All right, brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Genesis 11. Genesis chapter 11. I'll read our text, beginning
in verse 1, we'll read down to verse 9. It says in Genesis 11, 1, And
the whole earth was of one language, and of one's speech. And it came
to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain
in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. And they said one
to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone,
and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us
build us a city, and let us build us a tower, whose top may reach
unto heaven. And let us make us a name, lest
we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And
the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of men built it. And the Lord said, Behold, the
people is one. And they have all one language,
and this they begin to do. And now nothing will be restrained
from them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down,
and there confound their language, that they may not understand
one another's speech. And so the Lord scattered them
abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth, and they left
off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called
Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all
the earth, and from there did the Lord scatter them abroad
upon the face of all the earth." Now we read here in verse 1,
the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. Now this is
after the flood. Over a hundred years have passed,
since the flood, since Noah came out of the ark. And Noah and
his sons multiplied greatly. They multiplied greatly. And
they were all one. When Noah and his wife and his
sons and their wives came out of that ark, they were one family. One family. And they multiplied,
they had children, and as they did, they continued as one family. One nation. One people. And they
had one language. Just one language. And they had
one word that they spoke. One speech. One dialect. There
was no confusion. There was no misunderstanding
of one another because they weren't able to communicate in their
language. They all spoke the same language. Now we certainly
know that's not the case today. That's not the case in our day.
How did Noah's family end up divided into all these nations
that we see in our day? How did they go from speaking
one language and one speech to all these many different languages?
And then, what's the spiritual significance of this? The Lord's
not given us this information just to give us a history. of
how nations came about and a history of how languages came about.
I'll tell you this often that Christ said the Scriptures, speaking
of all the Old Testament Scriptures is what he was speaking of at
that time. He said the Scriptures are they which testify of me. And you know Moses wrote the
first five books of the Bible. And the Lord said of Moses, he
wrote of me. So something here has to do with
Christ. Now our main point that I want
you to see in this message is that depraved man is the divider. Depraved man is the divider.
And Christ is the unifier. Man is the divider and Christ
is the unifier. Our text here shows us that it
was man's ambition. This was his ambition. to steal
the glory that belongs to God. To make himself one nation, protected
by his own hand, by his own works, exalted by his own works, and all the while stealing the
glory that belongs to God. That's what we see in this picture
here. And it resulted in this. God
divided man into all these different nations and all these different
languages. God did the dividing, but it was man and his sin that
caused it. God said, your sins have separated
you. Your sins. And then next hour,
now we're just going to see man the divider in this hour. Next
hour we're going to look at Christ the unifier. But Christ is the
only one. God in Christ, the only one who
could bring His people back together. The only one. Now number one,
the chief rebellion of the depraved heart is the desire for the glory
that belongs to God our Father and His Son Christ Jesus. That's
the number one chief desire of a depraved heart. To have God's
glory. to have God's glory. Now the
leader in all this was a man named Nimrod. Turn back to Genesis
10 and let's look at verse 8. Cush, Ham begat Cush and then
verse 8 says, and Cush begat Nimrod. Now Nimrod was the grandson
of Noah. That's who he is. And he's the
grandson of that cursed son, Ham. Noah's son, Ham, who was
a cursed son because he disobeyed his father, shamed his father. This is the grandson of Ham.
And his name means rebellion. Nimrod means rebellion. What
is his name? Rebellion. And he's a figure
here of Satan, who's the chief rebel against God. And he's a
figure here of all those who reject Christ and rebel against
God so that they can have their will and their works exalted. That's who we see here in Nimrod. A.W. Pink used the scriptures
and he rightly showed how that Nimrod is a picture of Antichrist. But as much as I love to read
Brother Pink, like a lot of other folks, he saw Antichrist as just
one man who's going to raise up at the end of time and lead
men off into sin. But brethren, that one man that
scripture speaks of as being anti-Christ, that one man is
the united body of self-exalting, self-made, self-willed rebels
against God. Religious, but rebels. And it
includes all non-religious people who would have their will and
their way exalted over God. They are represented in Scripture
by one man, Antichrist. But that one man, that one body
is made up of many Antichrists. You understand what I'm saying?
Turn over to 1 John 2. This will help you. The Scriptures. We've heard from the Scriptures
that Antichrist shall come. That's what we've heard from
the Scriptures. Now listen to the Apostle John speaking through
the by the Holy Spirit. Listen to the Apostle John tell
us what those Scriptures mean. First John 2 and look at verse
18. Little children, it is the last
time as you've heard that Antichrist shall come. That's what we've
heard through the Scriptures. That's what we've heard. John
says, even now are there many Antichrists. whereby we know
that it is the last time. That was true in John's day.
Now look at 1 John 4 and verse 3. 1 John 4 and verse 3. He says, In every spirit, every
spirit, talk about every sinner, every man, that confesses not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And
that is that spirit of antichrist. Whereof you've heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world. Look at 2
John 1 and look at verse 7. He says, For many deceivers are
entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. You see there? So Nimrod, together
with all these people that joined him, we see an example of every
false preacher and all of his self-exalting, self-made religious
followers. That's who we see here in Nimrod.
And all false religionists, brethren, they'll unite with others just
like them. And they'll even unite with folks
who are not religious in the common cause of opposing Christ
and His people. And that's true. And the most
common way they join together, brethren, is what we're going
to see Nimrod do here. Nimrod, he had this one common
goal for all the people. Let's build a great big city
and a great big tower that reaches up to heaven. And by this, we're
going to make a name for ourselves in the earth. And we're going
to make it so we cannot be scattered. by our enemies or by the judgment
of God. Well, that's what men do in the
earth. Let's make a bunch of converts and let's get a bunch
of followers and let's build us a church. And let's build
it tall and let's build it high and appealing to man's eye. So
that we can't be scattered by God's judgment. God will receive
us because of this work. He'll receive us And so together, all will-workers,
all rejecters of Christ, make up what Paul spoke about in 2
Thessalonians 2, 3, when he said, and make up that man of sin,
that son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God,
sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Now,
how in the world do these folks do that? How do they sit in the
temple of God and show themselves that they're God? Well, we see
it figured here in Nimrod and his followers. First of all,
he who has the spirit of Christ, of Antichrist, he who has the
spirit of Antichrist, would steal God's glory for himself. That's
what he would do. Steal God's glory for himself.
Now look at verse 8. Genesis 10.8 says Nimrod began
to be a mighty one in the earth. Genesis 10 and verse 8. Nimrod
began to be a mighty one in the earth. He began to make a name
for himself. He began to make a name for himself.
He began to get glory for himself. And he liked it. And he wanted
more of it. This was his heart. Now apply
that Apply that to natural man and natural man-made religion. He who has the spirit of Antichrist,
who doesn't want any part of Christ, he wants to glory. He wants to receive the glory
that he, by his might, made himself a choice child of God the Father. He wants that glory that he made
himself a choice child of God. Rather than giving the glory
to God the Father who by his sovereign and free grace chooses
whom he will and passes by whom he will. And then when it comes
to the Holy Spirit, the man who is a natural man, he's a rebel
against God, he's anti-Christ. This man wants the glory be given
to his might for making himself to be born again. rather than
glorifying the Holy Spirit of God by whom we must be born again. He wants the glory for making
himself born again rather than giving God the glory. And then
when it comes to Christ, He wants the glory for at least helping
to make himself righteous and holy. instead of bowing down
and praising the Lord Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us righteousness
and sanctification. You see what I'm saying? He wants
this might, He wants it to be His in the earth. And look, now,
He who's anti-Christ, this is how He sits in the temple of
God, showing Himself that He's God. He rejects the Lord's way. He rejects the Lord's means of
converting His people so that He can make converts in what
He thinks is a better way. He rejects God's way of His means
of converting His people for His own means and His own ways
which He thinks are better to convert people. Now look here
at verse 9. Genesis 10, 9. Nimrod was a mighty
hunter before the Lord. Whereof it said, even as Nimrod,
the mighty hunter before the Lord." That was a saying common
among the people. Everybody knew him. Now, why
would it say he was a mighty hunter before the Lord? This
word before the Lord indicates to us, brethren, that Nimrod
was not a hunter of animals. He might have been a hunter of
animals, but that's not what his offense to God was, that
he was a hunter of animals. Nimrod was that hunter that God
hates. He was a hunter of men's souls,
is what Nimrod was. That's what Nimrod was. Turn
over to Ezekiel 13. Here's God's condemnation of
false prophets and false prophetesses. False preachers, male and female,
this is God's condemnation of them. Ezekiel 13. Let's begin reading in verse
18 and let's begin at the middle part of the verse there. This
is God speaking to the false preacher. He says, will ye hunt
the souls of my people? And will you save the souls alive
that come unto you? Now get that, will you hunt the
souls of my people and save the souls alive that come unto you? And will you pollute me among
my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay
the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that
should not live? And you do all this, God said,
by your lying to my people that hear your lies. You see, these
are religious men who hunt men to make converts. They hunt men
to make converts. And they use their lies, they
speak their words instead of God's words. And God says, rather
than comfort my people, declaring to them that their warfare is
accomplished, declaring what Christ has accomplished, instead
of comforting my people. who should not be slain. They've
been made righteous in Christ. They don't need to be killed.
They've been killed and made alive by God. He says, but instead
of declaring the gospel of Christ and comforting my people because
they trust in Christ and because they want Christ to have the
glory, you slay them. You slay them with your words.
He says, but then you take these men who come to you and come
bow down to your rule and your word, and they want to be your
convert, because they won't trust in their works and in their will
and how they did something for themselves. He said, those are
men that should be slain. You should preach the gospel
to them and slay them with it. And he says, but you keep them
alive. You keep them alive. And you do all this, God said,
for reward. for barley, for all these other
rewards. And you do it with lying words,
he said. So that's the kind of hunter that Nimrod was. Do you get the picture here,
what we're seeing? This was a church and kingdom
being built by man, is what this was. Just like a false religion
tries to build their own church and their own kingdom. Alright? Just like Nimrod, he who is anti-Christ,
he's not the builder of God's church. He's not the builder
of God's church. He's the builder of spiritual
Babylon. That's what he's building. Now
look here in verse 10. In the beginning of Nimrod's
kingdom, Genesis 10.10, the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom was Babylon. Now, it was called Babylon at
first. But when God got finished with
it, it's called Babel. And we're going to see why here
in a little bit. But mystery Babylon, mystery Babylon is anti-Christian
religion. That's who Mystery Babylon is.
It includes all falsehood in this earth. That's who God calls
Mystery Babylon. Let me read Revelation 13.5 to
you. He says, Upon her forehead was
the name written, Mystery Babylon the Great. the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth. And he says she makes the inhabitants
of the world drunk with the wine of her fornication. It's adultery
against God. Everything she said. Adultery
against Christ. Everything she's speaking. And makes the people
drunk with it. Make them drunk with it. And look here, something
else about them. They're zealous. They're zealous
in this building. It says there in Genesis 10,
it says that It says that he not only built Babel, in verse
9, he built Erech, and Achad, and Canaan, all in the land of
Shinar. And he went out of that land,
the margin says, out of that land went he forth to Asher,
that's to Assyria. And he built Nineveh, and the
city of Rehoboth, and Caath, and Rezon, between Nineveh and
Calah, into the same great city. You know what I like in that
too in our day? You could liken this to nations trying to conquer
other nations and try to make war with men to take from them
and establish their own dominance. That's true. It includes that. But I'll tell you what the worst
offense is. Men who are trying to build a church. Men are trying
to build a church. Let's plant a church. Oh, we
planted this church. We planted that church. We planted
this church. That's not the mission of God's
people. Did you know that? Our mission is to declare the
word of God. Our mission is to preach Christ
and Him crucified. And the scripture says, and the
Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. He's
the one building the church. We're just preaching His name,
His wonderful works. He's doing the building. He's
doing the building. Alright, so that's the first
desire, though. It's all to have the preeminence
that belongs to Christ and the glory that belongs to Christ.
Alright, now secondly, in chapter 11, God shows this sin in more
detail. Verse 2, He says, "...it came
to pass as they journeyed from the east." Here they are, they
got one language, one tongue, and they go from the east, and
that word in the margin is eastward. If you got a marginal reference,
it says eastward. They went eastward. And they
found a plain in the land of Shinar. You remember we just
read, that's where he started building this kingdom, in Shinar.
They found a plain in the land of Shinar. This is taking us
back in time to the beginning of Nimrod's work. It says, and
they dwelt there. Now those with a spirit of rebellion
against Christ, even though they're religious, What they're doing
in all their works is turning their back on the Lord Jesus
Christ. They're turning their back on
Christ and going away from Christ. They journeyed eastward. Do you
remember when Adam was cast out of the garden by God? Do you
remember where he cast him out? He cast him out east of Eden. East of the garden. Eastward
is where he cast him out. But now here you have Nimrod
leading his people further eastward. Away from God. Away from God. Lot was God's elect. He was a
child of God. But when he left Abraham and
he left the place where God was worshipped for that fertile plain,
you remember which direction he went? He went eastward. Eastward. Further away from God. That's
what it shows. And that's what Nimrod was doing. That's what
men do with this anti-Christ spirit. They turn their back
on Christ. And then here's what else they do. They make their
dwelling place where it appears pleasant to the natural eye.
Look here. They found a plain in the land
of Shinar and they dwelt there. Shinar means a country of two
rivers. That's what it means. So they
come to this plain. It's a country of two rivers.
And they look around at this place, it's flat, it's got two
rivers, it's fertile, it's expansive, there's plenty of room to build,
and they look at everything they can see, and they say, this right
here would be a good place to build our kingdom, right here.
What do men do when they look for a place to so-called worship
the Lord? They look at everything you can
see with the senses. Natural senses. They look at
that. That's appealing. And that's
what churches market. They market that. Because they
know that's what men are looking at. The natural. We all have
said several times, if somebody comes and joins with us, they
sure not coming because there's something you can see. And they're
not. They're not. And so the vain religion is dwelling
place. It may give him what he wants
in life. That plain of Shinar was fertile. It was fertile.
It was a good place. It had everything they wanted.
And he might get all these temporal riches that he wants in a church,
so called. Might get all the things that
he's looking for. But spiritually, God says, here they are out in
that plain, in the sand, out in the middle of the desert,
and they're going to build a house right there. You know what God
says? Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. What kind of man would want to
build a house on sand rather than on a rock? The Lord Jesus
said, if a man hears my sayings and he does them, I'm going to
liken him to a man that built his house on a rock. And He just
said, enter in at the straight gate. Enter in at the Lord Jesus. Come, bow down to Him asking
for mercy, believing on Him. And He says, in the winds when
they beat down on that house, and the rains beat upon it, that
house will not be moved because it's founded on a rock. He said,
but the man who builds his house on sand, Here's these things
I'm saying, and he doesn't obey the Lord, he doesn't believe
on the Lord, he turns his back on the Lord, and he goes out
looking for something that looks good to his natural eye. He said
that man's building his house on sand. On sand. And he said when the rains come
and the winds blow, it won't stand. It just won't stand. Now
here's something else we see. Antichrist religion chooses their
own methods and means rather than God's. Now we saw that before,
but look at it here in a little more detail, verse 3. They said
one to another, go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone,
and slime had they for mortar. They said one to another, let's
go to. Now God's people We speak to
one another and we exhort one another to good works, to not
forsake the assembling together of ourselves, to come and sit
at Christ's feet and hear Him minister to us through the gospel,
to believe on Him and love one another and continue steadfast
in the faith. These are things we exhort one
another to. But when natural men exhort one another in religion,
Christ said, when the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall
in the ditch. And then when they exhort one another, it's always
to vanity. To something vain. And here's
what they did. They said, let us make brick.
Let us make brick. Now that's man's way, man's religion. He wants to do the making. He
wants to do the making. But Christ is the builder of
his kingdom. Christ is the salvation of his people. Christ is the
prophet, priest, and king of his people. Christ is the one
who calls out his people through the Holy Spirit, through his
gospel. Christ is the one that gives
them a heart and faith and makes them willing to come unto him
in the day of his power. Christ is the one who does this,
not man. And you know what the believer
is referred to in the Scriptures? He's referred to as a stone.
A lively stone. A living stone. Who's been regenerated. Christ doesn't save unregenerate
dead sinners and build His house with them. No, He makes a man
a new creation. He gives him life inwardly. Makes
him a living stone. And He says, and you also are
built up as lively stones. But now when a natural man uses
his means and his methods, and he makes his converts, Christ
said he makes him two more fold the child of hell than when he
found him. What do you have? You have a natural man, using
natural means, and the product is an earthy, natural convert. He's a brick. They come out of the earth, just
a natural brick is what he is. And look at this. They won't
preach the gospel of Christ and Him crucified and cease from
preaching man's will and man's works. They will not shut sinners
up to Christ. But here's what they continue
to do. They use that fiery will of the law to build up their
house. And so they take these bricks
that they've converted and they burn them throughly with the
law. And then they create the finished
product. Here's what it is. They had brick
for stone and slime had they for mortar. That slime, what
they say, was called bitumen and it was a mortar. And I read
that when they found the remains of this Babylon, they said when
they started trying to dig the rock out that it was so strong
they couldn't separate the bricks. They couldn't make them separate
from one another. They were held together so strong by this slime,
this mortar. You know, when a sinner becomes
hardened in vain religion, he's so persuaded that his works are
what's going to save him, mixed with Christ, he's so hard that
you can't separate him from it. You can't bring him out from
it. You can't break him away from it. He's hardened in it.
Alright, here's the motive of their hearts now. He goes deeper
now. He went from the generals and
gave us a little more in-depth detail. Now he's going to go
to the heart. Here's the motive, verse 4. And they said, Go to,
let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. Now this is man's attempt to
take God off his throne and to be God. That's what they're doing.
That's what this is. And that's the pride of Satan
and all men that he rules. Listen to, we'll turn to Isaiah
14. Isaiah 14. Look at verse 12. Isaiah 14,
12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground which did weaken the nations? What caused Satan to be cast
out of heaven? Here you go, verse 13. For thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most
High, and yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of
the pit. When a man's heart is set on
exalting himself over God, there is no end to the blasphemous
presumption and all the things he'll do in religion and out.
There's no end to it. If you don't believe me, just
look around Right now. More religion than we've ever
had. More self-righteous and self-holy
than we've ever been. And got more wickedness in there
than we've ever had. Just look around. Just look around. What were they building? What
were they really building? They were making for them a stronghold
other than Christ. They were building up their own
walls to be their own salvation other than Christ. That's what
they were building. And they were building a tower to heaven
rather than Christ the way. Going in Christ the way. Jesus
said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, and no
man comes to the Father but by me. And he said, man is going
to work and work like this all the way till they come into his
presence in the day of judgment. And he said, many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we do many wonderful works? Didn't
we cast out devils? Didn't we do all these things
preaching your name? And he said, and then I'll profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. I never knew you. That's the
first thing in their heart, trying to usurp God's authority and
take God off His throne. And then look at this, in their
heart, they were doing this for reputation. He says, verse 4,
and let us make us a reputation. Let us make us a reputation. By building this impenetrable
city, and this high tower, they intended to make for themselves
a name. Even though it meant corrupting God's name. Don't
make for them a name. You remember the space race?
Why did we want to be the first in space? To make for us a name. We wanted to be remembered as
the first. That's what he's talking about
here spiritually. Christ said of all self-righteous
folks that rejected Him in His day, He said this, all their
works, all their works, They do to be seen of men. All of them. And you know what
he said? They have their reward. That's
it. Pat on the back. Praise of man. That's their reward. And then
look at this. In their hearts, they were deliberately
rebelling against God. Rebelling against God. God commanded,
be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. That's what
he told Noah when he came out of the ark. Now, to replenish
the earth meant they're going to have to be scattered throughout
the earth if they're going to replenish the earth. But they
built this fortress for this reason, verse 4, Genesis 11,
verse 4, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole
earth. This was a direct, deliberate
rebellion against God's command. We're going to make it. It seems
more reasonable to us that we won't stay unified if we go forth
into all the earth. It seems to us we'll be more
unified if we all stay together. And if we build up some walls,
and if we build a tower, and if we protect ourselves, if we,
we, we do all this. What's God's command to us? This
is my Son, hear ye Him. Christ said, this is the work
of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. But a man,
as long as he's working and trying to work his way into glory, as
long as he's trying to do something whereby he thinks he indebts
God to him, whereby he thinks God owes him a reward for what
he's done, whereby he thinks God's going to more highly favor
him for what he's done. Anytime a man has that heart,
brethren, all his works and everything he's doing, is a direct rebellion
against God. And in all of it, He's crying
out, I will not have this man to reign over me. That's what
He's doing. That's what He's doing. So then
came the judgment of God. He says in verse 5, The Lord
came down to the city and the tower which the children of men
built it. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and
they have all one language. And this they began to do. and
now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined."
What a testament to our depravity. One language, one people, and
rather than seeking God in spirit and in truth, we tried to build
a fortress and build our own empire and our own kingdom and
take God off His throne. And so, to restrain us from greater
evil and greater work, God confounded our language and scattered us
all over the world. Wouldn't it be something if Christ
came down, if He came down in grace, not to scatter us abroad,
but to draw us to Himself. If Christ came down in grace
to one of His children, not to confound our speech, but to give
us that pure language of the gospel and make us understand
the speech of these believers right here. Wouldn't it be something
if He made you leave off building your vain refuge and made you
rest in Christ our fortress. I pray that he'll do that. I
pray he'll do that. Now you come back in the next
hour, we're going to see the Tower of Babel again, but we're
going to see Christ the Unifier. Christ the Unifier. Amen. Let's
stand together, brethren. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
You for Your Word. We thank You for Your mercy.
We thank You that You sent Your Son. Lord, we're rebels by nature. We're rebels at heart. Lord,
have mercy. Save us by your grace. We've
all together turned our backs on you. Lord, be merciful. Be merciful. For your name's
sake, for the glory of Christ, we ask you, if you're willing,
be merciful to your people. Lord, we thank you for this day.
Thank you for this word. Pray for our brethren who are
sick and pray that you'll be with them and comfort them. Give
them a fresh glimpse of Christ that makes all our earthly ills
fade away into nothing. Lord, we thank you. We ask the
forgiveness of sin for his namesake. Amen.