Alright, Genesis chapter 10, having considered the fall and
the recovery of Noah, the sin of Ham, and the curse placed
upon his heritage because of his unbelief of God, seeing the
actions of Shem and Japheth who were found to be faithful only
by the grace of God and His good pleasure to keep them from falling.
Now we're going to enter into a portion of scripture that deals
with the fulfillment of the prophecy of God through Noah concerning
his three sons. Noah has died and The Lord is going to replenish
the earth through the three sons of Noah, Japheth, Shem, Ham. And in this chapter, we're going
to see the dealings of Almighty God with all men according to
His good pleasure to either have mercy and compassion or to leave
a man, a woman to themselves. Scripture declares concerning
God's right to do that very thing, Romans chapter 9 verse 21, hath
not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? Does God have
the right out of the same lump All men were created by God. They all come from Adam. And they're in the hands of God
Almighty. God does as He will. Now tonight
we're going to mainly consider, I'm going to mention a thing
or two about Ham, but I want to consider the heritage of Japheth,
the father of the Gentiles. That's what verse 5 says in Genesis
chapter 10. By these were the isles of the
Gentiles divided in their lands and it was concerning, verse
2 says, the sons of Japheth. So here we see, we're going to
see how the Lord was pleased through Japheth to set the Gentiles
where He was pleased to place it. Gentiles. The scripture that
holds your place right here, just turn to Ephesians. These
are the ones that the Apostle Paul wrote to in Ephesians chapter
2. Gentiles. Listen to what he says,
Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11 and 12. He says to the church
at Ephesus, wherefore remember that ye being in time past, Gentiles
in the flesh. who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise
having no hope and without God in the world. So Japheth is the
father of the Gentiles, natural Gentiles, but he is a picture,
Japheth. He's a picture of the elect Gentiles. Actually the father of the Gentiles,
but a picture and type of the elect Gentiles. Apostle Paul
continues in Ephesians chapter 2 saying to these Gentiles, but
now in Christ Jesus, Ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both
one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between
us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of one new
man, so making peace." So Noah's prophecy, which, like I said,
was God's prophecy through Noah, concerning his son, Japheth,
was that he would be the father of the Gentiles. He would be
found to be in the tent with Shem, who was of the bloodline
of Christ, the father of the actual physical Jews, the national
Jews. Shem was where the Jews came
from. was where the Gentiles come up,
and I'll tell you what Ham sets forth in just a second. But this
man Japheth, now he's got the commission from God, he's going
to be in the replenishing of the earth. That's where the Gentiles
are going to come from. Now, Paul and Barnabas were preaching
and talking about now these Gentiles that were preaching in Antioch
and they had some opposition from unbelieving Jews. I'm going
to turn and read out of Acts 13 if you'd like to read this.
God had sent the gospel to the Jews. That's where it went first
to the Jews. We're going to read this in just
a second. Acts chapter 13. And God's got a people. He's got a people in every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue. and he's going to call out some
Jews, some Gentiles. So he's preaching in Antioch
Acts chapter 13 and verse 44 to 48 it says the next Sabbath
day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of
God but when the Jews saw the multitude They were filled with
envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul,
contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you. But seeing you put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have sent thee to be a light of the Gentiles,
that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. So here we're going to see the
Gentiles. Where did they come from? Paul
went, Barnabas, they went, they were commissioned to go preach
to the Jews. But when the Jews would not hear
what was being said, Paul says, we're going to the Gentiles.
They were glad. They were glad. There was some
trouble there because of it. But this proves Romans 8.28,
for we know. that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. So the historical account of
these three men, if it was for no other reason but just to say,
well it was just where God was putting the world, where would
the glory of Christ be in this? So this is what we're looking
for. We want to look past the natural origin of the Jews and
behold the spiritual origin of the elect Jews concerning the
good pleasure of God. Now again, I want you to keep
this in your mind as we go through these first five verses right
here. Shem is the father. It was from Shem. that the Jews
came, all Jews, natural Jews, the nation of Jews, Israelites,
all of them, they came from Shem, the physical Jews, but the descendants
of Shem is a picture and a type of the spiritual Jews. Paul the Apostle said in Romans
chapter 2 and verse 28 and 29 concerning Jews, The Jews put all of their heritage
and all of their faith and everything in being from Abraham. Might as well have said the same
thing about Shem. Paul said in Romans chapter 2 verse 28 and
29, it says, he's not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is
that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew
which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of God. So man is not a child of God.
He's not righteous before God, accepted of God, justified before
God, merely because he's a natural Jew. God gave the sign of circumcision
to Abraham, And that sign of circumcision,
what was it? It was the sign of God's favor
to a people according to an everlasting covenant of grace that God had
looked upon them in favor. Well, all the Jews were circumcised. We just read what Paul said.
Circumcision, that don't make you a spiritual Jew just because
you're circumcised. But spiritual circumcisions of
the heart. It's a belief that Almighty God
has shown mercy to me according to his goodwill and pleasure.
So a true Jew, one regenerated spiritually by the power and
grace of God, to come and to see by faith that salvation is
of the Lord, and one that renounces all confidence in the flesh,
that's a spiritual Jew, a true Jew. So if somebody says to anybody
that's a believer, are you a spiritual Jew? Yeah. Yes, I am. That's
what I am. That's what a spiritual Jew is. Ham, okay, you remember the sin
of Ham? We dealt with that last time.
Ham is set forth as those who are found to be in the world
who opposes God. God's gospel, God's word, God's
people. and they are they like Ham that
they mock God, they mock his word, they mock his gospel, they
mock his people. He saw his dad, he saw that his
dad was naked and he went and he told his brothers he didn't
believe God and God placed a curse on Ham's family. So we realize
that from these three boys we're seeing Everybody in this world,
spiritually speaking, we see everybody. Shem, father of the
Jews nationally, but spiritually the elect Jews. Japheth, Father
of the Gentiles, nationally speaking, just regular Gentiles. That's
where they all came from. But Japheth is a picture of the
elect Gentiles. And Ham, those that oppose and
hate God and His people, whether they're Jew or Gentile, nationally
speaking, just regular people born in this world. Those that
oppose God, whether they're a national Jew or a national Gentile, they're
spiritually of Ham. That's Ham. You see Shem? A spiritual Jew. Japheth? A spiritual Gentile. Ham? Unregenerate Jew or Gentile. That's the spiritual part of
this. So let's just look now. Now that
I've laid the little foundation, let's just look at these verses.
Now, these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Han,
and Japheth. And under them were sons born
after the flood. And then verse 2 says, the sons
of Japheth, Gomer, and Magog, and Madi, and Javan, and Tubal,
and Meshach, and Tyrus. Now, here's Japheth. And he's got some sons. And the
scripture sets forth, this first one is Gomer. His name means
complete. Complete or completion. And according
to the ancient writers, I tried to find out where these were.
Probably these were the ancestors of the Galatians. In time, the
Apostle Paul went and preached to them and God raised up a church
there. They settled in a place called
Cappadocia, a place that was mentioned on the day of Pentecost.
Remember when the Lord came and empowered the Spirit of God and
He gave Peter and those men the power, the gift to speak in tongues
that they could speak in languages. that they had never learned.
It wasn't as gibberish that nobody understands. They were speaking
in languages that they themselves were real languages, but they
never learned them. But God gave them the gift. These
men are Galileans. I know they're Galileans. And
we hear them in our tongues. And so they were from Cappadocia. But then there was a man named
Magog. And then these were the ones
that were identified with the Scythians. And then Madai, they
were the Medes. The Persians, Javan, they were
the Greeks, and Tubal and Meshech, they inhabited Pontus, which
was another place that was mentioned on the day of Pentecost, and
the districts of Asia Minor. Tyrus was identified by the historian
Josephus, I found, with a group called the Thracians, but actually
what they were were just sea pirates. They were just a rough
group of people. They were just pirates of the
Aegean Sea. And then in verse 3 it says in
the Sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz, Riphah, and Togarmah. Now these three boys right here. Ashkenaz was one that settled
in the region of Germany. And Riphath were the Celts. who dwelt originally in the Carpathian
Mountains in the region of Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary. And to Garma, the land of the
Armenians, where actually they were in Turkey. And then verse
4 says, and the sons of Javan, Elisha, Tarshish, Kittim, and
Dodanim. Elisha settled in the mountains
of the southern peninsula of Greece that connected central
Greece by the Isthmus of Corinth. This region, it was also mentioned,
I found in Ezekiel chapter 27, verse 7, it says, fine linen
with broadered work from Egypt was that thou spreadest forth
to be thy sail, blue and purple, from the isles of Elisha was
that which covered thee. So, I mean, they were very talented
people. The Lord gifted them to be industrious. The son, Tarsus, This was to
be the families who colonized the eastern and southern part
of Spain and northern Italy. Kidim was the region of Cyprus
and then the island of the eastern Mediterranean Sea south of Turkey. And Dodanum, they settled the
land of Serbia, And Greece, and then the scripture says, by these
were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, everyone
after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. Now
I wanted to make a point to look up where these people were from.
The Spirit of God was pleased to put them in there. And he
didn't put them in there for me just to glaze over them. Lord willing, next week, I'm
going to be looking at a major portion of this 10th chapter
and 11th chapter together. So I probably won't go into that,
but I wanted to take these first five verses right here and show
where the Lord strategically placed each of these families,
where he raised them up and where they were. So according to the
spirit's revelation of the lands inhabited by the sons of Japheth,
they were the isles of the Gentiles. So if you start looking at where
they were in Italy and Greece and some part of Spain and all
that eastern Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. All that
area that just kind of surrounds the Mediterranean Sea, they were
coastline people. They had gone into that Mediterranean,
into Europe basically where they were. And the scripture says
they gathered together everyone after his tongue. Now let me
tell you what's amazing about what we just read in that fifth
verse right there. They were the eyes of the Gentiles,
verse 5, divided in their lands, everyone after his tongue. Now what we're going to find
whenever you look at verse 1 of chapter 11, the scripture says
the whole earth was of one language, one speech. And you know what's amazing about
that? We're just looking in verse 10, and these people were settled
where they did according to their tongue. So what the Spirit of
God has been pleased to do, has given us some information that
actually took place after. Chapter 11. Chapter 11, we will
go back and find out what happened at the Tower of Babel. You know
what happened. But there was one language. There
was only one language. And what we're looking at right
here, these people were sent and they went and the Greeks
and those from Cappadocia and those from Serbia, they didn't
speak the same language. They all settled according to
their language and their tongue, but this, what we're reading
right here, obviously took place after the next chapter. So we'll
see, we'll see how that is, but I wanted to show you that this
is where they are. They're all after their own tongue
and language, but here's what we see spiritually. In your mind,
think about where they are. Think about the Mediterranean
Sea, and think about, okay, the way you're looking at it, here's
the Mediterranean Sea, and then here's Spain over here, and then
here's Italy down here, and then you're gonna come up, and here's,
you know, you're gonna have Greece, and you're gonna have, up here,
you're gonna have Poland and Germany, and all of this area,
Europe, just all of this area right here. And here is the Lord
in His good providence, to place the sons of Jacob exactly where
He did, where He purposed for them to be. Ephesians 1.11, it
says, according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will, He placed them where He
did because in time And we'd see this, we won't read it tonight,
but I'll tell you what happens. You take the book of Acts. God
raised up a man named Paul. And Paul, this was all the area
where all of these trips that the Apostle Paul took, it was
to all these Gentiles. And that's where he was going.
He went up to Cappadocia, and he went to Ephesus, and he went
to all these places. And God raised up churches in
the book of Acts 17. I mean, you know, the Lord told
him to go and replenish the earth. And they did, they did. These
Gentiles, they all went, but why did they go there? Why did
they go where they were? Acts 17, verse 24 to 27. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth. dwelleth not in temples made
with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands as though he
needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all
things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for
to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the
times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation that
they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after
Him and find Him though He be not far from every one of them. Why did God put these Gentiles
where He did? He was going to send the gospel
to them. And that's why He raised up Paul.
Let me ask you this. Why did the Lord put you where
He put you? As I've said before, it has always
amazed me of the good pleasure of God when the Lord is pleased
to raise up a church, send a pastor, send the gospel to a place. He
puts people in that community. He puts a group like this, and
here you are living here. And in the good timing of God,
the Lord raised up a pastor from this area. And then he was pleased
to send me. That amazes me. But sent me here. But you're all from here. I'm
pretty much. You say, well, I'm not from here.
Well, I'm not from here either. By and large, most of you are.
I know you are, Charlie. I know you are, Mitch. You. You're from here. This is where
the Lord put them. He put them all together in that
region. And then sent Paul the apostle.
He went here and here and here and here. And he preached to
God. Why? that they might seek the Lord, that God would call
them out. So nothing is accidental in this
world. The Lord told them, you replenish
the earth. He didn't leave it up to them. Well, I think I'll
go over here. Now, while we're going up here,
no, you're going to go just exactly where the Lord puts you. So the
Lord orders all these events. and places men and women where
he's pleased. Because out of all that group,
out of all these people that came out of Japheth, God had
a people. They were Gentiles. And God was
going to send the... He sent the gospel to the Jews
first. But He knew what was going to
happen. But according to His will and purpose, He was going
to save some Gentiles. And so He puts them where He
puts them. And then He sends a preacher.
So all of these families of Japheth were where they were because
of the good pleasure of God to call out his elect. Why? The scripture says in Ephesians
2.7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Isn't it amazing to behold? Even
in man's rebellion against God, God looked and he saw that every
imagination of all men was only evil continually. And it repented
the Lord that he made man. He said, I'm going to destroy
man and beast. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. One man. One man. And God was
going to bless that man to have three sons that he was going
to set forth in those three sons God's good pleasure to do what
he will with whom he will. Three sons. One of them is going
to be the father of the Jews. God's going to send the gospel
to them first. One of them is going to be the
father of the Gentiles, of which God is going to call a people
out of them, too, to show that God has mercy on whom he will.
And one of them is going to be a son left to himself in rebellion
to show that God is just. And these three sons, we see
the totality. of God's pleasure to deal with
mankind. And I pray that this evening,
that those little five verses right there, just showing where
God put some people around this area in Europe, how God was pleased
to call out a people according to His good pleasure for His
glory and our good. Amen.