I've entitled the message for
this morning, In the Beginning, God. In the Beginning, God. I'm going to attempt to preach
through the first 11 chapters of Genesis, maybe go on more
from there, but In the Beginning, God. If you believe the first four
words of the Bible, in the beginning, God. If you believe the first
four words of the Bible, you believe the Bible. And you believe
the message of the Bible. Now let me say this about the
scriptures. The Bible is not a science book. It is not disproved or proved by science. The Bible is a book written by
God where God tells us who he is. That is the purpose of scripture. I repeat, it's not a science
book. It's a book where God tells us who he is. It cannot be disproved
by science, nor can science be used to verify its truthfulness. Now, I've been thinking, reading
a lot about what men say about the origin of the earth and so
on. And people try to use science
to prove the Bible's truthfulness. Now here's an example. If you
just simply go by the chronologies of the scripture, the earth is
6,000 years old. If you simply go by the chronologies
of the ages of the men from Adam to now. Now I've read where men
have tried to prove that that's true by saying that the speed
of light was faster at the beginning than it is now. And that's what
accounts for the stars shining that are millions of years, light
years away. And how do you know? I mean,
can you really use that to prove anything? I don't think so. And
people say, well, the reason there's fossils and so on is
because of the pressure of the flood that happened 4,000 years
ago creating that. Well, that may be so, but you
don't need science to prove the Bible. The Bible is not a science
book. And the Bible makes no attempt
at all to prove the existence of God. I love the way the Bible
introduces itself, in the beginning, God. No attempts to prove the
existence of God. I love what David said in Psalm
115, verse one, when we read, should the heathen say, where
is now their God? Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. He's not beholden to
prove anything to you. He's God. He's not beholden to
me to prove anything to me. He's God. He's in the heavens.
He's absolutely sovereign. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. You're in his hands. You can
ask questions like that, but you're in his hands. He's God
and you're not. In the beginning, God. Now here's two questions we really
should not ask. Number one, is there a God? And number two, what's my purpose
in life? Those are two questions we should
not ask because everybody knows deep down that God is. And if God is, My purpose in
life is to know him. I am accountable to him. He is the creator. God is. Now, he is not discovered by
our research. He is not discovered by what
we would call scientific method. That's why I'm saying that science
has no place with the Bible. I'm thankful for scientific method. We're blessed to have scientific
method, but you know by definition scientific method means there's
something you observe and it's something that's repeatable.
You observe it over and over and over again because of our
bias we'll see something that's not really there in order to
justify ourselves or justify what we think. So scientific
method by its very demonstration is something you can observe,
something you see, and something that's repeatable to keep from
our bias saying this is the way it is. Well, there was nobody
to observe creation, was there? And creation's not repeatable.
So science goes out the window when it comes to creation. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. I love the scripture in Hebrews
11 three, By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by
the word of God. The divine fiat is what that
means. Light be, and light was. God created as an act of his
own will, simply by speaking his word, he brought the universe
into existence. By faith, we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things
which are seen were not made by things which appear. Look
in Romans chapter one with me for a moment. Romans chapter
one, verse 20. For the invisible things, Romans
1.20, for the invisible things of him, from the creation of
the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, the visible creation, and this is what everybody has
an understanding of, even his eternal power and Godhead, so
that they are without excuse. Now, I can look at the creation,
and you know what I see? His eternal power and Godhead. Somebody made this and nobody
made Him. By His power, He created the
universe and nobody created Him. He is eternal. He never began
to be. Now, before God created the heaven
and the earth, that's the opening verse of Genesis. In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. Before he created the
heaven and the earth, there was no matter, there was no space, there was no time. All there
was, was God. in the Trinity of his sacred
persons. And everything that is, as far
as the universe, came into existence as an act of his word. He spake the universe into existence. Now, God is eternal. Now, I didn't realize that you
and I can't grasp that concept. There's no way we can, but God
never had a beginning. He never began to be. Can I grasp
that? No, but I know it's so. The Bible
says it, it's gotta be that way. Nobody made God. He is eternal. He's sovereign. That means his
will is always done. His will cannot be thwarted.
His will, because of who he is, is always done. He's immutable. He never changes. If he did change,
that means he would either be improving or digressing. That's
not the case. He's always the same. I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed God is independent. He has no needs. He didn't create
the universe because He needed to. He created the universe because
He wanted to. He's in absolute sovereign control,
and He spake the universe into existence. Revelation 13.8 calls
Christ, and listen to this scripture, Revelation chapter 13 verse 8
calls Christ the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Do you know when there was no
time, when there was no space, when there were no stars, when
there were no planets, no galaxies, no universe, all there was was
God in the three persons of the sacred trinity, God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, you know when it says in the
beginning God created the universe Elohim the word is actually in
the plural it's speaking of the Trinity in the very first words
when God said let us make man in our own image it's speaking
of the Trinity right then. Now how would you ever know that
God was one God in three persons without the scripture, without
God's revelation of himself in the scripture? And it begins
in the very first chapter. As a matter of fact, you see
all three persons of the Trinity in the first two verses, or three
verses rather. You see God creating, you see
God the Holy Spirit brooding upon the face of the waters.
Light be, the light is the Lord Jesus Christ. The sun and the
moon were not created until the fourth day. This light is the
Lord Jesus Christ, the uncreated light, light be. And light was
God's purpose in the universe. It's the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's purpose in creation is
to make himself known, and he makes himself known in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he created the heavens and
the earth from nothing. This is very important. He didn't
have anything to work with. There was no pre-existing matter
that he formed. He created the earth as the Latin
phrase, ex nihilo. He created the earth from nothing. Now, this obviously denies atheism,
the belief that there is no God. God is in our thinking and we
can't get him out. Every effect has to have a cause. This creation had to have a cause. It didn't just happen. It didn't
just come into existence somehow. The creation necessitates a creator
causing it. You know, there's no such thing
as Mother Nature. There's no such thing as Mother Earth. The
amazing complex design of the creation presupposes a designer. If there is no God, life is meaningless,
a cosmic accident. And there's no such thing as
right or wrong if there is no God. Who is to say what's right
and who is to say what's wrong? There is no right and wrong.
And deep down, you know that that is not so. There is right
and there is wrong. If there's no God, where did
life come from? How did living organisms evolve
from inanimate matter? What a stretch of blind faith
to believe that that could happen in the first place. If an unintelligent,
unconscious force, which has no design, brought all this to
be, how did consciousness and self-awareness arrive? if the beginning of this universe
had no conscious force. Atheism is illogical. Atheism is irrational. And it
takes the greatest leap in the dark imaginable to go into the
belief of atheism. It doesn't even make sense. And the only reason someone is
an atheist, they didn't begin that way. But they did not like
the implications of God, so they said there is no God. And if that's the case, life
is a lot better to them, so they say. Now, this thing of creation,
in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, it
actually denies the Big Bang Theory. Somebody says, well,
couldn't have God used the Big Bang Theory? Well, here's the
problem with that. That presupposes that there was
matter for this explosion. There would be no matter unless
God made the matter in creation. Now, this denies evolution. While evolution is taught as
a fact, it's not a fact, it's a theory. It's a theory. It's not a fact proven. It is
a theory, and you can't believe the Bible and believe evolution. Now, somebody says, now, I believe
in God, and I believe God started things and evolved. Well, I didn't
say you can't believe in God. I said you can't believe the
Bible, because the Bible denies evolution in Genesis chapter
1. Let me show you that. You're there in Genesis chapter
1. Look in verses 11 and 12. And God said, let the earth bring
forth grass, the herb yielding seed, And the fruit yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth,
and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass
and herb yielding seed after his kind. And the tree yielding
fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind. And God saw that
it was good. Look down in verse 21. And God
created great wells and every living creature that moveth,
which the Waters brought forth abundantly after their kind. Not some evolutionary process,
but after their kind. And every winged fowl after his
kind. And God saw that it was good.
Look in verse 24. And God said, let the earth bring
forth a living creature after his kind. The cattle and creeping
thing and the beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so.
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle
after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth
after his kind. And God saw that it was good."
Now, there are questions that come into our mind from this
Genesis account of creation. Are we to take the Genesis account
literally? Are there literally six 24-hour
lunar days during which the creation took place. According to the
chronologies of the Bible, the Earth is only 6,000 years old. Are we to believe that when science
tells us that the Earth is anywhere between 5 billion and 13 billion
years old? Well, let me ask you a question.
If God can create the universe, Would it be hard for him to create
the earth five billion years old with all the fossil fuels
needed to sustain life? No, it wouldn't, if that's what
he did. What about the six days? Are
they six lunar days, 24-hour periods? Well, the Bible does
say that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years is a day. It may represent six days. It may represent six ages that
comprise billions of years. I don't know. I mean, I don't
know. I don't know the answers to these
questions. If it is six literal days, yeah, I believe it. If
it's not, I guess I don't believe it then. Whatever God said, whatever
God meant by this is exactly what I believe. Is the earth
6,000 years old? Well, if it is, I believe it. If it's not, well, that's okay
too. The Lord might have meant something
else. I'm not totally sure. You know, I had somebody from
the Ark up north come to talk to me here at the church. It's
been several years ago, and he wanted me to get people to start coming
to see the Ark. And he said, do you believe in the six literal
days of creation and the earth being 6,000 years old? And I
said, well, I don't know. If it is, I do. I have no problem
believing that. If it is, I do. If it's not,
I don't. Whatever the Lord meant. And the fellow said, well, you're
compromising the integrity of Scripture. You're compromising
the truth of the Scripture. And I said, now wait a minute,
buddy. I said, do you believe that God elected a people before
time began? And he said, well, we don't make
an issue of that. I said, then don't you tell me
I'm compromising the Scripture. You're the one compromising the
Scripture. And he said, well, he got tongue tied at that point.
I said another few things to him, but, um, the reason God gives a six day
account of creation is to bring us to the seventh day, the rest of the Sabbath. And that's used to illustrate
saving faith, resting in Christ, who he is and what he did, and
knowing that everything God requires of you, you have in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you rest. You don't try to work. You don't
try to earn God's reward. You rest. You know, this thing of working. Salvation by works. Do you know
even when Adam was in the garden, there was a commandment given?
Don't eat of that tree. Just that one commandment. Now
you'd think that one would be easy to keep, wouldn't you? I
mean, you can have any tree, but that one. Problem is, salvation is by works
in any way it's doomed for failure. Even if it's just not eating
the tree of the fruit. And really, as long as salvation
is by works, there's really not true love involved in serving
God. You're afraid of what'll happen to you if you don't keep
his commandment. And there's a secret resentment
over having to keep his commandment. Oh, thank God for the salvation
without works that's utterly in the Lord Jesus Christ. I think it's interesting in these
first six days, too. It begins with the evening and
the morning with the first day, the evening and the morning with
the second day, and so on. But when you get to the seventh
day, the Sabbath, no mention of evening or morning is made. It's the eternal rest. Now, look with me in verse one
and verse two again. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth, verse two, and the earth was without
form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Could it be that something happened
between verse one and verse two? Did God create the heavens and
the earth without form and void? With darkness being on the face
of the deep, is that the way God created the heavens and the
earth? Or did something take place between verses 1 and 2? And this is not actually a sequence
of events. Well, there's nothing in the
language that could say that there was not something that
took place between verses 1 and 2. God created the heavens and
the earth, and something happened, and the heavens became without
form. and darkness was on the face of the deep. Now we know
something that took place before the fall from the scriptures.
Remember when the Lord Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightning
fall from heaven. We have two accounts of Satan's
desire to be above the throne and him being cast down. Now, evidently, this was some
kind of cataclysmic event. It could be that during, I don't
know. I'm speculating now. So, bear
with me. I mean, there's some things we
just don't know. And I'm okay with that, aren't you? I don't
need to know everything. It's a good thing, because I
don't. But I think it's a reasonable,
I know that this fall of Satan took place before the fall of
Adam, because it was Satan The evil was already in the world,
and it was he who was tempting Adam and Eve, our first parents.
So something took place. What? I don't know, but it could
have been some kind of cosmic, but, however you say the word. The point is, when the Lord said,
I saw Satan fall as lightning, he meant there was something
powerful and strong and visible that could be seen. And this,
the earth became without form It became chaos, and I think
that this is a picture of the fall when the earth became without
form and void and chaos. Isn't that what happened to Adam
and Eve after the fall when they became dead in sins? Now let
me say this, and I love saying this. Creation, in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. Creation is attributed
in the scriptures to Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Creator. Now, let me show you this in
the Bible. Turn to John 1. It's said a lot of times in the
New Testament, but this is so powerful. John 1, verse 1. In the beginning,
same way Genesis begins, in the beginning was the Word. the Lord Jesus Christ. He's called
the Word of God. When God speaks, what comes out
of His mouth? Jesus Christ the Lord. He's the
eternal Son, the uncreated eternal Son. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God. Now that lets us know that He's
a separate person. He was with God, And the Word
was God. The same was. This is talking
about His infinite existence. The same was in the beginning
with God. Now look what verse 3 says. All
things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that
was made. Paul says in Colossians 1, All
things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all
things, and by Him all things consist. Hebrews 1.3 says, By
whom also He made the worlds. Jesus of Nazareth, the man that
walked the earth some 2,000 years ago, is the mighty Creator. And God sent Him as the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world into time. Now there was a time when there
was no time and Jesus Christ spake it all into existence. Of him and through him and to
him are all things. Now here's a sobering fact. You
can believe creation as I've spoken and yet miss the entire
point of creation. Salvation. being the creative
act of God, where God had nothing to work with, no works from you,
no contribution from you, and he saved you. Now, in the theory of evolution,
in Darwin's book on the origin of species, you know, Genesis
means origins. That's what it means. If you
want to know the origin of man, you go to the book of Genesis,
where God has revealed the origin of man. But at any rate, in Darwin's
book, The Origin of Species, evolution is the process. Now, I'm not misrepresenting
the facts. This is what is taught by the
evolutionary theory, by Darwin in The Origin of Species. Evolution is the process by which
organisms change over time. That's the key word, change.
Evolution is the process by which organisms change over time as
a result of changes, inheritable, physical, or behavioral traits. All species are related and gradually
change over time. Man came out of the primate species
and developed to where he is Today, look how far we've come. Creation says the opposite. Look
how far we've fallen. Now one of the main mantras of
works religion is change lives. Remember the key word to understanding
evolution is change, change over time, change. That's the main,
you change, you adapt. I've sometimes tried to think
of the fish kind of crawling out of the water and all of a
sudden they say life came out of the seas and I, really? But change. A man changes. He changes from
a non-Christian to a Christian. He changes, perhaps, from an
immoral person to a moral person. There's change brought about
in his life. And this change is evidence that
the Lord's done something for him, this change. Now, I'm all
for change. The right thing to do is always
the right thing to do, right? It's always the right thing to
do. I'm not, I'm not discounting that. But in the very idea of
change, that means you are responding to God and you're changing. That
is salvation by works. If salvation is your response
to God and you're changing in response to him, that is spiritual
evolution. Now, the Bible presents salvation
as a creative act of God. Now, in creation, God didn't
have anything to work with, did he? Now, if you believe, or if
I believe in salvation by works, I believe God has something to
work with. He responds to what we do. He
responds to our works. He responds to our will. He responds
to our efforts. Through this cooperative act
of God, God helping us, we change. Now, that's no different than
evolution, spiritual evolution. It's not right. It's not what the Bible teaches. Now, remember, we're interested
in what the Bible teaches. What does the Bible teach about
this thing of salvation? Well, I'd like you to turn with
me to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10, for we are his workmanship. What's the next word? Created. Created. Created. in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Turn back just a page to Galatians
chapter six, verse 15. For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, what you
do or what you don't do, but a new creation, a new creature,
something that was not there before created by God. 2 Corinthians chapter five, verse 17, therefore, 2 Corinthians 5, verse
17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation. A new creation. Old things are passed away, and
behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God. Now, creation. In the creation
of the universe, what did God have to work with? Nothing but his own will. He didn't ask you about it. You
weren't in on this thing, were you? You were not consulted,
nor did you help. He didn't ask you. He, as an
act of his own will, created the universe. He brought something
from nothing. Now, in the second creation,
salvation, he had nothing to work with,
as far as you. You see, you are, by nature,
dead in sins. He didn't ask you if you wanted
to be saved. He didn't ask you to contribute. If you do this,
I'll do that. Just as physical creation was
an act of the divine fiat, the very will and word of God, salvation
is a creative act of God. Now, to deny salvation as a creative
act of God is to believe in spiritual evolution. We change as a result
of us responding to God in some way and bringing about some kind
of change in our life. Now, what would you think of
a man who said he aided God in the first creation? Boy, that
would be an act of foolishness beyond belief, arrogant. Who do you think you are? Do
you really have that high opinion of yourself? And what if he lifts up his sacrilegious
hand and said that he had some part in the second creation? That's just as wrong, but more
evil than to say He had some part
in the first creation. Now, notice what, you're in 2
Corinthians chapter five. Let's look at that again. Verse
17 and 18. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
that's where I wanna be. I want to be in Christ. I want
it to be so that all God sees me. When he sees me, he sees
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want him to see me in
any other way but in Christ. I don't want him to see me in
any other way but in Christ. Somebody says, well, how do you
get in Christ? You don't. You're just in him.
Of him are you in Christ Jesus. There's not something you do
to get in him. Now, let me tell you this. If you are in him,
you want to be in him. And if you're not in him, you
don't care one way or the other. It really is that simple. But
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new and all things are of God. Now, this lines up with what
John said in the book of Revelation where the Lord Jesus said it
through the writing of John. where he said, behold, I make. Isn't that what creation is? Behold, I make all things new. Now this is the new creation. This is the second creation.
This is the work of Christ. Behold, I make all things new. Now, what I love about this,
there's a lot of things I love about this, but perhaps what
I get hold of the most is I've got a new history. Now, I can't change my old history.
I can't change anything about me. I can't change my sin. I can't say, well, it didn't
happen. I can't change that history. God does. The new history of
justification. Here's my history. I've never
sinned. I've kept God's law perfectly. God looks at me and he's completely
satisfied with me. He can't ask for anything else. He's perfectly satisfied with
me. How can that be? Well, remember me talking about
Christ being the lamb slain from the foundation of the world?
He came in time, at a point in time, in a place, Golgotha's
hill. He was made sin. That's why he was slain. All
my sin, all the sin of all of his elect, everybody he died
for, was made to be his sin. And that's why he was crucified. You say, well, men put him there.
God put him there. Yes, men were used, but he's
there because God put him there as the sinner's substitute. My
sin became his sin. When he said, it is finished,
my sin was gone. He was gone. He put it away.
He took it on himself. He put it away. And now my history
is one who has never sinned. Behold, I make. This is the creative act of God.
Did you have anything to do with that? Well, of course not. Behold,
I make all things new, and all things are of God. What things? Well, in the context,
the new creation. All things are of God. We know all things are of God
in the old, You didn't have any hand in that. And all things
are of God in the new creation. That first desire to know Christ,
that came from God. Didn't come from you. The first
discovery that you really are evil, And you need the Lord to
do something about your sin. It didn't come from you. That
came from God. The first time you ever believed,
it wasn't because you decided to believe. It's because He created
faith within your heart and caused you to believe. The first time
you ever repented and thought, everything I believe is wrong.
Who put that in your heart? God did. All things are of God. All the privileges of the new
creation. If you're a new creature in Christ
Jesus, it's because God elected you as that before time began. What did you have to do with
that? If you're a new creature in Christ Jesus, it's because
Christ put away your sins. What did you have to do with
that? Hebrews 1.3 says he by himself purged our sins. If you're a new creature in Christ
Jesus, you have this justification. You stand before God without
guilt. Did you have any hand in that?
No, that's the work of God and the work of God alone. You're reconciled. What's that
got to do? Did you do this reconciliation? No, he reconciled you. You've
been born again. You've been given a new nature,
a holy nature that was not there before. You're not changed, you're
brand new. God gave you something that you
didn't have before. Wow, did you have anything to
do with that? To as many as received him, John 1, 12 and 13, to as
many as received him, to them gave you power to become the
sons of God, even to them which believe on his name, which were
born, not of blood, not because your mommy and daddy were, not
of the will of man, not because a bunch of men decided we're
gonna pray for them until they're saved, not of the will of the
flesh, not as an act of your own free will, but of God. Every aspect of your salvation
is of the Lord. A creative act of God. Now, here's a man that believes
the gospel and he has a desire to go somewhere where the gospel
is not heard and he gives himself to be a missionary, maybe in
a third world country. And he goes over there and preaches
the gospel and gets some kind of disease that's native to that
land. And he becomes sick, but he still goes out and preaches
the gospel. There's sickness in his misery, but he's gonna
keep on preaching the gospel. And finally he dies and he has
no regrets for what he's done. That's God's work. We don't praise
the man for that. We do, we're thankful, but that's
the work of God. Here's a man who believes the
gospel so thoroughly, they say, if you don't deny it, we're gonna
put you and tie you to a stake and burn you to death. He says,
I can't recant. And he is tied to that stake,
they burn his body, and he won't recant even then. That's of God. I mean, we're thankful for the
man. We're thankful for his bold confession of the faith, but
we know that that is of God. Now how are all things in the
new creation of God. First, in purpose. In purpose. God purposed everything
before the foundation of the world. That's what the Bible
says. Second Timothy 1.9 says he saved us. He called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose. and grace which were given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Salvation is according to the
purpose of God Almighty. Now, with God, there is no past,
there is no present, there is no future. Everything he does
is eternal. Now, question. Did God know that
you would be here this morning? Well, of course he did. He's
God. Was there any possibility that
you wouldn't have been here this morning? No, it's all according
to the purpose of God. God is of God, he's God. All things are of God in this
new creation in the purchase. Christ paid for your sins. and you had no hand in that.
He by himself, with no help from me or you, he by himself purged
our sins. All things are of God in your
justification. Your righteousness is the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. You had no hand in that. That's
his righteousness. All things are of God in the
applying of this, you're born of the Spirit. All things are
of God in the maintaining of this new creation. We're kept
by the power of God through faith into salvation, and all things
are of God in the completing of this salvation. When I stand before thy throne,
dressed in beauty not my own, When I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then how much I owe. Now, God's got to have all the
glory. Amen? Christ has all the glory. It's
not shared with the preacher. Salvation is the creative act
of God. Now, I can't help but think what
we're gonna get there in a few weeks, I guess, but what the
Lord said after he finished the work of creation, he said, it's
very good. You know, the Lord looked at
what he did. He looked at what he did. He said, it's very good. And
the Lord's gonna look at the new creation that he did. And he's going to say, it's infinitely
good. I am completely satisfied with
what I've done. Let's pray.