And seeking for the help of the
Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to Genesis chapter
1 and reading from our text, the first part of verse 1. The words, in the beginning,
God. The whole verse reads, in the
beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The words that
I bring before you are these first words in the Holy Inspired
Word of God, in the beginning, God. And dear friends, it is
good for us to have a view of God before there was any world,
before there was the sun, the moon, the stars, the heavens
as we know them, and when there is just the world spinning as
a dark formless mass, when God was with himself, God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the eternal God that filleth
all things, and to remind ourselves that poor created man cannot
add unto God anything at all. God does not need him to make
his decisions to influence him in any way at all. God has his
own eternal counsel and purpose and plan and it is according
to that plan that he has brought the world into existence and
according to that plan he will bring the world to be finished
and to be a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. We must know that God has seen
fit to reveal his own eternal glory in all the things that
he has created and made. And to that end, his plan, his
purpose through all time is to show forth that glory. He has then decreed all things,
whether it be good or evil, that come to pass. God is not the
author of sin or of evil, but God himself hates sin, and he
hates evil. He loves righteousness and holiness,
and by bringing then and decreeing that there should be evil, it
is so that he can show forth how he hates it and how that
he, rather than would allow evil, should then even bring his own
beloved son to be punished and to have the wrath of God meet
upon him to show his hatred of evil. And so we must see that
all things that God hath done, he has done to this end. We would remember that God sees
the end from the beginning. In fact, we ourselves are very
used to this. If we were to plan upon building
a house, our first purpose would be that there should be a dwelling
for us. We would have that end in view.
How many people were to live in that house? What was the functions
that we were to need to realise in that house? When we realised
that, then we would draw up a plan for that house, a floor plan,
what it should look like, the rooms, the extent of it. Then we would think, well, where
would that house actually be placed? Where was it to be? And when we knew that, then we
would design the foundations of that house. There's some houses
that are built And all they need is just a very thin slab upon
the ground. There are others that, friends
that we know of, that to build where they have built their house,
they need to have poured concrete columns that go down 15, 20 meters
or so into the earth at several places under that foundations
to support the house. You can't see them. But because
of where the house is actually built, it needs to have a foundation
like that. But then when that house is beginning
to be built, what is the first thing that we actually see? It's the foundations being put
down and pulled. So in the actual building of
the house, it is in the opposite order to the way it was planned. In the planning, the foundation
comes last to suit the design, size of the house, and where
it is to be placed. But in what is actually seen
is the foundations first. So with us as well, when we first
see God expressing his glory, his might, his power, and bringing
his counsel and plan into action, We do not see the end result
in glory of an innumerable multitude of blood-bought people praising
God in the new creation. We see a foundation. We see the
earth being formed and created, and all that flows from that. We see a beginning. In the beginning,
God. in the beginning God, not in
the beginning God created, but in the beginning God, before
there was ever a creation, before ever there was man, eternal ages,
the living, the eternal God. And it does us good to remember
this, to ponder it, to think upon it, the greatness of God. Solomon, at the dedication of
the temple, he says that the heaven of heavens cannot contain
thee, much less this house that I have built it. May we remember
that the Lord Jesus Christ is not made manifest for the church,
but the church is for Christ. It is to show forth the praises
of him who hath called her, each individual member of it, out
of nature's darkness and into his marvellous light. All things that are done in the
heavens and in the earth are all done with an aim of fulfilling
the counsel of God and God's ultimate aim of having a people
that are Christ, that are his church, are a blood-bought people
and a family in heaven with himself. And all nations, all peoples,
all are subservient to that. We know that all things work
together for good. to them that love God, to them
that are the called according to his purpose. Now I want to
look with the Lord's help this morning at this word, in the
beginning God, at those things that really make up time, beginning
with our first point on the creation, in the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth. And then secondly, in the beginning
God, in history, that is in Providence, as the history of the world unfolds,
we will see each part of it very clearly instigated by God, as
God in control. And then thirdly, in the beginning
God, in grace, that is, in calling or quickening into spiritual
life a people that are his people, a redeemed people to be with
him forever in heaven. And in each case, in the beginning,
God. God is the beginner. God is the
instigator, not man. not Satan certainly, but in the
beginning, God. So firstly, I desire to set before
you what is so beautifully set forth here in the opening of
the Holy Word of God, where God began in creating the world. I want to draw your attention
to the plan of how the Lord created as revealed in this first chapter
of Genesis, because God works in a very methodical and ordered
way. The creation was done in six
days. We find the first three days
are taken up with preparing places. And then the last three days
are taken up in populating those places. So we find in the first
day a place prepared for the planets. The Earth is a watery,
formless planet suspended in the darkness, the void of space. There's no sun, there's no moon,
there's no stars, there's no planets. And God says, let there
be light. And there was light. And he separates
the light from the darkness. And the first indication that
the planet is rotating, we have a day and night cycle. that is produced. The evening and the morning were
the first day. So in other words, we have that
first day at which there is an evening and then there is a morning,
but that constitutes the first day. So we have a space, a void,
in which later on there's going to be placed things. And then
on day two, there's a making a place for water creatures and
birds. And in doing that, there is a
formation of the Earth's atmosphere, separating the water into two
parts, the water that is in the oceans and underneath, And then
there's the atmospheric water, which is above, a place that
will later be inhabited by the water creatures below and the
birds above. On day three, dry land then appears,
a making of a place for land animals and for man. A system for watering is shown,
a mist to go up to water the earth and to make it so that
there can be the vegetation that the Lord puts there in that third
day, the seed bearing plants, the tree that bears the fruits. And so in those First three days,
we have no living things. We have no things
in these spaces, but we have the spaces prepared. So then
from verse 14, then we have a populating the places. So we have the firmament
of heaven. And God says, let there be light
in the firmament of the heaven. to divide the day from the night
and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and
years. Here the Lord is going back to
those places that he'd made and populating them, putting in the
sun, the moon, the stars, the other planets. Notice there is
already light before there is the sun or the moon. In the new
creation in heaven we read there is no need of the sun. God himself shall be the light
of it. We mustn't think that just because
the Lord uses means of providing the light as we have this day,
that he is not the source of that light and the giver of the
light in the very first place. Then we have on the fifth day,
a populating of the waters. And so in verse 20, God said,
let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath
life. So we have the waters and then
we have the fowl that may fly above the heaven in the open
firmament of heaven. and specifically mentioned are
the great whales that God has made in the waters. So the waters
under the earth and the waters above the earth in the heavens,
they now have the fish and they now have the fowls. And then
we have in verse 24, the earth is to bring forth and from the
dust of the ground The Lord created all the beasts of the earth.
And do notice that what is so emphasized is that each one is
created after their own kind. And this is very important when
we come to the account of Noah's Ark. Many think, how could all
of the animals and the birds be placed in the ark? But they
were placed in their kinds. So when we have the kinds of
the dog kinds or we have the cat family, each one is of their
own kind and mankind. We all come from Adam. We all
come from Noah and his wife and sons and their wives that were
in the ark. And yet we see the many differences
amongst the nations of the earth. but we are mankind. And so in
the creation, God has a very careful order, a short account,
one chapter we might say, and yet so beautifully giving an
answer that no man can give, and no observation of present
things can give. Though the earth shows the glory
of God, our very own creation, man that is placed above all
of the beasts of the earth and over the whole earth to subdue
it, like as God is over all, so he has made man in his own
image, in that way to have dominion. And we see the ability to learn
to apply, to reason, to be in dominion. We have in our own
selves a wonderful showing forth of God's power and something
of his Godhead as well. We are told in Romans chapter
1 that because of this man is without excuse in not believing
that there is a God. Because his very handiwork, his
creation, testifies that there is a God and he made us. We wouldn't think of looking
at something that man had made, looking at a car or a house and
saying, I don't believe there was ever a designer. There was
no maker that made that car or made that house. We know, and
I know certainly in the mechanical field, being a mechanical design
engineer, that when you look at a mechanical thing, there
has been a lot of planning and work and drawings that have gone
into making that thing. I can seldom look at something,
even just something on a breakfast table, the plastic containers
that food comes in, or the boxes that they come in. And I immediately
think of all of the hours of designing, of the graphic design,
and then the machines that fold those boxes, that print them,
that put the food into the boxes. And I can see how much work has
gone into just bringing that upon the table in front of me.
We should, when we look at the creation, see a creating God,
a wonder God. Mention is made here of the great
whales, but we know if we take a microscope and we see the virus
that is with us, we see the smallest things that make up life, the
atoms, and God has made all of these things. He's formed all
of these things. They all show forth His glory
and His praise. In the beginning, God, and God
created the heavens and the earth, and He created us, He formed
us. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He
came to this earth, He testified the reality of the creation account
and of that which he had made. And the Gospel accounts, especially
we have it in the Gospel according to John, how that Gospel begins. In the beginning was the Word,
that is, the eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God, All things were made by Him, and without
Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and
the life was the light of men. The creation is testified right
through the Word of God. In the beginning, God. In creation. But secondly, I
desire to bring before you, in the beginning, God in history
or in providence. And what I want to really emphasise
is that where there are major events that are recorded in the
Word of God, it is the Lord that makes the first move and instigates
them. And you might say, well, there's
a lot of things that is not very evident, that it's God that's
making the first move. And that is true, but we need
to see that even though it appears to be man, some other means are
used, yet God is the instigator and mover of these things. And so I want to just highlight
those times when we are so clearly seen and shown that it is God
that is making that first move. I begin with the account of Noah. This is some 1640 years after
the world was created. and men began to multiply in
the face of the earth is Genesis chapter 6, and God saw the wickedness
that was in the world at that time. We read in verse 5, chapter
6, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually, that is man's heart. And he repented
the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and he grieved
him at his heart. This is the effect of the fool. God had given man a commandment
that he should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. Man had eaten of it. God had
said in the day that he ate thereof, he would surely die. And man
did die immediately, spiritually, and then physically and his body
then must die, his spirit returned to God that gave him. So we have
in the history of the world the clear evidence of that fall in
that good, perfect, lovely creation that God had first made being
marred by the sinfulness of man. and the wickedness of man. And
so God then instigates again, and he says to Noah that he will
destroy the earth. He says in verse 13, God said
unto Noah, the end of all flesh is 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 shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And the Lord gives to Noah the
plan, the size of the ark, and how it should be designed. God
begins. In the beginning, God. A hundred so years before the
flood came upon the earth, Noah was told to begin building this
ark. In the beginning, God, not Noah,
not anyone else deciding what is to be done or what shall happen.
It is God that begins in this great change in the history,
the course of the world. Then we have in the case of Abraham,
it is God that begins. Now, of course, Abraham is the
very beginning of the Hebrew nation, is the beginning of the
Jews, is the beginning really of all that takes place and is
recorded in the Old Testament. And we have in chapter 12, Genesis,
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred, from thy father's house, into a land that
I will show thee. And I will make thee a great
nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and
thou shalt be a blessing. And in these shall all families
of the earth be blessed. Here is the promises, the first
promise that was given in the Garden of Eden of Christ the
Saviour is now said that it shall be in Abraham and in Abraham's
seed shall the promise come. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ
came through Abraham. You've only got to look in the
line in Matthew chapter 1 It begins with Abraham and follows
Abraham's line right through to Joseph, right through pointing
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have God beginning
with Abraham and we Have a reference to this, 700 years before Christ,
in the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 51. We read this in verse 1. Hearken to me, ye that follow
after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the
rock whence ye are hewn, to the hole of the pit whence ye are
digged. Look unto Abraham your father,
and unto Sarah that bear you, for I called him alone and blessed
him and increased him." And it is pointing to God beginning. In the beginning, God called
Abraham and began that part of the history of mankind and the
history of the children of Israel. And we have this again with Joseph,
God gave him the dreams, what he was to do. And this is where
I said, sometimes you might think, well, man is in control. Joseph's
brothers, they put him in the pit. They sold him to the Ishmaelites,
who sold him to the Egyptians. And it was through that means
that Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel, were brought into Egypt
But God began it with, firstly, his promise to Abraham that it
would be so, and then also the dreams that he gave to Joseph. And in the history of the world,
whatever change, whatever happening it is, in the beginning, God. God says, now is the time for
my counsel, my purpose, to come to pass. This shall happen. This
shall be done. When the virus came to our land,
when it came to the nations of the earth, by God's decree, by
God's purpose, this period of history is happening. Who is
he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth
it not? We have them in the case with
Moses, when the children of Israel were in Egypt. And yes, you might
say the beginning with Moses, it doesn't seem that God is clearly
working there in the birth of Moses, in putting him in the
Ark of Bulrushes. You see God's work in the faith
that Moses' parents had and the wonderful providence that preserved
Moses and put him in Pharaoh's household to learn up in the
ways of leading a people for 40 years. We do see the Lord's
hand in that, but we see very, especially 80 years later, when
Moses is keeping his father-in-law's flock, Jethro's flock, in the
desert, that God appears to him in the burning bush, and God
then sends him to Egypt to bring his people out. In the beginning,
God, God decides when it is time for the children of Israel to
come out of Egypt. He'd already told Abraham in
the fourth generation it would be so. Already it was said that
they should be 430 years. It was 430 years from the first
promise to Abraham to the time that they then appeared at Mount
Sinai. It was to be 215 years. through to go into Egypt and
then another 215 years for them to come up out. And those times,
God was the author and order of those times. You only have
to look, again, referring to Matthew chapter one, and we have
the, not only the list of the generations, but you have three
times, 14 generations. And those are set before us there
in the gospel right at the very beginning. So all the, in verse
17 of chapter one in Matthew, so all the generations from Abraham
to David are 14 generations, from David until the carrying
away into Babylon are 14 generations, and from the carrying away into
Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations. Here is the work of God in the
history of the world in exact planning and bringing it about
in a very ordered fashion over thousands of years, 4,000 years
from the creation unto the coming of our Lord. And so in the beginning,
God in History in Providence. And we find this when the Lord
commissioned his disciples, he ascended up into heaven. He said,
tarry at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. Wait until the Holy Spirit in
the beginning, God, in the beginning of the church. It shall be by
God's instigation, the Holy Spirit sent, the power of God come. Then the apostles that once fled
for fear of man, now they can preach boldly, and now thousands
are brought to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we live
in a gospel day. We live in the day when the Holy
Spirit is working and quickening souls into life. And it is that
I wish to speak to you in the third place. in the beginning
God, in the way of grace. Every man, woman and child, everyone
that is born into this world is born in sin and shape and
in iniquity. We are lost, that's why we need
a saviour. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ
came to this world, that he should be made bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh, that he should lay down his own life and suffer
for a people that he had known in eternity, loved with an everlasting
love, that he should bear their sin in his own body on the tree,
and that he should live a life that is a spotless life, that
should be imputed or imparted to their account as if they had
lived that spotless life. And so fit them to be able to
live with Him in heaven. But that time that God then changes
the heart of a person that is born into this world. So instead
of being in enmity and hatred to God, instead of being spiritually
dead, They are made spiritually alive and brought to have eternal
life. God says, I give unto them eternal
life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. And in our text,
we read, in the beginning, God. And this specifically applies
to that time when God will call a sinner by grace, when he will
pass by them when they are in their blood as dead in trespasses
and sins. He finds them, yes, if they've
been brought up under the sound of the truth, they may have their
head stocked with many ideas, they might in fact know the things
of God and plan of salvation in their own head, but that is
all it is. It's not in the heart. They don't
really believe it in the heart. It has never brought them to
be guilty before God as a hell-deserving sinner and to be trusting alone
in Christ for salvation. We cannot learn God's truths
just like a schoolboy learns his task. We are not born by
blood just because our parents are believers doesn't make us
to be a believer. It is not by the will of man. It is not that we just decide
to be a Christian and that we can save ourselves. God shall
save his people from their sins. What is said of our Lord in Matthew
chapter one, His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. And so we have like we had when
our Lord was on earth, he must needs go through Samaria, because
the woman of Samaria must be saved and the Samaritans. We
have Nicodemus, who came to the Lord by night, he must be born
again. We have Nathanael, Philip saying
to him, come, we have found him, of whom Moses and the prophets
did write, Jesus of Nazareth. And that was the set time when
Nathanael was to believe in the Lord. Zacchaeus climbing up,
seemingly through curiosity to see who the Lord was. But the
Lord says, come down, Zacchaeus, today I must dine at thy house. is one of God's appointments.
God had brought it to pass. And so that time when a person
maybe first reads the word of God, or first is brought to really
have that word as the power of God in their hearts, they cannot
turn away from it. It arrests them. They believe
that word. They receive the word. Their
heart is open to receive it. That time is ordered by God. It is God's work. It is God's
work as spoken of in the word of God as calling and as quickening, making alive. Paul, when he writes to the Ephesians,
he says, hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. And that time is appointed by
God. And this is why those who have
been called to preach the word, those who know the truth of God,
are to, according to God's commission, to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised
shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. The news
of the gospel, the warning, the condition that we're in by nature,
the need of a saviour, the provision of a saviour in the Lord Jesus
Christ is to be proclaimed in all the earth. And it is through
the word of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. that men are brought to be saved
and to believe, and it is God's work. This is the work of God,
that ye believe in him whom God has sent, believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and believing, we are saved. Saved, our souls
are saved, saved from condemnation, saved not to serve sin, but to
serve the Lord, and to spend the rest of our life here below
seeking to know and to do the will of the Lord, and that the
Bible, the holy word of God from beginning to end, inspired in
God breathe, is to be our mate and our drink, is to be our guide,
our structure. It is the sole revelation of
God to man, and it is those that God has called that believe that,
that have respect to it, and will obey and serve God. And their trust is that God has
put away their sin at Calvary, put away all their sins from
beginning to end that they shall ever commit. And they then are
brought to hate those sins and want to live uprightly, righteously
and godly in this present world and to show forth God's praise. This people, the Lord says, have
I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. And then
when this life is done, and all things that happen in this life
are ordered by the Lord, it is a beautiful thing for God's people
to watch, to believe what the hymn writer says, my life's minutest
circumstance is subject to his eye. and all things that happen
in our lives and that happen around about us, that influence
us, decisions made by governments, all of these things, they shall
not hurt God's children, not eternally. They all are under
God's control, that work for their good eternally. When this
life then is done, whether it is ended through a virus like
COVID or through some other way, through maybe the sword of the
like Herod that sent and beheaded John the Baptist in the prison.
Whatever way God has purposed that our life should end, our
soul shall return to God that gave it. And at the last day,
when this world is rolled up when the Lord returns the second
time with power and great glory, then our bodies shall be raised
and joined with our souls, a new celestial body, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. The Lord has a plan and a purpose. We read in John 17, Father, I
will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory. Dear friends, do we know something
of these things? Do we believe that in the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth? Do we believe that in
the beginning of everything that happens in this world, it is
at God's command? God has ordained it. Not that
he is the author of sin, he isn't. But when we see in the crucifixion
of our Lord, Peter saying in Acts chapter 2, that him who
was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken and by wicked hands crucified and slain. We get a picture of in the beginning
God's foreknowledge and counsel and how it is brought about by
the wickedness of men. God using evil and using it for
good. and at the same time showing
how he hates sin and hates evil by even the wrath of God falling
on his beloved son instead of his people that deserve that
wrath. And so God shows himself in all
his holiness, in all his uprightness, and in all his glory. But do
we know this? See, and do we watch God's hand? Are we ascribing things to luck
and chance and fortune, or are we ascribing it to God's plan
and purpose? It is of great comfort to God's
children to see that God is in control. God has said, our Lord
said, that we fear not man, fear not them who kill the body, And
after that there is nothing more they can do but fear Him, who
after he hath killed hath power to cast both body and soul into
hell. Yea, we are to fear Him. And
so it is that we are to look at those things that happen in
the earth and we are to watch the Lord's hand. Very often it's
seen in timing, in the things that are done, He hath put it
into their hearts to fulfil His will. Sometimes we wonder, why
do the people make mistakes? Why do they do things wrong?
It is in God's almighty hand. We think of the miracles, the
wonder of preservation of this land at Dunkirk in the Second
World War. Why was it that Hitler, he delayed
He held back his generals, he wouldn't let them press on. Why
was it that there was the calm right over the channel? Why was
it unable that those small boats could bring all of our troops
back at that time? The wonderful providence of God
in these things, in decisions that men make, in the weather,
Those things we see, and we see in the beginning God, God's plan,
God's hand in it. Yes, second cause has been used,
but who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass when the Lord
commandeth it not? And do we know then that a special
work in the beginning of God's work in our hearts, the word
says, He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. Has the Lord worked in our hearts? Has the word a place in our hearts? Does it have an authority there?
The Lord says, my sheep, they hear my voice and they follow
me. Have we heard his voice? Do we
hear his word? Do we hear its warnings? Do we
hear the blessed words of the gospel? Come unto me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Do we hear the
word that it is Christ that died, yea, rather risen again? There
is the hope for the people of God. ye have laid on him the
iniquity of us all. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, but the Lord Jesus Christ is magnified,
that whosoever believeth upon him should not perish, but should
have eternal life. The Lord bless us, we have been
believers, receivers of the word, those that are brought to know
our name, and to see the provision in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
the beginning, God. May we be of those that see that
God has worked and God has begun a work in us and though maybe
we did not want to be a believer and we did not want to be religious,
God has had mercy upon us and given us eternal life and to
know these things, and to know himself and desire to know him
more, and to enjoy him and to be with him forever. In the beginning, God. May we
know this word in these three ways, in creation, in history,
and in grace. May we know this great God, this
eternal God, The Eternal God is our refuge and underneath
are the everlasting arms. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.