Walking With God - Part 1 - Adam and Eve Walked with the Voice of the Lord

Temple Baptist Church - 4-23-2023

Genesis 3:8-9

 

Introduction:

 

A.  This morning, I want to begin a series on “Walking With God.” 

 

1.  In our verses for this morning, we see the familiar story of Adam and Eve just after the fall. 

 

a)  A time of transition from innocence to guilt; fellowship with the Lord to fleeing from the Lord; a time of disobedience, defilement, destruction (as they were now doomed to die), division, discouragement, and disappointment. 

 

b)  What a sad day as they would now have to leave Paradise, the Garden of Eden, with all its perfection—provision—beauty and live in a sin cursed world with all its problems.  They left never to return to their home.

 

Genesis 3:23-24  Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.  (24)  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

2.  Sounds like the days that we live in as the world is a place of deception and defilement.  God’s children face discouragement and disappointment as they must “walk” among the sinful of this present evil world.

 

B.  I will not dwell upon the fall of man in this chapter but wanted to pick out a phrase that shows a pattern in Adam’s life. 

 

1.  The First Mention of the word “walk”,  or  “walking” was a with a Voice: “the Voice of the LORD God” or, in our day the Word of God! 

 

Adam and Eve did not see a physical presence of Jehovah God walking but heard the “voice of the LORD God” walking. 

 

What a First Mention Principle!  Walking with the Word of God!  This was not a singular instance because they hid themselves from Who they knew would be coming to walk with them.  This reference was a continuation of something that took place on a regular basis.

 

2.  The Last Mention of the word “walk” is found in Revelation, chapter 21.  Revelation 21:24  And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

 

3.  As men walked with the Voice of God in the beginning, they shall walk with the Word of God and in the Light of God in eternity.  Between these two mentions, God’s children walked with God.

 

C.  The Voice walked and the Voice talked.  John 1:1 explains this phenonium as it shows the correlation between the Word of God from the beginning, the Incarnate Word, the Inscribed Word of God, and the Coming Word in Revelation chapter 19. 

 

1.  The Voice of the LORD God - Genesis 3:8  And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.

 

2.  The Word of God - John 1:1-2  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (2)  The same was in the beginning with God.

 

3.  The Incarnate Word of God - John 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

 

4.  The Inscribed Word of God - 1 Peter 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

 

5.  The Coming Word of God - Revelation 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

 

D.  The Bible declares that Jesus Christ was the Word (John 1:1), is the Word, and still will always be the Word of God (Revelation 19:13).

 

E.  Adam and Eve hiding from the Voice of the Lord shows that they knew Him and had previously walked with Him.  As Adam and Eve walked with the presence of the Word of God, so we who are saved also walk with Him—either in sweet fellowship or hiding somewhere in “the Garden.”

 

F.  Let me say at this point that God loved Adam and Eve so much that He would not allow them to hide.  God restored fellowship through the shedding of blood.  This same biblical principle allows us, as sinners saved by grace, to walk with q thrice holy God.

 

G.  We cannot walk with God without God’s Word.  

 

1.  We “Walk With God” in the new birth through His Word.  1 Peter 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.  (We cannot walk with God until we know and are born of God.)

 

2.  We “Walk With God” in Hearing His Word.  Romans 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  (Two hearings here: the audible hearing of the Word of God and the inward hearing or listening to the Word of God.  We cannot walk with God when His Word falls on “deaf ears.”)

 

3.  We “Walk With God” in Reading His Word.  1 Peter 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:  (We cannot walk with God in His Word unless we spend time in the Bible.  Picking it up and dusting it off for church does not strengthen our relationship with God.)

 

4.  We “Walk With God” in Trusting His Word.  Psalms 119:127-128  Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.  (128)  Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.  (Since we cannot see or audibly hear God, we MUST trust the Word of God.  Since all that we comprehend about God is found in the Bible, we cannot “cherry pick” which verses that we trust.  Walking with God is trusting God.)

 

5.  We “Walk With God” in Meditating upon His Word.  Joshua 1:8  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.  (Meditating upon God’s Word makes it a consistent part of our daily walk with God.  Walking with God in His Word comes through deliberating or pondering upon it.)

 

6.  We “Walk With God” in Studying His Word.  2 Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  (Walking with God in His Word is based upon proper understanding it.  God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  The Bible is our foundation upon which we build our lives.)

 

7.  We “Walk With God” in Adherence to His Word.  James 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  (Walking with God in His Word is both hearing and doing or applying the Scriptures to our lives.  The Bible sets Christian parameters for holiness of life.)

 

8.  We “Walk With God” in Sharing His Word.  Mark 16:15  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  (The Lord is not willing that any should perish.  His will is that “all men be saved” and come to the knowledge of the truth.  God so loved that He gave His life for sinners.  If we walk with Him, we will be soul conscious and souls winners.)

 

Conclusion:  The Voice of the LORD God is vital to our walking with Him.  “Either the Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible.