“He is risen”! We are again reminded over this Easter season, of the mysterious works of God by the death and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ. God made the way to redeem man from sin and the shame of ‘nakedness’.
So today, I want us to reflect on the divine nature of ‘Man,’ in relation to the shame of ‘nakedness’ caused by sin; and on the works of GOD performed through Christ, to redeem mankind. The aim of this message is to assure you that: ‘God wants to redeem you and sanctify and restore you when you are naked’.
- MAN’S DIVINE NATURE
Brethren God is a Spirit. (John 4:24; 2 Corinthians 3:17). He created “Man” in his ‘image and likeness”. “Man,” refers generally to all humans. The scripture also states: “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created”. (Genesis 1:27; 5:2).
The titles “male” and “female” are to distinguish the “image” and the “likeness” personalities in mankind: these are “flesh”, depicting the human side; and “spirit”, of the spiritual side. (Romans 8:5; Galatians 5:17). God intended that the “flesh and spirit” both coexist in mankind as “one flesh” until death, when the “spirit” departs from “the flesh”. The “spirit” is to be a help for mankind on earth. (Genesis 2:18; 1 Corinthians 11:9; Malachi 2:15; Isaiah 50:1).
Thus, it is written of mankind: “…Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes”. (Psalm 82:6-7). Man’s divine nature in the creation is as a god in the flesh, sinless, pure and free spirited. (Psalm 51:12).
- NAKED UNTO THE FLESH IN SIN
When Adam and Eve were created, “… they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed”. (Genesis 2:25). They were in a pure state of holiness, in a spiritual relationship with God. They were more spiritually conscious of their godly state than in their earthly flesh. When man is in a pure state (such as a child), he is naked, free and unashamed because there is no sin. (Genesis 2:25).
But when one sins, one becomes ‘naked unto the flesh’, – a consciousness that invokes shame and fear from the sin. (Exodus 32:25). For instance, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s word and ate of the “tree of knowledge of good and evil”, they sinned; and “the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked”. (Genesis 2:17; 3:7).
They “hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God…”. Adam said: “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself”. (Genesis 3:8; 3:10; Psalm 51:11).
Brethren, sin caused death to the “spiritual likeness” of man (‘spiritual blindness’), rendering man more conscious of the appeal to the ‘flesh’ to sin. Man, then is ‘naked unto the flesh’ – a realisation of the weakness of one’s “flesh” than the “spirit”. We see that when Adam became conscious of his sin nakedness, he hid from the “voice” or “spirit” of God.
When one sins, it is natural for one to be afraid, ashamed and inclined to hide; but more importantly, one may consciously or unconsciously depart from the word and ways of God. (Hebrew 3:13). If one sins, and is not conscious of his nakedness (i.e., is not afraid and ashamed’), the tendency is to continue in sin, living in the bondage of secrecy and in fear.
- NAKEDNESS, SIN AND REPENTANCE
My people, God already sees and knows our nakedness in sin. He desires that we trust his love for us, to repent and submit to his mercy. It is in this love that “… God asked [Adam]: “who told thee that thou wast naked?” (Genesis 3:11). The all-knowing God, does not need information on our sins. Rather, he desires a personal and sincere admission of our fleshly weakness and fallibility as mortals. His probing of Adam thus, was designed to encourage repentance and confession.
- NAKED RESISTANCE TO REPENTANCE
Brethren, when we disobey God’s word, we are conscious of our nakedness – that we have sinned. But the fear of the condemnation of people, and cares for one’s ‘image’ could cause people to be resistant to repentance from sin.
The resistance could also come from the desire to indulge in the sin; or to deny God’s word; or to justify the sin of the “flesh” (as some would say: ‘I am only human’): and thereby to disavow the spirit of God of man’s creation. One may also be resistant by imputing the responsibility for one’s sin onto others. (Genesis 3:12-13; Psalm 32:1-2).
Another reaction to the awareness of sin, is the desire to ‘cover-up’, or to hide one’s nakedness. Adam and Eve “sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” to cover or hide their nakedness when they became sin-conscious. (Genesis 3:7).
- FALSE COVERING OF NAKEDNESS
An innate reaction of mankind to sin is to keep one’s sin in secrecy, or to cover-up the sin. Here the sinner tends to rely on the safety of their own ‘false covering’ or artificial shield – the safety of the evil and the lies. For example, when King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, he asked Joab to have her husband killed to cover-up his sin. (2 Samuel 11; & 12:12). I tell you, brethren, the lusts of sin, like its father Satan, is unruly; and one cannot control or manage it perpetually.
Apostle Paul explains man’s struggles with managing sin: that though we might want to obey God’s Word and not sin, yet, another word, i.e., sin in our body, wars against our desire to obey God and brings us into captivity to the word of sin, which is in one’s body (or flesh). In other words, when one wants to do good, evil is right there with you. So, Paul cries in helplessness: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” These are the desires of the flesh, (fleshly lusts), which war against your soul. (Romans 7:21-24; 1 Peter 2:11).
In trying to manage one’s sins, therefore, one could become a slave to obey its lusts. (John 8:34; Romans 6:16; 7:24). To submit therefore to sin obeying Satan in the bondage of fear, secrecy, lies and deceits, is worse than enduring the shame of nakedness (being exposed) to obtain the mercy of God and be free. Brethren, when one’s sin has been uncovered, one is more in a state of helplessness than in fear, and should therefore be ready to be sanctified and restored. Remember that every hidden secret shall be uncovered. (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
The problem therefore is not with our nakedness to sin; but rather, is the condoning of sin, the denial and indulgence in it; and to be unashamed of sin before God. This is “woe” unto the “soul” and the reward is only evil. (Jeremiah 6:15; Isaiah 3:9).
- THE SHAME OF NAKEDNESS: WEAKNESS
Brethren, in ‘nakedness’ one is weak and helpless to overcome the power of the death of sin without God’s help; especially in the state ‘spiritual blindness’. This weakness affects all of mankind born naked. (Psalm 51:5).). But consciousness of the shame of sin should present an opportunity to those that love God, to admit our weakness, repent of our sins; and submit to his redemptive Grace. (Exodus 32:25; Romans 2:4).
Be of the mind that: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23). And it is inevitable that we may yet sin while we remain in the flesh. Also, our own covering of ‘fig leaves’ cannot blot out sin or hide the shame of it. The need for God’s redemptive Grace to overcome man’s weakness to sin is symbolised in the “coats of skin” God made to clothe Adam and Eve, replacing the covering of ‘fig leaves’ that they sew for themselves.
People of God, admission of one’s weakness in face of the shame of sin, repenting and yielding to the mercy of God to help one overcome the weakness of lusts one may struggle with, is the first step towards the truth that can set one free. And believing that Jesus Christ is God’s eternal sacrifice to redeem from the bondage of sin and death is the ultimate truth to one’s freedom from the shame of nakedness in sin. (Romans 8:21; John 8:36).
- CHRIST ENDS THE SHAME OF SIN
Brethren, by his death and resurrection, Christ, the Son of God, has taken away the shame of nakedness in sin, because he has borne the shame of sin by death. (Colossians 2:14-15). Christ has destroyed the veil of sin that caused Adam to hide from the presence and voice of God; and has obtained the mercy of God for all mankind. Hallelujah! (Romans 5:12-21; Isaiah 44:21-22).
Christ himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. Believers must thus count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (1 Peter 1:18-19; 2:24; Romans 6:11). “[Know] that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin; […] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. (Romans 6:6; 8:2).
My brethren, God achieved his purpose to free mankind from the bondage of nakedness to sin through his son Jesus Christ: he forgives sins, redeems and sanctifies men through the faith of his blood, and reconciles man with God. (Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Isaiah 30:18). He also reveals the truth of God to man – that “GOD is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”. (John 4:23-24).
5.1 NAKED IN CHRIST: THE HOPE OF GLORY
As believers, we are naked in Christ’. By the resurrection of Christ, God makes available the power, for us “to be conformed to the image of his Son”. We are restored to the divine nature, the glorious “image and likeness” of God; and by faith, we are “sons of God”, born of his Spirit. Hallelujah! (Romans 8:29;2Peter1:3-4; Colossians 3:10; John 1:12-13; Isaiah 43:6-7).
When one is ‘naked in Christ’, therefore, one can partake of the riches of ‘the glory of the mystery of God’ among men which is: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). By this mystery of God, “… if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness”. (Roman’s 8:10).
This means that, they who are ‘naked in Christ’, have put on the “new self”, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24). According to the mystery, the gift of the Holy Spirit enables them to be holy. The Holy Spirit indwells believers and inspires sin consciousness in them, and guides them toward repentance by conviction. (Romans 8:11; John 16:8). “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”. (Romans 8:13) ‘The Spirit of Truth is the eye of the burning’.
Brethren, there is therefore now no condemnation of sin or the shame of nakedness for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us”. (Romans 8:1, 30. 34).
PRAYERS
Almighty Father, I thank you for your word.
We praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost, for your wonderful work of salvation.
Father, inspire our hearts with your love and help us overcome fleshly weakness: Let us not give that which is holy unto the dogs, or cast our pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend us. (Matthew 7:6).
Blessed Jesus, keep us under your redeeming grace.
Gracious Spirit of truth, guide our steps toward truthfulness and holiness.
I make this prayer in JESUS NAME.
HAVE A BLESSED EASTER HOLIDAY.
Lots of Love, P. Schwartz (SOG) 09 April 2023.
