Well, we're turning this morning to Genesis chapter 11. Genesis chapter 11 and as we go through Genesis pulling out some of the key events and the key themes of course it means we do move over a chapter here and there. And this account here in Genesis of the tower and the city of Babel is inserted right in the middle of a very long passage all about Noah's descendants, the children of Shem and Ham and Japheth. And it's here, in the middle of this account of their genealogy and all the descendants and the generations, for a specific reason. It's put here in a way to explain what happened, why there came to be a diversity of languages in the world. You can see from chapter 10 and verse 5 and verse 31 that there are different languages recorded. Chapter 10 and verse 5 says, from these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands everyone according to his language. You can see that there are many different languages. Well, when does this all happen? Because we've been thinking about Adam and Eve, and the Fall, and Cain and Abel, and Noah, and you begin to wonder, well how is it working out? How is this all stretching out in time? Well, we can pretty much conclude by looking at the names in chapter 10 and the generations, that the things at the Tower of Babel happened in about the time of Noah's great-great-grandchildren, possibly a thousand years after the flood, as much as a thousand years after the flood, given how long people were living at this time. And it says in chapter 11, verse 1, the whole earth had one language and one speech. Well, what language was it? What was it? We don't know. Was it Hebrew? Well, perhaps it was. Perhaps it was something very similar to Hebrew. We just don't know. What we do know is that everybody could understand each other. There was one language. We see in verse 2 that people journeyed from the east. That might be better translated, they journeyed towards the east. People are spreading out on the face of the earth. What are they doing? And what's happening here? Why is this account here? What is it all about? Why does God do what he does? Well, look at verse 3. Then they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They had brick for stone and they had asphalt for mortar. Let's build ourselves a city and a tower, whose top is in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. What's happening here is a rebellion. And it might not sound like it, it might not look like it, but it's a rebellion. Why? How can we say that? Well, because to do this is to go against what God has given them to do. Fill the earth. Spread out. You know, go forth and multiply. This is what they've been given to do, but they're saying, no, no. We're going to gather together, build ourselves a great fortress, and we're going to make a name for ourselves. We're going to build a city with a tower. And you might immediately think of something like Pisa, with its tower. Well, of course, it's not really quite like that. The sense here is of this tower being the centrepiece of the city that they're building, the grandest thing in the middle of the city. And this idea never really changes in history. There are so many great civilisations and great building projects that are accomplished. And you will always find this tendency to think, well there must be a centre, a grand expression of our culture in the middle of the city. And this is what the tower was to be. And There are various ideas as to what the tower might have been like. It may be a combination of all of them. It may have been something rather like the ziggurats that we read about and you can see examples of in various parts of the world. Something which isn't quite a straight up tower but something which begins with a fairly wide base and works its way up and up. We don't know. They were very common in the region about this period of time. But what's going on? What are they trying to do? Let us build ourselves a city and a tower. Let us make a name for ourselves. Well, they're trying in their own way to be equal with God. To exalt themselves in God's sight. Why are they building this city and this tower? Well, we can't absolutely know for sure because it doesn't precisely say. But what we do know is this. What they're trying to do is to go against what God has told them to do. This is what they're about. They're rebelling against God. They're ignoring his plans and his purposes. They think that they can thwart his plans and purposes, that they can do their own thing. The city and the tower, well, it's going to be a place of defence. They don't want to be scattered abroad. They think that they will be stronger together. That's the command that God has given them, but they don't want it. It would have been well known to each one of them. Time has not passed that far. Oral tradition is very strong indeed. They will know very well what God has said. And I think we can think too that it's probably going to be a place of worship. And more likely than not, a place of worship for false gods, against the truth of God's Word. Perhaps even a place of flood refuge, being aware of the flood. Not trusting in the promises of God that he will never again flood the earth in the way that he did. Not trusting in what he has said, let us build something high, All of these ideas may be true. Some of them certainly are. We can't be sure exactly what, but there's a great rebellion against God and there's a great exaltation of me. Self. Let us make a name for ourselves. This is what they're all about. We've got great self-confidence. Well, great pride will always lead to great disobedience. Of course, it's not evil to build a tower, not evil to build a city. It's the spirit that motivates it that's evil. This selfish, proud, self-reliant, rebellious spirit that says, we're great and now we're going to show it by what we're going to build. Well, we live in a Babel society today. We certainly do. Everybody shaking their fist at God. Just like it says in Psalm 2, why do the nations rage and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth speak together. They set themselves against the Lord and against His Messiah. Let us break their bonds in pieces. Move His law from before our faces. What does it say? God thinks he who sits in the heavens shall laugh. This is the society we live in today. Nations raging against God. People building their Babel towers. My life, me, I'm going to make a name for myself, because I'm great. I don't need God. And I've got everything I need right here. He sang in our second hymn, guard me from those whose joy and pride and portion is below, who with life's treasures satisfied no better purpose know. And we should be on our guard against this whole spirit that surrounds us. God's standards must be pulled down and trampled. Our ideas must be raised up. We know best, we'll make ourselves gods. Everybody seeks to be famous. Everybody wants to make a name for themselves. They cry out, God is not great. Build the tower of human enlightenment higher and higher. And there's an air in a society full of boasts. Has society got anything to boast about at all? When crime abounds, When cruelty increases, and even when we read about crime statistics go down, we then see uncovered the hidden things. So crime statistics may go down, but what about the hidden cruelty of our society? And all the things that pass unnoticed, and all the evil things that are done. Think of the hundreds of wars that men have waged on men. Thousands. Think of the millions of deaths. even in the past century and a half. The majority of them incidentally fuelled by atheism, not by some form of religion. Think of that, the millions of deaths. Think of the millions of murders of unborn children. Think of abortion. And you want to tell me that our society is great, that we have arrived Our society is cruel. It disregards the old. It disregards the young. It exalts those who have a say. It still tramples down those without a voice. Our society is cruel. Atheism, the great experiment, life without God, it is failing before our very eyes and yet you will never know a word of it from the constant boasting and the pompousness of the media. You'll never know. Let's make a name for ourselves. Let's build a city, a tower whose top is in the heavens. We don't want to be scattered abroad. But, verse 5, the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord never tolerates rebellion for very long. And here is the word we encountered last week. It's another anthropomorphism. I said it right again. I have to write it out in full, so I do. It's another expression here in Genesis which helps us to understand what God is doing in a human context. Does he literally come down to see? Well, no, he doesn't have to do that. He can see absolutely. But it says here, the Lord came down. He focused his attention, as it were, fully on what is happening right here at this place. He gives it his all-seeing gaze and he looks upon it. The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And he recognizes the vast potential of these men. They are made in his image. They are his creatures. They have great powers, great skills in engineering and in culture and all sorts of gifts. And he sees all of that. Not that they're invincible, not that they can do the impossible, but that actually, because of their talents and gifts, they're going to do whatever evil they can and there's not going to be any restraint on their evil plans. And so the Lord will put a restraint on them. The Lord said, indeed the people are one and they have one language. And this is what they begin to do. This rebellion is beginning here. Now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. So he is going to strike at the root of this rebellion and he's going to scatter the people whatever they planned or purposed. Come, verse 7, let us go down. And there confused their language that they may not understand one another's speech. Once again, There's a reference to God as plural. One God, three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we know and it's there. Let us go down. Also, it contrasts with what the men have said. Verse 3, let us make bricks. Let us build ourselves a city and a tower. Let us make a name for ourselves. God says, come, let us go down. The boasts of man and the clear decree of God. Which carries the weight? Which carries the power? Which carries the authority? Which will carry the day? Why, of course, it's the word of God, not the word of man. What happens when God goes down to them. Let us go down. It sort of puts me in mind of that family scene where the children are playing around or mucking about and mum or dad says, mum or dad says, don't make me come down there. Don't make me, or maybe they're upstairs in their bedroom, don't make me come up there. Well God says, Let us go down and there confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech. He comes down and at a stroke he does exactly what he said he will do. He does it. All the plans of these men are confounded in an instant, in a split second. There they are, working on their great vanity project, and suddenly they can't understand a word the other is saying. And there is utter confusion, and the project comes to nothing, and the people go off in their groups with those they can understand. One can only assume that the different family groups spoke different languages, so the families all moved off in different directions, which was God's will and His command in the first place. Now they are forced to do what He has commanded them to do. They've got no desire to comply with God's Word, but they've got no choice. At one sweep, they submit to His decrees and His commands. This is God. Nothing stands in the way of the Lord. Nothing defies, no one defies His will for long. The Lord confused the language of all the earth, it says in verse 9. That's why the name of the place is called Babel. The Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there, the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. And so it remains to this day. Over 6,000 languages and subsets and dialects in use in the world today. And this is God's will. But you know it's also His will that people should be saved who speak every language and who come from every culture. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a universal message. It's not a culturally bound message. It's not tied to a particular linguistic pattern or language. The Scriptures are rightly and worthily translated into hundreds of languages, and we trust many, many more. We don't insist that everybody who becomes a Christian needs to learn one language. No. What do we see? pictured in Revelation around the throne in heaven. Revelation 5, they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. God's plans are perfect. He tells the people to go out into the whole world. They say, no, we're going to be all together. We're going to be strong. We're going to be powerful. This is how we will be blessed. This is how we'll be most effective. But it has always been God's purpose to save people. What? From every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Always. Man's objections were utterly foolish. God's plan was always right and perfect. He's confused the languages, but he's going to save people who speak every tongue. These chapters here, 10 and 11 in Genesis, they give us the origin of all nations and of all tribes and tongues. The focus in these chapters is the line of promise which is going to come to Abraham very shortly. And it's through that line, of course, that ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, will come. And through Him, God will save people from every nation and every tongue. At Babel, God brought great confusion that would scatter men across the earth. Then we read, didn't we, of the day of Pentecost, when, if you like, if you would like to see it this way, and I love to see it this way, on that day, the Lord God brought about the most dramatic reversal of what happened at Babel that the world has ever seen. The great reversal Here at Pentecost, God brings peace and harmony. Who is it that's coming to Jerusalem? Why, of course, it's the descendants of Shem and Ham and Japheth. All people of all different places, different skin colours, different tribes, different cultures, different languages, of course. There they are. a new society, a new order of things, there's a new unity because the people coming together and being saved by the power of God and trusting in Christ, they are the new international Jewish Gentile Church of Jesus Christ. And what happened on that day is just a foretaste of what will come in heaven, this absolute unity and peace and prosperity. It is what the Lord says, Zephaniah the prophet contains these words, for then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one accord. That's there in chapter 3. What is it that truly unites men? Men are scattered across the face of the earth at God's command. What is it that unites men? Only the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the irresistible power of the grace of God. Now as a church and as Christians, if you are a Christian indeed, I wouldn't assume that, we've got many challenges to face in these days. There are churches struggling in many places. Men exalting them, men and women of course, exalting themselves against the Holy Name of God. Christians being despised and rejected and scorned. Yet we still know that the Gospel is the answer to every problem and the solution in every situation. It is this which is going to unite people and bring them together. We cry out so often for God to look upon us and to bless us that he would come down. It's what he did at Babel in judgment. It's what he did at Pentecost in great blessing. So we cry out for him to come down. By His Spirit, as He did at Pentecost, as He has again and again through the ages. You see, the Lord looks down on this world in all its rebellion. He's in control. He sees Islam and its rise and its rise, so it seems. He sees all false religions and the cults and all of these forces seemingly making headway. He sees the rise of atheism and secularism, all of these things, all the rebellions, all the defiance, all the wickedness. Guess what? He's seen it all before. There's nothing new under the sun. He's seen it all before. And He is going to act and confound the plans of men. And He will get all the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour. You're a Christian. You mustn't be downhearted in these days. God is working His purposes out. Be stirred to pray all the more that God will come down. This is what He does. He comes down. He comes and deals with this world and the situations in it. That God would come down and that I would be ready to be used when He does. Don't seek to make a name for yourself. Seek to give glory to the name which is above every name. The Lord Jesus Christ. But I wonder if it could be possible, if it could be true of you, that you are here this morning and you're still building your own tower of Babel. You've still got this tower, you're building it. It's your own self-righteousness, your own pride, your own self-worth. You're exalting yourself against God. I don't need God. Or perhaps you hold it back a bit. Well, I'll go to church. when I feel like it. But I don't need to listen to what God's Word says. I don't need to read His Word. I don't need to pray. I don't need to have a walk with God. I don't need to have a relationship with Him. I don't really need Him. One way or another, I can build this great city of my life, myself, my way. I'm so proud. It's so foolish. Do you know that at any time you're just a heartbeat You're just a breath away from eternity. Did you know that when God came down at Babel, it was an instant judgment? The men could not understand each other. There they are building the tower, one man passing bricks to another, and suddenly nothing makes sense anymore, and they're scattered across the face of the earth. God give you mercy, shows you mercy. Every day I have on earth is given by my King. He's given you time to seek Him, to call on His name. Each one of us, before we come to Christ, is a sinner. We're sinners afterwards too. But the difference is that before we come to Him, we're a sinner who's not saved, a sinner who needs a Saviour, whose sin has not been dealt with at Calvary's cross. We've got no security, no salvation. Don't try to make a name for yourself in this world. It is the ultimate delusion and the greatest foolishness. Just think about all the people across this nation who think they're wonderful because they've got money, because they've got a house in a fancy place perhaps. Like, perhaps even like Lloyd Morton. where the houses cost half a million pounds and more, and you can look out upon your acre and a half or whatever you think, I've arrived, I've got a nice car, I've got a nice house. Think about that multiplied hundreds of times, and people who think they're important because whatever they may be, or I'm a parish councillor, or I'm a well-known local figure. You think you will be known 50 years after you've died? No one will know who you were. How many men and women are truly remembered in history? Just handfuls. Think of the millions who have gone before you. Nobody knows who they are. So foolish to think I'll make a name for myself. No. Call upon the name of the Lord. That's what you need to do before it's too late. There's something far better to be building than a temporary structure of this life and its plans and purposes and ambitions. Because there's a place for you in the Kingdom of God and you can be what the Bible calls a living stone or a lively stone even. I almost prefer lively stone myself because a stone sounds rather stone-like, doesn't it? And to think of being a lively stone, well that is something. Being a living stone, a part of the structure of the kingdom of God, a kingdom which will never pass away, which will endure forever. Having meaning and purpose in your life which will endure for all eternity and is not tied to your earthly possessions or achievements or anything like that. It's all bound up in the person and the work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. As God looks down on Babel and he goes down and he judges it, so surely he looks upon the earth again and again and in Jesus Christ he comes down in the most decisive way of all. and saves his people from their sins and comes down again on the day of Pentecost and grants the Holy Spirit, that great comforter, that gift to every believer and brings unity where there was confusion and peace. Rebellion only leads to confusion. It only leads to loss. You must bow the knee to the King. End your rebellion, because the King has got mercy for you. May God bless us and help us in all these things.