Good evening. Turning your Bibles tonight to
Genesis 1, chapter 1. Genesis 1. We'll read this in
just a minute, but let's read it now. In the beginning, God
created the heaven and the earth. Everyone in here, and me most
especially, has said a lot of things I regret saying. And forgive me, please, if I
have said them to you. I have written some things I
wish I had never put on paper. My problem, and your problem,
because you've done the same thing. You've said and written
things that you just wish you hadn't done. But our problem
is that we're just men and women. We're just sinful beings. We're
corrupted by our nature. After Adam ate of the fruit in
the garden, when he disobeyed God, he died spiritually. And after that, from that moment
on, Adam and all of us were changed. Suddenly we were more prone to
lie than to even try to speak the truth. Suddenly we all, by
nature, were more likely to deceive than to be forthcoming. Nothing has changed. We all actually
prefer the wrong way to the right way. We love error and not truth. We come forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies. However, when God speaks, when
God writes words down, when he wrote his word down, three things
are always true. What he says And what he wrote,
it's pure, it's powerful, and it's perfect. It's pure. What God says is the absolute
truth. There are no small errors or
omissions. There's no misspelled words.
There's no improper punctuations. There's no confusing phrases.
God's word is pure truth. When God speaks, his Word is
powerful. We don't have to sit around wondering
if what God says will actually happen. We need not fret or fear
that God's promises might not actually come to pass. We never
need to wonder if someone or something will frustrate the
will or the Word of God. What God says, that's what happens. His Word is certain. because
he's almighty, he's all-powerful, and his Word is perfect. God's Word is perfect, God's
Word says what it means, and God's Word means what it says.
I don't need to say that again. God's Word says what it means,
and it means what it says. It's not confusing or misleading.
It's clear, and it's right, and it's powerful. in its meaning
and its intent. Any time men misunderstand or
misinterpret or misteach the Word of God, the problem is not
with God's Word, it is with us. It is with the man who is doing
it. And the problem will always be our sin, because by nature
we are blind to the obvious. By We are deaf to that which
is plainly spoken. We receive not that which is
clearly declared. We reject the love of God clearly
recorded in His Word, because we are deaf, dumb, blind, full
of sin, and God's Word is pure, powerful, and perfect. And by
nature, we reject it. We don't want to hear it. We
don't want to believe it. We refuse it. And I said all
that to say this. The phraseology or the sequence
of words in Genesis 1.1 is pure, it's powerful, and it's perfect.
It's not miswritten in any way or misphrased in any way. I want
you to notice what it does not say. It does not read like this. It does not read, God, in the
beginning, created heaven and earth. It doesn't say that. Does
it? It doesn't start out, God, in
the beginning, created heaven and earth. No, what it says is
that in the beginning, God created the heaven and earth.
You say, what's the big deal there? Well, turn over to Revelation
1 and I'll show you. When it says in our text that
the beginning, the beginning, that's not the first in a sequence
of events. It's not when the history of
the world or the history of man began. When it says in the beginning,
it's not talking about a bunch of stuff that's happened at all.
At all. The beginning is not a place
in time or an event in the history of the universe. You know what
the beginning is there? It's a person. It's a person. The beginning is a person. See,
I'm not sure that makes any sense. That's because our sinful minds
get real confused. We're not hearing it right. We're
not understanding it right. The beginning here, if you look
up the word, what it means is first. It means first. It means in the order of rank,
first, God. First, God. Oh, and then he created
the heaven and earth. Do we see the difference in that? If it said God in the sequence
of events created the heaven and the earth, it would be totally
different than what this is saying. It's saying, you see, modern
science would say that the universe and the planets and the earth
and man is just here by some absurd happenstance. There was
all this space and stuff and ooze and lightning going through
it and stuff and all of a sudden a protozoan shazam and it all
just evolved like this. There's really no God. That's
what modern science says. Well, modern religion is not
a lot better. What modern religion says is that, oh, there's a universe
and there's an earth and there's And God's around somewhere in
the heavens, and we have to find a way to get to him. It's almost
like God is in the hands and under the will of man. The truth
says, God's Word says, First God. First God. Preeminent God. Almighty. All in control. God. Before anything,
God. See, the difference is, man would
have us believe that y'all ever see one of these things as a
kid? My grandmother had one of these
and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it every time we went
to visit. It's called a snow globe. It's a little glass thing. It had a black base, most of
them did, and it would have maybe a little village or a house and
some trees in there, plastic stuff. And you could pick it
up and go. And man, the white stuff would
fly everywhere, you know, and it would just look like it was
snowing. You see, modern religion has
it like everything's in man's hands and we can just do what
we want, what have you. The truth of the matter is, that's
all upside down. We, the whole, you know, not
just the universe and the stars and the earth and the planets,
but us, each one of us. You know where we are? We're
in the snow globe. In the hands of God. Because
in the beginning, God. Everything, it says, in the beginning,
in God, is everything. We don't have Him in our hand.
He's got us in His hand. He can do as He pleases with
everything He's done. Everything is created from the
heavens to the earth, to you, to me. First God. Turn over to John 1. This book is not primarily a
series of events recorded in time, although it is a lot of
events that have been recorded. It is not first a recorded history
of men, although there is a lot of history about men recorded
here. It is not a work of fiction or fantasy. This book, the Word
of God, is first God. Who is God? what God has done,
why God has done what he's done, and where God is now. If you
look here in 1 John 1, verse 1 and 2, you'll see capitalized
four times a word, and it's the word word, capital W-O-R-D. You say, well, I only see it
three times. Let me help you with that. In the beginning was
the word, capital W. And the word, capital W, was
with God, and the word, capital W, was God. And the same, that's
the word, capital W, for the fourth time, the word was in
the beginning with God. I hope the Lord will show us
what this means here. In the beginning, first, is God. If God doesn't do something to
show us who He is, we'll never know Him. We'll never know Him. We'll be born. We'll come out
speaking lies. We'll go our whole lives cheating,
stealing, being angry, hating God. We'll just be right on our
road to destruction and eternal death. We're born dead and we'll
stay dead. We'll die eternally. But God,
in the beginning, God, first, foremost, above all else, He
became the Word. He's revealed Himself to us as
the Word. Four times it says here, the
Word. Do you know why it's that way? God is the Word. And we're talking about all we'll
ever know about God's right here. And from in the beginning, God,
until the last word, you know what it is? Amen. So be it. This is how it is. This is all
we'll ever know about God. You can either believe this or
believe what you want to. You can take modern science.
You can have modern religion, if that's what you want. God
said, in the beginning, in Me, He said, there's the Word. And
you know what God is? What He reveals in this Word?
He says, there's three of Me. And we're all one. That makes
four, right? He says, in the beginning, the Word. We're one. We're in agreement. We have one
purpose. The glory of our Godhead in the person of Jesus Christ.
He says, we're one in that purpose. And he says, there's three of
us. He said, there's God the Father. You know what he did? He planned
this. He ordained it. He declared it. And he says, I'll bring it to
pass. And you know what God the Son did? That word? He said, I'll go do for them
what they can't do for themselves. God chose them. The Son said,
I'll go get them. I'll do for them what they can't do. And
he did. He lived a perfect life for 33
years. And that gave us what we needed,
a righteousness before God. And then he died. However, he
was crucified. He didn't do anything wrong.
Because God's Word promised, I'll send a sacrifice. I'll send
a Savior. I'll send a substitute. And you
know what? The third person in the Trinity,
the fourth word, three in one, said, Father, I'll go get them. I'll go show them, by the Word,
who we are. Who we are. See, there's only
one purpose. But it's in three. The one in
three. You say, that's a mystery. This
is too much for me. It is me, too. I don't understand it, but
I sure do believe it. It's the truth. If I don't believe
that, what do you believe? You don't believe your God is
somebody that you've got to Put dynamite in your back pockets
and get on an airplane and bow down, turn to this direction
seven times a day and bow down. You know, you want you want a
God that you can carve out of a totem pole, you know, and put
on feathers and dance around it. Is that who you want? Who
do you want? Who do you believe? We have the
word of God from the beginning. He's revealed his person. Turn to John 18. A few pages
over. I pray tonight we can all see,
because it's vital, it's critical, it's necessary to behold a person. While you hold that, let me go
back to where I just was and read one other Scripture to you
that I meant to. In the first chapter of John, where it said,
ìIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.î The same was in the beginning with God. Right
down at verse 14, we read, ìAnd the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us.î Whoís that? Thatís Jesus Christ. If you don't
know that from this Word, we never know that Christ was who
He said He was, that He did what He said He'd do. He was born
a man. So He could die as a man. The Gospel. This Book, the Word
of God, is a person. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the Savior of God's people, the God-Man, had lived 33 years perfectly. and was now in the hands of Pontius
Pilate. And he would soon, and let me
tell you what was about to happen to him before this scripture,
I'm going to read you. Very soon, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man,
the man who was born as God in human flesh, he was about to
be taken and turned over to these soldiers. And these soldiers
were going to take him, and they were going to tie him to a post.
And they were going to get out a cat of nine tails, leather
with bits of bone in the end, and they were going to start
beating him. And they were going to beat him until all the flesh
was off his back. Blood was running down everywhere.
They turned him around and they smacked him in the face. They
cleared his throat and spit at him in his face. They grabbed
him by the beard and tore it out by hands full. They just
slugged him. They just kept one after another
coming. Finally, they took some big locust
thorns and plaited up a crown and shoved it down on his head
so the blood ran all over. You ever get a little cut in
your hairline? The blood runs everywhere. His blood ran free.
Then they marched him up this hill and nailed him on a cross
and let him hang there until he died. What in the world is
all this about? Why is this happening? What did
he do? What was the purpose of all this? Well, most folks don't understand
because they don't have the Word. Don't read the Word. Don't believe
the Word. And here's an example of a man
doing just that. The man who was judging him,
Pontius Pilate, in John 18, verse 37. Pilate, back up to verse 36. Jesus answered,
My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered
to the Jews? But how is my kingdom not from
hence? And Pilate therefore said unto him, Are you a king then? Do we see the question Pilate
asked here? He said, I don't know who you
are. Are you a king? You see, he's admitting he doesn't
know who Christ is. He says, Are you a king? And
how does our Lord answer? Thou sayest that I'm a king.
And to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the
world, that I should bear witness unto," what? The truth. The truth of the Word. This ought
to be capitalized here. Truth. The translators may have
missed this one. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice. And here's what a man who doesn't
know Christ will ask. Pilate said unto What is the
truth? Let me tell you, that, folks,
is the wrong question. Truth is not a what? It's not
an idea. It's not a concept. It's not
a set of values. You know what truth is? A person. Truth is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he speaks the truth. His
word is the truth. He's all truth. Do we see that
he's a person? It's not what is truth, it's
who is truth. Don't let those scientists deceive
you. Don't let modern religion deceive you and tell you a bunch
of lies. Get in this book, come hear our
pastor tell us the truth. He, and you say, well, he didn't.
Is that what he tries to do is preach the truth? Yeah, because
Christ is the truth. He preaches Christ every time.
If we hear Christ preach, we've heard the truth. He is the truth. And poor old Pilate, he couldn't
see it because he didn't know who he was. He said, we all take
him to do what you want. And they did. You see, truth is a person. Our Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. If you read the book, we absolutely
find out what that means and who he is. You see, it's not
the law that was nailed at Calvary. It wasn't an example who was
crucified. It was a person. It was the Son
of God who was in the beginning, who was with God, who was God. This was God who became a man
that had to die so that men who were chosen of God could be saved. Is that clear? That's the truth.
That's the truth. Jesus Christ had to die. And
he did so willingly. Because in the beginning, he
said, Father, I'll go do for them what they can't do for themselves.
You and I can't put away our sin, no matter how good we behave.
No matter what we do, we can't put it away. But he can't. Don't die clinging to the cross. Now, listen to me. Don't die
clinging to the cross. Cling to the Christ who died
on the cross. Do we see the difference there?
You say, boy, that's subtle. No, it's not. It's just plain
truth. The cross is a piece of wood.
The Lord Jesus Christ is a person. He's in the Trinity. He's God.
And listen carefully. Righteousness can't save. But Jesus Christ, the righteous,
not only can save, He will save, He does save, He is salvation. Salvation is not an event in
time that we hope for. Salvation is Jesus Christ, who
is all our hope. And He is a good hope. He is
a sure hope. He is a guaranteed hope. Turn
back to Ecclesiastes 7. I cannot tell you how many times
I have read this scripture and reached the wrong conclusion.
I've always read this scripture and thought what it meant was
that God's people, well, it's going to work out OK in the end.
We believe that, don't we? We know it is. That's not the
meaning here. You know, we have some tough
times. There's folks in here going through tough things. I
understand that. I understand that. But that's
not what this promise is about. Look here in Ecclesiastes 7,
verse 8. The first part of this says,
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it. This
is all going to be okay. That's what I thought for so
long. Let me tell you what it actually when you start looking
these words up. The word thing. Means word. Though the word indeed means
future and better here means more beautiful. Now listen to
it. More beautiful is the future of the Word of God than is revealed
to us in the beginning. You got that. You know, we just
see through a glass dimly. We read this, we hear Christ
preach, we just get the littlest glimmer of how wonderful, how
beautiful He is, how glorious it's going to be. The end of
the thing, the future. What? Nothing changed. In the
beginning, God. He hadn't changed a bit. He said,
this is who I am. In the end, He said, Amen, so
be it. This is how it's going to be.
Nothing has changed in between. We just have to find Him. We have to lay hold on Him. Believe
on Him. And find 1 Corinthians 2 with me. So is this promise that in the end, in the future, it's
going to be more beautiful than we can even imagine that's been
revealed to us in the Word. Is this promise made to those
who love the law? Is it made to those who love
the doctrines of grace? Is it made to those who love
Calvinism? Is it made to those who do the best they can to keep
the law? Is it those who have perfect attendance? Is it any
of those things? Is that where this promise is
fulfilled? Let me show you how clearly the Word of God has one
message from the beginning to the end. And here's where the
promise is fulfilled. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9,
it says, As it is written, here's the Word, from the beginning
it was written, right? As it is written, I have not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the thing which God hath prepared for them that love the
doctrines of grace, that love Calvinism, that keep the law
the best they can." Is that what he says? No, the promise is not
made to anybody concerning things or events or places or time. It is to those who love Him. Do we see the difference? It's
not about stuff. It's not about places and times
and events. It's about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
got to know Him. One of the scriptures. Turn over
to Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46. How sure
can we be that this is all like what I've said tonight? And I've
probably said it poorly, but here's the guarantee. That is
like it is. In Isaiah 46, look at verse 9. Remember, now let me stop right
there a minute. You know what you can't remember? Somebody you've never met. If
you don't know Christ, the rest of this is not going to mean
anything to us. You can't remember somebody who you've never met.
You can tell anybody you want, Aubrey, all you want about Stephen.
If they never met him, they don't have a clue what you're talking
about or who you're talking about. If we don't know Christ, there's
no guarantee here. But it says, remember, remember
in verse 9, the former things of old. What
are we supposed to remember? Who God says he is. He says,
for I'm God and there's nobody else. In the beginning, God,
first, foremost, only, first in rank, absolute, sovereign,
almighty. I'm God, and there's none else. I am God, and there's none like
me. I declare the end, that is, this
future, from the beginning. Why? Because I planned it all. I executed it all. And my word
is pure, my word is perfect, and my word is certain and powerful. And from ancient times of things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I'll
do all my pleasure. Just because not a one of us
has ever seen glory doesn't mean he's not there. Just because
you and I have never seen Jesus Christ in the flesh doesn't mean
he's not who he says he is in his word. He is who He says He
is. That's all the hope we've got,
is if He is who He says He is. And then He'll do what He said
He'll do. And you can see that right now at the right hand of
God, guaranteed, in the beginning, God is going to do what I promised. Amen. In the end. One more verse
here. He said, Verse 11, calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I've spoken it. It's his word. I'll bring it
to pass. I purposed it. I'm going to do
it. Now listen to me. Whether you
want to believe it or not, that's the truth. That's the truth. That's who God is, who he says
he is. He's told us what he's going
to do. He'll do it. He'll do it. Tell you what, we
can either fall in love with that God, or we're all on our
own. We are all on our own. Now you
say, well, what am I going to do about this?
I don't know him. I don't know who you're talking about. I hope
there's nobody here in that state. But if you are, what are you
going to do about it? There's only one thing to do.
And that is, get on our face at His feet and beg Him to have
mercy on me, to show me who He is. I promise you, everybody
in here who knows Him, there was a time when we didn't. Isn't
there? There was a time you didn't know
Him. If you want to know Him. Let me tell you what not to do.
Don't do this. You fellas going home with your
wife or your girlfriend tonight, I highly recommend that you not
do this. If you profess to love her, I
highly recommend that you don't go home and say, you know, I
just love the way you make a bed. I just love watching you peel
taters because I know you're going to make me mashed potatoes. I just love the way the toilet
bowl never smells bad because you clean it real good. I just love when we're walking
down the street together because, boy, guys think I'm somebody. Look at me, I've got this with
me. I wouldn't try that approach if I were you. You know why?
That's all about you. And love is not all about you.
The best definition I ever heard of love is wishing to bestow
on the object of one's affection the very best that one can. You
want to tell the Lord Jesus Christ that you love him? That you want
to see him so you will love him? You might try this. Honey, oh,
she has a name. Rebecca, Kelly, you got a name? Okay,
I thought so. Our Lord's got a name. Get in
this book and find out his name. Find out his name. He's wonderful. He's a counselor. He's the mighty
God. He's the Prince of Peace. Get
his name. And call out his name. Call out
your wife's name, Rebecca. You got the prettiest eyes. I
love you when you look at me, because you convince me you love
me. It makes me love you all the
more. Tell somebody you love them,
because you know them. You know who they are. You know
what they've done. You know why they did it. Try that with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Ask Him, Lord, show me who you are. Make me love you. Show me you love me so I can
love you back. I promise you on the authority
of this word, you'll do it. You know why? Because in the
beginning he said he would. And he keeps his word. It's sure
and certain and perfect. And I hope the Lord will bless
his word. Let's bow together in prayer.