Naked Before God: The Garment Christ Wants to Give You

Introduction

Have you ever noticed that need we all have to beautify our lives? Flowers on the table, nice wallpaper, framed pictures, a car with some style, a good haircut, a well-groomed mustache, a piece of jewelry, a little skin cream, a good career, a reputation, a medal. Human beings love to appear, to look like something. We need reassurance.

Blaise Pascal put it this way: "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man." James Hutinet picks up this same intuition to open a message on Genesis 2:25 through 3:10. Before the fall, Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame. After the fall, everything changed. They saw that they were naked, they hid, and they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

This sermon, preached on August 17, 2025, asks a question that is both unsettling and freeing: what are you hiding behind? And what does Christ want to put in place of your fig leaves?

Outline

1. Our inner nakedness and the fig leaves

Genesis 2:25 describes the original state: "The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed." Naked in body, but also with their hearts bare before the LORD. They lived openly with God, in communion. They were made in God's image, carrying a certain radiance; a garment of splendor, the splendor of God's glory resting on them.

Then disobedience arrives. Genesis 3:6: the woman took of the fruit, ate it, and gave some to her husband, who ate it too. "The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." Something was lost. A degradation took place inside them, in their hearts, and outside, in their bodies. They no longer saw themselves as before. They saw themselves as naked; that is, through an impoverished image of themselves.

What did they do then? They compensated. They made themselves loincloths, little belts of fig leaves. A fig leaf is large and rather beautiful. It was at once a way to reassure themselves and a garment of compensation.

In human nature, after a disaster, there is very often a spirit of reconquest. After a lost war, we prepare for the next one. After a flood, we want to rebuild, and better than before. Our nature pushes us to salvage what we can, to patch up appearances. Pride is at work, rather than humbling ourselves before the Creator and asking whether the trial has a meaning.

After the fall, Adam and Eve lost a great deal. They lost their assurance, their beauty, their harmony, their strength, their peace, their communion with the LORD. They lost the garment of God, that garment of the splendor of his glory. They died spiritually. They found themselves fearful, ashamed, given over to their own weakness; just as is still the case today. So they cobbled together a covering to save appearances, to supposedly protect themselves.

But a belt of leaves doesn't do much. It's vapor, a vanity, as Ecclesiastes would say. They wanted knowledge by eating the forbidden fruit, and in their fallen state they clothed themselves with what was left around the fruit: leaves. Like a poor bandage.

This brings to mind the prodigal son. With his father's wealth, he wanted to live it up, and he ended up envying the pods the pigs were eating. For Adam and Eve, the LORD himself had to clothe them again, with garments of animal skin; more protective, and already the beginning of what points toward the sacrifice of Christ.

2. The garment of compensation versus the garment of God

Each of us needs to ask this question. Are you hiding behind a garment of vanity? Where is your own wealth? By nature, we all carry timidity, handicaps, weaknesses. We try to hide all of that.

Every time we beautify our surroundings; a piece of jewelry, a picture frame, a piece of clothing, a bit of recognition; that isn't bad in itself. But it can also reveal that we've lost something that resembled the glory of God, and that we're trying to make up for it. Romans 3:23 puts it plainly: "for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God."

For Adam and Eve, the LORD intervenes. He doesn't leave them in their fig leaves. He gives them a garment of skin, which implies a first sacrifice. An animal dies so that man can be covered. This is already, in shadow, the announcement of the sacrifice of Christ, which would come to cover our inner nakedness.

Christ doesn't just want to erase our faults. He wants to clothe us. Revelation 3, where the Lord Jesus speaks to the church in Laodicea, shows this. Verses 15 to 18: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;' and don't know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see."

What's striking is that Jesus says this to Christians, not to unbelievers. Our God has no love for lukewarmness or for nakedness. We can think we're rich because we have a diploma, some experience, a position, some recognition in the church. But if the Lord strips away everything that is purely human, what's left?

Nicodemus, in John 3, is a teacher in Israel. Yet the Lord tells him: "You don't know these things." We can build a good life, think of ourselves as decent people, be well-liked in the assembly; and still turn out to be poor before God. Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves. And what have we woven, to appear well?

1 Corinthians 3:13: "each man's work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man's work is. If any man's work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire." Saved, but with the shame of having arrived empty-handed before the majestic Father. For our Lord, human works detached from him carry very little weight.

Even while knowing the Lord, we can imitate God's works without truly living them. Being present, but without him. Doing something without conviction, without leaning on the Spirit he has placed within us. There is a difference between living out a religion and living openly with God. There is a difference between knowing facts about God and knowing him personally.

A baby who knows its mother mostly knows her care and her feedings. It doesn't know her inner life. A Christian can remain at that stage. Our Father wants us to grow, to discover him deeply, and to discover what he has given us.

3. How to weave a garment of glory

Revelation 19:8 speaks of "bright, pure, fine linen" given to the bride to wear, "for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." It isn't works that produce salvation. Salvation is granted to us by grace, through the blood of Christ that we have recognized. But after being saved, there is a work being woven; the works of Christ in us, carried out through an active faith.

James puts it his own way: "I will show you my faith by my works." Romans 13:14 goes in the same direction: "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." To clothe ourselves with him is to let his life become our own. It's to let his Spirit weave, day after day, a garment that will not tear apart on that great day.

1 John 2:28 exhorts: "Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." This is serious. To remain in him is to stay close to him, to dwell with him, so as not to be ashamed at his coming.

Our wealth is this garment that follows us into eternity, woven together with him. These are the works of trust lived out with him, more precious than gold. How do we obtain them, practically speaking? The Lord gives investment advice in Revelation 3:18: "I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire."

What is the price asked? A firm trust in the new covenant through the blood of Christ. A daily trust that clings to the Father through life's trials. A simple example: if you pray about something but keep worrying as though you'd never prayed at all, where is the trust? The Father's desire is that you come to him, that you lean on him, and that you express unwavering trust.

Every trial then becomes an opportunity to activate your faith, to clothe yourself, to grow rich. A mountain climber on an icy slope holds on only with the spikes of his crampons. Those are the spikes he plants with every step so as not to be swept away. Our claws of faith work the same way. 1 Peter 1:7 says it: tested faith is "much more precious than gold that perishes"; it will bring "praise, glory, and honor" when Jesus Christ appears.

At the end of his sermon, James Hutinet tells how he and his daughter Carole, who has since passed away, would often come on their knees, in tears, to unload their trials, their pains, and their sickness onto God, and to lay hold of the Lord with whole-hearted faith. And from this he draws a conviction: what matters, what will remain in eternity, is not first of all the answer God gives to our requests. It's our struggle to plant our claws of faith into the Father's heart. To the Father, that is very precious.

Key takeaways

• Before the fall, Adam and Eve were naked without shame, open before God, clothed in a garment of the splendor of his glory.
• After the fall, they saw that they were naked and sewed fig leaves together; a garment of compensation, picturing all the ways we try to hide our real weaknesses.
• The garment of skin God gave them foreshadows the sacrifice of Christ, who truly comes to cover our inner nakedness.
• Lukewarmness threatens us even in the church: we can think we're rich and actually be naked before God (Revelation 3:17).
• The garment that will remain in eternity is the righteous acts of the saints (Revelation 19:8), woven together with Christ through active faith in trials.

Personal application

• What "garment" are you hiding behind right now; a title, a role, a reputation, a skill? What is it really covering up?
• What is your assurance before God resting on today: your own human works, or the sacrifice of Christ applied to your life?
• Is there an area of lukewarmness in your Christian life, where you say "I have need of nothing" when the Lord is calling you to come "buy from him"?
• What trial are you going through right now? Can you see it as an opportunity to plant your claws of faith into the Father's heart?
• Do you pray; and then actually rest in peace, or does worry take over again as soon as your prayer is done? Where can you place your trust concretely this week?

Verses cited

• Genesis 2:15-25 · Man placed in the garden, naked without shame.
• Genesis 3:6-10 · The fall, the eyes opened, the fig leaves, the hiding.
• Romans 3:23 · "all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God."
• Revelation 3:15-18 · The lukewarmness of Laodicea, refined gold and white garments.
• 1 Corinthians 3:13 · The fire that tests each man's work.
• Romans 13:14 · "put on the Lord Jesus Christ."
• Revelation 19:8 · The fine linen, the righteous acts of the saints.
• 1 Peter 1:7 · Tested faith, more precious than gold.
• 1 John 2:28 · Remaining in him so as not to be ashamed at his coming.

FAQ

Is it wrong to beautify your home, wear jewelry, or take care of your appearance?
No, that's not the point of this message. The question the sermon raises isn't cosmetic, it's spiritual: are these things hiding an inner nakedness I refuse to bring to God, or do I first have my wealth in Christ, with everything else as a frame around it? The problem isn't the adornment itself, it's what I'm building my assurance on.

If I'm saved by grace, why talk about works and a garment to be woven?
Salvation is secured by grace alone, received by faith in the sacrifice of Christ. But after salvation, Scripture speaks of "fruit," of "white garments" (Revelation 3:18), and of "the righteous acts of the saints" (Revelation 19:8). These are the works of Christ in us, carried out through an active faith; not works to earn salvation, but works that flow from salvation and pass through the fire of judgment (1 Corinthians 3:13).

Practically speaking, what does this change in a trial?
It changes how you live through it. Instead of just enduring the trial or wanting only to get out of it, you can live it as an opportunity to "plant your claws of faith" into the Father's heart. Tested faith is "more precious than gold" (1 Peter 1:7). What remains in eternity isn't first of all the answer God gives to your request; it's your concrete trust in coming to him, even in tears if you must.