Genesis chapter 9. Now, this
is a story. We start in verse 18 of a terrible
and tragic fall of a righteous man and how he is exposed by another
and yet covered in love. What a story this is,
a wonderful story, a lesson for us to learn, a lesson in what
we are, what we are capable of, a lesson in God's love, mercy
and grace to us through Christ our Lord, a gospel story. Read
verses 18-21 with me. The sons of Noah went forth from
the ark with Shem and Ham and Japheth. Ham is the father of
Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah,
and of them was the whole earth overspread. Noah began to be
a husband, a farmer. He planted a vineyard, and he
drank of the wine and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his
tent. Now, this is a sad and a tragic
story, but a very common one. This man, Noah, was a vessel
of God's great mercy, a chosen vessel, loved of God,
saved by great, infinite mercy and grace, chosen out of the
world, chosen over millions that were passed by. And yet here we find him fallen in a state of utter shame
and disgrace. How could he do that? How could he sin against such
mercy and such grace? And I'll tell you how he could. He's flesh. And that which is
flesh His flesh. Our Lord said that. Not only
for our conviction, but for our comfort. And every man at his
best state. Noah was the best man on earth.
The Lord said he's a righteous man. Thee only have I seen right. But every man at his best state
is altogether manatee. Subject to manatee. Born a sinner. And we will die a sinner. Every one of us has fallen by
nature and will fall again and again and again. It's just a
matter of time. Just a matter of time until we
yield to some temptation. Sad, isn't it? It's just a matter of time. We
need to remember that before we censure one another And we
will probably be next. Now, here's a lesson that all
things are lawful, but all things are not expedient. All things
are lawful. Turn with me to Proverbs 23.
All things we have a right to, God made, but all things are
not profitable. Some things become sinful. Lawful
things can become sinful. Noah began to be a farmer, which
is a wonderful profession. I've often thought if I could
do something for a living other than this, that I would want
to be a farmer full time. Thank God for farmers. He began
to be a husbandman, and he was a vine grower, a vintner. He
even grew wine grapes. Now, wine is not condemned in
scriptures. In fact, it's condoned. The Lord uses wine to represent
his blood, wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and it's even
told that wine is profitable in moderation. A little wine
for thy stomach's sake, he told Timothy. And it's good and profitable,
like all things, and lawful if not abused. Now look at Proverbs
23. Here is the state that a wine-liber
will get into. Verse 29. Who hath woe? Who hath
sorrow? Who hath contentions? That is
an arguer. Who hath babbling? Babbles on
and on. Who hath wounds without cause,
hurts himself? Who hath redness of eye? They
that tarry long at the wine. They that go to seek mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its
color in a cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last, in
the end, it biteth like a serpent, it stingeth like an adder. Thine
eyes shall behold strange women. Thine heart shall utter perverse
things. Yea, thou shalt be as He that
lieth down in the midst of the sea, as he that lieth upon the
top of the mast, staggering. And you'll say, they've stricken
me. Thou shalt say, I was not sick. They've beaten me. I felt
it not. When shall I awake? And then,
I'm going to do it again. That's what he said. I'll seek
it again. Some, many, have known by experience,
by painful and shameful experience, the truth of that Scripture.
Right? So it warns us. And the Scripture
says all things are lawful, but all things are not expedient,
not profitable. Paul said this, he said, all
things are lawful, but I will not be brought under the power
of any. Some people may not be tifted
one thing while another person is. So that person should absolutely
avoid that. If there's a problem, avoid it.
Look how Noah ended up, drunken and lying naked in his
tent. Now, this is much more than a
lesson in temperance this morning. We're going to see a wonderful
gospel picture here. But he made wine and he tasted
it and he liked it. There's nothing wrong with that.
There was no sin in the wine, no sin in tasting it. And he
liked it. But he liked it too much. And it got the best of him. Well,
he abused it. He abused it. Our Lord said this,
it's nothing that goes into this mouth that defiles me. Nothing. No evil. The Lord doesn't call
things evil. The evil is in the heart of the
one who abuses it. A man is not a drunk because
he drinks too much. He drinks too much because he's
a drunk. We do what we want to do. We
do what we like to do. The sin, the evil is in us, not
in faith. So our Lord said that. That offended the Pharisees,
didn't it? The Lord drank wine, but he was not overcome by it.
And they accused him of being one, didn't they? And John didn't
drink any wine. And they said, well, he has a
devil. But wisdom, true wisdom, what God says is justified of
her children. But I remember, I've got to tell this
story. We had a brother, one of the finest men I've ever known,
a great influence on me as a child, and just loved this man, esteemed
him highly. He had a little farm, and he
grew some grapes, and he made some wine, and he tasted it,
and he liked it. And one of our brethren was over
visiting him, and he gave him some of it, and he liked it.
Well, the next time our brother went to visit this man, he said,
I'd like to have another little sip of that wine. The fellow
said, I poured it all out. He said, you did? It was good.
He said, it was too good. I liked it too much, he said. But this is not just a lesson
in the dangers of too much alcohol. And the scripture says be sober
in speaking about anything. We can be intoxicated. People are intoxicated and overcome
by it, inebriated, and lose their minds over anything. their world,
their jobs, their families, everything. He said, don't be intoxicated
or overcome by anything out of your mind or you'll end up naked. You'll be exposed for what you
are. And all things are naked before
the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And He knows what
we're most tempted by. Nakedness is not a sin either.
Adam and Eve, were naked in the garden, weren't they? They weren't
sinners. Nakedness is not a sin. But flesh
is greatly, greatly tempted by flesh. And there's nothing more
appealing to flesh than naked flesh. So that's why the Lord
teaches us, and I'm glad our young people are in here, the
Lord teaches us modesty. The Lord teaches us modesty to
cover ourselves. Even the holy angels covered
their feet in modesty and their faces in humility and the need
to cover ourselves to keep from tempting others and from being
tempted ourselves. But does this story, now here's
the story, does this story sound familiar? A righteous man falls
and is found naked. And an accuser comes to expose
him, and somebody else comes to cover him. That's what distortion is. Or
rather, who? Alright, here's the accuser.
Noah's sin was terrible, but the Lord condemned the man that exposed
it. In verse 22, father of pain and saw the nakedness of his
father. It's very obvious from scripture. It doesn't say, but it's very
obvious that Ham gazed on his father's nakedness in a perverted
and wicked way. Gazed on it. Homosexuality, and
how relevant is this now? Homosexuality has always been
in this world. And it's a terrible sin. It's an abomination. Don't let
anyone tell you differently. Don't let this world convince
you otherwise. Scripture, as God said, it's
an abomination. But you know it's no worse than
any other sin. We tend to think that. In 1 Corinthians
6, I believe it is, when he mentions all these various sins, he says,
such were some of you. God is able to say to the uttermost,
all manner of sin shall be forgiven. Sin is sin because sin is against
God. Covetousness is called idolatry. That's what the Lord kept Israel
from entering the Promised Land over, not running around naked,
though that was awful, but idolatry. Everybody is given to that. However, homosexuality, according
to Romans 1, is generally a sign of being a reprobate, a sign that the Lord has given
someone over completely. to the passions irrecoverably. It's generally the same. However,
as I said, as Scripture says, he's able to save to the uttermost.
And you know, many justify their sin, and this is the way they
excuse their sin, and say things like this, I was born that way.
They can't help it, they were born that way. It's true. We're
all born that way. David said, I was shaken in sin. In sin did my mother conceive
me. He said, I came forth from the
womb speaking lies. We all have the propensity to
be the worst sinner on earth, a harlot, a homosexual, a murderer,
a thief, a robber. We all have it in us. But God,
the only reason that we are not like that, and this is why We
are told to have compassion. We are told to forgive and love
and pray for, because if it weren't for the grace of God, we would
be lying in the worst of sin, wouldn't we? And it is God alone who keeps
us from it. And the fact is, though, sin
is not only our nature, but our voluntary choice. Now, this is
why, you know, we are held accountable. It's a choice. Noah did what
he did because he wanted to. And so do men and women. They
have no excuse for their sin. Our God holds men accountable
because we do what we want to do. And he judges us accordingly. But Ham's great sin here, And
a lesson for us, especially if we're not tempted with that perversion. I was talking to a preacher,
a brother one time, and he said, I'm tempted by about everything
but that. Well, only by the grace of God. But the lesson for us here is,
it says, Ham, he looked on his father and he told his two brothers. he exposed his father. Now, Satan is behind all strife. He is the father of lies. He
caused the fall of Adam and Eve, division amongst them, the first
couple. He wanted to separate them from
God. He rejoiced in their fall, and
Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. He accuses the brethren to God. He accuses us to God. And you
know what he says about us? It's true. What Ham said to his
brethren was true. They didn't want to believe it.
They didn't see it. They didn't want to see it. They
loved him. But Ham didn't. A wicked man. Satan was using him. You know,
if Satan uses us, and he can, like he did Simon, if he enters
us, this is what we will do. This is one of the first things
we will do, is expose our brother. And it doesn't take much. A little
innuendo. A subtle suggestion. A rumor. A seed of doubt. Because we,
by nature, are not just. We don't judge righteously. We
judge by the eyes and the ears, what we hear. We're partial.
And we will condemn, sentence, and execute someone before we
know the facts. But love doesn't do that. Scripture
says, a tail-bearer revealeth secrets, a whisperer separateth
cheap friends, and Satan is behind all strife. If there's strife,
it's of a satanic origin. But here's the gospel. He that
is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Hatred stirreth up
strife, love covereth all sin. Here's the gospel. A righteous
man has fallen. An accuser comes to expose him. But someone that loves him covers
him. Look at it. Verse 23. It says
that Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon their shoulders,
and went backward, backed up. covered the nakedness of their
fathers, and their faces were backward. They saw not their
father's nakedness. They didn't want to look on it,
because we are flesh, and we can't forget what we see. We
can't. Best not to look on it. Best
not to see it. But they loved him. These two
loving sons, they loved their father, and they heard of his
guilt, but they condemned him not. They chose rather not to
believe it. It may be true, but we don't
want to hear about it. We wish you hadn't told us, they
said to Hank. But if it is true, we don't want
to see it. And we're going to take this
robe, they said, and they put it on their shoulders, the robe
that covered them. They wanted to cover him. They put it on their shoulders
and backed up and covered his neck. They never
saw his sin. In love, in respect, that's what
love does. Considering their own flesh,
their own weakness, I wonder if they had previously to this
been themselves in the same state. Probably. And they covered his
neck. That's what love does. Go to
Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16. One of the brethren
has wanted me to preach from this again. We'll look at it. Ezekiel 16. That's what love
does. Covering. And that's what Christ
did. That's what He did for those
that He loved. That's what those who love Christ does for those
He loves. Covering. Ezekiel 16. You know the story A child cast
out, and what a picture that is of every sinner cast out,
lying in its own filth, pollution. Verse 5, none pitied thee to
have compassion upon thee that was cast out in the open field
of the loathing of thy person the day you were born, naked.
When I passed by and saw thee polluted in thy own blood, I
said unto thee, when thou was in thy blood, live. Yea, I sit
unto thee." See, salvation is of the Lord. He said, I give
unto them eternal life. Not offer it, gives it. When
thou wilt send thy blood, live. Down in verse 8, when I passed
by thee, here's love. Herein is love. Not that we loved
him, but that he loved us. When I passed by thee and looked
upon thee loathsome, corrupt, filthy, naked, it was a time
of love. And I spread my skirt over thee,
and covered thy nakedness." That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did with the robe that the Father gave Him, the robe of righteousness
to cover His people, to cover their sins. The marvelous gospel
picture here is how Christ covers us with His righteousness in
love. and have that the Father doesn't
see our sins. The Father, before whose eyes
everything and everyone is naked and open, and he sees us and
beholds us, but doesn't see it. Doesn't see it. And it's not
just like a father who, you know, overlooks or doesn't see the
faults of the one he loves. That's not it at all, but actually
the blood of Christ does put away our sin, makes us right
to it. And that's the one that the Father looks at. That old
man is ever with us, always before us. But thank God this new man
created an image of Christ, accepted in the beloved. Christ, and ironically,
wonderfully, marvelously, how Christ clothes his people, how
he clothes naked sinners was for he himself to be stripped naked. There's
a picture I've always wanted to preach on it. I think it's
in Numbers or Deuteronomy. I forget. Something horrible
that went on on Mount Hor where the Lord took Aaron up there
and stripped him naked. stripped him naked, took his
sons up there with him and stripped Aaron naked and killed him. And
took Aaron's garments and put them on his sons. And what a
picture that is of Christ and him crucified. But that's what
our Lord did. He himself was stripped naked
and made sin for his people to cover our sin. And the Father
who sees all does not look on our sins but sees them covered.
Well, there's a prophecy here. Go back to the text. A prophecy
here, and we don't have time to really deal with it in depth.
But all human beings come from these three sons. You have Shem,
Ham, and Japheth. And all human beings. Shem is
the father. We're going to see that in the
next chapter of the Jews. And Japheth of the Gentiles. And Ham of Canaanites. His father,
like the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and so forth. And I thought about
the irony of this, the divine irony in God's wisdom that Canaan,
or Ham, his father, exposed the nakedness of his father so his
posterity from then on will run naked. He's the father of African tribes
and so forth. Isn't that ironic? Run naked. Sodom and Gomorrah. They came
from, Sodomites came from Canaan. And nakedness prevails there. But now, and the Lord, look at
verse 25. He said, Cursed be Canaan, a
servant of servants. A slave, a servant, shall he
be unto his brethren. His posterity, as we said, ended
up servants and slaves. Cursed be. But let me say this,
for whoever hears it, that there is no one race more cursed than
another before God. The whole human race is under
the curse. The whole human race is under
the curse. None are more cursed than another.
We're all cursed by the law, and we're all slaves to sin and
lust and passion, and enslaved by the God of this world. He
was literally making people run around naked. He made a sign
of the time. In God's wisdom and providence
and purpose, this race turned out like that according to His
purpose and served these other two. But it doesn't mean they're
an inferior race. It's just according to God's
purpose. Right? According to God's purpose. But the lesson here in this whole
story is that we're sinners, every one of us. Noah is the
one who sinned. We are naked before God. We are naked. We are guilty. Christ
alone is our cover. Unless Christ covers us, we will
be found naked in that day. We may think we are rich and
increased with good and have need of nothing, but we are wretched,
miserable, poor, blind and naked. We need Him to cover us. And
here is the story too. If we love Him, We will cover
those that He loves. If we expose others, we'll be
exposed. So that's the story there. I
thank God for the gospel of Christ.