This is a sermon series called Origin Story: Genesis 3:8-13, “Shame.” August 2, 2026 You can watch more here.
Genesis 3:8, “8 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.”
If you are new this morning, Genesis is in the Old Testament. Genesis is the first book in the Bible. These last 4 weeks we have been studying through Genesis and Genesis 1-2 teaches us that all of creation is designed by Him, through Him and for Him, so that in Genesis 1-2 everything is perfect.
But, in verse 1 we see “uncertainty” enters into the story as Adam and Eve give into temptation, so that in verse 8 we see what might be one of the saddest verses in Scripture, because the day before, Adam and Eve are in perfect union with God and with each other. The phrase “walking in the cool of the day” means intimacy and relationship were normal for Adam and Eve. They were naked and unafraid, but now Adam and Eve hear the exact same footsteps, the same voice, the same garden, but this time there is fear, anxiety and worry. Do you see that in verse 8? The sin of Genesis 3 isn’t just breaking some rules. It changed humanities relationship with God!
First, notice the God of Scripture comes looking for Adam and Eve in verse 8. Sometimes people will say, “God is mean in the Old Testament and then gets nice in the New Testament.” Uh, that isn’t true. Over and over throughout God’s Word we see the heart of God’s first response is to pursue His people and be patient with His people. He comes looking for them!
In addition, Adam and Eve are hiding from the Lord. Sit in that for a second. In Genesis 2 Adam and Eve are given authority to keep and care for the garden, and now they are hiding in the garden. Did you see the fracture? We need to remember this same pattern in life, because in those moments of failure in life we are going respond in a similar way.
Like Adam and Eve, we are going to pull away from the Lord. We are going to isolate from other people. We will even tell ourselves, “I can’t go to church right now, I’ve messed up my life too much?” But, in verse 8 we see Adam and Eve hiding and the God of Scripture pursuing. Look at verse 9:
Genesis 3:9, “9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
Now, we know that God knows where they are, right? Verse 9 isn’t asking where are they physically. Verse 9 is asking where are they relationally. Just stop and think about who is asking the question? It isn’t Adam looking for God. It’s God looking for Adam. Adam has sinned. Adam is hiding. Adam is the one who created the distance. And yet the very first voice we hear after humanity’s greatest failure is not a voice of abandonment. It’s a voice of pursuit, “Where are you?”
That question tells us something about the heart of God. When we see this question, “Where are you?” this is the God of Scripture inviting Adam and Eve into confession and repentance. This is the love of God inviting Adam and Eve to step out from behind the trees and say, “I am sorry, Lord. I ate from the tree. Please forgive me.” Biblically, that’s confession and repentance. Write that down.
Because we need to remember the heart of God in moments like this. He doesn’t begin with, “What is wrong with you?” He doesn’t say, “I can’t believe you did this.” He doesn’t even ask, “Why did you do this?” He asks, “Where are you?” Every one of us is somewhere spiritually this morning. Some of us are walking closely with the Lord. Some of us have drifted. Some of us are hiding behind success.
Some are hiding behind busyness. Some are hiding behind shame. Some are here physically while emotionally we’ve been distant from God for weeks. The Lord isn’t asking, “Where are you?” because He lacks information. He’s asking because He wants relationship with us. There’s going to be consequences for sin. That’s coming. But more than consequences, He is always calling out, “Where are you?” because He wants relationship. Look at verse 10 to see Adam’s response:
Genesis 3:10, “10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
This is the first appearance of fear in Scripture. Last Sunday, Adam and Eve should have been afraid of the serpent, but now they are afraid of God. Look at how fear is shaping their relationship with God. Adam says, “I was afraid because I was naked.” This word “naked” in the original language carries the idea of being exposed and vulnerable. It’s the picture of someone who is completely uncovered and laid bare before others.
But stay with me, because being naked isn’t actually the problem. God has already seen Adam and Eve naked. Genesis 2 says they were “naked and unashamed.” Nothing changed from God’s perspective. He created them. He created all those parts! What changed wasn’t God. What changed was the relationship. Sin fractured their relationship with God. That fracture produced shame. Shame produced fear. Fear caused them to hide.
And isn’t that exactly what shame still does today? Adam and Eve suddenly feel safer with God when they are distant from God rather than close. Isn’t that tragic? They feel safer away from the very One who is safest to be with. We still do this, don’t we? Think about when you were a kid and your parents said, “Don’t play ball in the house.”
What did we do? We definitely played ball in the house. Then something broke. And what happened next? We acted like it never happened. We hoped they wouldn’t notice. We ran to our rooms. We hid. Why? We weren’t just trying to avoid punishment. We were trying to avoid being seen. That’s shame. And we still do that today.
We hide behind busyness. We hide behind our addictions. Sometimes we even hide behind church attendance, showing up every Sunday while keeping the deepest parts of our hearts at a safe distance from the Lord. That’s exactly what’s happening with Adam and Eve. Their sin created shame. Their shame created fear. Their fear caused them to hide.
Today, we’ve created airplanes, iPhones, artificial intelligence, and supercomputers. We’ve made incredible technological advances, yet we still haven’t solved the oldest problem in the human heart. And then we open a document written thousands of years ago, and it describes our condition with stunning accuracy. Why? It’s because the God’s Word isn’t merely information. It’s explaining what every one of us still does. We hide from the God who is calling our name. And yet, even while we’re hiding, He is still pursuing us. Look at verse 11:
Genesis 3:11, “11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
I love that question, “Who told you that you were naked?” All he has to do is confess, “I did it. I ate from the tree. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. Please forgive me!” But the fear, hiding and shame is pushing him further and further away from the Lord. Please know, the God of Scripture is still calling out to humanity today, “Where are you?” That hasn’t changed. Right now, He’s calling out to my heart, “Michael, where are you?”
He knows we are walking through a season of transition. He knows it’s easy to get numb. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. He is asking that questions because He knows there are going to be days we are going to turn from the Lord in thought, word or deed. It’s going to happen! We are going to run. We are going to hide. Maybe some of us are in that place right now?
Please, see the heart of God the heart of God leading off, not with accusations, but with questions, “Where are you, who told you?” Jesus does the same. He could show up and reign down fire from heaven, but instead He is asking questions, “Where are you? Why are you afraid? Why do you doubt?” He’s after relationship. Look at verse 12:
Genesis 3:12, “12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”
Remember the question in verse 11, “Who told you that you were naked?” Adam’s response, “It’s the woman, whom you gave me!” It’s a two-for response, because Adam is blaming Eve and God! Adam is like, “I am innocent! I was just standing there minding my own business. I was naming some animals. Doing what you told me to do and then out of nowhere this woman, you gave me, shoves this fruit in my mouth!”
Back in Genesis 2 Adam is like, “Bone of my bone!” Then, in Genesis 3 Adam is like, “I never liked her anyways!” It’s because sin leads to shame, shame leads to fear, fear leads to hiding, and hiding leads to blaming. Write that down! Because it’s going to be hard in the moment! I remember when I was like 12-years old and my mom and her husband both worked together, but one day he has an affair with one of their co-workers and the co-worker calls my mom to tell her, “I just had sex with your husband!”
In the exact moment when my mom is on the phone, her husband walks through the door and says, “It was an accident.” Now, I was only 12-years old but I knew enough to know saying, “It was an accident” wasn’t the best answer. But that’s what we do as human beings. We turn from the Lord. We do what we want to do, and when it all blows up we are overcome with fear of what might happen. We hide from taking responsibility. And, we start blaming others. If you see that pattern in your life that isn’t a “you” problem. That’s a human problem that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Look at verse 13:
Genesis 3:13, “13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done? And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
In verse 13 we see Eve follows Adam’s lead and she blames the serpent. It’s like that Spiderman meme where all three Spiderman’s are pointing at one another. Everyone’s blaming. It’s the classic, “The devil made me do it!” Nobody is taking responsibility.
Listen to me. I know we’re all at different places with the Lord this morning, but I don’t think it’s an accident that you’re here. The God of Scripture is still asking the same question He asked in Genesis 3. “Where are you?” Not physically. Relationally. Where are you with Him? Let’s be honest. There are probably layers of hiding represented in this room. Some of us hide behind busyness. Some hide behind success. Sometimes we get so exhausted from working so hard to cover our shame that we turn to addiction to cover the pain because we can’t cover the shame.
Sometimes we become emotionally numb toward God, because our bodies are here, still reading, still praying, but our hearts have drifted. Their all modern-day fig leaves! Their human ways to deal with the nakedness of our soul. That’s why Jesus comes looking for people who are hiding. We actually get a glimpse of that at the end of Genesis 3.
Adam and Eve sew together fig leaves to cover themselves. God replaces their covering. An animal dies. Blood is shed. Their shame is covered. It’s the first sacrifice in the Bible, and it’s pointing us to a greater sacrifice that is still to come, because our coverings aren’t working. No matter how many fig leaves we sew together, they never actually remove our shame. They only hide it for a little while.
That’s why Jesus didn’t simply come to forgive your sins. He came to close the distance your sin created. He came so you would never have to hide from God again. On the cross, Jesus was exposed so that you could be covered. He was shamed so that your shame could be removed. His blood was shed so your guilt could be forgiven. He took our place so we could stand in His. It’s because of Jesus, we don’t have to hide anymore. We don’t have to pretend anymore. We don’t have to keep sewing fig leaves together anymore. We can answer the question “Where are you?” And by His grace we can finally say, “Here I am, Lord.”
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin by the Domain, established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching. Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
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