Let's be opening our Bible back,
the Genesis chapter one. Here, about three or four weeks
ago, me and my family were in Crossville, Tennessee. And we
were at the Bible conference down at Donnie Bell's. And one
evening after the service, we were all piled up in the hotel
room with my family. So laying around on the bed,
pajamas, t-shirts. We were talking. And the conversation
come up somehow. Daddy, when did dinosaurs live? Well, I thought about it. I don't know. Did they live before
the flood and then after the flood? Did they live when Noah
was in the garden? I don't know. Well, Daddy, how
old do you think the earth is? Well, it could be just 6,000
years old. But I know that in Genesis 1
and Genesis 2 that That word, the earth, was void. It could also be translated,
the earth became void. But I don't know. I don't know. And then there were other questions,
and every question that was asked, and everything that was said
in that room, Dad, who's supposed to know everything, didn't know.
didn't know nothing. I could not answer any of the
questions. And I wish that I had been better
prepared. There was some scripture that
come through my mind and my Bible was laying over on the table
and I just, I couldn't put it together right then. And I thought,
I wish I could respond. And tonight I'm responding. And
I'm gonna respond with the gospel. There are some things that we
do know. Okay, there are some things that
I know. And let me read 1 John 5 20. You don't have to turn there,
but for the sake of time, let me read this. We know that the
son of God has come and have given us an understanding that
we may know him that is true. And we are in him that is true. even in his son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. I know that. We know a person. I don't know what or how or when,
but I know who. I really, really know who. And ye who love the son of God,
know who. It is a person that we come here
together, each service and worship. We worship a person and we know
him, don't we? We know him, we love him. The other night, Bob and I were
sitting and we were talking and we were talking about something
we didn't know. And I made a comment, and Bob
said, wouldn't it surprise you if the Lord didn't do it a certain
this way? And I knew what he was talking
about, because I knew whom. I knew the goodness of God. I knew the mercy of God. And I knew of the grace of God. We know him. We know someone. Now, let's look at our text,
but before you do, I wanna read you a quote, okay? We are going
to begin here in Genesis chapter one, but first, let me read you
this quote. Every word that's in this book
tells us what happened on the cross. That's the reason for
this book. That's the whole reason for the
book. Every chapter, every verse, every
word is pointing us. They all go together to point
us to our salvation. Every single one of them. That
was last Wednesday night. And I wouldn't have quoted you
if I'd known you was gonna be here. That was last Wednesday night.
So I have two objectives tonight. I want to preach Christ and Him
crucified from this text. And then every time that you
turn to this text, Genesis chapter one, I want you to remember from
this text, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If I can accomplish
those two things, then we've accomplished something. Now,
look with me at Genesis 1, verses 12 and 13. And the earth brought
forth grass, an herb yielding seed after his kind, and the
tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind,
and God saw that it was good. We're gonna see four things in
this passage of scripture. We're gonna see our Lord's death,
our Lord's burial, His resurrection, and then we are gonna see our
life in His death, in His burial, and in His resurrection. Genesis
9 through 13 is about how God saves sinners. That's the reason
for the text. No wonder that I can't answer
questions about dinosaurs. Now, let's look closer here at
verses 12 and 13. Notice that the earth brought
forth grass, herb yielding seed, and tree yielding fruit. There's three things that I want
you to note about this. First, notice that it said, whose
seed was in itself. Everything that is required to
reproduce an exact likeness of itself is found completely in
itself. Do you see that about the seed?
Everything that is required to reproduce an exact likeness of
itself is found completely in itself. There's no works involved. There's nothing that you can
add to it. This is speaking of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, When we talk about a seed,
I was talking to mom the other day and she still has some of
my grandmother's old seed. They're called heirloom seed.
My grandmother passed away about 19 years ago. And she has some
beans and they're called turkey crawl. You can't go to Lowe's
and you can't go to Evergreen to buy these seed. They're passed
down from generation to generation. But anyway, the point is that
it's a seed. And if you take that turkey crawl
seed and you put it in the ground, turkey crawl beans come up. and those beans that you put
in the ground and what comes up is exactly like what you put
in the ground. We pass those seeds down from
generation to generation to generation that we might have that seed. Now, the second thing that I
want you to know is that this fruit yields fruit after his
kind. Notice it says his kind. This is a masculine pronoun. I looked it up. I checked it. His kind, is this translated
right? It is translated right. It is
after his kind, not after its kind, or after her kind, or after
their kind, but after his kind. This is strange wording. for
a science journal or the farmer's almanac, but not for the word
of God that is telling us about our redemption as it is found
in Jesus Christ. Now, this seed is about, this
is about Christ and his seed. Now, the third thing, let me,
on this text, let me read a couple passages. It yields fruit after
his kind, and don't turn for the sake of time, let me. In
Matthew chapter 7, our Lord says, I got my notes just a little
out of place, so chapter 7 and verse 17, and this is about the
fruit. Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. This is the principle that is
given to us in Genesis chapter one. And let me give you this
other passage of scripture, Matthew chapter 12, verse 33. Either make the tree good and
his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit
corrupt. For the tree is known by its
fruit. Whatever the tree is, that's
what the fruit's gonna be. And whatever the fruit is and
the seed is, that's what the tree's gonna be. And then the
third thing that I want us to notice, in Genesis chapter one,
verse 13, and the evening and the morning were the third day. This third day is about his resurrection. And this third day is about our
resurrection in him. So those three things, whose
seed was in itself, yielding fruits after his kind, and this
third day. Now, before we continue, I wanna
summarize everything that I've said. Because now we're gonna
go to the New Testament and see those things that are revealed.
We've just read those things that were concealed. Now we're
gonna go to the New Testament and see if these things are so
that I've told you. Okay, before we continue, This
book is about Christ and the salvation of his people. The
herb yielding seed and the tree yielding fruit is a picture of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, Christ's seed is in
himself. Everything needed pertaining
to life is in Christ. And fourthly, he, Christ, shall
bring forth fruit after his kind. just like He is. And then fifthly,
the third day is about His resurrection. And then sixthly, the third day
of creation is about our resurrection in Him. Now let's turn to see
if these things are so. Please turn to John chapter 12. John chapter 12, and let's look
first at verse 23. And Jesus answered them saying,
the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. What
follows this verse is about the very God, the very glory of God
himself. What follows this passage deals
with God's own glory. And Jesus answered him saying,
the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Now look at verse 24. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. What we just read is a summary
of Genesis chapter one, verses 11 through 13. Truly, truly, I'm telling you, this is important. You need to hear this. A kernel
of corn, a small kernel of corn, if it dies, crucified, if it
withers up, draws up, and is buried, it falls into the ground,
it's buried, but doesn't see corruption. And it resurrects,
it grows up out of the ground. It comes up out of the ground
and on that corn, it produces ears of corn. And if you were
to take one of those ears of corn off of that stalk and you
take that corn off and you peel back the husk, you'll see thousands
of kernels of corn. And every one of those kernels
are just like the one that fell into the ground, our Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, when he died, he had
to go into the ground and he had to rise and produce fruit. Children of God, ye are the fruit
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each one of those kernels of
corn are just like the one that fell into the ground. Now if
you will, turn over to Mark chapter four. Now let's begin reading in verse
26. And he said, and let me say here that he who said,
let there be light is speaking. And he said, so is the kingdom
of God. In other words, he is saying,
Here is what the kingdom of God is like. Here is an example. Here is a picture of the kingdom
of God. And then notice what follows,
and he said, so is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast
seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day,
and the seed should spring and grow up. He knoweth not how. Well, I tell you what, we don't
know how, do we? How in the world could our God
descend from heaven for such worms as ourselves. There's so
many mysteries in this thing of redemption, I can't answer.
I knoweth not how. And notice what it says, for
the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself. Now we just read
earlier how the seed would bring forth fruit of himself. And you know, when I got to studying
this, I started finding throughout the scriptures that oftentimes
when it speaks of the earth, it is speaking in the feminine
pronoun manner. It speaks of the earth as she
or her or herself, like here in our passage. And I believe
this is speaking of the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. From Christ, from the woman,
From the woman came the seed that would bruise the serpent's
head. It was from her. Her seed should
come and bruise the serpent's head, and his seed should be
the very church of God. And notice what it says thereafter.
First, the blade. then the year, and that the full
year of corn. That's what we just read in John
chapter 12. But when the fruit is brought forth immediately,
he putteth the sickle because the harvest is come. So what is he saying here? That
from the beginning of time, the Lord has made this earth for
one purpose, for his harvest. If we were to turn over to Luke,
chapter 20, we would find that the Lord himself speaks of his
church in this manner, the children of the harvest. You are the children
of the harvest. Now, let's continue here again,
continuing with verse 30. And he said, where and to shall
we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall
we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard
seed which is less than all the seeds that be in the earth. But
when it is grown, it groweth up and becometh greater than
all the herbs and shooteth out great branches so that the fowls
of the air lodge under the shadow of it. There is example after
example after example in this word of our Lord in the third
day. Let's go to the Lord's Vineyard.
Let's turn and see the Lord's Garden. Turn with me to Galatians
chapter 5, and we're almost done. I want you to look with me. reading
two verses in verse 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance against such there is no law. This is the Lord's vineyard. This is our Lord's kingdom. Can you imagine that day when
it comes when all the fruit of his kingdom is love and joy and
peace that from our hearts We, one to another, in his kingdom,
will dwell safely with him. And I'm going to close with one
more passage of scripture. Turn with me to Psalm chapter
1. We're going to read the first
three verses. Blessed is the man. And you know who that man is?
It's not me. It's not me. I remember some
years ago, Tom Harding came to Kingsport and he began preaching
through the book of Psalms. And when he came to this first
verse, I'll never forget this message. that Christ is that
blessed man. Let's look at it. Blessed is
the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and his law doth
he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. And I say, Lord Jesus,
come quickly. Let us pray and be dismissed.