Genesis chapter 9, when you get
there, pick up in verse 18. Genesis 9, 18. And the sons of
Noah that went forth of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan. And that is, like everything
else in scripture, that's purposefully there. We're going to need that
information here in just a minute that Canaan is the son of Ham. Look at verse 19. These are the
three sons of Noah, and of them was the whole earth overspread.
And Noah began to be in husbandmen, and he planted a vineyard, and
he drank of the wine and was drunken. and he was uncovered
within his tent, that means he was naked. And if that makes
you feel dirty, polluted, things like that, that's exactly the
point. That's why the scripture is revealing this, it shows something
of how the Lord views sin, it's dirty, it's disgusting, it's
polluted, it's filthy. Verse 22, 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. Noah awoke from his
wine and knew what his younger son had done on him, he wakes
up from this drunken stupor and he knows what happened, he knows
that Ham saw his nakedness, he knows Ham told his brothers about
it, he didn't cover that sin, he went and he told people about
it. But look what he does, verse 25, and he said, "'Cursed be
Canaan, a servant of servants shall he
be unto his brethren.'" 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. Now have you noticed there, Ham
was the one who witnessed Noah's defilement. Ham was the one that
went and told his brothers about it. But when Noah wakes and he
knows it was Ham, he doesn't curse Ham. He curses who is underneath
him, Canaan. And we'll talk about that more
in a minute. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we
come to you this morning in the name of your Son and our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, we beg that you would
meet with us here this morning. Lord, that your spirit would
dwell in us and upon us, that we might be able to worship you
and you would open this passage of scripture to us, Lord, that
we might see in glory We want to be thankful for the everlasting
quality of your grace. Lord, bless us, keep us, save
us. Be with our pastor as he's away, and be with all your people
everywhere as they meet here today. And we ask these things
in Christ's name. Amen. Now Noah's a notable figure in
the scriptures, obviously. Man lived to be 950 years old. But to understand Noah's complete
story, we got to go back a little bit. We gotta go back to Genesis
chapter six when Noah actually found grace. So turn over there
real quick. Go over to Genesis six. And we'll pick up with a very
familiar passage of scripture, one verse, that all of us in
this room are probably very familiar with. It's verse five. And it says, and God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth. in that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. These are the times of Noah,
and when the Lord looked down on the earth, this is what he
saw, the wickedness of man, all men without exception, was great,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of the collective
heart, all of them, were only evil in that continually. Now,
my son, Tuck, at a very young age, has become something of
a history buff. And so, right now, he watches a lot of historical
documentaries, and it's kind of weird, to be quite honest. And he watches it all, right?
Anything from wars, right, to the rises and falls of empires.
And what he's starting to find out, and what he's starting to
see, is that everything in history is cyclical. Everything moves
in a cycle. The reasons that nations went
to war 3,000 years ago are the same reasons that nations go
to war today. The reasons that an empire fell
2,000 years ago, the mismanagement of the government, the mismanagement
of the economics, it's the same reason that empires fall nowadays.
None of that changes. History never changes. Times
never change. And it's for this reason, because
people don't change. What God saw during the times
of Noah Every imagination of the thoughts of their heart were
only evil and that continually, that's what he sees in this generation.
That's what he sees in every generation after this, if the
Lord's not pleased to come back sooner, and everyone before us
is just like that. And here's the important part.
Noah is no exception. This speaks of Noah himself. But we know Noah found grace.
Look down here, look at verse eight. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord." I love that, how did he find it? He
wasn't looking for it, he was just like everybody else. He
had no interest in the grace of God, he had no interest in
the gospel, he has no interest in Jesus Christ or the salvation
that's found in him. Just living his life, walking
towards the gates of hell like everybody else, no different.
Noah found grace, the better translation there is probably
this, grace found Noah. And we talk about that, you call
it fetching grace, you can call it arresting grace. I like hunting
grace. It hunts you down. It finds you. When God is going
to be gracious to a man, if he purposes that, he will be gracious. And here's the effects of grace.
Look at verse nine. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man. and perfect in his generations,
and Noah walked with God." Now I can see somebody stumbling
at that. I actually listen to a lot of messages from different
people, none of the pastors we know, but some different folks,
and they had a really hard time with that. They were trying to
massage the language because if Genesis 6-5 says that man
was a sinner like everybody else, and then over there in chapter
9 we see this man drunk and defiled in his tent, how can we call
him just? How can we call him perfect?
How can we call him a man who walked with God? Very simple,
very easy. This is God's accurate and honest
and true description of Noah in Christ and Christ in Noah. He's a just man. He was a justified
man. Christ justified him. Bore his
sins in his body on the tree. Put them away. He was just before
God. He had no sin because in eternity past Christ was his
lamb slain from the foundation of the world and he had no sin
in Christ. He was a just man. He was perfect.
That means he was full. He lacked nothing before God
because Jesus Christ lacks nothing before God. That's why. And he
walked with God. Christ walked with the Father.
He obeyed his Father perfectly. He did everything his Father
told him to do. Noah walked in Christ perfectly
with God. It's Noah in Christ, but it's
also Christ in Noah. That's the new man in Christ
Jesus. Just, righteous, perfect, without
sin. That's the new man that resides
in every single believer. And you know what that new man
does? He believes God. And that's exactly what Noah
did. Before one drop of rain ever hit the earth, the Lord
said, you build a boat, now get in. And he shut them in, and
that ark carried him and his family and all them animals through
those dangerous waters and delivered them safe on the other side. What a picture of Christ and
him crucified. The new man in Christ Jesus.
And when he got to the shores, after he had been delivered safe
and sound, this just and perfect man who walked with God, what'd
he do? He got drunk and naked in his
tent. That's what happened. Why? Because in him was the old
man, the old nature, that old, wicked, sinful man that never
gets any better, never improves in any way. He is exactly as
he is born, a natural man, a wicked man. And every believer, we're
going to struggle with that all the days of our life. The new
man in Christ Jesus is going to own those sins. Those sins
are still going to come out. That old man always commits sin. That's what he does. And they
will be at war until the day we die and we put that sin down
for good. But I think here's the comforting
part and the thing that gives me a lot of hope here. While
what Noah did probably had a damaging effect on his relationship with
his family, while what he did was wrong and there was absolutely
no excuse for it, It made absolutely no difference to his eternal
standing before God. He was a just, a perfect man
who walked with God before this incident, before this great sin.
And you know what he was after that? He was a just and a perfect
man who walked with God. Because his standing was not
in himself. It was not in his works. It was
not in the do's and don'ts of the law. His standing was in
Christ. And since Christ cannot fail,
because he is perfect, because he has done everything his father
requires, we are eternally secure in him. He's a just man before
the foundations of the world were ever built. He's a just
man right now. And anybody who God determines
to be merciful to, to be gracious to, to justify, they always have
been that way, and they always will be that way, because Christ
is the surety of that. Now, a question. Does that mean
that that's an excuse for our sin, our outward conduct being
poor in any way? No. No, not in any way. Our conduct, our outward character,
our conversation, as Paul would put it, should always be above
board. And you say, well, why is that? Salvation is by grace,
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. It's not of works, lest any man should boast. Why does
it matter? I'll give you three reasons. I'll give you three,
and here's the first one. Because sin is evil, it is not
good. I don't know about you, I'm tired
of evil. I am tired of the evil that is
in me. I am tired of the evil that is in this world. I am tired
of watching the human race as a general rule just rip each
other to shreds. I am exhausted by it. I am absolutely exhausted
and I long for good. And that's what makes the character
of Jesus Christ so precious. He's good. He's the only one
that's good. I trust him. I trust what he
has done. I trust what he says. I trust the decisions he's made.
I trust all that because he's good. He cannot do wrong. He cannot be wrong. It's impossible.
He must do good. Whatever he does, it's just good.
It's perfect. It's best. Let the one who is
good reign. And I'm so thankful for this,
that this one that worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will, he's not like me. He's good. Here's the second
reason, for credibility's sake. I said before, Noah was the leader
of the entire world when he walked off that ark. See if you can
enter into that. He was the preacher of his generation.
He was the leader of his family. Everybody who came along, they
wanted counsel, they wanted guidance, they looked up to Noah right
here. After this thing he had done, do you think that Shem
and Japheth had a hard time hearing him for a while? Do you think
he had lost some credibility in their eyes? Yeah, I absolutely
think he did. That's absolutely right. Think
about Lot. Remember Lot? The Lord told Lot,
I'm going to destroy Sodom. And he went in there and he tried
to warn his son's-in-law. And what did they say back to
him? Said, he's like one that mocks. This man's a fool. He's
making a joke. We don't take him seriously.
He didn't have any credibility with his son's-in-law right there.
Now, what the scripture says is that we are ambassadors for
Christ. And I like that role, ambassador.
Everybody I meet, if I have an opportunity, tell them about
the Lord, I want to do that. Here's what I don't want to do.
I don't want to be the offense. I don't want to be somebody who's hard
to hear because of me. Now, if the gospel offends them,
so be it. In fact, good, at least they heard something. But I don't
want to be the offense, for credibility's sake. I'll give you the third
reason right here. This is what 2 Corinthians 6.3
says. It says, giving no offense in anything that the ministry
be not blamed. Here's the main reason. I think
this is bigger than all the rest of them. If I act out, right,
my conduct is not good, it's not above board, the world sees
that, right? And here's what's gonna happen.
The world is not going to blame me. The world will count me as
a brother. They will not blame me. I'll
tell you who they will blame, my master. and they will blame
His message. They'll say, look at this man.
This man claims to believe that salvation is completely by the
grace of God, completely found in Jesus Christ, and look what
it led to, this poor conduct right there. And that's exactly
what Paul's saying. They won't blame you. They will blame your
master. Those three reasons right there.
Now, here's another thing we see in this passage of Scripture.
We see something about law versus grace. Look over at verse 22
of your text. Genesis 9 verse 22, And Ham, the father of Canaan,
saw the wickedness of his father, and told his two brethren with
that. Verse 24 now, And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew
what his younger son had done unto him, and he said, Cursed
be Canaan." Like I said before, Ham was the one who had witnessed
the defilement. Ham was the one who reported
on all this. And as a man, in a worldly sense,
that is wrong. It's so wrong. Cover your brother's
sin. Don't speak of it. Cover my sin. I'll cover yours.
Ham saw it. Ham reported on what he saw,
and he who is under Ham Not Ham himself, he who was under Ham,
Canaan, was cursed. What's Ham a type of there? The
law. What does the law do? It reports. It witnesses. It sees everything. It says this is the defilement,
this is the sin, and it reports on what it sees honestly. There
wasn't anything dishonest about what Ham said. It was wrong,
but it wasn't dishonest. It was the truth. It reports
the truth, he's guilty, he's unclean, he's guilty before God. And everybody who's under the
law, who are of the works of the law, they are under the curse. Now, first thing I would have
you notice there is this, Ham wasn't cursed. There is absolutely
nothing with God's holy law. It is beautiful and it is wonderful.
It expresses the character of God, that he's holy. that he
is right and righteous, that he has a hatred of sin, that
he's completely and utterly just. This one is good. He's good.
It's what it declares. He will not let any sin go unpunished. If he sees sin on a man, he must
punish that man. He will have everything right
and true in his kingdom. The law is good in that sense.
Nothing wrong with the law. We love God's holy law. But remember the purpose of the
law. It's a very simple purpose. It
does absolutely nothing but expose sin. That's its only purpose. And to use it for any other purpose
is an unlawful use of the law. Now, God's holy law is perfect,
it's good, but you don't want to be under that law. I want
you to turn to a scripture real quick. Look at Galatians chapter
3. Now in another place in scripture,
Paul would say this. He would say, the law is good
if a man use it lawfully. There is a lawful use of the
law. And to give you a very simple
explanation of what that is, is to agree with it. What does
the law say about me naturally? I'm a sinner that I am guilty
before God. That's the lawful use of the
law. That's right. I'm a guilty man before God. And I look to Christ for all
my fulfillment of that law. Now, look at what Paul says here
in Galatians 3 verse 10. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Now he says here, there
is a cursed people in connection to the law. Those who are of
the works of the law. What does that look like? It
looks like a man, when he looks inside himself, he sees some
sort of moral virtue. He has some ability to do that
which is good. He has at least some ability
to please God in some way, shape, and form through action, through
the enactment of a will, through future intention, if something
like that. It is a man who believes I can
muster something, there's something I can bring before God and he
accept. He's of the works of the law.
You know what that means? It means he is in fact cursed. Cursed
by God. And here we have this, Paul points
out this, there is no such thing as partial conformity. He's saying
this, if you want to come by way of the law, if you want to
come by the way of your own personal merit and goodness, okay, we'll
see how that works out for you, but there's no partial conformity.
If you're going to do the law, you must do the entire law. That
means every law, every moment of every day, inwardly, outwardly,
in every single respect. James put it like this, James
2.10, for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend
in one point, he is guilty of all. Not that any man has ever
kept the law in any way, shape, or form. But even if he could,
if it was possible for him to keep one law one time, wouldn't
do him any good. To break one is to break the
entire thing. God demands perfect righteousness,
perfect conformity to his holy law. If you come on these grounds,
these grounds of your own personal merit and goodness in any way,
you're a cursed man under the law. Now look what he says in
verse 11. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it's evident. Based on what we
just saw, the law must be kept. It must be kept completely. And
men have absolutely no ability to keep the law in any way, shape,
and form. You can't be saved by the law.
It would be an unlawful use of the law to try to use the law
as a mechanism for salvation. It's unlawful. It's no good.
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident. For the just shall live by faith. I'm so thankful for this. There's
a group of people and they're called the just. A group of people
God chose and he justified them. And he justified them through,
not their faith, through the faithfulness of his son. It's
completely and utterly based on the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ, him doing what his father told him to do. And here's the
evidence that you are in fact one of these people, you trust
him. I don't want nothing to do with that old law. Absolutely
nothing to do with it. I don't want to be under that
law in any way, shape, or form. I'm not coming by way of the
law. I come by Him, this man right here, this man who lived
for me, this man who died for me, this man who kept that law. That's how I come, and I come
on absolutely no grounds looking to Him and His righteousness
alone. And here's what that looks like,
what He actually did. Look at verse 12. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. There is no mixture
of law and works. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree." We were all born cursed by the
law but Christ became the curse. He bore our curse, our sin in
his body, he put it away for his people and that curse is
no more. Now we're not under law, we're
under grace, under the grace of God dealt with in just grace
for Christ's sake. I want to show you something,
go back to your text for a second. Now we saw what the law looked
like. Let's see what grace looks like. Verse 23, 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 knew about his defilement.
but they didn't see it. They went in backwards. They
took this mantle, that's the word, and they walked backwards
and they covered Noah's nakedness and his defilement so that they
couldn't see it and nobody else could see it as well. And that
speaks of exactly what we read in that passage of scripture
just a second ago, the Lord covering our sins, making it to where
he can't see it. And no one else could see it
either because we're just, truly just, our sins being taken away
and us truly being righteous in Christ. But notice, all types
break down, right? These men couldn't see Noah's
defilement, but they knew about it. Haman told them, right? Noah
was covered. He was covered with this mantle,
with this garment. But underneath that garment, he was still wicked.
He was still defiled. He was still naked. Justification
by grace is so much better. He takes that man that is wicked,
that is sinful, that is defiled, and makes him to be the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. So much so that the father, when
he looks at him, he sees no sin. When the law looks at him, he
sees absolutely no sin. He is perfect in Jesus Christ. I'll stop there. Good question.