Covering for Shameful Nakedness

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Summary

After Adam and Eve sinned, their eyes were opened and they realized their nakedness, so they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves and hid from God. Their own covering could not deal with their shame or restore their standing before Him; only God’s provision could do that.

The sermon draws out the pattern this sets for the rest of Scripture: sin brings a shame we cannot cover on our own, and it is God who provides an acceptable covering. What Adam and Eve could not accomplish with fig leaves, God accomplishes through the atoning provision that ultimately points forward to Christ.

Essential truths

  1. Sin brought immediate shame and a sense of exposed nakedness to Adam and Eve.
  2. Their own effort to cover their shame, sewing fig leaves, was insufficient.
  3. God Himself provided the covering that fig leaves could not.
  4. Only God's provision, not our own effort, can truly deal with the shame sin brings.

Encouragement and challenge

Stop trying to cover your own shame and guilt; come to God for the covering only He can provide.

Reference verses

  • Genesis 3:7
  • Genesis 3:10-11
  • Genesis 3:21
  • Romans 5:12

About this sermon