So in this chapter, God blessed
Noah and his sons. There in verse one, he tells
them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish, repopulate the
earth. And I thought, that's what he
told Adam over here in chapter one, over, you see, chapter one in
verse 28. And God blessed them, that is
Adam and Eve, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply
and replenish the earth. You know, I have no doubt at
all that there was something that
went on this earth before God created Adam and Eve. It's like
the story Henry told one time. The boy sitting at breakfast
said to his mother, pass the lasses. She said, you mean molasses? He said, you can't have molasses
if you had no asses. And so it has to be to replenish. It had to have been finished.
There had to be something going on, something. Because that's
exactly what God. Said to know. The sun replenished
the earth. Populated. And God. gave them some laws by which
to govern this new, for all intents and purposes, a new world, because
there's no one in it but Noah and his sons. And God gave them
some laws about governing this new world. Then he established his covenant
with Noah and everything living that he would not destroy this
world again with a flood. and he gave the rainbow as a
token. Then we get to verses 18 through
29. Let me read them. 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 of them was the whole earth overspread, populated, peopled. And Noah began to be a husbandman,
and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was
drunk of it, and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the
father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two
brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment
and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward and covered
the nakedness of their father. And their faces were backward
and they saw not their father's nakedness. They're showing their
respect here to their father that hands did not have. He did
not honor his father like these two other boys did. And Noah
woke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him.
And he said, curse it be Canaan. He's cursing here his grandson,
Canaan. We know that Canaan, the land
that Israel went in and took over, was a cursed people. And
we have here, in this next few verses, just a prophecy of the
Canaanites being cursed and why, and that Shem would take them
over. They would be the servants of
him, which were the Hebrews. We'll get to that here in a minute,
I'm getting ahead of myself. And he said, cursed be Canaan,
a servant of servants, shall he be unto his brethren. He's
gonna be their servants. And he said, blessed be the Lord
God of Shem. Canaan shall be his servant.
God shall enlarge Japheth, he shall dwell in the tents of Shem,
and Canaan shall be his servant. And Noah lived after the flood
350 years. All the days of Noah were 950
years. And he died. And I said, Noah
was blessed with God. We know that we know this. We
know Noah was a righteous man. He was a just man. But I tell
you, Noah was still a sinner, just like you and me. He was
still a sinner. In need of mercy. and needed
grace, continual grace. We need continual grace. The
older I get, the more I realize, I'm saying this from the heart,
the more I realize I need grace continually. I need to be poured
out on me continually like water, the older I get. And we know
that Noah was a righteous man, a just man. He was a man justified
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was justified through faith
in Christ, just like we are. But as I said, he was a sinful
man. Sinful man. That says he grew
a vineyard, and he got drunk, and he stripped
down naked, And then he passed out. Passed out. I sketched in this, my notes
last night. This shows what sin does to us. Sin will strip us of our integrity. It will strip us of our dignity.
It will strip us of absolutely everything. Sin will strip us
of everything. indwelling sin. You know, Noah
lived in a world before the flood that was full of violence. It
was full of violence and immorality. But how much of that goes on
in us? How much of that goes on in me, in my heart? How much
of that do we fight? How much of that old man do we
still struggle with? But every now and then, He pops
his head out, causes us shame and everything
else. That's what he does. But what
can we learn from this? This is what I want to see. What
can I learn from this? I want to learn from it. You
know, the scripture says these things are written for our learning,
not our entertainment, not to satisfy our curiosity, but for
our earning. These things are written for
our earning. You know, when Moses wrote this, it's evident that
the Holy Spirit moved him to write this. If he had been writing
it, like other prophets who wrote scriptures, would have probably
left this out. You know, they probably leave
a lot of the sins of the patriarchs out, but the Holy Spirit moved
them to write and to put this in there that you and I may learn
something. It's just not in here for information,
it's in here for our instruction. So what can we learn from this?
Man at his best state, and I can say it like this, John at his
best state is altogether vanity. John at his best, you put your
name in there. Man at his best ain't altogether
vanity. As someone said, the best of
men are men at best. That's all, just men at best.
At no time, at no time are we free from falling into sin. At no age, at no age are we exempt
from this. from falling into sin. At no
time, at no age, at no point in life are we exempt from this. All that's needed is a temptation. That's all. Look over in Galatians
chapter 6. Look in verse one. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
and over my margin it says, although a man is overtaken in a fault,
ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness,
that is humility, considering thyself. lest thou also be tempted. That's all it's stated in it.
All that's needed for me to fall is the temptation. That's all
it's needed. That's why he says, you know, to restore such a one
in the spirit of humility, in the spirit of meekness. Because
you turn the tables, that's you. It's just like looking in a mirror,
that's you. You just need the temptation. We still have that
old nature of sin in us, And we must daily, daily mortify
the deeds of this flesh, daily struggle against it, daily put
it aside, put it down, and don't feed you. I've learned this.
I've learned this over the years since I've believed the gospel.
Feeding that old man is like feeding the bears. Sooner or
later, it's gonna attack you. Sooner or later, it's gonna get
you. It's gonna bite you. Sooner or later. That's why Paul
says here in 1 Corinthians 10, he says, wherefore let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed, now he said take heed and give
attention to this, lest he fall. Because we're never exempt from
falling. We can't shoot at Noah, I'm not
gonna do that, you're not gonna do that. Because you know that
you are the same, you're the same kindred spirit as Noah,
you know that. And I know this, we never sin
alone. We always hurt others. We always hurt others. And I know this about sin. It
can mar a man's testimony for life. It can, it can mar my testimony
for life. It did David's. It did David's. No one lived 350 years after
the flood, and yet we hear no more no, dude.
You don't really hear any more no after this. It just goes silent. Goes silent. The last thing we
are left with concerning Noah, what is it? What's the last thing
concerning Noah? He got drunk. And then whatever
the situation was that happened in that tent, it happened. That's the last thing we know
about Noah. I think it was last week's bulletin. I wrote, we
will be remembered the most for the last thing we do. That's
why it's written in the scripture, be careful to maintain good works. Be careful. Be watchful over
it. And this also should teach us
that salvation is Truly, all of grace, all of grace. You look at all of God's servants
throughout the scriptures. They've all seen and come short
of God's glory. Abraham, David, Jacob, Peter. You could just name, you could
take any saint. You could take any saint. on
this earth and you can pick their life apart. That's why, you know,
the next, it's interesting that the next, the message after this
was judge not, that you be not judged. Because you can pick
me apart, you can pick me apart like a bug. If you want to scrutinize
me, and I thank God that he doesn't let that happen. He doesn't let
me do that with you and you with me. Because our lives, At best,
at best, it's full of sin. I was saying to Victor the other
day, we were going down the road, I said, I realize, as I've gotten
older, how weak we are. I'm talking about as believers.
I'm talking about as a pastor. I said, I realize how weak we
really are. I said, I have believed the gospel
for 40, 40 years, roughly. I said, I ought to know more
than I know. I ought to be more gracious than I am. I ought to
love more than I do. I said the same. It's the same. Aren't you glad salvation is
all of grace? Aren't you glad? I tell you, I don't... I don't think a day goes by that
I don't have some time in that day, some period in that day
where I'm thankful, that I'm thankful that salvation is all
of grace. Because I realize, and I don't even realize what
I realize. I don't realize as much as I
realize. How much I don't love God, how much I don't love the
brethren, how much I don't love you. I don't realize how bad
that even is. Salvation. Salvation is truly
all of grace. It's all of grace. Saints are
sinners, saved by grace, sanctified in Christ, and yet they're still
sinners. Back years ago, when I was 20
years old, I made it professional, not religious. I remember my
brother said something to me about being a sinner, Saved by
grace, he said something to that effect, but I remember the reply
I made. I used to be a sinner, I'm not
no more. About three years later, God
taught me differently. He taught me differently. We began as sinners, and we stay
sinners, and we die sinners. Saints are sinners, saved by
grace, sanctified in Christ, yet they are still They are still
sinners. And this should teach us our
need of Christ's righteousness. Noah was a righteous man. Well,
that sure doesn't seem like it when you read that, does it?
Lot is called just Lot. That's the only thing the scripture
said about him. He's just Lot. He vests his righteous
soul. How'd that happen? Our righteousness is the righteousness
of another. Our righteousness is the righteousness
of the Son of God. And I realize, and you realize,
your need of that righteousness, because you know you don't have
any. God's taught you that. I know
you know that. If God has saved you, you know
that. teaches us our need of Christ's
righteousness imputed to us and imparted to us in the new birth. Now, we make no excuse for sin.
Sin, as bad as it gets, we never make an excuse for why we do
what we do. We never make an excuse for our
sins. But I thank God for this scripture.
if any man sin. And we can write this down. When,
when any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus
Christ, the righteous, we have one to represent us. We have
one who can stand for us. We have one who can cleanse us.
One who can have mercy on us. His name is Jesus Christ, the
righteous, the righteous one. That's who it is. Scripture says
his blood can wash away all our sins. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Christ. Nothing but the blood of Christ.
I've got just as much sin now as I've ever had. I've got just
as much sin. But the one thing I have now
is Christ, the one who can forgive me, cleanse me, present me faultless
before the presence of his glory. His blood can wash away all my
sin, past, present, and future. All my sins were future when
he died. All of them. He's called the lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. All the sins of all the elect
were future before God even created the heaven and the earth. And
that matter was already taken care of. Now you know the effect
of that knowledge, that understanding has on the believer. You know
what the effect of that is? Faith. Thankfulness. It's not the attitude, well,
we can do what we want to do now. If that's so, no. It's thankfulness. Thankfulness. We need to give constant attention
to his word, to be saturated with his word, and prayer, Lord,
lead us not into temptation. but deliver us from evil, the
evil that's in me and the evil one and the evil that's in this
world. Lord, deliver me from it, save me from it. Save me
from myself. Save me from the power of darkness.
Save me from my sin and the evil that's in this world. Lord, save
me. Save me. This should teach us our absolute
dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ at all times. We do not,
and I want you to get this, we do not begin in the spirit and
then are made perfect by the flesh. That's what Paul said.
You don't begin in the spirit and then you perfect this thing
by what you do or don't do. is perfected by Jesus Christ,
period. My salvation and my righteousness is perfected by Christ. From
beginning all the way to the end, I'll take it all. It's all
on His shoulders. All of it. Now let me just say a few things
here in closing. There in verse 22, Noah, he curses
Ham, look here, Ham, verse 22, and Ham, the father of Canaan,
saw the nakedness of his father, and he told his two brethren
what's out. He didn't honor his father. Ham did not honor his
father. Instead, he went out to his two
brethren and ridiculed his father. He didn't hide it. He broadcast
it. He made it known. Instead of
hiding the matter, which love would do, if you love someone,
you don't go out and gossip about them. You don't go out and tell
things on them. If you love someone, you don't go out and tell things
on them. He went out of that tent and just found his two brothers
and said, let me, you know what, Dad? went out and exposed his father's
sin. He didn't love him. Ham revealed his wicked, I'll
tell you what he did do. Ham revealed his wicked heart,
what he did do. That's what happened. Ham revealed Ham. He revealed
who he was. Ham was nothing more than a rebel. That's all he was. And his grandson,
Ken, that's all he was, was a rebel. That's all he was. You know,
I was thinking this, not everyone that's in a church, not everyone
that's in a congregation, not everyone in the congregation
is saved. There'll always be tares among the wheat. There'll
always be goats among the sheep. There always will be. And Ham
proved himself to be a goat. And his grandson, Caleb, proved
Prove what they were by what they did. God commands children to respect
their parents all their lives. But instead of showing respect
here, he went out and he broadcasted. He went out and broadcasted. And it says here, and Shem and
Japheth, when they heard this, instead of them saying any more
about it, They just covered it up. Listen, they took a garment
and laid it upon both their shoulders and they went backwards. This
is showing, they are showing love and respect to their father.
They are showing, demonstrating what's in their heart, what they're
doing. They're demonstrating what's in their heart. And they
covered the nakedness of their father and their faces were backwards. and they saw not their father's
nakedness." That's respect. That's love. Then Noah gives this prophecy,
and I'm not gonna really get into this, but Noah gives this
prophecy, and Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger
son had done to him, and he said, "'Cursed be Canaan.'" That's
the grandson of Am, or that's his grandson, the son of Am.
Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren.
And we know that the Canaanites were cursed. They were a cursed
people. God ran them out of the land,
and many of them became servants to Israel, which came out of
Shem, the Hebrews. And he said, blessed be the Lord
God of Shem. Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ
of Shem. That's who's blessed. The God
of Shem is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you read these genealogies,
well, we'll see it over in the next two chapters. Abraham comes
out of the lineage of Shem. This is where the Hebrews came
from. The Hebrews. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem,
and Canaan will be his servant. It'll be his servant. And God shall enlarge Japheth.
This is where the Gentiles came from, out of Japheth. And he
shall dwell in the tents of Shem. They shall come together and
be friends. I believe it's in Colossians. I didn't write this down, but
he speaks of the division between the Jew and the Gentile. He said,
these two shall be made one in Christ. In Christ, the believing
Jew and the believing Gentile are made one. They're made one. We are at peace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That middle wall of partition
that was between us and them has been broken down, and it's
broken down by Christ. Broken down by him. God shall
enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem and
Canaan. He'll be his servant. And Noah lived after the flood
350 years. All the days of Noah were 950
years and he died. We don't hear much more about
Noah after that. But I'll tell you this. Noah Noah was saved by grace just
like you and I. Noah was a sinner just like you
and I. just like you and I. He was a
man of like passions like you and I. We never justify sin,
we never make excuses for sin, but we have an advocate to represent
us when we sin. And we sin far more than we realize. We sin far more than we know.
Far more than we know. If God were to reveal to me My
sin, if he was to really open that door and let me walk into
that room, I would die of despair. You and I could not handle what
God sees. We couldn't handle it. But God has provided us a Savior. He provided us a Savior in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And our salvation in Christ is
1,000% all of grace. It's all of grace.