Tower of Babel

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.639 A remain standing if you're able and give your attention to Genesis Chapter Eleven, 2 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:32.899 Genesis Eleven, verses one through nine. Here now God's word and the great 3 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:40.170 contrast between the pride of man and the Authority and sovereignty of God. Genesis 4 00:00:40.210 --> 00:00:46.130 Eleven. Now the whole Earth had one language and the same words. And 5 00:00:46.289 --> 00:00:50.520 as people migrated from the east, they found a plane in the land of 6 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:55.200 Shinar and settled there, and they said to one another, come, let 7 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:00.159 us make bricks and burn them thoroughly, and they had brick for stone and 8 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:06.469 bitumen for mortar. Then they said, come, let us build ourselves a 9 00:01:06.750 --> 00:01:11.150 city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make 10 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:15.310 a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole 11 00:01:15.349 --> 00:01:22.780 earth. And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the 12 00:01:22.859 --> 00:01:27.060 children of Man had built, and Jehovah said, Beho Old, they are 13 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:30.980 one people and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning 14 00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:36.170 of what they will do, and nothing that they will propose to do will 15 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:41.609 now be impossible for them. Come let us go down, and they're confuse 16 00:01:41.769 --> 00:01:47.400 their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So Jehovah dispersed 17 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:51.120 them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off 18 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:57.359 building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel, because Jehovah confused 19 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:02.109 the language of all the Earth, and from there Jehovah dispersed them over the 20 00:02:02.269 --> 00:02:23.340 face of all the earth. You may be seated every day, each of 21 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:25.580 us, to some degree or another, some of us more than others, 22 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:31.610 are confronted with a reality that is in many ways ever present, and it's 23 00:02:31.650 --> 00:02:37.409 simply the one that's described here in genesis eleven, that we don't all speak 24 00:02:37.569 --> 00:02:42.770 the same language. Sometimes this happens on a very small scale, even between 25 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:46.280 a husband and wife I've known each other for a long time, if they've 26 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:49.879 grown up in different parts of the world or different parts of even this country, 27 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:54.599 little words will occasionally slip in the or perhaps unknown before. This, 28 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:00.110 of course, isn't any great challenge, but on a big level it is. 29 00:03:00.590 --> 00:03:05.710 There are many, many peoples in the world and many, many languages, 30 00:03:06.069 --> 00:03:09.069 and we struggle to communicate with one another. You see evidence of this 31 00:03:09.750 --> 00:03:14.939 in all kinds of ways. You see it at the airport when you are 32 00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:19.939 looking at signs. You see it when you're reading things or trying to read 33 00:03:20.099 --> 00:03:25.060 things, or visit another country or work on a project across our borders. 34 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:30.930 Every day we're confronted with the reality of very the reality that we don't all 35 00:03:30.969 --> 00:03:36.169 speak the same language in our world. Now, as usual, we're tempted 36 00:03:36.210 --> 00:03:38.289 to think that this is just the way things are, but is it? 37 00:03:39.449 --> 00:03:44.879 Well, genesis eleven tells us that it's not. The truth is God is 38 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.879 telling us this morning that this isn't just the way things are, as if 39 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:53.319 they happened by chance. The division of our different languages has come because of 40 00:03:53.360 --> 00:04:00.189 a very particular moment in history. It has a particular cause. The the 41 00:04:00.590 --> 00:04:05.430 division in our different languages and the divisions that it creates in our homes, 42 00:04:06.189 --> 00:04:10.979 in our neighborhoods and our country, in our world, they are from this 43 00:04:11.099 --> 00:04:15.939 very particular moment. Now, this is important to understand, because the way 44 00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:21.899 things played out in the past shapes how we understand it things, these events 45 00:04:21.939 --> 00:04:28.410 in the present and also in the future. So we're called to pay attention. 46 00:04:29.370 --> 00:04:32.410 We're called to understand this story, not only so that we might understand 47 00:04:32.970 --> 00:04:36.689 why things are, just to get some background, but so that we might 48 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:42.439 understand something about God. God, after all, doesn't reveal his word to 49 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:47.120 US just for pure knowledge sake, just to let us know because you were 50 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:51.990 curious, how things happened, but to tell us something about ourselves, to 51 00:04:53.069 --> 00:04:59.829 tell us something about himself. So what happened? Well, story in genesis 52 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:03.910 eleven is pretty straightforward. We read and verse one that the Earth had one 53 00:05:04.029 --> 00:05:10.060 language and the same words. You might translate this literally to say the Earth 54 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:14.579 had one lip, there was one way of speaking. But the earth also 55 00:05:14.579 --> 00:05:19.019 had a problem, and we've known this ever since the earliest chapters of Genesis, 56 00:05:19.060 --> 00:05:24.970 and that problem is sin. We've seen how sin, from that very 57 00:05:25.129 --> 00:05:30.410 first sin of Adam and Eve, has spread throughout the generations over and over 58 00:05:30.490 --> 00:05:34.449 again, and not in any kind of subtle or small way either. Very 59 00:05:34.649 --> 00:05:42.160 first thing we see after the fall of Adam and Eve is their sons, 60 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:48.759 one murdering the other, and other sins committed there. In fact, there's 61 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:53.750 a number of things in this story that connects the sins that we see going 62 00:05:53.870 --> 00:05:59.509 on here with the sins of Cain. There's ways in which God is purposefully 63 00:05:59.629 --> 00:06:03.779 connecting us to those two to a cane in his line. You see it 64 00:06:03.899 --> 00:06:08.899 in the way that people are migrating to the east. This often in genesis 65 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:13.139 is a way of showing a separation from God. You see it in the 66 00:06:13.180 --> 00:06:16.220 way that they are building a city to establish themselves apart from God, the 67 00:06:16.300 --> 00:06:21.250 way that they are proud manufacturers. These are all ways that the Bible has 68 00:06:21.329 --> 00:06:27.689 characterized for us just recently in the earlier chapters, cane and his people. 69 00:06:27.850 --> 00:06:33.240 They were great city builders, manufacturers, people that established themselves in mighty and 70 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:39.319 powerful ways in the earth. But they are also people who did this apart 71 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:45.680 from the Lord, who separated themselves and cared not for God's judgment, as 72 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.430 the line of lay mack, as the genealogy is given there. You are 73 00:06:48.550 --> 00:06:54.230 sorry, Kane. You remember that we come to laymk who takes on himself 74 00:06:54.430 --> 00:07:00.149 this authority of God to judge, to judge and to be even above judgment. 75 00:07:00.069 --> 00:07:04.420 All these things to remind you of the way in which the sins that 76 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:10.740 we have here in in Genesis Eleven, God is specifically telling us that these 77 00:07:10.819 --> 00:07:15.850 people aren't just building something, they are doing it for a very particular and 78 00:07:15.970 --> 00:07:21.529 for a very sinful purpose. Genesis eleven we see that they have one language. 79 00:07:23.529 --> 00:07:29.250 They also have this same original sin and from that sin, mankind, 80 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:35.399 humanity, decides to unite around a very specific project, and it has no 81 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:44.079 other purpose except to establish man as autonomous over God. You hear it in 82 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.350 their language and you see it in their actions. They say, come, 83 00:07:47.389 --> 00:07:53.430 let us build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the 84 00:07:53.629 --> 00:07:59.579 heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves. You see their purpose 85 00:07:59.699 --> 00:08:05.019 here. They want to establish themselves, but notice who they are establishing themselves 86 00:08:05.060 --> 00:08:09.939 against. This is not one city of man establishing itself over and against another 87 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:16.009 city of Man. This is not one political body trying to establish itself and 88 00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:22.170 protect itself, to build a name for itself against another political body, another 89 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:28.079 king. They are seeking to establish that the name for themselves over and against 90 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:33.600 God. They are unified in this project. Mankind works together to create this 91 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:39.480 city and to create this tower that they might have a name for themselves, 92 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:43.950 which is to say apart from God. And they don't just want to build 93 00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:50.269 a tower to to watch out for things or for some kind of defense against 94 00:08:50.309 --> 00:08:56.220 other people. Know, they want to build a tower with its top in 95 00:08:56.299 --> 00:09:01.059 the heavens, lest we been dispersed over the face of the whole earth. 96 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:07.500 So you see that they are unified not to protect themselves against one another but 97 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:13.809 against God. They want to in some ways encroach up into the place where 98 00:09:13.889 --> 00:09:18.009 God is, says he dwells the heavens. They want to move beyond the 99 00:09:18.330 --> 00:09:22.690 place that they have been given up, up, up higher and higher, 100 00:09:22.250 --> 00:09:26.799 to move in a sense, into God's territory. Of course it's all God's 101 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:33.000 territory, as will see in a moment. Well, this action is paralleled 102 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:37.559 not only here but in in the ancient world, and many times we read 103 00:09:37.830 --> 00:09:41.669 that there was a we know that there is a Zigarott at Larsa and it 104 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:46.789 was called the House of the link between Heaven and earth. There's a similar 105 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:52.299 tower in Babylon that has a shrine painted at the very very top in blue. 106 00:09:52.899 --> 00:10:00.299 This way of sort of joining heaven and earth itself, of coming in 107 00:10:00.500 --> 00:10:07.850 and even trying to be like God's well, for all this, and like 108 00:10:07.169 --> 00:10:13.610 came, they are judged by a worst migration. But also we see the 109 00:10:13.730 --> 00:10:18.730 way that God, like Cain, continues to propagate them in the world under 110 00:10:18.769 --> 00:10:28.799 his blessing. As with Caine, we see that their sin reaches and seeks 111 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:35.789 for a kind of autonomy, but the Lord will not stand it. So 112 00:10:35.950 --> 00:10:39.149 this is the story that we have. This is the background, the the 113 00:10:39.470 --> 00:10:45.389 the background that explains the divisions that we have in the world, why languages 114 00:10:45.429 --> 00:10:48.309 are the way they are. Well, what are the lessons that we are 115 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:54.860 to learn from this? Let me give you three brief ones. The first 116 00:10:54.899 --> 00:11:01.779 one is that God judges man's pride. God Judges Man's pride. This is 117 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:05.570 the first lesson we see here. Now, though, it's true he willingly 118 00:11:05.809 --> 00:11:11.769 and mercifully allows man to live in rebellion against him under his covenant with Noah, 119 00:11:13.690 --> 00:11:18.529 that does not necessarily mean that he's going to withhold his hand from particular 120 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:22.759 in individual acts of judgment on his people or on people, on groups of 121 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:28.639 people, or even cities and nations. In other words, just because God 122 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:33.389 has said that he will no longer flood the whole earth, judging the whole 123 00:11:33.429 --> 00:11:39.590 Earth again until that great and last Judgment Day when Jesus comes, it doesn't 124 00:11:39.629 --> 00:11:43.029 mean that he sort of holds back his hand from all judgments in particular. 125 00:11:45.669 --> 00:11:48.620 Just because he says that he will no longer wipe humanity off the face of 126 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:54.860 the earth, it doesn't mean that he won't do this with particular people and 127 00:11:54.019 --> 00:12:01.129 individuals. That he won't see fit to judge the pride and sinfulness of Man. 128 00:12:03.610 --> 00:12:07.409 You see that here in this chapter. These people on build themselves up, 129 00:12:07.690 --> 00:12:11.009 and it's true. God, by His mercy, preserves them. He 130 00:12:11.090 --> 00:12:13.649 allows them to continue on, he allows them to grow. He doesn't just 131 00:12:15.090 --> 00:12:18.360 squash them. And how he could? We read that they are building this 132 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:24.000 great tower up into the heavens, and what is God do? He has 133 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.320 to come down to see it. They think it's so big, but it's 134 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:31.509 ads this the text presents it as if it's so puny that God has to 135 00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:37.669 descend down to the earth to see this little thing that they're building. And 136 00:12:37.870 --> 00:12:43.659 when he sees it, when he comes down, he there confuses their language. 137 00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:48.899 When you think about language, the complexity of it, the beauty of 138 00:12:48.980 --> 00:12:56.059 it, on the variety that we have. If you are a person who 139 00:12:56.179 --> 00:13:00.809 loves to to read poetry and literature, these kinds of things, you know 140 00:13:01.809 --> 00:13:05.210 how awesome and amazing language can be, and if you've had the opportunity to 141 00:13:05.289 --> 00:13:09.330 study and learn in a language that's not your own, this is even multiplied 142 00:13:09.490 --> 00:13:18.080 more. Well here, God creates these things, creates these languages and which 143 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:24.440 people will use all over the face of the earth. There's a judgment in 144 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:28.509 it, isn't there? There's also a mercy, as will come to see. 145 00:13:28.870 --> 00:13:33.230 But the point here, this particular lesson, is that God, UN 146 00:13:33.470 --> 00:13:37.389 is powerful to act that though man thinks he can make a name for himself, 147 00:13:37.429 --> 00:13:43.580 establish himself as autonomous over God, he cannot. You see that here. 148 00:13:45.340 --> 00:13:48.539 You see it in Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar, who goes out to his balcony, 149 00:13:50.220 --> 00:13:54.139 surveys his kingdom and says, look at everything that I've done, aren't 150 00:13:54.220 --> 00:14:01.090 I amazing good stuff? And what does God do? He turns him into 151 00:14:01.090 --> 00:14:07.529 a beast who wanders around on the ground eating grass until he knows that God 152 00:14:07.250 --> 00:14:13.679 is King. He does this with Belta sharp. He does this with Sodom 153 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:18.600 and Gomorrah later in Genesis. He does this over and over again Antonias and 154 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:22.039 Sapphire in the New Testament, who think that they can lie to the Holy 155 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:30.549 Spirit and deceive God, God strikes them dead on the spot. Just because 156 00:14:30.789 --> 00:14:37.269 God preserves the world in this a amazingly merciful way that he does, doesn't 157 00:14:37.350 --> 00:14:46.500 mean that people should live with complete should live in pride. It doesn't mean 158 00:14:46.659 --> 00:14:48.379 that we can go out into the world and say well, we can do 159 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:54.049 whatever we want, because we can't. It's true, we do live in 160 00:14:54.129 --> 00:14:58.250 the world and have a certain measure of autonomy, but that autonomy, our 161 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:05.129 freedom, is always lived out under and by the sovereign control of God. 162 00:15:05.769 --> 00:15:11.440 You are not your own. What you build, what you eat, what 163 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:15.960 you make, what you have, he's only and always by God's will, 164 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:20.629 and those who refuse to submit to this will certainly be judged on the last 165 00:15:20.669 --> 00:15:26.590 day. But God may not necessarily wait until then. He doesn't always, 166 00:15:26.629 --> 00:15:37.580 especially when the pride and arrogance reaches to such a height that he chooses to 167 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:43.779 humble. The multiplicipity of languages that we have in the world today is a 168 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:50.009 proof and reminder of that. That's our first lesson, that God does Judge 169 00:15:50.210 --> 00:15:54.730 Pride. The second lesson we have is that there are limits on man, 170 00:15:54.450 --> 00:16:02.169 there are limits on what a person can accomplish. Now, this seems it's 171 00:16:02.250 --> 00:16:04.240 like such a simple thing to state. We all know this, right. 172 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:10.799 You all know that you are limited, that you can't accomplish everything that you 173 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:15.919 perhaps would like or think you can do, and yet we fight against this 174 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:22.950 all the time. We push ourselves constantly past what we can eat, past 175 00:16:22.029 --> 00:16:26.870 what we can sleep past what we can love. We strive to do more 176 00:16:26.950 --> 00:16:32.750 than we're able individually and as a society. We are constantly told, and 177 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:36.299 we tell others and we tell ourselves, that we can have it all, 178 00:16:37.179 --> 00:16:41.940 that we can reach any goal that we set our minds to if we simply 179 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:45.340 work hard enough and have enough faith and and push and push and push. 180 00:16:48.129 --> 00:16:52.610 But it's simply not true. I tell you this now and of course you're 181 00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:56.850 going to agree with me, but it's just going to be a matter of 182 00:16:56.049 --> 00:17:02.120 moments before you begin planning and striving and moving beyond all natural limits again. 183 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:08.720 But we do have limits. Genesis eleven reminds us of that. We have 184 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:11.960 limits, of course, in our own nature, by nature, in the 185 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:18.630 way that God made us, but we also have limits that God has superimposed, 186 00:17:18.710 --> 00:17:22.750 we might say, even on top of our nature, things that go 187 00:17:22.990 --> 00:17:27.950 beyond our nature. There isn't any particular natural real reason, in other words, 188 00:17:29.029 --> 00:17:33.180 that we have different languages. It's not a necessity built into who we 189 00:17:33.339 --> 00:17:37.619 are as part of the image of God or as part of our biological makeup. 190 00:17:38.579 --> 00:17:44.180 And yet that is a limit that we all and all face and always 191 00:17:44.569 --> 00:17:49.329 will face. God has superimposed this and other limits on us, I'm some 192 00:17:49.569 --> 00:17:53.730 which are expressly given here in scripture like this one, and sometimes others. 193 00:17:55.569 --> 00:18:00.160 I'm we have, for example, King David, who was anointed by God 194 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:03.920 to be king over Israel, who was, I'm, given authority and given 195 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:10.359 promises, and yet was being chased around in the Wilderness and hiding in caves 196 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:15.670 and being pursued like a dog. He had limits by the Providence of God. 197 00:18:15.950 --> 00:18:19.990 He could not do certain things, and David had to accept that, 198 00:18:22.109 --> 00:18:26.619 and God honors him for accepting that, for holding back his hand from killing 199 00:18:26.900 --> 00:18:32.940 Saul when he had opportunities, for not rushing to take the throne but waiting 200 00:18:33.539 --> 00:18:41.420 for God to do what he would do. These things that we consider here 201 00:18:41.609 --> 00:18:45.529 from genesis eleven, in other words, these limitations of language, as one 202 00:18:45.609 --> 00:18:52.009 example, but others as well, are human are creaturely limitations. These are 203 00:18:52.009 --> 00:18:57.799 all reminders that we need to be cautious in our optimism or, even better, 204 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:03.400 we need to be humble. We need to be humble and what we 205 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.160 can do and what we can accomplish doesn't mean we need to be negative or 206 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:11.309 we need to despair or we need to cut each other down. We just 207 00:19:11.430 --> 00:19:17.950 need to be humble and accept and be thankful even for the limits that God 208 00:19:18.069 --> 00:19:23.230 has placed on us, and that takes us to lesson three. God is 209 00:19:23.339 --> 00:19:30.940 not only judges mankind in limiting us in this way, with languages in particular, 210 00:19:32.859 --> 00:19:37.619 but there's also a mercy in it. It may feel frustrating, I'm 211 00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:41.289 sure. I'm sure it certainly did for these people on the planes of Shinar 212 00:19:41.049 --> 00:19:45.049 to have your language confused. All of a sudden you're working with one guy 213 00:19:45.170 --> 00:19:48.970 in the one one moment making bricks, putting together the project, talking about 214 00:19:48.970 --> 00:19:56.920 architecture plans, and the next minute babble. It may feel frustrating like that 215 00:19:57.160 --> 00:20:02.240 now if you're working on a business deal, you're trying to communicate with someone, 216 00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:07.470 or your wanting to go overseas for work or for missions and you can't 217 00:20:07.509 --> 00:20:11.630 speak the same language. For those of you have been in those kinds of 218 00:20:11.670 --> 00:20:17.430 experiences, you know it's isolating, it can feel lonely, it can be 219 00:20:17.549 --> 00:20:26.380 very difficult and frustrating. Sometimes can cost you money, time energy. But 220 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:30.460 though it maybe feel frustrate, it may have a certain amount of frustration to 221 00:20:30.619 --> 00:20:37.970 it to have human flourishing in our lives limited by God. There are also 222 00:20:37.089 --> 00:20:41.970 we have to recognize is a mercy in it. God wants us to see 223 00:20:42.089 --> 00:20:48.450 in genesis eleven that he limits our capabilities not only as an act of judgment 224 00:20:48.490 --> 00:20:55.119 but also as an act of mercy. He restrains our freedom in order to 225 00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:00.079 restrain our sin. You might think of it this way. How far would 226 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.359 we go in our sin if we could do all that we wanted to do, 227 00:21:03.430 --> 00:21:07.470 if we could do everything that we set our minds on? How far 228 00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:15.789 would we go? How many evil things, how many evil possibilities, would 229 00:21:15.789 --> 00:21:22.500 be opened up to us? We read that God confused their language so that 230 00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:26.980 they would not be able to do the things that they might be able to 231 00:21:26.099 --> 00:21:33.849 do otherwise. We God speaks with hyperbole, of course, when he says 232 00:21:33.890 --> 00:21:40.529 that nothing will be impossible for them. But there's this extent in which man 233 00:21:40.569 --> 00:21:45.970 can go very, very, very far, too amazing heights of evil, 234 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:52.119 if he wants. And we've seen this, haven't we, even in just 235 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:57.160 the last century or so, how mankind, when he works together and when 236 00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:03.470 he's at his most efficient and most thoughtful and exercising his mind in the best 237 00:22:03.549 --> 00:22:08.990 ways, can create some of the most evil and dangerous and horrific kinds of 238 00:22:10.710 --> 00:22:21.900 places and lives. Murdering millions and millions of people, Unrestrained Power, lust, 239 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:26.420 greed. How far would we go in our sin if we could do 240 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:33.970 all that we wanted to do? Examples are everywhere. It's by the grace 241 00:22:34.089 --> 00:22:41.690 of God that he limits us, that he restrains us by putting the sun 242 00:22:41.849 --> 00:22:47.079 down at night and telling us to go to bed, by keeping us from 243 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:52.519 being constantly energetic, from being able to communicate at all times in an every 244 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:59.190 way. How many terrible evils, how many prideful towers, could humanity manufacture 245 00:22:59.269 --> 00:23:04.630 if it could finally be all by itself with its sin? Now, sometimes 246 00:23:04.710 --> 00:23:11.190 God does give us over to our sin, and the results are repulsive. 247 00:23:11.589 --> 00:23:18.460 We should be grateful for the limits that he does place on us. Well, 248 00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:25.660 these three lessons that God judges our pride, that there is mercy in 249 00:23:25.779 --> 00:23:30.690 his limiting us and that there are indeed limits on man. We are faced 250 00:23:30.730 --> 00:23:36.690 with a choice. How will we respond to this? These lessons will lead 251 00:23:36.890 --> 00:23:41.039 to one of two responses. Sometimes they're both found in a single person. 252 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:47.119 The first is that we rail against this reality, we fight against it, 253 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:53.000 we knock against the boundaries that have been set. I've noticed how we've been. 254 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:59.150 Some of you know looking for our cat and we've gone to different shelters 255 00:23:59.230 --> 00:24:03.029 and I've noticed how different animals will react differently to their cages that they're in. 256 00:24:04.109 --> 00:24:08.990 Some sit quietly or seem to be rather content within the environment, even 257 00:24:10.019 --> 00:24:14.900 though it's difficult. Others knock and rub against the cage and push and cry. 258 00:24:15.380 --> 00:24:19.660 Others are scared. All kinds of different reactions. and the animals, 259 00:24:19.700 --> 00:24:23.809 and you see that in people too, and the boundaries that God places on 260 00:24:23.849 --> 00:24:27.890 us our lives. Some people hit them again and again and again and again, 261 00:24:27.930 --> 00:24:33.009 and it doesn't matter how strong those limits are, how unmoving they will 262 00:24:33.049 --> 00:24:38.759 be, they will keep going and going and going and going until they collapse 263 00:24:40.519 --> 00:24:48.400 or die. Others learn to be content. This is the other option. 264 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:52.750 Instead of banging and yelling and crying and screaming and trying and trying to fight 265 00:24:52.869 --> 00:24:59.710 against God and his universe, against his immutable will, they accept it, 266 00:25:00.029 --> 00:25:06.109 pay submit to it. Many people do, and it is a great blessing 267 00:25:06.230 --> 00:25:11.539 that they do. They realize that they are not God, that they will 268 00:25:11.619 --> 00:25:15.900 not be able to do all that they set their heart to do, and 269 00:25:15.579 --> 00:25:22.730 then, in some ways that's even a really good thing. But neither of 270 00:25:22.849 --> 00:25:29.250 these two options really lead to anywhere wonderful, anywhere really filled with blessing or 271 00:25:29.329 --> 00:25:34.089 anything really worth hoping in to. A bare kind of submission to God's moral 272 00:25:34.130 --> 00:25:40.319 order, to the universe and and structures that he's placed in society is a 273 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:45.000 good thing, better than hitting that those boundaries, painting those bars again and 274 00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:52.309 again, but that kind of bare submission, though it will create something of 275 00:25:52.430 --> 00:26:00.710 a better life for you, is, is in many ways limited. The 276 00:26:00.829 --> 00:26:06.819 Bible, however, in the following chapters, offers a third option, a 277 00:26:07.019 --> 00:26:11.859 third option that is more than just submitting to the way things are, but 278 00:26:11.980 --> 00:26:18.690 actually hoping in something greater, seeing and accepting from God a gift of something 279 00:26:18.809 --> 00:26:23.410 that's beyond just being purse are just persevering in the world as it is, 280 00:26:25.529 --> 00:26:30.809 but actually entering into a new world that is much better than a world that 281 00:26:30.009 --> 00:26:37.160 we live in. A third option for those who know that true submission to 282 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:42.720 God only comes when we completely surrender ourselves to his will and to His grace. 283 00:26:42.759 --> 00:26:49.029 A third option which would recognize is that true submission and blessing and and 284 00:26:49.230 --> 00:26:56.029 a life that is filled with blessing and not just being preserved, happens when 285 00:26:56.069 --> 00:27:02.259 God comes down, not just in temporal judgment and temporal mercy, but comes 286 00:27:02.299 --> 00:27:11.140 down to bring final judgment and consummated grace. This is what God does when 287 00:27:11.180 --> 00:27:18.490 he sends his son. God gives us more than the Tower of Babel. 288 00:27:18.490 --> 00:27:22.009 This is, after all, just the beginning of the Bible, just the 289 00:27:22.089 --> 00:27:27.009 beginning even of Genesis. In fact, in just at the next chapter, 290 00:27:27.049 --> 00:27:33.400 Chapter Twelve, God is going to start making some amazing promises that begin to 291 00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:40.119 fulfill the early promises he made to Adam and Eve. Listen to the beginning 292 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:45.430 of Genesis twelve. After a genealogy that ends at this man called Abram, 293 00:27:45.509 --> 00:27:49.990 we read that Jehovah says to him, go from your country and your kindred 294 00:27:51.029 --> 00:27:53.630 and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I 295 00:27:53.750 --> 00:27:57.980 will make you a great nation and I will bless you and I will make 296 00:27:59.059 --> 00:28:03.779 your name great, so that you will be a blessing, and I will 297 00:28:03.819 --> 00:28:08.099 bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, 298 00:28:08.779 --> 00:28:15.569 and in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed. So in 299 00:28:15.650 --> 00:28:18.049 a way, God takes the Tower of Babel and he spins it like a 300 00:28:18.170 --> 00:28:22.730 top, scatters the people across the earth, but then he comes to this 301 00:28:22.849 --> 00:28:29.039 single man, Abraham, eventually called Abraham, and in him and in those 302 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:34.079 promises he begins to gather together a people again. In you, all the 303 00:28:34.279 --> 00:28:40.119 families, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will make 304 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.910 you, Abram, a great name for yourself. You hear this gift that 305 00:28:45.029 --> 00:28:48.829 God is giving him. Abraham isn't crawling up into the heavens to get himself 306 00:28:48.950 --> 00:28:56.420 something. God is descending on to the earth to give something, and all 307 00:28:56.819 --> 00:29:03.220 this blessing that is being poured out on Abraham pulls in God pulls in many, 308 00:29:03.779 --> 00:29:08.619 many people. These promises that are made to Abraham will become fulfilled in 309 00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:15.970 Jesus, when Jesus comes down out of the heavens, out of his dwelling 310 00:29:17.170 --> 00:29:26.079 place with God, and as God gathers to himself people from all over the 311 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:33.880 world, Jews gentiles. Going back to Daniel, we read there in one 312 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:41.150 of the prophecies that after these great kingdoms come the four great beasts and the 313 00:29:41.269 --> 00:29:45.509 four kings who shall arise out of the Earth. The Saints of the most 314 00:29:45.549 --> 00:29:51.549 high shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever and ever. This great 315 00:29:51.549 --> 00:29:56.420 kingdom that's coming, this thing that man wants, power and honor and greatness, 316 00:29:56.660 --> 00:30:02.099 will come to him, but not in his autonomy. It will be 317 00:30:02.339 --> 00:30:07.329 given to him by the Great King. Under him and through him and by 318 00:30:07.450 --> 00:30:12.809 him, God will make this covenant that will do more than preserve the world. 319 00:30:12.970 --> 00:30:18.130 He will create and establish something new, a kingdom in which man will 320 00:30:18.210 --> 00:30:26.079 live not apart from God but with God and therefore full of blessing, not 321 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:30.519 just in a temporal way, but eternally, a kingdom that is, Daniel 322 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:38.470 says, is established forever. And this third option is the best option, 323 00:30:38.789 --> 00:30:45.230 obviously, and it's the only eternal and lasting one. And this is where, 324 00:30:45.269 --> 00:30:48.670 as we live our lives in this world, we must direct our deepest 325 00:30:48.710 --> 00:30:56.980 feelings. Our greatest hopes, are our greatest desires. The unity that we 326 00:30:56.180 --> 00:31:03.299 want with one another can be achieved, but not on our own, but 327 00:31:03.460 --> 00:31:03.059 in Christ