Where the Nations Come From

[0:00] Beloved, Genesis chapter 10 is where we will camp out this morning.

[0:16] ! Let's see if we can read through these names.! Ham, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah.

[0:35] And sons were born to them after the flood. After the flood. This is the timing. The sons of Japheth were Gomer, and Magog, and Madi, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

[0:52] The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, and Riphoth, and Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elisha, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

[1:08] From these, the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

[1:21] And so you can see here at this point that Genesis chapter 10 is referring to the events after Babel in chapter 11.

[1:31] So we're kind of getting a picture of what is being done in 11. Kind of a preview. The sons, verse 6, The sons of Ham were Cush, and Mitzrayim, and Put, and Canaan.

[1:48] The sons of Cush were Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Rayama, and Sabteca. And the sons of Rayama were Sheba, and Dedan.

[2:01] Now Cush became the father of Nimrod. Nimrod becomes a very important individual in this narrative. Cush became the father of Nimrod. And Nimrod became a mighty one on the earth.

[2:15] In fact, now here's the proverb in verse 9. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, and therefore it is said, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Achad, and Kalneh, in the land of Shinar.

[2:35] From that land, he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth-ir, and Kala.

[2:46] And reason between Nineveh and Kala, that is the great city. Mitzrayim became the father of Ludim, and Anamim, and Lahabim, and Naphtuhim, and Pathrusim, and Kasuluhim, or Kasuluhim, there's two different ways to do that.

[3:13] From which came, and this is important, the Philistines, and Kaphtorim. Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth.

[3:26] And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, and the Hivite, and the Archite, and the Sinite, and the Arvidite, and the Zimerite, and the Hamathite, and afterward, the families of the Canaanite, were spread abroad.

[3:51] The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon, as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza. As you go toward Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Adma, and Zeboim, as far as Lasha.

[4:08] These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, their languages, their lands, by their nations. And then finally, in verse 21, also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber.

[4:23] Eber is where we get the name Hebrew. This is where the word Hebrew comes from. And the older brother of Japheth. So we have in the birth order, Shem, Japheth, and Ham.

[4:34] And children were born also to these. The sons of Shem were Elam, and Asher, and I'm going to say this one, Arphaxed, because that's another rendition or spelling that I'm more used to.

[4:50] And Arphaxed, and Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram were Uz, and Hul, and Geether, and Mosh.

[5:02] Arphaxed became the father of Shalom, and Shelah became the father of Eber. Two sons were born to Eber. The name of the one was Peleg, for in the days of the earth, at that time, they were divided.

[5:18] Peleg means division. And his brother's name was Jokton. Jokton became the father of Almadad, and Shaleth, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, and Hadoram, and Uzzi, and Dykla, and then Obal, and Ubimael, and Sheba, and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab.

[5:51] All these were the sons of Jokton. Now their settlement extended from Meshach, as you go toward Sephar, the hill country of the east.

[6:05] These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, their languages, their lands, and according to their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and out of these, the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

[6:28] So what we have here in the scripture, beloved, is an account of how all of the nations, as we understand them today, began.

[6:39] The Bible gives us this information, and tells us, every single nation on the face of the planet, at some point or another, came from this beginning.

[6:53] And some of these names we recognize, don't we? Did you recognize Gaza? Yeah. Some of these names are still with us today, and these people groups are still with us today.

[7:05] Now one of the points that we'll derive from this, would be that we are one race. We are one race of people, and that is the race of human, distinguished from the animals, right?

[7:17] And then we have different cultures, we have different customs, we have different people groups, but the one factor that brings us all together is we're made in the image of God as one race.

[7:32] Human beings. Human beings. And isn't it crazy how we are living in a world today that gets all of that wrong? I mean, where did it come from?

[7:45] When did it start to go sideways to think that we have races, plural, and that we have all of these divergent things going on in the way of our cultures that threaten each other and intimidate each other?

[8:03] Well, it all came as a result of what God said when He began to pronounce the consequences of sin on Adam and Eve and said, there will now be strife, there will now be hostility, there will now be warfare.

[8:19] And that warfare will always originate on a spiritual level from the God of war, Satan. We have an enemy who is dead set on making sure that people do not know the truth of Scripture and understand the historical background, background that could be important in helping people come together.

[8:41] When you watch the news and you see these different people coming on the news and giving their spin about what will unite people, for example, the idiocy, and I'm just stating it plainly in terms of the facts, the idiocy that we see of telling people that a two-state solution in Palestine is the way to move forward when for decades we've tried to do that and it's gotten us where?

[9:08] Where we are today. It got us October 7th in Israel where over 1,200 Israelis were murdered basically in their sleep. This is a terrible, terrible reality of men.

[9:23] Men are constantly coming up with ideas that are based on erroneous assumptions about histories of peoples and nations and lands. And if we could go to the Scripture and humble ourselves in the truth of what God said, what a difference it would make and could make in the way we understand each other.

[9:43] What I'm going to deal with this morning then in this table of nations is where the nations came from because that is the point of what Moses is giving to the Israelites as they stand on one side of the Jordan getting ready to cross to the other side and engage in what might be years of warfare for them as they drive the people out of the land that God's promised to the Hebrews.

[10:08] This will be this will be a campaign of force a force of arms under the command and authority of God Himself. So these people are following on what God is telling them they need to do.

[10:24] Where the nations came from. In fact, at one time in his ministry even the Apostle Paul found himself standing in the center of what the world considered to be the most culturally elite city on earth at that particular time.

[10:43] It was the city of Athens. Athens. Here were the best and brightest minds of that particular era. Athens is where those minds gathered to pridefully display their worldly wisdom on all matters of life.

[11:01] And so many of what you understand to be the Western philosophers that produced much of what guides our lives today unfortunately came from this particular era.

[11:14] Now the Apostle Paul walked right into the heart of the debates of these philosophers and these grand minds and challenged them with God's wisdom concerning the Lord's rightful place as sovereign creator and savior of the world.

[11:30] They didn't believe that. They had multiple gods that they worship and just true to the Roman way of life whenever the Romans would conquer a people they would just absorb their gods into their pantheon.

[11:46] And that was something that they did because they believed that there were lots of gods so why not make friends of them instead of enemies. And so Paul is at the heart of Athens and he's seeing this along the Greek culture and in the Roman culture and at one point he's preaching and in his sermon he alludes Paul alludes to the truth about our text this morning.

[12:11] And so I'm going to take you to Acts chapter 17 and just lay a little bit of groundwork for you. Acts chapter 17 where Paul is preaching in the midst of this hostile place where all of this great learning quote unquote is taking place and Paul wants to preach Jesus and Him crucified and raised again.

[12:35] It's not just that Paul is a brave man he is but Paul loves Jesus and he wants sinners saved. We pick up the discussion in his sermon if you will in Acts 17 22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus that is the marketplace where they would all come and do these great debates and make their new philosophies known and kind of introduce the people to their insights.

[13:05] And so Paul stood in the midst of all of that and took his turn. Men of Athens I observe that you are very religious in all respects. They would have been nodding their heads oh yes oh yes for while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship I also found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God.

[13:31] Therefore what you worship in ignorance this this God I proclaim to you. Isn't this good? What a preacher man. So he's walked right into the middle of this and he's saying what you are trying to cover your bases in in ignorance we'll just make sure we cover all the gods even the ones we don't know about we love you too Paul said I'm going to preach that God to you and so here he goes verse 24 the God who made the world and all things in it now notice he said the God not plural since he is Lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands that would have been like heresy in that moment are you kidding we have temples all over the kingdom filled with a pantheon of these gods and statues and stuff and Paul says yeah you know what he doesn't dwell there nor is this

[14:33] God verse 25 served by human hands he doesn't need you as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things and now here it is and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation that they would seek God if perhaps they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us isn't that something he's telling these bright astute brilliant men if they might grope for him as if they're blind I just want you to get some of the force of this coming at these this was not wasted on these guys they totally understand that

[15:34] Paul is putting them in their place as he exalts God God doesn't need anything from you and everything that you have everything that you have comes from his hand whether you recognize it or not and he made everything and he owns everything and to him you must Paul said you know at the end of the day it's God that's determined the different people groups and cultures and nations and their boundaries and where they were set they didn't just go and settle God put them in these different places and led them and formed them even as he continues to do today isn't that something now I don't know if you even knew the Bible taught that but that's how it all came about and God continues to do that today don't think that what's going on in Gaza today is beyond the purview of God's authority and control and design the evil of men is not greater than the sovereign power of

[16:41] Almighty God to accomplish his purposes through the nations don't think that Putin is more powerful than the purposes of God for the people of Ukraine the people of Russia or whomever it is God is in control and what you see working out in these different wars are the evil hearts of men in their greed and in their pride exalting themselves hiding behind their missiles and their tanks and their armies only to find that one army falls and another rises up God will have his way and his purposes in the world I'm not making light of the wars I'm not making light of the death that breaks my heart and angers me to no end when I see some of these things going on and I do pray as I hope unrighteous reign on the earth because that's how it seems sometimes isn't it it seems like the bad guys are winning but don't give up on the

[17:44] Lord God knows what he's doing all right so God is setting the boundaries of nations this is what this chapter is telling us God is setting the boundaries of nations God used his servant Moses to then teach and tell the Israelites in this moment the people whose lands these were to tell them where these people came from and what kind of relationship Israel was to have with them now get this if you were being told to go into a foreign land and conquer it to make it your own by risking your life in battle and killing everyone and destroying their cities wouldn't you wonder who these people were and why God was so angry with them I would if me and Suzanne and my family are in my tent and the word comes out and I got to go get in line and draw my sword or whatever and I'm going to go out and we're going to cross this river and we're going to do battle with these people

[18:44] I'd be sitting in the tent and I'd be looking at Suzanne probably what do you think these people have done what do you think don't you think people would be talking about this sitting around the fire Moses is telling them you as a people are God's sword of judgment God is about to use you to render judgment on these people and then he's going to tell them the whys and the wherefores in all of it I appreciate that through Moses teaching of the sin of ham against Noah God provided Israel with the moral rightness of waging a holy war against all the inhabitants of Canaan don't you think for one second that the demonic religion of Islam made up holy war it didn't God is the only one who can wage a holy war what do men know about holiness and what do men know about a holy war nothing nothing doing what they do in the name of holiness the kind of atrocities that these terrible animalistic people perpetuate on others

[20:06] God is the only one who understands a holy war and so God is telling his people you will go into the promised land and you will wage a holy war a war that I will lead you in these people God said in effect have set themselves as my enemies they hate me and they hate everything about me and they have turned themselves completely away from me with cold hearts and they do terrible atrocities in my sight the iniquity of the Canaanite is now complete and God's judgment on them through his use of the Israelites will now come like a hammer blow!

[20:47] the table of nations is formed around three sons of Noah we have Shem Japheth and Ham the order that this text takes them in they start with Japheth and then they work their way into Ham and then they end with Shem Shem will be the main line of promise from which Messiah will come and so Shem's line will become very very important as we continue through some of Genesis through each son and their respective descendants God will set the boundaries hear this for all future events in human history whether these cultures know their heritages or not doesn't change what God's going to do in the way of him setting these boundaries for all the future events of human history if you read the Bible carefully and understand the history of the Middle East it will be no surprise to you why

[21:49] October 7th happened it will be no surprise to you why Palestinians and Arabs in general and the nations around Israel hate Israel war against Israel and why Iran at this moment is trying to get a nuclear bomb saying if we get it we'll wipe them off the face of the planet!

[22:09] they're openly politics this is fulfillment this is the reality of these curses this is the reality of these hostilities traced back to this era and God said it's coming this will be how these people live with each other this will be the reality the Palestinian state isn't going to change it this is what God has set in motion so this is prophetic this is prophetic as it looks to what will be and as we see it being fulfilled we can look back and we can see a history of this and we can expect as we look forward that what God said is going to become true now we're going to begin with Japheth's heritage in relationship to God and Israel because that's where our text begins and the first thing that we'll deal with as the text presents it to us is the heritage then the heritage of hardship the heritage of hardship in

[23:21] Japheth's line and that's in verses 1 through 5 now I'm not going to go back and read all of that again but you can see in this section where they're segmenting out Japheth's line and they mention different names of places and people that will be involved in some of this are places that became these names of these people the first thing that we notice in this is the spread of Japheth's descendants the spread of Japheth's descendants is what's being put forward here Japheth's descendants spread mainly now hear this mainly north north of it so if you look at little Israel here and here's the Mediterranean sea and here's Israel and then all these nations surround Israel and then you've got the sea that goes to the west and so what we're talking about now are

[24:23] Japheth's people settled north of Israel and then went across the sea west and settled that's what we're seeing here toward modern day now listen these are Japheth's people this is the heritage of these countries whether they know it and recognize it or not that would mean that Japheth's people settled in areas such as Russia Romania Ukraine Europe around the Caspian Sea and what is now Kazakhstan down into the nation of Georgia Armenia and into the area where Turkey Syria Iraq and Iran converge that's the region where Mount Ararat is located so these are some of the regions that Japheth's people began to spread toward all right now from world history for some of you you whether you got this in a really good high school some high schools would have done this not many but some especially if you were in a private school and then if you did any kind of college you probably had to take a world history course as part of your general studies you would have heard some of these names all right so you might recognize from history some of these ancient!

[25:53] labels from some of these ancient peoples who were the immediate descendants of Japheth's line and so you might know the Mycenaeans the Minoans the Etruscans they were there before the Romans the Greeks the Scythians and the Macedonians many of these are mentioned directly in scripture as people groups later particularly the Scythians come to play in some of Paul's lists that he makes I think we're going to see that in just a little while Scythians are going to be mentioned again if you look back with me at Genesis chapter 9 and just be reminded of what we're talking about here this sets the stage Genesis chapter 9 beginning in verse 24 this is when Noah awoke from his wine where he got drunk and he knew what his youngest son

[26:55] Ham had done to him remember what Ham had done he had looked on his father's nakedness to mock him and disrespect him so Noah after waking up and realizing what his son had done he said cursed be Canaan a servant of servants I'm sorry I said Ham earlier cursed be Canaan a servant of servants he shall he also said blessed be the Lord the God of Shem and let Canaan be his servant may God now notice this in verse 27 because this is where we are today may God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem and let Canaan be his servant so the people in the line of Canaan are going to be servants in some ways subservient to the people in Shem's line now who which line do the

[27:58] Israelites come from primarily which brother Shem remember Eber from Hebrew the Hebrews come from Eber so this is this is where Israel is going to come from and what is it saying the people from Shem's line will find that the people from Canaan's line will be subservient to them so throughout history human history there will be these wars and conflicts and struggles where the people who God has made subservient to in different ways are going to try to throw off and overwhelm now do we see that yes this is this is part of what God has done folks I think it's important and helpful you know it helps me sometime if I watch the news and see the nonsense!

[28:55] I have to get on my knees at that point and I have to ask God to work in my heart I do I admit this to you not because I want to sin or anything like that it's because I don't want to I don't want to become embittered but here's another thing I don't want to become anxious about what I'm seeing as if there's no God in the heaven right the end of the world will not be if Iran gets a nuclear weapon now I don't think that's going to happen but nevertheless if that were to happen I have to tell myself God is still God in heaven it may go bad for some people but Iran getting a nuclear weapon isn't going to end the world just like Russia gaining Ukraine won't end I have to say things like that to myself because I can't stand bullies and I hate to see bullies on a national level I don't like it any more than you do but this helps ground us in God being a sovereign God what God said back then what Noah prophesied then is what we're seeing still lived out today and thank God the Lord said

[30:03] I'm going to make an everlasting covenant with you Noah and the people coming after you will benefit and be blessed from that covenant and we're being blessed from the Noahic covenant even today we are living in the blessing of that ongoing unbroken covenant the spread then of Japheth's line north and west shows us the truth of Noah's prophecy I'm going to repeat this several times that God would enlarge Japheth remember he said that may God enlarge Japheth their spread is that prophecy coming true throughout human history these people groups and their lands have seen catastrophic wars and plagues you just need to look at the history at how much of the world that part of the world has been under wars and plagues their hardship has been well documented in human history not just in biblical history yet look

[31:10] God preserved these people for his purposes and guided their history even as he continues to do today now the point what is the point of some of this that Moses is dealing with in these people today we want to ask and I get this we read this and we kind of skip we're reading through the Bible and we kind of get to this and we kind of read over it and skip it because we think how much relevance can there be in rehearsing all these names and where God put them and the lands they're in and all that kind of stuff that's not going to help me in my marriage I understand that but listen here's the deal here's what I want to say to you the point of this for the Hebrews and the original readers is that Moses wants them to understand their relationship to the people groups the people groups who border the promised land they will not the Hebrews will not be required to wage a holy war against everyone they're not just supposed to go kill everybody they come in contact with they will wage a holy and just war against a particular people and people groups in keeping with God's purposes of judgment against those specific people so this isn't just murder and mayhem my goodness this is God using Israel now the reality is that the ancient people of Israel would not have known just how God was going to fulfill this promise of prophecy to enlarge

[32:44] Japheth and bring Japheth into the tent of Shem they would have been wondering to some extent to what degree will he be enlarged what will that look like that clan that people group and then what exactly does God mean by he will inhabit the tent of his brother Shem you know that would have been a little bit enigmatic for the people at that time they wouldn't have understood the fuller weight of that but we do and we can because of the testimony of the new testament we're going to see now what was in the mind of God all the way back as he dealt with Noah and as Noah made this prophecy about his sons I think Noah was speaking beyond his own knowledge and ability and we see that happen many times in the people who offer prophecies for the Lord it's like they don't know the full measure of what they're saying but God's using them as an instrument to give it out and that's exactly what we're seeing here this work was begun but it was not fulfilled during the time of the

[34:00] Old Testament revelation so we have to move forward to the New Testament to see what God had in mind for Japheth now the reason this is so good to me and so important for me to convey to you out of this chapter is to magnify the faithfulness of your God and my God in what he says God has always kept what he said and done what he promised always and that will never change please let's not take that for granted let's let that bolster our souls as we think about it and so the next little section that I want to do with you here concerns the salvation of Japheth's descendants their salvation how did God fulfill this prophecy we begin with Moses teaching which places Japheth's descendants in the regions west of Israel would be this is the geographical area of Asia

[35:03] Minor in the Mediterranean Asia Minor some of you will know that you could kind of flip back if you had this is one of the reasons I love a Bible like this you could flip back and you could look at maps in the back of your Bible and they're probably going to have one that shows the missionary journeys of Paul and you'll be able to see probably a place that they label Asia Minor and what's there we'll talk about some of the places that come out of Asia Minor these are Japheth's people so as God was guiding the missionary efforts of the apostle Paul the Lord gave Paul the following instructions concerning the people of Asia Minor Japheth's descendants now I want to take you there it's in Acts chapter 16 we'll come back to Genesis 10 Acts 16 and what is being said here about how the

[36:06] Lord instructed Paul concerning the people of Asia Minor Japheth's descendants and we'll begin in verse 6 so it says that they passed through Phrygian the Phrygian and Galatian region now you're in the regions of Japheth's descendants right now Galatia Phrygia having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia or Asia proper and after they came to Mycena they were trying to go into Bithynia and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them and passing by Mycena they came down to Troas that's Asia Minor area a vision appeared to Paul in the night a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to Paul and saying come over to Macedonia and help us and when he had seen the vision immediately we sought to go into

[37:06] Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to these people who are these people they are the descendants of Japheth and this is the region that they first began to settle in as they left and went north and traveled then from the north and went west into the regions of Asia Minor this is this is where we're picking it up now we also see from Paul's teaching that God brought Japheth descendants into the same salvation that was once exclusively offered to the descendants of Shem the Ebers the Hebrews so we've got the enlargement and we've got the salvation happening and we're going to pull those together if you look at Galatians 328 remember the Galatians are the descendants of Japheth let me get there Galatians 328 there is neither

[38:10] Jew nor Greek so when you think about the people in Asia Minor and Japheth's descendants you're thinking about the people that are normally characterized in general as Gentiles Gentiles and so here they are there is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free man neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ he's trying to tell them those of you who have come to faith in these different regions of Asia Minor have come to faith in the same way that any Jew would come to faith in the Messiah and so we're all made one in that faith because the object of that!

[38:57] same person who is he Jesus right I always ask you easy questions right now look at another group of people that would have also been descendants of Japheth in Colossians chapter 3 verse 11 Colossians 3 11 Paul is talking about the new self in Christ Jesus created in the Lord Jesus and he gets to verse 11 and he talks about a spiritual renewal and that spiritual renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew circumcised and uncircumcised now notice barbarian Scythian slave and free man but Christ is all and in all so here here here and now we see and that's exactly what we see now

[40:27] I've looked into some of my ancestry through my relatives they're very much into that and so they've let me know that I'm like coming out 99% Nordic I don't have blonde hair or blue eyes I'm not 6'4 I don't know what that is I was the midget in my I was the runt of the litter I don't know but I'm coming out that my people settled in those cold environs and so that would be some of Japheth's people moving in that direction continuing to move that way west and all so I'm like okay that's fine I can deal with that I'm one of these Gentile people with that kind of a heritage that was brought into the tent of God's people to share in the deliverance of their Messiah praise the Lord I'm all good with that now these verses offer us proof of the way God fulfilled the prophecy about enlarging and allowing to share in

[41:31] Japheth's way yes folks it would be! many wars many plagues many many many hardships culturally on these people groups but it would also be a blessed people and this is not the case however with Ham and his seed or his lineage right not so much and so what we have here is a heritage of hate you see that a heritage of hate that takes us from verse 6 back in Genesis 10 verse 6 down through verse 20 before we start looking at the line of Shem which we'll have to wait for until next time so what we're dealing with here is the axiom the biblical axiom you are going to reap what you so and this is a group of people living with the consequences of sin all right now again just for the sake of time I don't want to read back through all of those names and where they are and how they're spelled out but you can kind of let your eye survey some of those names some of them will jump out but particularly as you look at where it starts talking in verse 15 about the different groups of people that are going to come from

[42:47] Canaan the Jebusite Amorite Girgashite Hivite Archite Sinite Arvadite Zemurite Hamathite you see the Canaanites there don't you and you recognize those names those were bad dudes and we have also coming from this people group some Assyrians now the Assyrians are going to be a kind of a mixed blood they're kind of the Nazis of the ancient world the Nazis of the ancient world so we've got all of these different things being shown to us as to where they came from and how they started and why they hated each other this is a spiritual thing at its root a spiritual reality so in verses 6 through 20 we have a list of people groups who became Israel's bitter enemies and that's the point that Moses wants here's why they are our enemies it's because they hate our God and

[43:48] God has told us that we are to exact his vengeance on them his judgment so God used the sinful situation of Ham's defilement of Noah in chapter 9 and Noah's subsequent prophecy about Ham's descendants to do this to forecast the truth of the rebellious way God knew Ham's lineage would go in their relationship to God in his ways the Lord knew these people will harden their hearts against the Lord so Ham's actions were simply a sign as to what Ham's descendants would adopt as their heart attitude toward the Lord that is a heart attitude of rebellion mockery scorn it's just the way that Canaan came in Noah's son came in and said hey dad's drunk and out of his head and kind of mocked him and scorned him this same kind of attitude is prevailing in these people it's very important that we understand the specific nature of

[44:54] Noah's curse on Ham's son Canaan it is a curse yes it is a curse I'm not denying that but look at this up on the screen but this is a curse which communicates a prophecy in other words a foretelling of truth concerning the wicked rebellion of Ham's line his seed his people against the God of Noah that is what this is so just as Ham defied the authority of Noah and mocked him Han's descendants would be known for their rebellion against the Lord and their mocking of God's way just as Ham tried to defile his brothers Shem and Japheth by bringing them him on his sin look at this Ham's descendants in Canaan would be a constant source of drawing Israel into spiritual defilement do you see these parallels I hope you're seeing this am

[45:55] I okay I I think man I tell you this makes my heart sore because I look at this and go God I so thankful that you don't have to do this you take time to show us how you work and operate so that we can remember that you are at work in these issues of the nations and it will always be like that these nations are not operating independent of your purposes and designs and I have to remember that because God tells us don't put your hope in chariots and in armies and the strength of a horse in other words your military put your faith in the Lord let your military be the hammer but put your faith in the Lord right so this is what we're dealing with in it we have to understand Ham's youngest son Canaan this is very important here at the bottom of the screen Ham's youngest son Canaan was not being punished or held accountable for his father's sins no even though

[47:02] Canaan did live with and was negatively influenced by his father's wickedness that's true that's true Noah is simply foretelling!

[47:13] the reality of what Ham's hateful heart would produce and encourage in his descendants now there are two important lessons we'll draw from what I'm saying right now as the scripture presents this table of nations to us and as it contrasts what's going on with Japheth's people Ham's people who become the people that are going to largely be the people that get conquered and then Shem's line that God blesses two important things for us to learn the first is this how we each must answer for and live with the consequences of our own sins will the consequences of my dad as he raises me have an effect on me and will I have to live in those effects as my father sins against the Lord yeah I'm in his household right or if I'm close to somebody and I care and they live a life of sin that sin is going to hurt me isn't it my heart is going to hurt for what

[48:17] I see in their life for the ruination that they're making on their lives I would weep and pray and I do and I would pray and I would ask God to give me every opportunity to be light salt and light in their lives and pray that God will help them I don't have to hit rock bottom before God does something in your life there are plenty of people who don't hit what we would call rock bottom and God spares them you can pray like that I don't want people to hit rock bottom that is not a good place to be but God will bring you to the place where he opens your eyes in his mercy and shows you your need for the forgiveness of sin another thing this teaches us is how deeply one man's sin can impact others right that's what we're seeing it's very important you follow this with me now as I do this with you the Canaanites are not being punished for

[49:20] Ham's sins even though they've been negatively influenced by them have the Canaanites been influenced by their forebears living in rebellion against God yes absolutely they've been influenced the Bible makes it clear that you and I are not punished for the sins committed by other people you with me though we often suffer because of the sins of other people we're not held accountable for the sins other people commit the people in your life are not held accountable by God for the sins you commit although the sins you commit can have a very negative impact on the people closest to you right so this section this is why I'm doing this this section has been used to foster some bad theology about

[50:23] God and sins consequences and I don't want to assume that all of us are clear about this because you'll hear it if you haven't already you will hear this for example let me ask you beloved now please bear with your pastor here as I try to take some of this and help you see the relevance of it not just for the people of that day as they stood ready to invade the land but also how we can better understand how this stuff bears out in our lives have you ever heard other Christians mention something called generational cursing okay all right I heard that very early in my Christian life generational cursing that's the idea that the father's sins are visited on his children and others who come after him in his family line now that is actually a statement right out of the Bible isn't it there are several passages in the Old Testament that tell us that the father's sins are visited on the third and fourth generation what does that mean and what does it not mean several passages seem to teach that the

[51:32] Lord visits the sins of the father to the third and fourth generation such that people then generalize what they believe this to mean they generalize what they believe this to mean and they say that it's possible for God to punish you for the sins of another person but this is the question I want to ask you is this biblical no most of you are shaking your head no what just think about the repercussions here what would it mean if we thought the Bible taught that God punishes other people for the sins some people do that God will punish you for sins you didn't commit but people close to you did what would that say about God I'd be like zap well what did

[52:35] I do oh you didn't do anything but she did but I didn't do it but she did you do you see so you line the kids up okay I have a really good idea about which one of you did this but I'm going to give you the opportunity to come clean it will go better for you if you confess and so you go down the line did you do this did you do this did you do this and so you know this one did it the first one but you go to the third one and you say you're it you're!

[53:08] I didn't daddy I didn't do it I know but I'm going to deal with you and you're going to pay for what this one did what in the world would you do that to your kids well why would God do that to you that there's no way we know the Bible can't be teaching that God is going to punish people for the sins other people do we can't be that so what is it because this would contradict the heart of God and the scripture this is really really going to get deep in just a minute when we start thinking about something when we start thinking about something very very incredible that God did the idea that we're talking about now reflects negatively on God's character as he would unjustly punish people for their sins but for sins they didn't commit themselves we can't have that now look the truth is

[54:18] God punishes those who do evil and God rewards those whose hearts are humbly submitted to him in obedient living you'll remember these are the twin themes that we've been looking at these are the twin themes that we've been looking at and they come out very very explicitly in the texts from Genesis 3 to now and it's a beautiful reality that God would give grace and mercy to anybody in light of where we all come from and what we deal with now to pull this all together if you'll stay with me I want to take you to Ezekiel 18 so feel free to look in the front of your Bible at the contents and find out where Ezekiel is that is a perfectly fine thing to do I have to do that sometimes when I'm in the minor prophets

[55:19] I'm like where's Amos I forget so that's fine you don't worry about that what's important is that you find the book and trace it with me Ezekiel 18 is where we'll be because Ezekiel 18 helps clear this matter up for us in very very easy terms!

[55:41] we're something that someone else around you does that is sinful it may have an impact on you that is hurtful and harmful and negative but their sin doesn't have to define your life isn't that an amen moment the failures of your parents the failures of those who raised you or who are close to you now don't have to be the gods that define who you are now there is a greater power and force a greater good that can define your heart your life and the trajectory of your life and his name is

[56:51] Jesus and the sins of your parents and others who harmed you and hurt you don't have to be more powerful than what God offers you in his grace beloved and so this is all caught up in what we're!

[57:04] dealing! with! Ezekiel 18 so God is not holding us accountable for the sins that others commit now notice this next thing that I want to say before we read from Ezekiel 18 God also makes it clear that sin has consequences I've been talking about that and they often adversely affect those closest to us sins which have the potential to influence train and even reinforce evil in other people I experienced that in my life being raised by my unbelieving dad who was later converted people do suffer from the wrong and disobedient things other people do that's true a wife can suffer under the sin of her husband a husband can suffer under the sin of his wife etc now Ezekiel 18 is going to help us here now

[58:05] I'm not going to read this entire chapter I want to take portions of it and I want to show you what's going on then! the word of the is Lord God you are surely not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore behold all souls are mine the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine the soul who sins will die The soul who sins will die.

[58:52] Now, the main idea here is that God deals justly with each individual person. And He does this based on their deeds of evil or good.

[59:04] And we'll give you a quick reference here. In the MacArthur Study Bible, for those of you who have the MacArthur Study Bible, the notes for this passage say this. One of the foundational principles of Scripture is presented in this chapter, Ezekiel 18.

[59:21] Judgment is according to individual faith and conduct. God had foretold national punishment, but the reason was individual sin.

[59:34] Are you with me? Very important. Here's that principle laid down in this chapter. In verses 1 and 2 of Ezekiel 18, this is what we're dealing with.

[59:44] God is holding this generation accountable for their accusations that God is unjustly punishing them for their father's sins. The proverb that we see here is accusatory and defamatory against the Lord.

[60:01] It defames God. Our fathers did the wrong, but we have to pay the penalty for it. This is their whiny statement. This is blame shifting.

[60:12] This is accusing God of injustice. God answers this terrible accusation in verses 3 and 4, doesn't He? What does He say? Throughout the rest of this chapter, He's going to use generations of fathers and sons to illustrate what He repays the disobedient with and what He does for the obedient.

[60:32] And He's going to use fathers and sons and generations to show, I am not guilty of what you're accusing me. I am not punishing you for the sins of your fathers.

[60:43] You are following in your father's wickedness. And so I'm dealing with you in that wickedness. That's what's happening. That's what we see happening in Canaan, the land of Canaan.

[60:56] We see an entire group of people, an entire set of cultures spread around that entire land, suffering under the reality of the darkness of following in their father's footsteps to worship false gods and bring judgment on themselves.

[61:17] That's what we see happening here. And God forbid that we would ever look to the Lord and say, you're not dealing with us fairly. That is what we scream, but we're wrong. Verse 5, notice verse 5.

[61:30] But, but if a man is, is righteous, that is, if a man truly has turned his heart to the Lord, that's the only way we can be righteous. And he practices justice and righteousness.

[61:43] In other words, he is doing what I have done in his heart. He's living it out and does not eat at the mountain shrines. He doesn't worship false god. He doesn't lift his eyes to idols.

[61:54] He doesn't defile his neighbor's wife. In other words, he's not living in sin. He's not following after the ways of the nations in paganism and unbelief. Verse 5 begins a section that teaches, if a good and faithful man lives for the Lord, he will surely live in the blessings of God's saving grace.

[62:13] But what about his son? What about a righteous father's son who is sinfully unrepentant? You know, if you're a Christian and you're raising up your kids and your kids get to a certain age and they're going to launch and do their own thing and they start living for the devil and for themselves, what about you in that context?

[62:36] Look at verses beginning in verse 14. Here's where he brings that in. Now behold, he has a son. This righteous man has a son who's observed all his father's sins which he committed and observing does not do likewise.

[62:52] So here we've got a son who is coming along and he's not going to follow in his father's footsteps. He doesn't eat at the mountain shrines. He doesn't oppress.

[63:04] He gives bread. Verse 17. He keeps his hand from the poor. He doesn't take interest. My ordinances. He walks in my ordinances. He walks in my statutes. He will not die for his father's iniquity.

[63:17] He will surely live. And so sometimes you have kids who go astray and they don't follow after you. Is God going to punish you for the choices those kids make?

[63:29] No. Sometimes kids will have sinful parents, unbelieving parents. And so they get to the place where they begin to live for the Lord.

[63:40] Is the Lord going to punish these kids for the sins of the parents? No. This is what he's saying. And he's taking it generation. Are you following me? He's taking it generation by generation to show that this is what God does.

[63:54] He gives us the opposite scenario of a son growing up and seeing his ungodly dad doing wrong, but he doesn't follow in his dad's wrong. What will God do with this son seeking to live right before the Lord?

[64:08] What does verse 17 say? That son will not die for his father's iniquity. I'm not going to punish the son for what his dad does. He will surely live.

[64:20] And what about his sinful father in verse 18? As for his father. Because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what was not good among his people.

[64:32] Behold, he will die for his iniquity. You see that? He will die for his iniquity. And then if you will, look at verse 20. The person who sins will die.

[64:46] That is, this is unrepentant, unbelieving sin. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity.

[64:57] The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. Verse 20 sums up the principle of individual accountability for the good or evil you choose to do.

[65:11] So this entire psychology that is based on these memories that you have from your childhood, and the wrong your parents have done to you, or others have done to you, where they have victimized you, do you know how many billions of dollars are being made in victimology today?

[65:28] There are people who are legitimately victims of wrong being done. But brothers and sisters, I'm saying to you that the message we need to bring to the world is that Jesus conquers and overcomes victimhood.

[65:41] You do not have to live as a victim for the rest of your life, being defined by the wrong done to you by sinful people. You don't. You can know victory.

[65:53] You can know overcoming. You can know life, happiness, joy, fulfillment, purpose. You don't have to live in those memories and be defined by them.

[66:04] God can help you overcome. This is the message of the gospel, or we do not have a Jesus on the cross and raised again. And Easter was a farce. Because God came to make us overcomers.

[66:20] Overcomers. This is the message that we're seeing here. You can see in the verse that we just read in verse 20, the actions of evil, that is your own behavior, and the origins of evil, your own heart.

[66:35] Look at the way that I'm going to spell this out for you. In Ezekiel 18, 20, we have a summation showing us the origin of evil and what evil produces.

[66:48] We also have the origin of good and what good produces. Notice how it says it. The righteousness, that is the right or godly behavior of the righteous, that is the spiritual condition of a believing heart.

[67:04] The wickedness or sinful behavior of the wicked, that is the spiritual condition of an unbelieving. So you see what I'm saying? The righteousness refers to what you're doing that is good in the sight of God.

[67:19] Where does that come from? It says it comes from those who are righteous. That's the general spiritual condition of a believing heart. Because God has given me a believing heart, I can do good things that are blessings to people.

[67:34] And I can do it for the glory of God. The main reason that I do those things is because I want to see God honored. All right? The wickedness is the same way. The wickedness refers to the behaviors, what we do.

[67:48] And then it comes and says the wickedness of the wicked, of the wicked. That's something that is coming out of me, out of you. And what we're getting at is what the Lord Jesus is going to do for us in this.

[68:05] Verses 31 and 32 of Ezekiel 18, they cap it off and then I'll be moving on. It says, Therefore, God says, I will judge you, O house of Israel.

[68:16] Notice this, he's judging his people. Each according to his conduct, declares the Lord God. And so what does God say?

[68:27] Repent and turn away from all your transgressions so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed.

[68:42] Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O house of Israel? I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares the Lord God.

[68:53] Therefore, repent and live. That's the message. How do you get a new heart? How do you get a new spirit? Repent. You turn in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ and cry out for the forgiveness of your sins.

[69:06] And what does it say? God will save you. And this is where I wanted to take you. Jesus Christ willingly took our sins on himself so that he would suffer and die as God punished him to death for the wrong we do.

[69:26] In other words, Jesus went to the cross so that he would suffer and die for us. He had to do that. That had to happen. And then the verse of Scripture.

[69:38] He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

[69:53] And so what are we talking about? This. Look at the bottom of the screen there. His payment of death for our sin. His life for our secure salvation.

[70:07] As Moses instructs the Hebrews in their ancestral background and in the history behind what God is commanding them, God wants his people to know, without a doubt, that he will be with the faithful and he will punish the unfaithful.

[70:23] Look, he will be with the believing, but he will hold the unbelieving accountable for their sins. And it will be in an ultimate way. And that's what we pray people will escape from.

[70:34] Even if it's on their deathbed, we do not want to see people pay the ultimate price for the sin that they do. Estrangement from God for all eternity.

[70:47] So here is their opportunity, the people of Israel, here's their opportunity to have their generation as they go into the promised land live in faithfulness. Obey God.

[70:59] Do what He tells you. Look to Him and trust Him. Don't put your eyes on what's in front of you in the way of the challenges and hardships. Put your eyes on the Lord and look to Him. I'd say it this way.

[71:11] Here is their opportunity to live the truth that national faithfulness to God begins and depends on the individual faithfulness of each one of them.

[71:22] Isn't that the way of it? Isn't that what God's teaching us through the table of nations? That even though these nations will be judged for their rebellion against God and many of them were and have been judged, these nations are made up of individual sinners who have rebelled against the Lord and made it their heart's hardness to relate to God.

[71:45] And folks, if you decide to live in that kind of secret sin or you decide or choose to live not following the Lord, not making a disciplined life in the Lord the reality for you, the people around you will suffer the consequences of your sin.

[72:02] Do you want that on your heart? I don't. And I don't think you do either. So let's look to the table of nations and let's let it teach us what Moses wanted the Israelites to see.

[72:14] You serve a faithful God who's called you to do a thing bigger than you can do. So look to God in faith and He will use you as His instrument of righteousness and accomplish great things for His name.

[72:28] Let's pray together. Father, we thank You for Your goodness and grace and we thank You for the way You have led us even this morning as we've tried to sit under Your Word and follow along in a kind of a difficult passage, Lord, in a way that lots of names and lots of ideas and cultures and we're just trying to grasp reality that You are sovereign and You are God over these peoples and it's that way today.

[72:53] And so we take great comfort in knowing that Your purposes and designs are being served even among nations of peoples who hate You and despise You and wreak havoc around the world with their manipulation and their secrets.

[73:09] God, may You bring all of that into the light and may You one day bring great glory to Your own name as You send Jesus back to this earth to gather Your people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to Yourself that we might live with You for all eternity in the joy and bliss of knowing Jesus face to face.

[73:31] We pray this in His name. Amen.