The Latest Fashion in Fig Leaves

A man doesn't want to admit he's wrong. He doesn't want to admit he's sinful. So he covers himself with religious ceremony and ritual.

I personally believe there are people who treat church like fig leaves. They'll hide inside the church and at least in our country the average church is accommodating it. They say, come here and we won't talk about your shame or your guilt or your sin or the need for a redeemer. Come in and hide with us.

You'll be safe in here. Do we think we can hide from God in here? That somehow He cannot see beneath some steeple or some ceremony? It's really quite common for people to rely on ritual to cover their guilt. Do you know anyone like that? They're trying to cleanse their conscience internally and impress others externally.

It fails every time. It began in the Garden of Eden when Adam tried to use fig leaves to cover his guilt. Ever since then, men and women have tried to cover their guilt with religious observances and even various forms of penance. Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey returns to our Got Religion series. We're in Romans Chapter 2 today, and Stephen has a message for you entitled The Latest Fashion in Fig Leaves. I want to show you the first religious act in human history. In fact, we'll spend at least half of our time here, beginning with Genesis Chapter 2, as I set the stage for what Paul will say centuries later in Romans Chapter 2. If you're familiar with Chapter 2 and 3 of Genesis, you know that Satan will come to tempt Eve in the garden. Both Adam and Eve were both created by God as adult, male and female, and they were told by God not to eat of the tree that represented knowledge of good and evil. God warned Adam in Chapter 2, verse 16 of the book of Genesis, with these words, the Lord God commanded the man saying from any tree of the garden, you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.

So Adam was given the choice and God created the scenario where mankind would choose whether or not they would obey and love him. Adam had not yet committed sin and would thus live forever in the physical state he was in. But as God warned him here, if he chose to sin, he would begin to die, ultimately die physically. And that consequence, of course, exists to this day, for the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is what? Is death. In other words, one of the undeniable proofs that we have Adam's nature and that we have also chosen to sin is that we will all experience, barring the rapture of the body, we will all experience physical death.

We will all die physically. Chapter three of Genesis opens then with Satan inhabiting the serpent who comes to tempt Eve. And he does it by revealing to her the beauty and the goodness and the potential deliciousness of this fruit of this one tree that God had told them not to eat from. They had been told they could eat from all of the trees. There were probably hundreds of them. I don't know how many trees bear fruit, but all of them were at their disposal, except this one.

But isn't it just like human nature to want that one? I have talked to people over the years who have the most logical sounding rhetoric for defending their sin that you can imagine. Physical reasoning, emotional reasonings, intellectual defenses of their sin, and they reach the conclusion, what I am doing is the right thing to do.

Even though God says don't, which only reveals the depth of their deception, for they've been blinded by the God of this world to believe what is right is that which God has said is wrong. You've heard that the book of Genesis is the book of beginnings. Perhaps most of the beginnings are wonderful things. However, in this passage, there are several firsts that are not so wonderful. Here is the first time in human history that God has been disobeyed. Call it what you will. It is crass independence.

It is disobedience to the word of God. This is the first time it's happened. That's not all over seven says then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked. This is the first time mankind experienced shame.

Their innocence is gone forever. They are ashamed of their physical nakedness. The passage continues on in verse seven to tell us they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

This is mankind's first attempt at self cleansing. Up to this point, everything that they have has been provided by God. But now knowing they have disobeyed God, they can't very well go to him and say we we feel shame at being naked.

And so they do it themselves. They attempt to hide their sense of guilt and their sense of shame at having sinned. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first religious act of human history. Verse eight, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. This is not the sound of God's voice, at least not yet, but the literal sound of God walking, which then indicates to us that God has taken some physical form manifesting himself and some what we would call theophany or perhaps if it's the second person of the Trinity, a Christophany, some physical manifestation where he literally came to walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day.

Sweet, intimate fellowship between the creator and the created. The text tells us in verse eight, the latter part that the man and wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. This is the very first reference you have of man hiding from God. And they have been hiding ever since. But this is the first expression of them hiding. But I thought they had their fig leaves on.

They do. They had dealt with their sin and shame and they had created these fig leaf coverings. Why not just parade in front of God and act as if nothing has happened and say, well, what do you think of this outfit?

No. For them and for mankind today, religion seems to make sense. The work of our hands seems to be the things to do. The self covering, the attempts at self cleansing seem to make sense until you stand in the presence of holy God.

And then the foolishness of it strikes you. The Bible tells us nothing is hidden from his sight. He already knows everything about us, even the motives of our hearts.

Nothing can cover that. Verse nine tells us, then the Lord God called the man. Where are you? Doesn't God know where he is? Of course, he does. This is the first time God is seen seeking man. Offering man an invitation to restore fellowship.

And so he begins to ask a series of questions and we don't have time to go into all of them. But this is the first time God is seen as seeking after man. Man hides from God. God seeks after man. Luke 19 10. Jesus Christ said the same thing. He said, I've come to seek and to save those who were lost in the Gospel of John Chapter four, verse 23. We're told that the father seeks after those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

God is on a seek and deliver mission. And this is the first expression of it here. In that same chapter, verse 10, Adam said, Well, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. And so I hid myself. Did you notice that admission? I was afraid. It's the first time the verb fear appears. You say, But Adam, you got your fig leaves on.

There's nothing to be afraid of. My friend, you tell the most devout religious person you know is trusting in their works rather than in Christ alone. You tell them that person who never misses a mass or a service. You tell the one that gives their money to the poor and the charity. You tell the one that volunteers in civic duties and in Christian duties. You tell the ones who even teach courses in Sunday school at the local assembly. They are doing their best. They're trusting in that. You ask them how they feel about meeting God, and they will, if they are honest, say, I'm afraid. But aren't we all?

Yes, in a very real sense, we all are. However, for the one has been redeemed. The Book of Hebrews tells us that we can march, come, arrive boldly at the throne of God.

How? By virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ that has cleansed our hearts and given us, the text says, full assurance. We don't come with our hands admiring our robes with any kind of assurance.

We would only say we're afraid. My friend, if you do not have faith in Christ alone, you can come to church today, but that's just a fig leaf. You can pray.

Those prayers are fig leaves. You can do all sorts of good things. You can attend Bible studies. You can give your money away.

You can even teach, perhaps. But if you've never dealt with your sin and you're simply attempting with religious activity to cover over it, you're not admitting it. You're cherishing it. You're doing it, but you just as soon keep it. And so you try to cover it with something and religious activity seems to be a good thing to cover it with when God appears.

Ultimately, you will run and hide. God asks him another question. Verse 11, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? This is kind of like a parent.

They know the answer and they ask questions knowing the answer, but they want to hear you as the child give the answer. Again, he's pulling out of Adam, the potential confession. This is an opportunity for Adam to say, yes, I have sinned.

I did that. What does he say instead? The man said, verse 12, the woman, not a very good start, but the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate. In other words, she made me do it. Did you get the subtle indication here that Adam saying the woman you gave me, she was your idea, Lord, you gave her to me. Everything was fine in the garden until you brought her to me.

And it's been trouble ever since. I can imagine Eve standing there infuriated, the blood rushing to her cheeks, the vein in her neck right about here is about 10 times the size God ever intended it to be. And I don't know what she said, but I bet she had a few words to say. And God just says, all right, if that's the tact you're going to take, verse 13, he said to the woman, well, what is this you've done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate.

This text is the first indication that marriage counselors are going to make a lot of money. Here is the very first moment of marital discord in human history. Before the day began, there was fellowship between Adam and Eve and there was fellowship between Adam and Eve and God. No sin to ruin paradise. But now there is sin, there is shame, there is guilt. And there is this first sighting of man-made religion to cover it all over in the form of two aprons made from fig leaves. And that's never changed from that point to this. Man-made religion has always had a lot in common with fig leaves.

Let me suggest at least a few things they have in common. Number one, fig leaves are man's ceremonial attempt to avoid accountability. Man doesn't want to admit he's wrong. He doesn't want to admit he's sinful. So he covers himself with religious ceremony and ritual. I personally believe there are people who treat church like fig leaves. They'll hide inside the church.

And at least in our country, the average church is accommodating it. They say, come here and we won't talk about your shame or your guilt or your sin or the need for a redeemer. Come in and hide with us.

You'll be safe in here. Do we think we can hide from God in here? That somehow he cannot see beneath some steeple or some ceremony. David said, if I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed and shield or the grave, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there, your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, surely the darkness will cover me and the light around me will be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you.

And the night is as bright as the day. Psalm 139 can't hide. And you cannot avoid final accountability to God. You cannot hide from him behind your religious fig leaves.

Secondly, fig leaves are man's desperate attempt to save a guilty conscience. As we have already discovered in Romans chapter two, man was created with a conscience that God had given him and it whispers to him that he's sinful and naked before God and mankind knows that he is sinful. He knows he has shame. He knows that he's wrong. He knows that he has committed sin. And so he says, listen, I'll burn a candle or over here, anoint me with some oil or over there, I'll cover me with water or watch.

I'll give some money away. Will somebody please silence the shame? Religion is man's most popular method of silencing the shame. Third, fig leaves are man's self-centered attempt to impress others and ignore true godliness. If you fast forward to the tape of human history and you go into the days of Christ, he is speaking to the religious leaders of his day in Matthew 23. They have the pious appearances and they have the pietistic disciplines and activities, but they do not have a purified heart and a relationship with God through Christ. Jesus will say to them, they do all their deeds to be noticed by men.

They do everything they do to be seen by men. They fast, they pray, they give to be seen by men. He says in that text, for they broaden their phylacteries. A phylactery was a little box in which they would insert a verse from the Torah, the law, and they would put the box on their left forearm and then they would, as they prayed, place it across their hearts and they would have one on their forehead with strips of leather and as if it were covering their mind and they did this when they prayed in their discipline of praying and he's saying here they broaden their phylacteries. They get these big boxes, he's exaggerating, but they just trumpet the fact to people that, hey, we're praying and they are impressive to people who watch them. Jesus says to them, woe to you, you outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and sin. See in the eyes of man, the religious person has it all together. If God is impressed with anybody, he's impressed with a faithful Jew and Paul has given us all of the reasons why. Back in Romans chapter 2 now he has told us that they have the law, they are proud of their monotheism, they know the will of God, they have discernment into the things which are right and wrong and they teach those who do not know and they preach moral absolutes and all of that without having the heart that is in love with God, the heart that is obedient to the law of God. They sound good, they seem to have it all down, but Paul by the inspiring influence of the Holy Spirit sort of pulls off the mask from their religiosity and reveals that while their lips praise Jehovah, their hearts are far from him. Now Paul has anticipated their response.

Their response will be to point to their circumcision. The faithful Jew by virtue of chapter 2 is backed into a corner. He knew that he did what he did to be seen, he knew that he didn't have a heart of love for God, he knew that he didn't obey the word, the law, the Torah. Paul knew that the faithful Jew at that point of being confronted with the reality that everything they had was inadequate. They would say, ah, but wait, I have the mark of the covenant, I have been circumcised, thus I am a son of Abraham.

He knew they'd play that last card, it would be their last hope. And he will present now in these next few verses three basic principles to reveal that circumcision is in and of itself just another fashion in fig leaves. And the first principle was this, religious rituals cannot replace righteous living. Look at verse 25.

Well, let's start back at verse 23. You who boast in the law, through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, just as it is written. For indeed, circumcision is of value. See, he anticipates they'll say, okay, but I've been circumcised. He says, yes, indeed, circumcision is of value if you want to circle that word in your text, if you practice the law. But if you are a transgressor of the law, that is, you don't care about the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. In other words, religious rituals, even if they in and of themselves are an act of obedience, they do not count as a replacement for godly living. Now, mind you, rituals have their place.

Traditions may have their value. Paul is not saying here that the outward ritual is a worthless thing. He is simply saying that a symbol of covenant obedience is worthless without the lifestyle of obedience. He goes on to say in verse 26, so if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? In other words, the man who lives a godly life, but hasn't been circumcised with that mark of the covenant, he is better off than the man who has been marked, but lives a life of disregard of the law.

Why? Because circumcision was simply a physical mark. It was required by God as a covenant sign, going back to the time of Abraham, but it represented a love for God. It represented their distinction from all of the other nations that they were the people of God, and they were to live lives of holy distinction. So what was better, to have the mark and not have love for God, or to have love for God and not the mark?

Well, Paul's answer is obvious. Just as God spoke through the prophet Samuel concerning animal sacrifices in 1 Samuel 15, 22, he said, has the Lord as much delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, which was stunning news to the Jew, of course. God never intended for their faith to be placed in that mark, that physical mark, but faith to be placed in God himself. But the people had begun, and by the time of Christ, and certainly Paul, had begun to believe that the physical mark was good enough without any internal relationship. If the man could be marked and his sons and daughters come through as it were that mark, then they would be safe. They would be in the covenant. They would be children of Abraham, regardless of an internal heart and attitude and obedience. Paul is destroying that presumption.

Second principle was this, trust in external activity will not protect against eternal accountability. Paul goes on in verse 27 to say, will not he who is physically uncircumcised, he's referring to a Gentile, will not he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will he not judge you? Will his lifestyle, in effect, not be a judgment to you? Though you have the letter of the law and circumcision, but you are a transgressor of the law. The third principle is this, religious roots do not guarantee God's approval.

And he sort of tightens the net as he gets closer to his argument. Verse 28, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, you could insert the word only, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh only. Verse 29, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly.

Here's another shocking truth. He believed that in a sense their Jewishness was a physical mark and it was a bloodline to Abraham and he's saying it isn't true. He said that's part of it, but it's also a matter of the heart. Religion will always emphasize the work of the hands. True Christianity, true faith in God will always emphasize the work of the what? The heart. Religion will always focus on what we do.

Approval before God focuses on why we do what we do. Do you pray? Why? Do you give money to the poor? Why?

Do you fast? Why? You're in church today. Why? See, religion never asks the question why.

If you just do it and just check off the boxes, you're safe. Christianity says no and I want to know why. Because it's a matter of the heart. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God, the Bible says, looks on the heart. Well, how do we do away with fig leaves?

Let me give you three things to consider. Since religion is always in the process of making aprons and God is at work however on the heart, how do we avoid religiosity, the ritual without the reality? Number one, fig leaves must be acknowledged as thoroughly inadequate. Now I know I'm reading between the lines, but for Adam and Eve, sometime back then as they were making them, they thought it was a good idea. I don't know which one came up with it first. If Adam, Eve would have said, no, that's a great idea. That'll take care of our shame. If Eve, Adam, oh, that's it. That's what we're missing.

Somewhere back there in the garden, they came up with this idea and they patted each other on the back and said, that'll do it. That'll cover our shame. But it didn't.

It couldn't. All they had to show for their sowing lesson was more guilt, more shame, more uncertainty. And now they're hiding behind a tree in the garden from God.

Fig leaves must be acknowledged as thoroughly inadequate. Second of all, fig leaves must be exchanged with true confession. That's why the gospel has bad news before it has good news. Tells a person that they're a sinner and they need to admit to that. And then it says there's a savior for sinners. Jesus didn't die on the cross for excuses.

He died to pay the penalty of our sin. So fig leaves must be exchanged with true confession. Third, fig leaves must be replaced with God's atoning substitute. Mankind's first religious act was sowing leaves together. God's first redemptive act was taking the life of an innocent animal, maybe two of them, and creating skins to cover Adam and Eve. Was it just that leather would last longer than leaves?

No. Buried in that act, and that was an act I believe God fully explained to them because one of the next things you see is Cain and Abel bringing their sacrifices to God. And one of them brought an animal, and God accepted that one, didn't He? It's the issue of atonement. Somebody dies for sin. Buried in that act is the principle of atonement where someone will take your punishment and die so that you can go free.

There in the first few pages of Genesis lay the picture of this coming lamb who would die for the sins of the world on that cross. Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice alone can do that for you and for me. So I recommend, ladies and gentlemen, with all the passion in my being that if you haven't already, I encourage you to put away the leaves.

They can't cover you. Whatever happens to be your latest fashion, whatever the work of your hands is, whatever those deeds are that you accomplish, believing that by them you will gain approval, Paul has shattered that for the faithful Jew. He shatters that for the religious man of our day.

Put away the leaves. Give your heart to the Lord. If you're trying to cover your guilt with anything other than Jesus' atoning sacrifice, I hope this lesson has challenged you. Thanks for tuning in today. This is Wisdom for the Heart, the Bible teaching ministry of Stephen Davey. I invite you to learn more about us by visiting our website, which you'll find at wisdomonline.org. We post the complete archive of Stephen's Bible teaching ministry. We also post each day's broadcasts, so if you ever miss one of these lessons, you can go to our website to keep caught up. All of these resources are available on that site free of charge, and you can access it anytime at wisdomonline.org.

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