Genesis 9:18-10:32 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. (10:1) Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.  (2)  The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.  (3)  The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.  (4)  The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.  (5)  From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.  (6)  The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.  (7)  The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.  (8)  Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.  (9)  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.”  (10)  And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.  (11)  From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,  (12)  and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).  (13)  Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,  (14)  Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim).  (15)  Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth;  (16)  the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite;  (17)  the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite;  (18)  the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed.  (19)  And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.  (20)  These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.  (21)  And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder.  (22)  The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.  (23)  The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.  (24)  Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber.  (25)  To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.  (26)  Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,  (27)  Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,  (28)  Obal, Abimael, Sheba,  (29)  Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.  (30)  And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east.  (31)  These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their l’nds, according to their nations.  (32)  these were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

• Now that was a lot, I get it… we read a LOT of text just now.
  • Now we read the end of Genesis 9 last week, but this week we added in Genesis 10.
  • And most of it was just a list of names… of genealogy…
    • But let me tell you something church, this genealogy is very important… We are going to focus this morning on the events that happened with Noah and his sons when Noah got drunk… but this genealogy is going to play into all of that.
    • The genealogy is also important though because it shows that Genesis is not a fairy tale, it is not a book of mythology… it is a HISTORY book.
      • We can trace Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Adam and Eve because of the detailed genealogies that were given to us in Genesis and other books of history.
      • Poetic books, like Psalms, are not full of genealogies… prophetic books like Revelation doe not have long lists of genealogical records… Jesus parables, which are undoubtably metaphorical, do not start with a history of family names…
      • No, history books include genealogies, because this was a way of keeping time, of marking history, so that we 6,000 years later would know when, where, and whom these events happened to.
        • Remember, there was not a universal calendar system until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1582… because of that when history books from ancient times list their dates we many times have to kind of guess what they mean based on context… because even if they had a calendar system, we can’t always know exactly when their dates coincide with our understanding of dates based on our calendar.
          • But this is not so with Genesis… because instead of years, we have genealogy… and we all understand how family trees work… so we can trace all of these events to Christ’s birth, which marks the year 1 in our Gregorian Calendar.

Now if you are a history nerd like me, that fact excites you… but if not, know there is THEOLOGICAL truth in the genealogies as well… and we will get there this morning… But first, let’s pray.

• So this morning we are continuing talking about the five lessons we can learn from the sin of Noah. This lessons, if you remember from last week are:
  • 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 last week we talked about the first three lessons.
  • First we talked about how Noah, who was described as perfect in his generation, righteous, and a man who walked with God… how could he fall into the sin of drunkenness..
    • And while we don’t know all the details, I proposed it was because of carelessness… that he neglected to monitor how many drinks he was drinking and thus fell into drunkenness that night.
    • So it is with us, we must stay vigilant and sober minded… not neglecting our faith, but always training it and growing in it, least temptation sneak in and we fall into sin unaware.
  • Second, we talked about Ham’s response to Noah’s shame and sin. Ham gossiped about it to his brothers.
    • Again we don’t have all the details, but we know how Ham SHOULD have responded… we know that Ham had no reason to tell his brothers… and I proposed that Ham was gossiping about his father, making a mockery of his sin.
    • As a church that preaches hard against sin, we need to be careful that we do not mock others when they fall into sin and that we do not rejoice in the downfall of others.
  • Finally, last week we talked about the third lesson: Love covers sin.
    • God covered Adam and Eve’s shame with a tunic made from animal skins.
    • Shem and Japheth covered Noah’s sham with a cloth.
    • Jesus covers our sin with His blood.
      • We need to be like Christ… like Shem and Japheth… when our brother or sister falls into sin we should not gossip and gloat about it, but we should lovingly help them find repentance, easing their shame and not magnifying it.
• This week we finish the lessons and the geneology… and thus wrap up the Biblical events of Noah and his sons.
  • Let’s get into it with lesson four from the sin of Noah: Curses follow sin.

Lesson Four – Curses Follow Sin

Genesis 9:22 NKJV  And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

Genesis 9:24-25 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 Ham, Noah’s youngest son, sees his father naked and drunk, and instead of covering Noah up and protecting his dignity, Ham gossips about it to his brothers.
  • When Noah wakes up and realizes what Ham had done, Noah cursed Ham and all his generations… and thus Ham remained cursed for 4000 years until Jesus declared all food clean…
    • Ok that’s just a little Kosher humor for you… in fact that is not what happened at all… Noah did not curse Ham, but cursed Ham’s son, Cannan… why?
    • Why did the son get cursed for the sins of the fathers.
      • Good question, it is one I have always had up until I studied for this sermon… Here are the three most likely answers… it could be any one of these three answers, or something different all together… but here is what I have found in my studies.
    • One possible explanation is that Canaan had incredibly evil tendencies worse than his fathers, and that this curse was a prophetic curse because God knew how evil Canaan would become.
      • I think this explanation is a week explanation but some hold to it.
    • Another explanation is that Canaan himself committed an awful and unspeakable sin against his grandfather. Verse 24 says “ Noah knew what his younger son had done to him”… in Hebrew the word for son is the same word as for grandson, so it is possible that this actually refers to something Canaan had done to Noah.
      • I think this is a better explanation, but I would expect God would have clarified that in His word if that were the case.
    • But then there is a third explanation… I don’t know if this explanation is perfect, but I like it the best, logically speaking…
      • Maybe this was God’s mercy on mankind… Maybe God had Noah curse Cannan instead of Ham (who deserved the curse) as a mercy to the whole of mankind… why? Because of the nature of the curse.
    • The nature of this curse, as we see from history, is that it is a generational curse. Not just Canaan was cursed, but all his people after him… the Canaanites were cursed.
      • They would live in the promised land and cause all sorts of problems for God’s people.
      • And, when we look at the genealogy in the next chapter, we see this confirmed, Canaan and his generations after him were the historic enemies of Israel… a curse that stemmed from Canaan.

Genesis 10:15-18 NKJV  Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth;  (16)  the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite;  (17)  the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite;  (18)  the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed.

• As you read through the Old Testament you see most of, if not all of, these tribes rebelling against God and fighting against Israel… the Jebusites, the Amorites… all the ites… A generational curse that followed the sin of Ham.
  • So how then is this merciful? Because all of mankind came from Shem, Ham, and Japheth…

Genesis 9:18-19 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.

• All the earth came from Shem, Ham, and Japheth! That means that Noah did not have any more children post flood… he was 600 years old after all… so it was from these three that all mankind was born to.
  • This means… follow me here… This means that if Ham would have been cursed instead of just Canaan… then a whole THIRD of mankind would be cursed.
  • Canaan still would have been cursed with this generational curse… but also his brothers Cush, Mizraim (or Egypt) and Put… and all of the generations after them…
    • Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabtechah, Sheba, Dedan, Nimrod, Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, and Casluhim.
      • All of these tribes, on top of Canaan and his tribes… all of them would have been cursed.
• Does this make perfect sense? No… why could Ham not just been cursed and none of his children?
  • I don’t know for sure… but here are two seemingly opposite truths I do know:
    • Generational Curses Are Real. (Numbers 14:18, Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:7; Deuteronomy 5:9)
    • God will not punish the son for the sins of the father. (Deuteronomy 24:16; Ezekial 18:20)
  • Let’s read a couple of these verses

Numbers 14:18 NKJV  ‘The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’

Ezekiel 18:20 NKJV  The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

• So now we have these two opposing truths… God visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children for generations to come… and… The son will not bear the guilt of the father…
  • How on earth can this be…
  • This is one of those areas that we instinctively understand… but when we think to hard about it we get confused.
    • See we don’t need the Bible to tell us generational curses are real.
      • Most, if not all of us, know that if you are an alcoholic, the odds are much your children will become alcoholics.
        • That’s a statistical truth.
• Let me through some more statistical truths at you.
  • If one of your parents is an alcoholic you are four times more likely to become an alcoholic.
  • If a persons parents are divorced they have a 69 percent GREATER chance of being divorced… if both the husband and wife come from divorced families that couple has nearly a 200% greater chance of getting divorced.
  • Here is one you have likely heard, 70% of prison inmates in America come from fatherless homes. 72% of murderers come from fatherless homes.
    • Which is crazy because only 33% of children in America come from fatherless homes!
• Instinctively, church, we understand that if drug addicts have children, those children are likely to become drug addicts…
  • If drug addicts actively use drugs when pregnant that baby, who has never sinned, can come out addicted… physically dependent on those drugs.
• Now the world calls these statistics “Genetics and environmental factors” and that is what they are… And God just uses a different word for them… CURSES. Generational, genealogical curses.
  • Now God only holds you to account for YOUR OWN SINS. But if you are a murderer you cant get to judgment day and blame your father abandoning you and expect to get into heaven… you, like everyone else, must be forgiven for YOUR sin… even if your genetics or family history makes your more likely, more cursed to sin…
• So what is the lesson for us, church? The lesson is this: YOUR SIN EFFECTS MORE THAN JUST YOU! CURSES FOLLOW SIN.
  • That pornography addiction?
    • You are affecting your children.
  • The way you treat your husband?
    • You are affecting your children.
  • Drugs, Alcohol, Gluttony…
    • You are affecting your children
      • Listen a child with an obese parent has a 50% chance of obesity, a parent with two obese children have an 80% chance at obesity!
      • What you eat affects your children!
  • Gossip, slander, slothfulness, greed, theft, envey…
    • All of these things effect your children.
• Curses follow sin… Call it genetics, call it “environmental factors” call it whatever you want… the bible calls it curses… CURSES FOLLOW SIN… it is a fact of life…
• That brings me to lesson Five, and I will make it quick because it really just launches off of lesson four… Blessings follow Righteousness.

Lesson Five – Blessings Follow Righteousness

Genesis 9:26-27 NKJV  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.”

• While Ham, or more specifically Canaan, caught a generational curse, Japheth and Shem received generational blessings.
  • Japheth and Shem behaved righteously, and their generations were blessed because of it…
    • Now hear this church… weather or not you were born into blessings or curses depended on weather you were born unto righteous parents or unrighteous parents.
      • Now, the good news, the Gospel Good News, is that it doesn’t matter who you were born to, you can be born again… Amen?! You can have God has your father! And that is a life of blessings!
      • But I want to take a moment to talk about generations… about genealogies.
• I want our church to be a generational church.
  • I want genealogies to come out of this church… I want family trees to branch forth from this church!
    • And I, as the founding pastor of this church, I so STRONGLY want the story of our children, our grand children, our great-grandchildren… I want that to be a story of BLESSINGS! A story of generational blessings!
• And listen, to receive those blessings, first you chose forgiveness, because we have all fallen short of the glory of God, we have all sinned… then you chose righteousness. You chose to obey, you chose to honor, you chose to love… Just as Shem and Japheth did… they did not know it, because they were acting out of their good character, but that day they covered their father’s shame… that day THEY CHOSE BLESSINGS. Blessings follow Righteousness!

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NKJV  I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;  (20)  that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

• Today my encouragement is this: It doesn’t matter where you came from, the generations that start with YOU follow YOU. Choose blessings for yourself, choose blessings for your children… choose forgiveness, righteousness, obedience, godliness… chose to start a genealogy of blessings!
  • And if you have come from a long line of curses… BREAK THOSE CHAINS. It starts with Christ in you. BREAK THE CHAINS, BREAK THE CYCLE, BREAK THE CURSES!
    • You come from a long line of alcoholics? Fine… it ENDS WITH YOU. Your children don’t have to come from a line of Alcoholics.
  • Your children don’t have to know what it is like to live without a father in the home.Your children don’t have to grow up with obese parents. YOU CONTROL THIS.DON’T BE HAM. Ok, that was a funny thing to say after talking about obesity… don’t be the Guy Ham… Be Shem and Japheth… Chose blessings!

Conclusion

• Now, as I conclude this message, let me just remind you of the five lessons from Noah.
  • 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.
• Today’s message was pretty straightforward church… what you do has generational consequences…
  • Though your kids will not be charged with YOUR sins… your sins will increase the likelihood of your children committing the same sins or worse…
    • But on the flip side… if you chose to be righteous… God will bless your generations… I have the Bible of my Great Grandmother in my church office which reminds me of that fact every week as I sit preparing to preach. I am blessed because of my Great Grandma Vinata… Be your grandkids blessings, church, chose righteousness.

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