Why we can't save ourselves and why that is good news.

Outline: Babel is a perpetual witness that salvation belongs to the LORD alone.

Babel witnesses that self-salvation comes up short (11:1-4)

Babel witnesses that self-salvation ends in judgment (11:6-9)

Babel witnesses that only God can save (11:5)

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. Babel shows the potential of human beings to do amazing things but also really bad things. As you look at the world, do you tend more to hope in humanity’s potential or fear it?

2. There are many moral towers used today like a ladder, a staircase, a balance of good and bad, a checklist. Why do you think these images are so popular?

3. How do you sometimes move from a truster to a tower-builder in your faith?

4. How can you sometimes treat Jesus as a brick in your tower, i.e. more as a means to an end (i.e. “I believe in Jesus because I do not want to go to hell”). What is problematic about this kind of faith?

5. Read Mark 10:17-27 a. How do you see the Rich Young Ruler overestimating his goodness? What are some ways we do the same? b. When the man could not give up his wealth, what commandment did he reveal he had not kept? c. Do you think the man knew he was an idolator before this moment? Why is seeing idolatry so difficult?

6. How does the thief on the cross’s salvation give you assurance that faith in Jesus is the only way and all we need for heaven?