A |
ND the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. (Genesis 3:9-10)
F |
OR what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:25-26)
The emotion of shame is brought on by humiliation, pride, or sinful behavior among other things. Have you ever been ashamed of yourself? Probably you have been if you are like me and about seven billion others in the world. That kind of shame is often brought on by a feeling of inadequacy or some revealed sin. Unfortunately, we are not often ashamed of ourselves as long as the sin remains secret.
What of Adam in the Garden following his disobedience to the only Commandment God had given him? Immediately upon partaking of the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve felt an intense shame. They knew they were naked. Their knowledge of that sin and of disobedience aroused a mighty fear in their hearts. Nakedness most often refers to sin in the Bible. In fact. Public nakedness is a sin that most moderns have forgotten.
God covered the nakedness, or sin, of Adam and Eve by the blood of an innocent animal of the Garden. The fig leaves the two had made to hide their nakedness were not at all sufficient to cover either their nakedness or their sin. The covering Robe of Righteousness of the Christian elect to cover their sin was purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. If we are covered by that blood and that Robe, we shall not stand ashamed at the Judgment.
When I was a small child, I was proud of the openly expressed love of my parents; but as I grew into my teen years, I tried to avoid every expression of a public show of affection. I was ashamed if my mom gave me a kiss when she let me out at school. Today, I would love to have such a kiss whether alone, or before thousands.
It is sinful to be ashamed of those who love you and have sacrificed so much for you. It is a sin to be ashamed to express our faith among every diverse nature of peoples.
You will recall that Adam’s sin seems trifling compared to the more cardinal sins of murder, rape, and pillage; however, Adam’s sin was the most serious of all because it directly violated the Commandment God gave to him personally. It brought death, suffering, and misery upon the whole Creation. In the end, it resulted in a life of misery for Adam and Eve, the murder of their righteous son (Abel) by their first-born, Cain. It demonstrates the downward and spiraling nature of sins begun in petty actions but leading to the most egregious ones.
Peter was ashamed and fearful to admit that he was a disciple of our Lord before the Sanhedrin, so, Peter denied the Lord three times. He repented in bitter tears and was forgiven. But there comes a time, and often many times, when we all are ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ – our dearest Friend, and Maker of all. There is something about deeply held conviction and love that embarrasses us in the presence of those who have no faith. It is quite easy to confess loudly the Lord Jesus Christ in the Church forum, but how do we confess Him in our daily lives? We may suffer in our business relations if we are not ashamed to confess him by our daily living – not just our words. We often offend our own consciences in failing to speak out against wickedness and sinful living.
Our Lord bore the greatest shame of the Cross of us. He was stripped naked before all to see and lifted up on that cruel instrument of death and torture – for you and me. His was modesty of the highest order, yet He was not ashamed to die for us in that terrible manner. How can we be ashamed of Him under any circumstance? How can we ever deny Him?
There are two distinct parts to those two verses of Luke 9:25-26:
1. A specification of a certain form of conduct. That is the conduct of being ashamed of our Lord and Savior. This results from lack of faith, compromise, rejection of truth, abandonment of worship, and an unwillingness to follow Christ in all His Holy Counsel.
2. The result declared for those who are ashamed of our Lord – The Lord shall be ashamed of those whose faith allows shame of Him. We will appear as naked as Adam and Eve in the Garden at the judgment seat, lacking any covering from your nakedness, and we will be ashamed for certain.
3.
Are you ashamed of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
No comments:
Post a Comment