Genesis 1, we'll be looking at
verses 1-5 this morning, and I've titled the message, The
End Declared at the Beginning. The End Declared at the Beginning. Now here we have in Genesis 1,
verses 1-5, the history of the creation of the heaven and the
earth. It is here, friends, that we
can see clearly the divine power of God demonstrated by His sheer
will and Word. He created the heaven and the
earth. We see His divine Godhead and
power. He alone By His divine authority
and according to His own divine counsel, God appointed and created
the hands of time at this very moment in Scripture. In the beginning,
God created. At that moment when God created,
the hands of time began to tick. in eternity. God created it. He spoke the heavens and the
earth into existence. But I would have us notice this.
When it says God created the heaven and the earth, I want
you to notice this, that it was not complete. Did you know that? Did you see that? It is not complete. God could have created everything
in an instant, in a moment, with His Word and with His power.
We don't doubt that. If God created the heavens and
the earth, He definitely could have done it in a moment's time,
but yet we know that the Scriptures tell us that God took seven days
to create all of the things and the earth and the heavens and
everything that was in them. He took seven days to do so. when He could have done that
in just a second. But we see it's not complete in verse 2.
Look at that. It says, And the earth was without form and void,
and darkness was upon the face of the deep. You see, the earth
at this time was nothing more than a mass of water and molecules. It was nothing more than a mass
of chaos and confusion at this particular time when God created
it. It was nothing more than darkness
and chaos. A mass that was uninhabitable,
useless in its present state. But God moved according to His
free and sovereign will. God moved upon the face of the
waters. He covered the waters and He
formed it with Himself. And by His command, God said,
let there be light, and there was light. And when God said, let there
be light, is He talking about the sun, moon or stars? No, they
were not created until the third day. This light was altogether
different. This was not the light of the
sun and moon and stars, but this was the light that was a very
special light. Some commentators believe it
to be the glory of God. In other words, God said, let
there be my glory manifest. And He manifests His glory around
this mass of chaos. And so other commentators say
it's even a baser than that. He said, let there be knowledge
of my glory. Let there be knowledge of my
glory. You know, when someone is said to know something, they
have seen the light, right? That's what it is. Or when you
see something in a comic, when the light bulb goes off, somebody's
got it. They got it. They understand.
And so God here says, let there be light. And then God, by this
light, separated light from darkness, and the day and the evening,
evening and the morning were the first day. Now friends, let
me first start off by saying this. The biggest fool Hear me,
the biggest fool in all the world is an atheist. The biggest fool
in all the world is an atheist. No matter how smart he is, no
matter how much learning and how much knowledge he may have,
if he does not believe that God created all of these things,
he is nothing more than an educated fool. He's an educated fool. Everybody knows that story about
the king with no clothes. Remember that? That tailor, he
wanted to make something for the king. He didn't make it,
but he pretended to put it on the king. And the king said,
what are you doing? He said, I'm putting on your new robe.
It's so beautiful. And the king says, I don't have a robe. He
said, oh yes, it's beautiful. And then all of the subjects
began to tell him how beautiful his robe was and how wonderful
his robe was. But all the time he was naked.
And he was running around like, oh, look at my robe, look at
my robe. And he didn't have any clothes
on. Who was it that discovered that? Who's the one that told
the king the truth? Was it not a child? He said,
the king doesn't have any clothes. The king's naked. The king's
exposed. The king is exposed and he doesn't
have any clothes. And so it is with an atheist,
my friends. Even a child can expose them
for who they are. A child will expose them. You
know, every smallest child in this building knows that something
never comes from nothing. They know that. They know that
it had to come from somewhere. Where did that tree come? Well,
it came from the seed. Where did the seed come from?
Well, you know, it came from somebody. Somewhere made it.
They know that. The smallest child can understand
that. Every child in this building
knows that God created the heaven and the earth. And the biggest
fool is one that runs around that says that God did not create
the heaven and the earth. And here in our text, my friends,
is the simple and plain truth that God created the heavens
and the earth. Did you notice that the Scripture
does not debate the existence of God? He does not debate the
existence of God. How does the Word of God begin?
Does the Word of God begin in apologetics? Does the Word of
God begin by trying to explain the existence of God? No. The
Word of God begins with a simple fact. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. God was,
God is, and God always shall be. God is self-existent. The very definition of God is
self-existent, isn't it? If a God is not self-existent,
if He is not eternal, if He is not all-powerful, if He is not
sovereign, then mark this down, He is not God. If your God is not all-powerful,
is not all-sovereign, is not all-knowing and all-self-existent,
then, my friend, your God is not God. This God here declares
Himself to be God from the beginning. He declares Himself to be God
from the beginning, all-powerful. And God of the Bible is sovereign
and done whatsoever He hath pleased. Flip over to Isaiah chapter 46.
Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 9 and 10. Isaiah chapter 46, verses 9 and 10. God says, remember the former
things of old. Here it is, for I am God and
there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning. You see, God has always
declared the end of things from the beginning. And here we have
the beginning, don't we? Isn't our text the beginning?
And God here is saying, I am declaring to you the end, the
purpose, the design, the will, my will, before the world was
created. We have God declaring His will.
Let me ask you this. Do you know why God didn't create
all things at once? Why did God take seven days? Why did he do that? Frenzy did that to show us the
end at the beginning. He did that in Genesis. In Genesis,
it is said by some very wise men, and I agree to this statement,
that Genesis is the seed plot for all of the Bible. If you
want to find out anything in Scripture, it will first be revealed
in this book of Genesis. Genesis is the seed plot. And
it shows us types and shadows and pictures of what God has
to come. And that was the Lord Jesus Christ. But see, friends, the Lord Jesus
Christ has already come. If you lived in the Old Testament
times, you would have been living in a day of darkness. You would
have seen these things about the Messiah, but you really wouldn't
have seen them clearly. But now then that Jesus Christ
has come and fulfilled all the types, we may look back and see
clearly how He is pictured in these seven days. And I want
us to show us how He's pictured in the first day. in the first
day of creation. In Hebrews chapter 10, it says,
"...Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of
Me." This whole thing is about Jesus Christ. If you're trying
to find anything but Jesus Christ in this book, you are missing
the whole point. You're missing the whole purpose
of God. He is going to show you His Son in every aspect of this
book. The volume of the book was written
of Christ. And here, here this morning,
I wish to show us some things that witness of this great gospel
of Jesus Christ. First of all, I want us to see
the election of God in the beginning. I want to show us the election
of God in the beginning. Just as God sovereignly determined
to begin to create this world, why did He begin to create this
world? Because He wanted to. Because He wanted to. He sovereignly
chose to do it. Nothing moved God but His own
sovereign purpose and will. He did it because He desired
to. But I'll tell you this, before the very first small molecule
was created, Before anything was created that was made, God
in eternity passed of His own sovereign will and purpose determined
to save an elect people. A certain number of people God
had determined and purposed to love, elect, and choose so that
He would bring them to Himself. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13 says,
Beloved, we are bound to give thanks unto you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord. Why? Because He hath chosen you
from the foundation of the world, from the beginning. He hath chosen
you unto salvation. Unto salvation. Who does God love? Who are the beloved of God? Friends, the answer to that is
found clearly in that verse I just read to you. They are the ones
that God has chosen from the foundation of the world. They
are the ones that God has set His love on from before the foundation
of the world. Friends, men may deny this, they
may hate this, but you mark this down. If God did not choose a
people, there would be no salvation at all. We would be like the
angels that fell. When the angels fell from heaven,
there was no Redeemer for them. Why? God did not elect them to
save them. He had not purposed to save them. And if God had not elected a
people and planned a salvation for them, then no one would be
saved. No one. Election is essential
to salvation. If there were no election, there
would be no salvation. But praise God, there is an election.
There is an election. And God declares there's an election.
He says, I have chosen a people. I will have mercy. On whom, God? On whom I will. That's who He
will have mercy on. And whom He will, He hardeneth.
There is hope, friends, because God did choose to save some of
Adam's fallen race. And just as God alone can receive
glory for creation, so God alone has made it, so He alone will
receive glory for your salvation. If you are saved, if I am saved,
it will be totally for the glory of God and not for our glory. It will not be for the glory
of man. Did we have anything to do in creation? Did you have
any hand in making the worlds? Anybody have any hand in that?
Sometimes I feel old enough to have a hand in that when I get
up out of the morning, my back hurts or something. I feel like
I might be that old, but no, we didn't have anything in a
hand in it. And friend, you will have no hand in your salvation
either. You will have no hand in no part.
Either God will save you or you will not be saved. And we'll
see that in a minute. But God, the Scripture says in
Ephesians 1 verse 5, "...in love having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself." Why did God
do it? "...according to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace." Is that
not plain? Is that not plain? Why did God
choose a people? For His own glory. His own glory. He did
it because He wanted to. God created for His glory and
God elected for His people. Glory. The second thing I want us to
see is here in this text, is not only the election of God,
but I also want us to see the depravity of man. God, in the
beginning, shows us the end by showing us our nature. Look at
this in verse 2. And the earth was without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. This is
a picture of all the fallen race of Adam. Wherefore, as by man,
one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death
passed upon all men, for all have sinned. All men are born spiritually
dead. They are born in spiritual darkness
and depravity. In Matthew 6, the Lord puts it
this way. He was telling the people He
was teaching, He said, If your eye is well, Your whole body's
full of light. Isn't that right? That's simple.
If you've got good eyes, then you can see, right? And so if
I can see, my hands can see, and my feet can see, so that
I don't trip, so that I don't fall, so I don't hurt myself. That's very simple. And he said,
if your eye be evil. In other words, if you're blind.
then your whole body is full of darkness. Isn't that right?
If I can't see, my hands can't see, my feet can't see, and so
what's going to happen to me? I'm going to trip and I'm going
to stumble and I'm going to fall. Well, this is a spiritual application,
friends. This is a spiritual application.
Speaking of the spirit and the heart and the intent of man,
we are all blind and in darkness from birth. Our souls, the souls
of men, are full of darkness. Our hearts are dead to the things
of God. Why do the children not love
to hear the gospel? Why do children love to get away
from it? Children, do you all know that? Answer me. Come on,
answer me. Why do you not love it? I know
you like playing with your friends and you like entertaining yourself
and you like doing those things. Why is the gospel not important
to you? Because your heart is dark. It is dead and without
Christ. And that's why. Don't worry,
I was the same way. I was the same way. Because we
all were. We all are the same way by nature. We hate the things of God. We
love our sin. God says this, Jesus said that
men love darkness rather than light. Why do men love sin more
than righteousness? Why would men love to lie rather
than tell the truth? Why would men love to commit
fornication as opposed to being faithful? What is wrong with
us? We are full of darkness and sin is all we do. Our eyes are blind and so our
hands run towards sin as though we're something good. We're all
insane by nature. Oh, the insanity of this darkness,
my friends, it's insane. Why would men run from the mercy
of God? Why would men run from Christ,
who is the only hope for men? Why would they run from it? Because
their heart is full of darkness and they're blind and they stumble
at everything. They cannot see. This is the truth of our nature. of every man outside of Jesus
Christ. And not only are we full of darkness,
my friends, it says we are without form and void. That word, void,
it means without form. That word means chaos, confusion. You ever been confused? You ever
been turned around backwards and confused? That's an awful
feeling, isn't it? Every man by nature is confused. He's in a state of confusion.
And he has an emptiness right here in his heart, a hole. It
says he is void. What is void? It means to be
empty. Every man by nature is empty
and confused. And this is what we do. Listen,
everybody here will be able to identify with this. You ever
wanted something so bad you could taste it? Oh, if I could just get this,
I'm going to be happy. It's going to make me so happy.
If I just have it. And then you do everything you
can to get it. You forsake family and friends
and jobs and you just run after it headlong with all passion
and emotion. And then what happens when you
get it? You admire it and you say, oh, it's so wonderful. And then pretty soon, He just threw it out the window.
It was just another thing. And then you're confused. Why didn't that make me happy?
I don't understand. I got exactly what I want, but
I'm still not happy. I'm still not satisfied. There's
got to be something else. And so you look around and you
start trying to find something else. And the more you find,
the more you find that it does not fill that void, and that
void gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And all the while, if you have
any time at all to yourself, this is why people that are lost
don't like to be alone. They have too much time to think
about what they have and how worthless it is. Friends, let me tell you, there
is nothing in this world that will ever satisfy your void. There is nothing in here that
will fill that happiness in your heart. There is not one sin or
vice that will ever make you satisfied. Nothing will in this
world. Nothing. Man's heart is empty and void,
and it will not be satisfied but sin. Like that woman, remember
that woman with the issue of blood? She went to the doctors,
and she spent all she had. And what was the diagnosis? She
grew none the better, but grew worse. Friends, if you run after
the sin of this life and the things of this life, you will
not find peace. You will not find joy. You will
not find happiness because there is nothing here but darkness
and chaos. Nothing. Nothing. Friends, you can stop smoking,
stop drinking, stop doing this, start doing this, being real
religious. That won't satisfy you either. Friend, if I stop there, if I
close the book, what a sad case this would be. Isn't that right? If I just said that's all God
had to say, I'll see you later. But friends, that's not all I
have, because that's not all God has. God does give hope. God does give a light of hope
in the darkness. But it's not found in the emptiness
of ourselves, in the darkness of our hearts. If it does not come by the will
of man, if it does not come by the good deeds of the dark heart,
then where does it come from? Where is peace? Where is joy? Where is happiness found? Where
is hope? Hope is found only by the moving
of God upon a man. This brings me to my third point,
salvation is of the Lord. First of all, God elected a people,
praise God for that. Number two, the sad condition
of every man is full of darkness and is void. And third, the only
hope for such a darkness is the salvation that comes from the
Lord Himself. When God created the earth, it
was a mass of chaos and confusion and it could not form itself.
God created the earth and it could not form itself. It could
not make itself into a solid structure that we have today. What did it take to make the
earth a solid structure? It took the person of God to
move over the earth. In other words, this word moves
means to brood. It means to cover over. I like
thinking of a hen with her chicks. You know how a hen broods over
her chicks. He covers them over. That's the idea of the word here.
When the Lord the Spirit moved on the face, He covered them
and formed them and made them into something that they weren't
before. This also word means to relax
over, to fall on. The Lord fell on them. He descended
on the earth. And it also means to shake, to
shake or to flutter. Now notice that God came and
moved on the earth. The earth did not come to God,
did it? The earth didn't come to God in His chaos and say,
God, I'm in chaos, I need help. No, God came to the earth. God came to the earth and it
was God that moved on the chaos to give it order. Let me tell
you this, friends. I'm going to tell you the difference
very simply between true and false religion. All false religion
begins with men and works to God. And all true religion begins
with God and it works to men. God must move on you in order
to save you. God must do the work. So it is
with every one of God's elect that His purpose to save, He
must come, He must brood over them, the souls of men, He must
move on their heart of darkness in order to save them. When Adam
was in the garden in Adam's sin, who came to who? Who came to
who? Adam ran, didn't he? But yet
God came to Adam. Friends, if your salvation comes
from you going to God, you don't have salvation. If your salvation is based on
you coming to God, your salvation is false. All true salvation,
God comes to you. God comes and saves you. The
Scripture says you must be born again. How much did you have
to do with your physical birth? Nothing. How much are you going
to have to do with your spiritual birth? Nothing. God must do it
all. God must come and move on a man's
heart. No matter what he does, no matter
how much he schemes, no matter how sincere a man may be, no
matter how many decisions he makes for Jesus, how many times
he's been baptized, how many times he rededicates his life
to Jesus Christ, if God does not come and save and resurrect
his soul from the dead, he will not be saved. Salvation is of
the Lord completely and utterly. Friends, we must be born again
if we are to have peace and live with God forever. But the fact
is, we cannot be born of our will or our fleshly deeds or
our good works. Scripture says, "...as many as
received Him, to them gave He the right to become the sons
of God, which were born, not of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God." If you'll ever be saved in this
life, God must come to you and save you, or else you will die
in your sins. That's just the plain truth,
friend. God, the Spirit must come and
quicken the sinner's heart. And whomsoever the Spirit comes
to save, he will move on. Elijah, you remember Elijah when
God told him to preach to those dry bones? He said, can these
bones live? And he said, God, you know, I
don't know. If you say they can, they can.
And he said, Elijah, preach to the bones. Now, what an absurdity. Isn't that an absurdity to human
nature? To go to the cemetery and preach? Isn't that something? But what
happened when he preached? The Scripture says there was
a great noise and the bones began to shake. Remember I told you
that word moved means to shake. You see, it wasn't the power
of Elijah's preaching. It was the Spirit of God that
moved on the dead bones. And if anybody here is to be
saved, God must move on your dry, dead bones and bring you
to life and give you life. And that's what He says in our
text. He says, Let there be light. This is what God the Spirit does
to everyone He comes to. Has He come to you? Well, you'll know because he'll
say, let there be light. Let there be light. What is this
light? What is this light? This light
is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is. Let
there be light. Let there be understanding that
Jesus Christ is the only hope for sinners. That's what it is. He reveals the gospel inside
of a man. Jesus said this of Himself in
John 8. He said, I am the light of the
world. If any man believe in Me, he
shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. 2 Corinthians
4, 6 says, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
hath shined in our hearts by giving us the knowledge, the
glory, the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This is the message of light,
friends. This is the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is here at the cross that
we may see the justice of God and how it is that God can be
just and still justify worthless rebels such as we are. How is
it that God can be just? Only by the cross. Only by punishing
His Son in our stead. By imputing our sins unto Him. And executing His vengeance on
His Son. That's the only way God can let
us go free. Well, preacher, that's foolishness.
You're dead and you're blind. If that's what you say in your
heart, it's because the Spirit of God has not moved on your
heart to give you this light. Oh, but if you see Jesus Christ
as your only hope, as your only light, as your only source and
strength to stand before God, what's the difference? How do
I know that? How do I believe that? How do
I see that? Because God said in my heart,
let there be light. And guess what? When He said
that, what happened? There was light! You see, there's one thing about
this salvation that's of the Lord. It's sure. It's sure. Was there anything
that could have stopped the light? Was there anyone that could say,
Whoa! Wait a minute! Stop the light! No. When God comes to a man's heart
and quickens their hearts, He's not giving you an invitation. He's commanding light. And wherever
He commands salvation, salvation will come. And those of us who
have salvation may stand sure that this salvation will always
be sure. God said, let there be light
and there was light. The Spirit of God comes, He reveals
that there's only one light. And friends, He shows us that
this light is Jesus Christ. And what does God say about the
light? Look at this in our text. He says, "...that there be light,
and there was light. And God saw that the light, that it was
good." Friends, I tell you now in this
building, there is none here good in themselves. None of us are good in ourselves. There is only one that has ever
been approved of God. There is only one of all creation,
of every man that God has said he is good, he is perfect. When he said to Jesus Christ,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. How then can we have goodness
only in Him? Only by faith in Christ alone
can we ever stand before God as good. And if you are in Christ, my
friend, you are good. You are good. And He loves you
as much as He loves His Son. And when God saves, He saves completely
and surely. And the last thing I want us
to see in closing is this. This is a picture of the duality
of man's nature as a believer in Jesus Christ. If you are a
believer in Jesus Christ, this picture of your nature is right
here. Look at verse 5. God has called the light day
and the darkness, He called night and evening and morning were
the first day. In every believer's heart, there are two natures. Believers, we still have that
chaotic, dark nature in us, don't we? We still Sin. That old nature is crucified. Yes, crucified and ready to die. But praise God, this nature,
this old man that lives in us, he is dethroned and no longer
rules in our hearts. Utter darkness no longer prevails,
and even in the darkest of our nights, even in the darkest of
our sins, in a true believer's heart, there is always light. Always light. Because we have been given a
new heart, a new nature, and this nature God calls day. He
calls it light. Why? Because it loves the light. It does not love darkness. It loves God. Do you love God?
Do you long to serve God? Do you long to worship Him by
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ? That's a new nature. That's a nature of peace. And
friends, we have this promise of God. Right now, we live in the evening
time. The world around us is very dark,
very grim. But one day, the light of day,
that eternal day is approaching. That day when we will be with
Jesus Christ and the Scripture says there is no night there. There is no night there. This
is what we are to keep our eyes on, believer. This is what we
are to keep our focus on. Not the things of this night,
not the things of this world, but the things of Christ, the
things of God. And I tell you, if you're here
today and your heart is full of darkness, I beg God that He
would give you light so that you may see Jesus Christ as your
only hope. Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. There's light in Him. May God move on your heart and
create in you light. I pray that this has been a blessing
to your heart as it has been mine to study and that God would
bless you this week and that you may think about this during
the week and give you strength. Let's stand and we'll be dismissed
in prayer.