My message this morning is in
the beginning. I can't think of a more appropriate
subject with which to begin the new year. In the beginning. You will turn to the first chapter
of the book of Genesis. I want to encourage you all I
can to read the scriptures, read the scriptures consistently,
so maybe I will assign myself a lesson this coming year to
encourage you to keep up with the Bible readings day by day. I'm going to try every Sunday
morning through the year to bring a message to you from some portion
of our reading during that previous week, so you keep up with the
readings and you'll have my text and be familiar with it each
Sunday morning. The Word of God opens with this
simple statement of fact. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. That's all we're told concerning
the original creation. No argument is given to prove
God's existence. Instead, his existence is simply
affirmed as a fact to be believed. It cannot be proved by anyone. It needs not be proved to anyone. All men are conscious of God's
being, whether they acknowledge it or not, whether they admit
it or refuse to admit it. All men know that God is, and
the scriptures begin with the affirmation of this fact. In
the beginning, God. Nothing is written in the book
Nothing is written in this book to gratify man's vain curiosity
about God. Nothing. I suggest that you put
aside curious questions that lead to no benefit to your soul
or anyone else's. I get questions from folks all
the time. Folks ask foolish things, things to which there is no answer.
And I will ask them, trying to be helpful, why do you ask the
question? And usually it's just, I wanted
to know. Why do you want to know anything that will be of no benefit
to you or to anyone else? Leave foolish questions for fools. This book is not given to answer
curious questions for anyone. Nothing is given to gratify man's
curiosity. How long did it take for God
to create the world? We're not told. How old is the
world? We're not told. We're simply
told in the beginning God created. You see, divine truth is simply
stated clearly stated as matter of fact. Fact to be believed,
and you cannot understand it except as you believe it. You
can teach creation all you want to, and I suggest that you teach
your children all about creation. But you're not going to understand
creation until you believe God. And when you believe God, you
have no difficulty understanding creation. In the beginning, God. That's the foundation of all
truth. All doctrine, all true theology,
all true religion begins here. In the beginning, God. All human
religion, all human philosophy begin with man and work up to
God. The scriptures begin with God
and work down to man. If we would understand anything
about God's creation, we must begin here, in the beginning,
God. If we would understand anything
about the Word of God, we begin here, in the beginning, God. This book is written by God.
If we would understand anything about divine providence, the
affairs of this world, go back here, in the beginning, God. And the same is true with regard
to God's salvation. In the Garden of Eden, Adam sinned
against God and brought death. But God wasn't taken by surprise. Adam's sin was not something
that God had not anticipated. Adam's sin was not something
that God had not planned for. Adam's sin was not something
that somehow had escaped God's decrees. Oh, no. The scripture
tells us plainly that in anticipation of the fall, The Lord God raised
up the Lord Jesus Christ before ever the worlds were made as
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world. In the new creation,
the sinner who's saved by grace repents, believes on the Lord
Jesus, and walks with him in the newness of life. But it all
begins with God. In the beginning, God chose us
in Christ. In the beginning, God blessed
us in Christ. In the beginning, God predestinated
us to be his children in Christ. And today, because he first loved
us, we love him. It always, everything begins
with God. If we understand this fact, this
fact of divine revelation in the beginning God. That's the
starting point of everything. Understand that and you won't
go far astray on anything. The book of Genesis is called
the book of beginnings. In fact, the word Genesis means
beginning. Someone said the book of Genesis
is the seed plot of the Bible. By that they're telling us that
everything taught and the rest of the Bible in its seed is found
in the book of Genesis. God's revealed here. He's revealed
as the creator, as the Lord God omnipotent, our covenant keeping
God, our almighty God, the most high possessor of heaven and
earth. From the opening verse, hints are given concerning the
divine trinity, plurality of persons in the Godhead. In fact,
the very name God, the word that's translated God here, Elohim,
has the idea of a plurality of persons within the Godhead. And
the Lord God said, let us make man in our image and after our
likeness. God speaks to God and says, let
us make man in our image and after our likeness. The original
character of man is set forth in the scriptures. First, we
see him as God's creature. Then we see him as a fallen sinner.
Then we see him as one brought back to God by the work of God's
own grace. Satan's devices are exposed.
He casts doubt upon God's word. He calls into question the veracity
of God and by those things tempts us away from him. God's sovereign
election is exhibited in this book. The Lord God chose Abraham
and called him out of the land of Ur. Among all the idolaters
there, God chose Abraham. The Lord God chose Abraham's
son Isaac, but not Ishmael. The Lord God chose Jacob and
hated Esau. That's the picture of God's sovereign
grace. Salvation in and by Christ Jesus
is certainly portrayed in the third chapter of Genesis, Adam
and Eve falling. Have the gospel preached to them.
And the Lord Jesus comes to Adam and Eve in the garden. And before
he expels them from the garden, he slays an innocent victim in
their stead. And with that innocent victim,
clothes them, covering their nakedness, portraying himself
as our sacrifice, slain for us by whose righteousness we are
forever clothed before God. Abraham, we're told, believed
God. And it was counted to him for
righteousness. That's justification by faith. Not justification accomplished
by faith. Oh, no, no, no. Justification
is accomplished by Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Adam was justified before he
fell. But justification is received by faith. Abraham, believing
God, had righteousness charged to him, counted to him in his
own conscience, so that, believing Christ, sinners receive that
free justification that Christ accomplished for us at Calvary.
The believer's everlasting and fallible security in Christ is
beautifully displayed in the ark. You remember God commended
Noah to make an ark. And then he called Noah and his
family into the ark and the scripture says the Lord shut them in So the Lord Jesus is our ark
of salvation The Lord God calls us by his grace into the ark
and the Lord shuts us in Sealing us by his spirit unto everlasting
life so that the Savior says I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish The list could go on and on The incarnation
of Christ is prophesied. The substitutionary sacrifice
of Christ is portrayed. The resurrection and exaltation
of Christ symbolized. Our Savior's priesthood is set
before us. And the blessings of Christ upon
the Israel of God, all are anticipated in the book of beginnings. Genesis,
the book of beginnings. Here, everything speaks of Christ. He's the tree of life in the
midst of the paradise of God. He's the woman's promised seed.
Christ is the lamb whose blood was represented in Abel's sacrifice.
Christ is that ram God would provide himself for a burnt sacrifice. Christ is the one in whom Enoch
believed, with whom Enoch walked, by whom Enoch pleased God. Christ
is Abraham's promised seed, in and by whom all the nations of
the earth shall be blessed. Christ is the ladder, the ladder
that Jacob saw by which God comes down to man and man goes up to
God. By which all the blessings of
heaven come down to man from God and by which we ascend up
to God. Christ is that priest who met
Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings. He's that priest
after the order of Melchizedek without father, without mother,
without beginning of days nor end of life. He's that priest
who is king of righteousness and king of peace. Christ is
our Joseph. He sets prime minister over God's
universe and all the storehouses of heaven are in his hands and
he opens them to the benefit of his people. Christ is the
lawgiver who was prophesied as being that one who would come
out of Jacob. Christ is the surety set forth in Judah. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, then, as we go through this book of beginnings,
is as he is in all scripture, all and in all. I said all that
because I want you who hear my voice to know him. I want you
to know him of whom the book speaks, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. I want you to know him and trust
him. Oh, God, give you grace and give
me grace to consecrate ourselves wholly to him. Holy to Him. Let nothing intrude between you
and the Savior. Let nothing come between you
and the worship and service of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing. I recall, Bobby, when Judy first
came out here and asked me if I'd marry the two of you. And
you'd been religious. You don't mind me telling this,
do you? You'd been religious all your life. Didn't go to church
much, did you? Made a profession of faith as
a boy. And I said, of course I will. I said, but I've got
to say this, you know what you're getting. And you're not going
to change him. You'd be a good wife to him.
Love him. And don't nag him about coming
to church. Make him welcome to come, but
don't nag him about coming to church. But don't let him keep
you from worshiping God. Nothing. Nothing. Let nothing
come between you and the Savior. Nobody. Not husband, not wife,
not children, not grandchildren. Nothing. Let nothing come between
you and worshiping and serving the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
you to know Him of whom the book speaks. As in the creation, in the beginning,
everything is God's work. The work of the triune God for
the glory of Christ our Savior. So it is in the new creation. Let's look this morning particularly
at Genesis chapter 1 verses 26, 27, and 28. As we focus on the
beginning, I want to give you a picture of how things were
in the beginning. And I want you to understand
that nothing has changed. We'll see how things were in
the beginning. and understand that nothing has changed. Nothing
has changed. People talk about signs of the
times. They say, well, it was in the
days of Noah. It was in the days of Lot. People eat and drink
and marry and are given in marriage. What else do you do? That's called living on this
earth. Folks eat and drink and marry and they're given in marriage.
That's what people do. That's how God put us on this
earth. Nothing's changed. Our Lord is saying, as it was
in the beginning, so it shall be in the end. As it was in the
beginning here, so it is today. Nothing's changed and nothing's
going to change until God makes all things new. Genesis chapter
one, verse 26. God said, let us make man in
our image and after our likeness, And let them, let man, them,
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created
man in his own image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them. And God blessed them. And God
said unto them. be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the
fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth. The wise man Solomon
understood that all the problems men have in this world are the
result of the sin and fall of our father Adam. Adam's original
sin is the origin of evil, of sorrow, and of death in this
world. Solomon said, lo, this only have
I found. God made man upright. But they've sought out many inventions.
There is none, not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good
and sinneth not. God created our father Adam morally
upright and righteous in the image of Christ. But Adam sinned,
and sinning plunged all the human race into spiritual death under
the curse of God's holy law in sin. Now, I want us to look at
several things revealed here concerning man. First, the creation
of man. I recall hearing Brother Mahan
tell years ago about an event that took place during the days
of the Great Depression. He said a fellow was working
a soup line in Chicago and feeding folks as they did in those days
who were hungry. Folks would just line up and
get soup where they could. And this fellow spotted a man back
a ways in the line who just looked different. He had on what was
obviously at one time a very expensive, costly suit, well
attired. It was ragged, worn, dirty, but
well attired. And the man obviously looked
like he had at some time been a man of some means and position
and stature in society. And the man got to the fellow
who was serving the soup, and he saw him just sort of staring
at him, looking him over. And he said, I've seen better
days. I look in the mirror every morning
and I say, I've seen better days. Things were not once as they
are now for humanity. Men were not always what we are. Adam was created in the image
and likeness of God. Wow. The scriptures speak plainly
about Adam. describing him as the first man,
Adam, that one from whom God made all men. God hath made of
one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the
earth and that determined the time before appointed and the
bounds of their habitation. I can't add anything to what
men have already said concerning man's creation. I won't attempt
to do so. But I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are
God's works in my eyes. In his original state, man was
created body, soul, and spirit in the image of God. What does
that mean? Certainly it implies intellect,
emotion, and will. No question about that. It includes
the fact that man was given dominion over all creatures in the earth
and over the earth itself. It includes the fact that everything
in the earth was made by God for man. Now, that's shocking
to this generation. The dogs and the cats and the
frogs and the fish and the trees and the snails were all made
for you. They were made for you. You were
not made for them. Isn't that amazing? This generation
somehow got the idea that we're to worship the earth as mother
earth and we're to treat creatures of the earth as though they were
human beings. God made the earth for man, not
man for the earth. Man was created also in the living,
undying, immortal character of God, given an immortal soul.
Man created in the image of God involves at least these three
things. God created man upright. I mean upright physically. God
created Adam in his image physically. Now, wait a minute, preacher.
God's a spirit. He doesn't have a body. You know,
I was aware of that. I really was. I knew that. God
doesn't have eyes and ears and nose and hands, but the God-man
does. And the God-man is the only one
ever spoken of in this book as the image of God. Jesus Christ
stood before God before the world was as our mediator. And the
triune God who said, let us make man said, let's make man just
like him. And the first Adam was made in
the image of the last Adam. He was made in the image of him
that was to come, upright. So that man was made to look
upward to God. Unlike the four-footed beast,
which are animals of which man is not one, man was made to look
upright. to stand erect on two feet, one
to set his mind and his heart on things above, not on things
on the earth. Man was created upright physically
in God's image. As a matter of fact, the word
anthropos, from which we get our word anthropology, you know
what that is, don't you? You folks who've been to school.
Anthropology is the study of man. It's the study of man. When you go to high school science
teacher, your college professor, and they talk about anthropology
and talk about man being a caveman, crawling around like an ape,
ignorant, foolish, unlearned, reminding that the word anthropology
comes from a word that means one who walks uprightly. That's what the word means. Man
was created walking uprightly in God's image. Adam was not
only created uprightly before God physically, he was made in
the image of God morally. Upright, righteous, righteous,
innocent, holy, without flaw, without weakness, without imperfection,
perfect. I often try to imagine what Adam
and Eve must have looked like. I'm convinced we don't have a
clue. A perfect specimen of humanity
with perfect intelligence. With perfect intelligence. For
Adam to name every creature on the earth That was startling
even for Plato to consider. What? One man named every creature
under the heaven? Wasn't a problem for a perfect
man. Adam was created perfect. Perfect. With all the fullness
of human faculties without depravity or corruption. Adam was created
without any propensity or bias towards sin. The bias of his
nature was toward God. He was created in the image of
God. And he was created in the image
of God typically. We're told plainly that Adam
was the figure of him that was to come. Romans chapter 5. We
sinned and fell in one man and by another man we live. By one
man's disobedience, we were made sinners. By another man's obedience,
we're made righteous. So that God deals with all men
in two men, the first Adam and the last Adam. Adam was made
to be a type of Christ who was to come. The angels that sinned,
they sinned one by one. And sinning one by one, the angels
that fail are held in chains of darkness until the day of
judgment and everlasting condemnation. There's no hope of grace, no
hope of mercy, but man sinned in a representative man. Man
fell in a representative man. Man transgressed in a representative
man. Man was lost by a representative
man. There's hope in the very picture. Maybe there's another representative
man. And blessed God there is. His
name is Jesus Christ, the last Adam, by whom all who are in
him live, are made alive before God. The fall then. portrayed itself, that which
was to come to pass in the accomplishment of grace. Man was originally
created in the image of God. Man was God's crowning work. On the sixth day, God made man. And then he crowned him. Then
he crowned him. God brought all creation to Adam
and said, you name him. You name him. Thou hast made
him a little lower than the angels, David sang, and has crowned him
with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou has put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beast of the field,
and the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the sea. That's a subject worthy of more
attention than I can give it here. But God planted a garden
called the Garden of Eden for man. He made the garden before
he made the man. Nobody knows where it was. No
need trying to find it. That's one of those things, fellas.
Where was Garden of Eden? Do you know they think they found
the Garden of Eden? Nobody knows where it was. God's got it well
hid. But he made a garden for Adam. For Adam. A garden in which he
provided for Adam everything to sustain his life. And God
gave Adam everything he needed in that garden to maintain and
enjoy life. It was a tree of life, which
portrays Christ the tree of life. That garden was full of water. It had rivers of water, rivers
with four heads surrounding the garden, four branches, portraying
Christ Jesus, our Lord, who is the river of the water of life. The Lord God put Adam in the
garden and gave him the privilege of keeping it, of keeping it. Do you know what Adam did in
the garden? He worked. He worked. We've got the idea
that work is somehow punishment. No, work's good for you. You
young people need to learn this. Mamas and daddies need to learn
this. Children need to learn to work a whole lot more than
they need to learn to play. We all know how to play real
well. Work's good for you. It's good for you. The problem
that we have is there's toil in our labor because of sin.
But Adam served God in the garden. Don, you know what Adam was?
He was God's gardener. That's what it was. He was sent here to till the
ground without any sweat, without any toil, but to serve God. When God makes all things new,
David, there's not going to be much difference, I don't think,
except one thing, then and now. Then there'll be no sin. will
serve Him forever. The angels of God have no sin.
They're His servants. They serve Him day and night,
with joy and delight, as Adam did in the garden. And so it
is with God's people today. We are His servants, anticipating
a day when we shall serve Him perfectly. And God made Adam
to have dominion over all creation. Then the great, wise, holy Lord
God made and helped meet for Adam. Look at chapter 2, verse
21. And the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam. And he slept, and he took one
of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the
rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and
brought her unto the man. Adam said this is now bone of
my bones and flesh of my flesh She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man therefore shall a man leave his father
and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall
be one flesh and They were both of them naked The man and his
wife and were not ashamed They had nothing to be ashamed of.
They were naked. Adam was formed first out of
the dust of the ground, then Eve. I'm not pausing because I'm looking
for something to say. I want everybody's ear paying attention.
Colin and Ann are going to be married next month, the Lord
willing. We talked about it a little bit the other day. So I'll talk
to the two of you and everybody else can listen in, all right? Adam and Eve were not equal partners
in a self-gratifying relationship. They were man and woman, husband
and wife, living together in love for God and for one another. That makes for a happy home.
Living together and love for God and one another. The relationship
is beautiful. And the picture gives of Christ
and his church. Adam was put into a deep sleep
and he was taken from his side. So the Lord Jesus was put to
death, wounded in his side, his heart wounded when he was made
sin for us and wounded by the soldier's spear. and we were
taken from our Savior's side. As Eve was taken from Adam's
side, so the church is born from the wounded side of the second
Adam. As Eve was created for Adam, not Adam for Eve, so the
church is created for Christ. As Eve was to be obedient to
Adam in all things, so the church is to be obedient to Christ in
all things, as Adam was in all things responsible for Eve. I remind you of this again in
a month. You take that girl to be your wife, you become totally
responsible for her life, spiritually and physically. A man in his
house is king and priest in his house by God's ordinance. I don't
like that. That doesn't change a thing.
You're still responsible. So our Lord Jesus, the last Adam,
stood before God, totally responsible for his church. As Adam willingly became sin
and died under the wrath of God because of his love for Eve,
so Christ willingly became sin and died under the wrath of God
because of his love for us. So ought men to love their wives
as Christ loved the church. As Adam by his disobedience brought
Eve into death and condemnation. So Christ,
by his obedience, brought his church into life and blessedness. As Eve was created the same day
that God made Adam, God formed a perfectly masterful image. And then he breathed. into that
clay doll, and Adam became a man. And then after that, Eve was
created there. Remember, she's taken from Adam's
rib. Eve was created there when Adam was created. Afterward,
she was brought forth and presented to Adam. So it is we stood before
God, one with Christ from everlasting. When he stood forth as our covenant,
sure to take. And then at the appointed time,
we're brought forth in life and presented to the Savior. Now,
here's the third thing. God created man, then God crowned
him, and God made a covenant with him. Look at chapter 2,
verse 16. The Lord God commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. Brother Don, that's a command,
not a covenant. I beg your pardon. God tells us it's a covenant.
Listen to this, Hosea chapter six, verse seven. They, like
Adam, had transgressed the covenant. There have they dealt treacherously
with me. So God calls this command he
gave a covenant. It was a covenant made with Adam,
a covenant of works. It was a covenant sanctioned
by the promise of life and the threat of death. The only thing
God required of Adam was perfect, personal, perpetual obedience. That's all required. The covenant
was soon broken by Adam. And we were plunged into death.
So it is that God made a covenant with the last Adam. For us a
covenant of grace, for him a covenant of works. And the covenant is
sanctioned by promise of life. Ask of me and I'll give you the
heathen for your inheritance. And the only thing God requires
is perfect, personal, perpetual obedience. And Christ fulfilled
it. And we in him. And now we live
by him, the last Adam. Now, here's the fourth thing.
Scriptures teach us emphatically and constantly that which is
commonly referred to as original sin. That is to say, all men
and women became sinners when Adam sinned. And we're born as
sinners. utterly depraved, shapen in iniquity,
conceived in sin. The fall of Adam made room for
and necessity for the coming of Christ. Had there been no
fall, there would have been no Redeemer. Had there been no fall,
there would have been no salvation. Had there been no fall, there
would have been no grace. Had there been no fall, there
would have been no recovery. Had there been no fall, there
would have been no experience of the love of God revealed in
Jesus Christ, the sinner's substitute. Oh yes, this too. was ordained
of God. God did not say unto Adam, if
you eat, he said, in the day that you eat thereof, you shall
surely die. Because the fall was according
to God's purpose, that by which a door was opened for God to
send his son into the world for the saving of sinners. Now, let
me show you this last thing and I'll wrap this up. Adam sinned. And when Adam sinned, Eve sinned
in Adam. Now read the scriptures carefully.
Mark, when Eve took that fruit, whatever it was, nothing happened
to her. Nothing happened to her. God didn't say to Eve, when you
eat the fruit, you'll surely die. That's not what He said.
He said to Adam, before ever Eve was made, in the day you
eat thereof, you shall surely die. When Eve rebelled, she didn't
die. When Eve took the fruit, her
eyes weren't open. She was deceived. Adam was fully
aware of what he was doing. And when Adam sinned, Eve sinned
and Adam. When Adam sinned, then they both
understood they were naked. When Adam sinned, they were both
made sinners. When Adam sinned, they both died. When Adam sinned, they were both
lost. Adam ruined her. But Adam could
never recover her. Sin comes from man, nothing else. If man's to be converted, if
man's to be redeemed, if man's to be saved, God steps in to
time. God steps in to creation. And God stepped in to the garden.
He came to Adam. In chapter 3, in verse 9, Adam,
where art thou? Chapter 3, verse 15, the Lord
God himself preached the first gospel sermon to Adam and Eve,
promising that Christ would become the seed of woman. And before
he drove them out of the garden, he made the sacrifice for Adam
and Eve and clothed them in his righteous, in the innocent skins,
in the skins of that innocent lamb. That's exactly what it
does for us. God's own dear son dying in our
stead, and we are covered with his righteousness. The Lord Jesus comes in his mighty
grace and recovers us from the fall in the new creation by the
sacrifice of himself. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Verse
17. In the beginning, God created
man. He crowded him. Gave him dominion
over all his creation. Made a covenant with him that
man broke. Man was brought into corruption and then converted
by the work of God alone. So it is in the new creation.
2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. New creature. We read earlier in Exodus 12,
this month should be the beginning of months for you. Oh, may God make this day the
beginning of days for you. New creature. Imagine that, new
creature. You can remember the days of
cassette tapes videocassette tapes, push the rewind button and start
all over. What would you give if you could
push the rewind button and start over, clean slate with no possibility
of ever corrupting it? No possibility of ever damaging
it. Oh, brother Don, that's impossible.
With men it is. But if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are gone. Our sins, Christ put away by
the sacrifice of himself. And behold, all things are new.
A new name, a new nature, new record, a new life that can never
be marred That's how God saves sinners
in the beginning. That's how God saves sinners
today. He's still the creator. He says, behold, I make all things
new. That means, Bob Duff, that this
new life He gave you, You can't do anything to damage
it. If you could have, you'd have
done it a long time ago. But what about my sin? He's forgiven
it. I'm talking about since I was
converted. He forgave it before you were converted. He's forgiven
it. Put away. Go. But God demands
perfect, personal. perpetual obedience. He's given
it in his son. There sits Bob Duff, right hand
of God. And nothing could ever change
that. Oh, no wonder David sang, blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Oh, may God make this salvation
yours. for Christ's sake. Amen.