It was a Saturday night. The auditorium was dark accept for the flood light that was focused on the long haired young man. He had a guitar and was about to share a song with all of us.
There was an expectancy in the atmosphere of that place. It was good to be there.
The man started to sing a plaintive song, "Adam, where art thou?" The Holy Spirit was present and smeared all over that song as it was being sent forth by this young man of God with simplicity.
There was another young man of God sitting at the keyboard of the piano on stage. He sat quietly in the dark as the song was being sung.
This team set the table for what was about to happen, but that is another story.
What I want to focus on here is the song that Randy West shared with us and Joe Dallas who was the piano player.
"And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"
This was not the call of the police authority, but the call of yearning love. A father's love for His own. God's question to Adam still sounds in the ears of every sinner: 'Where art thou?' It is the call of Divine love which offers redemption from sin. It is the call of sorrow, which grieves over the sinner. It is the call of Divine love. To each and everyone of us the call is reiterated, 'Where art thou?'
It was not Adam who sought God, but God that sought Adam. No coincidence that your eyes are upon this text at this very moment! Sure you think that your doing ok, that you are not included in this cry of God's heart. You are exempt from this because your full of Xtian activities and such and above this state of Adam.
Scripture tells us that, "There is none that seeketh after God." Rom. 3:11
It was God who sought out and called Abram while he was yet in idolatry. It was God who sought Jacob at Bethel when he was fleeing from the consequences of his wrong doing. It was God who sought out Moses while a fugitive in Midian. It was Christ who sought out the apostles while they were engaged in fishing, so that He could say , "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." It was Christ who came to seek and save that which was lost. It is the Shepherd who seeks the sheep, and not the sheep that seek the Shepherd. How true it is that, "We love Him because He first loved us." The Deity stooping so low as to care for and seek out you and I, the dust of the earth.
You have come here, just now, because God Almighty has desired to knock upon the door of your very life. To rejoin you in His love.
Now Adam, who heard the voice of God, reacted in a courious way. He and his wife "hid themselves" from Him. Will you hide yourself also? Man's conscience then did not bring him to God-for there must be the work of the Holy spirit- they were terrified and ran away from God. They sought to hide themselves. Are you also hiding?
He was Holy, they were sinful, consequently they were afraid of Him and sought to hide themselves. Most are uneasy in the presence of God and wish to hide from Him. They become uncomfortable in their sin, so there seek to flee from Him.
When God sought out Adam and brought him face to face with his guilt, he was given fair and full opportunity to confess his sin. "Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" And what was the reply? How did Adam react? Instead of a broken hearted confession of his sin he excused himself- "And the man said, The Woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." It was the same with Eve: "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." Attempt was thus made to shift the responsibility upon others.
Are you doing this just now?
It was not working, it was unavailing and man stood face to face with a Holy god and was convicted of his guilt and unspeakable shame. And just as it will be at the Great White Throne judgment day.
1. The discovery that something was wrong with himself.
2.The effort to hide the shame by a self-provided covering.
3.Fear of God and an attempt to hide from His presence instead of confessing his sin but seeking to excuse it.
This scenario has not changed much through out world history.
But salvation is provided by God Himself!
Mercy desires to spare the offender and because justice demands death, another shall be slain in his place. The death of the Son of God is shadowed forth in the very act of God upon Adam and Eve. He clothed Adam and Eve with skins, and in order to obtain these skins animals must be slain, life must have been taken, blood must have been shed! And in this way was a covering provided for the fallen and ruined sinner.
The application of the type is obvious. The Death of the Son of God was shadowed forth. Because the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life for the sheep God can now be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Adam and Eve were entirely passive, it was the Lord God who furnished the skins, made into coats and clothing them. We see the same in the parable of the prodigal son. when the wanderer had taken the place of a lost sinner and had owned his sin, the grace of the Father's heart was displayed. "But the father said unto to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him." Luke 15:22.
The prodigal did not have to furnish the robe, nor did he have to put it on himself, all was done for him. And so it is with every sinner.
"For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the grace of God." Eph. 2:8
"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." Isa. 6110.
Let us come to our senses and come to God, just as we are, and allow Him to cloth us with Christ.
Christ Jesus our salvation, our covering from our sins. Our Redeemer.
Romans 3:24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Ephesians 1:7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Colossians 1:14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Hebrews 9:12Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Thessalonians 4:14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
You can have confident assurance that if you died today, you would go to heaven. Confess your sins to God and ask Christ into your life, believing that He died for your sins and rose from the dead.
That service in 1973 with Randy West and Joe Dallas has stood out in my mind all these many years, because it was the heart of the Father that they shared with us kids...They were anointed servants of God in a powerful way, smeared with the oil of the Holy Spirit, speaking a message that is timeless of salvation for all who hear.
Funny thing though, I can not for the life of me recall what the pastor, Brant Baker, shared with us that particular evening...hmm...
David Sloane
