religious hypocrites like Ham,
seize every opportunity to expose the nakedness, the shame, the
faults of others, especially to expose what they perceive
to be the faults of faithful prophets, such as Noah was, Ham's
father. Believers, on the other hand,
strive to cover evil in their brethren. They strive to hide
weaknesses and faults. They strive to be forbearing,
kind, and gracious, as were Shem and Japheth with regard to Noah's
fall. Now here in Genesis chapter 9,
verses 24 and 25, we see the curse that God pronounced upon Canaan
as a result of Ham's sin against him and against his father Noah. Genesis 9 24, Noah awoke from
his wine and knew what his younger son had done unto him. You recall
what he did. He walked in on his dad in his
drunkenness, his nakedness, and laughed, called his brothers
in and said, look at your daddy. Look at this man. Look at him
now. Tell me what kind of man he really
is. Here he is in his nakedness.
He saw what his younger son had done to him, and he said, cursed
be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Now don't read these words and
make them to represent some kind of anger and wrath and vengeance
on Noah's part against Canaan or against his son Ham. That's
not the case. The Lord God is the one who pronounces
the curse through the lips of Noah. The Lord was so moved in
his wrath against this despicable, insolent, contemptuous rebel
Ham that he doesn't even call him by his own name, but rather
calls him by the name of his son, who was the emblem of all
things despised, Canaan. He calls him after the name of
that multitude of rebels which would spring from his launch.
Now what was the curse that Noah here pronounced upon Canaan,
upon Ham and upon all of Ham's descendants represented in Canaan?
What did it involve? There's no question that Ham
was the father of those people known as Negroid by anthropologists. And I have read and heard many
things suggesting from men who ought to have known better and
who ought to know better that that This curse somehow has something
to do with the blackness of their skin. Now listen carefully. It is the height of racial arrogance
and the height of ignorance with regard to the teaching of Holy
Scripture to suggest in any way that the color of a man's skin
represents the curse of God. In fact, just exactly the opposite
is evident in scripture. You'll recall that when Miriam
and Aaron poked fun at Moses and derided him because he had
married a black woman, God struck Miriam with leprosy because of
the ridicule she made of Moses' wife. Ham and his sons were cursed,
cursed of God to be servants, cursed to servitude, bondage,
and slavery. And it is true. In modern times,
the sons of Ham had been enslaved by other people. Some have even
pointed to this text as a biblical justification for that horrible
practice of doing business in the lives and bodies of men,
trading human beings in slavery for money. But if you read your
Bible, or history books, or read your Bible and history books,
good idea to read both, you'll see that this cursed ham took
possession of the largest part of the earth immediately after
this thing took place. He took possession of and established
the most extensive kingdoms known in human history. This man Ham
and his sons, if you'll compare their history with the history
of Shem and Japheth, it would appear to the eye of carnal reason
that Shem and Japheth were cursed and Ham was blessed. The curse
of God upon Canaan, upon Ham and his descendants, must then
have been something other than what men look upon and consider
a curse. The fact is, this prophecy, like
all other prophecies in all other portions of Scripture, is altogether
beyond the scope of mere human reason. It is that which is understood
only by divine revelation, and revelation understood only by
faith, God-given faith, God-honoring faith, that faith which bows
to the Word of God. The life of the believer is a
life of faith and of hope. Prosperity, prosperity, ease,
pleasure, wealth, health is never an indication of blessedness. Prosperity is never an indication
of blessedness. Neither is adversity, sickness,
poverty, pain, affliction. Those things are not in any way
an indication of God's curse. In fact, usually just the opposites
are so. Ham was cursed, and yet he alone
became a master. The Lord said concerning Ham,
you're cursed to servitude. You're cursed to be a slave of
men. You're cursed to be the servant of Shem and Japheth.
And yet the very next lines we read in scripture in Genesis
10, Ham's son Nimrod established the first city after the flood
called Babel, which became Babylon, the greatest empire the world
had ever known. And then later on, Ham's other
son Merizam was the father of Egypt, another of the world's
great kingdoms. Shem and Japheth were blessed,
and yet they appear to have been cursed, as I said. The specific
curse of God upon Ham and his sons was slavery, and yet it
was Ham and his descendants who held Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
in slavery, both in Canaan and in Babylon. So I ask you again,
what was the curse which fell upon him by the will of God?
Do we have any indication in scripture what it was? Indeed
we do. Back in Genesis chapter four,
you'll remember that God put a mark upon Cain who had slain
his brother Abel. When God cursed Cain and told
him he would be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth all the
days of his life, Cain said, oh, it's too much for me, I can't
bear it, kill me now. God put a mark on it. Not a mark
of God's blessing, buddy, but a mark of curse. A mark to preserve
Cain in the midst of his misery until at last he went to hell.
Now, folks have speculated a lot about what the Mark of Cain was.
Perhaps he did have a visible sign or mark in his body somehow. Perhaps he had some kind of a
grotesque disease in his face that made him look hideous. I
don't know. But that's not the Mark of Cain. The mark that God
put upon Cain, like the curse that he placed here upon Ham,
was a spiritual mark, as Ham's was a spiritual curse. Now the
mark we have clear indication of in scripture. I'm convinced. It is the same mark and the same
curse that is put upon all doomed, damned men in this world, clinging
to false religion, clinging to their self-righteousness, despising
God, despising the gospel of His grace, and despising the
blood of Christ. It is the same curse that was
put upon Ham and his descendants. Now, you say, well, you just
drew that out of your empty head. No, let's look in Scripture.
It is a mark and a curse that is plainly presented in the Word
of God. We'll begin in 2 Thessalonians
2. 2 Thessalonians 2. The only people in this world
who are not engulfed in the religion of the world, the only people
in this world who are not made drunk with the wine of Babylon's
fornications, The only people in this world who are not engaged
in and engulfed in, deceived, doomed, and damned by the idolatry
of freewill works religion, the only people in the world are
those who are chosen of God, as were Shem and Japheth, the
only ones. Look here in 2 Thessalonians
2. Here the Holy Spirit is speaking of that day when God would pour
out a strong delusion upon the nations of the world because
they would not believe the truth. The delusion spoken of, I have
no question at all, is the delusion of idolatrous freewill works
religion. Call it Baptist, call it fundamentalist,
call it liberal, call it Buddhist, call it Islam, it doesn't matter.
It's all essentially the same. It is the doctrine that salvation
somehow depends on something you do, some contribution from
you. The doctrine that ultimately
man's acceptance with God is in his hands and not God's. determined by His will and not
God's. Look in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
11. For this cause, because they
received not the love of the truth, not just because they
didn't receive the right doctrine, they didn't love it. They didn't
fall in love with the Son of God who is the truth. For this
cause, God shall send them a strong delusion. Yes, God does. God says, all right, you eat
the fruit of your own way. You've sown to the wind, you'll
inherit the whirlwind. God sends them a strong delusion
that they should believe a lie, that they might be damned who
believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
In Revelation chapter 13, we read of the beast, the Antichrist. We read of the great delusion,
the great satanic delusion of the age. But don't imagine, don't
ever imagine that this is talking about some future time. John
told us, Merle, in 1 John chapter 4, Antichrists are already going
out. They've already gone out into the world. The false deceptive
saviors are not something new. Antichrist is not something new. It is Antichrist which turns
men away from God in every age. It began way back yonder in the
garden when Adam was deceived by Satan and sought to make for
himself a fig leaf by which to cover his nakedness before God.
It began back there when Cain raised up a standard of his own
and sought to approach God on the basis of his works and despised
Abel because of it. Antichrist religion is that religion
which stands in opposition to God at all times. And look here
in Revelation 13. And all they, verse 8, that dwell
upon the earth shall worship the beast, whose names are not
written in the book of life. Who worships Him? Those who weren't
chosen of God. Why aren't you worshiping Him?
Why are you found here listening to the gospel of God's grace
seeking to worship Him? Why is it that you're no longer
walking in the broad way that leads to destruction? Why is
it that you now bow at the throne of God Almighty and worship Him
rather than yourself like the rest of the world around you?
Because God wrote your name in the book of life. God chose you.
God called you. God separated you. Look at verse
17. This is the power of the beast,
the power of the religion of the world. If you don't play
their game, you can't get along. And no man might buy or sell,
save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the
number of his name. Now that's not talking. Now listen
to me. That's not talking about this
age, much as I despise going to the store and having to run
my credit card through one of those machines. I've never been
able to get one to work yet. I have never put it in one that worked
for me. Still gotta get ready to do it. But that's not what
this is talking about. It's not talking about this credit
card age. It's not talking about the computer
age. It's talking about the deception of this religious world. And
as things continue and the darkness continues to engulf the world,
the time comes when you will either play their game or you
can't get along and you'll suffer the results of it. This is what
it's talking about. Verse 18, here is wisdom. Here
is wisdom. Not the wisdom of men, but the
wisdom of God. Let him that has understanding
count the number of the beast. Count it up. For it's the number
of man. It's the number 600, three score
and six. Six, six, six, frustration, defeat,
failure. That's the mark God put on Canaan. That's the mark God put on Ham. That's the mark God's put on
false religion. This curse certainly relates
to spiritual things. It is not just upon the physical
descendants of Cain in this sense. It is not upon just the physical
descendants of Ham in this spiritual sense. But rather it is upon
those who walk after the way of Cain. And those who walk after
the way of Ham. In the way of self-righteous
works, religion. You see, the descendants of Cain
and Ham were those men who began to make idols and worship idols
of their own imaginations in this world. And the descendants
of Cain and Ham continue to do so to this day. Now learn this
and learn it well. God's thoughts are higher than
our thoughts and his way is higher than our ways. God's elects are
blessed of God with a kingdom, but it's a kingdom of grace.
not this world. We possess great blessedness,
but it's the blessedness of sin forgiven, God reconciled, and
everlasting glory. Upon these things we must set
our hearts, and not upon things of the earth. If ye then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above. Our Lord tells
his disciples, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the
earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break
through and steal, but rather lay up for yourselves treasure
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where
thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure
is, There will your heart be also. What a word. What a word. You don't have to be a rich man
to be in love with riches. And you don't have to be a poor
man to despise riches. But don't you lay your heart
on riches. Don't you lay your heart on the things of this world.
If you do, that's where your heart is. That's just it. Our Lord said, seek ye first. Seek ye first. God, give me grace. Whatever stands in my way, whatever
comes between me and God, seek ye first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness. And everything you need to eat,
drink, or wear, God'll take care of. Seek Christ to the exclusion
of everything else. Let nothing interfere with seeking
Him. God takes care of everything
you need, everything you need. Learn this too. The Lord God
does indeed visit the iniquities of fathers upon their children,
generation after generation after generation. I know this world said, well,
that's not fair. You take it up with God. God doesn't consider
it any more a dishonor to him. to visit the iniquities of the
fathers upon the children, generation after generation, unto the third
and fourth generation. Then he takes it to be a dishonor
that he has mercy on whom he will have mercy and hardens whom
he will. He says the same thing to Moses
at the same time as he is displaying to Moses his glory. He says,
I am a God who exercises goodness and grace and mercy to whom I
will exercise mercy. And I am a God who visits iniquity
and justice generation after generation. Now, having said
that, understand this. While the sin of a father makes
him responsible for the ruin of his family. Oh my, what a
word. What a word. The sins of a father, mamas and
daddies, who by their word and by their deeds, or by their deeds
regardless of their words, take their sons and daughters by word
or by example or by both, and show them how to live in disregard
and contempt of God. His word, his gospel. They're
responsible for the damning of their children. They're responsible. And their sons and daughters
will look upon them contemptuously, despising them and cursing them
throughout eternity because they've led them to hell. And yet at
the same time, no man will ever go to hell because of his father's
sins. Won't happen. No, sir. If you go to hell, it'll
be because of your sins. You go to hell because you despise
God's grace. You despise God's word. You despise
God's mercy. You despise God's son. This is
what he says. The father shall not be put to
death for the children. Neither shall the children be
put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death
for his own sins. soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity
of the son. The righteousness of the righteous
shall be upon him, but the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."
In other words, we are responsible for our influence on other people. God make us keenly aware of that. And yet every man's responsible
for his own soul before God. All right, now look at verse
25, 26, and 27. And here Noah's prophecy concerning
his other two sons as well. And he said, cursed be Canaan,
a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren, a slave to
slaves. And he said, blessed 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. What a remarkable prophecy this
is. It is a prophecy which was never fully understood by anyone
since Noah until the Apostle Paul writes by inspiration in
Romans 9, 10, and 11, and explains to us that by God testing off
the physical seed of Japheth, casting off the physical seed
of Israel, the Lord God sends his gospel, or casting off the
physical seed of Shem rather, God sends his gospel out into
the Gentile world and gathers his elect among the seed of Japheth
and causes Japheth and Shem to dwell together in one body and
so all Israel are saved. Noah understood that his sons
would inhabit the earth until the end of time. Remarkable,
remarkable. He prophesied that Christ, the
seed of woman, would come through Shem, the God of Shem. This man Noah prophesied. So how much do you understand?
I don't know how much you understood, but this is what he said. He
said, blessed be the God of Shem. He spoke of that one who would
come through Shem as being the God of Shem. He spoke of that
one of whom God spoke to Eve and said that he would cause
the woman's seed to come and bring the serpent's head. He
said that's the God who's coming here through Shem and he's the
God of Shem. He prophesied then of the incarnation
of the great God. He also prophesied that God would
bring about the fullness of Israel by gathering his elect from among
the sons of Japheth, the Gentiles, in to shame the people of the
Jews. And Noah prophesied that him,
this son, and his people, who seemed to dominate the world.
Things haven't changed any, have they? Yeah, Ham, the idolaters, the
wheel-worshippers, the contemptuous, health, wealth, prosperity folks,
the people who hold the reins and monopoly of the world, the
religious world, the educational world, the political world, the
sons of Ham, the great, the powerful, the mighty that everybody fears
and caters to and cowtails to and bows and scrapes to, the
sons of Ham will do nothing but serve Japheth and Sham. Oh, what a word of grace, encouragement,
and consolation. The sons of Ham. The sons of
Ham. That's the Bill Clintons and
the Billy Grahams. The sons of Ham. That's the Larry Fleets
and the Jerry Falwells. The sons of Ham. That's Mylon
Bob Shuler and all the perverts on the left side of the world.
The sons of Ham. The sons of Ham, the base, the
despicable, the vile, the corrupt, and the moral, and the upright,
the Arminian, the free willer, the idolater, the sons of Ham,
whether they're in the cathedrals of America or in the bushes of
Africa, it doesn't matter. The sons of Ham only serve Jacob's
children, Japheth and Shem. What on earth is this talking
about? Noah praised the God of Shem because the blessings that
Shem was to enjoy were the result of God's goodness, not Shem's
goodness. He says, blessed be the Lord
God of Shem. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. In love he predestined us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. And then the old, old patriarch
spoke of the union of the Jew and Gentile in Christ. He says,
God shall enlarge Japheth. Japheth, the Gentile peoples
make up the bulk of all humanity. God shall enlarge Japheth. God
shall enlarge Japheth. Japheth. And Japheth spends all
these years, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years pursuing
this God and that. But all the while, he's chosen
of God. God has among Japheth an elect
remnant. And as God enlarges Japheth,
he is enlarging Japheth for the enlarging of his kingdom. And
Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Sheol. Now this is not talking
about the Gentiles gathering up armies and conquering the
Jews. No, no, no, no. It's talking about a blessed
union, a blessed unity of hearts together in one body in Christ. It's talking about the church
of God. The Lord God brings Japheth and Shem together in Christ and
He takes down the middle wall of partition that separates men.
He takes down the barriers that stand between men and causes
men who are natural, imparcable enemies to dwell together in
Christ's kingdom in blessed peace. Japheth dwells in the tents of
Shem and Shem's tickled to have him. Japheth and Shem brought
together in Christ. And Noah assures his favored
sons that their oppressing, persecuting, slandering brother, with all
his apparent power, with all his apparent majesty, with all
his apparent influence, will only and always be their servant. Oh, I've known this for years
up here. I keep praying God will get it down here. The sons of
Hell, Canaan, serve Japheth and Shem for their good. Always, always. Performing only that which according
to the will of God will do them good, everlasting God. Oh, my soul. I don't mean to be care less. But oh, I want to be completely
careless about the things of this world. I don't mean to be
carefree in an irresponsible way, but I'm striving. I'm praying God give me grace
and wisdom not to give a hoot what goes on in Washington or
what goes on across the street. I just don't care. I just don't
care. When I say I don't care, I mean
it is no care to me. No care. Bless God, for the most
part he just doesn't disturb me too much. He just doesn't. What's going on in Washington?
What's going on across the street? What's going on down there? What's
going on over there? I'll tell you what's going on.
God is blessing Shem and Japheth and God takes the wrath of him
and what he will use for the good of his people he allows
him to perform and the remainder of wrath he restrains. That's
exactly what's going on in this world. Oh what a promise. Ham built Egypt, and Egypt possessed
Israel, but Egypt's possession of Israel was only for Israel's
good. Ham built Canaan, and Canaan
became the land of Israel's inheritance, blessing God, or the blessing
of God found in that land, which they could not have had except
for Ham. Ham built Babylon. And Babylon
possessed Israel in bondage in 70 years' captivity, just as
Ham before possessed Israel for 400 years of bondage in Egypt.
But Babylon was that instrument by which God displayed his grace
in delivering Israel by the hand of Cyrus and the sons of Ham. The Pharisees, the Jews, yes,
sons of Ham. All physical sons of Sheol, but
not spiritually. Spiritually the sons of Ham.
They took the Son of God because of the gospel of free grace and
imputed righteousness and substitutionary redemption, he preached, and
nailed him to the cursed tree and said, now to hell with your
God, we've got him out of the way. And in their acts, God accomplished
our redemption. Ahem, servant of servant shall
he be to Shem and Japheth. And so it shall be for ever. to the praise of our God. Amen. All right. I'll ask men come
serve the Lord's table. We'll have a hymn together and
endeavor to worship our God. Perhaps a few will come assist
the public. an oath so so Okay. Our Father, we thank You that in Your good providence that You rule all things well,
bring to pass that which is good for Your people and that which brings You glory. And Father, we thank You that Even though so many times our will is frustrated, those things that we desire,
that think are best, you prevent from happening. We thank Thee, Father, that in Your good wisdom, You have prevented from happening those things that throughout
our life we so often have strived for, have prayed for, but would have destroyed us. We thank Thee, Father, for that
good shepherd. that careth for the sheep, that only allows that which is
good for his children. We thank you for divine providence, both before we knew thee and after we have come to know
thee. And we thank Thee, Father, that
You will keep us to the end. That none of Your little sheep
will wander off into the wilderness and be lost. But the Good Shepherd will present to the Father all
the sheep that Thou has given Him. None will be lost. None will be missing. All that
Christ shed His blood for, will one day look upon His face. We thank You for Your goodness,
Father. We thank You for this place of worship that You've
given us, for this group of people that You've brought together.
We thank You for Your goodness toward us in allowing us to help carry the Gospel to all
parts of the world. We pray You would keep us ever
mindful of how good You've been to us. Never let us take for
granted those things that we enjoy here. We ask all these
things in Christ's name and for His namesake. Amen. Let's sing number 32 in the Songs
of Grace book. Sovereign Grace Acknowledged
The Lord our God is sovereign, and He rules with perfect ease. In heaven above and earth below,
He works His wise decrees. The angels swiftly do His will,
and they with willing minds