From the Start - Part 19 | A New Curse (A Genesis Sermon Series Part 20)

Genesis 918 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were

Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.

These three were the sons of Noah.

And from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.

Noah began to be began to be a man of soil, and he planted a

vineyard. And he drank of the wine, and

became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent.

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father

and told his two brothers outside.

Then Sham and Japheth took a garment, laid it both on both

their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the

nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned

backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness.

When Noah woke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had

done to him, he said, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants

shall he be to his brothers. He also said, Blessed be the

Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be a servant, and May God

enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and

let Canaan be a servant. And after the flood, Noah lived

350 years, and all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he

died. He may be seated, and May God

have his blessing at the reading of his word.

Let's pray together this morning.

Gracious Father, we think we've strung about the name of Jesus a

lot this morning. We thank you for the power

that's in his name. We thank you for the power

that's in the word that we're about to open up and speak to.

Lord, I pray that you would allow it to speak to our hearts

and our lives and be an application to how we live

Monday through Saturday of this coming week.

We pray and ask in Jesus name, Amen.

Well, Norfolk, VA, at First Baptist Church, Pastor Ken, on

sunny, sunny days, Sunday days, he would go out and greet people

as they were getting out of their cars and coming in for

worship. And he noticed that day, the

third in line was a tall guy with a with a golf shirt, golf

pants and a teenage son. And as he was getting ready to

shake hands with people, as I said they were third in line, he

could hear them complaining, the grant, the teenager complaining

about why do I have to go to church?

Why do I have to go to church? And finally the exasperated

father said, well, you have to go to church because my daddy

made me go to church when I was a kid.

And the teenage son said, well, I guess it didn't do much good

for you, did it? Because he was head off to play

golf. Well, as we think about that,

that story, it reminds us of some influences and the legacy

that we leave behind. For example, fathers who go to

church 3 * a month, who share biblical values in a

conversation over time with their sons, and who also

practice to the best of their ability what they believe, have

a greater chance of their son continuing to walk in their

faith. But it's also been proven

through those studies that if a father doesn't do any of those

things, then the faith becomes irrelevant to the son.

So how important it is it to set the example and to set the

legacy? We're going to talk about Noah's

legacy here in a moment. But an engineer had this note

taped inside his desk drawer at his office.

This was found after he died in a car accident.

The family found it and it said, this is not my life.

This is not my job. Christ is my life.

So what kind of example are you setting for your kids and your

grandkids when it comes to your walk with Jesus?

What do you want your kids and your grandkids to remember about

you when you pass from this life?

We're going to look at the legacy of Noah and what he left

to his children. So let's look at the early part

of Chapter 9, just to review a little bit as Pastor Drew's been

preaching through it and the story of Noah.

Chapter 9 gives us some very important information and

context in preparation for the end of the chapter.

We read and heard in Pastor Drew's sermon last week that God

was ready to replenish the earth after he had destroyed it.

He said to them be fruitful and multiply.

Some people have said that God is a cosmic kill joint.

Some pastors teach that sex is not right, it's wrong.

But here God is saying in the context of marriage, have sex,

have lots of it, have lots of it, and have lots of children.

He said the same thing about animals, to be fruitful and

multiply. Those animals that fly, those

that walk on the ground, and the fish in the sea, and man has

promised to have dominion over them.

Many animals would fear mankind and their presence as they do

now since the flood. Thank God gives Noah the decree

for capital punishment. A life destroyed means that the

one who destroys life is killed for the offense.

We see that repeated in Genesis 96.

Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed,

for God made man and his own image.

There's benefits to enforcing capital punishment in our

culture. A just society requires the

taking of 1's life. If they have taken someone

else's life, it would immediately reduce murder rates.

If capital punishment was experienced quickly, it would

add more power to the enforcement of the law.

But there's a risk in executing the death penalty.

The risk is that you could possibly execute someone who is

innocent, but I believe if all is done to make the case that a

person has committed murder, the evidence proves that a jury

convicts and the judge pronounces the sentence, then

leave it up to God. It's worth that risk.

Remember that someone who murders is murdering someone

who's created, created in the image of God.

That is how serious murder is. Lastly, before we get to this

text, God gives us an unconditional promise that He

will never destroy the earth again by flood.

The sign is still seen even to this day.

When you see a rainbow, and sometimes a double rainbow,

you're reminded that there's a loving and merciful God whose

promised never to destroy the earth again by flood.

And when God makes a promise, He will keep it.

Think about some of the promises in Genesis chapter 14 that God

Genesis 14 · chapter mention

made with Abraham when he cut the animals in half and he had a

smoking Lantern and went between them.

And he said, if I keep this covenant that you're going to be

a father of many, a great nation, and you're going to have

the promised land. He said as sure as you can't put

these animals back together to bring life.

I'm making this unconditional promise.

We think of the promise of salvation first.

John 513 I write these things to you who believe in the name of

the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

And then the promise he won't recreate the world by the flood,

but by fire. It tells us the new heavens and

new earth will be created as God brings fire to destroy what's

here and rebuild it. In second Peter 310 it says, But

the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the

heavens will pass away with the roar, and the heavenly bodies

will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that

are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus

to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives

of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the

coming of the day of God? Because of which the heavens

will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly

bodies will melt as they burn. But according to His promise, we

are waiting for new heavens and a new earth.

And which righteousness dwells? How many looking forward to that

day? Yes, righteousness will dwell,

sin will be no more, and we'll be with God ever present with

Him. So let's move to our text for

today. First thing on your outline, I

encourage you to take out your outline and fill in these

blanks. We see that the patriarchs of

the renewed human race, the patriarchs of the renewed human

race, everybody was destroyed but Noah and his three sons with

the opportunity to multiply the earth.

So they become the patriarchs. So the sons of Noah, it says in

verse 18, who went forth from the ark were Shem Ham and

Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.

These three were the sons of Noah.

And from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.

Now this section of Chapter 9 has several interpretive

problems that have always plagued biblical scholars for

many years, but this passage has a direct reference to the nature

and the destiny of the Canaanites, which were Israelite

Israel's antagonists. So Noah had three sons who would

multiply the earth's Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Japheth first one we talked about is Shem.

Shem's descendants would become the nation of Israel.

Through him, Abraham would be born and be one of his

descendants. Then we read about Ham, and Ham

would become the father of the Canaanite nation which would

oppose Israel and live very wicked lives.

Notice that of all three brothers mentioned that Ham is

mentioned as the father of Canaan.

This becomes a significant part of the story as it unfolds.

And then Japheth. Among Muslim historians, Japheth

is usually regarded as the ancestor of Gog and Magog tribes

at the times of the Turks, the Khazars, and the Sloths.

Notice of verse 19, we see the first use of the word dispersed.

You'll see that again when Pastor Drew preaches on Genesis

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Chapter 11. The Tower of Babel and the world

will be divided geopolitically and by language groups.

But God had a plan for Noah and his family, but it was revealed

to them one day at a time. Now we need to understand that

when we become a believer in Christ, the day, the moment we

cross that line of faith, how many of us would really want to

know the entirety of God's will for our life?

I think we'd be scared out of our wits if we saw that on the

day that we got saved. I think that's important.

But what does God do? He unfolds the scroll of His

will on a daily basis, and I think it's important that He

does that because then it causes us to be dependent upon Him as

we walk this journey through life and build dependence upon

Him. Noah had no idea how long he

would be in the ark and what the world would look like when he

got out of the ark and what his role would be after the flood,

but he faithfully followed God. So here's our first application.

God has a plan for us if we will, but trust Him to reveal to

US one day at a time. It's not always easy to do.

Sometimes we want to see the big picture.

Sometimes we see a decision coming down the road and we'd

like God to reveal to us exactly what we're supposed to do days

and weeks ahead. But God is faithful.

He's never late, and He always shows up and shows us exactly

what we need to do. So we need to be dependent upon

Him. Second, we see the problem that

came because of Him seeing Noah naked, the problem with Ham and

Noah. Look at verse 20.

Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard,

and he drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered

in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan,

saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers

outside. Then Sham and Japheth took a

garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward

and covered their nakedness, the nakedness of their father.

Their faces were turned backward and they did not see their

father's nakedness. Verse 24, When Noah woke from

his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him.

And we'll talk about what that is in the next point.

But notice that Noah was a successful farmer.

Notice it says he was a man of soil.

And so at the beginning of creation, agriculture sprung up,

and now after the flood, agriculture begins to blossom

once again. If you look at verses 20 through

27, you see the similarities to the first creation and the

establishment of man on earth. First of all, the planting of a

specifically cultivated area, a vineyard.

We see that here in verse 20. We see that in Genesis 28, we

see the partaking of the fruit, specially cultivated areas

producing wine. And we see this in this passage

where Noah is drinking wine that he has been able to harvest the

grapes and make into wine. And we see the result was

nakedness in Genesis 37. And then we see the nakedness

had to be covered in Genesis 321 when God had to kill animals and

put skins over Adam and Eve. So the brothers covered Noah's

nakedness and then the pronouncement of a curse against

the snake, the ground, and the pains of childbirth, to name a

few consequences of sin. And we're going to see a curse

proclaimed and declared by Noah in just a moment.

But one thing we keep mentioning for emphasis is that the flood

did not resolve the depravity of man.

You would think in a generation or two after this great flood,

and it whittled it down to just eight people, that people would

remember and think about it. But no man became more and more

and more depraved as time went on.

It's just like us. If we're not careful, we can

develop spiritual amnesia. We see God do miraculous things

in our life, and sometimes when we get to the next circumstance,

it's difficult. The next trial or the

tribulation, we kind of forget about what God did in the past

in a miraculous way. We need to be constantly

reminding ourselves, and that's what the Scriptures do,

especially in the Old Testament. But in this narrative we see the

first major act of depravity, depravity after the flood.

Noah's success led to personal sin.

He was really good at what he did.

He developed his vineyard. He grew the grapes.

He pressed them, made them into wine.

But now he becomes drunk with wine.

Now the Bible is very clear in Ephesians 517.

It's OK to drink alcohol in moderation, but drunkenness is a

sin. And so it appears that Noah, as

he became successful, he began to drink, and he was in a

drunken stupor, as we read here, while he was sleeping.

And Ham came into the tent and discovered that his father was

naked. In the Hebrew it says that Ham

went to his brothers and gloated over his dad's drunken state and

nakedness. In Habakkuk 215 it says woe to

him who makes his neighbors drink.

You pour out your wrath and make them drunk in order to gaze at

their nakedness. Proverbs 20 verse one.

Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is LED

astray by it is not wise. To the ancients, however, even

seeing one's father naked was a breach of family ethic.

The sanctity of the family was destroyed and the strength of

the father was made into a mockery.

Him apparently stumbled on this accidentally, but went out and

joyfully told his two brothers if it as if he had triumphed or

had something on his father. The wine is said to cheer the

heart in Jude 9, Jude yeah in Jude 9, and then Psalm 10415 and

alleviate the pain of the curse in Proverbs 31.

Six. But it's also clear that has

disturbing effects. What seems to be a trivial

incident becomes a major event. Noah's drunkenness and nakedness

showed that the natures of his three sons would be perpetuated

by their descendants. And Noah's strength and success

and growing grapes led him to lack of self-control and

ultimately to sin. My good friend Scott Pearson,

who was retired pastor from Cornerstone, he said this a

number of years ago and I wrote it down and I've kept it in my

quotes. It says an unguarded strength is

a double weakness. You see, when we think we have

this natural talent OR this great spiritual gift and we're

successful at it, one of the dangers is, is we get proud and

at some point we crossover and think it's all about me.

And then we're vulnerable to sin.

We're vulnerable because we don't see that that's a

weakness, being proud in our strength.

And so we have to guard our hearts.

And so our application here is when our strength becomes our

weakness, we cannot control the consequences of our personal

sin. Be careful, don't gloat.

Always give glory to God. Always depend upon Him and thank

Him for what he has given you, what He's gifted you to do

naturally or with your spiritual gifts.

Third, because of what happened during the time of Noah's

drunken stupor, the punishment was declared on Canaan.

Look at verses 25 to 27 of Genesis 9.

He, Noah, said cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he

be to his brothers. He also said, Blessed be the

Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.

May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,

and let Canaan be his servant. No Notice Noah's curse, Noah's

curse. Noah in his curse references

Canaan, which would have been Ham's youngest son.

Now, some say the punishment was given because of one of four

things that may have occurred. And by the way, we don't know

exactly what happened even very clearly through the text in

Hebrew. But here's some thoughts that

some people have, some commentators.

First of all, Ham slept with his mother.

That's the phrase saw the nakedness or uncovered the

nakedness of his father. But we have no evidence or proof

of that from the text. Ham or Kanan could have

castrated Noah. Could be true, maybe, but

there's no proof of that. But Noah didn't have any

children after this. Some believe that Kanan, the

youngest grandson, committed a perverse sexual act with his

grandfather. Others have said that Ham was

involved in a preferred sexual act on his father.

But the Hebrew expression here means what it says.

It simply says Ham saw his father's nakedness in verse 22.

He was not involved with Noah sexually because that is a

different Hebrew word altogether.

Instead, Noah had already uncovered himself and Ham saw

him that way. And so that's how we should

accept what this text is telling us.

So Sham and Ham Japheth go backward with a covering to

cover Noah's nakedness in verse 23.

But in verse 24, Noah awakens from his drunken stupor and

realizes something has happened. Maybe Shem and Japheth informed

him of what happened. We don't know.

But then we see the curse Noah puts on Canaan, his grandson.

Some have said that the verses 24 through 27 give us a glimpse

of Israel's foreign policy going forward.

We see here the third of three curses mentioned in Genesis.

The curse of the serpent, the curse of Cain, and now the curse

of Canaan. Canaan became the father.

Of the Canaanites who became severely sexually deviant people

according to Genesis 10 and Leviticus 18, they were there

and Sodom, Gomorrah, they're part of the the group of people

who were created the immoral wickedness there.

Joshua conquered the Canaanites and made them slaves to the

nation of Israel, which Sham founded through his descendants.

We see the sins of Canaan were passed down to future

generations. It's interesting that Ham is not

mentioned in the curse but his son.

Ham's disposition toward moral abandoned thus bore fruit in the

immoral acts of his descendants the Canaanites.

And according to Leviticus 18, the Canaanites became very

immoral and practiced the habitual life of sexual sin.

No also stated in this curse on Canaan, the Canaan's people

would live in slavery to Shams descendants.

We see that prophecy there in Noah's curse, Leviticus 18 three

says you should not do, God said as they do in the land of Egypt

where you lived and where you shall not do as they do in the

land of Canaan, to which I'm bringing you, you shall not walk

in their statutes. God said from this, don't be a

part of those who disobey me as you go into the promised land.

Now, I grew up for what, 15-16 years in the South?

Maybe some of you've never heard this taken from this passage of

Scripture, but there's a serious misinterpretation of the curse

on Ham's grandson that's led to horrific teaching by too many

Christian pastors and teachers. When I was in seminary, one of

the commentators that they want us to read was Jameson Fawcett

Brown. And when I looked at his

commentary on these verses, look at what he says.

This doom has been fulfilled and the destruction of the

Canaanites and the degradation of Egypt and the slavery of the

Africans, the descendants of Ham.

You see they believe the curse of Ham caused the African people

to be black and to be LED into slavery and that was part of

God's will because of the curse. This is a false interpretation.

Ham's youngest grandson was cursed and resulted his

descendants were black skinned and became African people.

And the thought is because of this curse, they're deemed

inferior and condemned to a life of slavery for coming

generations. This is where Christians and

other countries and in the beginning of our country

justified slavery. The curse of Ham it's called.

It's an erroneous teaching. And I wish I had more time to

talk about this, but this is what justified in some ways, the

South supporting slavery heading into the Civil War.

They use this verse, this passage to support their reasons

for it. But here's what we should

believe as believers in Christ. First of all, you'll see these

on the screen. All men and women are created

equal and made in the image of God all across the board.

There's no room for prejudice for us as Christians.

Second of all, we're all one race, the human race with

diverse ethnicities. Thirdly, the cross and the

gospel in Ephesians 2 is the only hope for reconciliation

between ethnicities. This is important.

In Ephesians 2 it says that Christ died on the cross and he

tore down the dividing wall of hostility.

The Jews were not supposed to be with the Gentiles, but now that

has changed. They're now Jewish believers and

Gentile believers are allowed to worship together, to break bread

together, to fellowship with one another.

And so we see the breaking of the divide between ethnicities.

And fourthly, were to accept diversity of cultures and

ethnicity as God's creative work among his special creation.

It's great to go to African American church or a charismatic

church or different cultures. I've been to Kenya and to see

them dance in their beautiful outfits, the ladies and a guy

beating a bucket with his drumsticks and worshipping.

There's all kinds of ways and we gather around the throne.

It says in Roman and Revelation chapter 5, we're going to

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

celebrate who God is from every tribe and every nation and every

language together. So diversity is good.

We should celebrate that. We should encourage that.

Let's look. Lastly and Noah's blessing.

We saw his curse, but he did give a blessing here as well.

Noah's words elevate his first son, Shem, and who would be

Keenan, subsequent master. This shows that there will be

strife among the siblings. Japheth, who is the youngest

son, is giving a blessing that his descendants will populate

much of the land and prosper. Notice the words enlargement and

dwell in tents. They would be nomadic people

traveling, but they would have vast amounts of land.

And let's look at the last two verses in this chapter.

As we wrap this chapter up, says after the flood, Noah lived 350

years. All the days of Noah were 950

years, and he died. This present document between

the old world and the new, IT has a double character being the

close of history before the flood and now the beginning of

life after the flood. As the civilization,

civilization grew and they continued to walk with God after

the flood. Noah was a hero in the Bible,

but like many as he got older he gave in to the temptations of

the flesh and he had the 1 scar in his life that we remember.

That's why Paul writes in First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

11. Now these things happen to them

as an example, but they were written down for our instruction

on whom the end of the ages has come.

One of the great things that was instilled in me as a young

believer in Christ was the idea that when you read the Bible,

you see the scars of great men and women to learn from their

example so you can avoid the consequences of sin, the

heartache of disobedience, and the results of those actions in

your life. We think of David, a man after

God's own heart. That's what God called him.

And then he got into adultery and murder and he sought

forgiveness. In Psalm 51, at the end of his

life, God said he was still a man after his own heart.

I think it's all allowing Christians to be killed, putting

them in prison, and yet he becomes Paul and does miraculous

things. And so God can redeem the things

in our lives. But if we look at our lives and

look at what the Bible says, we can avoid those consequences,

those heartaches, if we learn from the examples that are

written therein. So this begs the question, what

kind of legacy will we leave behind?

What kind of legacy will we leave behind?

The application, The integrity or sin of a person will affect

future descendants. How you live your life.

What do you want your kids and your grandkids to remember when

they shuffle through your papers, your pictures, the

memories in their minds? What do you want them to

remember about you? Yes, you've done some things

wrong. Yes, you forgot forgiveness.

Now you're walking blameless, but what kind of a legacy are

you leaving behind? And as we look at our key

thought just before we pray, God will bless us if we exhibit

self-control over our sinful flesh and stay obedient to Him.

God will bless us if we exhibit self-control over our sinful

flesh and stay obedient to Him. God will bless us if we exhibit

self-control over our sinful flesh and stay obedient to Him.

As we pray, let's bow our heads and our hearts.

I just want to give you a challenge today.

Maybe you're here today. Maybe you want to say from this

day forward, I want to be more intentional.

Intentional and living out my faith as an example for my kids,

for my grandkids. Some of us in here, we've lived

a pretty long life of sin, but God has forgiven us and washed

that all the way and we can move forward from here we are today.

For others of us that may be just to rededicate ourselves to

going to church, to having conversations with our kids and

our grandkids and then walking the talk as I talked about the

very beginning of the service in the illustration to make an

impact and a difference in your kids and grandkids lives never

get bad and every eye closed. Maybe here today, maybe say, you

know, I want to continue to dedicate myself to do that, or

today I want to begin to dedicate myself to do that.

Just slip your hand up so I can pray for you.

Say I want to build a legacy that my kids, yes, will find me.

Yes, will find me faithful. Then when I look through all

this stuff and look through our Bibles, they'll see that we had

a relationship with God. Anyone else before we pray

today? Yes, Father, you see these

hands. You know the hearts.

Lord, I just thank you, Lord, that we can learn.

We can learn from so many people in Scripture.

And Noah's a simple one of the cases.

Lord, as we looked at today, what a great man.

He found the favor and grace of God when it was time to build an

ark when no one knew what rain was.

And he must have been laughed at and mocked at for 120 years as

he built this ark. And then God closed the door

with his family members and the animals, and he was found

faithful to do what you wanted. And Lord, despite this blemish,

he leaves a godly legacy. May us, despite our blemishes,

be found forgiven and blameless and setting the example for the

next generation and the next generations to come through our

descendants. We pray and ask these things in

the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.