Genesis 9:18-29 NKJV Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. (19) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. (20) And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. (21) Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. (22) And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. (23) But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. (24) So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. (25) Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.” (26) And he said: “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. (27) May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.” (28) And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. (29) So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
- but first, let’s talk about the sin of Noah and his son Ham.
Genesis 9:20-21 NKJV And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. (21) Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.
- So Noah becomes a farmer and plants a vineyard… in so doing he creates wine and get’s drunk.
- In a drunken stupor, Noah undresses himself and passes out naked and ashamed in his tent.
Genesis 9:22-23 NKJV And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. (23) But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
- So Noah has three sons, Ham, Japheth, and Shem. Ham the youngest sees Noah naked and goes to his brothers to gossip about it… a two-fold sin, because gossip is a grave sin, but so is dishonoring your father.
- In response, instead of joining in the gossip, Shem and Japheth honor their father, and going out of their way to not see him naked and passed out, they walk backwards to cover him with a blanked.
Genesis 9:24-25 NKJV So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. (25) Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.”
- So when Noah awakes, something interesting happens… he curses Ham’s son, Canaan, instead of cursing Ham… we will talk about why in a moment… but the end of the story is that Canaan is cursed, and thus Ham his father with him… while Shem and Japheth remained blessed.
- Through all of this I believe there are four lessons we can learn, and I am going to go through all of them this morning…
- Lessons from the sin of Noah… we are going to learn five lessons from the sin of Noah, and the sin of Ham that followed…
- Lesson 1: Neglect Leads to Sin
- Lesson 2: Fools Mock at Sin
- Lesson 3: Love Covers Sin
- Lesson 4: Curses follow Sin.
- Lesson 5: Blessings follow Righteousness.
- Now we are going to try to make it through the first three of these lessons this morning, because I don’t think it makes sense to split them up, then we will talk about genealogy and get into the last two lessons next week… but lets start with prayer.
- Okay, the first lesson, Neglect Leads to Sin
Lesson One – Neglect Leads to Sin
Genesis 6:9 NKJV This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
Genesis 9:20-21 NKJV And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. (21) Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.
- How did Noah go from being “A just man perfect in his generations. [A man who] walked with God” to becoming drunk, naked, and ashamed?
- No where in scripture before this do we see Noah getting drunk, and nowhere after… this is the lone record of Noah’s sin.
- That is not to say he never sinned before or after… but this was the only noteworthy time…
- So how does Noah go from being the only sober man in a world full of sin and corruption, to becoming the only drunk man in a world full righteousness of soberness?
- May I suggest that what happened to Noah… the sin that Noah found himself in… that this sin was likely the result of Carelessness?
- I don’t think Noah was so troubled and stressed in this new world that he wanted to drink his troubles away.
- I don’t think that he was a previous alcoholic and the demons of his past were coming to haunt him.
- I don’t think Noah feel victim to peer pressure, drinking more than he should…
- No, Noah was a righteous man, the eldest man on earth… He was well taken care of by the Lord, prosperous and close to God.
- He likely did not look to alcohol to ease any pain, nor to forget a dark past, or to please his peers… what peers did he have?
- No, I think Noah was careless, I think he feel into spiritual neglect, just for a moment, and that lead him to sin.
- Noah planted a vineyard, had a bumper crop… he probably mad some jams, and some wine… none of this was sin.
- He likely wanted to celebrate his harvest with his family… nothing wrong there, the New Testament tells us it is good that we should celebrate.
- And as he was celebrating, he was drinking… and he was careless, he was neglectful.
- He neglected to count his drinks… he neglected to think of his sobriety… one after another, Noah drank glasses of wine… until it was too much… until his drinking went from merrymaking to sin-making…
- The lesson here church is this… no matter how close you are with God, YOU MUST STAY VIGALENT TO AVOID SIN.
- Jesus talks to His disciple and to us as we see the end drawing near, Jesus says this:
Luke 21:34 NKJV “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.
- In other words “You better be careful… otherwise you might find yourself falling into sin, into drunkenness, into partying… into focusing on the cares of this world… and then, when you are naked in drunk in your tent, Jesus might return… is that where you want to be when the trumpet sounds?”
1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
- You think you are holy, you think you are righteous, you think you are right with God?
- Good! I HOPE YOU ARE! I HOPE WE ALL ARE… but you better stay vigilant and MAKE SURE, at all times, that you are standing firm… least you fall.
- You ever ridden with a student going through driving school… they are new, the are nervous… and they are CAREFUL.
- Hands on 10 and 2, checking the mirrors, alert at all times… they are not the best drivers AND THEY KNOW IT.
- But then you get with someone who has driven for decades… one hand barely on the wheel, cruise control set to 74 on the freeway, reaching behind them to grab their kids applesauce pouch they dropped…
- Careless, neglectful, overconfident…
- As Christians we will do well to remain vigilant in our faith, hands on 10 and 2, because cruise control accidents are often times deadly.
- That brings me to point two, Pride Jests at sin.
Point Two – Fools Mock at Sin
Genesis 9:22 NKJV And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
Genesis 9:24 NKJV So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.
- Now a lot is implied in this verse… and if we miss that then this verse brings up a lot of questions… mainly “What’s the big deal?”
- But here is what is implied… intentionality, gossip, and dishonor.
- You see if Ham had seen his fathers nakedness on accident… there would be no crime, there would be no sin.
- If Ham had accidently seen his father naked, and responded by covering up his fathers nakedness, there would be no sin… that would be the end of the story… but that is not what happened.
- Ham saw his father naked… possibly on purpose… but intent aside, Ham’s response was to magnify his father’s sin… to mock it, to jest about it, to gossip about it.
- When Ham saw his father’s naked body, instead of doing the right thing, covering it up and keeping it to himself… he went and found his brothers…
- I wonder how that conversation went:
- “Shem, Japhet… YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW… Dad is always talking about his relationship with God… how he was “the chosen one” used to save the existence of mankind… He tells us how righteous his is… well the DRUNKEN FULL IS LAYING NAKED IN HIS TENT… Not so righteous now, huh dad?!”
- Now I don’t know if that is how the conversation went, but the conversation was not honoring… how do I know? Because the conversation was not necessary in the first place.
- Ham was a grown man, he should have covered his fathers nakedness and kept his mouth shut.
- He should have wept for his father, and maybe had a private conversation with him in the morning.
- Instead he made a mockery of his father to his brothers.
Proverbs 14:9 NKJV Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is favor.
- Fools mock at sin. That is the lesson here… fools mock at sin.
- Ham mocks at his father’s sin… YOU FOOL!
- Ham, see lesson one… you need to take heed yourself, least you who think you stand will fall.
- Ham, you mock your fathers sin by bringing it to your brothers… You fool… ought you not rather mourn your fathers sin?
- Again, we don’t know everything that went down… but I know this… if Ham had mourned his fathers sin he would have covered it… but instead he exposed it, he magnified it to his brothers, he mocked it.
- This was not some ongoing addiction that Noah had that demanded an intervention.
- No one but Noah and God was hurt by this sin, so there was no one who needed comforting, or care, or retribution.
- This was a mistake… a negligent mistake, yes, a sinful mistake sure… but a forgivable mistake… and one that did not concern Ham, or Shem, or Japheth.
- Because as Ecclesiastes teaches us, sin is pleasurable for a time, gossip is pleasurable for a time, dishonoring others is pleasurable for a time.
- Something about the downfall of others makes us want to take joy in it.
- Listen church… THIS LESSON IS ESPECIALLY FOR US.
- We preach hard against sin here… we believe in striving to live righteous lives…
- So it is easy when someone falls into sin to get on Facebook and scream out “SEE WHAT HAPPENS! I TOLD Y’ALL! LOOK AT THIS FOOL! HE SHOULD HAVE LOVED THE LAW LIKE I DO!!!!”
- But that is a foolish response indeed.
- Do not rejoice in the downfall of others church, instead mourn sin and do what you can to bring the sinner back to the foot of the cross, as privately as possible.
Proverbs 24:17-18 NKJV Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; (18) Lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him.
- THIS WASN’T EVEN HIS ENEMY! Y’all, we can do better than Ham, amen?!
- Fools Mock at sin… That is the second lesson, unlike our first T-Shirt from 1 Corinthians… in this case, DON’T BE THE FOOL, DON’T MOCK AT SIN.
Point Three – Love Covers Sin I have “Lesson 3” on the slide.
Genesis 9:23 NKJV But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
- I want us to take a moment and think once again at all the striking similarities between The Creation and the Garden of Eden, and the Flood and Life immediately following the flood.
- In creation the Water covered the Earth and God sends His spirit to hover over the earth before dry land appears.
- In the flood water covers the earth and God sends His Spirit to hover over the water before dry land appears.
- In the Garden there was one family, Adam and Eve, who were sinless.
- After the flood there was one family, Noah’s family, and Noah was called righteous and perfect in his generation.
- In the Garden of Eden the first sin involved the consumption of a fruit.
- In life after the flood the first recorded sin involved the consumption of a fruit…
- Just to be safe I think I will never eat fruit again… better avoid vegetables too… carbs and meat never lead to the downfall of man!
- (Of course I am kidding… eat healthy y’all, self control is a fruit of the Spirit).
- But I do find it striking that fruit was at the center of both of these events.
- Now, think about the immediate consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin… they eat the fruit and instantly they are filled with shame… and they realize what? THAT THEY ARE NAKED.
- Here Noah sins by getting drunk, he becomes naked in his tent, and his younger son shames him.
- But that is not the end of the story… For Adam and Eve, God, who is LOVE, makes coverings for Adam and Eve… Love cover’s their sin.
- And for Noah, though Ham shamed him, his older sons showed love by covering his nakedness, by covering his shame.
- Fast forward to us… Jesus died for us and His blood covers our sin.
Genesis 3:21 NKJV Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
Genesis 9:23a NKJV But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father.
1 John 1:7b NKJV …the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- Do you see church, when juxtaposed to what love does… just how awful Ham’s sin was?
- Love covers sin…
- Ham uncovered sin…
- Love cries out “Forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing”
- Ham cries out “Hey everyone, look what my dad has done!”
- Ham acted like Satan, the accuser of the breathren, while Shem and Japheth acted like God, in love, covering the sin and shame of their father.
1 Peter 4:8 NKJV And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “LOVE WILL COVER A MULTITUDE OF SINS.”
- Now as a side note: This does not mean that you should hide people from the consequences of their sin… if your pastor is having an affair, do not COVER UP THE AFFAIR. He needs to be held to account for his sins.
- If you see someone beating a child… DO NOT COVER UP THE ABBUSE… That child needs to be protected and there is consequences for that sin.
- But it does mean that when someone is repentance, you don’t leave them in a life of shame.
- An adulterous pastor should not be pastoring any more, the bible is CLEAR on that… but he should still be loved, and if he is repentant our job is not to rub it in his face, but to love him.
- A sex offender should not be around children anymore… but our job is not to magnify his shame with a scarlet letter, but to show him there is hope and forgiveness in Christ Jesus.
- Noah’s sin, however, was a mistake, it was not OK, but it did not demand intervention. The right call here was to lovingly cover his shame and move on with live. Love covers a multitude of sin. Sin still has consequences, but our job is to love.
- Now I feel this is a good place to end this morning, so let’s move into our conclusion.
Conclusion
Turn On Children’s Class Lamps
- This morning we went over the first three lessons we can learn from Noah’s sin…
- Lesson 1: Neglect Leads to Sin
- Please church… always stay vigilant in your faith… do not get neglectful and careless. Read your Bible daily… avoid temptation at all times… do not neglect the gathering of the brethren… No matter how holy and righteous you think you are, make sure to continually train your spirit least after preaching to others you find yourself disqualified.
- Lesson 2: Fools Mock at Sin
- Let our hearts never rejoice in the downfall of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
- Let us not magnify the sins of others while minimizing our own sin.
- Lesson 3: Love Covers Sin
- When our brother falls, let us help him back up… let us show him Christian love. Not avoiding the consequences… not covering up scandal… but at the same time recognizing that all have sinned and need grace to cover their shame…
Join us this Sunday at either 8:30AM or 10:30AM for worship followed by this message from the Word of God. Christian Life Church of Cedar Rapids. 2808 Schaeffer DR SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404. www.CedarRapidsChurch.com
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