The Sin of Ham

I. Introduction
A. Series on great sins of the OT: sins are things which take us away from God.
1. That’s why they’re so important. We need God. We need to be close to Him. He is our life, and if we’re removed from Him, it means death.
2. That’s why sin is so dangerous.
B. We are in a spiritual battle. But often the enemy’s missiles don’t seem like attacks when they come.
1. But all of us need to remember that there is a war raging, and that we are under attack, and that our enemy is not flesh and blood.
2. We have a battle to fight against our own fleshly tendencies, and our own corrupt desires.
C. Genesis 9:18–27 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. 20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”
II. Three parts to the story
A. Noah’s drunkenness
1. This is the first mention of alcohol or drunkenness in the Bible. It’s possible Noah was ignorant.
2. Even so, it wasn’t Noah’s best moment.
B. Ham’s act: uncovering nakedness – Some take the description of what Ham did to Noah as euphemistic for illicit sexual activity. But that just doesn’t make sense to me for a number of reasons I would be happy to explain to you it you’re interested.
C. Noah’s curse on Canaan, one of Ham’s four sons (Gen.10:6)
1. This story provides the background for God’s judgment on the Canaanites under Joshua many years later.
III. What was Ham’s sin?
A. 22 “Ham saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.”
B. He saw his father in that state, and his reaction was to publicize it instead of cover it and hide it.
C. The opposite of Cain’s sin. He was angry at Abel’s exaltation. Ham celebrated Noah’s humiliation.
1. And yet the two are similar as well. Both sins involve a kind of hostility toward the man of God.
2. If there’s someone you hate, you are angry if they get rewarded, and happy if they get humiliated.
D. Isn’t this a very common reaction? Was it really such a big deal?
1. Just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s not a big deal.
2. Apparently, he found his father’s drunken nakedness humorous. And he assumed his brothers would get a kick out of it too.
E. So, the first part of Ham’s sin is enjoying his father’s sin – the opposite of Christ, who covers sins.
F. When we’re like Christ, we cover people’s sins.
1. Proverbs 11:13 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.
2. Pr17:9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
3. Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
4. 1Peter 4:8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
a. And Ham’s sin was a failure of love.
G. So, there were two closely-related parts of Ham’s sin.
1. He welcomed the scene of his drunk and naked father, whereas his brothers were horrified.
2. He wanted to spread his scorn to others (Romans 1:32), while his brothers wanted to prevent others from scorning their father.
3. Both parts of his sin came from the same reality in Ham’s heart.
a. He enjoyed seeing his father’s humiliation. It made him feel better about himself.
b. He didn’t think, “This is my father. This hurts me too.”
(1) But rather, “This helps me by making me look better. I benefit from the fall of others.”
c. He should have been thinking, “The whole world was just destroyed because of human corruption, and I was only rescued because of my father’s righteousness. If his righteousness is lost, who knows where I will stand?”
IV. There are many lessons for us here.
A. Beware of the spirit of Ham.
1. There is in human nature a delight in seeing others fall, especially others who are above us in some way, as Noah was for Cain.
a. We get recreation at someone else’s expense: pleasure from someone else’s pain, fun from the misery of others.
2. God forbids this: Proverbs 17:5 Whoever is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
3. Pro.24:17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.
4. But our pride and our love of being above others gives this great appeal to our sinful flesh.
5. It’s the same reason gossip is so delicious. “The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.” – Proverbs 18:8
6. But it’s often deeper than this. Our mistreatment of others springs from our mistreatment of God.
a. Down deep the wicked would love to drag God down from His throne and humiliate Him.
b. We see this vividly displayed in the Aslan at the Stone Table scene in The Lion, Witch, Wardrobe
7. And this same spirit drives people to rejoice in the misfortune of those who represent God.
8. And it’s not just a matter of showing disrespect, it is a matter of spreading disrespect.
9. When we rub shoulders with sinners, we’re going to see sin. The question is how we deal with it.
a. We can deal with it in hate.
(1) We can humiliate/shame.
(2) We can take revenge.
(3) We can publicize and advertize the failings of others or even their embarrassing habits.
(4) We can react with anger/bitterness, or give the silent treatment.
b. Or we can deal with it in love.
(1) Go to the person in love and humility, one-on-one, person-to-person, and address their sin, as Jesus teaches us in Matt.18:15-17. You don’t widen the circle unless it is necessitated by love.
(a) Delicate feedback: like a dental hygienist who remembers nerve endings
(2) We can be quick to forgive and let love cover a multitude of sin.
10. There is a colossal difference between constructive criticism given in love and angry or mocking criticism!
11. Accepting people on the basis of grace, not works
12. We’re supposed to love others. And that means people ought to be able to tell we love them by the way we react to their sin and by the way we talk about them to others. Very convicting.
B. An important lesson about honoring parents
1. Generally, we don’t like people telling us what to do. And that means the child’s attitude toward the parent is on shaky ground from the get-go.
2. Plus, there is a youthful temptation to notice our parents’ weaknesses and failures and ignore their faithfulnesses and their successes.
3. But it’s really hard to honor those who are obviously messed up. Yeah, like Noah.
a. The fact is, all parents are flawed, and have plenty of things to point to, if you’re looking for them
b. But God’s commandment to honor parents doesn’t stop when parents stop acting honorably.
4. So, the sin of Ham is very easy to commit against your parents – and feel righteous in doing so.
5. But by dishonoring his father, Ham harms his son. And that’s the way it often works.
a. If you curse your father, you are cursing your son. It’s your children who will end up getting hurt.
C. And one more thing about children and their parents:
1. We don’t know how good Noah was at discipling his sons.
2. We don’t know how strict or permissive he was with them.
3. We don’t know how much time he spent with them when they were little.
4. But we do know that he feared God. We know that he listened to and obeyed God in the context of a very evil culture. And we know that he led his family in fearing and obeying God.
5. And we know that when Ham sinned, God didn’t blame Noah for it.
V. I’d like to conclude by changing the subject a little, and talking about Noah and Jesus.
A. Noah was a Christ-figure. He was the savior of mankind, as Jesus was. Both saved through wood.
B. Those who were saved were saved through his righteousness, as the people of Jesus are. They were saved not by their own righteousness but by the righteousness of another.
C. And they were both betrayed. Jesus had Judas; Noah had Ham.
D. Both seemed to be with the program for a long time, but then it was revealed that their hearts hadn’t been in it the whole time.
E. This is sobering. Ham was not a young man when this happened.
1. In all those years of building the ark with his father, he never acted like this.
2. But sometimes sin crops up later in life. Sometimes the seed lies dormant.
3. As it turned out, not everyone who seemed to have been saved by that wooden ark was truly saved. Eventually it came to light that there was a betrayer in the midst of the saved.
4. Only eight people in the whole world had been rescued from the curse of God in the flood. All the rest had been subjected to the greater judgment God had ever poured out.
5. But now we find out that even among those eight was at least one who was ruled by the same wicked unbelief as all those who had perished in the flood.
6. So soon after the cleansing flood, the clean slate was already marred by human rebellion.
7. Even after seeing the power of God in judging the world according to the promise of God, even after being spared from that curse himself, along with his family, Ham still didn’t believe.
F. Similarly, think about all that Judas saw, and yet He still disbelieved.
1. Think about all that the cities of Galilee saw, yet they disbelieved, and were judged harshly (Matt.11:20-24).
2. Faith does not come by our environment or by our circumstance, or even by our education.
3. Faith comes by a change of heart. Faith is a miracle God produces in the heart of a person.
4. Ephesians 2:8–10 By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
G. Now, something else about Noah and Jesus.
1. Ham’s sin is made even more serious because of who his father Noah was.
2. He owed his life to Noah. Like all fathers, Noah gave his children life. But, in addition to that, he preserved their lives in the ark from the wrath of God.
3. If Noah’s sons didn’t feel rich for having a good father, then who will? They had the best father in the world – even before the flood!
4. And what a contrast between Ham and his brothers!
a. His brothers’ hearts go out to their father in the situation. They identify with him. They think how embarrassing it would be to be in this position. And they quickly acted to deal with it.
b. It’s as if they realized what they had in their dad, in spite of his mess-up. And therefore they were not about to scorn him or dishonor him.
5. Ham, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to care at all about Noah. It seems probable from the story that Ham’s view of his father was dominated by his father’s weaknesses.
6. In the same way, there was never a person more unworthy of mocking than Jesus, the Son of God.
7. And yet He bore the most intense humiliating treatment, by people who knew better.
a. Insults, beatings, mocking, spitting
b. That was the whole idea of crucifixions.
8. And it has continued ever since. He’s mocked. His name is used as a curse word. He is despised.
9. And not only do they mock Jesus, but in His absence they attack His children as well.
a. And not only do people despise Christians out of jealous anger, like we spoke of last week.
b. But every time a Christian does something sinful or scandalous, they leap on it, barely able to contain their glee. Just like Ham did with Noah.
10. None of us want to give unbelievers an excuse to mock Christ and His people by acting in a unchristian way. And we all grieve when someone bearing the name of Christ does so.
a. But those who want to mock, those who are looking for a reason to ridicule God’s people are always going to be able to find a drunk Noah around somewhere.
b. And no matter how much good he may have done, they will hold him up to their scorn and publicize his shame to all who will listen.
11. Let us not participate in the mocking of anyone, least of all God and His people.
12. And if you say to yourself, I would never mock Jesus/His people, let me remind you of 2 things:
a. There once was a man who said a very similar thing – and meant it – and then did it three times.
b. “Let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.” (1Cor.10:12)
13. It all comes down to what’s in your heart of hearts. Who is Jesus to you?
a. Is He the threat of your life or is He is the thrill of your life?
14. You will hear many bad reports about Him.
a. Will criticisms of Him make you sad or stir up a dark happiness?
b. Is His praise something which delights you? Or something which disturbs you?
15. Where do you want your heart to be? Do you aim there? Do you pray there?