The personal wardrobe of one of Chicago’s wealthiest women was estimated at twenty-five thousand pieces of apparel. The clothes included more than one thousand dresses—with a purse to match each dress—some five hundred coats and fifteen hundred pairs of shoes. ¹  You have heard the phrase: “Clothes make the man”? The Bible uses ‘clothing’ language to describe the state of our redemption in Christ. There are things that we are to put on and things that we are not to put on, things that are to clothe our lives and things that are not to clothe our lives.  The question for us as representatives of Jesus is this; are you wearing the right clothes or are you leaving your home naked?

Jesus Became What You are So You Can Become What He is.

• According to the Bible, believers are Jesus people.
• What Jesus is, is who you are in this world.
• You are a Jesus person.
• You have His nature.
• The same nature of God which was in Jesus is in you.
• The same Spirit which was in Jesus is in you.
• Jesus calls you His brethren.
• If you understand the definition of brethren, it will add to your understanding of who you are ‘In Him.’

Hebrews 2:17 (KJV)
17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

• Brethren means a ‘male of the same womb’.
• We understand from Galatians 3:28, that in Christ there is neither male nor female.
• So, we can define ‘brethren’ as a ‘person of the same womb.’
• You have the same lineage as Jesus.
• You have the same spiritual DNA as He does.
• You are eternally related to Him.

1 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV)
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

• What are the possibilities of this joining?
• What is the potential of being ‘a person of the same womb?’
• If we are spiritually so much alike, would it not help us to know what HE is like as the Bible shows Him?

 John 19:5 (KJV)
5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!

• The word behold does not mean ‘look and see’.
• It means ‘to know and understand’.
• Pilate was not saying look at Jesus.
• He was saying know and understand Him.
• Pilate was saying to the Jerusalem mob, “Understand and know this man and what you are getting ready to do to this man.”
• We need to behold and know the ultimate man, Christ Jesus.

Who Is Jesus?

2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV)
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Colossians 1:15 (KJV)
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

• The word image means likeness or portrait or living image.
• Jesus is the image of God.
• Jesus is the picture of God.
• Have you ever looked at pictures of a relative and had a conversation where you tried to decide who does this child look like? ‘Well this person looks like the mother or the father or Aunt Susie or Uncle Jimmy etc.”
• This conversation happens every day on planet earth.
• Jesus looks just like His Father.
• He acts just like Him.
• If you see a picture of Jesus, and we have such a picture in the gospels, you see a picture of God the Father.
• Having this picture helps us to know what a born again ‘In Him’ man is like.

Who Is Man?

Man is the Image of God

Genesis 1:26–27 (KJV)
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

• If you want to know what man is, he is the same image as Jesus who is the same image as God.
• Sounds like we are all of the same family.
• This elevates man to a level not understood by the voices in the world.
• The form of man has been analyzed medically, scientifically, psychologically, socially, and every other ‘ally’ out there.
• The analysis is to the point that it has diluted the magnificence of man.
• Don’t be fooled.
• Man is God’s masterpiece of creation.

Ephesians 2:10 (KJV)
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

• The angels were in shock, they were in awe when God made man.
• Man was created as a light being. He was not just skin, bone and muscle.
• The glory of God was part of man’s anatomy.
• We saw this glory displayed in Jesus, ‘the brother of the same womb’, at the transfiguration.

Matthew 17:2 (KJV)
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

• The word transfigured means changed or transformed.
• Get this: Jesus was transformed from His human ‘servant state’ into His glorified state on the mount.
• Why was He transformed at that moment because He was so spiritual because He had prayed so much, fasted so much, and was so much for God?
• Did He achieve that state of glory by doing all the right things and climbing the spiritual staircase of achievement?
• Or was God by His Spirit showing us a picture of who we were and who we are going to be again?
• Was God showing us a picture of our clothes?

The Spirit Will Help You Get Dressed

• Man was clothed in light before the fall.
• After the fall, the ‘light’ was put out. That’s how Adam knew he was naked.

Genesis 3:7 (KJV)
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

•  It is interesting that God uses ‘clothing’ terminology in the Bible to describe the state and position of man.
• In Genesis 3:7, the Spirit uses the word ‘naked’, the absence of clothing, to describe the glory departing from man.

Ephesians 6:14 (KJV)
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

• What is the breastplate of righteousness?
• It’s part of your attire.

Revelation 19:8 (KJV)
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

• You can see that the answer to ‘nakedness’ or the absence of the glory is the righteousness of God.

Romans 13:14 (KJV)
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

• The phrase ‘put on’ is clothing terminology.
• The Bible instructs us, as believers, to put on Jesus, just like you put on a pair of pants or a coat.
• Now the voices of the world will say you are not like Jesus.
• Those voices are true if you don’t put your clothes on.
• The voices will say, “Just look at you. Look at how you act. Look at how you live.
• But it doesn’t matter what the voices say; this is a faith walk.
• Shut down the voices and get dressed.
• You know, it is common sense to never leave your house without your clothes on.
• What kind of problem would it cause if you left your house without your clothes on?
• You might cause a traffic accident if you walked out of your house naked.
• Spiritually it’s the same thing.
• Put on Jesus before you go out and interact with people.
• What does that mean?
• It means put ‘In Him’ ON you.
• Now, there are times that the Spirit of God will help you get dressed.
• You know, sometimes, children need help getting dressed.
• In some of these areas, we are spiritual children.
• We are just learning how to walk in some of these things.

ILLUSTRATION: God Gives a Song.
One day a song came up in my spirit. It just kept going over and over in me. I knew it was the Spirit giving me the song because it came up in me while I was sleeping. It was a song about 1Cor. 13:4-8. Those verses are about walking in love and I just kept singing that song. I went to work and this one person, one of the grippest people I have ever met on planet earth, was in rare form. On top of that, we were in a high stress mode because things were not going well on at work. This woman was just going off and going on and on. All the while, this spirit song was going on in me. I was singing it. I sailed right through that strife opportunity. Bypassed it entirely. What did the Spirit of God do? He helped me to get dressed that day.
I was ready for the mess. I did not go into the mess naked because He helped me put on ‘In Him’.

Adam Was Both Naked and Fearful

• Adam realized he was naked but there was also something else he noticed.

Genesis 3:10 (KJV)
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

• Adam noticed he was not only naked but afraid.
• Fear is another prominent voice in the world.
• But, what is fear really?
• Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the awareness of danger.
• According to this definition, Adam perceived himself to be in a dangerous position when God approached him.
• How different Adam felt in God’s presence than he did just a few days before.
• A few days before Adam was fellowshipping with God.
• They were naming the animal’s together Gen. 2:19-20.
• Fear added the element of ‘God being a dangerous God’ to Adam’s psyche.
• Sin produces this kind of fear of God in man.
• Sin made Adam’s perception of God negative.  “I am afraid.”
• Sin made Adam’s perception of himself negative.  “I am naked.”
• When you have a ‘negative feeling’ in any of your dealings with the Lord, sin maybe at the core of that feeling.

Redemption the Answer to Fear

• If fear is the product of sin, then redemption is the eliminator of fear.
• If fear is the child of its mother sin, then Calvary and the shed blood of Jesus is the answer to the sense of nakedness.

Colossians 2:14 (KJV)
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

• Sin has been nailed to the cross.
• If sin has been nailed there, then the effects of sin, fear and nakedness have also been nailed there.
• I no longer have to be afraid, or have an unpleasant emotion caused by a sense of danger when God is dealing with me.
• I have His clothes on.
• I am wearing His robe of righteousness.
• He put it on me.
• Simply put, fear has no place in your life because you have been redeemed from it.
• Calvary will restore confidence in God when you realize God is not going to come into your life to damage it.
• You do not have to have an unpleasant emotion caused by an awareness of danger.
• God is not dangerous to you. He is not out to hurt you.
• He proved He was not out to hurt you when…
  • Jesus died for you.
  • When He Jesus became your substitute.
  • When Jesus became identified with you.
• Jesus is for your good.
• He is for your benefit.

1 John 4:18 (KJV)
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

• I do not have to be fearful because He displayed perfect love for me by dying for me.

John 15:13 (KJV)
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

• Now, we get down to the everyday situations of life.
  • Where we have to step onto a plane and we are not too sure about that;
  • Where there is a snake in the back yard and we are not too sure about that;
  • Where we have to get out in the ocean and go swimming and we are not too sure about that;
  • Where we are tempted to have a fearful response to some of these areas because we are not too sure about them.
• What do we do?
• We go back inside and put our clothes on.
• Because, “Oops, I am sorry, I just stepped out of my house naked, let me go back inside and get dressed.”
• The key to overcoming on a daily basis is remembering your redemption on a daily basis.

2 Peter 1:12 (KJV)
12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

Call to Action:

Don’t do life naked. Don’t leave home without putting on your clothes. Do life by putting ‘In Him’ on you. Walk throughout your days on planet earth with the sense of what Jesus accomplished for you at Calvary.

Question: What ‘In Him’ truth has become a living reality in your heart? Would you please share your remarks in the comments section below?

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