Job 31:33

Job now declares his complete openness. He was not afraid of the great, and did nothing behind closed doors that he would not have said publicly. He had not acted as people so often do, hiding their sins from human eyes. Or, as our translation and many others render the words, he had not acted "as Adam," who hid from the presence of God to conceal the shame of his guilt. Job walked in the light, where everyone could see him.

"If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom" — you notice that he knew the story of Adam's fall well, and found it interesting and profitable. There we have just what anyone today sees, looking back with the light of Christ. There was the great sin of Adam.

He was willing to face the test: had he covered his transgression, as Adam did when he used fig leaves, as though this could deceive the Lord? (v.33) Someone might cover his sin because he fears public criticism and the contempt of families. Job was sure he had no reason for such fear. He had no reason to hide at home from the eyes of critics (v.34). His life had been open and aboveboard.

You talk of a good conscience. But the best conscience a sinner has only drives him as far as he can get from the presence of God. Do you call it a good conscience here in Adam, getting away from God and then judging for himself about his state? "I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." The same is true even of a believer who falls into sin. There is darkness in the sin, and fear in the conscience after the sin. Then, when he is sure he must get back into the presence of God, he tries to excuse himself if there is no full confession. You will always find that conscience, where the heart is wrong, tends toward inventing deceit. What did Adam say? I am guilty, pardon me, Lord? No, he practises deceit.

"Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy." Every attempt to cover up sin is a failure. People do so much of this today — not just covering individual sins, but denying sin itself... All these inventions, which sweep aside the declarations of the infallible Word of God, are "covering up." There can be no mercy for those who deny sin and sins. Man's fig leaves must be torn away. He still uses them to cover his nakedness. There must be confession, repentance, self-judgment, and then of course trust in Him who died for the ungodly.

In Job you also see a heart that depends on God, even while it rebels against Him. It is a heart that turns toward God and cannot find Him. It is a heart that knows God, and so claims for Him qualities the cold reasonings of his friends cannot attribute to Him. Still, Job is pleased with his own integrity. Out of it he makes a covering for himself in self-righteousness. That covering hides God from him, and hides Job from himself as well.