February 12, 2006

We Are Creatures of The Fall
Gen. 9: 18 -29

Did you ever discipline your child for doing something wrong and then not ten minutes later he or she was right back at it again?

Doesn't there seem to be some attraction to the thing that is forbidden?

"No, Don't touch, Junior, its hot! “Burnie, burnie".

And as soon as you turn around you hear a loud cry and smell the aroma of toasted flesh as little Junior, unable to resist the temptation, has to find out for himself.

And aren't you surprised when a few weeks later the same sort of thing happens again, different stove, but same lure.

The heavenly Father must have felt like that at this point in time. The world has been Judged, the horror of man's sin has been erased, but sadly enough, only for a minute.

The old man Noah, perfect in his generations, just and upright in every way, goes out, plants a vineyard and makes himself some fine wine and promptly gets looped. And if that's not enough, he uncovers himself in his tent, gets fall down NAKED drunk.

There has been some speculation that there was no possibility of drunkenness before the flood because of some natural preservative in the atmosphere that was erased by the rain. There has been much debate over the fact that after the flood, men began to live shorter lives and the removal of this preservative and the introduction of bacteria was responsible for this.

I don't know. I do know that Matt 24:38 says For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and that at least they were drinking and partying, and kool-aid doesn't appear at most parties. But who knows.

What I do know is that Noah did get drunk but that wasn't the thing that displeased God most here. What displeased God was the response of Noah's son and grandson.

We will notice here that it is not Ham who gets cursed by God, rather his son. Some have indicated that this was God hitting Ham where it really hurt; I rather think that this grandson was involved somehow in this incident. Perhaps getting Grampy drunk? Or checking out the old man's wrinkled carcass. Who can say, but Ham saw the nakedness of his father. There seems to be some indication here that it wasn't accidental, maybe Canaan told him? Again who knows, but he went and took a peek at the Old guy anyway. The indications are strong that Canaan was involved as we see the Hebrew expression in verse 24 "Noah Knew what his young son had done" "Young son" is closer translated "the young one" and could refer to Canaan . Again speculation, but seemingly borne out in who gets cursed.

It is very disturbing to me that over the years many theologians have noted that many of Ham's descendants were black as we will note next time, and they say that Ham's curse refers to the blackening of skin and that the black races are cursed. This is total TRIPE, and any one who tries to lower a race because of this needs a trip to the cross.

Note that it is not Ham who gets cursed, but Canaan , and the Canaanites look the same as the Jews basically and to see black skin as a curse is ridiculous and, as you can probably tell, ticks me off. Probably most of the race (human) was dark skinned and we white folk is washed out, who can tell?

The point of all this is that no matter how severe the judgment on sin, no matter what Ham had seen, it didn't deter his sinning, didn't deter Noah's sinning, doesn't deter any one's sinning. We are creatures of the fall and left to ourselves, we do rotten things.

Remember when your parents were incensed because you had to read "The Lord of the Flies" in school?

The gist of that story is young British school boys stranded on an Island and left for a time to their own devices. And in not too great a time these fine upstanding boys become totally cruel and savage in their manner of life.

It isn't at all surprising. The race is dead. We are part of a dead race that acts out its dilemma each day. The dilemma of people who are in bondage to sin. Now many use their self control and are what the world calls "good people" yet there is still a problem. The Bible clearly states "There is none righteous, no not one.” In Romans 3:10 and also Ps 14:1 and 53:1 say :The fool hath said in his heart, [There is] no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, [there is] none that doeth good.

Ro 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

And these good people are just as bound under sin as the vilest reprobate sleeping in a gutter on skid row. They and we have in us the covetous spirit, a nature that is self centered, and rebels against God.

You don't think so? Just tell a "good person" that they are a sinner and they'll soon prove it. They get in a bit of a snit. Listen! None of us likes having our sins pointed out to us. But we all have sin. If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Now just like Noah and his offspring, we see God's judgment, we hear His word, His denouncement of sin and we do just like they did. SIN.

Paul wrestled with this in Romans 7, a chapter that many people haul way out of context and miss the beautiful song of God's grace. Please read Romans 7.

Now look at 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Now this is not a treatise on marriage, rather an illustration of the relationship between the law and grace. The illustration points out that if a man dies, then his wife is freed from the bonds that bound them and can remarry.

In the same way, Paul says, I was bound by the law, bound by sin. When I didn't know the law, you had no guilt over sins, then God allowed the law in to point out my sinfulness and I could no longer be fat dumb and happy because conviction came by the law. So I tried to behave, tried to keep the law, tried hard to do a good job, and yet the inner man is still dead. Covetousness and lust and all those things still existed, and in a passionate plea to God He cries out "Who can deliver me?"

Paul under the LAW was unable to stop sinning try as he might, but Notice the change as he cries out the victory cry :"THANK YOU GOD THAT IN JESUS I AM FREE. There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to those in Christ Jesus.

You see, when God judged sin in the flood, he left to replenish the earth sinful people, but one day thousands of years later God poured all His wrath against sin out on His own sweet and sinless Son. And in that judgment against sin His great wrath was spent.

BUT (ah that blessed contrast) BUT In Jesus case something else happened. He, the sinless one rose, why? That we who accept him, who follow Him as Lord might WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE. No longer bound by sin, no longer owned and ruled by sin, but ruled by righteousness.

No wonder Paul calls out the joyful HALLELUJAH "THANKS BE TO GOD I AM FREE THROUGH JESUS...THERE IS NO Condemnation.”

Listen. I need to know that it is clear to you that you do not have to be a slave to sin. That you can be free in Jesus Christ, free from sin, free to live a righteous life, free to serve the God who loves you. You can live a moral life without Jesus, but you cannot live abundant life without Him. You can live a long time without Jesus, but you cannot live forever without Him. You can try not to sin without Jesus, but you cannot be freed from sin's curse and power without Him.

You may indeed be a good person in your eyes or the world’s eyes, but unless you have humbled yourself and accepted Jesus as Lord you aren't good enough. You see, the standard is total holiness; all have sinned and fallen short of God's exceeding perfection.

And that is why the only remedy is God's remedy.

It interests me that many say it is narrow minded to think of there only being one way...it's not if there is only one way!

Now you recall I am sure that Noah's other sons covered their eyes, walked backwards with a blanket into Dad’s tent and covered him up. Listen, there is a principle here that I want to mention, God takes away sin in His love, we are to cover sin with ours. The Bible says in1Pe 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Now how does that work? Look at a few more references with me. Pr 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife : but love covers all sins. Pr 12:16 A fool's wrath is presently known: but a prudent [man] covers shame.

Pr 17:9 He that covers a transgression seeks love; but he that repeats a matter separates friends.

You see? First of all it boils down to closing your mouth when someone blows it. Go and do what Matt. 18 says and try to gain your brother and seek repentance. And listen, if you haven't done that for HEAVEN sake shut up! More damage is done to people and to the body by wagging tongues than any other thing. The ones most likely to tell ME someone's sin are the ones least likely to tell the one involved and that friends is SIN and don't try to minimize that!

And note here that Ham ran and told on Dad, but the other two responded correctly.

But a second thing happened here, the problem was dealt with. James 5:20 says, "Let him know, that he which converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.“ You see you don't tell other people, you do correct the erring brother.

Oh people, if this would only be applied in the body so much could be gained for Christ. So much hurt and sin could be dealt with as Christ did, How? I'll tell you how WITH PERSONAL SACRIFICE !!!!! When we see sin quite often we want a sacrifice alright but its "crucify the other guy" that we have in mind. Jesus chose to personally take the brunt of our sin. And that is what we are to do too, to risk it all, to face discomfort and be loving and seek repentance even if it costs us. Listen, if you love like Christ loves then you will be praying for the erring one with a view to their repentance, and then you'll be walking backwards with a blanket to hide the shame if you can.

We most often pray, "LORD WHATEVER IT TAKES, NAIL 'IM IF YOU MUST BUT BRING HIM HOME".

Yet what God is crying out is "YOU!!!! You bring him home because that is why I left you there to love him home! And if you are praying "God nail Him" Then you need to be on your face before God in real repentance that your hard heart be softened so you can be the blanket bearer, the instrument of God to lovingly correct and hide a multitude of sins.

Two responses here to a sin, one was to exploit it the other to hide it, Oh make that three, God punished whom? The sinner of the first part? NO the one who exposed and laughed and points a finger and didn't cover.

You better think about that, because God is just and you will not escape His dealing if you refuse to hear and obey His word. Sin is still on God's hate list, sinners are not. The So called Baptist Church in the Mid-west that says Hate is part of God's plan, they are screwballs, and as far from the truth as it gets. God hates sin, but He died to redeem sinners so they wouldn’t perish in Hell. Are you willing to go to that extreme? Are you willing to die so others might live?

Do you really love? I mean do you love others enough to face discomfort that they might be comforted? Do you love them enough to face the chance of being rejected so they won't be rejected by God? Do you love enough to avoid gossip and bite your tongue and talk to them about their sin instead of others?

If you don't do you really, really Love?

I close with this: Is your agenda personal, do you make yourself look good instead of going lovingly and confronting as you should would you rather tell the world at large, or share it with your friends Instead of going to the source and seeing that it ends? Now ask yourself this question before the Lord above if I don't do it God's way

Do I really love?

You think about that....AMEN