Discovering Genesis, Part 11
Genesis 9:18-29
Introduction
- Last week, we set up the foundation for what mankind had done
- Simply stated, we provoked God’s wrath through disobedience and rebellion
- God sent men like Enoch and Noah to preach to them; but still they rebelled
- Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.”
- This morning, we took a look at the specific directions that were given to Noah
- This direction included:
1. Go forth and multiply (re-populate) the Earth
2. Eating the animals is allowed, but not their blood
3. We are not allowed to spill the blood of others; else we too shall be killed
4. God provided a rainbow to remind Him of the covenant He made with us
5. The underlying theme is that life is about God; submitting to His direction
- Read Genesis 9:18-29
- Pray
Point 1 – Noah and His Sons (18-21)
- One would think that after the sin that led to the flood; then the punishment of it
- There would be NO more sin on the Earth … but we know that just isn’t true
- APP: Sin continues even to this day with our pride and rebellion leading the way
-- Let’s examine the sins of Noah, remember, this isn’t long after God’s covenant
-- We see in v18-21 that Noah begins to follows God’s orders; to replenish
-- And yet he finds himself in an opportunity to become drunk on wine
- There is no excuse to this one; we cannot get around it; Noah was just drunk!
- Why he got drunk isn’t the issue; when he got drunk isn’t the issue either
-- God directed him to live rightly, and here we see that Noah just doesn’t do it
-- This action now, leads to some very unsettling actions by those around him
- IMP APP: Who are you leaving a legacy too? Who is watching you?
- Who are you spending time with to disciple and change their lives?
-- 2 Tim 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
- There is an important concept here: “More things are caught than taught”
- So here we are, God’s man, who has fallen and made some bad choices
- And there could be lots said about Grace and Forgiveness; but let’s continue on
Point 2 – Noah and his Sin (22-25)
- (v22-24) Ham (Noah’s son) who later becomes the father of Canaan ridicules him
-- What he said isn’t here, but what is, is that he talked about it with his brothers
- Picture this scene … Dad is drunk, naked, and Ham just has to act the fool
-- Why couldn’t he have done with his brothers did? Shem and Japheth covered
-- They knew this would be a bad thing for their father; so they protected him
- They knew that this man, their father, was God’s chosen; their hearts were stirred
- The fact that Noah had sinned was not the focus; there was something deeper
- The focus is that they knew he would be embarrassed; but they didn’t add to it
- So when Noah awoke, he knew (had knowledge) about his son’s actions
- And because of Ham’s actions, God cursed the generations that would come
- Nowhere in scripture is this some sort of curse on people of color
-- There has been lots of speculation on this being the case; but it isn’t true
-- If it were, it would be plainly stated here that so and so would be cursed
-- However, what is said is that the people of Canaan would be cursed
- Now, there is something even deeper to see here and we must notice this today
- Did you notice that up until now, Noah seems like the hero? The great rescuer?
- He is portrayed as being the one who was justified, saved, and restored
- And so, if God wanted him to maintain this glorious setting He’d be silent on this
- But instead, Moses records it from God to show that Noah was just a man
- He was a man who struggled, had issues, and still was used by God
- APP: Many of can have this said about it today; God still uses people
- David was a murderer; Paul was a persecutor; Moses was also a murderer
- Matthew was a thief/cheat; Joshua was afraid; Jonah was disobedient;
- Noah got drunk … but notice here, Noah got drunk AFTER God used him
- Why? Because he was sin ridden; just like you and I are at this very minute
- APP: Very important to understand and grasp the importance of God’s grace
- God uses men and women even in the face of our rebellion and sin and attitude
- Justification by God is not based on the things that you do ... it is more than that
- Gal 2:16 says, “… know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”
- When we study God’s word we don’t need to make excuses for what’s going on
- Rather, we are called to simply study, reveal, learn, and move on growing
- Noah got drunk. Period. Does this make him any less of a man of God? Nope.
- What the scriptures are revealing here is that living for God is what matters
- For example, how many billions of dollars have we spent to explore the moon?
- Are we any closer to living there than we were in 1969? Of course not.
- However, we still spend the money and miss the plain thing right in front of us
- God created this Earth for us to live and to LIVE for Him; but do we?
- Noah had a great chance to start from scratch; and given it he still fell short
- It was Noah’s weakness of the flesh that caused his stumble, nothing more
- However, it makes him NO LESS a man of God nor did he get cast out
- He was not unsaved; or unjustified because of his sin; he was still saved
Point 3 – Revealing a Curse (26-29)
- (v26-28) OK, ready to discover something awesome in scripture? Here it is:
- Look at the place that Canaan is given now in history; not equal; but slaves
-- They shall be servants of those in the land of Shem and Japheth
- When Moses was leading the people to the land of Canaan, who were they?
- The Israelites … and they were descendants of Shem
- They were being given the land of Canaan; God’s promise fulfilled
- Those living in Canaan were to cursed, and taken over later in time
- Thought: However, think of this … did Moses get to enter the land of Canaan?
-- No, he did not (Deut 34) … and why didn’t he get to go into the promised land?
-- Because of his own sin, anger, and disobedience (Numbers 20) (struck the rock)
-- But, he too was still considered righteous and upright before God, wasn’t he?
Conclusion
- This ought to bring great hope for us today … even in sin; God can still use us
-- Noah was a righteous man because of what God had done in his life
-- It is the same for us; we too can be made righteous if we will submit to Him
- The righteousness that Noah experienced was not because he was awesome
- It is not because he was to have his name in the Bible later in time
- It was because he was willing to live and submit to God fully
- This, is where the application resides for us as well
- Will we submit to God fully, or will we continue to live our lives for ourselves?
- Pray
