Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080518.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VI: Explaining History's Strife Between Unbelief And Faith In God
(Genesis 10:8-11; 11:1-9)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Strong, unbiblical, unsettling forces exist in government and religious realms, and we need insight on how to respond in blessing:

(1) The Supreme Court of the State of California last week declared the previous decision of the people of that State to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman to be unconstitutional! Regardless of the morally upright will of the populace, judges have dismissed the moral ethics of the majority of its State citizens!

(2) Widely popular evangelical leader Rick Warren, in pushing for a "'New Reformation'", has defended Islam "as a valid 'faith'", saying "he 'would trust any imam or priest or rabbi . . .'" (Ibid., p. 2) Warren evidently wants evangelicals to relax about the Islamic faith!

However, Galatians 1:8-9 calls believers to excommunicate all who teach another gospel that are promoted in such religious systems!

Besides, Islam expert and New York Times best-selling author, Robert Spencer, notes that though Muslim supporters of terror are few, they dominate the leadership of nearly every key Muslim group in the world, and Muslims who do not hold to violence are evidently unable to unseat them, The Truth About Muhammad, p. 190-191! So, regardless what Rick Warren tries to imply to the contrary, tyrannical Islamic jihadism still threatens all non-Muslim nations!

(3) In a large evangelical church last Sunday in another state, I heard that the Pastor, who supports the Rick Warren view that tries to woo lots of people to attend church services by various means, put aside his sermon on Mother's Day to ask women in the congregation to report what they wished their husbands knew about them. One woman used the occasion to complain about her husband at length before the whole Church, creating unrest in the body.

Yet, GOD calls pastors to preach HIS Word, 2 Timothy 2:1-2!

(4) We face unsettling movements locally. A flyer from a large evangelical church in our area has promoted a seminar where its leader, a graduate of the seminary I attended, held believers must agree on the "basics" of doctrine, but agree to disagree on all the rest so as to unite evangelicals! Yet, Ephesians 4:11-15 states God gave gifted men to the Church to enable the body to discern error so they could mature!

So, HOW do we explain such strong, unbiblical, unsettling religious activity, and HOW are we to respond in BLESSING?!"

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Why are unsettling, godless movements in religious and government realms growing, and how may we respond in blessing?"
  1. Unsettling, godless movements in religious and government realms are a revival of man's pre-flood unbelief that is fueled by Satan:
    1. When Ham breached the role of Noah his father (Genesis 9:22) to rule over his family (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 41), he tried to dominate others VERSUS TRUSTING in GOD for fulfillment just like the sinners God had destroyed in the flood, Gen. 6:1-2, 5, 13, 17!
    2. Shem and Japheth COUNTERED this unbelief in God, YIELDING to Noah's role by covering him in FAITH that GOD would fulfill them IN their GOD-ASSIGNED roles as Noah's sons! (Genesis 9:23)
    3. God thus pledged to bless Shem's and Japheth's lines, but NOT Ham's line, and to curse Ham's son, Canaan so that ALL Noah's offspring would see their NEED to TRUST GOD for blessing, Gen. 9:25-27!
    4. Yet, Ham's grandson, Nimrod, followed Ham in RESISTING FAITH in GOD by TYRANNICALLY and ECUMENICALLY DEFYING GOD in every way in UNBELIEF akin to PRE-FLOOD SINNERS:
      1. The name for Nimrod, Ham's grandson (Gen. 10:6, 8-12), is from the verb nimrodh, "'let us revolt,'" meaning here that he led others to revolt against God, H. C. Leupold, Exp. of Gen., vol. I, p. 366f.
      2. He became a "'despot'" (gibbor in this context), hunting "men and not beasts" to kill in defiance of God's flood judgment of such sinners, and defying God's institution of capital punishment for them (Genesis 10:8-9 with 6:2-3, 13, 17; 9:6), Ibid., p. 367).
      3. The imperfect form of the verb "was" with waw consecutive that starts Genesis 10:10 reveals Nimrod used his Genesis 10:8-9 evil activity to start a kingdom at Babel (later called Babylon, Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Gen. 11:9), so Nimrod's building work was stopped by God in Genesis 11:8b! (Kittel, Bib. Hebr., p. 13)
      4. Thus, Nimrod strongly defied God in every way he could: (a) he gained despotic power by murdering men in defiance of God's judgment of the flood on such activity and the institutition of capital punishment; (b) he hunted men to kill to expand influence, and even tried to offset God's blessings to Shem and Japheth, His curse against Canaan and His lack of blessing to his own Hamitic line by faithlessly dominating all of Noah's offspring with a giant tyrannical, ecumenical apostate rule at Babel, leading them into apostasy, Gen. 11:1-4; 10:23-27! He thus revived the despotic unbelief of pre-flood sinners, Genesis 6:1-13!
    5. To hinder this apostasy, God divided man's speech, Genesis 11:5-7!
      1. With people groups not able to communicate with each other, they dispersed on the earth to repopulate it as God had willed, Gen. 9:1; Gen. 11:8. [The "...unbridgeable gap between animal sounds and human language, as well as the statement" of Genesis 11:1 "that originally all men spoke the same language, are inexplicable by the theory of evolution," Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Genesis 11:1.]
      2. This division halted the building of Babel, Gen. 11:8b with 10:10.
      3. Though Nimrod built other cities possibly to retain his influence in opposition to God's judgment at Babel (Gen. 10:10, 11-12), he lost his influence over the world, and his line of Cush (Gen. 10:6, 8) went to Africa, Merrill F. Unger, Arch. and the O. T., 1974, p. 83.
      4. This left the world's peoples isolated from each other and aware of their need to TRUST GOD for blessing, and God was set to fulfill His Noahic prophecy in Genesis 9:25-27 of blessing and cursing to reveal to the people groups their need to trust in Him for blessing!
    6. However, Nimrod's IDEA of tyrannically, ecumenically dominating the WORLD to OPPOSE man's TRUST IN GOD has THRIVED in history via SATAN'S efforts (the red beast) in the mystical form of "Babylon the Great" (Rev. 17:3; 12:3), a world movement that will be exposed and destroyed in the coming Great Tribulation, Rev. 17-18!
  2. So, THROUGHOUT HISTORY, MAN has been RESPONSIBLE before GOD to (A) RESIST SATAN'S effort to FUEL growing worldwide tyrannical and ecumenical efforts to INHIBIT FAITH in GOD and HIS WORD by (B) TRUSTING GOD and HEEDING HIS WORD for SALVATION and BLESSING, 2 Cor. 6:14-18!
Application: (1) For salvation from sin, may we TRUST ALONE in CHRIST and HIS ATONEMENT ALONE opposite the thrusts of all nonbiblical world religions, Eph. 2:8-9 with John 3:16. (2) As believers, may we resist Satan's plan of tyrannical, ecumenical domination in opposition to God by TRUSTING GOD and HEEDING HIS WORD for BLESSING, 2 Cor. 6:14-18!

Lesson: (1) Troublesome movements in religious and government realms rise from Satanically-fueled TYRANNICAL and/or ECUMENICAL efforts to DOMINATE people in promoting UNBELIEF in GOD and SCRIPTURE. (2) In opposition to this, GOD calls MAN to TRUST HIM and His WORD for SALVATION and BLESSING!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

After a sermon like this, it would be edifying to define what role we as a Church and me as a Pastor should have in "resisting" the "Babylon the Great" movement in faith and obedience to the Lord. So, I offer the following summary on key issues for our edification:

(1) In contrast to the "seeker-friendly" movement's influence to gather in large groups by incorporating various "worldly" elements in a Church program, which movement tends to introduce God's people to ecumenical error to a heightened degree, I believe (a) God wants us to focus on the orderly exposition of His Word in the local church under duly appointed Church leaders, 2 Timothy 4:1-2. (b) Evangelism is to occur mainly outside the Church, but the Church is the place for discipling the saints! (Matthew 28:19-20; Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:11-16)

(c) God is the One Who builds the Church numbers according to Acts 2:47b, not us as the seeker-friendly movement suggests. Our role is to trust Christ to build His church according to His promise to do so, the gates of Hell notwithstanding, cf. Matthew 16:18!

(2) In contrast to religious reconstructionism in all its forms, a movement that tries to get the Church to take the reigns of secular powers on earth in order to usher in Christ's messianic rule on earth, I believe (a) God would have us leave the establishment of Christ's messianic kingdom for God to accomplish in own His time and power, and (b) for us instead to focus on discipling the nations to Jesus Christ. Our Lord's Acts 1:6-8 words are clear about this!

(3) In contrast to legalistic pressures to control or to tyrannize the flock in churches or peoples in governments, a tyranny that heavily taxes people financially, or pressures them into accepting ungodly social arrangements that violate their consciences and the Word of God, I believe (a) God wants me to treat you as a body with gentle, righteous grace with a servant's heart, and (b) to keep with His Luke 12:42-46 calling to feed His people with Bible exposition. (c) My role is to function with a deep sense of accountability to Almighty God, not to develop my own agenda for my own interests at your expense!



Thus, the goal is to make Nepaug Bible Church a HAVEN for God's people from tyrannical, ecumenical apostasy while GENTLY FEEDING the flock God's Word in the Spirit's power.

May we trust and obey Scripture's God, and see Him bless!