Seek His Face
Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:6-13
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a
tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with
her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and
Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the
garden.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid
myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I
commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I
ate.”
13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
You’re probably wondering why I started reading where I did and maybe even why I
stopped when I stopped. I’ve actually preached on the fall of man before but never
the way I will today so bear with me. This passage begins with Eve making the
decision to eat the fruit and then her husband deciding to eat as well. They did that
which God had told them not to do. They sinned. Now before we analyze this one
any further, I want to take a look at another scripture.
Luke 15:11-24
11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father,
‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And
not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there
wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe
famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of
that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his
stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread
enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to
him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be
called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him
and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your
son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on
his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be
merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to
be merry.
So, here we have the parable of the prodigal son. He gets his father to give him his
inheritance and goes off to waste it on sinful living. He lives in want, has to work
feeding the pigs and wishing that he could eat the food they have. He’s in a very
bad way. It says in verse 17 that he came to himself. Something in his mind must
have just clicked on and said what am I doing here. He realizes that even the hired
hands in his father’s house live better than how he’s living right now. He decides that
he will go to his father humbly and say he has sinned and doesn’t deserve to be
called his son anymore and ask him he can be a servant.
Now, here’s the point where I want to stop and compare these two passages. In both
instances there is sin. Adam and Eve sinned and the prodigal son sinned but they
handled it differently. The first big difference is that Adam and Eve hid from the
Father while the prodigal son (after he’s come to himself) goes to the father. The
second important difference is that Adam and Eve tried to cover up their sin. It says
in Genesis 3 that they were naked so they sewed fig leaves together to make
coverings. Can you imagine what they were thinking? They had been clothed in the
righteousness of God and all His glory and suddenly it was gone. What in the world
were they think? Maybe God won’t notice. Of course, after they saw each other
they knew that He would notice. Anything they used to try to cover themselves
wouldn’t come close to God’s shekinah glory. The prodigal son did not try to cover
up what he had done. He had been stupid and he knew it. He didn’t even try to
candy-coat it.
The last very important difference in these two passages is that the prodigal son
came to his father humbly. He knew he was a sinner and was not worthy, in himself,
to be called a son. Adam and Eve, when they were caught, both tried to push the
blame onto someone or something else. They were not humble, they did not
acknowledge that they were sinners; Adam even tried to push the blame off onto
God. ‘The woman You put here with me…’ The prodigal son didn’t blame anyone.
He could have tried. ‘The women seduced me.’ ‘My so-called friends used me.’ But
he didn’t say any of that. 1 John 1:8 tells us, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. This describes Adam and Eve. They acted as if they
had no sin and in doing so they deceived themselves. It showed that they had no
truth in them. Do you remember who else in the Bible has no truth in them? In the
book of John, Jesus speaks of satan and says that, He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. So you
can see that they had become like their new father, the devil.
Lets look at the differences in each father’s response. In Adam and Eve’s situation,
the Father told them that they were cursed and cast them away from His presence.
While the prodigal son’s father had compassion on him, fell on his neck and kissed
him. He had his best robe put on him, a ring on his hand, sandals on his feet; had
the fatted calf killed and made merry rejoicing. A bit of a different reaction, huh? 1
John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. That sounds more like the prodigal son. He had confessed
his sin and his father was faithful and just and forgave his sin and put him back in
right standing as his son, not just a servant.
It makes you wonder what may have been different if Adam and Eve had come to the
Father humbly, fallen on their faces and confessed their sin. God is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. It seems clear that He would have been able to
cleanse them from their unrighteousness. Only God knows. It’s possible that it is
necessary to be in the pigsty as the prodigal son was or maybe just smell the pigsty
to get that humility that brings you to repentance. You might even be able to see the
pigsty from a distance and get the point that you don't want to be there. That's what
I'm praying my children will do. Who knows how long it took Adam and Eve to come
to that point? They must have because they taught their children to seek God’s
face, to worship Him, and bring sacrifices before Him.
That’s what I want you to take away from here today; that we are to always strive to
seek His face. Jesus tells us that those who seek Him will find Him (Matthew 7:7-8).
Satan’s first deception in the garden was a big one, when he successfully tempted
Eve then Adam to do that which they knew the Father had forbidden. However, the
second deception may have had an even higher price. He deceived them that their
best course was to hide themselves from His presence in the garden. He still uses
this same deception today. How many people stay away from the things of God
because of their sin? How long did we run from God and remain in our sin? Isaiah
55:6-7 says it well:
6 Seek the LORD while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: June 18, 2006