"I Cover You"

Through the story of Zacchaeus Jesus tells us, “I see you. I know you. I save you.” To live in grace and live out grace we must experience grace. We must allow God to see us. We must receive Jesus into our houses, our lives, and allow Him to be our friend. In the story of the woman caught in adultery, we learned that we must face the truth with God and others. Jesus tells us, “I do not condemn you. Sin no more.”

But it is scary and painful to face the truth. It’s easy to say, but hard to do. Where do we get the courage to step into the light of God’s truth? Who has me covered? Who covers me? ILLUSTRATION—ACTION MOVIES—GUNFIGHT —INTO OPEN, VULNERABLE, COVER ME. Today from the story of the Fall we will see that God seeks us, finds us, and tells us, “I cover you.” Therefore we can live unashamed. And because God covers us and we have experienced grace we can live out grace, we can cover others, tell others, “God covers you. Come out of hiding and live unashamed.”

1. Naked and Unashamed

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (2:25)

They were naked and unashamed. They were naked before God. They had nothing to hide from God. God created them and knew everything about them. God was first and foremost in their daily lives. They lived God-centered, God-glorifying lives. 

They were naked with one another. They had nothing to hide from each other, nothing to protect. There was no important self. The other was at the center. They lived other-centered, other-directed lives. “All that they were was simply there for the other to see and love.”

They could be themselves, completely transparent, and vulnerable. There was harmony, trust, ease, and peace. They loved God. They loved the other. They lived in an intimate, loving relationship and fellowship with God, with one another and God’s creation. That was God’s original plan and purpose. Naked and unashamed. But then something happened that changed everything.

2. Naked and Ashamed We Hide in Fear

The serpent was more clever than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. The serpent said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat the fruit of any tree that is in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We can eat the fruit of the trees that are in the garden. But God did say, ‘You must not eat the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will die.’ ” “You can be sure that you won’t die,” the serpent said to the woman. “God knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will know things you have never known before. You will be able to tell the difference between good and evil. You will be like God.” The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good to eat. It was also pleasing to look at. And it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. And he ate it. Then both of them knew things they had never known before. They realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made clothes for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking in the garden. It was the coolest time of the day. They hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (3:1-8)

Evil entered creation. Satan through the snake tempted Adam and Eve. He attacked God’s Word. He did not directly lie or contradict God’s Word, but twisted it enough to call God’s truth into question. He caused them to doubt that God is actually good and that God is for them. “You will be like God.” They forgot that they were already like God, created in the image of God. They were appointed rulers of God’s creation representing God. In and through His perfectly good creation God provided and blessed them with everything they would ever need. But Satan caused them to doubt God’s Word and goodness, “God is holding out on you. There is something better for you.” And they fell for it. They disobeyed God.

Today, Satan still tempts us in the same way. He causes us to doubt God’s plans, provisions, and ideals for us; to doubt that God is good, that God knows what is best for us. And like the snake and Eve, we twist and bend God’s truth. We diminish, add, and soften God’s Word. “Well, the Sermon on the Mount is not meant to be obeyed and lived out. They are just ideals.” Just look at how many biblical truths and teachings are no longer followed even by Christians. Only 10% of evangelical believers have and live according to a biblical worldview. Our focus shifts from God to self. Self, my way takes over. We think we can do better. We take matters into our hands. We fall for the lies and twisted truth of the word and Satan, and so we disobey, we rebel against God, and sin.

Something drastic, something radical happened when Adam and Eve disobeyed. Their eyes were opened. They knew things they had never known before. They were naked and exposed. Their innocence was shattered. Where there were harmony and a close, intimate relationship, there is now alienation and estrangement. Where there was trust, there is now distrust. Where there was ease, there is now disease and pain. Where there was peace, there is now disunity and violence. Where there was no shame, there is no shame. They were naked and ashamed.

When we sin we experience guilt as we have seen last week. Guilt leads to shame. Guilt is, “I did bad.” Shame is, “I am bad.” So, “I did bad because I am bad.” Therefore, I better hide. Shame drives us to hide in fear like Adam and Eve. They tried to cover themselves with flimsy fig leaves but that is not enough. They were still naked, exposed before God, as we are. We fool ourselves to think like Adam and Eve that we can cover ourselves, save ourselves, and hide from God. I think we have this delusion that we can hide from God because we do not take God seriously enough as a true, living, all-powerful, all-knowing, always-present-with-us God. Remember Jesus and Zacchaeus, “I see you. I know all.” Just read Psalm 139 to remind ourselves that not only does God know everything about us, but there is also nowhere we can go to escape, nothing we can do to hide from his presence. 

Adam and Eve hid in fear because they were fully aware of their guilt before God. They sensed their alienation from God. They hid in fear because of the promised death if they should eat the fruit. “Is this it? Are we going to die now?” What they did not realize was that they were already dying. They were dying spiritually as they were being removed from God’s life-giving presence. Naked and ashamed we hide in fear. What is God going to do?

3. God Seeks and Finds Us

But the LORD God called out to the man. “Where are you?” he asked. “I heard you in the garden,” the man answered. “I was afraid. I was naked, so I hid.” The LORD God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten the fruit of the tree I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “It was the woman you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. And I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me. That’s why I ate the fruit.” (3:9-13)

“Where are you?” God seeks and finds us. He did not reject or destroy Adam and Eve as would have been his right to do as a holy and righteous God. No, in His love and grace, He called out to them. He sought them, found them, and confronted them. Look at what Adam and Eve did. That’s what we also do when we are confronted with the truth. We pass the buck. Fear leads us to place the blame on others. “It’s not me, Lord. I did this because of what so and so said and did.” We even blame God like Adam here. “God made me like this. I cannot help it.” Self-preservation and survival drive us. “We blame and deflect. We are afraid of being exposed. We are afraid of being seen for what we are.”

But grace and forgiveness is not a get out of jail free card. Our disobedience and sin have consequences, sometimes very painful consequences — pain in childbirth, the pain of relationships, and the pain of work. God uses these to bring us back to Him, to realize our dependence on Him, and learn to trust Him. Therefore, we must embrace the consequences of our disobedience as God’s tools in our lives. Pray and say, “God, through these difficult and painful circumstances, how can I learn to depend on You?” 

4. God Covers Us. We Can Live Unashamed

And now extraordinary love and amazing grace — The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (3:21)

God covered their nakedness. He covered their shame. And that is what God did for us with the life and sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. He covers us with the spilled blood and the unblemished life of Jesus. He wraps Jesus’ life around us, and says, “You don’t have to be ashamed anymore because I’ve got you covered. The life of My Son covers your shame. I didn’t just forgive the bad things you have done. I’ve declared that you are not bad. You are Mine! You are My child!”

“I cover you.” God covers us, clothes us with the robe of Christ’s righteousness, and now we can live unashamed. No more living and hiding in fear from God or others. Because Jesus Christ covers us, we have courage to face the truth and live in grace. Because he covers us we again have access into and can live in the life-giving presence of the holy, righteous God. He lives with us. He lives in us by his Holy Spirit. 

God covers us, and therefore, we who have experienced this grace can now live out this grace to others. Many others, both believers and unbelievers, are still hiding in fear, are still naked and ashamed. We must not judge them. We must not hold their sins against them. We are called and sent to seek them and find them. To tell them that God covers them in Jesus Christ. We must welcome them as they are, and then help them to find God, to encounter Jesus so that God can cover them also, and they can learn, we can learn together, to live unashamed in Christ for God’s glory.

So, brothers and sisters, live in grace — receive Jesus Christ as your constant covering. Live out grace — invite others to receive Christ as their constant covering, and give to them the same love, grace, and forgiveness we have received. Jesus tells you, “My cross covers you. My blood covers you. My death covers you. My resurrection covers you. My robe of righteousness covers you.” There is no more shame. There is only Christ. Go and live unashamed.