The Reversal of Babel

Well, good evening. Before we start, I'd like to pray. Father, Lord, I want to be glorifying to you. Lord, I want to be a blessing to these brothers and sisters. I pray that you would help me to do so. Amen. This morning's sermon was about the Tower of Babel. And at Babel, men came together to build an exceedingly high tower that would reach into the heavens. And they did so to make a name for themselves, to glorify themselves. And God responded to this sin and pride by going down, confusing their language and scattering them across the face of the earth. And tonight we're going to be looking at Acts chapter two, in which we see the opposite. Rather than men being scattered, we see men from various nations who speak various languages gathered and Rather than having their languages confused, we see men being supernaturally enabled to speak in languages that they do not know. And so we see a reversal. We see the opposite. So turn with me please to Acts chapter two. I'm going to read verses one through 13. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontius in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, Visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean? Others, mocking, said, they are full of new wine. And now if we were to continue reading the rest of this chapter, we would see that that Peter stands up from among the rest of the apostles and and basically says, I'll tell you what this means. And then he goes and he preaches the gospel, the first ever Christian sermon. And so I think that one of the things this means is that this is meant to illustrate or teach us truths concerning the gospel. And when we consider it in light of Babel and we see this parallel between the two, I think that we see ways in which the gospel reverses Babel. The curse and the effects of Babel are reversed by the gospel. And I want to focus on two truths in particular tonight. The first is that the gospel is about God revealing himself to us. And the second is that the gospel is about God unifying us for the sake of his church. So I'll repeat these. Number one, the gospel is about God revealing himself to us. And number two, the gospel is about God unifying us for the sake of his church. So number one, the gospel is about God revealing himself to us at Babel. As Keith pointed out, we see men moving farther and farther away from God. There was greater rebellion, greater sin and greater alienation from God. And in God's response was to confuse their languages. And there may have been various purposes for that. But but but one result is I think that that only added one more barrier. between men and God, because he revealed himself in one language to one people. But there were many, many nations that spoke foreign languages and could not even comprehend God's word. And we see in the Old Testament a number of places where prophets look forward to a day when languages will no longer be a barrier. In Isaiah 19, it says that in that day, five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts. And in Zephaniah chapter 3, God says, wait for me, for then I will restore to the people a pure language that they all may call on the name of the Lord to serve him with one accord. And I think here in Acts chapter two, we we we see the beginning of the fulfillment of these these prophecies. We see that language will no longer be a barrier between God and the people of the earth. And the the first thing I want us to notice about this passage is that there are there are foreign men from foreign nations, foreign Jews and proselytes from from every nation, and they're gathered together and there's There's a number of possibilities as to why they were gathered, but the thing that we know is that they were gathered according to the providence of God, that ultimately God is the one who has brought them here. And I think it is very significant that he has brought them here in anticipation of this first gospel proclamation. that God made sure that people from from every nation would hear the gospel when it's first proclaimed. And I think that the truth of this teaches us is that the gospel is about God revealing himself to all people. It's a message that is to be proclaimed on the rooftops, to be proclaimed in every language, to every person in all the earth. But there's a there's a second there's a second thing that happens, and you'll notice that the Holy Spirit takes the words of the apostles and translates them into foreign languages so that the hearers can understand them. And I think that this is teaching us that the gospel is a message that is proclaimed with the assistance of a translator or an interpreter, that the gospel is something that is proclaimed with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. And one place I'll point to in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul writes that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. In other words, what he's saying is that the things of God are expressible only in a spiritual language, but men are natural. And so for us to proclaim the gospel, it's as if I'm speaking in a foreign language to someone who's not a believer. And the beautiful truth about the gospel is that the Holy Spirit deals with that problem. The Holy Spirit comes and he translates it and he applies it to men's hearts so that they can understand it and receive it. Paul goes on to say, but he who is spiritual judges all things and we have the mind of Christ. We have been given the ability to comprehend the spiritual things. Jesus would often tell us parables and end them by saying, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And then he told his disciples to those who are outside, all things come in parables so that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing them here and not understand. But he also said to them, but blessed are you for to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. And similarly, when Simon Peter confessed that that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus responded to him and blessed are you for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. Secondly, I think this passage teaches us that the gospel brings unity. At Babel, as we know, men came together to to build a great tower, to make a name for themselves. And if we were to step back and say, now, what is the Book of Acts really all about? I think that a very good way to summarize it would be to say that the Book of Acts is about God building his own tower. And this tower is his church. And just like in Babel, where men came together to build a tower to glorify their own name, God builds his tower, his church, to glorify his name. In Ephesians chapter 2, it says that Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone on whom we have been built into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. So we are God's tower, his building. And what does this mean? Well, at Babel we see that God responded to men coming together to build really an idol, to glorify themselves by dividing them. But in Acts, we see that God brings men together to build his church by unifying them. And so we see that the gospel brings unity. And if we were to look just later in chapter two and verses forty four to forty seven, we see that the result of this preaching of the gospel is that all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. praising God and having favor with all the people. And I just want to point out too that the result of God bringing these people together from every place, all types of people, into his church is that unbelievers from the outside could look in and their response was to admire them, to see the love and the unity and to admire these people, to acknowledge and glorify God in their hearts that God has done something spectacular. So I have six points of application. The first three apply to the The first truth that the gospel is about God revealing himself to us in the second three pertain to the second truth that the gospel is about God unifying us for the sake of his church. So number one, we should recognize that if we understand and believe the gospel, it is by the grace of God alone. It is because God has revealed himself to us. It is not because we were smarter than other people, and it was not because we were more disciplined than other people. It was because God has, by his Holy Spirit, revealed himself to us. And that should make us so thankful. I mean, we should be so thankful for the grace of God to know that it is completely of him. In Matthew 11, 25, Jesus prays, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. And for those of us who are who are wise or are noble or mighty, were the exception because Paul writes, not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but of him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Secondly, especially in the midst of uncertainty and confusion and darkness, we should be quick to run to God that he might reveal more of himself to us so that he would remind us of the gospel and refresh us in the gospel and reveal himself to us through the gospel. I think that John writes something amazing in 1 John. He says, but the anointing, meaning this Holy Spirit, which you have received from him, abides in you. And you do not need that anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie. And just as it has taught you, you will abide in him. And he's teaching us that God has given us his spirit to illuminate us, to reveal things about himself to us and to lead us to himself. And and that is so comforting that when we are confused, when we are in darkness, Let's pray Go to him and he will reveal himself to us Proverbs 3 5 says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths and James 1 5 says if any of you likes wisdom Let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him number three This should motivate us to share the gospel. I Because the fact that the gospel is something that God ultimately translates means that our eloquence and our ability to be articulate doesn't matter. Moses was very concerned about this when God called him. It says that then Moses said to the Lord, Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent. Neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. So the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now, therefore, go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say. Now, the next three pertaining to the truth that the gospel brings unity. So, number four, we should be so thankful for this body. We should be so thankful for the fact that God has unified us. I was at the Spring Fling on Friday night, and it's evident there's a wide variety of talents in this church. There's a wide variety of types of people. There are a wide variety of interests. We're diverse, but God has brought us together, and I'm so thankful for you. I'm so thankful for knowing you. There are many lonely people in the world and and we have one another so that when we rejoice and have joys, we have people to rejoice with us. And when we suffer, we have people to suffer with us. We should be so thankful for the unity that God has given us. Number five, we should seek greater unity and greater love because God's glory is either manifested or obscured by the degree to which we are unified. And I think one passage that to me is amazing, in Ephesians chapter 3, Paul talks about how God has appointed him to reveal a mystery. And the mystery is that Jews and Gentiles will be united together in one body in the church. And he says that this mystery is something that reveals the manifold is he is appointed to reveal his mystery so that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. What he's saying is when when God is able to unite a Jew and a Gentile in the church, The angels and demons glorify God because they see His wisdom and His power in being able to bring someone as different as a Jew and a Gentile together. And so, to me, that is so motivating and exciting that God is glorified when we come together and we are unified and we demonstrate love for one another that, apart from Christ, could not happen. And so, let us ask one another, when the world looks at us, do they marvel at the way that we love one another and the way we are unified? Or do they see divisions and cliques? And do we look like they do? Number six, we should trust that God is able and willing to unify us. And he's able to unify us with any other believer. If you are divided, if you do have a contention or a problem with someone else in here, know that God is able to reconcile that. That there's nothing that God cannot do. And there's not even anyone, any other believer on the face of the earth that could never fit in here. There's no such thing as two Christians that cannot be unified. We should take heart that this is something that God desires to do because his glory is resting on it. And we should take heart in the fact that Jesus himself has prayed for this. In John 17, he said, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I believe that is a prayer that will be answered. So thank you for listening. Let me close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your Word. Lord, we thank you for the truth that through the gospel you reveal yourself to us. Lord, we thank you for the joy and the privilege of knowing you. Lord, we thank you for unifying us and giving us one another, for making us one in Christ. But we pray that in response to your grace to us, we would love you more. We pray that you would draw us even closer together as a body. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.