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There is conflict and confusion among the nations. Year after year they try to settle their differences, each in self-interest. The result continues to be the same: more conflict, more separation, more violence, more war and loss of life. This has been the story of humanity and civilization; and we see that in Genesis 10-11.

According to joshuaproject.net there are 16,700 people groups and of those; 6,933 are unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s over 2.8 billion people who have no access to the gospel and will suffer an eternal Hell. Our SBC had its annual convention recently and issued a challenge to every church to adopt a people group. In so doing, we will truly be committing to reach the world for Jesus Christ.

As Pastor at SPBC, I take this seriously. I have been praying about this for some time. In addition, I have been meeting with and discussing a partnership withGlen BurnieBaptistChurchabout organizing a trip to visit our IMB and looking to adopt an unreached people group. Please be in prayer of your participation.

ð       There are 3 groups: Senders (pray/give), Sowers (go) and Disobedient

EXAMINE             In Genesis 10-11 we see 4 truths of human history in the world.

1.       God knows you (Genesis 10).

In Genesis 10 we have the remainder of the genealogy from Genesis 5. So, Genesis 6-9 have been an excursus in the life of Noah and his family generations. From Noah comes the multiplying of humanity and filling the earth. Genesis 10 shows the lines of Noah’s 3 sons: Japeth (10:2), Ham (10:6) and Shem (10:21).

 

Again, what is the point of this genealogy? Is it worth reading a “phonebook” list of names? In short, YES – 1) All Scripture is equally God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16) even if not equally important.
2) All Scripture is profitable for instruction – you can learn something about God and His plan for humanity.

 

So, from Genesis 10 we learn that God knows you. He knows, pays attention to and lists the people of this genealogy. In the midst of a history of people, places, nations, cultures, languages, and beliefs, God knows each person individually.

 

The Psalmist was humbled at this thought

8:3-4 “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”

 

139:13-17 “You know me…For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”

ð    Humbly come before the Lord. He is bigger and greater than you can imagine but He knows you individually and loves you.

 

2. God knows us (Genesis 10:1, 32).

In addition to God knowing individuals, He also views us in connection to a history – a people, a clan, a nation. In other words, our thoughts, actions and beliefs are not in isolation from our environment. Remember, our last message saw that God blessed Noah (and us) to multiply believers and blessings. Because God has an eye not just on the present but also on the past and future, He sees countless generations. His great desire is not just a few random people to believe in Him but has been working to call a people unto Himself.

 Deuteronomy 4:20 “But the Lord has taken you… to be a people of his own inheritance”

Deuteronomy 7:6-9 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery…Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations”

Deuteronomy 28:9 “The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself”

So, rather than thinking in terms ofAmerica’s radically autonomous self, we spring from a history and personal heritage that should be understood. Sometimes this is a common grace and blessing from God and other times we must be saved from/out of such environment. In all, we must remember others have an effect on us and likewise we can have influence upon others. This is known as legacy, and the prayer is that you would have a godly one passed on from and to generations (Psalm 78:4-8; Proverbs 20:7).

Charles Spurgeon:
May our own dear ones be among the better generation who shall continue in the Lord’s ways, obedient to the end. And their seed shall be established before thee. God does not neglect the children of his servants. It is the rule that Abraham’s Isaac should be the Lord’s, that Isaac’s Jacob should be beloved of the Most High, and that Jacob’s Joseph  should find favour in the sight of God. Grace is not hereditary, yet God loves to be served by the same family time out of mind, even as many great landowners feel a pleasure in having the same families as tenants upon their estates from generation to generation. Here is Zion’s hope, her sons will build her up, her offspring will restore her former glories. We may, therefore, not only for our own sakes, but also out of love to the churchof God, daily pray that our sons and daughters may be saved, and kept by divine grace even unto the end—established before the Lord.[1]

ð  Do you know your family history? Do you want to know it!?!

ð  People will come after you… What would happen if everyone repeated your life (thoughts, actions, beliefs, etc.)?

3.       God sends us (Genesis 11:1-4; 9:1).

Remember, the context of Genesis 10-11 comes after the flood and God commanding Noah and his generations to be fruitful & multiply and fill the earth. Yet, the people do not fill the earth. They settle. They settle in a land to build a city for themselves. They use innovation and the technology of the day to build a city and tower to magnify their own name. This is none other than disobedience to God’s command and selfish independence from God.

God’s heart is for all of creation to bring Him glory. He sent and commanded humanity to spread His name and fame yet because humanity constantly seeks independence they settle. You see it here and you will even also see it in Shem’s descendants, with Terah (Abram’s father), who settle inHaranrather thanCanaan(God’s promised land) – vv.31-32. 

Even today, God is a sending God. He sends His people to be fruitful & multiply and fill the earth. He says,

“Go into all the world and make disciples” Matthew 28:19

“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” John 20:21

“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

 

ð      To whom and where has God sent you? (A person, family, neighborhood, a school, a job, a region or even people group)

• Are you settling short to create your own comfort, convenience and fame?

 

4.       God scatters us (Genesis 11:5-9).

When the people settled into disobedience, God came down. He knows and sees sin and personally gets involved. He was not pleased and therefore brings judgment on the peoples. Rather than being united with one language and one purpose to fill the earth for God’s glory; they now have their language confused and they are dispersed from each other. It is only God’s grace that He does not do worse judgment.

 When we are disobedient to God’s plan for our lives, He scatters and confuses.

• Read the Pentateuch [Genesis – Deuteronomy) not just as parts but as a whole. You see God’s blessing and judgment.

 

Deuteronomy 28:15, 20, 28-29 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you…The Lord will send on your curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me… The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.”

 

ð      Are you experiencing God’s scattering and confusion?

• Psalm 1           
  • Walk with the wise (God’s People) – Walk in wisdom (God’s Word)

 

APPLY/THINK

God has spoken and continues to speak… are you listening?

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” Hebrews 1:1-2

 

µ      Listen and Love the Son