Morning, everybody. Good to be
back with you. Now, if you'd like Genesis chapter
9, we'll look at it this morning. Genesis chapter 9. Most of you are probably very familiar
with this story. This is the very last story recorded about Noah
before he dies. It's the very last thing the
Lord has to tell us about this man that he used so powerfully.
Pick up in verse 18 of Genesis chapter 9. And the sons of Noah that went
forth of the ark were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is
the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah,
and of them was the whole earth overspread. So this takes place
after the flood. The ark's already landed. Genesis
9, as I understand it, takes place over about a 300, 350 year
period. And so they've come off the boat,
the flood is over, the whole family's safe on the other side,
and now the world has to be re-peopled. And so the whole world is going
to be re-populated and re-peopled through these three men, Ham,
Shem, and Japheth, the sons of Noah. Now think about Noah's
position if that's the case. If his sons are going to re-people
the entire world. That means that Noah is the most
powerful man on the face of the earth. The government rests on
his shoulders. He's the spiritual leader of
the entire world. What a massive stewardship, what
a massive undertaking this man was given. Pick up in verse 20. And Noah began to be in husbandman.
He was a farmer and he planted a vineyard and he drank of the
wine and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent. This man whom God loved, this
man whom the Lord had found in grace, this man the Lord had
used in such unique and uncommon ways, this is the last story
that we get about him in the scripture. He plants a vineyard,
and he gets drunk, and he is naked in his tent. And someone
might ask, why is he naked? That's odd, right? I think it's
for this reason. When we hear he's drunk, we kind
of wince at that, right? That's bad. When you hear he's
drunk and he's naked in his tent, there is something in you that
recoils. You cringe at that. There is something that is unclean
about that, and it gives us just the slightest bit of understanding
of how the Lord feels about seeing the General. That little recoil
you feel when you hear about Noah being drunk and naked in
his tent, that's just the tip of the iceberg. How much the
Lord recoils and hates him. Verse 22, Ham, the father of
Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren
without. Now, what Noah does is bad. What
Ham does is even worse. He sees his father's sin, his
depravity, his nakedness, and he doesn't cover it. He doesn't
try to cover his father's error and his indiscretion. He goes
and tells his brothers about it. He wants everybody to know
about Noah's sin. Verse 23, and Shem and Japheth
took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and went
backward and covered the nakedness of their father and their faces
were backward and they saw not their father's nakedness. And
Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had
done unto him, Ham. And he said, Cursed be Canaan. A servant of servants shall he
be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord
God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. Now, I've heard
a lot of messages out of this chapter. And I've read it quite
a few times. And if you'd asked me two weeks
ago, who did Noah curse? I would have immediately said
Ham. He didn't. He didn't curse Ham. He cursed
him who was underneath Ham. He cursed Canaan. We're gonna
talk more about that here in a minute. Verse 27, God shall enlarge Japheth,
and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be
his servant. And Noah lived after the flood 350 years, and all
the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. Nine hundred and fifty years,
that's close to a millennium, almost a thousand years. That
man lived a very long time and he was used by the Lord in very
unusual ways. But here's what I find interesting.
Over that almost thousand year period, that entire life, what
the Lord is giving us to know about Noah is condensed to roughly
five chapters in the scripture. Genesis five through nine pretty
much tells us everything about Noah. He's talked about in other
places in the Old Testament and New Testament. But it's more
or less just reiterating what Genesis 5-9 tells us. So, almost
a thousand years of a life, condensed down five chapters, is what we
get. This man would have had stories
for years. I'm sure he told his grandchildren,
their grandchildren, their grandchildren after that. But, most of his
life, we don't get any knowledge about. The Lord is not pleased
to reveal those stories to us. And we can ask the question why,
but the simple answer is this, we don't need to know. If we
needed to know those stories, the Lord put us in this book,
and we'd have those stories. But we don't, so we don't need
to know. But here's the point. We have this story. Out of almost
a thousand years of living, we have this story. This is the
very last story the Lord gives us concerning this man Noah before
he dies. And that means there's something
from this story that we must know, that we need to know. What is it? What are we supposed
to take from this very unusual and bizarre story? Turn over
to Genesis chapter 5. Noah's father, Lamech, he prophesied
concerning his son. Genesis 5, look in verse 28. And Lamech lived in 180 and two
years and begat a son. And he called his name Noah,
saying, this same shall comfort us. concerning our work and the
toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath
hearst." Now there's many applications to what he's saying there, but
this is one of them. What he's talking about is everything that
would ever be written about Noah. Everything that is going to be
written about Noah in this book that is written right this very
moment, it's given for just one purpose. That's it. It's to comfort
us. Now the question is who's the
us, right? The us is the elect. It is God's
chosen people. Everything it's written about
Noah inside this book is given to comfort us, the elect. And
don't lose sight of this. How do we find those people?
How do I know if I'm one of those folks? It's a very simple answer. Am I a sinner? Thou shall call
his name Jesus for he shall save his people from what? from their
sins. They're sinners. That's how you
identify this group, this body, this us that Lamech is talking
about here. And this isn't confined to just
what is written about Noah. It's everything in this book.
Everything in this book is written to those people, to sinners.
And it's all given for this one purpose, comfort us. The comfort
is all in Christ, and that's all this book displays. The story
is about this one man, this God man, Jesus Christ. That's it.
So what's this story, this very odd, bizarre story, that the
Lord is pleased to give us at the end of Noah's life. What's
it all about? Whatever we learn from it, it comforts us. There's
nothing bad about this. There's nothing that's hurtful
towards us. It's all words of comfort. So once again, what
is the teaching here? What is so comforting here? Well,
I got three things for you. Three things that I found comforting
looking at this story. And here's the first one. First,
this story expresses the everlasting endurance of the Lord's grace
in his people. Now turn over to Genesis chapter
six and look at verse five. This is a familiar scripture
to probably everyone in this room. This is prior to the flood.
Genesis six, six, five, and God saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continuum. Now what the Lord saw at that
time, however long ago that was, is the exact same thing he sees
today when he looks down on men. That every imagination of the
thoughts of our natural heart are only evil and that continuum. That's what the Lord saw. And
what the world would want to tell us out of that scripture
is everybody but Noah and the other seven. Yeah, this applied
to everybody else in the world, but not Noah, not his wife, not
his sons, not their wives. No, including Noah. Up to and
including Noah and his sons and their wives. This is what the
Lord saw concerning every heart on the face of the earth. It
says his heart. He's speaking of one heart, one
nature that every man possesses by birth. That fallen evil nature
that can do only that which is sin. He says it's only evil and
that continually. That's what the Lord saw then.
That's what he sees now. Look what he does, verse six.
And it repented the Lord that he made man on the earth, and
it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for
it repented me that I have made them. What strong language. The Lord says, there's no good
men down here. I'm wiping out everybody. Everybody is going
to die. If it's got the breath of life
in it, it is going to die. I am wiping out everyone. This
is a foreshadowing to Judgment Day. The Lord hates sin. He cannot pass by sin. He is
a just and a holy God. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. But look at this, verse eight.
But, that's another word for grace. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. What did the Lord see concerning
all men? Every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts,
including Noah's. He was just like everybody else,
living his life, doing whatever it is he wanted to do. Worshipping
his idols, caring nothing for Christ, caring nothing for salvation,
caring nothing for God. Just strolling his way to the
gates of hell as best he could without a care in the world but
God. But the grace of God found Noah. That's a better way of looking
at that verse. More particularly, God with his grace found Noah.
He didn't need a reason in Noah to show that grace. There wasn't
a reason in Noah. Wasn't a reason in Noah's house to show that
grace. The Lord found the reason in himself, but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Here's a really simple and silly
illustration. If y'all are like us, we keep
our winter coats in a closet inside our house. So when summertime
hits and everything, we put the coats in there and we come back
around the end of fall, we pull our winter coats out. So I went
and got my winter coat a couple of weeks ago and I put it on
and put my hands in my pockets. You know what I felt when I put
my hand in my pocket? $20 bill. It's a good day. Real good day.
Had 20 bucks, right? I wasn't looking for 20 bucks.
I didn't know I needed 20 bucks. But 20 bucks found me. I had
it the entire time and I had absolutely no idea that I had
it or that I needed it. Know I had the grace of God on
him for the eternities. God loved that man. from the
foundation of the world. He always had the grace of God
upon him, but then he found out about it. He found out that he
belonged to Christ. Now look at this, verse 9. These
are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generations, and Noah walked with God. Now, what was
the confession about Noah prior? Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart is only evil and that continually. But Noah found
grace. Grace found Noah. The Lord saved
Noah. He pointed him to Christ. He
believed on Christ by God's grace. And now this is the Lord's confession
concerning Noah. He's a just man. Justified by
Christ. He's perfect. He lacks absolutely
nothing. And he walks with God. Now do
we need to massage this language at all? Well it can't be perfectly
because he commits this great sin later on. So how can he be
a just man and be perfect and walk with God and then end up
drunk in his tent just not a couple years later on? How can we reconcile
these things? This is the Lord's declaration
of the new Noah, the new man in Christ Jesus, the two natures. Every time the Lord saves a man,
he gives him this new man, this new spirit, this new person in
Christ, that new heart. And this is this man. He's just.
He does not sin. He's a holy man. He's perfect. He's complete in Christ. It is
the very nature of Christ dwelling in this man. And he walks with
God. And that's exactly what Noah did. He believed God. The
Lord told him, I'm going to destroy this place. Build a boat. And
before one drop of rain ever fell, Noah built a boat. The
Lord told him, get in the ark. And he went inside the ark, and
the Lord sealed him in. And the rain came down, and we
get this beautiful picture of the gospel. Everybody who was
in the ark, the ark took the waves, it took the storm, it
took the rain, it took all the brutal beating, and that ark,
everybody who was in that ark, was safe on dry ground when it
was all said and done. The ark took all the punishment.
Everybody in the ark was safe. Everybody in Christ is safe.
always has been, always will be eternally secure in Christ. And what's the first thing we
get once we find out he gets off that boat? He plants a farm
and he gets drunk and he gets naked in his house. How can a
just man, a perfect man, a man who walks with God, how could
he do such a thing? Because that old man of sin is
still there. That old nature, that old man, all the imaginations
of the thoughts of that hort, That hort is still there. It's
still rebellious. It still rebels against God.
It still doesn't believe God. It still does nothing but evil.
And he rears his ugly head. And so, yes, there are two men
residing in Noah. One man, that new man, just,
perfect, walking with God. Where's the old man? He's still
right there. And he proves it as soon as he
gets off that boat. And that old man does not leave until
we lay down his body for good. And then it's just the new man,
that new man in Christ Jesus. But here's my point in all this. Here's comfort. Noah's eternal standing before
God. He commits this great sin. He's
drunk, defiles himself in his tent. His eternal standing before
God, did it change at all after he committed this grievous sin? Not one bit. His eternal standing
before God was secure because his eternal standing before God
was in Christ. It was completely up to Christ. As long as Christ was acceptable,
as long as Christ was his surety, Noah was safe and Noah was secure.
That sin that Noah had committed, it had already been paid for
by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, that lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. And you think about this, if
you're a believer, the Lord saved you. You're looking at Christ
right now. You can't mess this thing up.
You can't send this gift away. There's nothing you can do. You're
bought with a price. You belong to Christ and you
must be saved. That's what the blood of Christ
does. It makes it to where we must have forgiveness, to where
we must have mercy because we must have grace because Christ
bought it with a price. It's what he has purchased. Therefore,
we must have it. You can't mess this thing up.
That being said, that being said, Even after this grievous sin,
it had absolutely no bearing on his eternal state before God.
I want to be very, very careful and cautious about how I conduct
myself while I'm in this world. Salvation is by grace. Why should
it matter? It matters a whole lot. And I'm going to give you two
reasons. And this list is not exhaustive. These are just two
reasons I'm going to give you here. Here's the first one. Our conduct has an effect on
those around us, especially those that we have influence over. Now we talked about this earlier,
what job did Noah have when he came off that boat? He was the
ruler of the entire world. The government rested on his
shoulders. He was a spiritual leader. Everybody came to hear
Noah. And so Ham sees this great sin.
He tells his brothers about it, Shem and Japheth. They go, they
never see Noah's depravity. They never see Noah's sin because
they cover it, but they still knew about it. Do you think it
was a little hard to hear dad after that? You think maybe he
had lost some respect and some influence over them along that
way? Man, sure hard to hear him after
knowing what to know. Sure there was. Sure there was.
Those people he had influence over, he had probably lost something
with them. Now, we're all the same, right? There's really no difference
between men. There's no difference between believers. And I know
what you want. It's the same thing I want. Those
people I love, that I have some influence over in this life,
who do not know Christ, who have not been saved, I desperately
want them to be saved. If it be the Lord's will, I want
Him to have mercy on them. I want Him to reveal Christ in
them. This is what I'm going to do. This is what you intend
to do as well. With every opportunity I get
with those people, I want to point them to Christ. And every
opportunity I get, I'm going to witness the gospel to them.
And if we're going to have any effect on that in a human sense,
we're going to have to have some credibility with those people.
Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. The Lord saves a
man. It's only for this reason. because he loves him, because
Christ died for him, the Holy Spirit regenerates him and keeps
him. That's it. It's not going to be our stellar conduct that's
going to win any souls. That being said, if somebody's
going to lend the attentive ear to us and actually pay attention
to what we're saying, we're going to have to have credibility and
character with them. And this is not me pontificating,
this is scripture. Let me give you a couple scriptures
here. This is 1 Peter 3, verses 1 and
2. Peter's talking about believing wives who have an unbelieving
husband, and this is what he says to them. He says, likewise
ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any
obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by
the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste
conversation coupled with fear. Talking to a woman who's a believer.
She has an unbelieving husband. Says, do this. Be the best possible
wife you can be to him. Conduct yourself in a way to
where every time he sees you, what makes you act like this?
What makes you be like this, my God? His message. And you
know what? The Lord may use that. I want
to hear what she's hearing. I want to hear more about her
God, because if that's how she acts and that's how she treats
me, if that's the results of it, I want to know who this God
is. And they may just come and sit down and hear a message.
That's right there from the scripture. Does our conversation matter?
Very much. I'll give you another one. This
is Lot. Remember, the Lord sends the
angels into Sodom to pull Lot out. The angels tell him, we're
going to destroy the city. Get your family, get your daughters,
get your sons-in-law. Lot goes to his son's-in-law,
and Lot went out and spake unto his son's-in-law, which married
his daughters, and said, Up, get ye out of this place, for
the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked
unto his son's-in-law. He had absolutely no credibility
with them. His character was not a credible
character. Therefore, when he gave the warning, The Lord's
going to destroy this place. We got to get out of here. He's
joking. It's Lot. There's no reason to
listen to him. This guy's a fool. They would not heed the warning because
the messenger had absolutely no credibility. So, Noah's eternal
standing before God, did it change at all through his sin? Not a
bit, because he was justified by Christ. Do our conversation
matter in this world? Absolutely it does. And here's
the final reason I'll give you. Because when our conversation
is poor, it brings dishonor to Christ. This is what Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 6. He said, giving no offense in
anything that the ministry be not blamed. And he's making a
very simple statement there. He's saying, if you go act out
and act in an unwholesome way, and your conduct is unbecoming,
they're not going to blame you. They're going to blame your God
and his message. This person believes grace. They say they
hope to be justified freely by Christ, works excluded. Look
where it got them. Look at the way they're living. That's where
that grace preaching is going to get you. Gonna get a man to
act out. Gonna breed law-breaking and
all these other things. You can't have that. They're not gonna
blame you. They're gonna blame your God.
And His name is too great and too holy to bring any dishonor
to His name. I don't wanna bring any dishonor
to His name. That's two reasons. Two reasons that our conversation
matters very much in this world. What a blessed thought. Noah
could not send away his gift. He was justified by Christ. Therefore,
his eternal standing before God never changed. Now, here's the
second thing. In this story, we get a picture
of law and grace. Go back to Genesis 9 and look
at verse 22 again. And Ham, the father of Canaan,
saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without.
And Noah awoke from his wine, look down at verse 24, I'm sorry.
And Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son
had done unto him, Ham. And he said, cursed be Canaan. A servant of servants shall he
be unto his brother. Now, once again, this is interesting.
Who exposes Noah's sin? Ham does. Who does Noah curse? His son, Canaan. That seems odd,
doesn't it? It's not odd when you view Ham
as a type of God's holy wall. God's holy law is not cursed
at all. There's absolutely nothing wrong with God's holy law. Think
about what Ham did. He simply walked up to that tent.
He viewed Noah in all his depravity and all his sin. And he simply,
honestly reported on what was actually going on. That was it.
What does the law do? It exposes a man's sin. That
is its only purpose. Ham's a type of the law right
here. And the law is not cursed. The law is beautiful. expresses
the sovereignty of God, the righteousness of God, the holiness of God.
The law is beautiful. It's he who is under the law
that is cursed because he can't keep it. Who didn't know a curse? The one who was under Ham, under
the law. Now, let me show you all that
from the scripture. Turn over to 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy 1 looking verse 8, Paul says, but we know that the
law is good, not cursed at all, the law is good if a man use
it lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is
not made for a righteous man. but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine." Now Paul begins with this declaration,
the law is good. God's holy law is beautiful.
It expresses the righteousness of God and the justice of God.
For a man to be accepted by God, he must be looked over by that
law, and the law has to say, he has always kept me and he
has never violated me. That is the beautiful, holy,
righteous character of God. The law is good. Nothing wrong
with the law. The law is good if a man use
it lawfully. If there's a lawful use of the
law, that means there is an unlawful use of the law. What's the lawful
use of the law? It's to agree with it. Listen
to this. This is Romans 3 verse 20. Paul
says, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. This is the singular purpose
of the law. God's holy law only does one
thing. It exposes sin. That's the only
thing it does. It is a singular mechanism. Listen
to this. Here's what it says. Romans 3
19. Now we know that what things soever the law sayeth, it sayeth
to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world may become guilty before God. That's what
the law says to every man. He looks at every man and the
law looks him over and he says, this is all I have to say concerning
that man. He's guilty. He has broken me. He has violated
me. The justice of God demands this man be sent to hell. That's
all the law does. And you know what? You know what
the lawful use of the law is? To agree with it. That's absolutely
right concerning me. I've never kept that law, not
once. I've never killed anybody. I've never cheated on my wife.
You've done it in your heart. So have I. And that's just as bad.
To violate in one point is to violate them all. I've never
kept that law once, and that means I don't deserve mercy,
and I have no claims on God, and I deserve to be punished.
Guilty as charged, I agree with God's holy law. That's the lawful
use of the law, to agree with it. What then is the unlawful
use of the law? Paul said this just a minute
ago. He said the law was not made for righteous men. What
he's saying is this, he's like, if a man could achieve salvation
through keeping the law, that would mean that he is a righteous
man. He's never done anything wrong and he's always done that
which is right. That would mean that he has a righteous nature,
which means he would simply obey his nature and he would do righteousness. He wouldn't need a law. His nature
would just dictate he would do righteousness. Who's the law
for? Laws for sinners and murderers
and whoremongers. People who can't keep the law.
This is the unlawful use of the law is to try to use it as a
mechanism of salvation. To try to bring your works the
best you can do in that law keeping before God. You should save me
because I did something with this old law right here that
in actuality I've never once kept. Paul uses this phrase in
Romans 3 20. I'll read it again. He says,
therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. What's a deed of the law? What
does that mean? That's anything, anything. I say, Lord, you should save
me because I did this. I enacted my free will. I allowed
Jesus Christ to be my personal savior. Therefore, you should
have mercy upon me. You should receive me. Deed of
the law. I tried real hard. I tried real hard to be good.
I'm trying to keep that law as best I can. I mean, I slip up sometimes,
but I'm doing my best. You know, I'm doing my best on
that. I feel real bad about my sin.
I feel terrible about it. I mourn over my sin and I'm just
trying not to do them anymore and things like that. Deed of
the law, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in his sight. You should save me because I.
Whatever you put in that blank is deed of the law, under which
no flesh will be justified. Now, this is what Paul says. Turn over to Galatians chapter
3. I'll show you one more thing. He goes on to talk about this
unlawful use of the law. Look at verse 10. Galatians 3.10, Paul says, For
as many as are of the works of the law, deeds of the law, same
thing, are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law, to do them. Now Paul is addressing
here people who want to come by way of law. Lord save me because
I need the law. He says here's the first thing
you need to know. You are now responsible for keeping every
jot and every tittle and every law every single time, every
minute of every day, inside and outside, in the heart and outwardly,
with every thought, with every breath. If you want to come by
law, just understand this, you are obligated to keep the entire
law at all times if that's the way you want to come. Now he
follows it up in verse 11 with what he says. But that no man
is justified by the law in the sight of God, it's evident. That's
the case. I'm on my own. I got to keep
that whole law? Nobody's going to be justified.
Look at this. For the just shall live. by faith. This is the natural inclination
of man is to come by way of the law, but the Lord has a people
and there are people that are justified by Christ and they
live. They live in Christ, but they
live by faith. Number one, through Christ faithfulness
and our faith believes that. The only reason I live, the only
reason I'm justified, the only reason I'm gonna stand before
God is because that man, that God man, Jesus Christ, laid his
life down for mine. And I am dressed in his righteousness
and everything God demands of me, he looks to him for, and
he did it all. That's called faith. And the
just, the justified ones, they live by faith. They look singularly
to Christ. And to dispel any rumors about
the mixing of law and grace, look at verse 12. And the law
is not of faith, But the man that doeth them shall live in
them. Also, just to dispel any rumors,
this thing of mixing law and grace. Well, I've got some works
over here and, you know, Christ is going to do the rest. Nope.
You want to come by law? You're a debtor to do the whole
law. And if you come by faith, you come looking to Christ alone
and you've got absolutely nothing else. And here's the sweet spot.
If you're a sinner, you've got nothing else. If you're truly
a sinner, that law is not going to do you any good. If I have
to come up with anything on my own, I will be sent to hell and
justly so. This is true faith right here. All I've got is Christ.
My only hope is that that man died for me and I am leading
him. That's faith. And all the just
ones, they live by faith. There is no mingling of law and
faith. Now look over here in verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. The word is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. Now we're all born
under that law, under God's holy law. This is what Christ did
for his people. That curse, that's what the law
does. It exposes the curse that we are, our sin. That's it. He
became our curse. He bore our sins in his body.
And he died under the wrath of God. And when he did, he satisfied
the law completely. And now, when the Lord looks
at his people, when the law looks at his people, all the law says
is, you've kept me. You've never done anything wrong.
You've never violated me. And that's a true and real sanding. And
that's by grace. And that's what we see with Shem
and Japheth. Go back to Genesis 9 again and
look at verse 23. Verse 23, And Shem and Japheth
took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went
backward, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces
were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. Now,
see if we can get into the illustration here. So they took this garment,
the word is actually mantle, mantle, garment. They wrap it
over their shoulders. Long way, the garment goes out
that way. Shem on one side, Japheth on the other. And they went backwards
into that tent, dragging that garment over Noah as they went,
where they never saw Noah in his drunken nakedness, and no
one else could see Noah in his drunken nakedness as well. What
a beautiful picture of grace, and salvation by grace. There
was absolutely no excuse for Noah's conduct, none whatsoever. But those boys loved their father,
and they did not want to see him exposed. So they went in
and they covered him and they covered him in a manner to where
they couldn't see his sin and nobody else could either. Now, what a beautiful illustration
about the salvation that is found in Christ. And this is a human
illustration. It accommodates our human intellect,
because while those boys never saw Noah's nakedness, and they
never saw his drunkenness, they knew about it, because Ham told
them about it. But justification is so much
better when Christ covers his people. It's not. He drags a
garment over us, and we're still filthy, and drunken, and naked,
and craved underneath that garment. His blood washes us clean to
where we have no sin before God. And that robe of righteousness,
his righteousness that he puts on us, that's not just a robe.
That is our history. Our history is the very life
of Christ. And they couldn't see naked nose
depravity. No one else could either once
they covered him, but they still knew about it. Christ's work
for his people is such the father can't see our sin because there
is no sin there to see. you actually are justified in
Christ. And this is the applicable scripture,
Colossians 1, 21 and 22. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. That's real. That's what the father sees when
he looks at everybody Christ died for. Holy and unblameable
and unreprovable. Not just covered up, not just
out of sight, but pure. How does Noah? Justified, perfect,
walked with God, that new man in Christ Jesus. Now here's the
final point of comfort. And I'll just take a minute with
this. This is the last thing I saw that I think this story
teaches. This teaches us what true brotherly love looks like. I'm going to read the scripture
to you. This is Proverbs 17 verse 9. He that covereth the transgression,
seeketh love. But he that repeateth the matter,
separateth the very friend. Now, it's nice when we tell each
other that we love one another. That's a good thing to say. There's
absolutely nothing wrong with that. But love in word only with
no action behind it is no love at all. God so loved his people
that he gave his only begotten son. Christ so loved his church
that he gave himself. Love always does. Love without
action is no love at all. And this is where love amongst
brethren comes in. This is where the rubber meets
the road. This is where I'm going to love you. This is the action
behind it. I'm going to have to cover your sins and I'm going
to need you to cover mine. When I mess up, I need you to
forgive me, and forget about it. And when you mess up, I gotta
forgive you, and I gotta forget about it. Because that's the
only way we can possibly co-exist. Love your brother! How do I do
that? I cover you, and you cover me, and we never say another
word about it. And if we're gonna co-exist,
that's the kind of love I'm looking for. That's all I've got for
you this morning. Lord bless that.