How Noah Lived Wrong in a World Gone Right
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 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. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said,
Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26 And he said,
Blessed be the Lord God of Shem;
And Canaan shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth,
And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;
And Canaan shall be his servant.
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
I wish we could stop with the message this morning, focusing on how Noah lived right in a world gone wrong, but the story doesn’t end there...
One would like to leave out this section in Genesis 9 which deals with the fall of Noah.
Throughout the “generations” record of Noah, he conducted himself with excellence. In spite of the wicked times in which he lived, he walked a holy life in complete obedience to the Lord regarding the ark and the flood and was a “preacher of righteousness” as I mentioned in the message this morning.
Now the Scripture reports Noah’s fall into drunkenness. Truly the Bible does not whitewash our heroes, but gives a true picture of their lives, and when you think about that, any other book would not be so honest.
What’s so amazing about this text is the timing in which it happened...
Noah lived for God in a time when the world was at its worst.
Then he failed God at a time when the world was at its best.
Adam showed us that a man will still sin in spite of his environment because man is a sinner and that's what sinners do.
We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.
I know that the curse was still upon the earth, but notice that two times in the first nine chapters of the Word of God, man blew his opportunity to live right in a perfect world!
Let me give you some similarities between Adam and Noah...
Both were placed on the earth out of the deep.
Both were made lord over creation.
Both had three sons.
Both were given the commandment to multiply.
Both were placed in a garden.
Both fell while in the garden.
Both fell as a result of fruit.
Both falls resulted with an exposure of nakedness.
Both falls are followed with a curse.
If I could have predicted a time in which Noah would have disappointed God, it would have been back in chapter 6 where I preached this morning, and not here in chapter 9.
I mentioned this morning that Noah would have faced an incredible amount of pressure to just go with what everyone else was doing…He had not Church to support him, he had no Bible to read, He had no brethren to lean on for support.
Yes, I would’ve expected something then, but not now, not after God had delivered him and his family, not after God kept him safe from the flood.
You know what this tells you and I today? It tells us that we can never predict what our flesh is going to do.
Why did this happen to Noah? How could a man who had been so faithful, suddenly fall?
I’m going to answer those questions tonight…How Noah Lived Wrong in a World Gone Right...
I-He was distracted
I-He was distracted
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
Up until this point, we read of pretty often communication between Noah and God, and Noah giving thanks to God, but not so anymore.
The first thing Noah had done upon reaching dry ground back in chapter 8 was to build an altar and to sanctify the new earth by offering up one of every clean beast and fowl in a great burnt offering.
But we don’t find him building altars anywhere in this passage and instead, we find him planting a vineyard...
He began to be an husbandman, the word husbandman means “man of the ground,”
Noah’s new career was not evil in itself. There is nothing wrong in the work Noah was doing. It was not the pursuing of this career that caused his sin but the perverting of it that caused his sin. Many good things and many good blessings can cause you to fall if you pervert the use of them.
There is no mention of him walking with God in this passage.
There is no mention of him worshiping God in this passage.
There is no mention of him working for God in this passage.
He got distracted! His focus on atonement and seeking God’s favor shifted to a new era of cultivation, growth, and abundance. If we aren’t careful, the same thing will happen to us!
II-He was drunk
II-He was drunk
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
This is the first mention of wine in the Bible and it is associated with sin, shame, and a curse. It carries this basic meaning throughout the rest of the Scriptures in most cases. It is also the first example of drunkenness in the Bible.
1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:
And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?
Who hath contentions? who hath babbling?
Who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes?
30 They that tarry long at the wine;
They that go to seek mixed wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
When it giveth his colour in the cup,
When it moveth itself aright.
32 At the last it biteth like a serpent,
And stingeth like an adder.
33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women,
And thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Noah’s sin began with just one drink.
Sin always starts with just one downward step. Satan would tempt us by insisting that doing it just once will not hurt. That is a lie, for doing it once is what gets it started, and without doing it once, you will never get started on the downward path of sin.
Remember, Noah was distracted apparently...To drink enough wine to get drunk, Noah had to give priority to the appetites of the flesh. You do not get drunk with one sip. Noah permitted his fleshly appetites to control his conduct. That will always lead to big trouble.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Many today are consumed with the things of this world...
Some are consumed with wine.
Some are consumed with wealth.
Some are consumed with women.
Some are consumed with wishes.
Some are consumed with worldliness.
Some are consumed with wickedness.
They seem consumed with everything around them except the very thing they should be consumed with.
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Andy by the way, alcohol is a depressant…It loosens people because it depresses their self-control, their wisdom, their balance, and judgment, which we’ll see with Noah in just a moment...
The filling of the Holy Spirit has an exactly opposite effect. He is a stimulant, and He influences every aspect of our being to better and more perfect performance.
III-He was disgraced
III-He was disgraced
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 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. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
When Noah was drunk he uncovered himself. The word uncovered indicates a deliberate act, not an unconscious effect of drunkenness. Noah deliberately uncovered himself. Drunkenness and nakedness usually go hand in hand together...
Noah let his guard down and Satan took advantage of the situation.
When wine ferments, it decays, leavens, or breaks down and this is what happened to Noah. Noah broke down physically, morally, and spiritually.
Drunkenness leads to sensuality.
Lot (Gen. 19:33), both his daughters got him drunk and wound up pregnant by him and he didn’t even remember it...
Ahasuerus (Esther 1:10, 11), he was drunk and wanted to put his wife on display for the entire kingdom, when she refused, she wound up banished from the kingdom...
Belshazzar (Daniel 5:1–6), he threw a massive party where he and his friends got drunk, drinking out of the golden vessels that belonged in the temple of the house of God. That night a hand appeared and wrote on the wall telling the king that he had been weighed in the balance and found wanting…that very night, he was slain...
Drunkenness brings disgrace! Just like Bro. Josh said the other night…you can cut that pie however you want, but the end result is always the same...
The Bible tells us that Noah was uncovered within his tent, and Ham comes along and finds his father in a naked, drunken condition.
The word for saw means to gaze at with great satisfaction. Ham told his brothers and the word for “told” indicates he told with delight. Ham seems to have had a rebellious attitude against his father and his authority. At last, he found fault or weakness with his father and wanted everyone to know.
Shem and Japheth covered their father and saw not his nakedness.
There is speculation surrounding what exactly happened, but I’m just going to stay in the Bible this evening...
To the ancients, seeing the father’s nakedness was a break of family ethic.
The sanctity of the family was destroyed and the strength of the father was made a mockery.
It was a great dishonor to see someone naked.
Egyptians had a different attitude as nudity was commonplace in dress styles, and Egypt is always depicted as a type o the world in the Bible...
I can only say that Ham’s sin was exactly what the Bible says in that he saw his father’s nakedness. I believe this is supported by the other two brothers as they took precaution to approach their father backwards to cover him, so as not to look upon him...
Whatever Ham did, it resulted in a curse upon his son, Canaan.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Noah walked with God for 600 years and vs. 28 says he lived another 350 years.
The tragedy is that the Bible never mentions anything about these years. We don't know if he did anything for God or not in the last years of his life.
The final testimony of his life that is recorded is what we read in our text.
That is not what I would want the final chapter of my life to read.
So, what do we do? There’s an old quote that fits this perfectly tonight… “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes; the wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
We better watch out! It all starts by getting distracted!
The Word of God tells us repeatedly to be sober, to be watchful, to be vigilant, and God means what He says.