Sermon #1414 Miscellaneous
Sermons
Title: BabeL
The
Religion of the Cursed
Text: Genesis
10:6-10 and 11:1-9
Subject: Nimrod
and the Tower of Babel
Date: Sunday Morning – August 6, 2000
Tape
# V-94b
Reading: Revelation
12: 1-17 and 17:1-18:4
Introduction:
In this age of superstition and spiritual ignorance, it is
fairly easy to convince educated fools that when we die we float around in the
air looking for a new body to inhabit and come back in some animal form, or as
another person. It is not difficult to persuade well read, well educated people
that there are highly intelligent little green men from Mars or Pluto flying in
and out of the earth’s atmosphere in UFOs looking for friendly faces with whom
to communicate.
Yet, it is next to impossible to persuade men of the most
self-evident, undeniable facts revealed in Scripture. Among the many things
which men choose not to believe because they wish not to believe is the fact
that Satan is real, that his influence is real, and that his most cunning,
powerful, deceptive influence has always been in the area of religious
deception. This is a fact men and women ignore to the peril of their souls and
to the peril of the souls under their influence.
Satan is today what he has been throughout the history of
this world. He is the avowed enemy of God, the enemy of Christ, the enemy of
the gospel, and the enemy of our souls. In his pride, the fiend of hell longs
for the place of God. He longs to sit upon the throne of total sovereignty. Because
God has from eternity given that place to his Son and to chosen sinners in his
Son, Appollyon has been bent upon the destruction of Christ and his people from
the beginning. The red dragon of hell is determined to destroy Christ and the
woman of his choice, his bride, the church.
·
No
other explanation can be given for the serpent’s attack upon Adam and Eve in
the garden, except the serpent’s hatred of God and his people.
·
We
see this in Genesis 3:15 -- "And I will put enmity between thee
and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel."
·
We
see Satan’s rage in Cain’s murder of his brother, Abel. Cain murdered his
brother for only one reason. Abel confessed that the only way a sinner could
approach God is by the blood and righteousness of the Lamb of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ. – Abel was the first disciple of Christ persecuted and murdered
for righteousness’ (the righteousness of Christ) sake.
·
It
was Satan’s hellish influence that swelled Ham’s heart with pride and
hypocrisy, causing him to despise his father Noah and gleefully expose his
father’s sin.
Satan’s master plan by which he seeks
to dominate the world, by which he strives to destroy the souls of men, by
which he toils night and day to do what he knows he cannot do (topple the
throne of the Almighty and destroy the people of his love), is deception,
hellish religious deception.
Satan is the master of deception. The
prince of darkness is the great imitator. It is not now and never has been his
aim to destroy the souls of men by drugs, alcohol, pornography, adultery,
fornication, abortion and murder. By these things men and women destroy their
lives and the lives of others. Satan’s devices are far more crafty. He seeks to
destroy the souls of men by religion and righteousness.
·
He
cannot destroy the Christ of God. – So he raises up false—christs, antichrists.
·
He
cannot keep sinners from Christ by making them ever so wicked. – So he
transforms himself into an angel of light and sends preachers from hell to
teach sinners how to make themselves righteous (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
(2 Corinthians
11:13-15) "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. {14} And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. {15} Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers
also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be
according to their works."
·
He
cannot destroy the church and kingdom of God, the woman of Christ’s choice, his
virgin bride (made holy, unblameable, and unreproveable by his grace and
righteousness). – So the destroyer has, from the beginning, raised up and
maintained a religion to rival the worship of God, a woman to rival and seek to
destroy the church of God.
This rival religion, this rival woman, by whom the prince of darkness
rules over the minds of men and women throughout the world is referred to
throughout the Scriptures as Babylon, the great whore, the mother of all harlot
religion (Pro. 7:1-27; Rev. 16-18).
·
The wine of this old, old
whore’s fornication, by which she keeps the heads and hearts of men in the spin of a
drunken stupor is self-righteous, freewill, works religion.
·
We are warned and commanded
of God to
come out of and have nothing to do with the blasphemous, soul-damning charms of
Arminian, freewill, works religion.
·
(Proverbs
6:23-26) "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: {24} To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the
tongue of a strange woman. {25} Lust
not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her
eyelids. {26} For by means of a
whorish woman a man is brought to a
piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life."
·
(Isaiah
48:20) "Go ye forth of Babylon,
flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this,
utter it even to the end of the
earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob."
·
(Isaiah
52:11) "Depart ye, depart ye, go
ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing;
go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the
LORD."
·
(Jeremiah
50:8) "Remove out of the midst of
Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before
the flocks."
·
(Jeremiah
51:6) "Flee out of the midst of
Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for
this is the time of the LORD'S
vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense."
·
(Jeremiah
51:45) "My people, go ye out of
the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of
the LORD."
·
(2
Corinthians 6:14-18) "Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness? {15} And what concord hath
Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? {16} And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I
will dwell in them, and walk in them; and
I will be their God, and they shall be my people. {17} Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you, {18} And
will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the
Lord Almighty."
·
(2
Corinthians 7:1) "Having therefore
these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of
the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
·
(Revelation
18:4) "And I heard another voice
from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of
her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
Proposition: The religion of Babylon,
Arminian, freewill, works religion, is the religion of the damned. – The
religion of this world began as an organized religious system way back in
Genesis 10 and 11, during the days of Nimrod and the building of the tower of
Babel.
I hope I have said enough to make you
sit up and pay attention. And I pray that God the Holy Spirit will give me your
attention and speak to your hearts through these lips of clay as I endeavor now
to show you these things from Genesis 10:6-10 and 11:1-9.
·
(Genesis
10:6-10) "And the sons of Ham;
Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
{7} And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and
Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. {8} And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the
earth. {9} He was a mighty hunter
before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before
the LORD. {10} And the beginning of
his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of
Shinar."
·
(Genesis
11:1-9) "And the whole earth was
of one language, and of one speech. {2} 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.
{3} 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. {4} And they said, Go to, let us build
us a city and a tower, whose top may
reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth. {5} And
the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men
builded. {6} And the LORD said,
Behold, the people is one, and they
have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be
restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. {7} Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that
they may not understand one another's speech. {8} So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of
all the earth: and they left off to build the city. {9} 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."
The story of Nimrod and the great tower of Babel was very
prominent in medieval folklore. Regretfully, most of what people think about
Nimrod, Babel, and the great tower of Babel arise, not from the account given
by divine inspiration, but from medieval folklore. The myths and legends of
dark ages still linger. We are told by many, based only on these myths and
legends, that the walls of Babel were nine miles high.
Men and
women commonly pass over the account given in Scripture with little notice and
learn nothing from it, simply because they mistakenly picture a huge tower
reaching upward toward heaven, so high that men hoped to walk into heaven by
climbing a brick tower. How easily Satan blinds us to the warnings and
teachings of Holy Scripture. The city
of Babel (Babylon) was built by cursed Ham’s grandson, Nimrod, in rebellion
against God, as a fortress to protect unbelieving rebels from the wrath and
judgment of God. The religion of Babel is the religion of the cursed,
the damned, the reprobate.
Let me
wrap this message up by showing you what that religion is. I have already
stated that it is all Arminian, freewill, works religion. Now, I want you to
see this in the text before us. Here are five things I want you to see.
I.
The
man who built this city was Nimrod, a mighty rebel against God.
·
(Genesis
10:8-10) "And Cush begat Nimrod:
he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
{9} He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as
Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
{10} And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and
Calneh, in the land of Shinar."
A. The name
“Nimrod” means rebel, and a rebel this man was.
He was the cursed son of a cursed son. Nimrod knew the
curse of God upon Ham and Canaan. He knew the reason for the curse. He knew
what Ham had done to Noah. But being the proud man he was, Nimrod dared sit
himself up as the judge of God’s judgment.
B. Nimrod was a mighty rebel.
He was a hunter, but not
just a hunter of game. This man was a bloodthirsty man. He wanted all men to be
put in subjection to him. And he was determined to make it happen, no matter
who he had to kill or how many.
God said, “The sons of Ham will serve Japheth and Shem.”
Nimrod said, “We’ll see about that,” -- “began
to be a mighty one in the earth,” – and took possession of the land of
Shinar and all the peoples of the East.
C. Nimrod was
a mighty rebel against God.
When we read in verse 9 that “he was a mighty hunter before the Lord,” the word “before” would be better translated
“against.”
D. The
beginning of this God hating rebel’s empire was Babel.
It had been at least 300 years since the flood. The terror
of God’s judgment was forgotten. The people were of one language, doing great,
impressive things. Nimrod made himself powerful. The words and counsel of Eber
were ignored. The gospel he learned from his grandfather Noah through his godly
father Shem, was held in contempt. The worship of God was trampled under foot.
The sheer power of Nimrod’s wealth, influence, following,
and terror caused the whole world, except for God’s chosen remnant to follow
him and unite with him, in the name of God fighting against God and his people.
II. The city of Babel, which Nimrod built, was more
than a place of government. – Babel was a religious refuge.
Today, we all associate the word “Babel” with confusion.
That is what the name has come to mean because God turned the place into
confusion. But the word “Babel” originally meant something far different.
Nimrod named the city Babel because Babel meant “the gate of God.” Nimrod was,
in the name of worshipping God, like Cain of old, determined to worship God
only on his own terms. In other words, he was in reality worshipping himself
and calling it the worship of God!
·
(Genesis
11:1-4) "And the whole earth was
of one language, and of one speech. {2} 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.
{3} 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. {4} And they said, Go to, let us build
us a city and a tower, whose top may
reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth."
It was a refuge of lies, but a refuge in which men tried to
secure themselves from the wrath of God and convinced themselves that they had
done so.
A. Babel, like
all false religion, was built by a confederacy of rebels -- “They said one to another…”
Honest, faithful, believing men do not try to gain the
approval or amass the strength of others in worshipping God. They just worship
God, obeying his will and his word. Rebels need the reinforcement of other
rebels.
B. Babel, like
all false religion, was a religious refuge built according to man’s wisdom.
The followers of Nimrod discovered a new way of doing
things. They made bricks and mixed mortar (the bricks of their self-righteous
works, held together by the serpent-slime of their free will) to build a church
house and a city with man-made material, for the honor of man, and called it
the gate of God. –It was the most splendid city and the most gorgeous temple
the world had ever seen; but God held it in utter contempt; and so did those
men and women who worshipped him.
C. Like all
false religion, the city and tower of Babel were built by men, for men, to
protect them from the judgment of God.
That is the meaning of verse 4. “Go to, LET US BUILD US A CITY AND A TOWER, whose TOP MAY REACH UNTO HEAVEN – LEST WE BE
SCATTERED ABROAD upon the face of the whole earth.”
Obviously, the sons of Ham understood that the curse God
placed upon them meant the dispersion of their race through all the earth, the
destruction of their family. They said, “No sir. We will stay right here and
protect ourselves from God’s judgment, by building a house and religion which
he will have to approve of, by which the whole world will know our names
forever!
The tower reaching to heaven implies no more than a very
high, massive wall (Deut. 1:28; 9:1), a fortress.
Hear me, my friend. It matters not what your refuge is, if
it is not Christ and him crucified, it is a refuge of lies and will be swept
away in the day of God’s wrath (Isa. 28:14-21).
·
(Isaiah
28:14-21) "Wherefore hear the word
of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. {15} Because
ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at
agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come
unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid
ourselves: {16} Therefore thus saith
the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a
precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. {17} Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to
the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters
shall overflow the hiding place. {18} And
your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell
shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall
be trodden down by it. {19} From the
time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it
pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. {20} For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than
that he can wrap himself in it. {21} For
the LORD shall rise up as in mount
Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the
valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass
his act, his strange act."
D. The
religion of Babel was exactly the same as the religion of this perverse
generation, the religion of the curse.
False religion has always been God’s curse upon men and
women who refuse to worship him. All false religion is man centered, flesh
pleasing, freewill, works religion, religion by which man makes himself
acceptable to God (2 Thess. 2:11-12).
·
(2
Thessalonians 2:11-12) "And for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: {12} That they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
1.
This
was the mark of Cain.
2.
This
is the mark of the beast.
3.
This
is the religion of our age.
In ancient Babylon, in the
days of Nimrod, in defiance to the God of Noah, men said, "Let us build us a city and a tower, whose
top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name." That is the
creed of all false religion.
The religion of Babylon is
any religion which centers in man, depends upon man, and gives man a name of
honor. It matters not what name the religion wears, any religion that makes
salvation dependent upon something man does, rather than what Christ has done,
is the religion of Babylon. Any religion that makes salvation to be determined
by the will of man, rather than the will of God, is the religion of Babylon.
Let me be unmistakably clear.
Election -- No one can deny that the Bible teaches the doctrine
of election. But most say that election is determined by God responding to what
he "foresaw" man would do. Others say, "God chose to save
whosoever will, and if a man wills to be saved he makes himself one of the
elect." In either case, election is dependent on the will of man. That is
Babylonian! The Word of God declares that election is by God's sovereign will
alone (Eph. 1:3-6; 2 Tim. 1:9).
Redemption -- All religions, which claim to be Christian, profess to believe in
redemption by the blood of Christ. But most declare that the blood of Christ
was shed to redeem those who perish as well as those who are saved. Such
doctrine means that Christ shed his blood in vain for those who perish in hell!
And such doctrine declares that it is man who makes the blood of Christ
effectual for redemption by the power of his free-will. That is Babylonian! The
Word of God declares that Christ has effectually accomplished the redemption of
his people (Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:12).
Regeneration -- Regeneration, the new birth , is declared to be the result of man's
choice only by those whose religion is Babylonian. The Word of God plainly
declares that man's will has nothing to do with the accomplishment of the new
birth. It is the work of God's will and power alone (John 1:12-13; Rom. 9:16).
III. The cause of divine
judgment was then as it is now and ever shall be – the wilfull rejection of
divine revelation!
·
(Genesis
11:5-9) "And the LORD came down to
see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. {6} And the LORD said, Behold, the
people is one, and they have all one
language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from
them, which they have imagined to do. {7}
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not
understand one another's speech. {8} So
the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and
they left off to build the city. {9} 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."
The words at the end of verse 16, (“now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to
do”), are not a suggestion that God was fearful these men might actually
get to heaven by their inventions! These words are a declaration of the basis
of divine judgment. – Nimrod and the sons of Ham would not, by any means, be
turned away from their delusion.
The more I read these verses, the more frightful God’s
judgment here appears. Look what happened whem the Lord God came down to Babel,
to visit them with his wrath and vex them with his sore displeasure.
A. He
confounded their language so that they could not understand one another.
B. He sealed
them up in confusion and reprobation.
God fixed it so that those who would not believe could not
believe. The sons of Ham could no longer understand the speech of Shem’s sons.
-- The sons of God speak a language the world cannot understand.
C. The Lord
God scattered the rebels.
1.
He
scattered them from place to place over the earth.
2.
He
scattered them in enmity against one another.
IV.
Now,
be sure you learn this – Nothing and no one shall ever overturn God’s
purpose, destroy his church, or even slightly hinder his purpose.
As Satan and the demons of hell are God’s unwilling and
unwitting vassals, so too, the sons of Ham can do nothing but serve God’s
elect.
V. The confusion of divine
judgment is forever ended in Christ.
A. The Lord God sent confusion
in his wrath, to foil the schemes of hell. – But when God pours upon us the Spirit of grace and supplication and
turns our hearts to Christ, as he did on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), the
confusion is over.
·
(Colossians
3:10-11) "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him: {11} Where
there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian,
Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."
B. If we would know, worship, and be saved
by God, we must come out of Babel – The religion of the cursed.
(2 Corinthians 6:14-18) "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness? {15} And
what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with
an infidel? {16} And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as
God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. {17} Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, {18} And will be a Father unto you, and
ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
·
(2
Corinthians 7:1) "Having therefore
these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of
the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
·
(Revelation
18:1-4) "And after these things I
saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was
lightened with his glory. {2} And he
cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is
fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul
spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. {3} For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,
and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her
delicacies. {4} And I heard another
voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers
of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."