Now we come to the last part
of Genesis chapter 9. God's Spirit has been pleased
to lay before us a passage of Scripture that reveals man, reveals
God, reveals man to be what he is. Even those regenerated by
the grace of God are still sinners. Sinners. Sinners by birth, sinners
by choice, sinners by practice. But also the Spirit of God has
been pleased to reveal the indescribable mercy of God to the vessels of
God's affection. Now this passage of Scripture
is very, very revealing. It's very teaching. Scripture says, all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. It's God-breathed, and it's profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, complete,
throughly furnished, that is equipped, unto all good works. Now the scripture declares, verses
18-19, and the sons of Noah that went forth of the ark were Shem,
and Ham, and Japheth, and Ham is the father of Canaan, These
are the three sons of Noah, and from them was the whole earth
overspread. Now, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now that's given as a record
not only to set forth the family of Noah, tell us who they were,
but especially to give glory unto the Lord for His mighty
power, to accomplish that which He instructed Noah and his sons
to do. Noah chapter 9 verse 1 says,
Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. But let
me tell you what it especially sets forth. The Scripture says
that these three sons of Noah, all of them, of them was the
whole earth overspread. Now, that means that all nations
came from them. And that seemed to bear out. All nations, all colors, all
characteristics, out of the same family were these boys, the fathers
of all the nations. Are you saying now, you're telling
me that those from Africa and those from China and those from
Sweden and those from... all came out of the same three
boys. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm
saying. Almighty God is not constrained by characteristics and skin color. All nations came from these three
guys right here. All came from Noah. But all of
the nations were replenished by these three sons. Is there anything too hard for
God? Nothing is impossible with God. All of these boys But scripture
sets forth out of this passage of scripture some revealing,
that's why I said walkers, some revealing truths. And here's
my first point. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. It's been said the best of men
are at best, men. Here's one of those passages
that the Spirit of God instructs God's people on the truthfulness
of man's depravity. Man, born of woman, is a depraved
creature. And as I've said and said and
said, he's got an old man in him. And that old man never changes. The old heart is never improved. It doesn't get better. It doesn't
reform. There's no reform in an old heart.
The Lord gives a new heart. But I want you to, let's just
stop for a minute and just look at what the Scriptures has to
say about man as he's born from Adam. Verse 20 and 21, And Noah
began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and he
drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his
tent. Now, this is the man that had
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The scripture says in Genesis
chapter 6 verse 5 concerning all of mankind, everybody, everybody,
everybody is like this. God saw, Genesis 6 verse 5, God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,
verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Was
Noah like all those others? Yeah. There's none good. Not one. What was the difference
between Noah and all those that perish as being born in Adam. What was the difference? Nothing.
Nothing. He was cut out of the same lump
with all of them. He was just like me and just
like you. We all came from fallen Adam. And the Scripture says that here
is this man who was said to be, according to the Scriptures,
In Genesis chapter 6 verse 9, he was a just man, justified
by the grace of God. And he was upright in his generations. And he walked with God by grace,
had a new heart that God had imparted, removed that heart
of stone and gave him a new heart. Scripture says that this man
to whom God said, for thee have I seen righteous before me in
this generation, righteous being robed in the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, this man had been delivered through the
flood. He had seen, witnessed, participated
in the ark, in that judgment. The judgment fell upon Noah.
He was in the ark. This was a man, according to
Hebrews 11 verse 7, a man of faith that moved with fear. God told him to build an ark. This man, And those that were
with Him in the ark were spared while the rest of the world perished. And being delivered by God, the
Scripture says He was a husbandman. He planted a vineyard. He raised
some fruit. And He made some wine. And He
drank it. until he was in a drunken state
and then the scripture says he was uncovered within his tent. 950 years, the scripture says,
Noah lived. And this was the only discrepancy
that the Spirit of God was pleased to record. Doesn't mean there
wasn't any others, but this is the only one that we have record. Now I'm not going to go any further
than the scriptures have been pleased to reveal, but saying
what scripture has to say and staying with the words and their
interpretations, Noah's state of being found naked, uncovered,
And again, I invite you to look this up. If you have any doubts
whatsoever, you can take what I say, but always be like those
in Berea. Check it out. This word that's
set forth here, Genesis chapter 9, he said he was uncovered. It's a word that means denude. D-E-N-U-D-E, especially in a
disgraceful sense. It means to advertise or shamelessly
show. Noah was drunk, but he knew what
he was doing. He was aware. Now this shows
the inspiration of God's word. If I would be writing something
about one of you, I'm going to do all I can to write, you know,
if I'm going to write a biography of you, I'm going to try to keep
it as above board. and put a good light on it. There's just some things I'd
rather people not know about me. So I try to be very, very
careful not to write those things, not to tell those things. But
the Spirit of God has been pleased to set forth exactly what happened. It wasn't an accidental. The wording does not bear out.
that he was just drunk and he just kind of just in a stupor
and just lost control and had no earthly idea what was really
going on. Man born in Adam never changes. The whole head is sick. It's diseased. The whole heart
is faint. That word faint right there is
from another word that means minstress. From the sole of the foot even
into the head, there's no soundness, there's no wholesomeness in it. But wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores, that is dripping wounds that have not been closed I've
read that scripture all I can remember since I've gone to church
and I've heard the scripture. They've not been closed. And
I never knew what it meant. It means they've not been pressed. It's like a blemish, a big blemish,
and it's got pus. And it's pushed to remove the
pus. That's what it means. It's not
been closed. That's what the word means. It means to be pressed. to remove corrupt matter, neither
bound up, neither wrapped about, neither mollified with ointment,
had been softened with oil. That's man. That's man. That's
man. Psalm 14, 2 and 3, the Lord looked
down from heaven to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. They are all gone aside. They're
all together become filthy. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. So Noah, in Noah here, we see
Noah in two natures. These are the two natures. Now
this is every believer, Ben. This is the way it is right here.
This is every believer. Say, I'm not really, I'm not,
I'm kind of beyond that other part. You'd never catch me. Don't ever say, you'd never catch
me doing this, that, or the other. Don't ever say it. Because sure
as the world you do, the Lord might just allow you to see,
yeah, you would. I mean, there's example after
example after example in the Scripture of men that knew God,
women that knew God. Peter, David, Abraham. The Scripture records. There's a new man that is created
in righteousness and true holiness after God. A man born from above. There's a creation that sinneth
not, that does not sin. That which is born of God sinneth
not. Robed in the righteousness of
Christ, A new man that stands before God in the Lord Jesus
Christ and there is no condemnation. He is justified. There is no
record. There's no record of sin. Never happened. But there's a man that from the
moment of conception, sin is there. And he comes forth from his mother's
womb a sinner. And he doesn't change. And that
old man is not going to be separated from that new man until he dies.
And no man, no believer, no man is exempt from temptation. Now that's what we see in Noah. This is what it was. The wording
bears out. He did get drunk. That word uncovered
meant just exactly what I said. I just wrote it down. Here's
my second point. Unbelief is the sin for which
a man is cursed of God. Verse 22 says, the father of
Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two
brethren without. Verse 24-25, And Noah awoke from
his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he
said, Cursed be Canaan, A servant of servants shall he be unto
his brethren. I'm going to go back and deal
with those two verses about Shem and Japheth in just a moment,
but I want to deal with what happened concerning Ham and the
curse that was pronounced by God through Noah. The sin for which Ham was cursed. Now you say, well it says Canaan.
The sin for which Ham was cursed and punished in his descendants,
his posterity, was the sin of unbelief. You say, well what
did he do? What did he do? Well the scripture
says Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father
and told his two brethren without. Now, remember something. Noah,
being found in Christ, found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
You alone have I found righteous, a just man. Man by faith, it's
what God said about him. Noah was a picture of every sinner
who has eternally been loved and chosen, redeemed and regenerated
and preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. To the glory of God's grace and
for the good of his people. And God had declared Noah to
be God's. God said, you're mine. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And having the testimony of God
concerning God's pleasure to save Noah by grace, Ham sinned
against God, seeing his father's nakedness. There was a lot of
speculation. I read a lot of things. A lot
of writers said, well, this, that, and the other. There is a part of the definition
of the word saw, and it's to see with delight. That's as far as I'll go with
it. It's just one of the parts of the definition. But he saw.
He saw his father, saw his nakedness, and what he did was he went and
exposed The nakedness, the sin, the depravity of his father,
he broadcast it to his brethren, Shem and Japheth. Yes, Noah sinned, being found
in Adam, but being a justified vessel of God's mercy, Ham mocked
his father Noah, and therefore mocked God. He mocked God's Word. He mocked the blood of Christ
that the Father saw from the foundation of the world, shed
for this man that God said, you're mine. I have looked upon you
in my Son, justified in God's sight. Ham mocked God, mocked Christ,
mocked God's word, His blood, and God's good pleasure to show
mercy and compassion. Ham, we're going to find, was
one that was cursed of God. We'll look at it. Cursed. He
said his son Canaan But here, Ham was one that evidenced being
found with the curse of God upon him. A reprobate. You know what
a reprobate is? One that God leaves alone. That's
what a reprobate is. He leaves him to himself. And
here's Ham. And finally it manifests. He
was in the boat. He was in the ark with Noah.
You say, well, that's a picture of the whole church. Well, yeah. but found within the confines
of the assembly was some tares, tares among the wheat. And Ham
was manifested to be the tare among the wheat. Ham, in Ham
and his sin and God's decision to curse him, curse his posterity,
was to show something of the justice of God for Ham's Sin
of mocking God. This is the sin. He didn't believe
God. He did not believe God. He made
fun of what God said about his daddy. This is sin. Therefore, he's making fun of
God. He's mocking God. And the punishment of Ham was
brought forth. Ham did not respect God's immediate
authority. His daddy, that was his daddy.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord. God's going to have Moses write
that down. That's going to be found in the
law. But here's Ham and Noah, his
dad, the immediate authority of Ham, and now Ham
who mocked his daddy, now his descendants are going to be compelled
to honor God by being the servants of the Lord's people. would come
into the land of promise. Ham disrespected his dad. And now, God who's not going
to be mocked. God's not mocked. Whatsoever
a man sows, that's what he's going to reap. Here's this son,
Ham, mocking his dad. And now the sons of Ham are going
to be the ones that's going to end up paying the price for that
mocking. Ham was cursed with the same
curse that all reprobates possess. They left to themselves in unbelief. And they cling to this world
and its false religion. But concerning the two other
sons, Shem and Japheth, scripture sets forth the respect that these
two men had for God and for God's man, their daddy. Now here's
him. Here's his attitude concerning
God's word about his dad. Noah found grace. You alone have
I found righteous. A man that believed God. And
him mocked that. But now, verse 23 says, and Shem
and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders,
and they went backward and covered the nakedness of their father.
And their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's
nakedness. And the Scripture says, 26-27,
concerning Noah and how the blessing, he said, be the Lord God of Shem,
and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and
he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his
servant." Now the action of these two brothers magnified God's
Word. It magnified God's Word. It magnified
salvation by the grace of God. Salvation by God's good pleasure
to deliver their souls from the pit of corruption. What they
did was they would not look upon their dad's nakedness. Out of
respect for their dad, yes, but out of respect for God. This
is what God said about our dad. God said he's a just man. The scripture says they believe
in God. They believe that God had shown
mercy to their father and surely to them. They took, scripture
says, a garment. I looked it up in Young's literal
and it says they took the garment. And I know there was a garment
there, I'm sure, that Noah would cover himself with at night,
but being a picture of the righteousness of Christ. The garment of His
precious robe of righteousness. They laid it up both on their
shoulders and they covered the nakedness of their Father. That's
what God had done. That's what God said He did.
found grace, you're just. They would not look, they saw
not their father's nakedness. Proverbs 17, 9, he that covereth
a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter
separateth very friends. Oh, how their actions magnified
God's Word. Romans 5.20 says, where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Their actions exhibited the mercy
of God that had been shown, not only to their dad, but to themselves,
but to every vessel of God's mercy. from time into eternity. Hebrews 8.12 says, I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. They would not look on their
dad's nakedness because God didn't. He was under the blood. Covered,
cast as far as the east is from the west. That's where their
sins are. Behind his back. And after Noah had pronounced
God's judgment upon Ham, he revealed God's blessing upon Shem and
Japheth. And notice the wording of their
blessing. Of the blessing. Verse 26 said,
and he said, that is Noah. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. Canaan shall be his servant.
Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. Noah blessed the God of Shem
for God's electing grace, for showing mercy. The curse that
was pronounced and the blessing that was pronounced, that was
God's curse and God's blessing. through Noah. Noah was pronouncing
the future, really, of the lineage of these boys. Shem's blessing
was shown to be totally according to God's grace and God's mercy. Shem was the father of Eber. Now, Lord, we'll look at that,
but Genesis chapter 10, And verse 21 says that. It says, unto Shem
also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth,
the elder, even to him were children born from the lineage of Eber. That's who Abraham came from. Shem was the father of the Jews,
the Hebrews. And God was pleased to bless
them with the knowledge and the worship of God. Exodus 29, 45,
46, I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God
and they shall know that I am the Lord their God that brought
them forth out of the land of Egypt and that I dwell among
them. I am the Lord their God. And
concerning the blessing to Japheth, it says, And Canaan shall be
his servant. Now this is the result of Ham's sin. Ham was the father of those who
would be, by and large, the servants of God's people. Obviously, if
you look at the lineage in the Lord willing, next time, we'll
get into chapter 10 and chapter 11, that's when you get into
the Tower of Babel and they were all of one tongue and God divided
all the tongues. Suffice it to say, for this right
here, those of Canaan, they were the ones from Babylon, Egypt,
Africa. Generally, and I know that the
Lord's got a people out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue,
but generally speaking, that's where His lineage was. And verse 27 says concerning,
that was Shem, now concerning Japheth, God shall enlarge Or
that is, persuade Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of
Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. Now Japheth had only
three boys, Ham and Jacob. And his descendants
was Canaan, and you know the Canaanites, and that was the
land of promise, and they went in, and the Canaanites were the
ones that had the land, and they were, you know, for a while it
looked like they were the ones that were going to be the masters
over God's people. But that's not the way it'll
work out. Again, I'm just about to get ahead of myself, so I
won't. Japheth was the father of the Gentiles. How do you know
that? Well, just turn over, I'll jump
ahead. Here we are, chapter 10, Genesis
chapter 10. 1 to 5, now these are the generations
of sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth and under them were sons born
after the flood, the sons of Japheth. Here's where I got it
that Japheth is the father of the Gentiles. The sons of Japheth,
Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, Tubal, Meshach, Tyrus,
the sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah, the sons
of Javan, Elisha, and Tarshish, and Kittim, and Doanim, by these
were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands. So everyone,
after his tongue, after his family and their nations, So, how do
I know that Japheth was the father of the Gentiles? God said he
was. So, there he is. You've got Shem, father of the
Jews, the lineage of Eber, from who came Abraham. And now here's
Japheth, he's the father of the Gentiles. And God, in the blessing,
God know what said, God shall enlarge, God shall persuade Japheth. They're going to be grafted in.
That's what the scripture said. They're going to be grafted in
with those elect Jews and they would share in the rest of Christ
with Shem, who was from the bloodline of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it was the descendants of Japheth. Generally speaking, you know,
I know out of, again, out of every nation, kindred, not all
the Gentiles, but the elect Gentiles, according to the Lord's covenant
of grace to whom the Lord spoke. This is who the Lord was speaking
of when he said in John 10, 16, other sheep I have, which are
not of this fold. He was talking Jews. Other sheep
I have. I have, I have them. They're
mine. They were given to me in my father. Them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one foal and
one shepherd." Now we see that. We see how in
the good providence of God, God came and He brought the gospel
to the Jews first. Remember when Paul preached to
the Jews and they wouldn't hear him and he said, my hands are
clean, my blood not on my hands, it's on your hands, I'm going
to the Gentiles. He was sent to the Gentiles because
God had a sheep. And to this day, the sons of
Ham all left to themselves to die in unbelief. These are all
the sons of Ham, spiritually speaking, the sons of Ham, who
despise and slander and persecute the sons of Shem and Japheth,
the elect of God. But in their hatred, persecution
of the church, were ever reminded of the sovereignty of Almighty
God to show mercy and compassion to whomsoever will and to whom
He will, He hardened. The Lord does as He will. Army
of heaven, happiness of the earth. Last two verses, and Noah lived
after the flood 350 years. And all the days of Noah were
950 years and he died. Now we come to the end of Noah's life. It
started back in chapter 6, when God called him by grace, told
him to build an ark. And he built an ark, 120 years.
And here's Noah, 950 years, and he died. He was 20 years younger
than Adam's life. I'm sorry, 20 years older than
Adam. and 19 years fewer than Methuselah. He was an old man, 950 years. He saw the world condemned for
its wickedness. He beheld the grace of God to
save him and his family through the flood. He beheld the grace of God to
keep Him, bless Him, even while He experienced the pain of stumbling
and falling. God lifted Him up. He possessed
a heart to worship God. He was kept by the power of God
through faith. And according to the Word of
God, He died in the faith. And now, according to the revelation
of Almighty God concerning this man, His race is run. He finished His course. And now
He sees with perfect sight, beholds the face of Him who loved Him,
gave Himself for Him. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. Sinners. I would say this, if
there's any sinners, sinners here, if there's any sinners.
Now, I'm not talking about some that just, you know, well, I'm
as good as anybody else. Yeah, but compared to everybody
else, you're nothing. But if God has made you to see
something of what you are, as Scripture sets forth, this is
the way Noah was set forth to be. This is the kind of people
God saves. He saves sinners. Sinners. Doesn't
save good people. Sinners. Now this man right now
is beholding the face and fellowshipping with the one who loved him and
gave himself for him. I pray this be a blessing to
us, to the glory of God, good and comfort of God's people.
Now, let's have the Lord's table.