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Genesis 11:1-9, "The Fools of Babel" · Clifford Baptist

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  Welcome to the Oct. 12 sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 635 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Genesis, chapter 11, verses 1 through 9. And the sermon is entitled the Fools of Babel, delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell. Genesis chapter number 11. Genesis chapter number 11. Grab your Bibles. Turn there if you will. For those that are joining us for the first time, or maybe you missed a week, we have been discussing over the past couple of weeks a three letter word. And that word is simply sin. We have looked at the dangers that sin brings as it entered the world, and last week as it spread over the world. And today we want to understand the danger that sin offers in the form of pride when we don't think that we need God. Now you may say, jeffrey, I'm saved. I know the Lord, but there are dangers that we all face. And I want to offer to you today that pride is one of those issues that, that we may not really understand that we're dealing with it, but it will deal with you if you don't deal with it. And when we understand that picture of pride, we understand this, that it builds a wall. It begins to build that wall in between you and God where you may think that I don't have to read my Bible like I used to when I first got saved, or I don't need to study God's Word. I don't need to be in a small group because I know more now than I used to know. It may even creep in and say, I don't even need to pr.
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  I know this. If I think about God, that's good enough. I don't need to spend time in prayer. And good godly people allow pride to creep in. And here's what happens. It eventually forms a wall and actually leads them away from God. So the warning is very clear today as we open God's word together. But I want to share a little bit before I get to Genesis chapter 11 from Ephesians, chapter number 4. Ephesians, chapter number 4. Starting with verse 17. Just listen to these verses. It says this, this. I say, therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, having given themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ. Paul goes on to write, if so, be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. Today we search for that truth. A world is searching for truth.
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  And the truth that the world needs is what the church has. And his name is Jesus.
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  We are told in the book of Romans, chapter number one that Christians, as those walls of pride are built up, people can be given over. Unbelievers can be given over to their own minds and their own beliefs and their own hard hearts. And those are tough scriptures to preach and to explain and to understand. But here's what we understand. When sin enters the human heart, it kicks God out. There's no room for sin in God.
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  And so today where the challenge of the local church is is this. We are believers in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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  So we should be those that despise Jesus sinful ways. That doesn't mean we're perfect. It doesn't. But it means the battle of flesh and the spirit is one that can be won through the blood of Jesus Christ.
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  And so today I pray that this very familiar story about pride, about not needing God, about desiring to get to God, will teach us that we can relate in more ways than we think.
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  How many of us have understood pride by saying, I'm going to do it my way, not your way, God.
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  How many of us tell God that we don't need him, we can take care of it. I do it my way.
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  If I go through a day without prayer, without dependence on God, I feel like that's what I'm telling God. God, I don't need you today. I can handle this day by my.
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  And usually on those days, they're the days that I have the most trouble.
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  Why?
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  Because I've left God out.
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  Pride goes before destruction. We understand that. A haughty spirit before the fall. And so today's warning about the sin and about the fools of Babel is this sin can get a place in our life through self driven pride and pushes God away.
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  And so today that is the warning.
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  That is the warning that we're going to look at together.
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  Look at Genesis Chapter number 11, the first four verses we're going to share together.
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  And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, go to, let us build Us a city and a tower whose top may reach into heaven. And let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
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  The first point that I want you to see today in our sermon titled the Fools of Battle. And is this. We need to understand the reach of man. The reach of man.
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  Just a few chapters after the flood, we see that man is at it yet again.
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  We can't determine exactly how many years separate the flood from where we are here in the Babel. In Babel. But there, the Bible historians say, somewhere between 100 at the lowest to 350 years.
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  But what some people understand and see, and what we need to understand and see is this. How quickly people fall back into their sinful ways. We are reminded here that the whole earth is under one language and in one place.
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  Verse number two. They dwelt in Shinar. They found a place. They're living there. And we understand as they live there. They are seeking a direct contradiction to what God asked them to do. What did God ask them to do after the flood?
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  To go out and to subdue it. To be fruitful and multiply and spread out.
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  To inhabit the earth. Not to inhabit a city, to inhabit the earth.
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  And so what we see here is God asked them in chapter nine, verse one, to be fruitful and. And multiply and replenish the earth. The people are not doing what God asked them to do. They're staying together.
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  And here's what they say.
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  Let's do a building project.
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  Let's build something.
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  The building project would begin by making brick. And they had the mortar. So they began to brainstorm, what will we do with the brick and the mortar? What will we do with these gifts that we have?
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  And here's a lesson for us, and I'll get to that in just a second. But sometimes God has equipped us and gifted us to do some mighty things for Him. But when we leave him out of the process, our resources become wasted.
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  We see a people that have talents to make brick and mortar.
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  And so leaving God out of this process, they begin to brainstorm about what we can do, what we can build.
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  They speak the same language, the communication isn't an issue. And say they agreed on one common goal. Let's build a city. And in that city, let's build a tower.
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  And that tower will reach to God.
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  That's going to be our goal here.
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  And so as we understand this building project and the heart of the people, we need to understand this. Their heart is not in tune with what God desires them to do. That tower needs to reach upward, it needs to reach to heaven, and it needs to reach God.
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  It is believed that the structure being built is somewhat similar to a pyramid style building called a ziggurat.
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  And when we understand that ziggurat is like a pyramid, it's got steps that lead to a top. And on the top of that they would put some sort of image, some sort of God that they would worship. But as a little boy, and even through my adult, young adult years, here's what Jeffrey always thought. They were going to just build a skyscraper straight up.
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  We kind of take the Bible and put it in our culture sometimes, don't we?
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  So as a little boy, I thought they were just going to build a building straight up and they were going to try to get to heaven and that building probably would start doing some of this. That's what my childlike mind thought.
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  But that's exactly the intentions. They wanted to reach God.
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  They wanted to become God.
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  And sometimes when we understand that the resources there to do some mighty things for God, and when we don't use them accordingly, we will have to answer for that.
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  Clifford Baptist Church, we have resources.
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  And when our resources, if it's the volume and number of people, the giftings that are here that are not being used, we will have to give an answer for that.
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  And so today the reach of man desires not to do what God wants, but to do what I want to do. I want to build a tower. I want to reach God. I. I want to do it my way.
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  If you've ever been involved in church, here's the reality.
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  You can't have it your way.
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  I don't care what fast food chain tells you, you can have it your way. You can't have it your way.
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  Because here's the opportunity to follow Jesus. It's not about us.
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  It's not about our desires.
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  It's not about what we have and what we bring and what we can do. It's what we can do together for the glory of our God.
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  And so today, the reach of Clifford Baptist Church, the reach of men and women, should be to do that which God has for us to do. And yes, we have to hammer that out in meetings and in committees and in vision. We have to hammer those things out. But we work together to do what God would have us to do.
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  These people, they wanted a city, they wanted a tower, they wanted to reach God. And what is the sin in all of that? Listen to me, listen to me. Building a building is not sin.
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  If you build a big church building, it's not sinful thing.
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  Where's the sin in all of this? The sin is when the people's heart said, let us make a name lest we be scattered.
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  The sin's not to reach God. The sin is the desire to make a name for themselves in a power struggle and also not to listen to God and be scattered across the face of the earth. Let us build, let us make a name. Let us, let us, let us, let's do it for us. That's the mind and the heart set of the people in Babel.
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  The tower would show strength, it would show power.
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  It would give intimidation to anybody that tries to come and build and give any threat to them whatsoever.
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  It would scream, look at who we are.
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  And so what we understand, what we need to understand here is this is a power grab. And I don't have to preach here, but power can be a very foolish thing.
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  The desire to make a name and to continue to disobey what God would have.
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  Because the fear was that they would be scattered around the earth. But that's exactly what needed to happen.
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  That's what needs to happen because that's the way that the word of God will go out. It's when the people scatter.
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  And so what we see here is a willful smack in God's face saying, I know better than God.
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  That's what pride does. God, I don't need you. I know better.
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  I can do it my way. I don't need you in my life. I'm not that bad.
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  When I read this story, I see myself on the pages of Genesis chapter number 11.
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  Because there have been times where I said, God, I don't need you.
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  I don't need to pray today.
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  God, here's my plan. I'm not going to let you alter it whatsoever.
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  God, here's what I think.
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  One of the most prideful things that I've done as pastor is said, I will never do the Lord suffer the traditional way.
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  And boy, did God change me drastically.
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  It takes too much time.
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  I'm guilty.
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  We're guilty.
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  And here's what pride tells God. God, I don't need you. I don't need your help. I'm going to do it my way and I'm going to do what I want to do or I'm not going to be a part of it. I'm going to go to another church. I'll just leave.
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  Our churches are being ripped apart by people that are pride filled instead of God who filled and God Led Clifford Baptist Church.
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  Hold me accountable.
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  It's not about my will or my way. It's about God's way. And that's the way I want to lead the people of God. In this place of God, the reach of man wants to reach and wants to compete and wants the power, but wants God to be no part of it.
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  And that's the danger here.
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  We need a name for ourselves unless we be scattered across the earth like God asks us to be. I read a little article real quick on some of the symptoms of pride from the Gospel Coalition. I'm just going to. I'm not going to. I'm going to not regurgitate that to you, but real quick. 7 Symptoms of Pride real quick. Fear, entitlement, ingratitude, people pleasing, prayerlessness, hypocrisy and rebellion.
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  All of those things scream pride. And I agree with that article 100%.
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  But on Psalm 100, excuse me. Psalm 10, verse 4 says this. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts.
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  Are we on the same page with the reach of man?
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  The reach of man tries to compete with God, but doesn't want God to be a part of anything.
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  Mamas and daddies, make sure you raise your children.
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  Know Jesus.
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  Grandparents, do all you can to invest in your young children's lives.
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  Let's look at the response of God. Look at verses 5 through 7.
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  The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. The Lord said, behold, the people is one, and they have all one language.
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  This they began to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Go to. Let us go down and therefore confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech.
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  We've seen the reach of man. Now we need the response of God. How many of you know that God always responds to sin?
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  God has to deal with it. And so what we see here and we read is that not that God needs to leave heaven and come down and investigate, but he desires a closer look, a check in to see if the people are doing what he asked them to do. In his observation in verse number six, God takes notice that they are still one in communication.
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  They are one in language.
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  And he takes notice at what they are doing. They are building something that is going to threaten what he asked them to do.
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  They will continue to carry out their own plans and their own minds with their own hearts. And verse number seven, there are four words and Those four words in verse number seven are these.
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  Let us go down.
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  Now remember, the heart of the people are Let us build.
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  God says, let us go down. Who's us?
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  That's the Trinity on the pages of Scripture.
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  God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Let us go down. Let's go down here. And in verse number seven, confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech. There's a work of God that is about to happen in these people's lives, and we see it here that God will respond. But the character of God, we see this, that God cannot just turn a blind eye to sin. God will not do that.
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  That's what they expected him to do. But his response can be followed through Scripture.
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  You think of Old Testament, how many times the people of God faced judgment or bondage, how much they suffered because of their disobedience, and at times even experience death.
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  But in most of those situations where we read about the judgment of God, you also see the mercy of God.
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  Even in the first sermon of the series, Adam and Eve, the judgment that they, the cursings that they had to face, there was still the skin that clothed them. That was God being merciful to them.
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  So how can God be merciful to people that are disobedient to what he asked them to do?
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  Here's what God could have done. God could have came down and said, look, I'm just going to wipe them out again.
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  But remember, he promised he would not do that again with water.
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  And so what we understand here is God's got to do something. And he responds mercifully by saying this. I'm just going to confuse their language and they can't communicate.
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  We understand that this is where the languages of different languages came from.
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  But as God shows up and he responds, I want you to see, he responds in mercy.
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  But it is judgment, because they will not be able to understand and they will not be able to communicate and the building project will fail.
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  How many times does God intervene in our plans in ways that we never imagined?
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  And yet we see his hand of judgment and leading by. But we also see his hand of mercy as God intervenes. Here, he does it as punishment, but he does it as a preventative measure as well.
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  It's punishment because they won't be able to communicate any longer. The building project stops. But it's a preventative measure that they will now go do what he asked them to do from the very beginning.
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  How many of you realize that if we just do what God asks us to do, the first time it will be a lot less, a lot easier on us.
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  I've taken the hard road.
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  And we understand the response of God is one that is judging. Yes, but it's preventing them to go on in their own ways and do worse things than what they're doing right now. Rebellion must be challenged by God.
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  When people don't do what God has asked them to do, God has to challenge that.
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  And here we see that there's one more point today, and it comes from verses 8 and 9.
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  It says this.
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  So the Lord scattered them abroad, and from thence upon the face of all the earth, that they left off to build the city.
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  Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth, and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
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  We've seen the reach of man, the response of God. Now you need to see the result of sin.
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  The Lord confounds the language.
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  They can't understand one another and they dispense the building project.
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  The power that was desired and the project to reach heaven and to make a city and to make a name has now ceased.
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  We end this account today, and it seems like the people in the place of Babel are in disarray or in confusion.
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  The city named Babel, what does that name mean?
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  It means that it's connected to confusion or being confounded.
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  The irony of the story is this, if we boil it down, these people wanted to make a name for themselves, and they did. Here's the name confusion.
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  Babel is your name, the place of confusion.
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  And here's what we need to take away from this story.
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  When we try to do it in our own energy, on our own ideas and our own merit, in our own way, without God, it will lead to confusion.
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  Some of your statuses, not just on social media, but in life, may be labeled confusion.
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  Why are we confused?
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  We are confused when God is not a part of the plan, when we don't follow the plan of God, when we stay instead of going, confusion is there, but also it is. We've got to call it what it is. It's sin when you don't obey what God wants you to do. That is sin.
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  And it brings confusion and it brings chaos.
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  Sin produces separation from God.
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  When we think about the ending of this story, as the languages are confused, no one can understand one another.
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  The desire of worship, the desire to reach the heavens, the desire to make a name, the desire to focus on self, it cannot happen anymore.
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  It's a time of refocus. And now they are scattered by the hand of God.
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  Why were the fools of Babel foolish?
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  Was it because they tried to build a city? No.
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  Was it because they intended to reach God? No.
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  It was because they willfully disobeyed what God had for their life. They refused to listen to God. They wanted a name for themselves and they wanted to stay together.
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  God's design behind a scattering is not just to populate the earth, but it's to scatter the word of God.
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  I stand before you today, pastor of, I believe, the greatest church in the world.
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  When we understand the dangers of staying instead of going.
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  God may have called some people in this room to ministry, but it's comfortable just to stay right here. God may call somebody to go around the world on missions, but it's safe right here today. When we understand what God wants and what we want, those two things must align in every person's life that's represented here today. It can't just take one person. It can't take the pastor aligning his life. That's where it starts. Infiltrate your life.
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  And maybe God is calling some people in this room not to stay, but to go.
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  What does that look like?
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  What does a scattered people look like? In just a few minutes, I'm going to say an amen and you're going to scatter.
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  Here's what I hope you think about.
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  You scatter to be the light of the world of Jesus Christ.
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  And if we cannot do that as a people of God, then I don't want to face the judgment of God.
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  God has not called us to build the temple of Clifford.
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  No. God has called us to worship together and send people out and scatter for his namesake and for his glory.
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  And today, if you sit here today and you say, God, I don't know what glory you are getting out of my life, but I desire you to get the glory. You better hold on tight. Because my little path looked like this, right?
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  And it still looks like that.
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  I still don't know if I'm exactly where God needs me to be. That changes by the days and by the weeks and by the months.
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  I want you to know this church, I'm exactly where God wants me to be right now. But what happens? That scattering of the people sent languages all across the world.
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  It started cultures all across the world. The intention is that it would take Jesus all across the world. And that's your job.
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  And that's my job. As we scatter today, can we be careful about what we want and what we desire and what we think and what our goals are.
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  In light of what God wants us as we scatter today, can we understand this? God is responding to sin, to people that are all around us, that are dying and will go to hell. Will we be passionate enough to reach them with the gospel, to share the gospel, to tell them about Jesus? As we close this message today, we understand that a scattered people with Jesus is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe you're here trying to reach God. Maybe somebody's told you about church. Maybe somebody's told you about Jesus and today you're here. Here's what I want you to understand. You're not here by accident today. If you are in the sound of my voice and you're trying to reach God, maybe you've tried everything you've known, you've tried others ways, but you have failed to try Jesus today, here's what I want you to know. God, put him as the only way through which you can come to the holy, holy, holy place of God. Today, if you are searching, here's your answer. Jesus. Jesus, Christian today. Maybe you and I need to say God, these years that you have gifted me are not about me. I want to make them count for you.
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  Remove any barriers of pride that hinder your work through my life. And I want you to get today, if you want to make that a public prayer, this altar is open. But today, if you're reaching for something that something that you're looking for could be Jesus understanding that he took your sin to a cross.
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  He died your death. He rose on the third day to give life and hope to those who will believe today. If you're reaching for something, maybe you need Jesus. I want to offer that to you. You can come today.
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  Don't put it off. Don't walk out of these doors saying, I'm going to do it my way. Collectively as the church, can we pray? God, we want to do it your way.
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  Let's pray together. Father God. Lord, today, Lord, we are in your place and in your presence and I want to pray for your people.
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  God, as we think about the work that you are doing, not only in this place, not only in our community, but the work that you want to do around the world.
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  God, I pray that you raise up men and women to do that work.
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  Lord, maybe they're sitting in this pew or watching livestream today. Maybe those people that you need to raise up and do your will are right here in this room.
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  God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would work in such a way that would bring surrender and submission to a place in our heart that is scared.
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  God, maybe there's somebody in this room today that understands the danger of sin and the separation that pride builds. God, I pray that you just tear down that wall today and through forgiveness, that one will come and say, lord, forgive me of what I have done. I desire your will over my will for that one that's reaching that needs you. God, I pray for that heart that is in this place today and this moment of invitation. God, we give it to you now. In Jesus name, Amen. Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11am for more information about our church, please call our church Office and at 434-946-0555.