So as I have said, we're looking at creation
tonight. And so this is a continuation, if you
will, on us looking at key doctrine that we believe
to be true. So this year on these fourth Sunday
evening worship services, we have looked at things
that the Bible teaches that we believe are so
very important. And I would say creation is one
of them. It's kind of how the Bible begins, right?
So I really think we need to look at this. And
at the same time, if I can, some of you were
in the Covenant Sunday School class this morning
as we looked at Hebrews chapter 11. And guess
what we're looking at tonight? Hebrews chapter
11. That's called Providence. But you might say,
well, this is an interesting starting place to
look at creation from the book of Hebrews, and
you're correct. But we will get into the Genesis
account shortly. But what we have in Hebrews
chapter 11 is called the Hall of Faith. And it
asks, it begins the chapter with a very important
question, really an answer to a question. What
is faith? So I'm going to read verses one. I'm
going to combine them together. Verses one through
three this evening. So give attention to God's
holy word. Now faith is the assurance of things
hoped for, for the conviction of things not seen.
For by it the people of old receive their commendation.
By faith we understand that the universe was
created by the word of God so that what is seen
was not made out of things that are visible.
Yes, we're starting in Hebrews 11 here, but I
think especially verse three is very central
to our discussion on creation. Creation, as the
Bible presents it, has kind of been on the hot
seat of late. a recent history where people are
examining scripture and they've got some different
ideas about how God began all the things that
he began. Even within our own denomination, we
have those who are trying to come up with different
methods for how to understand creation. I'm not
going to go through all of those methods, all
of those theories. I don't think it would be
helpful in this setting. But still we might look
at this and we might ask, are we supposed to
take creation literally as Genesis 1 and 2 seems
to show us? I played my hand. Are we supposed
to see it as kind of poetic? Are we supposed
to ascertain the length of the days in creation?
Is there a possibility the days are really long?
Is there a possibility that there are episodes
and millions of years between all the days? There's
a lot of discussion going on. about creation.
But you know what isn't really being said enough?
We need to take the Bible's teaching on creation
on faith. That's what needs to be said. You can
do all the research that you want to do. You
can watch all the documentaries on Netflix or
YouTube. There are a bunch of them out there.
You can go to the Answers in Genesis website,
which is a fine website. You can study Hebrew,
the language of. You can go to the Grand Canon
and you can study the layers of sediment. But
if you don't take creation on faith, you have
entirely missed the point. Why is there something
rather than nothing? Because of God and God tells
us in his word to take this on faith I've mentioned
that Hebrews chapter 11 is the hall of faith
And so you've got different individuals in here
their faith and what they did in faith. You've
got Enoch You've got you know David's in here
Noah's in here, but when I look at these individuals
I Don't see people questioning them or questioning
the way that Scripture puts it for them. Maybe
they just don't care that much about Enoch, but
I don't hear anybody saying, well, you know,
Enoch, it says he was taken up into heaven, but
I don't believe that. I don't hear anybody talking
about Enoch. As far as Moses in the Red Sea goes,
I hear non -believers and I hear liberal scholars
questioning whether or not they really passed
through the sea. But I don't see Christians having
a problem with this and I don't see Christians
having a problem with Rahab or David or the prophets
and I definitely don't see Christians having
a problem with what continues into chapter 12
that Jesus is the author and the perfecter of
our faith Because we know what is the condition
for salvation. It's faith. You got to believe
in Jesus So why is it then? that people have
such a hard time believing in creation as presented
by the Bible. Why is it that creation and faith
just goes out the window? Also, at the same time
as I say this, I'm not encouraging blind faith
either. We have evidence here. Ours is not a
blind faith, but a faith that sees by the light
of God's sure Revelation. So what do we need
to do? We need to uphold the biblical narrative
while understanding God's teaching on creation.
Douglas Kelley says this, to understand Genesis
1 through 3 and to make sense of life itself,
we must seek with the help of divine revelation
to interpret time through God rather than God
through time. Did you catch that? Interpret time
through God rather than God through time. And
this is very important because if we get off
the rails with creation, the way the Bible begins,
if we get off the rails here, what will we do
with the rest of Scripture? What will we do with
the fall? What will we do with the flood? What
will we do with the virgin birth? What will we
do with Jesus' miracles? What will we do with
the resurrection? What will we do with the second
coming? We need to get off on the right foot
with the Bible and that begins with creation.
And so what is the classic doctrine of creation?
It's called ex nihilo, which means out of nothing.
Meaning at one time there was nothing and then
God spoke and then there was something. It's
a way of saying that the visible reality we perceive
does not originally come from other things that
we can see. We got to take it back to the beginning
and we realize in the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth. But you weren't there,
were you? And I wasn't there either. So what
do we need to do? Hebrews 11 3 tells us we need
to take it in faith. God did not fashion the
world out of some other world. It didn't speak
itself into existence. God created by His Word.
Now some people have a really hard time believing
this, that God spoke and things came into being.
But does anybody bat an eye when Jesus is on
the boat and the storm's going on and then Jesus
speaks and the storm is done? I don't hear anybody
have a problem with that. Or what about when
Lazarus is dead in the tomb and Jesus says, come
out of there. Does anybody have a problem with
that? Or when Jesus tells a lame man to get up
and walk. So we can definitely affirm that God,
and specifically here his son, has the power
with his speech. And so this is the way that
it's presented, that God speaks and there's something.
There's two things that I think you all will
affirm. Everybody who is in this sanctuary, I
think you'll affirm this. Is God the source of
life? Yes. Heads going up and down, right? Is
the Bible God's Word? Yes. Because we believe
this, why not derive our information from the
Word about creation? It seems to me that when
it comes to creation, Christians tend to be a
little bit like Peter. Do you remember when Jesus
commands Peter to get out of the boat and he's
walking on the water and he's doing good? When
is he not doing good? When he takes his eyes
off of Jesus. And when we take our eyes off of
Jesus, this is when our faith falters. And when
we come up with excuses for Scripture, but we
ought not make excuses for Scripture, we ought
to believe it. Again from Douglas Kelly, nothing
could be more logical or more intelligent than
to accept the information from the one who made
it, from the one who was the eyewitness, and
from the one who is truth itself. Friends, as
it pertains to creation, we have to go to the
source. Do you remember being in school and having
to write a research paper? Maybe some of you
are still in school, right? You can have all
the secondary sources that you want, but if you
don't have the primary source, you don't have
a source, right? So with creation, what do we
need to do? We need to go to the primary source.
But what he might say, well, That makes a lot
of sense, but what if I don't understand the
source? What if I don't understand Genesis 1
and 2? Or what if I don't understand Hebrews
11, 3? Well, we rightly should look elsewhere
in the Bible. So let's go to Psalm 33. Psalm
33, 6 through 9. And I think you'll see that
this very much pertains to our discussion this
evening. Psalm 33, 6 through 9. By the word of
the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath
of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters
of the sea as a heap. He puts the deep in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the
inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him,
for He spoke and it came to be. He commanded
and it stood firm. So yet again we have here
the Bible telling us that God spoke things into
existence and so the question that we really
need to ask is do you believe this word? Do you
believe that God created all things by the power
of his word? And what I would encourage you to
do is to take some time with the creation account.
really try and understand it but do so from a
straightforward reading of the passage. In order
to do anything else you almost have to do literary
gymnastics to get it to work but the straightforward
reading of the text tells us what we need to
know. And this has been the teaching of historic
reformed Presbyterianism and I don't want to
be out of accords with our standards and I believe
that our standards are faithful to the text.
And so consider this from Westminster Confession
of Faith the beginning of chapter 4. It pleased
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for the manifestation
of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and
goodness in the beginning to create or to make
out of nothing the world and all things therein,
whether visible or invisible in the space of
six days and all very good. That has been the
Reformed position for a very long time and so
we want to keep that position as it accords with
Scripture. So what I want to do now is go to
Genesis and you could turn there if you like.
Let's see these days. Let's see what God does
with each one of them. Genesis 1 verse 3. already
three and four to begin and God said let there
be light and there was light and God saw that
the light was good and God separated the light
from the darkness God called the light day and
the darkness he called night and there was evening
and there was morning the first day so you see
light and dark separated here The creation of
light, you've got day and night. The text says
there was evening and there was morning the first
day, meaning that the days have distinct boundaries
around them. And that pattern is going to continue
throughout these six days of creation. Look at
day number two in verses six through eight. And
God said, let there be an expanse in the midst
of the waters. Let it separate the waters from
the waters and God made the expanse and separated
the waters that were under the expanse from the
waters that were above the expanse and it was
so and God called the expanse heaven and There
was evening and there was morning the second
day. So what do we have in day two? Well, once
again, we have this same kind of pattern going
on here there was evening and there's morning
the creation of the sea and sky at day three
verses nine through 13. God said let the waters
under the heavens be gathered together into one
place and let the dry land appear and it was
so. God called the dry land earth and the waters
that were gathered together he called seas and
God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the
earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed,
and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their
seed, each according to its kind on the earth.
And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation,
plants yielding seed according to their own kinds,
and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed,
each according to its kind. And God saw that
it was good, and there was evening, and there
was morning the third day. And so on the third
day, we have the creation of dry land with vegetation.
How about that outside? It's springtime going
into summer. It's very green. OK, God has created
this day for verses 14 through 19. And God said,
Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens
to separate the day from the night and let them
be for signs and for seasons and for days and
years. and let them be lights in the expanse
of the heavens to give light upon the earth.
And it was so. And God made the two great lights,
the greater light to rule the day and the lesser
light to rule the night and the stars. And God
set them in the expanse of the heavens to give
light on the earth to rule over the day and over
the night and to separate the light from the
darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there
was evening and there was morning, the fourth
day. So you have the creation. The stars and
of the Sun and of the moon these things they
also give light and then day five verses 20 through
23 and God said that the water Swarm with swarms
of living creatures and let birds fly above the
earth across the expanse of the heavens So God
created the great sea creatures and every living
creature that moves with which the water Swarm
according to their kinds and every winged bird
accord to its kind and God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them saying, Be fruitful and
multiply and fill the waters in the seas and
let birds multiply on the earth. And there was
evening and there was morning the fifth day.
So you have these waters that are now filled
with the fish and you have the skies that have
the birds flying through them. And then we get
to perhaps our favorite part, day six. look in
verses 24 through 27 and God said let the earth
bring forth living creatures according to their
kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts
of the earth according to their kinds and it
was so and God made the beasts of the earth according
to their kinds and the livestock according to
their kinds and everything that creeps on the
ground according to its kind and God saw that
it was good. Then God said let us make man in
our image after our likeness and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the heavens and over the livestock and
over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth. So God created man
in his own image. In the image of God he created
him. Male and female he created them. God creates
what we might say is the crown jewel of creation.
He creates people. He creates people who are
made in his image. And then what does God do
after all of this? He rests, right? He rests.
And I think this is very interesting to see that
on the seventh day, God rested because we might
say, well, we know the scriptures tell us that
God doesn't slumber or sleep and he doesn't grow
tired. So what sort of resting is God doing?
God is delighting in his creation God blesses
the seventh day and makes it holy and this is
very important because you'll remember that later
on the Israelites they're given the Ten Commandments
right and they are given this command that they
are to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy
Listen to this from Exodus 2011 for in six days
the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all
that is in them and rested on the seventh day.
That's from Exodus. Their rest was grounded in
His rest, and as far as I know, we still have
a seven -day week, do we not? We don't have an
eight -day week. We don't have a nine -day week.
We don't have a six and a half day week. We have
a seven day week and we are to continue this
rest. But thanks be to God that Jesus was raised
on Sunday, the first day of the week. And so
that Sabbath rest has been moved to the first
day of the week. But we still enjoy a day like
today of worship and of rest and of service to
others, right? This is good news for us. This
is good news for us that God creates as He did,
that He gives us rest as He did, but I also want
to point out one more thing to you, and this
time we can go back into Hebrews, but don't go
to chapter 11. Go to chapter 1. Hebrews chapter
1 verse 3. This is speaking of your Savior. Hebrews
1 3 he is the radiance of the glory of God and
the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds
the universe by the word of his power Colossians
1 17 says something similar that Christ holds
it all together what we are to understand from
these texts is that God preserves his creation
Some view God is nothing more than a creator
But that's unbiblical. God is intimately involved
in every single moment of your lives. It's not
like God created and then took some time off.
He rested from this created order, but he continued
to uphold. This is good news for us because this
means that we are upheld and that God will not
let us go. Now all of this probably sounds slightly
good to you, but you're wondering, How does this
impact me tomorrow? When I'm celebrating Memorial
Day or when I go back to work on Tuesday or when
I got the grandkids, how does all of this help
me? A few points of application. Let's not get
too far away from Hebrews 11 .3, remembering
faith. We have in scripture God's special revelation.
As great as creation is, creation General revelation
does not tell me how to be saved. General revelation
doesn't tell me how Jesus died to atone for sin.
And trust me, I love being outside. I love going
for a hike, right? But we need God's special
revelation in order to know about Jesus. And
we need to believe it. But this also applies
to creation too. So this week, today, this evening,
why not give thought? to the biblical narrative
of God's creation. Why is it that Christians
are so entranced with eternity ahead of us but
not eternity past? We should give thought to
this because this is given to us for our good.
This is within the Bible. Consider what God has
done in creation and do as Hebrews 11 .3 says.
Take it in faith. But secondly, Enjoy creation.
I hope you enjoy creation. I hope that you go
for walks and I hope you go for a hike or I hope
that you just sit on your front porch and marvel
at what God has made because it's beautiful,
isn't it? Do you agree with that? There you go,
head's nodding. Yeah, Psalm 19. The heavens declare
the glory of God and the sky above proclaims
his handiwork. God's creation screams that he
is a good God. and that He has created all that's
before us and we can enjoy it and we should take
care of it. I know. Third point. Reference creation
in your evangelism efforts. Francis Schaefer
once said that if he had an hour next to someone,
maybe he was talking about being on a plane.
If he's sitting next to somebody on a plane and
he knew they were not a believer, He said he
would spend the first 55 minutes of the hour
talking about the creation of God, how man is
made in the image of God. And then he would spend
the remainder of the time talking about the gospel.
And the reason he said that is because he realized
how important it is that we understand who God
is. But where we have come from, where we went
wrong, why we are the way we are, and who is
in charge. So reference creation as you share
the gospel. Last, very last thing. John chapter
1, verses 1 through 3. Listen to this, especially
the first verse, and tell me, what does it sound
like? John 1, 1 through 3. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was in the beginning with God
all things were made through him and without
him was not anything made that was made. I would
submit to you that John's gospel gets started
remembering Genesis 1 1 in the beginning. This
also tells us that Jesus was in the beginning.
Jesus is not created. Jesus Equal in power and
glory with the Father and the Spirit. He's actually
a part of the creation efforts listen to verse
9 and 14 the true light which gives light to
everyone was coming into the world in verse 14
and the word became flesh and dwelt among us
and we have seen his glory Glory as of the only
son from the Father full of grace and truth as
God kicked off creation with light so Jesus is
the light that we need. He came to conquer the
darkness of sin and to all of those who would
believe in his name, he gives the right to become
children of God. You Christian, you belong to
the maker of the heavens and the earth. Isn't
that amazing? And secondly though, know this,
that as God upholds creation, he also upholds
you. Let's pray.