WEBVTT

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 Good morning, everybody. As Treg said, I'm Leland. I'm one of the pastors at East

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! Cooper Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant. Really a joy to share the word with you this morning.

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! A little bit about me. As Treg said, my wife and most of my kids are here. You will probably

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! hear the littlest one at some point during the service, and that's okay. And I got to

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 know your pastor, Jonathan, through our shared involvement in the Charles Simeon Trust, which

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 is a workshop focused on biblical exposition. So I love Jonathan's commitment to biblical

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 preaching. And I'm really glad this morning to continue the sermon series in Genesis.

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 If you'd open your Bibles to Genesis 10, I'll have you stand in just a moment to read the

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 word. As we get there, I want to notice that sometimes in the Old Testament, we encounter

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 passages, if we're going to read them out loud, where we just have to choose to pronounce the

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 names boldly. You know? No one knows better, so we're just going to pronounce boldly. Our

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 passage this morning is about three-quarters names, and so I'm going to pronounce these

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 boldly, and we're going to be here together. Second, it's a fairly long passage, so Genesis

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 10 all the way to Genesis 11, 26. And so I want to give you just a bit of context for this

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 passage. So if you were here at a previous sermon on Genesis 9, Noah prophesied what was going to

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 happen to his sons. I'll read that text at some point this morning. And Genesis 10 is really fleshing

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 out Noah's prophecy about what was going to happen to his sons. So Shem, Japheth, and Ham, their children

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 end up becoming different kinds of people spread throughout the earth.

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 And then at the end of our passage, we have a genealogy of Shem's descendants ending in Abraham.

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 And as you'll see, you know, Abraham's the father of many nations. He's the person who gets God's

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 promises. And right in the middle of these two passages, and all these names, is the Tower of Babel's

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 story. And the main thing going on in this passage is the author is describing humanity's roots,

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 the origins. Every person on the planet today finds their roots in Genesis 10 to 11. And so let's stand

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 for the reading of God's word. And I will read this passage, and we will hear the Lord's voice in it.

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 Genesis 10, again, all the way to 11, 26. These are the generations of the sons of Noah,

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 Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth, Gomer, Magog,

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 Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. Sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz, Riphoth, and Torgamah.

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 The sons of Javan, Elisha, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these, the coastland people spread in

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 their lands, each with his own language by their clans in their nations. The sons of Ham, Cush,

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 Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush, Seba, Havalia, Sabta, Rama, and Sabtica. The sons of Rama,

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 Sheba, and Dedan. Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty

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 hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. The

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 beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Kalna, and the land of Shinar. From that land,

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 he went into Assyria and built Nineveh. Rehoboth, Eir, Kalah, and Rezin between Nineveh and Kalah.

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 That is the great city. Egypt fathered Ludim, Anaman, Lehabim, Naflutim, Pathrushim,

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 Kaluhim, from whom the Philistines came, and Kaphtorim. Canaan fathered Sidon, his firstborn,

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 Heth, and the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Ardivites,

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 the Zemurites, and the Hamathites. Afterward, the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. And the

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 territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the

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 direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma, and Zeboim as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham by their

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 clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. To Shem also, the father of all the children

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 of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. The sons of Shem, Alam, Ashur, Arpachad,

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 Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram, Uz, Hol, Gether, and Mosh. Apartshad fathered Shela, and Shela fathered

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 Eber. To Eber were born two sons. The name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided,

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 and his brother's name was Joktan. Joktan fathered Almadad, Shelaf, Harzametheth, Zerah,

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 Hadorim, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abamael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

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 The territory in which they lived extended from Meshah in the direction of Sephar to the hill country

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 of the east. These are the sons of Shem by their clans, their nations, their languages, and their

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 lands. These are the clans of the son of Noah according to their genealogies and their nations,

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 and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood. Now the whole earth had one

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 language and the same words, and as people migrated from the east they found a plain in the land of

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 Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, come let us make bricks and burn them

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 thoroughly, and they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar, and they said, come let us build

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 ourselves a city and tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves lest

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 we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower

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 which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, behold they are one people and they have all

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 one language, and this is only the beginning of what they'll do. And nothing that they propose to do

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 will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down there and confuse their language so they cannot

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 understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over all the face of the earth,

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 and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord

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 confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of the earth.

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 These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was a hundred years old, he fathered a parkshad two

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 years after the flood, and Shem lived after he fathered a parkshad 500 years and had other sons

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 and daughters. When a parkshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shela, and a parkshad lived after he

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 fathered Shela 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Shela had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber,

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 and Shela lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Eber had lived

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 34 years, he fathered Peleg, and Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and

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 daughters. When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu, and Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years

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 and had other sons and daughters. When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Sareg, and Reu lived after he

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 fathered Sareg 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

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 When Sareg had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor.

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 And Sareg lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and

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 daughters.

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 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah.

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 And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and

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 daughters.

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 When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

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 You guys can be seated.

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 I'll pray real quick. Father, we just ask that you would open our eyes to see wonderful things

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 in your word this morning. It's that in Christ's name. Amen. I've come to the conclusion that

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 nearly every family has someone a bit obsessed with ancestry or genealogy.

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 On my side of the family, it's my aunt. She's the Ancestry.com guru. On my wife's side of the

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 family, it's her sister-in-law. She has her ancestry traced all the way back to 1500s England.

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 We even have a relatively famous ancestor, Sir Thomas More, who was actually martyred during

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 the English Reformation. I've never been one of those people super interested in genealogy or

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 ancestry. My grandmother, who is now 99, has been telling me all sorts of really interesting things

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 about our family. In fact, I learned from her recently that she's a part of the daughter to

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 the American Revolution. That means that she and therefore I are direct descendants of someone who

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 fought in the American Revolution. More than that, I learned from her recently that the whole reason

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 her kin came to America was because they were French Huguenots, Protestants in France during the

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 Reformation who were persecuted. And so all of a sudden, even though I'm not the genealogy guy,

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 these roots, the roots of my family start to fascinate me. I have relatives involved in these big

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 moments in history. It's encouraging. There's been sacrifice and perseverance and all sorts of things.

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 I've got some good blood in my roots. But of course, it's usually wise to not look too closely at the family

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 tree. For every family hero, there's at least one family villain. And just on a more real note, I mean, we can

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 see in our own families just people who've had destructive behaviors and cause things that are really hard.

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 But even knowledge of unfortunate family roots can be helpful to us. If great ancestors inspire us,

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 the bad ones warn us. If we've seen the impact of generational sin, if we've seen how these behaviors

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 have been lived out, you know, we can be forewarned and forearmed against them. We can recognize our own

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 proclivities. And one of the main concerns of our passage today in Genesis 10 to 11 is it tells the

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 story of the roots of every human being presently living on the earth. All of us in here descend from

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 the sons of Noah. And this is, again, as I was reading it, you probably felt that this is kind of

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 an obscure passage. But it's actually been carefully arranged to help us recognize some of humanity's

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 roots. And so what I want to just try to convince you of this morning is if you're going to understand

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 the world you live in, you have to understand your roots. If you're going to understand the world you

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 live in, you have to understand your roots. And the three sections of our big passage describe three

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 particular roots of humanity. So here's the first one. The first root in Genesis 10 is unity and division.

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 Humanity both comes from one family and is divided along different groups of people. So notice, these are

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 the generations of the sons of Noah. It's where we begin. All the nations of the earth descend from Noah's family.

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 We are all of one blood. There, of course, are cultural differences. We feel those today. But we want to

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 recognize just that I have more in common with a North Korean than I don't. Now, there's a lot that's

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 different between the two of us, right? Heritage, blood, language, all those things, right? But all people

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 descend from this one family. There's a unity in the family of the nations of the earth.

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 So we all come from the same family, but it's not exactly a happy family. Leo Tolstoy hilariously

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 began one of his best books with, all happy families are alike, and each unhappy family is unhappy in its

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 own way. And humanity comes from this one family. But it's not a big happy family. There is division

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 in humanity. And again, Noah prophesied this division in Genesis 9, 26 to 28. He talked about how Shem

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 was the one who had God, the Lord as his God, and how Japheth would have his tents expanded, and how Ham

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 and Canaan would be their servants. And Genesis 10 works that out. It describes the divisions between

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 the peoples of the earth. So first we see the sons of Japheth. That's verses 2 to 5.

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 And Japheth consists of most of the people of the earth. So if you had a ESV study Bible or something

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 and it had a picture, Japheth's sons would dominate the picture. They are the ones spreading out all

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 over the earth. Indeed, Japheth's tents were enlarged like Noah predicted. They are the wider world,

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 and by and large will be ignored throughout most of the Old Testament. They don't come into the biblical

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 story at all. So Japheth's sons are really the wider world that ignores God and is not really

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 involved and engaged in his plan. Among these various peoples are Magog. This is verse 2,

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 the sons of Japheth. Magog's his second son. And what's really interesting is we never really hear

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 about Magog or any of the other sons for a really long time. And then Magog comes back in Revelation

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 describing this great rebellion against God and this attack on his people. So I think the idea here

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 is the people of Japheth are a lot like the wider world. For most of human existence, the nations will

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 walk in their own ways, do their own things, and at the end they will rise in rebellion against God and

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 its ways. Next we see the sons of Ham and Canaan. These people predicted to serve Shem and Japheth.

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 And these are almost all Israel's direct enemies. So the people who are the sons of Ham would be

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 variously the enemies or the oppressors of God's people. Notice here in verse 6 we have Egypt. Most of

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 us know that God's people in Israel were oppressed by the Egyptians before the Exodus. We also see

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 Babylon and Assyria, these two great world empires that will eventually attack and war against God's

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 people. And notice that Ham's sons are mighty. Look at verses 8 to 9. Nimrod, great boy's name I guess,

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 you know. Nimrod. Cushfather Nimrod, he was the first to become, first on earth to become a mighty man.

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 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. I don't think this is a good title for him. You know, God did not

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 create humanity to make war and destroy things. And Nimrod is doing that though. And he establishes

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 Babel, that city we'll see in a second in Genesis 11. He also establishes Nineveh, the capital of the

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 Assyrian Empire. But notice the whole point of this. We have two groups of people so far. The wider world

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 neglects God and the enemies of God's people who will oppress and war against God's people. And then

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 we have Shem, the son of Noah, who eventually will produce Abram and will eventually even produce our

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 Lord Jesus Christ. And the one of whom Noah says is blessed. And what's really interesting about

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 Shem's genealogy or whatever here in verses 21 to 30 is there's not really that much going on.

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 You don't have great big world empires here. You don't have Assyrian Babylon. You just got some

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 names. You know, if you spread these out on the map, they'd have, they'd occupy this little tiny

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 corner of the map. And yet, these are the line of God's people who are blessed. They're the hope of

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 the world. And so again, notice that the root of humanity is division. And at the heart of that

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 division is the majority of humanity either ignoring or opposing God. Our heritage,

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 is largely one of rebellion, division, self-sufficiency. And these roots explain a lot about the world

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 today. Think of the global conflicts we have. Russia and Ukraine. Israel and Hamas, right? It's like

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 Ham and Japheth's sons can't get along. Like they've never been getting along. We have big,

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 huge world empires today. Nations threatening the West. And we have God's people. You know,

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 the gospel's going forward, but they're almost nowhere politically in power, right? We don't see

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 big, huge things. We don't see the church ruling today. And it can be very discouraging to live in a

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 world like that. And what's super helpful about Genesis 10 is it helps us recognize that this is

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 how the world has always been. You know, Christians today are tempted to look around in alarm and say,

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 oh my goodness, the world is burning down around us. People are walking away from God. We're going to

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 lose. And the reality is, is that, is that this has been going on for all of human history.

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 Most nations for the history of humanity have ignored and walked away from God or opposed God's

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 people. And more, more personally, you know, um, what might be even more disturbing to your faith

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 is the number of people you meet in daily life who are quite content without Jesus. You know, we've,

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 we've said a lot, and I don't know, uh, this is a church, but I remember hearing a lot in the church

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 that, you know, God's put sort of like a God-shaped hole in people's hearts and like no one can really

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 be happy without Jesus. And there's some truth to that, but come on down to South Mount Pleasant,

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 guys, right? And see all of the wealthy, prosperous, content people who do not need Jesus. That can be

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 hard to see people who like their lives seem great and prosperous and they're doing fine without Jesus.

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 And we just want to recognize that that does not make our faith not true. That's what humanity's

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 been doing since Genesis 10. Some humans are just better at it than others. And, and we just want to

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 recognize that our faith is not true just because it works. It's true because it's true. Christ really did die

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 and was raised from the grave. He really descended on high. And, and it's not just that Jesus works in my

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 life. And that's why I believe. No, no, no. We believe because we have God's word and, and we have history.

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 Okay. So we have humanity divided. Um, we also have humanity rebellious and thwarted. So we have

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 rebellion and being thwarted in our roots. Uh, in Genesis 10, we talked a lot about the divisions

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 between humanity, but the nations were not always divided and spread. Um, in Genesis 11, the most famous

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 story in this passage, it explains why we have the division we do. So at some point during Genesis 10,

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 Babel happens. So all of the sons of Noah and all their clans at one point in time, they were all

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 together in Babel, uh, doing their thing. And then eventually God thwarts their rebellion and spreads

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 them across the earth. Um, but again, what, uh, the point of this account is to say that at our roots

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 are deep rebellion against God and God thwarts us in our rebellion. So notice in verse one of chapter 11,

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 the whole earth had one language in the same words, and they find a plane in the land of Shinar and they

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 settle there. They are, uh, this is going against God's purposes. God wants humanity to spread throughout

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 the world. He commanded Adam and Eve to go and be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And Noah's

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 sons are saying, no way, that's scary. I don't want to do that. Let's all stick together. Right. Um, and in

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 sticking together and refusing to do what God is calling them to do, you know, one disobedience leads to

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 another. So all safe and settled, united, the people of the earth decide to build a monument to themselves.

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 Look at verse four. Come, let us build ourselves a city and tower with its top in the heavens.

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 Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed all over the face of the earth.

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 Let me just notice a couple of things here at the heart of humanity's rebellion against God. So first

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 notice how fear and unbelief are paired with pride and arrogance. The people of the earth have refused

00:22:42.159 --> 00:22:51.119
 to do what God wills. They've refused to spread, spread out and fill the world. And in refusing to do

00:22:51.119 --> 00:23:01.359
 what God, um, has commanded, they now think they're doing great. In their unbelief, they refuse to do what

00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:05.819
 God says. And because they aren't going, because they're not doing what God is saying, they are

00:23:05.819 --> 00:23:14.000
 convinced of their self-sufficiency. Um, you ever meet a child who likes to change the rules mid game.

00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:22.379
 So they always win. That's the people of Babel, right? They've changed the rules of what humanity

00:23:22.379 --> 00:23:27.199
 should be doing. And in doing that, they say, wow, look how good we're doing. Look how great we are.

00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:36.240
 It's a great picture of the sort of pop spirituality that's out there today, right? Everybody's a

00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:40.100
 spiritual person now, right? They just make the rules up themselves.

00:23:42.259 --> 00:23:49.120
 Notice second though, look how this rebellion is essentially humanity's declaration that they are

00:23:49.120 --> 00:23:55.140
 their own gods. You know, building a tower like this, uh, in the ancient world would be sort of the

00:23:55.140 --> 00:24:03.400
 equivalent today of us colonizing the stars, right? Uh, it'd be this pinnacle of human achievement.

00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:10.240
 And they're saying, look what we're going to do for the sake of our own glory, right? For our own

00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:15.200
 fame. We're going to build this tower into the heavens. We're going to get to where God is on our

00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:25.220
 own. Um, and then, uh, and then finally see how this rebellion is not just personal. It is collective.

00:24:25.580 --> 00:24:31.580
 You know, the founding fathers made America, made the governing structures to work slowly to make it

00:24:31.580 --> 00:24:37.440
 hard to have rapid and fast change because they believed that collective insanity could come upon

00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:43.220
 people. And that when collective insanity came upon people, we wanted a slow government. And what's,

00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:49.799
 what you see in Babel is the collective insanity that comes upon an entire group of people. They all

00:24:49.799 --> 00:25:04.720
 decide together to shake their hands at God. And just notice the particular brand of rebellion at the

00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:12.279
 root of humanity here. Notice that in Babel, you don't get mentioned of immorality. You don't get it.

00:25:12.279 --> 00:25:21.240
 Mention of drunkenness or anger or rage. You don't have idolatry, worship of other gods. None of the

00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:26.319
 things that we would say immediately, this is really bad behavior. That's not what the people of Babel are

00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:33.399
 doing. You know, um, the sins of the flesh are very powerful and dangerous and everywhere today.

00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:43.200
 They are not the truly great or damning sense. It is pride, self-sufficiency, and autonomy.

00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:47.039
 The belief that we can do life without God.

00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:55.539
 Um, that, that we can be our own masters, the captains of our own souls. Just think about it.

00:25:55.559 --> 00:26:01.019
 Our Lord Jesus, right? He had nothing but mercy for the repentant tax collectors and repentant

00:26:01.019 --> 00:26:09.019
 prostitutes. People who were by all accounts wicked, right? Their wickedness helped them recognize

00:26:09.019 --> 00:26:17.940
 their need. It's the people who were self-sufficient. It's Pharisees, scribes. They got Christ's condemnation.

00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:29.079
 And, um, I wonder this morning if deep down somewhere as a Christian with the right beliefs

00:26:29.079 --> 00:26:35.160
 and the right morality, you might be building your own little tower to the heavens,

00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:44.620
 to your own glory. You know, if much of your life consists of proving that you can do it,

00:26:45.620 --> 00:26:51.980
 uh, if you live so that others will approve of you and see how great you are,

00:26:53.220 --> 00:26:56.800
 you know, you're right back in Babel.

00:26:59.540 --> 00:27:04.660
 Pride and arrogance are, as C.S. Lewis said, the anti-God state of heart.

00:27:04.660 --> 00:27:11.200
 And these sins of heart are really insidious, but they have to be dealt with. We can't live in them.

00:27:12.700 --> 00:27:18.460
 Now, notice though, God in his mercy refuses to allow humanity to succeed.

00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:24.600
 Uh, the language in Genesis is, is intentionally ironic. So, uh, they want to build a tower that

00:27:24.600 --> 00:27:28.660
 goes up to the heavens and it says the Lord came down to view the tower. Doesn't mean that God didn't

00:27:28.660 --> 00:27:34.340
 already see it and see everyone there. It meant that, hey, the tower is so puny that God has to come

00:27:34.339 --> 00:27:45.099
 down and see it. Um, but, um, but notice, uh, as the people of the earth say they're going to come

00:27:45.099 --> 00:27:53.339
 and build themselves a tower, God says, come, let us go down and confuse their language. God in his mercy

00:27:53.339 --> 00:28:00.799
 thwarts humanity's schemes to get them back on track. So he does so by frustrating, confusing their

00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:07.899
 language. The brutality of learning a foreign language begins in Genesis 11. But, uh, but notice,

00:28:08.119 --> 00:28:15.059
 um, it's difficult today as we would say that the, the multitude of languages and the cultural

00:28:15.059 --> 00:28:22.039
 divisions we all experience just recognize that when humanity was united, when there was this sort of

00:28:22.039 --> 00:28:28.639
 utopia, right? Everyone on the same page, everyone, all the, all the same language, they took that and

00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:36.600
 used it in rebellion. As difficult as being dispersed and divided might be, right? It's actually a mercy

00:28:36.600 --> 00:28:47.300
 of God. Um, so notice, uh, in verse nine, after the Lord thwarts God's, uh, after he thwarts the people

00:28:47.300 --> 00:28:56.320
 of Babel, he disperses them all over the face of the earth. And God is still at work today,

00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:03.779
 thwarting humanity's plans at rebellion. He does so in our own lives, of course, individually. Um,

00:29:03.919 --> 00:29:10.359
 but notice that the focus here is on national, cultural, universal thwarting of humanity.

00:29:11.740 --> 00:29:20.179
 Nations and cultures experience futility and division in part to humble them.

00:29:20.180 --> 00:29:25.940
 If every nation just succeeded over and over and over and over and over and over again,

00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:33.400
 it will result in pride. And, uh, this, the idea that God would thwart

00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:41.740
 nations and cultures is kind of a tough pill to swallow if you live in the greatest nation on earth.

00:29:41.740 --> 00:29:48.000
 Even saying it that way as an American makes me a bit nervous. I'm a Babylonian, you know, but, um,

00:29:48.339 --> 00:29:55.059
 but just, it's very easy to look out there today and to be real discouraged at the division in our day,

00:29:55.319 --> 00:30:02.000
 the, the, all the ineffectiveness, the seeming decline of our country. And, uh, as an American,

00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:07.519
 I am very discouraged and very concerned. As a Christian, I'm actually kind of hopeful,

00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:17.660
 right? Maybe God on high is thwarting our cultural national plans to bring humility and revival.

00:30:17.879 --> 00:30:27.680
 That's my prayer anyways. So, uh, the people of the earth are divided. They are actually united in their

00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:34.160
 rebellion against God and their thwart, thwarting. But, uh, at the final section of our passage,

00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:44.300
 we see our roots are hope. There is hope for humanity. Uh, God is not just thwarting humanity's rebellion.

00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:52.220
 He is providing and preserving the line of Abraham, who would be a blessing to the nations.

00:30:53.080 --> 00:31:00.120
 Uh, just briefly turn back with me to Genesis 9, 26 to 27. I've referenced this passage a couple times already,

00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:04.779
 but just notice this is Noah's prophecy that covers so much of human history.

00:31:05.299 --> 00:31:10.419
 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.

00:31:11.059 --> 00:31:18.399
 May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem and let Canaan be his servant.

00:31:18.639 --> 00:31:24.039
 So just notice a couple things. Shem's the only son of Noah, of whom it said that God is his God.

00:31:24.039 --> 00:31:30.359
 God, the other brothers do not have the Lord as their God. And Japheth represents the wider world,

00:31:30.460 --> 00:31:38.559
 but we would come to be called the Gentiles out there. And so, but notice though, that in verse 27,

00:31:38.639 --> 00:31:47.099
 it says, may God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem. Uh, prefigured here is the idea

00:31:47.099 --> 00:31:53.359
 that all the nations of the earth eventually would become blessed through Shem's line.

00:31:54.459 --> 00:31:59.019
 That eventually Japheth running out there doing his own thing. Eventually there'd be a day

00:31:59.019 --> 00:32:07.359
 when he gets to come and dwell with God's people, be a part of God's people. Um, and, and so in

00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:17.079
 preserving Shem's line, God is providing hope for this rebellious, divided humanity.

00:32:17.099 --> 00:32:27.959
 And, uh, that's the point of Genesis 11 verses 10 to 26, this genealogy. Um, this, these are,

00:32:28.059 --> 00:32:33.079
 these are notoriously difficult passages to sort of preach on, but just notice a couple of things

00:32:33.079 --> 00:32:42.179
 going on here. Uh, so first we get from Shem to Abram. Uh, the rest of Genesis helps us recognize

00:32:42.179 --> 00:32:46.779
 that Abram is the whole point of this, that we're getting to Abraham. He's going to be the father of

00:32:46.779 --> 00:32:51.160
 many nations. God's going to promise him that in you, all the nations will be blessed. Abraham is

00:32:51.160 --> 00:32:57.879
 basically the model prefiguration of a Christian. Romans four says he's the man of faith who believes

00:32:57.879 --> 00:33:04.339
 God is counted to him as righteous. He's a really important dude. Uh, he and his line will be the hope

00:33:04.339 --> 00:33:13.399
 of the world. Um, but now he's just Abram and he literally gets on the scene in the very last verse.

00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:26.639
 Um, all of this action of God and hope hasn't appeared yet. You just have hundreds of years

00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:33.820
 where the only thing going on is people are having babies and God is keeping them alive.

00:33:35.020 --> 00:33:43.320
 That's it. You know, there, there's the, what hope looks like in Genesis 11 is God is just keeping

00:33:43.320 --> 00:33:49.180
 this family alive. There's no word from God. There's no action of God. There's no miracles.

00:33:49.180 --> 00:33:59.500
 He's just keeping these people alive. And notice, uh, people are starting to be less strong. Death is

00:33:59.500 --> 00:34:11.200
 starting to reign. Uh, Shem lives about 600 years. By the time we get to Nahor in verse 25, he only lives

00:34:11.200 --> 00:34:18.619
 119 years. So humanity's strength is fading here. God's preserving this line in the midst of humanity's

00:34:18.619 --> 00:34:26.119
 strength. Just notice with me, the silence of God for centuries in Genesis 11.

00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:34.759
 After Babel, the whole world is spreading abroad, ignoring God, rebelling against God. The Babylonians

00:34:34.759 --> 00:34:40.659
 and Assyrians are developing these technologies and these massive, uh, future empires. People are dying

00:34:40.659 --> 00:34:48.079
 faster. Hundreds of years pass and there's no word from God. Just a quiet perseverance of one

00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:56.440
 family. This is not the only time God's done this. Uh, think of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus

00:34:56.440 --> 00:35:05.420
 predicted by the prophets, promised hope of the world, the offspring of Abraham, David's true son, who is

00:35:05.420 --> 00:35:13.719
 going to rule the world in righteousness. And then 500 years of silence.

00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:24.819
 God's people just waited. And then out of nowhere, Christ is born of a virgin. All of God's promises

00:35:24.819 --> 00:35:37.099
 are fulfilled in ways above and beyond anyone could imagine. Um, and just consider our place this morning

00:35:37.099 --> 00:35:46.539
 as believers in Jesus. We are the people of Shem's line. We're likely the Gentiles who've been included

00:35:46.539 --> 00:35:51.839
 in his tent through our Lord Jesus. We've been promised that God is our God. We've been told that with him,

00:35:51.920 --> 00:36:03.279
 we will reign and rule forever and ever. And yet much of our lives will be waiting in silence.

00:36:03.280 --> 00:36:08.680
 Maybe there'll be times we feel like we're living in the book of Acts. Maybe there'll be times we feel

00:36:08.680 --> 00:36:15.860
 like we're living in Genesis 11. And that is the portion and the part of God's people. We live by faith.

00:36:16.300 --> 00:36:26.019
 We trust. We wait. We know that God is faithful to fulfill his promises. And so we're content.

00:36:26.019 --> 00:36:33.800
 As the wide world ignores God, as there's division in humanity, as there's rebellion, we are content to wait

00:36:33.800 --> 00:36:40.780
 for God to fulfill all of his promises for us. Let's live and love and persevere in that hope.

00:36:42.679 --> 00:36:43.420
 Let's pray.

00:36:47.739 --> 00:36:53.340
 Father in heaven, we do, uh, just plead that you would have mercy upon us.

00:36:53.340 --> 00:37:04.500
 Thank you for just how you persevere, you preserve your people and you keep us. And we just ask the

00:37:04.500 --> 00:37:09.000
 Lord to give us faith as we, as we, as we, as we look at the wider world, as we see, um,

00:37:10.940 --> 00:37:15.700
 all sorts of discouraging things. Would you please Lord help us to look to you and trust you and see

00:37:15.700 --> 00:37:21.600
 you. Would you give us faith and endurance? I pray. In Christ's name. Amen.

00:37:23.340 --> 00:37:24.280
 Amen.

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