Okay, brethren, Genesis chapter
1, we'll begin reading and we'll just read the first five verses. 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 God said,
Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light,
that it was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. And God called the light day,
and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning
were the first day. Now the Scriptures teach us that The believer is made a new creation. Right? A new creation, a new
creature. And this truly is what matters,
is being made a new creature in Christ. The three persons
in the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
through the blood of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, makes believers
a new creation. Now, we can go here to the creation
of the heaven and the earth and see how God makes His creation,
how He makes this new creation, a sinner, a new creature. Genesis
1.1 says, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
Now, this creation began with God. It began with the Word. And that's how this new creation
began. It begins with the Word. Now, be looking to Hebrews chapter
11. The natural mind wants proof. We want proof. In Hebrews 11, verse 1, God declares through the Spirit
that He doesn't prove, He reveals. He reveals. And when He gives
faith, the sinner has all the proof we need. Verse 1, now faith
is the substance of things hoped for. the evidence of things not
seen. Look at verse 3. Through faith
we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear. We understand that. To find that and explain that,
we don't have to. We understand it. We believe
this. Now, it says here, by the Word
of God. Now, everything in this book
is declaring to us the glory of God in the salvation of sinners
in the face of Jesus Christ. It's how we're finding out who
God is. It's how He saves sinners in
Christ. And it says here, the worlds
were framed by the Word of God. Now if you look to John chapter
1, John chapter 1, we're going to see these same three words that we
saw in Genesis 1-1. In the beginning. Now this is
the beginning that came before the beginning in Genesis 1, chapter
1. 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."
Now we've come to the second beginning. You see the, in the
beginning in verse 1, and you see in the beginning in verse
2. Verse 1's the beginning before Genesis 1-1. Verse 2, we're talking
about Genesis 1-1. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him.
We're talking about things that were made there now. The world's
being framed by the Word of God. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life. And the life was the light of
men. Look down now at verse 14. Who is this Word we're talking
about? And the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." Now this came when the Lord Jesus
Christ was born. He was made flesh, but He is
that Word that was in the beginning before the world was made. And
He is that Word that was in the beginning when the world was
created. And He is that Word by whom everything was made. Now, here's a few things to get
from that. First, we see He is the Man. Jesus Christ, the Man, is the
Word that was in the beginning. And then He was manifest in human
flesh. And we see here that there was
a beginning before He made the world. In that beginning, there
was a Word. Everything begins with the Word. This is why the glory goes in
all things to the Word. The Word. The Word. Because in
that beginning, there was a covenant made. An everlasting covenant. Covenant is a Word. Is a Word between God the Father
and God the Son. A Word. Word. And that is truly how everything
was purposed and predestinated and foreordained and all spiritual
blessings were given to those the Father put in Christ in that
covenant, in that Word. And it was the very reason God
made the world, was to manifest Himself to a
people He would create. and save out of sin. Now, in the same manner that
that heaven was created and that earth was created in the beginning,
God is showing to us how He makes sinners new creations in Christ
and how He fulfills that covenant Word that was established from
the beginning. That was really when the new
creation was made. That was really when the world
was made. Everything was done from the beginning. And then
the Lord made a stage to show it to us. And He put us on it
to show us what He's done and come forth and do that which
He said He would do. Now, look here in verse 2 of
our text. Hold your place in John. We're
going to come back there. Let's see this progress along. Genesis 1-2, And the earth was
without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Now this fits the description
of sinners as we are born into this world the first time. This
is a good illustration of us. Without form means vanity. Void
means empty. Darkness was upon the face of
the deep. In the innermost being, that
which is the man, we darkness. Darkness. That's a gloomy picture. That's what we are as we come
into this world. But now look at verse 2 again. It says, 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. Look
at John 3, John chapter 3. Nicodemus came to the Lord, and he was telling the Lord what
he knew, what he knew, what he thought, In verse 3, Jesus answered
and said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Here is the Word speaking the Word. Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. He couldn't see. Nicodemus couldn't
see who Christ was. He couldn't see who Christ was.
No man can see the Kingdom of God except to be born again. Nicodemus said unto him, How
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
Can't enter into these mysteries, can't enter into this glorious
good news, can't enter in, can't understand, and can't enter in
at last into the Kingdom of God. Verse 6, that which is born of
the flesh is flesh. It's without form, it's void,
and darkness is upon the face of the deep. That which is born
of the spirit is spirit. It's something newly created. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. The wind blow and it gives this
illustration. with the wind. The wind blows
where it listeth, and thou hear the sound thereof. But you can't
tell where it's coming from, where it's going. And he says,
so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. You see, the wind
moves upon us. We don't move upon the wind.
We don't stop the wind. We don't control the wind. We
don't do anything to the wind. The wind does everything upon
us. And we read here, the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. The waters were without form.
They were void. They were dark. The Spirit moved
upon the waters. And so the sinners moved upon
by the Spirit of God. Now, verse 3 in our text. Keep your place there in John.
Back in verse 3. And God said, Let there be light,
and there was light. Again, we have the Word. God
said. God said. God spoke light, and
it was. God said, let there be light,
and there was light. He is that light. When He says,
let there be light, there's light. It's like, it'd be like trying
to stop An ant trying to stop a man from
entering into a room. When God enters in, He's the
light. He's the light. He spake and
it was done. He commanded and it stood fast,
the psalmist said. Let them praise the name of the
Lord, for He commanded and they were created. The Word, the Word,
the Word, the Word. Spiritual life is, by God speaking,
life. By God speaking, light into dead,
void, sinners. It's called revelation. You remember
the leper? Leprous from head to toe, just
covered in leprosy. A good picture of that vanity,
of that confusion, of that deep spiritual depth of sin and nothingness. And the Lord put forth His hand
and touched him, saying, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. When he had thus spoken, the
Scripture said, when he had thus spoken, Lazarus, come forth. When he had thus spoken, Lazarus,
come forth. He that was dead came forth. He was bound hand and foot with
grave clothes, and His face was covered in a napkin, showing
us that He was dead. Everybody knew He was dead. But
when He spoke it, He came forth. The Word. All right, let's go
back to John 1. John chapter 1. John chapter
1. I asked you to hold your place
there, and I didn't hold my place there. John chapter 1. John chapter 1. Alright, verse
4. It says, In Him, in this Word,
was life, and the life was the light of men. And it says, And
the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended
it not. Now, there in Genesis 1, it says,
God commanded the light, and it was. Now here He's given us
a parallel Scripture here of this. Just as that light shined
in darkness, Christ the light came, and the darkness comprehended
it not. Now, before Christ came, everything
begins with the Word. And this Word who creates everything
is the Word who is sovereign to do as He will. And everything
begins with the Word. And before the Word, Christ Himself
came forth, He sent forth a witness. One that He had actually
done this in. Made a new creation. and one
He had filled with light, and spoke light, and was dwelling
in, and that one came forth, and He came forth speaking the
Word of the Word. Look, verse 6, there was a man,
John 1, 6, there was a man sent from God whose name was John.
The same came for a witness. The fact that he was sent, the
fact that he came, the fact that he rejoiced and delighted, was
a witness of this power, this Word. But He came forth speaking
this Word. He came to bear witness of the
light that all through Him might believe. He was not that light. This man was not that light,
but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true
light Christ the Light, the Life, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. And this is true, whether a man
knows Him or not, Christ gives the glory for being the Light
we have in this earth. And yet, dead, void, empty sinners
comprehended Him not. They believed not on Christ.
Look at verse 10. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto
His own, and His own received Him not. We're not talking about simply men who didn't have the Word
of God. We're talking about men who had The written Word of God. They had this light, but they
were still void and empty and dead within and didn't have Christ
the light. And they didn't comprehend the
light. They didn't lay hold of the light. This is the condemnation. Light
is coming to the world and men loved darkness rather than light. Because the deeds were evil.
wouldn't come to the light, wouldn't step into the light, wouldn't
approach the light, unless we'd be found to be a cockroach that
hates the light. But some believed. How did they
believe? Verse 12. John 1.12, But as many
as received Him, To them gave He power to become the sons of
God. Even to them that believe on
His name. Now how did that come about?
How did that happen? How did they believe on Him?
How did they receive this all the right and privileges of being
called sons of God, of knowing they're sons of God, accepted
of the Father, beloved of the Father, everlastingly loved of
the Father, chosen of the Father, redeemed by the Father and His
Son. How did they come to understand
and believe and lay hold and come out of darkness into this
light and lay hold of the light? How did this happen? Verse 13 says, which were born
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God, of God. Now let's look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse
6. And Paul tells us this is the purpose. This is the purpose
for which he was called. This is the purpose for which
he was sent. This is the purpose for which
he received mercy. And this is how it came to be
with him. It pleased God. Why did God who was in the beginning, who
was self-sufficient. Why did He choose to do these
things the way He did them? Why did He choose to make the world and all things
in it? Because He would. That was His
will to do it. He did it that way. Why does
He leave sinners here? Why does He send forth An earthen
vessel. Why does He do these things?
Because it pleased Him. And all the glory goes to the
Word. The Word. Christ. The Word. God. The Word. The Word. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. He says, well, He says in verse
4, He said, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are
lost, blind, void, empty. Those that He came to, the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, all the men in religion in Jerusalem, everywhere,
they didn't receive Him. they didn't receive Him, in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, this is how it came
about. And this is how it always comes
about, and this is how it shall come about. For God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, 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 God said,
let there be light, and there was light. The Word The Word,
the Word through the Spirit of God moving, speaking, saying,
let there be light and there is light. God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. You see, we can't stress enough
Christ, who is the Word, who is God,
who was with God and who is God, who is the covenant given. The covenant made, the covenant
given, whereby we perceive the covenant. The sign in heaven
and earth, the sign, the covenant is in Christ, the Son of God. Given. The Son given. Child born,
the Son given. And we can't stress enough the
fact that He chose to do everything the way He chose to do it. And
as sovereignly as He created that first creation, He is able
to create a new creation through the Word and send forth earthen
vessels filled with the Word through whom He speaks the Word
and He creates light and life and makes within this world of
chaos a new world, a new creation. And not only this, when these
bodies perish and they go back into the grave, and they become
dust, so that in the end all they are is dust. And if you
tried to find them, if you and I tried to go in and find them,
we couldn't find anything but dust. Yet God will raise up out of
the dust a new glorified body, liken unto His glorified body,
And therein is a new creation of God, just as this inner creation
is new of God. And when He's done with this
earthen vessel called the world, and the worlds, and the heavens,
and the earth, and everything that He made here to show us
what He's doing, when He's done with all of it, He'll make a new heavens and
a new earth wherein dwells nothing but righteousness, so that everyone
there has only one to praise, the triune God, the one God in
the three persons in the express image of that One in whom we
are one, who is Jesus Christ, bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh, so that we can say with assurance. And forever,
in a world that shall never end, that shall never be interrupted,
and shall never have chaos and confusion in it, and never have
anything but uninterrupted oneness with this God that we so feebly
try to set forth and understand. And he does this through the
Word, through the Spirit of God, moving upon the sinner, and he
speaks life. And he says here in Genesis 1-4,
and God saw the light that it was good. That light is Christ,
and the goodness that every believer is, wherein this thrice holy
God can say, He's good, is that good and perfect, holy goodness
of God, Christ the Light. And God divided the light from
the darkness. There's still darkness in us,
but that light He's all together separated from that darkness.
It's all together different. It's all together something new.
Something new. And God called the light day.
We're children of the day. We walk in the day. Not children
of the night. We don't walk in the night. We
don't stumble in darkness. We have the light. Any man believe
on me, he shall have the light. He has it. And the light He called
day and the darkness He called night. And this was the first day. And
you go through this life and you're looking at creation. trying
to understand it, trying to prove it, trying to make some sense
of everything. Why am I here? Why was this made?
Why was all this done? What does that mean? What does
this mean? Making things out of things that exist already
and trying to act like we've created something and doing the
same with religion, taking things that God's given, that's already
there, that's already done and trying to piece them together
and make ourselves some kind of creation. Doing all these
things and trying to understand understand things by looking
at creation. But when God speaks and He does
this, we see God and then we understand creation. Then we
understand what was already made, what was already done, what was
already spoken, what was already written, what was already done
when it came to us. and we see and behold and rejoice. And the Lord put it this way,
the sun then shall no more be your light by day. Neither for brightness shall
the moon give light unto thee. Well, doesn't it still? We see now it doesn't, don't
we? It's just something there to show us something greater. But the Lord shall be unto thee
an everlasting light, thy God in thy glory.