And So It Begins…

SUMMARY

In this sermon, Karl Ihfe uses personal stories of helplessness—his son Gabriel's premature birth and his father's heart transplant—to illustrate humanity's need for rescue. He traces God's rescue plan back to Genesis 3, arguing that salvation didn't begin at the cross but immediately after the fall. Drawing on theological insights about Adam and Eve being like children who were "sinned against before they ever sinned," Karl explains how the serpent acted as a groomer, exploiting their innocence. When sin entered the world, the first consequence wasn't punishment but shame, causing Adam and Eve to hide—just as we do today.

The pivotal moment comes when God asks "Where are you?"—not as a police officer but as a loving father seeking his children. Even before any apology, God speaks the Proto Evangelium in Genesis 3:15, promising that the woman's offspring will crush the serpent's head. This demonstrates that grace began in the garden, with God moving toward humanity rather than away from them. Karl connects this to Romans 5:8, showing how "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The sermon concludes with a personal application, challenging listeners to identify where they're hiding today and to step out into God's pursuing grace.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Well, if you have your Bible with you, invite you to turn over to Genesis chapter two. We're going to start there and we'll keep moving forward a little bit. But I want to begin by asking the question, have you ever been in a situation where you were helpless, where you felt completely helpless? I was thinking this week of a couple of times in my life that I've experienced that. One of them was at the birth of our son, Gabriel.

I told you that story a few weeks ago about him being born, but he was born about a month early and they had to rush him to the NICU. And there was this about 24 or 48 hour period where we weren't sure, is he going to make it? There was nothing that we could do. In fact, there was nothing the doctors could do. They gave him some medicine, but it was basically up to God and his little body responding.

Another one happened about 11 years ago. This past January 13, my father had a heart transplant surgery. Many of you have been along for that ride. It's an incredible story. But as the surgery was progressing, one of the things that they do for heart transplant surgery, you may know this, you may not, but they put you on what's called an ECMO machine.

Ecmo. And basically what it does is it oxygenates and it pumps your blood around while they're taking your heart out of your body and putting a new heart back into your body. It's pretty wild. It's an amazing invention. It fits about.

It's about that big. It can be taken on a helicopter, like if he had to be medivaced out somewhere. I mean, it's this incredible piece of machinery. Now, the danger is your body tends to rely on it pretty quickly because it does a really good job. So after the surgery was completed and they put my dad back together again, and they're trying to encourage this new heart to pump and operate the way it's supposed to.

The doctors came out and said, okay, the next 48 hours will tell us if this is going to work or not. He's on this ECMO machine, but he can't be on it for too long. We don't want them to be on it because then they don't want to get off that machine. So that little heart's gotta start pumping and doing its job. There was nothing we could do and there was nothing the doctors could do.

It was now up to God. We were helpless and we needed a rescue. Well, that's what this series is gonna be about as we think together about what it looks like to be rescued. You know, the story of scripture actually is the story of God rescuing us. And so during this season of Lent, and I thought Beth did such a beautiful job of kind of outlining what Lent is, all this season.

It's an opportunity for us to stop and to consider who we are and who we've been and maybe places we've gotten off track and God, can you get us back on track? Can you rescue us once again? And so each week, we're going to walk through all of scripture and look at how this story of rescue is not just something that happened at the cross, but it's actually something that's been rooted in our story from the very beginning. In fact, that's why I wanted us to start back in Genesis chapter two. You know, Genesis one and two tell the story of creation, and it's a wonderful story.

If you've been in our adult Bible classes this fall, you've actually heard, or actually this spring. I don't even know what time it is this spring. You've heard the story of Genesis 1 and 2, of how God creates us in his image, and then he creates this beautiful world. And we're in that world. He gives us a purpose and a helper, as Shingai read for us just a moment ago, and how God is living in harmony with his creation, and his creation is living in harmony with God and with one another, this beautiful story.

And so, as chapter two comes to an end, we heard this verse again. Shingai read this for us just a moment ago. But Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Now, another way of saying that is they were naked and they didn't even realize it. Now, that's a thing, isn't it?

I mean, can you remember the last time that you were naked and didn't know it? You know, some of us have those dreams where we wake up to an awareness of it somewhere that we're not supposed to be naked. But I don't typically find myself naked and not knowing it. And yet here we're told at the end of chapter two, this beautiful harmony, life with God. They were completely naked.

And I don't think it's just talking literal, this sense of complete harmony and unity with God, with one another, with creation. It's this beautiful picture. And so maybe that's why it's a little bit of a stunner that chapter three opens with this verse. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made, right? And the serpent's message to Adam and Eve as this chapter three opens up is pretty simple.

It's basically, don't trust God. Don't trust him. He doesn't have your best interest at heart. Did he really say, well, he doesn't want you because then you would be like him. And it's just.

It would create a lot of problems for don't trust God. I came across a story this week as I was listening to one of my devotionals in the morning and was reminded of a couple things I hadn't thought about in a while. I wanted to share those with you this morning because I found it really helpful to understand this story. But in his book on Christian approach to mental health care, a man named Warren Kinghorn, he quotes this theologian, Elaine Heath, who's from SMU and other places. She was my.

Looked over my dad's work and he was studying there, but wonderful, faithful woman of God. But she's writing about this story here, found in Genesis chapter three, and she's relating it back to the dynamics of child abuse. And I thought it was really fascinating. She's drawing on some of the work of Saint Irenaeus of Leon, who had this view of Adam and Eve that they were psychologically and spiritually like children. Right?

We talked some about that in our class even this morning as we were going through Genesis 3, that they were living in complete harmony with God. They had no reason to mistrust anyone or anything because all of it had been created and it was good, we're told. And so Elaine writes these words. She argues that having no prior experience of death or or evil, they had no reason not to trust the serpent and would not have had any personal experience of death. The crafty serpent then played the role of a groomer, exploiting their childlike vulnerability and tricking them into doing something that seemed at the time to be right, but that immediately revealed itself to be a terrible wrong.

The first humans were sinned against before they ever sinned, hurling them into a cycle of shame and sin that only intensified in the coming generations.

John Ortberg points out. He says Adam and Eve were lied to and manipulated in a state of innocence. That they were the victims of sin before they became the agents of sin. And the truth is, church, so were we. We were victims of sin before we ever became the agents.

We were manipulated and lied to before we ever started manipulating and lying. Now that's not an excuse. And Adam and Eve don't have an excuse. In fact, they knew what God had asked them to do and they didn't do it. They decided not to trust God.

And so often that's our story as well, isn't it? But it's important to recognize that we're both victims and agents in this whole sin business. And what's been unleashed in the world, that chaos and that uncertainty and that hurt and that pain. We feel that. We feel it.

It's this tremendous power, this force that's created chaos and misery all over. But here's the good news. From the moment that everything fell apart, God moved toward us, not away from us. You see, the rescue plan didn't start at the cross. It didn't start in the manger.

It actually started right here in the garden on the very day that humanity was lied to and manipulated, and then became a deceiver themselves. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

You know, it's interesting that the first consequence of sin isn't punishment. It's shame.

Suddenly they see themselves differently. Suddenly they came to a different awareness about who they are. They feel exposed, they feel vulnerable. They feel unacceptable. And so what do they do?

They hide.

And we do, too. King Horn notes in his book that this particular problem with shame. He says the problem with chronic shame is that it's unlike guilt for specific actions, which points the way to restitution and repair. Shame often causes us to withdraw from and to avoid the very relationship that would lead to its healing. You see, we hide behind things, too, don't we?

When we sin, we feel ashamed and we hide. For some of us, it's busyness, maybe it's success or humor or spirituality. But we hide from others, and we even try to hide from God. But listen to the next verse, one of the most important and tender in all of scripture. But the Lord God called to the man, where are you?

That's important to know. God's not lost here. He's not confused. He doesn't have that little button on his phone. Find my Adam, you know, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.

Instead, God's asking a heart question, not a geography question. Where are you, Adam? Where are you? Where's your heart? Where's your trust?

Where's your soul? This is not the voice of a police officer saying, come out with your hands up. Instead, he's asking, where are you? It's the voice of a father who loves this child, walking into a broken world and trying to rescue you see, this is where the rescue plan actually begins. We see the quick effect of sin and shame in this story.

We're told that Adam's answer to God's question is, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and so I hid.

And God said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from again? Remember, God's not an idiot. He knows exactly what's happening, Right? These are an opportunity.

Where are you, Adam? Will you come out from hiding, Adam? The man said, well, it's that woman that you put here. She tempted and I ate it.

The Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done? And the woman said, is that serpent. That serpent deceived me and I ate. And so blaming enters the scene, right? Blaming becomes now a part of the chaos.

You know, we hide and then we're found out. And then when we're confronted, we say, well, if you just hadn't. You know, I don't appreciate the way that. Well, you know, the other day when you.

God's not thrown off. He's not deterred. Instead, he speaks to the serpent. And with Adam and Eve right in hearing distance, this is what he tells them. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals.

You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. And he will crush your head and you will strike his heel into a moment of sorrow and judgment. God speaks a word of hope. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.

Christian scholars have given this a theological name. It's called the Proto Evangelum, and it simply means the first Gospel. The serpent will do damage, yes, but one day, one day, a descendant of this woman will deliver a fatal blow. And no longer will you have any rule over these people. This is God saying, I'm going to fix this.

I'm going to make this right. I will undo what has been done. And the one who deceived you will not have the last word. Now notice this. Adam and Eve have yet to say, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I screwed up. Could you help us Out. Could you do something, Lord? This has happened before. They've even apologized.

They haven't asked for help. And God promises rescue anyway. You see, grace didn't begin at the Cross Church. Grace began right here, right here in the garden. In the moment of human failure, God speaks of a future victory.

We fast forward a few thousand years and the serpent is still biting hills and humanity is still hiding and blaming and shaming, still whispers words into ears. Sin is still breaking things. And then we hear these words from Paul to the church in Rome. He says, but God demonstrates his love, his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were still hiding, while we were still making the blame game, while we were still running from him, still broken down on the side of the road. Before we could apologize, before we could make things right, before we even recognized how much trouble we were in, the promise of rescue back in Genesis 3 was made. And it finds its ultimate fulfillment. Of course, the cross of Calvary. You know, Jesus heel was bruised, he was pierced on a cross, but the serpent, well, his head got crushed.

Defeat forever because of the resurrection. You see, what God hinted at in the garden, he fulfilled at Golgotha. And so do you see this continuity? That at Eden's rebellion, it's answered by Easter's resurrection, that our need is answered by God's love and our hiding is answered by God's seeking. You see, the entire Bible is actually one big rescue mission.

And for the next six weeks, I want you to join us as we walk through and see once again have a story that God started so long ago. It's not Jesus. Wasn't plan B like, oop, this is off the rails. No, no. From the very beginning, God knew he would be rescuing us, and he made a plan.

And the story of scripture is that story. And so I just want to leave us this morning with that same question that God asked Adam in the garden. Where are you?

Where are you?

Not the version of you that you like to show to people at church. Not the version of you that thinks you have to have it all together. Not the version that stays busy so you don't have to feel and deal with the real problems instead. Where are you? Where are you tempted to hide?

I know some of us are tempted to hide in anger and in bitterness. As I confessed to you last week. That's one I'm trying to take head on in my own life this Lenten season. So I've given up some of the things what I call my Little escape hatches where I can go to be self righteous and I can condemn the world around me. Instead, I'm trying to be honest and open and say, God, it's a lot easier for me to hide in my own brokenness and my own anger and bitterness than it is to actually step into the light and recognize the brokenness in the world and then ask God, how can I help?

What can I do? Maybe for some of us we hide in a screen. Maybe it's a computer screen or a TV screen. We hide in the television program. Or maybe in our lesser moments, we hide in sights and things we don't need to be looking at.

Pornography and others. Maybe some of us are hiding in a book. I heard this term called romantasy, which is basically porn for women. The way a friend of mine explained it to me, we can get lost in hiding in these relationships that aren't really real.

But I'm not sure I could have an honest conversation with my spouse. And so I'd rather just stay lost in the fantasy. Maybe some of us hide behind numbing behaviors. Maybe it's something that we eat or something that we drink or a different kind of substance that we use to try to help us numb. Numb out some of us.

Maybe we lean into that perfectionism. I'm just going to work hard, I'm going to try hard, I'm going to do better. Sometimes there's a religious hint to that as well.

Where are you?

You see, the good news this morning is God is asking that question not to punish you, but to rescue you, to help you find the life that's truly life. The God who walked in the garden is the same God who walked to the cross, who defeated death, who crushed the serpent's head once and for all. And his love has been pursuing you ever since before you sinned. He planned to save you.

Before you ran, he planned to find you.

And before you hid, he planned to say your name, to speak it. Adam, where are you? Eve, where are you? So today, if you hear him asking, where are you? Would you respond?

Would you come out of hiding? And if you need a little help coming out of hiding, we would love to help. Because we know this is not a road that we can take on our own. Instead, we invite you. This Lenten season.

Would you step into God's pursuing grace? Would you step out of hiding? Because that rescue plan is already at work and it's got your name written all over it.

God, would you do the work in us that only you can do? Would you help us to step out of hiding. Would you give us courage to tell the truth about what's really going on in our lives so that we don't have to be a slave to sin or shame anymore? God, it's so true that shame often works to cut us off from the very relationship that would heal us. God, would you speak a word of life back to us again today?

Would you remind us that we can step out of our brokenness, step out from the bushes and into the light? Because, God, you have loved us from the very beginning, that you have pursued us from the very beginning. Even asking the question demonstrates this desire for you to be in relationship with us.

So God, may we hear the words of your amazing love once again. Would you give us the courage to step out in faith, to trust you once again? Jesus, thank you for being our rescuer, our Savior, the one who is willing to live the perfect life that you might create a way for us to come back into life, into that beautiful harmony we see in Genesis 1 and 2. That same harmony, God, that you have promised to us, one day what's up in heaven will be here on earth. And between that day and this God, you've invited us to be kingdom bringers to help that along.

God, would you help first in us and then help us to find our place with you? Oh God, you are so good to us. We are thankful. We lift our hearts to you now in song as we worship you, the one true rescuer. Thank you, Jesus.

We pray in your name.