"WHERE ARE YOU ? " Gen. 3:9

                                                  GOD’S FIRST WORDS TO THE FIRST SINNER

                                              (Adapted from a sermon from the Rev. C.H.Spurgeon)

                                   “The Lord God called to Adam and said unto him, Where are you?”

                                                                        Genesis 3:9.

                                                                           (CONTD )

 And now, lastly, we feel sure that this text may be used and must be used, in another sense. To those who reject

the text as a voice of awakening and conviction; to those who despise it as the voice of mercy bemoaning them, or as the

voice of goodness seeking them, it comes in another way. It is the voice of JUSTICE SUMMONING THEM.

Adam had fled, but God must have him come to His bar. “Where are you, Adam? Come here, Man, come here, I must

judge you, sin cannot go unpunished! Come, and your guilty spouse with you. Come here; I must put questions to you; I

must hear your pleading, and since they will be vain and void, I must pronounce your sentence.” For though there was

much of pity in the question, there was something of severity, too. “Adam, Adam, where are you? Come here to be

judged.” Today you hear not that cry; it is mercifully postponed. You shall hear it soon; you shall hear it for the first

time like mutterings of thunder when the storm begins; when sickness casts you on your bed, and Death looks through

his bony eyes upon you, and touches you with his ghastly hand, and says, “Prepare to meet your God.” You may put off

the question today; you will have to deal with it when God Himself shall come into closer contact with your nature than

He does today. Then shall your bones be as a jelly, and your ribs shall quake, and your very heart shall melt like wax!

You shall contend with the pains of sickness or disease; but there shall be a direr pain than these! You shall have to look

on death, but death shall not be the most terrible of all your terrors, for you shall see behind death the judgment and the

doom! Then you will hear it, when the room is silent, and voices of wife and children are hushed; when only the clock is

ticking, you shall hear the steps of God coming to you in the eventide of your life, saying to you, “Where are you? Now

you shall meet Me. Gird up your loins! No more invitations of mercy for you! Your day of mercy is gone! No warnings

from the minister; now you shall meet Me face to face.” “Where are you?”

Can you brag and boast now, when your nerves have become roads for the hot feet of pain to travel on, and your

strength has gone and fled, and you are as a candle ready to die out? Where now are your oaths? Where now your merrymakings

and your jests? Where are you now? You may toss and turn, but you will not be able to escape the question! You

will try to look back to this life, but you will be compelled to look forward to the life or the death to come! And still will

the Lord whisper into your ears, “Where are you? Where are you?” Then shall come the last struggle, when the strong

man shall be bowed, when the bright and glittering eyes shall be covered over with film, and the tongue shall cleave to

the roof of the mouth, and the hands shall lie with no strength on the bed, and the feet shall no more be able to support

the body; when the pulse shall fail, and the clammy death-sweat shall stand upon the brow; and in those last moments

there will still be heard that awful voice, rising with the gathering storm till it reaches the full grandeur of the awful

tempest—“Where are you?” In the Jordan without God; nearing the grave without hope; dying, but no Christ to help

you; launching upon eternity, but no hope of eternal salvation! It is over, and the last pang has passed, and the thread is

snapped that bound the spirit to the body, and you are gone into another world! But the question follows you—“Where

are you?” Your Spirit is now awake; it sleeps no more; it is rid of the dull flesh that kept it sullen, stolid, stupid, dead.

Now it hears that Voice, indeed, and it thrills through and through the spirit, for the soul is brought before its God!

“Where are you? Where are you?” cries the quickened conscience; ad God answers it, “Depart, you cursed one!” The

spirit departs from God, not to hide itself among the trees of the garden, but to plunge itself into waves of agony! And

how many years have passed, and the body, though the soul has been alive and has suffered, has been sleeping in the

grave, and the worms have devoured it?

But hark, the Day of Judgment! The day of thunder has arrived! Shrill above all thunders sounds the awful trumpet.

And after the trumpet comes the voice—“Awake, you dead, and come to judgment!” Amidst that awful tumult is heard

the cry, “Where are you?” The angelic messenger has found your body, and from the grave your body starts, from underneath

the green sward. Up it leaps in answer to the question, “Where are you?” and to its horror its ghastly spirit comes

back. Its soul, that long has suffered, returns into the resurrection body, and they two, comrades in sin, are now comrades

in judgment! The cry rings forth once more, and that very ear shall hear it that now listens to me—“Where are

you?” Then comes the Great White Throne, and those very eyes shall see it that now gaze on me! And then comes the

commencement of the dread assize—and that heart shall quail then which moves not now! Then shall come your own

personal trial; and oh, Sinner! Sinner! It is not for me to describe your terror! I could not give even the faintest picture of

that death-sound, and of the death of your immortal spirit while you hear it—“I was hungry, and you gave Me no meat;

I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; inasmuch as you did it not unto one of the least of these, My brethren, you did it

not to Me; and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.” Oh, Earth! Earth!

Earth! Hear the Word of the Lord! I pray each of you to hear it for yourselves! I have not talked to you of dreams. You

know they are realities. And if you know it not now, you shall before long. I do beseech you by the blood of Him who

died for sinners—and what stronger argument can I use?—think of the question, “Where are you?” May God show you

where you are! Hear the bemoaning voice of God, as pityingly He weeps over you! Seek His face, for He seeks you; and

then you need not dread to hear Him say at the last, “Where are you?” But you will be able to say, “Here am I, and the

children You have given me. We have washed our robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; and, Father,

here we are, hoping to dwell in Your Presence forever and ever.”

Oh, that I could plead with you as a man pleads for his life! Would that these lips of clay were lips of fire, and this

tongue no more of flesh, but a live coal taken with the tongs from off the altar! Oh, for words that would burn their way

into your souls! O Sinner! Sinner! Why will you die? Why will you perish? Man, eternity is an awful thing, and an angry

God is a dreadful thing! And to be judged and condemned—what tongue can tell the horror? Escape for your life; look

not behind you; stay not in all the plain; escape to Mount Calvary, lest you be consumed! “Believe on the Lord Jesus

Christ.” Trust Him alone with your soul; trust Him with it now, “and you shall be saved, and your house.”

Adapted from The C. H. Spurgeon Collection,.

PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON

TO BRING MANY TO A SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.

God Bless.

"WHERE ARE YOU ?" Gen. 3:9

                                         GOD’S FIRST WORDS TO THE FIRST SINNER

                                 (Adapted from a sermon from the Rev. C.H.Spurgeon)

                            “The Lord God called to Adam and said unto him, Where are you?”

                                                                   Genesis 3:9.

                                                                   ( CONTD )

 But now I must turn, lest time should fail us, to a fourth way in which no doubt this verse was intended. It is an

arousing voice, a convincing voice, a bemoaning voice—but, in the fourth place—it is a SEEKING VOICE. “Adam,

where are you?” I am come to find you wherever you may be. I will look for you till the eyes of My pity see you. I will

follow you till the hands of My mercy reach you, and I will still hold you till I bring you back to Myself, and reconcile

you to My heart.

Again, if you have been able to follow me through the three parts of the discourse, I can speak confidently to you. If

you have been awakened, if you have been convinced, if you have some longings toward God, then the Lord has come

forth to seek you, and to seek you this morning! What a thought it is, that when God comes forth to seek His chosen, He

knows where they are, and He never misses them; and though they may have wandered ever so far, yet it is not too far for

Him! If they had gone to the gates of Hell, and the gates were half opened to receive them, the Lord would get them even

there. If they had so sinned that they had given themselves up, and every Christian living had given them up, too—if Satan

had counted upon them, and had made ready to receive them, yet when God comes forth to seek them, He will find

them, and He will have them after all! You who are lost, perishing sinners, hear the voice of God, for it speaks to you,

“Where are you?” for I have come to seek you. “Lord I am in such a place that I cannot do anything for myself.” “Then I

have come to seek you, and do all for you.” “Lord, I am in such a place that the Law threatens me, and Justice frowns

upon me.” “I have come to answer the threats of the Law, and to bear all the wrath of Justice!” “But, Lord, I am in such

a place that I cannot repent as I would.” “I have come to seek you, and I am exalted on high to give repentance and remission

of sins.”

“But, Lord, I cannot believe in You; I cannot believe as I would.” “A bruised reed I will not break, and a smoking

flax will I not quench, I have come to give you faith.” “But, Lord, I am in such a state that my prayers can never be acceptable.”

“I have come to pray for you, and then to grant you your desires.” “But, Lord, You do not know what a

wretch I am.” “Yes, I know you. Though I asked you the question, ‘Where are you?’ it was that you might know where

you are, for I knew well enough!” “But, Lord, I have been the chief of sinners—none can have so aggravated their guilt

as I have.” “But wherever you may be, I have come to save you.” “But I am an outcast from society.” “But I have come to

gather together the outcasts of Israel.” “Oh, but I have sinned beyond all hope.” “Yes, but I have come to give hope to

hopeless sinners.” “Yes, but then I deserve to be lost.” “Yes, but I have come to magnify the Law and make it honorable,

and so to give you your deserts in the Person of Christ, and then to give you My mercy because of His merits.” There is

not a sinner here conscious of his lost estate who can be in a position out of which he cannot be brought! I will conceive

the worst of all the worst, the vilest of all the vile—we will bring up those who have taken high degrees in the devil’s

synagogue, and become masters of iniquity—but still if with tearful eyes they look alone to the wounds of Him who shed

His blood for sinners, He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him!

Oh, I cannot preach this morning as I would, nor can you perhaps hear as you would wish, but may the Lord speak

where I cannot, and may He say unto some despairing sinner here, “Soul, your hour is come. I will pluck you out of the

horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, at this day and at this very hour! I will set your feet upon a Rock. I will put a new

song into your mouth, and I will establish your goings.” Blessed, blessed, be the name of the Most High if such may be

the case!

(to be contd )

God Bless.

"WHERE ARE YOU ?" Gen. 3:9

                                            GOD’S FIRST WORDS TO THE FIRST SINNER

                                    (Adapted from a sermon from the Rev. C.H.Spurgeon)

                          “The Lord God called to Adam and said unto him, Where are you?”

                                                                 Genesis 3:9.

                                                                     ( CONTD )

 This brings me to the third way in which we may regard the question of the text. The Lord God called to Adam

and said to him, “Where are you?” We may regard this text as the VOICE OF GOD BEMOANING MAN’S LOST ESTATE.

Some have even ventured to translate the Hebrew, “Alas for you, alas for you!” It is as if God uttered the words of

the Prophet, “How can I give you up? How can I utterly destroy you? How can I set you as Admah? How shall I make

you as Zeboim? My repentings are kindled, My heart is moved for you. Where are you, My poor Adam? You did talk

with Me, but you have now fled from Me. You were happy once, what are you now? Naked and poor, and miserable. You

were once in My Image glorious, immortal, blessed—where are you now, poor Adam? My Image is marred in you, your

own Father’s face is taken away, and you have made yourself earthy, sensual, devilish! Where are you now, poor Adam?”

Oh, it is amazing to think how the Lord felt for poor Adam! It is taken for granted by all theologians that God can neither

feel nor suffer. There is no such thing in the Word of God. If it could be said that God could not do anything, and

everything, we would say that He was not Omnipotent! But He can do all things, and we have not a God who cannot be

moved—we have One who feels, and who describes Himself in human language as having a father’s heart, and all the

tenderness of a mother’s heart. Just as a father cries over a rebellious son, so does the eternal Father say, “Poor Adam,

where are you?”

And now have I here this morning any soul on whom the former part of the text has had some effect? Do you feel

yourself to be lost, and do you discern that this lostness is the result of your own willful folly? Do you bemoan yourself?

Ah, then, God bemoans you! He is looking down upon you, and He is saying, “Ah, poor drunkard, why will you cling to

your cups? Into what misery have they brought you?” He is saying to you who are now weeping over sin, “Ah, poor

child, what pain you suffer from your own willful folly!” A father’s heart moves; He longs to clasp His Ephraim to His

breast. Do not think, Sinner, that God is stony-hearted. You have a heart of stone, God has not! Do not think that He is

slow to move—you are slow to move—He is not—the hardness is in yourself! If you are straitened anywhere, it is in

your own heart, not in Him! Soul, Soul convicted of sin! God loves you, and to prove how He loves you, in the Person of

His Son He creeps over you and He cries, “O that you had known, even you in this, your day, the things that make for

your peace; but now are they hid from your eyes.” I hear Him saying to you, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I

have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not!” I pray you, let

this mournful wailing voice of the Eternal God come to your ears and move you to repentance! “As I live, says the Lord, I

have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, but had rather that he would turn unto Me and live.”

Oh, does your heart feel ready to burst because of your sin and the misery into which it has brought you? Pray, poor

Sinner, “I will arise and go unto my Father, and will say to Him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and in Your

sight, and am no more worthy to be called Your son.” He sees you, Sinner! When you are yet a great way off, He sees

you—here are eyes of mercy! He runs—here are feet of mercy! He clasps you—here are arms of mercy! He kisses you—

here are lips of mercy! He says, “Take off his rags”—here are words of mercy! He clothes you—here are deeds of mercy!

Wonders of mercy—all mercy! O did you know what a reception a God of mercy gives to sinners, you would not stay

away! As John Bunyan says, when the besieger hangs out the black flag, then those within the walls say they will fight it

out. But when he runs up the white flag, and tells them that if they will open the gates he will have mercy upon them, no,

he will give a charter to their city, then, says Bunyan, they say, “Fling open the gates,” and they come tumbling over the

walls to him in the readiness of their hearts! Soul, let not Satan deceive you by telling you that God is hard, unkind, unwilling

to forgive! Try Him, try Him! Just as you are—black with sin, filthy, self-condemned—and if you need anything

to make you come to Him, hear again the Lord’s plaintive cry, as it rings through the trees of Eden, “Adam, poor Adam,

My own creature, where, where are you?”

( to be contd )

God Bless.