Genesis chapter 11. We're about
to look at a well-known story. I would think hardly anybody
in here has not heard this story of the Tower of Babel. And here's the message that I
pray we'll see in it. This is what I hope we all will cry unto God. Lord, don't
leave me to myself. That's the message. Don't leave
me to myself. Look at Genesis chapter 10 verse
1. This whole chapter is a genealogy. Verse 1 says, Now these are the
generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. and unto
them were sons born after the flood. And then it gives the
line of Japheth. Verse 5 says, By these were the
isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, every one after
his tongue, after their families and their nations. And then it
gives the genealogy of Ham. Verse 20 says, These are the
sons of Ham after their families, after their tongues, and their
countries, and their nations. And then it gives the genealogy
of Shem. Verse 31 says, These are the
sons of Shem after their families, after their tongues, and their
lands, after their nations. These are the families of the
sons of Noah after their generations and their nations. And by these
were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. Noah's
sons. Japheth, Ham, and Shem walked
out of that ark with Noah. That ark rested, and those three
boys walked out of that ark with Noah. And by those three men,
this earth was repopulated by those three men. Japheth was
born first. But we usually say His name last,
don't we? And the reason is because according
to our God, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Shem was the youngest, but Shem
was the one through which the Hebrews came, and ultimately
our Lord. Now chapter 11 verse 1 says,
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. Now by this point, man has been
on the earth for 1,700 years. And for the first 1,700 years
of man, there was one language. Everywhere you went, there was
one language. It's going to be that way again. One of these days there's only
going to be one language. In God's new earth, heavenly
Jerusalem, whatever language Christ speaks and whatever language
glorifies Him the most is going to be the one language of earth
again. Now I thought about this. We live in an interesting world. It's a very interesting world
with interesting cultural differences. You just went to the Dominican
Republic, didn't you? Different from America, isn't
it? Some people have learned much
about other cultures. Some people have learned more
than one language, right? But the fact that there is more
than one language to learn means we are all sinners. Do you know
that? That's what it means. The fact
that there is more than one language to know on this earth ought to
tell everybody and remind everybody we're all sinners. Sin is the only reason you can
go south and cross a border and hear a completely different language
from the one we speak. That's the only reason. Sin. That's the truth, isn't it? Every time we hear a different
language, we ought to be reminded of the fact that we are all a
bunch of sinners. That's all we are. In all of
creation we can see God's glory and we can see our sin in all
of creation. All right, now look at verse
1. It says, And the whole earth was of one language and of one
speech, And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east,
and the word from translates to the east, they started headed
east, that they found a plain in the
land of Shinar and they dwelt there. That is in Iraq. The plain in the land of Shinar
is in Iraq. And it's amazing how much rebellion
against God is still pouring out of that place. Isn't it? The people of the land of Shinar
are rebels against God. They are rebels against God.
Well, listen to this. They represent every single soul
on this planet. Every single soul. A person is going to hear that
and say, that cannot be true. Oh, but it can. All God has to do is leave you
to yourself. That's all he has to do. Is leave
you to yourself or leave me to myself and our rebellion will
consume us. It will. The only difference
in an ISIS terrorist and an American suburban family man is the grace
of God. That's it. That's it. But for the grace of God, there
go I. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Is that not what the Word says?
Verse 3, 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. They said, we're going to build
us a foundation. But they didn't want Christ the
rock. They said, we're going to build our own foundation by
the works of our own hands. And that's every soul born onto
this planet. That's every single soul. It
does not matter what form or fashion they make of it. It's
every single soul. But for the grace of God, stepping
in. But for the grace of God, stepping
in and revealing the truth of salvation. Every soul on this
planet wants to get to God by the works of their own hands. That is the honest truth, if
I've ever told it. I'm going to show you the actual
truth though. All right. Go with me over to
first Corinthians chapter three. Just hold your place here and
go to first Corinthians three. 1 Corinthians 3, look at verse
11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. That's it. Other foundation can
no man lay. Man is trying to get to God and
build his way up to God by making his own bricks and stacking his
own bricks for him to stand on, but no other foundation can be
laid than Jesus Christ alone. That's it. Now, here's my prayer
this morning. Here is my prayer this morning.
This is a strong desire of mine. I pray that God will take his
word and make it very clear. Very, very clear in the minds
and in the hearts of all of us. I mean, clear. My prayer is that no one will
leave here wondering what I was saying. That's my prayer. Love it or hate it, but don't
leave wondering what I was saying. You don't have time for that.
You don't have time for that. You might die today. You might
die today. I must be very clear. If you or I believe that being
a good person. Okay, now listen to this. If
you or I believe that being a good person and striving to do what
the world knows to be good, what they call good, and being more kind, and being
more forgiving, and being more loving, If you or I believe that
any of those things will get us into heaven, they won't. They won't. As a matter of fact,
the person who believes that will be more damned than the
person who believes nothing at all. Our Lord said, don't turn. In Matthew 23, verse 15, He said
that person will be twofold the child of hell. That's what He
said. My prayer is that God will make
His words so clear in somebody's ear that they will say, that
doesn't even make sense. That doesn't make sense. Did
I just hear you right? You said being a good person
and following what everybody knows to be good and right, you're
telling me that being right will not get me into heaven? That's
what I'm saying. That does not make any sense.
And I'm going to get into God's Word and I'm going to prove you
wrong on it. Please do. Please do. You won't be able to. But please try. Find out what God has to say
about our goodness. You know what he says? There
is none that doeth good. No, not one. None. He said there is none good but
God. See what he says about our trying
to do right? See what he says about our rightness? It's called our righteousness. You know what he said? They're
all filthy rags. Let me tell you what Galatians
3 says. Whoever tries to get into heaven by obeying the Bible, Whoever tries to get into heaven
by obeying God's law is going to be cursed. Is that not what
it says? They're going to be under the
curse. Isn't that what it says? I'm tempted to take you there. Being a better person is not
the way of eternal life. Being a better person is not
the way of eternal life. There is one way. Lord, please don't leave me to
myself. There is one way. Lord, please
don't leave me to my works. Don't leave me to my own righteousness. Don't leave me to my filthy rags. There's one way, and it is in
the work of Jesus Christ alone. That's it. Everything he did,
everything he paid, all of the wrong that he made right when
God judged him for the sin of his people, he fulfilled God's law. and became cursed for us. And he covered our rebellion
in his own blood. There's one way. There is one
way. If God leaves a sinner to himself,
he will never see what I'm talking about. If God leaves a sinner to himself,
he will never believe this to be true. Never. All of his worship,
all of his religion will be self. Every bit of it. And you have no idea who God
is. The true and living God. Now go back to the text in Genesis
11 and notice who they're worshipping. Genesis 11, look at verse 3. They said one to another, go
to, let us. Okay, 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 a tower whose top
may reach unto heaven and let us make us a name. They weren't concerned for God's
name. Do you know why I say all these things? Aren't these things
shocking and hard? And what are you doing? This
thing is about God's name, not us. But they said in verse four,
go to let us build us a city and 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. They are not concerned about
God's holiness. They're not concerned about God's
righteousness or God's work. It is all about us. And that's how you can tell when
a man is lying to you. You could have walked into any
church in Kingsport today and somebody would have gotten up
in a pulpit and would have taken 30, 45 minutes of your time. All right. And here's how you
can tell if he's telling you the truth or if he's lying to
you. It all depends on who is getting
the glory. That's what it depends on. Is
it God? Are they totally worshipping
and praising and holding up the glory of God or is it us? Is all of the focus and the acknowledgement
for salvation on God or is it on us? That's how you can tell. I was invited to an all-song
worship service about six or eight years ago. I know I've
told you this before, but I'll tell you again. It wasn't a concert, it was an
all-song praise and worship service, and I didn't go. I realized,
I told you this story before and I didn't tell you last time,
I didn't go. I didn't go. But this person who was trying
to get me to go, they tried to entice me by saying, it's just
so new. And it's just so contemporary.
It's not the same old hymns. They said they're going to sing
songs like this. Here we come to worship. Not how great thou
art. You see the difference? That
was literally what the person said. And I thought, oh man. That's the heart of religion.
It is all about us. I want to show you something.
Turn over to Isaiah 53. You know this chapter so well. But I'm going to read 12 verses,
and I want you to notice how many times it says he, him, or
his. And there are some we's in here,
and every time you see a we, it is immediately followed by
him. All right? Isaiah 53. Verse 1 says, Who hath believed
our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For
he shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root
out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire
Him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it
were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed
Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment, and who shall declare His generation? For He
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of My people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done
no violence, neither was any deceit found in His mouth, yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief. when thou shalt make His soul
an offering for sin. He shall see His seed, He shall
prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
His hand. He shall see the travail of His
soul, and shall be satisfied by His knowledge, shall my righteous
servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
That's the difference. That's the difference. You know
what we preach. You all preach a lot of bad news over there.
No, no, no. We preach Christ. All that bad news gives glory
to what He has done. Right? Lord, don't leave me to
myself. Don't let me try to figure out
religion and figure out salvation and keep on searching and keep
on doing until I finally get it right. Stop me and save me. The truth is all about Christ. The gospel is all about Christ. Did we hear the gospel today?
That depends on whether or not we heard Christ. If we didn't
hear all about Christ, then we did not go to church and hear
the gospel. It is not about us. It's not about what we've done,
and it's not about what we're going to do. It's all about Christ. Alright, now let me show you
the gospel. The gospel is good news. The gospel is that moment
of relief. That moment of relief. Go back
to the text in Genesis 11. Verse 5 says, And the Lord came down. If we ever got a hold of what
that means, we'd rejoice forever. And one
of these days after those trumpets sound, we are going to get a
hold of what that means and we're going to rejoice forever. and
the Lord came down. That's the gospel right there. If this was in the Psalms, David
would have put a Selah right there. We better just think about
that for a minute. They were lost in their ignorance, continuing in their sin, building
this self-righteousness. Thriving in their rebellion. Pressing their way to the gates
of hell. That's what they were doing. And the Lord came down. The same thing happened to Saul
of Tarsus. The same exact thing. Wreaking havoc on the church.
That's what he was doing. Hailing men and women. Breathing
out threatenings and slaughter, and the Lord came down and stopped him in his tracks. And the Lord came down and stopped
them in their tracks. Do you know what He did for every
single one of us? He came down and He stopped us
in our tracks. Aren't you so glad? What mercy that is! As poor,
wretched sinners, no God and no hope, it seemed there was
no one to help. But God, in His mercy, salvation
supplied, emptied heaven, came down Himself, and a ransom was
found. Man, what mercy! Verse 5 says,
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which
the children of men built, 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 to do." Everything they imagined to do, they will
succeed in. Every single thing. And they
will only go deeper and deeper into their imaginations. Now
go over to Genesis 6 with me. Genesis 6 verse 5 says, And God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. They will not be restrained from
all the evil they can imagine. So God in mercy, back over in
our text in Genesis 11, said in verse seven, go to, let
us go down. There's our precious Trinity.
God, the father, God, the son, God, the spirit, let us go down
and there confound their language that they may not understand
one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad
from fence 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 thence did the Lord scatter them abroad
upon the face of all the earth." God confounded them. God scattered
them. God did it. God did it. What they didn't realize is God
does not save from the top of the tower. That's what they didn't realize.
And that's what I wish so badly that the souls of men and women
could understand. They're trying to build themselves
up, build themselves up, and build themselves up, but if they
would ever learn God does not save from the top of the tower.
You know where he's saved from? The bottom of the pit. The bottom
of the pit. The way up is not up. It's down. So God stopped them and God scattered
them. But I want to show you something
in Psalm 2. I'm almost finished. Go with me to Psalm 2. Psalm 2, look at verse 1. Why
do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointing, saying, Let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
But verse 4 says, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The
Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou
art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall
give thee this exact same heathen. for
thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."
God the Father said that same heathen that we scattered to
the uttermost parts of the earth, I'm going to bring some of them
back and I'm going to give them to Christ for an inheritance.
I am going to build a city One that has foundations. Go to Jeremiah
31. Jeremiah 31, look at verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord, O
ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a
shepherd doth his flock. That's the gospel. That's the
good news. The same One that came down in
mercy and stopped you from running straight into hell. Stopped you
from your vain imaginations. And shook you and said, behold
me. And you said, my Lord and my
God. And you ran in fear. The same One who scattered you
is going to bring you. And He is going to keep you as
a shepherd doth his flock. Last one, go to Revelation 14. We're all going to be saying
this together. I can't wait to say this. Revelation 14 verse 1 says, And
I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him
a hundred, forty, and four thousand, having his father's name written
in their foreheads. Now look at verse 6. And I saw
another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every
nation and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud
voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him. For the hour of His judgment
is come, and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the
sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel,
saying, Babylon is fallen. It's fallen. Babylon is fallen. It's over. This world of religion,
this world of flesh, this world of self, this world of sin, it's
all fallen. It's all gone. It's all put away. Every single bit of it. And thank
God He didn't leave us to ourselves. He didn't leave us in our sin.
Before He destroyed the city, He pulled us out and He set us
on Mount Zion with the Lamb. The beautiful city of God to
forever praise the work of the Lamb. We have a high tower. You know that? They were trying
to build them a high tower. I am here to tell you, we have
a high tower. We are standing on the top of
a high tower. One that reaches all the way
from the earth to the Holy of Holies. And His name is Jesus
Christ. Alright, let's stand together.