example in the Bible of the fact that he had the people say their sin. Yes. Have I commanded thee not to eat of it? I thy maker, I thy master, I thy benefactor, I, the one that commanded thee to be contrary, commanded thee to the contrary, sin appears most plain, sinful, sin appears most plain, sin appears most plain and most needful in the glass of commandment.
When we place sin up against one of his commandments, it becomes very clear that the sin is wrong. And the man said, now this is what Fred was talking about, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.
Adam said, it's your fault because of the woman that you gave me. He blames the Lord. As the woman had been given him for his companion and help, he had eaten of the tree from love of to her and perceiving she was ruined was determined not to survive her.
This reminds me of something I heard on the news two or three weeks ago that there was some parents that were suing the police force because the cops were after a bunch of teenagers. They were chasing them in a car and they claimed that the parents claimed that the police, if the police had not been trying to capture them, they wouldn't have had the wreck and killed them all.
So they're suing the police force. Can you imagine? Makes just about as much sense as Adam did. She gave me and I did eat. I have no further blame in this transgression. I did not pluck the fruit. She took it and she gave it to me.
It's all her fault. If she hadn't given it to me, I would never have sinned. And the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said the serpent beguiled me and I did eat.
Now of the two, Adam's excuse and Satan's excuse, Dennis, which one is nearer the truth? Yes, Satan did beguile her. This sin of the first pair was despicable and aggravated. It was not simply eating an apple but a love of self dishonored to God in gratitude to a benefactor, disobedience to the best of masters, a preference of the creature to the creator.
Instead of confessing her sin, she increases it by accusing the beast. And the Lord said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field, upon thy belly shalt thou go and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
He asked the reason from Adam and his wife. Why did he ask for a reason from the two, Dennis? Yes. All right. All right. He would bring them to repentance. David, her joy. All right. He asked. All right.
He would bring them to repentance. And that's why he asked them to get them to confess, but he didn't do the same to the beast. Why is that, Greg? What? Why didn't he ask the reason of why he, he asked Adam and Eve the reason and we understand that.
Why didn't he do that from the beast? Why didn't he ask him for the reason? All right. All right. He will show the beast no mercy. He shows Adam and Eve mercy and I will put enmity between thee and the woman.
Enmity here means deep-rooted hurting, hatred, hatred, fear between thee and the woman and between thy seed. Notice that your seed, Satan, or the beast, and he's talking to Satan, and her seed, it will bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Enmity between the woman and the enemy, the seed and her seed. So you see the seed of Satan really is in this world. They're in the world in the form of lost people, eternally lost. A great point in the converting of sinners is to convince him that it is Satan he has been serving, that it is to him he has been giving up his soul, his body, and his goods.
A reference is made here to the seed of the woman, most unusual. The seed of the woman is never referred to in scripture. It's the seed of the man. So what does that speak about, David? Yes, and he brings it up right here.
It is always the seed of the man. This is Jesus the Christ and he is to be born of Mary, a virgin. Unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desires shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
He says, I will greatly multiply or multiply, and I will multiply. I will multiply thy sorrows and multiply those sorrows by other sorrows. And this during conception, pregnancy, and particularly so in childbearing.
God is to greatly multiply the woman's conception. So, if it is multiplied, and we're living in that state today, before, when it was not multiplied, what would the conception rate be, David? That's absolutely right.
What? Yes, well, it wouldn't have been a remnant because that's all it would be here. That's right. But she would not have had all of those children had there not been sin on her part to start with. So, that didn't happen, but we can count them when we get to heaven because that's who's going to be there, is God's children.
In other words, Dennis, there has not been some of his children born into this world because of of Eve's sin. The same number would have been born had there been no sin. But it had to be increased. The conceiving had to be increased, and why was that, David?
You do, but you haven't thought of it. Absolutely. Do you see how it fits? The woman is giving birth not only to the child of God, but to the child of Satan, and has all through this life, this world.
Then he tells her that your desire, you'll look to your husband for everything that you need. This does away with the woman's lib, by the way. They're trying to eliminate the man. They'll never do it.
It's strange to me, Dennis, that the woman's lib, the women always want to take the part of the man that they're trying to eliminate. Why not take the part of the woman? Now Adam, and unto Adam he said, because thou has hearkened unto the voice of thy wife.
Let's stop right there. Hearkened. Joy, what does it mean? Instead of what? All right. To hearken. If Fred hearkened to you, he would do what you have said to do, and not what the Lord said. And that's what Adam did.
He listened to his wife. He put his wife in the place of the Lord. You have hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it.
Cursed is the ground for thy sake, and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. In Genesis 16, 2, we have another hearken. And Sarah said unto Abram, Behold now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing.
I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her, and Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarah. And he got in trouble. When Adam hearkened to his wife, he was putting his wife ahead of God.
He excused the fault by laying it on his wife. She gave it to me, but God does not accept this excuse. John, what is an excuse? All right, Dennis, what is a reason? Excuses come from within you. Reasons come from outside.
Excuse is covering up, manufacturing, laying the blame someplace else. I would have been here, but the train got in the way. What did you say? Yes, that's right. That's right. But she didn't know to lie.
She could but tempt him. She could not force him. Though it was her fault to persuade him to eat, it was his fault to hearken to her. Thus men's frivolous pleas will, in the day of God's judgment, not only be overruled, but turned against them, made the grounds of their sentence.
Out of thine own mouths will I judge thee. But he does something else here. Cursed is the ground. Now, Greg, explain to me a picture that you see of Adam in his cursed state and the world in a righteous state.
Thus, excuse me, cursed is the ground for thy sake. For thy sake, it is good for you that I'm going to curse the earth. It is for Adam's sake. If man in his fallen condition had lived in a perfect world, he would have been miserable.
And the effect of the curse is, thorns and thistles shall I bring forth unto thee. This is the beginning of Samburs. And they had so many of them in Oklahoma. There were no thorns and thistles until then.
The ground or earth by the sin of man is made subject to vanity. In Romans 8 20, we find for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope.
The several parts of it being not so serviceable to man's comfort and happiness as they were when it was made. The fruitfulness was the blessing for man's service. How often are all the fruits of man's toil destroyed by a strong wind or rain or hail?
I see where Oklahoma had a tremendous hailstorm. Tornadoes. There was none of that before. Insects, floods, anxiety and carefulness are the laboring man's portion. I want to stop with verse 18. Start with verse 18.
Now, is there anything that you would like to mention? All right. That's a hypothetical question. It didn't happen that way, so I'm going to give you a hypothetical answer. I don't know. We can, and it's natural, play the what-if game and play it forever, but that does not change the fact.
It's good that we think of those things if they guide us to the truth. Anything else? Yes. Yes. You can't remember pain. You can remember the fact that you experienced it, but you cannot call back that pain.
That also is a gift of God. No. So today, have you seen how the woman's conception has been multiplied? It had to be to produce the seed of Satan in this world. That had to be to give us a choice. That had to be in order to fulfill God's plan.
It's all, every bit of it is working according to his plan and on his schedule, and he's not going to change anything. It's already been done. Yes. Yes. Yes. There, John.