God's Sovereignty in History

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:06.879 If you're able, please remain standing and let's hear God's Word From Genesis, 2 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:34.219 Chapter Nine, verses twenty to twenty eight. This is God's word, just 3 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:38.969 as nine, verse twenty the sons of Noah, who went forth from the 4 00:00:39.090 --> 00:00:46.969 Ark where Shem Ham and jpef Ham was the father of Canaan. These three 5 00:00:47.130 --> 00:00:51.840 were the sons of Noah, and from these three the people of the whole 6 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:58.320 Earth were dispersed. Noah began to be a man of the soil and he 7 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:04.870 planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered 8 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:11.109 in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness 9 00:01:11.150 --> 00:01:19.739 of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Sham and Japheth took 10 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:25.939 a garment, laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the 11 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:32.180 nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward and they did not see 12 00:01:32.299 --> 00:01:38.569 their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest 13 00:01:38.609 --> 00:01:42.609 son had done to him, he said, cursed be Canaan, a servant 14 00:01:42.689 --> 00:01:49.159 of servants shall he be. To his brothers. He also said blessed be 15 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:53.319 Jehovah, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. May 16 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:57.799 God in large Jaff and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and 17 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:04.109 let Canaan be his servant. After the flood, Noah lived three hundred and 18 00:02:04.230 --> 00:02:08.110 fifty years. All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years and 19 00:02:08.310 --> 00:02:38.610 he died. He may be seated. One of the things that the Bible 20 00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:42.409 teaches us to do is to think of our lives as part of a bigger 21 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:46.759 story. Though we are individuals, of course, and God has his eye 22 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:52.479 on even the hairs of our heads, we are nevertheless a part. Each 23 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:55.719 of us are a part of something much, much bigger, something with a 24 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:02.710 beginning and an end. This large story, this beginning and middle and end 25 00:03:02.750 --> 00:03:08.189 are told, is told in the Bible. We have been focusing, as 26 00:03:08.229 --> 00:03:14.699 we've been going through these verses of God's Word in Genesis, on the beginning, 27 00:03:14.699 --> 00:03:20.379 of course, focusing on how human history begins, how it is established. 28 00:03:21.340 --> 00:03:25.139 We've considered also its end, as it's fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And 29 00:03:25.259 --> 00:03:28.889 so what we see in this story, as with many other stories, that 30 00:03:29.009 --> 00:03:31.409 there are good guys, there are bad guys and there is a hero, 31 00:03:32.569 --> 00:03:37.409 but of course it's not just any story. It's not even one of the 32 00:03:37.530 --> 00:03:43.479 greatest stories of the world. It is your story, it is your life. 33 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:47.879 I'm God calls us to see ourselves in these words and not merely by 34 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:54.949 analogy or by the extension of a metaphor. But these are our parents, 35 00:03:55.590 --> 00:04:00.990 our mothers, our fathers. These is our family history, this is who 36 00:04:01.030 --> 00:04:09.229 we are as people. We see the bigness of life in our daily lives. 37 00:04:10.460 --> 00:04:15.580 You are not born into a family that you chose, you do not 38 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:20.220 live in a place even that is entirely your choice. Your genetics, your 39 00:04:20.339 --> 00:04:26.449 moment in history, your abilities, all of these things are determined in large 40 00:04:26.529 --> 00:04:29.810 pipe part by a number of things which you don't have any control over. 41 00:04:30.689 --> 00:04:38.410 Your genetics, your family history, all number of things. And what we 42 00:04:38.529 --> 00:04:42.879 realize very quickly when we look at just the little bubble that surrounds us right 43 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:46.720 now, in this particular moment, is how out of control we really are, 44 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:50.959 not in a chaotic way, although that certainly happens too, but just 45 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:58.029 we don't control everything. It's a really it's a really simple point, but 46 00:04:58.149 --> 00:05:01.550 what the Bible teaches us is that go God does control everything. That he 47 00:05:01.750 --> 00:05:06.180 sovereignly rules over us and all of our lives, not just at this particular 48 00:05:06.259 --> 00:05:13.019 moment, but as you expand that out generation by generation, backwards into history 49 00:05:13.139 --> 00:05:16.500 and forwards into the future, we see that everything is ruled by God. 50 00:05:20.529 --> 00:05:27.329 So this is what genesis does for us. God intends to do here, 51 00:05:27.730 --> 00:05:30.610 particularly in a passage like this. He wants to take us out of our 52 00:05:30.769 --> 00:05:35.759 smallminded and kind of myoptic way of thinking about the world and establish us in 53 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:43.519 something bigger. In Genesis Nine, verses twenty through Twenty Eight, God takes 54 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:46.639 us out of the moment by moment actions of our lives and, a sense, 55 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:50.430 takes us off the stage on which all of this drama is being played 56 00:05:50.470 --> 00:05:55.629 out and puts us in the audience so that we can see what he's doing. 57 00:05:56.550 --> 00:05:59.389 You know when you're on the stage, imagine if you're on and you're 58 00:05:59.550 --> 00:06:01.550 with a bunch of other people, you may not be able to see everything, 59 00:06:01.629 --> 00:06:06.699 especially if this has been going on in time. But God takes us 60 00:06:06.740 --> 00:06:10.939 off, he opens up the screenplay, so to speak, and says here 61 00:06:11.459 --> 00:06:15.939 this is what happened, this is how the events of now are connected to 62 00:06:15.259 --> 00:06:21.490 the events then, and he gives us this perspective and by doing that, 63 00:06:21.689 --> 00:06:27.410 by helping us to see how we fit into the course of human history, 64 00:06:27.529 --> 00:06:32.759 by his sovereign hand, he humbles us. He reminds us that we are 65 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:39.560 not in control, that he is, that there's something bigger than us a 66 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:44.680 going on. We're taken in Genesis Nine, verses twenty through twenty eight, 67 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:50.029 back to a moment when the world is established again through Noah, and we 68 00:06:50.149 --> 00:06:55.350 see that in that as that happens, the seed of the serpent continues in 69 00:06:55.509 --> 00:07:00.829 a man like Ham, but also the promised seed, the the chosen one 70 00:07:00.990 --> 00:07:05.060 that would come and save us from that serpent, the evil and the sin 71 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:12.180 in this world. The he too would come. God shows us these things 72 00:07:12.220 --> 00:07:16.329 and he humbles us and he calls US also to repentance and faith and trust 73 00:07:16.449 --> 00:07:24.529 in him who is sovereign. How does the text humble us? How does 74 00:07:24.689 --> 00:07:28.970 God humble us when he shows us these this tells us this part of our 75 00:07:29.089 --> 00:07:33.160 history. Well, as I've hinted at already, more than hinted at, 76 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:38.199 one of the ways he does this is by telling us that he's sovereign over 77 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:46.949 all the events of this world. God is incontestably sovereign and irresistibly, irresistibly 78 00:07:46.149 --> 00:07:54.589 powerful. Unlike our self existence, God's self existence is not dependent on anything. 79 00:07:55.790 --> 00:08:00.860 We read in John Five, for as the father has life in himself, 80 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:05.939 so he is granted the son also to have life in himself. God, 81 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:11.980 Father, son and Holy Spirit exists in a self existing, independent kind 82 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:16.290 of way. That's hard to understand, but it helps to contrast it with 83 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:22.170 our own experiences, in which we are totally dependent, from our our births 84 00:08:22.329 --> 00:08:26.240 to our lives to our deaths, on other things. There's not a moment 85 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:31.559 in our lives which we are independently self existent, in which the power of 86 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:39.639 our life simply springs from us. It depends not only on secondary causes, 87 00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:45.070 like your mother causing you to be born, or food being put on your 88 00:08:45.110 --> 00:08:50.029 table or, in the case of death, diseases and other things causing your 89 00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:54.950 body to break down, not only on these second theory causes, as your 90 00:08:54.029 --> 00:09:00.860 life dependent, but on the primary cause of God himself. In Colossians One, 91 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:05.220 God says all things were created through him, speaking of Jesus, our 92 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:11.970 God and Savior. All things were created through him and for him. He 93 00:09:11.129 --> 00:09:16.970 is before all things, and in him all things hold together. You see 94 00:09:16.970 --> 00:09:20.769 what the Bible is saying there. If it weren't for Jesus holding all things 95 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:24.960 together and being made through him, they would all fall apart. We are 96 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:31.440 dependent. Or Take Hebrews one three, also about Christ. He is the 97 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:37.320 radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature. He 98 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:43.870 upholds the universe by the word of his power, or revelation, for eleven 99 00:09:45.789 --> 00:09:48.429 worthy are. You are, Lord and God to Receive Glory and honor and 100 00:09:48.590 --> 00:09:54.700 power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and 101 00:09:54.899 --> 00:10:01.379 were created. You see what God establishes in various places throughout his words. 102 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:07.769 What I said before, he is incontestably sovereign, irresistibly powerful. Our existence, 103 00:10:07.850 --> 00:10:11.970 our life, in every single moment, that last moment that just happen 104 00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:18.570 and in the moment that's just about to happen, isn't all entirely dependent upon 105 00:10:18.690 --> 00:10:22.960 him. If God wanted your life to be taken, he would take it, 106 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:28.879 just as he wanted you to be born in you were born. This 107 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:33.600 should cause us to give him all the glory and honor and Powers Revelation for 108 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:39.070 says, in the praise and service of him who rules US and sustains are 109 00:10:39.110 --> 00:10:46.909 very lives. These truths spaken, spoken of generally in scripture, are made 110 00:10:46.990 --> 00:10:52.740 very concrete here in genesis nine. What do we see? We see something 111 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:58.860 happens. Something happens, a sin happens, several sins actually, and this 112 00:10:58.419 --> 00:11:05.210 prophecy that Mo Noah speaks is a prophecy that comes true. God's Servant, 113 00:11:05.690 --> 00:11:13.129 God sinful servant, says. I'll read it again. He says, cursed 114 00:11:13.250 --> 00:11:16.730 be can and, a servant of servants. Shall he be to his brother, 115 00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:20.919 blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his 116 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:24.120 servant, may God in Large Jfeth, and let him dwell in the tense 117 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:28.639 of Shehem, and let can and be his servant. Hundreds and hundreds of 118 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:37.509 years before Abraham would be born, before he would himself father, I'm children 119 00:11:37.549 --> 00:11:41.269 who would father children who would eventually become these people that are spoken of here, 120 00:11:41.950 --> 00:11:48.299 the children of Shem and Jaff long before all of that, long before 121 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:54.019 Canaan was subdued by God, when Israel entered into the Promised Land, God 122 00:11:54.379 --> 00:12:00.539 said that these things would happen. God said that these three people through whom 123 00:12:00.940 --> 00:12:05.730 all of humanity would come, God would be sovereign over it. He would 124 00:12:05.730 --> 00:12:11.690 rule over it and he would sustain all these lives. What I'm trying to 125 00:12:11.769 --> 00:12:16.240 tell you is that we should be very humbled by this. Our lives do 126 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:22.279 not fit, do not fall out according to accident, nor are they falling 127 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:28.440 out according to some kind of abstract principle like a like a an equation or 128 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:35.029 something like that. Our lives happen according to the very will of God. 129 00:12:35.029 --> 00:12:41.870 All of human history falls out according to this personal triune beings will and desire, 130 00:12:43.870 --> 00:12:46.100 from every hair that falls on your head to everyone that is born, 131 00:12:46.820 --> 00:12:52.899 to the things that happen here in genesis nine and continue out from there. 132 00:12:54.299 --> 00:13:01.289 The should humble us. The God is sovereign and we are not, as 133 00:13:01.330 --> 00:13:05.090 I read in revelation for eleven. In light of this fact that God has 134 00:13:05.169 --> 00:13:11.370 created the world and through all things exist in him, what are we called 135 00:13:11.409 --> 00:13:15.039 to do? We are called to worship him and give him all glory and 136 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:20.440 honor and power, to give him ourselves in our lives. But what do 137 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:28.269 we do? Instead of glorifying God, man glorifies himself, and this is 138 00:13:28.429 --> 00:13:33.350 the second thing that should humble us. Not Only God's great, incontestable sovereignty 139 00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:41.899 and power, but man's totally corrupt and evil ways, his sins. That's 140 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:46.059 what we see here in this passage. Don't we first consider Noah's sin? 141 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:56.129 What has God just done? God has preserved Noah and his entire family, 142 00:13:56.889 --> 00:14:03.129 and therefore the world, from judgment. Noah has experienced the wrath of God. 143 00:14:03.690 --> 00:14:09.000 He's ridden on the high seas above the tops of the mountains, feeling 144 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:13.720 in every rock and movement of the boat the very wrath of God, and 145 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:22.759 he passes through it unscathed. Unlike all the rest of humanity, Noah and 146 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:30.830 his family do not drown, all because of God's amazing grace. God then, 147 00:14:30.830 --> 00:14:33.870 after rescuing him from all of this, then promises to sustain him in 148 00:14:33.950 --> 00:14:39.980 the world. This is what we considered last time. God makes this covenant 149 00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:45.899 with all of creation and promises that he will sustain it and continue it until 150 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:52.299 the last day when his son returns in judgment. Rain and no rain, 151 00:14:52.409 --> 00:14:56.929 Sun, evening and night, day and night, seed time and harvest. 152 00:14:58.009 --> 00:15:03.009 God will continue the regular establishment of things. He will bless them so that 153 00:15:03.169 --> 00:15:09.279 Noah can do things like plant a vineyard, which he does. God makes 154 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:11.720 this promise not just to Noah for this moment of planting a vineyard, but 155 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:18.440 to all of us, promises on which we currently stand, a covenant in 156 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:24.750 which we enjoy the blessings of this is what God does for Noah, for 157 00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:31.669 humanity. How does Noah respond? Well, first he responds well. Noah 158 00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:37.100 and his sons are fruitful and multiply, as God calls them to do. 159 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:43.940 They populate the Earth as as God as commanded them, and God has blessed 160 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:48.740 them in that. God also holds the curse at bay and blesses Noah's work. 161 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:54.570 He allows Noah to do something wonderful with the so soil. Noah figures 162 00:15:54.610 --> 00:15:58.370 out how to grow grapes, how to make wine, no easy task. 163 00:16:00.169 --> 00:16:03.639 On top of this, the superabundance of God's blessing can be seen not only 164 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:10.279 in know his ability to produce food and sustain himself, but notice he produces 165 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:17.080 something beyond sustenance. God's blessing to Noah gives the world not only food but 166 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:23.070 wine. You see God blessing over and over and over again, God's sovereignty 167 00:16:23.149 --> 00:16:30.710 and love expressed in a man producing wine. Listen to Psalm four, fourteen 168 00:16:30.830 --> 00:16:36.700 through fifteen. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for 169 00:16:36.820 --> 00:16:41.139 man to cultivate that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to 170 00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:45.580 gladden the heart of man. Isn't this an amazing thing that God does? 171 00:16:47.100 --> 00:16:51.409 He takes no on his family. He blesses them in all of these ways. 172 00:16:51.450 --> 00:16:55.330 He brings him back onto the earth. And he doesn't only say all 173 00:16:55.370 --> 00:16:59.009 right, now get to the work. He blesses his work. He doesn't 174 00:16:59.090 --> 00:17:03.079 just grow vegetables and corn and wheat and things like that, which our self 175 00:17:03.119 --> 00:17:12.359 are wonderful, but he grows grapes, wine to gladden his heart. Is 176 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:17.670 this amazing, the way that God blesses him? And what does Noah do? 177 00:17:18.069 --> 00:17:22.829 What does Noah do with all this superabundance of blessing, this wine that 178 00:17:22.910 --> 00:17:26.789 God is given to him to gladden him his heart, to make him joyful? 179 00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:33.380 He sins. Instead of joying the blessings of God, he swallows it 180 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:41.180 down like a beast without control. He becomes intoxicated, drunk. Instead of 181 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:49.049 enjoying wine as a blessing, he allows it to become his master. Losing 182 00:17:49.250 --> 00:17:57.170 control and all sense, he collapses in his tent, naked, exposed, 183 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:07.400 shamed. How he went from drinking wine supposedly with his clothes on to naked 184 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:12.509 is beyond me, but it is a reminder of how unreasonable, stupid, 185 00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:19.869 foolish, dangerous and sinful we become when we get drunk. A back at 186 00:18:19.950 --> 00:18:25.950 two fifteen says woe to him who makes his neighbors drink. You pour out 187 00:18:26.029 --> 00:18:32.059 your wrath and make them drunk in order to gaze at their nakedness. This 188 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:34.579 is what happens, and we know this. This is what people do, 189 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:40.779 and they abuse the good gifts that God has given us. And this is 190 00:18:40.859 --> 00:18:47.289 what Knowa does. He takes all of these blessings and he swallows them down 191 00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:55.210 like a beast and he sins against God. Well, not only is that 192 00:18:55.329 --> 00:18:57.640 all sinful in itself, but we see the effects of sin and that they 193 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:03.319 sort of have this way of multiplying. And then that we turned to him, 194 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:07.559 who, by the way, has likewise experienced all of these things, 195 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.950 and we could come up with more. He was there with his father, 196 00:19:11.910 --> 00:19:15.829 being saved, on the ARC, riding on those high seas with him. 197 00:19:17.990 --> 00:19:21.910 But what does he do? Well, he also abuses the God, the 198 00:19:21.990 --> 00:19:26.700 gifts that God has given him, including a father who, though obviously very 199 00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:30.259 sinful, here are in this moment, was called been called righteous by God, 200 00:19:30.420 --> 00:19:34.180 who's trusted in God's promises, who's no doubt taught ham and his as 201 00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:38.849 brothers, is why, and their wives and their children, what it means 202 00:19:38.970 --> 00:19:44.609 to trust and walk with God. With all this blessing, what is Ham 203 00:19:44.730 --> 00:19:48.450 do? Well, Genesis Nine hundred and twenty two says that him saw his 204 00:19:48.609 --> 00:19:57.480 father's nakedness. Understand that this is no glance, no accident. The word 205 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:02.920 here look means to look at searchingly. It's a way that's used in a 206 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:07.470 positive way in the song of songs, this great love Song. He looks 207 00:20:07.509 --> 00:20:14.950 at his father in this knowing and searching way. Hand, in other words, 208 00:20:14.990 --> 00:20:19.309 takes advantage of a situation where Noah has fallen into sin, has made 209 00:20:19.309 --> 00:20:25.859 himself vulnerable his extras. What he does is not only in an act of 210 00:20:26.180 --> 00:20:30.579 lust, but an act of power. He uses Noah's weakness to exercise a 211 00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:36.049 kind of power over him, to shame his father, to even, in 212 00:20:36.130 --> 00:20:40.730 a sense, control his father. And as he looks on Noah's nakedness, 213 00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:45.970 this sin, of course, hits on so many levels. It's a breach 214 00:20:47.170 --> 00:20:52.559 between two human beings and the sexuality that God has given them. As homosexual 215 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:57.920 voyeurism it's also a breach between the sexes. That it's done to his father 216 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:03.200 is a breach between the family ties as well, and on top of that, 217 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.789 the thought the duties and honors that a son owes a father. At 218 00:21:07.829 --> 00:21:12.109 every point the sin is multiplied, multiplied, multiplied, multiplied. This is 219 00:21:12.190 --> 00:21:15.069 one of those things that is often spoken of in the Bible, that just 220 00:21:15.269 --> 00:21:18.700 things that ought not to be done. In many ways, you don't even 221 00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:22.099 have to make an argument for this, that this kind of thing is sinful. 222 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:29.859 It's so obvious, so recognizable. Later on we'll see that these kinds 223 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:33.650 of sins will be judged greatly by God, Sodom and Gomorrah. In other 224 00:21:33.730 --> 00:21:41.329 ways, Ham takes advantage of his father's situation and looks on him in this 225 00:21:41.490 --> 00:21:48.359 way. But we might also note certain details in the text that suggest that 226 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:56.000 this lust for sex and power was went beyond even looking and resulted even in 227 00:21:56.119 --> 00:22:00.910 the rape of his father. We get this in a few ways. Strangely, 228 00:22:00.950 --> 00:22:06.390 him is inside the tent where no one can see him. We read 229 00:22:06.470 --> 00:22:08.869 that he comes out of the tent. We never read of him going in, 230 00:22:10.150 --> 00:22:14.789 but he comes out of the tent and and tells his brothers. We 231 00:22:14.910 --> 00:22:18.180 also read that when Noah sobers up, he realizes what his son, youngest 232 00:22:18.339 --> 00:22:22.700 son, has done to him. It's hard to imagine how this would be 233 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:26.420 impossible. If Ham just kind of peeked inside the tent for a moment, 234 00:22:27.059 --> 00:22:33.369 he wakens up from his drunkenness and realizes in his his body what has been 235 00:22:33.490 --> 00:22:36.690 done. And then, of course, there's the extent of the curse, 236 00:22:37.769 --> 00:22:42.289 this powerful curse, and which God curses the seed of his son as a 237 00:22:42.369 --> 00:22:48.559 response for acting in this way. Cursed be Canaan, not just now but 238 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:52.640 forever. A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers. This is 239 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:59.150 the kind of judgment and wrath that we see for these kinds of sins. 240 00:23:00.390 --> 00:23:04.269 And indeed, if there is a connection between Canaan and Sodom and Gomorrah, 241 00:23:04.710 --> 00:23:10.869 which many argue that there there is geographically speaking, then we see that this 242 00:23:11.069 --> 00:23:15.140 thing is played out yet once again, when the men of Sodom seek to 243 00:23:15.180 --> 00:23:22.980 do very similar things to the men that are entertained in lots house. This 244 00:23:22.220 --> 00:23:27.970 sin is a is what we see. This sin is a sin in its 245 00:23:29.049 --> 00:23:33.569 worst form, at least in one of its worst forms. But as you 246 00:23:33.769 --> 00:23:37.130 think about these things, you have to remember that, though this is kind 247 00:23:37.170 --> 00:23:41.480 of the cadillact of sins, so to speak, or or one of them, 248 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:47.000 this is the same thing that is in our hearts. This sin, 249 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:51.599 this particular sin of Ham, may not be one you have, I'm engaged 250 00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:56.630 in, or perhaps you have in part or in whole, but for all 251 00:23:56.710 --> 00:24:00.750 of us it is the of made of this very same kind of stuff, 252 00:24:00.829 --> 00:24:04.309 the very same corruption and pollution that is in all of our hearts. And 253 00:24:04.509 --> 00:24:08.789 you know this. You know this because your own deeds testify to this, 254 00:24:10.779 --> 00:24:18.779 your own similar lusts and and cravings and moves to exercise control over other people. 255 00:24:19.539 --> 00:24:26.410 It's the same kind of things. And, as I started with, 256 00:24:26.289 --> 00:24:32.809 I'll say again, when we read of Sin, and read therefore, of 257 00:24:32.890 --> 00:24:37.569 the sin and corruption that is in our own hearts, the violence and lust 258 00:24:37.289 --> 00:24:45.799 and evil passions and desires, this should humble us because, like Noah and 259 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:51.240 Ham, we also have received the many blessings of God's power and His grace 260 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:55.470 over and over again in our lives, the way he is taken care of 261 00:24:55.630 --> 00:25:00.869 us and watched out for us and given us many good things. This should 262 00:25:00.869 --> 00:25:07.420 humble us, it should bring us to our knees when we consider what God 263 00:25:07.539 --> 00:25:11.059 has done, how much he has blessed us and how sinful our hearts really 264 00:25:11.140 --> 00:25:18.099 are. As we do this, though, as I said before, we 265 00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:26.930 don't humble ourselves before a formula or fate. We humble ourselves before the god 266 00:25:26.130 --> 00:25:32.289 of the universe who created US and sustains US and who, in this passage, 267 00:25:32.329 --> 00:25:38.200 not only curses hand but blesses Ja Shem and jff Shem and J fef, 268 00:25:38.359 --> 00:25:42.079 men through whom the rest of the history of the world would come, 269 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:52.630 and even a Messiah who would save us from our sin. Him exercises his 270 00:25:52.029 --> 00:26:00.190 will in a way that seeks to disown God, in even his father, 271 00:26:02.309 --> 00:26:07.460 a way that seeks to conquer with evil that which is good. But God 272 00:26:07.539 --> 00:26:12.140 does not allow it. And this fuel, trust me and hang with me 273 00:26:12.259 --> 00:26:17.539 for a moment, is very good news, because it means that because God, 274 00:26:17.619 --> 00:26:22.009 who is sovereign over these things, it has the power and indeed does 275 00:26:22.289 --> 00:26:27.609 over rule these kinds of evils, the sin in our hearts. A sovereign 276 00:26:27.690 --> 00:26:33.839 God is one who can sovereignly rule over these kinds of things, and that's 277 00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:41.759 exactly what he does. Ham rises up to take to to ham rises up 278 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:47.589 in sin, and God over rules it for good. He blesses, doesn't 279 00:26:47.630 --> 00:26:52.630 he? He Blesses Shem and Jaff and he does this throughout history. He 280 00:26:52.750 --> 00:27:00.069 continually over rules the evil for good. We'll see this over and over and 281 00:27:00.190 --> 00:27:04.500 over again the story of Joseph, for example, when his brothers try to 282 00:27:04.740 --> 00:27:08.660 put him to death and lie to their father and all kinds of terrible family 283 00:27:08.779 --> 00:27:12.380 things going on, more murder, moral lies. We see it in the 284 00:27:12.460 --> 00:27:21.410 way that Joseph is accused of committing adultery with his master's wife, I'm falsely 285 00:27:22.009 --> 00:27:26.970 and all of these things that happen. But ultimately God blesses them and uses 286 00:27:26.049 --> 00:27:30.359 them for good. We see the way that out of this event God will 287 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.880 establish his people, Israel. He'll make a covenant with them and they will 288 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:41.079 become a great nation and will indeed rule over Canaan and all of his wickedness. 289 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:45.630 Canaan will be put out, the people of God will be blessed. 290 00:27:45.710 --> 00:27:49.670 And as you continue on through history, God continues to exercise this power, 291 00:27:51.390 --> 00:27:56.230 and we see it particularly in our Savior, Jesus Christ, who comes as 292 00:27:56.269 --> 00:28:02.500 a king to put to death the evil one, to crush the head of 293 00:28:02.579 --> 00:28:07.660 the serpent and though all kinds of evil is poured out on him, as 294 00:28:07.779 --> 00:28:12.650 mankind raises up in this great act of rebellion and crucifies him on the cross, 295 00:28:14.490 --> 00:28:21.009 and he dies. What does God do? He over rules evil with 296 00:28:21.250 --> 00:28:25.410 good, for on the third day, this Jesus, the son of God, 297 00:28:25.529 --> 00:28:30.359 rises from the dead. He rises from the dead and then later on 298 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:33.720 even ascends into the heavens to be seated at the right hand of God, 299 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:41.319 the Father Almighty. This same king will come one day to judge the living 300 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:48.109 and the dead. We Sing in one of our hymns. This is my 301 00:28:48.269 --> 00:28:53.430 father's world, we sing, this is my father's world. Will let me 302 00:28:53.630 --> 00:29:00.220 Ne'er forget that. Though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the 303 00:29:00.380 --> 00:29:06.660 ruler. Yet this is good news, isn't it? Because God, unlike 304 00:29:06.740 --> 00:29:10.970 us, is holy. God is righteous and he rules and he reigns in 305 00:29:11.049 --> 00:29:17.329 righteous in according to His grace. God over rules the evil in this world 306 00:29:17.369 --> 00:29:23.960 and he uplifts the good. This good news goes deeper still when we are 307 00:29:25.079 --> 00:29:29.799 reminded that the way in which he overrules this good is in part by forgiveness 308 00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:34.039 of our sins. If this were not the case, if this particular point 309 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:37.789 we're not the case, if Jesus Christ didn't simply go to the cross so 310 00:29:37.910 --> 00:29:42.349 that he might defeat Satan, but that he also went to the cross to 311 00:29:42.470 --> 00:29:48.950 defeat your particular sins. You would be lost right along with Caine and cursed 312 00:29:49.029 --> 00:29:56.500 and and assigned to judgment. But, beloved, listen. Jesus didn't only 313 00:29:56.579 --> 00:30:02.980 come as a king, he also came as a priest. He overrules the 314 00:30:03.059 --> 00:30:07.609 sin in your heart by offering himself and his own body up to death so 315 00:30:07.809 --> 00:30:15.289 that he might take all of your corruption and cleanse you and purify you and 316 00:30:15.529 --> 00:30:22.440 make you holy. So we consider again God's sovereignty in history. We can 317 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:27.640 look at particular examples of this. Consider a man like David, who murdered, 318 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:33.960 who committed great sexual sins, who lived in this moment that we are 319 00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:41.789 told in history, this terrible moment, and yet he turns to God in 320 00:30:41.950 --> 00:30:52.220 repentance and he finds forgiveness. Beyond David, you can consider even Canaanites like 321 00:30:53.420 --> 00:31:02.019 Rahab or RUF. We see that these way in which God has sovereignly exercised 322 00:31:02.099 --> 00:31:06.490 his plan in history, though it falls out according to these family lines, 323 00:31:07.089 --> 00:31:11.329 God does not limit himself to these things, but ultimately defines these families in 324 00:31:11.490 --> 00:31:18.089 spiritual terms. So those who trust in Jesus Christ can switch scythes, so 325 00:31:18.289 --> 00:31:25.000 to speak. They can stop being Canaanites and become Smites, they can stop 326 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:33.509 being a children of Wrath and condemnation and become children of God. This is 327 00:31:33.549 --> 00:31:40.069 how God overrules evil in this world and sin in our hearts by giving to 328 00:31:40.150 --> 00:31:48.259 US Jesus, who rules over US and dies for us. All this means 329 00:31:48.380 --> 00:31:52.420 that when you repent and you believe in Jesus, he takes this corruption that 330 00:31:52.539 --> 00:31:56.980 you see in Genesis Nine, this corruption in sin that's in your own hearts, 331 00:31:57.660 --> 00:32:01.089 the corruption and sin that you know from your own lives, in your 332 00:32:01.170 --> 00:32:07.730 own history, before the Lord, and he forgives you who, by the 333 00:32:07.809 --> 00:32:15.369 virtue of his perfect and great sacrifice, when you believe in Jesus, instead 334 00:32:15.410 --> 00:32:24.000 of belonging to him and Canaan, God makes you belong to Jesus, all 335 00:32:24.279 --> 00:32:31.589 the power of sin is broken by the power and grace of God. Want 336 00:32:31.589 --> 00:32:36.430 to read to you that verse again. I read earlier from Hebrews three and 337 00:32:37.109 --> 00:32:40.869 then read the verse right after it. He is our sorry Hebrews one, 338 00:32:40.950 --> 00:32:45.779 verse three. He is the radiance of the glory of God in the exact 339 00:32:45.859 --> 00:32:50.339 imprint of his nature. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. 340 00:32:51.900 --> 00:32:57.420 After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of 341 00:32:57.500 --> 00:33:01.609 the majesty on High. You see what he seed there. We read that 342 00:33:01.730 --> 00:33:07.769 he is king over this world, not only as its creator but also as 343 00:33:07.849 --> 00:33:13.200 its savior. The passage I read from colosh and says the same thing, 344 00:33:13.400 --> 00:33:16.359 but in more detail. The one who created and made the world is the 345 00:33:16.440 --> 00:33:22.359 one who is also head over the church, who brings a salvation from our 346 00:33:22.440 --> 00:33:25.000 sins and nails this record of debt that we have, with all of its 347 00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:31.309 legal demands. He nails it to the cross. So to do the same 348 00:33:31.430 --> 00:33:36.789 thing that I did with that verse, with the him. The Hymn says 349 00:33:37.869 --> 00:33:40.430 this is my father's world. Oh, let me Ne'er forget that, though 350 00:33:40.460 --> 00:33:45.819 the wrong seems off. So strong God is the ruler. Yet and then 351 00:33:45.859 --> 00:33:50.900 it goes on and says this is my for what father's world? The battle 352 00:33:51.460 --> 00:33:57.250 is not done. Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied and Earth and 353 00:33:57.410 --> 00:34:04.130 heaven be won. See this desire, this purpose that God sets forth right 354 00:34:04.170 --> 00:34:07.650 here in Genesis Nine, that he will overrule the evil in this world, 355 00:34:07.690 --> 00:34:13.000 even the most dark and terrible evils in this world, ones that we see 356 00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:17.360 continuing on today, ones that are in our own hearts. He promises that 357 00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:23.349 he will overrule it and he does it through Jesus Christ. Now, as 358 00:34:23.389 --> 00:34:28.429 you see all that from the audience and you look up at the stage and 359 00:34:28.469 --> 00:34:32.030 you see all that God has doing, God calls us then to live our 360 00:34:32.190 --> 00:34:37.510 lives in light of that, to not simply go on thinking as we used 361 00:34:37.510 --> 00:34:40.460 to think, but to live according to this grace that he has given, 362 00:34:42.179 --> 00:34:46.579 to live according to the son who is come to live in faith that, 363 00:34:46.699 --> 00:34:51.900 if we trust in Jesus Christ, God will bless us with these things. 364 00:34:52.050 --> 00:34:57.449 They God grant us the grace to do just that, may bless us according 365 00:34:57.489 --> 00:35:00.769 to his perfect and holy will. Let us pray