← ArchiveGenesis (Foundations)Sunday, April 10, 2016DateApril 10, 2016Speaker—TextGenesis 1Passages in this sermonGenesis 10:44Genesis 1:17:18Psalms 14714:16Luke 1216:21Genesis 320:082 Corinthians 4:622:40John 124:41Matthew 1126:28TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Josh and I spent most of the day with each other Friday. I knew he wasn't feeling well. And he turned down food that was given to us a couple of times. And then our families went to the park with our kids and went to Chick-fil-A later on and still really wasn't feeling well. And we made the joke, Brad, you may be preaching Sunday. And so it's not a joke. So here I am.0:30I didn't know definitely until around 7.30 yesterday afternoon. And so I've been hard at it. Not much sleep. And so anyway, here we go. If you would turn with me to Genesis chapter 1. We're going to continue. And actually we're starting a new series in Genesis. And hopefully you have gotten some information about that out in the foyer and some little booklets. We want you to know what's coming.0:59And we want you to stay informed. And so everything is in that booklet as far as the characters that are there in Genesis and all the way to the schedule and everything there is also. And so we want to make sure that you stay informed about where we're going. And so Josh actually told me, he said, you know, Brad, you can do something completely different or you can stay on track. And so I want us to stay on track. And one reason I want us to stay on track is too, but I love the book of Genesis. I absolutely love this book.1:28And so it's really awesome to be able to start this series. Our students, we actually did something completely different Wednesday. I'm actually taking them through the book of Genesis also. So this is really not new. I just took the intro. I went with them. And basically I'm kind of getting more detailed with you guys. And so now when you do your family devotions, if you have a teenager, they have actually heard the messages also. And so when you do those devotions together, you can ask them what they learned on Wednesday now. And so that would be awesome.1:59Foundations matter. If you're in construction, if you have ever had a home that has any kind of foundation issues, you know that foundations really do matter. Foundations is so important because it is everything that is based off of as far as everything above that foundation, the structure, has to be secure. I can remember growing up, my grandmother had a friend that had a house.2:22And when you went into your house, it was really cool because we had little hot wheel cars. You could take that hot wheel car on one end of the house and let it go. And it would slide all the way to the other end. And then you'd go in another room and it'd slide the opposite end. And so we'd have little drag races in that house because no floor was even. And you could see under the house. But back, I don't know, years ago, I guess that's kind of how they made houses. They just had little things, whatever they could find to kind of, at least that was in Coal City, maybe not in this area.2:52So anyway, foundations matter. And here's the thing. If your foundation is malformed or lacking, you are destined for failure. You're destined for failure. So how much more does your spiritual foundation matter, not just now, but for an eternity? And so if you don't get your foundation right, if you don't get your spiritual foundation right, everything else that is built on that, it can be shaky.3:17And so that's what I love about Genesis. Genesis 1, 1 through 3. In the beginning. In the beginning. And I could literally say, okay, that's it. Let's pray. Let's go home. But we're not going to do that. And so let's just start with the first phrase. In the beginning. This is a difficult little thing here because I'll tell you why.3:46You and I have finite minds. Our brains cannot comprehend what's going on here. We can read that and we can just kind of skim over it. But in the beginning, because we are driven by time. Everything that we do, we're driven by time. As a matter of fact, what time are you getting up? What time does church start? What time are we meeting for lunch?4:15What time is kickoff? What time are we going to dinner? When are we going to meet? All of this is based on time. In fact, you would be stressed completely out to describe anything without using the language that has to do with time. And so everything that we do is built upon time. And so in the beginning means that there was something before there was time.4:38There was something before time. And so, again, our brains will explode if we really try to really think about what's going on here. And so in the beginning, the next part, God. In the beginning, God. Now we have an eternal creator outside of time. Now we know that something was before in the beginning and that something was God.5:06And I'm going to tell you something. I find comfort in knowing that. That in the beginning, God. God is eternal. He existed before the beginning of time, space, and matter. And so, he is laying the foundation of the world. He's laying the foundation of the universe.5:34God, according to the Bible, is the only one or only thing, the only object which has no beginning because God alone has no beginning. Because he is God. Therefore, everything that exists is grounded on God, finds its origin in God, its being in God. He and he alone has no beginning, and he has no end. He is God. And so, Genesis exhibits no interest in the question of God's origin.6:03No interest in it. As a matter of fact, I just want to tell you that this right here is not a science book. The book of Genesis is not a science book. And it's not even a historical book. It's God's word. It's eternal. It's God. So many people over the years have tried to use the book of Genesis to prove all kinds of different things,6:29and that's all well and good. But God did not need to prove himself to exist. Because it says God is. In the beginning, God. So, Genesis exhibits no interest in the question of God's origin. His existence prior to the world is taken as self-evident and does not even require assertion, let alone proof. If there was no God, there would be no atheists.7:01Let me let that sink in for a second. If there was no God, there would be no atheists. In Genesis 1.1, there is no argument or discussion on the existence of God. There's no argument there. There's no discussion on the matter. Because here's the thing. God created us with the common sense to understand that creation was no accident, but a design.7:31And so, we can try to argue this all day long. And here's what I wanted to submit to you this morning. We have been told to become tolerant of this. We have been told to push back.8:01Don't be so vocal about this. And in some situations, it is wise to step softly. But in other situations, we should go to battle. We should go to battle. And we shouldn't back up.8:31Because in the beginning, there was God. And we believe that. And we need to stand on that. In fact, the fact that you are here on this planet, and are a part of the work of the Lord, points to the creative nature and the existence of God. So, if God is our beginning, then we depend upon Him. Whether you acknowledge your creator or not,9:01your existence depends on Him. And what we understand from the opening lines of God's Word is that God has no beginning. He is gloriously above all creation. He is before all creation. And He alone exists supreme power over creation. God's Word calls us to acknowledge our beginnings. To acknowledge our beginnings. And so, any day of the week that does not begin with God9:27does not end well. Any day that does not begin with God does not end well. And you may say, well, Brad, I have good days all the time. I submit to you, you might have a better day if you began with God. And you may say, well, Brad, I had a horrible day and I began with God. Maybe that was a good day.9:57Could have been worse. God's in control. And He knows. He knows what we go through. So, in the beginning, God created. That's our next line. In the beginning, God created. This is the primary mover in everything that exists. What you begin seeing here is10:25as God begins, as the primary mover, the ultimate creator, you get a sense of the immensity of His wealth. Let me show you what I mean by that. What is in my hand? Nothing. There is nothing in my hand. Now, imagine for a second if I could just create anything out of that nothing.10:53Imagine what I could do. Imagine how wealthy I could be if I could just simply create anything out of nothing. And so, we begin to see the immense wealth. We begin to see the complexity of our God. That He began to speak things into existence out of nothing.11:22Because He is God. And so, God did not create our material. You are not a clock that God created, wound up, and then let it go. You are ticking until your death. And so, God created and completed you. And unfortunately, we are broken because of our sin.11:52But we are lacking nothing because God created you. We're lacking nothing. And so, you may think I'm not significant. You may think that, you know, I don't like this particular body that I'm in. Just hold on. You'll get a new one one day if you're a believer. Matter of fact, I heard one pastor say it very well. I'm going to wear this one out because I'm going to get a new one when I get to heaven. So, I'm going to wear this one out while I'm here. So, all you dieters and fitness guys,12:21it's all great. But you're going to get a much better one. If you want to email me about against dieting, you know, the Lord said that the body is the temple. You should take care of it. I don't know. I know. But we will get new bodies one day. And I'll be so glad when that happens. And so, he goes on to say,12:51in the beginning, God created the heavens. In the beginning, God created the heavens. Now we're looking at his power. We looked at the creation. We looked at the power, the intimacy of creating anything out of, everything out of nothing. So, now we look at the heavens. The expansion of the universe. Last night, when I found out that I was going to be preaching, I took the intro that I used for the youth and I said,13:20you know what, I'm going to go to the office. Had to step away. Jessica was taking care of Aaron and Eli, Josh's, Casey's young ones and got them down to bed and everything. All of a sudden, my youngest one started crying because he has an ear infection. So, I said, you know what, I'm out. So, hence, my wife's not here this morning. She's probably watching this online. But anyway, came up here and was leaving here about 2 o'clock a.m. and walked outside13:51and just looked up at the stars and I just had to stand there just for a second because I was just now studying this right here about the wonder of the universe and I'm like, God, you created all of that and you named them the stars. He named them. As a matter of fact, Psalm 147 verse 4 says this, he determined the number of the stars and he gives all of them14:20their names. Now, think about the stars for a second. The Hubble telescope has just seen just a little bit of them. I mean, just the fringe of them. I mean, we can't even tell if Pluto is a planet or whatever it is. And so, in our inability to see the stars, he named them all. He numbered those stars and he gives them all a name. And so, when God creates the heavens,14:50the heavens, when we look at the idea of the heavens, plural in the Bible, we're looking at the expansion of the universe written from Moses who did not understand, by the way, anything about the universe. Anything. And then, we see in Psalm 147 verse 4, he determines the number of the stars and he gives them all their names. Now, when David, filled with the Holy Spirit, penned this, he is completely unaware of what you and I are aware of today. He knows nothing15:22of the Hubble telescope. He knows nothing of the expansion of the universe. He has no idea of the solar systems or anything like that. He just knows that the stars are named. How much more important is a star than your soul? Christ died for your soul.15:50He named the stars, but he died for your soul. So the universe, as important than it may be, is no more important than his ultimate creation in us. God didn't send his son to die for the stars. He sent his son to die for you. Luke 12,16:21Luke 12, 7 says this, why even the hairs of your head are numbered, fear not, you are more valuable than many sparrows. So today, you may be thinking, I don't have a purpose, I don't have value. According to his word, you do. According to his word, he knows the numbers of the hair on your head. He may have named the count of the stars, but he died for your sins.16:50So our next line, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth is a funny one. In the expansion of the universe, it doesn't get much smaller and much frail and much weaker than you see here on planet earth. As a matter of fact, it is said that if you move the axis of the earth a few degrees left or right or whatever, it will no longer sustain life. And so to say17:19that there is no God and the fact that we know those things in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And so now we see the personal, the creative force, the creative God who creates all things. He creates space, he creates time, he creates mass and he created you.17:48What brings life to the lifeless? What brings life to the lifeless? The spirit of God, the personal presence of God Almighty, to this day, the Holy Spirit brings life where there is no lifeless, where there is dead. And so how are we born again? Does not the Holy Spirit inhabit us, bring our hearts to life, take what is dead and make it alive? That is the spirit of God that does that.18:17That's the spirit of God that does that. So when God forms man, what does he do? When God formed man, what did he do? He breathed life. He breathed life into him and he lives. And so God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit out of them, overflow of their own gladness and contentment began to paint to the canvas of creation.18:46And then they said, it is good. It is good. So there's a rhythm that's established in Genesis 1 and it goes something like, God created this, God created this, God created this, and it was good. And so there's this rhythm of life. And so ultimately, you have this triune God on the canvas of creation painting a world that is not the same world19:14that you and I live in today. Because the world we live in today is broken. See that rhythm that was once there that was so perfect was in tune. because of the fall of man it's become out of rhythm. And we know that. We see it.19:44We feel it. Sometimes our heart groans because of the losses that we see in our world today. So we live in a broken world. We live in a fallen world. The Bible says that all creation has been subject to fertility because of what happened in Genesis 3. And that means hard pressed. It's not what it used to be.20:13It used to be full. It used to be perfect. Now it is hard pressed. It has been pressed down. And then it's experiencing the pain of childbirth. And so our world is in pain. So then we see the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. Think about that just for a moment. The earth20:44The earth was without form. Void and darkness was over the face of the deep. The world was empty. The world was distorted and dark. Maybe today your world is distorted and maybe your world is dark. Maybe you're hanging around the darkness and maybe you're feeling empty inside. And I want you to look. Where is21:14is God? If your life is in darkness, where is God? Where is He?21:31He shows Himself in His Word. And the world was distorted and He was there. He was there. Even in the darkness, He was there. And He is still disclosing Himself to us today. And God said, let there be light. Let there be light. Verse 3. And can you imagine this? First of all,22:03I want to point out the fact that God said, let there be light and it happened. So whatever He says, it happens. There was light. And that should give us great confidence that whatever God says, He does. Whatever God says, He does. And so the world has never known light. And He speaks light into existence. And He spoke His creation into existence and He continues to speak to His creation today. So where is God22:33in your life? Where is He in your life? He speaks to us in His Word. 2 Corinthians 4.6 says this, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness, He shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So we don't need God because we're fallen. We need God because we're human. We're human.23:05We're human. He created us to live in a loving, dependent relationship with Him. And so when we disconnect with Him and we try and we try to live independent lives and we start living out of rhythm things don't end up very well. Our day isn't well. When we disconnect ourself from the Lord,23:34when we start to run from Him, when we have the knowledge of Him and we have even confessed Him as our Lord and as our Savior and we start to run in a different direction, He's quick to chase after and call us home.24:04And so there was light. So the Bible puts this in this term, this rhythmic term. It helps me to think that God created everything in harmony and in rhythm. Any day of the week that does not begin with God will not end well. So God spoke creation into existence and He's speaking to us today. And so24:35And so we know God, the Son, is the active force of creation and we find this in John chapter 1 starting in verse 1. It says this, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and He was the beginning with God and things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. and so we see Christ in creation. So you have25:05God, the Father who is the author. You have God, the Son, Christ who is the active force and there's nothing in you that can bring rescue to you, nothing that can satisfy the whole fraternity that is inside of you other than Jesus. other than Jesus. And so if you're living in darkness, if you don't know Christ, the awesome thing about the gospel is it shines25:33light in the dark places. It shines light in the dark places. And so maybe that's where you're at in your life. He's still speaking to us today. So we need to understand the problem is sin. And he alone can rightly and justly say26:03justly say this. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and I will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's Matthew 11, 28, 30. There is nothing in you,26:33you, there is nothing in you that can bring rescue to you. Nothing that can satisfy the whole of eternity inside of you. The good news is there's something that can, and that something is Jesus. See, the awesome thing about this story of creation is that he gives his spirit a power that you may know and live in the power of the27:02of the resurrection. There is a solid foundation. His name is Jesus. And so if your foundation is shaky, there's the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's calling on you, and he wants us to live in harmony with him. And so as we read27:32we read this, what some call the creation story, we have been justified, made right before the Lord. We receive forgiveness. We escape God's wrath. We are adopted into a new family, and we gain a new identity when you call upon Jesus. And so my question to you this morning is will you put your faith in Christ today?28:02today? Will you put your faith in Christ today? Would you pray with me?Next in Genesis (Foundations) →Sunday, April 17, 2016More sermons on Genesis →
