All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to the book of Genesis, chapter 1. We continue in our study today
in this first book in our scriptures. We would always do well as we're
studying the creation to remember The words of our Lord to the
two on the road to Emmaus, when He told them that starting with
Moses and all the scriptures, He expounded unto them those
things concerning Himself and that meaning Himself as He is
set forth as the Savior of His people, the Savior of the church. The scriptures declare that this
world did not come into existence by itself. John 1.1 says, in
the beginning was the Word, 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. So now let's
consider starting in verse nine where we left off. I've entitled
this message, the waters, the earth and the plants. The scripture declares in verse
9, and God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place and let the dry land appear. And it was
so. Now, we behold almighty God by
the word of his power creating a separation between the waters
and the land, but bringing into, I don't want to say existence,
but bringing into appearance the habitable parts of the earth. Before man or any other creature
ever walked on this earth before they were ever created themselves. God Almighty made a separation,
spoke a separation between the waters under the heaven and the
dry. You'll notice the word land is
in italics. What he did was he prepared the
earth for the habitation of man. And God said, let the waters
under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let
the dry land appear. And it was so. He summoned all
the waters that were found under the heaven unto one place. These waters that were under
the firmament, that's what the heavens. Verse 7 says, God spoke
a division into being. But spiritually, what we're going
to look at here, and I'll try to make good on this, is we're
going to behold in that separation all the waters being brought
together, gathered together onto one place. We're going to behold
the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ, being
made sin for His people, that they might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now, I want us to understand,
whenever we see the waters, now we've got to remember where we
just came from. We spent a few weeks Scripture
says in verse 2, the earth was without form and void, and darkness
was upon the face of the deep. The Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. So these waters that were said
to be without form, void, and nothing but darkness upon these
waters, They, being a fit picture and type of man, after the fall,
dead in trespasses and sins, God spoke, and those waters,
that's what they set forth. That's when we see the seas unstable,
moving, ever churning, boiling. Let the waters under the heaven
be gathered together unto one place. Now here we see what symbolizes,
again, the sin and nature of all men, without exception, but
especially in the creation. Remember, all of this book is
about the Lord Jesus Christ and His redemptive glory for His
people. So here we see In type and picture
concerning the waters, God said He separated the waters and said,
let them be gathered together unto one place. Now, with this
being a picture of Christ, there is one place in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the substitute and redeemer of God's sheep.
This sets forth what God Almighty has done for His people. He has gathered together in the
Lamb Himself in one place that which was dark and void and wild. That which the Spirit of God
moved upon to say there's light. That sea, and I'll show you again
as we continue on through this, that's a picture of that sin
and rebellion. And God gathered together in
one place all the sin of all of His people all of time under
that one place of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the waters were gathered
together in that one place that the dry land might appear. And it was so. Now, when we say
that the dry land might appear, all right, what we're saying
is it was there. It was there, but it was under
the water. And the land below the waters,
the land, the dry land below the waters is a picture and type
of God's elect, hidden from sight, but likewise, Always there. Always in the heart and mind
of Almighty God. Everlastingly loved. Chosen in
Christ. They ever existed. There's always... When the Lord said, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. You know what that means? In
the mind, heart, and purpose of Almighty God. His people have
always been there. They've always been in Christ.
but they didn't appear. It didn't appear to be that land
until God Almighty brings them into openness and existence for
sight, but they've always been there. So that glorious thought
that in the creation itself, Almighty God would cause the
waters to be gathered together in one place And there, God's
justice, wrath would be satisfied. The law would be honored. They're
all in Him. That's that one place the scripture
declares the Lord Jesus Christ. That one place of man's home. 1 Timothy 2.5. There's one God. There's one Mediator between
God and man. It's the man, Christ Jesus. The waters of man's sin and rebellion
against God can only be gathered together in one place and God
be satisfied. In the man, Christ Jesus. He
is the one place of salvation. John 3.16, For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son. This is Him. There's one
place. That whosoever believeth in Him,
one place, should not perish but have everlasting life. He
is the one place of refuge for a needy sinner. Whenever all
the crowd decided, when they heard the Lord Jesus Christ declaring
the sovereignty of God and man's spiritual impotency, when the
Lord told them, He said, no man can come, unto me, except it
were given unto him of my father." Once the Lord was proclaiming
God's sovereignty, they left Him. The Lord turned to His disciples
and He said, will you go away also? What did Peter say? To
whom shall we go? You're the one place. You're
the one place where God has dealt with our sin and put away our
guilt. He says, thou hast the words
of eternal life. Peter declared in Acts 4, 11
and 12, this is the stone which was set at naught of you builders,
which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there
salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. So God gathered together
And unless we remember the word of our Lord, beginning with Moses,
in all the scriptures, He expounded unto them the things concerning
Himself. Now if we disregard that statement,
we're going to miss a glorious blessing in this creation. If
we're looking at just creation as being just merely creation,
then we're talking about history. And it's glorious history, I
don't doubt that. But based upon the word of the
Lord, we see Him. The Lord said to the Pharisees,
He said, you search the scriptures. And in them, Because you search
the scriptures and you know which pages, you know where the middle
verse is. You think you have life. These
are they that testify of me. So we're looking for Christ.
So whenever God separated the waters and the dry appeared,
we look past the historical creation which we believe in love. You
know, we don't believe in evolution. We know that's not right. But
when we see Him, and separation, and the waters gather together
in one place, and we see our Lord being our substitute and
Savior, then our hearts burned. That's what they said, then our
hearts burned as he opened up the scripture. So here the waters
are separated, and the dry land appear, and that dry land setting
forth, that habitable of God's people, Proverbs 8, 31, rejoicing
in the habitable part of the earth and my delights were with
the sons of men. The Lord in creation established
land, caused it to appear. Again, it was there, but he established
land not only where his people would live and have their existence
on this earth, But He established that place where He Himself would
come to redeem and save His own. That dry land upon which He would
come and finish the work given Him by the Father. So that dry
land would be the place of His obedience, the place upon which
He would die, be buried, and raised again upon which he would
stand while he was talking to his disciples and ascend up into
heaven. They'd see him. God Almighty
separated that. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
declaring here that upon the dry land would the theater upon
which the Son of God would appear in the form of sinful flesh for
sin that he might be glorified as the Messiah and therefore
glorify the Father as the electing God of the sheep. But all that
emphasis that is placed upon the dry. And God said, verse
nine, let the waters of the heaven be gathered together unto one
place. You know, I looked at a map of
the world when I read that And it was amazing, all of the seas,
when you look at them, they're all joined. The land is in there. You know, the land's in there,
but all of the, you look at it and they're all connected. They're
all in one place. A reminder of that which our
Lord has done for his people. So here's the emphasis of the
dry. God has delivered his sheep and
provided that which they desperately needed in him. Whenever we talk
about the dry, how many times do we see it in the scriptures,
talking about the dry, when the children of Israel came to the
Red Sea. And there was no apparent escape. the Egyptians were coming. And
Exodus 14, 21 to 22, here's a picture. The dry land is that glorious
type of firmness, stability. It's a picture of Christ, Christ
himself. When we see the waters, there's
the sin of God's people. They're falling and trespasses
and sins, and the dry land appears. There's a picture of deliverance
of God's people in him. The scripture says Moses stretched
out his hand over the sea. And the Lord caused the sea to
go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea
dry land. I looked up dry, it means parched. The dry appeared in the midst
of the waters. The waters were divided. The
children of Israel went into the midst of the sea. Now here
we are, now listen, here they are. They went into the midst
of the sea, the scripture says, Exodus 14, 21, 22. upon dry ground. And the waters
were a wall unto them on the right hand and on the left. Now
here's their problem. The water. But what happened? God divided the water and provided
a passageway of dry land. Do we not behold the glorious
person of our Savior in the midst of the waters? They went across
on dry land when the people crossed over. Turn with me to Joshua.
Joshua 4, 19. Joshua 4, 19. This is a beautiful,
beautiful. Every time, when you see, whenever
you see this dry land, think of the deliverance by the Lord
Jesus Christ for His people in Him. When you see that dry land
in the midst of the sea, there's the one place, there's the one
place of deliverance right there. When the people crossed over
the Jordan River to enter into the land of promise. The Lord
caused the Jordan River to stand and rise up a heap, that's Joshua
3.16. And the priest stepped into the
water and the people passed over on dry land. Now look at Joshua
4. Joshua 4, verses 19 to 24. And the people came up out of
Jordan on the 10th day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal
in the east border of Jericho. And those 12 stones which they
took out of Jordan did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. And he spake
unto the children of Israel, saying, when your children shall
ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what mean these
stones? that you shall let your children
know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up
the waters of Jordan from before you until you were passed over,
as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from
before us until we were gone over, that all the people of
the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty
and that ye might fear the Lord your God forever. When that glorious
in creation, when that glorious separation was made, when God
separated the waters and the dry land appeared, there is the
picture of the unveiling, the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ, God's deliverance for his own. So when we say dry land,
think when Jonah, Here was Jonah, a man a rebel against God, a
man beloved of God, but a man that rebelled against God. And
God brought him to himself. How did he do it? Threw a whale.
Here the Lord sent a storm and the mariners tried to fight it
and everything. And Jonah told him, he said,
this is because of me. Just throw me in. Threw him in. God prepared great fish, a whale. And the scripture says that Jonah
was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights.
We know what the Lord said about that. As Jonah was in the belly
of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be in the belly of the
earth three days. And when it pleased God, God
delivered him. God delivered Jonah out of that
whale. Now here's the whale. Where does
a whale live? In the water. Where did the whale
deposit Jonah? The scripture says Jonah was
vomited out, this is Jonah 2.10, upon dry land. I thought, do
you know what it's gonna take for God to bring a whale right
up to the earth and vomit him out on dry land? He never left
Jonah. He brought him to that place
of safety, and God preserved him. Dry land. And then the scripture
says, verse 10, and God called the dry land earth. And the gathering together of
the waters He called seas. Called He seas. And God saw that
it was good. What a glorious picture of being
found secure upon Him who is the firm and stable rock of our
security. Out of the waters of chaos and
instability, the elect have been delivered, being hidden in Him
who is their city of refuge, placed by the power of God on
the cleft of the rock himself and his lively stones. Here we
are built up a spiritual priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. We will never fail because God
Almighty has declared we're kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So the glorious
picture of this, like we talked about those priests a while ago
that went across the Jordan River. Joshua 3 said that the priests
that bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry
ground in the midst of the Jordan. Here in verse 10, it says, God
Almighty called the dry land earth, and the gathering together
of the waters He called He seas, and God saw that it was good. Again, I mentioned a while ago
the meaning of the word seize. It means to roar, boiling, or
foaming. And keeping with the context
of our passage, we know that the waters picture in the creation
the chaos of man's fall, the result of rebellion against God. So keep this in mind. When we
see the seas right here and the separation of the seas and the
appearance of the dry land, the seas are going to be a picture
of our problem. Sin, rebellion, chaos, instability. And that is what the Lord has
delivered His people from by the shedding of His own blood.
And so this open separation of the earth and the seas were said
to be in the sight of God. Good. God said, look at verse
10, the latter part, and the gathering together of the waters
called he seas, and God saw that it was good. Think of the goodness
of God to show us and reveal to us in the creation here what
he's done for us. If the Lord would not have shown
us this, what would we have ever known? How would we have ever
known what the Lord has done for us in separating all of the
waters, bringing them together into one place and causing the
dry land to appear, causing the person of our precious Savior
to appear and us in Him. There's our safety. That's the
dry ground that they walked on. That's the dry ground that the
children of Israel walked on out of Egypt, that the nation
of Israel walked through and on the Jordan River. That's the
security of Jonah being vomited out on dry land. He fell upon
Christ on his stability. So here the Lord is setting forth
that this is good. Isn't it good to know what the
Lord's done for us? It's separating us out of the
chaos of instability and darkness and wildness and establishing
us upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here the Lord
declares that the earth, the dry land is called earth, firm. The seas, the waters He called
seas, instability, and now we're beholding now what we've been
taken out of. Hold your place in here and turn
to Matthew 13. Matthew 13. We've read this scripture before.
What a perfect passage of scripture to show us exactly what's being
set forth here. Matthew 13, 47. Again, the kingdom
of heaven. And when we say the kingdom of
heaven, we're talking about God's kingdom, his people, his elect,
his chosen, that's his kingdom. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to a net that was cast into the sea and gathered
of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore
and set down and gathered to good unto vessels, but cast the
bad away. So here's the Lord in doing what
he's doing for his people, calling us out of darkness, showing us
of himself, separating the waters. Here's that which God calls good. And then the scripture sets forth
that these seas that we are declaring to be our problem, that sets
forth Man's sin and a place in which we live, they're not going
to be here forever. Revelation 21.1 said, I saw a
new heaven, new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. This old world, with all of its
sorrows, problems, troubles, is going to pass away. And almighty
God is going to purge this earth. It's going to burn, burn and
be purged. And the scripture declares that
there's not going to be seas anymore. That's what Revelation
21, I saw a new heaven, a new earth. The first heaven, the
first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. There won't be any more sin,
any more rebellion, This is going to be a new heaven and a new
earth purged by God, established in righteousness and no more
sea. It's going to be a suitable habitation
for the glorified saints wherein, that's what 2 Peter 3.13 says,
wherein dwelleth righteousness. No more unrest, no more instability. New heaven, new earth, fit and
proper home established by the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, in
my father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.
If it wasn't so, I'd tell you. And it's gonna be that place
where all of God's people are gonna stay with the Lord and
be with the Lord forever. Now we're in a world right now.
And we're, well, scripture says, 2 Corinthians 4, 9 and 8, 8 and
9, I'm sorry. It says we are troubled on every
side. The seas are still here. We're troubled on every side,
but we're not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed. We're in a world, the Lord has
revealed, that would destroy us if it could. We're hated by
the world. the gates of hell are not gonna
prevail against us. The waters are not going to,
let me, I was last week when we were at the beach, I was watching
the water. And of course I've been studying
this particular passage and how God established. This is what
it's gonna turn to, Psalm 104. Psalm 104. And I was thinking
about this passage of scripture right here. And we watched the
waves come crashing in And Psalm 104 verse five to nine. The scripture
sets forth concerning creation of the earth. Who laid the foundations of the
earth that it should not be removed forever. Thou coverest it with
the deep as with a garment. The waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled. Thy
voice, thy thunder, they hasted away. They go up to the mountains,
they go down by the valleys into the place which thou hast founded
them. Thou hast set a bound that they
may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth. Almighty God has set forth that
the oceans, the seas that we see right now, there's a limit
placed on them. It's a fit picture of the preservation
of God's people in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
not coming any farther than this. We were staying in a beautiful
motel there, I mean right on the water, right close. But you know what? That water
couldn't go any farther than Almighty God established it.
And concerning the seas of rebellion in which we're living right now. I mean, it's, you know, these
seas set forth that we're living in a world where unrighteousness
is rampant, no doubt. But the Lord has declared, just
like the seas and the seashore, you're not coming any farther
than I say you can. And Almighty God has set forth
concerning the wrath of this world, you're not going any further
than I say you can go. So here's the beauty. Almighty
God, He called the waters together, one place, dealt with the sin
of His people, what those waters set forth in one place, in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, caused the dry land to appear,
There it is, the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ and
his people in him, safe, secure, dry ground, firm, that's what
earth means, firm, firm. And God saw that it was good. That's good, that's good. Verse
11 and 12. And God said, let the earth bring
forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after its kind. whose seed is in itself upon
the earth. And it was so. And the earth
brought forth grass and herb, yielding seed after its kind,
the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after its
kind. And God saw that it was good."
Now, there's truly no end to the beauty that's set forth in
these last few verses like the others that we've considered.
But for sure, we can consider and see the sustaining grace
of God for his people. Again, before the Lord created
any other living creature to abide upon the earth, he wisely
provided for its sustenance. And we see in the creation of
the grass, now if you've got a marginal Bible there, look
in verse 11, and God said, let the earth bring forth grass.
Now if you have a marginal mind and has a marginal reading, and
here's what it says, tender grass. Now, with that being the definition
of that word, tender grass, can we fail to see the promise of
the Lord to his people through the Apostle Paul in Philippians
4.19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And that scripture in Philippians
4.19 was beautifully answered by David, King David. When the Lord moved upon him,
And he penned these words in the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my
shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. Well, of course you know me.
I'm gonna look it up. I wanna know what are green pastures. You look it up in your Bible.
If you've got a marginal reading in your Bible, you know what
it means? pastures of tender grass. That's what it means.
The place of continual feasting and refreshing in the promises
of God's covenant of grace. The green pastures of peace that
he has established and wrought by his own shed blood. He makes me lie down in the tender
grass of his mercy. That sweet enjoyment like a sheep
that would eat the tender grass. No briars and brambles and all
that kind of stuff. But I mean the sweet, tender
grass of his mercy. Considering his imputed righteousness. That's a sweet, tender grass. That's sheep food. And concerning
the herb, he said, you know, he said he made the grass and
the herb yielding fruit and the fruit tree yielding fruit after
its kind, whose seed is in itself, the earth, it was sold. That
herb and fruit tree which yields fruit after its kind. But now,
here's the beauty of this. We understand that having fallen
in Adam, sinners by birth, sinners by
choice, sinners by practice, we're going to yield fruit after
our kind. Now the scripture declares that
here's the fruit that we would produce. Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness or immodesty, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, which is Quarreling, quarreling, arguing. Emulations. What does that mean? Jealousy.
Wrath. What does that mean? Ill temper.
Strife. Just like God created the herbs
and the fruit trees and all that, and they bore fruit after their
kind. Fallen in Adam, that's all we
can do. That's all we can do. We yield
fruit after our kind. being found in Christ. The scripture
declares that we bear, we don't produce it, we bear it. What is it? Love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Fruit that was never produced by men. It's the fruit of God's
Spirit. The Lord having given us the
earnest of our salvation, the Spirit of God that dwelleth in
you, it is the Lord Himself by His Spirit. That is the fruit
that is produced after it's kind. There's a new man in every believer. There's a new creation, a new
mind, a new will. And that spirit that has been
given us by the Lord Himself, He produces fruit after His kind. I mean, love and longsuffering
and peace and gentleness and meekness, that just don't come
from me. I've got an old man that's in
me, and I still see the fruit of that old man being produced. And I war with it. Every believer
does. But there is fruit of love. We do love the Lord. When the
Lord said to Peter, Peter, lovest thou me more than these? He asked
him three times, and Peter said, Lord, you know all things. You
know I love you. I do. loves the Lord. Why? Because the Lord first loved
him and has given him a heart. Love is of God. And peace is
of God. Long-suffering is of God. But
that fruit, we don't claim it. We're thankful for the Lord that
He would give it to us. Listen to the Lord speak in John
15, verse 4. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch, now listen to
this, who are the branches? The Lord said, we are. He said,
I'm the vine, you're the branch. He's the trunk, we're grafted
into him. He says, as the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can
ye except ye abide in me. So we don't claim, we don't make
claim to produce fruit. Hold your place, I'm gonna wrap
this up. Turn to Philippians 1. Philippians 1, verse 8 to
11. Philippians 1, verse 8 to 11. The Apostle Paul says, for God
is my record, how greatly I long after you in the bowels of Jesus
Christ. And this I pray, that your love
may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment,
that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be
sincere without offense till the day of Christ, being filled
with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto
the glory and praise of God. So we declare and are thankful for
that as God made in creation, he set forth this, that the herb
and the fruit trees, they would bear after their kind. And we
readily admit, having fallen in Adam, we bear after our kind,
believe me. We act just like unbelievers.
But being born of the Spirit, the scripture declares, that
the fruit of the Spirit is born after His kind and has manifested
us to His glory and our good. And then in verse 13, here's
where we'll end for today. And the evening and the morning
were the third day. Now, I've not brought this up
yet, but there's six days that are set forth in the creation,
six days. And this says, and the evening
and the morning third day, but six times in creation that truth
is set forth. Evening and morning, first day,
second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day. Six
times and it always means the same thing. The evening and the
morning declares the state of every one of God's people while
they're in this world. darkness and light. The evening
is darkness, the light, the day. It sets forth our state. Now, being born in the Lord Jesus
Christ, he said, you are of the day. But while we're in this
world, there is still an old man there. There is still that
struggle there. And that darkness and light is
going to be with us. That old and new is going to
be with us until we leave this earth. You know, when the sun
is shining, it's shining right now, but exactly opposite from
where we are, it's dark right now. And as that earth is turning,
there's a continual, you know, revolution of light and dark,
light and dark. The evening and the morning were
the third day, first day, whatever day it was. We're children of
light while darkness is still present with us. Paul said of
himself, he said, I see in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells
no good thing. The will is present with it,
but how to perform that which I find not. So evening, it always
sets forth what we are as being born in Adam. And the morning
always sets forth what we are being born in the star, the sun
of the morning, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're always going to
admit, as long as we're in this world, it's going to be evening
and morning. It's going to be evening and daylight and dark.
But by the grace of God, there's coming a time when there won't
be any more darkness. There'll be nothing but day,
and be nothing but light. We struggle, and we admit it,
and we know it's so. And we say, come quickly, Lord
Jesus. Keep us by your grace. Save us by your spirit. Forgive
us for Christ's sake. Amen. All right.