Turn with me, if you would, to
Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. Let's read the first three verses
together. 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. As I was reading that in the
study this week, I entered in to how wonderful it is. I mean,
how wonderful it is when God opens a sinner's eyes. It's so wonderful. It is so precious. God gives a sinner for the first
time light. It's precious. It is happy. It's just like when a brand new
baby is born. It's just like it. You rejoice
over it. It's something that everybody
can't help but rejoice over. You can't help it. You just cannot
help it. Everybody talks about it. It's
the buzz. Love and thanks to God is in
the air. Life is in the air. The dew of youth, hope, is just precious. It's wonderful.
All of those wonderful emotions run through the family of God
every time he gives a brand new sinner light. Every single time. The first three verses of the
book of God entire book of God. The first three verses are all
we need to declare the truth of salvation. It's all we need. The truth of conversion. Regeneration. This is how it
works. If a person wants to know what
it is to be saved, what it is to be given light, given life,
regenerated, a member of eternity. This is how it works. Verse 1
says, In the beginning, God. It always starts with God. Always. You know where salvation
begins? With God. It begins with God. God created everything. The heaven. The earth. God created you. God created me. Look with me at verse 26, right
here in Genesis one, verse 26. And we're going to turn a little
bit this morning. Let's be prepared for that. Genesis 1 verse 26
says, God said, let us. Who's that? God, the father,
God, the son, God, the spirit. God said, let us make man in
our image after our 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 and over 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. Now how did he do it? How did he create them? Chapter
2. Verse 7 says, And the Lord God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Now look with me right here in
chapter 2 at verse 15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat." You're free to eat off of any tree in this garden. "'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.'" Don't touch that one. This is my commandment.
You're free to eat from anything here, but this is my commandment.
Don't touch that one tree. Don't touch that tree. Verse
18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should
be alone. I will make him and help meet
for him. Verse 21 says. And the Lord God
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took
one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And
the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman
and brought her unto the man." Chapter 3, verse 6 says, And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, that tree that God said, don't touch
it. This is my commandment. 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. Therefore, We know what
just happened, they sinned against God, isn't that right? Because
of that rebellion, because of that sin. Verse 16, chapter 3,
verse 16. Unto the woman God said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow. You know what brings us sorrow?
You know what the root cause of sorrow is? Sin. Sin. Once sin is removed, there
will be no more sorrow. None. Unto the woman, he said,
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow,
thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy
husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said,
because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow thou
shalt eat of it all the days of thy life. Verse 24 says, So
God drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden
of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way
to keep the way of the tree of life." Cast out, right? Cast out, outcast from God, from
the garden of God. Chapter 4 verse 1 says, and Adam
knew Eve his wife, And she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have
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. Verse 8 says, And Cain
talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they
were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother
and slew him. And then it just continued from
there. It got worse and worse. You can just keep reading. We
could just keep reading. It got worse and worse. That's what
sin against God produced in man. Because man sinned, the earth,
man, everything on it, the earth became without form and void. Completely void. Void of the
goodness of God. Void of the love of God. Man
lost it. Void of the presence. He was
cast out. Void of the favor of God. Void of the life of God. You
know how it's so commonly said, smile, God loves you. Did you know that's not true
except for in Christ? Because man sinned in the garden,
man became void, empty of the love of God, empty of the life
of God, empty of the favor of God. Just a moment ago, we said so
many times man now is the enemy of God. Void. Absolutely cast into outer
darkness. The darkness of death. Ephesians
2 says that we are all dead in trespasses and sins. Spiritually dead. And it's impossible
for a man who breathes air and walks around to understand what
that means when you say we're all, every one of us by nature,
are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Man says that does
not make any sense. It does once God reveals life
to us, doesn't he? The fall of man in the garden
was not just a punishment. God did not say slap him on the
wrist and send him out. It was not just a punishment.
It was a spiritual death. That's what it was. And now,
don't turn over there, but Romans 8 says, the whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together. And it's all because man sinned
against God. Now, by nature, that's where
we stand. That's where we are. Do you know what Ephesians 2
says? Do you know what Genesis 1 says? The truth of salvation is but
God. That's the truth of salvation.
But God. Look with me at chapter 1 again. Genesis 1 verse 1 says in the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth
was without form and void. That's us. That's you and me,
dead in our sin, void in our sin. And darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved. The Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. The only thing that can be said
about salvation is God moved. That's the only thing that can
be said about salvation. God moved. Had God not moved,
there would be no salvation. None. Had God not moved, there
would have been none at all. Now, go with me over to Matthew
chapter 9. Matthew 9, look with me at verse
36. Now this is talking about our
Lord. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion
on them. He was moved with compassion
on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as
sheep having no shepherd. He was moved with compassion.
Look with me at Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1 verse 40 says, And there came a leper to him,
a leper, a man covered in leprosy. Leprosy in the scripture always
represents sin. There came a leper to him, beseeching
him and kneeling down to him and saying unto him, if thou
wilt, you know what he's not saying? I have decided to. Here is a list of all my credentials,
everything I've done for you. Before I make my request, I'm
gonna let you know, first of all, these are all the things
that I have accomplished in your name. This is what he said. There came
a leper to him, beseeching him, kneeling down to him, saying
unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus
moved with compassion, put forth his hand and touched him, and
said unto him, I most certainly will. Be thou clean. That compassion in him, that
love in him moved him. It moved him from his throne
all the way to His cross. It moved Him. God got up from
His throne. The Son of God came down to this
void, dark earth. God moved. Thank God God moved. The Son of God Himself moved. God the Father moved too. God
the Father moved some of these lifeless dead sinners, some of
these cast out wayside sinners. God the Father moved some of
them over to the hands of God, his son. He literally chose some,
he picked some up and he moved them. and he put him in the hands of
God, his son. Now look with me at John 17. Again, this is our Lord speaking,
John 17, verse six. He said, I have manifested thy
name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. Verse nine, he said, I
pray for them. I pray not for the world. but I'm praying for them which
thou hast given me. They are thine. I'm not making
intercession for the entire void, dark world. I'm making intercession
for the sinful souls that you moved to me. That's who I'm making
intercession on behalf of. The souls that you put in my
care. God the Father moved Some of
us sinners into the hands of God, the son and God, the son
was moved with compassion for every single one of them. And
this is how he was moved. This is how he moved for their
salvation. Go with me to first John chapter
one. First John chapter one, verse
five says, this then is the message which we have heard of him and
declare unto you. This is the message. This is the only message that
we've heard of him and declare unto you that God is light. and in him is no darkness at
all." God the Father is light, God the Son is light, God the
Spirit is light. Perfection, life, goodness, light,
these three are one. God said let us, right, make
man in our image. These three are one, Jesus Christ
is the brightness of the glory of God, the express image of
his person. Isn't that what Hebrews one says?
In Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And verse five says, in him,
in him is no darkness at all. None. No darkness at all. Now look with me at Luke 23. Luke 23 verse 33 says, And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and
the male factors, one on the right hand and the other on the
left. Verse 44 says, And it was about
the sixth hour And there was darkness over all the earth until
the ninth hour. All of a sudden, everything went
dark. Verse 45 says, and the sun was
darkened. That's the first time I've ever
noticed that line. It was not a shadow. It was not
an eclipse. Something didn't come between
the sun and the earth. The sun was darkened. The ball of fire was darkened. And this represents something.
This means something that happened right here. Verse 45 says, And
the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in
the midst. And when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. Now he is life and he is light. But when he gave up the ghost,
he gave it up in absolute darkness. Absolute darkness. What does that mean? Why did
He do that? What does that mean for us? One
page. Turn one page over to John 1
and look at verse 4. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. He moved Himself into darkness
to deliver His people out of that darkness. In Him was life
and the life was the light of man. He moved Himself into the void,
into the darkness of sin. He made Himself to be what His
people were. Everything that we just horribly
described He made himself to be that and in doing that he
made his people to be what he was. Life and light. He gave his life to give them
life. That's what he did. He traded
places with them. He traded places with them. He
became what they were and they became what He is. And because
of that, because God the Father moved some sinners to Him, because
Christ was moved with compassion for those sinners through the
preaching of this gospel, through the declaration of this gospel,
God's Holy Spirit moves. You know that? God the Father
moved. God the Son was moved. And through this preaching, through
that declaration, God's Spirit moves. He comes to every single
one of those redeemed souls and He delivers a message from God
to them. Go with me back to our text in
Genesis 1. Verse 1 says, 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. God's Holy Spirit comes through
the preaching of this gospel. And he comes to every single
child of God. And this is what he says. God,
the father chose you. And God, the son gave his life
for you. And I am now here to notify it
to you. Let there be light. Let there
be light. And God has declared in His Word
that every sinner that the Spirit calls will receive this light. Every single one. They'll come.
Every single sinner that Christ has given His light to is going
to receive light. Every one. Verse 3 says, And
God said, Let there be light, and there was light. There was
light. There is no condition on it. Isn't this the part where I start
telling you what you need to do? Isn't this the part where
I pump everybody up and, all right now, come on now. There's
no condition on it. There's no price on it. None. It's the light of life that God
freely bestows. The preacher doesn't do it. God freely bestows it on whom
he will. It is great grace and mercy that
any sinner would receive light. It is a precious thing to witness.
I'm going to go back to how I started. It's precious. The Spirit of God comes to the
child of God, and in that darkness, it's usually the darkness of
religion, this lost world of religion, the darkness of sin,
and he says, let there be light. And all of a sudden, there's
light. It's not much at first. But there's
light. Array of light, light to see
something of the glory of God, not this. Bless his heart, little
Jesus, who's trying as hard as he can, please help this man
out. All of a sudden they say, wait
a minute, this is God. I'm in his hands. He made me,
he owns me, he controls me. He'll do with me what He wants
to do with me. He'll give me light or withhold light. And if I see this, then I have
received mercy, grace. I see something of the glory
of God. I see something of what He has
done for me. Christ didn't show me a better
way. Christ paid for my sin. Christ didn't leave me an example.
He took my sin off of me, laid it on himself, and said, I will
be done. I have light to see who my Savior
is. I'm not my own Savior, like everybody
thinks they are. Now come on now, come on, save
yourself. I'm not my own Savior. I see what salvation is. It's
not turning over a new leaf. It's not straightening up and
flying right. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. This right here is the light
that God gives to his people, and we're going to close with
this. Go with me over where our brother read for us a minute
ago. Second Corinthians four. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 1 says, therefore,
seeing we have this ministry, what ministry? The ministry of
the gospel of light. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. That's what God's people begin
to see. I just received mercy. I didn't earn salvation. It was
just bestowed on me in mercy. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. That's what God's
people see. That's what light shows them.
I'm tired of the dishonest things. I'm tired of them. I don't want
to have anything to do with any of the dishonest things anymore.
What's dishonest? Whatever is against or not in
this word. Verse two says, but have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully. I don't want to twist this and
make it say anything. What does it say? What does it
say? Verse two goes on to say, but
by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God, I'm going to have to
give an account of every soul I preached to. Like Joe wisely said, I think
I'm going to put my hand over my mouth and I think I'm going
to say whatever is in here. I think I will just repeat whatever
God says. Well, I think. Verse 3 says, But if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of
this world, the enemy, the adversary, 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. That has to be the
best definition of what we do here that I know of. What do
you all preach down there? We don't preach ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord. And ourselves, your servants
for Jesus' sake. 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. When God says, let there be light,
you know what the first thing is that a sinner will see? A
person. A person. A person. They see the glory
of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 7 says, but
we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us. That's what a sinner sees. That's what he sees. This whole
thing is of God and not me. Thanks be to God. I'm so glad
salvation is not of me. You know how much chance there
would be for me to get it wrong? Thanks be to God. Salvation is
of the Lord. And in time, He comes to His
own. And He gives that light. He gives
that light. He gives, He reveals Christ the
light. They see Christ. My prayer, honestly,
is that God would give somebody light today. I really do pray
that. I pray I'm one of them. I believe
God has given me a little bit of light. Lord, give me more. Let me see Christ more clearly
today than I have ever seen Him before. If we have light, then
we have Christ. Oh my God. Open somebody's eyes
to see the light today. I want to sing that. Let's all
stand together.