TRANSCRIPT: Verse by Verse Study-Genesis-Chapter-3:6-to-Chapter-3:14: Zac Poonen

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That is an important question to answer because it relates to our daily life also. If it were like that, then there would have been no temptation, and Adam and Eve could not have been holy either.

The temptation lay in the fact that the tree was so attractive and probably had a very pleasant smell that all one’s physical senses were aroused by seeing that tree. Temptation is attractive. Otherwise, it’s not a temptation.

When it says that a man should not lust after a woman, it’s very unlikely that any young man is tempted to lust after some 85-year-old stooped old lady with white hair. There’s no temptation there, and to say that “I did not lust after her” – there is nothing so wonderful about that.

We can ask: if God did not want man to fall in this area at all, all He had to do was to make all women very unattractive, ugly, and repulsive. Or if everybody got leprosy when they handled money like Gehazi, it would be no problem to hate money either. But it is because all temptations are so attractive that we are tempted. Temptation has to be attractive. Otherwise, there’s no temptation. God allows these many things to be attractive, but in that temptation, we can find whether we love God or not.

The Bride and the Harlot

If you turn to 2 Corinthians 11, we read what Paul says concerning this temptation, and we see something very important and interesting there. He’s speaking here about the bride and the harlot, about Jerusalem and Babylon, about spiritual faithfulness as the bride and spiritual adultery as the harlot.

He says in 2 Corinthians 11:2: “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.”

We see that Paul had a desire that this church in Corinth should one day be presented to Christ as a pure bride. But he says, “I’m afraid that you may not be in the bride.” If Paul believed, like many believers today, that once you’re a believer, you’re automatically in the bride – you don’t have to do anything, you just sit down and cross your legs and twiddle your thumbs till the rapture comes – then what should he be afraid of?

He says, “I want to present you as a pure virgin to be the bride of Christ, but I’m afraid that when Jesus comes, you may not be there as the bride.” Paul believed that very few would be in the bride, and he was afraid for these Corinthians that they might miss it.

He says in verse 3, “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

This is how we miss being in the bride – by losing that simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. When we read this verse, we understand what happened to Eve. What did Eve lose? She lost that simple pure devotion to Christ. He says the same thing can happen to you.

So we see that the origin of this principle of the bride and the harlot begins right there in Genesis chapter 3. That is where harlotry has begun already. When we talk about the bride and the harlot, this is not some advanced truth that we have suddenly discovered in these last days. If you have eyes to see it, you compare what we have just seen in 2 Corinthians 11 with Genesis 3 – it is there in Genesis 3. Only it’s a hidden thing.

The Mystery of Lawlessness

It’s called a secret of lawlessness, mystery of lawlessness. What does lawlessness mean? That means to have no law. That phrase is found in 2 Thessalonians 2. It means I don’t have to keep the commandments. But won’t God punish you then? No. I have a word which says, “You shall not surely die.” I have believed in Christ, “You shall not surely die.” And with that word from the devil, many believers indulge in lawlessness and cover themselves with a false grace.

The origin of all that false grace is way back there in Genesis 3. “You will not die.” How can you die? That originated there, this false grace.

And if we have eyes to see, we can see very clearly how Paul was afraid that this false grace, which the devil preached to Eve, would be preached to the Corinthians. He goes on in 2 Corinthians 11:4 to say you will receive what? Another gospel, which is not the gospel of the true grace of God which delivers you from sin, but another grace which comforts you in your sin – not delivers you from sin, but comforts you in your sinful life. That is another grace.

He says, “I’m afraid that you will receive another gospel.” And then the devil would have succeeded with another Jesus who doesn’t seem to take sin so seriously, another spirit which gives you excitement and tongues, but not holiness – not the Holy Spirit.

All those things he speaks of in verse 4 are related to what we see back in Genesis chapter 3. It is another gospel. The gospel that God gave Adam was, “You can eat anything in this garden, but don’t eat this.” But the gospel that Satan gave was, “There’s no harm in eating this also. You will not die.” That is another gospel, which takes away the law of God so that a man can disobey God and still think that he’s alright. The devil has deceived so many so-called believers with this false gospel and false grace. That’s how the woman was deceived.

Adam’s Deliberate Sin

In Genesis 3:6, she gave it to her husband who was with her, and he also ate. We saw in 1 Timothy 2 that Adam was not deceived. He knew what was going on, and he disobeyed God, not because he was deceived like his wife. It’s important to notice this distinction. The woman was deceived – she thought no harm would come. That’s why Paul says, “I do not allow a woman to teach because she can lead people astray.” It’s not a woman’s province to teach doctrine.

But the man was not deceived. How did he fall into sin? Because he loved his wife so much that he was even willing to disobey God in order to please his wife. You think Adam was the only person like that? Since Adam’s time, thousands and millions of husbands have disobeyed God in order to please their wives. So many young men have married unconverted girls in disobedience to God’s word, just to please a girl.

It’s amazing what power a woman has to draw a man. Eve, the first woman created, must have been fantastically beautiful and attractive. Adam just fell when she said, “Darling, eat this.” He could not resist it. I’m afraid, my brethren, lest like Adam fell, some of you also may fall if you are not careful here.

The Warning About Enticement

We also have a warning that it was the woman who enticed the man to sin. Even today, in many ways, a woman can entice a man to sin by the way she dresses, by the way she walks, and in many other ways. There is a power in the sexual area that a woman has to attract a man.

That’s alright for unconverted people. They have no light. They are in darkness. But once you become a Christian, once you become a disciple of Jesus Christ, and if you’re a sister, you have to be extremely careful in this area to change your ways – to change your ways of looking and talking to men, conducting yourself, and dressing yourself. It must have no connection with the way it was out in the world to attract a man.

They teach that out in the world: “Unless you attract a man, how will you get a husband?” That is for unbelievers. If you’re an unbeliever, go ahead and do that. But if you’re a believer and you say the God who gave Eve a husband will give me a husband too, then you don’t have to try those worldly methods that people out in the world try.

That is for atheists. For atheistic women, they can do that. “You must attract. Otherwise, how will you ever find a husband? You’ll just live as an old maid.” Yes, if you’re an atheist, please do that. But if you claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, live by faith that it is God who will give you the husband you need – not by your trying to attract with gifts that God has given you for His glory, not for you to entice men to sin.

I believe with all my heart that if God judges a man for lusting after a woman, He must judge that woman also if she dressed in such a way or behaved in such a way that she enticed the man. And I believe her judgment will be more than the judgment to the man.

So we have to be very careful here, very careful in this area, not to entice people to sin.

Finding Comfort in Others’ Sin

This is also something which is very sad: when we have sinned ourselves, like Eve had sinned herself, she wanted Adam also to sin so that she could get some comfort. It’s an amazing thing that when we have fallen in some area, we can get comfort when we see another person also falling in the same area.

Let’s say, for example, you have a violent temper. You’ve not been able to get victory over it. And one day somewhere, you hear of some great man of God who also loses his temper. What do you get? You get a strange comfort in your sin – “He also loses his temper. Oh, then it’s alright.” What have you got comfort in? In a false gospel? In sin? There you find that you have got your standard not from God’s word which says “put away all anger,” but from some man.

It’s an amazing thing. That’s why when you find someone writing a book describing all their faults and how they fell (there are lots of Christian biographies like that), and this supposed great person describes how he fell, you say, “Oh, how honest.” And you get a certain comfort in your defeat.

Beware of books even written by so-called believers that give you comfort in your defeat. You can think, “Ah, those books encourage me more than the preaching in the church.” Why do they encourage you? To find comfort in your defeat, whereas the preaching in the church keeps challenging you to get out of that defeat. Think of that. Beware of that comfort that you get from the fall of another person into sin.

When Eve had sinned, she wanted Adam to sin. That is even worse – that when we have sinned, we want the other person to sin. For example, think of a husband and wife (that’s how it is here – Eve and Adam are wife and husband). Say the wife has really lost her head and lost her temper and flared up. And she sees the husband sitting there patiently, not saying anything, quiet, meek, and that irritates her more that he’s not sinning. She’ll feel a little happy if he also flares up and yells back at her, then she gets a comfort. “Ah, he also sinned.” It’s the same thing that Eve did. “Now I have sinned, but my husband is holy here.” And that irritates this wife that the husband is holy.

The Deception of Sin

Think of that. And see if it’s not true to real life situations today. It happened, it began there. What a sinner that you sin yourself and you’re longing, longing to see your partner also sin. How much the devil must have got a hold of such a person to make that person not only sin herself, but to want another person to sin.

That is really to be gripped by the devil. When you sin and you see another saint, patient, humble yourself. Say, “Lord, I want to learn something from this person.” Don’t long that he also should sin.

You see, there are many people in Christendom who know that we preach victory over sin. And they are against us because we preach victory over sin, many groups. And you know what many of them are waiting for? Shall I tell you? They’re waiting to see us sin.

Now tell me, who’s waiting to see me sin? Is it God or the devil? Who is it? The devil. So if these other people are also waiting to see me sin, whose agents are they?

No doubt in my mind. They can’t be led by the Holy Spirit waiting to see somebody sin to say, “Ah, now we got them.” Think of that. There’s only the devil who can get such delight when he sees somebody sin. And there, God allows that to expose that they are the agents of the devil.

And we can be also. If we are irritated with the holiness of someone that we want to see in sin so that he comes a little more down to our third-rate level. Very bad. Very bad. Don’t find comfort in these books that tell you about somebody’s defeated life and you think, “Oh, what honesty.”

There is a great danger there. I believe particularly in Nadeem. That can be another gospel. I would rather hear a word that challenges me to be like Jesus every day of my earthly life than to keep on hearing these comforting messages.

“Oh, it’s alright. God loves you.” Because underneath that, you can hear another sound. “You will not die. You will not die. You will not die.” There’s a comfort there. “You will not die.” But it is a false comfort. The word of God is, “Do not touch, do not eat of that tree.”

I’d rather hear that. That’s a hard word. “Do not eat of that tree. Do not eat of that tree. Do not eat of that tree.”

And here is the comforting word, “You shall not die. You shall not die. You shall not die.” Which would you rather listen to? God allows us to hear both voices, both type of messages, both type of books, both types of articles.

And the question is, which do we respond to? If I find myself responding to this comfort and comfort, God may be allowing it to expose the fact that you have really got no interest in holiness at all. You’re only interested in comfort in your defeated state in sin. So let’s learn something from this very important verse in the Old Testament where the principle of the bride and the harlot is exposed. Simple devotion to Christ means simple obedience to what God has said.

That’s all. No questions. And the opposite of that is to be led astray in a false comfort. So that’s what Paul was afraid of for the Corinthians. He said, “I’m afraid that instead of having the simple devotion to Christ, to simply obey God’s word, you can be led into this false comfort, which is another gospel.”

The Eyes of Disobedience

And then we read in verse seven, “Their eyes, the eyes of both of them were opened.” Now that’s what the devil told them in verse five. The eyes of both of them were opened, but not in the way they expected. The devil said, “Your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.”

But you compare that verse five with verse seven. It says the eyes of both of them were opened and they saw they were naked. That’s quite an anticlimax to becoming like God. And all of a sudden, my eyes are opened instead of becoming like God, I just discovered I’m naked. The devil must have just sat back there and had a big laugh at these two fools in the Garden of Eden.

But what about all the other fools who have read all this and continue to be deceived by the devil through the years? Who don’t realize that this other gospel of Satan is only meant to lead us away from God, so that we never become a part of that pure virgin that is to be presented to Christ. Take it seriously, brothers and sisters. Take it seriously.

And let me repeat that, when you come to the church, if you are looking more for a message of comfort in your sin rather than for a challenge to be delivered from your sin, I just want to inform you that you are on the wrong track. You might as well face up to it. You are on the wrong track and probably your conversion is not thorough and proper. Your repentance is not proper. You need to hate sin a little more.

Ask God to help you there to be properly converted. Very important. Then their eyes were opened, and they saw their shame. That’s always the result of sin. That’s where man got a conscience.

Till that point, Adam and Eve were innocent like babies. You know babies? They can walk around naked and they don’t feel any shame because they are not alert to that. They have no sense for that. Small babies are like that.

Adam was like that. Adam was innocent. And those babies can’t do anything wrong because their conscience is not developed. Then at this point, Adam suddenly got a conscience. Eve got a conscience.

Conscience: Second Best to the Holy Spirit

The knowledge of good and evil, which God did not want man to live by. Do you know that conscience is sort of a second best that God wants man to live by? We spoke about that earlier. Some people think conscience is the great thing. Conscience is a very good thing if I allow it to lead me higher and higher, but by itself, it’s not the best.

When God created Adam, He didn’t want him to live by conscience. He wanted him to live by the voice of the Holy Spirit, constant dependence on God. But now that we have fallen, and our forefather and mother ate of that tree, we have a conscience which is good. But you know there are a lot of people who can even tell lies with a clear conscience. It doesn’t disturb them.

So we see that conscience is not a very faithful guide. A man says, for example, he takes a bribe and he says, “My conscience doesn’t trouble me.” He does something so blatantly wrong, and he says, “My conscience doesn’t trouble me.” Is that the voice of God? No.

That is not the best guide. The word of God and the Holy Spirit are the guide. This is a sort of a second best. It’s meant to lead us to be faithful to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. But those who don’t have any Holy Spirit and who are not interested in listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit to protect them from gross moral evil, this conscience is there.

So that they don’t end up just like the animals. And that’s why you find out in the world also some so-called good people, they have a little conscience about certain things. And those Christians who don’t have discernment, they say there are some good Hindus and some good Muslims and some good atheists. It’s obvious when a Christian speaks like that, they have no discernment of the Holy Spirit at all. They only know the level of conscience.

But conscience is there in all human beings. But that’s not Christianity. Christianity is not just to live by your conscience. It’s much more than that. It’s to receive the Holy Spirit.

To be those who are led by the Holy Spirit are the sons of God, not those who are just led by their conscience.

But of course, conscience is important that if I don’t even listen to my conscience, I can never be led by the Holy Spirit, which is a much higher level. So their eyes were opened and we can say the eyes are that conscience. Jesus said the light of the body is the eye. That is the conscience (Luke 11:34). And if your eye is clear, that means your conscience is clear, your whole body can be full of light.

You see, the purpose of that conscience is that if I live according to my conscience, God’s life can come and flood my whole being and give me more light. My whole body can be full of light beyond what my conscience can tell me. So it’s important to go according to our conscience, but to allow it to lead us to a life in the Holy Spirit of obedience to the word of God.

The Beginning of Shame and Hypocrisy

And so we see here their eyes were open and they were ashamed and they had to hide from one another. That’s why they sewed fig leaves together. What were they sewing fig leaves for? What are they putting on clothes for? There were no other human beings in Eden, only the animals. They were not bothered about the animals. Who were they trying to cover themselves from? From each other.

And that’s a very interesting thing, that when sin comes even between a husband and wife, who strictly speaking should have no shame in being known as they are, there can come a desire to cover up something, to hide something. Sin has come. And there are fig leaves, a little more distance, a little hiding of one another from oneself from each other in husband-wife relationships because of sin.

Sin always brings that a sense of shame, a sense of unwillingness to be known, and this is the beginning of all hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy also began here, and in our relationships in the church too. Unwillingness to be known as we are. We’re trying to cover ourselves up and make ourselves more respectable before one another. That’s always the result of sin, guile. The beginning of guile is the stitching of fig leaves.

Fig Leaves: Human Righteousness

It’s a picture of human righteousness. We know that when Jesus came, He came to a fig tree and He saw it full of leaves. And what did He do? Cursed it.

Why? There was no fruit. Leaves, leaves, leaves, leaves, fig leaves, fig leaves. Those are the same fig leaves that Adam and Eve used to cover themselves with and Jesus cursed it. There’s a curse on this human righteousness with which we try to make ourselves presentable to each other and even to God.

“Lord, I’ve lived a good life. I’ve given money to the poor. I’ve helped those who are in need. I’m not like the prostitutes and the thieves. I’m a fairly good person.”

Cursed is all that human righteousness. There are more people who have gone to hell because of the so-called human goodness than because of adultery and murder. I believe that. Many people who could have been saved are not saved because they have never got rid of their human righteousness. They have never seen that all the multitudes of fig leaves with which I try to cover myself are all cursed by Jesus Christ.

He cursed that fig tree and it says the fig tree withered up. And that’s how it is with fig leaves. You can imagine these fig leaves, if Adam and Eve kept on walking around with them, how long would they last? You know, these leaves have a tendency to dry up and fall off after some time. And you see God had something better for them.

We read later on that God killed an animal and gave them an animal skin. You know, an animal skin can last for centuries. That’s the difference between the righteousness of Christ with which God clothed us and our own human efforts to try and pretend that we are so good. That’s why so many people are not saved. Because they have still a few fig leaves, they think they are so good.

Seeing Ourselves as Sinners

That’s why I believe that nobody can make spiritual progress until they see themselves as really the most rotten sinner. You know that story what Jesus said about the Pharisee and the publican who went to the temple to pray? And this is what the publican said, “Lord, be merciful to me.” And it doesn’t come out very clearly in the English, but in the original Greek, is “Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner.” Not a sinner, but the sinner.

And there’s a difference between saying a sinner and the sinner. It means “Lord, there’s one sinner in this town, and that’s me.” You feel like that? Then you can be justified. But if you feel there are other sinners in this town worse than me, well, you would got to sit with the Pharisees then. That’s what Jesus was teaching in that parable.

Have you got that consciousness that is one sinner in this town and that’s me, Lord? You can go home justified. And there are Christians, so-called believers who never come to that place.

Year after year after year, they never feel that they are the worst sinner in town. Never once. I want to ask you all of you sitting here, have you ever in your life, even once felt that you are the worst sinner in Bangalore? Have you ever felt that? I’ve felt it many times.

If you haven’t felt it, my brothers and sisters, there’s something shallow about your conversion and your salvation. Though you’re sitting here, you really belong to one of the denominations. Your conversion is only that level. You haven’t really seen the horribleness of all your so-called fig leaves which Jesus has cursed. Throw it away.

It’s worth nothing. You’re saying that you are good and you’ve done this and you haven’t done so many bad things. God have mercy on you and may you have light on it before the day of judgment. Otherwise, it’s possible you can be lost forever. This type of righteousness is like filthy rags in God’s eyes.

All These Fig Leaves

Ask God to open your eyes to see that you are the sinner in Bangalore. The sinner for whom Jesus died. Then we can have salvation and our salvation will be a glorious salvation. I know when I got this light on this, it changed my whole concept of God and of salvation.

We need to see that. But we have to get rid of our fig leaves. All of them. All our so-called good deeds. That’s not how we get salvation. They made themselves loin coverings and tried to hide themselves from each other.

Verse eight, “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” You see, that’s the next thing. We hide ourselves from each other and we even hide from God.

I’ve said many times that the thing that God requires from man, number one, is honesty. I believe that with all my heart. Honesty. Be absolutely honest. Don’t pretend with Him. He knows everything.

You can’t play the fool with Him. You don’t feel like reading the Bible? Tell the Lord. “Lord, I don’t feel like reading the Bible. That’s the truth.” Why pretend to Him? He knows in any case that you don’t feel like it. “Lord, I don’t feel like it, but I need to do it. Please help me.” That’s honesty. Rather than to pretend, “Oh Lord, I love this very much” when you don’t feel like reading it at all.

This type of humbug and dishonesty is what leaves many believers in that rotten condition. If only they were honest. Say, “Lord, I don’t feel like reading it.” I said that to God, and God helped me. I say, “Lord, You love honest people. You don’t want me to play the fool with You. I want to be absolutely honest. Lord, I love money. Please deliver me from it.” And the Lord says, “I’ll do that.”

But if I pretend, “Lord, I’m alright here. I don’t have a problem,” the Lord says, “Alright. You sit there. I didn’t come for people like you. I’m looking for the sinners.”

So many believers get sidelined by the Lord. He leaves them alone with the Pharisees. He says, “I’m looking for the sinner.” My brothers and sisters, take it seriously. Salvation is for the sinners, for those who see their need and their condition. Don’t hide.

God Takes the Initiative

They try to hide. Foolishness to hide. And it says here, the Lord God came into the garden which teaches us that God took the initiative to find them. One would have thought that Adam and Eve, as soon as they fell, should have dropped everything and instead of trying to stitch fig leaves together, they should have just run in the direction wherever they knew they could find God and say, “Lord, where are You?”

It says, God sought them. That’s a tremendous word for us—that when we sin, it is God who takes that first step to come and to ask in verse nine, “Where are you?” The Lord God called the man. Do you know that this is the first question that God ever asked a human being? The first question that God asked a human being in the Bible is, “Where are you?” after he has sinned.

Was God asking for information? It’s like a mother calling out in the house to her son and saying, “Where are you?” She doesn’t know where he is. Was God like that not knowing, “Where is Adam? I can’t find him.” It wasn’t like that. God knew very well that Adam was hiding behind that particular tree. Then why in the world does He have to ask him?

Because of that same principle that God wants us to honestly acknowledge, and He helps us. He says, “Where are you Adam?” It’s a tremendous encouragement that God longs for that and He took that first step.

No One Seeks for God

The Word of God says in Romans chapter three and verse eleven: “There is no one who seeks for God.” Have you read this verse? Verse eleven: “There is no one who seeks for God.”

What about all these people who go to Tirupati and Mecca and Vellangani and how many places? Is it true? Let God be true and every man a liar. That’s what it says at the beginning of chapter three, in the same chapter. What does God say? No one seeks after God.

So what are all these people seeking then? They are seeking for blessing. What about the lakhs of people who come for a healing meeting? You think they’re seeking for God? The healing evangelist has got to be really crazy to think that all these lakhs of people are seeking after God. He’s got to be really nuts to think that these people are seeking after God. They’re not seeking after God. They’re seeking after blessing.

Just like the people who go to Tirupati or Mecca or Velangani who come to an evangelistic healing crusade. Exactly the same. I’m not deceived. If I see a crowd going to Tirupati, I’m not excited. And if I see a crowd going to a Christian healing crusade, I’m still not excited. Basic motivation in both cases is the same. How can I get some blessing? How can I get something? Are they seeking after God Himself? No.

No one seeks after God. Everybody wants to see what they can get for themselves. That is the condition of the human race. Never forget it. There is not a single human being in the world who seeks after God. And my brothers and sisters, that is our condition also when we are unconverted.

And if today, I have a desire or you have a desire after God, not His blessings—blessings, the Tirupati, Mecca, Velangani and healing crusade people all have—I don’t mean that, but a desire after God Himself. You can be sure that’s because the Holy Spirit has done a work in you.

And if you become a Christian, and you still have no desire after God, but only how can God bless me, put yourself in the same category as the Velangani, Mecca, Tirupati people. No difference. You’re not being converted from that; you’re in that category. No one seeks after God.

God goes to some churches, looks around and says, “No one seeks after God.” God goes to some other church, “Yes. One person here seeks after God. The rest, just interested in something for themselves.” And another church, “Five people here seek after God. The others not interested.”

Now if the Lord were to come into our midst, how many will He find who want Him? Who can say like the Psalmist:

“Lord, there’s nothing on earth I desire but You. Whether You heal me of my backache or my cancer makes not even this much difference to me. I am not bothered whether You heal me of my sickness. I am not bothered if I don’t get a promotion. I am not bothered if I don’t get a better house to live in. I am not bothered if anything I have is stolen, or robbed, or lost, or broken, or anything. There’s nothing on earth that I desire beside You.”

For that to happen in a person’s heart, the Holy Spirit’s got to do a work. Until that happens, we can say that this person is a believer but he’s this Mecca type of believer, this Tirupati type of believer, Vellangani type of believer. There are lots of these Vellangani, Tirupati type of believers today.

May God save this church from having such people sitting in our midst and remaining like that. It’s alright to be like that when we come. All Vellangani type believers and Tirupati type believers are welcome, but they must be converted to become those who seek after God. So that we don’t remain in that category of “no one who seeks after God.”

God Seeks Us

It’s God who sought after Adam and Eve. And it’s God who desires to work in us by His Spirit, so that He seeks us, so that we can be drawn towards Him. Wonderful. It’s a great encouragement for us to see that.

But Adam was hiding and even today man thinks that he can hide—that he can hide from God. All the unbelievers in the world think that, that they can hide from God and even a lot of believers think that.

And as long as we think that we can hide something from God—for example, when a believer sits in a church, absolute hypocrite in his private life doing all kinds of wrong things and sitting in the church like a holy pious person? Isn’t he making the same mistake of thinking that he can hide from God also, that God will somehow overlook all these things?

What a deception Satan has got such a believer into, to think that he can hide his private life from God, to go behind some tree, or to go into some room and lock the door. It doesn’t matter whether you’re behind a tree or inside a locked door. When you sin inside a locked door or behind a tree, it’s the same thing of thinking God can’t see me behind this tree.

What’s your sin? “Oh, if I lock the door, God won’t be able to see me.” A man’s got to be mad to think like that. And that is what sin does to some people. It makes them so mad that they think that when they’ve locked the room, God doesn’t see them. Or if the lights are switched off, God doesn’t see them. This is amazing.

I’ve heard a story about this ostrich. It’s become a proverb in the English language to “bury your head in the sand.” I believe the ostrich—I don’t know whether it’s true or not—but the ostrich is one of these big birds that can’t fly. And the ostrich, when it sees a whole lot of its enemies attacking it, it’s scared and knows it can’t run fast enough. So it does a very clever thing. It buries its head in the sand and it says, “Now I can’t see anybody. So I’m sure nobody can see me.” Have you heard of that? That’s called burying your head in the sand.

And that’s exactly how a lot of believers are. “I’ve locked myself in this room now. Now even God can’t see me.” Or “It’s dark now. God can’t see me.” Think of that. They wouldn’t dare to do it out in the open because there, God may be able to see you. It is this madness and foolishness that the devil puts into people’s heads that God can’t see you.

No, my brothers and sisters. No tree, no room can hide anybody from God. He is everywhere. He sees everything. Through and through. Our only salvation is to be honest. He loves us. That’s why He comes and says, “Where are you?” “You’re trying to hide from me inside that locked room?”

Next time you are tempted to sin in some secret place, may you hear the voice of God saying to you, “Where are you? Inside that room, is it? Behind that tree, is it? Switched off the lights, have you? Where are you?” Hear that voice. Instead of just listening to the voice of the devil, “Thou shalt not surely die.” “Where are you?” That’s the voice of love. The other is the voice of deception. “You shall not surely die,” giving you comfort in your sin.

God’s Work of Deliverance

Every word of God, I find is a challenge to deliver me from sin. That’s God’s intention. As soon as man sinned, God began to work to deliver him from sin. That’s a great encouragement.

Something that I read which really encouraged me was that this chaos which we read in Genesis one—the earth was so full of chaos, and yet God made something very good out of it. And your life can also be like that, such a chaos, such a mess. And God can take that mess of your life and make something very good out of it. This is the gospel.

You read in Genesis one, the beginning of Genesis one, the earth is in chaos. In fact, chaos is not an English word. It’s a word from another language and it means just that. Chaos, the condition of the earth in Genesis chapter one. And from that, you see the end of the chapter. Excellent that God Himself can call it excellent. Wonderful. That’s a great encouragement. That’s the gospel in the Bible in the first chapter. Your life is in a chaos. God can make it excellent. But not if you hide. Not if you hide behind trees and inside locked doors. No. Come forth. Respond to God.

Then verse ten, Adam says when he’s caught, “I heard the sound of You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid myself.” The first time in the Bible that you read about fear, “I was afraid.” Fear follows on from sin. Fear is the result of sin.

It is really true that if you fear God, you need fear nothing else. Like it says in Isaiah 8:12-13, the Living Bible. If you fear God, that is you hate sin, you need fear nothing else. Why was he afraid?

Let’s turn to Romans chapter thirteen verse three, the middle of that verse. Supposing someone were to ask you this question, “Do you want to have no fear?” That’s the question asked here. Do you want to have no fear? I think everybody in the world would like to live a life like that.

You want to have no fear of authority, whether that authority is God or some government or police or the superior in the office? Do you want to have no fear? Respect? Yes. But fear? No. Fear of authority. “Do what is good.” It is when there is sin that there is fear. A conscience that is not at rest. Something not clear.

The Bible says concerning the overcomers in Revelation twelve, they overcame him, overcame Satan by the blood of the lamb. Remember this, you do not overcome Satan by taking up the cross first. No. You don’t overcome Satan by using the name of Jesus first. No.

Overcoming Satan Through the Blood, Name, and Cross of Jesus

They overcame Satan, Revelation 12:11, by the blood of the lamb. That means you believe that the blood of Jesus has cleansed all your sins. That’s the first step. Then the word of our testimony: “In the name of Jesus, I resist you, Satan.”

And then the third step, Revelation 12:11, they loved not their lives unto death. They took up the cross. So there are three steps: the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus, and the cross of Jesus Christ. But the first one is the blood. Otherwise, we will always have this fear.

Many believers never settle something in their life, and therefore they cannot overcome Satan. No fear is from the devil. Jesus Christ tried to deliver his disciples from fear as much as he tried to deliver people from sin and sickness. Throughout the gospels, Jesus delivered people from sin, sickness, demons, and he was constantly saying these words.

In the King James version, it’s always written as, “Fear not.” In the NASB, “Do not be afraid.” How many times he said that! Whenever he met people, he said, “Do not be afraid” to his disciples.

He was against sin, against sickness, against demons, and against fear. Do you know that Jesus wants to deliver you from fear as much as he wants to deliver you from any other sin? Of course. He doesn’t want a believer who’s got victory over anger and lust but is full of fear all the time.

God does not want any of His children to live in fear. Why did they have fear? Because of a bad conscience. There was condemnation. Today we can be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, be cleansed in the blood of Christ and live without fear.

“Because I was naked, so I hid myself.” What a fool. You should have come before the Lord. He didn’t believe in God’s love.

God’s Questions to Adam

And now we come to verse eleven, the second question that God asked. The first question was, “Where are you?” The second question is, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” We can put it together as one question.

Basically this question is, “Have you disobeyed me in some area?” That’s the second question. First question is, “My child, where are you?” And I come to the place where I’m honest. And then the second question is, “Have you disobeyed me in some area in your life?”

What is the answer that Adam should have given? He should have said, “Yes, Lord. I’m sorry.” That’s what we should be saying too.

The Sin of Blaming Others

But we’ve got the pig-liners. And so it’s not easy to be honest. Adam immediately began the habit of blaming others. Have you seen children when they have a fight? Those of you who’ve got more than one child will have this experience. When they had a fight, has one ever come and said, “Daddy, that was my fault”? You’re very blessed if you have children like that. That must be a unique child with some remarkable grace upon it.

There may be a few specimens like that, but I think they are rare. The ordinary, normal, average child is not like that. Of course, we can educate them to be like that. A father can say “only if you do this, I’ll approve of you,” and the child can say it to get the approval of the father. But naturally speaking, no chance like that.

It’s always something in the other person. But that began there with Adam and Eve. “This woman” – blaming the other person. And can we blame our children when the parents themselves are blaming each other? Grown up people, thirty, forty years old, how can they blame little seven, eight-year-olds when they themselves at forty, forty-five years old are still blaming one another?

“You should have done it like this.” What does that mean? It’s your fault. I hope you realize it. I’m trying to get you under conviction.

That is just blaming one another. Something is not done, something is not ready, and immediately “this woman whom you united with me is the cause of my being late for work” or “my not having done this or not having done that.” “This woman did not prepare the breakfast on time” or “this woman did not do something else” or “this man doesn’t bother about all the problems I’m facing at home.” It’s the same old story.

The next time you see that sad thing in your children that they are blaming one another, just after the children have gone to sleep, think to yourself whether you got victory over it after so many years.

That’s something we have to be delivered from. First of all, delivered from in speech and then to go to a deeper level. After we finish school, we have to go on to college. And that’s the thought level – that I don’t even blame the person inwardly, that I don’t even think that it is that person’s fault.

Don’t be satisfied till you come to that level of sanctification that you do not blame others. This is the sin of Adam, which we have to find deliverance from, one hundred percent right down to the roots. Jesus has come to lay the axe to the root. Then you can be like the publican who can say:

“Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner in the house.”

Let’s forget about Bangalore. Let’s begin with our own house. “Lord, I am the sinner in the house.” If we don’t get through that point, we’ll never reach this post-graduate level of considering ourselves the sinner in Bangalore. It’s so difficult to find ourselves as the sinner in that small house with three or four people. There’s a salvation there.

And we see here that Adam acknowledges that she was with him when it says “this woman whom thou gave us to be with me.” She was with him, just like it says earlier in verse six, she was with him when all this conversation was going on with the devil. “And she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

All he had to do was to say, “I ate.” That would have been the answer to God’s question. But instead of saying, “I ate,” it’s all this modification and then “I ate.” And you see that in children. “Did you hit him?” First four, five, six sentences, and then “I hit him.” It’s the same old thing that we see here with Adam. And they got it from us, their parents.

God’s Grace in Judgment

So we see this so that we can get salvation from it in our life. When we have sinned, we don’t put the blame on anybody else or our circumstances or any such things. But say, “Lord, I take that myself. I want to humble myself.”

And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman puts the blame on the serpent. She’s come out of Adam’s side, so she’s got the same nature to put the blame on someone else. The Lord God punishes the serpent.

It’s a wonderful picture of grace here. He begins with punishing the serpent, not man and woman. He has come to deliver us from the serpent. Be encouraged from that, that before He says anything to Adam and Eve, He pronounces judgment on the serpent. He says, “You’re cursed,” verse fourteen.

That is the thing that encourages me – that God is on my side even though I have sinned. He’s on my side against the devil. And therefore, I can be honest with God. He’s the only friend I have against the devil. And if I can be honest with Him, He can deliver me completely.

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