The Story Behind Noah's Last Will and Testament

Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 9. Genesis chapter 9, this is one of those passages that if I were a topical preacher who just from week to week preached on different topics, I don't think I would ever preach. On this passage. but if we are doing a study through a book and we're going verse by verse, and we're going through the Book of Genesis, then we come upon this passage today and we're going to cover it, in, our message time this morning as we're doing our study through the Book of Genesis, we come this morning to Genesis chapter 9, verse 20, and my goal, this morning is to cover verses 20 through 29.

And if you want to give a title to the message this morning, it would be The Story. Behind Noah's last will and testament. Noah's last will and testament. We, in recent weeks have seen how Noah comes off the ark and he offers up a sacrifice to the Lord and God responds to his sacrifice by establishing a covenant with Noah and his sons and with all of us and to never destroy the earth again with a global Flood.

God provides the sign of the rainbow as his bright beacon of mercy upon the world. So everything, now that the covenant is concluded, this is where we left off two weeks ago. It seems that everything is set for a fresh start at life in a post-flood world with righteous Noah and his family and all the lessons that they have learned along the way. As we come into verse 20 of Genesis 9, we have every reason to expect wonderful things.

In the coming verses, right? And yet sadly as we come to our passage today, we see that the story as Warren Weirby says, now moves from rainbows to shadows. In just a few verses, we go from a fresh beginning with a covenant promise and a beautiful rainbow to drunkenness, nakedness, voyeurism, gloating in the shame of another and cursing. It becomes immediately clear to us that the flood has not washed away nor solved the sin problem of man.

Nonetheless, in the passage we're gonna be looking at today, we see beauty and we see righteousness in this episode. perhaps the best way to understand verses 20 through 29 is to start off by reading Noah's words in verses 25 through 27. These are actually the first words that we hear Noah speaking in all of chapters 6 through 9, and they are also his last words. Some writers call these words of Noah, Noah's last will and testament, and they do so for good reason.

In these verses, we see Noah celebrating one son, speaking a blessing on another son. And pronouncing a curse upon his youngest son's son. He treats his son very differently in these verses, which normally we would discourage a parent from doing, right? One of the pieces of counsel that parents usually receive when they have children is to try to treat all of their children as equally as possible and to not play favorites, right?

That's what my parents did. I have 3 siblings, 2 brothers and a sister, and my parents always treated all 4 of us as equally as they could, which had to be hard because I know deep down I was their favorite. Child. In fact, I've praised them.

I've said, what, you guys treated us all equally. The other siblings would never know I was your favorite child. Great job. But in Noah's last will and testament, he does not treat his three boys the same.

Look at what he says beginning in verse 25. Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants, he shall be to his brothers. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem.

And let Canaan be his servant. It's not surprising to hear Noah speak words of blessing regarding Shem and Japheth, but it is stunning to hear Noah speak a word of cursing upon his own grandson, whose name was Canaan, who was a child of him. What was the story behind this? What brought this about?

What was the provocation that caused Noah to curse Canaan, from whom the Canaanites descended? This is important for Israel to know because the Canaanites are living in the promised land that the Israelites are about to enter, as they are having this book read to them. These are the questions that the full narrative starting in verse 2 is designed to answer and that's why we are entitling the message, the story behind Noah's last will and testament. The Israelites will know from reading this passage that in entering the Land of Promise and driving out and subjugating the Canaanites that they will be fulfilling the spirit of Noah's last will and testament delivered hundreds of years prior.

So let's read The passage beginning in Genesis 9:20. Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father, and their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done. To him. So he said, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants, he shall be to his brothers. He also said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.

May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. And Noah lived 300. And 50 years after the flood, so all the days of Noah were 950 years. And he died.

Think about this guys, Noah lives 350 years after the flood. That's almost the entirety of American history and only one story gets told about him. During all that length of time. Noah would probably go, so this is the story you choose to tell.

350 years of my life and this is the story you're gonna tell. But it is a profound story full of insight and even perspective for the people of Israel and for us today. The way we're gonna break things down is we're gonna observe 7 developments which culminate in Noah's last will and testament. 7 developments which culminate In Noah's last will and testament.

Development number one, Noah becomes drunk and uncovers himself. Noah becomes drunk and uncovers himself. Verse 20 that Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine, became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.

Literally in verse 20 the text says that Noah began being the man of the ground. Which indicates that he was a farmer who is now cultivating the ground for sustenance. According to verse 20 it is in this endeavor as a farmer that he plants a vineyard. Which would grow grapes.

This is a good thing. From this vineyard would come grapes and raisins and wine. Verse 21 tells us that Noah drank of the wine. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with Noah drinking of this wine.

Wine was viewed in the Old Testament as a good gift from God. In a number of passages, you can write down Psalm 104:15. The problem though is that Noah did not just drink of the wine, he evidently drank more of the wine than he should have, and he became drunk, the text says. Now while the Bible speaks in a way that, approves of the enjoyment of wine, the Bible universally always condemns drunkenness, which comes from overindulging in wine.

In fact, drunkenness is one of the sins of the flesh that's stated in Galatians 5:21, and Paul says basically that those who practice drunkenness without repentance will not inherit the kingdom of God. The Old Testament also provides warnings about the dangers of drinking too much wine. And this is why Paul commands Christians in Ephesians 5:18, he, he says to us, do not be drunk with wine wherein is what he calls dissipation. What he's saying is that when you drink wine in excess, And become drunk, there are a whole lot of sinful and shame, shameful behaviors that come inside of that.

And sure enough, that's exactly what happens to Noah. Noah becomes drunk and he loses his sense of shame and inhibition and the text says he uncovered himself. Meaning he took his clothes off, which leaves him in his house in an uncovered naked state. While the text tells us that he uncovered himself inside his tent, which is a lot better than doing that outside of your tent.

It seems that his tent was accessible to others who might wish to enter, so this is not a good thing that Noah is doing in his drunkenness. Noah is not serving others well and leaving himself naked in his tent for others to walk in on, which is exactly what ends up happening. The Bible is not into making excuses for the sinful choices of even its most noble characters. I'm sure there were complex psychological reasons why Noah got drunk on this occasion.

Perhaps he's still living with the trauma of the whole flood ordeal. I don't think any of us can appreciate the burden that Noah carried in his heart after having lived through the greatest global catastrophe that the world had ever seen, where every living thing on earth, on the land and in the sky perished. I don't think any of us can comprehend the load that was on his shoulders to do exactly what God said over a prolonged period of time. In order to ensure that his family would be saved.

And perhaps Noah is still dealing with all of that. Perhaps he's suffering, some might say from post-traumatic stress disorder. Perhaps he is experiencing survivor syndrome, or perhaps he is simply letting his guard down because the pressure is off now. Here's what's interesting though.

Whatever Noah's reasons were for getting drunk, the Bible does not bother informing us of those reasons. All we're told is that he got drunk and in doing that, he sinned a sin of great consequence. But interestingly, we are given a context for understanding Noah uncovering himself. The text could have simply said Noah uncovered himself in his tent, but instead the text tells us that Noah became drunk first and then he uncovered himself.

God wants us to know that this act of Noah and uncovering himself is something that Noah did in a drunken state. And this in itself is a great warning to all of us today of the danger of drunkenness. When a person is drunk, their inhibitions diminish and they lose their moral bearings. As Matthew Henry says, men say and do things when drunk, which when they are sober, they would blush.

At the thought of Let's be warned by this. Noah was a righteous man, he was a seasoned saint. He had walked with God for centuries and experienced tremendous victory over the evil of a pre-flood world. There is no greater victory in human history other than Christ than Noah's triumph over the evil of the pre-flood world and over his survival through the flood.

And yet here this righteous saint is being brought low by wine. The story is a powerful reminder to us that any of us can fall at any point of our lives. Past victories, past successes are no guarantee of future victory. Mark my words, Satan is totally unimpressed by your past victories.

In fact, he especially loves to strike after those victories because it is often then that we let our guard down. And become most vulnerable. In Noah's case, he was able to stand up to an entire planet of wicked people and remain righteous. He was able to withstand the influence of the world and be the most righteous man, the only righteous man on the planet.

But what the world could not succeed in getting him to do, several glasses of wine got him to do. As one writer says, he who maintained his ground over against a wicked and godless world, neglecting watchfulness and prayer. In a time of comparative safety. fell prey to a comparatively simple temptation, which should have been easy to meet.

It is not the young and untried Noah who sins, it is the seasoned the man of God, ripe and experience who is here brought low. What a sobering warning for all of us. It gets worse from here because of Noah's carelessness, opportunity is created for his son Ham to sin, and this brings us to the next development that we observe in the story, and that is that Ham looks upon and broadcast his father's nakedness. Verse 22, the text says Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.

Notice that Ham is described as the father of Canaan. Moses, who's writing this, really wants the Israelites to make this connection. Ham, the son of Noah, is the father of Canaan. He said the same thing back in verse 18.

We learn in the next chapter that Ham had 4 sons and the name of his 4th son was Canaan. And it is the descendants of Canaan, who will later dwell in the promised land, and God will call the Israelites to enter that land and subjugate them and drive them out. So Ham comes into the tent here and he sees the nakedness. Of his father.

The word saw here is better translated as look. As one writer says, this was not a harmless or an accidental seeing. Ham could have observed his father's indecency and then looked away, but he didn't do that. He intentionally looked upon his father's nakedness.

It's hard to know for sure all that was involved in the looking. that Ham is doing here and over the centuries of interpretation, the suggestions have been numerous. At the very, very least, it seems that Ham looked with delight and satisfaction at the sight of his father. In such a humiliating and disgraceful drunken naked condition.

He no doubt is enjoying this failure of his father. One writer suggests that Ham's sin was in his outspoken delight at his father's disgraceful condition. So I think we can say that this is the bare minimum, pardon the pun there, the, the bare minimum. Of the looking that Ham is doing, which is bad enough by itself.

Ham is doing the opposite of the law of God that would have been written in his heart that would later become enshrined in the fifth commandment to honor your father and your mother. He's violating that and dishonoring his father. But in addition to this bare minimum that I just mentioned, we must at least allow for the possibility that more is going on and that there is something, I hate to say this, but that there is something sexual going on in Ham's heart as well. And this interpretation has been suggested by ancient rabbis even before the New Testament era all the way down to modern interpreters.

And if there is any truth to this, then this makes Ham's sin of voyeurism all the more appalling. And by the way, if you think that's too crazy of a thought to consider, read Leviticus chapter 18. And see the kinds of things that Ham's descendants, Canaan's descendants were doing in the Land of Promise, things that God has to tell Israel, don't do these things that they are doing. And it's staggering the things God has to say, don't do.

That they were doing. Whatever is going on here, it's terrible. Ham is intentionally looking upon his father with evil in his heart. Bruce Walke in his commentary on this passage captures at least the broad essence of Ham's sin in this way.

He says voyeurism in general. violates another's dignity and robs that one of his or her instinctive desire for privacy and for propriety. It is a form of domination. Ham dishonors his father, whom he should have revered, and then he increases the dishonor by proclaiming it to others.

This leads us to what Ham does next. After looking upon his father's nakedness, he went out and told his brothers about it. In so doing, he left his father uncovered and vulnerable. He tells his brothers with the intention that they too might enter and see their father in his shameful naked state.

The context indicates that Ham did not just tell his brothers about his father, but that he told them with delight. So there are 3 offenses of him. That we would observe here. Number 1, Ham willfully looked with delight upon his father's nakedness.

Number 2, Ham walked away and left his father uncovered. And number 3, Ham went and told his two brothers about the drunken and naked state of their dad, clearly with the intent that they would come and see their father. Thereby Ham is tripling Noah's shame, and who knows, he may have told others too, but we know at least he told. His two brothers.

More broadly, Speaking, let me just say this by way of application. You learn a lot about people when watching how they respond to the failures and the shame of other people. In fact, we can say that it is often true that a person's truest character is most manifest in how they respond to the failings of other people. I would ask you, when you see or hear of someone who has failed and shamed themselves in some way, is your first thought to help them and to pray for them, or is your only thought to congratulate yourself and leave them in their shame and go and tell others about it?

When you hear news of some scandalous failure of another person, how do you respond? Honestly, it may be that the real scandal turns out to be your response to the failure of another person. That's what happens here. Ham thinks he's discovered a scandal.

But the real scandal is his behavior. But observe what Shem and Japheth do, which brings us to the next development in the story of Noah's last will and testament, and that is that Shem and Japheth honorably cover their father's nakedness. They honorably cover their father's Nakedness. It says, but Shem and Jape took a garment, laid it upon their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father and their faces were turned away so that they did not see.

Their father's nakedness. It's interesting and commentators will point this out, the comparison of verse 23 and verse 22 is, is fascinating. Hamsen. is described very quickly, very briefly, but then it's as if the narrative slows down and gives us a detailed narration of the good thing that Shem and Japheth do, which is the opposite of what a lot of modern movie makers would do.

Clearly, God is wanting to slow the narrative down and wants to spotlight the nobility of Shem and Japheth's actions, as well as helping us to understand something of the awkwardness of their task. Observe what they do. The text says they took a garment, literally, the Hebrews says they took the garment. Which might indicate that this is the very garment that Noah had taken off.

Perhaps Ham had brought it with him when he went to tell his brothers. that his father was naked. Either way they take this garment or some other garment and they lay it over their shoulders and the text says they walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. They're covering their father's nakedness so that no one else would encounter him in this state as Ham has done and as they have done.

And in doing this, they're actually being very much like God who himself covered Adam and Eve's nakedness. The passage is clear enough at this point, but the writer wants to emphasize their carefulness. Moses says in verse 23, their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father's nakedness. Moses really wants us to know, not only did they cover their father, but they themselves took pains to make sure that they did not see Their father's nakedness.

By the time they are done, they have not seen their father's nakedness, nor will anyone else. This is how they honor their father in his moment of weakness and disgrace. And what a rebuke. A silent rebuke this would have been to Ham.

To see the respect that Shem and Japheth show to their father. If Ham has any sense of conscience at all, he should be feeling really ashamed right now. The irony is that in covering their father in this way, Shem and Japheth are uncovering Ham's disgrace. And it turns out that the greatest scandal here is not what Noah is doing, but what Ham has done.

And the same is true today. Sometimes the greatest scandal is not the sin that an erring brother commits, but the pleasured reactions of gossipers who glory in the shame of a fallen brother. Again, I would caution you, be careful how you respond to scandals. It may be that the real scandal turns out to be your reaction to the scandal.

Choices have consequences and what follows. In verse 24 and beyond is the fallout from the behavior of these three sons, and this leads us to the next development in the story. This is the first and final time that we will hear Noah speak. It is his last act on the pages of scripture.

It is the last will and testament of one of the greatest men to ever walk the planet. And it's composed of three parts. That brings us to the 4th development, which is the first part of this last will and testament, and that is that Noah prophesized a curse upon Ham's youngest son, Canaan. He prophesized a curse upon Ham's youngest son, Canaan.

It says, when Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. To awake from wine means that he's coming back to a sober state. After the effects of the wine had worn off, Noah is now sober and the text tells us he knew. What his youngest son had done to him.

The Hebrew word for new here has the idea of either coming to know something directly or through inquiry. We don't know how Noah came to know what Ham had done. Perhaps in his drunkenness, Noah was still aware enough to know what Ham was doing. Perhaps God revealed it to him directly, or perhaps Noah was able to piece it all together.

And learn some of the details from Shem and Japheth. Either way, Noah realizes that Ham has dishonored him. And delighted in his disgrace. He realizes that Ham refused to help him in a moment when he was helpless and vulnerable, and Noah realizes that Ham went out and advertised his shame at least to his brothers.

And in addition to coming to know of Ham's behavior, Noah also comes to know what Shem and Japheth have done, and his knowledge of all of this compels him to speak. And so he speaks And what comes out of his mouth toward him is the language of cursing. But let's be careful how we view this. Instead of thinking of Noah as like magically somehow inflicting a curse upon Canaan, commentators say that it's better to think of Noah as speaking a word of prophecy.

This is Noah and his function as a prophet. Noah is truly offended. He's morally outraged by what Ham has done, but it's not likely that Noah is merely venting in his anger in a punitive way against Ham for this one act that Ham has done. What Ham has done in this one instance is probably indicative.

Of what Noah has already observed in him. And Noah knows that this does not bode well for him, nor for his offspring. And so Noah makes a prophetic utterance about what the future will hold for him's offspring. Canaan, his youngest son in particular, observe what Noah says, cursed.

Be Canaan. Cursed be Canaan. Commentators puzzle over why in the world does Noah curse Canaan. Rather than cursing him.

And there's different suggestions that are out there. Some say, well, in Genesis 9:1, God blessed Noah and his sons. And so Ham has already been blessed by God. Maybe Noah doesn't want to prophesy a curse on someone that God has already blessed, but I think a suggestion that is most worthy of consideration.

That it seems like most commentators buy into is the fact that Noah is prophesying a curse upon Canaan because Noah has observed the same evil tendencies in Canaan that had been exhibited in Ham's actions. If this is the case, then we're a few decades after the flood. And Ham has had 4 children and they are old enough to where Noah is able to observe this in Canaan. In the words of one writer, Noah curses Cain because the evil trait displayed by Ham in this story had no doubt been discerned by Noah as marking Canaan, the sun, more distinctly.

Another writer says, why did the curse fall on Canaan? Because Noah likely detected in Canaan the evil traits he had seen in his father. These traits would be disrespect of father, gloating in the failures of others, and a sinful enjoyment in seeing the nakedness of others. Indeed, Later biblical revelation shows us that the Canaanites were a sexually wicked people in ways that bore the likeness of Ham's sin here in our passage today.

For example, in Leviticus 18, That I alluded to earlier, God provides a list of sinful sexual practices that the Canaanites, the descendants of Canaan, were engaging in, and God uses the word nakedness 24 times, describing their behaviors. And it's stunning all the things that God is describing there, and then tells the Israelites, don't do these things that these Canaanites have been doing. At the end of the sordid list, God says to the Israelites, do not defile yourselves by any of these things, for by all of these things, the nations, which are in the Land of Promise, that's the Canaanites, which I am casting out before you have become defiled.

The descriptions of these sins of the Canaanites in Leviticus 18 causes the reader to look back at our passage today.

And realize that the DNA of all of those sins are contained in Ham's sin here in Genesis 9 and would come to their fullest, most wicked expression in the descendants of Canaan. As Bruce Walke says, Noah's leaven of exposing himself spreads to Ham's parent, dishonoring voyeurism. And will sour fully into Canaan's rampant sexual perversions so that the land will vomit them out. So as Noah speaks here, this is not so much a curse falling on Canaan and his descendants simply because of Ham's sin, but it is a curse upon them because they themselves will choose to act and to live just as their ancestor Ham did.

And with the eye of a prophet, Noah sees this and prophesies of this. And Noah also says about Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be. To his brothers. This may mean that he will be a servant to his brothers who are the other sons of him, or could be speaking of his uncles Shem and Japheth and their descendants.

Either way, Canaan and his descendants because of their spiritual slavery will find themselves in the lowliest of positions before his brothers. Imagine being him and hearing Your father speak this way about one of your sons. This would have hit Ham hard. Noah is saying the curse of Ham's deviancy will be especially manifested in Canaan and in his descendants and will reduce them to a people who will be the lowliest of servants.

That's what spiritual slavery does. But observe what Noah does next, this brings us to the next development in the story of Noah's last will and testament, and that is Noah blesses the God of Shem, and he prophesies of Canaan's servitude. To him. Verse 26, he also said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.

It's interesting here that, that Noah does not bless Shem in this sentence as much as he is blessing Jehovah, who is the God of Shem. The fact that Noah does this means that he's recognizing that the nobility of Shem comes from Jehovah, and it's birthed out of Shem's relationship with Jehovah God. And so Noah is praising and exalting God and blessing God, the God of Shem. He's blessing God for the man that his son Shem is.

Evidently Shem is not a self-made man, but he is a Jehovah made man. And Noah recognizes this and gives the glory to God. Matthew Henry wonderfully says this, Noah gives to God here, the glory of that good work which Shem had done, and instead of blessing and praising Him who was the instrument, he blesses and praises God. Who was the author?

Let me ask you a question. Those of you that have parents that are still alive, do you behave towards your parents in a way that causes them to praise God? Do you ever treat your parents in ways that cause your parents to say, blessed be the God of this child of mine? Are your parents better and more passionate worshippers of God because of you?

May it be that whether we be children in the home or adults out of the home that we treat our parents in such a way that they respond by blessing and praising God because of us. Keep in mind that these sons of Noah are out of the home by now. Ham is Noah's youngest son and he already has 4 sons. So Shem is treating his father in a way that inspires his father to worship God as a grown man out of the home.

Guys, no matter how old you are, or how old your parents are, glorify God by being a blessing to your parents. May they experience, whether they know the Lord or not. May they experience the goodness of God through you, to where if they are a Christian, that they recognize God is being good to me through this child of mine, and God, I praise you, I praise you. Blessed be the God of this child of mine.

Even if they don't know the Lord, may their thought be, I don't even know much about who this Jesus is, but whoever he is, he's made a wonderful child. who loves me and treats me with respect and honor. Keep in mind that the Israelites are descendants of Shem, The Israelites are Shemites. So when God says, blessed be the God of Shem, he's saying blessed be the God of Israel.

And when he says let Canaan be his servant, God is saying, let the Canaanites be the servant of my people who descend from Shem. My people will subjugate them. And have authority over them. This is in fact what God, at this point in Israel's history, as they're reading Genesis for the first time, they've departed from Egypt, they're about to go into the land of Canaan to subjugate them and drive them out, and the Israelites would know that in obeying God and entering into this land and subjugating the Canaanites and driving them out, we are fulfilling.

The last will and testament of Noah as he speaks it here. Observe what Noah does next, this is the 6th development. And the story of Noah's last will and testament, and that is Noah blesses Japheth and prophesies of Cain and servitude to him. Noah says, may God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem and let Canaan be his servant.

There are 3 things that Noah is wishing for his son Japheth here. First of all, he wishes that God would enlarge Japheth. and, and there's a play on words in the Hebrew. The word Japheth means large, so he's saying, may, may God enlarge the enlarged one.

And this prophecy actually came true in the sense that the descendants of Japeth went on to account for the greatest land mess. Of Noah's 3 sons. We'll see some of that in chapter 10. Wonderfully, Noah also says, let him dwell in the tents of Shem.

You get the impression from this last will and testament that Shem is the predominant one. and when he says of Japheth, let him dwell in the tents of Shem, it is best here to see this as the language of hospitality in which the descendants of Japheth will be allowed To share in the blessings of Shem, from whom the Messiah will come. And the people of Israel would come. Many commentators point out that the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy happened when we Gentiles were grafted into the people of God, as it's described in Romans 11.

We Gentiles. have become children of Abraham, who was a Shemite by faith and we are brought into the blessings of the new covenant which was made to Israel, who were descendants of Shem. As one writer says, the Japhethites have very largely come in to share Shem's blessings, for as Gentiles, they have been grafted into the good olive tree. Shem's spiritual heritage is ours.

Abraham has become our father in faith, and we are his true children. The day that you were converted to Christ and were ushered into the blessings and became a child of Abraham through faith, That was just one additional fulfillment of Noah's last will and testament of this ancient prophecy continuing to be fulfilled. Wonderfully, God tells Abraham later in Genesis that through Abraham, who was a descendant of Shem, all the families of the earth are gonna be blessed and that would include the descendants of Ham.

And so we see the fuller revelation of all of this in the New Testament that God so loved the world, not just the descendants of Shem and of Japheth, but also of him and in the body of Christ are descendants of all three of Noah's sons.

But here, Noah's last words of his last will and testament are the words, let Canaan be his servant too. The servant of Japheth. This whole statement by Noah is a stunning indictment of Canaan as the one who most bears the awful likeness of Ham's sin. Noah says three things about Canaan in these verses.

Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers. Verse 26, let Canaan be Shem's servant, and verse 27, let Canaan be Japheth's servant. I have no doubt that Noah spoke these prophetic words with a broken heart, but these words will indeed come to pass. By and large, Canaan's descendants will embody the worst of Ham's deviant.

Behavior, historical records show that even the Romans were stunned by the depravity of the Canaanites, the depths of sexual evil that they engaged in, the deviancy of their behavior. They startled even pagans with their sexual wickedness, and they will pollute the land with their sin, and God will commission the Israelites to go in and subjugate them and conquer them and drive them out. In fulfillment of Noah's last will and testament. This brings us to the final development of the story, and that is that Noah lives for 950 years, then dies.

Noah lived 350 years after the flood, so all the days of Noah were 950 years. And he died. What a remarkable life that Noah lived. 2/3 of his life were lived before the flood.

1/3 of his life was after the flood, he outlived Adam. He lived long enough to see the world well on its way toward being repopulated. He also lived long enough to see the world returning to evil. And the last words that we have from his lips.

are the words of a brokenhearted man. Who has been victimized by the evil of his own son. But Noah is blessed by the nobility of Shem and of Japheth, and he seems to know that somehow through the line of Shem, there is hope for the human race. And that's the story of Noah's last will and testament.

Let's ponder a few things as we wrap things up, this morning. What do we learn from this story? well, we learned that modesty and looking upon nakedness is a big deal to God. Our culture has lost its sense of modesty.

So exposing one's nakedness and looking upon the nakedness of others is no big deal nowadays, but Ham should not have looked with delight upon his father's nakedness, and Shem and Japheth did a most excellent thing in refusing to look and in covering up the nakedness of their father. Nakedness and modesty is a big deal to God. Looking upon, listen carefully to what I'm saying and what I'm not saying. Looking upon the nakedness of someone that you are not married to with sinful or lustful intent is a great offense to God.

And this would include absolutely all forms of pornography. We also learned in our story today that what seems like an ordinary mundane moment can end up, even just a normal mundane household moment. Can end up having staggering consequences. Little did Noah know that doing something inside the walls of his own home would be of such consequence.

Little did Ham know as he walked into his father's tent, that he was walking in on one of the most pivotal moments of his life. Little did Shem and Japheth know how huge this moment would be for them as well. You never know when those moments may arrive for you. When the decisions that you make, even within the walls of your own home are fraught with staggering consequences that transcend generations.

We also learned something in the story about the dangers of drunkenness. The Bible does not prohibit drinking alcohol, but it does put an extensive warning label on the bottle. And there are situations like what we find here in Genesis 9 that ought to give all of us much to ponder. Noah was the most righteous man on the planet who stood up against the whole world of evil and compromise, yet he drank too much wine and became drunk and behaved in a way that he would have never behaved.

In a sober state. Creating an occasion of stumbling for one of his sons and an awkward situation for his other two sons. And guys, we ought to take note of that, when the most righteous man on the planet drinks too much and behaves shamefully, You should include that fact among the things you ponder when you consider the dangers of drunkenness. As Solomon warns in Proverbs 20:1, wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.

Let's also be reminded today. From this passage of the power of sin, the insidiousness of sin to attack us in our most unguarded moments, no matter how long we've known the Lord. This is so sad to me, but I appreciate the scripture just being so honest, even about its heroes. As R.

Kent Hughes says, the virulence of sin is astounding. Noah was the one righteous man on the face of the earth. His blameless life had been a thing of wonder in the depraved pre-diluvian or pre-flood world, but sin at that moment had conquered him. This helpless drunk fallen unconscious in his tent is as significant a warning to us as the flood.

Noah could not make it on his own. He was terribly flawed, he needed help beyond himself, he needed God's grace. Let's all be reminded. Of the restlessness of evil, the power of sin and our need daily, moment by moment for God's grace.

Let's be reminded of the value of being ever vigilant and alert and being humbly dependent upon the Lord. Let's be reminded of Paul's warning, let him who thinks that he stands, take heed lest he what? Fall. Let's also be reminded that how we respond to the sins and the failings of others.

Might be the truest manifestation of our true character. In 1 Peter 4, Peter tells us that love covers a multitude of sins. In other words, love doesn't gossip, love does not rejoice in the failings of others, love does not rejoice in the disgrace of others. When somebody is caught in a trespass, spiritual people move toward that person.

And seek to restore them, not exploit their failures. And finally, let us marvel at grace and let's think of Jesus Christ. How can we not? In this passage we see Shem.

And Japheth covering Noah's nakedness and his shame, which is just what God did for Adam and Eve after they had sinned. This is also what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. God did not mock us in our shame and disgrace. He did not leave us who know him naked in our disgrace, but he moved toward us and he covered our spiritual nakedness.

We were just as helpless. To cover ourselves as Noah was in his drunken stupor. But Jesus Christ The ultimate son of Shem, the descendant of Shem, came to us and clothed us with his righteousness, and he covered our disgrace. And it is in Christ that we find the fullest fulfillment of the statement, love covers a multitude of sins.

The love of this ultimate son of Shem has covered and atoned for the multitude of our sins. And if you're here today and you have never looked at Christ, you've never experienced this covering, this atonement, this forgiveness for your sins, I would urge you. To look to him today, repent of your sins. Believe in Jesus Christ who died for you and shed his blood so that your sins could be atoned and covered.

And so that you might then be clothed in the very righteousness of Jesus and brought into relationship with Him. Cry out to Him today. Believe in him. Let's pray together.

If you're here today, and, maybe God's working in your heart and you, like, I wanna know more about how I can become a Christian, how I can have my sins forgiven, how I can be made right with God. you can pray right now and call upon the Lord's name for salvation, but if you have questions about that, just put that on the connection card. We would love to contact you and answer whatever questions you have or come see us over at the welcome table. After the service, and we'd love to talk with you.

Let's pray together Lord, I'm touched by The fact that in your word, You don't just tell us the good about the heroes of scripture. You are the only hero. We see brokenness, we see failure. Noah was an incredible man and this episode in his life takes nothing away from all of that.

But we see evidence today in our passage that Noah was a broken man. He was a flawed man, but he was still mightily used of you, which shows us that we don't have to be perfect. To be chosen by you and used by you. You use broken people and do great things with them.

You're a good God and we just thank you, Lord, for your grace, for covering our shame, for giving us grace through Jesus Christ that you did not mock us. And say you're a disgrace and then abandon us and leave us uncovered for all of eternity. No, you move towards us, and you covered us with Jesus. We thank you.

And if there's any here today, Lord, who are right now uncovered in their shame, spiritually speaking, May they just cry out to you and know that you will rush to them. And be so pleased and delighted to love them and to cover them and give them your grace. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you and we ask that you would receive these funds and do much with every penny that is given for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, and all God's people said, Amen.