Tale of Two Cities
Genesis 11.1. Now the whole earth had one language and the same words and as people migrated from the east they found a plane in the land of Shinar and settled there and they said to one another come let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly and they had bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar then they said come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens let us make a name for ourselves as we'd be dispersed over the face of the whole earth And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, behold, they are one people and they all have one language. And this is only the beginning of what they will do. And knowing that they will propose knowing and nothing that they will propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down there and confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth and they left off building the city and 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 the earth. And jumping just to the end of the chapter there. Now the generations of Terah, Terah, Terah fathered Abraham, Nahor and Haran and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred in the era of the Chaldeans and Abraham and Nahor took wives and name of Abraham's wife was in the name of Nahor's wife, Milka. The daughter of Haran, the father of Milka and Iska, and now Sarah, Sarah was barren and she had no child. Tara took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarah, his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. And they went forth together from the Ur of the Chaldea Units to go into the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Tara were 205 years, and Tara died in Haran. Now the Lord said to Abraham, from your country, your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. will bless those who bless you and him who dishonours you. will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abram went as the Lord told them and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran and Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son and all the possessions that they had gathered and the people that they had quiet in Hurran and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem to the oak of Mora. At that time the Canaanites were in the land then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your offspring I will give this land so he built there an altar to the Lord who would appear to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pinched his tent. Bethel on the west and Ai on the east and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord and Abram journeyed on still going towards the Niger. Anyway let's begin in prayer. Father you have now given us this time. Father to draw into your presence, father to hear your word and what you have for us today. Let us be changed and transformed father by the power of your spirit. Step into our hearts Lord and teach us now we pray. and help me to speak clearly and faithfully to your word. Amen. All right. Now, we are talking about everyone's favourite thing here today. Something which all of you are going to grieve about the fact that this is actually part of the Bible. But cities are actually a very important part of the Bible. Now, inevitably, the first thing I came out here, I kept hearing this joke over and over again. You know, the best thing that comes out of Brisbane? the roads of the bush. And that's the only good thing that comes out of Brisbane. Never mind the fact that I'm from Brisbane, so thanks for that joke. But I kept hearing that joke over and over again. And I get it, because we're people from the country. We like our wide open spaces. We don't like being locked in together. We like it here. We don't like Brisbane. I get it. I very much understand. That's why I moved out here too. But cities have such an important place in the Bible. And better yet, such an important place in our society. Because you see, we can all say, yeah, we want to live out in the land, but eventually, you've got to come into the town. All right? Sometimes we need groceries. Sometimes you need stuff from the actual supply shop. Sometimes you just need a bit of maccas. I don't know, right? There are just things here you can't find out in the middle of nowhere. And that's okay, right? We have cities, these hubs, where people gather together. So that, one, we can buy and sell things. It's a marketplace. You can also come together. It's a place of cooperation. Because what is a city? Is it arts, the skyscrapers? It's unreasonable house prices. It's just all the traffic in the world. But what really makes a city is that it's just a bunch of people gathered together in one place. The traffic is there because there's lots of people there. There's lots of skyscrapers there because there's lots of people there. It's all about the people there. You see, and ultimately, they're all gathering together and it makes life easier in some ways because we can cooperate, unite around certain things. And especially in these early days in ancient history, it was to gather around this common goal of protection. around a king and so really it was this emphasis of unity. And you see and it's an amazing thing because realize for us as humans right you know we can say humans are dumb humans are idiots and yes look there's plenty of evidence just watch YouTube for a bit yeah but we are also capable of amazing things especially when we come together. m The problem comes because the problem isn't just cities themselves. But what is the aim of that city? What is the aim of the people gathering together? And what was the aim of the city of Babel? It says in Genesis 11, 4, then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city with the towering top in the heavens. And for what purpose? That we may make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. So you see, they had a common aim. Here guys, we can get to, here's our cause to get behind. to disobey God because He said you were to go and to fill the earth. They said, no, we will gather together. And why? So we can make a name for ourselves. So when people see this tower that reaches up into heaven, they'll say, wow, I can't believe Stephen built that, you know, and his name will forever be remembered. They were there to make a name for themselves. And so you see here, they're actually mirroring the sin of Adam and Eve. What did Adam and Eve say? I want to be like God. I want a name for myself. I want to be like Him. I want to be the center. They exalted themselves and disobeyed It's not all that different. The city of Babel is basically just a replay of the fall. Just add in a couple, I don't know, thousand people however many were there. And what you will see is Babel is ultimately the outworking of the same sin that was in the garden. And you see, it will continue to be... And remember, you I talked about the fact that we're kind of calling this like the foundation series. This is building the foundation. Planted here in Genesis are seeds that will go throughout all the scripture, continually being built upon. What's the foundation that we're starting here? One called Babel. Now... Babel is an interesting word because you kind of, pops up in scripture and then you just kind of never hear about it again. I don't know, I didn't actually look up, but I don't believe it's mentioned anywhere else after this. But here's an interesting thing. Babel isn't only just translated babel. It also can mean another word. Does anyone know what it means? Babylon. So can also be translated Babylon. And if we know the scriptures at all, that is a very prominent thing in scripture. For Babylon was that great empire. You don't even need to know the Bible. You just need to know world history. They were a massive empire, 600 years BC. They were massive. And you see, so they became this thing. And through the scriptures, they become synonymous with those people which oppose God. Because you'll see, you find Babylon in Genesis, its first seed, you even find it all the way at the end in Revelation. It says in Revelation 18, 10, alas, alas, you great city, you mighty city Babylon, for in a single hour your judgment has come. You see, Revelation 18 gives this whole story about the city of Babylon, but the funny thing, when was Revelation written? 90 AD or so, Babylon's gone and been destroyed for about 600 years at that point. So, what is John talking about here in the Revelation? Well, you see, Babylon was no longer just one place, one city that rose and then fell. But you see, like I was saying, it had become synonymous and symbolized all those powers and all those nations which would come to oppose God. Now, is that the only important city in Scripture, in the Bible? Any more? No. There's one more, there's probably a few important ones, but there's one very important one. Now, it's interesting because you see, we have two stories here, right? The Tower of Babel, they built a city. And then you have the story of Abram, right? Him calling, being called into the promised land. There's no talk about a city in that story, so why are we talking about two cities? But you see, he was given... You can call them ingredients almost, right? He's given and promised a land and a great people. What do you normally get with a land and a great many people? Cities. Right? And there was a promise of a great city that would one day come, says in Zechariah 8, 4, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Zion, that being the mountain that Jerusalem was on, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. You see, Jerusalem would become the city where God's presence dwells, where he dwells with his people, right? Because where was the tabernacle eventually? In Jerusalem. Where was the temple built? In Jerusalem. Those things which symbolize His presence. And then you also have it spoken on again in Revelation, Revelation 21. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, prepared as a brighter dawn for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. And now, understand, we're talking about a new Jerusalem here. This isn't just the old Jerusalem, this is a new Jerusalem coming down out of the heavens. And so, you see, what I am building here, the picture, is that the Bible is a story, or a tale, a tale of two cities. One built for the praise and glory of man. One built for the praise and glory of God. And you see at all times, one of us is seeking residence in one of these two cities. Every single one of us, whether we believe in God or not. So then how does Abram factor into this? Does he have anything to teach us about this city? Because he never lived in a city. But you see that is actually the most important thing. Because Abram shows us what it is like to be a citizen of the city of God. We can call it Jerusalem, I'm just going to keep referring to the city of God. Anyway, by looking at Hebrews, Abram will show us verses 8 to 10. By faith, Abram obeyed when he was called out to go to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. He went out not knowing where he was going. By faith, he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. That he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. So notice, he was seeking the city whose designer and builder was God. He was seeking the city of God, but yet he spent his whole life, as did his son and his grandson, and them for the next 600 years. They lived in tents. Now, if you see someone on the side of the road living out of a tent, what do you assume? Either... They're going camping, whoop-de-doo, good for them, glad you got away from work. Or if the tent's still there a month later, they don't have a home. It's called being homeless. You live in a tent, right? It's a sad reality. And so you see something here. When Abram has been living in tents his whole life, we are led to the obvious conclusion, he does not have a home. He has not yet settled down. He is waiting for this city to come. So understand, I said Babylon, it's this, it is the world, all evil powers, it's everything, we're basically living in it right now. It is the world, okay? It is the world and all it has to offer. And you know the best thing about living here, you don't need faith. You don't need faith to live in this world, to enjoy all that it has to offer. This really is the city of sight. You see it with your eyes, go enjoy it. And to just lap it up. This is our life, the one we're living right now. That is the city we live in. Enjoy it. All that it has to offer, all that you see can be yours. And so, the call of the city of Babel, and you see the world represents Babel, is now, it's telling you, settle down, enjoy. This is all there is, so lap it up and find happiness here. And so, you see these two cities operate very differently. There's not a Babel over here and a New Jerusalem over here, all right? We are in Babel at the moment. The Babylon has been built. We're living in it, all right? but the new Jerusalem is still to come. So the city that we are looking for is still to come. It is a city that comes by faith. And so ultimately, as we continue to go through, I'm going to pull out a couple different aspects of what separate these cities, but a choice sits before us. Take what is offered here. This is all you're offered, right? This is Babel, Babylon, enjoy, live it up, or... hope and wait in the city to come. That is the choice that is set before us today. So let us look at some of the differences between these cities. Three things we're going to look at. Glory, strength and words. So first one, glory. So remember like I said before earlier, we are capable of great things when we gather together. God acknowledged this Himself in the men of Babel. He said, the Lord said in Genesis 11, 6, behold, they are one people and they all have one language. and this is only beginning of what they will do. Nothing that they propose to do now will be impossible for them. He's not saying that they can actually do anything. They can't become God, all right? What he is saying is he is paying and acknowledging the fact that humans have incredible capacity to do things. Let's just look, let's just observe some of the things we've accomplished as people, right? We got a lot of money. Thanks God for all the iron ore, right? You know, we are very wealthy people. We have modern medicine. We've been to the moon. We've created AI. We have salts, we've got vaccines, all kinds of things. don't know, whatever. You know what We have so many things in this world that we have accomplished, that we have done. And yet let us survey some of the problems. Like Daryl was saying earlier, aren't we the people of peace? And then last century we killed like 200 million people or something like that. And that was us doing that to us, all right? Better yet, we've got all this money and yet we still seem unsatisfied. We have modern medicine and yet people still suffer and die. Families are still broken, injustice is still everywhere. Here you are surveying the glory of this world. Are all of us really happy to live here? I think most of us acknowledged, I did it a couple when we had another series a while back, I said, who thinks the world's getting worse? And we all put our hands up, right? Like this place, this ain't turning into no utopia. It's just turning into hell on earth, right? Everything is getting worse. And you see, that is the glory of this world, despite the fact that we can accomplish so much. Whenever we seek to do more, more problems seem to arise. That is what man does apart from God. And that is the glory of Babel. It promises you everything. It's going to say, you'll be happy here. You'll be satisfied here. You'll be content here. And every time you wake up the next day and you're like, I could do with a bit more. I could do with something else. Something else in my life could change. It gives you something and leaves you feeling empty. That is what this world offers. That is what the kingdom of Babel offers. And yet, we just have this hunger, this desire for this world. We don't want to have faith. We just want what's in front of us. We like that. It's easy. And yet, we're just satisfying ourselves with a pile of garbage. That's really what this world is because it never satisfies. It never makes truly happy. What is the glory of the city of God? Read from Revelations 21.4. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Death shall be no more, neither shall be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." We were just talking in the prayer room earlier. It's interesting that, you know, when people tend to draw towards the end of life, many of them just beg to die because they're sick of the pain, they're sick of being here. Because look, know, when life's going well, you can kind of fool yourself and say, yeah, things are going pretty well. But there are things about this world that will come into our lives and end up making us wish that there was something else. Eventually, you will grow tired of this world every single person does. Everyone. So why do we keep trading the city of God for Babel? Notice the difference between two verses I'm going to point out. Genesis 11, 4, which you just went through, they will say, let us make a name for ourselves. And then in the story of Abram, I, being God, will make your name great. You see, God doesn't have a problem with us seeking glory, seeking happiness, joy, a life filled with contentment. That's actually fine. His problem is how we go about it. Because what do the men of Babel say? What does the world tell us? It says, do it your way. I how does Frank Sinatra say, I did it my way, you know, right? And now he's in the grave decaying, getting hit by worms. Wow, good job, buddy. You know, he did it his way. And so you see, that is the problem. And so how does God deal with this? Matthew 23, 13, whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. You see, these men of Babel sought their own glory and we all have this in us. We all seek glory. And what that means is we just want things to be about us. And you're like, but I'm not that selfish kind of person. But inevitably, if you're sitting in traffic in Brisbane, God, please divert all this traffic so I can be the one to get through. You're not thinking about the other people that are in, you're not thinking maybe there's someone who's pulled over on the side of the road giving birth to a child and that's why there's all the traffic, you're just like, I got a place to be, right? Inevitably, there is always this part in us that wants to be first. And God actually said, will get this good life. This good life is an offer. That's the way He made the world to be. This world was meant to be a perfect place. But we are the ones that ruined it by going our own way. And so He says this, you can seek to go at your own way, but here is what I will do, because I am still king of this place. You will be humbled. What happened to the men of Babel? They set up with their ambition. We're going to build a tower with its tip in the heavens. And then God just came along and went... Suddenly one speaking Japanese, another speaking Korean, another speaking English, they had no idea what they were talking about. And it dissolved like that. They were humbled and they spread out on the earth. And yet we have Abram, the man who received the word of God and humbled himself, submitted to Him, said, Lord, I will follow you. He left behind his father's house, everything, took up his possessions and went into a land he did not know what it was like. He was humbled and therefore exalted because he humbled himself under the plan of God. And you see, humility is exactly this, accepting our place in the plan of God. What is your place? It is not to dictate the timing and the route in which God takes you. You do not get to dictate the way God runs his world, runs his world or even runs your life. All right? Abram was promised a great name, a land and many descendants. Do you know what he had when he died? Two grandsons. He still lived in a tent and he was no more famous than any other wealthy man at that time. Well, what did that faith get him? He literally walked into the land that it was his to possess. And did he walk in telling all of the Canaanites, oh, you guys get ready. because I don't know what God's going to do, but I'm going to conquer you all." You know? He simply walked in there, praised God, and set up his tents among the Canaanites. He didn't concern himself with the timing, didn't concern himself with how God would do it. He just sat down and waited on the Lord. He didn't even question God in His death because as I said, He only had two grandsons. Where's His many people? Where is this fame? Where is this great land that was meant to be His? But you see, He did not even question God in death, because He had faith. He knew God would be faithful to His promises and He knew His place, which was not to say, hey God, you were meant to do this in my life. God never promised that, but He knew God would be faithful to His promises. And so here is something that is very hard for us, because we so very quickly grow tired of God's plans. Right? It's funny because Babylon seems to offer a better way, right? You want happiness, contentment, satisfaction, things in this life to go better. And it's telling you, hey, I've actually got some ways you can do this. Go, I don't know, plan and I'm not gonna run off with illustration. Anyway, just go and do things this way and you will find happiness, contentment. You will be happy. Can anyone attest to actually finding happiness yet? Is anyone like just content 100 % of the time? Hands up, anyone? Anyone ballsy enough to say that? No? Yeah, I didn't think so, right? No one is 100 % happy because we haven't found it. And see, Babylon promises everything and it is empty. True glory only comes through having faith in God. God has given us so many promises, but they have to be accompanied with faith. No one enters into eternal life by seeing it first. No one's gonna see the city of God before they die. Some of us, Christ may return and yes, I know that, but look, mostly we are all going to die. we see that. It will be purely an act of faith. It is not an unreasonable faith. We have certainty in the Word of God, but you must put our faith in Him. And faith is so necessary. Why? Because the things of this world fall apart, because eventually the things we see fall apart. The benefit of faith is that it gives us joy when our sight fails, when the things and circumstances of life fall apart. His promises give us the destination. We just have to trust God to direct the journey. So going on to a second point, a difference between these two cities. Now, obviously, I've plainly pointed the fact these were cities. We still have Jerusalem today. We don't have Babel anymore, right? But truthfully, at the ultimate point, they represent two things, right? Like I said, they represent the world, the kingdom of Satan, all that he possesses, all that is evil, everything that opposes God. And then we have Jerusalem. the place where God dwells with His people. And remember, you know, we looked at Revelation, And it comes down, it says it coming down as a bride, right? Adorned for her husband. Now that's just weird imagery. I remember as a kid, I used to imagine kind of the old Baptist church, you know, with a big steeple, of like with a veil on it. I've learned it's actually not that. It's symbolic, representing things. There won't actually be a church building that comes out of the sky. right? But the new Jerusalem coming down adorned like a bride and who do we know to be the bride of Christ? It is the church. Not the church building though, the people, the people of every nation, tribe and tongue. See the church is just this glorious image in revelation and yet when you think of the church nowadays, when you think of this gathering right here as the first word that pops into your head, glorious. Now probably had a few other images pop into your head, know, maybe a few you're not enough to sleep, you're thinking sleepy, or know, time for a good nap, I don't know, just a good time for morning tea, you know, morning, many things, But often the things that does not pop into our head is glorious. And you see, this is a hard thing because we've given this image of the church in Scripture and yet it just doesn't seem to be portrayed. But yet, see, remember here, we are looking at Revelation, the end of the age. And you see, we will be led to think, surely the church would be better off following the Babel approach. Surely we as people would be better off following the Babel approach. Right? Let's gather together. Let's pool our resources. There is power in numbers. So let us gather together much as we can. Babel was just the wrong aim. We all need to get together. So surely God is just gonna pick another people, He'll gather them together and then He will do His amazing work. But what does God do in the story? Yes, we know He will one day gather a people, but where does He start? He chooses one man, an old man with a barren wife and no army. And better yet, where do His descendants end up? Do they end up conquering the people? They end up as slaves in Egypt. So why does God keep picking these kinds of people? Why does He pick the slaves rather than the rulers? And you see, this is the hardest thing, because then when we look at the church, we would think, why does God not save those with most influence? Why does God not put the church in places where it might share its message with all people? Because you'll see, we will learn that God's greatest work is done not when we are strong, but when we are weak. This is true of the church, this is true of us as individuals. And so, see, we struggle because we don't understand the way in which God is going. But you see, He says this, in 1 Corinthians 127 to 29, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. You see, we can think... that the Christian life is one of growing stronger, where we get better, where we're not constantly struggling with the same things that we've always struggled with, that we're better people. Oftentimes you will find that is not the case. You will get to the end of your Christian walk and you will feel weaker and more sinful than you did at the start. Why is that? Have you ever noticed the way in which God made us? Even before the fall, we were made weak. We were made with limitations. They still had to sleep in Genesis. In Genesis 1 and 2, they still need to eat food. They were not self-sufficient. They needed God because that is how He made it. And so you see, God loves weakness because that is how His power and His strength is displayed. You see, if he just picked the strongest people... Would they need God? No. He picks those who need Him. He uses and yet He takes those and uses those people to do amazing things. And why is it amazing? Because they are fully reliant upon their God. We can even see it because in His hands, the weakest thing of all, the crucifixion of the Son of God. God, literally the one who controls all things, just sat there silent while he was nailed to a cross. And why? Because in his weakness came the greatest strength, came the greatest blessing, the salvation of us all. You see, we can often think that the best way is to avoid the cross, is to go somewhere else. There has to be a better way, We can think for the church that there's better things for us to be doing. These things aren't productive for us. But we have to learn to trust the ways of... Why does he leave us with diseases? Why does he leave some of us in horrible families? Why does he leave us in terrible circumstances? Why do good ministries fail? Why do great opportunities for the spread of the gospel fall through? because God doesn't do things our way. If you sit there and think, well, that'd be a really good idea for God to do, I think sometimes in his sense of humor, he just says, well, I'm not gonna do it that way then, because he will choose to go the way that displays his strength to show how powerful he is. You see, the plan of God never will make sense to you. You will say, why does he make me feel this way? Why does he have me walking through this valley? because in some way, his strength and the power of his glory is being displayed in you. So his plan will not make sense. But understand, remember, it is not about us. It is about making much of him. And so I turn to a final point for today. A thing that separates these two cities. An interesting aspect that we pull out of the Tower of Babel story. Isn't it interesting the way in which God chooses to punish those fellas? He goes and says, he doesn't say, I'm going to smite them like I did Sodom and Gomorrah or will Sodom and Gomorrah. No, he says, I'm just going to make them speak all a bunch of different gibberish so they have no idea what they're talking about. Because you see before then, they all spoke one language. They had this universal language that all of them could share. And language is so important. It allows us to share, to talk, to communicate, to have a relationship with one another. You know how they talk about with certain people you have language barriers? It's called a barrier for a reason because it stops things. It stops relationship. It stops possibility, opportunity. Language barriers stop things. but God divides them for a good reason, right? Because they were using their common language to unify around rebelling against God. And so in splitting them up, He restrains evil. Now interestingly, you turn to Abram and he doesn't actually speak in our passage. Funny thing, in most of Genesis when you have Abram's stories, he actually doesn't talk a lot at all. But I want you to pay attention to what he does in response to God's Word. He obeys it and he worships God for it. Look, it may not explicitly have the words of Abram there, but you say it will see in verse 7. says, then he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. Now an altar, oh sorry, if you even go down to verse eight, and then he built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord. To call upon the name of the Lord, make an altar is to sacrifice to God and to worship Him. So here you do have the words of Abraham as he is offering up worship to God. So you see, one uses their tongue to dishonor God, one uses their tongue to honor God. And now if you go to the book of James, he pays attention to this great danger that comes with having the tongue or your mouth or speaking. No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. You might think nothing much of being able to speak, but it is a immense responsibility. Marnie's lucking out so far. She's just kind of cooing and blubbering about. But soon she will learn to speak and her words will have consequences, effects, they will change things. And so you see it is a hard thing because speech, you know, we can think of the atrocities of so many things, know, World War I and World War II, right? 200 million people dead, 100 million, how many it is? Ultimately, those wars started not with weapons but with words. Every atrocity that's ever been committed by people started with words. Because people cannot be unified around anything else other than speaking. Jesus spoke of this danger as well. Matthew 15, 18 to 19. For what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart. And this defiles a person. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness and slander. You see, we've already talked about this in Genesis. We have wicked, evil hearts. And so God, if he were wise, he would have just taken a sewing needle and just zipped up all our mouths so we couldn't say anything, at least the defilement would have stayed in there. But you see the wickedness that is within us comes out through our mouths and then spreads to others. And you see in our speech is a revelation of who we truly are. We can think, I am a pretty decent person, but survey one's conversations. You can learn a lot about yourself and about others by what our speech is like. Our speech is so often ungodly and shallow and wicked. It is just barely up to scratch with what God would truly want of us. And you see our conversations better yet are so concerned with Babel. They're concerned with the things of this world. We're concerned with how our words can affect our life here. We have little concern for the world to come. But the amazing thing, despite the wickedness that comes from our tongues, what did God choose to use to build His city? Tongues. The ability of speech. See, the tongue that once divided humanity will now bring it together. We'll go and I'm going to read a passage from Pentecost or Acts 2, so you know. When the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and all those in the upper room, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as Spirit gave them utterance. Now they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed, astonished saying, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, Philemphalia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome. Both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. So you see in there was an amazing miracle where people from many nations, tribes and tongues could hear Jews who knew Hebrew and Aramaic, maybe Greek, speaking in all their own native tongues, languages they did not know. And now look, I'm not getting into the gift of tongues in this sermon. That's a thing if you want to talk about it, can. But here you see, God was undoing what happened at Babel. That was once divided the people He is now bringing back together. And if you look at it now, the Bible is now in more languages, than any other book in the world. The gospel is preached in virtually every language in the world. The gospel has united us across the lines of language. We have been brought together. And so now we are given this opportunity that our tongues no need longer serve evil. They no longer need to serve the things of the kingdom of Babel, of glorifying ourselves and living for this life. but they can be used to build up the city of God that is the church. So I you today, do our words reflect our concern for the city of God? Most of us know, yes, we're keen and excited for heaven, but are we building it up here and now? Are we speaking the gospel and building each other up? You see, the city of God is a people. This is the new Jerusalem right here, right now. It is not here in its completion, but it is being built and you have a responsibility to build it with your words. We are a people of hearing by faith. That is how we encourage one another by sharing the message of the gospel and what God is doing in our lives and encourage one another with His word. And if we are not glorifying Him with our speech, we must ask ourselves, are we really one of His people? Because you see, out of the abundance of our heart, the mouth speaks. So through our mouth, we learn who we truly are. So, drawing all that to a conclusion, all of us, like I said at the start, have a choice to make. What city are we living for? You can live for this one here. You have the option. I didn't say you can't, because I can't physically stop you. If I could, I would try. But you are free to live in this world, to live in Babel, Babylon, the kingdom of this world, and enjoy everything it has to offer. If you really, really pursue happiness in the world, you can build up enough ignorant, what they call blissful ignorance, that you can actually think you're happy. One day that will be shattered, because if you know the end of the city of Babylon in Revelation, I said, alas, Alet, great is the fall of that city, it dies, it falls, it will be done away with at the end of this age. Or you have the option, hope and wait in the kingdom to come. See, the kingdom of this world is so alluring, right? It seems better, it looks better. And so many times in your life, the thoughts in your head are just gonna be saying, why would you not pick this world? It just rationally makes so much more sense. Do you really believe there's gonna be a heavenly city? Who makes you think that? Look at this world, why would you think that? And so feel free, settle down here, but know what the end of this world is. It is to be destroyed. To wait on the city of God is to inherit a city that shall never fall. And so then as we draw to the end, what do we have our hope in? What do we wait in? We're not actually really waiting for the city. We're not actually putting our hope in the city because the city never came down and said, I will come to be and take you with me. The city never said, I will prepare a room for you. Who said that? Jesus did. Jesus said, I'm going away to prepare a room for you. He has promised that He will return. The one we put our hope in is the one who promised us that there is a heavenly city to come. He said, repent and believe for the kingdom of God is at hand. It is at hand. It is the final hour. The end of the world draws near. I know you're thinking the end of the world has been drawing near for 2000 years now. I know, I get it. But we must continue to have faith and hope. You have the option now, will you trust him or will you throw your lot in with Babel? The choice is yours. We'll finish up in prayer now. Father, You have shown us that there is only two cities. Father, there only two destinies, two end places for our souls. We may put our lot in with Babel. We may put and receive the destiny of its end, which is to be destroyed, to be thrown into the pits of hell. Or, Father, better yet, we may act... as strangers and exiles in this world, walking around in the wilderness as your people did, hoping and longing and waiting for the day when we shall walk into the true promised land. Lord, when you shall make a new heavens and a new earth and when the city of God shall descend. We are just longing for the day that you will dwell with us. We pray that you may keep our faith and our hope sure and steadfast. We will lose hope in so many ways. We may be tempted by this world, but the suffering of this world will make us question whether you are truly a good God. But Lord, are slow, desiring that all should reach repentance, that all might be part of the city of God. You lay this choice before us today, and we must make this choice every day, which city we will pursue. which city we will seek. And Father, I pray that as a people, as your people here, we would seek your city to build it up and not to live for the city of this world. We pray all these things in Jesus name, amen.