We're going to start in Genesis,
as I said on Wednesday nights, but before I start that, I want
to look at a statement that our Lord made concerning these first
five books of Moses. If you want to leave your hand
in John chapter five, the Genesis, it says the first book of Moses
called Genesis. He is the writer, obviously under
inspiration of God, of the first five books, the Pentateuch, The
first five books written by Moses under inspiration of God. But
this is what our Lord says concerning these books of Moses. John chapter
5 and verse 46. Christ says, For had you believed
Moses, you would have believed me, for Moses wrote of me. for he wrote of me but if you
believe not his writings how shall you believe my words so
with this as our theme our heading over each chapter remember Jesus
is in this book as some of the old writers refer they say the
gospel according to Genesis the gospel according to Moses Christ
himself That's all we need. Basically, we've got more, but
that's all we need is his statement. Moses wrote of me. Whether we
see him or not, the sacred volume, this book says Moses wrote of
Christ. So every chapter, every heading,
every thought in that book, Christ is there. Now, I'm not saying
I see him everywhere. I certainly don't, but We would
do well. You would do well. I would do
well. A kind of a hint on how to study out of this book. It's
Christ as in he's in these chapters. And the story of his redemption,
the story of his free grace and how he saves sinners. It's in
it's in every every chapter, every book. We are to look for
Christ then at all times and in every paragraph. And we need
to do this often. When we study this book is we
ask for his Holy Spirit to show you, to show me his beloved son. In this book of Genesis, Exodus,
Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and a number of those books. But for tonight,
we're going to do an overview of what I see as a central theme
I'm telling you, we've looked at Genesis before, we've studied
these things before, and I haven't missed this. I got books out,
I read a chapter. I got books out, I want to see
what Don Porter had to say, and we might get to that a couple
weeks from now. Although they were all good,
they were all, like I say, we'll get to those. I was reading through
this and I'm thinking, there's something. There's just a central
theme right here in this whole chapter. And I couldn't find
anybody to say anything on it. But there again, we've looked
at this over time and time again. We look through it with the natural
eyes, but when God gives us grace, we see some things. Two things. Two things in this
first chapter, in the beginning God, verse one, in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. And the second thing, the second
central thing that I see in here is, and God said, and it says,
and it was so. So that's what we're going to
look at. That's all we're going to look at in the beginning.
God, that's how this book starts out. That's how it is started.
Not so much by Moses, but by Moses, as I said, under inspiration
of God. This then is our it should be
our theology. This better be John's theology. Betty is my theology in the beginning. God, that's where it all starts.
Preaching today says Man. Man. Oh, in the beginning God,
but then man had free will. You can discuss, man has a will.
There's no question about that. God has a will. But when those
two wills cross, who do you think is going to control? People can
talk about free will, this will, that will, but God's will, our
will is subservient to his will on every turn. This is our theology. This is our stand. This is our
foundation. God, in the beginning, God, singularly
omnipresent, singularly omniscient, without flaw, error, or changeableness. We can trace all covenant blessings,
all sound doctrine, all gospel preaching, all primary causes
to, in the beginning, God. Not man, not emperors, not kings,
not rulers, but God blessed over all. We could stop right there. That would be enough. We could
chew on that for ages and ages to come. In the beginning, God. So we're not even into the first
verse and we see supremacy, sovereignty, singularity. He said He created
the heavens and the earth, 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, and God said, Let
there be light, and there was light, and God saw the light,
that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light day, the darkness He called night,
and in the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said,
Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let
it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament,
and divided the waters which were under the firmament from
the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And
God called the firmament Heaven, and the evening and the morning
were the second day. And God said, Let the waters
Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one
place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. I'm just going
to stop there because that's our second, as far as I'm concerned,
the second thing. Now, Lord willing, probably next
Wednesday, God said, let there be light. And there was light.
That's the picture of salvation. Darkness without form, without
void, without spirituality. God speaks through the gospel,
by the vicarious death of his Son, and light comes into the
soul. So we'll just leave, we'll just
kind of set that aside, but there's the first three verses, there's
the gospel of God's sovereign, immutable grace. But, we'll come
back to that, because I could not get my heart and my mind
off of the second point, the first point, in the beginning
God. That's our theology. That's our foundation. That's
our stand. What about the tragedies of the
day? What about the potential tragedies
of tomorrow? What about the disappointments
and the heartaches? What about all these things? Very real,
very true. What about our sickness? What about our beloved church
members that are sick and have been in the hospital? It's all,
there are concerns for your pastor and for one another. In the beginning,
God. There's your comfort. There's
your solace. There's your peace. The second
thing, in verse 7, 9, 11, 15, 24, and 30, out of 31 verses,
it says, and God said, and it ends in the verse, and it was so. This is our gospel, the extremely
good news for ruined and bankrupt sinners. God said, and God called,
verse 7, and God made the firmament, and the last four words, and
it was so. Verse 9, and God said, let the waters be under the heaven,
the last four words, and it was so. Verse 11, and God said, and
it was so. Verse 15, 24, and 30. He just
repeats it. God said, and it was so. He says in this book, I will
call sinners unto me in repentance. And it's so. He says, I will
choose a people unto myself in love and mercy. And it was so. I will be gracious to Jacob for
my name's sake. I will send the spirit of grace
and supplications and they shall look upon Christ whom they pierced. There's verses, I didn't write
the verses down. I probably should do that. Verses, I'm taking all
these illustrations. There are lessons that we've
looked at recently in the Old Testament pictures of Christ.
That last one was on Zachariah. He said, I will yet be inquired
for this by my elect children. And it was so. I will send a
Savior and his name shall be called Jesus for he shall save
their people from their sins. God said it. And it's so. He
said, I will pass by them in a time of love and cover her
nakedness with my skirt. And we're covered. I will speak
comfortably to my love, my bride, my spouse. And it's so. I will call that beggar from
off that dunghill. Second, Samuel, and it's so.
I will see thee in your state, polluted in your own blood, and
will call you in a time of love." Ezekiel 36. And it's so. God says, I will
see you condemned under my law, yet covered by my provided substitute,
and say, you are clean, even though it is an old leprosy. Many, many years of sin. But
he pronounces us clean. Leviticus chapter 13. And it's
so. God said, I will bless you and
cause you to be my people. And it's so. I will send my Spirit
to guide you and comfort you and convince you of my righteousness.
And it's so. My only beloved Son will be surety
for the souls and everlasting pardon of my people. Genesis,
we'll look at that later in this song. God says in my darling
son is no spot, blemish, or fault and he will make elect sinners,
kings, and priests unto me. I got, I don't know how many
I got, this is the last one I could, I just Because we just kept going. Whatever verse, chapter is precious
to you. 2 Timothy. He said it. And it's so. For by grace you are saved through
faith. You've got to have faith. But that's the gift of God. Now
it works. He said it. And it's so. So somebody says, well I did
this and I did that. or I walked an aisle, or the
preacher or the priest or whoever absolved me of my sins, or this
or that, that's man-centered, not Christ-centered. God didn't
say it, so it's not so. He says in another place, though
my people be small in number, and are terrorized by this world's
citizens, and be often in the furnace of trial and affliction,
yet I will be there with them and protect them." There's three
in the fiery furnace when he got cast in. Somebody said, O
King, did you not throw three in the
furnace? Yes. I see four. It looks like, what
did he say? The Son of God. He said it, and it's so. And because God is, and shall
be forever, and whatsoever He says, it will be so, if you know
Him tonight, He says to you and to me in verse 3, 10, 12, 18,
21, 25, and 31. It was good. In the beginning
God He said what he was going to
do for his people, and it was so. And just like when he saw
the light and the creation. And the firmament. And man and
woman, he said. It's good. This is Romans 828 in the first
book of the Bible. Paul. Understood that. Moses understood what Paul would
understand years and years later. It is good right now. It shall be good tomorrow and
from everlasting to everlasting. This is probably why Melinda
today was fine. Now as soon as I get my eyes
off Christ and today is going to be, I'm going to bring it
up and it's going to beat me to death. It's going to kill
me. But I had looked this over last night and I was all excited
about it. I started writing it down and it got late and I finished
it up when I got home. We're not guaranteed anything
really very secure. That was what I was thinking.
There's nothing secure. No matter how good you are to the customer,
no matter what you do to those kids, no matter, and you should. You know, that which you can
control, you know, as far as either teaching or your job or
whatever. But it's just not always going
to go the way we want it to, or think it should, or maybe
we wish it would. But we, by faith, in the beginning
God, I'm going to trust Him, I'm going to rest in Him, in
a substitute, which He told me, He promised before the foundation
of the world, And the fullness of time would take upon human
flesh, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, would suffer, bleed,
and die according to the scripture, which is, and God said, and it
was so. And if he suffered and bled and
died and paid God the price, the penalty, and the law for
me, for you, It's so. And therefore, it's
good. And so, come what may, like that
song that Karen and I like, come what may. And it's gonna come. I mean, just, you know, humiliation,
all these different things, it's gonna come. But, he says to you
and I, it is good. May we bless the Lord, everyone. May he give us grace to see who
he is and that what he says shall surely come to pass in mercy,
grace, and in justice. But it's all for his glory and
it's all good. John, would you close us please?