This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. Let's take our Bibles and turn to Genesis chapter 9. Genesis chapter 9 and verse 18. This is God's holy and inspired word. Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah and from these the whole earth was populated, literally scattered. Then Noah began farming and planting a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself in 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 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. Noah lived 350 years after the flood. So all the days of Noah were 950 years and he died. This is the word of the Lord. Well, believe it or not, the story of Noah is about to come to an end. Draws to a close. Eight souls. are saved from a universal flood. Eight people emerge from the ark and they form the foundation of a new race. They form the foundation of a fresh start for a renewed and cleansed earth. And of course, on that absolutely glorious day, Noah and his family disembark and start their own line of Noah and the Ark accessories and live happily ever after. Wrong, absolutely wrong. Bruce Waltke says, Noah's sons carry on both the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. You have to see that there's something that is incredibly disappointing. There's something that's incredibly anti-climactic about what happens here. We've just seen a recreation. The earth emerges and uses creation language. and it comes forth from the flood. And then there's this covenant with Noah and with his sons and really with all of Noah's posterity. So a covenant with all of humanity and with creation itself. And you talk about the hope of brighter days ahead, brighter days than what had gone on in the days of Noah before the flood. And yet, even though there's been recreation, even though there's been an everlasting covenant put in place, unilaterally kept by God himself, we still see evil at work again. And in fact, we see the ungodly line and the godly line. And you might remember that before the flood, the ungodly line had so overwhelmed the godly line that it really was down to eight souls upon the earth, and so God wipes them out. And yet, what we see emerging from the flood and coming off of the ark is a godly line and an ungodly line still. We see choices being made and destinies being fixed. The weightiness of what happens after the covenant is, in some ways, almost depressing if it were not for the triumphant grace of Almighty God. So in this passage, it breaks down pretty simply. You see the prologue, verses 18 and 19. Then you see Noah's and Ham's sins. in 20 to 23, and then 24 to 27 are the oracles that Noah proclaims, and then the last two verses would be considered the epilogue. And so we begin with the prologue, the sons of Noah. Noah has three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now I thought about calling this sermon Don't Be a Ham, but I don't recommend naming your children Ham You'll see why. But notice in verse 18, you have the three sons. And all three sons, by the way, are going to have a multitude of children themselves, but the writer points out very specifically in verse 18, and Ham was the father of Canaan. Now, Ham's gonna be the father of three sons himself, but the fact is, is he only mentions the last son, Canaan. And there'll be a very good reason for that. And so you could imagine, here's Noah, and Noah is a father, Noah is a grandfather, and as Noah gets off of that ark with his family, can you imagine, on the one hand, the great hopes that Noah would have had for the new world as he looked at those three sons, and he looked at their children that would come forth from them, and great hope for this new world, great hope for his family, and yet, can you imagine the incredible pressure He's the new Adam, as it were, and what he instills in those sons and eventually grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be so utterly significant. And then Moses tells us in verse 19, and from these three sons, literally the text says, the whole earth was scattered. Now, the reason that Moses uses the term scattered here is he obviously means from these three, the whole earth was populated, the whole earth was being filled, right? fulfilling, in a sense, the creation mandate to be fruitful and to multiply. There's no doubt about that. And then later, in chapter 10 and verse 18, when we're given the table of nations, we see that Moses uses the same word that from these three, the whole earth was scattered. But then the text also uses that same word when we get to Genesis chapter 11 and the Tower of Babel. So there's this connection going on, in a sense connecting the sons of Noah to the table of nations and the multiplication of humanity upon the earth, but then also connecting them to the scattering that will occur at the Tower of Babel. Now, I was complaining to Jason this week that In consecutive expository preaching, you never have the luxury to say, we're going to skip this text. Because if I had that luxury, I would skip this text. Who wants to talk about this? Right? And so it is a sorted story, It is one, I'm trying to do kids notes, trying to think, how do you talk about this in kids notes? It is an awful story. And it begins with Noah. the one that was the only righteous man in all of the earth, the one that actually found favor with the Lord. And the text tells us that Noah was literally a man of the ground. New American Standard, I think, says something like, Noah began farming. That's actually not the best way to translate the text. The text is that Noah is, and then here's the Hebrew expression, ha-adamah. Now, that is directly connected to Adam. Adam's name, of course, means dirt, dust, ground. Noah is a man of Adam. Noah is a man of the ground. And so just as Adam was appointed to be one who worked the soil, worked the ground, so Noah now takes up that calling, that agricultural calling, but don't miss the direct connection with Adam. And then the text tells us, he began to plant a vineyard. Now some Bible translations try to indicate that Noah is the first one to develop the sciences of viticulture and viniculture. That is vineyards and then making wine. I think that that is almost certainly not true because Jesus is going to tell us in Matthew chapter 24 That his coming is going to be just like it was in the days of Noah when people were eating and drinking and he doesn't just mean kool-aid eating and drinking and Marrying and given in marriage and so I don't think that that's the idea but you can't miss the fact that what Noah is doing is Noah is subduing the earth and Noah is working the earth. Noah is making the earth productive. In other words, Noah is doing what God had called him to do and Noah is working as it were the gift of the earth. Now, the text then tells us, Noah drank some of the wine and became drunk. The terminology... or I should say the technology of the gift of the fruit of the ground and the sweat of Noah's brow are now abused. All right? So Noah has been given the God-given technology to work the earth, subdue the earth, to bring forth productivity from the earth. And just as that indeed is a gift from God, which doesn't come apart from sweat, result of the curse, Noah now begins to abuse the good gift of God. Now I'll tell you, some commentators want to do their very, very best to exonerate Noah from any wrongdoing. I have to read this one to you. He got, quote, drunk. But all this means is that he became relaxed and went to sleep. Nothing in the least indicates that Noah was a habitual drunkard. Now that's true, but what does that have to do with Noah getting drunk, right? Since such a lifestyle is condemned in the Bible, Noah uncovered himself in the privacy of his tent, laying aside the robe of his office and his duties. It was simply a time for Sabbath relaxation. Now, If the elders found out that large groups of people of Grace Community Church for Sabbath recreation or relaxation were pitching tents in their backyard, getting drunk and laying naked in those tents, we would have a problem with that. This is not just Sabbath relaxation. This is not Noah just relaxing a little bit. Now, is the fruit of the vine a gift? Well sure, Psalm 104 tells us that it's a gift from God, but God's gifts are always abused. They're always misused. And so here's Noah, Derek Kidner, in fact, I love Derek Kidner, but he suggests that since Noah's obviously developing this new technology, he didn't know the potential of drinking wine. I just have a feeling that this is just giving Noah way too much credit. Did he not know that in his days there was eating and drinking, in other words, gluttony and drunkenness? Well, of course he knew that. Did he not see this? Are you telling me nobody was ever drunk before Noah? Of course that is untrue. And so here's Noah and he is drunk in his tent and decides to hang out disrobed. Thankfully, That is not the focal point of the passage. But, the sin cannot be overlooked. The text tells us, of course, that he uncovered himself inside the tent and some would say, well, it was a private matter, he was in his own tent. Well, true enough, but make no mistake about it, the text is actually making a direct connection between the disgrace of drunkenness and the disgrace of nakedness. That connection is there. It's not just a matter that Noah was getting a suntan in his tent that must have had a sunroof. No, not at all. In fact, there is a direct connection between his nakedness and his drunkenness. And by the way, there's another connection too. And that is what happened when Adam sinned? His eyes were opened and he knew that he was naked. And so this is a sin. And to be sure, to be sure, Bruce Waltke is correct. He says, this ends up making Ham's invasion of Noah's privacy even more contemptible and his sin even more culpable. That's for sure. So here's Noah. The text kind of passes over without making any comment other than the disgraceful state that Noah is in. But you have to understand, every time somebody sins in the Bible, the Bible does not go to great lengths to point out that it's a sin. Sometimes it just points out the action itself and assumes that the readers are smart enough and clued in enough to know that this is sin. And so here's Noah. And here's the tragic part of the text. Ham's sin. He walks into the tent. The text tells us that he looked upon his father's nakedness. Now there's been a lot of speculation about the actual nature of Ham's sin, and I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to survey the views. I know what they are, I know the arguments, but I will tell you that some of the views are so unbelievably sorted So let me just cut to the chase. Dr. Alan Ross says, there is thus no clear evidence that Ham actually did anything other than see the nakedness of his father. Derek Kidner with typical judicious comments says, this was Ham's flagrantly unfilial act. So Ham's act of looking upon Noah's nakedness was in fact an act of what we could legitimately call lewd voyeurism. But you have to understand that that's not the focal point of the sin either. It's not just that he looked upon his father's nakedness. The real heinousness of the crime is that he dishonors his father. He looks upon his father's disgrace with a sense of perversity. And how do we know that that's what he did? It's because then he turns around and he goes out and he tells his brothers. And so he now is just making matters worse in a real sense. So the dishonor is now doubled as it were, as Ham not only has looked upon the nakedness of his father, but now he has gone and told his brothers. In other words, it is Ham who is delighting in his father's shameful, disgraceful condition. Alan Ross again says, Ham desecrated a natural and sacred barrier. His going out to tell his brothers about it without covering the old man aggravated the act. So you have to see this for what it is. The focal point is not on the drunkenness. The focal point is not on the nakedness. The focal point is not on the lewdness of Ham's act. The focal point is on the reality that Ham has just dishonored a disgraced father and then has tried to, as it were, double that disgrace, tear his father down in the eyes of his brothers. He has absolutely, utterly dishonored his father. And we have to understand this too, because there is so little cultural connection to this in our world. In the ancient world, to dishonor or to insult your parents was a criminal act that warranted the death penalty. Do you understand that? In fact, it's in Exodus chapter 20, in verse 12, where God promises in the fifth commandment, long life in the land to those who honor father and mother. And in fact, it's one chapter later in Exodus 21, verses 15 and 17, that death is actually prescribed for those who strike their parents or who curse their parents. And in fact, in Deuteronomy chapter 21, 18 through 21, there is death prescribed for an adult son who is rebellious, stubborn, a glutton, and a drunkard. And in that section of blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 27, the people of God On one side of the mountain cried out, cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother. And then all the people said, Amen. Boy, how many of us would be even sitting here if we lived under the old covenant? We had covered the Ten Commandments when the kids were little I'd actually gone and given them a little mini exposition that those who dishonored their parents were given the death penalty. After the exposition and family worship, Zach asked, Daddy, was there death penalty for getting into the brownies before they were served? I said, no. And I went over and lifted up the tin foil and sure enough, there was a big old chunk taken right out. But he was thinking, maybe I've done something worthy of death. Now, this is something that in our culture, we have absolutely no orientation to. In a, in a culture that is anti-authority of any type, in a culture in which kids can sue parents, in a culture where teachers are actually afraid to complain to parents about the behavior of their children because the reality is is that the children are the ones who are the little kings at home, kings and queens. You need to remember that the Bible teaches us that there is a profound reciprocal relationship between the parent and the child, and that is the parent-child relationship is sacred. It's love and nurture to the child which is demanded by God, but then it is honor and respect from the child to the parents that is also demanded by God. That fundamental relationship is something that God doesn't just suggest, but God actually requires of it. Children, do you understand? God commands you to obey and to honor your parents. And when you disrespect your parents, and when you dishonor your parents, and when you rebel against your parents, God says that you are committing a heinous crime from His perspective. And in fact, such a heinous crime that under the economy of the Old Testament, you would have been stoned to death. I was scared to death to talk back to my parents. I didn't know what would happen to me. I could only imagine. And I think they liked it that way. And here's Ham, full grown man. Ham, as a full-grown man, has actually gone against the most fundamental sacred bond that God had established next to marriage. And as Ham goes against that bond, you have to understand he's also trying to do something else. He's trying to tear down Noah in the eyes of Shem and Japheth. One writer puts it like this, truly the ark had given shelter to the serpent as well as to the woman. And so he goes out and he tries to tell his brothers, tries to add disgrace upon disgrace, and then we see the righteous deed of Shem and Japheth. Both brothers actually carefully and delicately remove the father's disgrace, and they take absolutely every precaution to avoid seeing that which would disgrace Noah in their eyes. That's what's going on. As they take that robe, both of them take that robe, and they walk into that tent backwards, so as not to look upon their... They don't want to see their father this way. There is nothing that delights them in seeing him in his disgrace, in his shame. And so they walk in backwards, so as not to see his nakedness, and they put that garment over him, and they do something incredibly God-like. They cover someone. his shame they honor their father they will not look upon his disgrace and in fact they cover him one commentator makes the obvious connection he says in effect they imitated God in the garden when God himself had covered Adam and Eve now Noah wakes up, the text says literally he woke up from the wine. One translation captures it when he woke up from the stupor. He knew what his youngest son had done to him. How'd he know? Here's what we know for sure about how he knew, is the text doesn't tell us how he knew, okay? Does it tell us? So all speculation is just that, he woke up from the stupor, that is he came out of the drunken state and he knew what Ham had done. Maybe Shem and Japheth told him, maybe Mrs. Noah told him, maybe God revealed it to him. There's absolutely no way of knowing, but the reality is is that the text just simply says that he knew. Then as a result, he begins to speak. He's going to speak curse and he's going to speak blessing. Now what happens starting in verse 25 is not Noah pronouncing some sort of magical words, like putting a hex on somebody. These aren't the words of a shaman's curse or a witch doctor's curse. What he's doing is he's actually giving prophetic oracles. He's speaking prophetically from God. Something else that's also very, very interesting. We've been with Noah going all the way back to chapter 6. And these are the only recorded words of Noah in the Bible. So what's he say? Well, you can see in your Bibles, if you have numeric and standard, you can see this. I'm sure this is in other translations. You can see 25, 26 and 27. is put into poetic format, and the reason it's put into poetic format is because it takes the form of an oracle, a curse and a blessing, right? Now, here's the amazing thing. See, he says, cursed be not ham. Wouldn't you expect that? Wouldn't you expect Cursed be Ham? But that's not what he says. He says, Cursed be Canaan. Canaan has already been introduced at the very beginning of this section as, of course, Ham's son. And so, as Noah wakes up and begins to give, as it were, a prophetic oracle, a curse, a message of, as it were, doom, it is not a direct curse on Ham, but it is, in fact, a direct curse on Canaan. Now, the Bible does not teach, understand this, the Bible does not teach generational sins and generational curses like some people think. There's a whole lot of nonsense that goes on when people start talking about generational curses and generational sins. And in fact, Even in Deuteronomy chapter 24 and verse 16, Moses says very explicitly to the children of Israel that fathers shall not be put to death for the sins of their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for the sins of their fathers. We also see, for instance, in Ezekiel chapter 18, that each generation is directly accountable to God, and it really doesn't ultimately matter who your father was, because Ezekiel actually gives a situation where you have a righteous generation, they obtain favor from the Lord, but then the next generation is unrighteous, and they're under the judgment of God in spite of the righteousness of their father. And then of course it's in that very chapter and in that very context that we have one of the most famous verses in all of Ezekiel, the soul that sins shall surely die. So the Bible doesn't teach this idea that God's gonna just punish my son in the place of me. Right? Nor does the Bible teach that my sons are absolutely in bondage to committing the same sins that I've committed. But understand this, the Bible is in fact clear that later generations may in fact repeat the sins of their fathers. This ends up being, as it were, one generation serving as a terrible example and awful leadership to the generation that follows. And in fact, we know this just from common observation that oftentimes, for instance, those who abuse, the one that is abused turns around and often frequently does what? Abuses. And we know that oftentimes drunkenness can run in families. Now, whether or not there's any kind of genetic predisposition is actually beside the point. The fact is, is that one generation can taint and corrupt the generation that follows. You know this. You know it. Years and years and years ago, we had just moved here. I had to take Ashley up to South Lake Tahoe for a dress rehearsal for a recital. It's snowing like crazy. We had this little Chevy Cavalier. We were almost out of gas, dropped Ashley off, have Zach with me. Zach is so little, he's still actually in a car seat. Okay, we're driving, somebody cuts me off in the snow. I have no, I can't put on my brakes. I can't do anything other than bank my car into the curb in order to avoid hitting this guy. And as I do, I said in a very, very sanctified and holy way that this person, well, I won't tell you exactly what I said, but I said it, I said it with a tone tone in my voice that was guttural and angry. Zachary then says, Daddy, what is a, and then with a guttural angry tone, repeated the words verbatim. I thought, oh my goodness, what have I done? What have I done? That little guy looks at me. That little guy watches me. That little guy listens to me. Oh, how I need to be careful how I walk in front of him, right? In a sense, that is one of the biggest burdens of parenting is realizing the example that you're setting before that child. And the Bible teaches us that there are times where one generation picks up the sins of a previous generation It's also true that although there may not be what we would call judicial sentencing or judicial penalties, God doesn't penalize judicially one son for another in that sense. So if I say that, God doesn't turn around and say, now I'm gonna punish Zach instead of you. But the Bible does tell us that one generation may inevitably bear the consequences of the sins of a previous generation. There's a difference between being Penally responsible in the justice of God and actually just bearing the consequences of the sins that somebody Before you have committed and of course for that we all if we have any sense whatsoever of Sensitivity to the things of God if you're a parent you have to hang your head at that point because you know that there are times where you've said things and you've done things and your children end up bearing the consequences of those things and Think of the children that are born whose parents drank or did drugs while that child was in utero. That child bears the consequences of the sins of a mother. So here's Ham. What does he demonstrate? He demonstrates a sense of moral abandonment. He loses all sense of what it means to honor his father. He loses all sense of what it means to walk in propriety before God and before his father, who's his earthly authority. And the fact is that the moral abandonment demonstrated by Ham comes to full-blown development in the Canaanites. In fact, as Alan Ross notes, he says, to the Hebrew mind, the Canaanites were the most natural embodiment of Ham. Everything the Canaanites did in their pagan existence was symbolized by the attitude of Ham. And in fact, as God warns his people as they go into the promised land and he gives them the law of Moses, he repeatedly has to tell them, not to actually mimic or imitate the sins of the Canaanites. And the sins that he delineates from the Canaanites are the sins of the worst kind of perversity. So what does Noah do? He pronounces to Canaan, Canaan now represents his descendants, the Canaanites, subjugation. You're going to be the servant of servants, you're going to be the lowest rung. And isn't it interesting that just as the serpent was actually cursed with subjugation, so now the sons of Ham, i.e. the sons of darkness, are also cursed with subjugation. Now let me just say one thing, not that I think anybody here would think this, but Never, ever, ever buy into the nonsense that says that this is some sort of racial curse that justifies the slavery of any group of people. That is absolute nonsense, pure, undefiled idiocy and wickedness. What is in view here is not race. What is in view here is the morality and ethics of a people who all ultimately come from one stock. Noah blesses Shem. Actually, he doesn't actually directly bless Shem. He says, blessed be Yahweh. Noah gives thanks and praise to God for Shem, who will become, by the way, the father of the Semites. He's gonna be the father of Abraham. Therefore, then he proclaims that Yahweh is the God of Shem. Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem. In other words, what's being identified here is that Shem, in fact, will be the elect line, the seed of the woman, and Abram will come from that line to actually represent God's chosen people. And then notice for a second time, the Canaanites will serve the Shemites. So they'll be the servants of servants and they're gonna serve the Shemites. And then third, the blessing oracle on Japheth. Noah proclaims a blessing oracle in terms of extended territory and offspring for Japheth. May God enlarge, Japheth's name is related to a word that means enlarge. May he enlarge as the idea of territory, the idea of posterity. And then it says, and he will dwell in the tents of Shem. When did that happen? Many see this promise as fulfilled when the Gentiles are brought into the Commonwealth of Israel and become partakers of the covenant with Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ. And then notice for a third time, and Canaan will be his servant. This is a bad day for Noah and his family. If you're a parent and your kids are old enough, You know bad days. I'm not talking bad days when they're a year and a half and they fall down and cut their lip. You know bad days, but I will tell you that they're There is a sense in which this day, this day after the earth had been cleansed, this day once Noah and his family are brought forth, this day was a day in which Noah actually has to pronounce a curse upon his grandson. And I would submit to you, Ham has three sons, and I would submit to you that Noah, as a prophet of God, looked at Canaan and saw the very traits, the very tendencies of his father Ham, and that's why Canaan ends up getting the curse. The epitaph then tells us in 28 and 29, Noah lived 350 years after the flood. Now by the way, that expression, he lived 350 years after the flood, is now picking back up from chapter 5 verses 28 to 32. That is a long parenthesis. And then it says, Noah's life was 950 years And here's how we know he's picking up that text from Genesis 5. And he died. Thus completes the tenth spot on the book of the generation, the Toledot. And a major chapter of redemptive history has been written right before our very eyes. So what world do we make of this sad, tragic story? Well, One, I could start railing against drunkenness. Drunkenness was Noah's sin. Drunkenness is a sin. It is an abuse of God's good gifts. And so Proverbs 20 in verse 1, wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, whoever is intoxicated by them is not wise. But if I were to do that, I would not be focusing actually on the point of the passage. The point of the passage falls in terms of Ham's sin. Now you have to understand, certainly Noah's sin opens the way for Ham's sin. There's no denying that. If Noah had not gotten drunk and if Noah had not laid in the tent naked, then it would have given no occasion for Ham to sin. But you have to understand this, seizing an occasion to sin still leaves you morally culpable for the sin. You understand that? You can't just say, well, if Noah wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't have done this. That's not how it works. That's not how it works. And so listen, you can't blame your parents. You can't blame your environment. You can't blame poverty. As you watch on the news and see people burn down buildings and destroy property, you can't say, it's because the police did it. Everybody is morally culpable for their actions, their decisions, period. There is no excuse. There may be circumstances that provide opportunity, but if you seize that opportunity, you're morally culpable before God. You're responsible for seizing the opportunity. And so here's Ham, and he sins, and he sins in a huge way. And remember, what is at stake? This is the beginning of a new creation. This is the beginning of a new human race. And once again, sin is at work, and it works its way into this situation. And Ham's sin is the sin of rebellion against his father's authority, trying to tear him down and disgrace him. who was in all likelihood a righteous man before the flood. Ezekiel 14 tells us that if Noah and Daniel and Job were the only three men on the planet, their righteousness would not be enough to save another human being. So I take that to mean that those three sons got on that ark because they exhibited some degree of righteousness like their father. But understand this, sin has now insinuated itself, invaded as it were, and ham under the power of the serpent. invades his father's tent, exposes his father's sin, attempts to embarrass his father, and I'd ask you this, just think for a moment if Ham had been successful. What if Ham would have been able to draw those two brothers into looking upon the nakedness of Noah, furthering his disgrace, his embarrassment, and his shame? I will tell you what would have become of the human race then. If all of Canaan and his offspring are under the curse of God because of Ham's sin, what would have happened if Shem and Japheth would have followed suit? We would have been in exactly the same situation before the flood. All three men are progenitors of the human race and they would have shown themselves to be rebellious and all three on Satan's side. Noah's oracle identifies the seed of the serpent. Ham has three sons. Noah discerns Canaan's tendency to rebellion and the result of rebellious life is always slavery. Did you get that? The result of a rebellious life is always slavery. We are so silly. We think the result of a rebellious life is freedom. The result of a rebellious life is slavery. But God. But God, but God preserves the human race from being plunged into the depth of full-blown rebellion. And he has two of Noah's sons who act in righteousness. They honor their father. One of these two will be in the direct line of this woman's seed. The other will share in the blessing of the seed of the woman. And what we have at the end of Genesis chapter nine, which is an incredibly sad story, is the fact that God's grace triumphs over Satan's plan. Thanks be to God. God's grace always triumphs over Satan's plans. So here we are looking at this passage and drunkenness and rebellion litter the landscape. But note, Each of these three sons had a decision to make, didn't they? And that decision would actually show whose side they were on. Do you understand that? That decision would actually show whose side they were on. They were either on God's side or Satan's side. And you know, the reality is, although it's been big redemptive historical terms in this chapter, but that reality exists in each one of our lives. The decisions that we make, the choices that we make actually are an indicator of whose side we're on. We're either on the side of God or we're on the side of Satan. And so young people listen very carefully. Rebellion may look cool as you see your peers telling off their parents. And it may sound cool in the stuff that you call music. But it leads to slavery. If we love rebellion against authority, any God-ordained authority, it is rebellion against God himself and will lead to a life of bondage. And so maybe you're sitting here and maybe you're in your 50s. or your 60s, maybe you're a child of the 60s and this is still just so ingrained in you that you are just still, in fact, there's almost like something inside of you that just boasts, you know what, I'm just a rebel at heart. How stupid, how foolish to boast in that which brings a curse and slavery. And so understand this, maybe you are here and you've chosen a life of rebellion and you're actually now paying some of those consequences, right? Here's the good news. God chose Shem, from whom would come Abraham, from whom would come Jesus Christ. so that in Him, Christ, all the can be what? Blessed and not cursed. And so maybe you're living out the very curse of your own decisions and your own choices, but that curse can be removed and you can actually be in the place of God's love and forgiveness by turning to Jesus Christ. Here's the glorious thing about coming to know Jesus is that Jesus actually breaks down all of those barriers, becomes a curse for us so that we no longer have to live as it were under that curse in that slavery. Jesus Christ comes as the son who actually can set us free. And so, turn to him. Turn to the one who bore the curse. Turn to the one who can set you free. Turn to the one that you can submit to. Yes, submit to. If you're not willing to submit to him, you're in no place to receive his salvation. Submit to him and you will find that your rebellion is forgiven and you can be given a new start. Let's pray. Father, there's so much here we pray as parents that we would take to heart many of these things. But Father, we give you thanks that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save both Jew and Gentile, bond and free. And we pray today, Father, that he would save many from their rebellion. Father, we pray that you would open our eyes to show us the depth of that rebellion, the consequences of that rebellion, and ultimately the justice of that rebellion that you'll bring on the last day. Help us, Father, to see that in turning to Jesus, we can become recipients of your grace, your favor, and your blessing. And so, Father, we pray that you would give us hearts that trust in your Son. In His name we pray, Amen.