 Good evening. Welcome to our midweek of prayer. As we start, may we pray. Let us pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this wonderful evening. Lord, as we start our prayer meeting, may you be with us. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll start with song service. I'd like us to turn to our hinos to song number 412, cover with His life. 2-5-4, the great physician now is 2-54. The great physician is now, now is here, now is near. Good evening church and good day wherever you may be in this part of the world. Our scripture reading comes from the book of Genesis chapter 3 verses 9 and 10. I'm reading from the new international version and it reads, but the Lord God called to man, where are you? He answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. I read again, verses 9, but the Lord God calls to the man, where are you? He answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. May the Lord bless this reading. Good evening to everyone who's here in the sanctuary and to our viewers who are following the live stream and for everyone else who will watch this program later on. My name is Harman and I'd like to share with us something small from the text that has just been read and I hope that the lessons that I picked as I was doing my own study will look beneficial to us as well. Before we begin, I'd like to invite us to share in a prayer so that I can immediately dive into the word of God. Let us pray. Dear Jesus, we love you very much. We thank you for who you are and for what you've done in our lives. We have the Bible open before us, we're about to learn from it, and we pray, dear Jesus, that you give us your Holy Spirit and insight, help us to meditate upon what we are going to study, that it might change how we think, it might change how we speak, might change how we act and ultimately change who we are so that we can be like you. I pray for forgiveness if we've sinned against you, for myself and for everyone else that you might pardon us, that this evening our worship might be acceptable in your sight. My prayer of faith is in Jesus' name, amen. Yes, so as you've seen from the poster, the title of the presentation is Where Are You and basically, well, the title is drawn directly from the text that we've read in Genesis 3 verses 9 and 10. In my version it says Where Are Thou? Where Are You? It's more or less the same thing. It's a question that I'm sure at some point you've asked someone or you've been asked the question, you know, maybe you're meeting up with someone and you've gotten to where you're supposed to meet but you can't see them and you ask them, hello, where are you? Or maybe there's someone who you're meeting up with still and they're running late and you call or text them and you ask them, you know, where are you? So the first time that this question is recorded in scripture and I dare say the first time that this question has ever been asked in human history as we know is in this text of Genesis chapter 3 verses 9 and 10. Now we know what happened, we know the context I would like to assume that we do. This is when Adam and Eve have sinned against God. They were given a very clear warning which they failed to honor and once they have committed the sin, they go hiding and as they're hiding, when God comes looking for them, he asks the question, where are you? Now the gist of what I'm talking about today is basically it's about guilt. It's about guilt and sin and ultimately forgiveness and it's an interesting story. So imagine you've been arrested, you've been arrested and the prosecutor has a case against you, committed a criminal offense, you know, maybe you stolen some money or someone you know, if you don't want it to be yourself, someone you know has stolen some money and they have they've been arrested and they've been charged with a crime and the evidence against them is so overwhelming. There is CCTV footage, there are emails and text messages that the person wrote where they stated that they were going to commit the crime and give the exact details of when and how they were going to do it and in addition to that, there are more than 10 eyewitnesses who also you you know or who also the person steal whatever it is that they stole. In such a case, in such a situation, not typically when the evidence is overwhelmingly against you, even if you're going to refuse to, even if you're going to refuse that you did not commit the crime, it's basically a lost cause and there is very little that you can do to defend yourself. So this is something similar to a story that we find in the book of Zachariah. Zachariah chapter 3 and I'd like to invite us to read verse 1 to 3. Zachariah chapter 3 from chapter 3 verse 1, 2 and 3. I'll read from my Bible. You're welcome to follow from yours. Zachariah 3 verse 1, it says, and he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee, is not this a brand plucked out of the fire. Verse 3, now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. This was an instance where there is nothing that Joshua could do to exonerate himself. He was like the criminal that we've just talked about in our illustration. The evidence was pointing overwhelmingly that he was the one who was guilty and there was nothing that he could do to defend himself. It was one of those ones where you, whether you say you did it or not, that is it, the case is closed. And I'd like to imagine that in the eyes of God, we are all guilty sinners. We cannot in any way escape from the charges that have been profaned against us. Each and every one, there is something that we've ever done or that, you know, we will ever do that presents very, very compelling evidence in the sight of a holy God who is the judge of all the universe that we cannot escape. There's a statement, there's a book called Cancel for the Church. It says in page 352 paragraph 1 that we cannot answer the charges of Satan against us. We cannot answer the charges of Satan against us. When we think about sinners, we typically think it's, you know, those horrible people who are doing horrible things. But if you notice from the text we've read in Zechariah chapter 1 verse 3, it says, now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. The Bible goes on to say that our righteousness is as filthy rugs in the sight of God. So if you, you know, again, if you read Romans chapter 3 verse 10, the Bible says in Romans chapter 3 verse 10 that there is none righteous, no, not one. Romans chapter 3 verse 12 says they are all gone out of the way. They are all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, not even one. And then the same Romans chapter 3 verse 23 says, for all have sinned and come shot of the glory of God. That includes me, that includes you, that includes everyone who has ever lived. And so coming back to the story of Joshua the High Priest, think of it as you are the one who has been presented in the sight of God. And Satan is reading all the charges that have been placed against you. This is what he has said, this is what he has done, this is who he is. This is, this person is a sinner that deserves to be destroyed. And the sad part is, it is one of those cases that you cannot escape. Sadly we live in a country where you can get away with crime. Rich people, powerful people, influential people do this all the time. Some people even caught on camera committing crimes but they never answer for their crimes. But in the sight of God there is no escape. And the sad part is that Satan tempts us to sin. Then once he has tempted us to sin, then he uses that thing that we have done as an accusation in the sight of God. If you turn to the book of Revelation chapter 12, if you turn there with me Revelation chapter 12 verse 10, the Bible says, and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night. In essence Satan is accusing us before God every chance he gets. He says, Victor is this, Harman is that. He has a strong case as it were. It is a watertight case that there is no escape. And that is the sad reality that we find from the story of Joshua, the high priest. And that is what happened to Adam. And if they were told very clearly, do not eat the fruit, they went ahead and ate it. They started running away. And God comes and asks them, where are you? Now I think we can all agree. God was not asking them, where are you? Because he did not know where they were. It was a statement of reflection. He wanted to provoke a thought in their heads. Where are you Adam? Why are you hiding? Typically if you love someone and they come, you would want to run towards them. So why is it that now God, their best friend, their creator is coming towards them and they're running away from him because they knew what they had done. Now this story is interesting because the reaction of Adam and Eve is not a reflection of who God is. It is a reflection of their own perception of him. At no point after sinning, after eating the fruit, did they receive threats, Adam, I'm coming for you. Be afraid. At no point did God tell them, the only thing that God told them is you shall surely die. But even then they ate the fruit and they did not die. So they probably would have thought to themselves, okay, so we have not died. So when God comes to them, God comes looking for them, the unfortunate thing is they have developed a picture of God based on their feelings. So they feel scared, they feel guilty, then they run away from God and they imagine that their feelings are a reflection of what God feels towards them. But that is not the case. If it was indeed the case that their sin was so horrible that they needed to hide, then they would have died as soon as they committed the sin. But they did not. Great controversy, page 484 paragraph one says, while Jesus is pleading for the subjects of his grace, Satan accuses them before God as transgressors. The great deceiver has sought to lead them into skepticism, to cause them to lose confidence in God, to separate themselves from his love and to break his law. Now he points to the record of their lives, to the defects of their character, the unlikeness to Christ, which has dishonored their redeemer and to all the sins that he has tempted them to commit. And because of these he claims them as his subjects. Coming back to our illustration, someone has been arrested, they have been charged in court. Imagine your best friend told you, let's go steal this money. You go steal, then the same best friend is the prosecutor in court and says, he did it. I know he did it because we plan to do it with him. And as the charges are being read against you, the evidence is so compelling, there is nothing you can say. And now you think, okay, my fate is complete. And all you can hear is the accusing voice of the devil. You horrible, horrible person. And in that moment, because of listening to the voice of Satan, the accuser, you begin thinking that that is the voice of God. And then you start running away. And then God asks, where are you? Where are you going? Now it is true that we are all sinners. There is no question about that. And the sad part about this is that sometimes I fear that if we do not realize just how much we need Jesus, then we might spend our whole lives. We may not be drinking and smoking and sleeping around and stealing and killing and doing all those horrible things. But it is possible that the most sincere intentions can sometimes be lost when we are right in the house of God, yet running away from him. Is it possible that today God might be speaking to me and I'm standing on this pulpit, but in my heart is asking, Harman, where are you? Is it possible that we have mistaken the good intentions that we have sometimes and the good things that we do occasionally to think that now we are okay? Joshua is a high priest. High priests had a high caliber. They could not mess around. They could not mess up. Every year they were consistently confessing their sins. I remember we were taught that even when they were going into the most holy place on the day of atonement, a bell would be tied to their feet so that when they enter into the presence of God, if there is any unconfessed sin and they die inside there and the bell stops clunking, then they would be pulled out. Well, at least they're dead body and yet he is a high priest. Someone who thinks that they have confessed every known sin and they are standing before God and all they have is filthy rugs and there is nothing that they can see. Steps to Christ, page 18 paragraph 1. It is impossible for us of ourselves to escape from the pit of sin into which we are sunken. If I ask, do you know of any sinners? Typically you would not first think of your church friends. You'd start first think of someone else you know there. But here we are being told it is impossible for us. Not it is impossible for Christians or impossible for infidels. It is impossible for us, all of us, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil and we cannot change them. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human efforts and dare I add good intentions, all have their proper sphere but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior but they cannot change the heart. They cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above before man can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul and attract it to God to holiness. So instead of running away Adam and Eve would have realized okay we've messed up. Let us go to the only person who can fix this problem. When you buy an electronic you're given a warranty. Imagine your TV or your fridge or your computer spoils. The manufacturer comes to do a check up to make sure that it's okay and you start running away from him. It's an absurdity. And so while the voice of the devil is always loud in accusation, God is inviting us to believe that he's the only one who can solve the problem of our wicked and evil hearts. And we have the Holy Spirit whose role has been clearly stated in the book of John chapter 16 verse 7 to 13. Who among other things convicts us of sin, of righteousness and of repentance. I find it amusing that even to repent is a gift. I can say okay I'm sorry but repentance is a gift that God himself has to put in our hearts. So this is a problem that all the solutions come from one side. But Satan wants to make us believe that the only place we can get help is the very place we should be running away from. That is sad. It says in 1 John chapter 1 verse 9 that if we confess our sins that's the only condition. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so as I wind down my short, well relatively short sharing this evening, I can make my final remarks by saying that it doesn't matter where we are at least in this sense. It doesn't matter whether we are lifelong believers or godless infidels. Each and every one of us in one way or another is hiding from God. And God today is asking me and is asking us where are you. Come to me. Come. Don't go. Don't run. Come. And there's a preacher who said I think La Sabbath here in church that the time we feel that we have sinned from God the most that is when he is closest to us. And Paul says that where sin abounded grace did much more abound. That is my sharing, my very modest remarks. I don't know where you are but wherever it is, if it is not at the feet of Jesus, please rush to the savior. Let us pray. I have any father in Jesus name. We thank you for the word that has been spoken and mistakenly and dear Lord, I'm just a vessel. I pray that you might impress these lessons upon our hearts. Give us a curious spirit to study and to be drawn to you Lord. We know that the the devil is an accuser. He tempts us to sin, then uses those very charges against us. And sadly Lord, we cannot answer those charges before you. But we have been asked. All we've been asked to do is to confess and to believe. Dear Lord, help our unbelief. Teach us the lessons that we need to learn today and may we grow in our Christian experience that every morning, every evening, every new week, every new month, we might grow closer to the savior. And Father, we pray that as we disperse this evening, as we end the program, may we have something to think about. Until we meet again, my prayer of faith is in Jesus' name. Amen.