God took away Adam and Eve’s fig leaves and clothed them himself. He stopped them from covering themselves, and he covered them. This is a physical picture of a spiritual reality. God doesn’t want us to cover our sins. He wants to cover our sins for us. In Psalm 32:1 David wrote, "Blessed are those whose sins are covered." We can't cover our sins. When we try, we fail. We still see our sin. It is always before us. But when we confess our sin, and God covers it, it is hidden from sight, never to be seen again.

Table of contentsOur Flesh Tempts Us to Cover Our SinsCovering Their Nakedness Pictures Them Covering Their ShameThe Word Atone Means "To Cover"God Wants to Cover Our SinsGod Wants to Forgive our TransgressionsGod Doesn’t Want to Count Our Iniquity Against UsGod Doesn’t Want Us Living DeceitfullyWe Can't Cover Our Sins

https://youtu.be/dW0Uplz5hPs

"Blessed are those whose sins are covered" (Psalm 32:1). We can't cover our sins, but when we confess them and repent God covers them for us.

Last Wednesday, January 10th, Charis and Chloe baked cookies, walked around our neighborhood and quickly sold out. Two days later, they wanted to bake and sell more cookies on Friday morning. I knew the big storm was coming, but I told them I would take them around a different neighborhood to support their entrepreneurial efforts.

When we were leaving the house, George wanted to go too. I brought him even though he wasn’t dressed warmly, and it should have occurred to me that he didn’t know how cold it was or what we were doing. As a two-year-old, he saw people leaving the house and didn’t want to miss out. Plus, I thought he might help us sell cookies. Ignore the fact that it was about 20 degrees outside, and he wasn't dressed very warmly.

Things were going well until, actually, things were never going well. It was freezing. People didn’t seem interested in buying cookies. Charis and Chloe were walking down different sides of the street, and they wanted me to stay out of sight. I think everyone who opened the door thought, “What is this little girl doing outside my door all by herself, selling cookies with a National Weather Service warning? Where are her parents? Is that why she’s selling cookies? Is it because her parents don’t care for her, and she needs the money? And is that a little boy with her?”

At one point, a man came out of his house to tell Chloe to bring George home. I quickly ran up to explain the situation. I said, “Well, you see, my girls sold out of cookies the other day, and I told them that if they baked more, I would take them out again. I thought I should keep my word even if the weather is bad. I brought my son along so that Katie could have a break from him because he’s very busy, and we have nine other kids. Yes, I did say nine, so that makes ten total.” Believe it or not, my story didn’t convince him that I wasn't being a foolish father.

And did you know cold weather is hard on car batteries? That was another fun part of the night. I couldn't get the car started when we tried to leave. Fortunately, I had my portable battery charger. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to work.

Katie called to see where we were because she knew we were only a neighborhood over, and it shouldn’t take long to sell eight boxes of cookies. I told her what happened, and she asked, “Do you want me to pick you up in the bus?” This was code for, “I hate my kids being outside when it’s freezing, so let me come pick you up.”

I said, “Well, they aren’t outside. They are inside the car.” Unsurprisingly, that didn’t make her feel better because she knew the heat wasn’t on. After all, the battery was dead. Nothing really gets by Katie.

She said, “Just let me come pick you up.”

I said, “I bought a car battery charger, and now I can learn how to use it.” This also didn’t make Katie feel better because she knows I’m not the handiest with this sort of stuff.

After trying for 5, 10, or 47 minutes, I still couldn’t start the car. Katie called again to see how things were going, which really means Katie called again to see if she could pick us up. I reassured her that I was going to get the battery charged. But that didn’t really reassure her.

Do you remember that guy who came out of his house to tell us to bring George home? It turns out he’s a very nice guy. He came out to see if we needed help. I said, “No, I’ve got it. You sound like my wife.” Just kidding. I told him that I couldn’t get the battery charged. He told me he didn’t trust those chargers, which made me feel better because I didn’t think it was owner error. But it probably was.

He pulled his truck up next to us to jump the battery, and his fiancée came out with blankets and invited the kids into his truck, which was nice and warm. She also gave the kids hot chocolate and, I think, some microwave popcorn, which, of course, made me appreciate them even more.

Our Flesh Tempts Us to Cover Our Sins

I share this story, because there were numerous times throughout the night that it was obvious I made a bad decision, but it was much easier to cover up my foolishness by saying things such as:

“Yes, I think George is dressed warmly enough.”

“No, I don’t need you to pick me up, and I will get kids home quicker if you stop calling me.”

“Yes, I can start the car, and it will be quicker if you stop asking me.”

“No, I don’t think it was foolish to take my kids out in the middle of the night in freezing temperatures to sell cookies when nobody would want to buy cookies.”

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

At this moment, Adam and Eve were not experiencing any shame or conviction. Wouldn’t it be great never to experience shame or conviction? And I don’t mean because we have a seared conscience or we resisted the Holy Spirit for so long, we have become reprobates or are given over, as Romans 1 describes. I’m talking about the freedom from shame or conviction because we haven’t done anything wrong.

We will know what this is like when we receive our glorified bodies. But until then, shame and conviction are common feelings for us. Adam and Eve started feeling shame or conviction as soon as they sinned. God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but Satan said:

Genesis 3:5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Satan was telling the truth. As you’ve probably heard before, Satan deceives people by mixing truth with lies. That’s why Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons will always be greater threats than Buddhists or Hindus. They have so much truth mixed into their false religions.

Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Adam and Eve ate and experienced what Satan said they would: their eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and evil. And now that they have this knowledge, they know they did something evil. And when we have knowledge that we did something wrong or evil, we experience shame. There is at least one version, the New Living Translation, that reads, “They suddenly felt SHAME at their nakedness.”

Covering Their Nakedness Pictures Them Covering Their Shame

Adam and Eve move from being not ashamed to being ashamed. Numerous commentaries make this point. Here are just three of them:

Ellicott’s commentary reads, “Their increased knowledge brought only shame. Their minds were awakened and enlarged, but the price they paid for it was their innocence and peace.”

Benson’s commentary reads, “To cover at least part of their shame one from another, [they] made themselves aprons.”

Gill’s commentary reads, “[trying] to hide their sin and shame from the all-seeing eye of God.”

This is a physical picture of a spiritual reality. Adam and Eve physically cover themselves with fig leaves, but it shows what we want to do spiritually when we are ashamed or convicted: cover our sins. When The Fall took place, they received sinful natures, and this is what our sinful natures tempt us to do: cover our sins instead of confessing our sins. They continue to try to cover their sin by hiding from God:

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

This is also a perfect physical picture of a spiritual reality. When we are ashamed of our sins, we try to hide from God…even though it isn’t possible. What does this look like? We don’t want to pray, read the Bible, or be in fellowship. If you’re someone looking at things you shouldn’t, I’m praying this sermon will convict you and bring you to confession and repentance. Few sins are as destructive as pornography.

But even when we hide from God, he seeks us out:

Genesis 3:11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

God knew the answer to these questions, but he asked because he was giving Adam the opportunity to stop covering his sin and start confessing his sin. One of the most common ways we cover our sin is by shifting blame…which is what Adam and Eve did:

Genesis 3:12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

No confession whatsoever. In one sentence, Adam tried to cover his sin by blaming two different people:

He blamed his wife for giving him the fruit.

He blamed God for giving him the wife who gave him the fruit.