Turn with me to Genesis chapter
1 to begin. Genesis chapter 1. The first words written in God's
Word sets the tone of everything else that's written within its
pages. I look at the first four words
of verse 1 here. In the beginning, God. before
anything else was made that was made. In the beginning was God. God was in the beginning that
was before the beginning. And that immediately tells us
a great deal about the significance and the importance and the overall
scheme of things, our significance and our importance. This is not
a book about us. Not a book about us. Man has
made it a book about him, but it's not. It's a book about the
triune God. God in three persons. God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In the beginning,
God. Not in the beginning, man. Man absolutely adds nothing to
who God is. Did you hear that? Man adds nothing
to who God is. Man's acceptance of God doesn't
affect God in the least. Man's love for God, man's acknowledgement
of God, man's belief and faith in God has no factor on God at
all. Men preach a God today who is
dependent upon man. depending upon man to love him.
He loves everybody and he just wants somebody to love him in
return. That's not so. Man has no factor on who God
is. Regardless of what men think,
say or do, God is still God. He was God before he ever created
man and he'll be God long after man dies upon this earth. In the beginning, God. Now look
at the next word. In the beginning, God created. Man doesn't create anything.
Man has never created anything except for sin. In the beginning,
God created. There was nothing before God
created it. God is Alpha and Omega. He's
the beginning and the end. He's the first and the last.
And God created all things. I'm wanting you to see from the
Scriptures who God is. And this book from the very beginning
sets the tone of who He is. 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. God didn't create
this world for you and I. He created it for Himself. Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for
Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are
and were created. God created angels to be His
messengers, to be His ministering spirits. Why, God created all
things for His pleasure. Isn't that what I just read?
In the beginning, look at it again with me, 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. Now here
we have a picture of regeneration, a picture of redemption. The
earth was what? Without form. The Hebrew word
for form here means desolate. The earth was desolate. It means
a worthless and deserted thing. The Hebrew phrase without form
means confusion. The earth was a desolate, worthless,
and confused thing. And what a picture of every sinner
born of Adam. We're without form. We're desolate
of any good. We're without any righteousness.
We're worthless and deserted. We're nothing but confusion.
Do you see the picture here? The earth was without form and
void. Do you see that? Now the Hebrew
word for void means ruined. It means empty, void of life,
wasted, destitute, empty. The earth was without form. The
earth was void, empty, and ruined. And by nature, so are you and
I. What a picture we have here.
The earth was without form and void and what? And darkness. You see that? Darkness was upon
the face of the deep. Oh, I'm telling you how deep,
deep is the darkness of the heart and soul of fallen man. This
is man's condemnation for sin. That's what our Lord said. He
said this is the condemnation that light has come into the
world and men loved darkness rather than light because their
deeds were evil. Men in their fallen state of
sin are in great spiritual darkness. What hope, now let me ask you,
what hope is there for this Earth, this formless void and dark mass,
look at verse 2 again. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light,
and there was light. Now let me ask you another question.
What hope does an empty, desolate, worthless, deserted, void, ruined,
confused, destitute, and dark-souled sinner have. The same hope. There's only one hope. The hope
that the Spirit of God might move upon a sinner. That's the
only hope that we have. The hope that God might say to
our dark, dead hearts, let there be light. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. And that's
it. That's the only hope that any
of us have. Man is without form. By nature, he's without form.
He's void. He's in darkness. But it hadn't
always been that way. Look down at verse 26 here in
Genesis 1. And God said, let us make man
in our image, after our own likeness, and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own
image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them. And God blessed them. And God
said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth
and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and
over the fowl of the air and over everything that moveth upon
the earth. And God said, Behold, I have
given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of
all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree
yielding seed. To you it shall be for meat.
And look down at verse 33. No, excuse me, verse 31. And God
saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good. You know, the man and his wife
were included in that very good category. They were created in
the image of God. This is what I want you to see.
They were created after God's likeness. Male and female created
he them, the scripture says. They were over all that God made. God said that all of it, including
the man and his helpmeet, was very good. Very good to God is
perfect. Very good to God is perfect.
They were perfect. Everything was perfect. All that
God creates and makes is perfect. The phrase very good here means
beautiful. The Hebrew word means beautiful.
In the Hebrew language, it means that everything is beautiful. Very good means precious, it
means well favored. For something to be well favored
in the eyes of God, that something has to be perfect. God accepts
and favors nothing less than perfection. Everything was perfect. Adam and Eve had it all. They
were perfect people living in a perfect world. And when Adam
was made out of the dust of the ground, and Eve was made out
of the side of Adam, they both awoke to a world where everything
was provided for them. Everything was provided for them.
And though they were under a works covenant, God only gave them
one commandment. Just one. Look at chapter 2 verse
16. And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." One commandment,
one condition. Then, in Genesis chapter 3, We're
told of the fall of mankind. Eve was deceived and Adam disobeyed
God with his eyes wide open. Now, let me quickly interject
here that some might disagree with me in saying that Adam and
his wife were perfect or perfectly righteous. Some might say that
they couldn't have been perfect, perfectly righteous if they were
capable of disobeying God. There had to be some flaw in
their righteousness for them to choose to obey the Almighty. And I won't argue those objections,
but I will ask this question. Can one who is perfectly righteous
be deceived? Eve was. You don't have to be
all-powerful and all-knowing to be perfectly righteous. That
perfection belongs to God alone. Eve was neither omnipotent, all-powerful,
nor omniscient, all-knowing. She was beguiled and deceived
by the serpent. She saw that the forbidden tree
was pleasant and good to eat, and she believed the lie of the
serpent and ate. Look at verse four here in Genesis
chapter three. And the serpent said unto the
woman, you shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her, and he did eat." Now listen, Adam did take
and eat of the tree, even though he wasn't deceived. Eve was deceived,
but Adam wasn't. But for your consideration, Adam
loved his wife. He loved his wife so much that
he would rather die with her than to live without her. And
I'm not making excuses for Adam's disobedience, not at all. But in one sense of the word,
he was made to be sin and he died out of his love for her.
He became what she was. Do you see the picture here?
What a picture Adam is here of Christ and his church. But regardless
of these things, that's another message another time. What I
want you to see is that man, Adam as the representative of
mankind, the federal head of mankind, fell out of fellowship
with God. He became estranged from God.
God said, in the day that thou eat of this tree, thou shalt
surely die. And he lived 920 years, I believe. How did he die? He died spiritually. He died to God. By one man's
disobedience, we were all made sinners. We all became estranged
from God. We all became alienated from
the heavenly kingdom. We all became strangers to the
covenants of promise. We all became without hope and
without God in this world. Now that's where we are, naturally
speaking. Without hope and without God
in this world. So what was the first thing that
fallen man tried to do? The first thing that he tried
to do was to clothe himself. Look at verse 7. here in chapter
three of Genesis. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons. But hear me when I say
that sinners cannot, sinners cannot clothe themselves by the
work of their hands. God shows us that immediately
after their fall into sin. And today, men and women are
still trying to do that. They're trying to clothe themselves
by the work of their hands. They sowed the fig leaves of
self-righteousness together. They made themselves a useless
covering. Anything that's not attached
to Christ divine will dry up, wither, and disintegrate. And
that's all fig leaf righteousness is. It's just a dried up, disintegrating
covering. It's useless, ineffective. And then the second thing that
God shows and teaches us is that God has to clothe the sinner.
Now these are just basic principles. Someone said long ago, if you
miss the fall, then you've missed it all. I want you to see what
happened to man. God's gonna have to clothe the
sinner. Look at verse 21. To Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothe them. Now, where did these coats of
skin come from? A sacrifice of an innocent lamb
had to be made. Blood had to be shed. God sets
that precedent from the very beginning, right after man fell
into sin. Man tried to clothe himself,
wouldn't do. Fig leaf righteousness. The offering
and sacrifice that God requires has been the sacrifice of innocent
blood from the very beginning. Then, in Genesis chapter 4, look
at verse 1. We read, and Adam knew Eve his
wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I've gotten
a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller
of the ground. And in process of time it came
to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of
the firstling of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But God rejected
the offering of Cain. Now, do you see what's going
on here? Do you see what God's requirement
of an offering is? Do you see what God requires
as a sacrifice for sin? Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Why, he brought the best that his hands had to offer. Oh my,
he worked in that garden and he produced these fruits and
I can just imagine before he brings them to the Lord, he's
shining them up and don't you know they're just beautiful?
He's so proud of them. God rejects his offering. Abel was a keeper of sheep. He
brought a blood sacrifice as an offering. Which did God accept? The Lord, we're told, had respect
unto Abel. You see, dear sinner, sin is
purged with blood, for without the shedding of blood, there's
no remission for sin. Then we come to Abraham and Isaac. Do you remember that story? Look
over Genesis chapter 22. Verse one says, and it came to
pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said
unto him, Abraham, and he said, behold, here am I. And God told
Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for
a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell
thee of. And Abraham obeyed God. He had waited for decades for
this son. He and his wife were old in age. She was barren. His body was
dead. But God said, you're going to
have a son. And they tried by the work of their own hands to
have a son. And as you know, Sarah's bondwoman,
she laid with Abraham and they had a son. But God said, no,
that's not the son that I promised. And they had Isaac. Oh, I tell
you, Abraham loved Isaac more than life itself. And then God
asked him to kill his son, his only son, to sacrifice his son. And he believed God and he obeyed
God. And he and Isaac start heading
up that mountain. And then in verse 6 we read,
we see that Isaac is carrying the wood. Did you know that our
Lord Jesus Christ carried the wood up to Mount Calvary? What
a picture we have here of that. And Isaac said, he said, Dad,
I see the wood and I see the fire. And then in verse 7, he
asked this question, he said, but where's the lamb? Where is
the lamb for burnt offering? Where is the lamb that we're
going to sacrifice? And here's the answer to Isaac's
question. And friends, here is the answer
to the lost sinner who desires to be reconciled to God. This
is it. Verse 8, And Abraham said, My
son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
So they went both of them together. Now listen to me, believing sinner,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. God will
provide himself as the lamb for burnt offering. And up Calvary
went both the father and the son together. Jesus Christ is
the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. Now, look at verse 9. And they
came to the place where God had told them of, and Abraham built
an altar there and laid the wood in order. And he bound Isaac
his son, and he laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham
stretched forth his hand, and he took the knife to slay his
son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven,
and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here am I. And he
said, lay not thine hand upon the lad. neither do thou anything
unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that
thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.' And
Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him
a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went,
and he took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of his son." Now that ram that was called in the thicket
by the horns was made to be sin for Isaac. Are you starting to
get the picture of what God requires in order for the sinner to be
reconciled to God? He needs a blood sacrifice. Blood's
got to be shed. And not just any sacrifice, but
it's got to be a perfect sacrifice. Now I want you to turn with me
to Leviticus. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus chapter
22. Leviticus chapter 22. While you're turning there, let
me say that most every message that I preach, most every sermon
that I preach, I quote this verse or at least part of it. I want
you to look at it with me in your own Bible. And while you're
turning there, I want to ask you a question. Do you believe
that this book, the Bible, is God's Word? I mean, do you really
believe that it's God's Word? Do you believe that God speaks
to us through this book? You know, you might be surprised
at how many don't. Do you believe that this book
contains the words of eternal life? Or do you believe this
is just a book of biblical history, just a book of morality with
rules for us to try to live by? Just a book of poetry and proverbs
and fictional parables. What you think of this book has
everything to do with what you think of Christ. Why? Because this book is about Him.
Now, look at verse 21 here in Leviticus chapter 22. We're talking
about what God requires. in order to save a wretched sinner. Are you interested? Do you see
that you're a sinner? Do you see that you must be reconciled
to God? Verse 21 says, And whosoever
offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord. You
see, we must offer a sacrifice of peace because we've offended
God. We're estranged from God because
of our sin. And to accomplish this vow or
a free will offering, we read in Beeves, which is an ox or
a bull or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted. It's
going to have to be perfect. There shall be no blemish therein. God will accept no offering for
sin that's not perfect. You see that? That means that
the sacrifice that we offer God must have no blemish, none whatsoever,
no stain, no blot, no spot, no blemish of any kind. And when
describing the sacrifice that must be offered to God, over
36 times in the book of Leviticus alone, we're told that it must
be without blemish. In other words, it's got to be
perfect. That's what perfect means. Perfect
means to satisfy all the required elements. Perfect means to be
as good as it can possibly be. Perfect means to be without flaw,
without defect, flawless, thoughtless, spotless in condition and quality. That's what God requires. A perfect
God. will accept nothing less than
perfection. It must be perfect to be accepted. Do you see that? Do you believe
that? As for God, His way is perfect. 2 Samuel 22-31. Now, here is our dilemma. Here's
the problem with the Old Testament sacrifices. Even if these sacrifices
that they offered, even if they be perfect and without blemish,
according to God's requirements, they will not help us in the
end. Do you know why? Well, let me show you that. Turn
with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. And as we often say, I told you
all that to tell you this. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse
1. For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually, They made these sacrifices year by year continually
that they will not make the comers there unto what? Perfect. That's what God requires. Perfection. For then would they have not
ceased to be offered because that the worshipers once purged
should have no more conscience of sins? If these sacrifices
would have met the requirements of God for sin, they wouldn't
have continued to be offered. And I want to pursue that verse
two here for just a moment. It says, for them would they
have not ceased to be offered because, now pay close attention
to this, because that the worshipers once purged should have no more
conscience of sin. conscience of sins. If the sacrifices
of the law would have had any effect, the true worshippers
of God would have no more conscience of sins. If our sin was truly
put away, purged from us, as the writer of Hebrews here says,
we would no longer have any perception of guilt. We would no longer
have any consciousness of sin. In other words, we would no longer
be filled with a sense of divine wrath against us. We would no
longer have any perception of God's judgment against us. We
would no longer have any awareness of God's holy law waiting to
extract divine justice from us. We would no longer be pacified
with anything short of what or who would answer to the law and
justice of God. And that's only the blood and
righteousness of the perfect One, Jesus Christ. Again, what
am I trying to say? Let me see if I can even make
it simpler. There's no real peace. No real rest. no real hope from
the deliverance of sin if I'm still conscious of God's divine
wrath, judgment, and judgment against me. I can never truly
rest if I'm conscious of these things. It's only when I'm totally
confident, totally assured that I have no sin that can be held
against me, that I can truly rest in the fact that God has
accepted me in the Beloved, that being Jesus Christ. Paul said
this in Acts 24 16. You don't have to turn there,
but listen carefully to what he said. He said, and herein
do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense
toward God. and toward men. Now, do you know
what Paul meant by that? Paul didn't fear the wrath, the
judgment, and the justice of God because his conscience was
void of any offense toward God. Now, is your conscience void
of any offense toward God? If you belong to Christ, it ought
to be. It ought to be. How was his conscience void?
How was his conscience without offense toward God? He knew that
in Christ, he had no sin. He had no sin. Do you see that
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have no sin? You're innocent. He knew that in Christ, that
he was perfect. I never grow tired of hearing
that. I never grow tired of that wonderful
truth. Perfectly righteous. Perfectly
holy. Perfectly just. Look at verse
3. But in those sacrifices, those
Old Testament sacrifices spoken of in Leviticus, there is a remembrance
again made of sins every year. For it's not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Those Old Testament
sacrifices could never take away one sin, not a one, none. They were only a shadow of good
things to come. Verse 5, Wherefore, when he cometh
into the world, that's speaking of Christ, he saith, who? Well, not David, but Christ.
You know, David said this, But he speaks of Christ who is yet
to come. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not. God did not delight nor desire
the sacrifices of animals to continue any longer. But he willed
that his son would offer himself as an offering of a sweet-smelling
savor to him. He says, a body thou hast prepared
for me. A body thou hast prepared for
me. God has made Himself of no reputation. And He's been clothed
with a body. Christ has assumed the form of
a voluntary servant. Christ was made in the likeness
of man and has become fit. for sacrifice. And being found
in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself, and the scripture said,
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Now,
pay attention here, verse six. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast no pleasure. God didn't have any pleasure
in those sacrifices. He didn't find any pleasure.
Verse seven, then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the
book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when
he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin, thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which
are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. Now, in Christ, God took away
the first. Christ fulfilled the law, the
first covenant, that He might establish the gospel, the second
one. Christ has called the first covenant
to vanish, to make place for the second covenant. That's what
Paul is saying here, who I believe is the writer of Hebrews. The
new covenant, the covenant of grace in Christ, the gospel of
the grace of God is what he's speaking about here. Now watch
this, verse 10. By the witch will we are sanctified. That word means made holy, made
purified, perfect through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. You know why? It was a perfect
sacrifice. And God accepted it. Perfect
sacrifice. Once for all. That's what Paul's
talking about in Colossians chapter 1. He says, and having made peace
through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself by Him. I say, whether they be things
in heaven or things in earth. And you that were sometime alienated,
estranged from God. Isn't that what we're talking
about? And enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now hath
He reconciled in the body of His flesh. Whose flesh? God's flesh. God became a man. In the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. And look at verse 11 here in
Hebrews 10. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin. Now we need to understand that
when Paul wrote this, these sacrifices of the priest at the temple were
still going on. They were still going on. Paul
is saying the priest in the temple who are daily standing and offering
these same sacrifices over and over and over again, they can
never take away sin. Never! Not the first one. But here's the gospel, verse
12. But this man, the God-man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, now watch this, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins, forever, One sacrifice for sin is forever.
No more sacrifices have to be made. His was perfect. It was
accepted of God. He sat down on the right hand
of God. Verse 13, from henceforth expecting
till His enemies be made His footstool. Verse 14, for by one
offering He hath perfected. There's that word again. Forever
them that are sanctified. Now there it is. In Christ, I
am now what God requires. Perfect. Perfection, He said. I'm perfected forever. I'm sanctified
forever. I'm made holy, just, and righteous
forever. Forever. Salvation is accomplished. No more sacrifices need to be
made. Look at verse 15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord, I'll put my laws into their hearts and in their
minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now I'm telling you something.
If you are a sinner, if God's shown you that you're a sinner,
that'd be the best news that you ever heard. Your sins and
your iniquities, God will remember no more. You know why? You don't
have any. You don't have any. And that's
the message of the gospel. That's the good news of the gospel.
Look at verse 18, now we're remission. That means forgiveness, a cancellation
of debt, charge and penalty. Of these is, there's no more
offering for sin. And yet men and women just keep
right on trying to do something, trying to offer God something
that He'll accept. But Christ has already paid the
debt of sin. It wasn't just swept under a
rug. No, sir. He was made to be sin
for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him. And if we have no sin, and in
Christ we don't, why is there still a need, Paul is right,
why is there still a need to make offerings for sin? So what do I need to do? That's a question. We talked
about that in the men's room. What must I do to be saved? Well,
here's something you can do. Rest in Christ. Rest in Him. Look at verse 19. Come into the
presence of God with confidence and boldness. What do you need
to do? Look at verse 22. Draw near to
God with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having your
heart sprinkled from an evil conscience. There's that word
again. Awareness and perception of sin. Have your heart sprinkled
from that evil conscience. That awareness and perception
of sin. And your body is washed with
pure water. What must you do? Verse 23. Hold
fast the profession of your faith without wavering. Keep on believing. Keep on trusting. Keep on seeking
Christ for all that God requires. For He is faithful that promised. What do we need to do? Verse
24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works. You want to do something? Do
these things. What should we do? Verse 25, not forsake. Here's something that you shouldn't
do. Not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the
manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the
more as you see the day approaching. God enable us, enable us to rest
in Christ alone for salvation. And do these other things that
are for your own good. Rest in Him. Trust in Him. Don't
forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Come and hear the Gospel
preached. Remember, God doesn't help those
who help themselves. God helps those who can't help
themselves. Lord, help me to trust in You
alone.