All right, let's turn back to
Genesis chapter 1. Genesis 1, we're going to look
at the third day of creation this morning. And Lord willing,
we're going to see the gospel in it. Day 1, verse 1 says, In the beginning
God. And verse 3 says, God said, Let
there be light. Light with God. Let there be purpose
in the beginning. The purpose of God. Let there
be knowledge. With God. Let there be a predetermined
counsel. In the beginning. An open agreement
between the Trinity. Let there be light. And during
that time, verse 2 says, the earth was without form and void. What that verse means is this
was all before the foundation of the world. The earth was without
form. It was just mass. It was water
and dirt. and rock and whatever it was,
just all mixed together into a sludge. It wasn't a hard ball
and water covered it all like in the flood. There was no form. Without form and void. This was all before the foundation
of the world. Okay? The mind of God, the knowledge
of God, The purpose of God, it was all before the foundation
of the world. It was without form and void.
Let there be light. Let there be knowledge, purpose,
understanding, counsel. Day 2, verse 6 says, And God
said, Let there be a firmament. Let there be a covering. Verse
7 says, And God made the firmament. And we've been singing about
it in every song we just sung. Up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful
morn, walked Christ my Savior, weary and worn. The death of
the cross. There is a fountain filled with
blood. He made a covering. And He put
some of the waters under this covering, under this
firmament. This covering was an atonement,
this shed blood. And He made that atonement for
His people before the foundation of the world. That's the point
I'm trying to make. Everything so far was still during
this Mass. It was without form, in void. That is exactly when the spiritual
work of God took place. The spiritual purpose of God
was set. The election of those who would
be under the firmament took place. All of the footsteps of those
elected ones were predestinated. And the bloodshed, atoning work
of Jesus Christ was all finished before the foundation of the
world. Now let me show you that. Turn
with me to Matthew 25. We have a few pages of notes
this morning, but a lot of turning, okay? So bear with me. Matthew
25. Verse 31 says, When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you. from the foundation
of the world. All purposed for you. All predetermined for you before
the foundation of the world. Now go with me to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 says,
according as He hath chosen us in Him. That's election. When did He do it? When did He
elect us? Before the foundation of the
world. That we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, before
the foundation of the world. Turn with me to Revelation 13. Revelation 13 verse 8 says, And
all that dwell upon earth shall worship Him. That's the devil. All that dwell upon earth shall
worship Him, whose names are not written in the book of life,
of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. When was that blood
shed? When was that sin covered? Before
the foundation of the world. Now in time, the Lord came and
accomplished His work, but all of His purposes, once they are
purposed, it's finished. And do you know why? God doesn't
change. If He purposed it, it's as good
as done. It's as good as done. It's done. If He says it, it's done. That's
it. David said, this thing is ordered
and sure. No change in it. Now turn to
Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15 verse 18 says, Known unto God
are all His works from the beginning of the world. Every single thing
He purposed to do. He knew every single thing that
He would do and He would cause His people to do before the foundation
of the world. Now let's go back to Genesis
chapter 1. Genesis 1 verse 9 says, And God said, Let the waters
under the heaven. That's that firmament. That's
that covering, that atonement. Those under Christ, under the
blood of Christ. God said, Let the waters under
the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry
land appear. And it was so. And God called
the dry land earth. And the gathering together of
the waters called He seas, and God saw that it was good." God
formed the foundations of the world. Now, what actually happened? How did He actually form it? Well, we know He spoke it into
existence because verse 9 says, "...and God said." Right? But He told us exactly what He
did in Psalm 104. So turn with me to Psalm 104.
Psalm 104. Verse 1 says, Bless the Lord,
O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very
great. Thou art clothed with honor and
majesty, who coverest thyself with light as with a garment,
who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain, who layeth the
beams of his chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds
his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind, who maketh
his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire, who laid the
foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever.
Thou coverest it with the deep as with a garment. The water
stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled. At the voice of thy thunder they
hasted away. They go up by the mountains,
they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded
for them. Thou hast set a bound that they
may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth.
He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills.
Now verse six says, this mixture of water and dirt that was without
form, At God's command, the dirt pressed down, and the mountains
rose up, and the water ran down to the place God had purposed
for it to go. That's what happened. Thou cover'st it with the deep
as with a garment, the waters stood above the mountains. Verse
7, At thy rebuke they fled. At the voice of thy thunder they
hasted away. The mountains, they go up by
mountains, they go down by valleys unto the place which thou hast
founded for them." That must have been something to watch. God the Father and God the Spirit
watching the work of God the Son. That must have been something
to watch. Now back to Genesis chapter 1, verse 9 says, And God said, Let
the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place,
and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called
the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called
he seas, and God saw that it was good. Now this happened at
a time when there was no sin on the earth. And one day, we're going to live
again on an earth that has no sin in it. No sin in it. And in just a minute, we're going
to see why it's so good. God saw that it was good. But
first, let's look at the fact that usually dry land is God's
curse on this earth. All right? God's curse. I want
you to turn to Genesis 7. Genesis 7 verse 21 says, And
all flesh died that moved upon the earth. both of fowl, and
of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth, and every man, all in whose nostrils
was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died."
All right, now go to Exodus 4. Verse 9 says, And it shall come
to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither
hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water
of the river, and pour it upon the dry land. And the water which
thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry
land. Blood on this land. Cursed is
this land. Now don't turn, you can listen
to Psalm 63. Psalm 63 says, O God, Thou art
my God, early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my
flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water
is. My soul is parched. There's no blessing. There's
no comfort for my soul. A dry and thirsty land. Just
listen to Psalm 68 verse 6. It says, God setteth the solitary
in families. He bringeth out those which are
bound with chains. But the rebellious dwell in a
dry land. Dry. Just listen to Jeremiah
50. Verse 12 says, Your mother shall
be sore confounded. She that bare you shall be ashamed. Behold, the hindermost of the
nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. Because
of the wrath of the Lord, it shall not be inhabited, but it
shall be wholly desolate. It goes on to say, where am I? It goes on to say in verse 38,
a drought is upon her waters. They shall be dried up, for it
is the land of graven images, and they're mad upon their idols.
Graven images, idols, therefore it's a dry land. Cursed. Cursed. And the scripture goes
on and on and on saying, because of your sin, I'm going to dry
up this land. Dry it up. Now, here's the gospel. Here is the gospel. If there
ever was a text that showed us the gospel, this is it. First
turn to Genesis 1. Verse 9 says, And God said, Let
the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place,
and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called
the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called
he seas, and God saw that it was good. The dry land earth. Now look at verse 11. And God
said, let the earth, that dry land, bring forth grass. Now do you know what the word
grass means in the original Hebrew? Tender
grass. Let this dry land bring forth
tender grass. Let this dry land bring forth
a tender plant. You know of a scripture that
talks about a tender plant? Let's go to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 verse 1 says, Who hath
believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? For He, that's the Lord Jesus
Christ, shall grow up before Him, that's God the Father, as
a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground, a cursed
ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire
Him. He is despised and rejected."
What do you mean He is despised and rejected? Everybody knows
the name Jesus. It has got to be the most popular
name on planet earth. Do you know anybody who doesn't
love Jesus? Anybody? Well, that's not the same Jesus
of this Bible. You tell somebody who the true
Jesus Christ is, and they'll say, I will not have that man
reign over me. I don't want to hear it. You shut up. He is despised and
rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and
we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and
we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Verse 12 says,
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the grapes, And he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors." That tender plant came forth out of this dry ground. That tender plant was a root
in the dry ground. And he was numbered with the
dry ground, with the transgressors. And He bare the sin of many,
not all, but many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Numbered
with the transgressors. Now let's go back to Genesis
1. In the mercy and the goodness
of God, God said in verse 11, Let the earth bring forth this
tender grass. That's our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It says, the herb yielding seed. That's our Savior, Jesus Christ. It says, the fruit tree. That's our Lord Jesus Christ,
the tree of life. It says, yielding fruit after
His kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. This dry land is cursed. And
what did God do? He said, You let that dry, cursed
ground bring forth a Savior. The herb yielding seed. The fruit
tree, yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself
upon the earth. And praise our Lord, he was so. That's the gospel. That is the
good news to my soul. I love the song. As poor, wretched
sinners, no God and no hope, it seemed there was no one to
help. But God, in his mercy, Salvation supplied, He emptied
heaven, and He came down Himself, and a ransom was found. He was
born to die. He came for one purpose only,
to die. Peter said, You are born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word
of God, God said. which liveth and abideth forever.
Now turn with me to Luke 13. Luke 13 verse 18 says, Then said He, unto what is the kingdom of God
like, and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard
seed, which a man took and cast it into his garden, and it grew
and waxed a gray tree, and the fowls of the air lodged in the
branches of it." The Lord Jesus Christ said, Let's see, what
is the kingdom of heaven like? I've been there, lived there
for all eternity. I know all about it, everything
about it. How would I describe it to you? Unto what is the kingdom of God
like and where unto shall I resemble it? Here's what it's like. It's
just like a man who took a mustard seed and cast it into his garden
and that tiny tender plant grew and grew and became a great tree. That is what heaven is all about. That's Christ. Alright, now go
with me to John 15. Here's what he said about himself.
John 15 verse 1, he said, I am the true vine. And my Father
is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away. He's going to root it up and
get it out of his garden. Every branch that beareth fruit
he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are
clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide
in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
you abide in me. So he's saying don't listen to
that and say well I've got to produce me some good works or
he's going to root me out. He said you can't produce good
works except you abide in me. Verse 5, I am the vine, you are
the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide
in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will,
and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. Herein is my Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue
you in my love. If you keep my commandments,
you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father's commandments
and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto
you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might
be full. This is my commandment that you
love one another as I've loved you. He said, he that abideth
in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Now
let's go back to Genesis one. Genesis 1 verse 11 says, God
said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed,
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is
in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth
brought forth grass, the 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. And the evening and the morning
were the third day. The tree yielded fruit. Fruit. What is the fruit that
the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ yields? Galatians 5 says
it's love. Love. Love for God. A person who first said, I will
not have that man reign over me says, There's only one thing
that I desire now in this life. I want that man to reign over
me. I love him. I love God. I love the fact that he is God.
I love the fact that I'm not. Love, that's the fruit. Joy,
absolute joy in everything he does. Oh, did you hear that such
and such just happened? By God's grace it is the Lord.
Let him do what seemeth him good. The fruit of the Spirit is peace.
Peace with God and peace with each other. It produces long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. It produces reverence. In these new contemporary houses
of worship, there is no reverence. If you knew that you were going
before somebody and there was a chance that you could either
live or die, how would you act? Reverence. It produces worship. It produces
praise. In day one, God said, let there
be light. We've already said, behold your
God. Behold your sin. In day two, God said, let there
be affirmament. Behold your covering. God didn't
kill you, He killed Christ for you. Mercy for all those under the
firmament. God called the firmament heaven,
it says. In Genesis 1 verse 9, God said
let the waters under the firmament, under the heaven, under that
covering, that atonement, Be gathered together unto one place. Now listen to this, okay? These
waters are us. And when we looked at day two,
we said some of the waters got to be under that firmament. Some
of the waters didn't. In verse 9, God said, let the
waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place. One fold. One body. And it was so. Verse 10, And
God called the dry land, earth, and the gathering together of
the waters, the people, called he seas, and God saw that it
was good. Now, when we get over to Revelation
and we see these seas and these waters, that's us. Or the rest
of the world, one of the two. One day our God is going to gather
His waters together into one place. And the fruit that the
seed yielded is going to be revealed. And it's going to be good. Because
of the life and the death and the work of the seed, here's
the fruit. Two scriptures and we close.
Here's the fruit. Turn to Revelation 14. Revelation 14 verse 1 says, And
I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the mount Zion. That dry land that was raised
up. And with him a hundred forty
and four thousand, having his father's name written in their
foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven,
as the voice of many waters. and as the voice of a great thunder.
And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, and
they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before
the four beasts and the elders, and no man could learn that song
but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed
from the earth. These are they which were not
defiled with women." And that's not talking about females. It's
talking about false religion. For they are virgins. These are
they which follow the Lamb. Whithersoever he goeth, these
were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God
and to the Lamb. Now go to Revelation 19. Verse 1 says, And after these
things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying,
Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the
Lord our God. For true and righteous are His
judgments. For He hath judged the great
whore, which is false religion, which did corrupt the earth with
her fornication. and hath avenged the blood of
his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia,
and her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty
elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that
sat on the throne saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out
of the throne saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants,
and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard, as it
were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of a mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,
fruit of the Spirit. That's what it is. Fruit of the
Spirit. Thy God reigneth. And God saw that it was good. It's good, isn't it? It's good,
isn't it? Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? I pray that this tender plant
grew for me. I pray that His seed bearing
fruit, hallelujah, honor, glory is in me. That's what I pray. Pray that
for all of us. May the Lord bless His Word.
Let's stand together.