Sermon for The Day of Pentecost, May 24, 2026.
Do you want to do what God says, or do you want to do what you say? The Holy Spirit preserved the historical events surrounding the tower of Babel as one of the prime examples of humanity disregarding what God says, choosing instead to do what we want, according to what we say to each other, listening to ourselves rather than listening to God.
The Lord said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” But after the flood, what did we do? We settled in the land of Shinar and said to one another, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and… make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
We did the exact opposite of what God said.
We spoke to each other words that we wanted to hear.
This is very similar to what we do today, in these last days, just as the apostle Paul prophesied: “For the time is coming when people will not endure soundteaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
How many people today cannot stomach a pastor who teaches the truth, the full counsel of God’s Word, but choose instead to listen to teachers who tell them what they want to hear?
This is exactly what happened at Babel.
And so, it’s important to remember the full context of Paul’s Holy Spirit-inspired warning in 2 Timothy 4:1-4.
He’s talking to Pastor Timothy and says, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure soundteaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”
Even those who call themselves Christian will want to listen to their own words, their own ideas, instead of what God says. We’re all tempted by this. We think we know best. Our ways should be the way.
Today we’re celebrating the coming of the promised Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and we see how important it is that the Church received the Holy Spirit on that day, and at every Baptism, where the Holy Spirit descends upon each of us individually.
God’s Holy Spirit teaches “us all things and bring[s] to [our] remembrance all that [Jesus] said.” This is what Christ promised the Holy Spirit would do.
It’s what He does. He does it through the Bible that He authored, through the pastors He raises up to preach His Holy Bible.
The disciples obeyed the Lord and waited for the coming of the Spirit, and when He came, they were given the power they needed to proclaim Christ and Him crucified to Jerusalem, Judea, and out to the ends of the earth, to be spiritually fruitful, multiply the church, and fill the earth with Christians! Praise be to God.
But now, knowing this has happened, the question we need to continuously ask ourselves is, “Do I want to listen to what God says, or do I want to listen to what we say to each other?”
This may be the most important question you’ll ever ask yourself.
Do you really, truly, actually, want to listen to God’s words, so that you know His will for your life? Do you really want to surrender yourself to God’s revealed and knowable Word, even when you don’t like it? Do you truly want His will to be done in your life? Do you really want to follow Christ in word, yes, but also in deed? With your actions? Your behavior? Do you want to be formed and normed by God’s Word? Do you want to be crafted by it?
Or, would you prefer that God keep quiet so you can go on doing what you want and fool yourself into thinking you’re good with God?
Our own histories, your own past, like mine, convict us of a horrible truth.
Our behavior shows that we’d actually prefer it if God didn’t send His Holy Spirit on Pentecost. We’d prefer it if God’s Word was still foreign to us, a language we couldn’t understand, because then we wouldn’t know what God says, and we could just go on doing our own thing, telling ourselves what we want to hear, everyone doing what is right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6)
How convenient it would be if God spoke some made-up gibberish language like the Pentecostals would have us believe, because then only certain people would be able to understand His divine language.
It’s what we want. To not understand God. That’s what we want as sinners.
To not receive His Word.
Because then, without the objective, knowable truth of God’s Word, clearly revealed for all to hear, there is nothing left to do but tell each other what we want to hear.
It all becomes subjective. It all becomes about making a name for ourselves. There is no greater command than our own hearts.
We’re happier not knowing God’s Word.
This is why the Church today can be full of lifelong Christians who don’t actually know God’s Word all that well.
We don’t want to know it.
We want to come to church to see friends, maybe, or to feel a certain warm and fuzzy feeling inside. To put a Godly veneer on our own ideas.
It’s part of our social life, perhaps, but when it comes to applying Biblical principles to our lives individually, or our lives corporately, our thoughts are guided by personal preference, rather than the Scriptures.
Friends, let us repent of living like we’re in Babylon. Let us repent of living like we would prefer God hadn’t given us His Word, and let us receive, like the apostles received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, with power and faith, moved to speak and to listen to God’s Word, the absolution in Christ that the Holy Spirit brings.
Let us keep His Word always in our ears, and therefore always in our hearts.
Christ Jesus our Lord said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” (John 16:23-24)
Jesus has forgiven you of your sins. Even your sin of not wanting to hear and keep His word. He was crucified for this evil that we harbor in our hearts. The Holy Spirit teaches us this.
He teaches us that Jesus gives us peace. That peace is yours right now. The Word of God is yours right now.
Hear it. Believe it.
Come to the Lord’s altar and partake of it. The Word of God incarnate is yours to receive. Eat it. Eat Christ’s Body and drink His Blood. Be forgiven and be filled with the Spirit given to you in your baptism.
God does not give as the world gives. He gives in a far greater way. Sacrificially on the cross, and sacramentally from this altar.
Praise be to God. We are forgiven of our sins and endowed with the Spirit of life! Hear God’s Word spoken to you and know that you are God’s forgiven child, to whom He delights to speak.
Amen!
Rev. Tyrel Bramwell 
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