#5 G RA C E T O BA BE L. In T he Beginning...Grace

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1 #5 G RA C E T O BA BE L In T he Beginning...Grace G e n e si s 11 INTRODUCTION BIG QUESTION! YOU READY?! Q. How do you KNOW you re worth something? Q. What makes you feel like you re acceptable? Q. What gives you peace when you lay your head down on your pillow at night? With these questions in mind, we are going to look at Genesis 11. We ve been walking through the entire book of Genesis all the major characters and stories. And what we ve seen is this: From the very beginning, God has been a gracious giver. The book of Genesis is NOT a collection of moral stories with moral hero s that we are to imitate. The book of Genesis is a catalogue of WICKED SINNERS saved by EXTRAVAGANT GRACE. Today s sermon is titled Grace to Babel. Have you heard of the tower of Babel? That s what we re getting into today. This story is incredibly relevant for today s time, though it happened thousands of years ago. I beg you not to check out! Open and Read Genesis 11.

2 1. RELIGION IS WIDESPREAD GENESIS 11:1-4 1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there (Shinar = Babylon. Babylon = Modern day IRAQ). 3 And they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar (bitumen = tar). 4 Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. Q. What do I MEAN when I use the word Religion? Here it is... Religion is any set of principles or beliefs that if followed or believed correctly make you acceptable, give you worth, and make you secure. Religion says, If you do this (!ll in the blank); you will be acceptable, you will have worth, you will be secure. Take a close look at what these people are doing in Genesis 11 (Come, let us, let us, let us...) They re not building any ole tower Archaeologists and Theologians will tell you that they re building what s called a Ziggrat. Don t you see...the tower of Babel was about trying to achieve WORTH through WORKS. And we do the same thing today. We build our own towers, trying to justify our existence. When you think of Religion, don t ONLY think of the major world religions; religion is FAR more pervasive or widespread than that. ILLUSTRATE Some are secular religious, and some are spiritual religious. 1. Harold Abrahams (British, olympian sprinter in the 1920s, 100meter dash) I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. 2. Saul of Tarsus (Pharisee that lived in the time of Jesus, who persecuted Christianity even to the death) 4 If anyone else thinks he has reason for con"dence in the #esh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:4-6) APPLY If Religion had a universal symbol, it would be a #ight of stairs. Here s the stairs, climb to the top and you ll!nd worth, climb to the top and you ll be accepted, climb to the top and you ll know you are secure. The "ight of stairs for Harold Abrahams was his success in his particular!eld and the "ight of stairs for Saul of Tarsus was being very obedient to God s Law and persecuting anyone that believe di#erently than him. One s secular, one s spiritual, but Religion had a death grip on them both! Q. Don t you see? RELIGION IS WIDESPREAD!

3 2. RELIGION IS DECEPTIVE Genesis 11:5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. Q. Do you see the IRONY in what God does? This is funny. God has a sense of humor. These people are building, building building, making something that seemed so great that was going to make a name for themselves and REACH UP INTO THE HEAVENS! And God says, What s that, that you guys are doing? I can t even see it from heaven, it s so short. Let me come down so I can get a look at it. Religion is deceptive because our works will never measure up. God looks down at the tower and says, what are you doing? Oh, that s cute. ILLUSTRATE Harold Abrahams You, Aubrey, are my most complete man. You're brave, compassionate, kind: a content man. That is your secret, contentment; I am 24 and I've never know it.... I'm forever in pursuit and I don't even know what I am chasing. Saul of Tarsus I count all (my religious works and successes) as rubbish. Philippians 3:8 APPLY Religion is deceptive because it promises what it can never deliver. It says You can ACHIEVE your justi"cation through your WORKS. AND IT. IS. A. LIE. We re forever in pursuit and don t even know what we re chasing IT S NEVER ENOUGH! We re trying so hard to ACHIEVE our worth, but at the end of the day, our works are like a steaming pile on the lawn. Q. What kind of Religion do you tend to practice? What s your #ight of stairs? Q. It will never give you what you truly long for. It can t! For 99.9% of us, the truth is this: You re going to die someday and in years no one s going to remember your name. How many of you can tell me the name of your great great great Grandfather? Of the top of your head? probably no one. Q. What are the towers in your life? Q. What are the things that you re looking to to give you your acceptance, worth, and security? Q. Don t you see? RELIGION WON T GIVE YOU WHAT IT PROMISES IT S DECEPTIVE! Q. So, what s the answer? Let s look at what happens next.

4 3. GOD COMES DOWN TO DO WHAT RELIGION CAN T Genesis 11:6-9 6 And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. So, God comes down! To save them from Religion s deception. This is an act of grace! Q. Do you know why the people that built the tower of Babel are remembered? It s NOT because the tower was great many of these kinds of towers (Ziggurats) were built in ancient times. The people from the tower of Babel are remembered because God loved them enough to come down and save them from themselves. God came down and DESTROYED their selfsalvation project. God did that so they wouldn t go through their whole life thinking, like Harold Abrahams, I m forever in pursuit and I don t even know what I m chasing. God came to free them from religion s deception. So they wouldn t get to the end of their life and think, like Paul, everything I ve worked so hard for is nothing but a steaming pile on the lawn. WHAT IS GOD DOING? HE S SHOWING THEM GRACE. When our world starts crashing down we often turn to God for help, only to "nd out that it is HE that is shaking us. God loves us so much that He causes our idols to crash and burn. He shows us how deceptive our Religion is, so that we ll wake up from the religious deception. So that we can see HIM! GOD CAME DOWN TO SAVE THE PEOPLE OF BABEL. This is exactly what He did to Saul of Tarsus, who later became the Apostle Paul. In those moments we feel like God is killing us, he s actually saving us. Q. How has your world been radically shaken? How have things fallen apart? A. Maybe that s God revealing to you that your Religion and your idols are never going to give you what you truly long for.

5 ENDING And the truth is that, God came down again... in the person of Jesus. But, you see, Jesus didn t come down just to show us how useless and deceptive religion is; Jesus came down to bring something greater than religion, he brought the gospel. Religion says, You can ACHIEVE your justi!cation your worth through your WORKS. The Gospel of Jesus says, You can RECEIVE your justi!cation through Jesus WORK. You re not built to get your worth from your works. You re built to get your worth from Jesus and His work for you! 1.The WORTH you ve been working for is found only in Jesus Jesus lived a perfect life so that His perfection would count for you. His righteousness becomes your righteousness. 2.The ACCEPTANCE you ve been longing for is given freely by Jesus Jesus is the Son of God, but he became also became a Son of Man God became human. Why? So that he could save us from our sin and adopt us into the family of God, as a child of God. 3.The SECURITY you ve been longing for is in Jesus ALONE Jesus saves you from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and will one day save you from the presence of sin. In Galatians chapter 2, the once Religious Saul of Tarsus is now a gospel-believing Apostle named Paul he says this, We know that a person is not justi"ed by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ... I have been cruci"ed with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the #esh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ERIC LIDDELL, A MAN GRIPPED BY GRACE Eric Liddell (Olympian sprinter who lived at the same time as Harold Abrahams. Because Eric Liddell was so gripped by grace because he new that his worth came SOLELY from Jesus he would never run a race on Sunday, because it was the Christian day of rest) EL: God made countries, God makes kings, and the rules by which they govern. And those rules say that the Sabbath is His. And I for one intend to keep it that way. EL: I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure. You ll never be free from Religion s deception and hopelessness until you see and trust that Jesus came down to GIVE you what you could not earn. Jesus came to give you worth through His righteousness, acceptance through adoption into His family, and security through eternally saving you from your sin. I CLOSE WITH THIS PICTURE. I WANT YOU TO REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU SEE A FLIGHT OF STAIRS. The symbol for religion is a #ight of stairs and the symbol of the gospel is a Cross. The stairs of Religion have forever been replaced with the cross of Christ. On the Cross, Jesus said, It is finished. The only question is, will you trust Him?