I hope that's what happens this
morning. I've entitled this message, The
First Day Light. The First Day Light. Now, I want to introduce this
message with this statement. If the Bible said that Jonah
swallowed the whale, I would believe it. I believe everything the Bible
says. And I don't need science to verify what the word of God
says. I believe that this book is the
infallible, inspired, inerrant word of God. Now, if I can believe
in the beginning God, and I do, I believe 2 Timothy 3.16, all
scripture is given by inspiration of God. No problem believing
that at all. And I know that God created the
heavens and the earth with no preexisting material to work
with. Ex nihilo, something from nothing. That's creation. Something from
nothing. God willed the creation into
existence. He was not under necessity to
create. He did it because he wanted to. I love that. God does. what he wants to do. I once again
think of that scripture from Psalm 115. Where's your God,
David? He's in the heavens. He hath
done whatsoever he hath pleased. That's my answer. Well, give
proof. I feel no need to. God's in the heavens. You're
in his hands. I'm in his hands. So is everybody
else. He hath done whatsoever he has
pleased. Now, the Genesis account presents
creation as having been done in six lunar days, 24-hour periods
comprised of the evening and the morning. Now, in all six
of these days, there's a gospel message. If someone simply fights
for creation and yet doesn't see the gospel in these messages,
it's no good. It's no profit. What if you are
straight on creation and you don't believe in evolution and
you believe the biblical canon of creation? Well, you ought
to, but that doesn't mean anything. Do you understand the gospel
in creation? That is the issue, the gospel
in each one of these days. Now, on the first day, we have
light. On the second day, we have the dividing of the waters and heaven
appearing. On the third day, we have the
appearance of dry land and the vegetation, which has seed in
itself. Let me give you a hint. That's
very important. The seed in itself. Now, something different. And
you say, well, what's that got to do with the gospel? The after
is kind, seed in itself. Well, that which is born of the
spirit is spirit, after is kind. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh after its kind. It can never be anything different.
On the fourth day, we have the creation of the sun and the moon
and the stars. On the fifth day, we have the
creation of the creatures of the sea and the creatures of
the air, the birds and fowls and so on. On the sixth day,
we have the creation of animals and man. And on the seventh day,
we have the Sabbath of rest. We have that glorious time of
resting in Christ. That's the purpose of all of
that. Now, somebody may ask the question,
is this speaking of six literal days? Well, that's what it sounds
like. And if that's what it is, that's
exactly what I believe. Somebody says, well, could this
represent longer periods of time? I suppose so, because the scripture
says one day is with the Lord is 1,000 years and 1,000 years
is a day. I believe it could represent
longer periods of time. And if you look at the chronology
of the scripture, it would say that the earth is 6,000 years
ago, 6,000 years old. Somebody says, well, is it really
6,000 years old? Well, if it is, that's what I
believe. If it's not, that's what I believe too. I don't understand
everything in the Bible. This is not a science book, but
I believe everything in the Bible. And whatever God meant is exactly
what I believe. And I also don't think if the
earth is only 6,000 years old, I don't think it would be difficult
for God to create the earth 5 billion years old or 13 billion years
old with all the fossil fuels that are necessary to sustain
life. He could have created it that
way. if that's what he's pleased to do. I do not know, but I do
know this, science cannot disprove the Bible, and the Bible doesn't
need science to verify anything in it. That always aggravates
me when people start trying to use science to prove what the
Bible says. I don't need science to prove what the Bible says.
I believe, by the grace of God, what the Bible says. Now, here's what I think. Somebody says, why are you preaching
on what you think? I don't know. I don't know how else to handle
it. But here's what I think. I don't know this for sure, but
I believe that, or I think that verses 1 and 2 is not a sequence
of events. This is what I think. I believe
there is a time between verses 1 and verses 2. In the beginning,
God created the heaven 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. Now, it could be that on the
first day there was, you see waters, A lot of water. All there
was was water. And God made a division in the
waters on the second day. And it could be, I've read this,
I've heard this, that God created this unformed matter and used
the six days to bring it into its forms. That might be, I don't
know. But I do know this, I know this
for sure. Something happened before the fall of Adam. and it was the fall of Satan. And you can read the descriptions
of this fall in Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28. And as a matter of fact, in Ezekiel
chapter 28, he's called a cherub. It could be he's a fallen cherubim. And the Lord said in Luke chapter
10, I saw Satan falling as lightning. that strong language. He saw
him fall from heaven and it certainly appears to me that this was some
kind of catastrophic event when the Lord saw Satan falling from
heaven. He fell to the earth and perhaps
that is when the earth became without form and void. I don't
believe God created I don't think God created, I'm not going to
say I don't believe that because I don't know. I don't think God
created the heavens and the earth without form and void and darkness
and he created with darkness on the face of the deep. I don't
think that's the way it was. I think he created the heavens
and the earth and I think the earth became without form and
void and darkness covered the face of the deep when Satan fell
as lightning from heaven. Now, perhaps, and once again, I don't
know. The Bible's not a science book.
Perhaps that's when dinosaurs were destroyed. Perhaps there
was some kind of life on the earth. I don't know. I don't
know. I'm not gonna speak dogmatically
about any of this, but I'm gonna use this to illustrate the gospel
as we're going to see. Something happened before the
fall of Adam because Satan was there to tempt him. He was on
the earth and he was there to tempt our first parents. And then we have in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth and you had this fall and
then God used these and after this fall, water covered the
earth. That has something to do with
judgment, doesn't it? You remember when Noah It was the judgment
of God. It was the windows of heaven
that opened up and let that water come down and added something
to the judgment of God. So with the earth at this time
being nothing but water, perhaps that has something to do with
some kind of judgment. Now, and God could have created
everything. It's not a recreation, but he
He created the heavens and the earth, and then the earth was
without form and void, and then he used these six days to do
these different things to bring these things about. He could
have done it in a billionth of a second. He could have done
it in 10 trillion years. God's God. And whatever he does
is right, holy, just, and true. But this is given to teach us
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the main purpose
of these first five verses and every other verse in the Bible
is to teach us the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse
one, in the beginning, God. The whole gospel's in that. We
saw that last week. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Now, creation is so important. How much help did you give God
in creation? Absolutely none. He did it without
your help. He did it without consulting
you. He did it as an act of His will. I love to think of the
glory and power of God displayed in creation. But 2 Corinthians
5.17 says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Salvation is not you changing. Salvation is God creating something
that was not there before. Salvation is the creative work
of God. Just as you didn't have anything
to do with the first creation, you don't have anything to do
with the second creation. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. Now, I believe verse two illustrates
the fall. Look in verse two, and the earth
was, it became. I think that that can fairly
be looked at in that light. The earth became without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. pictures to us what happened
when Adam fell. Man became without form, in chaos,
void, a wasteland, darkness covering the face of the deep, the darkness
of sin. Now, you think of the darkness
of somebody that doesn't believe the gospel. What you are by nature,
what you would be right now if God hadn't revealed Himself to
you, but the dark thoughts they have of God, the way they humanize
God and bring Him down into a level that is odious to His person. They make a little God, a God
that can't do as He will, a God that can't act unless we give
Him permission. They make man, oh, what darkness
about man, thinking man is so high. Man has such ability. A complete denial of what man
really is as a result of the fall. What darkness there is
about salvation. Men think salvation's by their
works, by what they do, rather than what he has done. Darkness
covers the face of the deep. This picture's the fall. Now, you've heard me say this
before, but I think it's a very important statement. If you're
wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all. If you're wrong on what took
place in the garden in the fall, and this is what this pictures,
you are wrong on it all. Now, question. Why do we do evil
things? Somebody says, well, I don't
do evil things. Nobody believes that. I know better than that.
Why do we do evil things? Why do we think evil thoughts?
One reason. Because we're evil. That's what
the Bible says. Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, and
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
Evil continually. Now that's the scriptural definition
of man. Only all the thoughts of his
heart, not even talking about the works just yet. You don't
even need to bring that up. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. Now here's the question, how
did we get that way? We're born that way. David said,
behold, I was shaped in an iniquity, in sin my mother conceived me.
The wicked are restrained from the womb. They'll go about as
soon as they be born, speaking lies. This is the way I'm born.
You don't need to teach your kids to lie. You don't need to
teach your kids to cheat or to be selfish. It comes natural.
We're born this way. Well, how did this happen? Well,
listen to this scripture, Romans chapter five, verse 12, by one
man, sin. entered into the world. Now there was evil before this
man because we have Satan. But as far as our sin, by one
man, sin entered into the world and death by sin. So that death
passed upon all men in that all have sinned. The fall of Adam. Now Adam was created upright. Scripture says that. He wasn't
created sinful. He was created upright. He didn't have an evil nature. God did not create him sinful,
but Adam was placed in the garden. Listen to this real carefully.
Adam was placed in the garden by God, created upright, and
he was placed there under the covenant of works. He had one
commandment. One commandment. Don't eat of
the tree, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. You can eat of any other tree. You've got all you could
possibly want, but don't eat of the fruit of the tree. He's
only given one commandment. One commandment. Think you could
have kept that commandment? No. Now let me say this about
law. He was put under the covenant
of law. He was put under the covenant
of works. Anytime any law or works are involved that we have
to keep before we can be saved, it is doomed for failure. It cannot happen. Let me tell
you why. If salvation is dependent upon some work I perform, I'm
never really going to be able to serve God out of love. It
ain't gonna happen. I'm gonna be fearful. I'm going to have an element
of resentment that I have to perform this work and I've got
to do something in order to get him to save me or love me. There'll
be an element of resentment there. If there's any law in your salvation
that you have to keep in order for you to be saved, you will
never serve the Lord out of love. It can't be done. Number two,
if salvation is in any way by works, that means you're the
one that gets the glory and not God. You see, salvation by works,
salvation by law, the covenant of works is doomed for failure.
It doesn't work. It doesn't make anybody love
God. And if it did work, it would give man the glory rather than
God in this thing of salvation. But Adam was placed in the garden
under law. And you know the story. Look
in Genesis chapter three. Now the serpent, verse one, that's
Satan, was more subtle, more deceitful, more brilliant than
any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, you shall not eat of
every tree of the garden. Now he started questioning what
God said, and he changed what God said. God never said, you
can't eat of any of the trees. He just gave that one tree. And
Satan made it out like it was every tree, like God's holding
out on you. He's trying to keep you from having a good time.
Verse two, and the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat
of the fruit of the trees of the garden. No, God didn't say
that. We can eat of any of the trees of the fruit of the garden,
but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has
said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest
you die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, you shall not surely die. That's not right. For God doth
know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened and you shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. Now here's the situation with
this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God knows what
evil is and knows what good is. And he chooses the good over
the evil. And that's what makes him God.
Here's your problem. You're not choosing good over
evil. You're just obeying the nature.
You're just being the way God made you. But if you eat of this
tree, that's going to make you able to choose good over evil. And that's what's going to make
you like God. Now, the temptation in the Garden
of Eden was free will. That is the temptation, free
will. you'll be like God, you'll be
making the choice of good over evil. And the woman saw that
the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired, to make one wise. And she took of
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were Now, they knew they were
naked before the fall, and they were not ashamed. You know why?
Because they didn't have a sinful nature. But once the fall comes,
and they become dead in trespasses and sins, they knew they were
naked. Now, here's what happened. Remember
what God said in Genesis chapter two, verses 15 through 17? In
the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He didn't say, If you eat, he
said, when you do, you shall surely die. Now he didn't die
physically, she didn't die physically, but they become dead in trespasses
and sins. What's that mean? Well, two words
that describe this death and trespasses and sins, total depravity
and total inability. Total depravity means every faculty
is under the dominion of sin. Total inability means that you
are completely and I am completely unable to do anything to save
ourselves. Total depravity and total inability. Now, with regard to man, becoming without form and void,
darkness covering the face of the deep. There are four views
of human nature. The first view would be the evolutionary
view, that man began in some primordial stew and came out
and look where we are now. Look how far we've come. That's ridiculous. The second view would be that
men are born morally neutral. And their environment, their
education, their circumstances are what's going to control how
they turn out. Now, if that's the case, what
we need to do is give men proper education always, which I'm all
for education. It's good. Put them in. Let's
get rid of all the bad environments and make everything right. It
doesn't work either. As far as that goes, if that's
the case, man doesn't need a savior. He needs a good teacher. He needs
a good economy. He needs a good education. The
third view is that man is born bad, but he has a free will.
And he can choose to let God save him. He can make a choice.
Now, if that's the case, you don't need a savior. You need
a good persuader, somebody who can persuade your will and get
you to make the right choice. Or you believe man is dead in
sins, utterly dead, totally depraved, and totally unable. And if that's
the case, you need a savior. You need someone to save you
from your sins. Now, the reason for the fall,
and I have no doubt that that's what this is teaching us in the
earth becoming without form and void, darkness being on the face
of the deep, The reason for the fall, a short answer, sin. Sin,
that's the reason for the fall. By one man, sin entered the world
and death by sin so that death is passed upon all men in that
all have sinned. When Adam sinned, me and you
sinned. We were in him. It's not simply that his sin
was charged to our account, we did the sinning when Adam sinned.
We can't be separated from him. Why was there a fall? God's decree. It was purpose by God Almighty. Somebody says, couldn't God have
prevented that from happening? Of course he could have, but
he didn't. He didn't. This is all part of God's purpose
and decree. Somebody says, well, you're charging
God with evil. I am not. You can say that if
you want, but I know anything that takes place, takes place
because it's God's will. It's his purpose. Whatever happens,
he is in control of and he didn't say, if you eat of the fruit,
he said, in the day you do. It was all a part of God's purpose
and all a part of God's eternal decree. Why was there a fall? For the glory of God. Let me repeat that. Why was there
a fall? For the glory of God. You see, through the fall, because
of the fall, we have something before the fall, the cross. Revelation
13.8, Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. God makes Himself known, all
of His glorious attributes, through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sovereign purpose, we see His
power to put away sin. We see His wisdom to find a way
to be just and justify the ungodly. We see His absolute justice in
pardoning sin. Every attribute of God is manifest
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. So beautiful. The fall
was for the glory of God, that God might manifest who He really
is. And He does so through the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, through the fall, we're
a whole lot better off than we would have been had he not fallen,
if we're believers. What do you mean by that? Well,
if Adam stood in his own obedience, it'd be up to me to stand in
my own obedience, too. And I don't see any safety there.
And because of the fall, Adam is now saved. He now has the,
and every believer has the righteousness of Christ rather than human righteousness.
Which would you rather have, the righteousness of Jesus Christ
or your own righteousness? That's a no brainer, isn't it?
I want to have his righteousness only. And one of the blessings
of the fall is now we have grace. Now we can serve by love and
not be dependent upon our own obedience. Now, the fall is evil. You know, I've heard people present,
and maybe there's something to it, but I've heard people present
Adam as eating the fruit because he loved Eve so much he was gonna
go down with her. Maybe. But that seems noble.
And I don't see where the fall can in any way be seen as noble. It was evil. It was wicked. It
was rebellion against God. But only God brings good out
of evil. What is the most evil thing to
ever take place? The crucifixion of Christ. Men
putting him to death because they hated him. Most evil thing
to ever take place? What's the most glorious thing
to ever take place? The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where God made a way to be just
and justifier of people like me and you. Now, let's go back
to Genesis 1. And the earth. Verse two, 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. Now, the sun and the moon and the
stars were not created until the fourth day. That's pointed
out in this creation story. They didn't come to the fourth
day. The light spoken of here is the uncreated light. Light be. This is the answer
to the fall. Light be. And light was. Now how is the Lord Jesus Christ
presented in the New Testament? The light of the world. And when he said, I am the light
of the world, it was right after that woman taken in adultery
in the very act, no question about her guilt, was brought
into the presence of the Lord, and the Lord could say to that
woman who was guilty, and she had all these accusers that caught
her, woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? She said, no man, Lord, neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. I am the
light of the world. I am the light of how you can
be guilty. And I can say, I don't condemn
you because you're no longer guilty. You're not guilty. As a matter of fact, you're justified.
If you're justified, that means you've never sinned. That means
you're perfect. That means you've kept God's
law. That means you're holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in God's sight. That means you've always done
that which is right and you've never done that which is wrong.
Now how can that be? I know myself. Christ is the
light. Christ is the answer to the fall
Christ is the light as to how God can accept and love and embrace
me. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Corinthians chapter five. How can this be? Verse 21. For he, God the Father, hath
made him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin. I wish I knew how to comment
on that as it should be commented on, but I don't. I know this,
Christ Jesus was made All that evil, if you're one of His, all
that evil that's in you, He was made to be. He bore your sins
in His own body on the tree. He was made to be sin for us.
Who's the us? The elect. Those the Father gave
Him before the foundation of the world. For us, who knew no
sin. He never sinned in His person
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And that's a whole lot better
than Adam would have had it if he would have obeyed the law.
He'd still be standing in his own righteousness and he'd still
be getting some of the glory and salvation. At least I obeyed
that law. But we're put in a place where
we're the very righteousness of God. and it's a way in which
he gets all the glory. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of the darkness, hath shined in our heart to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. I love what John said, if we
walk in the light. What light is that? The light
I've been talking about. The light of how God, in his
holiness, in his absolute purity, in his unapproachableness, can
embrace me and love me and accept me through the gospel. That's
my only standing before God, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What light? If we walk in the light, as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Now, if you're
somebody that you really believe that the light of the gospel
is your only hope, you don't look anywhere but Christ, you
don't have anything but Christ, you know what? I have fellowship
with you, because I'm the same person. I'm just like you. Fellows
in the same ship. That's what fellowship is. It's
fellows in the same ship. Now, if you believe that salvation
has something to do with your works, I don't have any fellowship
with you. I can't relate. You have a different
view of yourself than I have of myself if you think you can
do anything. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another. Oh, the divine fiat, light be. It was unaided by the darkness,
wasn't it? Darkness had to flee when the light came. It was unsolicited. It was instantaneous. It was
invincible. And it was irresistible. And
when the light came, the darkness had to flee, didn't it? Back in our text in Genesis 1, verse 4. And God saw the light
that it was good. I love that. God saw the light,
the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, it's good. When he finished
creation, what did he say? It's very good. And the new creation
of God is infinitely good. The justification of the sinner
is the goodness of God. Why does God save people like
me and you? Because he's good. Because he's good. I think it's
interesting that people think of the doctrine of grace, that
God didn't save everybody. He just saved the elect, and
Christ died for the elect, and grace is only for them. And they
say, well, that's God's bad. No, it's because God's good.
Nobody would be saved if it wasn't for this. This is the goodness
of God. God is intrinsically good, inherently
good, immutably good. God is good. Amen? God is good. And just as God saw his work
of creation was very good, he sees the new creation as infinitely
good. And remember, salvation is creation. It's not you evolving into something
that you were not once. It's the creative act of God,
where he does it all. Now, look what happened. And
God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light
from the darkness. A division took place. And God
called the light day. And the darkness he called night,
and the evening and the morning were the first day." A division
took place. This gives us some idea. The division of light and darkness. There's a division between works
and grace, isn't there? There's a division to the point
that they cannot co-exist they exclude one another. Ye either
believe salvation is all of grace, and the only alternative is it's
all dependent upon me. But there is a division that
cannot be brought together. What a division. There is a division
between the children of light and the children of darkness. The way of Christ is light. Oh, what light. The way of works
is darkness, and the child of works actually hates Jesus Christ
and his light. What fellowship hath light with
darkness? Now, this light and darkness
also represents the two natures that are in the believer. A nature
of darkness and a nature of light. A sinful, dark, wicked nature
that you are aware is still there and still just as strong. Now somebody says, I'm not like
that. I'm not like that. Well, let
me say this. Either I'm not saved or you're
not saved. I am saved. Where does that leave
you? Every believer knows he has an
evil, sinful nature. But I've also got a new nature. That's the nature that believes.
That's the nature that is holy. That is the nature that loves
God. This new nature, this creative act of God. If any man be in
Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. I know exactly what Paul meant
when he said, oh, wretched man, that I am. Not that I was, but
that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then, with my mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now,
it's difficult to articulate this well because we have these
two natures, a sinful, evil nature that is no better at all. and
a holy nature coming out of the same consciousness. Consciousness. And that's why we're up and down,
up and down, up and down. Verse 5, and God called the light
day. You know, Christ has called the
day spring. God called the light day. and
the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning
were the first day. What a glorious Savior, Creator
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for the light of the glorious
gospel of thy son. How we thank you that salvation
is of you, that it's your creative act.
How we thank you for the manifestation of your glorious person. All
your glorious attributes are revealed. Lord, what would we
know of forgiveness and mercy and grace, had there been no
fall. Lord, truly of you and to you and through
you are all things to whom be glory. We give thanks. In Christ's holy and blessed
name, we pray. Amen.