He sung that song. That song. You've heard of that song? You
don't know what song it was about? He sung about it. About the house
down in East Columbia. Boy, I'd like to hear it. Hear
it. I can't wait to sleep. He needs to sing. He likes to
sing that song. Genesis chapter one. Genesis
chapter one. What I intend to start doing,
or do, in the next several weeks is go
back through some of the Old Testament Spanish, the basic
gospel message. And so for the next several weeks,
we will look at some select Old Testament gospel messages. We'll go back to the beginning.
It's the end. Well, we started in our study
of Genesis over five years ago, and finished four years ago. And it occurred to me that there
could be someone here now that didn't get in on some of those
old standards. Raven, serpent, smitten, rock,
and so on. But that's what everybody wants
to hear. So tonight we begin where it
all began, the book Genesis. Genesis means
beginning. That's what it means. And all
doctrine, all doctrine, all truths, we've heard, had its beginning
right here, right here in the book of Genesis. The book of
Genesis tells us who God is, what he's like, how to worship
God, how God is known. The book of Genesis tells us
what man is by nature, what the world is, mankind. And since nothing has changed,
God has not changed, God is still known the same way. God still
acts the same way. God still saves the same way. Yes, he does. Mary hasn't changed. From the beginning, in the garden,
man has not changed. So tonight we're going to look
at the first three chapters. The first three chapters, creation
and the fall of man. I understand that you're going
to be. That's good. You have to now
get rid of this. I intend to simplify and be brief. I mean that. Brother, a brother
from Montana, John Mitchell, up in Fairmont, he said this.
He said, three most frequently used lies today are, number one,
the cheque's in the mail. Three. Three most frequently
used lies. Number one, the cheque is in
the mail. Number two, he said, I'm from
the government and I'm here to give it. He said, you really got to
watch out for them. And number three, I'll be brief.
But I intend to be good. All right. Genesis 1, verse 1. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. I won't have you turn too many
places after the first ten minutes or so. But Psalm 14, is it obvious
to you, should be obvious, that man no longer believes in Creator? Pretty obvious, isn't it? Man believes evolution as facts. Look, everything you read, every
magazine article on the origin of whatever it may be, Every
book, every documentary on television, Revelation is believed as fact. There's no mention whatsoever
of God in it, his creator. Psalm 14, let me tell you, verses
1-3-4, just two have said in his heart, there's no God. They're
correct. They have done abominable works.
There's none that do it good. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that could
understand and seek God, could understand and guide and seek
Him. There's a scripture that says,
should not man seek his Creator? The man doesn't believe there
is one. That's true. They all go aside.
They all together become filthy, stinking. There's none that do
it good, none of them. Chapter 19, Psalm 19. Now, here's
the man who knows. Here's the man whom God revealed
himself to. Listen to what he said. The heavens
declare the glory of God. And the firmament showeth His
handiwork. Day of the day are in speech,
night of the night showeth knowledge. There's no speech, no language.
It's where they're going, so that is day and night. It's not
there. Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter
1, where this psalm is quoted and alluded to. Romans chapter
1, tell us. Now, this chapter won't tell
us that this out-and-out rejection of the Creator... Now, listen
to this. The out-and-out rejection of
God as Creator is the reason for all manner of evil. All the evil that has come to
pass in this world is a result of this rejection of God as Creator. Let's read verse 18. The wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in or to them. God hath
showed it unto them in invisible things. of him from the creation of the
world, clearly seen, being understood by the things of the man, even
his eternal power and godliness. So, they are without excuse. And when they moved on from that
as creator, they glorified him not as God, became vain, were
not thankful, became vain in their imaginations. foolish heart
was darkened, professing themselves to be wise, they became foolish. Skip on down, verse 24, wherefore
God gave him up to uncleanness. Down to verse 28, as they did
not like to retain or acknowledge God, Creator, Ruler, Sovereign,
in their knowledge, all their knowledge, man knows a lot better. Technology as well as people.
They did not like to retain God, but God let it on their path.
God gave them a path. To a reprobate man, that is,
a man born of judgment, to do things which are not convenient,
being filled with error, and then it goes on to lead us to
all sins. Amen. All the result of man rejecting
God's Creator. You see that? Now back to Genesis
1. Back to Genesis 1. Now, in the beginning God created
all things as they are now. As they are now. It hasn't evolved
one hour. In this book we read that God
created such and such a thing in its, in that image, such and
such a thing in its image, in its image, in its image. and
so on. They're still looking for a missing
link, by the way, and they'll be looking for that all the time. We'll look at verses 1 through
3. In the beginning God created the heavens, heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form
and glory, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the
Spirit, kept the ways of God, moved upon the face of the world.
Verse 3, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. So who is God? These three persons. Did you see the three persons
there? Huh? God, Father, verse 2, God, the
Holy Spirit, verse 3, God said, God spoke the Word. The Word. There you have the triumph of
God. Where do you get triumph? Right there in the beginning.
That's where it all began, that's where it all started out, that
God is a trinity of persons. God was there and He was here.
It says, look at verse 26, it says, let us, God says, and God
said, let us. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, John
1. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God. And I mean we're all being created.
Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Three persons make up the Godhead. These three are one. And that's
all I can say about that. That's all any man can say about
that. The Father is God, the Son is
God, the Holy Spirit is God, they're all equal. They seem
to have separate offices, but it's the same purpose. They're
all equal. All right, let's go on. That's
where we get what we believe to be the Trinity. You know,
that one looks all right, the Trinity. The Trinity and God. Three persons. Now, look at verse
four. It's just wow, it's so good.
Verse four, God saw that it was good. Verse ten, God called the
dry land and the dirt and the earth and the dust and the yellow
water and called the sea. God saw that it was good. Verse
twelve, the last man said, God saw that it was good, the earth,
the grass and the earth. Verse 18, the sun, the moon,
God saw the leaves. Good. That's good. Verse 21,
whales and so forth, the wind and the fowl, God saw the leaves.
That's good. Good. Verse 25, and God made
the beast of the earth, that beneath the sky, a cattle, a
creeping thing, God saw the leaves. That's good. It's good. God said that it was good. This
earth, everything else, good. Good. The world is good. Man is bad. The world, names
of the world, God created, is good. There's no sin in that. Sins of man. In the letters to the Corinthians,
Paul said, the whole creation drowned because of man. Amen. Everything is created by God,
for God, and he said, it's good. Created to be enjoyed by us,
for the glory of God. Nothing wrong with it, except
sin. God's going to create. a new
heaven and a new earth. But I believe, based on scripture,
it's going to be very similar to this one. How can you improve
on it, when God says it's good? Ha ha! How can it? Both Don and I were driving through
a farm, Crossville, up through the heartland, you know, Kentucky
and Indiana, right up through there. Heartland, just up over
farmland. Just five hours of farmland,
rolling hills, red barns, green grass, and hay up. This was a
barrier for hay, everywhere. Hay was this high, we hadn't
cut it yet. Just raining in the wind, blue skies. My old way up and the new way
back. Rejoicing in God's creation. God's rescue. And so I believe
the new heaven and the new earth is going to be very similar.
Except this one thing. No sin. No sin. No possibility of sin. No possibility
of sin. All right? Now, God said, still,
now look at this, verse twenty-six, and God said, Let us make man
in our image. And then in verse thirty-one,
God, after that, after he made man, God saw everything, and
behold, he was married. God saved his greatest creation,
the last man. And he said, it's imperative.
It says, create man in the image of God. That's what it says.
God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them.
In the image of God. Amen. God's Spirit. Isn't it? God is spirit. Doesn't that mean it? Scripture
says, God is spirit. God willed it alive, which no
man can approach unto. And don't they have that same
God, or can see God? They don't. What's this image about? Job
said, you know, I'm going to see God. Well, God's spirit. Well, which is it? Both. God
is in Colossians 1. You'll like it. Colossians 1. Man was an image
of God. Man was created in the image
of God. Does God have an image? Yeah. He always has. Colossians 1. Here it is. Colossians 1, verse 13. It says, God hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. You can see what I mean. There's
a difference. Christ, as I always say, I mean,
says a child is normal. Christ will grow up on the surface.
But the Son was given. The Son, who was with the Father
from the beginning, as our great saint, had given him an image. What does it say? Create. Let us create man in our image,
in him who has all the fullness of the Godhead. Amen. Evidently, Christ is that image.
Always. Again, a body. A body. Because we're going to see in
a minute, he came walking in the garden. And there were many
manifestations of the Son of God throughout the Old Testament. All right? Back to the text from
Genesis. So somehow Adam, the first man,
bore the image, the likeness of Christ. the resemblance of
Christ. Certainly he had, when you talk
about an image of a person, you talk about the character
too, and certainly he bore some of the character of Christ. He
was a righteous man, a holy man. Do you remember reading there
1 Corinthians 15, it says, As is the earth and so are they
that are earthly, as the heaven and so will be created in the
image of the heaven. See that? We're going to be,
and we're going to say that these bodies will be fashioned like
unto His glorious body. And Christ took on that glorified
body after He arose from the grave and came back to the surface
and nobody recognized Him. to reveal himself. So somehow
Adam believed that he could. Now, that's fitting, because
we always talk about Adam as being the most beautiful creature
and man ever to live. He just looks like somebody.
You see what I mean? He just looks like we all forget
about that moment. You see, God already had his
son. So how am I going to make man? What am I going to make
man look like? Huh. I mean, look no further.
I'll make him look like that man. All right, in chapter 2. So man
is creating the image of God. But to look at man now, and there's
still many beautiful things about man, I read just to remind us
what man was, what man could have been, what man will be. But yet, for the most part, these
bodies, this figure, It's certainly not without flaw. They certainly
grow old and look at a little baby, and then you look at that
baby after 70, 80 years, and no resemblance whatsoever. And
the character of man, that's even uglier, the character
of man, there's no resemblance to that holy and righteous, perfect
man. Son of God, no resemblance. If
you look down deep within a man, you'll see nothing but what we
saw in that son of God. Corruption. Corruption. Ignorance
of thoughts, attitudes. What happened? What happened to me? What happened
to this beautiful creature in the image of God? He fell. He said, man lost their image
in the garden. Then he spoke, man became a corrupt
and fallen creature, dead in trespasses and sin. First man and woman's trespasses.
Remember that? They just walked all over God's
law and so forth. Chapter 10, verse 15. This is
the story. The Lord God took the man, put
him into the garden of Eden to dress him, to keep him. God put
man in a garden. In the beginning, God put man,
God made man, this beautiful creature. All right, I'm going
to give him something to do. Man's got to stay, basically.
He's got to work. Yes, he does. Stay a man right
from the beginning. But for pleasure. For pleasure,
it was pleasure. There was no oil, no pissing,
no sweat, no blood, no... It was fun. It was fun. What God had man do? He was a
farmer. He tended a garden. That's significant
because man now lives in cages. God put man in a garden, a tent,
and a sky for a roof, a grass for a carpet. Man now lives in a cage of concrete
and steel. No wonder man is mad or crazy. Man is slowly destroying all
the dirt. And that's all the 40% of the farmland in this country
has been destroyed. And people are overpopulating
the food supplies. Now, I didn't say that so that
you'll join grim pace. Now, ten-year-old garden, don't
try to save planets. It's too late. Honestly, don't
be taking over that stuff. Ten-year-old garden. But this
planet, it's gone. It's gone. Has been from the
beginning. When God put man in the garden, in verse 17, he said,
I have a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it. And the thing you eat thereof,
thou shalt surely die. You eat that tree. God put a
tree in the middle of the garden. What was that tree? What kind
of tree was it? I don't know why man always depicts
an apple tree, huh? No, he doesn't say it's an apple
tree. But what kind of tree it was is not important.
That's not important. It's a mystery. The fact is that
God put something in that garden as a symbol of his authority,
as a symbol that he reigns. Man was, in effect, a little
king, a little sovereign. Was he not? He's put—God said
to the man, you want to multiply and replenish the earth, so do
it. It's your earth. My goodness. My goodness. By the way, our whole earth is
full of good things. Here, have at it. Well, you've got to put this
tree in there, and what it was is not important, but it was
a symbol of his authority, that I'm the creator and you're the
creature. I create you, you answer to me. I create you, I own you. Cannot I be with my own, but
I will, anything I will. Three, commandment, restraint. And I, hmm? Now these people
out here are trying to do it by the Creator, because they're
not in my hands yet. But I haven't made it yet. I haven't made it yet, but I
try to. Well, it all started here. And
I'll start it here. You might ask a question. Someone
may ask this question. If man was created perfect, how
did he die? If man was created perfect, how
did he die? The best way I can answer that
is this. Man was created in the image
of God, but he's not God. Instead, God cannot be tempted
with sin. In Him is no sin. Cannot be tempted
with sin. Cannot sin. God is holy. Man is created in the image of
God, but He is not God. Man had a righteousness like
unto God, but it wasn't God's righteousness infused, imputed
and infused to him. It was a righteousness of a man.
But now, and now in the good, in the wisdom of God, in the
wisdom of God, God did everything the way he did everything to
bring in a better righteousness. And he could have the second.
But so that in the end, a new heaven and a new earth, there
would be no possibility of this ever happening again. No possibility. And then you
have the headship. You have man, all creatures come
from man, and so on. But we don't have time to go
over that. But man has free will. This is
important. Man was created with a free will. Do as you please. Choose good,
choose evil. That was within the power of
man. Man was created with a free will. What did man choose? Rebellion. Evil. He chose evil. All right? Man no longer has
a free will. This is what God said. You eat
and you'll die. What's that mean? You will die. Your spirit will die. Your eyes
will be blinded. Oh, but you said their eyes were
open. See, they're nakedness and they're guilt and they're
sin. But man died in sin. He died. Dying, thou shalt die.
It was three days. I thought there was two until
Maxine Poole set me straight. It was three days. The spiritual day, that's communion
with God. That's what happened here. Physical
day. It said there, dying, thou shalt
die. Man started dying. Adam lived
nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. And then the next
man, his son, lived so long, and progressively, man's years
began to get shorter, didn't they? Until now, man has died
for what? Seventy. Seventy years. Seventy
years. So man is dying. And the third
day of his eternal day, he unleashed it. Unleashed. And we all take part
in the first two. We don't have to. We don't have to take part in
the third. I didn't have the serpent. I
checked the proof. First point, here's the, here's
what happened. The serpent was more subtle than
any beast in the field. It's the Lord God's name. I don't
understand what the serpent was, but I believe it was Satan in
the form of the serpent thing. Satan's an angel, but I believe
he took the form of the serpent. Well, the serpent said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of
the garden? Now, who did he speak to? No one. Paul mentions that, doesn't
he? Doesn't Paul mention that? He said the woman being in a
transgression was the spirit, not the man. Creation, you know,
there's an order. That was her funeral. In God's creation. You don't
see an ERA movement above here, do you? You don't see lionesses protesting
for equal rights. If things are right there, man's
got a problem. This is where it starts. Well, he appealed to the woman. He married her. He married her. And we caressed him. Well, half God's sake, how do
you feel? Women don't get offended by it. Don't you dare. You've got a problem. Because
that's what God said, not me. Had God said, have me appeal
this one, a big question mark on God's Word. Had God said,
this is where sin started. The question was placed on God's
Word. Now God's Word is absolute truth.
Just like what I just said about the Lord. That's absolutely true.
That's not up for debate. That's not up for argument. That's
not up for interpretation. That's it. A believer said, that's
it. You see, God used to be a believer.
Now, I didn't say he believed in God. How many people have
you heard say that? Well, I believe in God. You see,
he was a believer once too. James said the devil believes
in one God and in a better world than that. It's ridiculous. That's
not salvation. That's not faith, to believe
in a God. Salvation is to believe God. Believe God. What does that mean? To believe in sin. To believe
God is God the Creator. He created things like this.
Order. Man, woman. Woman over man. Help me. Christ, man, love. Hmm? That's the way to go. If you
believe God, you say, hmm? That's right. It's good. And
if you believe God, you say, it's good. Whatever God created
in heaven, well, it's good. It sure is a mess now, isn't
it, ladies? It sure is a mess now. Where do
we get from that order, that principle? To believe God is
to believe that God has chosen you and everybody else, and everybody
else is a lie. Now, all sin is unbelief. You
know that? All sin has at its root unbelief. All sin. Because God said it. God has absolute truth. And all sin is unbelief. In other words, God set forth
law. And whatever's against that law
comes from man saying, I don't like that law. I'm going to do
what I want. And all unbelief, but it has,
this is how it happens. Right here, look at it. All right, God, Satan had a question
mark on God's work. Has God said? And then the woman started talking,
and then verse three. First of all, the serpent said,
you shall not die. First he puts a question on God's
Word, and then the next thing he just flatly denies it. Now this is what, this is how
it all began, and it's worse now. Even those who claim to be speaking
for God are standing there flat-axed, questioning, being benign. And then the next thing that
happens, Satan does, is, verse 5, God doesn't know, but he starts
telling her what he thinks about God. You see that? That's what it all began. And
now it's gone to its fruition. It's gone to seed. Question God's
will. You may ask, does it really say
that? God, did he really elect the
people? No. No, he didn't. No, this is the way it is. See? That's what it is. That's what
it is. It's done. I know it says, there's a saying
in there, I know it says it's something, but, but, no, he didn't
mean that. Here's what I think it means. You see, that's classical mankind. God works totally, but not men
that believe in God. Believe in God. Well, and men
Satan have got to hurt. That's Satan. Paul, one of his
letters. I don't know who that is. When
did that start? A quarter of a year? Well, Satan
tempted the woman with first six. So, the tree was good for
food, pleasant for the eyes, the tree desired me to make one
of my eyes, she took eight and gave it to her husband. That's
three things that God deals with. Lust of the flesh, lust of the
eyes, and pride. That's been Satan's ploy from
the beginning. And still uses it. Still uses it. Physical desire,
desire to be something better, sense of self-worth and knowledge
and so on. And here's the evidence of the
first seven. They were naked. They were first
naked. You want to go back to yourself and read this. It's
interesting. Because it says, in chapter 2,
verse 25, they were naked and were not ashamed. They were naked
and were not ashamed. And the next thing, the serpent
come. And then the first thing they realized, they were naked.
That's significant. That's significant. The poor
man, see him, he didn't even cover him. And the worst sin of all that
he did was what he did to try to cover himself. It says in
verse 7, they were naked and they had some fig leaves together.
First thing they did when they realized that sin, They was up there naked, and
they got some tea leaves. Let's see, let's find a tree
that we can cover up in it. Tea! I don't know if the leaves were
bigger than the others or whatever. I don't know, but they got them
chopped. There was only one plant on this
earth that I know of, curse. That was it. I located this plant,
and he walked along with it, and he saw a fig tree. There's
no fruit on it. You can't recover it, and you
can't produce any fruit by yourself. That fig tree, and our Lord said,
curse that fig tree. The man's attempt to cover himself
was cursed by God. One thing to cover, and we'll
see that in thirty-eight seconds. All right, it says in verse seven,
they were ashamed. Verse twelve, Adam blamed the
woman, the woman blamed the serpent. Blame, bitterness, hatred, shame,
sin. And then from then on, bam, exploded
sin just, there were only two of them. The more he did, the worse it
gets. Then the world started exploding until the flood came.
God said, that's enough. And it ended out again on the
8th. And it exploded again, and here
it is now. God's the only one who can say, that's enough. All men have sinned. Come by
this vile creature. He wasn't vile from the beginning.
But he is now. Man's dead, and the fallen creature,
he needs help. The man needs help. He's in a
mess. He can't get himself out of it.
He's a slave to his will, a slave to his passions. He's a servant
to sin. He's a captive by the captor,
Satan himself. He needs somebody to do something
for him. Well, who's he going to be? What's
he going to be? Isaiah 45, 9. God's going to
have to come down. Salvation belongs unto the Lord. God first preached the gospel.
This is the first gospel message ever preached, and God first.
God first. Verse 15, God said to the serpent,
I'll put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed. Serpent and the woman's seed. Woman and that seed. A woman doesn't have seed. Man impregnates with sperm, and
that's what seed is. Sperm is seed. Woman doesn't
have seed. Man has seed. What's this woman's
seed? It's a virgin born son. A virgin born. It's seed, all
right, but it doesn't have a woman. Somebody said, you know what,
it didn't feel good already. There's going to be a sinless
man. Does that seem that way to you?
The moment of sleep, the face is wearing out. So God preached
it and said, He shall know it, that woman's seed shall fruitify
her head, that is, crush the serpent's head. Power, authority,
reign, rule, sin shall not have dominion over you. The seed said
one day. The seed walked the planet. The
Word was made flesh. The seed was made flesh. It walked
the planet and said, Now is the judgment of the flesh of this
world. Now is He cast out. And when you send it on high,
you let it get under his ego. But now he knows that the moment
stays here. He's long apart. Christ's right hand, I got a
picture of that, sir. The moment stays here. But then
God preached this first. He preached minutes from it.
He preached the seed, and then he said, I'm going to show you
what he's going to do. Here's what he's going to do.
Verse 21. But to add also, he's writing, the Lord God made coats
of steel. God killed an innocent animal. He said, those dead men don't
come if everyone wills. Just like your goodness, your
righteousness, and we're not covering you. Don't even try
it. I've got servants with me. I'm
going to scan around. What kind of animal are you?
I'll just pray for a second. There's a man. There's a man. And that's Christ. All right. You have something to look forward
to, I believe. And I'll be brief. Thank you
for this book. We most especially thank you
for opening it up to us, opening our understanding. Lord, we do preach in part, though,
and know in part. We pray for further understanding,
revelation. It is a revelation. We ask you
to reveal it to us. We don't know anything we ought
to know. We've studied these things before, but it's still
brand new to us. So open them to our understanding
and teach us, instill these things in us. And while the world is
rejecting thy word, is ignorant of it, and in darkness let us
not be in darkness either as others, but make thy word a lamp
under our feet and a light under our path. Open our understanding. While you're in the world of
the ripple-baked man, O Lord, let us have the mind of Christ,
we pray. Through that work is this. In
Christ's name, we are subdued. Amen.