We're going to begin our second
service by standing and singing 328, close to the 328. you Thou my everlasting portion,
more than friend or life to me. All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee. Close to Thee, close to Thee,
close to Thee, close to Thee, All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee. Not for ease or worldly pleasure,
nor for fame my prayer shall be. Gladly will I toil and suffer,
only let me walk with Thee. Close to Thee, close to Thee,
close to Thee, close to Thee. Gladly will my torment suffer,
only let me walk with thee. ? Lead me through the veil of shadows
? ? Bear me your life's fitful sting ? ? And the gate of life
eternal ? ? May I enter, Lord, with Thee ? ? Close to Thee,
close to Thee ? ? Close to Thee, close to Thee ? And the gate
of life eternal may I enter, Lord, with Thee. Thank you. I'll be in Genesis six. Before
I start, um, the Lord seen fit to keep us together for six years
today. Um, and he's brought us a pastor,
his wife, his family, mom, the gay Lords, you know, he's, he's
made a, He's put together a group of people that have really, through
his grace, stuck together. And my message, two weeks from
now, is going to be in Genesis 6. And the people on the ark
were very specifically placed in the ark. And they were put
there by his purpose, just like everybody in this room today
is here by purpose. by the Lord's purpose. And so
anyway, I didn't want to get into too much of it before, but
I'm just thankful that he's seen fit to keep us together. So I'm
going to just read 613 through 21. It is Basically the story of Noah's
ark and that's what I'll be preached on a couple weeks And God said
to Noah the end of all flesh has come before me For the earth
is filled with violence through them and behold. I will destroy
them with the earth Make thee an ark of gopher wood Rooms shalt
thou make in the ark and shall pitch it within and without without
would pitch And this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it.
The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it
50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. A window shalt
thou make in the ark, or to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou
finish it above, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in
the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shalt
thou make it. Behold I even I do bring a flood
of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh Wherein is the breath
of life from under heaven and everything that is in the earth
shall die? With thee will I establish my covenant and thou shalt come
pay attention into the ark Thou and thy sons and my wife and
my son's wives with thee a specific group of no one else, and of
every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou
bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee, they shall be
male and female, of fowls after their kind, and of the cattle
after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his
kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them
alive, and take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and
thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be for food for
thee and for them. Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded
him, so did he. Let's pray. Father, we come to
you thankful this morning for this passage of scripture, Lord,
and we're so thankful that you've brought us here. And Father,
by your purpose, you've made us to come here. You've placed
us here. And Lord, we're so thankful because
we wouldn't come without you. There's no way we would ever
come if you didn't make us come, if you didn't make the move,
if you didn't draw us. Lord, we would not be here. We
wouldn't be here to listen to the gospel. We wouldn't hear
it, we wouldn't know it, and we would perish. And Father,
we're just thankful for the brethren that we've that we've met over
the years, Lord, and we're just so thankful that you've kept
this congregation. You've kept us strong. You've
supported us. Lord, you've brought us a pastor who brings us the
gospel three times a week without fail. And Father, again, we're
just so thankful that you brought us together. And Lord, we ask
that you continue to watch over this congregation. Grow it as
you see fit or keep it just like it is if you see fit, if that
be your will. And Lord, we just ask that you,
as always, please continue to watch over and care for us in
Christ's name. Our second hymn will be 351, Near the Cross, 351. Brother Scott gets situated back
there. 351. Jesus keep me near the cross
There a precious fountain ? Free to all a healing stream
? ? Flows from Calvary's mountain ? ? In the cross, in the cross
? ? Be my glory ever ? Till my raptured soul shall find rest
beyond the river. Near the cross a trembling soul,
love and mercy found me. There the bright and morning
star, ? Sheds its beams around me ? ? In the cross, in the cross
? ? Be my glory ever ? ? Till my raptured soul shall find ?
rests beyond the river. 351. Here the cross, O Lamb of
God, brings its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to
day with its shadows over me. In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever,
till my raptured soul shall find Rest beyond the river, near the
cross I'll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever. ? Till I reach the golden strand
? ? Just beyond the river ? ? In the cross, in the cross, near
the river ? Thank you. I love hearing your
voices coming back at me. forward to hearing brother Scott
preach that message look forward to that all right let's go to Genesis chapter 1 Genesis chapter 1 And today we're
going to be looking at the second day of creation. Our Lord, when
he was speaking to the Jews in John chapter 5 verse 46, he told
them that had you believed Moses, had you believed Moses, you would
have believed me. For he wrote of me. Moses wrote of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And not a lot of people know
that. I remember saying that to my grandmother once and she
was shocked to hear that Moses wrote of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the significance of that
truth for us today is that even in the foundations of the world
being laid. In creation, we see the will
and purpose of our God to glorify His Son, to glorify Him in the
salvation of those whom He gave to the Son before the foundation
of the world was even laid. That's important. What we'll
be looking at today is to know that we were given by the Father
to Christ before the foundation of the world, and yet when we
came forth, we all came forth dead in Adam. We all died in
Adam, and so the people of God are sinners in need of salvation,
and God has provided that salvation freely, abundantly, in grace,
in his Son, Jesus Christ. And our God saves through the
God-man mediator. He sent a mediator between us,
sinful man, and holy God. We have one who spans the gap
which we could never cross and who reconciles us to the Father. And so before we get into Genesis,
turn over to Psalm 19. Psalm 19, knowing that this is
speaking of Christ, this creation account, let's see Psalm 19 verses
1 through 3. It says, The heavens declare the
glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto
day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. So that it doesn't matter what
people we are of, what our ethnicity, what our background is. who our
family is, what nationality we are, what language we speak,
we see our God declaring the glory of his Son for the salvation
of sinners. And we're reminded in this message
of creation that there is no other salvation in any other
name but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who's revealed
to us in creation. Each day we see Christ as a beautiful,
glorious diamond with many facets on each side. And any way you
turn it, you see the brilliance and the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's what we see in each
creation day, in each account of what our Lord has done. We
saw on day one that Christ is the word of God. He is the creator
by whom all things are made. And we saw on day one that he
is the light of men. He's the light that the Father
brought forth in order to bless and to bring life to this world
which he had made. It's said there in Genesis 1-3
that God said, there's the word of God, there's Christ right
in the beginning. God said, let there be light
and there was light. And that's a declaration that's
shown us the Lord Jesus Christ in all things. Now today again,
we see Jesus. We see that He is our atonement. He is our covering. He is our
robe of righteousness. And He's the one in whom we stand
and how we stand before Holy God. And He's the one in whom
now the children of God dwell. He's the one in whom we have
life. In whom we breathe. by the Spirit. We live by Him. Let's read verses
6-8. This is our text this morning.
God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and
let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the
firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament
from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so.
And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the
morning were the second day." Now in each of these verses there's
a progression which reminds us and speaks to us of what our
God does sovereignly in salvation. God said, God made, God called. Our God does everything for His
people in their salvation. He provides everything and does
everything in Christ Jesus and that's why every day we're seeing
picture of Christ. We're seeing how that God blesses
us, gives us life, creates us anew in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice here before we get
into it there's a difference in the spelling of the word heaven.
Look at verse 1. Genesis 1.1 it says in the beginning
God created the little h heaven and the earth. But then in Genesis
1.8 It says in God called the firmament, capital H, heaven. And Christ is this, we're gonna
see this is Christ. This firmament is again, it's
Christ. And Christ is our heaven because
wherever the sun is, wherever the Lord Jesus Christ is present,
that brethren is paradise. He is our paradise. He is our
heaven. He is our eternal life and eternal
joy. He is everything to the people
of God. Now, by the time that we finish
this message, I want you to see how that God from the very foundations
of the earth is showing to you. He's putting proof upon proof. He's showing you over and over
and over again that salvation is of the Lord and it shines
unto us gloriously in the face of Jesus Christ. So I've titled
this, The Covering of Men. And first, we're going to look
at waters of judgment, and then we're going to go and look at
this firmament that divides and covers. So on to, the Lord speaks
of a firmament. and he speaks of waters, and
he puts a divide in the midst of the waters. And the thing
that divides the waters is this firmament. This firmament is
what divides, is placed, it's a division in the midst of the
waters. Now as we define these words
and we consider what our Lord is doing here in creation, we
see what our God has made Christ unto us. We're learning. We're
seeing God's handiwork in all the facets of creation. We're
seeing His handiwork in His Son, through His Son unto you, unto
you His people. And so we're already familiar
with this word waters. We've talked about this word
before and it says in verse two, and the earth was without form
and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the
spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. So let me just remind you what
I said previously about waters. Waters in scripture is a term
used to describe peoples and nations. It's a term to describe
the people that are on the earth. Turn over to Revelation 17. Let's
look there, Revelation 17. And we'll see in verse one, verse 15, Even verse 18, there are references
that are relevant here. So verse 1 says, And there came
one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, and talked
with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee
the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. Look at verse 15, And he saith
unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth,
are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And verse 18 of that chapter
says, And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which
reigneth over the kings of the earth. And so waters are a type
of people. It's a picture of what we are.
It's us. It's talking about us, regardless
of nationality, regardless of tongue or peoples. It's us. And just like there's a judgment
coming for this great whore that sitteth upon the waters, so these
waters, described in Genesis 1, verse 2, you can go back there
now. In Genesis 1, 2, these are described in terms of lying in
judgment. The earth was without form, and
void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. That's describing
what we are by nature. We're without form. We're void.
We come forth in darkness, spiritual darkness, dead in trespasses
and sins. Now, turn over to Romans 8. Let's
go to Romans 1. Let's go to Romans chapter 1.
And here, we're given a picture of people under the judgment
of God. Romans 1 verse 18 through 25. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them. For God hath showed it unto them.
for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world. It goes all the way back to the
creation of the world. They are clearly seen being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. Now at this point, he begins
to describe using terms of judgment. terms that the people are under
to describe them. And we'll see that these people
are without form. They've corrupted from the image
that God made man, when he made him upright in the image of God.
But now in Adam, he's defiled. He's without the form of God.
And they're void of knowledge, and they're in darkness. And
now we'll see these traced back in reverse order. We'll see darkness,
we'll see void, and we'll see the image being without form.
So verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified
Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in
their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. They were in darkness. Verse
22, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. They're void of knowledge and
understanding. They have no understanding of
the true and living God. Verse 23, they changed the glory
of the incorruptible God into an image, something that doesn't
have the form of God, of Christ at all, but an image made like
unto corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping
things. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to
dishonor their own bodies between themselves. They're under judgment. These waters, these people, are
under judgment, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and
worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is
blessed forever. Amen. And so man, who is created
by God, rebelled against God. And God became enmity to man. In his heart, he saw God and
treated him as an enemy. as an enemy, and despised the
true and living God, and thought to come by his own power, by
his own works, by his own righteousness, as he saw fit, as he wanted to
do. Now, turning over to Ephesians
chapter two, there's similar language to this troubling description. I'm not gonna read it, you're
familiar with verses one through three, but we see there that
God, our creator, has every right to justly condemn us, to throw
us into hell, to destroy us. But here, in verse 4, we see
a comfort. We see the grace of God. given to his chosen people in
the face of Jesus Christ. God makes the difference. Verse
four, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us. There's a people whom the father
loves, a people he chose out before the foundation of the
world and gave to his son, committing them to his care. He loved us. us who hear, who
have heard the voice of Christ and have an interest in his word.
And we see these riches to us in Christ who has delivered us
from judgment, from that death, from that darkness, from that
void of knowledge, from that fallen corrupt image in Adam. He says, verse five, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened, hath given us life together with
Christ, by grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now that's a good segue for us
because this firmament is described as these heavenly places. It's a picture showing us of
our life. of our fellowship in the Lord
Jesus Christ and what he's done for us. He's the one in whom
we are reconciled to the Father. And so let's see what this firmament
is that God puts here in the midst of the waters that were
lying in judgment under God. Because right now, these waters
in creation are all in darkness. They're all void. They're all
without form in judgment, the judgment of God. What is this
firmament? What is it literally? And how
is this firmament a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ? How does
this give us hope in our Savior? Well, we're told in verse 6 and
7 in Genesis 1, it says, God said, let there be a firmament
in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
the waters. And God made the firmament and
divided the waters which were under the firmament from the
waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. The Lord is telling us that He
is the one who separated the waters. And there were waters,
by His separation with that firmament, there was waters beneath, under
the firmament, and waters above the firmament. He's the divide
between those waters. Some say those waters are what
we see today in the sky, the clouds. that they are the waters
spoken of that were raised up by that firmament. And that could
be. Others say that back then there
was a thicker amount of water, which was a canopy around the
whole earth, well insulating it so that things were very stable,
very secure, very, very normalized all over the globe. It was all
one in that canopy. in that perfect atmospheric perfection
there which kept everything stable and things were full of nutrition,
the soils were good and the plants were good and loaded with nutrition
so that men lived for many years and men had strength, having
a very good oxygenation there and all that stuff. I don't know.
Exactly, but we do know that the Lord says that there were
waters below and waters above. And this firmament is the space
that exists or is between those waters there. Now the margin,
your margin in the King James calls it an expansion. And so
this expansion exists between the earth beneath your feet and
all the way up to the heavens. All the way up. And men of God
say, all the way up to the third heaven. All the way up, that
whole expansion is the Lord, is that firmament there. And
so God spread this firmament out. Now we see it clearly in
in our atmosphere, right? When you look down from the International
Space Station and see those pictures, you see that glow, that firmament
that's describing our picture of that safety, that protection,
that covering that we have from space and the crushing of space
or the coldness, We would die in space without any protection.
But in this atmosphere, in this air, we're protected. We breathe. We live. We move about in safety
and protection. So we call this the sky, but
really it's air. It's everything that's beneath
your feet right now all the way up into the heavens. And so this sky, this air reaches
from the earth all the way up to heaven above. Now, you can see in verse 17, in Genesis
1, 17, it describes the firmament as containing the sun and the
moon, right? God set them in the firmament
of the heaven to give light upon the earth, right? So that's why
We describe it, it goes up to wherever God is in the third
heaven, which is a physical place where he sits enthroned in the
midst of the hosts of heaven, being worshiped and adored by
his creatures. And then verse 20 also describes
it as God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth
in the open firmament of heaven. And so we see this firmament,
and I'm going to read some verses to you that just describe this
firmament to us. In Job 9.8, Job says, God alone
spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the
sea. In Psalm 104, verse 2, the psalmist
says, who covers thyself with light as with a garment, who
stretches out the heavens like a curtain. That's the same word
as Job had. In Isaiah 40, verse 22, it is
he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants
thereof are as grasshoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as
a curtain. And here he uses a different
word, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. And that
word spreadeth is the word that you would use to robe yourself
with a cloak, to put on a cloak and to wear that cloak. And then
once more in Isaiah 42, 5. Thus saith God the Lord, he that
created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth
the earth and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath
unto the people upon it and the spirit to them that walk therein. And so the Lord has put his people
to dwell in this firmament. This is where we live and breathe
and move about and have our being. And so this firmament is also,
if you think about it, this firmament is also the place where the Son
of God enrobed himself in flesh and came and tabernacled among
us, coming and meeting his people here in this firmament where
we dwell He came and dwelt among us in the likeness of this flesh,
yet was without sin. And so it says in Matthew 1.23,
I'll read it. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. And so Christ came and tabernacled
with us in the flesh. He came to this air, to this
place, this firmament, and meets with his people in the likeness
of this flesh. And that's, we begin to see,
get a picture of this firmament is where God meets with us in
the mediator. We couldn't survive except God
has provided this firmament, this space, this expanse, where
we live and dwell and he came and dwelt among us, God with
us, Emmanuel in the flesh. And so like this firmament which
extends from the earth all the way up to heaven, we also see
another picture. We see that this firmament in
whom we dwell, in which we dwell, it extends from the earth beneath
all the way to heaven above. So that we see there a picture
of Christ who spans the expanse. who spans us sinful creatures
on earth and brings us into reconciliation and fellowship with holy God
in heaven. Christ is the one who spans that.
Turn over to Genesis 28, and we'll see this. Genesis 28, and
we're just gonna look at verse 12. This firmament in which we dwell,
where God meets with us, is a picture of Christ. This firmament enables
us to see and have an understanding of who our God is. This firmament
reveals the things of God to us. This firmament interprets
God's handiwork to us. This firmament is the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's a picture of Him who reveals
the things of God to you, who meets with you and dwells with
you, who reveals the Father to us
and interprets God's works unto us, that salvation work of God
in Christ. Now, in verse 12 here, Jacob
had just assembled together some rocks and made it his resting
place. And verse 12 says, he dreamed
fell asleep and he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the
earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels
of God ascending and descending on it. And we know that Christ
is that ladder. He's that firmament that is like
a ladder which touches the earth where we are and reaches all
the way up to heaven where God dwells. Where God dwells and
that's how our God communicates with us is through the Son, in
the Son. He is the God-man mediator. He's our hope. He's our life. It's His Spirit that we breathe. It's in Him that we dwell and
live and have our being. So just like that firmament extends
from the earth beneath all the air up to heaven, that's Christ. That's Christ unto us. That's
what He is. Our Lord told Nathanael, He said,
Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man, which is a picture, a reference
to Jacob's ladder here, which is Christ. Christ is that ladder. Christ is this firmament. He's
the one in whom we are robed and dwell and breathe and have
fellowship, being reconciled to God in our Savior. Now, this
firmament was given by God, it says, to divide the waters from
the waters. There would be terrestrial water
and there would be celestial water being divided by this firmament. Now, in one sense, we understand
this to be a picture of how the Lord separates his sheep from
the goats. He puts his sheep on the right
hand and the goats on the left. He divides and separates the
waters. If you turn over to Luke 12,
we can see this. Let's go to Luke 12, verse 51
through 56. So Luke 12, 51, and there will
be references to this firmament as well here in this division,
this chapter. Luke 12, 51. Christ says, suppose ye that
I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division. Division. And this firmament
was given to immediately cause a division. in the midst of and
that word means in the middle of the house right in the middle
of the house there's going to be a divide and it says verse
52 for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided
Three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided
against the son, and the son against the father. The mother
against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother.
The mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And he said also to the people
when, here it is, this reference to the firmament. When you see
a cloud, rise out of the west. When you're looking up into the
firmament, straightway ye say, there cometh a shower, and so
it is. And when you see the south wind
blow, ye say, there will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites,
ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth. You know
what the firmament is saying. How is it then that you cannot
discern these this time? How is it that You, which believe
Christ, see Christ. You discern the firmament. You
behold the salvation of God in the face of Jesus Christ when
so many others don't. When so many others don't discern,
don't see Christ, don't believe the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation. He tells us, for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But to us
which are saved, it is the power of God. Christ has made unto
us life and salvation. He's made unto us everything. And though we all came forth
of sinful Adam, born of his corrupt seed, under the judgment of God,
were under the prince of the power of the air, Ephesians 2
verse 2 we were walking the course of this world and yet God had
mercy and grace on us for Christ's sake and he divided us out from
those waters of judgment and gave us life and light and liberty
in his son praise to his name look again at Romans 9 and we
just see this and then we'll move on Romans 9 21 and Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump, that same lump from Adam, to make
one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing
to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?
And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy, which He had aforeprepared unto glory, even
us, whom He hath called, not only of the Jews, but also of
the Gentiles? And so we see how that Christ
has a people given to Him before the foundation of the world,
given to Him by the Father, committed to His care, and then He came
forth and out of that same lump drew out His people, divided
them, delivered them from the judgment of God's wrath. Now that's not the only, that's
not the only division that our Lord makes here because we also
see described a terrestrial body of water and a celestial body
of water. And that shows us another picture
of what our Savior does for you that are his people. We see there
pictured what we are in this flesh and that what we are raised
again in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 40. There are also celestial bodies
and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial one and
the glory of the terrestrial is another. or the glory of the
celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon
and another glory of the stars, for one star differeth from another
star in glory. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It's sown in corruption. It's
raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is
raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It
is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there
is a spiritual body. And so we see here in this firmament
declaring to us the resurrection from the dead. We see our Lord
raising us up. His word of promise to us that
you shall be raised again by Him. This body is weak and sinful
and corrupt and unable to work a righteousness for itself. It's
going to go back to the dust. But when Christ returns, he shall
raise us up again in a body new, a heavenly body whereby we worship
and dwell with our God forever. And so before he does that though,
He divides, He delivers us from that body of sin, that enmity
against God. When all we are is flesh, and
all we are is dead in trespasses and sins, He comes. He's the
Sword of God. He's the Word of the Lord that
divides us asunder. that divides the soul and the
spirit. He's the two-edged sword. He's
the one that divides the joints and the marrow and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of our hearts. And he shows us our
vile nature. He shows us our deadness. He shows us our enmity. and shows
us life and gives us life in Christ, whereby he delivers us
from that judgment, delivers us from that death, that darkness,
that prison, that bondage, and gives us life and liberty in
his Son. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." In other
words, Christ gives us a new birth by his Spirit. making us new creatures, born
of the seed of Christ, whereby we know our God and have fellowship
with him. This flesh is still defiled,
but in the new man, the creation of Christ, we rejoice in Christ. We worship him, awaiting for
that day when he will raise us anew. Raise us anew. Just as
he told Mary, I said this recently, but I'll say it again in Luke
2.35, yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also that
the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And Christ comes
and he divides us. He shows us what we are. He shows
us our need of him and his complete sufficiency. He's everything
to us and he gives us life in him. And so Christ is the sword
of division. He's the one that separates the
living waters from the waters of judgment. Romans 8, 9, and
10 says, but ye are not in this flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God
dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
spirit of Christ, he's none of his. But if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. And so our God is showing us
throughout this whole account, he's showing us what he does
in us so that he separates us from trusting the works of the
flesh. We're not divided from these waters of wrath by the
works that we do. for the Lord by our keeping the
law or the good works we do. That doesn't divide us from the
wrath of God. And we're not divided from the
wrath of God by our free will, which is corrupt and defiled
and can only do that which is against God because it sees God
as an enemy. in our will of Adam, our so-called
free will. It's in bondage. That doesn't
separate us from the waters of wrath, and it doesn't separate
us from the judgment of God. Only Christ, the firmament of
God, he comes, and he's the one that divides the waters. He's
the one that separates his people from the wrath of God and from
those waters of judgment which shall be destroyed by God. So
then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. It's of God. And this firmament
is a picture of Christ and what God does for sinners in dividing
them from the wrath of God and separating us out unto himself
to the glory, honor, and praise of his name. Now I said as we
concluded this message that we would see how that God from the
very foundation of the world had a people already chosen and
given to Christ. And Christ is seen in all the
creation account how he comes and delivers his people, how
he obtains their eternal redemption for them. doing everything necessary
to ensure our life, our fellowship, our deliverance, that we might
be reconciled to our God, though we were under judgment in Adam. And so our Savior was crucified. for his people. Just as we were
given to Christ before the foundation of the world, so Christ is called
the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. These
works were all done, so this creation is given to show us
Christ to affirm Him to us over and over again. To show us the
proof of His Word and promise and His power and glory over
and over again. So that you who believe the Lord
Jesus Christ know this is exactly what your God said and purposed
to do from the very beginning. And everything He's wrought in
you was purposed and shown to us in the very beginning of creation."
Your God is wonderful. Your God is amazing. Your God
does all things and all things well. Believe Him, rest in Him,
rejoice in Him, give Him thanks and praise for what He's done
for you. Christ, this word, that word
spread out that we saw earlier, it means to beat out, to hammer
out, And what your God did in sending the Son as the firmament
who protects you and who covers you, Christ came and He bore
the hammering out. He bore the wrath of God poured
out in judgment upon Him to deliver you from those judgment waters
and from the fiery wrath of God. Christ bore that wrath. He's
the one who covers his people. He is our atonement. His blood
was shed to cover our sins and to deliver us from the wrath
of God. And that's exactly what we see
here in this firmament. It was beat out, spread out. No matter where you go, that
firmament is over you. There's not a place you can go
on the earth without being covered by that firmament. And so it
is with Christ. There's nothing you can do. There's
not a place you can go to. But the blood of Christ covers
you. And He is your righteousness
and your acceptance with holy God. Rest in Him. Believe Him. Call upon His name. For He's
a kind and gracious Savior to all who call upon Him. And believing
Him, you shall have the forgiveness of your sins. For He says it
so. in his word over and over again. Amen. All right, brethren, let's
go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy, which you've provided for us abundantly
in your Son, Jesus Christ. We see, Lord, in this firmament,
a picture of our Savior who came and dwelt with us tabernacled
among us in this flesh, and who was beat out, hammered upon by
the wrath of God, bearing our stripes, whereby we are healed
of our death, healed of our ruin and sin in Adam. Lord, you delivered
us from the waters of wrath, the waters of death and the grave,
and you've given us life in your son. Lord, we thank you for this. We praise your name. We thank
you for that we may see Christ in all the scriptures, even from
the very foundation of the world. And Lord, we think now of our
brethren. We think of Johnny, who is sick with the lymph node. Lord, heal her, give her strength,
make her well. We think of Ron and and his pain
and not feeling well today with the surgery he had. We pray that
you would heal him, give him strength, make him well again,
Lord, and restore them to us. And we pray for Lisa, Lord, that
you would help her to be able to to be with us, to not have
the issues, Lord, the stomach issues, and that you would heal
her. Lord, that we may all come together again, rejoicing in
you. And Lord, you know your people and the things that separate
us. Lord, let there not be a divide
between brethren, but let them be restored in fellowship, rejoicing
in Christ our Savior, our Lord, our all. It's in his name we
pray and give thanks, amen. Our closing hymn will be 37,
How Great Thou Art, 37. O Lord, my God, than I in awesome
wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling
thunder Thy power throughout the universe displayed Then sings
my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great Thou art. How great Thou art. And sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. When through the woods and forest
glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook and
feel the gentle breeze. And sings my soul, my Saviour
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on a cross, my burning gladly
bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin, and sinks my
soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When Christ shall come, shout
of acclamation, And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! in humble adoration, and there
proclaim, God, how great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. It sinks my soul, my Savior God,
to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. Thank you.