The Scriptures start with God
creating. No explanation of who God is. The Word of God does not start
with trying to explain the being of God. It just declares that
He is, in the beginning, God. God is incomprehensible. We cannot even begin to comprehend
who God is. The scripture says, who by searching
can find out God? No one. If he does not reveal
himself, you cannot find him out. Not with our understanding,
not in our fallen state. Even if we had not fallen, we
could not exhaust the knowledge of God. Could not exhaust it. God is infinite. But the scriptures
just declare that he is, and that all things were created
by him. All truth starts with God first,
and then it comes down to us. Now Genesis is the foundational
book of the Bible. All gospel truth is found, and
we'll see this as we go along, in the book of Genesis. We have
the existence of God, we have creation, we have the fall, we
have redemption, we have the covenant of grace, all in the
book of Genesis. This is the book of the beginning. We also see what happens in new
creation. We'll point this out as we go
along, when a sinner is saved. One of the things I want to point
out is each time God created, He saw that it was good. It was
good. And at the end of creation, He
saw that it was very good. There's no sin in creation. Sin
did not come from God. God, the scripture says, is light,
and in Him is no darkness, no sin at all, in any way, shape,
or form. Now it says, Genesis 1-1, in
the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The earth
did not come from a big bank. It did not evolve from some organism. God created it out of nothing. That's power. That's power. Think right now of something
that you'd like to have. Just think of something you'd
like to have. Now speak it into existence.
Just say the word. Just speak it and watch it happen. God purposed to make this earth. He purposed to have a people.
And in the beginning, God spoke. And when God spoke, all this
stood forth. It all stood forth. There was
no pre-existing material. for God to work with, for you
and I to create something, to make something, we have to take
parts here and this and that, material and matter, and put
it together. God didn't have that. He didn't
need it. God spoke and the earth stood
forth. And this God, as I kept studying
this, this thought kept coming back to me, and this God is my
God. This God is our God. And if we really learn and come
to know who God is, like Enoch walked with God, coming to know
God, it will calm us down. It will calm us down. It'll give
us comfort and it'll give us confidence as we walk through
this life. You would think that we would
be obsessed. You would think we would be obsessed
to know God. The only thing that God used
was His purpose, His power, and His will, and His Word. By His Word, God created, and
we know, we know from the Scriptures that Word is Christ. Turn over in John chapter 1,
Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him. And without Him, without the
Word, was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and
the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness.
and the darkness, comprehended it not. Look over in Colossians
chapter one, I believe it is. We'll get over in Colossians. Look in verse 14. In whom we
have redemption, that is in Christ, through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven, 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, and he is before
all things, and by him all things consist, or all things are held
together. All things are held together.
Now verse two tells me that something happened. Something happened. 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. The word
was, should be translated became. Became. It became without form
and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. God has
never created anything without form and void. God's never created
anything like that. It became that way. It became
that way. And this is what I believe, I
believe this is how it happened. I believe this happened when
Satan and the angels failed. I think that's what happened.
Sin always brings void, it always brings emptiness, and it always
brings darkness. Turn over to Isaiah 14. I think
this is how it became this way. Now I'm not going to go out and
try to create some kind of doctrine over that, but that's what I
believe happened. Isaiah 14, look in verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell to the sides of the pit. And they that see thee shall
narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this
the man? Is this the man that made the
earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world
as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof? Is this that
man? When they look at him and see
him, they're going to say, I looked at Hitler on television
and I thought, how in the world did anybody follow that man?
Have you ever thought that? I mean, I've looked at him, you
know, there's some men who could walk into a room and they just,
their presence takes over the room. That man could walk in
the room and I wouldn't even, you wouldn't even notice him.
But there was another spirit behind that. And when I think, and he's saying,
when you see him, you're gonna say, That Satan, he did all this,
all this. I think that's what happened.
What happened when God said, he told Noah, he said, build
an ark, build an ark. But the imagination of man, he
said, it is evil and that continued. He repents me that I've made
man. I'm gonna do what? I'm gonna flood this earth. And
God sent a flood and the waters covered everything on this earth
above the highest mountain. And God destroyed everything.
And I think that's what happened then. I think that's how it became
void and empty and darkness. But this is also a good description
of man after the fall. He's void of spiritual life.
He's empty. and he's nothing but darkness.
Christ said, if the light that's in you be darkness, how great
is that darkness. Just listen to him talk about
God. Listen to him talk about God.
It's not as God revealed himself in his word. If you've heard
people talk about God, you say, where did that come from? You
didn't get that from the word of God. You didn't get that description
or character from the word of God. Man may be intelligent in some
areas, but when it comes to knowing God, he's completely ignorant,
unless God reveals himself. Man is full of confusion. He's
born confused. You know, one day they say this
is how it is, and the next day they prove it's wrong. I mean,
they'll come out and say, don't eat this. Then next thing you
know, you ought to eat that. It's a mess. It's a mess. He's confused. He
lives confused and he's going to die confused if God leaves
him alone. If God never commands the light
of the gospel to shine in his heart, he's going to live and
die in darkness. Now, if you'll notice, it says
here in verse two, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of
the waters. For the earth to be newly created,
we have God Almighty, God the Father, who purposed to create. We have his word, God spoke and
it happened. And here we have the Holy Spirit.
We have the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. The whole Trinity was involved
in the creation of this earth. Even so, in the new birth, in
that new man, the Holy Spirit moves upon a man's heart and
begins the work of salvation and the work of grace. All three
are involved in the saving of a sinner. All three are involved
in that new creation of a new man in Christ. It was evident
the earth could not fix itself. Couldn't fix itself. The Spirit
of God must do the work. I'm not gonna stand in this pulpit
and ask men to come down an aisle and take a step and accept Jesus
as their personal Savior. They can't fix themselves. They can't fix themselves. And
no more than this, earth could fix itself. The Spirit of God
must do it. Salvation's of the Lord, of the
Lord. Like creation, we do not evolve,
we do not fix ourselves, it's of God. It's of God. Now the first thing God commanded, it says in verse three, and God
said, let there be light. And there was light. What this
light was, only God knows. I can't explain it. Only God
knows. It was not the sun. The sun, the moon, the stars
were not created until the fourth day. Not until the fourth day
they were created. But I do know this. I do know
that God does not work in darkness. He does not work in darkness.
And I know that when God saves a sinner, Well, the first thing
God does is command light. Listen to the scriptures here
in 2 Corinthians 4, 6. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. He's making reference right back
to Genesis. for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. He's talking about Genesis 3
right here. He said in the same way God has to command the light. God has to command the light
to shine in our hearts. God has to illuminate us. We
are naturally darkness and all we know about God is darkness. And God must shine in our hearts
and give the light of the knowledge, understanding. One day, days, weeks go by, years
go by, you may be raised here in this place, you sat there,
you heard the word preached, and then one day, one day you
begin to understand what you were hearing and what you were
reading. One day you begin to see. You
say, I see. I see. I understand. I remember distinctly when I
heard Henry preaching the gospel on television, I remember distinctly
it was like light turned on. It was literally like somebody
turned the light on. And for three years, I had just
been going through a profession and reading the scripture. I
read it quite a bit. I mean, I was a reader. Then
all of a sudden I understood what I was reading. That's what
Philip said to that eunuch, do you understand what you're reading?
He said, how can I except some man showed me. And as Peter took the scriptures,
the word of God, and beginning it says that the same scripture
he preached unto him, Jesus. And he could see, he understood. He understood, and he says, I
want to be identified. I want to be identified with
him. What hinders me from being baptized? Evidently, Philip had
said something to him about baptism. And he said, if you believe,
he said, I believe that Jesus is the son of God. And he said,
whoa. They got down, you know, there
just happened to be some water right there. That's what I'm going to preach
on next, the providence of God. The providence of God. I mean, you couldn't time that. When he made that confession,
right there was a pond. And he said, well, let's stop
right here and get this done. And he did. He did. But God commanded the
light of the knowledge. of the glory of God in the person,
the face reveals a person, in the person of Jesus Christ. That's where we see God in Christ. We might see the handiwork of
God in creation. We do see it. If we're not blind,
we see it. We see the handiwork of God in creation, but you don't
see God until you see Him in Christ. You'll never believe
on God savingly until you believe on Him in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you, like one of the disciples said, Philip, I believe it was,
my Lord and my God. Might have been Thomas. My Lord
and my God. And God saw the light, that it
was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. Here we have a division made
between light and darkness. So it is in the new creation. So it is in salvation. God divides
the new man from that old man. It is written in 1 Thessalonians
5.5, ye are all the children of light. and the children of
the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness. Children of light. God put a
difference between the light and the darkness. The light he called day and the
darkness he called night. Light and darkness, and what
does this show us? This shows us this. Light and
darkness cannot dwell together. It's not impossible. It's not
possible for light and darkness to dwell together. When you walk
into this room and it's dark, it's midnight outside, it's dark
in here, you can't see anything in here. But when you go over
and you flip that light on, darkness is gone. It's not the room, it's
not half dark and half light. Darkness is gone. Let's go. The scripture says, what fellowship
has light with darkness? What fellowship has light with
darkness? Now notice, every time God created,
it is written, and God said, spoke. There's a scripture that says,
hath he not said, and shall he not do it? And God said, the word was always
used to create. Every time God spoke, or every
time God was gonna create, he spoke. He spoke. The Trinity, The Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, they never operate separately of each
other. When anything is done, the whole
Godhead is involved in it. Always. And here the Word was
used to create. Every time God saves a sinner,
His Spirit and His Word are used. in the saving of a sinner. In
James 1.18, of his own will, begat he us
with the word of truth. With the word, not apart from
it. Not apart from it. With the word
of truth. That's why preaching is so important.
Preaching is so important. I know a gentleman and his wife,
they often go to these gospel singing fests. I mean, he just
goes and it just comes back. He's all emotional is what it
is. I mean, just all emotional. There's nothing that takes the
place of God's word of preaching. Nothing takes place of it. No
programs, nothing. and there's no salvation apart
from the word. That servant said, Lord, speak
the word only, and thy servant shall be healed. That's what I depend on here.
Isn't that what you depend on? Lord, speak the word only. Someone
comes in here that does not believe the gospel, but they come in
here and they sit down and they hear the preaching of the word,
I'm not gonna ask them to do something. I'm gonna ask God,
Lord, speak the word only. And that sinner can live. That
sinner can live. Now in verse 11, I'm gonna jump
to verse 11, then I'm gonna close. I'm not gonna get through most
of this. And 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 you know what? It's still
so. Even with sin, even since the
fall, this earth is still producing from that word that God spoke
in the beginning. If not, we would have already
devastated this place. We would have already devastated
it. But it's still producing on that word. God said, let the
earth bring forth grass. The herb yielding seed, the fruit
tree yielding that fruit after his kind. And you'll notice that
goes throughout this first chapter, after his kind. who sees in itself
upon the earth. And it's so, the earth could
not bring forth in chaos, could it? It couldn't bring forth anything
at all. It couldn't, not in chaos. Only
in the new creation could the earth produce good fruit, fruit
to eat. No sinner can bring forth good
fruit in his natural state. That's right. You know, apart
from Christ, apart from Christ, I'm nothing but chaos. That's
all I am. I believe that. I believe that
I'm nothing but chaos. I'm nothing but a mess. Just
a mess. But when God creates a center,
when he creates in that center a new creation, That sinner is
able to bring forth good fruit by the power and spirit of God.
Listen to Ephesians 2.10. For we are his workmanship. This
is the first creation. It was God's workmanship and
nobody else's. He didn't create man, he didn't
create Adam until he created everything else. And then he
created Adam and gave it to him. has such a picture of salvation,
we don't produce anything. God has completely finished the
work of salvation and gives it to us. Gives it to us. For we are his workmanship created. You know, it took the same power
to create, make me a new creature as it did for God to create the
heavens and the earth back in the beginning. Same power, take
same power. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. What have we learned? What have we learned this morning?
First of all, that the whole of creation is of God. is of God. None of it evolved. It's of God. It is right now
as he created it, as he made it. We've learned that everything
God created was very good. No sin in it, no sin. And we've
learned that that is also the way it is with our salvation.
It's all of God. It's all of God. And I tell you,
I didn't evolve into a Christian. I did not evolve into a believer. One day I was dead. And the next
God commanded life and I lived. One day I didn't exist. And then
one day I was born again. Born of God. I did not evolve into this. I
was not, listen, we are not educated into the kingdom of God. We're
born into it. And then we're educated. Then we're educated. All thy
children shall be taught of God. But you can't teach something
that's dead. I sit down in Florida. You can
teach an old dog new tricks, but you can't teach a dead one
anything. You gotta have life. Gotta be
something to work with there. It's gotta be the life of God.
It's gotta be more than just natural life. It's gotta be spiritual
life, the life of God. That which is born of the Spirit
is what? Spirit, it doesn't say spiritual. Though it is, though
it is. It says it's Spirit. After it's kind. I told you that
keeps coming up, after its kind. When God created something, whether
it was a cow or whatever it was, when it begets something, it
was after its kind. And when God begets a sinner,
when that sinner is born again, he is partaker of the divine
nature. And then we learn that it's all
of God. Creation's all of God, salvation's all of God. And it's
very good. There's no sin in it. No sin. All right.