Turn with me to Genesis chapter 10. Genesis chapter 10. We'll be reading the whole chapter and looking at the nations. Give attention now to God's holy word. Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Masech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Rephath, Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elisha, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these, the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands. everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations. The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba, Habilah, Sabta, Rama, Sabteca, and the sons of Rama were Sheba and Dedan. Cush begot Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said, like Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Achad, and Kalneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land, he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Qala, and Rezen between Nineveh and Qala. That is the principal city. Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, and Qasluhim, from whom came the Philistines and Kapturim. Canaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, the Abadite, the Zemurite, the Hamathite. Afterwards, the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go down to Gerar, as far as Gaza. Then as you go towards Sodom, Gomorrah, Adama, Zeboim, as far as Lasha. These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, and in their nations. And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth, the elder. The sons of Shem were Elam, Asher, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Ar-Faqsad begot Salah. Salah begot Eber. And to Eber were born two sons. The name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. And his brother's name was Joktan. Joktan begot Al-Modad, Shelef, Hazar-Maveth, Jerah, Hadgaram, Uzal, Dikla, Obal, Abi, Mael, Sheba, Ophir, Habilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling place was from Misha, as you go towards Shefar, the mountain of the east. These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages in their lands, according to their nations. These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations in their nations. And from these nations, from these, the nations were divided on the earth after the flood. Let us have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word, and we thank you for all of your Word. We ask you now for your Spirit to open up our eyes to understand this Word, to see your glory in it, and to know Christ better from it. And we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to tell you about one of my family members, known affectionately as Uncle Josh. If he ever comes, you can tell him I told this story. Uncle Josh loves dogs, and he has several types of dogs. He has a St. Bernard and a Chihuahua. He loves all kinds of dogs. And these two dogs are obviously both dogs, but they're different breeds of dogs. Now, if you wanted to, a Chihuahua and a St. Bernard could produce a mutt. So they are the same kind of thing. But yet we look at a St. Bernard and a Chihuahua, and we recognize, yeah, they're both dogs, but they're different. There's a difference between these two dogs. Well, if any of you have any experience with dogs, you know different breeds of dogs, just like different breeds of cattle, different breeds of horse, come from a breeder. At some point, a breeder, a man, exercising dominion over the dogs, made a decision and said, I want a dog that will do this. I want a dog that will do this. And so man, exercising his dominion, brought about the different breeds of dogs. That's where breeds come from. That's where different types of cattle come from. That's where different type of horses come from. Well, it's the same with men. In this passage, we learn that as God exercises His dominion over man, the differences of the nations come. The differences between the nations come from the will of God. Just as with a dog, it was the will of a breeder, the choice of a breeder, to say, I want a different kind of dog to perform some kind of task. Likewise, God, who has dominion over mankind, for His purposes in Christ, has brought about the differences between the nations. The differences between the nations come Not from blood, nor from origin, but from the will of God. I'll say that one more time. The differences between the nations come not from blood, as if there's different types of blood among the different nations. Nor from a different origin as if Europeans came from one place and Africans came from another. That's not where the differences come from. The differences come from the will of God. And we're going to see that in this passage. Before we get into this passage, as you have already heard and seen, it's a long passage. It is also a very unique passage, not only in scripture, but in all of ancient literature. We have been studying together the stories of the flood. And as some of you may be aware, a lot of the ancient peoples, Mesopotamians, Sumerians, Babylonians, They had flood stories. They had their own stories that talked about the flood and a man who survived the flood in some miraculous way. They all have some kind of flood story. But none of them have a chapter quite like this. At the time Genesis was written, no other people on the face of the planet produced a catalog of all the nations of the world showing a common origin. Nobody else produced this, except Moses, under the inspiration of the Spirit. Now, I point that out at the beginning to say simply this, that fact alone, that we have a catalog of all the nations of the world in the Holy Scriptures proves that the Bible is divine. If you go and read the holy books of other religions, Buddhism, Islam, the Talmud and the rabbinical teachings, or if you go even further back into the ancient world, the pagan myths, All of them are focused on the nation that developed that religion. All of them arise from a certain people group and by some miracle of human nature, exalt that people group. They have no concern for the rest of the nations of the world, but the scriptures do. The scriptures give us this catalog of all the nations of the world. This proves that the Bible is divine because it has a universal scope. The story of Genesis is not merely a story for Israel. It's a story for, as God told Abraham, all the families of the earth and how they will be blessed through Abraham. So we get a catalog of all the families of the earth. Chapter 10 in the book of Genesis is one of those things that chapter 1 of our confession speaks about when it says, we may be moved and induced to a high view of scripture by the many incomparable excellencies of the scripture. What this chapter is for us is it is a rational argument. It's an objective proof that the Bible is divine. Now, we know that only if the Holy Spirit changes our hearts can we receive the Bible as the Word of God. That's true. But there are arguments that show the Bible to be the Word of God. And because it is the Word of God, we can take confidence from it. Another word of preface before we get into this chapter. I mentioned that the differences of the nations come from the will of God. It was God's decision for the nations to be separated and distinct. It was God's will. In scripture, God's will is presented in two ways. He has a secret will. He has a will that is sometimes called His decree of eternal election. He has a secret will that is not revealed to us. Psalm 135, 5 and 6 describes this secret will of God. For I know that the Lord is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and in earth and in the seas and in all deep places. What the psalmist is reflecting here is that God's greatness is seen, His sovereignty is seen, and that His will, His decision to do what He does is based on nothing except His own good pleasure. We saw this in Ephesians chapter 1, that we have been elected according to the good pleasure of God and for no other reason. Well, this is known as God's secret will. He knows what he's going to do. We don't always know what he's going to do. It's secret. It's hidden. There is also, however, God's revealed will. Turn to Deuteronomy 29.29. God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass, and He keeps the details of those things secret from us, but He does reveal His will to us. Deuteronomy 29.29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. So you see that there's a secret will of God, the secret things belong to Him, but there are things He's revealed to us so that we can keep all the words of this law. And so the differences of the nations come about from the will of God, But the will of God is twofold, so to speak, the secret will, the decree, the eternal election and the revelation of his law and commandments and the gospel. That's his revealed will. Now, I want you to listen to me very carefully because I know this is getting a little heady. But. Some who have learned a little bit of theology can make a huge error at this point. Some would think and teach that God's secret will, His decree, is in conflict with His revealed will. As if there's two different things going on. As if God has decreed the salvation of the elect, but then He says, come to me whomsoever will and you will be saved. It looks like there's a conflict there, right? Only the elect can come to Christ, but then the gospel says, come to me whomsoever will. Write this one down. This is one for you to chew on. There is no conflict between these two things. The secret will of God is brought to pass by the revealed will of God. The secret will of God is brought to pass through the revealed will of God. So there is no conflict between the two. God has ordained that the elect shall believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he has ordained that the way he's going to bring them in is through the preaching of the gospel, the revelation of his will through preaching. So there is no conflict between the secret will and the revealed will of God. I want to make an application at this point to those of you in this congregation who are fearful. Those of you who wrestle with assurance. Those of you who may have doubts about whether or not God forgives you and accepts you in Christ. The way to answer these doubts is not to try and figure out what the secret will of God is. Assurance of our faith does not come from knowing if your name is in the book of life. That's not how it works. God brings the secret will. God makes known who the elect are through the revealed will. God will make known whom His elect are through the preaching of the Gospel, through the Word of God, and prayer, and the use of the sacraments, and your status as one of God's people is displayed by how you respond to that. God makes His secret will known through His revealed will. And so the question is, if you're struggling with assurance, if you're wrestling with doubts, if your faith is weak and your will is like water when temptation comes, you need to ask yourself a question. How are you using the scriptures? How is your prayer life? How are you heeding sermons? God has revealed His will to us. And it's through the revealed will, His law and gospel, that He builds up our assurance. Remember what Peter says in his second letter. God has given you everything you need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Pay attention to the scriptures, pray and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and God will strengthen your assurance. Now you may be asking yourself, why is he spending so much time on this? Well, turn to Genesis chapter 10. There is a secret will of God and there is a revealed will of God. And at the end of chapter nine, God reveals his will through Noah. We read this last time. I won't go back and read it again. But in verses, chapter 9, verses 25 through 27, God reveals his will through the words of Noah. And what you see in chapter 10 is the fulfillment of Noah's words. Noah's words are fulfilled in chapter 10. And this, again, is another reason for us to give heed to what God says. Because what God says is how history will play out. And we see that in the case of Noah. One thing I will point out again about Noah, as 2 Peter says in chapter 2, verse 5, Noah is a preacher of righteousness. And so when we see Noah's words here, he's not simply acting like a father blessing his sons. Noah was a type of Christ. He is also acting as a preacher of righteousness. He is an ordained officer in the church. In fact, he's the only ordained officer in the church at this time. And his words are official words that he's giving to his sons. Keep that in mind. We'll come back to this idea later. So, as we go to Genesis 10, I already mentioned it's unique in ancient literature. which is a proof of its divine origin. But notice also in verse 1, a common source for all men. This is the genealogy of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and sons were born to them after the flood. Genesis 10 teaches us unequivocally, all men have one origin. We all come from Noah. As I mentioned before, but if you look at the world religions, especially ancient pagan religions, almost every single tribe in the pagan world called themselves the humans. And everybody who was outside the tribe were not the humans, because they weren't part of the tribe. So there is a common sinful tendency in man to think that our tribe is the tribe. But Moses reminds us all men have a common origin from Noah and from his sons. Notice also the passive verbs in this chapter. Verse 1, sons were born to them. Verse 5, the Gentiles were separated. Again, in verse 18, the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. Verse 21, children were born to Shem. Verse 25, in Peleg's days, the earth was divided. And then verse 32, and from these, the nations were divided on the earth after the flood. All men have a common origin from Noah, but the differences between the nations come from God's will. That's why you have all these passive words. Men are not the ones who make these differences. God is the one who put these differences in place. God is the one who divided the nations and brought about these distinctions. The passive verbs indicate divine agency. Well, we began in verse 2 with Japheth. Now, the order of these sons is important to pay attention to. If you look at verse 1, Moses writes, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. But then, verse 2, he deals with Japheth first, and then Ham, and then Shem. Chapter 10, verse 1, is the order of honor. Shem is named first because he's the chosen line. He's the line through which Abraham is going to come. He's the honorable son. In Noah's blessing, 25 through 27, Shem is named first. Notice also in 923, Shem and Japheth took the garment. So Shem was the leader in this activity. And so Shem gets the position of honor. That's why he's named first. That's why his genealogy is dealt with last, because he's the important one. Japheth is listed first in this catalog because he's the oldest son, but he's also the farthest removed from Israel. As you look at this genealogy and think about the geography of chapter 10, it all centers on Palestine and everything that's related to Palestine, because that's going to be the promised land. Remember that Moses wrote this for Israel in the wilderness. Israel in the wilderness is heading to Palestine, and so the geography here is in reference to Palestine. Japheth gets a very short treatment because he is furthest away from Palestine. Israel did not have a lot of contact with the Japhethites in their history. So we see that in verses 2 through 5, Japheth is expansive. Notice verse 5. From these, the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands. Japheth expands broadly. All of these nations and tribes are basically Mediterranean and Western and Northern tribes, and even up into Russia, and further east. Essentially, European peoples, East Asian peoples, all come from Japheth, what's commonly referred to as the Indo-European peoples. But notice what Moses said about Japheth, verse 27. May God enlarge Japheth. Well, Japheth's family is geographically the most spread out. Japheth's descendants are also the peoples from whom the great explorers came. Think about the period of world exploration. Where did all of the world explorers come from? The Vikings, the Western Europeans, The Spanish, the English, those are all Japhethites. There is something in the Japhethites that causes them to expand and just explore and go all over the place. That goes back to Noah's blessing. May God enlarge Japheth. The Germans have a word for this even today. It's called wanderlust. It's just a thing in Germany. They have this wanderlust. They want to go explore over the next hill. They want to go look at the next valley. This goes back to Noah's blessing. Expansive. Well, Japheth is dealt with very shortly because he's far away from Israel. And then we move on to Ham in verses 6 through 20. Ham, if you recall, in Noah's blessing is not mentioned by name. When Noah, at the end of chapter nine, when Noah gives his blessing or curse upon his sons, it's Canaan, Shem and Japheth. He doesn't mention Ham. So Ham is sort of cut out of the family inheritance, so to speak. He's just not mentioned at all. And in Ham's family, there's one man in particular who is singled out. Verse eight, Cush begot Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one on the earth. This language of Mighty One indicates that Nimrod is the first world tyrant. He is the first expansive, tyrannical ruler after the flood. This is the same language, by the way, that we saw in Genesis chapter 6 about the mighty men who were on the earth. These are the aggressive, bloodthirsty seed of the serpent. Remember all the way back in Genesis chapter three, the Lord tells Adam and Eve, or the Lord tells the serpent and Adam and Eve were there. I will put enmity between your seed and her seed. And he shall crush your head, but you shall bruise his heel. That conflict between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman is still being played out in the sons of Noah. And this is the primary reason, as far as we can tell, why the nations are divided. Why God brings this division between the peoples to reveal the seed of the serpent so that the seed of the woman can crush him. But notice also with Nimrod, he's a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said like Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. This language of hunter is describing Nimrod as an aggressive, bloodthirsty killer. Remember what God told Noah at the beginning of chapter nine. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon all the animals of the earth, but you shall not eat the flesh with the blood. Men are allowed to kill animals, but there's a limit. Describing Nimrod as a hunter here indicates he goes beyond this limit. He is aggressive and bloodthirsty. Notice also in verse 10, he has a kingdom that begins at Babel in the land of Shinar. From there he went from Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth, and Qala, and Nineveh, and all these other cities. Nimrod is a mighty man. He's bloodthirsty and he builds cities. Who else in the book of Genesis was bloody and built a city? Cain. If you turn back to Genesis chapter four, Cain kills his brother. The Lord sends him out. And then in verse 17, Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch and he built a city. and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. All of these descriptors of Nimrod point him out as the seed of the serpent. Prior to the flood, he's one of these mighty men. He is a bloody man. He builds cities and has a kingdom, a dominion. In fact, he's the only one in this chapter that we're told has a kingdom. He has an empire built on aggression and built on bloodshed. He's the seed of the serpent. To illustrate this idea even more, if you think about the rest of the book of Genesis, who's the other hunter that you think of in the book of Genesis? Esau, who's the seed of the serpent. So this description of him is meant to mark him out as the enemy of God's people. He is part of the family of Ham, and it is from the family of Ham that all of Israel's enemies come from. The Canaanites, Mizraim, which is Egypt, Babylon, the Assyrians, all of them come from the line of Ham. And so at this point in the story, the line of Ham is the seat of the serpent. Notice also finally with Nimrod, his kingdom began in the land of Shinar. When we get to chapter 11, we're going to hear about the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel was built in the land of Shinar. And so this is right in the heart of Nimrod's kingdom. He is the enemy of God's people, but more importantly, the enemy of God. He's a rebellious man who is throwing off God's authority. As an application of this with Nimrod, we mentioned that he's the first tyrant, and this gives us a definition of what tyranny is. As the Greeks would define this idea, tyranny was a ruler who ruled without reference to the gods. In our case, a tyrant is somebody who rules without submitting to the Lord, without submitting to God. In many ways, a tyrant is somebody who wants to use the state to make themselves a god. That's what tyranny is. Tyranny is somebody who rules an empire, a kingdom, a whatever, thinking that they are the supreme authority and not God. That's what Nimrod represents. And this dynamic of godlessness, tyranny, bloodshed, oppression, is going to be played out throughout the rest of the scriptures. I mentioned earlier, I want you to follow me with this. The differences between men, it's not because of blood and it's not because of origin. It's because of God's will. It's because of our response to his revealed will. Now think with me. I just said all of the oppressors of Israel are Hamites. If you remember the prophecy of Daniel, who are the four kingdoms that Daniel refers to? Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Persia, Greece, and Rome are Japhethites. Babylon is the only real Hamite in that list. What that tells us is, Ham is the enemy of God's people. The line of Ham is the cursed line, not because of something genetically within Ham. It's because of his spiritual disobedience to his father and living under a spiritual curse. And we see in the case of Persia, Greece and Rome, when they become world empires, when they desire to rule over other men as gods on the earth, they become like Nimrod. That's why Nebuchadnezzar's dream is of one statue of all four kingdoms. These are the kingdoms of men. These are the kingdoms of Nimrod. These are the kingdoms of tyranny that God's kingdom is going to overthrow. It's a mistake to think that Nimrod is wicked in this way because he's a descendant of Ham. Because there's something in the blood. There's something in the genes. It's not genetic. It's covenantal. It's spiritual. Also in the line of Ham, we get Canaan, who is the one that's cursed, verse 15. Canaan begot Sidon and Heth, and then all of the nations of the Canaanites are described here. Verse 16 through 18, these are all the nations that Israel will dispossess when they take over Canaan. The Jebusites live in Jerusalem, et cetera, et cetera. if you remember in Noah's curse, is that he will be a servant of servants. He will be a servant of Shem and a servant of Japheth. Well, as you read the narrative of Canaan, in here in chapter 10, verse 19 in particular, the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go towards Gerar, as far as Gaza. Then as you go towards Sodom, Gomorrah, Adamah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha. Those four cities are the four cities that are destroyed in Genesis 18. Sodom, Gomorrah, Adamah, and Zeboiim. They're all destroyed under the fire and the brimstone. Now we know from that story what the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was. And the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is a type or a picture of the sin of the Canaanites. Sodom and Gomorrah was a sexually perverse city. Go back and read the story. I won't take time to detail it here. The sin of that city indicates what the Canaanites were like. If you go and look at Canaanite religion, it's a very perverse religion. Noah said that Canaan would be a slave of slaves. And yet, he has this territory. He has cities. Israel outwardly becomes the slave of the Egyptians, and Canaan is living in the Promised Land. How is this coming to pass? Is Noah's word false? No. Because the slavery that Noah was talking about, and the slavery that the Canaanites were in, was a slavery to sin. They were bond servants to this perversion, and they became slaves to it. The servitude is not merely a servitude of economic relationship. There's also a slavery to sin that Canaan is bound over to. We need to recognize this today, especially when it relates to a sin that is engaged in online. I don't want to say anymore because we have a mixed crowd. That sin enslaves you. It makes you a Canaanite. Just as Achan in the book of Judges became a Canaanite through his sins and suffered the consequences of the Canaanites. He was destroyed along with his family because, not genetically, but spiritually he was a Canaanite. A slave of his own lust. A slave of his own desires. Just like the Canaanites. Some of you are in this bondage. Some of you need to be set free in Christ. And I'm speaking in particular to the men and the young men in this congregation. The church today and society today is suffering and starving for godly men to be men. This society in America is falling apart and the church in America is cracking at the seams because we don't have godly men that will be men. You cannot be a godly man if you're enslaved to this sin in particular. Can't happen. You must defeat this serpent. You must, as John says in his first letter, Be filled with the word of God and overcome the evil one and be strong. God promises in his word to give you that strength to overcome through Christ and the diligent use of the means of grace. We need men to be men. Here's one stat for you to think about in relation to this. Recent Pew Research poll showed that America has the highest rate of single-parent households in the world. Not Africa, not Asia, not South America. The United States of America has the highest rate of single-parent households. Where does that come from? That comes from men who are slaves to sin and can't act like men. That's how you end up with single-parent households. That's where that comes from. Now, I lay it to you strongly because it is a serious thing, but also Because Christ promises you deliverance by believing in him, by looking to the child of promise, as we'll do now in the line of Shem. Shem, as we saw with Noah, is the one closely associated with the Lord. Noah says, blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. Shem is the chosen line. And in Shem's line, there's two men in particular that are pointed out to us. Verse 21, children were also born to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth, the elder. And then later on in verse 25, to Eber were born two sons. The name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan. Well, in the line of Shem, Eber is pointed out to us because Eber is the father of the Hebrews. And we know that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are Hebrews. That's why he's pointed out to us. But more importantly, Peleg, in Peleg's days, the earth was divided. Now, this is a reference, just as we saw with Nimrod in the land of Shinar, this is a reference forward to chapter 11. The dividing of the earth happens at Babel. That was the occasion for this. And this happened in the days of Peleg, whenever Peleg lived. We'll see later in the second half of chapter 11 that the promised seed of the woman, the one who will defeat the serpent and liberate his people from bondage to Satan, is going to come through the line of Peleg. Look in chapter 11, verse 16. Eber, the same Eber, lived 34 years and begot Peleg. After he begot Peleg, Eber lived 430 years et cetera, et cetera. Verse 18, Peleg lived 30 years and begot Reu. So the promised line in chapter 11 goes through Peleg, not Joktan. It goes through Peleg, and it's from Peleg that Abraham will come, and it's in Abraham that God will say, in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And so this division of the nations is so that the Messiah can come. It's so that Christ can come and deliver all the nations, not just the sons of Abraham. So, there's a lot in this chapter, as you can tell. But we can learn some lessons, I think, for our day from this. National distinctions are good. It is not a bad thing that there are differences between peoples. That is a good thing. The Lord imposed that upon humanity. He brought about the differences between the peoples. Now, we can make two errors here when we look at the nations and the differences between the nations. The first one is to think, because there's differences, those nations are somehow genetically inferior. That's the root of modern racism, is to say that all of the differences in the races come from genetics. That's not really the case because you and somebody from Africa and somebody from Asia are all genetically human beings. You're all the same. As Paul will say later on, from one blood, God made all the nations of the earth. So the first error is to think that you're different because of your genetics. You're not different because of your genetics. You're different because of covenant. You're different because of Noah's blessing down through the ages. The second error is to think that, well, because we all come from Noah, we need to try and work to undo national differences. We need to actually be proactive in breaking down the differences between the nations. There are people who think this way. we'll just say, jaypathite couples who will say that it's their duty to not have any more kids and artificially inseminate with people from other lands. That's also a mistake because the Lord made the differences and they are good. National differences are good. They're also useful. Paul in Titus chapter one tells Titus, Cretans are lazy and deceitful. Now, he's using a national characteristic. He's making a broad stereotype. Cretans are always lazy and deceitful. Titus chapter 1, go look at it. And then Paul says, this is true. Therefore, you need to minister to them in this way. They need strong discipline and straight talking. Those things are useful to us. That's not putting the Cretans down. That's not saying the Cretans are unredeemable by Christ. But it is acknowledging the differences among peoples. We see this in our own families. It's probably not surprising to you, if you know me, that my kids are loud. Because I'm loud and so they are loud. Now that's a cute, funny example. Not so cute at 9 p.m., but you see how this plays itself out. Well, if all of the nations are basically families writ large, the differences are there, and they help us to understand one another. But finally, and most importantly, the lesson to learn from national differences is that they glorify God. This is all to God's glory. Paul, preaching in Acts 17, in the Areopagus, in Athens. So understand what you have here. Paul is a son of Shem, preaching to the sons of Japheth the gospel of the Messiah. Paul is preaching and he says to them, He has made from one blood every nation, Acts 17, 26, of men to dwell on the earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. The reason that God has given these distinctions is so that men would see the glory of God and search after Him. Think about it like this. Music is beautiful because of the differences. Architecture is beautiful because of the differences. Leonardo's paintings are beautiful because it's not all one color. The differences show the glory. And it's the same with God and humanity. All of the differences display His glory. Think about it this way. Everybody does not have to be like you to glorify God. Everybody does not have to be a Western Christian to worship God rightly. That doesn't mean being a Western Christian is wrong. It just means it's not the only way, because of all the differences that God has put into things. Because we have a common origin, we have a common Savior. Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained and has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead." The national differences are imposed by God so that we would all seek salvation in the Savior and not ourselves. And so as Paul says, I say, repent and trust in the Lord Jesus because he will come and judge all of the nations. And God has given proof of this by raising him from the dead. Let us pray.