WEBVTT 00:00:01.639 --> 00:00:05.759 So as I have said, we're looking at creation 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:10.679 tonight. And so this is a continuation, if you 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:16.039 will, on us looking at key doctrine that we believe 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:20.899 to be true. So this year on these fourth Sunday 00:00:20.899 --> 00:00:24.019 evening worship services, we have looked at things 00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:26.519 that the Bible teaches that we believe are so 00:00:26.519 --> 00:00:31.230 very important. And I would say creation is one 00:00:31.230 --> 00:00:34.770 of them. It's kind of how the Bible begins, right? 00:00:35.329 --> 00:00:37.869 So I really think we need to look at this. And 00:00:37.869 --> 00:00:42.710 at the same time, if I can, some of you were 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:46.429 in the Covenant Sunday School class this morning 00:00:46.429 --> 00:00:50.729 as we looked at Hebrews chapter 11. And guess 00:00:50.729 --> 00:00:52.890 what we're looking at tonight? Hebrews chapter 00:00:52.890 --> 00:00:57.450 11. That's called Providence. But you might say, 00:00:57.609 --> 00:01:00.070 well, this is an interesting starting place to 00:01:00.070 --> 00:01:02.450 look at creation from the book of Hebrews, and 00:01:02.450 --> 00:01:05.950 you're correct. But we will get into the Genesis 00:01:05.950 --> 00:01:11.109 account shortly. But what we have in Hebrews 00:01:11.109 --> 00:01:17.590 chapter 11 is called the Hall of Faith. And it 00:01:17.590 --> 00:01:20.689 asks, it begins the chapter with a very important 00:01:20.689 --> 00:01:23.170 question, really an answer to a question. What 00:01:23.170 --> 00:01:27.209 is faith? So I'm going to read verses one. I'm 00:01:27.209 --> 00:01:29.090 going to combine them together. Verses one through 00:01:29.090 --> 00:01:32.909 three this evening. So give attention to God's 00:01:32.909 --> 00:01:38.209 holy word. Now faith is the assurance of things 00:01:38.209 --> 00:01:43.150 hoped for, for the conviction of things not seen. 00:01:43.849 --> 00:01:47.310 For by it the people of old receive their commendation. 00:01:47.769 --> 00:01:52.230 By faith we understand that the universe was 00:01:52.230 --> 00:01:56.090 created by the word of God so that what is seen 00:01:56.090 --> 00:02:00.290 was not made out of things that are visible. 00:02:02.849 --> 00:02:05.670 Yes, we're starting in Hebrews 11 here, but I 00:02:05.670 --> 00:02:09.210 think especially verse three is very central 00:02:09.210 --> 00:02:15.229 to our discussion on creation. Creation, as the 00:02:15.229 --> 00:02:18.150 Bible presents it, has kind of been on the hot 00:02:18.150 --> 00:02:24.020 seat of late. a recent history where people are 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:26.620 examining scripture and they've got some different 00:02:26.620 --> 00:02:29.800 ideas about how God began all the things that 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:34.300 he began. Even within our own denomination, we 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:36.560 have those who are trying to come up with different 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:39.939 methods for how to understand creation. I'm not 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:42.240 going to go through all of those methods, all 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.000 of those theories. I don't think it would be 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:48.370 helpful in this setting. But still we might look 00:02:48.370 --> 00:02:51.310 at this and we might ask, are we supposed to 00:02:51.310 --> 00:02:56.469 take creation literally as Genesis 1 and 2 seems 00:02:56.469 --> 00:02:59.069 to show us? I played my hand. Are we supposed 00:02:59.069 --> 00:03:01.629 to see it as kind of poetic? Are we supposed 00:03:01.629 --> 00:03:05.909 to ascertain the length of the days in creation? 00:03:06.710 --> 00:03:08.949 Is there a possibility the days are really long? 00:03:09.009 --> 00:03:11.349 Is there a possibility that there are episodes 00:03:11.349 --> 00:03:14.150 and millions of years between all the days? There's 00:03:14.150 --> 00:03:18.030 a lot of discussion going on. about creation. 00:03:18.969 --> 00:03:23.409 But you know what isn't really being said enough? 00:03:24.889 --> 00:03:27.270 We need to take the Bible's teaching on creation 00:03:27.270 --> 00:03:31.810 on faith. That's what needs to be said. You can 00:03:31.810 --> 00:03:35.069 do all the research that you want to do. You 00:03:35.069 --> 00:03:38.550 can watch all the documentaries on Netflix or 00:03:38.550 --> 00:03:40.729 YouTube. There are a bunch of them out there. 00:03:41.020 --> 00:03:43.580 You can go to the Answers in Genesis website, 00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:46.840 which is a fine website. You can study Hebrew, 00:03:47.500 --> 00:03:51.800 the language of. You can go to the Grand Canon 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:55.400 and you can study the layers of sediment. But 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:58.960 if you don't take creation on faith, you have 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:04.879 entirely missed the point. Why is there something 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:12.650 rather than nothing? Because of God and God tells 00:04:12.650 --> 00:04:18.290 us in his word to take this on faith I've mentioned 00:04:18.290 --> 00:04:22.089 that Hebrews chapter 11 is the hall of faith 00:04:22.089 --> 00:04:24.649 And so you've got different individuals in here 00:04:24.649 --> 00:04:27.550 their faith and what they did in faith. You've 00:04:27.550 --> 00:04:31.189 got Enoch You've got you know David's in here 00:04:31.189 --> 00:04:34.910 Noah's in here, but when I look at these individuals 00:04:34.910 --> 00:04:40.160 I Don't see people questioning them or questioning 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:44.000 the way that Scripture puts it for them. Maybe 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.800 they just don't care that much about Enoch, but 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:47.879 I don't hear anybody saying, well, you know, 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:50.199 Enoch, it says he was taken up into heaven, but 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:52.480 I don't believe that. I don't hear anybody talking 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:56.240 about Enoch. As far as Moses in the Red Sea goes, 00:04:56.839 --> 00:05:00.060 I hear non -believers and I hear liberal scholars 00:05:00.060 --> 00:05:02.319 questioning whether or not they really passed 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:07.560 through the sea. But I don't see Christians having 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:09.920 a problem with this and I don't see Christians 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:12.439 having a problem with Rahab or David or the prophets 00:05:12.439 --> 00:05:14.259 and I definitely don't see Christians having 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:17.439 a problem with what continues into chapter 12 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:21.620 that Jesus is the author and the perfecter of 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:25.100 our faith Because we know what is the condition 00:05:25.100 --> 00:05:27.459 for salvation. It's faith. You got to believe 00:05:27.459 --> 00:05:33.230 in Jesus So why is it then? that people have 00:05:33.230 --> 00:05:38.730 such a hard time believing in creation as presented 00:05:38.730 --> 00:05:42.569 by the Bible. Why is it that creation and faith 00:05:42.569 --> 00:05:48.829 just goes out the window? Also, at the same time 00:05:48.829 --> 00:05:51.850 as I say this, I'm not encouraging blind faith 00:05:51.850 --> 00:05:55.970 either. We have evidence here. Ours is not a 00:05:55.970 --> 00:05:58.910 blind faith, but a faith that sees by the light 00:05:58.910 --> 00:06:03.800 of God's sure Revelation. So what do we need 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:07.500 to do? We need to uphold the biblical narrative 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:12.300 while understanding God's teaching on creation. 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:16.660 Douglas Kelley says this, to understand Genesis 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:20.779 1 through 3 and to make sense of life itself, 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.500 we must seek with the help of divine revelation 00:06:24.500 --> 00:06:29.000 to interpret time through God rather than God 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:33.279 through time. Did you catch that? Interpret time 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:37.480 through God rather than God through time. And 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:40.180 this is very important because if we get off 00:06:40.180 --> 00:06:43.360 the rails with creation, the way the Bible begins, 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:46.779 if we get off the rails here, what will we do 00:06:46.779 --> 00:06:50.459 with the rest of Scripture? What will we do with 00:06:50.459 --> 00:06:54.300 the fall? What will we do with the flood? What 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:56.459 will we do with the virgin birth? What will we 00:06:56.459 --> 00:06:59.000 do with Jesus' miracles? What will we do with 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:02.129 the resurrection? What will we do with the second 00:07:02.129 --> 00:07:04.529 coming? We need to get off on the right foot 00:07:04.529 --> 00:07:08.449 with the Bible and that begins with creation. 00:07:09.889 --> 00:07:13.389 And so what is the classic doctrine of creation? 00:07:14.850 --> 00:07:20.230 It's called ex nihilo, which means out of nothing. 00:07:20.709 --> 00:07:25.589 Meaning at one time there was nothing and then 00:07:25.589 --> 00:07:29.639 God spoke and then there was something. It's 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:32.879 a way of saying that the visible reality we perceive 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:35.500 does not originally come from other things that 00:07:35.500 --> 00:07:37.939 we can see. We got to take it back to the beginning 00:07:37.939 --> 00:07:41.560 and we realize in the beginning God created the 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:46.100 heavens and the earth. But you weren't there, 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:49.779 were you? And I wasn't there either. So what 00:07:49.779 --> 00:07:55.360 do we need to do? Hebrews 11 3 tells us we need 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:01.240 to take it in faith. God did not fashion the 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:04.939 world out of some other world. It didn't speak 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:09.079 itself into existence. God created by His Word. 00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:11.439 Now some people have a really hard time believing 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:14.040 this, that God spoke and things came into being. 00:08:14.699 --> 00:08:19.180 But does anybody bat an eye when Jesus is on 00:08:19.180 --> 00:08:22.399 the boat and the storm's going on and then Jesus 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:25.259 speaks and the storm is done? I don't hear anybody 00:08:25.259 --> 00:08:28.310 have a problem with that. Or what about when 00:08:28.310 --> 00:08:31.449 Lazarus is dead in the tomb and Jesus says, come 00:08:31.449 --> 00:08:33.889 out of there. Does anybody have a problem with 00:08:33.889 --> 00:08:38.470 that? Or when Jesus tells a lame man to get up 00:08:38.470 --> 00:08:43.529 and walk. So we can definitely affirm that God, 00:08:43.809 --> 00:08:46.830 and specifically here his son, has the power 00:08:46.830 --> 00:08:50.490 with his speech. And so this is the way that 00:08:50.490 --> 00:08:54.549 it's presented, that God speaks and there's something. 00:08:56.670 --> 00:09:00.210 There's two things that I think you all will 00:09:00.210 --> 00:09:02.929 affirm. Everybody who is in this sanctuary, I 00:09:02.929 --> 00:09:05.990 think you'll affirm this. Is God the source of 00:09:05.990 --> 00:09:10.950 life? Yes. Heads going up and down, right? Is 00:09:10.950 --> 00:09:15.950 the Bible God's Word? Yes. Because we believe 00:09:15.950 --> 00:09:19.970 this, why not derive our information from the 00:09:19.970 --> 00:09:22.710 Word about creation? It seems to me that when 00:09:22.710 --> 00:09:25.529 it comes to creation, Christians tend to be a 00:09:25.529 --> 00:09:27.870 little bit like Peter. Do you remember when Jesus 00:09:27.870 --> 00:09:30.669 commands Peter to get out of the boat and he's 00:09:30.669 --> 00:09:34.129 walking on the water and he's doing good? When 00:09:34.129 --> 00:09:37.529 is he not doing good? When he takes his eyes 00:09:37.529 --> 00:09:40.529 off of Jesus. And when we take our eyes off of 00:09:40.529 --> 00:09:43.659 Jesus, this is when our faith falters. And when 00:09:43.659 --> 00:09:46.440 we come up with excuses for Scripture, but we 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:48.899 ought not make excuses for Scripture, we ought 00:09:48.899 --> 00:09:51.879 to believe it. Again from Douglas Kelly, nothing 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:56.279 could be more logical or more intelligent than 00:09:56.279 --> 00:09:58.620 to accept the information from the one who made 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:02.120 it, from the one who was the eyewitness, and 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:05.580 from the one who is truth itself. Friends, as 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:07.679 it pertains to creation, we have to go to the 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:10.860 source. Do you remember being in school and having 00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:15.039 to write a research paper? Maybe some of you 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:19.519 are still in school, right? You can have all 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:23.159 the secondary sources that you want, but if you 00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:26.059 don't have the primary source, you don't have 00:10:26.059 --> 00:10:29.139 a source, right? So with creation, what do we 00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:32.519 need to do? We need to go to the primary source. 00:10:33.419 --> 00:10:35.779 But what he might say, well, That makes a lot 00:10:35.779 --> 00:10:38.100 of sense, but what if I don't understand the 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:41.000 source? What if I don't understand Genesis 1 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.399 and 2? Or what if I don't understand Hebrews 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:46.539 11, 3? Well, we rightly should look elsewhere 00:10:46.539 --> 00:10:51.240 in the Bible. So let's go to Psalm 33. Psalm 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:58.960 33, 6 through 9. And I think you'll see that 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:03.320 this very much pertains to our discussion this 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:10.409 evening. Psalm 33, 6 through 9. By the word of 00:11:10.409 --> 00:11:14.690 the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath 00:11:14.690 --> 00:11:18.990 of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters 00:11:18.990 --> 00:11:23.690 of the sea as a heap. He puts the deep in storehouses. 00:11:24.549 --> 00:11:27.289 Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the 00:11:27.289 --> 00:11:29.909 inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him, 00:11:29.950 --> 00:11:35.139 for He spoke and it came to be. He commanded 00:11:35.139 --> 00:11:42.159 and it stood firm. So yet again we have here 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:45.100 the Bible telling us that God spoke things into 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:47.200 existence and so the question that we really 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:51.440 need to ask is do you believe this word? Do you 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.139 believe that God created all things by the power 00:11:54.139 --> 00:11:59.919 of his word? And what I would encourage you to 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:02.899 do is to take some time with the creation account. 00:12:03.860 --> 00:12:07.679 really try and understand it but do so from a 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:10.919 straightforward reading of the passage. In order 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:13.480 to do anything else you almost have to do literary 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:16.659 gymnastics to get it to work but the straightforward 00:12:16.659 --> 00:12:18.720 reading of the text tells us what we need to 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:22.779 know. And this has been the teaching of historic 00:12:22.779 --> 00:12:25.840 reformed Presbyterianism and I don't want to 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:27.919 be out of accords with our standards and I believe 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:30.679 that our standards are faithful to the text. 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:35.500 And so consider this from Westminster Confession 00:12:35.500 --> 00:12:40.080 of Faith the beginning of chapter 4. It pleased 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:44.279 God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for the manifestation 00:12:44.279 --> 00:12:46.919 of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:50.299 goodness in the beginning to create or to make 00:12:50.299 --> 00:12:54.220 out of nothing the world and all things therein, 00:12:54.340 --> 00:12:57.620 whether visible or invisible in the space of 00:12:57.620 --> 00:13:05.799 six days and all very good. That has been the 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:11.179 Reformed position for a very long time and so 00:13:11.179 --> 00:13:14.299 we want to keep that position as it accords with 00:13:14.299 --> 00:13:17.500 Scripture. So what I want to do now is go to 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:20.019 Genesis and you could turn there if you like. 00:13:20.860 --> 00:13:25.879 Let's see these days. Let's see what God does 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:33.490 with each one of them. Genesis 1 verse 3. already 00:13:33.490 --> 00:13:39.809 three and four to begin and God said let there 00:13:39.809 --> 00:13:44.490 be light and there was light and God saw that 00:13:44.490 --> 00:13:47.889 the light was good and God separated the light 00:13:47.889 --> 00:13:51.629 from the darkness God called the light day and 00:13:51.629 --> 00:13:54.549 the darkness he called night and there was evening 00:13:54.549 --> 00:13:58.370 and there was morning the first day so you see 00:13:58.370 --> 00:14:01.840 light and dark separated here The creation of 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:04.960 light, you've got day and night. The text says 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:07.100 there was evening and there was morning the first 00:14:07.100 --> 00:14:11.159 day, meaning that the days have distinct boundaries 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:14.580 around them. And that pattern is going to continue 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:19.059 throughout these six days of creation. Look at 00:14:19.059 --> 00:14:23.399 day number two in verses six through eight. And 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:25.879 God said, let there be an expanse in the midst 00:14:25.879 --> 00:14:29.419 of the waters. Let it separate the waters from 00:14:29.419 --> 00:14:32.740 the waters and God made the expanse and separated 00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:35.620 the waters that were under the expanse from the 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:37.919 waters that were above the expanse and it was 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:42.460 so and God called the expanse heaven and There 00:14:42.460 --> 00:14:45.360 was evening and there was morning the second 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:48.759 day. So what do we have in day two? Well, once 00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:51.039 again, we have this same kind of pattern going 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:53.700 on here there was evening and there's morning 00:14:53.700 --> 00:14:58.850 the creation of the sea and sky at day three 00:14:58.850 --> 00:15:03.629 verses nine through 13. God said let the waters 00:15:03.629 --> 00:15:06.409 under the heavens be gathered together into one 00:15:06.409 --> 00:15:09.269 place and let the dry land appear and it was 00:15:09.269 --> 00:15:12.649 so. God called the dry land earth and the waters 00:15:12.649 --> 00:15:15.570 that were gathered together he called seas and 00:15:15.570 --> 00:15:19.879 God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:24.299 earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:27.139 and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their 00:15:27.139 --> 00:15:29.100 seed, each according to its kind on the earth. 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:32.460 And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, 00:15:32.659 --> 00:15:35.360 plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:38.519 and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, 00:15:38.899 --> 00:15:41.940 each according to its kind. And God saw that 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:44.460 it was good, and there was evening, and there 00:15:44.460 --> 00:15:47.399 was morning the third day. And so on the third 00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:51.899 day, we have the creation of dry land with vegetation. 00:15:52.580 --> 00:15:55.500 How about that outside? It's springtime going 00:15:55.500 --> 00:15:59.179 into summer. It's very green. OK, God has created 00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:04.559 this day for verses 14 through 19. And God said, 00:16:05.220 --> 00:16:07.500 Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:10.320 to separate the day from the night and let them 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.139 be for signs and for seasons and for days and 00:16:13.139 --> 00:16:15.789 years. and let them be lights in the expanse 00:16:15.789 --> 00:16:17.730 of the heavens to give light upon the earth. 00:16:18.029 --> 00:16:21.330 And it was so. And God made the two great lights, 00:16:21.409 --> 00:16:23.990 the greater light to rule the day and the lesser 00:16:23.990 --> 00:16:26.850 light to rule the night and the stars. And God 00:16:26.850 --> 00:16:29.129 set them in the expanse of the heavens to give 00:16:29.129 --> 00:16:32.169 light on the earth to rule over the day and over 00:16:32.169 --> 00:16:34.490 the night and to separate the light from the 00:16:34.490 --> 00:16:37.929 darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there 00:16:37.929 --> 00:16:40.389 was evening and there was morning, the fourth 00:16:40.389 --> 00:16:44.759 day. So you have the creation. The stars and 00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:47.500 of the Sun and of the moon these things they 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:51.700 also give light and then day five verses 20 through 00:16:51.700 --> 00:16:55.639 23 and God said that the water Swarm with swarms 00:16:55.639 --> 00:16:58.879 of living creatures and let birds fly above the 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:02.159 earth across the expanse of the heavens So God 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:04.559 created the great sea creatures and every living 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:08.099 creature that moves with which the water Swarm 00:17:08.099 --> 00:17:10.400 according to their kinds and every winged bird 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:13.200 accord to its kind and God saw that it was good. 00:17:13.700 --> 00:17:16.819 And God blessed them saying, Be fruitful and 00:17:16.819 --> 00:17:20.619 multiply and fill the waters in the seas and 00:17:20.619 --> 00:17:23.299 let birds multiply on the earth. And there was 00:17:23.299 --> 00:17:25.880 evening and there was morning the fifth day. 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:28.680 So you have these waters that are now filled 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:31.619 with the fish and you have the skies that have 00:17:31.619 --> 00:17:34.740 the birds flying through them. And then we get 00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:39.049 to perhaps our favorite part, day six. look in 00:17:39.049 --> 00:17:43.069 verses 24 through 27 and God said let the earth 00:17:43.069 --> 00:17:45.490 bring forth living creatures according to their 00:17:45.490 --> 00:17:49.049 kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts 00:17:49.049 --> 00:17:51.990 of the earth according to their kinds and it 00:17:51.990 --> 00:17:55.289 was so and God made the beasts of the earth according 00:17:55.289 --> 00:17:58.230 to their kinds and the livestock according to 00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:01.069 their kinds and everything that creeps on the 00:18:01.069 --> 00:18:04.410 ground according to its kind and God saw that 00:18:04.410 --> 00:18:07.849 it was good. Then God said let us make man in 00:18:07.849 --> 00:18:10.569 our image after our likeness and let them have 00:18:10.569 --> 00:18:13.210 dominion over the fish of the sea and over the 00:18:13.210 --> 00:18:15.390 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and 00:18:15.390 --> 00:18:17.950 over all the earth and over every creeping thing 00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:20.990 that creeps on the earth. So God created man 00:18:20.990 --> 00:18:23.970 in his own image. In the image of God he created 00:18:23.970 --> 00:18:29.789 him. Male and female he created them. God creates 00:18:29.789 --> 00:18:32.309 what we might say is the crown jewel of creation. 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:36.509 He creates people. He creates people who are 00:18:36.509 --> 00:18:40.269 made in his image. And then what does God do 00:18:40.269 --> 00:18:45.849 after all of this? He rests, right? He rests. 00:18:46.210 --> 00:18:48.769 And I think this is very interesting to see that 00:18:48.769 --> 00:18:52.130 on the seventh day, God rested because we might 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:54.509 say, well, we know the scriptures tell us that 00:18:54.509 --> 00:18:57.170 God doesn't slumber or sleep and he doesn't grow 00:18:57.170 --> 00:19:00.630 tired. So what sort of resting is God doing? 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:06.559 God is delighting in his creation God blesses 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:10.220 the seventh day and makes it holy and this is 00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:12.480 very important because you'll remember that later 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:15.640 on the Israelites they're given the Ten Commandments 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:18.240 right and they are given this command that they 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:22.119 are to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy 00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:26.400 Listen to this from Exodus 2011 for in six days 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:29.859 the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all 00:19:29.859 --> 00:19:33.779 that is in them and rested on the seventh day. 00:19:34.579 --> 00:19:39.880 That's from Exodus. Their rest was grounded in 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:44.519 His rest, and as far as I know, we still have 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:48.339 a seven -day week, do we not? We don't have an 00:19:48.339 --> 00:19:50.599 eight -day week. We don't have a nine -day week. 00:19:50.779 --> 00:19:52.720 We don't have a six and a half day week. We have 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:55.559 a seven day week and we are to continue this 00:19:55.559 --> 00:19:59.259 rest. But thanks be to God that Jesus was raised 00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:02.299 on Sunday, the first day of the week. And so 00:20:02.299 --> 00:20:05.900 that Sabbath rest has been moved to the first 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:09.880 day of the week. But we still enjoy a day like 00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:14.539 today of worship and of rest and of service to 00:20:14.539 --> 00:20:21.069 others, right? This is good news for us. This 00:20:21.069 --> 00:20:24.029 is good news for us that God creates as He did, 00:20:24.150 --> 00:20:26.890 that He gives us rest as He did, but I also want 00:20:26.890 --> 00:20:29.269 to point out one more thing to you, and this 00:20:29.269 --> 00:20:32.089 time we can go back into Hebrews, but don't go 00:20:32.089 --> 00:20:39.609 to chapter 11. Go to chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 00:20:39.609 --> 00:20:51.829 1 verse 3. This is speaking of your Savior. Hebrews 00:20:51.829 --> 00:20:56.930 1 3 he is the radiance of the glory of God and 00:20:56.930 --> 00:21:01.309 the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds 00:21:01.309 --> 00:21:06.609 the universe by the word of his power Colossians 00:21:06.609 --> 00:21:09.869 1 17 says something similar that Christ holds 00:21:09.869 --> 00:21:11.769 it all together what we are to understand from 00:21:11.769 --> 00:21:15.490 these texts is that God preserves his creation 00:21:15.490 --> 00:21:18.650 Some view God is nothing more than a creator 00:21:19.069 --> 00:21:23.170 But that's unbiblical. God is intimately involved 00:21:23.170 --> 00:21:26.930 in every single moment of your lives. It's not 00:21:26.930 --> 00:21:30.069 like God created and then took some time off. 00:21:31.109 --> 00:21:33.769 He rested from this created order, but he continued 00:21:33.769 --> 00:21:36.990 to uphold. This is good news for us because this 00:21:36.990 --> 00:21:41.710 means that we are upheld and that God will not 00:21:41.710 --> 00:21:46.569 let us go. Now all of this probably sounds slightly 00:21:46.569 --> 00:21:49.210 good to you, but you're wondering, How does this 00:21:49.210 --> 00:21:52.650 impact me tomorrow? When I'm celebrating Memorial 00:21:52.650 --> 00:21:54.849 Day or when I go back to work on Tuesday or when 00:21:54.849 --> 00:21:58.490 I got the grandkids, how does all of this help 00:21:58.490 --> 00:22:03.490 me? A few points of application. Let's not get 00:22:03.490 --> 00:22:07.150 too far away from Hebrews 11 .3, remembering 00:22:07.150 --> 00:22:11.950 faith. We have in scripture God's special revelation. 00:22:12.190 --> 00:22:17.849 As great as creation is, creation General revelation 00:22:17.849 --> 00:22:21.690 does not tell me how to be saved. General revelation 00:22:21.690 --> 00:22:24.309 doesn't tell me how Jesus died to atone for sin. 00:22:24.430 --> 00:22:27.730 And trust me, I love being outside. I love going 00:22:27.730 --> 00:22:31.049 for a hike, right? But we need God's special 00:22:31.049 --> 00:22:34.690 revelation in order to know about Jesus. And 00:22:34.690 --> 00:22:37.690 we need to believe it. But this also applies 00:22:37.690 --> 00:22:41.670 to creation too. So this week, today, this evening, 00:22:41.750 --> 00:22:45.039 why not give thought? to the biblical narrative 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:48.680 of God's creation. Why is it that Christians 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:53.799 are so entranced with eternity ahead of us but 00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:56.299 not eternity past? We should give thought to 00:22:56.299 --> 00:22:59.059 this because this is given to us for our good. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:02.799 This is within the Bible. Consider what God has 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:06.359 done in creation and do as Hebrews 11 .3 says. 00:23:06.420 --> 00:23:10.920 Take it in faith. But secondly, Enjoy creation. 00:23:11.259 --> 00:23:14.039 I hope you enjoy creation. I hope that you go 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:16.099 for walks and I hope you go for a hike or I hope 00:23:16.099 --> 00:23:18.519 that you just sit on your front porch and marvel 00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:21.200 at what God has made because it's beautiful, 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:24.000 isn't it? Do you agree with that? There you go, 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:29.000 head's nodding. Yeah, Psalm 19. The heavens declare 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:31.940 the glory of God and the sky above proclaims 00:23:31.940 --> 00:23:35.920 his handiwork. God's creation screams that he 00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:39.579 is a good God. and that He has created all that's 00:23:39.579 --> 00:23:42.700 before us and we can enjoy it and we should take 00:23:42.700 --> 00:23:50.740 care of it. I know. Third point. Reference creation 00:23:50.740 --> 00:23:55.660 in your evangelism efforts. Francis Schaefer 00:23:55.660 --> 00:23:59.559 once said that if he had an hour next to someone, 00:23:59.619 --> 00:24:02.319 maybe he was talking about being on a plane. 00:24:03.299 --> 00:24:05.079 If he's sitting next to somebody on a plane and 00:24:05.079 --> 00:24:08.240 he knew they were not a believer, He said he 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:11.480 would spend the first 55 minutes of the hour 00:24:11.480 --> 00:24:15.579 talking about the creation of God, how man is 00:24:15.579 --> 00:24:18.740 made in the image of God. And then he would spend 00:24:18.740 --> 00:24:21.160 the remainder of the time talking about the gospel. 00:24:21.480 --> 00:24:24.000 And the reason he said that is because he realized 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:27.460 how important it is that we understand who God 00:24:27.460 --> 00:24:31.559 is. But where we have come from, where we went 00:24:31.559 --> 00:24:35.420 wrong, why we are the way we are, and who is 00:24:35.420 --> 00:24:39.359 in charge. So reference creation as you share 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:45.579 the gospel. Last, very last thing. John chapter 00:24:45.579 --> 00:24:52.400 1, verses 1 through 3. Listen to this, especially 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:54.920 the first verse, and tell me, what does it sound 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:58.720 like? John 1, 1 through 3. In the beginning was 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:02.759 the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 00:25:02.759 --> 00:25:05.990 Word was God. He was in the beginning with God 00:25:05.990 --> 00:25:08.730 all things were made through him and without 00:25:08.730 --> 00:25:12.890 him was not anything made that was made. I would 00:25:12.890 --> 00:25:16.910 submit to you that John's gospel gets started 00:25:16.910 --> 00:25:23.029 remembering Genesis 1 1 in the beginning. This 00:25:23.029 --> 00:25:25.390 also tells us that Jesus was in the beginning. 00:25:25.809 --> 00:25:30.700 Jesus is not created. Jesus Equal in power and 00:25:30.700 --> 00:25:33.299 glory with the Father and the Spirit. He's actually 00:25:33.299 --> 00:25:36.500 a part of the creation efforts listen to verse 00:25:36.500 --> 00:25:40.819 9 and 14 the true light which gives light to 00:25:40.819 --> 00:25:43.720 everyone was coming into the world in verse 14 00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:47.180 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us 00:25:47.180 --> 00:25:50.940 and we have seen his glory Glory as of the only 00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:54.380 son from the Father full of grace and truth as 00:25:54.380 --> 00:25:58.980 God kicked off creation with light so Jesus is 00:25:58.980 --> 00:26:01.940 the light that we need. He came to conquer the 00:26:01.940 --> 00:26:04.880 darkness of sin and to all of those who would 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.220 believe in his name, he gives the right to become 00:26:08.220 --> 00:26:13.640 children of God. You Christian, you belong to 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:17.400 the maker of the heavens and the earth. Isn't 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:22.099 that amazing? And secondly though, know this, 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:27.039 that as God upholds creation, he also upholds 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:28.579 you. Let's pray.