Old Creation - New Creation

Q: What does the Bible say about creation?

The Bible states that God created the heavens and the earth, bringing order from chaos in Genesis 1. The creation narrative in Genesis reveals that God created the heavens and the earth in a structured and purposeful manner. In Genesis 1:1, we read, 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.' This signifies God's sovereignty over all creation. The subsequent verses detail how God spoke creation into existence, bringing light, land, and life, each step accompanied by His declaration that it was 'good.' This ordered creation underscores the Biblical teaching of God's intentionality and the goodness of His creation.

Q: How do we know God's promises for a new creation are true?

God's promise for a new creation is affirmed in Scripture, particularly in passages like 2 Peter 3:10-13. The assurance of a new heaven and a new earth, as preached in 2 Peter 3:10-13, comes from the unchanging nature of God's Word and His sovereignty over history. In these verses, Peter reminds believers that the current state of the world is not permanent; God has promised a future where righteousness dwells. This new creation will be free from evil, suffering, and death, reflecting the ultimate restoration of God's intended order. The consistency and fulfillment of God's past promises provide a firm foundation for our hope in the promised new creation.

Q: Why is the doctrine of original sin important for Christians?

The doctrine of original sin explains the fallen nature of humanity and the need for redemption through Christ. Original sin is a fundamental concept in Reformed theology that teaches that Adam's disobedience resulted in the fallen state of all humanity. Romans 5:12 explains that sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, affecting all people. This doctrine emphasizes our inherent need for redemption and highlights the grace of God through Jesus Christ, who redeems us from sin's penalty and power. Understanding original sin helps Christians acknowledge their total depravity and the profound significance of Christ's atoning sacrifice.

Q: What does it mean that God created man in His image?

Being created in God's image means that humanity reflects God's attributes and has inherent dignity. The creation of humanity in God's image, as described in Genesis 1:26-27, signifies that humans are set apart from other creations. This 'image' encompasses our spiritual, moral, and relational capacities, enabling us to represent God in the world. It also highlights the intrinsic value and dignity of every person, emphasizing that life is sacred. Additionally, being made in God's image encourages believers to live in a manner that glorifies Him, reflecting His character in our actions and relationships.

Q: How does the concept of dominion relate to man's role after creation?

The concept of dominion implies that humanity is called to steward God's creation responsibly. In Genesis 1:28, God commands humanity to 'be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it,' which establishes the concept of dominion. This dominion is not a tyrannical rule, but rather a call to stewardship and caretaking of God's creation. It recognizes that humans are responsible for the well-being of the earth and its inhabitants, mirroring God’s sovereignty. This role involves preserving the created order and exercising authority in a way that reflects God's goodness and justice.

Genesis chapter 1, let's read
together. In the beginning, God 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 water. Now something
might have happened between that first verse and that second verse. Good possibility. God created
the heavens and the earth. And in verse 2 says, and the
earth was, some people say that's became without form and void. God never made anything without
form or void, did he? So maybe something happened there.
We'll come back a little later and talk about that. But let's
go to verse 3. And God said, let there be light.
And there was light. This darkness was over all of
creation. God said, let there be light.
God is light, and there was light. And God saw the light, and it
was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. God
called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And
the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said,
let there be a firmament. a firmament, that is, an expansion
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. See, there's the first heaven where the birds fly and
where the clouds are and where the rain falls. There's a second
heaven. where the stars, the moon, the sun, the galaxies,
and all these things, the third heaven. Paul said he went to
the third heaven, into the presence of God, paradise. But God divided
the waters above and the waters beneath with the heavens. And
God called the firmament heaven the evening and morning with
the second day. Verse 9 now, and God said, let the waters
under the heaven be gathered together in one place, and let
the dry land appear. And it was so. God put a swaddling
band around the seas, around the oceans. About two-thirds
of this world's water, isn't it? God said, hitherto shall
I come and no farther. He let the dry land appear. And God called the dry land earth.
And the gathering together of the waters called He seas. And God saw it was good. God
said, let the earth bring forth grass, tender grass. herb yielding
seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed
is in itself upon the earth, and it was so." Now, notice two
phrases there. God said, let the fruit tree
yielding fruit after his kind. You're going to run into these
three words, after his kind, after his kind, after his kind. You're going to run into this
all the way through this chapter. And then again, you're going
to run into this whose seed is in itself. In other words, you
have orange trees, you have apple trees, you have peach trees,
you have blueberry bushes, you have blackberries. All of these
bring forth after their kind. And the seed or life of that
bush is in itself. When you eat an apple, there's
a seed in it. Plant that seed, and if everything's right, it'll
grow an apple tree. But it won't grow an orange tree.
You can't plant an orange seed and get an apple tree. You can't
plant a blackberry seed and get a blueberry bush. Everything
is after His kind. God made it that way. After His
kind. And everything has life in itself.
The seed is in itself. There are perennials and then
there are things you have to save the seed. But plant corn,
plant wheat, plant oats, plant rye, everything has its life
in itself. All these bushes and trees and
flowers and shrubs, God has guaranteed it will keep living because the
seed is in itself. And God has guaranteed that every
one of these plants will bring forth only after its kind. All
right, read on. So, all right, verse 12, And
the earth brought forth grass and herbs, yielding seed after
its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself
after his kind, and God saw it was good. And the evening and
morning were the third day." This is a beautiful story of
creation. I love to read the creation story. It's a lot easier
to believe than any theory that man comes up with. I love this. God did it. God did it miraculously,
supernaturally. Verse 14, And God said, Let there
be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day
from the night, and let them be for signs, seasons, days,
and years. The sun, the moon, the moon has
power over the tides, and the sun gets farther away from the
earth, it's in different relationship to the earth, determines the
seasons. The moon's in a different perspective
from the earth at different times. All these things God has set
up to determine the signs and the seasons and the days and
the years. Shortest day of the year, you
know, is a certain day and the longest day when the sun's in
a certain place. And it says in verse 15, let
them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon
the earth, and it was so. And God made two great lights.
the greater light to rule by day and the lesser light to rule
the night. He made the stars also. And God
set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon
the earth. I've told you this before when I was in the Navy. We had a ship that wouldn't go
through. The tide, the ocean current and
all would take it off course. You know, you set your course
140 degrees or 40 degrees or 50 or something. And you start in that direction,
but you wind up way out somewhere. You men remember that. The ocean
current would take you, and you could follow that compass point,
but you wouldn't get to your destination. It'd take you off
somewhere. But every night at a certain
time, we'd go out on the bridge, and the executive officer would
take his instrument, and he'd spot a star over here, a certain
star. And he'd call it out, and I'd write down the number. certain
on his section. Then he'd spot a star over here.
I'd write that down. Then he'd spot a star back here.
I'd write that down. Then we'd go down below, get
out the big map, and he'd draw a line from that star to that
one, from this one to that one, and how many, and cross it. That's
where we are. All the stars! The ocean's pretty
good size. You know, the Pacific Ocean's
a big thing. And here's this little old ship
out there floating around, and you could, say so from those
stars, tell exactly what wave you're sitting on almost. And
the stars never were off. And God determined it that way.
That's not chance. That's skill. That's divine skill. And even our astronauts and all,
they use these signs, these stars, times, it never varies. It's
perfect, because our God's perfect. All right, where was I? And verse
18, And to rule the day and over the night, and to divide the
light and the darkness, and God saw it was good. And the evening
and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters
bring forth abundantly the moving creature which hath life, and
fowl that may fly above the earth in the open heavens, the open
firmament of heaven. And God created great whales
and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought
forth abundantly, every kind of fish and crab and shrimp and
scallops and flounders and every kind of fish, the beauties of
the ocean floor, all of those living creatures. And God saw
it was good and God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply,
have more fish and more whales and more oysters and scallops
and shrimp. Fill the waters, the fullness
of the seas. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. He keeps refilling it. You don't
know, no matter how much fish we eat, there's plenty more.
No matter how much air we breathe, there's plenty more. No matter
how much food we eat out of the ground, the ground keeps yielding
food and fruit. The fullness, God's guaranteed
that it multiply and replenish. That schedule just stopped for
a few weeks, we starved to death. But it always multiply and replenish. Fill the waters and the seas,
let the fowls multiply on the earth, the quail and the pheasants
and all. And the evening and the morning
were the fifth day. And God said, let the earth bring forth a living
creature after his kind. Cattle, creeping things, beasts
of the earth, after his kind. In other words, you have all
kinds of dogs, poodle dogs, shepherd dogs, great danes, Bulldogs,
collie dogs, all kinds, but they're still dogs. Cats are cats. Cows
are cows. Horses are horses. Shetland ponies,
thoroughbred racers, old plowboys, but it's still a horse. After
it's kind, always after it's kind. Nothing, there is no crossing
of the species after it's kind. That's what God ordained, and
it can't be any other way. And God made the beast of the
earth after his kind, verse 25, and cattle after their kind,
and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind.
God saw it was good. And God said, let's make man.
Let's make man in our image, after our likeness. And let man
have dominion, power, control. Are you reading? Control. Let
man have dominion over the fish of the sea. over the fowl of
the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, 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 to them, now you
be fruitful and multiply. Just like He said to the fish
and to the fowls of the air. He made one man. God didn't create
a whole bunch of people. He created one man, one woman.
He said, now, you all multiply, replenish the earth, 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. You know, I noticed another word
there. He said, replenish the earth, as if there had been something
there before. Replenish. Let me give you a
little story so you can remember that. Replenish. You can't replenish,
can't replenish something that hasn't been replenished before,
can you? Replenish it, re-habitate, re-fill it. A little boy sitting
at the table and he told his mother, pass the lices. She said,
they're not lices, they're molasses. He said, you can't have molasses,
you ain't have no lices, so pass the lices. It's the first time
around. Replenish. Something might have
happened back there between that first and second verse. I don't
know. We'll see. Let's go on. And he
says here, and God says, verse 29, And God said, Behold, I have
given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face
of all the earth. Every tree in the which is the
fruit of a tree yielding seed to you, it is for me. No killing
animals, no death, no bloodshed. Eat the fruit, eat the herb.
Eat from the tree. That's right. And to every beast
of the earth, every beast of the earth, to every fowler there,
to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there's life,
I've given every green herb for me. It was so. See, there's no
death and no pain and no anguish, no bloodshed on this earth that
God made here. And God saw everything he had
made, and behold, it was very good, and the evening and the
morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished and all the host of them. Let's read on. Chapter
2. And on the seventh day God ended
his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day
from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh
day. Sanctified it because that in it he rested from all his
work which God created and made. Now these are the generations
of the heavens and the earth. This is the story of how and
when they were created. This is the story. This is the
account. how they were created, in the
day that the Lord God made the heavens and the earth, the earth
and the heaven. Now he's going to, in the next
few verses, he's going to sort of restate it. I'm going to go back a little
bit now and restate and add some things here. Now listen as he
goes. And every plant of the field, verse 5, before it was
in the earth, And every herb of the field before
it grew, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the
earth, and there wasn't a man on the earth to tell the ground.
There went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face
of the ground. See, when Noah talked about the flood, it never
rained on the earth. A mist went up from the earth
and watered the ground. And the Lord God formed man,
verse 7, out of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, man became a living soul. And the Lord God
planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man
whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the
Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, good
for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Oh, that's the
first time we've come upon that word. Everything's been good,
good, good, good, hasn't it? Here's another word, evil. There's
a tree in the midst of the garden called the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil. And a river went out of Eden
to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became
into four heads. The name of the first is Pison.
That is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah, where
there's gold, and the gold of that land is good. There's delium
and onyx stone. The name of the second river
is Gahon. The same is it that compasseth
the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river
is Hittical, that is, it which goeth towards the east of Assyria.
And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord God took the man
and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress him, to keep him.
The Lord God commanded the man. Now here's a law. We haven't
run up on this yet. We run up on the presence of
evil somewhere. The existence of evil, let's
put it that way. Now here's a law. And the Lord
God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you
may freely eat. Every tree. But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For
the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Here's
another word we have in common. Can't run up on that yet. The
fact, there's death out there. There's evil, and there's death,
and there's got to be a law. And the Lord God said, it's not
good that man should be alone. I'll make him a helpmeet for
him. And so out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast
of the field, and every fowler there, and brought them to Adam
to see what he would name them, what he would call them. And
whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that's the name
thereof. That's what they're calling them. Adam named them.
Think how brilliant he must have been. He gave all the animals
a name. And Adam gave names to all the
cattle, to the fowl of the air. Cardinal, Blue Jay, Sparrow,
Finch, Chickadee. Ego, all these things. This is
astounding. This is beautiful. But for Adam
there was not found a helpmate for him. So the Lord God caused
a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. God put him to
sleep. He took one of his ribs, closed
up the flesh thereof, instead thereof. And the rib which the
Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, woman, and brought
her to the man. He created Adam from the dust
of the earth, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
He became a living soul. Adam is there now, the only man,
only human being God created. He's the head, he's the representative,
he's the federal head, he's the first Adam. Eve came out of him. Somebody said out of his rib,
under his arm, to be protected by him, near his heart, to be
loved by him. out of, not out of his foot to be walked on,
or out of his head to rule over him, but out of his side to be
one with him. That's beautiful, that big one.
Made a woman, brought her to him. She must have been a gorgeous
creature, as he was such a beautiful man in the image of God. And
Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman, because she's taken out of a man. It's so different. I wish we
wouldn't try to make one sex of people. I wish we wouldn't
be such fools, don't you? Such fools, trying to destroy
what God has made so wonderful, so beautiful. It's just such
a tragedy. This country is digging the bottom
of the barrel. One unisex, one sex. Man is man, and a woman is woman. And they're made for one another.
They're made for a beautiful life together, happiness together,
to complement one another, to live together, to raise families. And man has his duties and responsibilities. Woman has hers. And a man who
tries to be a woman is an idiot. Who wears things pertaining to
a woman is an idiot. He's a rebel. A man who tries
to be effeminate Talk like a woman, walk like a woman, act like a
woman is an idiot. Is that too hard? And a woman
that tries to act like a man and work like a man and be like
a man and live like a man and cuss like a man is a degradation. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. You ladies be beautiful, sweet,
lovely ladies. Mothers and daughters and sisters
and wives and you men be me. It's just, uh, equality is a bad word sometimes. It's a bad word. It's an ugly
word. If equality means I become something
I'm not, then it's no good. And he said, this is bone of
my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she's taken out of man. Now listen, therefore shall a
man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and supply
her needs, and love her, and protect her, and care for her,
and provide for her, and they shall be one flesh." They were
both naked, the man and his wife, and they weren't ashamed. All right, now, this first creation, it's there, and we've read about
it. God said, good. But we ran into some words. Law. Death. So this first creation wasn't
intended by God to be the last. It wasn't intended by God to
be eternal. And I'll tell you several reasons
why. In the first place, that ever-threatening presence of
evil. It's out there, Tom, evil. That's what he talked about.
And so that evil is going to endanger this kingdom, this creation,
this work of God. That evil always keeps it under
a cloud, under the threat of destruction. And then another
thing, man is under the rule of law, not love. He's a servant,
but he's not a bondservant. He's doing what he's doing because
he's commanded to do it, not because he wants to do it. That
will enter in, won't it? Because this law is given. If
man was what he ought to be, God wouldn't have had to give
him a law. So this kingdom, if it's going
to be beautiful and righteous and holy, it can't be directed
by law and the whip. It's going to have to be motivated
by love. Thirdly, man is standing. He's holy. But he's standing
by his own righteousness. That's right. He said to Adam,
you don't eat that tree. And as long as you don't eat
it, you live. When you do eat it, you die. So, if he doesn't
eat it, he's standing by his own righteousness. Fourthly,
if he does stand, he gets the glory. Not God. Isn't that correct? So this kingdom
here, this earth, this creation, is not going to give God glory.
Man's going to, if he stays, if it continues this way for
any length of time, man's going to say, I stand by my own righteousness.
Look at me, how well I'm doing. And then fourth, fifthly, the
Scriptures keep talking about another kingdom. The Scripture
talks about the book of life written before the foundation
of the world. The Scriptures talk about a lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. The Scriptures talk about a people
Chosen before the foundation of the world. The Scriptures
talk about a people in the image of a Redeemer, conformed to the
image of a Christ. The Scriptures talk about known
unto God are all His works from the beginning. And then Peter
wrote over here, look at 2 Peter, turn over there just a moment.
Now hold that, hold Genesis 2 or 3, turn to 2 Peter. chapter 3, 2 Peter chapter 3,
verse 10. But the day of the Lord, the
day of the Lord, it will go all the way back to that day of the
Lord, will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt
with fervent heat The earth also and the works therein shall be
burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved.
What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation
and godliness, looking far and hastening unto the coming of
the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we,
according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness." No evil. No death, no law, except
the law of love. God says, I'll be their God,
I'll dwell with them, I'll be their God, there'll be no more
tears, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more sun, for the
Lamb shall be the light thereof. This new kingdom. Well, this
first one was created. I want you to see what happened
to it. Chapter 3. And this is all in God's good
pleasure and providence. chapter 3. Now the serpent, there's
a word we haven't run into, was more subtle than any beast of
the field which the Lord God had made, the serpent. And he
said to the woman, yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? Who's talking here? There's a person we haven't run
into, Satan, Lucifer. It's out there. He's the evil. He's the evil one. He's the presence
of evil. He's the threat. How'd he get
out there? Well, if you'll turn to Isaiah
14, Isaiah chapter 14, the scripture tells us where he came from. Isaiah chapter 14. You see, before
God created man, He created the angels, the heavenly hosts. There were angels and seraphims
and cherubims and the heavenly host, and one leading angel,
top angel, powerful angel, was called Lucifer. Lucifer. There was Michael and Gabriel
and Lucifer. And here in chapter 14 of Isaiah,
verse 12, we read about his fall. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer? Son of the morning. Son of the
morning. What a powerful title. How art
thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? And here
was his sin, for thou said in thy heart, I will ascend into
heaven. I will ascend into heaven. Evidently,
he must have had dominion over something down here. You reckon
possibly that when God said replenish the earth and so forth, And between
chapter 1, when God created the heavens and the earth, and the
earth became without form or void, maybe when it became without
form or void was when Satan fell. When Christ said, I saw Satan
fall from heaven as lightning. Think what a great catastrophe
that must have been for sin to enter heaven. For sin to be found
in the heart of God's chief angel. For sin to be found in the heart
of one-third of the heavenly host. for them all to depart
from God and to rebel against God, saying, I'll be like God.
Listen to what he said. I'll ascend into heaven. I'll
exalt my throne above the stars of God. I'll sit also upon the
mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I'll
ascend above the heights of the clouds. I'll be like God. I'll
be like God. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell, to the sides of the pit. You know what I believe?
Turn back to Genesis 3. This is what I believe. That
when God in the original creation, I don't know, you talk about
dinosaurs and all these things and the age of the earth being
millions of years old, it may be. It very well may be. Way back then, God created the
heavens and the earth. And there were angels and heavenly
hosts. And Satan, son of the morning,
Lucifer, he wasn't Satan, he was Lucifer, son of the morning.
Brilliant, beautiful, bright, wonderful. And that's when this
evil was found in him. And he led this rebellion against
heaven. Maybe he controlled the earth
and the air, maybe he lived on the earth, maybe the earth was
his domain. He said, I'll send him to heaven.
I'll exalt my throne above the stars of God. I'll be like God."
God said, no, you'll be cast down. And when Christ said, I
saw him as lightning fall from heaven. And oh, what might have
taken place then? What might have happened when
Satan, when heaven casts Lucifer out? There's no time with God. How much elapsed? What elapsed? And then God said
one day, Let there be light. It's going to be a new creation.
It's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. But this is
going to be a temporary thing here now. Watch. I'm going to
put man down here. Something's got to be done about
that evil. Something's got to be done about
that death. Something's got to be done about all these threats
to God's kingdom. Alright. So he entered the serpent. Somebody said the serpent was
more subtle. Any beast that would feel more
beautiful, more naked, less hair, I don't know what. But Eve talked
to him anyway. She listened to him. And he said,
hath God said, verse 1, that you shall not eat of every tree
of the garden? Is that what God said? Evidently, Adam was not
present, because the serpent talked to her. He didn't talk
to Adam, he talked to her. Evidently, he wasn't there. And
he talked to Eve. And he said this to her, he said,
now you're a superior creature, and the earth is subject to you.
Is God holding something back from you? See, this was his ambition,
to be like God. This was his ambition, to be
above God. This was his ambition, to be
out from under the reign of God. And this is where he's approaching
her. Is he holding something back? He tells her, you couldn't
eat of all the trees. Why can't you eat of all the trees? And
she said, we may eat of the trees of the garden, But of the fruit
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, You won't die. You won't die. See, this is his chief weapon
to deny the Word of God. Deny the Word of God. He said,
You won't die. God does know that in the day
you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened and you'll be as God's.
That was his problem. You'll be like God. I'll be like
God. Knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, how did she see that? Just His Word. You know what I believe? I believe
He took the fruit, whatever it was, and ate it. He didn't die. She saw. But it didn't hurt Him. It didn't hurt Him. He didn't
die. He was already dead. He was already a rebel. He was
already a powerful influence of evil. And she saw it was good
for food. And according to this person's
word, it was pleasant to the eyes. It didn't look all that
bad. And it's a tree desired to make one wise, or like God. So she took it. My friends, here's
a lesson here. Don't believe a thing because
you see it. Believe it because God says it. God told them, God told Adam
and Eve, don't eat of the tree. Don't eat of the tree. And it
may be she was near that tree, and Adam was somewhere else,
and Satan, he's so subtle, he deceived Eve, he deceived her. And evidently he caught her somewhere
near that tree and he said, has God said you can't eat of all
the trees? Oh, He said we can eat of all
the trees, but not that one. Well, God knows when you eat
that one, you'll be like God. He reached over and took it and
said, you'll not die. And she saw it was good for food. And
it was pleasant to the eyes, it's beautiful. Don't believe
anything because it's pleasant to the eyes, it looks right or
appears to be alright. If God says it's wrong, it's
wrong. What God says is so. Now trust
Him. She didn't. So she took it and
gave it to her husband with her, and he did it. Adam had come
along evidently, and she handed it to Adam. You notice that Eve
didn't die when she ate it first? Nothing happened. Outwardly,
but she handed it to Adam. And the Scripture says she was
deceived, Adam was not deceived. Adam was not, he did what he
did willfully. Willfully. He did it because
the woman gave it to him. And he ate it. And that's when
they died spiritually. And the eyes of them both were
opened. That's when they became evil. Just like that serpent,
just like that Satan, just like Lucifer, they fell too, and they
knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons. They lost their holiness, they
lost their spirituality, they lost their life, they lost any
contact with God. Here now, they're naked, unholy,
shameful, guilty. And they heard the voice of God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid
from God, they ran from God. and tried to hide themselves
in the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Now think about that. This man is, he's in trouble. Here he was, God made him in
his image, holy, immaculate, pure, walking with God, and now
he's a fearful, guilty, shameful, self-righteous, running from
God. He's dead, lifeless spiritually. The Lord God called and said,
Adam, where are you? God knew where he was. All this
is in the purpose and plan of God. He wants to hear it out
of Adam. Adam said, I heard your voice
and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. He said,
who told you you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree where
I commanded thee thou shalt not eat? The man said, the woman
which thou gavest to me, she gave it to me. He's going to
blame somebody. Blame your parents. Blame your
teachers. Blame anybody. Blame God. The
woman you gave me, he said. The blame goes right here for
whatever we do or whatever we are. But this is Adam. He's in a mess. And what happened
to him, when that happened to him, happened to all of us. He's
our daddy. And when he begets a son and
on down the line, that son is just like him, shameful, guilty,
fearful, blaming somebody else, self-righteous. And the Lord
God said to the woman, what is it that thou hast done? The woman
said, now if it wasn't my fault, the serpent beguiled me and I
did eat. Oh, listen to us. And the Lord
God said to the serpent, now here's the curses upon each one.
The Lord God said to the serpent, thou art cursed above all cattle,
of every beast of the field, upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And let's skip
verse 15 a minute. Unto the woman, he said, I greatly
multiply your sorrow and your conception. In sorrow you bring
forth children. She was already going to bring
forth children, but not in sorrow, not in pain. It was going to
be no problem to bring forth a child. But now in sorrow, And
your desire shall be to your husband, and he'll rule over
you. You'll be in subjection to your husband. He's the head
of the home, the head of the house. And to the man, he said, because
you've hearkened to the voice of your wife, and eaten of the
tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of
it. Cursed is the ground for your sake. In sorrow you'll eat
of it all the days of your life. And thorns also, and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field. In the sweat of your face you'll eat bread. till you
return to the ground, for out of it were you taken, and dust
you are, the dust you shall return." There it goes, down the drain. No, no, this is the purpose of
God in this whole thing, is to have a new heaven and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness, where there'll be no evil, where
there'll be nothing in her that worketh or maketh a lie. where
he'll get the glory and all the praise and Christ will have all
the free evidence. And all this is laying the groundwork
for that. But he said to the woman, verse
15, go back to verse 15. He said to the serpent, I'll
put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
the woman's seed. This is the virgin-born Son of
God. This is the seed of woman, the seed of Jesse, the seed of
David, the seed of Abraham. And he shall bruise your head,
but you'll bruise his heel. There's one coming that's going
to destroy Satan. There's one coming and through
his bruising, through bruising him on the cross, bruising his
heel, that's the lowest part. You'll bruise his heel, he'll
suffer like no other man. But he's going to bust your head,
your government, your power. And through Christ Jesus, this
is, and one of these days, this old heaven, old earth, because
like it did when Satan fell and confusion, darkness, then God
made man. But one of these days, this,
the heavens going to melt with the fervent heat and the earth
too. And Satan is going to be put where he can do no more harm.
The presence of evil is going to be gone. There's not going
to be any law ruling people with quips. The last enemy destroyed
will be death. And God's going to put evil away.
There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth and a new kingdom
and a people redeemed by Christ who love Him, who believe Him,
who walk with Him, who are made just like Him. And no danger
of falling. No danger. Everything's going
to be... Brother Barnard, when he was a boy, he had a dog. He named him Old Shep. And he
was about 11 or 12 years old. He lived out in Texas. And he
lived on a farm. He loved that old dog. And one
day he came in, his dad was in the house, and he came in and
said, Dad, there's something wrong with my dog. Something
wrong with Shep. He's growling at me. His dad said, Shep's growling
at you? Yeah, he looks funny. Looks real
funny. And he's got stuff coming out
of his mouth. And Ross said his daddy reached
up and got the shotgun off the mantel, off above the mantel,
and threw it open and shoved two shells in there and closed
it. And Ross said, Dad, what are you going to do? He said,
I'm going to kill your dog. Oh, he grabbed him by the arm
and said, Dad, you can't kill my dog. Don't kill my dog. He said,
son, I got to kill your dog or he'll kill you. Got to put him
away. And our God is going to put away
everything that's evil, harmful, that can do any damage to this
new kingdom and new creation, new covenant, even things that
we think are important or precious or whatever, He's going to do
away with everything that is an enemy of Christ. It's going
to be a new heaven and a new earth, new kingdom, wherein dwelleth
the righteous. And God showed them before He
let them out of that garden, before He put them out, He killed
an animal. That was never meant to be. You
remember they would eat herbs? Even the animals ate herbs. But
he killed that animal. The first blood shed was to cover
a man's sin. He said, get those fig leaves
off. Get them off. You're not going to try to cover
yourself. I'm going to have to cover you. So he himself killed
that animal. First death. First blood. Shed
it. took that skin, wrapped up Adam
and Eve, and they walked out of the garden. And our Lord took
His only beloved Son, nailed Him to a cross, and shed His
blood to cover our nakedness and our sins, put our sins away,
make everything new. Now, that's the story, young
people. That's the beginning of this
world. That's the way God made it. That's the purpose of God
in it. And He's going to, you see, You
say, well, how's this second heaven and earth going to exist
if this one doesn't? There's going to be no evil.
There's going to be no law. It's love. There's going to be
no human righteousness. It's going to be His righteousness.
We're not going to get the glory. He is. And there's going to be
no more death. But everything perfect. I'm looking
forward to that. That day's coming. Think on these
things, okay? I hope you will. I hope God leads
you to consider them very strongly. All right, let's sing a closing
hymn, Mike. Let's sing number 209. Grace, and this is the key, grace
greater than our sins. It comes from him. Grace greater
than our sins. That's number 209. All right,
Mike, you lead us, please.

Old Creation - New Creation

What does the Bible say about creation?

How do we know God's promises for a new creation are true?

Why is the doctrine of original sin important for Christians?

What does it mean that God created man in His image?

How does the concept of dominion relate to man's role after creation?

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Old Creation - New Creation

What does the Bible say about creation?

How do we know God's promises for a new creation are true?

Why is the doctrine of original sin important for Christians?

What does it mean that God created man in His image?

How does the concept of dominion relate to man's role after creation?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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