Behavior has Consequences!
Text: Genesis 9:18–29 (ESV)
Two weeks ago we discussed the flood. We learned that it destroyed
everyone except Noah and his family.
Last week we watched the aftermath. Upon leaving the Ark Noah
propitiated God with Burnt offerings. God smelled the pleasing aroma. It spoke of
Noah’s faith, and God sent grace. He blessed Noah and his family by making a
covenant to never destroy the earth again with a flood. We also learned that
Covenants are about relationship with God—God’s greatest blessing is himself.
Genesis 9:18-19 are a postscript to all of this.
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham
was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the
people of the whole earth were dispersed.
What is today’s reading about ? It is about Noah’s Sin and the
consequences of that sin. Just as Adam, the head of the first creation sinned, so
Noah, the head of the re-creation immediately does the same thing. He sins. He
gets sloppy drunk and passes out naked on the floor of his tent. This text wants
us to understand that behavior has consequences.
Gen 9:18-29 has three points. We will then pause for application.
A. NOAH’S SIN
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the
wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.
The Bible repeatedly testifies to Noah’s righteousness. Gen 6:9 tells us
that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. He walked with
God.” 2 Pet. 2:5 tells us that he was a “herald” of righteousness. Heb 11:7 tells
us that he constructed an Ark in reverent fear for the saving of his household.”
Faith motivated Noah to act with great integrity. Despite great adversity, for 100
years Noah faithfully built the Ark.
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Noah is a spiritual hero. Because of this faith God saved him from the
flood.
Now the pressure is off, prosperity tests Noah, and he fails the test. He
gets inebriated and passes out naked on the floor of his tent. (This story
distinguishes between the goodness of wine and the evil of drunkenness).
Because of his careless, sin spreads throughout his family.
The consequences of Noah’s sin were momentous. He set a bad example
for his sons and his grandsons. His moral failure led to a curse on Ham and a
blessing on Shem and Japheth.
Our behavior has consequences. What father’s do matters greatly.
B. HIS SON’S REACTIONS
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two
brothers outside.
23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked
backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned
backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
1. Ham’s Sin
Ham sinned. He broke the fifth commandment. (Ex. 20:13) “Honor your
father and mother that it may go well with you in the land.” Although the fifth
commandment had not yet been given, Ham was still guilty. According to
Romans 2, the law was written on their hearts.
Ham’s action and heart attitude dishonored his father. He
condescendingly gazed upon his father’s nakedness. He looked down on his
father. In his heart, he scorned him. This heart attitude motivated gossip about
his father to his two older brothers.
Pr 17:9 reads, “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who
repeats a matter separates close friends.” Ham should have “covered” his
father’s offense. Instead, he uncovered his father’s nakedness.
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The bottom line is this. Ham despised his father’s authority.
Ultimately, this meant that he despised God.
2. Shem and Japheth’s Virtue
By contrast, Shem and Japheth honor their father. By honoring their
father, they honor the God who made Noah their father. Yes, their father has
failed. Yes he has shamed himself. But the two older brothers do the right thing.
They cover his failings.
Lesson? Moral failure by someone in authority is never an excuse to
dishonor their authority. Shem and Japheth know this. They honor their father’s
authority despite his failures.
By covering their father’s nakedness, Shem and Japheth imitate God. God
is in the business of covering failings. After they sinned, Adam and Eve both
knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together to cover the shame
of their nakedness. God saw this. He is gracious and merciful. Even though their
sin was a rejection of him and his authority, God had pity. His compassion was
moved.
(Gen. 3:21) “And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of sins and
clothed them.”
Shem and Japheth acted like God. They covered their father’s nakedness.
We will only do likewise to the extent that we are humble— to the degree that we
aware of our own propensity to failure. In other words, the humble are merciful
toward those who fail. They cover their nakedness. They do this because God
has covered theirs.
C. SHEM, HAM, AND JAPHETH’S BEHAVIOR HAS
CONSEQUENCES
Noah was a prophet, and out of his prophetic office he responds to his
boys.
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9:24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to
him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his
servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let
Canaan be his servant.”
There is a surprise in this text. We expect Noah to curse Ham, but instead
Noah Curses Ham’s youngest son, Canaan. Why did the curse fall on Canaan?
In his commentary on Genesis Kent Hughes writes, “Noah likely detected in
Canaan the evil traits he had seen in his father. Canaan was a bad apple who did
not fall far from the tree. He was already walking in his father’s footsteps.”1
This is the first time a person curses another person in the Bible. Noah is
a prophet. He speaks out of his office, prophetically. He sees by the power of the
Holy Spirit the destiny of his three boys and their descendants. He sees that the
sins and virtues of his sons will affect the destinies of their descendants.
Show a chart of Noah’s descendants.
Show a chart of Ham’s descendants.
Note: All of Israel’s future enemies are descended from Ham.
The Canaanites and the Egyptians, descendants of Ham, were renowned
for their sexual immorality. Centuries later, as the Jews are travelling through the
wilderness of their way from Egypt to take possession of Canaan, God gives
Moses this command.
(Leviticus 18:2–3) "2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD
your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you
shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not
walk in their statutes."
1
Hughes, Kent R. (2004-10-26). Genesis: Beginning and Blessing (Preaching the Word) (p. 153).
Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.
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Lev. 18 then proceeds to describe the sexual perversions of Egypt and
Canaan—homosexuality, incest, bestiality, etc. Both nations were descended
from Ham. It was precisely for the rampant practice of these sins that God
commanded the Israelites to drive out the Canaanites from their land.
What about Shem? Noah blesses Shem and commands Canaan to be his
servant. Shem becomes the father of the Jewish people. They are all descended
from Shem. That is why they are called the Semitic people. It is a play on the
name “Shem.” Eventually, Noah’s prophecy came to pass. The descendants of
Shem dispossessed the people of Canaan and Canaan became the
slaves/servants of the descendants of Shem.
Last, Noah prays that Japheth will find refuge in Shem’s blessing. This
happened through the gospel. It was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.
We will learn more about this in a few weeks when we study Genesis 12.
We have learned that behavior has consequences. Noah sinned. His sin
precipitated both the disrespect of Ham and the virtue of Shem and Japheth.
Noah Cursed Ham and his descendant, Canaan. He blessed Shem.
D. THREE APPLICATIONS
1. Sin is Viral
In today’s text, the descendants of Shem are blessed for his faithfulness
while the descendants of Ham suffer for his unfaithfulness.
There is a lie promulgated in our culture that any behavior is OK as long
as it doesn’t harm anyone else. Noah’s story implies that there is no behavior
that does not affect others. For example, sexual immorality brings down God’s
judgment on both the sinner and his partner.
In other words, the effects of sin never stop with the sinner. This is
especially true for fathers. The affect migrates down through the generations.
Noah’s drunkenness is a good example.
Anecdote: The box of oranges with mold.
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Bitterness is example.
(Hebrews 12:15) "15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root
of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;"
Sexual sin is another example. It spreads through families.
(David— Amnon—Absalom—Solomon).
(Joseph Kennedy Sr.—Joe Jr, John, Ted,( Bobby was the exception)).
Fear and bitterness are other examples.
Conversely, sexual purity also tends to spread through families.
The Second Commandment makes this principle very clear.
(Exodus 20:5–6) "5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your
God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and
the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands
of those who love me and keep my commandments."
Carson: “Sin is social: although it is first and foremost defiance of God, there is not sin
that does not touch the lives of others…That is one reason why God’s judgment is
poured out on people to the third and fourth generations of those who hate God (Ex.
20:5): Sin is social.”2
Because sin is social it is crucial that we practice church discipline. If we
don’t the sin that we excuse will eventually eat us up.
There is also Good News. Obedience also has Consequences. “Showing
steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Shem and Japheth’s efforts to honor their father brought a blessing from
God. It also reverberated down through the generations.
Next week we will examine the consequences in the life of Canaan. The
week after we will examine the consequences in the life of Shem.
Behavior has consequences.
2
D. A. Carson, Christ and Culture Revisited, (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2008), pg 48
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2. Parenting Matters Greatly!
Submission to parental authority is the foundation of the social order.
(Romans 13:1) "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is
no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."
God is jealous for his authority. How we relate to human authority is how
we relate to God. This begins with fathers and mothers.
God curses Ham because he despises his father’s authority. But the real
problem is deeper. He really despises God who gave Noah authority over his
children.
(Exodus 21:15) "15 “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death."
(Exodus 21:17) "17 “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death."
(Proverbs 30:17) "17 The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be
picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures."
(Deuteronomy 27:16) "16 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’"
Again, moral failure by the Parent is no excuse for dishonoring a parent.
These texts mean that if you don’t train your children to respect authority
you will expose them to God’s judgment. Think of what dishonoring his father
cost Ham and all his descendants.
Here are some suggestions.
First, set an example for your children. Honor your parent’s authority.
Second, aggressively discipline all heart attitudes of disrespect for
authority.
Third, because sin is social, the Bible instructs us to confess our parents
failures, and thank God for our parents strengths.
(Leviticus 26:40) "40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in
their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,"
(Jeremiah 14:20) "20 We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our
fathers, for we have sinned against you."
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(Psalm 106:6) "6 Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we
have done wickedness."
3. The Gospel is our only Hope
Like Noah, you can’t be a perfect parent. If you could be your children
would not need a Savior.
In addition, like Noah’s sons, you cannot be a perfect child.
Therefore, like Noah and his sons, we need to take refuge in the gospel.
Last week’s text made this clear. Despite human wickedness God was merciful
and gracious to Noah. Why? Noah knew how to propitiate God.
(Genesis 8:21–22) "21 And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said
in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of
man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living
creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and
heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”"
Noah’s burnt offering was a statement of trust in the Messiah to come.
In the same way, Jesus is our propitiation. He took the eternal
consequences of our failures.
The point of today’s sermon is that the temporal consequences of sin are
always with us. We can’t eliminate them, but we want to minimize them. Here is
the Good News. Because of the gospel, the eternal consequences for sin have
been removed.
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