Take Off Your Fig Leaves

Intro

Good morning church fam! Today we are continuing a series I started on Easter called Beyond Easter. Unless the Lord adds more to this particular series, this is the last installment.

When it comes to an Easter message we tend to stop at the resurrection of Jesus and kind of leave it there.

There is more to Easter than just an empty tomb. Jesus died for our sins, but He was raised from the dead so we may live.

The issue we face is that many who come to Christ are still not living. They are still walking around just as defeated as they were before Christ.

John 10:10 NASB95

10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

We fight a very real enemy that desires nothing more than to steal, kill, and destroy all that God wants for your life.

The way main way I believe the enemy attacks the believer is through the mind.

It is what we still believe about ourselves that keeps us down.

2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB95

5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

It is interesting that Paul says we are to destroy speculations.

Speculations means judgments or decisions. We are to destroy all judgements against us.

Why? Because Christ died for us.

Romans 8:34 NASB95

34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Judgements from others and especially ourselves. You will find that you will fight your own thoughts more than the thoughts of others or even the enemy.

Think about it. Who do you spend the most time with? Yourself. You are with yourself 24/7 365. And one extra on leap year.

Any thought that comes against what Christ has taught us through His Word we MUST submit it to the Word of Christ.

There are three areas where the enemy fights us with our thinking and that is through guilt, shame, and condemnation.

If he can keep you wallowing in your guilt, shameful of who yo are, and get you to feel condemned already…then the battle is his.

It does not have to be this way.

I want to share a message this morning that I believe will destroy these judgements against you and if you submit ALL thoughts to Christ, you will live the life that Christ is called you to live.

A life in FREEDOM!

How many of you want to be FREE today?

I got one phrase for you.

Take off your fig leaves.

Adam & Eve

I want to go back to where this all started from and that is in the Garden of Eden. Guilt, shame, and condemnation all originated at the fall of mankind.

God told Adam & Eve they were able to eat from any tree of the garden accept one tree and that was the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

They were deceived by a serpent (it always begins with deception - Jesus called the devil the Father of lies), which God will later curse, and they both ate from the tree they were to leave alone.

Genesis 3:7 NLT

7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

They felt shame and covered themselves with fig leaves. But it didn’t stop there. Shortly after they heard the Lord walking through the Garden.

You see, they had a relationship with God and knew what He sounded like. Some of you here today are still dealing with shame and you know what God sounds like and because of the shame you feel because what you did this last week or even last year you are doing what Adam and Eve did, hiding from God.

Genesis 3:10 NLT

10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

Shame will lead to guilt and guilt will to condemnation (judgement).

Sin (missing the mark of God) will always lead to death. God told Adam that if he partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil he would surely die.

That day the relationship between God and man died.

Too often people look at this moment in history and think that God is unloving and unforgiving. This is simply not true.

If this is not true then why did He kick them out of the garden? He had to.

Romans 6:23 NASB95

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Notice what God didn’t do. He didn’t kill Adam and Eve. That’s mercy. Not only didn’t He allow them to live, God covered them. That’s love. You see, we often forget this next part.

Genesis 3:21 NLT

21 And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

Usually what we focus on is that God kicked them out and even the world will paint God as some mean kid messing with humanity.

Write this down because this is going to be important later.

God Covered Them

God covered them and allowed them to live their lives.

Fig Leaves of 2024

The fig leaves represented what they did wrong. The fig leaves were a reminder of missing the mark that God had placed.

This happens to us today when we allow guilt, shame, and condemnation over sins that we have committed to rule our lives.

Guilt, shame, and condemnation are the fig leaves of 2024.

The enemy uses deception enemy just like he did with Adam and Eve to this very day causing us to put on our fig leaves.

Three ways the enemy uses deception.

Distorts the truth - Genesis 3:1; Genesis 3:16-17

Promotes Doubt - Genesis 3:1

Encourages Temptation - Genesis 3:4-5

Distorts Truth

Genesis 3:1 NLT

1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

What did God really say?

Genesis 2:16–17 NLT

16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

Promotes Doubt

Genesis 3:1 NLT

1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

Did God really say this or that? Did God really call me?

***I had that one thrown at me once. Story of failing ministry in small churches.***

Encourages Temptation

Genesis 3:4–5 NLT

4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

So how do we fight deception? Truth.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB95

13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Truth Bombs

Let’s put some truth to this so you can be set free today.

John 8:31–32 NLT

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

I want to drop some truth bombs on you today. If you believe and follow what Christ is teaching, YOU WILL BE SET FREE!

Hebrews 12:24 NASB95

24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Remember the blood, the blood of Jesus speaks better things. Better things than that of which you were before coming to Christ!

It’s time to take off some fig leaves today!

The truth about guilt, shame, and condemnation is that they are NOT from God.

God does not and will not use these tactics to get you to turn to Him.

Guilt

Guilt is a self-conscious emotion that involves reflecting on oneself.

How many of you have ever missed the mark and felt guilt?

How many of you have been stuck in your walk with God because of that guilt?

It is our guilt that causes us to run and hide from God. Adam and Eve felt the guilt of going against the plan of God when they partook of the tree. It caused them to run from God and not to God.

People are sometimes known to use guilt as a tactic to get people to Christ or even to get people to come to church. If that is you. Stop it. Guilt is not a spiritual gift.

Guilt causes people to run and hide from God. We don’t share the Gospel of Jesus to guilt trip people into following Him. Guilt leads to shame and shame leads to condemnation.

Conviction on the other hand is something different. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said:

John 16:8 NASB95

8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;

Conviction exposes peoples sins and transgression leading to repentance. Turning to God. Not like guilt turning you away from God.

Besides, the truth is that I am no longer guilty of any sin past, present, or future! And neither are you. The blood of Christ speaks better!

Romans 5:9–10 NASB95

9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Because of what Christ did on the cross, because His blood speaks BETTER, you and I stand before God NOT GUILTY!

Therefore my conscious in in the clear and I am free from the guilt of my past, present, and even future sin!

So does that mean I am free to sin? No. We will get into that in a moment.

When we do fall…and we will fall, the Holy Spirit will convict and that conviction will bring repentance and repentance turns me towards God. Guilt drives me away.

Understanding this truth will set you free and allow you to draw closer to the Father rather than drive you away.

Shame

Truth bomb number 2.

Shame is NOT from God.

God does not shame us. Why? Because He can’t. It is not in His nature. How is this so?

1 John 4:8 NASB95

8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Love does not shame, love covers.

1 Peter 4:8 NASB95

8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

Remember what I said earlier about remembering the covering by God. God loved them and covered them.

Adam and Eve covered themselves in fig leaves because of their shame. But their covering was not good enough.

Why was it not good enough you might ask? Because shame is not about what they have done, shame is about who they are.

Shame is about identity.

The fig leaves represented what they did wrong. It represented their failure. It represented their mistakes.

How often do we allow what we have done in our lives to become our identity?

Sinner

Failure

Unworthy

Unforgivable

Shameful

Broken

Unchangable

Hypocrite

These identities and more can prevent people from embracing the transformative power of God's grace and the new identity they have in Christ.

As we had learned last week, we are given a NEW IDENTITY in CHRIST!

2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB95

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

We have to change our mindset! Cast down the lies of the enemy and submit those thoughts to the TRUTH of JESUS CHRIST! His blood speaks better!

The truth to the lies above are as follows:

Sinner/REDEEMED

There is a phrase that most Christians say about themselves, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.”

You know that is not the Gospel. In fact that phrase came from an old Gaithers song and became a hymn in the church!

While it sounds humble, it is a distortion of the truth about our real identity as born-again believers. This is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You will not find this phrase in Scripture anywhere!

This becomes an identity issue.

Do we sin? Yes.

Does my sin define me? No.

So stop labeling yourself as a sinner saved by Grace. If all you see is that you are a sinner, then that is what you will become and you will do it even more.

Here is a thought, maybe identifying ourselves as a sinner saved by grace allows us to feel better about the sin we do not want to crucify and remove out of our lives?

That’s not freedom. That’s bondage.

You are not a sinner saved by grace, you are redeemed through the blood of Jesus' sacrifice.

Ephesians 1:7 NLT

7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

This redemption offers forgiveness and a fresh start and most importantly FREEDOM!

Failure/VICTORIOUS

You are not a failure, you are victorious through Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:57 NLT

57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You are NOT bound to sin anymore. Through Christ you can overcome any sin that is in your life.

Unworthy/WORTHY

Too often we are led by our feelings, contrary to the fact you may be feeling unworthy, Christians are deemed worthy because of God's unconditional love.

Romans 5:8 NLT

8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

The cross demonstrates our value in God's eyes. You are valuable to God.

Unforgiven/FORGIVEN

Against the belief of being unforgivable, I want to remind you that through confession and repentance, God forgives all sins.

1 John 1:9 NLT

9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Shameful/ACCEPTED

As opposed to feeling shameful, Christians are accepted and welcomed into God's family. Our identity is found in who He says we are!

John 1:12 NASB95

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

Through Jesus we have the RIGHT to become children of God.

This means we are adopted into God's family through the cross, and includes receiving the benefits and blessings of being a child of God, such as grace, mercy, love, and inheritance. Including IDENTITY.

Write this down:

God’s love for us is GREATER than our mistakes.

Because of His love we are no longer broken, but restored.

Broken/RESTORED

Instead of seeing oneself as broken, Christians are restored through Jesus’ resurrection and power.

1 Peter 5:10 NLT

10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.

This identity acknowledges the healing and renewal that come through faith.

Unchangeable/Transformable

I used to tell my wife, “This is just who I am…” a lot. What I was saying is I am unchangeable. Not true.

You are able to be transformed through the Holy Spirit. You DO NOT HAVE TO REMAIN THE SAME.

Again, it starts with truth and believing in the TRUTH.

Romans 12:2 NASB95

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Understanding this identity that you can be transformed, signifies ongoing spiritual growth and sanctification.

The moment you say “This is who I am and I cannot change” is the moment you stop believing the transforming message of the Gospel of Jesus.

Hypocrite/Authentic

This is a BIG one. Even in our culture today. The world likes to throw this word around and unfortunately in some cases they have a right to. Some Christians never change. They continue in the same worldly things they were doing before Christ.

Christians are called to live authentically, with God's Spirit enabling them to walk in truth and integrity. That means owning your mess ups and not blaming everyone else for your mistakes.

Adam did this in the Garden. He told God it was the woman’s fault! No Adam, you did it. She didn’t make you do anything.

Being authentic is not passing the buck when you mess up.

John 4:24 NASB95

24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Were the disciples hypocrites? No. They were messed up and they knew it. Because they knew it, they also understood their need for Jesus. Their need for Jesus caused them to repent and repentance brings us closer to the Father.

Take off the fig leaves and be clothed in Jesus

It is time we take of the fig leaves of guilt, shame, and condemnation and allow God to clothe you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ!

Just as God provided a covering for Adam and Eve, He has provided a covering for you and me. They removed the fig leaves - guilt, shame, condemnation - and were clothed in the love of God.

John 3:16 NASB95

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Romans 13:14 NASB95

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Put on Jesus who is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.

Stop believing the lies of the enemy and believe the TRUTH of God.

It is in that TRUTH you will find freedom.

It is in that TRUTH you will live the life that Christ died for you to live!

Prayer