Confusion - The Tower of Babel

Q: What does the Bible say about the Tower of Babel?

The Tower of Babel represents humanity's prideful attempt to reach heaven through their own efforts, ultimately leading to God's judgment and confusion of languages. Genesis 11 recounts the story of the Tower of Babel, where humanity, united by a single language, sought to build a tower to heaven to make a name for themselves and prevent being scattered. This act of rebellion against God's command resulted in God confusing their language and scattering them across the earth. The narrative illustrates the folly of human pride and the consequences of attempting to achieve salvation or glory apart from God. Instead of accomplishing their goals, they generated confusion, earning the place name 'Babel' as a testament to their folly and disobedience to God.

Q: How do we know God's judgment is just?

God's judgment is just because it is grounded in His holy nature, righteousness, and the reality of sin. God's judgment is always just because it is rooted in His holiness and righteousness. The flood that destroyed the wickedness of humanity before the Tower of Babel is a critical example; God judged the earth not out of arbitrary anger but as a response to pervasive sin and rebellion against Him. Just as He carefully preserved Noah and his family, God's judgments serve to highlight His mercy combined with His justice. Those who turn away from His grace and persist in their rebellion can expect judgment, which is precisely what occurred at Babel, where God intervened to limit the sinful ambition of humanity.

Q: Why is relying on Christ important for salvation?

Relying on Christ is essential for salvation because He alone is the mediator who paid the penalty for our sins, allowing us to be reconciled to God. In the narrative of Babel, we see the futility of human efforts to build a tower to heaven, which symbolizes all attempts to achieve righteousness apart from God. In contrast, relying on Christ for salvation is paramount because He is the only one who is sufficient to atone for our sins. Christ, the great tower under heaven, bore the judgment we deserve on the cross so that we may have eternal life with God. No amount of good works or own efforts can bridge the gap between our sinfulness and God’s holiness; only through faith in Jesus Christ, who represents the perfect sacrifice, can we be saved and accepted into God's presence.

Q: What does confusion at the Tower of Babel teach us today?

The confusion at Babel serves as a warning against human pride and the consequences of trying to achieve success apart from God. The account of the Tower of Babel carries a timeless lesson about human nature and societal pride. Today, many still attempt to build their own towers—whether through personal achievements, social status, or religious endeavors, seeking glory without acknowledging God. Just as at Babel, those efforts lead to ultimate confusion and chaos when separated from divine guidance. This serves as a poignant reminder that any endeavor pursued without recognizing God's sovereignty is doomed to fail. In contrast, embracing the gospel of grace through Jesus Christ brings unity and clarity, transforming the chaos of the human experience into a coherent narrative defined by faith and God’s mercy.

Q: Why is grace essential in the Christian faith?

Grace is essential in the Christian faith because it is the means by which God saves us, emphasizing that salvation is unearned and entirely of Him. Grace is the cornerstone of the Christian gospel, illustrating God's unmerited favor toward humanity. The story of Noah shows us that even when all were deserving of judgment, God chose to save a remnant, reflecting His grace. This theme continues with the Tower of Babel, where God intervened not only in judgment but also in revealing His sovereignty over human schemes. In salvation, we are reminded that our acceptance before God is not based on our merits but solely on His grace, which offers redemption through Christ. Understanding grace is crucial for Christians as it informs our relationship with God, encouraging us to live in gratitude and humility rather than in self-righteousness.

Genesis chapter 11 we read an
account of an event which happened in the record of scripture soon
after the flood which God sent upon the world to destroy the
wicked and through which he saved Noah and his house, Noah and
his family of eight people. Immediately after the flood those
eight left the ark and multiplied upon the face of the earth, the
children, had children and more children and nations rose up
again. And at beginning of chapter 11
of Genesis, we read of something that those nations connived to
do soon afterwards. Chapter 11 verse one reads, and
the whole earth was of one language and of one 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 frually.
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 under 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. 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 thence did the Lord
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. How wicked the heart of man is. How soon the sin which dwells
within us is manifested. immediately when God created
the world and put man and the woman in the garden the woman
was tempted and the man followed her and sin entered in and death
by sin that perfection which they enjoyed in the garden that
sinlessness, that innocence, that communion with God who made
them was torn apart by the destructive influence of sin and the Lord
God cast them out of the garden and they were sent into a rough
and a barren world in which they had to labour with hard labour
to bring forth food that they should survive that paradise
which they once lived in where they had to do no work in order
to eat where there were trees full of fruit was barred from
them And now just to survive they had to work hard and it
was hard work because there was the influence of sin even in
the natural realm. The weeds and the thistles came
up and made growing good food hard. As time went on of course
they would know the effects of famine and of drought and of
all the difficulties which would come into this world. But so
soon after the creation sin entered. and they were cast out. You might
imagine they'd have learnt their lesson, but their first sons,
Cain and Abel, are another picture of how soon sin affects mankind. Abel offered the sacrifice under
God, a lamb, a picture of that sacrifice to come by which our
sins should be taken away, a picture of Christ, the lamb of God. And
Cain, his brother, was envious that God was pleased with Abel's
sacrifice and displeased with his, which was the fruit of his
own labour, of his own growing. He was envious and rebellious
and sin entered in and he slew his brother. His enmity was so
great that though this rival was of his own blood, flesh and
blood, that though he was his own brother whom he should love,
he was so furious and so jealous that he slew him and tried to
cover it up and deny it. Am I my brother's keeper? He
cried out when asked where his brother was. And yet he knew
where his brother was. His blood was on the ground.
after this the people multiplied and as they multiplied the wickedness
of man increased to the point where God that made this world
and put man in it would come and look upon it and say because
of their great wickedness I'm going to destroy this people
and he sent that flood which he had promised to Noah, the
one man on the face of the earth that found grace in his sight,
Noah and his family. He chose to spare Noah from this
destruction. And Noah was saved. A picture
again of the gospel, of God's salvation of a people whom he
chose A people upon whom He would set His grace, His love, His
mercy. Not for anything that they had
done, not because they were different to any other. They were the same
as any other. And yet God set His love upon
Noah and his family and said, I'll spare you. Build an ark
to the saving of thy house. That ark was a picture of Christ
in which they found salvation. a picture of Him in whom God's
favoured, chosen people, those who find grace in His sight should
find salvation from the wrath to come, from that judgment to
come, of which the flood was a picture. So eight people were
spared that awful judgment that rained down upon the earth, that
flood that flooded the whole earth and destroyed everybody
upon the face of the earth, who was not in that ark. So the wicked were destroyed.
And eight people were saved. But those eight people, though
they are pictures of those whom God saves in Christ, though they
are pictures of the children of God, those eight people were
still sinners. They still had the effects of
Adam's fall in their hearts. And having been delivered from
such judgment, they multiplied. They had children and grandchildren.
they married and were given in marriage and the people multiplied
and the nations built up again and as the people multiplied
sin once again spread upon the face of the earth and when we
get to chapter 11 the very next major account following the flood
we read what sin has brought in again here are people who
should know that there is a God in heaven, a God who made the
world, a God who so soon sent destruction upon the wicked,
flooded this world and spared their father Noah and his family.
And yet the people's memory soon fades. Generation after generation,
these are things for a former age. And they soon forget what
God has done in mercy and grace. just like our age today. We live
in a nation which has heard the gospel, in which God has sent
in a former day the gospel powerfully by many preachers whom he has
sent. We live in a nation which has felt the wondrous effect
of the gospel and Christianity in its midst. For as God says
in his words, sin reproacheth a people. but righteousness exalteth
the nation. Righteousness exalts the nation,
but sin is a reproach unto any people. And because the gospel
has been preached and has had its effect in this country and
in other parts of the world, that righteousness has had its
effect upon this nation. There have been those Christians
who have brought in moral changes in this nation. Those who brought
the act of slavery to an end. Those who moved that there should
be hospitals. Those who moved that there should
be education. And all different things which
have had an influence on the people at large, believer or
unbeliever. and the morality and the peace
of this land has been because of these things we were brought
through two world wars because God chose to spare us not because
man was mighty we were losing the wars but God chose to spare
us and deliver a people And yet people's memories are so short. One generation goes, another
generation comes and the younger generation cares nothing for
what the former generation thought or did. Nothing for the morality
and ideals of the former generation. Nothing for the beliefs of that
generation. They despise and reject them and the sin in which
they are born bubbles up to the surface. So today we live in
an age where The heathen cast off the restraints of a former
generation. They tear God's bands asunder
and think it nothing. They trample the gospel and the
word of God underfoot. And they despise any mention
of the truth. And they despise any mention
of the name of Christ, the savior of sinners. They, as it were,
mock the very fact of judgment and of sin and mock the very
fact of an ark which brings deliverance from sin. So too this people
in the former age. God had sent judgment because
of the sin and the wickedness upon the earth. God had delivered
the people in that ark. But a few generations later the
minds of the people are blinded to these things. They care nothing
for them. and their attitudes are the same
as their forefathers they act like there is no God or they
act as if they can get to God and to heaven by their own efforts
and it matters not to worship God and his truth so the whole
earth was of one language and of one speech and they came to
a place called Shinar and the people said let us make brick
and burn it thoroughly and let us have the brick for stone and
use the slime as mortar to build those stones up and let us go
to and build us a city and a tower whose top may reach under heaven
and let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the
face of the whole earth. Oh the people in their sin and
their arrogance thought they would do mighty things in their
own strength They lived and acted like there was no God. They lived
and acted like there was no sin. And they lived and acted like
they could build up and attain unto heaven by their own efforts. By their own efforts. Oh the
pride and the arrogance that we see here. The pride and the
arrogance. Let us make us a name. let us have the glory let us
do some great thing where others for generations to come will
say how wonderful that people were who built this up let's
get to heaven our way their reasoning was that if they did not that
they might be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth
that they might be nothing that unless they did these mighty
things they would be brought to weakness and defeat they acted
like there was no God to watch over them or to help them and
that except they build this great city and this great tower by
their own strength they'd be scattered and they'd be remembered
no more But that everything rested upon them. The future rested
upon them. Unless we do this, nothing will
happen. We need to make a name for ourselves. And we need to build this city
and this tower. If we're ever to go to heaven,
we need to build up to reach up to these heights. We must. And if we do, we'll have a wonderful
name and a wonderful reputation. They feared being scattered or
being brought to ruin. The sobering end of this story
is that because they thought this, that the thing they feared
was the very thing that came their way. Because they acted
in rebellion against God, because they would build themselves a
name, because they would not be scattered, that's exactly
what God brought to pass. God saw their rebellion. He saw
how strong they would become. He saw how they turned their
back upon Him and would as Adam and Eve in the garden when they
ate that fruit of that tree of which they were commanded not
to eat, they would as it were become as gods. Not in need of
the help and aid of Almighty God who made them and sustains
them. But so full of their own strength and so full of their
own pride and so full of their own understanding and wisdom.
that they were so utterly independent they would live as though there
was no God. So 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. 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
or 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. So the very thing that the people
were seeking to avoid happened to them because of their rebellion
and because they sought not the Lord in what they did but they
would do by their own might and strength. Their wisdom was greater. Like the Jews in the latter day,
they sought not the righteousness of God, but they went about seeking
to establish their own righteousness. They sought not God's help or
God's wisdom, but in their arrogance and might, they would build themselves,
build themselves up, build themselves a name. Let us make us a name,
they said. Well, their rebellion, earned
themselves a name. Their rebellion earned themselves
a name. Babel. Confusion. This is the name that they were
called. Confusion. They said we will
build a tower unto heaven. And in their building all they
wrought was confusion. Confusion. They built a tower
to heaven. They sought to reach the heights,
to reach heaven through their own might, their own effort,
their own strength, their own wisdom, their own righteousness. But all they wrought was confusion. All they built was chaos. And all they brought upon their
heads was destruction. Confusion. What a name! They sought a name for themselves,
they got a name. Do you seek great things for
yourself? Do you seek to make a name for yourself? Do you seek
to build and to climb up to heaven your way? Well if you do, if
you are the builder and not God, if you live as though there is
no God, And if you live as though God cannot build except you build,
then all you will bring is confusion. They built a tower under heaven.
There is a tower under heaven. There is a way to climb to heaven. There is a great and mighty tower
of which the scriptures speak. And that tower is Christ and
his gospel. There is a way by which men may
be saved. There is a way by which they
may be made righteous. And there is a way by which they
may earn a name. But that name is given to them
by God. And that tower is built not by
them but by God. That tower is in Christ and His
Gospel. Yet how the natural man is blind
to that tower and blind to that gospel and how he goes about
seeking to establish and build his own tower, his own righteousness,
his own name, his own name. This reaches all of us. We're
all just like these these Babylonians these who brought confusion we
have the same heart the same rebellious spirit the same desire
to build a name for ourselves the same heart which despises
the things of God and the things of Jesus Christ the same wisdom
which will work which will do which reasons that unless I do,
then nothing will happen. Unless we do this, then nothing
will come about. We do this individually, we do
this collectively. How many there are like this
people today? It's an ivory heart to build
a name for ourselves. It's in every heart to live in
our own strength by our own might and our own power. It's in every
heart to despise God and the testimony of God. How many there
are like this people who will build a tower under heaven? How
many there are socially, just in the natural realm, ever since
this day the nations have continued to multiply and the peoples have
built their cities and their nations, and they've built their
mighty places, and they've established their great things. They've built
their cities, they've built their infrastructure, they've built
their roads, they've built their wonderful buildings, they've
painted their wonderful works of art, they've made their music,
they've made their great corporations in business, they've made their
millions, various ones, they've made names for this person and
that person how many names there are in different fields throughout
history this great writer that great musician that great scientist
all these names which are revered all these names that men have
made for themselves and yet in the end it's all darkness and
confusion outside of God what is what are the millions of this
world if you go to your grave and enter into a lost eternity
because you know not God what is the greatest reputation that
you can earn what is the worth of those generations after you
who revere you and revere you after your death as so many have
found that they don't have the acclaim in their life but once
they're dead people speak well of them and their work and their
labors what is the use of such a reputation if you knew not
God if you knew not your sins being washed away. And if you
came when you died to stand before God with no answer to those sins
and were sent off to a lost eternity. This is the end of so much in
this world and so many in this world who've built them towers
and built their names and have known not God. All they have
wrought is confusion. despite the mighty nations and
empires. All history has shown us our
nations rising up against nations. Enmity and sin being brought
to the fore. Wars, murder, violence, ruin,
confusion. This is in the natural realm.
but in the spiritual realm we see the same thing so much of
what is done spiritually in so many arenas in the religions
of the world and so much even in that which professes to be
Christian is all man building a name for himself and building
a tower under heaven It is man having closed his ears to the
truth and doing things his way to build up his church, to build
up the congregations, to build up the name of this one and that
one and to build their own tower unto heaven. There are so many
denominations, so many churches, so many who gather especially
in the day in which we live, where the true gospel and the
true influence of the gospel in churches and congregations
which once owned it, which once had ears for it, but have now
so compromised it and closed their ears to it, that what they
have bears no resemblance to the truth as it was delivered
in the beginning, to the faith once delivered unto the saints.
What they have is no resemblance to it, and yet they continue
to build their city, their churches, their affiliations, and they
continue to have their programs of evangelism, and they continue
to have their conferences, and they continue to send out a message
of how people may get to heaven by climbing the tower which they
have built for them. And yet in turning away from
the gospel, and from Christ alone and his grace alone, unto the
will and the works of man in their religion, all they have
wrought is confusion. They once bake with one speech,
But now God scatters them, that all they do is speak. One says
this and another says that. One says, lo, here is Christ. And another says, lo, here is
Christ. One over there says, this is
the truth. And another over there says, no, this is the truth.
What is this? What is it when the scriptures
speak of those in the last days coming? Some saying, lo, here
is Christ. Lo, there is Christ. Are these
men speaking of Christ's return? Are we to wait for these to come
to say this? No, these are those who preach
about Christ and about Jesus and say He's like this and you
will know Him like this and you will get to heaven like this. And yet someone else differs
and says no, that's not right. You will only get to heaven in
our church. And Jesus is actually like this.
So you have the one church and denomination by one name who
believe certain things. And then by another name you
have the Roman Catholics, you have the Church of England, you
have the Brethren, you have this one, you have that one. It doesn't
matter what names they take. Each of them will say that the
other is wrong because of these differences. So the Catholic
Church deny that there is salvation to be found outside of its walls.
To the Catholic Church, the Church of England, Evangelicalism. the Baptists, the Charismatics,
the Brethren, whoever they are, the Methodists, all of these
things are a rebellion and an apostasy against the Mother Church. If you are a worshipper in the
Church of England, really the Catholic Church's attitude is
that you need to come back to the Catholic Church and you will
only find salvation in its midst. So the Catholic Church says to
the world, lo, here is Christ in our tower. and their salvation
nowhere else Protestantism says no, the Catholic
Church is false and it rightly says it's false because the message
of Catholicism in promoting Mary to the level of Christ in promoting
the vicar of Rome, the Pope to such an authority that he walks
as it were in the place of Christ in its mass where it says that
Christ is literally transubstantiated when you eat that bread and that
wine, in all these things the Catholic Church is utterly erroneous
having denied the gospel. So Protestantism says salvation's
not in that, it's with us. But Protestantism is fragmented
into so many different groups, each of them building a tower
and each of them saying, lo, here is Christ. But Christ is
only found in the Gospel. And where you go in these churches,
whatever they are, if the Gospel is not preached, it is not the
Church. No matter how nice the people,
no matter how kindly they are, no matter how serious they are,
no matter what they say from the Bible. you may go to their
conferences and their meetings and you may hear the great names
and speakers who've built a name for themselves come along and
do a wonderful display of oratory with a few jokes and things that
you can relate to and such wisdom about life in our modern times
and you can say that was a wonderful message but was it the gospel
Because otherwise it's simply building a tower and making a
name for ourselves. And there are so many who are
taken in by these things. It's confusion. Confusion. Because they are all building
in their own strength. And God says plainly in the Psalms,
except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build
it. Whatever the name, whatever the
numbers, whatever the reputation, if it's man who's doing the building,
if it's man who's making the bricks and burning them thoroughly
and placing them together, it's confusion. it's Babel and it
will end in destruction. God builds his church, he builds
it through Christ, he builds it by his gospel, he builds it
by grace. And the message of the Gospel
which saves us is always grace. Free grace from start to finish. It's God who chose his people. It's God who is the tower unto
heaven in Christ. It's God who will save us and
lead us into glory and nobody else and no other message will
take us there. This was what God made plainly
known to the whole world through his message in the account of
Noah. The world was in wickedness and
God chose to destroy it. But he saved eight people only. Only eight. And he saved them
not because there was anything good that they did but because
he would save them. that's what saved them and nothing
else and to follow anything else is to follow destruction because
there's only one gospel and this gospel is a gospel of grace it
declares that God has chosen a people for whom he sent his
son the Lord Jesus Christ to die to suffer and to die in their
place as their substitute upon the cross he came he came to
die upon the cross to suffer as their substitute taking their
sins upon him being made sin in their place and drinking up
the cup of God's wrath in judgment against those sins so that God
would not judge that people or hold them accountable on the
last day for their sins but that he would judge his own son in
their place. That's what Christ did when he
came into this world to save sinners. He came as a substitute
to stand in the place of his people and to drink up that judgment
against them. so that at the last day they
would come before God and though they were sinners just like everyone
else and though they had rebelled just like everyone else they
could on that day say but Christ has paid the price for me O LORD,
I have nothing in my hands to bring, nothing in my hands that
I can plead. I am guilty, I did these crimes
against thy name. I was just as wicked as the rest
of them. I myself built a tower until
God arrested me, until thou broughtest me to hear of Christ my tower. and on that day when I heard
that he had died in my place I came to know that there is
a tower under heaven and I never built it but I heard of it and
that tower is Christ who suffered for my sins yes I committed those
crimes but he paid my price and his blood was shed Oh Lord God
forgive me because of that blood which he shed for me. I've nothing
else to pay, I've nothing else to claim, I've no merit, I know
I'm guilty Lord, but I thank and praise thee that he suffered
for me. Forgive me for his sake. And
on that day Everyone who comes before God and can truly claim
that Christ's blood was shed for them and that he washed them
in his blood will be spared and will enter into eternal heavenly
glory to dwell with him forevermore. They will climb that tower into
heaven. They have a tower in the heaven. But their tower is not one that
they or anyone else built for them, but one that God built
and one that is Christ. He is their tower. He is the
one that leads men from this earthly realm up into the heavenly
heights. And there is no other tower that
reaches under heaven. None other. none other but Christ
and his gospel. Our great need is of Christ and
his gospel, our great need is for our sins to be washed away. We must attain to heaven but
we'll never build a tower to it by our strength, we'll never
make ourselves righteous by our own works, We'll never gain entrance
into heaven just by making some decision to receive Jesus into
our hearts as though we can command him what to do when we decide
it. But we will enter heaven when
God says unto us, Thou art mine, and I have given my son for you,
and I have destroyed my son upon the cross. I judged him because
of your sins. He died in your place. he was
slain a sacrifice for you and his blood has washed you clean
that's what will bring us into heaven that is our tower and
it's an all-sufficient tower We have need of no one else and
nothing else. We have need to add nothing to
the work or the person of Christ, for He has done it all. He suffered to the uttermost. He drank the cup of God's wrath
to its dregs. He did not turn from it, he did
not shy from it because he loved his people with an everlasting
love. He loved them before they were
ever made. He loved them before the world
was made. He loved them before he judged
the world, that world of wickedness by the flood. He loved them before
the world in wickedness built that tower at Babel. He loved
them before mankind took the Son of God and nailed him to
a tree. Christ loved that people from
all eternity and that is why when he came into this world
and why when all men rejected him and despised him and cried
out of him crucify him away with this man we will not have him
to rule over us that is why he turned not from that path which
he must tread. That is why He let them nail
Him to the tree, that is why they did, that is why He was
lifted up in the midday sun and that is why the vaults of heaven
were opened when God the Father laid the sins of His people upon
Him. and the vaults of heaven were
opened and the judgment of God rained down as fire upon his
own son because that son loved his people from all eternity
and he loved them to the end and he would suffer for them,
he would save them he would deliver them, he would go down into the
grave for them because he loved them and because he would be
their mediator the one mediator between God and men the man Christ
Jesus he would be their mediator he would be their tower he would
lead them unto God he would be the one name given to mankind
by which they might be saved Salvation is found in no one
else but Christ. For there is no other name under
heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Acts 4 12.
We must be saved. We must. We have a dire need,
a pressing need of salvation. Young people, boys, you listen. You must be saved if there's
one thing in your life that must come about that you truly need. It is not a job, it is not riches,
it is not wealth, it is not pleasure, but it is salvation from your
sins. We must be saved, we must have
an answer for our sins, we must have righteousness, we must stand
before God perfect. and we only will in Christ Jesus. We only will if he sets his love
and his mercy and his grace upon us. We only will if we come to
know that he is our tower under heaven. We only will if we come
to praise his name and believe on his name, on the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. If we come to know that He came
for us in particular, that He entered this world with our name
on His heart and went to that cross and suffered for our sins,
our past sins, the things we've done wrong today, the things
we will do wrong later, the things we will do wrong till our dying
day, the day we enter eternity. All of our sins He had on Him
if we are His and He was judged for them. Is He your Saviour? Do you care? Do you care that
you must be saved? Do you care that you are a sinner
through and through? Do you care that your sins will
bring you to confusion in the end if you know not God? Well this people at Babel origins
of the nation of Babylon the confusion and lies of man's religion
for this is what it is this is why I speak of the religion today
whether it calls itself Christian or not any religion any form
that denies Christ and his grace alone for salvation is Babylonian
and it's confusion. They may take the name of Jesus,
they may speak of the cross, but if they in any way place
salvation upon your decision or your works, and not upon the
free grace of God for his elect people alone, then they deny
the power of the gospel, they deny the gospel and they build
their own tower in the place of the tower of God which is
Christ. There is one name under heaven
given to mankind by which we must be saved and that name is
Christ and that name Jesus Christ means God's anointed saviour
whom he has sent to save his people. It means that Jesus is
the one that God sent for the people that God chose that he
should save them. And if we believe on the name
of Jesus, we believe that God came to save us in the person
of Christ, at his command, for his pleasure, because of nothing
that we have done. And if we believe anything else,
if we believe that salvation is in any way down to anything
that we think, do or say, then we do not believe on the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe another name. Another
name. another savior and there is salvation
in no other name but in Christ. He came to save His people and
He saved them to the uttermost. He suffered upon the cross. He
was burnt under the fires of God's wrath in their place. He was burnt. The people here,
when they built their tower, they said, go to, let us make
brick. Let us get clay off the earth
and make brick. And let us burn those bricks
thoroughly. And let us then build those bricks
into a tower. Well the tower which goes to
heaven is Christ and Christ is God made man he came into this
world and he took flesh like our flesh like of the clay of
the earth he took upon himself human flesh that he might suffer
the death that he must die in the place of other men. He suffered
at the cross under the wrath of God. His flesh was burnt. He was made sin and he bore our
sins in his own body upon the tree and he was burnt under the
wrath of God. Burnt thoroughly. Burnt entirely. Destroyed. And yet in the end,
rising again from the grave, victorious. But that sin was
destroyed in him, he was burnt thoroughly like the sacrifice,
was taken out of the camp and the carcass was burnt thoroughly. In the images of the Old Testament
sacrifices, which were a picture of Christ, he was burnt outside
the camp, he suffered without the gate. that he might save
his people and be their fortress, be their rock, be their mighty
tower under heaven. Is he yours? Did he suffer thoroughly
in your place? Is this your tower? Is this the
name you speak of or do you go about seeking to establish your
own name? To make a name for yourself or
do you speak of the name of Christ? Do you believe upon the one name
given to mankind by which you might be saved? Do you rejoice
in his name? Is the name that you have that
name that God has given you in Christ? That name that God chose
to name you, a new name? You are named in Christ, one
of his, saved by his grace. Or do you seek to make your own
name? We will have a name in the end if we're Christ, if we're
saved. But God gives it to us. And any
name that we make, any reputation we might make in this world is
of nothing worth. We don't build our own tower
to heaven. We preach and praise the tower
that God has sent, which is Christ. We don't seek to make a name
for ourselves in this world, but we preach and praise the
name which is above every name, that name of Jesus at which every
knee in the end shall bow, every knee, whether they believe on
him or not, every knee shall bow at his name, for his name
is greater than any other. greater greater for he is a great
and a mighty savior and in his gospel he comes into this world
of confusion this world which is scattered and he comes in
to gather from the four corners of the earth one people in christ
He comes to gather that people who are now scattered, yes they're
scattered, yes we're scattered. Peter speaks of the scattered
strangers throughout the world, the sheep, the ones and twos
here and there, scattered amongst the nations but chosen in Christ
and Christ came to gather those scattered strangers and to bring
them into that one church, one body and to make them one. to make them one in Him, and
to make them of one speech in Him. The earth was of one language
and of one speech, but in its rebellion against God, God scattered
it and divided it. But in the gospel, God comes
in Christ to unite His people again, and to make them of one
tongue, one language, one speech in Christ. And their speech is
Christ, and His gospel, and His grace. they love to speak and
to testify of him and they're of one mind in him because they're
in him Those who come to hear His gospel are born again by
the Spirit of God, they hear His voice and they're brought
to life and having life they have the life of God within and
that life speaks as one throughout all that people and their one
speech is to fall down at the foot of the cross, at the foot
of the Saviour and to say that His name is above every name. His name is above every name. O Lord, I am but a sinner who
went about in this world building my own city and my own tower
and seeking to make myself a name. But thou in grace came unto me
in power, and showed me that I am nothing but confusion, and
my end in this pathway is nothing but destruction. And rightly
so, for I am a sinner through and through. But O Lord, I thank
and I praise Thee, that in mercy and grace Thou turn'd me around,
and shone the light of Christ into my heart, and shone His
love into my heart, and despite my rebellion and the fact that
I am of nothing worth before Thee, Thou didst love me and
showed Thy love unto me and pointed me to my sins forgiven and washed
me in that blood and now I'm perfect in Him I'm righteous
in Him I'm saved in Him I'm one in Him O Lord the child of God
says I thank Thee for that name that wondrous name of Jesus Christ,
that wondrous tower under heaven, who has saved me, who loved me
and gave himself for me, who has brought me unto thee, unto
my heavenly Father, that I may cry out unto thee, as a child
cries out to its parent who loves him, Abba, Father. Is that the cry of your heart
as Christ brought you there? Do you love his name? Is he your
great tower? Amen.

Confusion - The Tower of Babel

What does the Bible say about the Tower of Babel?

How do we know God's judgment is just?

Why is relying on Christ important for salvation?

What does confusion at the Tower of Babel teach us today?

Why is grace essential in the Christian faith?

Sermon Transcript

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Confusion - The Tower of Babel

What does the Bible say about the Tower of Babel?

How do we know God's judgment is just?

Why is relying on Christ important for salvation?

What does confusion at the Tower of Babel teach us today?

Why is grace essential in the Christian faith?

Sermon Transcript

About Ian Potts

Comments

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