Sermon Date: 5/30/21

(Gen. 10:1-32) (8-12)

When it comes to reading genealogies often it seems like empty space. Filler. In truth all of these names are important to God and to us.

• The boys: When we look into the history of Noah’s sons we see the foundation of our now civilization.
  • With Japheth we have the sea faring ancestors.
    • We know them as Europeans.
    •  The Bible refers to them as the gentiles.(V5)
  • Ham which is the daddy of Canaan.
    • The legacy of all Ham’s sons was that they were the most hostile neighbors that the Nation of Israel had then and even now.  
    • Even today, the descendants of Ham are located in Egypt and Syria and Palestine and Libya.
    • I’m sure these names sound familiar to almost everyone here. . They are still to this day, hostile to the nation of Israel.  Their legacy is a history of animosity and hatred for the Jewish people
  • Shem.
    •  It is generally supposed that the Hebrews derived their name from Eber or Heber, son of Shem.
    •  If you trace Shem’s lineage you see that he was an ancestor of Abram, later known as Abraham, the Father of the Hebrew Nation and an ancestor of Jesus Christ.
  • Each of Noah’s three sons have a legacy that they leave.
    • God is giving us a record and a glimpse of who the world’s ancestors were here in this chapter.
    •  Many times we wonder why God would include all of this in the Bible. . These folk’s names were important because they all left a legacy in some way or another.
    •  We all leave a legacy with how we live our lives.  Like them, we are all important and we will all leave a legacy with our lives.
• Names are important in the Bible.
  •  If they were not, God would not have chosen to list so many.
    •  All throughout this chapter, we get name after name after name. Then we see Nimrod.
    • Why Nimrod?
  • The title of this sermon. You never know.
    • In one of the first Bugs Bunny cartoons, Bugs called his nemesis Elmer Fudd a nimrod.
  • The website Reddit says this about the word nimrod. “ Bugs Bunny accidentally transformed the word nimrod into a synonym for idiot because nobody got a joke where he sarcastically compared Elmer Fudd to the Biblical figure Nimrod, a mighty hunter.”
    • When Bugs called Elmer a nimrod, he was making fun of his hunting prowess but people didn’t get the sarcasm because most had never heard the word before and assumed that he was calling Elmer a fool or an idiot.
    • That meaning for the word has evolved in that way ever since. The Dictionary of American slang says this:  Nimrod, a simpleton;
  • So why does God bring out this man in scriptures?
    • Many say that Nimrod is singled out here, among all the other people because of his name.
    • You see, Nimrod means rebel and they see him being singled out as being rebellious against God.
  • But look what God points out.
    • (Ge 10:9) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
    • Also: (Ge 10:10) And the beginning of his kingdom was… He brings out all the cities he built.
    • Because he is associated with Babylon we automatically involve him with the tower…
  • I believe God told us about Nimrod because of his heroic actions.
    • It wasn’t till after the flood that people began to eat meat. The animals were no longer docile but wild and fearful of man.
    • Nimrod was and is being he held up as an example of what one man can do and also he is a historical record.
    • He became the hunter and builder that people looked up to.
  • People loved to be compared to Nimrod.
    • Look at verse 9 again. (Ge 10:9) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
    •  God is showing us that one man can make a difference in the world.
• I want you to know, God placed you here on earth to make a difference.
  • So many of us are sponges.
    • Just soaking up what God blesses us with.
    • Taking from life all we can and leaving crumbs for those behind us.
  • What is a legacy?
    • John Maxwell, puts it this way: “Achievement comes to someone when he is able to do great things for himself. Success comes when he empowers followers to do great things with him. But a legacy is created only when a person puts his organization into a position to do great things without him.”
  • Each body of believers leave a legacy.
    • What we leave as a legacy reveals our priorities.
    • It shouts how we want to be remembered. It unveils whether we pointed to Jesus or our preferences.
  • In a relay race, races [are] won or lost at the handing of the baton.
    • To drop the baton means losing the race. All the hard work, all the … training, everything could be dashed with a single fumble.
  • God’s plan for the church has always been that one generation would pass the baton of the testimony of Jesus to the next generation until His return.
    •  You and I are just one in a series of runners.
  • The same is true of life.
    •  We have not successfully finished the race of life until we have passed on our baton to the next generation.”
  • The bible says: (Pr 13:22) ¶ A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

How do you want to be remembered?  I challenge you this day to resolve to leave your faith as a legacy for those that come behind you.