A Covering For Shame

Baptism

This morning is a little extra special, because we get to celebrate the baptism of Evangeline Harrison.

The reason why baptism is such an exciting thing for us to witness isn’t because we think there’s something magical that happens in the ceremony. It’s so exciting because in Baptism, we get to see the promises of our faithful God on full display. We are reminded just how much God loves our little ones, and we are reminded how much he loves each of us too.

In baptism we get to see a sign and a seal of God’s covenant promises. As I mentioned, it isn’t as though theres anything magical about the water, but rather this is merely a common element that God uses to be a sign of something far greater. In baptism is represented our union with Christ, and therefore,

we are buried with him

we are raised with him

we are regenerated by him

This morning, God brings these promises to Evangeline as well. And we trust that in time, the Holy Spirit will work faith in Evangeline, and bring her from the sign to the thing signified, from the waters of baptism to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

What a wonderful blessing for the church, and specifically for Evangeline this morning.

Intro

Some of you may be wondering to yourselves, “what on Earth did I just hear?” You might be thinking that today is Father’s Day, and the day that we get to celebrate Evangeline’s baptism, and we’re preaching about what?

And that is a very fair thing for you to be wondering about. The truth is that I did not pick this text to preach on this morning, and this is showing how committed we are to preaching through the Bible text by text, and this text was the next one up.

And while I first was a bit nervous about this text falling on this particular day, I have actually become excited that this is the text that we get to consider today. Once we get past the initial awkwardness of reading a text like this, and we have an opportunity to examine what is really happening here, I believe we will find in this text a beautiful reminder about the love that our Savior Jesus Christ has for his church.

This text doesn’t mention Jesus by name, but there is no question in my mind that God was using this text from long ago to prepare his people to receive the good news that Jesus eventually came to deliver to us.

We will consider this good news revealed in the text through three points:

Even the best of people are liable to great sin and shame

It is an evil thing to destroy the reputation of others

It is a blessed thing to protect the good name of others

I’ll also mention that I will be focusing primarily on verses 20-28 of this text. The list of generations which come after is important, and I will reference it briefly, but we will not spend much time on it this morning.

Even the best of people are liable to great sin and shame

State:

English Standard Version Chapter 9

20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.

This begins with an incredibly sad state of affairs. After the events of the flood, after Noah’s Ark had landed safely on dry ground, after God made his covenant with Noah and the rest of the Earth, we see Noah begin to return to his old life. He became a man of the soil; that is, he began to be a farmer again. He was starting over, and was beginning to work at his task of being fruitful.

As he was doing that, Noah planted vineyards, which began to produce grapes, which began to produce wine. These were all wonderful things, excellent gifts from God to the people of the Earth.

But as we see, even excellent gifts from God can be twisted and used for evil purposes, sometimes even by the best people on the Earth.

It should be remembered that Noah is the one who was righteous and blameless in his generation. He was the best that the Earth had to offer. While the entire Earth incurred God’s wrath, it was Noah who kept himself from all the sinfulness of the world around him.

But now, we see Noah is making a complete fool of himself. He is passed out drunk, completely naked, in his house. The term “uncovered” in the Hebrew is meant to portray a sense of embarasement and exposure. He is indecent where others can see him.

And I believe we are meant to be remembering something as we read this. Remember, God had essentially just remade the world through the flood. Just like when he first made the world, he told humans to be fruitful and multiply the Earth and to have dominion over it. In the beginning, Adam sinned, and then he knew that he was naked, and he was ashamed. Now, Noah also sins by getting drunk, and he is also naked and full of shame.

This is teaching us something important about human beings, especially now in our fallen state. We are all liable to sin and shame, even the very best of us. Sometimes we may incidentally come to believe that we are far safer from the destruction of sin than we actually are. We may look around at others who have fallen, wag our heads, and think to ourselves, “I would never do something like that.”

What we are learning from Noah here is just the opposite; that perhaps, given the right circumstances, you would absolutely do something like that. Maybe we think that we’re safe because we’re “better people” than the one who sinned, but certainly we aren’t better than Noah, or David, or the Apostles, and each of them were guilty of significant and shameful sin.

The truth is that we are capable of making absolute shipwreck of our lives at a moment’s notice if we begin to entertain the idea of sin. If we start to relax our moral boundaries, there’s no telling where we may end up going. If we begin to play with fire, it shouldn’t be any surprise that there’s a real possibility that we could end up badly burned.

John Owen was a puritan that wrote one of my favorite books of all time called “The Mortification of Sin.” In that book he says,

Works of John Owen: Volume 6 Chapter 11: The Third Direction Proposed: Load Thy Conscience with the Guilt of the Perplexing Distemper

Know that he that dares to dally with occasions of sin will dare to sin. He that will venture upon temptations unto wickedness will venture upon wickedness

Works of John Owen: Volume 6 Chapter 11: The Third Direction Proposed: Load Thy Conscience with the Guilt of the Perplexing Distemper

Rise mightily against the first actings of your distemper, its first conceptions; suffer it not to get the least ground. Do not say, “Thus far it shall go, and no farther.” If it have allowance for one step, it will take another. It is impossible to fix bounds to sin. It is like water in a channel,—if it once break out, it will have its course

Noah began to grow lax in his personal morals. He began to play with the temptation that this wine was bringing him, and now we seem him fully exposed and filled with shame.

And let us not comfort ourselves by beginning to think that our sins will stay secret. Truly there is no sin that could possibly remain a secret, no matter how crafty we may be. For even if we are clever and able to fool men, there is no chance that we will ever be able to fool an omniscient God. More than that, God will make our deeds known before all is done.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

Apply:

Can you imagine just for a moment how you would feel right now if everything you’ve ever done, and everything you’ve ever said had been recorded and played back in front of everyone on a screen? What if your every sin, every secret deed was put on blast and made public? Would you be feeling just as exposed as Noah was feeling?

We may be able to keep up appearances in public, but we all must acknowledge the truth: we are each filled with shame, and if we aren’t careful, we are each capable of committing sinful acts that would lead to great shame, just as Noah has.

And now, for the rest of our time, I want to shift perspectives. I don’t want us to think from the perspective of Noah, but of his sons. Not of the person who has sinned, but of the person who has witnessed the sin. First, let us consider Noah’s youngest son, Ham.

Bringing unnecessary shame on others is a wicked act

State:

English Standard Version Chapter 9

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.

This is a short verse that is attempting to portray a lot of meaning. If you read quickly ans kim this verse, you may be wondering if Ham really did anything wrong. When you slow down and consider the context, however, we begin to see just how wicked Ham’s actions are here.

First of all, we read that Ham SAW the nakedness of his father. The emphasis in the language here is not on the sin of Noah, but on Ham’s looking at it. This is not describing a scene where Ham incidentally walks into the room and then quickly removes himself from the situation. Ham sees his father in this incredibly shameful state, and he looks at him. He does not feel remorse, nor respect for his Father, but rather contempt for him.

And then, instead of keeping this to himself or trying to help his father, he makes matters worse. He goes out and begins to publicize his father’s shame. What we are observing here is the sin of gossip, which is a wicked poison. This is a sin that intentionally seeks to tear down another person’s reputation. And this is a wicked act when it’s done to anyone, but especially when it’s done to your own father or mother.

Perhaps we have grown calloused to the sin of gossip, considering that its something that is so common. Yet the truth remains that this is a wicked sin that God hates. That is why the reaction is as severe as it is, Ham’s lineage becomes cursed as a result of his sin.

English Standard Version Chapter 9

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

“Cursed be Canaan;

a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

Seeking to unnecessarily bring shame upon another person is no joke.

By the way, it should be noted that the sin of gossip doesn’t just include spreading false rumors. That is certainly one way to gossip, but gossip doesn’t have to be lies. Gossip can also be truths told in inappropriate circumstances. In the case of Ham, he didn’t tell his brothers anything that wasn’t true; but he did tell them something that they didn’t need to know that resulted in the degradation of his father’s reputation. This too is the wicked act of gossip.

To help us better understand what the ninth commandment is requiring of us, which is, “do not bear false witness,” the Westminster Shorter Catechsim says this in QnA 78

The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition The Shorter Catechism

Q. 78. What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?

A. The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbour’s good name.

Now you might be thinking to yourself, “so do we just sweep sin under the rug? Do we just let people act shamefully and do nothing about it?” And the answer to that is — of course not. The sin of Noah in this text is very serious, and it is not to be simply ignored.

But there is an appropriate way to handle sin and an inapropriate way. To handle it poorly can lead to even greater harm to all involved.

Galatians 6:1 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

Whenever we encounter a brother or a sister in sin, we must immediately guard ourselves against falling into sin as well. One of the most common ways we can fall into sin is by publicizing their sins or seeking some kind of sport from it.

Rather, let us consider a more positive example; that of Shem and Japheth, the other sons of Noah. In them, we learn that:

Protecting the honor of others is a blessed act

State:

English Standard Version Chapter 9

23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

In contrast to their brother Ham, Shem and Japheth do exactly what they ought to have done in this situation. Without excusing what their father has done, they make sure that the gossip and slander of Ham doesn’t continue with them. Rather than continue to mock their father in his lowly state, they take every measure to make sure that his honor is not harmed any further.

They walk into the room backwards with a sheet. First, they do this so that they can continue to respect their father. They love and honor him, and they don’t desire to see him in a shameful state.

Second, they do this so that they can protect any other eyes from seeing their father. By covering his shame, they ensure that anyone else who would happen upon him would not have any reason to think poorly of him. They do exactly as they ought, seeking to protect the good name of their father Noah.

In recognition of their good deed, Noah responds upon waking up:

English Standard Version Chapter 9

26 He also said,

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;

and let Canaan be his servant.

27  May God enlarge Japheth,

and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,

and let Canaan be his servant.”

These blessings and cursings uttered by Noah also echo the blessings and cursings uttered by God at the fall of man, for they continue to set up the two lines that we see throughout Scripture. Ham’s sons are cursed, and they will be the wicked people who are at war with Shem’s descendants, who will make up the Hebrew people.

Illustrate:

Apply:

There are some really important lessons that we can learn from Shem and Japheth. It is certainly not an unusual circumstance that they were in. Too often we will be met with someone who wants to gossip with us about someone else. Too often we will hear news that we shouldn’t hear, especially of the variety that wants to tear someone else down a notch.

Friends, make sure the gossip ends at your ears. We have a duty to respect the reputation of our neighbor. Even when we hear things that may be true, but are spoken out of turn or in the wrong context, let us seek to put an end to any gossip or slander that we might hear.

Jesus Christ Was Put To Open Shame To Cover Us In Righteous Robes

Friends, I recognize that the tone of this sermon has been very heavy. I know it might feel like a crushing weight. Believe me, I felt like I was hit by a ton of bricks this week as I studied — so I hope you don’t hear me casting any stones at anyone that I don’t also cast at myself.

But as heavy as this passage is, and as much as the weight of it has felt crushing to me at times this week, I’ve also been brought to tears several times this week thinking about all of this in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Consider Jesus with me for a moment.

As we discussed at the beginning of the sermon, we are all sinful people. Each one of us has done, said, or thought things that, if they were publicly known, would cause us a lot of shame. If we were exposed in the way that Noah was, we probably couldn’t look each other in the eyes.

Now consider that you are fully exposed to Jesus. He knows everything about you, even those things that you haven’t done yet.

And looking upon your shameful, exposed selves, he consciously decides not to mock, not to slander. He does not publicize your sins or make known your shame to the world. Rather, think of what he has done:

Jesus chose the path of a Roman crucifixion. That meant that he was tortured, stripped completely naked, and then nailed onto a wooden cross so that he could suffer agonizing pain in public. The Romans made sure that the process was excruciating, humiliating, and very public.

In other words, Jesus exposed himself as a cursed sinner — though he himself had no sin. He was suffering your punishment. All of your shame became his, all of your humiliation his own, even all the wrath of God you deserved was upon him.

And why did he do this? So that he could cover you with robes of righteousness. As the prophet Isaiah foretold,

English Standard Version Chapter 61

10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;

my soul shall exult in my God,

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Jesus looked upon our spiritual nakedness, all of our shame, and he took our place so that we could take his.

Jesus gave up even his own life in order to protect your good name — a name that you willingly gave up! He has robed us and made us spotless and beautiful.

What a glorious salvation! What a beautiful savior! What could we have done to deserve this? What could we possibly give back in payment? It almost feels wrong — how could someone like me really be treated by God as someone completely righteous in his presence? Yet this is the work of our Lord, this is the glory of our salvation.

John Owen considered the strength that this salvation offers in his work when he says,

Works of John Owen: Volume 6 Chapter 14: The General Use of the Foregoing Directions

But yet, though this be my state and condition, let the hands that hang down be lifted up, and the feeble knees be strengthened. Behold, the Lord Christ, that hath all fulness of grace in his heart, all fulness of power in his hand, he is able to slay all these his enemies. There is sufficient provision in him for my relief and assistance. He can take my drooping, dying soul and make me more than a conqueror

Friends, would you cover your shame? Would you be clothed in righteousness? Put your trust in Jesus, and find in him true freedom from all guilt and shame.

It is true that

English Standard Version Chapter 6

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ham disrespects his father and his lineage is cursed

Canaan

Shem honors his father and is blessed

Hebrews

Christ stripped naked and publicly shamed for our sin

We are robed with his righteousness

Christ seeks to protect our good name rather than slander us. We ought to treat each other the same.

FCF: We are a sinful people and, if we would be exposed, would have great shame.

CFC: Christ exposed himself and bore our shame to cover us in his righteousness and glory.

Call: Rejoice in Christ your glory, and seek to uphold the honor of others