The scripture that I will bring
to your attention this morning is found in Genesis chapter 1
and the first five verses. Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 to
5. 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 this book the
Bible is a spiritual book. It is divinely inspired. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. This book is supernatural. It is God-breathed. And because
it is God-breathed, it is perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect. converting the soul. And the
divine perfection of the Word of God is to be seen in the very
first sentence of Holy Writ. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth. That sentence in the Hebrew consists
of exactly seven words. And seven, as I'm sure you're
aware, is the number of perfection. It's a number we see in the creation.
We have a seven day week. There are seven planets in the
solar system which are observable from our own planet, planet Earth.
There are seven colours in the rainbow. There are seven notes
in the musical scale. we have 7 vertebrae in our necks
which apparently is the same number that a giraffe has and
so we could go on and the number 7 permeates the Holy Scriptures
it is written of the Messiah the Anointed One that the 7-fold
Spirit shall rest upon Him and the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord. A sevenfold Spirit, and so we
read in the Revelation of the seven Spirits which are before
the throne, that is the throne of God. And we read of Christ
as the Lamb having and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits
of God sent forth into all the earth. The Apostle John, in his
Gospel, records precisely seven miracles which the Lord Jesus
Christ performed prior to his death and resurrection. And there
is a seven-fold anthem of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven.
worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing a sevenfold
anthem of praise to the Lamb of God in heaven. Of course there
are many other sevens in this book And it is, I believe, noteworthy
that the very opening sentence of Holy Scripture contains exactly
seven words in the original language. There are throughout this book
these hallmarks of divine, supernatural revelation, inspiration. These
are the true sayings Now the book of Genesis, the
first book of the Bible, is the book of beginnings. The Greek
word Genesis means origin. Here we have the origin of the
universe and of the earth. Here is the origin of man upon
the earth and of all the other creatures. Here is the origin
of the Sabbath and of the seven day week. Here is the origin
of sin of law and gospel. Here is the origin of the church
and the origin of nations and languages, of work and of music
and of the arts and so on. It is the book of generations. And many times throughout this
book of Genesis we have the phrase, the generations of. For example,
chapter 2, verse 4, these are the generations of the heavens
and of the Earth and in chapter 5 this is the book of the generations
of Adam. We have the generations of the
sons of Noah later on in chapter 10 and so on. Here at the beginning
of the Old Testament we have an account of the creation. These are the generations of
the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the
day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens at the
beginning of the New Testament there is another Genesis the
book of the generation of Jesus Christ that's Matthew chapter
1 verse 1 in the Greek it is Biblos Geneseos the book of the
Genesis of Jesus Christ You see, in the Lord Jesus Christ, there
is a new creation. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. The Lord Jesus Christ says in
the Revelation, These things say of the Amen, the faithful
and true witness, the beginning of the creation, of God He is
the beginning of the old creation and He is the beginning of the
new creation and as we look at the account that we have here
in the first five verses of Genesis 1 of the beginning of the old
creation I trust with the Lord's help and blessing that we shall
see that there is a correlation with the new creation We shall
consider five things from this part of the inspired and infallible
Word of God. Firstly, the beginning of the
work. Secondly, the state of the creation. And then thirdly,
the moving of the Spirit of God. Fourthly, the entrance of light.
And then fifthly, the division of the light from the darkness. These shall be our headings as
we proceed this morning. I trust with the Lord's help.
Firstly then, let us consider the beginning of the creation,
the beginning of the work. It is God who began the work
of creation. And it is God who begins and
finishes, of course, the work of the new creation. Creation
work is God's work. It is a work that only He can
do. And so it is with salvation,
the new creation. In the beginning, God. In the
beginning, God. A religion that begins with man
is of the devil. That religion is of God that
begins with God and ends with God. In the beginning, God. Now the word God in the Hebrew
is Elohim. El means the strong one and Elohim
is the plural form of that word. the Hebrew language uses Im just
as we use the letter S to form a plural in the beginning God
Elohim created the heaven and the earth now we cannot base
the doctrine of the Trinity on this one verse but it does surely
indicate a plurality of persons in the Godhead and this is confirmed
later on in the chapter verse 26 and God said let us make man
in our image after our likeness and later on in chapter 3 after
the fall of man verse 22 and the Lord God said behold the
man is become as one of us to know good and evil there is clearly
a plurality of persons in the Godhead and as the revelation
of God unfolds before us in the Holy Scriptures we see that there
is a trinity of persons in the Godhead by the word of the Lord
were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath
of his mouth Creation work is a Trinitarian
work. The Word of the Lord is the Eternal
Son of the Eternal Father and the breath of His mouth is the
Holy Spirit who eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Likewise, the work of the New Creation is a Trinitarian work
as you see in Ephesians 1 and many other places in the New
Testament. as with the old, so with the
new, in the beginning God created and so the Apostle says in 2
Thessalonians 2 verse 13 but we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God had from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth were unto be called by our gospel
to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ it's
a Trinitarian salvation and God is the author of it and the finisher
of it the Lord Jesus Christ declared himself to be the beginning of
the creation of God as we mentioned earlier now consider for a moment
who Jesus Christ is the Jews put a question to him
in John chapter 8 verse 25 then said they unto him who art thou? what a question to put to the
Lord Jesus Christ and they said unto him who art thou? And Jesus said unto them, even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning. He declares to them His Deity. He is that One who is from the
beginning and who spoke from the beginning. He is the Creator. look at the context there in
John chapter 8 verse 19 he says if ye had known me ye should
have known my father also and then verse 24 I said therefore
unto you that ye shall die in your sins for if ye believe not
that I am the word he is in italics not there in the original so
we can read it like this if ye believe not that I am You shall
die in your sins. Then said they unto him, Who
art thou? And Jesus said unto them, Even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning. Verse 28
Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of
Man, then ye shall know that I am, and that I do nothing of
myself. But as my Father hath taught
me, I speak these things. He is declaring to them these
days, He is that one who is from the beginning and who spoke from
the beginning. Paul, under the inspiration of
the Spirit of God, speaks of Christ who is the image of the
invisible God. the firstborn of every creature
for by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers all things were created by Him and
for Him and He is before all things and by Him all things
consist Christ is the creator and the sustainer of all things Remember Psalm 33, By the word
of the Lord were the heavens made. 10 times, 10 times it is written
in Genesis chapter 1 regarding the work of creation and God
said 10 times. Now if 7 is the number of perfection
or completion, what then is the number 10? Well the number 10
is the number of power or potency And so we read of the ten forms
of the beast, it speaks of the power, you see, of the beast.
We read in Hebrews of Christ as upholding all things by the
word of his power. He is the omnipotent word who
brought all things into being in the beginning and who upholds
all things even now. 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. Paul speaks
of God who created all things by Jesus Christ. He speaks also
therein Ephesians of the Church as the new creation for we are
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus as it was with the beginning
of the old creation in the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth so it is with the new this people have I formed for myself
they shall show forth my praise. Consider Then in the second place,
the state of the creation, when God first began his work, and
the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. Now those words without form
and void are very interesting in Hebrew, tohu and bohu. Now I must confess I'm not a
Hebrew scholar, but you can read these things in the commentators.
and we are told that these words without form and void are in
the Hebrew Tohu and Bohu and they mean literally confusion
and emptiness confusion and emptiness and that's how the same words
are translated in Isaiah 34 verse 11 and he shall stretch out upon
it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness now Jeremiah
in his prophecy against Jerusalem speaks of sin as the undoing
of God's work of creation. It brings the earth back again
to that same state of confusion, emptiness and darkness. Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse
22. For my people is foolish, they
have not known me. They are sottish children and
they have none understanding. they are wise to do evil but
to do good they have no knowledge I beheld the earth and lo it
was without form and void and the heavens and they had no light
I beheld the mountains and lo they trembled and all the hills
moved lightly I beheld and lo there was no man and all the
birds of the heavens were fled I beheld, and lo, the fruitful
place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken
down at the presence of the Lord and by His fierce anger." Now
Matthew Henry comments there in that place, the earth is almost
reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under
which the creation groans. And so we read in the Revelation,
the Revelation speaks of them which destroy the earth He says not CO2 emissions which
destroy the earth, it's sin. It's sin. Man's sin destroys
this earth. And are not these words in Genesis
1 verse 2 a graphic picture or illustration as it were of the
unregenerate sinner? and the earth was without form
and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep oh the unregenerate
man he is on the earth earthly he is in a state of confusion
and emptiness and darkness God made man upright in the beginning
but he sinned in Adam and sin has brought man down into the
state of confusion and emptiness and darkness all who are born
in and of Adam are in this state by nature, that's all of us here there is every confusion in the
heart of man he understands nothing spiritually or savingly and neither
is he able to do so but the natural man receives not the things of
the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither
can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Men
in a state of nature are like the inhabitants of Nineveh. They
cannot discern their right hand and their left hand. They cannot
discern between truth and error. They cannot discern between the
truth of God and the lies of the devil. Man is in a state
of confusion. And he is in a state of emptiness.
He is void of all wisdom. Void of understanding. empty
of all good having no hope and without God in the world he is
in darkness all his days also he eateth in darkness and he
hath much sorrow and wrath in his sickness he cannot see himself
let alone God his maker and not only is he in darkness but he
is darkness for ye were sometimes darkness, Paul writes to the
Ephesians. You are not only in darkness, but you are darkness
itself. This is the state of man by nature.
In his fallen, unregenerate condition, having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance
that is in him, because of the blindness of their heart. And nowhere is this to be more
clearly seen than in the foolish theory of evolution which is
a theory of confusion, emptiness and darkness because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them for God has showed it
unto them for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen being understood by the things that
are made even His eternal power and Godhead so that they are
without excuse because that when they knew God they glorified
Him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations
and their foolish heart was darkened their foolish heart was darkened
what is needed then is a new birth He must be born again. 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. Well let
us consider then in the third place the moving of the Spirit
of God. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. Now in the beginning of the new
creation I trace back to the incarnation of the Son
of God remember that after the fall of Adam we read in Genesis
3.22 and the Lord God said behold the man is become as one of us
to know good and evil or to undo the evil which man
did it was necessary that one of the persons of the triune
Jehovah to become as man, to be made
in the likeness of sinful flesh. And yet he must become a man
without sin. How was this accomplished? By
the incarnation of the Son of God. The sacred, sinless human
nature of Christ was to be formed in the womb of a virgin. and so it was prophesied by Isaiah
behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call
his name Immanuel now what has this got to do with the Spirit
of God? well it has everything to do
with the Spirit of God when as his mother Mary was espoused
to Joseph before they came together she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost Remember the words of the angel to Mary. And the
angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God. This is the beginning of the
work of the new creation. It is like the old creation,
Trinitarian, the Father sent the Son. The sinless human nature
of the Son was formed in the womb of a virgin by the Holy
Ghost. And all the work, all the work
which the Son did here upon earth was done through the Spirit. But if I cast out devils by the
Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God is come unto you, He said.
It was through the Spirit that He offered Himself up as a sacrifice
for His people's sins. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead words to serve the
living God. It was by the Spirit's power
as well as by His own power and that of His Father's that He
was raised again from the dead. for Christ also has once suffered
for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God
being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit but does not the Spirit move
also on that which is naturally in a state of confusion and emptiness
and darkness. 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. He moves
upon the hearts of those who are dead in trespasses and sins,
who are in a state of confusion and emptiness and darkness he
raises them to new life in Christ not by works of righteousness
which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour and there is a A gracious change wrought in
the hearts of the elect sinner, but we all with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same
image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now consider in the fourth place
the entrance of light into the creation and God said let there
be light and there was light. It was by the omnipotent word
of God that light entered into the creation and Paul refers
to this when he writes to the Corinthians for 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. It is by the omnipotent Word
of the Living God that light enters into the benighted sinner's
mind. It is by the instrumentality
of the written Word that the light of the Gospel enters the
elect sinner's heart. The entrance of my words gives
light it giveth understanding to the simple. Now the scripture is a two-edged
sword, if I can just change the analogy slightly. We read of
Christ in the Revelation, and out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword. Now what are the two edges of
the word of God, the scripture, of truth, of our law and gospel? the Holy Spirit as it moves upon
the heart of the elect sinner applies the law of God he cuts
he cuts to the heart and the sinner is made to feel something
of the confusion and the emptiness of his mind the darkness of his
heart the entrance of the words of the Lord give light and the
understanding which before was darkened is now enlightened so
that the regenerate sinner is brought to know and to understand
and to feel that he is a sinner indeed before a holy God and
that is the purpose of the law for by the law is the knowledge
of sin and how the elect sinner is made to cry out in the felt
sense of his confusion and emptiness and darkness for thou art the
God of my strength why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light
and thy truth let them lead me, let them bring me unto thy holy
hill and unto thy tabernacles the other edge of the sword is
the gospel in which is revealed the only saviour of guilty, hell-deserving
sinners. He is the only one that can save
us from our sins, who can save us from a lost eternity, and
from the everlasting burnings. Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Gospel
reveals the Lord Jesus Christ as Jehovah Sikhenu, the Lord
our righteousness. The Gospel reveals the Lord Jesus
Christ as the propitiation for our sins. And true faith, when it sees
Christ, when Christ is revealed, to that soul, true faith falls
down before Him and says, my Lord and my God. Now have you been brought to
that? Have you been brought down to fall before Him as your only
Saviour? Have you been brought to call
upon Him as my Lord, my God, my Lord to serve, my God to worship? and fifthly and finally see the
division of the light from the darkness and God saw the light
that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness God
has put a division between the light and the darkness from the
very beginning that division manifested itself
very early in human history when Cain, who was of that wicked
one, slew his brother. Wherefore slew he him? asked
John, because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Cain was in darkness and walked
in darkness, but Abel was light in the Lord. You see the division in the book
of Exodus. And Moses stretched forth his
hands toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the
land of Egypt three days. They saw not one another, neither
rose any from his place for three days. But all the children of
Israel had light in their dwellings. and ultimately we see the division
at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ Christ was hung between
two malefactors the sinless saviour was crucified between two dying
sinners now he bore the sins of the one but not of the other
how do we know who Jesus died for? how do we know which one
of these two men Jesus died for? well one was left in his state
of unbelief and continued to rail upon Christ the other however
was brought to himself and to the Saviour for we receive the
due reward of our deeds he sees his own transgressions he sees
the consequences of them that he must die We receive the true reward of
our deeds. But this man has done nothing amiss. He sees in Christ
that pure, sinless human nature. This man has done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord. Now no man can say that Jesus
is the Lord but by the Spirit of God. And he said unto Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Oh, he was
granted faith and repentance. And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. The Lord Jesus Christ bare that
man's sins in his own body on the tree. And so that man entered
paradise that very day. To be with Christ forever. And the division is still being
made to this very day. I believe the division is being
made even this very morning. To the one we are the saver of
death unto death and to the other the saver of life unto life.
Paul is there speaking of his ministry and the effect of his
preaching the division of the light from the darkness is manifested
by the preaching of the cross for the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God it is by means of the preaching
of the gospel that the Lord calls his elect ransomed people out
of darkness into his marvellous light now the old prayer book the old prayer book says as it
was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end
Amen as it was in the beginning and is now so shall it be eternally there shall be that eternal division
of the light from the darkness. We read of the heavenly Jerusalem
and of the paradise of God in the book of the Revelation. And the city had no need of the
sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did
lighten it. And the Lamb is the light thereof. and the nations of them which
are saved shall walk in the light of it and the kings of the earth
do bring their glory and honour into it and the gates of it shall
not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there
and then we read there shall be no night there and they need
no candle neither light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them
light and they shall reign forever and ever but what is written of the wicked
of those who know not Christ of those who do not obey the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ bind him hand and foot take him
away and cast him into outer darkness there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth The Lord our God divides the light from
the darkness. As He did in the beginning, as
He is even now doing, so He will do eternally. And God saw the
light, that it was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. I'll conclude with an exhortation
to those of you who are of the day and it's this walk as children
of light for ye were sometimes darkness
but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of light we
are to exhort one another, are we not? we are to exhort one
another and so much the more as we see the day approaching. Do we not see the day approaching? Do we not see the day approaching?
Let us exhort one another then. Let us heed the exhortation.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore
cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour
of light. The Lord has divided us from
the darkness. He will have us to be a separated
people, a peculiar people. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers? For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what comfort hath Christ
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk
in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you,
and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God. That's the exaltation. And to
those who yet feel the confusion and the emptiness and the darkness
within, let me just say this, it is the mark of spiritual life.
The spiritually dead feel nothing. If you then feel the confusion,
the emptiness and the darkness that is yet within you, then
hear the word of the Lord and may there arise light in your
darkness. Who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth
the voice of his servant, that's Christ, that walketh in darkness
and hath no light, that's in trust in the name of the Lord
and stay upon His God. Continue to look to Him, trust
Him. Believe on His name. Though you
don't feel it in your heart, though you feel the darkness
within, though you feel the workings of sin within your fallen nature,
yet continue to look to Jesus and to trust in Him. And may
God grant you that full assurance of faith
the Lord bless his word to each of our souls this morning 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 and 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.