1. "God made people in his image to be relational, interpersonal beings that communicate with each other. We need to be understood and to understand."

2. "Sin is very inventive sometimes. I mean, the thing itself is old and repetitive—disobeying God. But the way it will insinuate itself and shape shift to fit the different circumstances of life is truly amazing."

3. "Sin always finds reasons for us to indulge our disobeying God. Have you noticed your temptation to disobedience presenting you with reasons?"

4. "The greatness of our humanity is in our likeness to God. It's our being made in his image, not in our independence from Him."

5. "Friends, the reigning demon of this district is named Ambition. And he sits atop the Capitol building, inviting people to come, engorging himself on Democrats and Republicans, on the eager young and the eager old, progressive or conservative, men or women, promising to each and all power and importance."

6. "Even people who are significant enough to have their likeness chiseled in stone or cast in bronze are all around us in this city. We walk by their likenesses all the time, and we don't know their names. And even if we read their names, we don't know who they are."

7. "Name making is God's business, not ours. The Lord Jesus himself suffered accusations, but God knows the truth."

8. "Progress that defies or denies God is no real progress at all. God himself made this call."

9. "Our sins do not stop God from sovereignly accomplishing his purposes. Our sins do not stop God from sovereignly accomplishing his purposes."

10. "As Christians, we have something more important than earthly languages. We have God's own spirit in us that we share. And in sharing that spirit, we are closer to each other than to other people who speak the same language we do, to other people, even who are of the same family as we are, because we literally have the same spirit within us."

Observation Questions

1. In Genesis 11:1-2, what specific details are given about humanity's condition and movement? What might these details suggest about their motivations?

2. Looking at Genesis 11:3-4, what were the two stated purposes for building the tower? How do these purposes relate to each other?

3. In Genesis 11:5, how does the text describe God's response to the tower? What does this description suggest about the relationship between human ambition and divine perspective?

4. Examining Genesis 11:6, what specific concerns does God express about humanity's united state? What potential consequences does He foresee?

5. From Genesis 11:7-8, what two actions did God take in response to the tower building? How did these actions relate to His original command in Genesis 9:1?

6. Looking at Genesis 11:10-26, what patterns do you notice in the genealogy? How does this section differ in tone and content from the tower narrative?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why do you think the builders specifically wanted their tower to reach "to the heavens"? What does this detail reveal about their spiritual condition?

2. How does the Tower of Babel story help us understand God's perspective on human unity? When is unity good, and when might it be problematic?

3. What's the significance of God "coming down" to see the tower? How does this detail contribute to the story's message about human pride?

4. How does the Babel story connect with the broader themes of Genesis, particularly the Fall and God's covenant with Noah?

5. Why does the text transition from the dramatic tower story to a seemingly mundane genealogy? What theological point might this juxtaposition make?

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you caught yourself trying to "make a name" for yourself? What specific situations tend to trigger this desire in your life?

2. How has technology or social media created "tower of Babel" moments in your life, where you've prioritized personal glory over God's purposes?

3. Think about your current career or life goals. Which aspects reflect a desire to build your own kingdom, and which align with building God's kingdom?

4. When have you experienced the Holy Spirit creating unity across language or cultural barriers? What did this teach you about God's power to overcome division?

5. In what specific way is God calling you to trust His quiet work of providence rather than rushing to build your own "tower" this week?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Philippians 2:5-11 - This passage shows how Christ exemplified the opposite of Babel's builders, choosing humility over self-exaltation and receiving true glory from God.

2. Acts 2:1-13 - The Pentecost narrative demonstrates God's redemptive reversal of Babel, using language diversity to unite rather than divide people through the gospel.

3. Psalm 127:1-2 - These verses provide wisdom about human building projects and ambitions, reminding us that true success comes only through the Lord's blessing.

4. James 4:13-17 - This passage addresses the human tendency to make grand plans without acknowledging God's sovereignty, offering a biblical perspective on ambition.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Significance of Shared Language and the Biblical Explanation of Linguistic Diversity

II. The Story of the Proud Building: Ambition, Disobedience, and Divine Intervention (Genesis 11:1-9)

III. The Quiet Progression of God’s Promise Through the Line of Shem (Genesis 11:10-26)

IV. Responding to God’s Sovereignty: Humility, Trust, and the Exaltation of His Name

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Detailed Sermon Outline

I. The Significance of Shared Language and the Biblical Explanation of Linguistic Diversity

• A. Language as a Unifying and Dividing Force

• Human relationality and communication reflect God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27).

• The relief of understanding one’s language highlights the natural role of linguistic unity.

• B. The Tower of Babel as Historical and Theological Foundation

• Genesis 11 explains the origin of diverse languages as a divine response to human pride.
• The story contrasts human ambition with God’s sovereign purposes.

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II. The Story of the Proud Building: Ambition, Disobedience, and Divine Intervention (Genesis 11:1-9)

• A. The Context of Post-Flood Humanity

• 1. Unified Language and Settlement in Shinar
  • Humanity’s refusal to disperse contravened God’s command to “fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1).

• 2. The Role of Nimrod and His Empire

  • Nimrod’s kingdom began in Babel (Genesis 10:8-12), embodying centralized human power.

• B. The Builders’ Materials and Motives

• 1. Advanced Construction Techniques
  • Bricks and bitumen symbolized human ingenuity (Genesis 11:3).

• 2. Prideful Rebellion Against God

  • Motive: “Let us make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4).
  • Disobedience: Avoiding dispersion to maintain autonomy.

• C. God’s Response to Human Arrogance

• 1. Divine Assessment and Judgment
  • God "came down" to confront their futile ambition (Genesis 11:5-7).
  • Confusion of languages halted their project (Genesis 11:7-8).

• 2. Four Aspects of God’s Judgment

  • Certainty, alignment with His character, public rebuke, and redirection of human plans.

• D. Modern Implications of the Tower of Babel

• 1. The Danger of Pride in Personal and Cultural Ambitions
  • Examples: Careerism, social status, and vanity in accomplishments.
• 2. God’s Restraining Grace in Human Innovation
  • Technologies like AI require humility and moral stewardship.

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III. The Quiet Progression of God’s Promise Through the Line of Shem (Genesis 11:10-26)

• A. The Genealogy of Shem: A Line of Promise

• 1. Structural Parallels to Genesis 5
  • Ten generations from Shem to Abram mirror the lineage from Adam to Noah.

• 2. Emphasis on God’s Faithfulness

  • Despite human failure, God’s covenant with Shem (Genesis 9:26) advances.

• B. Theological Significance of the Genealogy

• 1. Peleg and the Division of the Earth
  • Peleg’s name marks the dispersal at Babel (Genesis 10:25).

• 2. Terah and the Birth of Abram

  • Abram’s call (Genesis 12:1-3) fulfills the promise to make his name great through divine initiative.

• C. Connection to the Gospel and Redemptive History

• 1. Christ as the Ultimate Fulfillment
  • Jesus, the descendant of Shem, unites all nations (Revelation 5:9-10).
• 2. Pentecost as a Reversal of Babel
  • The Holy Spirit bridges linguistic divides (Acts 2:1-11).

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IV. Responding to God’s Sovereignty: Humility, Trust, and the Exaltation of His Name

• A. Combatting Pride in Daily Life

• 1. Recognizing Pride’s Subtlety
  • Examples: Delayed obedience, prioritizing reputation over integrity.

• 2. Embracing Christlike Humility

  • Entrusting our reputation to God (1 Peter 2:23; 4:19).

• B. Trusting God’s Sovereign Plan

• 1. God’s Purposes Over Human Ambition
  • Babel’s failure contrasts with the unstoppable advance of Shem’s line.

• 2. The Futility of Earthly Fame

  • Billy Graham’s example: Eternal significance lies in glorifying God.

• C. Living for God’s Name in a Divided World

• 1. The Church as a Foretaste of New Creation
  • Unity in diversity through the Spirit (Ephesians 3:10).

• 2. Missionary Zeal for Translating the Gospel

  • Honoring those who translate Scripture, like Adoniram Judson.

• D. Closing Prayer and Reflection

• A call to repentance for unbelievers and renewed humility for believers.
• Final emphasis on exalting Christ’s name above all.

along with shared space, it is shared language that makes a nation.

I know that many nations like India have many languages and some languages like English or Spanish are spoken by many nations, but on the whole it is languages that have helped bind people into one nation, and languages that have separated them from one another. For natural reasons enough. I mean, have you ever spent time in a land where you don't speak the language? You can't understand the signs. And then you get back home to where you do understand the language, you can speak with people, and you feel relief.

That's completely normal. That's completely natural. None of that is by accident. God made people in His image to be relational, interpersonal beings that communicate with each other. We need to be understood.

And to understand. But did you know that the very existence of different languages is explained in the Bible? It's all tied up in the last part of the account that we've been studying this spring in Genesis of the ancient world from Adam to Abraham. And it's the story of titanic human ambition and God's life-changing, world-altering answer to it. Were it not history itself what really happened, we might even call our passage the parable of the proud building and the promised birth.

The parable of the proud building and the promised birth. We'll spend most of our time in the dramatic story of the proud building that a united human empire under Emperor Nimrod the mighty built.

And then at the end, with the great building empty and the city unfinished, we'll notice the genealogy that takes us from Noah's son Shem down to Abram. You'll find our passage on page 8 in the Bibles provided. Let me encourage you to open there now. Take your Bible, open up to page 8. If you're not used to following along in a Bible, the chapter numbers are the large numbers.

The verse numbers are the small numbers after that. We are in Genesis, chapter 11. Genesis, chapter 11. Listen now as I read this account.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.' and they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.' and the Lord came down to see the city. And the tower which the children of man had built.

And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth. And they left off building the city.

Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. Friends, that account of confusion of the languages is already embedded in the accounts we were looking at last week in chapter 10. If you look just back at chapter 10, let me just remind you of that genealogy that we so appreciated last Sunday.

That genealogy of the three sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, we went through in the order that we have there of Japheth, Ham, and Shem. And in each one of them, we're being taken all the way from the time of Noah down to the time almost of Abram. It's a long time, and it covers the time that this account in chapter 11 happens. So as you look at these three parallel accounts of the same amount of time, each being If you look at the account of the Tower of Babel historically would have happened. If you look there in chapter 10, the sons of Japheth, that's going to be somewhere in there because we know that from verse 5 that each has his own language by the time we get to verse 5.

If you look at the second set, chapter verses 6 to 20 in chapter 10, the sons of Ham, well we know particularly it looks like it's going to be right there in verse 9 when we come to Nimrod, because he says the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. And from that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh. So he kept on on his building campaign. And then if we look down to the time of Shem, we're even told specifically in verse 25, the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. That's in reference to what's happening here.

In chapter 11. So if you're confused about where this fits into the account, it's fitting in in each of those three family trees, as it were, there in chapter 10. Well, first, the story of the proud building. The stage is set with the bold statement there in verse 1, Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. Had one language, and the same words.

That's really just repeating the same idea, a kind of poetic fullness of description, adding attention and luster to the detail, causing us to look at it and take it in. And it's a statement as striking as it is simple. I mean, could you imagine if all the people on the planet spoke the same language, if we could all talk to and understand each other, any place in the world? That was the reality of the case with Noah and his own family, with his sons, with his descendants for some time after that in the first few generations that followed the flood. But we can't stay here in verse 1.

We just have to notice that it's a case and it's what comes next that epitomizes and kicks off the rest of human history. Verse 2.

And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. That's Sumeria. It's the fertile valley in between the Tigris and Euphrates River where Babylon was later built. It's choice land, clearly. So they don't really want to disperse.

They want to just go right there. So we read, and verse 2, and settled there. And they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.

So much compacted in these two verses. Let me bring out two interesting details. Number one, first, the materials, number two, their motive. First their materials. It says here they used bitumen.

That was a kind of pitch. You find Noah sealing up the ark with it to make sure no water gets in. It sets as a kind of concrete. The bricks were more advanced than mere stones that they could find in quarry. They were the result of human planning and human action, and they could be created and shaped to purpose.

Here we see that they were even extra hardened, probably, because they would be bearing the extra weight of a large tower on top of them. It would be so tall that it would, we read up in verse 4, its top would be in the heavens. If you look at the findings of archeology, you see the ancient Babylonian ziggurats that remain are staged pyramid towers with temples of worship on the top of them. Well we have no idea how tall this particular tower was, it was almost certainly intended to be a reflection of the ruler's power. Remember Nimrod from last week?

Look back in chapter 10, verse 8.

Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, 'Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.' the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah.

Anyway, Nimrod is the person who seems to have been the leader in all this. This idea of its top being in the heavens was a common enough expression in the ancient world simply to express something very tall. When the Israelite spies had gone into Canaan to look at the land, they described the land as having great cities which were fortified up to heaven. Now you see that in Deuteronomy 1 and Deuteronomy 9. We call some great buildings today skyscrapers.

I think the idea is similar. But the other detail and even more significant than the materials was the motive. And that's what we need to give attention to here today. It was a motive of human pride. You see it in the second half of verse 4.

And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. That verse 4, those last two phrases are like almost two sides of a coin of the same thing. You see there exalting ourselves by disobeying God, exalting ourselves by disobeying God.

Back in chapter 9, verse 1, God had commanded Noah and his sons to fill the earth. It seems like his descendants had this command in mind and avoiding it when they specifically go and settle all together in the same place, working together in the same place, presumably under the same ruler, building a great central monument of their lives together, that tower that will help them make sure that they are not dispersing. Over the face of the whole earth. So what God in chapter 9, verse 1 had commanded them to do is what they are working to make sure they do not do. You've got to get that very clearly in mind here.

They do not want to be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.

Sin is very inventive sometimes, isn't it? I mean the thing itself is old and repetitive. Disobeying God. But the way it will insinuate itself and shape shift to fit the different circumstances of life is truly amazing. So here these builders are using the image of God in themselves, their ingenuity, their creativity, but they're using it for bad purposes to not do.

What God said, even to make sure they don't have to do the thing that God told them to do that they don't want to do. Sin always finds reasons for us to indulge our disobeying God.

Have you noticed your temptation to disobedience presenting you with reasons?

Just reflect on some recent temptations. Maybe share some of those proposals. Over lunch, talk to friends about them, see what it is that you've been argued to by sin's language in your own mind. I'm thinking of going to work early just one more week and skipping my time in the Word.

Oh, I'm going to reconcile with her after I get back from this trip, because I've got a lot to do and I don't think she's that interested. Just again and again, sin knows how to approach each one of us. Would not so bold a claim that they know we'll just directly reject him, but with just half a claim, asking us for just enough to delay obedience. Oh, I'll start building that relationship next month when my project is done. Friends, don't misunderstand this story of this proud building.

It's not that cities are by nature bad. Although Babel here does prefigure Babylon, which is the great consistent enemy of God's people throughout the Old Testament, and for that matter Babylon the Great that we heard about earlier when Lauren read to us from Revelation 18. So this city of organized rebellion is standing for, it's representing all of that organized rebellion. That's true. But cities are magnifiers of bad here, but other times cities are magnifiers of good because that's what cities do.

They're not bad themselves, they tend to magnify. So they can also magnify the good as humans cooperate together. You think, where do we end up as God's people in history? In the book of Revelation, in the New Jerusalem, in a city forever. It's not finally a rural agricultural idol.

That Christianity presents as the great hope, it's an urban future eternally, but one that magnifies all that is good in people in the way we've been made in God's image. This great city of man with its structure towering over all in the midst of it wouldn't be a fitting tribute to King Nimrod and in him really to all of us. The building, the great ever-expanding city around it, would give a focus to human energies rather than being spread all over the place, dispersed and separated from each other. Some sins come directly from our desire to avoid unpleasant obediences. We hear what obedience is, the thought doesn't please us, and so our ears are subtly open for other ideas.

We're not going to disobey God directly, we're just going to delay for a moment. That would be very difficult. Let me just see what other bidders are out there. You know, what else could be suggested?

And then there is the motive behind the disobedience. Let us make a name for ourselves. Friends, in this sense, Name making is God's business, not ours. Name making is God's business, not ours. The Lord Jesus Himself suffered accusations, but God knows the truth.

We can't finally build our reputations ourselves. I love what Peter tells us about the Lord Jesus, Peter who was such a close observer of His ministry. Back in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 23, referring to about Jesus, he says, When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. To the one who knows the truth.

Fear not about your reputation. Or then over in chapter 4, Verse 19, Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. That's what Jesus did. Jesus was an example of that for us. Now it's fine to have a good name in business or a good reputation among outsiders, which Paul says, those of us who serve as elders, a must have.

But the kind of making a name that we read of here in Genesis 11, this kind of making a name clearly exceeds such modest bounds. This is nothing but a lifting up of ourselves to all others so that others would admire us. And yet especially when combined with using influence to encourage others to directly disobey God's command to fill the earth, to directly disobey that command, when you combine it with that, then you see this is a direct disobedience, and this is the last way that human greatness should be expressed or understood. Friends, the greatness of our humanity is in our likeness to God. It's our being made in His image, not in our independence from Him.

Our doing what we want to do as opposed to what he wants us to do.

I wonder how you're feeling about yourself these days. Are you feeling pressed to make a name for yourself among the new interns, the new students, the freshmen, among the other mothers, among the lawyers in your new office, or the people in your neighborhood? Maybe in your new company?

Friends, God is about exalting a name. Yes, but it's not your name or mine. In this gathering here, He's about exalting a name. But it's not the name of the preacher. It's not the name of you as a faithful member.

God is about exalting His own name. As He displays His manifold wisdom through the church to the heavenly rulers and authorities. Pray God make you aware of ways that you are tempted to try to exalt your own name, or even to let other people exalt it. Be very careful. It's very deceptive, and this kind of pride has a long and storied history among humans like you and me.

We see some of its early stages even here in Genesis chapter 11. Maybe you're here seeking the meaning of life today. You've come with a friend, you know they seem to have that. Or maybe you've moved to Washington in order to be significant. How many like that come to Washington every year?

Friends, the reigning demon of this district is named ambition. And he sits atop the Capitol building, inviting people to come, engorging himself on Democrats and Republicans, on the eager young and the eager old, progressive or conservative, men or women, promising to each and all power and importance, whispering in their ears of what powerful friends they what significant meetings you've just had, how interesting that text He just sent you. Friends, beware, beware. This vain tower in Genesis 11 in Babel was real and tangible, but it also stands for the towers in our own lives that call us to invest our whole selves in them, as they lyingly promise that they will make our name great. How great was Nimrod's name made through this tower?

We're not even sure he was the one who built it. We have to put together chapter 10 and 11 even to figure that out.

The project failed as it always will.

Many of you learned in school Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem in 1818, I met a traveler from an antique land, who said, Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert. Near them on the sand half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command tell that its sculptor well those passions read which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things. The hand that mocked Him and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal, these words appear, My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.

This last Thursday some of you were present when a new statue from North Carolina was unveiled in the Capitol Building. It was of Billy Graham. Almost 30 years ago when Billy Graham was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, I sat in the rotunda in that meeting watching Graham get that medal. And I remember his remarks clearly. He began looking at the statues that he had just been walking around in Statuary Hall, and he asked a simple question, Do you know what all these people have in common?

And then he let the question just sort of hang in the air for a moment. He said, They're all dead.

It's the truth. Then Graham began to press people on what they were placing their hopes in and to urge them to trust in Christ for their salvation before it was too late. Graham was right. The world's greatness would cheat us all. Even when the reporters used verbs like immortalized, about someone who has a statue.

They're immortalized in this statue. You know how immortal they are? Billy Graham's statue from North Carolina replaced somebody else's statue.

And soon enough, if the Lord tarries, people will walk by that statue of Billy Graham and go, who's that? I don't know. He's got a book in his hand.

Teacher, maybe? Friends, human greatness is passing.

Even people who are significant enough to have their likeness chiseled in stone or cast in bronze are all around us in this city. We walk by their likenesses all the time, and we don't know their names. And even if we read their names, We don't know who they are. We don't know what they did. We don't know when they lived or why they're here.

Almost always. The Tower of Babel is a true account of human pride and of its reflections in each of our lives. Oh friend, don't be motivated by such vain and misleading hopes in your family or in your work.

Act as God calls us to, and in a way which draws our attention to him. Whose name does your life show you're trying to make great?

Is it a family name? Is it your dad's name? Is it the memory of a loved one? Is it your child that you're living for? Is it some way your own name?

Perhaps over lunch. You want to discuss with your family or friends, how you can be ambitious in a godly way. Is there a right way to be ambitious? What is that?

Young people, if you've heard a commencement address, either in your high school or your college, did you pay attention to what they said? Was it consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Maybe you have a conversation about that over lunch. You see how your life is significant and all your choices flow out of whose allegiance you've given yourself to. The people here were surely not giving themselves an allegiance to God.

This was proud man's plan to build himself up. But that's only half the story of this proud building. We should notice the other half of the story. Look at verse 5. That's where we see God's verdict on human pride.

This story is really an illustration of what we read in Psalm 2, He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in derision. Friends, you know when people act to make a name for themselves like this, that God is not just going to sit by. He hates pride. We know Proverbs 8:13 tells us that. So God is sovereign still, and no urban plan or construction project will limit His sovereignty.

Look again there in Genesis chapter 11 verse 5, and the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, 'Behold, they are one people and they have all one language and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth.

And they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. These people weren't servants that would spread out and subdue the earth as they had been commanded to. No, they were those who wanted to be served. They wanted to be like God again.

But so far were they from achieving that goal that Moses writes here anthropomorphically as if God were a man, there in verse 5, the Lord had to even come down to see their tower that reached up to the heavens. You see the way Moses is writing that deliberately. And I love the way he says, you know, the Lord says there, he's coming down to see what had been built, not by the united builders of the world, not King Nimrod the mighty. No, you look see what he said, built by the children of man. What have Adam's kids been getting up to?

Not even that men had built it, but creatures who had been begotten by still more creatures. Derivative beings of derivative beings. What have they been doing, by the way? Like a footnote to today's news. But God said here that in verse 6, so reflective are they of God Himself and His own creativity that nothing they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

I don't think we should read this to mean that humans had just about cracked the code of omnipotence. I don't think that's what this is saying at all. In fact, if you go back and you look at Genesis chapter 6, just look back at chapter 6, the world just before the flood.

Look at chapter 5, chapter 6 rather, verse 5. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually. And then down in verse 11, Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight. The earth was filled with violence.

And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Friends, I don't think in our passage God is being defensive here for Himself, that His heavenly fortress of solitude was about to be breached, you know, by these inventive humans. No, He's thinking about what people have put their inventiveness to before.

It's been violence. It's been corruption. It's been abusing those made in His image. It's evil and violence and corruption that will hurt each other, especially that always means the weak and the widow and the orphan. Friends, God is here acting to restrain human sin.

Now again, in our own lives, we're familiar with this divine activity. Can you think of ways, examples, times in your own life that God has in his mercy acted to restrain you in your own sin or tendency to sin? Look back on your last week or month.

This is typical of the God of the Bible, the God who makes us to be like himself and calls us to be holy.

Engineers and researchers, you realize that just because something is technologically impossible, it is not therefore wise for us to do. Everything from splitting the atom to cloning DNA to ChatGPT-4O's artificial intelligence can be both a reflection of God's own power and yet can sometimes be inappropriate for us to be confident that we sufficiently reflect His image morally or in wisdom for us to be able to steward our inventions or discoveries well. Just because it's sweet doesn't mean it should be done. Sometimes we should not do something. Progress that defies or denies God is no real progress at all.

God Himself made this call. We see there, look in verse 7, chapter 11, verse 7, God made a decision to confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. Friends, according to the Bible, the origin of the diversity of language that we have was brought about not by a slow evolution of similar capabilities in thousands of places, but by a specific act of the God who made us in His image. And in response to sins of pride and disobedience. Great power is best left not with the proud, but with the profoundly humble and the humbly obedient.

And so we read in verse 8, the Lord dispersed them and they left off building the city. God judged them by taking things beyond their maturity out of their hands. It was called Babel because, as Moses says here, Babel, the word is like the Hebrew word for confusion or folly. It sounds like that. Verse 9, From there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

So He actually pushed them forward in the great mission that He had given them, to be fruitful, to multiply and fill the earth. Notice four aspects of God's judgment here. Number one, It is certain. It is not in doubt. It is not faltering or merely possible.

When you understand the God of the Bible, you realize that God's judgment is sure.

Number two, God's judgments demonstrate His character and will.

God's judgments demonstrate His character and will. There's nothing inconsistent between God's person and His action, between His love and His justice. God's judgments will finally be as public and visible as an empty skyscraper or an unfinished city, because God has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. Instead, all of His works praise His name. And induces people to do the same.

Number three, God's judgments publicly chastise, publicly chastise, publicly correct and rebuke sinners. No one escapes God's verdict, His true word, His true statement. No one. God's gaze misses no one. No action, no thought, no intention is hidden from His sight.

Our hearts are open to Him as open as our faces. There's no guesswork with God. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And He will bring into public the evaluation of all the deeds of all those made in His image made to represent Him.

Number four, God is so sovereign that He can bend sinners cuts to perform his surgery. He can bend sinner's cuts to perform his surgery. Our wrongs can be turned to serve his purposes. They don't thereby become right, but he is so sovereign, he can use them as surely as the scalpel is used in the hands of the surgeon. So here they went to settle in this place and to build this city and tower in order to avoid filling the earth.

And yet God here acted in judgment so that it was their their plans and not his that were frustrated. They built to avoid being dispersed, but here we find that instead they were immediately dispersed because they so built. So a summary of all this is that our sins do not stop God from sovereignly accomplishing his purposes. Our sins do not stop God from sovereignly accomplishing his purposes. Now friend, if you're here today and you're not a Christian, Consider this very, very carefully.

The God of the Bible exists and He is not a lenient landlord who will wink and shrug and turn a blind eye to our sins. Maybe you think He is because today you haven't experienced His judgment yet. And your reasoning, because I have not yet experienced His judgment, I never will.

That's a really good way to reason if there's no such thing as history and if nothing ever changes. But let's say things do change, let's say new things do happen, then it is not a good way for you to reason that because God has not already judged you, he will never judge you. It's a very, very elementary logical error. Don't make that mistake.

Peter actually in the New Testament talks to us about God not having judged sinners yet, and he calls it God's patience, that He is deliberately showing patience so that you will realize that God is not indifferent and you will come to turn from your sins and to take God as your friend? What practices would you need to forsake to do that? How would you pay for the sins you've already committed? You have any way you could pay God back for those? Oh, friends, if you don't know the answer to that, I've got really good news for you.

God sent His only Son to live a perfect life owing nothing because of sin. He lived a life of perfect trust in his heavenly father, Jesus. And Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for everyone who would ever turn and trust in him. He took God's punishment entirely for all of us who would turn from our sins and trust in him, so that you don't have to figure out a way to pay for your sins. Christ has paid for them if you will turn from them.

He is your hope. Put your trust in Christ. If you want to know more about what that means, talk to people around you, talk to me or other pastors who will be at the door on the way out in just a few minutes. Try to understand what it means for you to believe in this sense, to believe in Jesus Christ.

Christians who are here, you see something of how the unity we have in Christ reaches all the way back to this time, how it reclaims an earlier unity that our humanity has known and lost. We heard it in Prieur's prayer earlier today. Prieur was going right to Acts 2 and to the book of Revelation. We Christians don't all have the same language. Some of us here today speak other languages and they've come together to have some meetings in those other languages and then talk to us in their second language or even through a but as Christians we have something more important than earthly languages.

We have God's own Spirit in us that we share. And in sharing that Spirit, we are closer to each other than to other people who speak the same language we do, to other people even who are the same family as we are, because we literally have the same Spirit within us. You see how God in the new humanity is going to refashion and build again.

What he's looking for in the human race. Our unity is God's design and it's a sign that God is making a new creation and that we in the church are the first fruits of that new creation. I don't think this story is meant to discourage us from using architectural and engineering skills to build very tall buildings. Don't misunderstand this. I don't even think this means that the Samson Galaxy S24, which will translate language for some of you, you can speak in Spanish and they can hear it in English.

English on the other end if you want. I don't even think it means that's wrong. You know, our ability to have technologies that translate are fine, they're all partial. We as Christians want to use them for good, as we share not just knowledge, but knowledge especially that will help others, and especially knowledge of the gospel. Now our technologies to translate are not wrong, this story is not telling us that.

No, this is a warning to us that even though this world is in the disarray of rebellion against God, God is still sovereign, and that He can and will still intervene in human history, and perhaps that the most provoking sin to God is the sin of pride, where we try to make ourselves wrongly like God, put ourselves in God's place. Do you think you're guilty of that kind of sin? Do you think the pride in your life is really that serious? You understand how small examples of pride can actually indicate a large heart problem? I love how Jonathan Edwards illustrated this once in his sermon, Men Naturally God's Enemies.

He meditated on our grasping nature. Some natural men are such dogs as to do things if they had opportunity, which they do not imagine it is in their hearts to do.

You object against your having a moral hatred against God that you never felt any desire to dethrone Him. But one reason has been that it has always been conceived so impossible by you. But if the throne of God were within your reach and If you knew it, it would not be safe one hour.

Brothers and sisters, fight pride. Pray God help you to see it and acknowledge it and fight it. I understand pride to be your most socially acceptable and spiritually dangerous enemy. Realize that God opposes pride and that you must either turn loose of your pride, your desire to make a name for yourself, your consideration of what others think of you more than what God thinks of you. You must either turn loose of your pride or face the opposition of God Himself.

Pray for us as a congregation.

Pray that we will be marked by holiness and humility before this good God. And this is God's verdict on human pride. That's the story of the proud building.

But don't miss the story of the promised birth.

This flowering of human pride should not cause us to miss the quiet advance of God's promise. Man's proposals have not slowed God's purposes. And this is what we see in the generations of Shem. You know, I pointed out in Genesis you have these sections called in the ESV the Generations of. And this is the fifth section like that in Genesis.

Follow along as I read it now. Maybe remember some of the questions I shared with you last week about how to understand a genealogy in the Bible. What's emphasized by the structure or by repetition? What's unique, where does it begin, where does it end, what's it pointing to or explaining, how does it function in the overall book? Genesis chapter 11 beginning at verse 10.

These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. And Shem lived after he had fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters. When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters. When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu.

And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters. When Rue had lived 32 years, he fathered Sereg, and when Rue had lived after he fathered Sereg 207 years, and had other sons and daughters. When Sereg had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor, and Sereg lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years, and had other sons and daughters. When Nahor lived 29 years, he fathered Terah, and Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years, and had other sons and daughters. When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

And Haran. So here we see ten generations, like the one from Adam to Noah back in Genesis 5. So remembering the questions from last week about where the genealogy begins and ends help us to see how this genealogy is functioning. The genealogy back in chapter 5 began with Adam and ended with Noah. So you could say it was pointing to Noah as the new Adam.

In Genesis 10 that we looked at last week it started with the sons of Noah staring at them, showing that they were to fill the whole earth and the people spreading out from them. And then we come to our genealogy, which begins with Noah's son Shem and ends with Terah and his sons. Remember that God promised that one would come who would crush Satan's head and so deliver us from the curse of the fall and we should believe it. Friends, we should always Trust God. That's what this contrast of the big brash building program with the quiet progression of this line of births that we're seeing in this genealogy.

This is what this should teach us, to trust God. This whole passage is reassuring us that despite all the noise going on over here that we spend our time on, Don't miss the unstopping advance of the line of fulfillment of God's promise through all these sons and daughters, one's being born, and then one's being born, and then one's being born. So friends, let God's Word train your eye on what to watch. Don't be taken in by the flash of this world's hype. It was through this blessed line of Shem that ultimately King David came.

To whom God said, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. As Scripture trains us to say, we use these distinct languages God has given us to share the gospel.

So we work to translate God's Word and to take God's Word to those who've never heard. Friends, do not forget the Bibles you're holding in your hand, they're not written in Hebrew and Greek like the original. Someone had to do the work to translate the Bible that you're reading and taking for granted today. Do you know there were people who were literally burned alive because they were part of translating the Bible into English? Do you realize how much effort today is going on by Christians around the world to translate the Bible into languages that people can read and understand?

In fact, this weekend is the anniversary of in 1817 on this weekend when Adoniram Judson first completed the translation of Matthew, the first gospel into Burmese. He'd worked on it for years because God's Word is that valuable. Friends, the Bible you're holding in your hand is the record that lets you see this quiet, slow progression of promise and helps you not be distracted by the flash of the great tower of Babel. We're experiencing this goodness even now. Back in Genesis chapter 5 where we began the series, we saw a return to the saving line from Adam after the tragic detour in chapter 4 into Cain and his murderous line.

In 5:3 Seth is born. He's described as Adam's own image, and this is the line that the account has followed. Now throughout our chapter, chapter 11 today, a son is named and then other sons and daughters are mentioned. But we follow a particular line each time. From all the sons and daughters, pick one and we keep following that.

There's a place we're going. If you look back in chapter 10 from last week, verses 21 to 31, we found the line of Shem, the Semitic line, the line that the rest of the Bible will trace. Until finally the New Testament widens out again. Japheth was the middle son, Ham the youngest, Shem the eldest. And yet what mattered was---what mattered was Shem.

He was chosen. And we follow no more the line of Japheth or Ham. Those genealogies don't occur anymore in the Bible. We're now interested in Shem. Why?

Because this is the line where this promised one is going to come. This is the line we keep our eye on. So here in our passage in verse 10, you see this fifth section of Genesis. These are the generations of Shem, the account of Shem and his descendants. And we take Shem's line down to Terah and his children.

God's grace to Noah and through this line of Shem points forward to and culminates in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the line of promise that's being pushed forward here in chapter 11. Remember Shem was the one who in chapter 9 was so blessed in 926. Even his name is a hint. You know what Shem means in Hebrew?

It means name. It's the name. It's the kid named name who's gonna be the one that the name will come through. This is the one whose name will be made. Noah and his three sons Back in chapter 10, verse 1, point us to Terah and his three sons here in chapter 11, verse 26.

And just think of what we've seen in these genealogies in Genesis. Back in chapter 5, remember we saw, and he died, and he died, and he died. We saw the death that came because of the curse. And then in chapter 10, it explained the way God was filling the whole earth with people made in His image. Now here in chapter 11, we see this quiet progression.

He fathered, lived after he had fathered, had other sons and daughters. But one is picked and the line continues on. The line of promise pressed on. The one was coming to whom God could promise a great name. Do you remember that?

Look back in chapter 11, what I read earlier, chapter 11, verse 4. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves. This is what almost all of your schools have taught you to do. This is what almost all of your schools teach you is the basis of your psychological health. They are desperately wrong.

Look in chapter 12, verse 4, just a few verses down. Verse 2, verse 2. This is the Lord speaking. To Abram, Terah's son, I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. Friends, this is the fruition of the promised blessing made to Shem, even embodied in Shem's own name.

It wouldn't be that Abram would strive like Nimrod to make his own name great, But God would make Abram's name great, and so through him, ultimately through his offspring, Jesus. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, God's Spirit would be poured out at Pentecost, and the dispersal of the nations begun here in Genesis 11 would begin to be reversed by the gospel of Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 2, and throughout the history of the church, as we're seeing even here, as nationalities come together in the church of Jesus Christ. And as this happens on every continent in the globe on this Lord's Day morning, as God calls us all together to make His name great, as we sing a new song to the Lamb all together in a united voice, we read in Revelation 5:9, Worthy are youe to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by youy blood you ransomed a people for God from every Tribe and language and people and nation, until He finally gathers us all into His presence in the New Jerusalem, and we see His face, and His name will be put on our foreheads. His is the name that we want, if we are His, and we will forever have. Let's pray together.

Lord God, we pray that yout would do business with each one of us here today.

We pray that yout would help us to see what it means for each one of us to value youe name more than our own.

By youy Holy Spirit, cause us to do that, we pray, even now, in Jesus' name. Amen.