Being Confident

Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Help us, Father, to be more confident,

but not confident, Father, in our own powers per se,

but help us, Father, to be confident that you are sovereign,

that you are good, that you are real,

that your grace is powerful,

that Jesus really is, Father,

the power in his death upon the cross,

the power that comes from you for salvation

when we receive it by faith.

Father, grant us an ever deeper confidence in you

and your ways and your word and your power,

and we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Please be seated.

I mean, why do we live in...

This sounds like an odd way to begin this sermon,

but why do we live in Ottawa?

I mean, maybe some of you are wondering that.

Why do we live in Ottawa?

Why do we live in the city?

My wife and I, before I came to serve in this church,

we served in a small little place,

probably had about 1,200 people living in it,

called Eganville.

And I not only looked after Eganville,

but I also looked after a tiny little church

in a place called Killaloo.

That's where beaver tails are from, by the way,

the treat.

Killaloo Sunrise.

It was started at the Killaloo Folk Festival

many, many years ago by ex-hippies.

And Killaloo is a little tiny blip of about 600 people.

And I also looked after two other little churches.

One had no people living around.

Actually, neither of them had any people living around it.

And when we went there,

they had a long history.

For almost 100 years, over 100 years,

ministers who went there only stayed there

for about three years,

and they got out as soon as they could.

And we stayed there over seven years.

In fact, when we left the church

in the 140 or 150 years history of that set of churches,

I was the second longest serving minister

in the church's history.

And I used to feel blessed to live there.

I'd say to myself,

and I'm a city kid.

I was born in Montreal and then lived in Ottawa.

But I loved it up there.

I'd think to myself,

you know, other people have to take their holidays

to come to live in Eganville and to enjoy this.

And I get to live here all year round.

And I really liked it.

But so why did we leave the countryside?

This was probably a bigger sacrifice for my wife

than it was for me.

But we came to the city basically for our kids

to give them opportunities

and to be able to get them set up

in a way of living their life later on

that they wouldn't have

if we had stayed in a place like Eganville.

We had a large family, have a large family,

and we knew that we couldn't help them

go to university or college.

And I just knew that the way that we could help them

to go, and so did Louise,

to go to university and or college

was to go to a place where there were universities

and a college,

and they could live at home with us

while they would get further education

and training to go on with their lives.

So it was for our kids.

It was for their advancement

and their opportunity

that we left the country,

the small town in the country,

and came back to Ottawa

and why we stayed.

You know, it was really interesting

because my wife,

it was very heavy for her in many ways

leaving Eganville to come to Ottawa.

And in a small town like Eganville,

everybody knows what's going on.

And she was in the little fresh mart

just down the hill from us,

maybe just a week or two

before we moved to come to Ottawa.

And she got talking to the cashier.

She talked to the cashier regularly,

and the cashier said,

oh, I hear you're moving to Ottawa.

And Louise said, yeah,

we don't really want to go.

I don't really want to go.

And the cashier looked at her

with complete surprise and said,

who on earth wouldn't want to go to Ottawa

and get out of Eganville?

Like, who wouldn't want to be able

to leave Eganville?

She felt trapped with her job

and her kids and her roots there.

And the idea of the city,

a city like Ottawa,

of its opportunity,

of everybody not knowing your business,

which is what happens in Eganville

if the cops pull somebody over on the road,

within several hours,

if I wanted to,

I could find out who was in the car,

why they were pulled over,

and what happened to them.

Like, that's what happens

when you live in a small town.

And, you know,

but for the cashier,

just this, you know,

the city is a place of opportunity,

of life,

of not having people

know everything about you,

of freedom.

It's just a great place to go.

So believe it or not,

the Bible has some things

to say about cities,

and you might not have picked it up,

but that text,

which Emily read,

actually introduces

the notion of the city

in a very, very interesting way.

So if you could turn in your Bibles,

we're going to look at that.

It has far more to say

than just cities.

It really is,

you know,

it's like a lot of things in the Bible.

It's Genesis chapter 4, verse 17.

Genesis 4:17

It's like a lot of things in the Bible.

If you just give it a quick read,

it looks a little bit boring.

But if you pay a little bit

of attention to it,

if you especially think

that in the book of Genesis,

in particular,

these first 11 chapters,

but all the way through the Bible,

but really here as well,

every word counts.

Every word matters.

It's a very carefully crafted story

filled with symbolism

and meaning,

and every word matters.

So let's just read this.

Actually,

just before I start reading it,

verse 17,

if you're not familiar

with what's going on here

in Genesis,

here's been the flow.

Genesis 1,

at the very beginning,

teaches that God creates

all things out of nothing.

Then it gives us

sort of a story,

the so-called first story

of creation

that teaches us

other things about creation

and who God is

and who we are.

Then there's a second story

of creation

that teaches us

more things about

who God is

and who human beings are.

And one of the main things

out of all of this

is that God makes everything

completely and utterly good.

And Genesis 3

describes how evil

and sin and death,

which we all see around us,

come into the world.

And it comes into the world

through the choices

made by human beings.

And then we see

after this choice

has been made

and Christians call it

the fall,

we see how God both,

God shows mercy to them

and promises

a mighty deliverer

and there's also judgment

and there's also prediction.

And immediately after that,

when Adam and Eve

are out of the garden,

the very next story,

which is just the one

before this,

is the story of Cain

murdering his brother Abel.

And this is sort of the story

where Emily read

is continuing.

Well, we'll just go up

a few verses

before verse 17.

Let's start at,

let's say,

verse 13.

So God has sort of

spoken to Cain

words of punishment

and Cain's response

in verse 13,

Cain said to the Lord,

My punishment

is greater than I can bear.

Just last week

we talked about

how this isn't repentance,

this is self-pity.

At no point in time

in Cain's response

is there repentance.

It's self-pity.

My punishment

is greater than I can bear.

Behold,

you have driven me today

away from the ground

and from your face

I shall be hidden.

I shall be a fugitive

and a wanderer

on the earth

and whoever finds me

will kill me.

Then the Lord said

to him,

Not so.

If anyone kills Cain,

vengeance shall be taken

on him sevenfold.

And the Lord put a mark

on Cain,

lest any who found him

should attack him.

Then Cain went away

from the presence

of the Lord

and settled

in the land of Nod.

And if you look at your note,

Nod means wandering.

So he basically settled

in wandering away from God.

It's a bit of a poetic wordplay.

What his home was,

what he now saw as home,

was wandering away from God

east of Eden.

And now the story continues.

Cain knew his wife

and she conceived

and bore Enoch.

When he built a city,

he called the name of the city

after the name of his son,

Enoch.

And we'll just sort of pause there.

And just if you're wondering

who's Cain's wife,

what I've decided is,

what I'm going to do is

next Sunday at the sermon,

I'm going to sort of tie together

several questions

or problems that we have.

Like what is the flood?

Is it universal?

Who did Cain marry?

Who lived in the city?

I'm going to spend

a couple of minutes

on all of those questions

and group them together

next Sunday.

So just if you're curious,

come in next Sunday

or you can listen to it online

afterwards.

But here's the thing

which is very, very interesting

is this is the first city.

And it started by Cain

whose home

is wandering away from God.

And Cain

is the one

who makes the first city.

And if you'll notice,

it's very interesting.

He doesn't name it after God.

He names it after his son.

In other words,

the city is named

in honor of Cain

and his line.

not in honor of God

or in any type of way

of referring to God.

And the other thing

which is very, very interesting

about this

is the word for city

here

can also be translated

as fortress.

And it can also mean

like a wall

as part of a fortress.

So the very first city

is also

a place of power.

It's a fortress.

fortress.

So what is this?

Now, here's the interesting thing.

If this was the only place

in the Bible,

we didn't know anything else

in the Bible about cities,

probably the way for us

to interpret this

would be to say

that Christians

shouldn't live in cities.

I mean,

it's the very first city

is named

in the honor

of Cain's line.

and Cain is the guy

who murders

his brother

whose wine

shows no repentance,

is quite happy

to have his home

and his whole destiny

wandering away from God.

And it's very, very interesting

that the Bible

pictures him

as building

the very, very

first city.

And

this shows

a very, very big

human problem.

Like as we just think

about this,

especially if it's the only piece

in the Bible,

which it isn't,

which we'll get to

in a moment.

Now, if you're a guest here

and you're not

from a Christian background,

you might not know this,

but some Christians

don't believe

that Christians

should celebrate Christmas

because it's pagan,

because it was started by,

it was a replacement

for a pagan festival

in a pagan country.

And they,

there's Christians

who don't celebrate Christmas.

In fact,

they have similar types

of things around Easter.

Because of the origin

of the holiday.

Now, for some of you,

you might be saying,

well, that's just really odd

that there are Christians

like this.

But, you know,

it's actually a very, very,

very common human problem.

Imagine that

there started to be

a cultural trend

or a cultural movement

that people are really

getting into.

And then it came out

that the person

who launched that trend

had been a key

financial supporter

of Donald Trump.

What would happen?

Well, the Twitterverse

would explode.

People would stop it.

Why?

Because it's poisoned

at its origin.

And this isn't just

a more left-wing problem

in quotation marks.

What would happen

if it turned out

that there was a,

some type of a cultural trend

and it went back

to Naomi Klein

or Michael Moore

or a big supporter

of Hillary Clinton.

Both of those two were,

of course.

Well, there'd be

a whole part of America

would say,

how on earth could

Christians

or more conservative people

get on board

with such a movement

or such a celebration

given the terrible roots

that it has?

In fact,

it's a very, very human problem

that if we know something

about the roots

of something

and we don't agree with it

or we think it's wrong,

that we don't want

to be involved with it.

So it's a human problem.

So what's the Bible

doing here?

Is the Bible

trying to communicate

that cities are bad?

In fact,

you know,

as we know,

there's terrible things

about cities as well.

They don't have

not only opportunity

and universities

and education

and government

and prosperity,

they also can be

very, very terrible,

brutal places,

places with murder rates.

I guess I have a bit of a,

anyway.

So,

so what's the Bible

doing here?

Is it,

um,

and,

and,

and for some of you,

I don't know,

maybe for some of you,

there's been a time

in Christian history

not that long ago

where Christians

were very suspicious

of the city.

Where real Christians

move out to the suburbs

or move out to the country

because the city

has too much vice

and evil in it.

So is this what

this Bible text

is doing?

Why is it that,

I mean,

apart from the fact

that it probably was Cain

who builds the first city,

why is it that the Bible

brings this out to us?

I want to suggest

that what's going to be

going on in this text,

and it starts here

with the city,

is that the Bible text

wants to teach us

something really important

about God

and that this text

wants to humble us.

And I know that's not

a very popular thing.

People don't like going

to places

where they're humbled.

They like to go to places

where they're pumped up.

But this text

is going to humble us

and it's going to begin

by humbling Christians

in some very, very,

very powerful ways.

But here,

if you could put up

the very first point,

what we're going to see

here is this,

that even though

human beings are fallen,

God's common grace

is still at work

in the world.

Even though human beings

are fallen,

God's common grace

is still at work

in the world.

This is really,

really, really,

really, really important

for us to get our minds

around and to understand.

Every single person

that we meet,

it doesn't matter

if the person

is an angry atheist,

it doesn't matter

if they're a settled secularist,

it doesn't matter

if they're a devout Muslim,

a devout Hindu,

a devout Buddhist,

even if they're

a devout witch,

it doesn't matter.

In every single human,

I mean,

on one level

those things matter,

but another level,

it doesn't matter

because every single

human being

is fallen

and in every single

case,

the fall

doesn't have

the final word

about human life

and human experience,

but God's common grace

is always present.

God's common grace

is always present.

And what the text here

is doing

is in story form,

it's introducing us

to this idea

that won't be developed

until later on

in the scriptures.

And remember,

if those of you

were here last week,

you might remember

that I said

that what's happening

with, you know,

Cain murders his brother,

he, you know,

he's a smartass

with God,

lies to God,

God speaks to him

with grace,

you know,

Cain talks back,

Cain shows no repentance

at all for having

murdered his brother,

he only whines

and shows self-pity,

and then in the response

to Cain's self-pity,

God says,

no, no,

I'm not going to let

people kill you.

And you might remember

that I said,

what you're seeing here

in picture form

is God's common grace,

the fact that there still

is beauty in the world,

the land continues to grow,

that there's beauty

in human beings

and human lives,

and so what happens

with God,

with Cain,

is that Cain

still has provision

and protection

from God,

that's common grace,

provision

and protection

from God,

common grace

doesn't save us,

it doesn't make us

right with God,

it doesn't make Cain

right with God,

but God acts

in such a way

that Cain

is provided for,

he's protected,

and this story here

is going to continue

to show other aspects

of common grace

in a way which is going

to very powerfully

humble us

and not just humble Christians

but the text is going

to go to humble all hearts

to reveal our hearts

pride

and their boasting.

You know,

that's why,

and so,

why do I say some of this

about the city?

Because here's one of the things

about the city,

here's one of the things

that we know

if we know other things

about the rest of the Bible,

Jerusalem is important.

Jerusalem,

the city Jerusalem,

is a powerful symbol

of God's presence

and his purposes

and his people.

And for Christians,

we look for the new Jerusalem,

we continue to have a concern

for the earthly Jerusalem,

you know,

the Bible tells us

to pray for the peace

of Jerusalem,

and we are to do that.

Doesn't mean we agree

with everything Israel does,

but the Bible tells us

we don't have to agree

with everything they do.

We pray for the peace

of Jerusalem

and we look forward

to the heavenly city

and to the new Jerusalem.

And in the book of Revelation,

part of how redeemed humanity

is portrayed

is like a city.

So we know here

that the city

is not just something

which is portrayed

as evil,

but it's telling us something

that it's not going to be the case

that we're going to see

that all of the good things

just come from that line

that is in obedience to God.

It's very, very, very important

to see that good things

are going to come out

of Cain's line

and it's showing us

in picture language

an important principle

of God's common,

sovereign grace

in human affairs.

You know,

it's why there's lots

of non-Christian marriages

that are better

than Christian marriages.

It's why there's

lots of non-Christians

that you and I all meet

who are nicer,

kinder,

smarter,

more self-giving.

It's God's common grace.

And this is being introduced

in story form,

in symbolic form,

not in,

like in propositions

as I put it up there,

but God uses stories

and images

to lodge things

in our mind

so that when we hear

the idea,

there's both an idea

and a type of image

even if we're not aware of it.

So, you know,

what else is going on

here in this particular text?

You know,

there's another problem

which is being addressed

in this text

which is a very,

very common problem.

It's a common problem

for Christians

and just for all human beings.

My parents are immigrants.

I was born a year

after my parents

immigrated from Europe.

In fact,

they immigrated

from Northern Ireland.

And some of you

might have heard

that Northern Ireland

has had problems

in its past

between Protestants

and Catholics.

And one of the things

about my parents

is that when I did

something really well,

like if I made my bed

really properly

and cleaned my room well

or cleaned the kitchen well,

my mom would say to me,

that's very Protestant.

She'd say,

that was very Protestant.

Now,

isn't that really interesting?

Catholics don't know

how to make their beds

in clean kitchens,

but Protestants do.

And just for the record,

you know,

as part of God's sense

of humor

for both families,

I marry Louise

and Louise is Polish

and Ukrainian.

And in Poland,

even the atheists

are Catholics, right?

Even Buddhists

are Catholics.

Like,

Poland is Catholic

with every letter capitalized.

and one of the things

the family said

about Louise marrying me,

which was a bit of a

not really very good,

was they said,

sorry,

at least he's not a Baptist.

So,

that was very faint praise.

At least I'm not a Baptist

because I would have been

really bad

if their daughter

had married a Baptist.

Anyway,

so, you know,

there's a bit of a problem,

right?

That the best things

come from Christians

or the best things

come from Protestants.

And by the way,

this isn't just a common,

this isn't just

a Christian problem.

What's one of the things

that many, many, many

secular people believe?

Evangelicals are stupid

and unread.

I mean,

sometimes they actually

literally say it.

They literally believe

if you were better educated

and better read,

you wouldn't believe

the Bible.

If you knew more science,

if you knew more art,

if you knew more philosophy,

if you knew more culture,

you wouldn't be a Christian.

What is it that Muslims believe?

Muslims believe

there has never been

a better written book

than the Koran.

There is,

in fact,

one of the proofs

they would use,

so-called,

for the superiority

of the Koran

and why it's God's word

is that it is

the finest example

of human writing

in existence.

I mean,

in the gay culture,

there's often

a conceit

within the gay culture

of its superiority

over straight culture.

there's a common

human problem

of believing

that your group

is somehow smarter,

more creative,

kinder,

better.

It's a human problem.

So,

what is the Bible,

is the Bible

going to help

or hurt this?

Well,

this is where the story

gets very interesting.

So,

go back to reading

the story,

verse 17.

We've already got

this idea of common grace

which is being

illustrated here

because the city

isn't an evil place.

It's a bit of a mixed place

on a human level

but it's not saying

cities are evil.

17.

Cain knew his wife

and she conceived

and bore Enoch.

When he built a city,

he called the name

of the city

after the name

of his son,

Enoch.

Then we have this

genealogy.

To Enoch

was born Irad

and Irad fathered

Mahujael

and Mahujael

fathered Methusheel

and Methusheel

fathered Lamech.

So,

the point here

is this is all

of the line

of Cain,

right?

The guy who

murdered his brother

and is living

quite happily

in wandering

away from God

and this is his line.

These are the people

who are following

in his footsteps,

so to speak,

not only biologically

but in other senses

as well.

And then it comes down

to Lamech

and then in verse 19,

and Lamech took

two wives.

It's very interesting.

The Bible shows

that polygamy,

which is going to show

is basically

always wrong.

This is a bit

of a distinction.

You have to read

the rest of the Bible

to see it,

but polygamy

comes from this line

and polygamy

is a clear sin.

Living in a city

is not a sin.

Polygamy is a sin.

And it comes here

from that line,

but we'll continue on.

And Lamech took

two wives.

The name of one

was Ada

and the name

of the other

was Zillah.

Ada bore Jabal

and he was the father

of those who dwell

in tents

and have livestock.

Just pause.

What this is saying

is a bit,

I mean,

you can sort of get it

in the translation,

but in the original language

it's even clearer.

Civilization rests

on the fact

that farmers

are able to breed

and produce

and figure out

how to grow

lots of grain

and feed animals

and there's surplus.

So in a sense,

it's connecting

the beginning

of prosperity

and the beginning

of what's needed

for civilization

that that comes

out of Cain's line.

And then look

what happens next.

His brother's name

was Jubal

or Jubal.

He was the father

of all those

who played the lyre

and the pipe.

And what this is using

and just a very,

you know,

it's like one of those

really good artists

who can just,

with a couple

of very lines,

just three or four

or five lines

can capture a picture.

And so the significance here,

it's saying that music

and not only music

but poetry

and not only music

and poetry

but therefore

of literature

and basically

of all the arts

that this comes

out of Cain's line

as well.

In a sense,

it's out of Cain's line

that they're the patron

saint of that.

And then look

what happens next

in 22.

Zillah also bore

Tubal Cain.

He was the forger.

That doesn't mean

you make counterfeit money.

It means he's able

to build things,

make things

in a forge

of all instruments

of bronze and iron.

And the sister

of Tubal Cain

was Nama.

And the significance

of the instruments

is that in a sense

it's the beginning

of technology.

It's the beginning

of tools.

It's not just

stone tools

but tools

of bronze and iron.

It's the beginning

of mining,

of metallurgy.

It's the beginning

of technology

and of science.

So isn't this

very interesting?

Cities

come from Cain's line.

Polygamy,

which is clearly

taught throughout

all of the Bible

as being wrong,

comes out of this line.

But the Bible

isn't going to say

that science

and technology

are wrong.

You know,

later on in the Old Testament

when the ark

is being built

and when the first

temple is being built,

God gives special

abilities

to both

a Jewish person

and a non-Jewish person

to build

all of the furnishings

and to bring

all the beauty

into the temple.

And the text

is saying

that prosperity,

which is a good thing,

by the way.

The Bible never says

that prosperity

is a bad thing.

And that's coming

out of this line.

And the Bible

is not going to say

that art and culture

is bad

because, I mean,

who is the greatest

king in Israel?

Who is like

the archetype

and it's from

his descendants

the Messiah

will come

and it's David.

But David wrote songs

and played the lyre.

So the Bible here

isn't saying

that music is bad.

Far from it.

But it's saying

that music,

that culture,

that science,

that technology,

it all comes out

of Cain's line.

In other words,

it would be

as if I said

to my mother,

you know,

the person who invented

a well-made bed

was a Catholic.

Not a Protestant.

Protestants never

dreamed it up.

It's a Catholic idea.

It's very,

very interesting

what the text

does here,

isn't it?

And so here's

the second point.

This is where

we have to start

to get humbled,

right?

So I remember

I began by saying

that there's

a human problem,

right?

You can see it

in secular culture.

You can see it

in, you know,

people who are

in the Trump side

and that whole

political equation

in the States.

You know,

they're the ones

who are going

to make America great.

You know,

you can see it

on the Clinton side.

You know,

the Trumpers

are deplorables.

It's a human problem.

But what we see,

if you could put up

the next point,

that would be great.

Here's what this text

is starting to see.

The Bible is trying

to undermine

this powerful

human problem.

It says,

I've added Jesus

in here

because we're reading

it as Christians.

Belonging to Jesus

does not make me

better than other people.

Belonging to Jesus

does not make me

better than other people.

Belonging to Jesus

doesn't mean I make my bed

better than other people.

Actually,

Louise will tell you

I don't make the bed

at all ever.

That's confession

for later on.

I have to confess that.

And for those of you

who are young,

there used to be a time

when you didn't have

these comforters

that you just threw over beds

and it covered up

all sorts of lack of,

you used to have to actually

make everything tight.

Anyway,

there you go.

That's a separate thing.

But this is what the text

is teaching us

indirectly here,

right?

It's saying that

it's definitely

not the case

that just because

you're a Christian

you're going to be

better at science.

Just because you're a Christian

you're going to be

better at music.

Just because you're a Christian

you're going to be

better at poetry.

Just because you're

a Christian you're going

to be better at

carpentry or better

mechanic.

The Bible's telling us

that in a series

of images here

it's humbling us.

It's telling us

to reject

that very powerful

human drive

and desire to see our tribe as better than all other tribes.

It's doing this very ancient story.

It's undermining this powerful human problem and drive

that causes so much problem, so much prejudice

and everything like that in the world.

But some of you might say,

okay, but George, like shouldn't grace make us better?

Like if you've given your life to Jesus,

if God has reconciled you to himself through the person of his son,

if the Bible is God's word written,

if God gives us the Holy Spirit,

shouldn't grace make us better?

Shouldn't grace just make us better?

Well, in some ways it does, by the way, right?

I mean, it's a very, very common thing that many people,

what helps them in dealing with their addictions or their alcoholism

is in fact the grace of Christ.

What can sometimes be a check on marriage being broken up

is just the call of the Bible and the call of Jesus

to come to him and to take his yoke upon you.

And obviously in sanctification,

there is to be changes in our lives.

But remember this thing about common grace.

Let me tell you this.

All of my prayers, I could fast and pray.

I could memorize the book of Psalms.

And I will not run as fast as Usain Bolt.

Talent matters.

I don't have his ability to have oxygen come into his lungs

and go to his muscles.

I don't have the percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers

that he was just born with.

I don't have the perfect proportion of different parts of his bones

to each other that just allows him to go so gloriously fast.

And I can hardly draw a stick figure.

And I can just tell you, I could pray till the cows come home.

And maybe God, for some reason, would do a miracle

and allow me to be able to paint well.

But you know what?

Why necessarily would he do that?

See, here's the thing about this.

Which is, you see, it's actually a grace of God

that the way our human desire that,

okay, Christians are just going to be better.

We're going to be the better musicians.

We're going to have the best families.

We're going to have the best businesses.

We're going to have the best made beds.

You know, we're going to have the best science

and the best technology.

You know, it's actually part of God's grace

that that doesn't happen to us.

To put up the next point,

because this is what would go on in our hearts.

If godliness leads to my success,

if godliness leads to my success,

I will choose godliness to be successful,

not to be godly.

Now, maybe I'm way more wicked than you,

but that's what would start to happen.

If it really was the case,

as the health and wealth gospel people

fraudulently claim,

fraudulently claim,

that if I could just give 10% of the money

that I make into the church

and I'll become rich,

if that really got out,

Kevin O'Leary would be giving 10%

of his money to the church.

Would he be doing that to become godly?

No way.

He'd be doing it to become rich.

If it really was the fact that praying

would make me as fast as Usain Bolt,

they'd be doing prayers

at the Olympic training camp.

Why?

Because they want to know God?

No, because they want to go faster

and win a gold medal.

Right?

If a hockey team understood

that memorizing the Ten Commandments

would make them win,

they'd all memorize the Ten Commandments.

Why?

Not because they want to know God,

not because they want to be known by God,

not because they want to be right with God,

but because they can triumph themselves.

And so it is that it's a kindness of God to us.

It's a kindness of God to us.

We're going to see why even more in a moment

with this next surprising twist in the story,

that it is not the case

that when you give your life to Jesus

that everything in your life

will now be better than others.

It won't be.

You know the wonderful thing about the gospel?

Everything that happens in your life,

you don't do it alone.

You do it with Jesus.

You do it with your Heavenly Father.

And you do it with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

That's a great, great, great, great, great thing.

I'm going to be going to Angola in July.

You know, we'll talk to you about that in a little bit

to speak to some missionaries in Angola

and to do some teaching to local churches.

And I'll be honest, in my flesh,

I'm chicken when it comes to stuff like that.

And I feel nervous about navigating myself

around different airports in Ethiopia and Namibia

and rural airports in Namibia.

And I, you know what,

especially one of the things that just worries me,

it feels far more comfortable.

I've just had one human being with me.

Because being with others matters, you know.

But we have Jesus, so we can talk about it all too.

But the text goes on, and not only does it then,

the text deals with another human problem

that also affects churches and Christians and non-Christians.

You have to watch the time.

One of the things that, you know, around the city right now,

I'm going to take a risk of offending people,

maybe not people who are here,

but maybe some people who are here.

There's a lot of churches which are closing in the city.

And one of the things which is really interesting

is that these churches that are closing,

some of these churches that are closing,

and some of them choose not to just sell their buildings

for the highest bidder.

Some of them sell them for lower than their highest bidder.

But they sell them to arts groups.

They don't say, you know, there's a powerful move amongst God

for new Canadians coming from Africa.

And there's this really wonderful pastor

who's come from Africa to minister to new Canadians from Africa.

Why don't we give the building to them?

Or there's this powerful move of God

amongst people who've come from China to become Canadians.

And they come here to become Canadians,

but then they become Christians.

There's a powerful move of God.

Why don't we give our building to them?

No.

They want to give the building to an arts group.

They're revealing their idol.

And the fact of the matter is

that many, many, many, many people in our culture

believe that science will solve our problems,

that technology will solve our problems,

that art will solve our problems,

that prosperity will solve our problems,

that better cities will solve our problems,

that better government will solve our problems.

And it's a very, very, very, very, very common idea,

but the Bible is far wiser.

The Bible is far wiser.

Look again at what the Bible does next.

It's very, very, very, very interesting.

Very interesting.

So we've just, if you go to verse 24, 23,

so the city has been invented.

Prosperity is going back to Cain's line.

Art, science, and technology.

And then the father of this,

in verse 23, Lamech said to his wives,

Ada and Zillah, hear my voice.

You wives of Lamech, listen to what I say.

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man, literally a lad,

for striking me.

A lad strikes him, he kills him.

A lad strikes Lamech,

and Lamech in anger and rage kills the lad.

Now here's the thing.

If Cain's revenge,

in other words, God says,

I'm going to protect Cain by sevenfold protection,

then Lamech's,

Lamech's is 77-fold.

Next point.

I get this thing from a novel that I read.

Even after science and art and prosperity and civilization,

the lizard part of our brain still thrives unchanged.

It comes from the Jack Reacher novels.

He comes to a point,

and he'll mention how the lizard part of his brain kicks in,

which means he's going to kick butt in a serious way.

And it's a very, very powerful image, isn't it?

And you know what?

University faculties that fight,

women's centers that fight,

mosques that fight,

churches that fight,

nations that fight,

families that fight,

streets that fight,

neighborhoods that fight.

Even after science and art and prosperity and civilization,

the lizard part of our brain still thrives unchanged.

See, it's easy for us to see,

we now have,

we have the beginnings of prosperity,

we have the beginnings of science,

we have the beginnings of technology,

we have the beginnings of art and culture of civilization,

and it all looks very good,

and it's not come out of the line that's going to worship the Lord,

it's come out of the line that is seeing God,

they're quite happy wandering away from God,

and it can look as if,

well, what we need is we need more of this,

this is going to solve our problems,

this is fantastic.

And then the text very subtly has this boast of Lamech

to remind us,

the lizard part of our brain is unchanged.

Is it going to put up the next point, please?

Cities, prosperity, science, and art are great goods.

That's what the Bible is going to teach,

they're great goods.

It's not a virtue to be poor.

It's not a sin to be poor.

People who are poor aren't sinners,

people who are rich aren't virtuous.

It's not saying that.

But cities, prosperity, science, and art are great goods,

but as idols, they always fail.

As idols,

when we put our hope and trust in them,

they always fail.

And you know, the other thing which is so interesting about this

is the way that the story very subtly

plants in our mind this idea of their failure.

So what's going to happen?

Lamech makes this big boast.

Chest-thumping boast.

I'm way more powerful than God.

You fear God, you should fear me way more.

I'm way stronger.

I'm meaner.

I'm harder.

I'm faster.

I'm quicker.

And what's the very...

How does the Bible...

What's God going to do?

What's God going to do?

Show him he's bigger and tougher.

Send down a lightning bolt.

Kill him.

You know what he does?

It's very simple.

What happens next?

A baby's born.

We all know babies can sure beat big strong guys, right?

A baby's born.

That's the response of God in the text.

A baby's born.

And you know the other response?

Lamech's line disappears.

We go to see the ruins of the Roman Empire.

We don't go to visit the Roman Empire.

We go to see the ruins of the Mayan Empire.

We don't go to visit the Mayan Empire.

Look at verse 25.

And Adam knew his wife again.

And she bore a son and called his name Seth.

For she said, God has appointed for me another seed instead of Abel.

For Cain killed him.

To Seth also a son was born.

And he called his name Enosh.

At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Now, my time is up.

I just, here's the thing.

You could put up the next point, please.

Actually, could you all say this with me?

It's a great text.

But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,

by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

So the text says we have art, we have civilization, we have science, we have prosperity,

we have all of these great goods.

We have cities.

They're great goods.

But God is going to continue.

His common grace is present, but his special grace will come.

The line out of which the one who will slay the serpent and slay sin and death,

God's promise continues in the face of all these goods,

in the face of all this sin, in the face of all this human arrogance,

and all this human pride, God's purpose remains.

He continues to be true to his word.

And he teaches that rather than boasting,

wisdom says that we call on the name of the Lord.

Now, that would have been hard to know what people understood of it

when they first hear this story.

They have to come to Exodus 3 to understand a little bit more about the Lord.

They have to wait until they hear about David to hear more about what the Lord is.

They need to wait until Isaiah and Daniel and Ezekiel to know a little bit more about who this,

the Lord is.

And ultimately, they need to wait until Jesus has come,

who is the promised seed, who does slay the serpent and does slay death and sin

and defeats demons and will bring in the new heaven and the new earth by his death upon the cross.

The Bible says that when Jesus is dying upon the cross,

it is we see before us God's power for salvation for those who receive it by faith and trust in Jesus

and what he has done.

And what this text is very interestingly do is the normal human tendency is,

and most of our boasting is quiet.

But what boasting reveals to us is,

where do we get our identity?

Where do we get our meaning?

What makes us think that we will triumph and survive?

What gives us direction?

Well, it's because I'm cultured.

It's because I'm good looking.

It's because I'm able to control things.

And you know, if you think about it,

it's because I'm able to control things.

Well, that's part of my identity.

That's what's going to give me success.

It's what I put my hope in.

It's what I trust in,

that I can control things,

or that I'm good looking,

or that I'm rich,

or I have this degree,

or I'm a scientist,

or I'm a secularist,

or I'm a Baptist,

or I'm an Anglican,

or something other than God.

And what this text is saying

is that as the gospel grips us,

as we give our lives to Jesus

and the gospel grips us,

one of the purposes of the gospel gripping us

is that we start to no longer believe

that these are the things

that will give us direction and success

and meaning and identity,

but that we are to understand

that what our identity comes from

is God's power given to us

in the death and resurrection of Jesus

to make us right with him,

that nothing will change that,

nothing will shake that from us.

That's to be my ultimate hope.

It's not whether I can have lots of children,

or I can get the job that I want,

or the husband that I want,

or get political power.

Not that these things are bad.

It's not that we should seek them,

but if they become our boast,

if they become the thing that makes us believe

that if that's the sign of success

and the means of success,

if that's the basis of our identity,

it's going to be like Lamech,

and it will fail.

But as the gospel grips us,

and we realize that God

is not only giving common grace,

but saving grace,

that his strong arm has reached down

and reached our tiny failing arm

to put our hope and trust in him

because our idols have failed,

and our idols are consuming us,

and our idols are only making us anxious

or making us arrogant,

and that we can start to understand

that our identity,

our hope,

our trust,

our ground,

our shape comes from being gripped

by the gospel,

by Jesus' death upon the cross,

by who he is and what he's done.

As that becomes our boast,

it doesn't mean that we leave the world,

but we live in the world in a different way.

that the idols that make us

either arrogant or anxious

start to lose their control over us,

and they start to lose their allure to us

as we're gripped by the gospel.

Please stand.

Please stand.

Just before we pray,

could you put that scripture passage up again,

that last point?

Could you just all say this with me one more time?

It's a great text to memorize, by the way.

I encourage you to memorize the Bible,

meditate upon it,

ask God to make it true in your life

and in your heart

that the gospel would grip you

so that your boast,

my boast,

our church's boast

will be in the gospel

and in Jesus

and that that will shape

how we live in the world

and how we do science

and how we do marriage

and how we do family

and how we do relationships.

Can you say this with me one more time?

But far be it from me to boast

except in the cross

of our Lord Jesus Christ

by which the world

has been crucified to me

and I to the world.

Father, we thank you that,

we thank you, Father,

that you know that we have,

we struggle with idols.

Father, you know that

we don't even struggle with idols.

Father, you know that many of us

have powerful functioning idols

in our lives

that we don't even struggle against.

We just think that's

just the way to be.

And we thank you, Father,

that you don't wait for us

to be perfect,

but you see us and you love us

and you saved us through Jesus

and his death upon the cross

that all who call upon him

to be the Lord,

to call upon the name of the Lord,

to be their Savior,

that you will turn none away.

You will turn none away

who calls upon you today,

right now in this place,

that you turn none away,

that you take them for yourself.

Father, we give you thanks and praise

that you do not weigh our merits,

but you look at Jesus

and look at us

and take us in Jesus

and give us Jesus

and put us in Jesus

and put Jesus in us.

Father, make us disciples of Jesus

who are gripped by the gospel,

who are learning to boast

in the gospel,

in Jesus

and what he has done for us

in the cross.

May that be, Father,

more and more

the source of our identity,

the source of our hope,

the lens by which we see the world,

the lens by which

we understand ourselves,

so that we live,

not, Father,

for our glory

or the glory of our city

or for art or for science,

but for your glory

as we live in a city

and do art

and do science.

And, Father,

we ask all of this

in the name of Jesus

and all God's people said,

Amen.