Good morning. How are y'all doing today?
Awesome
Hey, if this is your first time to hosanna, I know there's some new people and visiting people
We just want to say welcome to all of you. We're so glad you're here to worship with us at hosanna
And if you're joining us first time online
We're so so excited to see you as well or I don't see you but to have you here with us as well
And so I am pastor Nathan and this morning
We are going to be looking at the one and only post-flood story about Noah
this righteous man that we have been studying through Genesis as we've been looking at the flood account and everything that took place with that and
Really the the picture the picture of Noah and his family exiting the ark and
Standing in the sunlight of this brand new world
Is just a beautiful picture
We looked at last week how first thing he did when he got off the ark is he offered burnt offerings to?
Show the pledge of his whole life his everything his whole heart and just God
I want to give it all to you as he got off the ark thanking God for his salvation
We saw how he was given the same blessing that God originally gave to Adam and Eve
when they were created and put upon the earth where he said be fruitful and
multiply fill the earth
We saw how one of the first things God commanded in the new world
Enforced the sanctity of life where he said don't kill don't murder
Killing sometimes that's justified but murder he goes don't do that
Don't shed human blood and he instituted there the death penalty for that
Then we saw God establish his covenant where he said I will never again
destroy the earth with a flood and
The wonderful sign of that covenant that God created and God put in the sky the rainbow
To forever remind us one the gravity of sin that it was so bad
That sin can be so bad that it caused God to wipe out the entire planet
But at the same time in the wonderful just unlimited grace and mercy of God that there is salvation in him
What a day that must have been
That what a promise that God made to them, you know Noah
Believed God was real he believed God was real and and what God said his word was absolute truth
He was a man called blameless among his contemporaries
He was a man that walked with God had this closest personal communion with God the way Enoch did
Because he so believed God he built a giant boat
Likely ridiculed and mocked by the society of his time
But he endured we read how he endured the flood itself as he was sealed in by God and then for over a year
God was silent as that ark was risen onto the flood waters and tossed and turned in the
During the churning of the water and just the time that Noah endured and waited for God to speak again in faith in
belief and trust and
God did eventually speak
Now it was this faith that Noah had that caused him to be imputed righteousness
Where God saved him and said Noah, you're my person. You're my man. I'm saving you and your family
because you believe me and
Biblically, we looked at how that causes us to be seen righteous by God himself. And so now the flood is done
Noah and his family are starting a new life in a new world and the big question is
How will the story of this great righteous man play out?
What is the one and only story God chose to include in his word about this man Noah and
What does it mean for us today? That's what we're gonna be looking at today in Genesis chapter 9 verses 18 through 20
But first we're gonna praise God
We're gonna worship God very much like Noah did when he got off the ark to say God we're so grateful for who you are
We're so grateful for your grace and mercy and for us this side of the cross. We say we are so grateful
God for sending your son Jesus Christ
To die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin past present and future
That we would be able to be seen righteous by God through faith
And be able to be empowered by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us to live in a way that glorifies God
We thank him so much for his salvation
We thank him so much for his salvation. We thank him so much. Thank him so much for his grace and mercy
And we try to live a life
Endeavor to live a life through his power that glorifies him. Amen. Let's pray father
God we thank you so much lord that that you see us
through the blood of Christ as
spotless as blameless
God your word tells us that when you look upon us because of our faith in Jesus you see us as as righteous and
Lord, that's a paradox because I think all of us know
God the things that we think about and the things that we do both intentionally and unintentionally
God that are that are sinful
And yet lord, we're reminded in your word, especially today God
That there is no human that is without sin
That is without sin
That God our salvation is not based upon what we do or don't do
But rather God what we do or don't do in response to our salvation is about living a life that glorifies you
But our standing
Before you God
Is secured by our faith in Jesus Christ and we thank you for that god
We want to worship you and praise you for that lord. We love you so much. We thank you. It's in Jesus name. We pray
Amen. We are in Genesis chapter 9 starting in verse 18
And it says this Noah's sons who came out of the ark
were shem ham and jay path
Ham was the father of canaan
These three were Noah's sons and from them the whole
Earth was populated
So as I said the story we're going to be looking at today is the one and only
post-flood story about Noah's life that is recorded in scripture
But before we get to that specific story
We are given a quick reminder of some of who went into the ark with Noah and came out of the ark
If you remember it was Noah and his wife his three sons and their wives
And so we're reminded here of the the heads of the families that came out here and we have to understand that it's telling us
Um historical truth here a lot of times people go, you know, how was the whole earth populated from three people?
Babies that's how you know, um
It's just it's god's way right in the beginning. He created adam and eve
He told them be fruitful multiply, right and their their call was to fill the whole earth with a with a
Race of people called humans who were going to worship and glorify god
sin entered in
People still multiplied and and after god has cleansed the whole earth from the sin that was upon it now
Innocence is starting over they still have that call
As we've been looking at the story, we understand that that the entire peoples of the earth came from
These three sons as I was saying chapter 10 will get into
The the genealogy of that as we see all the nations all the people of the earth spread from these three people and
Sometimes people are like well, how did we get every ethnicity from three guys? Right? There's asians. There's there's black people
There's white people. There's
Hispanics
There's there's just all this variation and I just simply say variation
You know babies, that's the answer again, okay
That variation exists within the the genetics of humankind. And so everybody came from these three guys
So but all three of Noah's sons, we know that they partook in the blessing, right?
They were fruitful they multiplied and filled the earth and so all the nations came from them
But I want you to notice something here in these first two verses, which is really interesting the Noah's sons
That came out of the ark shem ham and jay path
Ham was the father of canaan and from these three guys. They populated the whole planet
Now this whole aside about ham is the father of canaan. It's kind of a weird detail to include here, right?
We know all three of them had kids. So why aren't there any other grandkids referenced here?
You know, why isn't the other children of the other three guys referenced?
And that should make you go. Hmm. What's that all about? Why is that detail here? So for one?
There's a few reasons but for one
If moses is writing genesis during the the wandering in the wilderness
Which is I what I believe that that these first five books were written by moses while israel was wandering in the wilderness
You have to understand that when israel came out of the wilderness and entered the promised land
They entered a place called the land of canaan
Which meant the descendants of this kid canaan were dwelling in the land there
And so this narrative that moses is writing under the inspiration of of god here is is so that the people in israel
That are going to be going into the land of canaan eventually
Would have the answers to the question of who are these people in this land?
Why are we conquering them? What did they do?
To to cause us to be the ones to conquer them
Are we going to be able to win if god's telling us to go in there and so
These are questions that are going to be answered by this narrative that we are given by god
The second reason is canaan is the one who is cursed later in this narrative
And so this is just a prologue to the narrative details and then it's possible and some scholars postulate that
By the time that israel was in the wilderness there was already order in the land of canaan
Was in the wilderness there was already oral stories of all the patriarchs going all the way back to the beginning and a lot of
That is what moses is codifying and writing down here
And so some believe that canaan and his descendants already had a reputation right there was already a reputation
Of these people that that israel was aware of and so moses is answering that question of who are they and why are they the way?
They are so but the primary thrust of this story is about the origin of canaan and the canaanites, right?
However, we do have other details about what what moses is doing after the flood and like I said
This is the one and only post-flood account of moses's life
So we remember moses all the victorious things that he did he stood for god he was declared righteous
He he was a preacher of righteousness right we we read about his his obedience his humility
It just him being so faithful to god and then verse 20 we read this
Noah as a man of the soil began by planting a vineyard he drank some of the wine became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent
Interesting
Interesting story to record righteous saved faithful noah drunk passed out on the floor of his tent
Now some of us might read this and we might chuck a little bit and go wow that reminds me of high school, right?
That reminds me of college right not high school. You can't drink when you're young so um
But the story here is is is
True detail about this man's life
Some people try and explain it away by saying oh noah got drunk on accident
Like he planted a vineyard and and and this is the first time we see vineyard
So it's probably the first vineyard in history and he didn't know how strong the wine was going to be and oops
But that's not the plain reading of the scripture here
The plain reading of scripture says he planted a vineyard
He drinks some of the wine and he got drunk
There's not a whole lot here to indicate that it was anything but what we read and quite honest
I don't think we're meant to excuse noah's actions here
We're not meant to find an excuse for him what we're meant to remember
In in this detail about noah's life this one and only post-flood story we have here is that noah
Was a sinful man saved by grace
That's what we see here. He wasn't saved because he was without sin
He didn't even become without sin after he was saved
He was a sinful man saved by grace
Declared righteous by god because he believed in god
Because he believed in god who he was that he existed and then he believed in god's word
And did you know built the ark and all that stuff, but we see that this man noah
Is just like all of us
Those of us that have come to christ and put our faith in him and said god i am i'm a miserable sinner please
God save me forgive me of all my sin and we know the bible says when we do that
When we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart we are saved
But then some of us struggle why do I keep sinning?
I I went forward to that altar call. Why am I still struggling with that sin?
Why am I still struggling with with drugs or alcohol or
cursing or stealing or whatever it why
And the reality is is because we're humans
We still struggle with sin paul the apostle taught that that we post salvation still have our sin nature with us
And although our spiritual standing before god is secure by our faith in jesus christ
We still struggle with choosing to do right things
Jesus christ we still struggle with choosing to do right or to do wrong
And paul said you know, whichever one you feed is the one that's going to win when the moment of decision comes
You feed your spirit your spirit will be strong and you'll say no to temptation you feed your flesh
Your flesh is going to win
But then paul went on to say why do I find myself doing the things I don't want to do
And not doing the things I want to do come on
Why this struggle?
And then he closed that whole line of thinking with just thank god for jesus christ
Thank god for jesus christ
You know being a christian is not about being a perfect person
It's about pursuing holiness absolutely it's about intending and saying god I want to live a life that glorifies you absolutely
But the bible is very clear we're not going to be sinless until we're in heaven
And so you're going to have this struggle
You're going to have this this difficult struggle and noah had the same thing now
We're going to get into why this is considered sin, but we're meant to remember this that he was a man saved by grace
And it's also a warning how one careless decision can really wreck the reputation of the most godly person
Right we're going to be sinless
Right we've seen that in the past where famous televangelists, you know sin
And and their entire ministries are dismantled because of it
You know the the most godly person is still capable of sinning
The person who's experienced the most radical miracles in their life. I don't know like maybe being saved from a worldwide flood
Are still capable of falling into sin because it's within the nature of man
And that's one of the core truths of the bible here we are not good
There is none righteous no not one
Well, then how are we saved
Thank god for jesus christ
amen
so
Now I do want to point out a detail here that when it says that noah drinks some of the wine became drunk and uncovered himself
Inside of his tent it doesn't say here specifically that that's not true
It doesn't say here specifically that that his drinking or his getting drunk was sinful
It doesn't say that here
But if you survey the rest of god's word god is pretty clear on what he thinks about the drinking of alcohol
And the idea of getting drunk
And what is and what isn't sinful now if you go through scripture?
It's a long study you'll you'll find that one thing that commonly uh that is a commonly held belief is not true
I say this very delicately. Okay, there's nowhere in scripture where it says
Simply drinking an alcoholic beverage is sin
Now that is not licensed to go drink and get drunk
But we have to be careful not adding to the word things that aren't there what the bible is very clear about
Is getting drunk is sinful
Okay
Um anything that removes your self-control
Anything that removes your ability to have uh a self-determination, right?
That removes your ability to think and logic and make good decisions or bad anything that removes that god says it's not good
sinful
Now again, he doesn't say having an alcoholic beverage is sinful, but for some people
It is sinful why?
Because you have one and then you'll have 10
And you're drunk, right?
Um now that's a bigger broader story and getting into liberties and stuff
But but what I want to point out here is is that what noah
Did wrong was getting drunk?
You see ephesians 5 18 tells us this don't get drunk with wine
Which leads to reckless living but be filled by the spirit
Don't get drunk. Why because you do stupid things when you're drunk
And he calls it reckless living
And he calls it reckless living proverbs chapter 23 verse 20 says drunkards become poor
Proverbs chapter 31 verse 4 and 5 we even see this admonition. He says kings and rulers
Are not to drink wine or desire beer
Because they will forget their own decrees
Now the word desire and drink there. It's the idea of being intoxicated
Dementicated so he says look rulers and kings. They're not to be drunkards. Why because they'll be bad kings and rulers
But then scripture says these things on the other side of the coin ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 7
Drink your wine with a joyful heart
First timothy chapter 5 verse 23. We remember that phrase when paul was telling timothy hey timothy
Stop drinking water and have some wine for your stomach and your frequent illnesses
So we see that it's it's it's not the drinking that noah did that was that was sinful it was that he got drunk
That he over indulged he got himself to a place where he lost control
And we're going to see his uh unwise reckless decision in a moment
But paul said this in first corinthians 6 12 everything is permissible for me
But I will not be mastered by anything
Right, do you guys understand what that means to not be mastered by anything
Paul essentially is saying here in the context of what we're talking about. I could have a beer
But if having a beer means I fall under the mastery of alcohol
I'm not gonna do it. It's not worth it
And this could be alcohol this could be drugs this could be certain behaviors if it brings you under mastery
And especially that mastery where you're doing the opposite of what god wants you to do don't do it
It doesn't matter if the bible says well
It doesn't say it's sinful. It's still if it's sinful for you
as we mentioned earlier
He who knows to do good and doesn't do it for him it is sin
And so for some of us the good is I stay away from that I stay away from that. I don't even look at it
And so anyways moving on from that
We see that that noah's sin again was not the drinking of it, but it was the drinking way too much
It was the getting drunk and losing control and the the result of him losing control here is it says he uncovered himself
All right, so so noah got smashed strip naked fell down passed out in his tent now
We might be looking at this in our modern context and go he uncovered himself. What's what's the big deal with that, right?
biblically
The idea of nakedness and uncovering was was had a much greater implication than just oh you didn't have clothes on and we're going to look at that right now
Before the fall of mankind if you remember back in the garden of eden adam and eve
Lived in a perfectly natural state
With no clothing and no clothes
And there was no guilt and there was no shame and nobody was going. Whoa, you're naked because it was perfectly normal, right?
It was a perfectly innocent beautiful. Just just openness and vulnerability between them and god and it was perfect
But the first consequence of adam and eve's sin
Was their shame at their own nakedness. You remember that?
It says when they ate the apple they went ah, we're naked
It's like who told you you were naked and that's in a sense what god said who told you that
But suddenly they realized they were naked and and it was shameful and they covered themselves with the fig leaves and since then
This idea of nakedness was the idea of of such open raw
Vulnerability that it's that it's privacy, right? We cover up we're we're we're
When we think of nakedness our minds are
Often goes to sexual things right and and that's just an intimate closed place where we don't show that to the world
Now
Scripturally being uncovered or uncovering oneself where really others can see you when they otherwise shouldn't
Okay, it usually refers to sexual sin
Or perversion or dishonor. That's what this idea of
Of being uncovered for example in deuteronomy chapter 22 30
There's a verse here where we are being taught that a son or a man
Another man shall not yeah son shall not marry his father's wife
right and
The implication of marry marriage in this time included that idea of that sexual intimacy that is reserved for a man and a wife
And it says in deuteronomy 22 30 this is in the esv a man shall not take his father's wife
So that he does not uncover his father's nakedness
And you read that and you go what does the one have to do with the other?
Well that phrase uncover his father's nakedness is also rendered in other translations violate his father's marriage bed
Now you start to understand what it's talking about here shame
Uncover his father's skirt the idea is that a son would radically dishonor his father. It would be incredibly dishonoring
If he then married his father's wife and entered into all that that meant
Now in the esv we see that that idea of a son marrying his father's wife and then
Consummating that marriage is the implication here. It says that's uncovering his father's nakedness
That's bringing shame to his father. That's dishonoring his father now in today's world
Nakedness or near nakedness is publicly accepted
It's encouraged. It's celebrated right our culture says nakedness if you run around with almost no clothing
You're you're empowered
You're bold
You're a man of honor
You're you're empowered you're bold you are a person who is liberated
It's body positivity
Is the phrase that is modern a person wearing almost nothing that shouldn't be wearing almost nothing. Oh, but you you have body positivity
You know our whole culture thinks that shamelessness is good
Fashion is using less and less material right
I
Mean, I think the fashion industry loves it because you know things are cheaper because they're using less material, right?
The the motivation behind that is is I can do what I want
You can't tell me if i'm almost naked and that affects you in a in a way. That's your fault. That's not my problem
And so they want to have
This freedom and it's really pride. It's an arrogant pride. It's a shamelessness
That our culture has and the natural modesty that I think we have built within us
It's been numbed in our culture by this parade of scantily clad men and women that is in front of us all the time
But it wasn't always that way
Noah uncovering himself
That phrase is is saying that when Noah got drunk the the reckless
Result of him getting drunk is that he did a shameful
dishonorable thing
That he exposed his nakedness
What it also tells us is that Noah's choice choice to drink until he was drunk and then uncovering himself
Was that sin was alive and well in the new world
Sin was alive and well in the new world. Why because it's part of the human condition
We're born with this tendency this nature this desire to sin
We're born with this selfishness and Noah. He was a sinful human
Who couldn't do good on his own any more than we can today
He was a person who still had the free will choice
To say hmm. I'm gonna do what god wants me to do or i'm gonna do what I shouldn't do
And some people might go well no, I didn't know
He chose to drink and then he chose to have another drink then he chose to have another drink
And maybe he was not sure or I could handle it or whatever it was
But the point is is he got drunk and he was responsible for that
He was responsible for that choice and so
His his righteousness his standing before god
We see in this was was not based on the right of God
We see in this was was not based on his actions
Because hebrews still tells us that noah was a man of faith a great man of faith including this story
So what we're reminded of again in noah's example is that our righteousness
Is not based upon what we do and don't do
We don't have that relationship where it's like. Oh, I did good things today. God's happy with me. Oh, man
I I did some sinful things today. God's mad at me, but that's what the devil wants to do, right?
You mess up. Oh, how dare you you're not a christian. Does god even love you? Are you even saved?
And god is like do you believe in me?
Do you trust me?
I know you don't do it perfectly, but do you believe i'm real? Yes god
If you trusted in my son his death on the cross, yes god
Then I see you as righteous
I see you as spotless. I see you as blameless and that's what's hard to wrestle with isn't it?
God, I know me
And god's like no, I know you better than you know you
And i've declared you righteous because you believe in me
That's the answer to everything
so
Although noah's spiritual standing before god was intact there were still earthly consequences to his decisions, right?
Now, I believe the story is recorded simply to make us wise
It's to make us wise noah's example among other things teaches us that even people in their spiritual prime
are
Capable can be overtaken by sin even sin that they may have previously avoided
Right sometimes if you're walking with the lord for a long time you start to get to this point
We're like i've been walking with jesus for 10 years. I can go back and do that thing that I used to struggle with
Now for some people
They they have a liberty
Something that the bible doesn't say is sinful outright and and they're able to indulge in that liberty other people know
We can't automatically think that because we've clocked in the past
Automatically think that because we've clocked in a certain amount of time that automatically means that we're able to go do things
That maybe are bad for us
Some people that can't have one drink because it'll lead to drunkenness
They'll be walking with the lord 40 years. They still can't have one drink because it will lead to drunkenness
And this is all individual this isn't about you going I can't drink so you can't drink
Your conviction your limits your issues those are those are between you and god
And you have to do what you know, you should do when it comes to these situations
But again any christian can be overtaken by any sin no matter how long they've been walking with god
Now it is true and I have said that the longer you walk with the lord in obedience
The longer you feed your spirit you get stronger and you will never be sinless, but you will sin less
But you will never be perfect until we get to heaven
And we can't let the devil beat us up because we think oh i'm not perfect therefore god's mad at me and the devil's like
You're right. You should just give up
You shouldn't go to church today. You did a bad thing yesterday
Did a bad thing yesterday
No, if you did a bad thing yesterday church is exactly where you need to be
With your brothers and sisters going hey, I screwed up. Can you pray for me?
Can we can can you help hold me accountable because you're being open and honest and raw?
You're not trying to hide it but but noah like this guy who when the whole world was against him was was facing violence
And hate and persecution when as the bible says he was the only person on the entire planet that that believed god
That lived a life saying god. I want to follow you
He was strong
But now we see that after the flood and in his own vineyard at home if you will in the safety and the comfort of his
family and and the people he knows
He relaxed his diligence a little bit
And that's something we could find ourselves doing
You see just because we're at home or among people who are inner circle
You know that that doesn't necessarily mean that that's the place to let our spiritual guard down
That's not necessarily the place to lighten up our obedience to god. This is what I mean
When you come to church or you're in public and people know you as a christian you say I don't cuss
Then you shouldn't cuss at home
Especially when you're mad at your kids or your spouse
It's not okay
That's called hypocrisy
God described it this way lukewarm
If there are things that you watch at home
That are questionable and maybe you're going. Oh, this doesn't affect me
It's not stumbling me, but you wouldn't come to church and go hey guys. Guess what I watched last night
Then maybe you should reconsider what you're watching
Because the moment we go I have to hide this
This indicates that it's probably something we know we shouldn't be doing
But the idea is noah was here just in the privacy of his home around that and he and he let down his guard
That's what I think happened and he got drunk now. This is a big one if the walls of our homes could speak
What would their testimony be about us?
Everybody's like I gotta burn my house down, right?
I want that those walls talking about me
They see all the secret stuff
But noah's failure here. It was it was it was it's a witness to the dangers of of a complacency or or a light
lightened intentionality when our with our walk
Right this man who was this great pre-flood man who had so honored god. He was still a flawed man
He was still a sinner
But that doesn't diminish who he is because go to hebrews again and god says no he was a faithful man
But it does show us that we're always in need of continual grace every moment every day we need grace
Don't let the enemy convince you that you could lighten up on on your on your
On your commitment your walk to god the things you're saying I don't do that because it's dangerous for me
Don't let the enemy cause you to say no, you don't need to be as hard core on that. You're at home
You're safe. You can watch that. It's not going to affect you
If it's something, you know, you shouldn't be watching or doing don't do it
Don't lighten up just because you're in this place you think is a safe place
Then as I said earlier, don't think just because you've been a christian a long time that automatically means you can handle liberties that you couldn't handle before
All of us are just as vulnerable now
As we were the very first day we are saved to the temptations of our flesh
That's why we need grace
That's why we need god. That's why we need to be intentionally faithful to god
We need to be intentionally facing him every moment of every day
Because the second we turn our face from him man, we just stumble and fall right on our face, don't we
so verse 22
Ham the father of canaan there it is again saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside
Then sham and jay path took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders and walking backward
They covered their father's nakedness
Their faces were turned away and they did not see their father naked
So here we see this very dramatic
Contrast between how ham the youngest son of noah responded to his father's uncovered nakedness and how the other two brothers responded
Now it says there that ham saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside
Now in the original language there for told, um, it means a few things
It means one to let something be known right? Duh. I told you something
But it also means to announce
It also means to expose
And when we understand that there's a possibility here that ham did more than just go oh and go outside and go hey sham jay path dad
Dad's drunk and naked in the tent
It seems to infer that he was somehow excited to expose his father's embarrassing lack of control
He was somehow excited to to proclaim to announce it
Many see this as ham being a um operating as a disrespectful
Gossipy, you know taking pleasure in exposing his father's nakedness to his brothers
They see it as as when he told his brothers the act there was more mocking or ridiculing or or the idea was he wanted to further
shame his father
So in a sense ham further uncovered his father's nakedness by telling his brothers about it
And again that nakedness being shame
dishonor
right
Shemin jay path. They did the exact opposite as we read it says they they took a cloak
And what's interesting in the original language that actually says they took the cloak
So the picture there of ham and jay path
They took the cloak so the picture there is that ham
Picked up his dad's discarded cloak and came outside and said everybody look look what dad did
And they took that cloak
And again, we see the gravity of having one's nakedness exposed because moses takes great care care to make sure we know
That sham and jay path did not see their father's nakedness
And then backwards they specifically says they did not see it. Why because it was so
shameful
To have that nakedness exposed and so as as ham in a sense further uncovered his father's sin
sham and jay path covered it up
And that should remind us of first peter chapter four verse eight, right?
above all
Maintain constant love for one another since love covers a multitude of sins. We're all going to mess up
We're all going to stumble
We're all going to do things. We know we shouldn't do things that are dishonorable or shameful or embarrassing
And for many of us when we do something like that we try and make sure we keep it in our tent so no one sees
No one knows
But there are some people unfortunately even within the church
That get a perverse delight in exposing the sins of others
They call it a prayer request
Hey brother, I got a prayer request what let me tell you everything nathan did
And they just expose and they're just oh and then he said this and so
Let's pray
And it's really an excuse for gossip, isn't it?
But the person who's experienced the loving grace of god on their own sins
Should be the person who is humbly eager to extend that same grace to their brothers and sisters in the church
And so instead of gossiping and repeating and revealing and exposing
The sins of our brothers and sisters we should be ready to help them
Come to come to healing to repent
We should be ready to to pray with them. Yes and and say i'll be your accountability partner, but then
We don't speak of it again to the public
You don't need to go to the public with everything now. Yeah, there are certain
Specific case situations where there might be a leadership engaging in something and the other leadership needs to know about that. Yes
But in the broad general sense
We should be people who are coming to our brothers and sisters and going i'm i'm struggling with this
You know, I don't want to be a hypocrite
I don't want to live one way at home in a different way publicly and so i'm going to
To you to publicly go i'm struggling with this. I need help
And we go well, I don't want to do that because you know if I tell somebody they're gonna they're gonna think low on me
You know what everybody else is thinking the same thing. Oh, I got sin. I can't tell anybody about this
And oftentimes when you go to a brother sister you go look I need to need to come clean
I'm struggling with the sin. I need prayer. They'll go you too
Or well i'm struggling with this. Let's support each other
But it stays there you don't go and spread it around to everybody
now
Shemin jps actions here. They were they were an incredible imitation of god
Because if you remember when adam and eve sinned and they made their little pathetic fig leaves for themselves
God said what did you do? We're naked who told you that?
uh
We just know now and god was like, all right
Slaughtered an animal made skins and what did he do?
Covered their sin
It's a beautiful picture and now noah's sons shim and jay path are covering their father's sin
They're covering his shame if you will they're covering his nakedness
And so these three sons they represent two groups within mankind
Really? There's two groups of people in the world. There's those who?
Who will love?
Love the way god's calling us to love they will they will cover a multitude of sins because they recognize they got sin, too
They got sin, too
And so it's not about tearing each other down
It's about helping each other grow now
I'm not talking covering the sense of like oh you're gonna do that and you don't think it's no problem and keep doing it
And we're just not gonna tell anybody no no no i'm talking about the the the sin
We know it's sin and we need help we want repentance and say cool i'm gonna help you out
But i'm not gonna go rip you down in front of everybody else. That's one group. The other group is people like ham
Who take no effort to cover their nakedness whether it's their own nakedness or others, but they shamelessly expose it
They have no shame in exposing it. They want to laugh and mock they want to point it out
They want to call it a prayer request
Just so they could share the story with everybody about what that person did and what we see here in the story is to one group
There's a blessing
To the other group there's a curse verse 24
When noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him
He said canaan is cursed. He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers
Now we're not told in the narrative here how noah learned that ham who is his youngest son
How he had learned what he did we're not we're not told that we're just told that he found out
But some people when they read this in the original language when it says he learned what his youngest son had done to him
Um in the original language it suggests that ham did something more than just see his dad
And so therefore some commentators and stuff had come up to what was so bad about what ham did
And when they go to he told his brothers and how it was this mocking announcement and then they look at what he had done to him
Suggesting more than just a visual, you know, I saw it
They they say that ham did something else that ham maybe violated his promise
Or did something perverse not just exposing his shame but doing something to his father that was perverse
I'm not going to get into all the different theories of that because god didn't specify here
All right, he doesn't tell us what more it was
But ham did something which included seeing his father's nakedness and exposed it. That's what we got, right?
But then he says canaan is cursed and you might go wait a minute
Right. Did you did you ever for those of you that brothers and sisters? Did you ever get in trouble for what your brother did?
That's irritating, right?
My brother did that to me a lot and I did it to him a lot, right? So it's fair, I guess but
It's frustrating and we read this and we go. Wait a second ham is the one who committed the offense
Why is ham's youngest son canaan cursed? And again, we're not told exactly why we're not told exactly why ham did that
Why is ham's youngest son canaan cursed? And again, we're not told exactly why we're just told that it happened
But there are some theories for this one of the theories is that um, oh canaan must have been present
When ham saw his father's nakedness and and if there was more that happened there canaan participated in that that's one theory
Another theory is that because ham had already been blessed we saw that in chapter 9 verse 1
That no noa was like well, i'm not gonna curse that
Who the person that god blessed and so he's gonna turn and curse uh canaan, but why canaan?
Why not one of the other grandkids?
One of the theories is that noah had already seen signs of similar behavior in canaan that that that are evidenced by ham
And so he was you know cursing uh canaan in his offspring
and the other theory is that
Noah was in fact saying ham you're my youngest son and you brought great shame upon me
Your youngest son is going to bring great shame upon you right, but those are all just conjecture
We're not told why he was cursed. We're simply told that it happened
But again, why is canaan the focus?
Why is canaan seeming to be the focus in the story from the very beginning?
As I mentioned earlier one of the one of the reasons that this this one and only incident in noah's life
This one and only post-flood incident was because moses as he was writing this he's leading israel towards the promised land
And as he's leading israel towards the promised land
He's he's going to lead them into the land of canaan to take possession of it because that's what god was telling them to do
The story of how canaan came to be cursed
Was one of the justifications for why we're going to do this. Why is god telling us to go go conquer these people?
Well, it's the land of canaan and we see here in the story that all the way back to canaan himself
Him and his line was cursed god had cursed him
His line was cursed god had doomed them long ago. And so it's time for that prophecy to be fulfilled in a sense
And then the other thing we see through another survey of scriptures that everything that the pagan canaanites did
Was was an extrapolation of ham's character, right or at least what what people um suggest we see in ham's character here
Because later on in genesis from the moment abram enters into the promised land
What we're going to see is that the canaanites are there spreading corruption?
They're people who glory in exposing sin and being shamelessly naked if you will before the world
genesis 13 genesis 15 genesis 18 genesis 19 genesis 38
And leviticus chapter 18 described the really perverse and foul practices of the canaanites
How they were just shameless in their depravity. Um, for example leviticus chapter 18 verse 3
This is moses saying hey
I'm going to be bringing you into the land of the canaanites and he goes do not follow the practices of the land of egypt
Where you used to live or follow the practices of the land of canaan where i'm bringing you
You must not follow their customs. That's verse 3
Verse 6 all the way to verse 23 is moses saying
Those customs don't do this. Don't do this. Don't do this. Don't do this. Guess what the entire list is
Don't sleep with your mom. Don't sleep with your sister. Don't sleep with your aunt. Don't sleep with animals
Don't sleep with uh with uh, same sex. It's all here in this and it's just long list you're going
Why is he telling people to do this?
Or not do this?
Because the canaanites were doing it
They were they were sexually depraved and shameless about it was just oh, that's what we do
And moses is saying no the canaanites are exposed and uncovered if you will naked
They're known for shameful dishonorable perverse acts and so he goes you're not going to do that. That's what moses was telling them
So back to noah we see in the very beginning here as noah is explaining to the israelites
He goes this is where we saw canaan be cursed by god
And he curses that
This is where we saw canaan be cursed by god and he curses them to be the lowest slaves to his brothers
now
We see that because when israel conquered the land of canaan the canaanites became subjects of israel
slaves if you will
Now some in modern times have used this story and twisted it to say all of ham's descendants were cursed, right?
Mormonism for example up until the 70s
African-american individuals were considered to have the curse of blackness
How offensive right?
Oh, you're cursed. Why because your skin's black. Why well back here?
All of ham's descendants were cursed
Now we know that the african-american peoples are descendants of ham, right?
That's one of the things we know and we're going to see that in the table of nations next week
But mormons were like, oh curse of blackness and then in 1979 all of a sudden. Hey god gave us a revelation. We can't do that anymore
People have used this as a justification for racism
They've used it as justification for prejudice and discrimination
And noah did not curse ham
He cursed canaan
Noah did not curse all of ham's descendants only the canaanites
right so verse 26
He also said blessed be the lord the god of sham
Let canaan be shams slave again
Let god extend jay path let jay path dwell in the tents of sham
And again, let canaan be shams slave in case there was any confusion
About the curse on canaan
In case israelites reading this in the wilderness as they're about to go to heaven
In case they're going well
no
It was proclaimed three times
The fate of canaanites and so the curse fell on canaan three times
But it's interesting here when the blessing is laid down
It's not sham be blessed blessed and jay path be blessed. It's blessed be the lord
Blessed be the lord
the god of sham
Now when it says lord there, that's that word yaw way that comes from the word
Lord there that's that word yaw way that covenant name right that that name of god in genesis chapter 2 when we had you know
God elohim almighty created the heavens and the earth and now we got personal relationship god yaw way
Who has a relationship with his people and it says blessed be yaw way the god of sham and so that suggests that sham
Was already in covenant relationship with the lord. He already had a close relationship with god
And then that that close relationship that was sham's blessing and we see that play out because guess what peoples came from the line of sham
the jewish people
god's chosen people right
Now it's interesting when we see that we're seeing that even post-flood god is ensuring that the the path the lineage to jesus christ
is intact
That there is going to still be that messiah to come that that line that's going to go down through
Through abraham and in all the way down to jesus is still intact
But then the blessing that that sham would experience the blessing of that covenant relationship with god was extended to jay path as well
It says let god extend jay path. Let him let jay path dwell in the tents of sham and you go. What does that mean?
That he was going to dwell in the tents of sham. Well
The idea of that is to share
in the blessing
right
that
Excuse me jay path was going to share in the blessings of sham
And we go
Well who came from jay path?
Jay path is all the indo-european nations
Jay path is also considered to be all the asian nations
So you got ham's one son is cursed not the rest all his descendants and then you got all the descendants of jay path
Are going to be blessed
In sham's tent and then you have sham who are god's people
So what we see here is a picture of jews
and gentiles
And guess what?
Down through the line of sham weren't gentiles blessed
Yeah, because jesus who was a jew came and died god in the flesh
Not just for israel, but he died for every human being
Gentiles included we all get to partake gentiles who are grafted into israel it says in the gospels
We got to dwell in their tents so to speak we gentiles are brought into the family
We are part of that family
And that is the blessing that is being talked about here
You see over time the israelites as god's chosen people
They came to see all nations of the earth that way right there was jews and there was everybody else
Now the jews unfortunately
Had misunderstood not applied didn't do what god wanted them to do is to be a light to the nation
They instead said hey we're god's people were better than you
And then when jesus came on the scene and jesus was like helping everybody they're like no, that's not cool
We want to kill you jesus
And then jesus died and then he resurrected
And then we see in the new testament that gospel go out to all the people of the earth
So how does this prophetically play out as noah is is extending this blessing here
This is what john calvin said he said this is done by the sweet and gentle voice of god
Which he has uttered in the gospel and this prophecy is still daily receiving its fulfillment
Since god invites the scattered sheep to join his flock and collects on every side
Those who shall sit down with abraham isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven
It is truly no common support of our faith that the calling of the gentiles is declared by the mouth of the patriarchal
Noah lest we should think it was something that just happened suddenly or by chance
But that the inheritance of eternal life was offered generally to all
And i'm so thankful personally as a norwegian gentile
Offspring of jay path
That I had the opportunity to participate in the blessings of god and his covenant with his covenant people
And so this chapter ends at verse 28
29 now noah lived 350 years after the flood
So noah's life lasted 950 years and then he died
And thus we conclude the story of noah this great man of righteousness
This man recognized in the book of hebrews as this great man of faith
But not a man without sin
Noah had sin came into the new world
Not a man sinless
And we see that in his drunken nakedness
But we're reminded again that he was a man saved by faith
He believed god and for that faith he was seen as by god as righteous
It's the same gospel to the great man of righteousness
He was saved by faith
He was saved by the great man of righteousness
It's the same gospel today
Ham on the other hand he chose to do the dishonorable
Disrespectful thing and part of his family was cursed by god
So this blessing on the lord this blessing that that affected shem and jay path primarily
Ensured the promise
Ensured that the covenant that god made with adam and eve that your offspring will crush the head of the serpent
That one day there will be somebody come from that land
Somebody come from that line that destroys satan destroys the power of sin and death
God ensured that that would be fulfilled just as he said it would be fulfilled
And that gospel would one day down through the ages apply to every single human being that would call upon the name of the lord
And thus fulfilling colossians 3 11 that says in christ
There is not greek and jew
Circumcision and uncircumcision barbarian sithian slave and free but christ is all
And in in all hallelujah
Let's pray father. We love you so much
God we're very thankful i'm personally very thankful that you included this story of all the things noah did in the 350 years
He lived after the flood you included this story
Not to shame noah
But to remind us
That god it was his faith in you and nothing else that that that saved him
Not lord that we are excused to do sin lord because we know paul the apostle wrote in romans
That our sin just simply magnifies the grace of god every time we sin
And we realize that we're already saved that we've been saved by the blood of jesus christ and our faith in that that it just magnifies that grace
But as paul said it doesn't mean that let's go on and keep sinning
But god quite the opposite
That you want us to live
Righteously you want us to live according to your word
And god that's what we endeavor to do every day but lord we can't do it on our own
We need you we need your grace every single day lord and so bless us as your people god
That we would proclaim the righteousness that is granted to us through faith in jesus christ
That lord when we sin we wouldn't hide it
But then we would go to our family our brothers and sisters to confess and to find accountability and to grow and to heal from those things
Lord trusting and resting in the truth that we are saved
God I pray lord that we put on the armor of god every single day lord that breastplate of righteousness that guards our heart
Our heart that so easily condemns us
That anytime our heart would say you're you're terrible you're not saved and our mind would be like yeah this can't possibly make sense
We would remember
the truth
Of who you are in your heart
Of who you are and what you did for us
That that helmet of salvation that breastplate of righteousness would save us and protect us to help us remember
That it's by your blood and our faith in that your death your resurrection all of it that brings us to salvation
And so lord help us to never forget our standing before you is secure
But the life we live is a moment by moment decision-making process
And god if we feed our flesh we'll find ourselves making poor decisions bad decisions
And yes, we're responsible for those decisions lord, but again your blood paid the price
God we're so thankful for the salvation. You've given us. We love you so much
And real quick if you're in this room today while we're praying and you've never received jesus christ as your lord and savior
Maybe he's spoken to you today
I know he's spoken to you today and you said you're realizing I
I need to be saved. I need
Forgiveness because I know i'm not righteous
And I know without god that i'm i'm facing an eternity in in judgment and punishment in hell and
But today I believe god is real
I believe he sent his son to this earth. I believe jesus christ is god who died on the cross for my sin
And I want to put my faith in that that's you in this room today
I just want you to raise your hand where you're seated right now and say I want to be saved
If you're watching online
And god has spoken to you. I want you to just type in the chat there that I want to be saved
Anybody in this room god is speaking to you. God bless you on the side anybody else god bless you too on the side
God bless you as well anybody in this room anybody else god is speaking to you your need for salvation your need
For him just raise your hand up where I could see it and let me pray with you today
All right, father god, we're so thankful god for those that are recognizing their need for you today
God those that have understood that that you are real that believe that you are real
And that god you died for them
You paid the price for all their sin past present and future and they want the hope
The hope of heaven the the hope that comes with trust in you
The forgiveness and the grace and the mercy that you have for them
So lord, I thank you god that they're making that call today and for those of you that raised your hand
Maybe you didn't raise your hand, but you know you need to do this. I want you to just pray with me right now and say god
I believe in you
I believe you are real
I believe your word is true
I believe you are real
I believe your word is true
And lord, I know i'm a sinner
I know i've sinned against you
I know i've sinned against others
And god i'm sorry
I understand
That my breaking of your law
Requires a penalty
And lord I trust
On his league of reading
sacrifice on the
Cristo
His sacrifice on the cross
His shed blood
To pay the price for my wrongdoing
God changed my life
fill me with your holy spirit
And help me to live for you
Help me to reject the lies of the devil
on who you are, the righteousness that you are,
and to believe God that through my faith in you,
you see me as righteous as well.
Help me to live in accordance with that at all times, Lord.
I love you, I trust you.
It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Those of you that gave your life to the Lord today,
congratulations.
This is a moment, this is a crossroads,
this is a time of where you were one way,
and now your life is gonna be different.
God is doing the work, God has saved you,
and yet there is stuff on our side that we do
to maintain that relationship.
I encourage you guys to get a Bible,
an app or a real one, paper Bible.
Read it, read it, it is God's love letter to you.
Study it, because in there God says,
this is who you can be through the power of my spirit.
You also wanna pray, and I encourage you to pray.
If you've never prayed, just talk to God.
Just talk to him, you don't need to be all formal.
Just talk to him, he's listening.
Worship him.
We have these packets up front called
New Believers Packets, if you wanna get one of those,
we have resources in there to help you on this journey.
We have some recommended Bible apps
if you wanna download those.
We have worship playlists, Spotify worship playlists
that our worship leaders have put together
so that you can get started just singing songs
that praise God Almighty.
But the most important thing is to plug in
to the family of God, because it's this family,
all of us, broken, sinful people,
that link arms together to help one another grow
and mature in our faith.
And for the rest of us that are just firmly walking
with God, awesome, praise the Lord.
But don't let your foot off the gas,
don't ever think that you're immune to sin,
but cling to God desperately the same way you did
on day one until you leave this earth.
And as you do that, yeah, you'll sin less.
But don't let the devil lie to you and say that
because you've done something wrong,
that you're going to hell.
If you trust in Jesus Christ,
you are saved now and forever.
Ask him every day to clothe you with his righteousness,
to armor you up with the armor of God,
and ask him every day to help you to choose obedience.
And God is gonna do a wonderful work in your lives,
I know it.
God is amazing.
I love him so much.
And I just pray you guys would grow in that.
Just grow in that understanding.
The answer to every problem in life is more Jesus,
more Jesus.
Let's worship church.