A Life of Confusion

“A Life of Confusion”

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I recently read a list of the top 10 most confusing things in the world:

#1-Death- People are confused about what happens to you after you die.

#2-Women- Apparently men are confused about how women think, and why they act the way they do. I got nothing!

The list goes onto included-Religion, math, Aliens, Bermuda triangle.

We live in a very confusing world and there are a lot of confused people in this world!

Everybody in Hollywood and the liberal media is celebration the supposed sex-switch of Bruce Jenner to Katlyn Jenner. Why celebrate a MAN that is so confused he doesn’t even know WHAT he is? He doesn’t need to be celebrated, he needs somebody to help him; he is a really mixed up MAN! We are living in a crazy, mixed up, and confused culture!

The definition of confusion is having a lack of clearness or understanding of right and wrong.

When you are confused you are unable to understand clearly; you are mixed up!

Have you ever been confused about anything, or anyone? It is bad to be confused about small things; but it is far worse to be confused about things that really matter- Salvation, Bible, Jesus, Heaven and Hell, morality.

If is a terrible thing to be mixed up, and confused about life; and not have any peace, direction or understand about where you came from, why you’re here, and where you going after you die!

The bible tells us that God is not the Author of confusion; it is not God will for you to live a life of confusion! And if you follow God’s word and obey him you will not live a life of confusion.

The account of the tower of Babel is about a group of people who decided to build a city and a tower in rebellion to God. It is an attempt to unite so that there will be one culture, with one religion.

God doesn’t allow that to happen, He changed their languages and scattered them all over the earth. He breaks up there party of rebellion. V:9-“Read.

The name Babel means-confusion.

Babel becomes the city of Babylon; Babylon is one of the two major cities in the bible; the other major city is Jerusalem. These two cities represent two very different believe systems, philosophies; two different worldviews.

· Babylon is the city of Satan.

· Jerusalem is the city of God.

· Babylon is the seat of wickedness.

· Jerusalem is the seat of holiness.

· Babylon is the capitol of hell.

· Jerusalem is the capitol of heaven.

Babylon in the Bible represents man's attempt to rid the world of God. Babylon today is what we would call humanism.

Humanism is the belief that man is the center of everything; there is no God, no supernatural being that is in control of this world.

Babylon represents man's attempt to rid the world of God through a one world government and a one world religion. That was the entire motivation behind the building of the tower of Babel.

The book of Genesis divides into two main sections; Chapters 1-11- which deal with the human race in general and the remaining chapters; chapter 12-50 which deal with the Hebrew race in particular.(The lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph).

In the first eleven chapters of Genesis, there are four great historical events that you must understand if you are going to have a Christian worldview. These four events are the foundation of a biblical worldview.

· Creation-where we came from.

· The fall-Why we have a sinful nature.

· The flood- God attitude toward sin-judgement; God attitude toward sinners, he provided an Ark of salvation.

· The Tower of Babel-Which explains man’s attempted to build a one world government and one world religion. And why we have different languages and different people group all around the world.

This Tower of confusion gives us the history of the scattering of the nations; and teaches us what brings confusion into a person’s life.

I want us to see three reasons confusion comes into a person’s life.

Confusion comes when you:

1. Follow the Wrong People!

V:1-2.

Whose idea was it to build this city and tower, who was leading this enterprise against God? We are told the people one of one language, and as they traveled east they came to the plain of Shinar and they dwelt there. We are told back in chapter 10 about Shinar and the city of Babel, 10:8-10-Read.

Nimrod was the founder of Babylon.

He is a picture of the coming Antichrist who is also going to rule over the world system referred to as Babylon; and establish a one world government. Both Nimrod and the Antichrist share the same characteristics.

The name Nimrod literally means "let us rebel" or "rebel." Nimrod was a rebel against God. Nimrod was the forerunner of atheism which literally means "no God." He was anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-church, anti-religion. He didn't just believe in the separation of church from state. He believed in the separation of God from everything. Three times we are told in these verses Nimrod was mighty. The word mighty literally means "a tyrant." Nimrod wanted to be the first world dictator. He was the forerunner of men like Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin.

V:9-“He was a mighty hunter before the Lord."

The word “before” means "against" he was a hunter against the Lord. He didn't hunt ducks and deer he was after the souls of men. He was using his power to enslave the hearts and minds of men. We are told the Antichrist will be a rebel who will use his power to deceive and enslave the hearts and minds of men. -"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders."

In Genesis we see the beginning of Babylon; in Revelation we see the end of Babylon.

V:10-“we are told of "the beginning of his kingdom."

This is the first time that the word kingdom is mentioned in the Bible, and it is not the kingdom of God, it is the kingdom of man. Nobody told Nimrod he was to establish a kingdom. Nobody told Nimrod he was to become a king. God was meant to be the only king and this world was meant to be his kingdom.

Nimrod was a bad dude, he was Rambo, the terminator and the hottest guy on the planet all wrapped in one; he was smart, handsome, strong, winsome, and religious. He had his picture on the front of people magazine, and sports illustrated.

The Antichrist will try and do the same thing Nimrod did, he will attempt to make this entire world one system, with one currency, and one religion, that one world system will be known as Babylon.

But he will fell just like Nimrod felled; and Jesus will win, and set up His Kingdom!

- “tells us that one day "the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ."

These people were following the wrong leader, a person that was a rebel against God, who wanted to live independent of God! This is where false religion had its beginning; all false religion has its roots in Babylon.

Whenever you follow someone who is a rebel against God, who is anti-God, anti-Jesus, anti-bible, anti-church you are headed for a life of confusion.

Who are your role-models? Who are you following, who are you listening to?

If you are listening to, and following someone who would lead you into rebellion against God, you are going to live a life of confusion!

If your favorite people are people who live life’s in rebel to God, you are going to be influenced by them, and take on their views and become weak in your view of God and the bible.

When you think about the people you are following, your friends, media ask yourself are they living lives of obedience to God, or lives of disobedience to God.

Which direction are the people you’re following and spending time with going? Toward God or away from God?

V:2- they travelled east…

Kent Hughes said “from the east” suggests movement away from God.

When Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, the cherubim guarded the entrance at the “east of the garden of Eden”.

When Lot left Abraham, he traveled “eastward,” where he met disaster in Sodom and Gomorrah. Jacob fled his homeland to “the land of the people of the east”.

The people’s eastern migration depicts universal rebellion. They have moved outside the place of blessing. The word for “journeyed” literally means "to pull out" or "to abandon." The sun rises in the east so if you are journeying from the east you are walking away from the light into darkness. These people decided to leave the light of God's truth for the darkness of man's theories.

Your life is moving in some direction; is it toward God or away from God? You can’t follow the crowd and end up where you need to be spiritually!

Confusion comes when you:

2. Disobey the Word of God!

V:3-4.

Disobedience to God’s Word leads to confusion; when you rebel against the will of God that is revealed in the Word of God you are headed for confusion!!

God had told them in -“replenish the earth”

The command from God is to scatter out and replenish the earth, but they disobey God and decide to “dwell in the land of Shinar”.

–“And they said, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

This is direct disobedience to God; God said you are to be scattered, they said let's dwell here, lest we be scattered.

Rebellion says I will do it my way; Submission says, I will do it God's way.

The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to live a life in submission to the will of God; Jesus always did those things that pleased the father. He was obedient to the will of the Heavenly Father.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before He was crucified He said, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." But then he said this, "Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done."

When you decide you want to go your way, you are in rebellion and you will live a life of confusion. The greatest decision you will ever make is to say not my way, but God's way. I am going to obey God.

These people decide to do it their way, instead of God’s way. What leads to disobedience to God’s Word? PRIDE-when we think we are smarter than God; Moses gives us some sound bites from their conversation that shows us their pride:

V:3-4-Read. You can hear the pride in their words;

· “let us make brick”

· ”let us build us a city and a tower”

· “let us make a name for ourselves”

Their attitude was we don’t care what God says we are going to do things our way; that is a one way street to confusion!

Everything God had told them they have decided to disregard:

· God said scatter out and multiple, they stop in one place.

· God had shown them and told them the way to worship was to build and altar and offer a blood sacrifice. But that is not what they do.

They built a tower to reach to the heavens; what is this tower, and what are they trying to do?

This tower is not a tower to go all the way up to where God is in the heavens. This is a tower built to the heavens, dedicated to the worship of the heavens, the stars and false gods.

He is a picture of a Ziggurat, it is in Iran; the people would climb to the top of this to worship their god, they felt they were closer to their god on top of this Ziggurat. The intention behind the tower of Babylon was to worship a god of their own making; this is a picture of every man-made religion trying to build a way to god.

At the heart of every religious enterprise apart from the gospel; is the belief that I can work my way up top god.

Friend the Word of God clearly tells us that we don’t work our way up to God; it is God that came down to earth to do a work for us!

When you disobey God’s Word you are going to live a life of confusion.

Confusion comes when you:

3. Think you can Defy God’s Will!

V:5-9.

I imagine they are working away at their tower and think that they can live wherever they want, however they want, and there are not thinking about God at all. They really think they can defy God’s will!!

We could have guessed that this plan wasn’t going to work; they are following the wrong person, they are disobeying the Word of God, and they are foolish enough to think they can get by with it.

God in heaven is never perplexed or paralyzed by what people do on earth. They said, V:4- "Let's go up!" God said, V:7- "Let us go down!"

So much for their tower reaching to the heavens, God says, let’s go down and see this tower!

- “It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

It was as if God stooped down like a man on his hands and knees and lowered his face to the earth to see this “great tower”.

Don’t miss this point, the man-made tower that was to reach heaven fell far short. If you think you can reach to God on your own you will fall far short.

If you think you can leave God out of your plans, and that you can defy His will and everything will work out great for you, you are sadly mistake!

Where man rules, God overrules!

-"The most high rules in the kingdom of men."

God said:

V:7-“let us go down and confound their language.

We have here the intervention of God in the affairs of men; God went down and confused their language. One day they got up and went to work, and one guy said to his buddy, hey give me a brick, and his friend had no idea want he was saying! They could no longer understand each other.

Their language has been changed; today we know there is around 7,000 different languages and dialects in the world, here is where it all began.

V:8-"So the Lord scattered them abroad…

So you think you can defy God’s will and go your own way and do your own thing and God will never confront you? WRONG!!

What God intended to happen; happened!!

They said,V:4- Lets build this city and tower so we won’t be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

Look what God did, V:8-“So the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth”

God is sovereign and His purposes will be accomplished in spite of man’s proud defiance.

You can mark this down as a fact of life, anything that you try to do without God, ultimately ends up in confusion.

The way to live a life of certainty, confidence and peace is to follow the Lord Jesus, obey His Word, and surrender to His will.

What man could never achieve by his "proud towers," Jesus Christ has achieved by dying on a cruel cross. All who trust Jesus Christ are one in Him and will share heaven together, regardless of race, nation, language, or tribe.

The Holy Spirit is using the church as an agent of reconciliation to bring people together in Jesus Christ!!

Today I beg you, do not live a life of confusion, come to Jesus the Prince of Peace, the Lord of lord, the good shepherd!