Sovereign Over All | Genesis 10 (Austin Pace)

Hello, I am Anthony Garcia.

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Thank you again, and I hope this message is a blessing to you.

But Genesis chapter 10 this morning.

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

We've been going through our series in Genesis.

Now, last time I preached, last time uh Pastor Anthony gave me the opportunity to preach, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to preach again.

But uh the last time uh I had the opportunity to preach, Pastor Anthony said, You can preach your own message, Austin.

Go ahead and preach a standalone message.

And I made the joke last time, if you remember, that it was because Pastor Anthony didn't want me to mess up his sermon series, right?

So last time I made the joke, but now it seems like it's the opposite this time.

Now I think he trusts me a little bit too much.

Because if you've had the opportunity to look at Genesis chapter 10, uh, or if you want to look at it right now, if you look, it is all genealogies.

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

So Pastor Anthony said, Austin, go ahead and take Genesis 10.

You can do that one, no problem.

And I'm like, really?

Like that's the one.

But of course, I am kidding, because after I got to look at this passage, um, I uh I really learned a lot.

And in the context of Genesis chapter 9 and Genesis chapter 11 and other passages in the Bible that we'll look at this morning, there is a lot that we can um see from Genesis chapter number 10.

Genesis 9 · chapter mention Genesis 11 · chapter mention

But there in Genesis chapter 10, we're just gonna read two verses.

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

We're not gonna read the entire um uh the entire lineage or the entire um family tree right now.

Uh so we're just gonna look at the first verse and the last verse, right?

There in Genesis chapter 10 and verse 1, it says, Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and unto them were sons born after the flood.

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

Jump down to verse 32, the last verse in the chapter, it says, These are the families of the sons of Noah after their generations, in their nations, and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

God's sovereignty is on full display here in Genesis 10.

And from it we can see that God's sovereign plan will never be undone.

Leading up to our passage here today, we've we've uh we've seen about the flood and how there was no righteous people left on the earth, and earth was wicked.

And so God tells Noah, the last righteous man and his family, the last righteous man on earth.

He says, I'm going to flood the earth, I'm going to destroy the earth.

I need you to build an ark.

And God uh allows him to build an ark, and he brings all of the animals two by two onto the ark.

And we we heard about the flood, and then we we uh we saw in God's word the covenant of the rainbow and how God promises through the rainbow that he will never destroy the earth by a flood.

Again, and every time we see a rainbow, it is a reminder of God's mercy in that.

And then last week, Pastor Anthony he preached about Noah's drunkenness and his sons coming in, and they they covered him up.

And now his sons have become the main characters of our chapter here today.

Genesis 10, Shem, Ham, and Japheth are our main characters.

Now, as I was studying out this passage, I kept asking myself, what is the recurring theme that I keep coming across?

And the one thing that I could not get away from is that is the sovereignty of God that we see in Genesis chapter 10.

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

In short, sovereignty means that God rules over all.

Our God is a sovereign God.

That this means that he has the absolute right, authority, and power to rule over all creation and accomplish his purposes according to not my will, not your will, not any man's will, but according to his will.

Because God is sovereign, he answers to nobody.

He does as he sees fit.

God is infinitely sovereign.

This would be a terrifying fact.

Can we agree?

This would be terrifying that God, the ruler of the universe, does whatever he wants.

This would be terrifying if it weren't for the fact that he is also infinitely merciful, infinitely gracious, and infinitely loving.

And it is for that reason that we, that you and I can find comfort in the sovereignty of God.

And I think Genesis 10 gives us a clear view of the fact that God's sovereign plan is infinitely better than any plan that any man could ever devise.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to open your word this morning, Lord.

I pray that you would uh give the audience ears to hear, Lord.

I pray that you would help me to not use any of my own words, Lord, but I pray that you would have me to say what you want me to say, Lord.

And I pray that this passage, Lord, your word would affect change in the hearts of your people, God.

I pray that you beauth remained of our service.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

The first thing I want us to see this morning is the power presented within this passage.

At first glance, Genesis 10, it just looks like a list of a bunch of names.

It looks like a bunch of names that we really don't hear much about for the rest of the Bible.

But when we look closer, when we delve into it a little bit, we notice that Genesis 10 is a caste.

Think about a movie and the cast.

That's the characters in it, who plays each part.

Here we see Genesis 10 is a cast for the rest of biblical history.

Let's look at some of these names.

Some of these, uh, some of these names, there are a lot of names mentioned in Genesis 10.

But as we look at it, we can see names that eventually lead to not just some random family, but names that eventually lead to entire nations.

We see Mizraim, who eventually his descendants lead to Egypt.

We see that in verse 6 and then verse 13 and 14.

We see Asher, his descendants eventually lead to the kingdom, the nation of Assyria.

We see that in verse 22.

Madai becomes the Medes, the Persians, the nation of Media.

That's in Genesis, that's in verse 2, Genesis 10.

Javon eventually becomes the Greeks.

That's in uh we see his name in verse 2 and verse 4.

And then we see Aram, which becomes the Syrians, which of course we hear about all the time in the Bible, just as many of these other names.

We can see that in 22 and 23.

Canaan, of course, leads to the nations his descendants become the nation of the Canaanites.

We see that in verse 6, in verse 15, and 19.

And then these last two, I'm not even going to try to pronounce their names, but they're uh they lead to the Philistines.

And we see that in verse 14.

Can you imagine the power represented in Genesis chapter 9 chapter 10 just from these names alone?

Genesis 9 · chapter mention

Just from these names, the power that is presented, the future power, right?

These men alone were not powerful in their own regards, but what they eventually led to, the fathers that they were nations of, the power presented in that is astounding.

The power, the prestige, the wealth that is presented in Genesis 10, it is astounding.

These were the fathers of some of the greatest nations that would be found in the ancient world.

But here is the key.

Here's what I want us to get today.

God was sovereign over it all.

All of these nations were a part of God's sovereign plan.

All of these nations came to power under God's allowance.

All of these nations did not come to be without God allowing it to happen.

Well, you say, Pastor Austin, how do we know that God's sovereignty is in this passage?

It doesn't, it doesn't specifically say that God is sovereign over these nations.

It doesn't say that in Genesis 10.

But I believe it's it's kind of it's a, I think it's a given, right?

Let's look at uh Genesis chapter 9, the verse right before, or the chapter before.

Genesis 9 · chapter mention

Genesis 9, in verse 1, it says, And God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.

Verse 7, and you be ye fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply therein.

So first we can see God's sovereignty through this because God declared it.

God declares to Noah and his sons, go and repopulate the earth, be fruitful and multiply.

And here we see the effects of it in Genesis chapter 10.

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

God declares it, but then he enforces it.

Now I don't want to get into Pastor Anthony's sermon next week, but he'll be talking about the Tower of Babel.

And if you're familiar with the story, jump over to Genesis 11, just the chapter after.

Genesis 11, verse 4, it says, And they said, Go, let us build 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.

Genesis 11:4

Their plan didn't work out very well because in verse 8 it says, So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth, and they left off to build the city.

Right?

So God enforces it.

He enforces his sovereign plan over man, over the nations.

They don't want to be separated, they don't want to be scattered abroad, and then God does exactly that.

So he declares it.

We saw in Genesis 9, Genesis 10 says he enforces it.

All right, but the Bible also confirms it.

The Bible confirms that God is sovereign over the nations.

Acts 17, 26 says, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation.

God says here that he made of one blood all nations for men to dwell on the face of the earth.

And at the end he said, He determined the times before appointed, and he determined the bounds of their habitation.

Job 12, 23.

He increaseth the nations and destroyeth them.

He enlargeth the nations and straighteneth them again.

And if there is anybody, if there's anybody in the Bible that experienced the sovereignty of God, if there's anybody that had to have faith in God's sovereign plan, it was Job.

Job was an upright man, according to Job chapter 1.

Job 1 · chapter mention

The Bible says he eschewed evil.

As far as worldly riches go, he was a rich man in both wealth and family.

He had seven sons and three daughters, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and a household of servant.

So Satan, he comes to God.

God tells Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?

Satan responds and says, Well, the only reason he's faithful to you is because of all the things you've given him.

Because he has so many sheep and camels and oxen and donkeys and servants.

Of course, that of course he's going to be faithful to you.

And God, he trusts he chooses to trust Job's faith.

So God allows Satan to touch everything around Job except for Job himself.

And in just a few moments, Satan destroys everything that Job has.

He had taken everything away from him because it was a part of God's greater plan.

God allowed it to happen.

But Job didn't know that.

All Job could see what was happening in the moment.

Yet Job says in Job 12, 23, he increaseth the nations and destroyeth them.

Again, last time I preached, I thought we were gonna have a fight breakout, all right?

I thought I was gonna get mugged going out.

I had asked for a raise of hands about who the best NBA player is.

Is it LeBron or is it Michael Jordan?

We're not gonna get back into that today, but I thought we were gonna have a fight breakout, but no fight broke out last time, so we're gonna see if we can get one to break out today.

Do we have any college football fans in here this morning?

Any college football fans?

All right, a couple, just a couple, all right.

Specifically, do I have any Oklahoma or Ohio State fans today?

I just want to make sure we're not gonna have a fight.

All right, no Oklahoma or Ohio State fans.

All right.

Yesterday, I was watching the Michigan game.

All right.

Now, yesterday, if you don't follow uh college football too much, Michigan is big rivals with Ohio State, and Oklahoma is big rivals with Texas.

Now, yesterday was a great day for Michigan fans and for uh Texas fans because we beat their rival, they beat our rival, all right?

So it's a great day, great day for to be a Michigan fan.

I am a Michigan fan, all right?

So I was watching the game yesterday, and Michigan just recently had a completely new coaching staff come in.

They just had a new coaching staff come in, and their head coach brought a lot of the guys with him from his old his old school.

And so we have a new offensive coordinator.

Now, yesterday they started, they were talking about our offensive coordinator yesterday, and they showed a shot of him, and I was trying to get a picture of it, but I wasn't able to get one.

But this is him, uh Jay, I think Jason Beck, I think is his name.

Um, but this is our new offensive coordinator yes, and this this picture's from last week's game.

But yesterday they showed a shot of Jason Beck, our offensive coordinator, up in a booth.

And now, if you know football at all, you know that sometimes the coaches they'll go up in this booth and it gives them a better vantage point of the field.

They're able to see it from a better angle than maybe the coaches down on the sidelines.

And I got to thinking about that yesterday.

And I got to thinking how he was up in the stand.

Now, one thing, as I was watching the game yesterday, it's easy as a fan to go, why would you make that call?

Why do you, why do you run the ball here?

Especially as a Michigan fan, I think this, but why do you run the ball here or why do you pass the ball here?

And it's an easy thing to do.

But I'm sure for the players, they probably do it just as much or maybe more.

Coach, we should have ran that ball.

Coach, we should have played.

I mean, we should have we should have passed.

But you know what the difference is?

The difference is that one party only sees what is directly in front of them.

One party only sees the 400-pound linebacker in front of them.

One party only sees their opponent, what they're up against.

But his offensive coordinator, he sees small part pieces a part of a much larger picture.

The difference is the vantage point.

You see, Job is out on the field.

Job is down on the field, and the only thing he can see is the problem in front of him.

Here's what we can learn from Job.

When you can't see past your trials, past your difficulties, when all you can see is the opposition in front of you.

Remember the one who sees everything ahead of you.

When Job faced the darkest moments of his life, he said, He increaseth the nations, he destroyeth them, he enlargeth the nations and straighteneth them again.

You and I serve the God that controls the nations.

You and I serve the God that is sovereign over the nations.

But my question this morning is this why do we so often doubt that he's sovereign over our lives?

So often we find ourselves in a situation such as Job's.

We find ourselves facing overwhelming difficulty.

From the field, all we can see is what's in front of us, what directly opposes us.

From the field, all we can see is our sickness, the sickness of a loved one, financial difficulty, the never-ending search for a job, the need for a house, the need for a vehicle, the loved one that pushes you away.

Whatever it may be, that's all you can see, isn't it?

When you're on the field, it's hard to look past that.

And let me clarify something.

As humans, we are finite creatures.

It is human nature to want to question.

Job did in the midst of his affliction.

It's okay to feel sorrow, Job did, but here's the encouragement to you today.

We are not able to see past our trials.

But the comfort is that God can see past our trials.

When we go through a difficulty, when we face affliction, we when we are given a trial, it is no surprise to God.

God knew about your difficulty at the foundation of the world.

In Genesis 1, when he spoke the world into creation, he knew about every moment of sorrow, every moment of pain, every difficulty that you and I would ever experience.

And there's no hands that I would rather be in than in God's hands.

Why?

Because our God, He's not a God that enjoys to watch us suffer.

Our God isn't a God that wants to put us through difficulty, but in his sovereignty, in his infinite knowledge, he sometimes deems it necessary.

That is the most simple truth of God's sovereignty.

Sovereignty put simply is that God's ways are higher than mine.

And why is that a comfort to us?

And why is it a comfort to us that we sometimes have to suffer for the sake of God's plan?

How can the sovereignty of God give us comfort in our time of hurt?

Genesis chapter 10, verse 22.

Genesis 10:22

Verse 22 says, The children of Shem, Elam, Asher, are Faxad and Lud and Aram.

Here in Genesis 10, we've seen God working the world stage, setting nations up, giving a cast for the rest of biblical history.

That's what we've seen so far.

But while these nations are spreading across the earth, we can see something else happening in this genealogy.

Something much quieter, yet something much more important.

And we can come to realize that the biggest names in Genesis 10, the most powerful names, they aren't the most important ones.

Because God's sovereignty isn't just seen through the nations in Genesis 10.

What we're gonna see this morning is that God's sovereignty can be a comfort to us because God is sovereign over redemption.

Look at verse 22 again.

John uh Genesis 10, verse 22.

Genesis 10:22

The children of Shem, Elam, and Asher, and Arfaxad and Lud and Aram, and the children of Aram, Ooz, and Hol and Gether and Mash, and Arfaxad begat Salah, and Salah begat Eber, and unto Eber were born two sons.

The name of one was Peleg, for in his days was the earth divided, and his brother's name was Jochtan.

Genesis 11.

Look at verse 18.

Genesis 11, 18.

And Peleg lived thirty years and begat Reu.

And Peleg lived after he begat Reu 209 years and begat sons and daughters.

And Reu lived two and thirty years and begat Sarug.

And Ru lived after he begat Sarug 207 years and begat sons and daughters.

And Sarag lived thirty years and begat Nahor.

And Sarug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years and begat sons and daughters.

And Nahor lived nine and twenty years and begat Terah.

And Nahor lived after he begat Terah and hundred and nine uh and nineteen years and begat sons and daughters.

Verse 26 says, and Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Now it's important to notice that just as the other names we looked at in Genesis 10, this verse isn't the only time we see these names come about.

I'm sure we all noticed in verse 26 the name Abram.

Go to Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abram.

Abraham.

Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.

And Judas begat Pharise and Zarah of Tamar, and Ferris begat Eshram, and Eshram begat Aram.

And Aram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begat Nas uh Nasan, and Nassan begat Salmon.

And you jump down to verse 17.

So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are 14 generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations.

And you see there in verse 16, we see Jesus.

And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

If you put look towards the screen, we can track the genealogy of Christ all the way back to Adam.

We can track in this slide, it just tracked back to Noah.

And I do not have every name on here.

There is a lot of names, and so I didn't I didn't put all of the names on here.

But these are some of the names you may notice.

And if you notice, it goes Noah, Shem, Arfaxad, Eber, Peleg, which we saw, then to Abraham, and then Isaac, which we can see here in Genesis chapter, uh, sorry, Matthew in Matthew chapter one, it we can see all the way up to Abraham, and then Isaac and Jacob, and we can track it all the way back to Jesus.

So God is sovereign over the nations, but God is sovereign over redemption.

God isn't just sovereign, he's not just sovereign over the large scale.

He wasn't just watching over the nations as they began to grow and flourish.

The whole time, God was quietly leading one family line as well.

The names you notice in this family line aren't always the most powerful names or the most prominent names, but they are undoubtedly the most important.

Why?

Because they brought about the Redeemer.

They led to Jesus.

But the fascinating fact of this is that God brought Jesus out of quite frankly what we could consider a mess.

God brought Jesus out of thousands of years of war, sin, human failure, enemy opposition, corrupt power, and the list goes on.

If you follow the line of Jesus, you can read about many of these men and the people that oppose them.

Abraham.

Abraham could have messed it all up when he chose not to wait on God and he had a child with Hagar, King David.

The Philistines tried their best to defeat God's people.

They could have messed it up if they had defeated God's people.

David could have messed it up when he committed adultery with Bathsheba.

Solomon had hundreds of wives, could have messed it all up.

But God, in his sovereignty, brought about his promised redeemer just as he said he would in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

God brought Jesus out of all of that.

And when Jesus came, it benefited you and I.

When Jesus came, he came to seek and to save that which was lost.

That's that's you and I.

We were lost.

He came for you and for I.

That the cross, the cross, redemption of all mankind, that is the end result of the sovereignty of God.

And if he did it before, if he brought something so wonderful out of something that was such a mess before, then we cannot even imagine the good that God can bring out of whatever mess that you're in this morning.

That is the comfort we find in the sovereignty of God.

But please understand me this morning.

I will not stand up here and tell you that no matter what you're going through, everything will just work out great.

I will not stand up here and tell you this morning that no matter what, God will reward you for what you endure.

I will not stand up here and tell you that this morning.

Paul endured his trials.

He had faith in God's sovereignty, yet he was executed.

Stephen endured his trials.

He had faith in God's sovereignty as well, yet he was stoned.

John the Baptist, Jesus said, uh, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.

John the Baptist had Jesus' direct approval, but John the Baptist was beheaded.

Romans 8, 18.

If you want to turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

There in verse 18, and if you don't have your Bible, it's up on the screen.

Verse 18 says, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Paul never tells us that our suffering will just magically get better.

Rather, he says that the present suffering isn't comparable to future glory.

Later on in verse 28, chapter 8, Romans 8, verse 28.

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

But listen, we have to understand that the ultimate biblical good isn't the sickness goes away, my financial burdens disappear, all of my needs are provided for.

My loved one comes back to me.

There's no more persecution.

Look at verse 29 and 30.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Verse 30 says, Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The ultimate biblical good that Romans 8 28 is talking about is not in this life.

It's at the end of this life.

It's glorification, it's joining our Savior in glory for all of eternity.

It's the moment that our faith becomes sight.

It is the ultimate uh biblical good.

That is the ultimate biblical Romans 8 28 good.

That is what God has intended for each and every one of us.

And when we are able to get our eyes on that, when we are able to get our focus on that, I hope that we can realize that our suffering on earth, it is difficult.

But compared to eternity in heaven, it is just a vapor.

It is a tiny fraction of time compared to the glory that we have in eternity.

Because when I say that God is sovereign over redemption, it doesn't just mean that God is God's sovereign plan brought about the Redeemer.

It does mean that, but it also means that He is the only means of redemption.

He is the only path to redemption.

And if you don't know what I mean by redemption, let me explain it.

Simply put, redemption is to be bought back or to be set free by the payment of a price.

Let's say I was captured and held for ransom, and someone came and paid the price to set me free.

That is redemption.

Freedom purchased by a price.

But what are we being purchased from?

What are we being held by?

What are we captive to?

Friend, you and I have a problem.

We have a sin problem.

And our sin, it holds us captive.

It is a weight that we cannot get rid of on our own.

Because of our sin, we do not deserve that glorification.

Because of our sin, we are not permitted to join God to spend eternity in heaven.

Our sin would forever keep us from entering heaven.

And nothing we can do can free us from the bondage of that sin.

Not money, not fame, not going to church, giving money to the church, baptism, not good works and good deeds.

Nothing that we do of our own work can ever release us of our sin that is holding us down.

We need someone to pay our redemption price.

We need a redeemer.

And that redeemer is exactly who we've been talking about this morning.

The sinless one called Christ that came by God's sovereign plan is the only one who can pay our redemption price and free us from the weight of sin.

He is the only one that can guarantee us eternal life.

Because the redemption price that has already been paid.

When Jesus came to earth 2,000 years ago, he lived a life that was perfectly pure.

He lived a life that was without sin.

Unlike you and I, Jesus never sinned.

He never had one evil thought, he never said one evil deed, never did one evil action.

He was perfect.

Yet in man's sin they rejected him.

If you saw your Bible in Romans 8, look at verse 32.

He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.

How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

God in his sovereignty used a horrendous and a gruesome act done by man.

He used that to bring about the greatest gift that mankind has ever seen.

What was that gift?

It was the payment of my redemption price.

It was the payment of your redemption price.

When Christ died on the cross, my sins and your sins, they died with him.

But thankfully, the Bible tells us that he didn't stay in the grave.

When he rose three days, rose again three days later, my new life and your new life were raised with him.

So we no longer have to live in bondage to our sin.

We no longer have to remain captive to our sin.

Our redemption price has been paid.

But just as we must do with any gift offered to us, we must accept it.

Salvation is a gift we must make a conscious decision to accept.

We must call upon the name of the Lord, confess our sins to him, admit we're sinners, believe that he died on the cross for you and for me, and accept him as our Savior.

That's all it takes to be a Christian.

That's all it takes to be redeemed.

But for those of us who have already accepted that gift, let me comfort you with the fact that when you're on the field, when all you can see is the opposition, the problems in front of you, remember that God is sovereign over the nations.

But why is that a comfort to us?

Why are we able to find comfort in the fact that God is sovereign and he has a plan?

Because we can look back and see that God is sovereign over redemption.

Because we can look back and see what the product of God's sovereign plan was.

We can look back and agree with Paul that all things work together for good to love to them that love God.

Whether it works out for good in this life or in the next.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

I hope this message was a blessing to you.

If you are in the Phoenix area, we would love to have you come in for a visit.

We're located on Indian School and 23rd Avenue.

If we can be a help to you in any other way, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

I would love to answer any questions that you had about the sermon, or maybe a question that you have about eternal life and a relationship with God.

We're here to serve you and to point you to Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much for watching this message.