Our Lord is the one who said
concerning the scriptures, they are they. which testify of me,
he said. Paul wrote to him, give all the
prophets witness. And when our Lord was preaching
to those disciples on the road to Emmaus, he began in the books
of Moses. And then all the prophets in
the Psalms expounded unto them the things concerning himself.
That's all the Old Testament. And I asked myself, where did
the Lord begin? And he was preaching to those
disciples on the road to Emmaus. Where did he begin? Well, where
he began in the beginning. I'm certain of that. There are
some passages that I'm quite certain he dealt with. Brother
John came by. You can turn to Genesis 1. Go
ahead and return to Genesis 1. Brother John came by today, as
he often does, and we have a good time together. And we were talking
about this. We were discussing what did he
preach to the disciples? Where did he go? There's so many
scriptures. And we both concluded that he
had to have dealt with those things which he spoke of while
he was on the earth. and which the New Testament Scriptures
deals with often, such as in the beginning, and light. Christ said, I am the light of
the world. Genesis 1 begins this way, in
the beginning. John 1 begins this way, in the
beginning. Romans 1 talks about creation. Colossians 1 talks about Christ's
creator. Hebrews 1 talks about Christ's
creator. Revelation 1, the very last book,
begins this way. He said, I'm the beginning and
the end. So we begin there, and then John
and I thought, I told him, I'm certain he dealt with the woman's
seed. That's a key. That's the first
gospel. I believe he's the one that preached
that to Adam and Eve, the woman's seed. So we're going to look
at that Sunday morning, Lord willing. And I thought about
Noah's Ark. Our Lord dealt with, he talked
about Noah's Ark as in the days of Noah. John said, well, how
are you going to leave out Abel, Cain and Abel? I said, you're
right. Hebrews 11 talks about the first
thing, Abel. The blood of Christ, the more
excellent sacrifice. So, talking to David Edmondson
today. David, are you listening? He
listens every Wednesday and Thursday, Sunday morning. But David said,
you're going to be 10 years going through this time. So be it. So be it. In the beginning, God
created the heaven and the earth. In the beginning. Now, this message
is not... This is for you. This is for
God's people. This is for believers. I'm not
here to prove God. And I'm not going to raise too
many arguments. Paul told young Timothy and Titus
both avoid, foolishly, he said avoid oppositions of science,
falsely so-called. Science means knowledge, supposed
to be knowledge based on facts. That's why it's called science
falsely so called. Man says there's no God, no Creator. And they accept man's findings
as fact. What it is is foolishness. I'm
not going to argue with potsherds. This is for you. Let the potsherds
strive with the potsherds. Let's glorify God, our Creator.
And I want to edify you tonight. Christ is the Creator. Christ
is the Creator. It says in the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth. Heaven and the earth. Colossians
1 says that. John 1 says that. Let's go there. Go to John chapter 1 with me.
John chapter 1. Kelly read this. I might have
known he would read this. Whoever was going to read was
going to read this in a study. John 1, as I said, Colossians
1, Hebrews 1, talks about Christ the Creator. Christ the Creator. John 1, in the beginning was
the Word. The Word was with God, the Word
was God. The same One, that is, was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. And down in verse 14 it says,
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among God. Great mystery. Paul said, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. There's no controversy among
God's people. God was manifested today. Now the world doesn't
believe that. They didn't believe He was God
when He came. And men don't believe that now.
The way they refer to Him, the way they talk about Him, That
he can't do anything? I said I wasn't going to do this,
but Paul in Romans says, Shall the thing formed say to him that
formed it? You can't do this? How foolish
is man? Christ came, John 1, says, came
to his own. Look down here at verse 10. He was in the world. The world
was made by him. The world knew him not. He came
to his own. That is, his creature. You see, if you create something,
you own it, don't you? He said, I'm the potter. You're
the clay. Now, cannot the potter do with
his own what he will? Sure he can. Can he make one
vessel this way and another vessel that way? Absolutely. And that's
exactly what he did. Can't be his own. His own received
him not. Verse 12 does mean he's received him. Received, not accept. Receive. That's a big difference. Accept means you make a decision.
Received means somebody gave you something. You're receptacle. Like the water in a glass, you
know. If I want to pour this water in a glass, it has no say. It's a receiver. I'm going to
put it in there whether it likes it or not. And He makes us willing. We receive Him and it says they
were born not of blood, the will of the flesh, but the will of
man born of God. Receiver. In Hebrews 11, it begins
this way. The third verse says that, by
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word
of God, so that things that are made were not made of things
that do appear. That is, God made things just
by speaking them into existence. Right? There was nothing, and
God said, we'll create it with His Word. We believe that, don't
we? We absolutely believe that. That's
His power. You know, when God, our Creator,
came to this earth, Christ, when He came to this earth, what was
His first miracle? He turned water into wine. You
know how long it takes to make wine? Three years. From the time you plant a seedling
to the time you get the first grape harvest is three years,
and another two years to ferment. Five years. He said, be wine. He proved right then and there
who He was. His first appearance, His first
miracle. The Creator is our Owner. The Creator is our Judge. If
you own something, you do with it as you will. If you're the
master over animals, they must do your bidding, right? You're
their judge and you're their owner. And that is Christ our
Lord. He is our Creator, our Owner. And so, what does this do? What should this put within everyone
that God has given this faith. Fear. Here's Psalm 95. O come, let us sing unto the
Lord. Come, let us come before His presence with thanksgiving.
The Lord is a great God. In His hand are the deep places
of the earth. O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us
kneel before the Lord, our Maker. He is our God. We are His people. Christ our Creator. When Thomas
finally found out who He was, he hid his knees and said, My
Lord and my God. No controversy among God's people.
And so our Lord God created everything. It says, In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth. And then on down it says, Let
us make man. Well, who's, what do you mean
us? There's three persons in it. And they got it. Verse 3,
verses 1 through 3. Is this ringing? I'm getting
an echo. It says in verse 2, the earth
was out of form and void, darkness upon the face of the deep, and
the Spirit of God. Capital A. That's the Holy Spirit. There's
God. There's the Spirit of God. And
verse 3, and you know this. Our young people know this. And
God spoke. The Word of God. And what did
He say, the first thing about the Word? Let there be light.
That's the Trinity. Triune God. Our God is one, yet
three persons. You say, I don't understand.
No, we don't. But we believe it now. These three, yet they're
one. In essence, in power, in glory,
in purpose, in wisdom, in knowledge, in everything. Everything they
did, they did it together. Let us make man. Jesus Christ. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. The second person of the Trinity.
Jesus Christ is as much God as God the Father. Though he's called
a son. The only reason he's called a
son is because he's the only bodily offspring of God. But he didn't have a beginning
or end, did he? He's not a created being. You
know, the Mormons say... I said I wouldn't argue with
them. You know, they say he's a created
being. Jehovah Witnesses, they say he's a created being. That
God made him a little Lord. No, God made him a body. A body
prepared him. But he was with the Father from
the beginning. Always. The Eternal God. God our Creator. It says in Genesis
1, look at it, verse 2, the earth was without form and void. Darkness
upon the face of the deep. Here we see a picture also of salvation, don't
we? They said the earth was without form and void, and so is man. Darkness, until God says, let
there be light. The Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the water. The Spirit of God has got to
take the water of God's Word and the light of Christ, the
Gospel, and move upon our dark hearts to enlighten us, give
us an understanding that we might know Him as truth. And I'm way
ahead of myself. But God created all things in
the beginning. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day are their speech.
Night unto night knowledge. God our Creator. Christ our Creator. Look at Romans 1. Romans chapter
1. It's over there. And this is,
we'll let Paul argue with these or talk about
man's rejection of the Creator. Romans 1 says in verse 19, you
have it, that which may be known of God is manifest in them, to
them, clearly shown. God has showed it unto them.
What's that? The invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made. He's eternal power and Godhead, so that they're
without excuse. But when they see these things
clearly, they glorify him not as God, neither were thankful,
became vain in their imagination. Their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fool. And now all
the so-called wise people of this world believe the most absurd
and ridiculous and foolish notion there ever was, that all of this
marvelous creation, the work of God, just happened, just evolved. You know, I thought about this. God has given man a brilliant
mind in some way. And this mind of man is able
to create things like computers and so forth, like this. It's
pretty amazing, isn't it, what all can be done now through Do
you believe that it took a brilliant mind to make computers and things
like that? Do you believe that? I don't.
No, no. I believe 11 billion years ago, floating around in space were
chips and resistors and circuit boards. It was an explosion. You're laughing. It's foolish,
isn't it? How much more foolish? See, God's
the one that made man's mind. I first heard that years ago,
and I thought about a man's watch, and I thought it was a wonderful
explanation of how foolish man is. He won't give God the glory.
He'll give man the glory, but not God the glory. And that's
what it says in Romans 1. It worships and serves a creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Well, enough
of them. Okay? Enough of them. God, our
Creator. Christ is our Creator. When our
Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, God was manifest in the
flesh. God, our Creator. They didn't
know Him then, and they don't know Him now unless He reveals
Himself. Look at Isaiah 45, this is wonderful. So many scriptures speak of our
Creator and of Christ. Isaiah 45, this is wonderful.
It says in verse 9, Woe unto him that striveth with his maker.
And surely Paul was speaking of this in Romans 9. Let the
potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall clay say
to him that fashioneth it, What maketh thou or thy work? He hath
no hand. Woe unto him that saith to his
father, What begettest thou? To the woman, what hast thou
brought forth? Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel,
and his maker. Whose maker? Israel's maker.
Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, concerning the work
of my hands. Command ye me. I have made the
earth and created man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched
out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. I have
raised him up in righteousness." Who's that? Christ. I'll direct
all his way. He shall build my city. He shall
let go my captive. Not for price, nor reward. And
down in verse 15 it says, Thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel. Verse 18, But thus saith the
Lord that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth
and made it, He established it, He created it, not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited.
I am the Lord, and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I sit not under the seat of Jacob.
Seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right." And then he went on to say, assemble
yourselves, draw near together. He said in verse 21, I am a just
God and a Savior. There's none beside me. Look
unto me and be saved. All the ends of the earth. I
am God. There is none else. Who's he talking about? God?
Yes. Christ? Yes. Both. They're one. Didn't Christ say,
I and the Father are one? He said, He that hath seen me. Now, no man has seen God at any
time. Right? Doesn't that's the scripture
say that? No man has seen God at any time. Job said, though,
I'm going to see God. Well, Christ said, He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. And those that called Him God,
like Thomas, He did not correct them. It is blasphemy, it's idolatry,
to worship Jesus Christ if He's not God. He's God. Just as much God as
God the Father is. God the Holy Spirit. So Christ came, God our Creator,
came to this earth. Now, there's not enough time
to declare His glory and the glory of His creation. You read
with me Psalm 104. That's a good description of
God's work. And as glorious as His creation
is, as marvelous as creation is, It all pales in comparison
to salvation, redemption, which is why Christ came, which is
why God made the universe to declare His glory. In Psalm 19
it says, It says that heaven declares
glory, the firmament showeth its handiwork day unto day. It
says in the heavens in the firmament, he made it a tabernacle for the
Son, whose goings forth have been loathed, who rejoices as
a strong man to run a race. Who's he talking about? The Son?
No, the Son of God. that God made everything as a
picture, as a type, as a symbol of Christ our Lord. He made time
for Christ to dwell in it. And the fullness of time God
sent forth His Son, made a woman. That's Sunday morning's message,
the woman's seed. But He came in time. I've been
singing, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, all day today. You say,
Christmas is over. We're going to sing it Sunday.
Because it talks about the second Adam. The woman's seed. That's a year-round song. Laid in time, behold Him come,
offspring of a virgin's womb. Christ came. Now, let me say
this before we get into Christ our light. That God made everything
by speaking it into existence, didn't He? Same way with salvation.
You know that? Same way in salvation. God spoke,
said, let there be light. And there was light. God said,
let there be this, let there be that. That's the creation.
God spoke it and it existed. Same thing in salvation. How's
there a new creation? God speaks. It's through the
Word. Through Christ. He said, my sheep
shall hear my voice. And the first thing they will
see is the light. of the knowledge of God in the
face of Christ. The glory of God in the face
of Christ. And he did that. Let me make one more comment
on creation. Then we'll go to the light. You
know that there are some professing Christians that believe in some
sort of evolutionary creation. You know that? They say that
when God made everything in one day, it wasn't really a day that
could have been How many times does God have to say the evening
and the morning for the first day? Six times. And Christ even, when He came,
He said, are there not twelve hours in a day? Day and night,
day and night. Genesis 9, He said everything
is going to be the same as it always were, day and night, day
and night. Okay? It's worse, it's worse unbelief
for a so-called believer to believe that than the rank atheist to
say there is no God. That's to bow to science. That's to compromise and say,
there must be something to it. So we're going to validate something
you said. No, sir. God said, let there
be light. He was right. God said, let there
be earth, trees. Right now. Right now. Okay? That's the way it was. You see, with man it's impossible.
And that's what makes God, God. As I told you, Christ said, let
there be wine. There was wine. Five loaves and
two fishes. They don't have anything to eat.
We have to go into town. No, you don't. So I hate that. I hate that people say that. Christ the light. When the Creator
became incarnate, the Creator, light came into this world. Light
shone in darkness. All through the Old Testament,
the world was in darkness, darkness, darkness, even Israel, darkness.
Isaiah talks about darkness, dimness, and anguish of spirit.
And Malachi, the end of the Lord, then there was silence for 400
years. Darkness. Then in one night,
in the fullness of time, one night, two thousand some years
ago, a light shone. A star. It pointed to somebody. Light
has come. People that sat in darkness are
about to see a great light. Go back to John 1. I should have
had you stay there. John 1 tells us that Christ the
Creator, John 1, you have it? John 1 says, all things were
made by Him. Verse 3, without Him was not
anything made that was made. That's Christ the Creator. In
Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light
shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
Verse 7, John came to bear witness of the light. Now he begins to
capitalize the word light. All men through him might believe
he was not that light. John wasn't, but sent to bear
witness of that light. That was the true light, that
lighteth every man that cometh into the world, Christ. He is
the light of the world. And 1 John, John wrote this,
God is light. Well, who's light? God is light
or Christ is light? Yes. They're both, they're one and
the same. There's something I want you to see that I saw for the
first time in Genesis 1. You should have known this, but
in Genesis 1, the first thing that God did in creation was
say, let there be light. Was there light? Did it take
a while? Light. When He gave eyes to that
blind man, did it take a while? There was light. There was light. God saw the light. He was good.
God divided the light from the darkness.
Oh, Christ is separate from Satan and holy. But this is not talking
about the Son. Look down in verse 14. He said,
Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, the day from the
night. Verse 15, Let there be lights
in the firmament of the heaven. Verse 16, A greater light to
rule the day, a lesser light to rule the night. So there was
light before there was a sun. Who? What? Christ. In Revelation, let me tell you
this. In Revelation 21, almost to the end of the book, it talks
about the city. There's no need of a temple.
The Lamb is the temple. It said don't need the sun either.
Why? The Lamb's the light there. God's going to distinguish this
Son. We don't need it. We don't need it. Because the
Son of Righteousness has come. And He is light. So, Christ is
the light. Son of light. And here's what
Peter said. And you know we're going to get
to 2 Corinthians 4 in just a minute, guys. You know that. But look
at 2 Peter. Go over here to 2 Peter. Chapter
1, 2 Peter 1, talking about God's Word and light and Christ. Now, he said, 2 Peter 1, Peter
said this. Verse 16, We have not followed
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. He received from God the Father
honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the
excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were
with him in the Holy Mountain. And we have also a more sure
word of prophecy, whereunto you do well. That's what you've got
in your hand, God's word. 2 Peter 1, 19. He do will to take heed to God's
Word. Why? Because the entrance of
His Word give it light. Light. Light of what? Light is
understanding. Light is knowledge. That's what
the Scripture says. Entrance of His Word. Entrance of the
Bible. Entrance of a person. The Bible
and a person. He said. Read on. He says, Take heed unto the light
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day
star arise in your heart. You know, it's not going to dawn
on you. The truth is not going to suddenly
dawn on you. Christ is through the preaching of His
Word. Now go to 2 Corinthians 4. Now go to 2 Corinthians 4. Just like there was darkness
on the face of the waters and void without form and void, that's
man's heart, isn't it? That was all of us. Without God,
without Christ, without light. Now here's what 2 Corinthians
4 said. It says, verse 3, our gospel
is hid, it's hid to them that are lost. God of this world has
blinded the minds of them which believe not. If I start to go
over and turn these lights off, if I did, you couldn't see, right? You can't see without light.
You're blind without light. If you have just a little bit
of light, And we see through a glass dimly, but we do see.
What is the light we see? In light of what? In light of
who? Christ. It's all in light of
Christ. This is knowledge. This is understanding. But so
the light, verse 4, the light is of the glorious gospel of
Christ, whose image of God, the express image Hebrews 1 says,
by whom he made the worlds. who God said, Thy throne, O God,
is forever. We believe that. No, that man
is God. That man is the light, the knowledge
of God. And verse 5 says, We preach not
ourselves. This is why we don't preach man
and his works and, you know, all of these theories and all
that. But Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servant for
Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. Here's what's happened. Just
like God created the heavens and the earth by speaking, this
is what happens in salvation. God speaks. He commands. Thou hast given commandment to
save men. And he sends the gospel, and
he shines in our hearts. Brings us out of darkness into
light. What light? The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now here's my
final point. In Luke 24, Luke 24, when our
Lord was preaching to His disciples, when our Lord was preaching to
His disciples, and beginning in the books of Moses and the
prophets and the Psalms, He said, Old fools and slow in heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. What did they speak
of? Christ. What about Christ? Crucified. Right after that he said, All
the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
and enter in His glory? Then he went on. Later he said,
These are the words I spoke unto you while I was with you. All
things must be fulfilled, written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets
and Psalms concerning me. Then he opened their understanding
that they might understand the Scripture and said, Thus it is
written, it behoove Christ to suffer. and rise from the dead
and enter into His glory. And repentance and remission
of sin be preached everywhere. So here's the point. Here's the
whole point of creation. Here's the whole point of salvation
of everything. Christ crucified. As I said,
He created the world and man's sin. And there's been 6,000 years
of darkness and sin. Light came. Christ. And Christ
came to give wisdom, understanding, the light of knowledge of who
God is. He said, no man knoweth the Son
but the Father, neither know any man the Father but the Son. He to whom the Son will reveal
if you don't know God, except in light of Christ. God's holy. He said, when you
pray, you say, hallowed. God's holy. God is righteous. God is just. He said, except
your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of scribes and
Pharisees, you're not into the kingdom of heaven. He's righteous. He's just. He will punish sin. How do we know that? How do we
know what God is like? Christ crucified. God crucified Christ. God put
his soul to grief. God punished sin in his Son. That's the God of the Bible.
That's our God. And that's why Christ came. To
reconcile us to God. To make peace. How? Not our silly
little decision. They're not something we do.
By blood. The blood of His cross. Oh, that's
old-fashioned. Yes, it's old. It's old as God.
This is the light of the knowledge of the gospel. That's why Christ
came. If righteousness come any other
way than Christ crucified, why did He die? God killed Him. God made His
soul an offering for sin. Why did Christ come? Sin. All
the way back 6,000 years ago in the garden, man, sin. And
ever since then, and Sunday's message is going to be of Christ
saying, somebody's coming. That's what the Old Old Testament
says. Someone's coming to do what? Put away sin. Save men
and women from their sin. Not all of them, but some of
them. Many of them. This is light, this is knowledge, this is understanding.
And when you have this, the whole, if your eye be single, what does
it say? Your whole body, the whole body
of divinity is full of light, full of Christ. When you see
Christ, that Christ is all and in all. You'll see Him in all
the scriptures. Everywhere. Just keeps opening
up. He really is all, you know. This whole book is about Jesus
Christ. He was to come into this world
to save sinners by the sacrifice of Himself. And in some days
it's going to destroy this place. We read that in Psalm 104, let
sinners be destroyed out of the earth. But those whom He's given
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, they're now
being made partakers, meet to be partakers with the angels
and the saints in light. We're going to dwell with Him
someday in light. We see that in the light of Christ.
We see what man is. We see what the world is. We
see what salvation is in light of Christ crucified. See, the
entrance of His Word, which is Christ, which is Christ preached
to the gospel. Give it light. Else there's no
light at all. To the law, John and I love Isaiah
820, don't we? We both memorized that about
the same time, 34 years ago. To the Law and to the Testimony. If they speak not according to
My Word, there's no light in them. And the Law and the Testimony,
the Law and the Prophets, everybody, everything speaks of Christ. If they speak not according to
Christ, about Christ, there's no light in them. I don't care
what they think they know about the Bible. If they don't see
Christ in it, they're in darkness. Aren't we blessed? Aren't we
blessed? Oh, my. And you know the world
doesn't care about this type. If you announce this, we're going
to preach on the types of Christ for several weeks or years, and
I wouldn't get a crowd, I'd get you. But that's fine. Our Lord is preaching to two.
on the road to Emmaus. And boy, their hearts were burning.
I said, stay! Keep preaching. He'd been preaching
for six hours. Keep preaching. Well, we're going to keep preaching. And what are we going to keep
preaching? Christ. Because He's all. Okay, stand
with me.