The Danger of Decisionism: Why ‘Saying Yes’ Is Not Salvation

• Ethnic Origins and Historical Development 00:40:55 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that Genesis 9 provides the ethnic origins of the human race through Noah's three sons, predicting the historical development of families and nations.
• Symbolism of Noah's Sons 00:42:17 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor assigns symbolic meanings to Shem (spiritual side), Ham (technological development), and Japheth (intellectual development) to illustrate the threefold development of humanity.
• The Crisis of Sin 00:46:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor introduces the theme of sin's impact, questioning why Noah, who witnessed the flood, would sin again, setting up the examination of human sin's pervasive nature.
• Universal Sinfulness 00:47:48 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that all men are sinners and need a Savior, citing examples from the Garden of Eden, the Church, and the Millennium to show that failure is universal.
• Noah's Failure 00:49:56 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor highlights the contradiction of Noah, a righteous man, falling into drunkenness in his later years to illustrate that spiritual maturity does not grant immunity to sin.
• Vigilance Against the Devil 00:50:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor warns that the devil remains committed to taking believers down regardless of age or past victories, urging constant prayer and guarding of the heart.
• Biblical View on Alcohol 00:55:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the 'law of first mention' to argue that the Bible consistently associates alcohol with sorrow, misery, and danger, citing Proverbs 23.
• Ham's Perversion and Cruelty of Sin 01:00:35 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor analyzes Ham's reaction to Noah's drunkenness, describing it as a gaze of satisfaction and delight, illustrating how sin leads to cruelty and mockery.
• The Cruelty of Sin 01:06:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor discusses how sin leads to cruelty, using Ham's mockery of Noah as an example, and contrasts it with the believer's duty to cover the sins of others rather than spread them.
• The Curse of Sin and Racial Justice 01:06:49 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor addresses the curse on Canaan, explicitly debunking the historical misuse of this text to justify slavery and racism, asserting that God is colorblind and that no race is superior.
• Intergenerational Influence 01:11:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that Noah's curse on Canaan was a prophecy based on the moral trends developing in Ham's family, illustrating that 'we reproduce what we are' and that family influence is powerful.
• The Covenant of Grace 01:15:09 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor highlights God's blessing on Shem, Japheth, and the inclusion of Gentiles, using the olive tree analogy to explain how grace extends to all nations through the line of Shem.
• Universal Salvation 01:19:38 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor concludes by emphasizing that God's invitation to salvation is for everyone regardless of race or background, citing examples from Acts (Ethiopian eunuch, Saul, Cornelius).
• Salvation by Faith 01:22:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor outlines the specific steps for salvation: understanding God's love, repenting from sin, believing in Jesus' death on the cross, and receiving forgiveness through His blood.
• Prayer for Salvation 01:22:48 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor leads the congregation in a prayer of repentance and surrender, inviting them to ask Jesus to come into their hearts.

• Sermon Illustration 00:41:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the biblical narrative of Noah's sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) and their descendants to illustrate the spread of the human race and the development of spiritual, technological, and intellectual aspects of humanity.
• Sermon Illustration 00:53:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about turning 60 years old and realizing that past blessings do not guarantee future faithfulness, urging prayer for God to remove anything that hinders testimony.
• Sermon Illustration 00:59:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references his 38 years of pastoral experience dealing with alcohol problems in homes to validate the seriousness of the issue and the need to understand God's word on it.
• Sermon Illustration 01:02:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the biblical account of Ham seeing Noah drunk and naked, and then telling his brothers with delight, to illustrate how sinners become 'pushers' who want others involved in their sin, contrasting this with Shem and Japheth covering their father's nakedness.
• Sermon Illustration 01:07:26 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the historical misuse of the curse of Canaan by men in the southern United States in the 1800s to rationalize slavery, labeling this interpretation as 'trash' and asserting that God judges those who perpetuate such racial superiority.
• Sermon Illustration 01:18:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of an olive tree, where the natural branches (Jews) are lopped off and wild branches (Gentiles) are grafted in, to explain how God extended grace to the Gentiles after the Jews rejected Jesus.
• Sermon Illustration 01:20:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites three specific examples from Acts: the Ethiopian eunuch (son of Ham), Saul of Tarsus (son of Shem), and Cornelius (son of Japheth) to demonstrate that salvation is available to all lines of descent.
• Sermon Illustration 01:21:25 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Cornelius, a man from the Italian band, who received the gospel from Simon Peter, believed in his heart, and was gloriously saved, serving as an example of a 'son of Japheth' being saved.

• Pastoral Charge 00:46:14 ▶️ 📄
  > Take notes on the crisis of sin found in the passage.
• Pastoral Charge 00:50:32 ▶️ 📄
  > Write down the principle that no man is immune to sin.
• Pastoral Charge 00:56:55 ▶️ 📄
  > Turn to Proverbs 23 to read the biblical warnings about alcohol.
• Pastoral Charge 01:22:48 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor invites lost individuals to repent, believe in Jesus' sacrifice, receive forgiveness, and surrender their lives to Him.
• Pastoral Charge 01:22:12 ▶️ 📄
  > Bow heads in prayer.
• Pastoral Charge 01:23:37 ▶️ 📄
  > Surrender one's life to Jesus.

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:15:46] And to be near in His presence. Our next hymn is My Lord is Near Me All the Time. There's no place we can go or hide that He won't be with us. Amen? Let's stand and sing this beautiful hymn.
[00:18:44] in this place today as indeed we've come to lift up and magnify his name if you're visiting with us we want to bid you a warm welcome in the name of the lord and on behalf of our trinity baptist
[00:18:53] family in fact our deacons are here and they would love the opportunity to share with you some material there's some gift bags that they have that they would love to put in the hands of those of you that are visiting and you'll find some things that we want you to take home and
[00:19:07] remember your visit here with us today but there's a guest card in that that we just asked you to take a moment and fill that out and place it in the offering plate when it comes by a little bit
[00:19:16] later in the service. So if you'll just lift your hand about like this as our ushers make their way down the aisle, then you just keep your hand up there for a moment and they'll slide this to you.
[00:19:26] And again, if you're joining us via live stream, we want to welcome you into the sanctuary here at Trinity Baptist Church on this beautiful Lord's Day that he's given us. And we want you to
[00:19:35] participate in every aspect of our worship from wherever you may be this morning. When we sing, you sing along with us when we pray we invite you to pray with us and then in a few moments when we
[00:19:46] go to god's word we invite you to be a part of that and grab a bible and follow along with us as we continue to study his word together so again we're grateful you're here looking forward
[00:19:57] to a great day in god's house as we all focus our hearts and our minds upon him and would you just join with me as we go to him in prayer this morning and begin our service together father we do in
[00:20:11] these very moments just stop and come before you humbly responsive seeking your face for lord we recognize that so many times we we come before you seeking your hand and too few a times do we
[00:20:36] come before you just seeking your face just to be in your presence just to ask you to be near us and to to speak to our hearts to direct us to guide us and to be all that you want us to be so lord
[00:20:56] i just pray in these moments as we are gathered here in your house that that you would be honored and glorified father i pray that every mind and heart here would just be focused upon you
[00:21:08] those that are joining us via live stream father i pray that they too may have their hearts pricked today by the power of your spirit as you teach us your word as you grow us to be more like you
[00:21:23] father and all those things i just ask that that you move mightily in this place i pray that you would block out any barriers anything that that might be raised up to somehow keep us from hearing
[00:21:36] from you and lord that you would block out any thing that would somehow hinder us from knowing what it is just to experience your presence today father we love you we worship you and we ask lord
[00:21:56] today that you just move mightily up and down the aisles in and out of the pews touching each individual heart you know the need of every individual here we cannot hide we know that you know us and so we ask you to do a work in us that only your holy spirit can do and i just lift
[00:22:19] this prayer in faith trusting and believing you for it's in jesus name i pray amen well if you have children with you from preschool through third grade we want to invite them to be a part
[00:22:31] of children's church this morning to my right and to your left so when we stand to greet each other make your way down the aisle the children and let them slip over here to see miss terry let's all
[00:22:41] stand to your feet if you will turn around and shake a few hands hug a few necks make each other

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:22:47] welcome here in the house of the lord who are joining us for the first time we ask you to go

[00:29:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:29:45] to trinitybaptistchurch.com and continue to support this ministry thank you all let us pray heavenly father endless is your mercy eternal is your reign heaven and earth are full of your glory through abraham you promised to bless all nations lord and you have richly blessed our nation
[00:30:13] this is your country lord and we are your children however some have gone astray and we pray for them that they will come to know you and be a part of the body of Christ.
[00:30:28] Lord Jesus, take us back to the wedding feast in Cana and let us reflect what the mother of God commanded.
[00:30:40] Do what he says.
[00:30:44] Oh Lord Jesus, if we do what we say, we will be drawn closer to you and we will have a place in those mansions that you have prepared for us.
[00:30:56] Lord Jesus, if we draw closer to you and we do what you say, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy mind and love our neighbors as ourselves.
[00:31:13] Then we shall see what we'll reap.
[00:31:15] We will never be thirsty again after the drink of living waters.
[00:31:20] our bread will be well buttered heavenly father the end result is that we shall dwell in the house of the lord forever as we celebrated the going home of marilyn susan and michelle ex-father and all those saints who have gone before us grant them eternal rest lord for
[00:31:45] thine is the glory and the power and the might forever and ever amen

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:31:50] Long to rise, arms of faith closer drawn.

[00:36:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:36:31] For blessing us this morning.
[00:36:33] Turn in your Bibles, if you will, to the book of Genesis.
[00:36:36] The book of Genesis chapter 9 is where we find ourselves this morning as we're continuing in our series where we have been for a number of weeks now in Genesis.
[00:36:49] And just sort of a brief reset, if you will, in Genesis 9 where you're turning noah and his family have just gone through the flood as you recall uh and they've done so in the safety of the ark that god has guided noah to build and as the flood is over
[00:37:09] god has put a rainbow you'll recall in the sky which is a reminder to them of his promise that he would never again destroy the earth with water and so God has made an agreement or we talked
[00:37:26] about it that he has in and entered in a covenant with man and so really what you and I are going to see today in an unbelievable manner God has demonstrated his incredible grace and love to Noah
[00:37:44] and to his family and so this morning come i want you to stand if you will and honor the reading of the word of god and in genesis chapter 9 we're going to pick up where we had left off a couple
[00:37:56] weeks ago and the 18th verse down through the end of the chapter picking up in verse 18 of Genesis 9. Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was
[00:38:17] the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah. And from these, the whole earth was populated. And Noah began to be a farmer and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine
[00:38:33] and was drunk and became uncovered in his tent and Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside but Shem and Japheth took a garment laid it on
[00:38:53] both their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father their faces were turned away and they did not see their father's nakedness. So Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him. Then he said, cursed be Canaan, the servant of servants
[00:39:18] he shall be to his brethren. And he said, blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem and may Canaan be his servant may God enlarge Japheth and may he dwell in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be
[00:39:37] his servant and Noah lived after the flood 350 years so all the days of Noah were 950 years and he died would you pray with me father I pray in these next few minutes as we
[00:39:56] study your word together. You would speak to every heart and every mind that's gathered in this place. Lord, just help us to be open to what you want to say to us today. You know the individual
[00:40:09] needs of every life, those that are here in the sanctuary and those that are joining us via live stream. And God, I just pray that you would meet each need today, that you would speak to
[00:40:22] every heart where there's a need for rebuke lord let your spirit rebuke where there's a need for comfort father let your spirit bring comfort through your word and lord just grow us all today to be more like you and i pray personally that you let the words of my mouth and the
[00:40:41] meditation of my heart or let them be pleasing in your sight for it's in jesus name i pray amen you may be seated now these verses that you and i have just uh uncovered and read here together
[00:40:55] are very very important in scripture because they give to us the ethnic origins of the human race from these three sons of noah the bible says that the whole human family has actually been derived. In fact, what you have here in the scripture is a statement of how the human race
[00:41:22] began and really a prediction of the historical development of all of the families all over the earth. And when you get to the 10th chapter of Genesis, you kind of look back at all the
[00:41:37] generations of these three sons and how they are all spread and how they have all developed.
[00:41:44] and you discover that this statement in scripture is remarkably accurate when you think of the historical development of these particular sons now just briefly in this 18th verse i want you to look at it for just a moment this morning because i want you to look at these three sons
[00:42:07] and if you're a note taker you're going to want to jot down some things this morning that i think are going to help you connect some dots right here in scripture now i want you to
[00:42:17] understand about these sons you see in verse 18 the sons of noah who went out of the art you can underline them shem ham and japheth now look at that number one shem the name shem literally means
[00:42:34] name or honor. And it was from Shem that the Semitic people came, those who are genuinely populating the Middle East, and the Israelites in particular are descendants of Shem. A great portion of the entire Old Testament is devoted to giving a tracing of the account of the line
[00:43:01] of Shem which is the Hebrew race. Secondly you see the name Ham. That name means hot and it's a reminder to us that these are the ones that populated Babylon, Egypt, and Africa. And then
[00:43:20] you'll see the name Japheth. Japheth means expansion or enlargement and he represents those who would become the nations of Europe and North America. You and I this morning, those of us who are in America, came from the line of Japheth. Now, I don't have time to go into it in depth,
[00:43:45] but I do want to just mark how these three individuals became a picture of what could be called the threefold development of the entire human race. You say, what do you mean, Pastor Mark?
[00:44:01] Well, from Shem came the spiritual side of man's nature. See, God assigned to the line of Shem the development of the spiritual life of mankind. From Ham, it represents the technological development of humanity or mankind. This line was particularly skilled in the ability to give
[00:44:31] to humanity the technological skills needed for their development and ultimately for their civilizations. Japheth, on the other hand, contributes to man in the area of intellectual development. See, it was from the line of Japheth that came great philosophers. As man began to
[00:44:54] think, man began to reason, man began to explore, and that is traced to the line of Japheth.
[00:45:04] So what we have in the passage that we're actually looking at this morning, I just wanted to say in the way of introduction actually is a miracle in scripture of how God spread the entire human
[00:45:19] race from Shem, Ham, and Japheth that are listed here in this ninth chapter. But my focus this morning with you is for all of us to deal with what we find here in this remainder of the ninth
[00:45:39] chapter of the book of Genesis. Here is the story of Noah and his sons. And what we discover this morning is how human sin can impact an individual life. Human sin can impact an entire family.
[00:45:58] And yes, ultimately, the nations of the world. In fact, again, if you're taking notes this morning, the first thing I want you to note with me and jot down is I want you to notice the crisis
[00:46:14] of sin that we even uncover right here I mean listen you would think wouldn't you that after man had gone through this terrible judgment you would think after Noah had witnessed this flood that God has used to destroy the whole world.
[00:46:36] Wouldn't you think that Noah would be very, very careful in his life and that he would want to live just as close to God as he possibly could?
[00:46:48] Wouldn't you think that if you've just seen the horrible destruction of the whole world?
[00:46:55] And yet, we find that when man stepped off that boat, when man stepped off that ark and on to dry land even after the judgment of god on a sinful generation man stepped off the ark with the same sin crisis in his heart the same sin crisis
[00:47:27] in his heart that's why your bible says in romans 3 23 for all of sin and come short of the glory of god and and when you look at mankind in general you know it's true you see a story of failure
[00:47:48] go to the garden of eden you see failure go to the church the redeemed of the lord you'll look around you'll see human failure even those who are saved are sinners saved by grace but they still sin.
[00:48:15] In fact, you even go to the end of the Bible where it talks about the millennium, and in those days when Jesus will reign on this earth, there will still be a pocket of rebellion on the earth,
[00:48:29] and the crisis of sin will still be prevalent in the human heart.
[00:48:38] You see, you may be a good, moral man or woman.
[00:48:46] In fact, you may be a lot better man than the fellow down the street from you.
[00:48:53] You may be a better man or woman than somebody sharing the pew with you this morning.
[00:48:58] However, the Bible teaches that all men are sinners and all men need a Savior.
[00:49:12] But what I want you to notice with me is a crisis of sin in one man's life.
[00:49:22] You remember the Bible telling us Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
[00:49:27] Amen?
[00:49:29] In fact, you remember the Bible says that Noah was a man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
[00:49:35] The Bible says Noah was a good man.
[00:49:40] The Bible says Noah was a godly man.
[00:49:44] And yet right here on the pages of Scripture, the record is found of the failure of this man.
[00:49:56] You say, what do you mean, preacher?
[00:49:57] i mean noah this preacher of righteousness this man who walked with god but in the latter years of his life noah terribly sinned against god now very important to understand and you ought to write this down no man is immune to sin make sure you understand that i don't care who you are
[00:50:32] don't care who you think you are no man is immune to sin i mean i want you to know you can be real close to god you you can be living a life of victory you you can have the power of god and
[00:50:53] walking with god but listen to me sir listen to me ma'am if you don't guard your heart if you don't watch and you don't pray you can fall into sin as quickly as anybody else in this
[00:51:13] world make sure you know that noah began well but now in the latter part of his life there's this mar upon his record and by the way that's an important word you're not immune from
[00:51:40] sin just because you get older in fact i've met a lot of people that think the older they get the more immune they must get the idea that if you've been a child of god for a lot of years that maybe
[00:51:52] the devil just lays off you know maybe the devil won't bother you quite as much but the answer is no the devil doesn't lay off because you're getting older no way every generation every generation has its own set of temptations oh i realize that the same temptations that you may
[00:52:15] have had in your youth are not the temptations you have but i will tell you even as you get older the devil is just as committed to trying to take you down he always is the devil may try to get
[00:52:31] you to rest on your laurels and i don't care if you're 50 60 70 years you've been walking with the Lord you literally are just a few days from a backslidden condition the blessings and victories you've had in the past with God are no guarantee that you'll continue to walk
[00:52:56] with him in the future you say what do you mean I mean Noah blew it in the latter years and it brought a blight on his life in fact I'll tell you this I mean I turned 60 this year
[00:53:14] and i'll tell you this i've come to this place as a believer we need to pray that we will keep as close to jesus even to the point that we pray that if god sees anything in our future
[00:53:33] that will hinder the testimony of jesus or bring reproach to his name we ought to pray that god would take us out of here before that happens i'm convinced of that we need to pray that god
[00:53:54] would keep us close you say well mark what what happens here with noah well you just read the story noah became a farmer noah became a man of the soil he planted a vineyard grapes came in
[00:54:12] and from those grapes noah made wine the bible says noah drank that wine and noah fell into drunkenness and what blows my mind about this passage quite frankly is that noah should have known better one of the characteristics in which jesus mentions of noah's day was they were eating
[00:54:43] and drinking out of control noah had seen the effects of drunkenness on a generation of people he knew better and yet here's a picture of a saint of god a man who has preached righteousness for 120 years and yet the record on his life is noah fell to drunkenness
[00:55:16] by the way this is the first specific example of drinking and drunkenness in the bible by the way i've taught you this before and i'll bears repeating here the law of first mention in scripture every time you run into the first mention of a subject in the bible it will give
[00:55:45] you the key to the meaning and the significance of that subject all the way through the bible and see from time to time i hear people that will say to me well preacher the bible really doesn't
[00:55:59] say anything about alcohol consumption they'll say you know preacher the bible really doesn't condemn drinking and and listen i just want to say this morning up front to you from the first mention of drunkenness and drinking in the bible all the way through the word of god
[00:56:19] every time it is mentioned it is mentioned in the context of sorrow it's mentioned in the context of misery it's mentioned in the context of heartache and it's mentioned in the context of agony at a minimum don't ever say to me the bible really doesn't speak to it because at a minimum
[00:56:40] there is a severe warning on the dangers of alcohol in scripture in fact i'll just tell you hold your finger here turn over to proverbs 23 for just a minute i want you to see it for yourself
[00:56:55] don't have to take my word for it but in proverbs 23 the word of god speaks clearly and i want you to see what God's word of wisdom about alcohol actually says and it picks up in verse 29 and I
[00:57:12] realize there's all kinds of thoughts and ideas and positions and some of you probably don't want to see this but probably some of you need to see this and and see exactly what God's word says here
[00:57:25] picks up in verse 29 of proverbs god's book of wisdom chapter 23 he says who has woe who has sorrow who has contentions who has complaints who has wounds without cause who has redness of eyes
[00:57:47] those who linger long at the wine those who go in search of mixed drinks mixed wine do not look on the wine when it is red when it sparkles in the cup when it swirls around
[00:58:04] smoothly at the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper your eyes will see strange things and your heart will utter perverse things yes you will be like one who lies down in the
[00:58:21] midst of the sea excuse me or like one who lies at the top of the mast saying they have struck me but i was not hurt they have beaten me but i did not feel it when shall i awake that i may seek
[00:58:40] another drink can i just tell you straight from my heart if you'd been in as many homes where alcohol has destroyed them as i have been in over 38 years as a pastor if you had had to
[00:59:07] deal with as many people with alcohol problems as i have had to deal with over 38 years as a pastor you would understand why i believe it's critical for you to know what the bible really says
[00:59:25] about this serious issue and proverbs 23 speaks very clearly to it i i just don't believe there's a place in the house of god for a light attitude when it comes to this issue proverbs 23 verse 29
[00:59:46] through 35 is god's vision it's god's picture of what alcohol and drunkenness will do and no one knew better noah saw with his own eyes what it did to a generation and how it cost them
[01:00:09] then noah got drunk the crisis of sin was real and we see it played out here in the pages of genesis 9 it's real but not only is there the crisis of sin but there's also the cruelty of sin
[01:00:35] that stands out here as well why because sin always has a way of showing its cruelty look at verse 22 as we see the passage unfold it says in ham the father of canaan saw the nakedness of his
[01:00:55] father and told his two brothers outside now stop right there when you read verse 22 two things jump out about Ham first of all what jumps out is his perversion you say what do you mean I mean circle
[01:01:12] that word Saul where it says he saw the nakedness of his father that word Saul is actually better translated he gazed with satisfaction it wasn't a quick glance it was a gaze with satisfaction when it says that Ham saw the nakedness of his father in other words here is a son
[01:01:35] in rebellion against his father here's a son rebelling against the authority of his father here is a son repudiating the religion of his father you know what happened you know why that happened because ham was influenced by the sexual perverted day in which he lived see you and i've
[01:02:06] got to always keep in mind noah's sons were growing up in the generation before the flood their teenage years their years of growing up were before the flood and they were brought up in this atmosphere of moral perversion and it made an impact it had taken a toll on ham
[01:02:31] but not only do you see his perversion as he's gazing with delight at the nakedness of his daddy but you also see the pleasure that he took in it you say what do you mean the pleasure
[01:02:50] well look again back at that same verse he went and told his two brothers outside wow the hebrew there in that passage when they circle the word told literally means he told it with delight in other words ham took pleasure in seeing his dad drunk and naked did you hear that
[01:03:20] ham took pleasure in seeing his dad drunk and now naked see every sinner becomes a pusher every sinner wants to get somebody else involved in their sin always and here's ham making fun of his dad it's really a big joke to him you know the book of proverbs says that fools make a mockery
[01:03:50] of sin. You ever been around lost people who tend to laugh at things that really ought to make them cry? Have you noticed people that are proud of the things that really ought to make
[01:04:08] them ashamed? Man, have you ever stopped and thought about what an apt description that is of America this morning? Things that we ought to be ashamed of, our society seems to be proud of i mean we're proud of our excesses we're proud of our nudity we're proud of our sin
[01:04:32] we even name a whole month pride month see the cruelty of sin by the way i i do notice in verse 23 a good piece of information but shem and japheth took a garment laid it on both their
[01:04:57] shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father in fact it makes the point their faces were turned away and they did not see their father's nakedness by the way verse 23 that's a picture of how believers ought to deal with the sins of other people instead of telling
[01:05:22] the sins of others, they covered their father in his sins. In fact, 1 Peter 4 says love covers a multitude of sins. Folks, don't go around spreading the stories of sin of somebody else. Don't go
[01:05:39] around telling other people about somebody else's sin or what they've done. No. Why don't you love them instead? Why don't you cover them instead? Why don't you cover them with prayer? Why don't you take them to Jesus? Why don't you pray that God will prick their heart? Why are we drawn into
[01:06:02] the temptation of just telling other people about somebody else's sin? No. Verse 23 gives you the picture of how believers handle it see the curse of sin is real the cruelty of sin also very real
[01:06:27] but i want you to notice thirdly the curse of sin real quickly the curse of sin notice in the passage as we read that verse 24 noah wakes up noah realizes what's been done and in verse 25
[01:06:49] look what he says he says cursed be canaan i want you just to put a star by that passage and i want you to know that that is a very controversial passage it has been in fact
[01:07:08] there are those that have taken that verse and have twisted it and used it to be to claim that it is a curse against people who are black. And I want to make sure you understand something this
[01:07:26] morning in case you ever fall into that trap. That interpretation of this scripture had never arisen in the history of Christian interpretation. No one had ever come to that particular view until the 1800s when here in the southern united states men were trying to rationalize
[01:07:54] slavery people were trying to give some kind of viable basis for the institution of slavery so in order to justify man owning another man they went to the word of god and twisted the word of god and tried to make it say something it did not say and i want you to understand there's
[01:08:19] absolutely no basis in this scripture that gives any man a right to say that one race is superior to another race and that god has put his judgment on any race because of the color of their skin
[01:08:36] that is trash pure trash and i will tell you something else god will judge anyone who perpetuates such things word to the wise we know that our god is colorblind we know that god doesn't it doesn't matter to him what color you are red yellow black or white
[01:09:06] pink or polka dot you are precious to god and you are just as important to god as any other color and by the way did you notice the curse was on canaan not upon ham and did you notice that the
[01:09:27] curse was announced by noah not by god hello you say but mark what is the point of this verse well look at verse 23 closely or verse 25 closely and it should say where it says cursed
[01:09:47] be canaan i notice in my bible that word b is in italics and it probably is in your bible and in noah is actually saying cursed is canaan you say what do you mean preacher well b was
[01:10:06] actually a word as your translation would explain it that was added in translation simply to make the sentence flow better but i would propose a better word instead of noah saying cursed be canaan noah is actually saying cursed is canaan but why is it that noah proposes the curse upon the son
[01:10:36] of ham i mean ham committed the sin not canaan good point but follow me now what noah was doing was following a trend that he sees developing in the family of ham he sees what ham is like
[01:11:02] is rubbing off on his son and isn't that true we're all products of our families amen some of you don't act like you don't want to believe that we are all products of our families
[01:11:26] some of you are doing what you are doing right now because of the impact and the influence of your family at some point you're greatly influenced by family that's one reason that husbands and wives should take some time to adjust being together you came from one home
[01:11:50] and they did it like this and your spouse came from another home and they did it like that we're all products of our families i've told you before a truth that is just a truth
[01:12:06] is that we teach what we know but we reproduce what we are and that's true we teach what we know but we ultimately reproduce what we are and what the father does is so often passed down
[01:12:27] to the sun. And Noah saw a trend setting up in Ham. And Noah saw Ham going in the wrong direction of moral perversion. And he has seen that little Canaan is coming right along in the same
[01:12:45] perversions. And Noah is basically making a prophecy. He's saying, if you're going to keep going in this direction, you're headed for trouble. If you're going to keep going in this direction, you were headed for danger and what he is saying bottom line was the curse of sin and it's this
[01:13:06] your sin will make a slave out of you sin always will make a slave out of you and you know something you go over and read joshua you go over and read judges and you'll find
[01:13:31] that the Canaanites became a nation of slaves you'll discover they became so corrupt so morally perverted that God would eventually send the Israelites and say to the Israelites go down to Canaan and destroy them remove them from the face of the earth see if I could just
[01:14:05] gets you to hear my heart this morning all sin will make a slave out of you all sin will wrap its tentacles around you whether it be the alcohol we talked about whether it be drugs whether it be
[01:14:20] gossip whether it be lying whether it be pornography or lust whatever it may be that sin will turn your life into a slave to it because that's just how it works that's reality that's reality the crisis of sin the cruelty of sin the curse of sin and let me close right here today
[01:14:53] by pointing out to you the covenant over sin the covenant over sin because in the midst of the crisis the cruelty and the curse God makes an awesome covenant of his grace look at verse 26
[01:15:09] and he said blessed be the Lord the God of Shem and may Canaan be his servant now I want you to circle that word Lord there in verse 26 because that word Lord there is actually translated from
[01:15:30] Yahweh. Yahweh is God's covenant name of relationship with his people. And God is simply saying, my grace will be expressed through the nation of Shem. In other words, I'm going to use this people who will know me in a unique relationship as the channel through which I
[01:15:54] will bless the nations of the world well guess what God used the Israelites the descendants of Shem to give us scripture through Jews we are given scripture and it is through Jews that God sent a savior, the Lord Jesus, according to the flesh, born an Israelite. It was through the Jews
[01:16:29] that God gave us the wonderful plan of salvation. God announces his salvation through the line of Shem. That's why the whole anti-Semitism movement in this country and around the world is so disgraceful that yet so easily understood of why you would attack the very one
[01:17:02] line through which God sent his son you see his covenant you see his grace expressed and then in verse 27 you see how God's grace is expanded the grace of God upon Japheth as he said
[01:17:21] in verse 27 may God enlarge Japheth and may he dwell in the tents of Shem look at that he said I will enlarge Japheth and that was geographically very true in fact it was through
[01:17:40] the line of Japheth that most of the nations of the world were populated and then God says Japheth will dwell in the tent of shem you see that that's the covenant that's the promise that the gentile nations will be evangelized and that god will bring the gentiles into the blessing
[01:18:08] that has come through shem god would open the doors of his grace to those who were not of the Jewish race. That's why I'm saved this morning. That's why many of you are saved this
[01:18:26] morning. Paul describes the whole situation in the book of Romans, and he says it's just like an olive tree. He says you lop off those branches of that olive tree, and then you graft in those
[01:18:40] wild olive branches and his point is this the family line of shem is the natural olive tree and the gentiles we are the wild olive branches and when the jews rejected jesus the messiah god extended his grace and mercy to the gentiles and the gospel of jesus is to be preached to every
[01:19:14] nation in this world and now God is seeing his message to Gentiles and anybody who wants to be saved can be saved and you'll dwell in the tents of Shem listen as an individual God wants to save
[01:19:38] you no matter who you are no matter what race you come from no matter where you've been God wants to save you and what amazes me is when you can go from the book of genesis in the ninth
[01:19:55] chapter and see god lay out all this history and you go over to the book of acts it talks about the acts of the apostles give you a little homework assignment go read acts chapter 8 9 and 10 not now
[01:20:11] but today sometime today or this week you read acts 8 acts 9 and acts 10 but here's a hint on what you're going to find in Acts 8 you're going to meet an Ethiopian eunuch scripture says in Acts
[01:20:27] 8 that Philip the deacon went down to the desert there was a Ethiopian eunuch you remember Philip shared the gospel with him he preached Jesus and that Ethiopian eunuch was gloriously saved by the way he was a son of Ham he was gloriously saved then you go on over to chapter 9 and you're going
[01:20:50] to meet this guy named Saul of Tarsus he was on the road to Damascus Jesus revealed himself and this guy Saul of Tarsus who would become Paul that changed his name he was gloriously saved
[01:21:05] by the way Saul was a son of Shem and then you were going over and you read in Acts chapter 10 and you're going to find a man of the italian band named cornelius and simon peter went over there
[01:21:25] and shared the gospel with a man named cornelius and cornelius believed in his heart and received jesus as a savior gloriously saved and in cornelius you see a son of japheth that has been gloriously saved so I don't care who you are whether you're in the line of Ham whether you're
[01:21:53] in the line of Shem or whether you're in the line of Japheth the invitation is still the same whosoever will let them come to Jesus this morning would you bow your heads right where you are
[01:22:12] please heads are bowed eyes are closed listen if you're lost in your sin this morning I mean if you've never really understood how much God loves you and you've never really understood how far God would go to save you then today is the day of your salvation if you're willing if you're willing
[01:22:48] to say Lord I turn from my sin I repent today Lord I want to know you as my savior I believe you died on the cross for me I believe it was my sin that you took on that cross
[01:23:10] and right now by the blood of Jesus I receive your forgiveness and I ask you to come into my heart would you just do that today would you surrender your life to him because that's the most important
[01:23:37] thing that will happen in your life and in your lifetime will be when you say I come to you lord father as you work on hearts all over the sanctuary this morning and those that are with
[01:23:59] us be a live stream lord as you work on hearts and you draw people under yourself i just pray father that we would hear your voice and that we would respond in faith and we would respond
[01:24:15] in obedience thank you lord jesus for who you are thank you for loving me so much in jesus name i pray amen you stand to your feet all over the sanctuary as brother grant comes this altar is

[01:24:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:24:36] open whosoever will let them come to christ today spoken to your heart and encouraged you and just

[01:27:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:27:01] challenged you with his truth uh brother robert's going to come and give us a closing word here and i please read your bulletin and uh i love the new worship guide y'all got a new worship
[01:27:12] guide while i've been gone and uh so notice all the announcements that are laid out there for you of the things that are coming up in the week ahead.
[01:27:20] And I just pray that God's richest blessings are upon you as you continue to hear his voice and respond in faith and obedience to him.
[01:27:28] Brother Robert.

[01:27:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:27:31] A powerful message.
[01:27:32] In church, we can derive so many things from that message.
[01:27:35] But I hope one thing you saw clearly today was the need to bring up our children in the way that they should go.
[01:27:41] So when they're older, they won't depart from it, to reach them, to develop them, to disciple them.
[01:27:45] And here at Trinity, we need your help.
[01:27:47] We are starting to have more and more children flow into this church, and what a blessing it is.
[01:27:52] Miss Terry Lyons is outside those double doors today recruiting volunteers to help reach them and train them and disciple them and equip them to lead others to Christ.
[01:28:02] So if the Lord's tugging on your heart to develop this next generation for Jesus, out those double doors to your right, you'll see her smiling.
[01:28:09] You can't miss her.
[01:28:10] She's got such a bright smile.
[01:28:12] She'd love to get you plugged in.
[01:28:14] It's only fitting, our benediction today.
[01:28:16] we started this service in the beginning of the book, let's go to the end of the book. Revelation chapter 1 verse 4. John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who
[01:28:27] is and who was and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings on earth.
[01:28:41] to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom of priest to his God and father to him be the glory and dominion forever and ever amen let's pray
[01:28:58] father in heaven we just love you and we praise you and we thank you lord as we peered into your word today and we saw the consequences of the curse the crisis of the curse lord and how it
[01:29:12] just infects and affects all individuals lord father we're thankful for the cure of the curse this morning we're thankful not for a blanket that can only temporarily cover our sin lord but for the blood that will permanently cover it lord father we're so incredibly thankful lord that
[01:29:30] the curse the consequences of men fall to their sons and yet lord the the cure for sin fell upon your sons your children so thank you for christ thank you for his blood which permanently covers
[01:29:45] our sins and frees us from our slavery to sin lord and help us today as we leave here today to serve as your ambassadors to know jesus christ and to make him known not to uncover sin in our
[01:29:56] community but to help cover it by telling them where that fountain filled with blood may be found lord we love you we praise you we thank you we ask all of this in jesus mighty name and all of god's
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