WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.500 --> 00:00:05.200 Grace mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father from our Lord 2 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:07.600 and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. 3 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:11.800 The text is from Genesis 3 read to you just a few moments ago. 4 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:15.300 Bear with me 5 00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:20.500 you all heard these words is a child and some of you have even read 6 00:00:20.500 --> 00:00:21.400 them to your children. 7 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:28.900 It begins Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and doesn't know where to 8 00:00:28.900 --> 00:00:29.400 find them. 9 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:34.500 Leave them alone, and they'll come home wagging their tails behind 10 00:00:34.500 --> 00:00:35.100 them. 11 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:37.700 Really? 12 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:44.900 The point of the rhyme is that Bo Peep was so irresponsible that she 13 00:00:44.900 --> 00:00:50.200 fell asleep and her sheep wandered off and of course when she woke she couldn't 14 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:57.100 find them. But she just assumed or anticipated that somehow some way 15 00:00:57.100 --> 00:01:01.300 they'd all magically find their way back home again. 16 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:09.000 What word for wise future Shepherds it doesn't work that way. 17 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:12.900 This isn't good pastoral practice. 18 00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:18.700 If Bo Peep really cared about the sheep wouldn't she have left even 99 19 00:01:18.700 --> 00:01:23.700 of them out in the wilderness and gone looking for them until she 20 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:24.300 found them? 21 00:01:26.100 --> 00:01:29.800 Today's text is the account of the awful day when Adam and Eve were 22 00:01:29.800 --> 00:01:30.600 lost. 23 00:01:31.500 --> 00:01:32.900 Lost In the Garden of Eden. 24 00:01:34.300 --> 00:01:39.600 Would have been lost forever but God in his mercy and Grace went 25 00:01:39.600 --> 00:01:43.800 looking for them and the sound of his voice must have echoed through the 26 00:01:43.800 --> 00:01:48.000 garden that day because it echoes through the centuries to us this 27 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:48.200 morning. 28 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:51.400 Where are you? 29 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.300 Genesis II ends with those interesting words the man and his wife were 30 00:01:58.300 --> 00:02:04.400 both naked and we're not ashamed but Genesis 3 begins the serpent was 31 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:05.400 more crafty. 32 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:12.600 And you know the strategy that he used on naive Eve because he's used 33 00:02:12.600 --> 00:02:14.200 the same strategy on you. 34 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:19.200 He began by questioning God's word. 35 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:23.400 Did God actually say? 36 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:30.600 And once she was willing to consider that God's word may not actually 37 00:02:30.600 --> 00:02:31.200 be true. 38 00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:34.000 Once she was willing to question God's word 39 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:35.400 she was easy prey. 40 00:02:37.600 --> 00:02:39.900 Satan then contradicted God's word. 41 00:02:39.900 --> 00:02:44.700 You will not surely die and under his breath 42 00:02:44.700 --> 00:02:48.200 he must have continued at least not immediately. 43 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:57.500 Then he made a new promise. He accused God of holding out on her and said your eyes 44 00:02:57.500 --> 00:03:03.300 will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. And so 45 00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:07.100 she listened to his lie, and she took another look at the fruit. 46 00:03:07.100 --> 00:03:10.000 And saw how pleasing it really was. 47 00:03:11.200 --> 00:03:16.700 And she took some and she claimed her by her pride 48 00:03:16.700 --> 00:03:20.800 she claimed the right to be like God. 49 00:03:23.200 --> 00:03:25.000 It's no fun to sin alone. 50 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:28.400 And so she gave some to Adam and he ate. 51 00:03:29.500 --> 00:03:34.300 And then just as Satan and promised their eyes were opened and they 52 00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:36.600 saw themselves for the first time. 53 00:03:36.600 --> 00:03:39.100 They became self-conscious. 54 00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:42.100 and realized that they were naked. 55 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.100 And now they were ashamed. 56 00:03:47.600 --> 00:03:51.900 And so they sewed fig leaves together to cover up what they had done. 57 00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:01.000 Their eyes were opened and now they knew good and evil. Before they had 58 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:06.000 only known good but now the good was gone and the evil controlled them. 59 00:04:07.700 --> 00:04:12.600 What our first parents did in the garden that day wasn't a an innocent 60 00:04:12.600 --> 00:04:14.800 little prank of swiping up an apple. 61 00:04:16.200 --> 00:04:20.700 When they eat of the forbidden fruit, it was a desire to be like God. 62 00:04:22.500 --> 00:04:25.100 It was disobedience to God's word. 63 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:29.000 They set themselves against God's will. 64 00:04:31.200 --> 00:04:34.400 They set themselves as enemies of God. 65 00:04:34.400 --> 00:04:39.000 That's what sin is and all the leaves in the garden couldn't 66 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:40.400 possibly cover it up. 67 00:04:43.200 --> 00:04:46.600 Are they likely heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden 68 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:51.100 many times prior to this and every other time they had run out to meet 69 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:51.800 him with open arms. 70 00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:54.900 But this time was different. 71 00:04:56.600 --> 00:05:00.000 This time they ran away from God and they hid. 72 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:04.400 But the Lord God wouldn't leave them alone 73 00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:07.300 he went looking for them and he called out to Adam. 74 00:05:07.300 --> 00:05:08.300 Where are you? 75 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:14.400 You think God didn't see you think he didn't know. 76 00:05:16.900 --> 00:05:21.400 An old Rabbi said it wasn't the God didn't know where they were. 77 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:27.100 It was Adam and Eve who no longer knew where they were. 78 00:05:28.900 --> 00:05:30.300 God called to them 79 00:05:30.300 --> 00:05:35.100 where are you? To call them to account for their sin and to give them 80 00:05:35.100 --> 00:05:37.600 the opportunity to confess what they had done. 81 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:42.100 But instead of confessing 82 00:05:43.200 --> 00:05:45.100 Adam crawled out of the bushes 83 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:48.100 clothed in fig leaves 84 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:50.100 blushing in shame 85 00:05:51.500 --> 00:05:55.000 unable to look to God saying simply. 86 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.900 I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was 87 00:05:58.900 --> 00:06:04.800 naked so I hid. Everything he said from that point on just further 88 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:05.900 incriminated himself. 89 00:06:07.200 --> 00:06:09.700 They hid because they were afraid of God? 90 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:14.100 They'd heard him before they hadn't been afraid. 91 00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:17.000 They've been naked before and they hadn't been ashamed. 92 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:18.800 Why was it different this time? 93 00:06:22.500 --> 00:06:25.300 It was different because they'd sinned. 94 00:06:27.400 --> 00:06:31.900 They had foolishly thinking that they could somehow avoid the shame. 95 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:37.700 Protect themselves from God's wrath and punishment 96 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:41.000 They were lost. 97 00:06:42.300 --> 00:06:45.600 But God just kept pursuing them. 98 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:48.100 He asked who told you you were naked. 99 00:06:48.100 --> 00:06:51.900 Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat? 100 00:06:53.300 --> 00:06:56.700 See Adam still wasn't ready to confess. 101 00:06:58.300 --> 00:07:02.500 Sinners hate to confess, you know. 102 00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:08.100 You said he did what we all do we tried to pin the blame on someone 103 00:07:08.100 --> 00:07:14.500 else. The woman you put here she gave me the fruit and I ate. God it's not 104 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:14.800 my fault. 105 00:07:16.100 --> 00:07:17.300 It's her fault. 106 00:07:17.300 --> 00:07:22.000 And technically it's your fault because you put her here in the first 107 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:22.300 place. 108 00:07:24.900 --> 00:07:26.600 He wasn't going to take the rap. 109 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:31.500 She continued the serpent deceived me and I ate the devil made me do 110 00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:31.700 it. 111 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:37.300 They were looking for some way to cover their sin and escape God's 112 00:07:37.300 --> 00:07:41.800 wrath that they were trying to do it their own way and their way just 113 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:42.500 wasn't working. 114 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:50.200 So the Lord God in his grace revealed to them his way. 115 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.300 It began with a curse of the serpent. 116 00:07:54.300 --> 00:07:59.800 I'll put enmity between you and the woman between your offspring and 117 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:04.000 hers he will crush your head and you will strike his heel. 118 00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:08.200 Enmity, 119 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:11.900 conflict between Eve and Satan 120 00:08:14.400 --> 00:08:16.400 she had considered him a friend. 121 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:21.400 She believed Satan's promise his lie. 122 00:08:21.400 --> 00:08:27.100 If God had left them alone Eve and all of her offspring after her 123 00:08:27.100 --> 00:08:29.900 would have followed the serpent would have been lost forever. 124 00:08:32.900 --> 00:08:38.000 His enmity would reach its conclusion in one of Eve's descendants. 125 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:41.900 Got threatened the serpent. 126 00:08:41.900 --> 00:08:46.200 He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. 127 00:08:48.300 --> 00:08:50.000 I get it Hebrew profs 128 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:53.200 you may have a problem with the translation. 129 00:08:54.300 --> 00:09:00.200 But the point is the enmity the conflict the strife between Satan and 130 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:00.400 Jesus. 131 00:09:01.800 --> 00:09:06.000 That battle would continue to rage throughout our Saviors earthly 132 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:06.300 life. 133 00:09:06.300 --> 00:09:11.200 We heard yesterday and will hear again this Sunday about the time when 134 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:15.000 Satan tempted Jesus, it wasn't a one-time deal. 135 00:09:16.800 --> 00:09:19.500 Satan kept coming back challenging 136 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:21.400 posing 137 00:09:22.900 --> 00:09:27.600 and on this cross he struck he sunk his fangs. 138 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:33.900 He injected his deadly venom, but his wrath was feudal for Jesus crushed 139 00:09:33.900 --> 00:09:35.000 the Serpent's head. 140 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:42.100 Conquered him triumphed over him once and for all on that first 141 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:43.800 beautiful Easter morning. 142 00:09:46.300 --> 00:09:50.700 Adam and Eve were the first to hear the promise of a savior. 143 00:09:50.700 --> 00:09:56.700 They were the first to know of God's unrelenting love for them. 144 00:09:58.300 --> 00:09:59.400 He called out. 145 00:09:59.400 --> 00:10:01.000 Where are you? 146 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.000 Because he wasn't about to leave them alone 147 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.000 hoping that they would come home. 148 00:10:07.800 --> 00:10:13.200 He would send his Son to seek and to save the lost. 149 00:10:16.900 --> 00:10:19.500 Where are you? 150 00:10:21.400 --> 00:10:26.300 The word of God rings out this morning and we might respond by saying 151 00:10:26.300 --> 00:10:28.500 well we're at Concordia Seminary. 152 00:10:28.500 --> 00:10:31.600 We're the good guys were in Chapel this morning 153 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:34.000 we're safe, right? 154 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:38.700 That would be naive of us. 155 00:10:40.400 --> 00:10:43.500 We need to recognize that we're in the midst of a battlefield. 156 00:10:44.800 --> 00:10:47.100 And that Satan still slithers among us. 157 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:49.700 He's deceived us time 158 00:10:49.700 --> 00:10:54.600 and again we fall in for a strategy we fought and said and done 159 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:54.900 things, 160 00:10:56.900 --> 00:10:58.300 for which we need to be ashamed. 161 00:11:01.300 --> 00:11:03.100 You think God hasn't seen? 162 00:11:04.700 --> 00:11:06.200 You think God doesn't know. 163 00:11:07.900 --> 00:11:12.000 But he comes this morning pursuing us with his grace. 164 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:15.300 Every time we gather together in this place 165 00:11:15.300 --> 00:11:16.500 he's looking for us. 166 00:11:16.500 --> 00:11:18.700 He calls out to us 167 00:11:18.700 --> 00:11:21.200 where are you? To give us the opportunity 168 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:24.300 to confront our sin 169 00:11:26.100 --> 00:11:27.900 and the confess it before him. 170 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:31.500 So, where are you this morning? 171 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.100 Still holding on to your lame excuses. 172 00:11:38.400 --> 00:11:40.900 Still trying to pin the blame on someone else. 173 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:45.800 Still wearing your fig leaves to cover and conceal what you've done. 174 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:52.100 Still blushing and shame afraid of God and his anger. 175 00:11:54.300 --> 00:11:56.300 Still refusing to confess. 176 00:11:58.300 --> 00:11:59.800 Still lost. 177 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:03.300 Where are you? 178 00:12:04.900 --> 00:12:10.400 God comes looking for you this morning calling you to account for your 179 00:12:10.400 --> 00:12:15.600 sin calling you once again to confess because he wants you to hear the 180 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:16.100 Gospel. 181 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:19.900 The promise of Jesus your Savior. 182 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:24.200 Of his unrelenting love for you. 183 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:28.100 Of the Forgiveness of all your sins. 184 00:12:29.400 --> 00:12:32.000 Of is victory over the devil 185 00:12:33.400 --> 00:12:36.800 and over your sin and over death. 186 00:12:39.300 --> 00:12:45.300 Saint Paul wrote to the Romans the God of Peace shall bruise Satan's 187 00:12:45.300 --> 00:12:47.000 under your feet. 188 00:12:49.700 --> 00:12:51.100 So, where are you this morning? 189 00:12:53.400 --> 00:12:54.300 In Lent 190 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:57.500 standing beneath the cross 191 00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:01.000 covered in the precious blood of Jesus 192 00:13:02.800 --> 00:13:05.100 forgiven your trespasses 193 00:13:06.400 --> 00:13:07.600 and delivered from evil. 194 00:13:10.400 --> 00:13:11.500 Where are you? 195 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:14.600 Exactly where God wants you to be. 196 00:13:16.100 --> 00:13:17.000 In Jesus. 197 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:19.000 Amen. 198 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:24.900 May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your 199 00:13:24.900 --> 00:13:29.000 hearts and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.