Genesis 3:7-8 – And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 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. (KJV)
Sin…it’s just a little word but it has huge consequences. Adam and Eve were only given one “do not” rule….and they broke it. The Bible tells us that after eating of the tree God told them not to eat from, their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked. The very instant they sinned they knew they were naked. God didn’t have to tell them. They knew. They knew their sin had left them exposed.
Like most of us, their first reaction was not to call out to God and say, “God, I mess up. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” No, instead they tried to cover things up. They sewed fig leaves together to hide their nakedness and then when God came to visit…they hid. Isn’t that what we do when we know we’re guilty of something? Try to hide it, cover it up?
From that moment until now, sin has left us all exposed. Exposed to the consequences of sin. For some that might be poor health due to bad eating and exercise habits. For some it might be legal consequences due to bad life decisions. For some it might be a poor relationship with God because we’ve put other things at a higher priority than God. For some it might be a failed marriage because other things were more important than your spouse. Some might experience job loss because laziness, theft or poor work attendance. No matter what the sin is, it comes with consequences and every sin has the consequence of being separated from God. Every sin has a consequence…a penalty that has to be paid. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The penalty we pay for sin is death. Eternal separation from God.
Adam and Eve get a bad rap for being the first sinners, but we are just like them. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That little word “all” means me and you. Like Adam and Eve, we tend to hide ourselves from the presence of God. We stop going to church. We say there is no God. We stop spending time with Him on a daily basis. We stop reading the Bible and praying. We get angry at God because of the consequences of sin. We turn our backs on Him so that we can live whatever life we want… and yet… the feelings of guilt and shame haunt us.
While sin leaves us exposed, God stands read to clothe us in His righteousness. That means we don’t have to continue to live with guilt and shame. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection, we can be made new because His blood washes away all our sin. Jesus paid the penalty for us. You are never too far gone for Jesus to cleanse you too. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift.” You can’t earn it. You can never be good enough. Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.” Even if we based our most righteous act in our entire life, it wouldn’t be good enough to gain salvation. But the good news is salvation isn’t dependent on being good enough. And that’s good news because it means that we can come to God just as we are. We don’t have to get “cleaned up” first. In fact, it’s God’s job to clean us. And we become clean when we place our faith in God and the finished work of His Son, Jesus Christ who paid the penalty of sin for us. God offers it to each one of us as a free gift, unearned, unmerited, undeserved…FREE. You can’t buy it, earn it, or work for it. You can never be good enough on your own. It comes only through confessing your sins to God, asking for forgiveness, admitting your need for Him, and placing your faith and trust in Him.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. –John 3:16
“But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” — Romans 5:8
“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” — Romans 10:9-10
“For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” — Romans 10:13
Whoever…that means you.
What will you do…live in guilt and shame or run to the open arms of Jesus, confessing your sins to him? Will you place your faith in Jesus, take Him at His word? With your whole heart, will you believe that Jesus is God’s Son who died for you, paying your penalty of son in your place? Will you give Him first place in your life, making Him your Lord? If your answer is yes, don’t wait another minute. Acknowledge to God that you are a sinner and confess Him as your Lord and Savior.
Call on Him now. He’s waiting for you.
You sent Your Son to be our Savior — to rescue us from sin’s power by taking our guilt on Himself and dying to pay sin’s awful price. Mercy and truth thus met at the cross; righteousness and peace kissed each other. Your wrath against sin was perfectly satisfied; Your justice was fully vindicated; Your truth was forever established; Your grace was brilliantly magnified; and all the demands of Your law were perfectly fulfilled. In the process, You lovingly brought us into a place of safety, honor, glory, and everlasting salvation! You made us Your children and heirs — joint heirs with Your only begotten Son. Truly “there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
Who was your role model that you looked up to when you were young? A movie star? An athlete? A teacher? I doubt there has ever been any kid anywhere who ever said, “I want to be like Cornelius.” As a Christian, we all should say, “I want to be like Cornelius.”… or should we? Certainly there are many Biblical people that would be wonderful role models. But let’s look at the kind of person that Cornelius was.
We know that in Genesis 1:1, the Bible opens up saying, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” My son memorized this verse in kindergarten. It is probably a verse every child learns, if they attend church. However, over in Colossians 1:16, we learn something else about the creation of the heavens and the earth. In this verse, Paul wrote to the church of Colossae, telling them that Christ is Lord of creation. He wrote, “For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him.” Those last two words give us the why of creation…for Him. The all-powerful God of creation created the entire universe and every living thing, including you and me…for Him! The sad thing is that we tend to live our lives as if God is created for us…to do what we want him to…to pour out his blessing on us….to take care of our every need….to save us from all the messes we get ourselves into.