God is King of All People

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:05.200 If you're able to remain standing, please do and let's give our attention now 2 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:36.770 to genesis chapter ten. Genesis ten, please give your attention to God's word. 3 00:00:38.689 --> 00:00:42.929 These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and 4 00:00:43.009 --> 00:00:48.770 Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Jafef, 5 00:00:49.289 --> 00:00:55.880 Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tyrus, 6 00:00:56.679 --> 00:01:03.549 the sons of Gomer Ashkenaz Ryfath and Torgamah, the sons of Javan, Elishah, 7 00:01:04.109 --> 00:01:11.189 tarshish, kittum and Dodanim, Dodonian. From these the coast land people 8 00:01:11.390 --> 00:01:15.590 spread in their lands, each with their own language, by their clans in 9 00:01:15.709 --> 00:01:22.900 their nations. The sons of Ham, Kush, Egypt, put and Canaan, 10 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:29.700 the sons of Kush, CIB, Havla, SOB to, Rama and 11 00:01:29.980 --> 00:01:37.930 Septica, the sons of Rama Shiba Didon. Kush fathered Nimrod. He was 12 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:41.890 the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter 13 00:01:42.010 --> 00:01:46.890 before Jehovah. Therefore, it is said like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before 14 00:01:46.890 --> 00:01:52.439 Jehovah. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Eric, a cod and 15 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:57.480 Calneh in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and 16 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:02.549 built Nineveh, Rahabbath are, Kala and rest in between Nineveh and Kalah, 17 00:02:04.069 --> 00:02:10.310 that is, the great city Egypt. Fathered Ludin on AMM LEHEBEM and Naphtaheim 18 00:02:12.069 --> 00:02:19.699 Pathraciem Castleheim, from whom the Philistines came, and Kafterem Canaan fathered sid and 19 00:02:20.259 --> 00:02:25.180 his firstborn and Seth and the Jebusites, the Amorites and the Gurghashites, the 20 00:02:25.259 --> 00:02:31.569 hivites, the archeits, the Synites, the Arvad Arvadites and the Zemorites and 21 00:02:31.770 --> 00:02:38.650 the have Hamathites. Afterward, the clans of the Canaanites dispersed in the territory 22 00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:43.569 of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Garrar as far as Gauza, 23 00:02:44.009 --> 00:02:49.319 and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Oddma and Zeboem as far 24 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:53.240 as lasha. These are the sons of ham by their clans, their languages, 25 00:02:53.280 --> 00:03:00.270 their lands and their nations. To Sham also the father of all the 26 00:03:00.310 --> 00:03:05.830 children of Eber, the son of J fef children were born the sons of 27 00:03:05.909 --> 00:03:14.099 Shem Elam Ah Ahshur our, Parkashad, Lud and Aram, the sons of 28 00:03:14.139 --> 00:03:22.099 Aram, US whole gether and mash our. Parkashad fathered Shallah, and Shallah 29 00:03:22.139 --> 00:03:25.139 fathered. Eber to Eber, were born two sons. The name of the 30 00:03:25.259 --> 00:03:30.409 one was Pealeg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his 31 00:03:30.530 --> 00:03:38.930 brother's name was Joktan. Joktan fathered Almadad Shlipe or shall ef, Hazamaref and 32 00:03:38.090 --> 00:03:46.560 Jarah Ha, Jerah, Hadaram, Uzal Dik Lah, Obal Abimil Sheba, 33 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:54.039 Ophir, Havlah and Jobab. All these were the sons of Jokton. The 34 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:00.389 territory in which these they lived extended from Mesha, in the direction of Safar, 35 00:04:00.669 --> 00:04:03.349 to the hill country of the east. These are the sons of Shem 36 00:04:03.870 --> 00:04:09.150 by their clans, their languages, their lands and their nations. These are 37 00:04:09.189 --> 00:04:13.419 the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their 38 00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:18.060 nations, and from these nations spread abroad on earth, abroad on the Earth 39 00:04:18.100 --> 00:04:24.850 after the flood. May God bless his word to us. Please be seated 40 00:04:57.589 --> 00:05:00.470 over these several chapters in genesis, to be beginning of the Bible. We've 41 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:08.379 been considering in various ways the great power and sovereignty of our God, of 42 00:05:08.540 --> 00:05:13.740 the only God, the God of over the God who is over all the 43 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:17.699 world, who made the world. When we think of God's sovereignty and his 44 00:05:17.939 --> 00:05:23.329 power, we are right too often think of creation, and we do, 45 00:05:23.689 --> 00:05:27.689 and the Bible points us this way. We think of the world that God 46 00:05:27.810 --> 00:05:32.449 has made as proof for his sovereignty over his power in it. But the 47 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:39.759 one who considers God's power in creation has to think beyond just creation. I 48 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:45.480 say this because often times many people stop at this point. They think of 49 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:48.480 God having made the world, but they don't really think of God exercising his 50 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:56.310 power in the world old. But listen to how the Bible expresses both truths 51 00:05:56.389 --> 00:06:00.629 and Psalm thirty three, verse six. By the Word of Jehovah, the 52 00:06:00.670 --> 00:06:03.699 heavens were made and the end, by the breath of his mouth, all 53 00:06:03.779 --> 00:06:09.980 their host. We see that God doesn't just create a shell, in other 54 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:13.819 words sort of a shell of a world, but he he feels it as 55 00:06:13.899 --> 00:06:17.500 well. He makes the heavens and he fills it with their host. He 56 00:06:17.649 --> 00:06:23.089 does this, of course, with the sea and the sky and also the 57 00:06:23.129 --> 00:06:28.569 land, the earth itself. We see God's sovereignty, not only in creating 58 00:06:28.610 --> 00:06:33.399 the world and beginning it, but continuing to exercise his power and his authority 59 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:42.000 in every way. Among the animals and plants, scripture most often speaks of, 60 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:46.120 though, I'm his sovereignty among men. The reason for this is because 61 00:06:46.550 --> 00:06:50.149 scripture is addressed to us, I'm, not to the plants and animals, 62 00:06:50.750 --> 00:06:55.829 but to us. God is speaking to us, and so he affirms and 63 00:06:56.029 --> 00:07:01.339 reaffirms over and over his righteous rule, I'm over us. So Psalm thirty 64 00:07:01.459 --> 00:07:06.220 three, after confessing this truth, I'm goes on to say, let all 65 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:11.620 the Earth Fear Jehovah, let the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of 66 00:07:11.740 --> 00:07:16.170 him. This is the takeaway, this is our application of these truths, 67 00:07:16.850 --> 00:07:21.050 when we recognize is the world that God has made his sovereignty and his power 68 00:07:21.170 --> 00:07:27.009 and every aspect of our lives, we are to fear Jehovah, we are 69 00:07:27.129 --> 00:07:30.399 to stand in all of him, for he spoke and it came to be, 70 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:35.879 he commanded and it stood firm. Reading on just a little bit more 71 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:42.040 in Psalm thirty three, we read how this these actions then begin to pertain, 72 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:47.910 or do pertain, to the particular affairs of mankind. Jehovah brings the 73 00:07:48.029 --> 00:07:54.149 counsel of the nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of the people's the 74 00:07:54.269 --> 00:07:58.620 counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. 75 00:08:01.019 --> 00:08:05.220 Genesis chapter ten speaks of all of these things and puts in concrete detail 76 00:08:05.779 --> 00:08:11.379 these truth spoken about in Psalm thirty three and many other portions of scripture. 77 00:08:13.410 --> 00:08:18.649 God doesn't just create an empty shell. His sovereignty is and not limited to 78 00:08:18.730 --> 00:08:22.610 a particular moment in time, but it extends to the filling of the world, 79 00:08:24.569 --> 00:08:31.800 extends to all those people and generation after generations, time progresses. God's 80 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:37.240 sovereignty is over all people. Again, he brings the counsels of the nations 81 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.990 to nothing, he frustrates the plans of the people. This will become even 82 00:08:41.029 --> 00:08:46.950 more concretely true in Genesis Chapter Eleven. There's a lot of things foreshadowed in 83 00:08:48.029 --> 00:08:54.309 genesis ten that are anticipating what will come in the Tower of Babel, this 84 00:08:54.549 --> 00:09:00.299 great plan of the people, where they will construct this great tower reaching up 85 00:09:00.299 --> 00:09:05.460 to the heavens. This this expression of Hubrists, of pride, of a 86 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:11.649 denial that God is not sovereign over them. And what does God do? 87 00:09:11.730 --> 00:09:16.610 He will frustrate their plans, he will bring their plans to nothing, he 88 00:09:16.769 --> 00:09:22.169 will confuse their languages. We read here in Genesis Chapter Ten that these are 89 00:09:22.210 --> 00:09:26.240 the people according to their languages. Well, you may have wondered. Well, 90 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.159 I thought the language dispersion happens in the next chapter. This is one 91 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:35.320 of the ways that the Bible, we call it, dischronologizes things, sometimes 92 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:41.389 foreshadows, gets things, prepares us for certain events. It's beginning as we 93 00:09:41.509 --> 00:09:46.470 see the world spreading out. Even as it spreads out, we're seeing sin 94 00:09:46.830 --> 00:09:56.460 continuing on, and yet God's sovereignty over it. So I want to focus 95 00:09:56.659 --> 00:10:01.820 on that this morning. God's sovereiggnty and his power, as we see it 96 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:05.940 in Genesis chapter ten. We see it in a number of ways. Want 97 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:09.370 to point some of them out to you. First, we see it in 98 00:10:09.409 --> 00:10:13.009 the context. You remember. After all, God has created the world, 99 00:10:13.690 --> 00:10:20.129 that man's sinned and fell and that the world was filled with violence and corruption. 100 00:10:20.049 --> 00:10:24.559 God flooded the world and judge those people, Saving Noah and all of 101 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.720 these events, we see God's great sovereignty over it. He's capable of doing 102 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:33.879 what he wants, of ruling the world, every aspect of it, according 103 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:37.230 to his good pleasure. We also saw it in the covenant that God made 104 00:10:37.350 --> 00:10:43.830 with all the world, this promise, I'm to mankind, the animals and 105 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:48.909 the plants, that he would continue things on a covenant of preservation, that 106 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:54.019 he would continue the world until the last day when Jesus comes in final judgment. 107 00:10:56.740 --> 00:11:00.500 But it's not just in the context of Genesis ten, but in specific 108 00:11:00.779 --> 00:11:05.169 things in genesis ten. We see it, for example, in the way 109 00:11:05.330 --> 00:11:09.289 that he in the naming that goes on here. Now it's true that these 110 00:11:09.409 --> 00:11:16.730 people were named by their families, I'm probably their fathers. These name, 111 00:11:16.929 --> 00:11:22.120 all of these names that we read. God wasn't necessarily in the delivery room 112 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:26.600 telling them name him this, name her that, although that certainly could have 113 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:30.039 been the case. We see that in other portions of scripture where God does 114 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:35.149 give people their specific names. But even if he's not there in the delivery 115 00:11:35.190 --> 00:11:39.269 room, so to speak, he is, I'm sovereign over at all. 116 00:11:41.389 --> 00:11:46.299 We see it, for exact example, in the in pae leg when he 117 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:52.500 is born. We read in the his this is verse twenty five to Eber 118 00:11:52.580 --> 00:11:56.700 were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, which means 119 00:11:56.860 --> 00:12:03.730 division, for in his days the earth was divided. His name was division, 120 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:07.529 for in his days the earth was divided. This is one of the 121 00:12:07.610 --> 00:12:13.049 ways we see God exercising his sovereignty in the world. These people being named 122 00:12:13.250 --> 00:12:18.919 in this way. That brings a testimony not just to that particular person but 123 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:24.279 an entire course of history. How could such a thing be? Certainly no 124 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.480 man would be able to predict that kind of thing, unless, of course, 125 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:33.750 God was sovereign over it. We so we see it in this these 126 00:12:33.830 --> 00:12:35.990 specific names, and there are others that we might point to as well. 127 00:12:37.909 --> 00:12:41.149 But we also see it in the way that the chapter comes to us. 128 00:12:41.269 --> 00:12:46.179 God is not here a standing as a stenographer, right. He's not sort 129 00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:50.419 of saying, hey, here's some things I went out, I figured out 130 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:52.620 now I want you to know to here's what happened. Thought you might be 131 00:12:52.779 --> 00:12:58.139 interested now. That's not how this comes to us. This comes to us 132 00:12:58.259 --> 00:13:05.490 as God himself delivering what he has purposed and what has fallen out according to 133 00:13:05.649 --> 00:13:11.129 his plans. We remember, after all, that Noah didn't just appear on 134 00:13:11.169 --> 00:13:16.000 the scene. He was a son of Adam and Eve, and Adam himself 135 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:20.200 is one who is called a son of God, one who is made of 136 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:24.120 God. These are the generations, therefore, not only of Noah, but 137 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:28.909 of God himself, the father of all people. We see it in other 138 00:13:28.990 --> 00:13:35.309 ways too, in the way that the this particular history comes to us. 139 00:13:37.230 --> 00:13:41.070 You remember, just before Genesis, chapter ten, that got that a particular 140 00:13:41.110 --> 00:13:46.460 event happened. God cursed Canaan, he blessed sem and he blessed JFUV, 141 00:13:46.139 --> 00:13:50.019 and we see that the history of the world is falling out according to those 142 00:13:50.139 --> 00:13:56.970 lines. Nimrod, this mighty hunter of the Lord, is one who will 143 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:01.570 be established all the great enemies of God's people, Syria, Babylon, Egypt 144 00:14:01.649 --> 00:14:09.480 and others. Canaan is also included among the children of him. But in 145 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:15.320 addition to these and that those aspects of the curse, we also see this 146 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:20.639 blessing being given. I'm it's not obvious here in chapter ten, but Luke 147 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:28.029 and Matthew tell us that Jesus is born of Shem's line, that he comes 148 00:14:28.070 --> 00:14:35.950 from Peleg and is and and is that promised promised seed. So these histories 149 00:14:35.990 --> 00:14:43.019 are falling out according to God's perfect plan. Consider also that this genealogy is 150 00:14:43.100 --> 00:14:48.100 not merely a strict record of events. It's not a bear record of facts. 151 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:52.169 It's better to think of it as a story told in a particular way 152 00:14:52.370 --> 00:14:58.809 to make a particular point. God, in other words, doesn't simply record 153 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:03.610 one thing after another, but he styleizes all of these genealogies in a very 154 00:15:03.649 --> 00:15:11.080 particular way for the very particular point of demonstrating and and confirming his sovereignty. 155 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:16.200 Let me point out some of those things to you. First, at the 156 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:20.759 end of the genealogy we read that there was a kind of selectivity going on 157 00:15:20.919 --> 00:15:26.990 in the genealogy. So in Genesis thirty two it says these are the clans 158 00:15:26.029 --> 00:15:30.990 of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, 159 00:15:31.429 --> 00:15:37.299 and from these the nation's spread abroad on the earth after the flood. So 160 00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:41.059 there's this kind of particularity to it. We also see that it's not a 161 00:15:41.379 --> 00:15:46.419 bear record and it doesn't meet all of our assumptions of how genealogies work in 162 00:15:46.539 --> 00:15:50.730 other ways. So, for example, the order given here is not necessarily 163 00:15:50.809 --> 00:15:56.690 by birth order. There's one place in verse fifteen where it does speak about 164 00:15:56.690 --> 00:16:03.690 birth order. Kane and fathered Sidon his firstborn in heath. But there's a 165 00:16:03.730 --> 00:16:08.200 kind of reversal of the names here. The genealogies here are given first of 166 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:14.919 JFF, then in Ham and then in Shem. This is the different order 167 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:18.590 than we've seen in other places. So, for example, verse one says 168 00:16:19.149 --> 00:16:25.110 Sem, Ham and JFF as opposed to JF HEM and sham or Sheem. 169 00:16:26.509 --> 00:16:30.190 There are other things too that we see a going on. Why would God, 170 00:16:30.389 --> 00:16:36.460 for example, reverse the order that's always been going on here? Surely 171 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:41.820 there must be some reason. One reason we see is there is a kind 172 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:48.330 of geographical sequence of these genealogies moving in closer and closer to the center of 173 00:16:48.370 --> 00:16:53.570 attention, God's people, Israel. It starts out with JFF, these people 174 00:16:53.649 --> 00:16:59.450 in these outer boundaries that it moves into ham, the Israel's closest neighbors and 175 00:16:59.570 --> 00:17:04.200 most difficult enemies, and finally ends, not necessarily with Israel herself, but 176 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:10.880 that from which Israel would come. There's this kind of focus, the spiraling 177 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:17.309 in that's meant to show God's focus and it and a parallels much of what 178 00:17:17.349 --> 00:17:21.829 we see in scripture. We see other things too that shall teach us. 179 00:17:21.910 --> 00:17:27.430 This genealogy is ordered according to theology and not a bear record of events. 180 00:17:29.549 --> 00:17:33.380 Words for example, like father, son and beget a have some measure of 181 00:17:33.579 --> 00:17:40.660 flexibility, not completely. They aren't meaningless, but there's some measure of flexibility. 182 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:48.730 One example in Verse Twenty One. We read to him also the father 183 00:17:48.970 --> 00:17:53.650 of all the children of Eber. This is an interesting way of speaking. 184 00:17:55.329 --> 00:17:57.920 Notice he's not saying that he's the father of Eber, he's saying he's the 185 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:03.720 father of all the children of Eber. Well, we normally talk about those 186 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:07.920 people as GRANDPA's right, not the father of the children of someone else, 187 00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:14.509 but the grandfather of those children. So we hear, we see that father's 188 00:18:14.589 --> 00:18:18.470 used in in a slightly flexible way. You see it even more, though, 189 00:18:18.509 --> 00:18:22.789 when you continue to read on and find and you find out the Eber, 190 00:18:22.910 --> 00:18:27.099 or sorry that Schem, wasn't the grandfather of Eber, but he was 191 00:18:27.299 --> 00:18:33.819 the great great grandfather, because the line doesn't go from Shechem to eber to 192 00:18:33.900 --> 00:18:40.099 pay leg, but from sem to Arpicashad to Shella to eber then to pay 193 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:45.450 leg. So according to this that we have here, though, it introduces 194 00:18:45.490 --> 00:18:49.329 him as the father, or possibly the grandfather of Eber. You read on 195 00:18:49.490 --> 00:18:52.970 and is he seems to be the great great grandfather. There's a kind of 196 00:18:53.089 --> 00:18:59.680 gaping of generations. That happen. If you compare this genealogy with the genealogy 197 00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:03.480 and Luke, we read of yet another person who isn't even mentioned in genesis 198 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:11.950 ten, Canaan. That's C A N A N, another generation between Shem 199 00:19:11.390 --> 00:19:17.829 and Eber. So this if we take that genealogy, he's possibly even the 200 00:19:17.990 --> 00:19:23.150 great, great great grandfather of Eber. Now this is all probably a little 201 00:19:23.150 --> 00:19:29.859 bit technical and maybe uninteresting to you, but the point is simply to say 202 00:19:29.980 --> 00:19:33.779 this one thing, and that's that these genealogies, we have to read them 203 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:38.009 as they're written. God has given to them to us in the way that 204 00:19:38.130 --> 00:19:42.809 he has decided. We can't take a modern form and the ways that we 205 00:19:44.089 --> 00:19:48.529 want to deal with them and impose that on God. We have to take 206 00:19:48.569 --> 00:19:52.690 them as they are. And so we ask questions like, well, if 207 00:19:52.809 --> 00:19:57.599 God is gaping certain genealogy, certain records, if God is leaving out certain 208 00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:03.480 people, what is the purpose of those things? Well, there's various answers 209 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:11.109 we can give. And let me make one point. Notice how Genesis Ten, 210 00:20:11.349 --> 00:20:15.829 twenty one jumps to Eber Right, and many of these others it's been 211 00:20:15.990 --> 00:20:18.670 more or less just moving on forward so he was the father of this one. 212 00:20:18.710 --> 00:20:22.500 WHO's the father of this one? But there's kind of a jump, 213 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:26.420 a sort of foreshadowing, even of just a few verses and twenty one. 214 00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:30.900 SEM also the father of all the children of Eber. Why does he talk 215 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:36.690 about that here? Well, it's because there is something very important going on. 216 00:20:37.210 --> 00:20:41.569 We did. God wants us to think of Shehem not merely as the 217 00:20:41.650 --> 00:20:45.250 father of these particular children, but particularly as the father of the children of 218 00:20:45.369 --> 00:20:52.720 Eber. Why? Because there's a division there between Joctam and pay leg. 219 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:56.799 And what's important about that? Well, it's important because, remember, there 220 00:20:56.839 --> 00:21:02.519 was a blessing promised to Shem. But we see here that, as with 221 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:07.589 Noah and as with Adam and as will happen with Abraham, it's not a 222 00:21:07.750 --> 00:21:12.509 straight line. There's kind of a jogging that happens through these genealogies and through 223 00:21:12.589 --> 00:21:18.140 God's promises. In other words, when God gives the promise to Adam and 224 00:21:18.259 --> 00:21:22.980 Eve, who does that promise come through? The promise of the promise, 225 00:21:23.339 --> 00:21:29.380 I mean it comes through seth and not through others. Right, there's a 226 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:33.369 kind of division that happens, that the children of the serpent or the seed 227 00:21:33.450 --> 00:21:40.650 of the serpent and the seed of the promise seth and and Kine. You 228 00:21:40.769 --> 00:21:45.289 see a similar thing happening with Noah, where the promise is given to Sheem 229 00:21:45.450 --> 00:21:49.200 and not to ham. And yet then we see yet another division of the 230 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:55.400 promise, and that's why this point is made here, that chem has both 231 00:21:55.599 --> 00:22:00.720 sons of Eb for all the sons of Eber belong to him, both Joctam 232 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:07.910 and Peleg. Through PYLEG will come the Christ, not through Joctam. This 233 00:22:07.349 --> 00:22:11.509 is all to point out God's again, his sovereignty in these things, and 234 00:22:11.670 --> 00:22:15.460 how, at every point even the people who are receiving the promise must trust 235 00:22:15.539 --> 00:22:21.779 in God. They can't guarantee that every child that comes to them will come 236 00:22:21.900 --> 00:22:25.980 to them, will be part of the promised people. They must at every 237 00:22:26.099 --> 00:22:30.529 point depend on God, depend on his sovereignty, depend on his coming and 238 00:22:30.690 --> 00:22:34.210 taking care of them. This Abraham fails at, miserably him and his wife 239 00:22:34.250 --> 00:22:40.450 when they seek to bring about the promise in an immoral way again, instead 240 00:22:40.450 --> 00:22:45.680 of trusting in God, trusting in his sovereignty, trusting that he will accomplish 241 00:22:45.480 --> 00:22:52.079 what he means to do. There's all kinds of other things we might note, 242 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:57.910 and seeing God's sovereignty in this genealogy, but we might summarize it in 243 00:22:57.990 --> 00:23:03.589 this way. God wants us to see that his feeling of the world is 244 00:23:03.869 --> 00:23:07.549 no accident, that he has complete control over it and he is the one 245 00:23:07.630 --> 00:23:12.500 who gets to interpret its history. He gets to define things how he wants 246 00:23:12.579 --> 00:23:17.220 to define them, he gets to make the connections that he wants to make, 247 00:23:17.980 --> 00:23:23.140 and he does this because there are spiritual connections most important to God and 248 00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:30.049 more important than the biological ones. Are Spiritual ones, ones which will eventually 249 00:23:30.089 --> 00:23:37.250 be fulfilled in Christ. The last way we've been focusing on the form and 250 00:23:37.369 --> 00:23:42.559 some of the details of the genealogy that speak to God's sovereignty. The last 251 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:47.559 way we see it is in the way that God notes the strength of Man, 252 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:52.119 the strength of man as he fills the earth and yet is not threatened 253 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:56.910 by it. Earlier this was in our prayer, our confession of sin. 254 00:23:57.990 --> 00:24:02.390 We spoke to God and we asked him to forgive us for fearing man. 255 00:24:03.829 --> 00:24:11.180 Here God recognizes that there are very powerful people in this world, that is 256 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:17.059 the earth is filled. There are people like Nim Rod. Notice the strength 257 00:24:18.019 --> 00:24:22.900 of Nim Rod. How God speaks of this man's strength. We read in 258 00:24:22.980 --> 00:24:26.369 verse nine or Verse Eight. He was the first on earth to be a 259 00:24:26.450 --> 00:24:33.410 mighty man, to be a mighty man. We read on. He was 260 00:24:33.490 --> 00:24:38.279 a mighty hunter before Jehovah. Therefore, it is said Nimrod is a mighty 261 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:44.799 hunter before Jehovah. Why this extra line? Well, tells us that Nim 262 00:24:44.839 --> 00:24:48.000 rod was so powerful, so strong, that he became kind of a proverb, 263 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:51.839 a sort of way. If you wanted to talk about someone who was 264 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:55.829 really, really strong, really mighty, you would say, well, like 265 00:24:55.990 --> 00:25:00.950 Nimrod, mighty hunter before Jehovah, that powerful. And of course we who 266 00:25:02.190 --> 00:25:07.700 know how history falls out from here know how powerful he became. These things 267 00:25:07.779 --> 00:25:14.099 that he went to did establish. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, 268 00:25:14.220 --> 00:25:18.140 Eric, a cod cal nay, in the land of sin our. From 269 00:25:18.220 --> 00:25:22.609 that land he went to a Syrian built Nineveh. It later talks about Egypt. 270 00:25:22.650 --> 00:25:26.890 These are the great empires of the world, all of them headed up 271 00:25:27.009 --> 00:25:34.690 by this mighty Hunter King Nim Rod. The way that it describes this happening 272 00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:40.640 before Jehovah is a way in which saying that God recognizes this man's strength and 273 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:45.599 it's a way of telling us that even when the powers of this world are 274 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:51.430 very strong, that God recognizes it. They are not over Jehovah, but 275 00:25:51.549 --> 00:25:56.509 they are before Jehovah, they are under his watchful eye. And so is 276 00:25:56.630 --> 00:26:00.990 Israel looks back to this point and sees her enemies, and beginning here, 277 00:26:03.109 --> 00:26:08.940 Israel is reminded that all people belong to the Lord and that these particular people 278 00:26:10.019 --> 00:26:17.180 belong to the curse. You remember what was prophesied at the end of chapter 279 00:26:17.259 --> 00:26:22.490 nine. It was prophesied blessed be Jehovah, the God of Sheem, and 280 00:26:22.569 --> 00:26:27.849 let Canaan be his servant. May God in large J ff and let him 281 00:26:27.849 --> 00:26:33.359 dwell on the tense of Chechem, and let Canaan be his servant. There's 282 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:37.720 a little bit of tension, isn't there between that prophecy in nine and the 283 00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:42.519 very next thing that's set in ten. Do we see Nim rod cowering down 284 00:26:42.680 --> 00:26:48.990 before the mighty people of Shem? No, it's just the opposite. We 285 00:26:48.109 --> 00:26:53.990 see Nim rod establishing himself as the one who is singled out among all of 286 00:26:55.109 --> 00:27:03.180 these people as being particularly mighty, powerful, even proverbiably, proverbially. So 287 00:27:04.900 --> 00:27:07.900 how do we account for this tension? How do we deal with it? 288 00:27:08.819 --> 00:27:14.539 Will we deal with it in the way that we have been all along. 289 00:27:15.539 --> 00:27:22.329 We are called to remember God's sovereignty, remember God's promise that, despite the 290 00:27:22.410 --> 00:27:26.450 way things look, despite the powers and the dangers that people face, despite 291 00:27:26.529 --> 00:27:32.160 the way it seems that Nim rod and his kingdom from from his father ham 292 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:37.680 are ruling over the world and do come to rule over the world, that 293 00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:47.269 God will be victorious. So as we read the genealogy and Genesis ten, 294 00:27:47.470 --> 00:27:52.990 the point is for us to see a very simple picture. God sovereign over 295 00:27:52.109 --> 00:27:59.259 it as the world spreads out, it spreads out before him, and we 296 00:27:59.460 --> 00:28:04.940 need this reminder because we often don't think of life in these terms. Sometimes 297 00:28:06.019 --> 00:28:10.299 we think of the world is sort of a nameless mass of people, just 298 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:15.329 this kind of chaotic thing. But that's not the way genesis ten describes the 299 00:28:15.410 --> 00:28:19.690 world to us at this time or in times to come. No, it's 300 00:28:19.730 --> 00:28:26.680 orderly, isn't it? It's falling out particularly and purposefully according to God's plans. 301 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:33.240 Sometimes, if we don't think that the world is a nameless mass of 302 00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:37.839 chaotic people, we are. We think of the particular power of people, 303 00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:42.589 the Nimrods of the world, who seem to even reverse their own curse. 304 00:28:42.710 --> 00:28:48.390 By their strength, we feel that God is weak and unable to do anything. 305 00:28:48.789 --> 00:28:53.589 But Genesis ten forces us to see things in another way, to see 306 00:28:53.750 --> 00:29:00.019 that this mighty hunter king who is establishing these great empires is doing so before 307 00:29:00.019 --> 00:29:07.259 Jehovah, and not just before God, but before Jehovah, our covenant God, 308 00:29:07.700 --> 00:29:12.289 our King Who has established his covenants of grace with us, who is 309 00:29:12.369 --> 00:29:18.769 made promises to Adam, to Noah, to Shem, to Abraham, to 310 00:29:18.890 --> 00:29:23.640 David, promises that are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus that tell us that Nim rod 311 00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:30.279 will not last, God will be sovereign over all his people, all the 312 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:34.799 peoples of the Earth. Let me remind you again of what Psalm thirty three 313 00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:40.789 says. Let all the Earth Fear Jehovah, let all the inhabitants of the 314 00:29:40.869 --> 00:29:45.269 world stand in awe of him. Jehovah brings the counsel of the nations to 315 00:29:45.430 --> 00:29:48.990 nothing, of the nimrods of this world, the babylons, the Assyrius, 316 00:29:48.269 --> 00:29:55.619 the roalms. Whatever powers we may face, whatever great cities, will tempt 317 00:29:55.660 --> 00:30:00.299 us to give up our Lord, to give up on our confession of faith, 318 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:04.140 to turn to the pleasures and strengths of this world. God says do 319 00:30:04.299 --> 00:30:11.529 not fear them, but fear Him who stands forever the plans of his heart 320 00:30:11.970 --> 00:30:18.329 to all generations. We read again Psalm thirty three, verse thirteen. Jehovah 321 00:30:18.369 --> 00:30:23.920 Looks Down From Heaven and sees all the children of Man. From where he 322 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:27.839 sits enthroned. He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, He 323 00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:33.400 who fashions the hearts of all of them and observes all their deeds. The 324 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:37.869 king is not saved by his great army. The Warrior is not delivered by 325 00:30:37.950 --> 00:30:41.390 his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation and by 326 00:30:41.430 --> 00:30:48.349 its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of Jehovah is on 327 00:30:48.470 --> 00:30:52.779 those who fear him and on those who hope in his steadfast love that he 328 00:30:52.940 --> 00:31:00.019 may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. You hear 329 00:31:00.099 --> 00:31:03.259 the great promises and truths of our king. You hear this covenant that he's 330 00:31:03.289 --> 00:31:07.569 making. He says that these promises that I make to you are stronger than 331 00:31:07.609 --> 00:31:12.049 the things that you see, the cities that are powerful, the people that 332 00:31:12.089 --> 00:31:18.400 are ruling, the wealth that's being accumulated. Let it go. God is 333 00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:25.920 powerful and he will keep his promises. Now, on this word alone, 334 00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:32.680 we should trust him. Shehem should have trusted him. His brothers should have 335 00:31:32.759 --> 00:31:38.910 heard it and repented and trusted in God. But you, who live all 336 00:31:40.190 --> 00:31:45.990 of these generations after these people, have even more. We have the coming 337 00:31:47.029 --> 00:31:52.819 of the son of God, in Jesus Christ, who exercises this amazing power 338 00:31:52.019 --> 00:31:56.819 on the cross. It's true he went to his death, isn't it? 339 00:31:57.140 --> 00:32:00.730 But how does he go to his death? Does he do it kicking and 340 00:32:00.890 --> 00:32:07.809 screaming and whining and complaining, frustrated that God didn't keep his promises? No, 341 00:32:07.970 --> 00:32:12.450 he goes like a man to the cross. He goes in all the 342 00:32:12.609 --> 00:32:17.359 full confidence that God will do as he is promised. He goes step after 343 00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:22.640 step after step, not crying out but, let's like scriptures say, like 344 00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:27.279 a lamb being led to the slaughter, but not in weakness, mind you, 345 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:31.789 in great power and authority. He goes before kings, he goes before 346 00:32:31.829 --> 00:32:37.269 Herod, he goes before pilot, he goes before this nation, the Great 347 00:32:37.269 --> 00:32:42.470 King of all the world, and he goes to the cross not to be 348 00:32:42.630 --> 00:32:51.180 defeated, but to defeat, not to be made a mockery forever, but 349 00:32:51.339 --> 00:32:54.700 to be victory over all things. He does this, doesn't he? On 350 00:32:54.859 --> 00:32:58.769 the Cross? He dies, yes, but what does he die for? 351 00:32:59.890 --> 00:33:04.890 To forgive our sins, to rule over us, to conquer Satan, to 352 00:33:05.049 --> 00:33:12.690 put down all authorities and principalities and powers, to crush that serpent under his 353 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:17.160 feet, this promise seed, who is kept by God's sovereign power and his 354 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:23.400 promises of grace from generation to generation to generation, comes to the point of 355 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:29.509 Jesus Christ. And you know what? It doesn't divide any more. It 356 00:33:29.630 --> 00:33:32.750 doesn't split at Jesus Christ and to the seed of the serpent and into the 357 00:33:32.829 --> 00:33:38.150 seed of the promise. That's it. If you belong to Jesu, Jesus 358 00:33:38.190 --> 00:33:43.420 Christ, end of story. If your faith is in him, then you 359 00:33:43.500 --> 00:33:47.779 have victory over everything and overall people. You are, you belong to the 360 00:33:47.980 --> 00:33:52.980 great family of God, not in only an earthly and in a visible way, 361 00:33:54.299 --> 00:34:00.849 but in an eternal and internal way, and you belong so forever and 362 00:34:00.089 --> 00:34:06.450 ever. This is God's sovereign grace, in his power, and this is 363 00:34:06.769 --> 00:34:10.679 why we can stare death in its face. Why, as the Psalm, 364 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:15.960 going back to Psalm thirty three, says, behold, the eye of Jehovah 365 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:20.320 is on those who fear him. To fill that out with more scriptures, 366 00:34:20.440 --> 00:34:23.909 to say on those who fear him and trust in Jesus to keep them, 367 00:34:24.750 --> 00:34:30.829 protect them, those who hope in his steadfast love, is given to us 368 00:34:30.909 --> 00:34:39.539 in Jesus Christ, that he may deliver their soul from death. Psalm thirty 369 00:34:39.579 --> 00:34:46.340 three NDS. This way, our soul waits for Jehovah. He is our 370 00:34:46.500 --> 00:34:53.489 help and our shield, for our heart is glad in him because we trust 371 00:34:53.650 --> 00:35:00.050 in his holy name. Let Your Steadfast Love, Oh Jehovah, be on 372 00:35:00.170 --> 00:35:05.130 us, even as we hope in you. Let us pray