Genesis chapter 1. The Lord Jesus Christ revealed the heart, the subject
of all scripture to two men on the road to Emmaus. The Lord said, beginning at Moses and in all
the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ to two
men, blessed of God, to actually hear the gospel preached from
the mouth of the Savior Himself. Heard the things found within
the scriptures that set forth His sufferings. As God's Lamb, they heard Him expound of His
glory as the Redeemer and the Savior of his people. They heard Christ preach. You know, I search these scriptures
and I've told you before, I know, I know the subject. But here's
the bottom line. I know in part. I prophesy in
part. And I see through a glass darkly. But not him. He who is the light
Himself expounded these scriptures perfectly
in absolute glory. Now I want us to look at the
first two verses of Genesis chapter 1. And as we look at these precious
two verses, Ask the Lord, right now, ask the Lord. Lord, would
you give me understanding? Would you open my understanding
like you did to those two on the road to Emmaus? Lord, would
you cause our heart to burn as theirs? The scripture sets forth,
in the beginning, God created the heaven and the
earth. In the beginning of time, there
was no beginning as eternity. How can eternity have a beginning? That's just like John chapter
1 verse 1 speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The scripture says, John 1 verses
1 and 2, 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. Now here you have to realize,
we all realize, it's got to be the beginning of time. Because
again, there is no beginning of that which is eternal. Listen
to Hebrews 1 verses 10 to 12. I'll read this for you. Hebrews
chapter 1. 10 to 12, and thou, Lord, in the
beginning has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens
are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest,
and they all shall wax old as doth a garment. And as a vesture
shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou
art the same in thy years shall not fail. So when we say in the
beginning God created, there was a beginning of time. Time wasn't always. There was
always the Lord. In the beginning of time, the
scripture sets forth that God, that is Jehovah, in the glorious
declaration of His tri-unity, God, and we see God when you
see capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Jehovah, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit created in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here is the declaration of the
fullness of the Godhead bodily creating. The heaven and the
earth created the universe as we know it. The atmosphere and
the galaxies and the earth. Now there's going to be, I'll
just give you a little hint. There's going to be another creation
spoken of here and it's going to be actually in verse 8 if
you want to just look at it. And continuing the creation in
God called the firmament. See that? Heaven, see how that's
written as a capital H? Now look at verse 1. In the beginning
God created the Heaven. See that lowercase h? Heaven
and the Earth. Verse 8, God created the capital
H, Heaven. Like I said, before there was
God. There was God. And everything
that was created for the glory of God and for the eternal good
of God's people, God created it. God made it. Now, we won't
get into that right now. We'll look at that. But here,
the Lord says in the beginning, God created the heaven and the
earth. The heaven and the earth. The
earth as we know it. The atmosphere as we know it.
That starry heaven as we know it. There's a third heaven though.
And so here, by the word of His power, Job said, 26-7, He stretches
out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth on
nothing. Nothing. He just spoke it into
existence. And just exactly the way that
the earth was created, the tilt, the atmosphere, just everything
was perfect. He spoke it all, the seasons,
the position, everything associated with its continuance out of nothing,
totally by the Word of His power. Like I said, before He spoke
it into existence, it wasn't, but when God spoke, It was. Nothing came into existence by
itself or by chance. God created it. It doesn't matter
what men say. We didn't come from green slime.
There weren't Neanderthals. Adam was made, Adam was created
intelligent. He was created upright. Adam fellowshiped with God. That's
how God made man. And when the scriptures declare
in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, you
know what God's people do? They believe it. They believe
that. I believe just exactly what God
says, Hebrews 11, 3, through faith we understand that the
worlds were framed, arranged, and put in order. That's what
that word frame means. By the Word of God, so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. I've
told you before, you know, men can take something that's already
there. You can take a board and you can cut it up and make a
box. But you can't create the board. You might make something
out of it. God made it out of nothing. God
just spoke it into existence, and there it was. But not only
do we behold in the creation of heaven and earth, the speaking
into existence of all things, in these two verses, well, really
the first five, but the second service will be verses three
to five. But in these verses of Scripture, we're going to
behold the glorious gospel of redemption. preached by God Himself
in this creation. We are talking about the creation.
There's no doubt about it. But here we're going to behold
the message of salvation of His people from their sins. So I
invite you to get a chance. Lord Will and Linda will have
these on Sermon Audio and you can listen to the second service
and see how these two messages go together. So as the earth
was created by God, Man was created. Created from the dust of the
ground and the breath of life was breathed into man's nostrils
and man became a living soul. That's what Genesis 2.7 says. Placed in a garden made of God
named Eden and was commissioned to dress the garden and keep
it. That's what, look at Genesis.
chapter 2 and verse 8. And the Lord God planted a garden
eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. Look at verse 15. And the Lord
God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress
it and to keep it. That's what man was placed to
do. He placed him in a garden to
keep it, to dress it. walked with God in communion
and worship, fellowship, and man was created straight. Ecclesiastes 7, 29 says, lo,
this only have I found, that God hath made man upright. He made him upright. What does
that mean? It means he made him right, morally good. But man did something. that was
forbidden. Man did eat of a tree that was
forbidden of God, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord told him, in the day you eat of it, and I said
it wasn't that God was telling you if you do, God says in the
day you do it, you're going to die. And man did die, he died
spiritually. And because of sin, he began
to die naturally. And so here man set forth as
being ruined by sin. In that light, the scripture
sets forth in verse 2. And here again, it's the proclamation
of what man has done in the fall, what God has done in redemption
and regeneration and salvation. But the scripture says that 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. It is very important to make
sure that whenever we're studying the scriptures, that we don't
assume anything, that we don't assume that we understand. It's
always right to read, but look up what you're reading so you
understand. The scripture sets forth in verse
2, and here again is the proclamation in type, shadow, picture, of
what happened to man in the fall. And the earth was. Now, that earth, that word was,
here's what it means. It means to be, to become, to
come to pass, to exist, to happen, or to fall out. So the earth
was without form. What does that mean? It was without
form. It means did lie in waste, deserted,
desolation, a worthless thing, confusion, nothing. And the earth was without form
and void, meaning empty, undistinguishable ruin and darkness,
misery, destruction, death, ignorance and sorrow was upon the face
of the deep. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth and the earth came to pass, existed,
Without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep."
Now, spiritually speaking, the darkness is what God saves His
people from. Hold your place. Turn to Isaiah
42, 5-7. Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42, 5-7. For thus, no, no, I'm sorry,
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 spirit
to them that walk therein, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness
and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee
for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles,
to open the blind eyes, to bring out of the out the prisoners
from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. What Almighty God is saying,
I'm going to take you out of something that you've fallen
into. Something has happened. According to Isaiah, if you want
to look at this, Isaiah 45, just turn over a couple of pages there.
Isaiah 45, this creation of the earth. You look at Isaiah 45, verse
18, and when the scripture says, in the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth, and the earth was... Somebody said,
well I believe what happened was God created this, and I read
some accounts where it says God created it as just a mass of
stuff. It was just mass and then the
Lord pulled it all together and then that's the way He made it.
Isaiah 45 and verse 18, the scripture declares, for thus saith the
Lord that created the heavens. God Himself that formed, that
is, that fashioned the earth and made it. He hath established
it. What does that mean? Laid upon
a foundation and made firm. Now I want you to look at these
next words. He created it not in vain. He created it not in vain. What does that mean? To lie in
waste, formless, or confusion. He formed it to be inhabited. That is, to dwell, to abide,
or continue. I am the Lord and there is none
else. So, setting forth Scripture against
Scripture, and proving things, and searching these Scriptures,
How did God make the earth? How did He create it? He created
it not in vain. He set forth and formed it to
be inhabited. So according to the word of the
Lord through Isaiah, when the scripture declares, and the earth
was without form and void. The scripture sets forth that
the earth became are existed according to the definition of
those words. Look them up and we'll find out. It became a waste
place, a worthless and indistinguishable void of corruption and confusion
and emptiness, pure chaos. Back in Genesis 1 and it says,
and the darkness and darkness was upon the face of the deep. That's the latter part of The
middle part of verse 2, darkness was upon the face of the deep,
the abyss, that is, the grave. Oh, the depth of man's fall. The bottomless pit of his depravity. This thought was surely brought
back to Jeremiah Turn over to Jeremiah 4. Jeremiah, you know the weeping
prophet. Jeremiah chapter 4. The Lord
sent him to preach to Israel and he saw what was going on. Jeremiah 4, verses 19 to 23. My bowels, my bowels, my heart,
I am pained at my very heart. My heart maketh a noise in me. I cannot hold my peace, because
thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm
of war. Destruction upon destruction
is cried. For the whole land is spoiled.
Suddenly are my tents spoiled, my curtains in a moment. How
long shall I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people is foolish. They
have not known me. They are soddish children. They
have none understanding. They are wise to do evil, but
to do good they have no knowledge. And I beheld the earth, and,
lo, it was without form and void in the heavens, and they had
no light. Verse 2, back in Genesis 1. Is
that not setting forth what happened to man in the garden? what happened,
that no greater picture, no greater shadow, no greater type can be
given to describe the state of fallen man who became something
that he was not originally created to be. He was created upright,
straight, and something happened. I don't want to speculate on
what happened. between verses 1 and 2. I don't know. I don't
know. Was it the fall of Satan? Was it the casting out of Satan?
Casting him down? I don't know. I don't know. I
would assume that that might be it, but I don't know. That's
what I think probably happened, but I don't know. But I can tell
you what this, that this is the way it is. Darkness Darkness
now was found, confusion was found, ruin was found, waste
was found where it was not originally. Darkness. Darkness was upon the
face of the deep. Darkness now, without form now,
void now. Man was created first to know,
to love, to fellowship with God, and now man, because of his rebellion,
is in the darkness of sin, a mass of waste, fit only for destruction. That's what he deserves. That's
what we all deserve. Void of life, safety, and hope
in himself. Oh, but according to the indescribable
wisdom and grace of Almighty God. The Lord in His glory revealed
to Moses that which He was eternally pleased to do for a people of
His choosing. Did the fall take God by surprise? The Lamb, remember, was slain
from before the foundation of the earth. The Messiah, before He was made
flesh, was. Proverbs 8, we look at it all
the time. I was ever before His face. Before the mountains were
formed. I was with Him. Brought up with
Him. What is God pleased to do? That's
what He told Moses. This is My glory. I'm going to
make all My goodness pass before you. And I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. And I want to, as I begin to wind this up, I want to read
something in the latter part of that second verse that is
the most precious word of comfort. I mean, if I know that man was created upright and in
the garden he rebelled against God and he fell, is there any
hope for me in these two verses? Yes, there is. The latter part
of the second verse, and the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters. That word move there is brooded,
hovered. That's what it means. And like
the wind that blows, when the Lord was telling Nicodemus, Nicodemus
said, you know, we know that you're a prophet come from God. No man can do the things you
do. God's not with him. And he told Nicodemus, he said,
Nicodemus, you must be born again. Born from above. Born of God. The Lord is going to have to
do something for His people that they can't do for themselves.
He's going to have to remake them. He's going to have to make
a new man. He's going to have to make a new creation. Created
in righteousness. Like that wind, the Scripture
says, that blows. It's like the wind that blows.
We hear the sound thereof. We can't tell where it comes
from or where it's going. So is the Spirit. when He comes
in regenerating power and grace. And here we're made to behold
the source of all life, the breath of God, the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord moved upon
the depth of darkness. Now here's where we are, here's
God's sheep. Now all men are born this way. But God's got
a people in this mass of humanity. He's got a people. And this is
how He's going to save them. This is how He's going to call
them. He's going to bring them to Himself. How's He going to do it? He's
going to do it by His Spirit. Listen to Psalm 33.6. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of
His mouth. He speaks. And it is. So here we're told that in the
midst of the original creation, God created the heaven and the
earth. We're told in the midst of this earth being corrupted
without form, void, total darkness, the Holy Spirit moved or brooded
upon the face of the waters. Now you just imagine every one
of us in ourselves. We are that earth without form. We are that earth that's void
and darkness upon the face. We are that. That is us. Oh, but in the time of love,
whenever it pleased God, the Spirit moved and brooded over
the vessels of God's mercy. And the beauty of that word right
there, when you look at that word and it says, and God moved,
that word has so much meaning. It means, the first definition
of it is soft. S-O-F-T, soft. In softness and
tenderness of love. He comes to the ones that he
has everlastingly loved in Christ and broods. That's what it means. It broods. It's like an eagle
that broods over her young, like a mother with her child. A helpless child. A mama is going
to do over. She's going to take care of that
child. A mother that knows how to take
care of children. Dads do the best they can. I mean serious. I'm not trying
to be funny. I mean it. Dads do the best they
can. But they don't know. They don't know. There's just
something about a mother that knows how to take care of a child. If the child's restless, she
knows how to take them and put them on the other arm, how to
jostle them, how to put them on their knee. They know how
to They nurse them. They know how to take care of
the children. And here, the Spirit of God moved. He brooded upon
the waters. Those restless, dark,
deep waters of hopelessness. And the setting forth of the
tenderness of God that has watched over His elect with long suffering
and compassion and that tenderness. How long? How long did God watch
over His people? He's always watched over them.
From the time that His people were born, born dead in trespasses
and sins. How long did He watch over them?
He's never not watched over them. He's always brooded over. I think
about that and I think, but for the mercy and grace of God, where
in the world would I have been? Where in the world would I have
been if God would have left me to myself? Well, I hope Marvin
makes it, you know, until I call him. How long did He gently guide
me? When I did not know Him, when
I was a rebel, a child of wrath, even as others against Him. And
still, oh, the longsuffering of God.
I'm so impatient. 2 Peter 2.9, the Lord's not slack
concerning His promise. As some men count slackness.
But His longsuffering to us were, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. Aren't you glad? You know Him,
aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that God wouldn't
leave you alone and let you go by your own way? And let you
do what you want to do? But gently, when you want to
go this way, come on, we're going this way. He guides you, just
directs you. And in time, when it pleased
Him, I know man was created upright,
I read that. I know that he had the breath
of life breathed into him, but oh, when he fell from his state
of innocence and disobeyed God, when he fell and was separated
from God by sin, walking in the darkness of unbelief, dead in
trespasses and confusion and sin, but God had a people that
He loved. They were in themselves without
hope, but they were never without hope. Last verse of scripture,
turn to Ephesians 2. Here's the hope of every child
of promise, every one of God's elect, everyone that the Lord's
been pleased to show mercy. Here's their confession of faith. Here it is right here. Ephesians
2, 1-7, And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and
sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others, but God." Oh, two words that just strikes
joy in the heart of God's people, but God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, had quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you're saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come,
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. 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. And by the grace of God, for
some of us, it was so. I pray the Lord bless this to
our hearts for His honor and glory and for our eternal good
and comfort.