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Call to worship: Matthew 15:17-28

Text: Genesis 9:18-29

Summary:

The flood has ended. The ark has emptied. A covenant's been cut. What kind of world will follow? What has the flood actually achieved? Are God's people fully at rest? The text gives us the world that falls out from the ark, beginning with Noah's sons. We quickly find that the war within has not finally concluded, as Noah and his son, Ham, blow past the free bounds of righteousness into the bars of sin. Shem and Japheth, in contrast to Ham, do righteousness. In this new world, the old war between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman persists. In response, Noah, the object of Ham's sin, curses Ham's son, Canaan, while blessing the God of Shem and Japheth. It will soon be acknowledged that the whole world still abides under the curse of sin and death, and yet there's hope in the lines of Noah. 'Dwell in the tents of Shem,' one of the great-grands of Abraham and his Offspring, Christ. Noah dies, but not without leaving God's hope for a world that remains in need of the Christ through Whom the accursed may instead receive the blessing of Heaven.

Main idea(s):

Though sin abides a problem in all mankind, God's Christ abides the definitive Savior of all who take refuge in Him.

Sermon Outline:

1. The world outside Noah’s ark. (9:18-19)
2. The war within Noah’s tent. (9:20-23)
3. The win within Noah’s lines. (9:24-27)
4. The witness of Noah’s life (and death). (9:28-29)

Prepare

Discussion Questions:

1. Read Genesis 9:18-29.
2. Who does this passage most immediately address? Who flows out from Noah and the family that flows out from the ark? What sort of humanity will fill the earth? Will they be able to fulfill God's commission? Why or why not?
3. How do the events in Noah's tent answer the previous few questions? Has the flood cleansed the human heart of sin? Can a righteous man, like Noah, still succumb to the desires of sinful flesh? What does that speak to the Christian, as well as a watching world? In what ways do the actions of Shem and Japheth contrast with those of Ham? Do you find any connection to the enmity God forecasted in Genesis 3:15? Do you see anything illusory to the final work of Christ in the activities of Shem and Japheth? If so, what, and what might that speak of them?
4. What two poles do you find in Noah's response to the polar opposite actions of his sons? Where else do we find the themes of cursing and blessing? Has the flood remedied the curse? Has it brought God's blessing in full? What's the primary exhortation in 9:27, and why would that be (see 11:10 and following)? What's the significance of Canaan in the Bible? Is there any hope for a Canaanite world under the curse of sin?
5. If you were to eulogize Noah, what would you say? What's the significance of those final words in 9:29 (go back to Genesis 2:17 and Genesis 5 and Genesis 8:20)? Bonus: Is it significant that 9:24-27 are the only recorded words of Noah in the entire Noah record? If so, why so? What's the point of them?