Beloved congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I want to start with a story. It's a story about Noah. And Noah, in Genesis chapter 9, we read, got off the ark, he had received the command, sometimes called the cultural mandate, very similar to what Adam and Eve had received, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And Noah was obedient, and he was fruitful, and he multiplied, and he filled the earth, and he began to garden again. After all those months, all those many days of being in the ark, it must have felt good to just till the land, to farm it, and to grow some grapes. And God blessed it. Even as he said that he would, he kept his promises. There would be seed time and there would be harvest. And in time there was a harvest. We're looking forward to that again as the vineyards begin to blossom and begin to billow with the beauty of the grapes. And God gave that to Noah too. And Noah took those grapes and he made juice out of some and he fermented others of them and turned them into wine. And we don't know exactly why or what happened with Noah, but he drank too much. And we read in Genesis 9 that he became drunk and that likely he passed out. Now we're not quite sure what it was about the drinking and where he was at in his life that he needed to be naked, but he fell asleep naked in the tent. And his youngest son, Ham, walked in and took a look in there, and instead of doing something about it, instead of caring for his dad, as R.C. Spruill kind of nicely puts it, went to his brothers and says, hey, did you see the old man? He's half in the bag, he's laying there naked, laughing at it. Now, the text of the Hebrew doesn't say it in that way when we translate it, but that's really the sense of it, and the late Reverend Spruill was right on in his understanding of that. And we read because of that, that Ham was going to be cursed. He was going to become the father of all the Canaanites. And we know that that was a curse at people, that what he did in that moment was terrible. But for you children, like I remember when I used to hear that story, when my parents read it to me, I always wondered like, why did Ham get into so much trouble? I mean, he's not the one who got drunk. He's not the one who's laying there naked. Now, granted, he's not a little kid. He's a grown man by this time, and he has a wife and all of these things, but really, doesn't it seem kind of harsh? And then a pastor explained it to me, and he said, well, Al, it's not even so much that he dishonored his father and mother, like the fifth commandment we read this morning, but God saved him from a watery death through his father. Noah was a representative of the Redeemer that we sing about today, who also had to become naked, as we're going to see, but in a far different way. He dishonored the one that God gave to bring him salvation. So he looked upon the nakedness and he dishonored his father. Now there was two other sons, and we know that those men Shem and Japheth handled it completely differently. When they heard about it, they were concerned for their father. What's going on with that? He's laying there naked, he can't be comfortable. It's undignified. We need to do something for him. And so they brought a blanket and they covered him, because nakedness is shame. It's hard a little bit right now, you know? Even when you watch the Olympics and you watch what the athletes don't wear, You realize that we're becoming more and more without shame about the human body. And yet really, that when we live a healthy Christian life and we have a healthy understanding of what the body is, then there's a nakedness, of course, when we take care of the weak or when we take care of a little baby, to be sure. But we get to a certain age and where we cover that up. We're modest about these things. That's something to be shared in marriage. Not to be shared with the whole world and certainly not to be shared in the world of an internet. Not to be shared in the privacy of a room with no emotional real value. But that's perhaps the stuff for another sermon. But it's good to think about for a minute. Because these two boys, these two men, really, these sons, said, we're not gonna look at our father's nakedness. And so we get the sense that they pulled the blanket in, walking backwards, looking away from their father's nakedness. And by doing this, they brought him honor again. They honored the one by whom they had salvation. Now, this is a long story, because that's what ministers do. We tell stories really long. But what's going on? Why am I telling you this story? Well, because we, rather than the way that the sons had to look away from the nakedness of their Redeemer, this morning have to look at the nakedness of our Redeemer. The covering that was then symbolized by the blanket going over Noah now needs to be made real in the naked covering that is going to be provided by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We who are living in faith, who want to live a healthy life, who want to do the right thing, may want to just move on from this story. Okay, it happened, but let's look down, let's look away. But as we've heard through John, it's still ecce homo. Behold the man and beloved we got to behold the naked man and yes little children Even you have to behold it this morning so that you know what Jesus suffered for you and in and we're gonna see two things at once first we're gonna see how they robbed him of his honor how they humiliated him how they tried to destroy him through this and And yet his dignity, his glory, his perfect humanity shines beautifully and marvelously through. And so our theme this morning is simple. The second Adam is made naked and shamed, and really I should add to that, so that you and I may be restored to honor and glory. So that Noah can be restored to honor and glory. And then two simple points. The king disrobed, and we'll talk about the gambling for the clothes. And then the king dignified, Mary behold your son, John behold your mother. And so there's Jesus, and John keeps making us look at the painting that he's given. And so we see the hill, and we remember that the feet of Jesus would be probably right about where my head is. We can see him in all of the horror, in all of the ugliness, we can smell him, we can hear him. We're aware of everything that he's going through. We've had to look at Pontius Pilate. We've had to look at the Pharisees and the Sadducees. We've seen ourselves there. We've seen ourselves in them. We see that Jesus Christ is being disrobed. He's being dishonored. He's being humiliated. He's being crucified because your sin demands it. My sin demands it. There's no salvation unless this happens, thus says the Lord. It has to happen. This is the only way we will be restored to Almighty God. This is the only way that our sins will be forgiven. My God, my God, Jesus Christ, why have you forsaken me? Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. David went through something in his life that he was moved, even if it was overdramatic, to write these words that Jesus would take upon his lips. And we would say, Jesus, because of me, you're being forsaken because of me and because of my sin. Because I cannot stand without covering before the Lord God. I cannot stand in my wickedness before the Lord God. And so all of these words of Psalm 22 are coming true. It almost seems, I don't know, cold. So absolutely heartless. And then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, four little parts. Each soldier took a part. Normally, the garrison would be eight soldiers. For whatever reason, there's only four. Another thing that's really interesting is normally the centurion would get everything from the crucified person, and that might include his farm, his house, his kids as slaves. But Jesus has so little that the centurion isn't interested. He doesn't want it. You men can have it. And the men are like, This is all we get. Now there's lots of discussion what each of the four parts of the clothing are. I'm not going to go through that because we don't know. John doesn't tell us. But what seems to be important is this robe. that there is a robe that is woven, and especially if you think about how they had to weave back then, and that's before the loom and all of that, and that it was pretty special. And remember we've said together how few words John spends on the crucifixion, on the crucified, everything is this happened, this happened, this happened, and then you get quite a few words about that robe. So what are we supposed to make of that robe? Well, for now, we'll just simply say that there was a value in it, and they began to gamble for these clothes, and that this was the fulfillment of the word of the Lord. So on the one hand, it's ordinary. No one there around the cross would be surprised, even though we might be surprised, because we're looking at the story from the perspective of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the kings of the Jews, who's got nothing. But don't miss that He willingly gave it up. He's still the Son of God. And as the Son of God who became the Son of Man, He willingly gave up His clothes for you. And whether it was that robe they had put on Him to mock Him, that crown of thorns, all of the things that He had, He gave literally the shirt off His back for you. It's a remarkable thing. It's extraordinary, isn't it? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and everything that was made was made through Him, by Him as the Word, for Him as the Word, through Him as the Word. All of those clothes were made through Him. And He gave them up for you. He sacrifices them now. He sacrifices His dignity. That's what John wants you to see. Not that they are humiliating Him. But that he is willfully pursuing this because he knows what it's going to take for you to get saved. He willingly gave the shirt off his back. And so ordinarily they gamble for these things. They'll take them home. They're cold. They're insufferable. But the same thing's happening to the two naked criminals who are dying beside Jesus as well. But what about that robe? How valuable is it? Some people say it was extremely valuable. And then they make the point, see, Jesus wasn't really poor and that Jesus really didn't have a life of difficulty. And yet Jesus Christ said, you know, the son of man is not like a fox who has a den or birds who have a nest. The son of man has nowhere to lay his head. The Son of Man took from the planet, from the earth, from the creation, only what he needed to do the work he needed to do, and when he needed to, he gave it away. What do we make of that robe? Because John gives us all of that description, many see great symbolism in it. The early church and the church of the Middle Ages really believed, and many do today, believe that that robe represents the church of Jesus Christ. all of one piece belonging to him. The problem with that is, why would Jesus give it up and take it off and let people gamble for it? And so you see it breaks down. Others see in it, and there's probably more credence to this, that if you look at the Greek version of the Old Testament, it's almost the exact same language that describes the tunic or the robe of the priest, woven of one piece, of value. And there might be something more to that, that as we've been seeing Jesus Christ as the king, now John wants us to see us or see him also as the priest. But what's interesting about that is that the priest, before he would put on the robe, had to get naked, he had to wash, when he was perfectly washed and cleansed by the ceremonial law, then he could put on the perfectly washed and ceremonially cleansed robe, and then he could intercede. And you see, their nakedness needs to be covered too. That robe and its representation needs to be fulfilled. So there might be something there. Others see in it a very close connection, and I think there's something there too, of Jesus who disrobed and then he washed the feet of the disciples, although we don't get the sense that he was completely disrobed. But all of that, when we kind of think about it and we all put it together, is Jesus setting aside the robe. But you know what probably it is, beloved? That robe was really worth some money. and that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, and that they would gamble with it, that's why Jesus was wearing it, in the providence of Almighty God. Jesus needed to wear something, and this is what he was given. And as for a man who lived most of his life outside, walking, traveling, journeying, it would have made sense that he wore something of decent quality. And so because of that, in God's providence, the word of the Lord needs to be fulfilled. Because remember, Jesus is the word. He's the word become flesh. He's the word who needs to now become naked flesh. He is the word that needs to be fulfilled. In Psalm 22, that you just sang, they gamble for my clothes, my clothes they divide. Now it comes true. This is by the providence of Almighty God. God is saving you. God is giving His Son to you. The Son is obeying the will of God and disrobing in front of you. This is your Lord. This is your Savior. Because yes, it is a dishonor for Him to be uncovered, that brutally beaten and broken body with everyone to see. His mom can see it. His aunts can see it. His friend Mary Magdalene can see it. And they stand around him and they laugh and they scorn him. First they robed him. Behold the king of the Jews. Then they stripped him. Behold, king of the Jews. What are you going to do now? That's what Rome did, by the way, when they came into your town and they defeated your army. They stripped all of the men naked and then they paraded them around town. Look at your laughable, disgusting, Army. This, by the way, is what rape is. It's the forcible making naked of somebody weaker than yourself to degrade them, to get into their head, to destroy them, to destroy their soul. It is about shame. It's about your shame. It's about the shame that you should feel when you stand before Almighty God. It's about the shame you feel when you do something that you knew was wrong. It's about the shame that you feel because some of your relational sins, because of your sexually relational sins. because of some of the things that you did when you promised you wouldn't and you did the shame that you feel when you come to Jesus Christ and you look back in your life and you cannot believe that you did it and in part you didn't maybe even know that it was wrong but now you do and you're so ashamed and you hang your head but don't look down you have to look at your Savior now he says come sinner come and bring your shame and bring your guilt and bring your naked soul to me and I will give you rest I'm taking your shame upon me and I am taking it away from you. Trust me. Believe in me. Don't keep asking me to take away your shame. I have. Believe it. It's you who are struggling with it now. Do you believe in the power of my death on the cross naked? Naked Jesus came into the world. And naked now he needs to leave it. Naked he came into the world, born of the Virgin Mary. And what did they do? They put him in swaddling clothes. And this will be a sign to you. You will find the babe, who is the Messiah, who is the Son of God, lying in a manger in wood. But now at least he can wear some swaddling clothes. A picture of his poverty and his humility as he moves now hanging on the wood. with no swaddling cloths, with no Mother Mary to really comfort him now. All alone, set apart, the wrath of God upon him. Why? Because into this world, the first Adam came, and God created him of the earth. And he and his wife Eve, we read very powerfully, were naked and they felt no shame. Because they were made in the image of God. They lived relationally in harmony with God, relationally in harmony with the creation, relationally in harmony with each other. And if things had continued without sin, likely we would not have needed clothes unless the Lord gave us the joy in an exploring fashion. But we didn't need it. There needs to be no restriction when perfect people perfectly bear the image of God. Why would I cover the image of God up? The reason that I'm covered is because I don't want you to see into my dark soul. I'm ashamed. One of the great gifts of common grace, sometimes we use that word, but let's call it the providence of God, is that I don't know what you're thinking right now. It's covered. And you don't know what I think all the time. It's covered. That's all part of the nakedness is not just a body thing. It's a soul thing. That's why the shame is there. That's why Hitler takes all of those Jews and parades them on clove. I have your soul. I have your mind. I own you. And so what does God do when Adam and Eve fall into sin and they cover themselves? He takes an inferior animal and He kills it. He sheds the blood so that they can be covered. Now Jesus has become as inferior as that animal for you. He must die for you. He must die naked. And then we think of the words of Job. Verse from Job 26. Sheol is naked before Him. Destruction has no covering. and are called to worship then. Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. In shame I am born, and in shame I will die. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. The Lord gives the shame and He takes away the shame. Blessed be the name of the Lord." This is our glory. That naked, dying, humiliated King of the Jews is our glory, beloved. He is the one we're singing about in Psalm 22. He's the one we're going to tell each other about in the church. And we're going to tell the world of what Jesus Christ suffered for us. Immeasurably, extraordinarily, in the midst of the ordinary. Naked I was born, naked I die. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Pray to Him. Bring your suffering to Him. You think he doesn't understand? Now you know he does. What is there that you've been through that he doesn't understand? What religion has a savior like this? What faith brings to us into the presence of God in this way? All of God, all of Jesus Christ, moved by the Spirit, and we come nearer, still nearer, nothing I bring. not as an offering to Jesus my King. Nearer still nearer we come with our contrite hearts, confessing Jesus, seeing what he's done. Don't look away. The two sons of Noah did the right thing with Noah, but Noah and his boys, now have their shame covered and you too also you must look and behold the man because the king disrobed is still dignified as we move into our second point we stand there and our eyes have moved from the gamblers back up to Christ one more time we've seen ourselves and all of our shame and all of our pity and our need for this Jesus Christ but there's still more Because probably between, say, from me to the back of the church, there are three or four ladies standing. The Greek is very difficult to break down. For sure there's three, maybe there's four. And now John says, I want you to look away from Jesus, and I want you to look where Jesus is looking. And there, there are those women. Now they're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother. John never in his gospel names Mary. He always calls her Jesus' mother, here again, and his mother's sister, so that would be Jesus' aunt. The new King James splits it up and then says Mary, the wife of Clopas, and then that would many people believe that she, Clopas, then was the brother of Joseph, so that would be another aunt. So you have an aunt from the mother's side, an aunt from the stepfather's side, and then you have Mary Magdalene. Now normally women would not be there, but sometimes the Romans would let the women, and especially the mothers, be there so that the men on the cross would feel even more shame and hang their head in shame because there's their weeping mother and his weeping aunt and his weeping friends. All these women are mourning. They would allow them to be close enough so the man on the cross, dying on the cross, could hear all of this and think, what have I done? Look at how I have shamed my family. Look at what I've put poor Mary through. And I look at Mary, and I think of Mary a little bit. We're not going to go too much into it. But as Mary looks at her son, did she remember? Did she remember the child born naked and that she wrapped that little boy in swaddling clothes? and that she laid him in a manger. And what do we read in Luke? And she pondered these things in her heart. Do you think she's pondering these things in her heart? Do you remember what Simeon said to her in the temple? Behold, the child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also. And I'll put in their brackets, Mary, a sword will pierce through your own soul. Do you think she remembered that now as she sees her beloved son? And she doesn't understand yet. Why he needs to do this? Because Mary's shame, and Mary's nakedness, and Mary's sin needs to be covered. That the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. Mary, did you know? Jesus looks at Mary. What do we make of that? You realize, right, these are the last words that Jesus speaks to human beings before his death. There's going to be other words to the cross, but those will be to God. But now he will speak to two human beings. The romantic sense of it is, and many people like that and want that, is that Jesus is filled with grief for his mom. Mary was good to me. And I'm the oldest son and I haven't been taking care of her these past three years. Who's going to take care of a dear old mom? Who's going to watch over, kind of like those two sons, a Noah? He's honoring his mom, right? Or is he? Because in argument against the Roman Catholic and the Lutherans, it seems pretty clear that Mary did not remain a perpetual version, but she in fact had sons. We read about in Mark chapter 3, then Jesus' mothers and brothers arrived. No, they re-translate that to make it cousins. And then they would say even here, see there's those two aunts and it's their boys that are there. No, no. It's pretty clear that Jesus had brothers. And John's already talked about them making fun of Jesus when he went to the feast. Why didn't Jesus say to one of his brothers, take care of mom? Don't you think he hadn't already done that? Do you really think Jesus, the perfect son? Hadn't watched out as the oldest son for his mother's well-being. Is Jesus compassionate? Absolutely. But what is the compassion? He picks the disciple whom he loves. And with Dr. Sproul and others, I really believe that is John. I don't see why we would deny it. The early churches always understood that to be John. But nonetheless, he says, and that's interesting again, right? He doesn't say to marry mom. He doesn't say madre. He doesn't say mother. Very interesting. He says woman. And that's exactly the language he used at the wedding in Cana. Woman. Now, that's a good translation. Our word gynecology comes from the Greek word woman. That's the word that's used, gynos. But it also has a context of meaning my lady. And that's probably the sense that Jesus is using here. My lady, behold your son. Not my mother, not my physical, my blood, my DNA mother. But Mary, you are going to be part of the new community. See, if we look back at the cross and we see that naked Savior, in between those two naked criminals, one of those naked criminals is going to be with Jesus. He's going to be part of the new humanity. And Mary and John are now going to be part of the new humanity. Jesus is taking their shame to translate them into the new Israel. Into the new communion of the Saints we're going to hear more about that this afternoon And it's really a remarkable thing and then what do they do when the naked king speaks? He is dignified by their response They did it and from that day on Mary went into John's house And he took care of her not her own sons But the apostles into the church of Jesus Christ because that's where the widows are taken care of what do we read in Acts chapter 4 when Jesus ascends? What does the new body look like? Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and of one soul neither did anyone say any of the thing Say that any of the things he possessed was his own But they all held everything in common And with great power the Apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and great grace was upon them all What a challenge! If you look at the naked Jesus, who gave everything up that He had, so that you can have His grace, His dignity, His glory, He is now saying, John, give up your home, Mary, give up your position, get together, take care of one another. And what are we going to do after this sermon? The deacons are going to come forward and they're going to receive your offerings. And part of the offerings are for the benevolence fund, and part of the reason for the benevolence fund is that the goodwill fund, that's literally what it means, bene, good, volens, will, is that we're going to take that and we are going to give sacrificially of what we have so that others can be taken care of, so that all may know the wedding text of Austin and Caitlin, that the evidence of God, 1 John 4, verse 12, is where you see the love of God amongst the people. Mary, behold your son. John, behold your mother. World, behold the new humanity. This is a deeper compassion. This is a greater compassion. This goes way beyond a romantic sense of a dutiful son. This is the son who is saving Sham and Japheth, and saving Noah, and saving you, and yes, saving the Virgin Mary, who has become his mother, who is a sinner like you and me. Saving the disciple that he loved. He's a saint because Jesus has made him a saint. Mary is a saint because Jesus has made her a saint. And you are the saints if faith in Jesus Christ lives in you. You are this communion of the saints. Because Jesus has covered your sins. Saint simply means sanctus, holy. You are the holy one because God sees you in the covering of the nakedness of Jesus Christ because in him we have the new righteous robes of salvation. You have to look at Jesus naked on that cross. Look at him in all his dignity. Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother. And the two of them obeyed. And so we must love the Lord God. We must love one another. We must love this Jesus Christ. We must come And we must sing that song. Run, Savior, to thee I fly. Run, sinner, run, nearer, still nearer, close to thy heart. Draw me, my Savior, so precious thou art. Fold me, oh, fold me close to your naked breast. Shelter me safe in that haven of rest. Nearer, still nearer, nothing I bring. not as an offering to Jesus my King, only my sinful now contrary heart. What changes us when we see Jesus? Not the law. The law tells us why we need to change, but what changes us is this Savior. Grant me the cleansing your blood doth impart. Grant me the cleansing thy blood doth impart. Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to be Thine. Sin with its follies, now I gladly resign. All of its pleasures, pomp and its pride, give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified. Don't walk by. Some of you are living in shame and sorrow and hurt and brokenness. Look up and see your beloved Savior hanging there naked for you. that you may be clothed in His righteousness and look forward to the glory when Jesus Christ comes again. And as we look past the cross into heaven and we think about His transfigured, glorious body, which Paul says in chapter 2 of his letter to the Philippians, our bodies will be made the same. Blessed be the name of the Lord, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen.