The Beginning

Transcript

It’s good to be here with you this morning. If I’ve not had the chance to meet you, my name is Thomas and I serve as one of the pastors here And I’d love to get to know you So, please come and find me at the end of the service if you like no pressure But I’m usually in the back there. I’d love to get to know you. Oh This morning we begin a new sermon series as was mentioned on the book of Genesis The sermon series is entitled a beautiful but broken world And over the next 10 weeks We’ll be focusing on the first 11 chapters Which if all goes well should maybe take us into the second week of March

A Beautiful But Broken World

And as is our usual practice when beginning a new series we’ll spend some time this morning Laying out the why behind preaching this particular text And then we’ll spend a little bit of time setting some context for the book so that we could approach it with some proper orientation So, let me begin first with the why we’re preaching Genesis now Well over the last three years or so as I’ve been preaching In almost every single sermon, I think, as I can recall, I have found myself Repeatedly going back to the book of Genesis. I mean you guys should remember Some of this Whether it was the five solas we went to Genesis when we are preaching 1st Corinthians We went to Genesis when we were dealing with the structure of the church We went to Genesis even when we were in Ecclesiastes. We were in Genesis

As long as I could remember every sermon we’ve inevitably returned to Genesis because it provides the foundational framework for understanding the whole of Scripture God’s redemptive story and our place in his redemptive story So you see Genesis is not just a book about the beginning of creation it’s about the beginning of everything that we understand God’s revelation of himself Humanities fall into sin and his unfolding plan of rescue And what’s really sad is that a lot of people including Christians overlook Genesis because they think it’s simply a collection of entertaining and sometimes hard to believe stories But family Genesis is saturated with doctrine A.W. Pink said that Genesis is the seed plot of the Bible because almost every major doctrine of Scripture is introduced here in its early form The seeds are Later developed and fully revealed as you move through the whole of God’s Word

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The Foundation of Everything

In just the first 11 chapters of Genesis. It’s packed with truth and doctrine I mean just here’s a snapshot of some of the truths and doctrines will encounter in just these first 11 chapters We’ll see the doctrine of God Right out of the gate Genesis introduces God but not as some distant or disconnected God but as a creator We see throughout Genesis that God is personal The designer of heaven and earth and all that is in it. He is personally engaged with Genesis even hints at the doctrine of the Trinity in chapter 1 verse 26 when God says let us Make man in our own image We see the doctrine of creation fall and redemption in the opening chapters We see humanity’s purpose as image bearers of God We see the tragic fall of humanity into sin in chapter 3 and then we get the first glimpse of redemption

When God promises that the seed of the woman will one day come to crush the head of the serpent We see the truth of Satan’s evil schemes chapter 3 exposes Satan’s strategy of Questioning doubting or denying God’s Word a tactic that he still continues to use today We see the doctrine of salvation When immediately after the fall God covers Adam and Eve with animal skins which really introduces to us this idea that sin requires a sacrifice a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ That would cover our sin We see the doctrine of the security of believers in the flood narrative in chapter 6 through 9 Noah and his family are preserved in the ark symbolizing salvation and God’s covenant faithfulness We see the doctrine of God’s judgment and his grace from Cain’s punishment to the floods devastation Genesis reveals both the justice of God who deals with sin appropriately

But also we see his grace as it’s revealed to those who trust in him We can go on and on family. But the point is this Genesis is so much more than a book of Sunday school stories It’s the foundation for everything we believe and because of that we figured it’s about time for us to take a deeper dive into this book Because doing so will help us grow in our knowledge of God and in our doctrine It will deepen our understanding of his story and we will begin to recognize our unique place within his story Now the book of Genesis is mostly written by Moses At least that’s what most commentators believe. I tend to rock with them That’s what scripture alludes to Genesis is neatly divided into kind of two major sections. So chapters 1 through 11 Focuses primarily on the early history of the world and humanity

whereas chapters 12 through 50 shift our focus to the early history of Israel and the patriarchs and So for this particular sermon series, our focus will be on the first section Chapters 1 through 11 So over the next 10 weeks, here’s a bit of a preview of what we’re going to be looking at Beginning this morning. We’ll look at the beginning God’s act of creation Next week. We’ll look at the forming how God shaped the world The week after that the filling God’s provision and purpose for creation And we’ll look at the rest Which is the significance of the Sabbath? Then the blueprint God’s design for humanity and creation Then we’ll look at the garden the beauty and intimacy of Eden Then we’ll see the fall humanity’s great rebellion against God Then the sickness the rapid spreading of sin Then the safety God’s preservation through the flood and then finally the tower the scattering of people at Babel

And our hope family is that this series will not only help us better understand the foundations of our faith but will also equip us to see how Genesis points us to Jesus and Shapes our understanding of the gospel which we find in the very beginning of Genesis And so this morning we’ll be looking at the beginning which will be the shortest portion of our sermon series just two short verses So I’ll read our text this morning. We’ll pray and then we’ll dive into the beginning Genesis 1 verses 1 & 2 you can find this in the very beginning of Scripture

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters

— Genesis 1

(ESV)

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God. Let’s pray and ask for the Lord’s help Our Father and our God we Confess this morning that left to our own wisdom Left to our own experience Left to Scientists and philosophers We could not know anything about you What we need is The illuminating help of the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see all of the beauty and truth that is contained in your word and So we ask O Lord that you would meet us this morning That as we Unveil your word You would unveil our hearts You would help us to see all that you have for us this morning we are desperate Because we are creatures created by you So come to us Lord we pray in Jesus name. Amen

Two Fundamental Questions

For centuries Humanity has wrestled with the same fundamental questions How did the universe come to be? And how do we get here? These aren’t just questions relegated to scientists Biologists or philosophers these questions impact every human because they cut to the very core of our existence It shapes how we view the world How we view ourselves? And it defines our purpose in life, in fact, we just talked a few weeks ago about these worldview questions Well family, these are in every way the most important of those worldview questions from these two questions all the rest flow out of When it comes to these two specific questions There are really only two main approaches to answering this question these questions you have the naturalistic theories of origin Or theistic theories of origin now, I know those are very big words but essentially what that means is that the choice is between a natural explanation or

a supernatural explanation The most popular and what the world deems the most intelligent approach Would be the naturalistic theories Meaning the ideas that can only be explained through the material world or through natural order without mentioning God or anything supernatural and of these theories the three most popular would be the Big Bang a biogenesis and evolution and These three theories are often presented as a connected framework in the naturalistic explanation Meaning they’re like Legos that stack on top of each other So they begin with the Big Bang Theory This by the way is the main scientific explanation for how the universe began It’s this idea that the universe began some thirteen point eight billion years ago with a massive explosion from a tiny super dense point or what scientists call Singularity which in simple terms just means that at some point in space there existed certain physical properties like density

Temperature and Gravitational force that just happened to collide at the same time Causing a controlled explosion and from that explosion everything including stars and planets formed into being from that explosion the universe then Expanded and continues to expand today So that’s the most widely accepted view in our world for how the universe came to be And when it comes to the origin of human life You have a biogenesis which basically asserts that human life started from non-life or non-living chemicals and that over time simple molecules randomly developed came together to Eventually become the first tiny living cells and from those tiny living cells. All of life was created And everything we see today They say comes from that which then brings us to evolution by natural selection Which says that all living things that came from those tiny living cells including humans come from common ancestors that over millions of years tiny changes or

mutations helped organisms adapt to their environment Leading to the diversity and complexity of all the life that we see today This is the leading theory for how we developed and changed over time how we became more sophisticated more intelligent and more developed But you see despite these intellectual appeals They all fall short in one crucial way they begin with presumptions and Fail to provide ultimate answers So take for example the Big Bang Theory The problem is that it only explains what happened after the universe exploded into being It doesn’t answer the big question Like what caused the universe to exist in the first place? What was before the singularity that caused the explosion? What created all the physical properties in the first place? In other words something had to cause the physical properties to exist You see everything has a cause The universe didn’t cause itself. It had to come from something eternal

self-existing and powerful the problem with a biogenesis is That the idea that life could remotely or randomly come from non life or non living chemicals Seems completely impossible because life is way too complex. I Mean just think about DNA The molecule that the molecule that holds all of the information of life when you really dive into DNA Not just from watching forensic files But when you really dig into the science behind it DNA is like written code It’s meticulous and it’s unique to each individual and Family codes don’t write themselves They come from intelligence someone had to write the code for DNA for it to exist with its sophistication and complexity and The problem with evolution by natural selection is that it only explains small changes in organisms Like the difference in breeds between dogs. It can’t explain how entire species Come together or complete systems like the human heart or the human eye. How did those things come into existence?

The complexity of the universe and all living things screams of design Not random chance. I mean just imagine for a second walking into a junkyard and Scattered all across the junkyard are piles of random metals plastics wires and glass Imagine someone telling you that over billions of years through purely random processes no design No plan and no guiding hand that these materials Somehow assembled themselves into a fully functional sleek and beautiful MacBook Pro Not Just the hardware Not just the aluminum casing the high-definition retina display the precision engineered keyboard and the perfectly calibrated battery Not just that You also have to account for the software The MacBook Pro doesn’t just exist It has a fully functioning operating system Capable of running complex programs storing data and performing tasks with incredible efficiency Now with all of the mechanics and design of a MacBook Pro in the complexities of its software, would you believe this person?

Of course you wouldn’t Because we instinctively know that this kind of a complexity Functionality and intentionality does not come by accident or random chance a MacBook Pro is the product of intelligent design Engineers programmers and designers poured all of their expertise into its beautiful creation And just to push this illustration to its furthest point One would have to account for all the parts in the junkyard How did they get there in the first place? You see the naturalistic theories whether it’s the Big Bang Theory a Biogenesis or evolution by natural selection essentially asked us to believe something that is way more impossible than a MacBook Pro They asked us to believe that the entire universe with all of its precision and order Randomly came into being They asked us to believe that life with its intricate systems its information packed DNA That it emerged from non-living chemicals without any guiding intelligence

They asked us to believe that the diversity and complexity of life came from random mutations and natural selection alone When you examine it properly When you look at it like that It’s completely ridiculous It makes no sense But this family in our world is considered the most sophisticated approach to the origin of the cosmos and human life But this is radically off-base and You see the main reason these theories fall so significantly short is Because they all start in the wrong place They begin with man and the material world with limited resources limited minds Limited information working outward to explain the universe in human life rather than beginning with the one who created it And why does the world believe such ridiculous theories when it comes to the cosmos in human life?

Because the rebellious hearts of men and women They will believe anything other than the truth of God You see because if they admit that God created everything then they will have no choice But to bend their knee to him, but they won’t do it So they suppress the truth in unrighteousness even though the truth is plain and Obvious and for this reason family the Bible begins with the most profound and significant statement ever written in human history In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth With these ten words the Bible begins not just a story of creation but with a declaration that frames all of reality Listen, you cannot understand the origin of the cosmos and human life by beginning with man. It will never work Because we were created you must appeal to the God who created everything and everyone and Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 and 2

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In the Beginning God

Answers the origin questions by declaring to us the Creator God who created everyone and everything now while Genesis Undeniably provides a framework for understanding the creation of the cosmos and human life My goal this morning is not simply to defend the truth of God as creator of the cosmos because honestly This is not what the text is aimed at doing In fact this passage if you notice Doesn’t offer an argument for the existence of God or the origin of creation Instead it assumes it Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 isn’t meant to provide proof It’s meant to proclaim To proclaim who God is and what we can know about him and the statement in the beginning God Establishes the fact of God’s eternal presence and his creative authority without debate and So instead of focusing our time this morning on defending God’s creative act

I want to explore the deeper question that I think the test the text is answering and that question is this What does the creation account? reveal about God and As we explore this text my hope is that you will see not just the creation account but also the God who is revealed in the creation account and Although these two verses are packed with all kinds of substance I mean we could really spend like five or six weeks just on these two first verses But what I want to do is focus our attention on five explicit truths that God has revealed about himself in this text And what I hope to reveal in this incredibly small portion of Scripture is that God is eternal God is self-existent God is omnipotent God is benevolent and God is personal And what’s crazy is that the first three of these truths come directly from the first five words of Scripture in the beginning

God created and To better help you understand these truths I think it’s important for us to look at these five words in the original language and really these five words in Hebrew They’re actually expressed in just three words Baruch sheath Elohim Barak now listen, we do have a Hebrew scholar That’s an elder in our church. And even this morning’s like you can’t say it that way you got to reverse it But I’m gonna explain it this way, okay? Because, you know, I’m not a Hebrew scholar. Sorry. So, let me just begin with the first two words Baruch sheath in the beginning and Elohim God These two words together immediately introduce us to the eternal God now the phrase eternal God basically explains that Not only does God exist But that he exists outside of time So when it says in the beginning, it’s not simply referring to the beginning of a story

It’s referring to the beginning of time itself and not just time It also marks the beginning of space and matter as Carson already explained to us So this first word Baruch sheath in the beginning actually places us at the starting point of everything we know Showing us that God’s existence Precedes time and space and matter this means that before the universe came into existence God was already there He did not come into being when creation began because he was never created He’s always been he existed before the beginning Because he had no beginning and he will remain at the end of human history because he has no end God always was always is and always will be because he is eternal This means that God is the cause and not the effect of space time and matter He is the foundation upon which the universe is built

You see the Big Bang Theory begins with time space and matter already existing But it doesn’t account for how those things were created in order for time to begin someone or something outside of time had to create it or start the clock and Using that same logic in order for God to create time. It means that God must exist outside of time and Family, this is exactly what Psalm 90 verse 2 declares

Before the mountains were brought forth Wherever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting You are God

— Psalm 90

(ESV)

Because God exists outside of time unlike us. He’s not bound by time So while we as humans experience life in this kind of linear fashion past present future God exists outside of those constraints Which means that he sees all of human history all at once Folded in and he covers it with perfect wisdom

This is fascinating and Since God exists outside of time and never had a beginning. It also follows that God is self existent Meaning God exists from himself. He relies on no one and nothing for his being he’s not dependent on anyone or Anything and this is so important to understand because God’s eternal nature and his self existence Provides great comfort for Christians Because The God who created the heavens and the earth Also holds the timelines of our life in his hands He’s never surprised He’s never unprepared he’s never reactionary and Because he’s not dependent on anyone or anything what God has declared. He will do he doesn’t have to ask permission In fact if you think about God existing outside of time then what he has declared For you, it’s already done

We’re just waiting So while we experience difficulties and uncertainties in this life According to our timeline we can trust that God who exists outside of time has already worked it all out for our good in the future Even if we haven’t seen it yet. I mean just think about the future promises that are yours in Christ Jesus eternal life Glorified resurrection bodies a new heaven and new earth God’s presence forever our full assurance as children of God Final redemption and final freedom from the sin that entangles us the completion of God’s maturing work in us Unending joy and worship

Though we aren’t experiencing these things now in time God promises these things for the believer and he’s already worked him out in future eternity So hold on to those promises dear Christian when the waves of life begin crushing down on you Grab tightly to the promises that await you because they are yours in Christ Jesus forever This is mind-blowing, but it’s true and it’s encouraging for you So hold fast to that Next we see that God is omnipotent meaning he is all powerful We see this in the Hebrew word for create Now this word in the original language barah is far more packed than how it’s translated in English the original word for create carries with it this idea of both without effort and without anything You understand that? No effort and he creates with no things it’s what’s called ex nihilo creation out of nothing and

God’s power is made visible in his ability to make things from no things You know as humans when we create or exercise creativity, I mean we got a lot of creatives in this in this church But with everything that we do We have to borrow the resources that already exist So everything we make Depends on existing elements. So take for example the guitar one of the greatest creations in human history It’s true universally loved by all people

Or at least it should be Maybe you’re a ukulele. It’s still kind of the same thing Though the idea of the first guitar was creatively genius Everything required to create it had to be borrowed The wood Came from trees That we use for the body and the neck The metals that create not just the strings, but those little knobs what they called—the knobs that you tighten. Yeah, those things they tighten to create sound But it’s not just the physical components Even the mind and the order that is required to make sound into melody is borrowed Did you give yourself your brain? No, it’s all derivative Not so with God By his word alone the heavens and earth came into being and The phrase just so you know heavens and earth is what’s called a mirror ism, which basically uses two opposites

heaven and earth to refer to everything in between so it’s saying in the beginning God made everything all that there is and Everything doesn’t just refer to the physical aspects of the universe It includes both the things we can see and the things we can’t see the visible and the invisible like love

Thinking So God speaks and Non-existence responds by coming into existence just like Is that computing with you? God speaks and Non-existence obeys by coming into existence That’s powerful This eternal Self-existing and powerful God is the triune God of the Bible the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit We know this because John 1 tells us that in the beginning was the word that is Jesus and the word was with God meaning he existed with God for all of eternity and The word was God Right He was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him without Jesus Not anything made was made

So Jesus has always been in the picture Family Jesus is the word who existed in eternity with the Father the one who spoke Creation into existence with his words Then you see the Holy Spirit in the beginning as he hovers over the creation as it’s being made Family the triune God that we worship is incredibly powerful and This power means that there is nothing too difficult for God Whatever he wants He speaks and when he speaks things comply and come into being Which means that we could trust his word That he will do what he says he will do Because he has the power to accomplish it the same power that spoke creation into existence is the same power that secures the promises that he speaks to his children and while we cannot fully comprehend how God created by divine command the Bible makes it clear

That he is powerful enough to do it and that he did do it through his word. We see this in Jeremiah 32 17. Lord God it is you who have made the heavens and the earth By your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you Psalm 33 6 by the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts Psalm 33 9 for he spoke and it came to be he commanded and it stood firm This is powerful. His word is powerful In Mark’s gospel when Jesus is sleeping in the boat during this fierce and life-threatening storm The disciples wake him up in a panic essentially saying do something We’re about to drown Jesus gets up and he says to the winds and the waves be still and Immediately there is calm

the winds and the waves Obey him they comply with his words because they recognize the voice of their creator This is unimaginable power Here’s the thing God’s power as difficult as it is to comprehend is Always exercised in harmony with his wisdom order and goodness Family we live in a culture where people are always suspicious of power We hate authority And in some cases It’s understandable because so many people abuse their power and authority in wicked and distorted ways Not so with God He is good with his power Because his power operates in harmony with his moral perfection. We can trust that his actions are always just loving and purposeful Loving and purposeful So God’s power isn’t thrown around recklessly Or without intention like some natural force But is used with perfect wisdom and order to achieve his good purposes. This means that even The situations that we find ourselves in that we can’t understand

We can trust him That his actions and power are ultimately for the good of those who love him So you can rest in that power No detail in your life is beyond his control Trust in his power that he’s working all things according to his purposes and your good family this is what we see in Romans 8 28 and We know we are confident that those That for those who love God all things all things all things Work together for good for those who are called according to his purposes and Not just is he powerful enough to create from nothing He’s also powerful enough to stain to sustain what he created from nothing. You see when God created the universe He didn’t create it to be self-sustaining You understand that as Perfectly ordered as it is It’s not self-sustaining God made it by design to be dependent on his constant upholding

Hebrews 1 3 says he upholds Meaning he sustains the universe by the power of his word which means practically That creation cannot escape God’s authority because it was made by him and it depends on him This means that everything that happens in the history of the heavens and the earth Remains under God’s sovereign rule and control so you have nothing to fear The power of God in his sovereign control over creation serves as a security for Christians Because he’s holding everything together for our good Colossians 1 17 says that he is before all things and in him all things hold together so without God’s ongoing care and power the universe would cease to exist and this truth highlights this intimate connection between creator and Creation which brings us to the truth that God is benevolent. We see this in verse 2 Verse 2 The earth was without form and void and

Darkness was over the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters So when God created the world It was without form and void now when we hear this Most of us kind of picture God creating the earth without shape like some kind of potter who throws down a big lump of clay and then you know Kind of just imagines what it’s gonna look like before he forms it into a pot But I don’t think that’s the main idea that’s being communicated here the words without form and void in the original language means that it was empty and Uninhabitable Which really just expresses that from the very beginning God’s purposes for creating the world Was to prepare the world Where humans could not only live but flourish and thrive When he created the world he did so with the intention of forming it and filling it with everything necessary for humans to flourish

This is what we’re gonna look at over the next two weeks not just forming it and filling it but also you have the ongoing work of preserving and governing his creation to ensure humanity’s flourishing Isaiah 45 18 says for thus says the Lord who created the heavens He is God who formed the earth and made it he established it. He did not create it empty He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is no other Psalm 104 24. Oh Lord, how manifold are your works in wisdom? You have made them all the earth is full of your creatures You see in the midst of this formless void you can actually get a picture of the intention of God as The spirit hovered over the deep and darkness. He was preparing the world for life There is this moment where artists at least most of the ones that I know

Just before they begin Whatever it is that they’re about to create They kind of prepare themselves they situate themselves they study either the canvas or the possibilities and Then they begin and I think this is what we see here with the spirit Hovering over the waters. It reflects God’s care and intention to create a beautiful masterpiece where humanity could flourish and His acts of Forming and filling creation only reveal his creative beauty as his goodness and in generosity Spills on the canvas for us to enjoy Family, have you ever stopped to think about the goodness of God in the creation of the world? I Mean, this is not hard for those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest There’s so much beauty and God’s handiwork But have you ever stopped to think God did this for me because he’s good Because it declares his goodness to you know before the Creation of the heavens and the earth God was deeply satisfied in himself The Trinity was perfectly delighting in itself But in his love and in his goodness He created us to know him and to enjoy him and part of enjoying him is Enjoying the world that he created for us. You see he didn’t just create us To just exist on a spinning ball with you know, no Some utility As some utility He prepares a place for us with intention so that we might know him and his goodness through Experiencing all the benefits of his beautiful world Family, how often do you recognize God’s benevolence and goodness in your own life? In the same way he has prepared and provided the earth for flourishing He prepares and provides for you as an expression of his goodness and love for you The Bible says in James 1 17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above Coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change God created the world for us Because he cares for us which leads us to Lastly this massive truth God is personal The eternal God who existed outside of time and space created time and space for us Which means he’s not distant He’s not disengaged But that he’s an intimate creator who cares for his creation. This is why he didn’t just create time and space But ultimately entered into them the same Jesus who eternally existed and created the world by the power of his word as John tells us became part of his creation To be with us the word was made flesh So that he could come and rescue us You see the very reason he created the world was so that his creation most specifically his creatures would worship him and enjoy him

but because of our sin Namely our desire to create a world for ourselves by rebelling against the God who made us Because of that we have been separated from the one who created us this is why Jesus had to come for us This is why Jesus took on humanity and became part of his creation to live the life. We could never live and Die the death we deserve to die for defying the God who created us Because it was the only way for us to be reconciled back to the God who created us With his life death and resurrection he satisfied the legal demands for our sin which eternally separated from Eternally separated us from God So he left eternity and entered into time so that we might know him for eternity Friend if you’re here this morning, and you don’t know yourself to be a Christian. I want you to know this morning that God created you

He made you for a very specific reason and That reason is to know him personally and you can know him By trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ to save you from your sins You see it was your sin and my sin that separated us eternally from this Holy God The Bible says that if you turn from your sins and you embrace Jesus by faith that you will be saved and the gap that once Separated you from God will be bridged by Jesus The Bible says that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and that no one comes to God except through him and you can Come to him this morning Today you can have peace with the God who created you Today you can know God not just theoretically Not just intellectually But personally ask him to save you ask him to help you believe that he is who he says he is and he will meet

Go and Make Disciples

You he made you so that he could meet you and If you have questions about what that means You want to know more about what it means to know him come and talk to me at the end of the service I would love to introduce you to God to this Jesus who came to rescue us My family this God who has been revealed to us in creation He actually calls us Those who have trusted in him to go into the world to tell others about him so that the world might know the God who created them as God has revealed himself through his acts of creation. He commands his chosen creatures To reveal him as well The Great Commission passage that we see in Scripture is a command from God But it’s also a declaration about God Matthew 28 18 through 20 says and Jesus came and said to them

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age When you hear that I wonder if you notice How this passage says some very interesting things and uses some of the same kind of language we find in Genesis 1 and 2 You see Jesus the word references heaven and earth He references all authority The very beginning of things that he created he declares to us. I have authority over it all both heaven and earth and everything in between This is power and with that power and authority He commands us to go and make disciples and listen to what he declares to us after this command

He says I am with you always to the end of the age in other words, I am with you until time is no more This is declaring his eternality Family he is with us He’s always been with us the eternal self-existent God who exists outside of time and space is with us in every moment and in every situation and He will be with us all the way until the end of time moving in power Exercising his authority to make himself known to reveal himself through his creation until we are with him outside of time forever in eternity So take comfort in his presence and be bold as you declare to a world The very God who created the world Don’t allow the culture to cause you to feel insecure about the truth of this God who created everything and everyone They are foolish in their understanding

be bold and Tell them the truth That God created the heavens and the earth and family you need to know that the things that God has revealed through creation they’re not just facts for you to file away or truths That you kind of like hold in your pocket as you know Some kind of apologetic method they are truths to trust in truths meant to strengthen you and guide you through this life Because God is eternal and self-existent We can take comfort in the reality that nothing in our lives catches God off guard Since he exists outside of time. He already knows every detail of our past our present and our future and He will hold us fast until the end and Though we often rely on ourselves and struggle to control everything around us. Remember that our Self-sufficient God depends on no one So let go

Surrender your constant pursuits of control stop trying to do everything in your own strength and rest in his unwavering sovereignty God’s power means that nothing is impossible with God He is powerful to save you and he is powerful to bring you all the way home So trust in that power He is the creator of the universe Who created out of nothing so he can certainly handle all the things in our lives that are causing anxiety fears and doubts So don’t let the pressures of this life overwhelm you Bring them before the Lord ask for him to help you pray constantly for God to powerfully move in your life and in your Circumstances and then trust that not only is he powerful enough to intervene? But he’s also wise and loving enough with how he uses his power Because he is benevolent you can know that his goodness covers every aspect of creation this

Brothers and sisters includes the hard parts of creation Suffering pain broken relationships broken bodies Isolation depression when you feel emptiness or you feel the constant waves of trials Remember that God is working all things together for our good. Do you believe that dear Christian? It’s the truth You need to know this truth with every fiber of your being God is good He did all this work in the world to provide for you because he is a good God Hardships in the moment have a way of distorting our view of God’s goodness But remember God sees the end of our hardships Because he is outside of time and what he produces in us in the future

He’s already done it’s already ours outside of time so ask him to help you believe that he is good even when it doesn’t feel like he’s good in the moment and finally, perhaps the most important God is personal He isn’t detached He isn’t distant and You are not insignificant He knows you He knows what you’re going through He knows how you feel. He knows your frame. He knows your struggles He knows your doubts He knows your thoughts He knows more about you than you know about yourself So go to him Lean into him in prayer Find him in the fellowship of the Saints meet him in his word knowing that he revealed himself to you Because he desires relationship with you and he sent his son to secure that relationship with you Family I want you to notice something The creation truths that we just explored

They all find their culmination in the person and work of Jesus Christ Just think about this for a second the eternal God who existed outside of time had no beginning and He chose to enter into time so that we finite creatures could share in an eternal relationship with him The self-existent God who relies on no one and nothing became truly dependent in his humanity as the incarnate Son he experienced hunger and thirst and weariness and he did it so that he could Sympathize with every weakness that we experience and so that he could stand behind us and beside us and relate with us to exercise compassion as a high priest the omnipotent God whose word alone brought galaxies into existence Subjected himself to the frailties of human flesh He freely took on pain suffering and even death dying for our sins on the cross to restore the broken relationship between God and men and

this same power caused for him to rise victoriously from the grave as a Rescue from sin and its penalty and through it all Jesus demonstrated his benevolence Through his care for his people in Love Jesus laid down his divine rights to rescue us because we could never save ourselves He did it all because he is a personal God Who desires genuine? Relationship with us. Don’t be so theological that you’re afraid to proclaim that God desires a Relationship with you. I Hear this all the time Especially among reformed Christians. Oh God doesn’t want relationship. He wants obedience No, he desires to know you are his child Find joy in that relationship He wants to know us intimately He wants us to know him intimately so that we might worship him in joy So that our delight might be in him forever. Amen Family this weekend. I was in

Louisville Sam and I were in Louisville and I was encouraged by a pastor who has pastored for many years Who has written a lot of poetry in his life? He encouraged me as a pastor to be more intentional with sharing some of the poetry that I write with my congregation Because it might serve as an encouragement to you I’ve always felt a little uncomfortable about that But I want to respond to his Encouragement and so family in closing. I want to do something that I don’t normally do. I Want to share with you a piece that I wrote a little over 13 years ago while I was meditating on Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 & 2 It’s a very short piece But I think it captures the very essence of this text and so I thought it would be a good way to close our

time together It’s evident in creation That God is the primary cause He’s the origin of all scientific laws Everything else is secondary. The very breath that comes from lungs is caused by the fact that God is involved In fact one must begin with the mind that was given to him to even believe he’s evolved Just think about quantum mechanics or the rotation of planets or how the exact calculation of the universe is permanently impossible to manage Or how photosynthesis takes place to perfectly convert the vividness of light into chemical energy for the purpose of maintaining and giving life you see intelligent design doesn’t even begin to define his creative craftsmanship and Any attempt to align the mind of mankind to the divine is insufficient and inadequate It’s too lofty and it’s far beyond us that God did not remain anonymous That he would correspond with us and out of all of God’s creation

He would become fond of us Let’s pray Our father in our God we do. Thank you for your word We thank you for what this creation account declares of you That you care for your creatures That you are good to your creatures That you desire for us to be in relationship with you That concept is mind-blowing That the God of the universe Desires to know these mere mortals Oh Lord and God I do pray that we would meditate on that reality this week That we are yours that we are kept by you That you didn’t just create us, but you hold us and you delight in us help us to respond to your Initiating work in creation with hearts of gratitude and deep devotion increase our affections for you as We explore the depths of who you are and how you’ve revealed yourself to us

in creation Help us to love you in deeper ways Through this exploration of Genesis, we pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen