Turn with me, if you would, to
Genesis chapter 11. We're going to look at two passages,
two main passages, Genesis 11 and then Genesis 28. But let's
look at Genesis 11 for the first text. The title
of this morning's message is, The Way to Heaven. The Way to
Heaven. And here's one try. Genesis 11. Here's one triad. Now remember,
the title is THE. THE way to heaven. Let's look at Genesis 11. And
the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came
to pass as they, that is the inhabitants, journeyed from the
east, which would be the Garden of Eden, 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 thoroughly. 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, 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
began to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them
which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us, the Trinity of the sacred persons,
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 thence upon the face of all the earth, and
they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of the
place 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." Proverbs chapter 14 and verse
12. The way to heaven. There is a
way which seems right unto a man or unto men, women, boys and
girls, but the end thereof are the ways of death. That's Babel. That's us trying
to work our way to heaven. This way, it is a way, I grant
you, it's a way. It's just not the way to glory,
it's not the way to salvation or to eternal life. This way,
in Genesis 11, is man's way. False religion's way. Carnal men and women's way. This is our way from birth or
by nature or that which is natural. It is natural for us to try to
work, construct, believe, repent. We make a work out of anything. This is what we will do. This
is our way. This in type, in picture, babble. This is our way. This is Babel. It's confusion is what that word
means. In the margin reading, therefore,
in verse 9, is the name of it called Babel. That's confusion.
God, it says in the New Testament, is not the author of confusion,
but peace. But this is a way. We see it
all around us. This is Babel, confusion. It's
not a sure way to heaven. It's not a reliable way to glory.
In truth, all who follow this way will surely follow this way
to hell itself. There's four things about this
way that you can see in this passage. It may be a popular
way. Let us. Let us. They kept saying
that. Let us. It could be a very popular
way. Secondly, it may be the way of
the majority. Let's go together with one mind,
one effort, lest we be scattered. The tongue. This is the way of
the tongue. Just a simple tongue. It can be used to sing God's
praises or it can be used to stand united against the Lord
Christ. It may have all the outward appearances
of success. But what did they want to do?
This way is the way of self. This way is the way of self. Psalms 127 verse 1. Psalms 127 verse 1. But let us be warned Except the Lord build the house
They labor in vain That build it except the Lord keep the city
the watchman Waketh, but in vain except the Lord build the city
they labor They do so in vain Where was God in their thoughts?
And I made a comment on the second verse of this chapter. They journeyed from the east.
That was Eden. And as it were, they turned their
back on God and went west. Where was God in their thoughts?
They went away from God. And it's all a show at this religion,
this way. It's all pomp. It's trying to
dethrone God if the truth be known. Because they said in verse
4, let us make us a name. Self, self-promotion, self-attainment,
self-help, me, myself, and I. This is religion without Christ.
today. This is man. You don't have to
be religious. You don't have to be religious
to want to take care of the most important person in your little
sphere, and that's yourself. And we constantly struggle with
this ourselves. God, I tell you, is not in their
thoughts or actions or deed. Thusly, all their works Good,
proper, it's good and proper to build houses, to build different
things. Whether they were attractive,
they must come down. They must be destroyed, because
God says no flesh will glory in His presence. So the conclusion,
this way, this is a way. Verse 9, the Lord confounds. scatters, that word confound,
destroys. So if you're thinking of whatever
you may be able to do to please God or don't do, anything, any
work of man, I'll put it this way, any work of man laid upon
the altar of God's free sovereign grace in Christ will be confounded,
destroyed, and stopped in the next life. It may continue, and
they continue to grow and be wealthy, and these churches,
they do that, they're more about money, I suppose, than truth,
it's going to be stopped. Because there's only one way
to heaven. But, turn with me to Genesis
chapter 28. There's a way to heaven. God will be approached by those
whom He created. God will be approached. He will
be glorified in mercy. So let us now take a look at
the way to heaven. There is one way. It's a sure,
steadfast, undeniable way to heaven's gate. This way is secured
by the selfless sacrifice of God's own Son. Genesis chapter
28, starting in verse 10. went out from Beersheba and went
toward Haran. And he lied upon a certain place
and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And
he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows
and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold,
a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached heaven.
And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God
of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land wherein
thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy
seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and now shall spread
abroad to the west, the east, to the north, The South and in
thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all
places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this
land. For I will not leave thee until
I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." And Jacob
awakened out of his sleep, and he said, surely the Lord Surely
the Lord is in this place." And I knew it not. And he was afraid
and said, how dreadful is this place. This is none other but
the house of God and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob
rose up early in the morning and he took the stone that he
had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and poured
oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that
place Bethel. But the name of the city was
called Luz at the first. And Jacob bowed a vow, saying,
If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go,
and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that
I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord
be my God. And this stone, which I have
set for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that thou shalt
give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Here's this
other place. This is appointed by God. This one. And we don't have to
wonder who this is talking about. Let's just turn to John chapter
1. Who is this speaking of? Who
can this possibly be? This ladder. We've seen the Tower
of Babel of man's own making which is confounded, destroyed,
and stopped and ruined. John 1 and verse 51, and Christ said unto
them, John 1, 51, Christ said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Hereafter you shall see heaven opened, and the angels
of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. He's making direct reference
to this ladder. And this ladder is Christ. That is the way. The only way. to heaven and heaven's glory.
This was appointed by God, appointed to Christ to live, to suffer,
and to die, assured to His death. One that would honor His and
God's law, His commands, and nail them to the cross. One that
would give freely to the sinner God's own righteousness. that
guarantees to them perfect cleansing, pure forgiveness, and a home
in Emmanuel's land, this ladder, the Lord Jesus Christ. This way,
and as I said, there is no guessing who the text is speaking about. We've seen that in John chapter
1. It is Christ the Lord. Christ, the man of God's own
choosing. Christ, the spotless Lamb of
God. Christ, the one among a thousand. Christ, the true and just one.
Christ, our hope, our elder brother, our peace with God. That's how
we get to heaven. That's the way to heaven. And
you look at this second text in Genesis 28, there's poor old
Jacob. He left his house, fleed his
house, because Esau, he just got done getting the blessing
from his father. And when Esau found out, he was
mad. He was mad. So there's Jacob.
He's out in the middle of this wilderness, this place. Lonely,
in distress, full of doubt, and full of trouble. He goes to sleep,
and he awakes. with God, full of comfort, hope,
and assured of His position or status before God. Look with
me at verse 12 in Genesis 28. He saw Christ. He saw Christ. He dreamed and
beheld a ladder set up on the earth atop of which heaven and
behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. He saw
Christ. He was giving exceeding great and precious promises with
Christ. Verses 13, 14, and 15. Behold, I am the Lord God, thy
Father, God of Abraham, Isaac, the land wherein you lay, I will
give it to you and your seed. There's a promise. Verse 14,
thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, now shall spread
abroad all four corners of the earth, My seed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed." Verse 15, and behold, I am with
thee. There's a promise. There is no
promise in this other way to heaven. It's just a promise of
self, and self is fleeting. Self is like the grass. It's
here today, it's cut tomorrow, or it fades. Shrivels up and
dies. I will be with thee. I will keep
thee in all the places that you go. and bring thee again into
this place. I will not leave thee until I
have done that which I have spoken to thee of." He says in John
14 that Christ says to His people, they're like Jacob perhaps. They're
distressed. Christ just says, I'm leaving
you. They're distressed. They don't know what's going
to happen to them. They don't know what they're
going to do. And He says in chapter 14, verse 1, let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. I go to prepare a place for you.
And He's preparing us for the place. With this ladder, with
Christ, we have benefits, we have promises that exceed anything
that this world can give us or anything that this world knows
about. Poor old Jacob. And yet, we're just like him. We go, we're all worried, concerned,
distressed, and God, by His free grace, gives us something that... He didn't ask for it. He just
was sleeping. Jacob, after beholding the splendor
and wonder of the grace of God in the person and accomplishments
of Jesus Christ, he saw God's faithfulness. I will be with
thee." That's God's faithfulness. We see God's faithfulness in
sending His Son. We wouldn't understand it. We
couldn't understand it. It makes no human sense. You
send your only begotten Son, whom you love before the foundation
of the world, to suffer, bleed, and die for a people who could
care less whether He came or not, until He imparts the blessed
Spirit of God to us. Or imputes, I should say. Until
He imputes His righteousness, we don't have any desire for
Him. Our imagination says Genesis was only evil continually. Can
a good thing come out of an unclean? Can the leper change his spots?
Can he eat the open changes? No, no, no. And she says, so
you who are accustomed to evil, can you do good? No. That's one
of the first things the Lord shows us. Anything that we try
is going to be confused and confounded. It's a babble. It sure looks
good to man. It sure looks good to politicians. It sure looks good to religious
leaders. But it's not the way. It's a
way. It's not the way. But now we
see, because of Christ, we see His faithfulness. And He says,
we see God's wills. Look at verse 15. I, says God, am with thee. I will not leave thee until I
have done all that which I have spoken. This covenant has been
ratified between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit
for us. We had nothing to do with it.
Just like Mephibosheth. In that chapter in Samuel, David
says, is there any left of the household of Saul that I can
do kindness? He says, for Jonathan's sake. Because David loved Jonathan
and Jonathan loved David, he said, I'm going to do something
for your seed. We weren't there when this covenant
was ratified. But he still provides the way. Now the sinner is now enabled
to properly worship God, and he does so. Verse 18, Jacob rose
early in the morning and took the stone that he had for a pillow
and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on it. Now he's worshiping
God. He didn't know anything about
that. People think they've got to have
buildings cathedrals and all these windows and all this stuff.
No. No. It's not the place. It's who we're worshiping. But
He does so. We as our brother Jacob are not
disobedient to our awakening, to our quickening, or as the
Scripture says, to our heavenly calling. Now we out of love for
Christ do as He desires us to do. He calls us, we follow. He enables, we follow. He allures,
we follow. This is the way, the only way
to heaven. And this is by us resting solely
upon the Lord Jesus Christ in every single thing He has done
for us. Not constructing with our hands.
which comes from our mind. Our mind thinks, reads, figures
it out, and designs, and starts working. And that's all religion
is, outside of Christ, is mental, mental gymnastics. And then we'll
bring in some raising the hands, and speaking in tongues, and
hooplas, and doing this and doing that. But it's not of God. It's
not of God. Christ has done everything for
us. He's done everything for us in our room, in our stead.
He took the hit, as it were, from God, so to speak, so we
can go free. He took 39 lashes. He took the
thorny crown. He took the spitting, the cruel
mockings, the cross, the shame, and the wrath of His beloved
Father, and He drank every bit of it. He drank that cup dry.
All so we could be redeemed. So His Father would be honored
and His Father glorified. All those elect would be with
Him forever. I close to ask myself this, I
ask you this. How are we coming to God? Are we coming to God by our supposed
goodness? by the best that we can do, by
our religious beliefs, by doing or not doing, and I'll tell you
like God told those at Babel, it's all going to be confounded,
all in vain, and it will all be rejected by God. Or, are we
trusting on Christ's work for us, solely, completely, and singularly? Except the Lord build the house. Except the Lord builds the house. We labor in vain. If Jehovah
builds it, it will stand. For it is all placed upon the
Rock Christ. We sing that song when we get
to heaven, Then anew this song we'll sing. Hallelujah. What a Savior. He's done it all. May we rest in Him and trust
in Him completely. Matt, would you close us please?