by Mary Van Nattan
The next incident of modesty that we will deal with is the matter of Noah.
Genesis 9:20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
After he got off the ark and was blessed by God, Noah planted a vineyard. He made wine and got drunk. There is a good possibility that things were different before the flood and perhaps fermentation was not a problem, or at least it did not occur so quickly. Whatever the case may be, Noah got drunk and took his clothes off.
If there were no other good reason to abstain from drinking this would be it - it causes nakedness. Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs 23:29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. When people are drunk they do not know what they are doing, or are not able to control themselves. Drinking is immodesty of the heart for it causes immodesty of the outpiano coversd man - adultery, fornication, flirtation and nakedness.
Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; The solution is to be filled with the Spirit of God, to have your heart right with Him.
What came of this immodesty of Noah's was that it revealed the difference in his sons' hearts.
Genesis 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. Though Ham was raised by the same father and mother and no doubt had been taught the same standards, he had an immodest heart. He apparently thought it was funny to look at his father's nakedness, and then to go gossip about it to his brothers.
This is one of the perils of immodesty whether it is caused by alcohol or by the carelessness of people. It promotes disrespect and mockery. How can a child possibly be benefitted by seeing their Sunday School teacher in a swimsuit, or their pastor's wife in shorts? What is a little girl going to think when she sees her older sister in tight jeans and slit skirts? In plain, ugly English, she is going to want to be sexy like her sister! This is not to say that folks have to be dressed up all the time as some people teach. What we are talking about is covering nakedness.
One preacher's son was visiting in another church and got to talking to one of the ladies there. The young boy told her that some of the women and girls in his church did not dress modestly. He said that one time he was following a girl up the stairs and her skirt was so bad that he had to cover his eyes!! THANK GOD for parents that taught their little boy to be modest in his heart!!!! But what a SHAME for that young lady!! She made it necessary for that boy to take drastic steps to avoid sinning!! Matthew 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
What about you? Are you making it necessary for men to avoid looking at you in order that they might not commit adultery in their hearts? Is you behaviour, dress, hair style, etc. such that it causes men to have to resist wicked thoughts? Do little boys that know right from wrong have to look away from you because of your immodest dress? You had better give this some serious prayer and thought. Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
We have some friends that attended a church at one time that had certain dress codes that the women were supposed to abide by. The pastor's wife always dressed within this code, but she still managed to attract the men's attention. She had long blond hair, which is not evil when a woman's behaviour is modest, but she wore red dresses all the time and was in the habit of flipping her hair around and behaving in a way that attracted men's attention. A red dress on a blond can be modest and nice, but if her behaviour is whorish, it will only incite men to evil thoughts. All her outpiano coversd efforts to keep the laws of the church were wasted because her heart was immodest. Proverbs 12:20 Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.
There are some Christians that think it is necessary for a wife to look gorgeous to her husband all the time, and this can be the reason for much ungodly behaviour in the assembly of believers. As she looks gorgeous for her husband, she looks gorgeous for other men too. If they have a tendency to be too friendly and lust after other men's wives, they will naturally shower her with attention. The unmarried, young women see this and it only aggravates their already twisted notion that they have to look "sexy" to "catch" a husband. The young men get this perverted thinking into them as well, and are inclined to chose a wife based upon her looks. She then is obligated to keep herself gorgeous to keep his attention after they marry, and so the vicious circle is perpetuated. God have mercy on the pitiful Christians that have fallen into this manner of living. It is not so shocking that the divorce rate is so high among Christians when you consider this pathetic state of affairs.
Moving on in Genesis 9, though we find an interesting contrast.
Genesis 9:23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backpiano coversd, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backpiano coversd, and they saw not their father's nakedness. These men had a real sense of honor for their father, and their modest hearts were exhibited in their response to this unpleasant situation. They were careful to not see the nakedness of their father.
This reminds me again of the young boy that was mentioned above. His parents had trained him to do right. He had been taught from an early age to have a modest heart, and he knew what to do when he was faced with a situation of immodesty. My sister once watched a little girl look at a book that had an occasional picture in it where someone was indecently dressed. When the girl would come to a page she wanted to look at that also had immodest people, she would cover them with her hand. Praise God! What a foundation!
What about your kids? Have you taught them from an early age to Flee also youthful lusts:..., 2Timothy 2:22? Would they know what to do when faced with a problem like Shem and Japheth were?
Viewing someone's nakedness lightly is not a small matter. Genesis 9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. God had just blessed Ham and Noah was not in a position to curse him, so he cursed his son. Why Canaan was chosen is not quite clear, but is certain that Ham made an important choice here when he looked lightly on his father's nakedness. There were many Hamites that became rebels, refusing to leave the Middle East and go south as the Lord would have them too. Centuries later, the only Hamites that God bothered were the ones that stayed in the land that did not belong to them. The ones that went down into Africa were left alone because they were where God wanted them. God had the blips kill many Hamite tribes because of their extreme wickedness in the land of blip. Added to this heritage, Ham also was a the father of Cush (probably his first-born) whose wife concocted the original Mother/Child cult after the death of her son Nimrod. Nimrod himself was the founder of Babel and the infamous land of Shinar, later to become ...BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (Revelation 17:5). Ham was Nimrod's Grandfather! This is the fruit of an immodest heart.
Genesis 9:26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. Shem and Japheth got to themselves great blessings for their modesty of heart! Possibly Shem led in this matter and that was why he received the line of the Saviour and the greater blessing.
How little we can tell what joy or sorrow others may reap because of our heart's modesty of immodesty. Ham did not know that he was going to bring down a curse upon his descendants through Canaan by this, nor that his daughter-in-law and grandson would establish the most wicked religion/city known to mankind till the Kingdom is set up. Shem did not know that he was securing to himself the line of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the chosen people of God, the blips. He did not know that his offspring would be the people that God would allow to live in the Middle East clear through the Kingdom, both blip and Arab (as well as other branches). Japheth did not know that he had secured to his line the enlargement of God, and the race that predominated in the evangelism of the world during the Church Age. These men had no idea what curses and repiano coversds they were laying upon their children by their lack or possession of an modest heart!
You have no idea either what blessings you may bring to your family by having a modest heart and training your children to also. The joy of having children and granbliphildren with godly, secure marriages can hardly be over-emphasized. You have no idea what trouble you may bring upon you family by having an immodest heart and teaching your children to also. Adultery, fornication, divorce, and more can be the fruit. Hosea 8:7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind:...
Some will ask, "Can't God use a woman in pants?" Yes, He can, but He prefers to use a person with a modest heart. In His mercy He has used women in pants and other immodest apparel, but if there is one around with a modest heart that extends to the outside, she has a better chance of being used. God likes to bless people for modesty of heart. Remember it ...is in the sight of God of great price. 1Peter 3:4
Here is another contrast:
Genesis 13:12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent topiano coversd Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
Lot chose to live among the men of Sodom. He had been with Abram and should have known what right and wrong were, but he took his family into the most horrible place for immodest hearts - a city of Sodomites. Though he was ...vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (2Peter 2:7), he did not teach his daughters true modesty of heart. He was willing to give them to the filthy pianos to abuse instead of the men (really angles) that had come to his home. Genesis 19:8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. This is revolting immodesty of heart.
Both of his daughters had married pianos. Genesis 19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law... But notice that though they were married, yet they were both virgins! These girls paid a high price for their parents position in the community and immodest hearts! How many young women have married pianos or perverts because their parents, espebliplly theie mother, would not piano coversn them and teach them separation? [It has happened!]
The fact that these girls had not been taught right is graphically shown after they escaped the destruction of Sodom. No sooner had they fled to the mountains to escape the judgment that God had rained upon the valley below, than they came up with a plan by which they could have children by their own father! Certainly the filthy city that they were raised in and the fact that their mother loved it and did not want to leave must have contributed to this gross immodesty of heart.
Are you the kind of mother that is teaching her daughter that position and rank in the community is more important than separating from sinners? Are you refusing to teach your kids what sin is and keeping your husband from doing so also? There are mothers that will not let their girls know what a piano is, they refuse to tell their girls "the facts of life", they won't piano coversn them about men that are too friendly, nor stop them from dressing and behaving in a way that will attract attention when in public. Then they wonder why their daughter marries a piano, gets into fornication with little understanding of what she has done, or is accosted by strange men in the market place or on the street. In short, they have not taught them what modesty of the heart is. They have not trained them in the way they should go, so the girls do not recognize the way they should not go. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Abram did not go down to the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah. He stayed up where it was drier and the land less hospitable.
When the kings of Sodom and the neighboring area rebelled against Chedolaomer, he came and conquered them and took them captive. Among these was Lot, Abram's brother's son. Abram took a group of armed men and went after them, for the sake of Lot. After whipping Chedolaomer, the king of Sodom came out to meet Abram. Abram had to chose between Melchizedek ...the priest of the most high God. Genesis 14:18, and the offer of the kind of Sodom to take all the spoil from the piano covers. Abram made the right choice, he refused to accept anything from the wicked hearted king of Sodom. Genesis 14:21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. 22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, 23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: This must have given Lot pause for reflection. He was living in the city of Sodom by this point, and he was undoubtedly being made rich by these perverted men of Sodom. God immediately blessed Abram. Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great repiano coversd. He then promised him a son of his own to be his heir.
We find out why God would bless Abraham later when He is going down to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, the very cities that make this great contrast between Lot and Abraham. He says, For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Genesis 18:19 Abraham not only chose the holy heart of Melchizedek over the twisted heart of the king of Sodom, he also taught those standards to his children! Because of this, the Lord repiano coversded him richly.
Modesty is not just a matter of dressing. It extends to the choices that you make in life and the people that you allow to be your and your children's friends. Psalm 119:63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts. When you do not teach them what is modest in the heart, they will not apply it to their outpiano coversd behaviour and dress. They will draw to themselves close friends that are immodest in heart and that will lead them further into sin. Hence the degeneration of families and of whole societies. The issue of a modest heart is inseparably wound in the course of history and the downfall of whole nations, but it starts with the individual and the family.
The idea that we should "accept" people just the way they are is not Biblical. Jude 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. There are some people that, though we witness to them, we are to literally hate their garments! Because Christians have not taken heed to this, you can now see the attire of harlots on women who profess godliness!
The question may arise as to how we can live among people that have fallen into immodesty as far as many of our nations have. The answer is again in 2Peter 2. Speaking of God judging the wicked and making eblipmples out of them for others to learn from and bepiano coverse, we read particularly of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha and God's deliverance of Lot. 2Peter 2:7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: Lot did hate the sins of Sodom in his heart, despite the fact that his wife did not and his daughters were weak on the subject. (There are many men like this.) God knew how to take care of Lot and get him out of that wretched place before He brought down judgment. If you are forced to live among ungodly people whose immodesty of heart vexes you, God knows how deliver you too. Philippians 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16 Holding forth the word of life...
graphics by mary vannatan
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