Good morning everybody. How are y'all doing today? I'm doing pretty good. Is it
like warmer on this side of the building or something? You know? Hey, if this is your
first time joining us here in our sanctuary at Hosanna or if you're
watching online for the first time, we want to say welcome to all of you. We're
so glad you're here to worship with us. I am Pastor Nathan and today we are going
to be looking at the famous story of the Tower of Babel. This is a true story in
Genesis chapter 11 about man's God-defying ways and its search for
self-exaltation in its own delusions. You see, way back in the beginning when we
were studying the Garden of Eden and we looked at the fall, we learned there that
when Adam and Eve sinned and they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, it was essentially an act that proclaimed we won't need God if we have
the knowledge of good and evil ourselves. That if we are the ones that
can establish what is right and wrong, if we are the ones who could determine
what is moral and immoral, we won't need him. We will be free of his control and
actually effectively be God's ourselves. And really that has been the root of
man's sinful decisions ever since. And you know, man has this innate desire in its
fallen sinful nature to exalt himself to glory that belongs to God alone. Well, the
whole human experience that we get to live on this earth boils down to
what is called our terminal heart issue. You see, mankind has a terminal heart
issue, both physical and spiritual. Physically, our hearts actually die
because sin introduced death into creation. In God's original design, we
were designed to be immortal, to live with him in an eternal fellowship. But
because mankind sinned, the physical world was introduced to death. Our
spiritual heart died as sin killed our perfect fellowship with God. Where in
that moment our spirit was made dead and leaving us with a spiritual deadness
that no longer desires to be with God, to desire God, to fellowship with him.
Instead, we were left with this deadness that desires its own selfish, self-centered
way and will. That was the sin of Satan, who once said, I will exalt myself into
the mountain on high. I will be the one who is worshiped. I will be the one who
is glorified. And that is the sin he introduced to Adam and Eve. George
McDonald said this once, the one principle of hell is this, I am my
own. And that is our problem. You see, when we refer to our heart spiritually
from a biblical sense, what we're referring to is the seat of our desires,
the seat of our wants, the seat of our own pursuits. And that is reflected in
the mantra of the world, which says the heart wants what the heart wants. Well,
the problem is, is the heart wants just a few things that history and experience
show us. The heart wants to be number one. The heart wants to be indulged in all
its desires and pleasures. And the heart wants to be in charge, ruling us through
our feelings. And we see that problem in our world today, where people are
adhering to all manner of silliness because, well, I feel it. I feel this way.
I feel this is true. And so this collectively refers to what I call the
Babylonian heart. It's a heart after the world. It's a heart in pursuit of its own
glory. And it's a heart that stands in defiance of God Almighty. This is what
this story of the Tower of Babel speaks of. It shows us really the length that
mankind will go to exalt itself above God Almighty. And it also shows us how
God responds to our hubris when we do so. But we're going to worship God first
because we want to start everything remembering, focusing on, realizing again
that God is Almighty. That He is truly God above. He is the one that deserves
all the glory, all the praise, regardless of what mankind can accomplish or not.
God is the one who deserves all of it. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we love you so
much. We thank you, God, for sending your Son to this world to die for our sins.
Lord, from the very beginning, God, you created us with a capacity, Lord, to
really walk in your footsteps creatively, God. We're able to invent and we're
able to build and we're able to advance technology and medical science and all
these wonderful things, God. But, Lord, because of our fallen nature, instead of
using these things as another way to give glory to you, God, we use these
things often to glorify ourselves. And ultimately, God, we're capable of
destroying ourselves as well. And, Lord, you know that. God, as we look at the
story today of the Tower of Babel, Lord, may we be reminded that really not
just what we're capable of, but what we're capable of in our sin. Lord, how
left to our own devices we will ultimately and always exalt ourselves
above you, grasping for the glory for ourselves instead of giving it to you,
God. And yet, Lord, even in that, you are gracious, you are patient. And so, Lord,
we want to start by praising you to get our minds fixated on who deserves the
glory, and that is you and you alone. We love you so much. It's in Jesus' name we
pray. Amen. We are going to be in Genesis chapter 11 this morning. And just a quick
recap, you know, back in Genesis chapter 10, in the middle of what was called the
Table of Nations. The Table of Nations was the genealogical list of the sons of Noah
and who kind of spread out and how the original 70 nations on the earth spread
from that. Right in the middle of that list, you might remember that verses 8
through 12 told us about this man named Nimrod, this very powerful ruler in those
days where he had just accomplished so much. It really emphasized how unique and
different this powerful man was. But right in the middle of his story, it tells
us that the first of the many kingdoms and cities he established was this city
called Babylon. Now, Babylon is a city, an ancient city that actually exists today.
You can go visit it and be a tourist there and all that. But the city of Babylon,
the concept of Babylon carries very significant symbolic meaning in
Scripture. Throughout the Bible, the idea of Babylon usually represents a powerful
enemy of God's people. Now, for a long time, it was actually the Babylonian
empire. But in Revelation, it's referring to this end times coalition, this
worldwide government led by the Antichrist centered in Babylon. But the
empire itself is also known as Babylon. So throughout Scripture, this idea of
Babylon really is anything that embodies opposition to divine authority and
oppression of God's people. Like I said, in the New Testament, Babylon typically
was figurative of Rome because at that time, Rome was the world power. They were
the worldwide government, if you will, and they were oppressing Christians all the
time. And so Rome was also referred to as Babylon or the Empire of Babylon. But,
you know, throughout time, we've seen different broader senses of Babylon,
really meaning the world as a whole and its stance to stand against God's rule.
You know, the Bible tells us that we have the devil that's against us, we have
our flesh that's against us, and then we have the world, which is this whole
world system that really is rebellious towards God, living its own way,
pursuing its own wants, and so on and so forth. And so what I call a Babylonian
heart is the heart that desires to exalt itself above God and or determine its own
right and wrong without him. A Babylonian heart is the heart within humanity to
say, God, we don't need you. We will run our own lives and establish our own
parameters of living. And so this is what this story is all about. Here,
this in Genesis chapter 11, this Babylonian place physically and then the
ideology of Babylon, the mindset itself has its first major post-flood expression
in Genesis chapter 11. And so read with me. We're going to read the first nine
verses, which is the story of the Tower of Babel. It says,
The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. As people migrated from
the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to
each other, Come, let us make oven-fired bricks. They used brick for stone and
asphalt for mortar. And they said, Come, let's build ourselves a city and a
tower with its top in the sky. Let's make a name for ourselves, otherwise we will
be scattered throughout the earth. Then the Lord came down to look over the city
and the tower that the humans were building. The Lord said, If they have
begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing
they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let's go down there and
confuse their language so that they will not understand one another's speech. So
from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth and they stopped
building the city. Therefore it is called Babylon. For there the Lord confused the
language of the whole earth and from there the Lord scattered them
throughout the earth. Now what's interesting about this story here is
we're after the flood. We've had the table of nations and the
only post-flood story we've had so far in detail was Noah and him falling into
drunkenness and exposing himself in the shame of that. But in that story we then
saw the blessing being laid upon Shem and Japheth and the curse being laid
upon Canaan who was one of the sons of Ham. Right after that we have the table
of nations and now we have this story. Now traditionally the story is called
the Tower of Babel. That's how many of us understand it and I'll explain that
later but this story is a reflection of the fall of mankind in Eden is really
what we're seeing here. There's a lot of parallels between the original fall in
the Garden of Eden and what's taking place here with mankind. For example in
the garden we saw that humanity being Adam and Eve they they were attempting to
grasp power and control from God. Right that was the sin of eating of the fruit
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Right God said don't do it so it
was obviously disobedience or rebellion but the idea was is is if we eat of this
fruit we will have the knowledge of good and evil. We get to set the rules we
won't have to listen to God anymore. Well here in the story of Tower of Babel
what we're gonna see is humanity's attempt to exert its own self-determination
in rebellion to God in a very similar way. In the Garden of Eden in chapter
3 verse 22 we see God observing what happened what humanity did and then it
says since the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil then God
goes on with his his judgment and that was a picture there where we see the
Trinity the the the the Holy Trinity of God the Father God the Son God the
Spirit collectively is one God expressing himself. Well here in verse 7
in the Tower of Babel after it says God looks down to see what mankind is doing
it says then let's or let us go down there. So again we see sin in both places
then we see God noticing it and going okay this is what happened and now God
is responding. In both of these stories we see God's concern about the
ramifications of man's decisions right instead of God just going oh you done
messed up boom you're wiped out. We see God being concerned about what this is
gonna do to mankind and then he takes steps to to make promises to fix that
but then in both of these stories we see the subjects of the story expelled from
where they are Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden and what we're
gonna see here is these people of the earth gathered in one place are gonna be
scattered they're gonna be expelled from that place if you will and so the story
is is a great parallel to the fall and it's kind of like hey guess what after
the flood man fell again. So verse 1 it starts out by telling us the whole
earth had the same language and vocabulary. Now if you're a Bible student
and you were studying through chapter 10 with us you might have noticed
something here that some take issue with. It says the whole earth had the same
language and same vocabulary but in chapter 10 as we had the table of
nations it told us over and over that these people groups settled by their
clans according to their languages. So some people look at this and they go oh
that's a contradiction the Bible it must not be true. So have a nice day
everybody we're done right? No. Chapter 10 and 11 are not chronological in that
sense they don't follow one another chronologically. The events of chapter 11
specifically these here in the Tower of Babel they're not after chapter 10. What
chapter 10 is is a broad overview of the original 70 nations how they dispersed
right? Where they ended up according to their clans and their languages. Chapter
11 is a specific story that takes place during that expansion of the nations
right? So there's no contradiction here if someone tries to tell you that it's a
very easy explanation. I do believe that this story of the Tower of Babel takes
place specifically during the days of Peleg. That was one of the one of the
sons that went out one of the nations and it says in chapter 10 verse 25 that
it was during the days of Peleg that the earth was divided and so I believe that
this story then now is telling us that story of how the earth was divided. And
so effectively what you got in chapter 10 in the table of nations is hey Israel
this is where all the different nations and languages ended up and then chapter
11 is this is the specific story of how those different languages came to be and
how that scattering happened. And then I do want to point out too it starts out
by saying the whole earth had the same language of vocabulary. There are some
who read this story and they go it couldn't possibly mean the whole earth
because of they give many reasons. Some say that this is a story only about the
offspring of Ham right? Because Nimrod if he was the one who built the tower he
was in the family of Ham and and people come out with all kind of different ways
to say this couldn't possibly be everybody on the planet. But I looked it
up for you and guess what the whole earth means. The whole earth right? It's
not it's not a trick right? It means the whole earth and it's a it's a phrase to
refer to all the people on the earth. Now some people go well how could that be?
How could all the humans on earth at that time be in one place? I'm like maybe
they came from eight people who were all in one place and have still been together
as they've been migrating right? It's not a difficult explanation to look at these
things. But so it sets us up the whole earth had the same language of
vocabulary and then verse 2 it says as people migrated from the east they found
a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. Now this is another detail
that doesn't necessarily come through in the English transition well but people
look at this and go oh it says as people right? That can't possibly mean all
people but the phrase in the Hebrew the original language is they. So the way it
reads in the original language is the whole earth had the same language of
vocabulary and they migrated from the east. So it's pretty clear what and who
it's referring to. But it's given us this picture just setting up how they got to
this area called the land of Shinar and what happened there and so it tells us
that they came from the east. Now I want to share some pictures with you as we go
through this because this is another challenge people have to this story and
I'm bringing this up because as I study these things I stumble across different
websites and you know just posts from people and TikToks and stuff where
people like to pick out details like this and go see the Bible's false. And so I
hopefully want to be able to equip you to be able to explain these things to
people because here in the CSB it says the people migrated from the east. In
some more traditional translations if you read it if you have like a King
James or a new King James it says that the people trans migrated eastward and
those are two different things right from the east eastward and so sometimes
people will point this out and go see the Bible's false and blah blah blah and
so let's talk about that for a second. Now the way people migrated at the very
top of that map you'll see Mount Ararat right in the top in the center okay. Right
below that that little pink area there that is actually what is known as the
land of Shinar. Now there's a problem that pops up first because if you're
talking about is it from the east or eastward either one of those seems wrong
because the land of Shinar is south of Mount Ararat and so again you go how do
we explain this well the reason that there's a translation issue some say
from the east some say eastward just because the Hebrew isn't super clear on
which one it means but it means the same thing let me show you if it's supposed
to be eastward that word eastward doesn't just mean east okay what it means
is in an easterly direct direction and so you'll see those mountain ranges there
these are mountain ranges that kind of line the area going towards the southeast
and so what happened was that the people migrated southeast from Ararat all right
they went towards the southeast and southeast east is eastward you following
me okay and that doesn't preclude the fact that as they were migrating
southeast that they might have curved out to the southwest and ended up in the
land of Shinar it's not a problem it's not a difficult thing to explain now if
it's supposed to be translated from the east as we read here in the CSB well
then that literally means from the east and guess what from the east they came
from the east and ended up in the land of Shinar and so the assumption there is
that they had already migrated down southwest and then or southeast and then
at some point they came from the east into the valley and so it's it's not a
this doesn't unravel our theology right this doesn't wreck Christianity and
we're done and go home right it's a pretty easy explanation to see how they
got there but biblically this idea of east from the east eastward all this
type of thing throughout scripture very often east or eastward or east as a
direction suggests trouble it suggests the idea of of moving away from God or
people being in a place where they're away from God and for example when Adam
and Eve were expelled from the garden in God's presence it says they went east
when the cherubim guarded the entry to the Garden of Eden it was the east entry
that people couldn't come back in there when Lot left Abraham he went eastward
when Jacob fled from his homeland he went to the eastern country and so on
and so forth so it's not every single instance but very often especially in
the Old Testament when east or the direction of east is included in the
thing the idea is that there are people that are already drifting from God or a
people that are already separated from God in some way and so here in the story
of the Tower of Babel this idea that the people all had one language one
vocabulary and they had migrated from the east is that at this point most of
the people have drifted from God at some point and we're gonna see the results of
that here as we get into the next verses but it tells us they ended up in this
valley in the land of Shinar as you saw on that map that's southern
Mesopotamian Valley that's today it's southern Iraq and some people connect
and this is if you're a history geek this is gonna be fun but if you're not
just bear with me but some people connect the land of Shinar to the land
of Sumer and if you've ever studied ancient civilizations and stuff you'll
be familiar with an ancient civilization called the Sumerians they're one of the
oldest known civilizations in the world they've discovered a whole lot about
them in the area of what would be called the land of Shinar now they were a
non-Semitic culture that lasted from about 3000 BC to about 1700 BC but
what's interesting is is if Shinar is Sumer they're they're the same area what
we have discovered is that the Sumerians are credited with creating one of the
very first forms of writing going all the way back in fact the Sumerian
language itself is considered one of the oldest known written languages in the
world and we talked a little bit about that last week where you know all these
languages seem to have come from a single source and all these you know
secular linguists and stuff they study languages and they go wow it's so
interesting they all seem to come from a common place and then we who are not
linguists most of us go duh the Bible said so right so it's very just
interesting that there seems to be a connection there but the idea is that
the story of the Tower of Babel here the start of the story emphasizes the the
universality of humanity right that that mankind all had one language and one
dialect they were all kind of marching the same direction you know not every
single person but as a whole this is the idea that we get and so you would think
that especially coming from Noah and his sons and the generations coming from
that that having one common language which meant that they were sharing in
the same language the stories of what happened and telling you about the
flood and what life was like before the flood and all these things as they were
going down you would think that would promote a united godliness of faith
right especially being that close to the flood right yeah God is real he wiped
out the world but the problem is and that's what we saw with Noah in the
story of his drunkenness is that sin still existed within mankind and so
these people migrated it tells us that they settled there now that is the real
key to getting into this story they settled there you see God had told them
to be fruitful to multiply and to what fill the earth right the idea of fill
the earth was spread out over the whole earth but what do we see the people
doing here settling in one area settling in this one place it was very similar to
Cain when Cain was cursed by God he was cursed to be a nomad he was cursed to
wander for the rest of his life but as we read through Cain's genealogy is he
founded cities and that's just in direct opposition to God's will for his life
God said wander Cain said no I'm gonna settle I'm gonna build places for people
to settle and we see the people here doing the same thing that they're coming
together as a group they're they're they're settling in one place and again
that's in direct rebellion to what God had commanded mankind to do so verse
three they said to each other come let us make oven oven-fired bricks they used
brick for stone and asphalt for mortar and they said come let's build ourselves
a city and a tower with its top in the sky let's make a name for ourselves
otherwise we will be scattered throughout the earth and so again it's
just giving the details of them coming to the thing of saying we don't want to
scatter right we're actually gonna gonna settle down right here and we're gonna
build a city and we're gonna build a tower now the details about the tower it
tells us that they wanted to build a tower with its top in the sky what does
that mean what's the significance of that well in these times the idea of the
sky was the heavens right we've talked about how in the in the original Jewish
language the heavens could be the atmosphere it could be space or it could
be the spiritual realm where where God dwells but collectively up there was
considered that's where God is right up in the sky and so the idea of let's
build a tower with its top in the sky is let's get to God on our own terms and
then we're gonna pop right into his house and Josephus the historian he's
the one that connects Nimrod to the building of this tower in his writings
he suggests that the one of the reasons Nimrod led the people to build this
tower is so that they could go up and give God a piece of their mind for
destroying all their forefathers in the flood can you imagine I'm going to God's
house and I'm gonna tell him what's up it's like the audacity right that the
arrogance and so the work we're not just gonna build a tower we're gonna build a
tower so high that we're gonna get to God and we're gonna have a conversation
with him and so the word tower here it most likely refers to what we call a
ziggurat right a ziggurat was a certain type of tower that we've discovered in
areas it's a stepped tower that would eventually end up in this one little
kind of unit a temple or some type of a room at the very top now these are very
common throughout Mesopotamia we've actually found old ruins of these types
of things in Babylon in the areas of Asher and Nineveh and Ur and Eridu you
could actually go see the the one in Ur it's pretty famous they've restored a
lot of it and they're massive but at the tops of these types of structures at the
very top that room or that temple the top was was viewed as a gateway for
deities that that the people would build these ziggurats to get up into the sky
and then they would say okay God you need to come down to us so we could have
a conversation and that's what this room was for right we built a neutral zone
God we're down here you're up there let's meet in the middle and we're gonna
talk it was also for you know different forms of worship and stuff but the idea
was is that these ziggurats carried that concept throughout cultures that we're
gonna create a God a place for God to come to us even in all of their pagan
religions and so there have been other artists renditions of what this tower of
Babel looked like some render it as a big round tower like a big cone there's
all kinds of really interesting drawings and and nobody knows for sure but it was
very likely a ziggurat type of building but so it tells us they wanted to build
this tower and then it also says that they worked to build a city and again
that's just a further emphasizing their direct opposition to God's mandate to
spread out over the earth now you'll notice there in the verse it says we're
gonna build a city we're gonna build a tower and they state their reason for
doing so otherwise we will be scattered throughout the earth what does that tell
you they knew God's mandate there was no confusion or our lack of clarity about
God's mandate they were well aware of what God wanted them to do and so what
are they saying no we don't want to do that we're gonna do the opposite and so
in effect what the people are saying to God here is God we know better we will
run our own lives thank you very much very much like the sin of eating the
fruit of the knowledge of good and evil we won't need you God your ways that's
cool whatever but but leave us alone we'll do it our own way we'll be just
fine and then you also see the other motivation for them because they said
let's make a name for ourselves and that's where we get down to the problem
of sin that exists within mankind it's not that people just say I don't want
God what they really want to say is I want to be worshipped like God I want
the glory that's that's God's alone I want to be the one people turn to and
look to I want to be the one that that is the famous person not God and this
was their motivation they wanted to be known they wanted to have that name it's
the it's the idea of pride right in modern terms we might use the term
legacy you know some people get very caught up that they want to leave a
legacy for their for their offspring and so they want to have their name on as
many many buildings as possible and you know they they want to exalt themselves
so that they leave a legacy that no one will ever forget who they are and so the
implication here is again that they would be the ones worthy of glory and
praise not God you know and that's often us when we when we do things we like to
be known we like to be recognized for what we do right it's kind of a natural
thing there was a time a long time ago that I I was getting one of those food
kits that you order you know you know when you're so lazy you order your food
and you pay way too much for it and then they ship it to your house and you think
you're saving money right I did that for a while and and it was this company
called home chef they're not buying any advertising that's just who I had okay
so so they would send this kit to your house and it was like all the
ingredients and then it was like very very detailed instructions like cut it
this way you'll cook it I mean it was like super detailed right and so I would
follow the instructions and I was making these meals and I was like man this is
delicious right and so after I did that for a couple weeks you know I started
going I should start a restaurant I'm an amazing cook you know and and I taste
this look what I did taste this right and it's like you just literally
followed the very detailed instructions right you can't mess it up and so we we
have that within us right we we want people to know what we've done and what
we've accomplished and so this is what the people here were doing now the major
issue with their tower and they're trying to build it up to the sky was to
think that man by his own efforts could possibly reach God and supplant God that
was the the hubris here that was the pride that we in our own effort we we're
gonna be able to get to God he's not he's not transcendent Lee so far removed
from us that we can't reach him on our own and when we get there maybe we'll
we'll kick him out of his house maybe maybe we'll take his place because after
all look what we can do look what we've created this is a fatal delusion of all
man-made religion going all the way back to the very beginning every false
religion in the world teaches that works bring salvation and Mormonism you have
to do works you have to go on your missions trip you have to do all these
things to work your way through the three heavens because there's three
heavens and if you do enough works you get to the third one and guess what the
prize is when you get to the third heaven you become a god and you get your
own planet what a prize right when I was in high school I'm not proud of this but
when I was in high school we had a friend who was a Mormon and we were very
much not religious people at all and and he didn't even like the fact that he was
Mormon but we would always like mess with him because he told us one day he
goes yeah this is what we believe and we're like bro get Jupiter that's a lot
of real estate man that's a lot of real estate and he'd be like shut up guys and
so but the idea is if you do enough you through your own efforts could become a
god yourself Jova's Witnesses right your salvation is in jeopardy if you don't go
door-to-door stand out on the street with a display and hand out those
magazines you have to do it you have to check in you have to write down your
numbers Islam you have to pray five times a day and you have to face a
certain direction among all the other rules or you're not gonna make it to
paradise but then you come to Christianity and Christianity says there
ain't nothing you could do matter of fact God already did it all all you have
to do is believe in what he did all you have to do is trust in him you're saved
through faith not through your effort because your effort is is pitiful
anyways and we're gonna see that in a moment here in the couple verses that
are to come but the idea is Christianity is the only one that that says just like
Noah right you're declared righteous through your faith believe God believe
what he says believe what he says about you and sin and salvation and who you
are and who he is and what believe it and you'll be saved but you're like God
what about the magazines I don't care about your dumb magazine but God I want
to get my own planet like maybe I can make Pluto a planet again if I get that
one and it's like you're not God you never will be God God is God and so give
him the glory for being God because he is the only one worthy of it and will
ever be worthy of the glory so these tower builders they were a
sinfully broken people and again the suggestion here is that it was was
everybody alive at the time right now it doesn't say that every single person was
was walking in the sin and stuff because we know is as we scattered we're gonna
end up with the the shamites going in in at Abraham coming from that but but the
group here as a as a characterized whole they're attempting to preserve unity
through their outward efforts right like we're gonna stay together we're gonna
we're gonna work we're gonna do big things but all of that would ultimately
fail you just look at the history of mankind every time mankind says we're
gonna come together through some outward means it ultimately falls apart why
because what's inside man is desperately wicked corrupted beyond all hope it
doesn't matter how how okay let's let's pull together let's let's make a United
Nations let's make this let's make that as long as man is involved without God
it's gonna be corrupted and it is corrupted because you're gonna have
people that are driven by their selfish need to make a name for themselves to
have power to have wealth to have control but our hearts are the problem
too many in this world have a Babylonian heart a heart that might even say oh yeah
God you're real but I don't need you my decisions are better than yours leave me
alone don't tell me what to do I don't need your salvation I could save myself
and Jeremiah 17 nine tells us the heart is more deceitful than anything else and
incurable who can understand it has your heart ever led you astray I love them
and then you realize I wasn't love at all that was lust they broke up with me
I will never go on and you're still alive today right our heart says I need
this and you realize you don't need it if I just got that my life would be
better and your life wasn't better like the heart is deceitful our feelings are
deceitful that's why truth is truth and truth is not relative as much as the
world wants to make us believe that truth doesn't care about your feelings
right if the if there's a pot on the stove and it's boiling hot the truth is
if you touch it you're gonna burn yourself and if you're like not sure
about that go up to that and go you know I feel that it's cold and touch the pot
okay you're gonna get burned truth is truth feelings don't always lead us the
right way and so when Jeremiah asked that question who can understand man's
deceitful heart guess what the answer is God does look at verse 5 then the Lord
came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building
that's pretty cool God's like oh they're doing something let me go check it out
and to me it's kind of a funny picture right because you got man building this
tower we're gonna build this tower with its top in the sky we're gonna go just
break into God's house if you will we're we're man we're gonna show God we don't
need him we could get to the heavens on our own and then it tells us that this
infinitely transcendent incomparably supreme God has to come down to look
over what mankind is building it's like I don't know I'm this is purely speculative
the angels are like hey God you see what man's building yeah we see it they think
it's pretty magnificent God's like well I'll bend down with my
microscope and take a look at it oh how cute they're building a tower you know
Isaiah 40 22 says God is enthroned above the circle of the earth its habitants
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers he stretches out the heavens like thin
cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in and then we think look what
we have made God are you impressed you guys remember that scene in castaway
you ever see that movie with Tom Hanks or is in a plane crash and he gets stuck
on the island and there's that one scene where he's trying to make fire and he's
like he finally gets it going and then right after that there's a scene where
he's standing on the beach in the night and the big bonfire and he's just
celebrating and then what he does beats his chest look look what I have made and
he's turning around like there's is there anybody here to see my greatness
and what does God do when we do that well Psalm 2 chapter or chapter 2 verses
1 through 4 says this why do the nations rage in the people's plot in vain the
kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the
Lord and his anointed one let's tear off their chains and throw their ropes off
of us the one enthroned in heaven laughs the Lord ridicules them look at our
tower right it's just all the stuff that that that mankind does to exalt itself
it's just so silly to hold that up against an omnipotent creator and go are
you impressed it's just silly and yet man still tries to do it so so much for
the bold effort of man right we'll show God he laughs verse 6 the Lord said if
they have begun to do this is one people all having the same language then
nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them the idea of that
phrase there is they will accomplish whatever they put their minds to right
that's the idea this isn't God being threatened right God didn't lean over
and put his face as close to the ground as possible and bust out his microscope
to see the tower and go oh no they're gonna they're gonna get us if they band
together and keep building I'm finished no God's concern however is that what
would happen to humanity if left unchecked we'd already seen it once or
mankind became just violent and wicked and perverse and he had to start over
if you will but then he made a promise a covenant with Noah I will never again
flood the world I will never again destroy the world this way and yet here
we are again mankind having just come out of a worldwide flood come on like
what are they thinking there's only a few generations back from Nimrod to Noah
and it's like it's not like it was ancient history but the whole world was
destroyed and yet here we are again we don't need God we'll do our own thing
and you know man mankind we're created with a pretty awesome capacity right to
build to invent right you just think of the things especially in the last you
know hundred years or so that that mankind has discovered and invented and
medical science and and you know flying outside of our atmosphere I mean all
these really cool things that we've been able to do and all of it I think is just
a reflection of our Creator right our Father in heaven is a creator you look
at the majesty of animals and science and life and all this stuff and it's
just so beautiful and God goes yeah I gave you that same spark and what do we
do we make nuclear bombs see let's create something that could annihilate
us all that's cool well how about how about we band together and cure cancer
no no I'm gonna create something that just lifts up my name that gives me the
money that that gives me the glory and everybody's trying to do that same thing
and we're just fractured as ever instead of moving towards humility and obedience
to God and worship and praise humanity if left unchecked would ultimately cast
off God all together and try and rule the universe itself why because we have a
sin nature we have Babylonian hearts without God that says I am number one I
will get everything I want everybody else can suffer as long as I get what I
want and then our delusions we would never turn to God why because well we
are so high and lifted up we are the ones that that are so lofty and so
glorified there's no room for God and so the hammer of judgment falls in verse
seven says come let us go down there and confuse their language so that they will
not understand one another's speech so from there the Lord scattered them
throughout the earth and they stopped building the city now that word confused
there when he said let's go confuse our language first of all we see let's right
there's a picture of the Trinity again because it's God speaking and then it's
a plural but that word confused in the Hebrew language is balal right that's
the Hebrew word that means to make unclear to to blur it to make something
indistinct and that's what he did he confused their language right I mean
imagine waking up one day and all the people you've been working with for who
knows how long and your buddy and you get up and you start speaking and he
looks at you quizzically and then he starts speaking back to you and you're
like bro are you drunk what is that nonsense coming out of your mouth and
he's hearing you going bro are you drunk and everybody starts getting thoroughly
confused because what is these what are these weird sounds and then maybe off
in the distance you hear someone that that says something you recognize and
you go can you understand me and that person goes yeah you guys start to
congregate together you're like yeah my buddy I don't know what's wrong with
him he's just saying I don't know either and then you hear someone else you can
understand us come over here and then all the people started to unite around
their languages now some scholars look at this and they go yeah this is where
God banded the different ethnicities we see in humanity together right that's
certain people groups that that they all spoke the same language so they all
banded together and and then as humanity went on that's where we have the the you
know the different different races that we have in the earth today now it
doesn't say that here but that's speculative but the idea is is that the
speech was confused and and I believe that slowly those who were speaking the
same language started to congregate together and and it just messed
everything up I mean we know this today a common language is pretty pretty
beneficial when everybody speaks the same language you know things could get
accomplished plans could be made you know that's why at the UN right we go
let's get the whole world together at the UN and they all have the cool
headphones where things are translated in real time so that they could
communicate but have you ever gone like on a vacation to a foreign country and
nobody speaks English if that's your native language and you don't know their
language and you're trying to get directions somewhere and like I had a
friend of mine tell me once he goes look if you ever go on vacation down to
Mexico and someone's talking to you and you don't understand it don't smile and
go see see just don't do that because you have no idea what you're agreeing to
see you know he's like nah he's like just get someone who knows the language
right so having these confused separate languages separated the people today in
today's world linguists say there's 6,500 main languages in the world today main
languages not obscure languages main 6,500 right you might have heard of
people and go wow they speak ten languages and you're like oh my gosh
that's an impossible feat there's 6,500 in the world today now linguists also
speculate that if you include all the dead languages and you go back to all
the root languages that over history there have been over 31,000 unique
specific languages spoken by man since as far back as they could go and without
a common language it's again it's hard to plan it's hard to coordinate let
alone engineer a tower and so deprived of their unified community and the
benefit of cooperative design and cooperative development it says they
stopped building the city now it doesn't say they stopped building the tower
which I find interesting however they did scatter so the assumption is that
the city and tower as one piece they stopped building it all and they all
went their own way and so verse 9 it says therefore it is called Babylon for
there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth and from there the Lord
scattered them throughout the earth so he confused their languages and
therefore it's called Babylon and you go what's the connection right well the
name Babylon from here forward has forever been connected to the confusing
of the languages the division of people but it's also connected larger to the
idea of what took place here right the hubris of man thinking you know we're
gonna exalt ourself now the way this is connected is the word Babylon is
actually the Greek spelling of the Hebrew word babel B-A-B-E-L right Babylon is
the Greek spelling of that and so that's where we get the tower of babel right
and babel is a proper name that is derived from the Hebrew word for
confuse remember the Hebrew word for confused balal well babel is like a
wordplay on that God confused them and so we're gonna call them confused right
that's the idea here it's a proper name now the tower itself wasn't called
babel it was the city in which the tower of said it's the tower of babel and so
the city babel then throughout history became known as Babylon and it became a
city it became an empire and then it also became known for all these other
things we talked about the the exalting of humanity the pride of humanity sin
separation from God drifting from God and so you could say that in Hebrew what
Moses is writing here that the Israelites heard is that that this place
where they were building this tower became the city of confusion Babylon
right now it's very interesting is anytime God makes a declaration mankind
in its sin likes to try and twist it and go no we're gonna make it better right
so God recorded this place as this became known as confusion this place is
confusion well as languages further developed you had the original languages
yet Samarian out of Samarian came a language called Akkadian and in Akkadian
they started referring to this place as Babel II not babble Babel II now what
does Babel II mean in their language gateway of God God said no it's confused
no it's not we got a house on top of that ziggurat it's called gateway of God
and it's just funny how we do that now and then of course has been mentioned by
a lot of pastors over the years is that the word babble in English means babble
right it means gibberish and so that's kind of what happened there so again
throughout scripture Babylon came to be this allegory of human pride
godlessness the godlessness that attracts God's judgment you know all of
that stuff Jeremiah used Isaiah's or he applied Isaiah's prophecies to the
Babylon of his time you had Daniel recording in his book the glory and the
demise of the evil prideful Babylonian Empire you had the New Testament
describing the persecutor of God's people the embodiment of pride and lust
in the book of Revelation is Babylon the great harlot so all of this stuff that
we see in this tower is is the example the start of where this entire concept
of standing against God casting him off thinking I'll get to heaven on my own
I'll exalt myself I don't need you I'll do it my way and we see that God just
went boink scattered them all now the reality of babbles influence in history
although it's like oh wow that's where all the languages came from and wow
look how prideful mankind was it's also a source of incredible hope because at
this point God was like man if I leave man unchecked the things they'll be able
to accomplish are going to destroy them so I'm gonna scatter them but Zephaniah
the prophet prophesied that there would be an ultimate reversal of babble he
said this in Zephaniah 3 9 for I will then restore pure speech to the peoples
so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with a single
purpose you see the single purpose originally with one actual physical
language was worship God praise him be fruitful multiply fill the earth what
people did with that is we don't need you we're gonna build a tower so God
went scattered the languages but then he said guess what I'm gonna do one day I'm
gonna restore pure speech to the peoples for what reason that they would call
upon the name of the Lord and serve him with a single purpose what mankind gave
up God was gonna restore and that's just the story all the way through the Bible
we get through the Old Testament we get to the New Testament God himself comes
in the flesh Jesus Christ he lived he died he rose again from the dead and
then at Pentecost you remember the story in the beginning of the book of Acts
right you have all the people from these different nations gathered in Jerusalem
and you have all the believers gathered waiting and then the Holy Spirit falls
upon them boom and then went outside and they were saying one thing praising God
but in all the different languages and what does it tell us there that it
wasn't confusion anymore because all the people heard the believers speaking in
their own language isn't that a Galilean how's he speaking in my language but
they all heard the same thing they heard one united message the
glorification of God the message of who he was and what he can do and of course
they were like are they drunk right and I have nothing to back this up but I
think that that might have been a playback to this time in Babel are you
drunk bro you're speaking gibberish but this was all a reversal of Babel and it
was a sign that God had done the work God had God had fixed the problem God
had dealt with sin that all who would be able to put their faith in him now would
be people who call upon the name of the Lord and be saved and so back here in
Genesis at Babel God was not done with humanity no more than he was done with
humanity prior to the flood we see God's grace in all of us because instead of
destroying mankind again right come on how many times you guys gonna do this
instead of just smashing them saying okay you're all done like thanks for
gathering I just didn't I didn't have to go all over just boom you're all dead
he went no I'm gonna do what was necessary to just thwart their desire
for a society without God I'm gonna do something that is going to keep them
from killing themselves I'm gonna do something that is gonna help them not
destroy everything that they are but but separate out and accomplish what God
wanted them to accomplish in filling the earth and by scattering them he also did
something to thwart the devastating possibility of what they were capable
of now in our end times I find it very interesting that in our end times
languages kind of coalesced back into most people speak English right that's
the the language of the world even though there's all these other languages
and dialects still that mankind as a whole isn't so separated by language
anymore that they could still communicate and as they're coming
together we see the secularization of our society where mankind is more and
more drifting back towards the there is no God we don't need God look at what
we've made look at our accomplishments look at our science look at we can fly
to space God's like I created space big deal but mankind is very quickly
marching towards being a gathered people standing in defiance of God again
but the hopelessness of battle was not God's last word for humanity as we know
the day is coming that sin will be fully destroyed the sin nature will be fully
dealt with that there will be a complete harmonious unity restored among all the
nations that all who call upon the name of the Lord are adopted in the family
of God and made one people again in effect with one language all the praises
of God but until then we have to be people on this earth where we were
intentionally leave babble behind like stop clinging to those things that that
are just self-exalting clinging to those things that that that communicate we
don't need God I could do it on my own and even as Christians how many times do
we as believers enter into situations challenges or whatever and instead of
praying and instead of getting in God's word we just try to handle it on our own
and what happens it gets worse but instead leave that behind leave the the
the Babylonian heart behind leave that part of you that is still with you
because your sin nature is still with you but leave it behind and instead
cling to the Lord stay close to him stay close to his word stop trying to fix
your own problems and mankind needs to stop trying to bring true peace and
unity because they will never happen without Jesus Christ why because man's
heart is corrupted instead we must come to Christ in faith believing in who he
is and what he did and what it means for each one of us trusting ultimately that
God can take the Babylonian heart the dead cold just evil wicked heart that
we're all born with and replace it with a new heart a living heart a heart that
beats for him Ezekiel said this in chapter 36 this is the promise for all
who call upon the name of the Lord I will give you a new heart and put a new
spirit within you I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of
flesh I will place my spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and
carefully observe my ordinances that is what Jesus Christ offers all of us today
when God looks down upon all our accomplishments and don't get me wrong
there's a lot of neat things we've accomplished none of it is ever gonna
cure our heart problem we are born wicked and without Christ we die wicked
and because God is holy and righteous and just if we leave this life still dead
in our sins knowing that we had the opportunity to be forgiven then it's
gonna be an eternity paying the price for your own sins and the Bible calls
that hell but today if you don't know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior
instead of the division and the disunity that exists in your life in so many
different ways you could find a new place of unity within the body of Christ
a place where you're among other people who have also been forgiven of their sin
who recognize that without God it is hopeless but with him it's paradise so if
you don't know Jesus I'm gonna give you an opportunity right now to receive him
as your Savior and all that means is that you say I believe that God is who
he says he is in his word I believe that he came to this earth 2,000 years ago I
believe he died on the cross to pay for my sin all of my sin past present and
future so God bring me into your family that it would be a part of the one
united people who when we leave this earth we're gonna be united with him in
heaven forever let's pray father we thank you Lord
I thank you God for your presence here today I thank you Lord for your word I
thank you Lord for your grace your patience Lord we we just keep going back
to the same old things due to our sin nature over and over and over and yet
God in your perfect infinite patience and your grace and your love you will
wait for us to come to that place of knowing you to finally realize that we
don't deserve the glory that yes we are sinful broken people wicked and selfish
and that Lord nothing we can do is gonna change that because it's the very core of
who we are but God you preach this message to us you share this hope with
us that God we would come to you and say God I believe in you and I believe in
what you say please forgive me of my sin please give me that new heart because
this old dead one isn't working teach me how to live for you God give me your
spirit that that I would be able to follow your statutes and carefully
observe your ordinances because God it is only you who could change our lives
and then God with that hope is that when this this world this life is over that
instead of the the judgment for our sins Lord that we would enter into paradise
because you've already forgiven us Lord we don't deserve that but you give it to
us anyways because you love us and so while we're praying with heads bowed
eyes closed if you're in this room tonight or if you're watching online
tonight this morning and God has been speaking to you today and maybe you're
aware you're sensing that that that Babylonian heart in yourself where you
do pursue the glory for yourself you do want your name to be known you want to
be the one to be glorified and you're realizing that before an Almighty God
creator of all the heavens and the earth he's the only one worthy of the glory if
you've realized the sin that's in your life as you've sinned against him in
your pride in your hubris and you want to say God forgive me God come into my
life save my soul give me a new heart if you want to be saved today just while
we're praying I just want you to raise your hand where you're seated and say
yes God I want to receive that if you're watching online and you want to receive
Christ this morning I just want you to type into the chat right there and say I
want to be saved I see you in the back anybody else God is speaking to you this
morning of your need for him your need for that new heart in your life just
raise your hand up where I can see it let me pray with you this morning I see
you in the back there anybody else all right father God I pray for those that
have acknowledged their need for you here in this room and in online God Lord
I know your spirit is speaking to them your spirit is the one drawing them unto
you and that God as you have revealed to them their their sinful state before you
and even spoken to them about the the judgment to come on that and yet God in
the midst of that you you express the grace that you want to give them in
forgiving them of their sins Lord I pray God that even now they'd be full of your
spirit as they accept you and for those of you that want to receive Christ today
I just want you to pray these words with me there's no magic in the words it's
not in that the phrase ology it's just simply the intent the meaning from your
heart and say God I know I've sinned against you I know I have a proud heart
I've lived a life thinking that I deserve the glory I've lived a life
thinking that I can save myself Lord I've lived thinking that I don't need
you but God today I realize I do I'm nothing without you my heart is dead
without you so God please come into my life Jesus as you died on the cross for
my sin I receive the hope and the promise of that I trust in you paying my
price to save my soul I put my faith in you I believe you give me that new heart
God fill me with your spirit that I may serve you that I may know you and that
one day I will be with you forever in heaven thank you for loving me so much in
Jesus name I pray amen well if you prayed that prayer today we want to help you on
this relationship and I say relationship you've started a relationship with your
creator the creator that's been pursuing you for who knows how long you've come
into that family with him you've received everything he's given you and
promises of God's Word is you have that new heart and you have that new spirit
within you we call it being born again that dead spirit that has been
disconnected from God for so long is now alive but we want to help you on growing
in this and so if you raise your hand saying you prayed to receive Christ I
want you to either come forward and get one of these believers packs after the
services concluded it's a little white envelope or as you're leaving out the
back today please ask one of the elders out there for a new believers packet
because we just want to help you like what do I do now well it's you grow in
this relationship and we do that through worship we do that through study we do
that through prayer and then as we have our next baptism service at the beginning
of next year I encourage you to take that step to publicly proclaim that you've
given your life to God if you're watching online please just let us know
in chat and we'll get your address don't post it in the chat please we'll connect
with you and make sure that you get one of these packs as well but we want to
just be together as a family united because we preach one message it's Jesus
crucified Jesus risen from the dead Jesus saves it's one language we speak
in the midst of all our different languages because when you talk to
somebody about the Lord the Lord spirit pierces their soul he speaks into their
heart and then one day we're just gonna be proclaiming God together forever in
heaven hallelujah I can't wait for that but in the meantime there's a whole lot
of Babylon we got to fight against and so may God give you his strength his
spirit empower you may God reveal to you the gifts he's given you to be a part of
his ministry in this world and until Jesus comes back for us let's pray that
we see many many souls saved amen all right God bless you guys let's worship