Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080511.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VI: Explaining The Rise And History Of The Races
(Genesis 9:18-10:32)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Regardless of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, racism is still a big issue in our world:

(1) In the lead story of the May 5, 2008 issue of USA TODAY, p. 1A, Susan Page reported: "Barak Obama's national standing has been significantly damaged by the controversy over his former pastor." Marisol Bello explained in another story in that paper titled "Blacks come to terms with Obama-Wright schism," p. 6A that Jeremiah "Wright [Obama's former pastor] . . . suggested [at the National Press Club on April 28th]. . . that the government was capable of creating the AIDS virus to kill blacks."

Now, many view Wright's claim itself to be a racist remark, that it is unthinkable that the U. S. government would practice racial genocide against African Americans like he suggested, but Bello also added: "Walter Fauntroy, who was an aide to Martin Luther King, Jr., and serves as pastor at New Bethel in Washington . . . said Wright spoke the truth about the struggles of blacks in this country . . ."

Another minister, Graylan Hagler, senior minister at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington asserted: "What we really realize is there is a schism not just between black and white, but between people of color and the dominant culture." (Ibid.)

(3) Last Tuesday, May 6th, I heard a caller on the "Talk of Connecticut" radio program out of am 610, Torrington complain to talk show host, Brad Davis about a previous caller who had blamed some of our country's woes on Jews. Brad replied he was sickened at the existence of such anti-Semitism, but admitted it persists in our land!

(4) Racism affects the next generation of Americans, too: a teacher at the Middle School in Torrington, Connecticut told me last week that white students at the school are upset that they are not allowed by the school administrators to use the infamous "N" word to refer to African-American students when the African-American students themselves could use it profusely in referring to one another!



Thus, we may ask, "Where did the races come from, WHY is there RACISM, and WHAT is the EDIFYING SOLUTION?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "How did the races rise, and what is the answer to racism?!"
  1. All the "races" began with Noah's family of eight who survived the flood, Genesis 9:18-19; 7:13; Acts 17:26. [The Human Genome Project that published its findings in the New York Times in 2000 confirmed "there is only one race -- the human race." (Ken Ham, "It's Not Just Black & White," Answers, April-June 2008, p. 60)]
  2. Then, due to the ACTIVITY of EACH of Noah's SONS in a KEY EVENT that came soon after the flood, GOD forecast VARYING HISTORIES for EACH SON'S DESCENDANTS (Gen. 9:20-27):
    1. After the flood, Noah became drunk, mistakenly disrobed, and was seen this way by his son Ham who reported it to his brothers, 9:20-22.
    2. Culturally, Ham's actions amounted to a breach of his father's role and a claim of dominance over the family, Bib. Know. Com., O. T., p. 41.
    3. However, the oldest son, Shem, led his youngest brother, Japheth, to cover their father while both kept their eyes from viewing him, 9:23.
    4. Noah later learned what happened (Gen. 9:24 NIV), so he foretold the history of each son's line fitting his activity in this event, Ibid., p. 349.
  3. That PROPHECY explains VARIATIONS in GOD'S BLESSINGS that have MARKED the GROUPS of man throughout HISTORY:
    1. God predicted Ham's son, Canaan, would be the lowest of slaves, and that his other sons would lack His blessings, Genesis 9:25, 26b, 27b:
      1. Ham had disrespectfully tried to dominate the family by violating his father's role, so God predicted Ham's own son, Canaan would instead become the lowest of slaves to his kin, 9:22, 25, 26b, 27b.
      2. Though this curse was directed only at Canaan's line, the lack of divine promises for Ham's other sons meant they would lack God's blessings, Merrill F. Unger, Arch. and the O. T., 1974, p. 86.
      3. Historically, the Canaanites became enslaved and defeated, Ibid., p. 349-350. Like Ham, they were also very vulgar and obscene, Ibid.
      4. The rest of Ham's line, the ancient Egyptian and African peoples, have known strong spiritual darkness in lacking God's blessings, Ibid., Unger, p. 76; Genesis 9:25-27. [Scripture is unclear on the origin of Eastern Asians and the early peoples in the Americas.]
    2. God predicted Shem's line would be marked by its close association with God's spiritual and material blessings, Genesis 9:26:
      1. As his name in the Genesis 9:23 narrative appears first, Shem, the eldest son, presumably assumed moral leadership in getting his youngest brother, Japheth, to help him cover their unclothed father.
      2. Shem thus received spiritual leadership blessings in the form of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 9:26 with 11:10-26 and 12:1-3).
      3. Shem's leading Japheth to cover his father would also be rewarded by his possessing the tent coverings, or dwellings of Japheth's line, Gen. 9:27b. This was fulfilled in the rise of Jewish and (relative) Arab economic power that rules many of the world's institutions.
    3. God predicted Japheth's line would be enlarged and function within the blessings of Shem's material possessions, Genesis 9:27:
      1. Japheth had followed his older brother Shem's moral leadership in helping Shem to cover his father, Noah, Genesis 9:23.
      2. Japheth's line would thus expand as "the great Indo-Germanic family", spreading far to the east and west of their first home at the Black and Caspian Seas, Genesis 9:27a; Ibid., Unger, p. 77-81.
      3. Japheth had heeded Shem's lead to "cover" his father, so his line would enjoy Shem's "coverings," his dwellings, Gen. 9:27b. This was fulfilled in the Caucasoid [and possibly other people groups whose origins are from Japheth] enjoying the shade of the material possessions of Semitic peoples [i.e., Jewish and Arab oil, banking, housing, etc. institutions]! (Ibid., Leupold, p. 352-353)
  4. Sadly, these VARIATIONS in GOD'S BLESSINGS have been MISREAD by SINFUL men to mean VARIATIONS in INNATE "RACIAL" SUPERIORITY, producing the scourge of "RACISM"!
  5. In SOLUTION, GOD takes EVERY INDIVIDUAL who TRUSTS in CHRIST for SALVATION, and who then LIVES by FAITH in Him to FULL VICTORY over "RACISM" (as follows):
    1. When a person of any "race" trusts in Christ, God places him in Christ in spiritual transcendence of his "racial" lineage, Ephesians 2:11-15.
    2. He thus becomes an essential part of Christ's Body, the Church, along with every other believer regardless of his lineage, 1 Cor. 12:12-25!
    3. So, for victory over racism, we must disciple men to Christ, and love all people in God's power, Galatians 3:13-14; 5:16-23; Romans 13:8.
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ for salvation and (2) live by faith in Him for blessing, and (3) disciple all peoples for Christ!

Lesson: The varied people groups all came from God's blessing variations for what occurred in Noah's immediate family. Sinful men have misread these blessing variations to be variations in innate " racial" superiority, yielding "racism". This is overcome by discipling men unto Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Having spent much of my childhood in Nigeria, West Africa, as the son of missionaries, I have seen how Christ can conquer "racism":

(1) One day in the early 1960s at age 14 while I was playing at the mission tennis court in Jos, Nigeria, I noticed an African man had paused along the path near the court, and he was calling for me.

I came to see him, and he asked if my name was "Donald"! He sensed I was cautious at such a pointedly personal question from one I saw as a stranger, so he asked if my father's name was "Robert Shell."

When I answered, "Yes!", he explained, "I am Robby!"

That brought a flood of memories of stories my parents had told about their former work among the Yoruba people. Robby was the first foreman Dad had trained when he began his construction work in Yoruba country in Nigeria. Robby was saved, and developed into such a quality workman and leader, his tribe had selected him to be its chief.

As I relayed this information to him, Robby replied, "All that I have become I owe to your father!" I was amazed at this heartfelt appreciation of my Dad from a man who came from such a vastly different "racial" and cultural origin than me!

Years later, when my parents visited Nigeria for the last time, and they met Robby in Yoruba country, Robby said, "Won't it be wonderful when all of God's children will be together in heaven?!"

(2) What is also significant in relation to this is the fact that Dad "borrowed" an idea of Chinese wall building from Chinese laborers a generation before in making lasting stone foundations in the buildings he and Robby built! As a teenager back in Chico, California, Dad had noticed how Chinese laborers a generation before had been made to form rock walls outside the town, and he incorporated their technique for use in laying stones for his cement building foundations in Nigeria! In doing so, the buildings he made are still uncracked in their foundations unlike newer ones built by others! His commitment to Christ left Dad humble enough to borrow a building technique from what his former generation of Americans had held were lowly Chinese laborers in Dad's own personal victory over "racism" as an American!

May we focus on our relationship to our Lord in our lives, and depend upon the Holy Spirit of God to live in true brotherhood toward all fellow believers, and disciple others to Christ in victory over racism!