A Self-made Man

[0:00] There's a phrase in that song where we're singing, empty-handed I rejoice. That takes the Spirit of God, doesn't it?

[0:14] ! You don't typically think of being empty-handed as a good thing. But when we understand that we bring nothing but our filthy rags and sin to the enterprise of being saved by a loving God, we understand what empty-handedness really is.

[0:32] Well, beloved, the title of my message for this morning is A Self-Made Man. You see the reference there. I'll read that in just a few moments.

[0:43] One of the fundamental questions of human existence is where do we come from? Another is why are we here?

[0:57] Now, you've heard this, right? You've heard these questions. You've seen this. You probably have, at some point in your life, asked questions like this. These are questions that are asked by people all over the world from every country, every tribe, and nation.

[1:14] This is not unique to us as Americans or to middle-class people or anything like that. In fact, beloved, the best and brightest minds of every era of human history have, at some point and in some ways, weighed in with answers to these questions.

[1:32] Where do we come from? Why am I here? Who am I? What's the purpose of life? But now, here's the thing about these questions. Your answers will shape the course of your life and define your sense of purpose.

[1:48] That's no small thing. If you answer these questions as a Mormon, it's going to take you in a direction different from answering these questions in Jesus Christ.

[1:59] Can we say that? If you answer these questions from the religion of Islam, if you answer these questions as just an unbeliever, somebody who doesn't follow God or have any heart for the glory of God, those answers that you bring are going to shape your life.

[2:17] They're going to define your life. God made us. And He made us in His image. Now, we established that from the very beginning chapters of the Bible.

[2:30] Right? That's what we saw. And so we've been building on that since Genesis 1. God made us. God made us inquisitive.

[2:43] Didn't He? He made us. The animals aren't curious about anything. You say, well, the curiosity of a cat. So, yeah, I won't get into cats right now.

[2:55] God made us inquisitive creatures. We have a built-in, innate sense of this. Making meaning out of life.

[3:07] Now, animals don't do that. We are constantly seeking to make meaning out of life. We are constantly seeking to understand something of our past so that it helps us make sense of our present.

[3:21] And we're not very good at it because we keep having to relearn the lessons of history. Most of us have an inquisitiveness about our ancestors. Where did we come from?

[3:32] Who were our people? That kind of thing. But now listen to this. Knowing our roots does more than scratch the itch, though, of our curiosity about our ancestors or our roots or whatever.

[3:46] However, that knowledge connects us with the people of our past. Yes, for sure it does. But it also lends purpose to our present.

[3:58] Now, how so? Well, I can tell you this. If it wasn't important for us to know our ancestry and our history and our roots as human beings, then God wouldn't have put it in the Bible.

[4:11] But here it is right in front of us today. This will be the second Sunday we've been dealing with this. We've already seen genealogy history in other chapters of Genesis, haven't we?

[4:25] Where you just read, and begot, and begot, and begot, right? And now we come to chapter 10 where we're seeing something very similar to that. So what does all of this mean?

[4:37] How does it connect us with our present? Well, we learn that God has formed the details and boundaries of nations and peoples to accomplish His greater designs for humanity.

[4:54] That is, for His world, and particularly for us, His people, His beloved in His Son. And so we have this in the Bible, not for unbelievers to come and read this and order their lives by it.

[5:11] Unbelievers could care less about any of this. It's at best fanciful stories and myths, right? But we come as His beloved, and we read the Bible, and we read these kinds of things, and God is helping us connect ourselves to His designs in the past to show us His sovereign control over those designs into our modern era and help us see that the same God doing it then is the God doing it now.

[5:40] And we can trust Him. And we should trust Him. And we have every reason to trust Him. The fact that we struggle with trust has to do more with our own sin and pride than anything else.

[5:54] But we have a God who makes promises and keeps His promises. Every single human being living after the flood owes our ancestry to what God did for Noah and his three sons on the ark.

[6:10] The Bible tells us how and why the very first groups of people settled in the ancient civilizations of history. And then they were formed into what is now our modern nations.

[6:27] This is an amazing reality because the Bible is the only place really that we can go for a reliable, trustworthy, and complete account of how nations were formed and why.

[6:42] Why? Folks, it wasn't random. The boundaries of the nations today, the purposes of the nations today, the languages of the cultures and nations today are purposeful in the mind of Almighty God according to His designs for His world.

[7:03] And it's all tracking according to God's goodness. Do you believe that? The world is not in chaos in the sense of a sovereign God controlling the designs of what He wants the world to be and do at any given time.

[7:20] Now, it may look to us like this chaos is happening and we might even use words like that. Catastrophes and chaos and all that kind of thing. But when you get to heaven's view, and look down on it, we have a sovereign God that is controlling every bit of it.

[7:38] And that sovereign God amazingly condescends to come into the very details of your life and structure those details every moment of every day as His beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[7:53] Now, why would that big old God who's running the universe take time to come and run your little universe? Because He loves you. Because He cares about you.

[8:06] And because He sent His Son for you to purchase you away from sin and give you a life that allows you to see the details of this God at work in your heart.

[8:18] And what does that make you want to do? Worship. Praise. Worship. Because God knows that all of us were designed by Him to be worshipers and so we're going to worship someone or something.

[8:33] Well, we want it to be God that gets that worship. This is so much more than just a table of nations. It has so much to tell us about God and our need for Him.

[8:49] The Bible tells us that every nation, every culture, every society of our modern era can trace its origins back to the three sons of Noah. Every single one of them.

[9:01] Without exception. Look at this on the screen here. Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth and Ham was the father of Canaan.

[9:13] These three were the sons of Noah and from these the whole earth was populated. Now we've already seen that and talked about that in a previous sermon.

[9:27] At the conclusion of chapter 10 to sum up this list of nations deriving from these three sons Moses goes on to write this to the Hebrew people who were the original audience for what he's pinning this.

[9:43] These are the families of the sons of Noah according to their genealogies by their nations and out of these out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

[9:59] Now you'll remember that I mentioned to you last week if you were here that this chapter was actually written after the events of chapter 11. What we're seeing in chapter 10 is setting the stage for what will come in chapter 11 but it's kind of giving us a preview of what's going to occur.

[10:20] Chapter 11 will tell us how the nations were scattered and the languages of the earth were established and why. Why that happened. We'll talk more about that God willing next week.

[10:31] Right now chapter 10 is kind of giving us a preview of all of that and saying yeah they're all scattered. Chapter 11 will tell us why. But look here's the question I wanted to ask as I'm reading through this and I have already settled this question in my heart many many years ago in my walk with the Lord.

[10:49] Can we really trust this information to be the truth about the beginnings of our nationalities and why does it matter? Well look the late creationist scientist Henry Morris thought it was very very important and very reliable.

[11:09] I want to share with you what Henry Morris said. Even higher critics have often admitted that the 10th chapter of Genesis is a remarkably accurate historical account.

[11:24] There is no comparable catalog of ancient nations available from any other source. Did you get that? It is unparalleled in its antiquity and comprehensiveness.

[11:38] There is nothing in any ancient writing discovered by archaeologists even to this day which is at all comparable in scope and accuracy.

[11:51] How about that? You have before you in Genesis 10 the only definitive account of the origins of the nations and why they came into being.

[12:04] There you go. I mean I am looking at it and going that is worth the price of the book right there isn't it? Just to know that. But there is so much so much more.

[12:15] Genesis 10 then beloved reveals more than the boundaries of nations to us. This chapter is a record of mankind's now hear this because this is what Moses is setting up as he records this because keep in mind in chapter 11 we are going to see a terrible thing settle on humanity and God's going to have to judge them in a way that's very serious.

[12:39] It's not as serious as the flood because they maintain their lives but nevertheless God's going to do a remarkable thing. What we have here in this chapter beyond the boundaries of nations is a record of mankind's misplaced faith.

[12:55] In the nations themselves we are going to make a mighty nation of ourselves. And so they turn in and they look to the might that they can create.

[13:09] They would become that kind of nation many of them and they would put their faith in these false gods that they would create and then bow to.

[13:21] See that's the way it always happens. We follow after our own heart and our heart because it is designed to worship as we follow after our own heart our heart cannot abide a vacuum in our faith and so we have to put our faith somewhere.

[13:38] It has to have an object and so we create false gods for ourselves and we bow to those gods and those gods shape and define our lives. They come to tell us what's important what to put priority on how to go about behaving in life and they demand our utter loyalty and allegiance don't they?

[14:01] My idols do and I know yours do too. I've met with enough of you and love you and have been part of your life long enough to know you struggle with idols just like I do and we all need the love of God.

[14:14] Listen God will preserve a people for his pleasure and his purpose and his promise and he will punish the rebellious won't he?

[14:25] Now again these are the twin themes we've been tracing since we started in Genesis chapter 1 this idea of God blessing the obedient who follow him in his mercy and in his grace and God bringing judgment and punishment to those who harden their hearts and become stiff necked against God and want to live in their own way that kind of thing applies to individual people it applies to families it applies to entire cultures and nations we see this throughout the Bible we see it in our era today to further emphasize these important truths Genesis 10 offers us the example of and here it is Nimrod this is where we're going to be today Nimrod it's easy to miss and I don't want you to miss it I want you to see what the Bible is emphasizing in Genesis 10 about this guy Nimrod it's just a few lines and it's covered in all this other stuff going on with all these other people and nations but we're going to lift this out of here so here's the question that we want to ask for this morning who is Nimrod why does God single Nimrod out for mention in Genesis 10 he doesn't do it with anybody else so we need to pause and ask ourselves about that within the scope then of our concern for Genesis 10 and for this morning

[15:53] Nimrod is an early example of the devastating influence of a self made man we will see this repeated over and over and over in human history and Moses is laying the ground work for it right now he's getting it right out in the open for Israel now as you listen to what I'm going to say next think about Israel and why they need to hear this knowing what you know about their future okay the title that we're giving to Nimrod as a self made man is actually kind of a misnomer because no man is what he is apart from God's sovereign control even unbelievers enjoy the common grace of almighty God on their lives to give them babies and vacations and cars and clothes and air to breathe you want to ask unbelievers whose air do you think you're breathing whose air is it who invented air who invented you you know those are the kinds of questions that people used to ask me and I just go yeah whatever dude

[16:53] I'm going to the lake see ya now look this is what we're dealing with this is what we're dealing with the Hebrews following Moses needed to see and heed that apart from God's sovereign grace Nimrod stands as a testimony to how one man's wicked rebellion can negatively impact entire societies of people and look at this how easily people will turn to themselves and turn themselves over to human heroes to do for them what only God can do now have we not seen that through history you can probably think of some names we'll mention a few in just a few moments let's look at the text that I'm talking about this morning and bring it out into the open as well we're going to be in Genesis 10 beginning in verse 6 the sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan and the sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabta and Reamah and Sabteca and the sons of Reamah were Sheba and Dedan now Cush became the father of

[18:11] Nimrod he became a mighty one on the earth he was a mighty hunter before the Lord therefore it is said like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord so there's a proverb after Nimrod the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Akkad and Kalneh in the land of Shinar from that land Nimrod went forth into Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth Er and Kala and Razan between Nineveh and Kalah that is the great city so sandwiched here in between some of this spelling out of the genealogy starting first with Japheth in the early part of chapter 10 we move into the lineage of Ham and that continues all the way down through verse 20 and so sandwiched in that lineage of

[19:15] Ham he starts off with this guy named Nimrod and what purpose does Nimrod serve in all of this well the who and what of societies turning to what they do when they turn away from God is the issue at hand what Moses wants to communicate to the people in other words is who do people turn to what do people turn to when they turn away from God that's what's at stake Moses wants to lift that out with Nimrod as an example of what this will be and this all becomes so instructive for Israel and you want to just beat your head against the wall until you realize we're just like Israel Israel didn't listen you know one generation would walk with the Lord for the most part and the next generation would flee away from God and God would bring some kind of punishment or judgment on them and they turn and repent and come back to the

[20:18] Lord and then another generation would turn away after they repented and you see what I'm saying back and forth and back and forth what is that that's pride that's stubbornness that's you and I trying to find something to worship when we turn away from God because we have to have something fill that gap because we're made that way look you're wired to worship you have to do it you cannot help yourself you will worship every day of your life the question becomes will you worship the God that made you and deserve your worship or will you worship idols wasn't this the issue with Israel and didn't God say don't turn to idols that will be a bad day for you and what did they do they turned to idols time and time again and it was a bad day for them so here's where we'll start this morning it's the making of a self made man the making of a self made man now Cush became the father of

[21:18] Nimrod that sounds so innocent in this line of people in genealogy sounds so innocent but at this point the context of scripture is focusing on the lineage of Ham and we need to remember the context of the lineage of Ham according to Noah in terms of the prophecy that Noah made the progression of that prophecy runs like this do you remember the prophecy that Canaan will be a servant Ham's son will be a servant to the others right alright here's the progression of that prophecy Noah's youngest son is Ham Ham lived in rebellion against the Lord Ham's youngest son is Canaan he lived in rebellion now we come to Cush in that same line Cush is Ham's oldest but

[22:19] Cush as the oldest son of Ham had a youngest son and that youngest son was Nimrod so you see the line here and Nimrod will be characterized by a heart of willful rebellion surprise now this isn't a surprise because this is part of the prophecy that Noah made and we need to understand what Moses wants the people of Israel to see about this line of people and how this progresses through different generations why is that so important for them well one warning for Israel and for by the way is the powerful sinful influence exerted by the ungodly example of older men on their male offspring now I don't think that's the main point of the passage necessarily but I think it's a very important corollary to what Moses is teaching the people of Israel I think he's saying men of Israel if you set your heart to be stiff necked against!

[23:22] the Lord you will train behind you stiff necked against the Lord and he wants the people to see how that works and why that is and apart from that generation repenting which they can do and coming to know the Lord there will be no hope for them and they will suffer under the punishment and chastisement of Almighty God friends as we look back and put the pieces of the biblical revelation together we find that there is a clear heritage of overt sinful rebellion which characterizes Ham's line of men these are wicked dudes now again this is Noah's prophecy about Canaan so we don't need to see this as just happenstance or just human nature working itself out no this is something that is fulfilling prophecy from

[24:23] Noah even though Ham himself listen now even though Ham descended from the line of Adam's godly son Seth right but look at what happened Ham lived more in line with the descendants of Cain and he lived a terrible life if you go back to Genesis chapter 4 with me I don't want to tax your memories here so I'm going to take you back to 4 and show you this again chapter 4 beginning in verse 16 then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord that is a very telling statement is it not I mean how do you go out from the presence of the Lord he's a sovereign God he's everywhere so what does that mean it's a spiritual statement isn't it he went out from the presence of the Lord he's not walking in the Lord Cain went out from the presence of the

[25:25] Lord and settled in the land of Nod east of Eden Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch and he built a city and called the name of the city after his son Enoch now to Enoch was born Irad and Irad became the father of Mahujael and Mahujael became the father of Methushael and Methushael became the father of Lamech and here we go Lamech took to himself two wives so he introduces Polygamy the name of the one was Adah and the name of the other Zillah Adah gave birth to Jabal he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock his brother's name was Jubal he was the father of all those who play the lyre and the pipe now as for Zillah she also gave birth to Tubal Cain the forger of all implements of bronze and iron even way back then

[26:27] God gave them the knowledge to do this kind of stuff and the sister of Tubal Cain was Naamah now notice what Lamech does Lamech said to his wives Adah and Zillah listen to my voice that's a very proud boastful statement look at me it's like a gorilla standing there beating his chest listen to my voice you wives of Lamech give heed to my speech I have killed a man for wounding me what a thing to brag about and a boy for striking me if Cain is avenged sevenfold then Lamech seventy sevenfold whatever you visit on me and whatever you have visited on my ancestors I'll visit it on you seventy seven times more what a proud egotistical sickening man this is exactly the kind of guy we would not want hanging around our kids and our lives evil evil guy this is the heritage

[27:29] Cain and Lamech were rebellious men raising rebellious men now you might remember that I told you after the flood God dispelled any idea about the nature of mankind changing for the better it's like did the flood cleanse and everything and so now Noah walks off the boat and they've had such a great time as a family worshiping God for a year and now they're coming off the boat and everything is so wonderful and so beautiful and they're so much in love with each other and with the Lord and all that kind of stuff what do we see right off the boat Ham's disdain for his father Noah's authority and so he mocks his dad and shames his dad and then we see Noah in from scripture beyond what it's mentioned here we have the bible's clear context of corruption that we see in

[28:32] Cush's ancestral line and I want you to think about this with me in terms of his line Cush's father Ham was ungodly to say the least Cush was raised among people who actively sought to throw off the authority of God that was the standard fare of that family we do not live honoring God we may give him lip service at best but we're not bowing the knee to him he is also of the line of those scriptures said would live in opposition to God so this is scriptures own testimony against this guy against Cush and then look at this one in Nimrod we have a product of Cush's home and life I'm going to show you that and then finally Cush named him Nimrod which means rebellion let us rebel who names his kid that

[29:33] I'll tell you who names his kid that proud evil people it's just like naming one of your kids Jezebel who does that people who obviously don't know the scripture now look Henry Morris was very insightful here it was helpful to me so I want to share it's a rather lengthy quote but I think it helps clarify some of what's going on here as we look into the scripture and try to better understand Moses point for mentioning Nimrod and singling him out in the way he did and giving him these labels first of all the Hebrews would have picked right up on the fact of what Nimrod means let us rebel right we have to interpret that into our English language they would have known right away Henry Morris had this to say Cush as Ham's oldest son had apparently resented this curse this prophecy of Noah more and more as the years passed by so that by the time

[30:34] Nimrod was born the resentment had become so strong that he gave his son a name meaning let us rebel I think that's fair insight yes we're kind of filling in some of the blanks but that sounds fair the inference then is that Cush trained Nimrod from childhood to be a leader in a planned and organized rebellion against God's purposes for mankind had God destined them to perpetual servitude to the descendants of Shem and Japheth oh no even though that's exactly what Noah prophesied they would rule instead and so Cush perhaps encouraged by Ham and his other sons began to train Nimrod to struggle for ascendancy among men that is good insight I think I think it captures the flavor and tone of the context of what the Hebrews bringing out about Nimrod I think that's very good so here's what we're dealing with

[31:34] Nimrod had a grandfather who was his grandfather Ham and then he had a father who was his father Cush who lived in open rebellion to the Lord now what Moses is doing here is instructing the Hebrews in both the origins and the influence of this spirit of rebellion that's what you need to grab here in Nimrod we have the epitome of this spirit of rebellion in mankind and we are going to see it manifest in so many different ways throughout the life of the people of Israel and in the pagan nations surrounding them and it will spark God to do many many different things in a response to all of that sin now one other thing I want to share with you before we move on I want to bring this into something of what we can relate to you who are here you remember that the term generational influence and we talked about what it is and isn't what

[32:45] God does and doesn't do with that in other words God does not punish the offspring for their father's sins God's not going to punish my sons for my sins but I made it clear to you my sons will be influenced and negatively impacted by my sin won't they but God will not hold my sons accountable for my sins any more than God will hold me accountable for Mark sins or Mark accountable for my sins doesn't work that way God holds each one of us accountable for our own sins you will face God for your sins friend you will the earth might not get justice with you if you decide to rebel against the Lord and live a secret life of sin or whatever but you'll answer to God one day and that should sober us at the same time though I'm trying to point out to you the Bible is clear about the influence of parents for good or bad in the life of a child and we need to think about that and be sobered by it again

[33:52] I'm not saying this is the main point of the passage I think it's another corollary point but I think it's worth bringing out and just reminding and then I'll step away and get back into the flow of the context if you look with me for example at Deuteronomy 6 turn past Genesis a few books this will be somewhat familiar to some of you I think a few of you it's a passage that is very important to the Jewish people the Jewish people do a lot with this passage Deuteronomy 6 beginning in verse 4 hear oh Israel the shema hear oh Israel the Lord is our God the Lord is one and now based on that what does he say we should do you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might these words which

[34:53] I am commanding you today shall be on your heart you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead you shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates all of that is just simply a way of emphasizing the fact that you need to know this and it needs to live in you you need to be defined by these precepts of loving God and walking with God yourself and then you need to bring that over into instruction into your family to the degree where as you come and as you go about your life as a family this becomes the natural course of how you guys talk about life understand life and define life it's all by the love of God you see you with me okay this is foundational to

[35:57] Jewish life as God's people so this wasn't for the super pious this was how God was instructing his people to live father this is what he wanted now go same chapter verse 20 verse 20 when your son asks you in time to come saying what do the testimonies and statutes and judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you now look stop there isn't that a great question now if your kids are being raised in a home where you love the Lord and you're trying to live for the Lord at some point can't you see your kids coming to a place where they're trying to connect the dots and they're going to ask you what does any of this stuff you've been talking about have to do with the way that we understand and live life under God what does this tell us about God isn't that a great question now can you see those questions being asked and answered in

[36:58] Nimrod's home Lamech's Cain's no no see this is what Moses is telling this is the contrast that he's trying to show in relationship to the Lord so when your sons come your daughters come and they ask you to explain this verse 21 then you shall say to your son son we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand you see who's getting the glory here moreover the Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt Pharaoh and all the household he brought us out from there in order to bring us in that is so good there!

[37:42] he brought which he had sworn to our fathers in other words we have a promise keeping God so the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival even as it is today it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God just as he has commanded!

[38:15] isn't that pretty clear instruction for parents with their kids it just doesn't leave a lot of doubt about what God is saying to do here right but it gets even better we go to the New Testament look at Luke Matthew Mark Luke and John and we'll be in Luke chapter 6 this is another principle tied to this that Jesus will come over and teach us based on what I just read you Luke 6 beginning in verse 39 and so Jesus also spoke a parable to them a blind man cannot guide a blind man can he will they not both fall into a pit a pupil is not above his teacher but everyone after he has been fully trained will be like his teacher everyone after he has been fully trained will be like his teacher now that's a principle

[39:24] Jesus taught us those whom we put ourselves under those whom we make our heroes those we look up to and want to follow emulate we will become like those people do you not see this do you remember now I'm dating myself I don't even know if I'm getting her name right do you remember some of you when Britney Spears she was the singer right help me out Suzanne when Britney Spears would dress a certain way and it was certainly not modest do you remember all the girls that started dressing like that all the little girls you know the 12 year olds running around don't you see that today I look at girls we watch the news sometimes and they'll go and they'll do a treatment on the news with a public school and I'll see the girls walking around and I told my wife I said you would have had to lock me in a dungeon I would not have survived that there's no way

[40:26] I could have handled that as an unsaved young man Jeff where are you oh you don't want to know unbeliever lustful man I need Jesus to save this sin sick soul that's the only answer because you know what I produce more of me my sons are more of me born into sin in need of the same savior and this is what Moses is telling them you are going to raise children like this and what they need to hear from you and see in your life is someone devoted to God with all your heart soul and strength and they need to hear you constantly reminding them of that need in the Lord as they watch you walk with the Lord and anything less than that even then folks there's no guarantee is there

[41:30] I want to give you one more before we move on because it brings it into again a New Testament sense of definition and oddly enough it's in Ephesians you'll be reading about this if you haven't already started in May Ephesians 6 and look at verse 4 fathers do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord there it is it's just so straightforward you need to bring your kids up understanding the truth of their need for the forgiveness of their sins and the Lord Jesus Christ and what it means for them to live a life apart from Christ because it can mean ruin for them now folks I just want to make a point about this as we think about the context of Genesis 10 considering the Bible's continuous admonitions and encouragements for parents to raise their kids in the ways of

[42:34] God we see prideful rebellion in what Nimrod's parents and grandparents lived we even see it in Nimrod himself it's a self fulfilling prophecy if you turn your heart away from the Lord and don't follow the Lord you're going to train children up in that hardness of heart because they already have hearts that are rebellious don't they so all you're doing is reinforcing it in them there's nothing to slam up against that and challenge that lust that pride that selfishness look I'm going to put it up here on the screen Nimrod became like his teachers it doesn't mean that his teachers made him bad he already had a rebellious heart because we're all born into that rebellion but his teachers reinforced it and then they trained him in it they just trained him how to be if you will allow badder all right now look the motive now this this comes out this motive of a self-made man it comes out in what's meant by

[43:59] Nimrod being a mighty hunter before the Lord again the Hebrews this wouldn't have been wasted on them they would have immediately resonated with what Moses was communicating here mighty one emphasizes Nimrod's skill as a warrior in battle in other words we would say he's a bad dude he's a bad dude he is a skilled professional when it comes to dispatching human life and so people feared him I don't know that he was a big old muscular presence of a guy but his demeanor and his skill in battle was enough to put the fear in people this is what it's telling us that is something the Hebrews would have respected because they lived by the sword especially at this time and then notice what else it says about him the next designation a mighty hunter that showcases Nimrod's prowess to influence and overcome whether it's people or animals or whatever and it's interesting these were the kingly virtues prized and developed by later kings of the cities and cultures

[45:09] Nimrod founded isn't that interesting I thought it was where did they learn all this where did they see all this it started in Nimrod who learned it from his dad who learned it from his dad and they're grooming each other in this spirit of rebellion kingly virtues earthly virtues of human kings this is why God would have to tell Israel do not put your confidence and trust in horses and chariots what did he tell Solomon don't put your confidence and trust in your military and in all the stuff I've given you through your wisdom didn't he say that and don't take a lot of wives that this is all the stuff earthly kings do that's what they trust in and what did Solomon do yep yep I'm telling you this is hard stuff now in and of themselves the qualities we're talking about do not make Nimrod a bad or evil man no but the

[46:09] Bible uses Hebrew expression at this point to convey the idea of Nimrod's major motive in life what is it that motive is pride that's seen in Nimrod self exaltation the Hebrew expression or the phrase that brings this out is before the Lord now that might to you sound good it's repeated twice in verse 9 hear this beloved every commentator I read interpreted this phrase before the Lord to mean against the Lord against the Lord that's what he's saying in other words it's to I'll use you brother it's to come before and be face to face in a stance of rebellion I'm coming before you to let you know I'm the man so it's against the Lord it's a posture of aggressive rebelliousness you ever met somebody like that they kind of walk into the room and have an edge on them it's like they're just waiting for the fight they just have it in them hard to be around people like!

[47:17] every commentator I read against the Lord Nimrod became a mighty tyrant in the face of Jehovah so Henry Morris saw that before the Lord as expressing the idea of being a mighty tyrant a despot we see this same spirit of self exaltation and pride even before the flood in what we've mentioned in Cain and Lamech right now after the flood Nimrod was out to make a name for himself himself without the aid of Jehovah in other words Nimrod has been trained to say I know that there's a prophecy that our lineage will be the servants of Japheth and Shem's lineage but that's not going to happen in our life that's not going to happen we're not going to be anybody's servant we're going to take the ball and we're going to run with it that's the spirit that he has now

[48:22] I don't know about you there have been times in my life particularly as an unbeliever when my heart was set automatically default against the Lord and it was like yeah I'm not I'm not I'm going to do my own thing I want to chart my own course I want to go out and get all I can and that kind of thing there was no thought about God or service you know if I served you then it would be because I wanted something from you I may not say that to you but that was a lot of the motive This is Nimrod it's the spirit of self exaltation now it seems that he was determined to live his way and show the world around him that he could defy God's will by sheer personal prowess sheer personal prowess so in personal defiance to what God said and prophesied through Noah about Canaan's line being the servant of the ancestors of Shem and Japheth lines

[49:23] Nimrod would be no man's servant no sir so when I speak of Nimrod's motive I'm talking about the driving force of his life it's what defined him as a human being it was his own pride to exalt himself over everybody else so he was a tyrant we would call him a dictator as a leader he was a dictator he was a bully he was a bully now look I'm naming names listen to this we could make a list as long as these screens and fill both of them up with people like this both men and women mostly men but think of these names we've seen the same spirit of Nimrod that's what I'm calling the spirit of Nimrod repeated in men like you remember Nero Caligula and even men before them but I just jumped into history there what about Alexander you think Alexander conquered the world because he was a nice guy he was so!

[50:21] full of! how about names like this Lenin millions and millions of his own people slaughtered Stalin same thing and then how about Hitler you probably thought of Hitler right away didn't you well what about this one Putin he's a murderous devil and then finally and I'm going to say it Muhammad Muhammad not a nice guy the spirit of Nimrod has lived throughout human history and it is with us today and we are born with a default in our heart toward rebelling against God it's why we need a savior who bled to death on the cross to redeem us from that it took a powerful answer to defeat a powerful foe that we are helpless against while we were still helpless

[51:22] Christ died for the ungodly and then I'll transition to the manner of a self made man we see this in verse 10 the beginning of his kingdom you see that the beginning of his kingdom if you have it in your bible underline his babble eric akkad!

[51:43] kelna in the land of shinar assyria nineveh we know some of these names don't we and we know that some of these names are going to become the arch enemies of Israel and this is what we see happening here based on Nimrod's personality as a warrior and a hunter considering his motive to exalt himself what this dude did was he went about gathering a following of people who would do his bidding his obvious charisma he had a dynamism about him that inspired men to follow him in his exploits even risking their lives to accomplish his desires for gain and personal exaltation his obvious success in establishing cities the scripture tells us that conquering any opposition that was intoxicating stuff for the average man unsaved men love men like this in short people idolized

[52:50] Nimrod Nimrod became the picture and statue of the self made man the successful man the potent powerful man he would have been one of the heroes of this day Nimrod accomplished amazing things and I'm not denying him that but verse 10 puts it all in perspective for us when it says this notice in the beginning of his kingdom was and then you have this list none of that was built or done to the glory of God keep in mind the context of Nimrod lineage folks Nimrod didn't do any of these things for the Lord he didn't do any of these things because he was following God and praying to God and seeking God's blessing on these endeavors no not at all to the contrary he did all this to flaunt his ability in the face of God and say see what I can do so he was a man on a mission for self self gentlemen and no one was going to get in his way his manner was one of sheer force of will

[54:00] I'll tell you this would have been some kind will think of what he possessed in the way of gifts and abilities that we can discern here look at this first one Nimrod was obviously gifted as a leader of men he was an able organizer and administrator he had an engineer's eye for building he knew people and how to motivate people move people get people to do what he wanted them to do and he was brave and ambitious but I want you to understand this as well beloved while those characteristics under a man who's serving the Lord could be used in awesome ways by Jesus realize that all of these attributes were employed in his sinful rebellion against the will of God not for it Nimrod could never be content with being a small but faithful fish in the great sea of life it's not the way he was wired so he had to prove himself to be a big fish among big fish he wanted to be the biggest and the baddest the measure of a self made man we just take the entire unit here where

[55:18] Nimrod is being dealt with and I'm sure I'm sure that if we'd been able to interview the men of Nimrod day guys they would have gushed Nimrod praise as a visionary kind of thing most of the people who would have had a dissenting view of Nimrod were dead that's what dictators do with people who disagree with them they put them in concentration camps by the millions they kill them they just take them out you disappear one night when you review this guy's attributes that are clearly just stated in scripture a mighty warrior a conqueror a mighty hunter of beasts and men a provider a powerful brave intelligent leader a great builder of great cities heady stuff heady stuff now it's kind of obvious to us what's missing from all of this list of personal virtues

[56:21] Nimrod didn't live for the glory and pleasure of God did he he didn't but the world measured Nimrod by its own material and moral code and so to the world this guy was a success I sometimes find my heart breaking when I look at the stats of how many Russian soldiers are dying every day every week how many of them are being maimed if not killed so that it's thousands it's like twelve to eighteen hundred men a day a day not a week a day either losing their lives or being put out of commission and wounded in some way and sent off the battlefield just from the side of Russia alone and I think to myself how could a nation of people put up with that how could they marshal that kind of loyalty to send men into a meat grinder that's what they call it like that and I'm going to answer it for you because the scripture tells us

[57:48] I don't have to guess it's the spirit of Nimrod that's what it is it's terrible but it's alive and well isn't it Nimrod's legacy was a heritage of cities and a reputation as a rebel against God and the world worshipped him for it how backwards as to the cities they were in two important geographical regions in relationship to the Israelites Moses wants them to see this and mark it right who were hearing this from Moses for the first time the Israelites were hearing this from Moses for the first time those two regions and you know these names were Babylonia with its capital Babylon and Assyria with its infamous capital Nineveh a wonder of the great world Matt didn't you say you'd been to Nineveh talk to Matt sometime he shared some of this with me he seen it both from the man

[58:54] Isis had destroyed a lot of that but they've since tried to rebuild and you should see it because they'd excavated the main gates and all for Nineveh and it was something you look at that and you think how did people back then do this they were very intelligent industrious people God had given them a great wisdom and a great sense of urgency to do things like this but those were the cities for centuries Babylonia and Assyria for centuries these two cultures were the arch enemies of the descendants of Abraham the Israelites so much later in life in terms of the Hebrews God would use these two nations of Nimrod see Moses is trying to tell them look to the Lord God's going to use these nations of Nimrod to judge the Israelites for their idol worship what am I talking about hear this in 722

[59:55] BC God used the Assyrians to conquer the entire northern kingdom of Israel and deport the entire population the civil war had come to Israel and they divided up into two kingdoms Israel which had most of the tribes and then Judah Assyria conquered Israel in 722 wiped them out deported the survivors then in 586 BC God used the Babylonians to conquer the southern kingdom of Judah and deport all of them scripture records all this doesn't it Nimrod established these cities in direct violation of God's command for the people to multiply and fill the earth and Nimrod said no we don't we're going to build our cities we're going to stay in our cities and we're going to be powerful we're going to rule this thing we're going to see this in chapter 11 with

[60:58] Babel so Nimrod and this is what gets me Nimrod led an entire culture of people to violate the command of God and left them with his example of rebellion as the norm this is the norm this is how we live this is what we do and these cities stood as the dwelling places of the enemies of God and of his people well we might ask this folks well what happened to these cities what happened to these people what do these people have to do with God and what do these people have to do with us today what are we to learn what are we to get what are we to get that's chapter 11 that's chapter 11 and it's an amazing historical reality that God did and designed and it's not random in a happenstance God laid out these boundaries and God is still still moving the hearts of kings and leaders and God is still fulfilling his purposes for his world and we're grateful for that let's pray together beloved father

[62:14] God in heaven thank you for Genesis 10 and the word of the Lord that's come to us this morning as you have taught us with great insight into the life of Nimrod a man who had set his heart to rebel against you by name by deed by culture by nation I pray father that you will help our men here at grace to take careful heed of the lessons that we can learn from this kind of teaching about a man who had given his life to be against all that you are and stand for and the havoc that he had on societies and peoples and I pray that you would help each one of us though we are not aspiring to be a Nimrod and influence nations you have put people under our influence and I pray for my brothers to be godly men to relinquish secret sin to repent of pride and lust the ego that wants to drive us away from being a faithful steward of all that you have given to each of us the kind of pride that denies us the contentment that we would have because we have learned to be thankful for what you give us and the limits that you place on our lives so father help us to walk by your designs to love our wives with all of our heart to love you

[63:43] God with all of our heart and to understand the depths of your love for us so that we can take that love to our wives and our kids to our brothers and sisters and even to those who are strangers in our midst as we meet them each hope I pray that you would help us to be these people serving you and for each woman in here today who fights their own battle with pride and ego and selfishness I pray that you would put our ladies to greater efforts of prayer as they already get on their knees and ask you to make their husbands godly men and help their husbands to stand in godliness against the wickedness and immorality of a society run by satan so god help our women to be prayer warriors for their men and help our men to be prayer warriors as they look to you to fill the need that only you can fill that need is for love for

[64:51] Jesus and a godly life we thank you for these examples and we thank you for the hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and