How's everybody doing today? Awesome. I understand there's probably a few more
people that are braving the horrific storms that are plaguing Southern
California and so we pray for them to get here safely despite the challenges.
Well we like to start our services every week by saying welcome to any of you that
are joining us here in our sanctuary for the first time or if you're joining us
online. Welcome. We're so glad you're here to worship with us today. Today we are
beginning a brand new series, a brand new book at the very beginning of the Bible.
We're gonna be studying for some time, I don't know how long, the book of
beginnings. The book whose very name Genesis means the origin, the start or
point at which something comes into being. You know the Hebrews named or
titled this book Barashith and that word in the Hebrew language simply means in
the beginning. Then as time went on in the Old Testament, it was translated into
Greek around 250 BC, they translated that Hebrew word into the Greek equivalent
which is Genesis and then as time went on again both the Latin and English
Bibles simply adopted that title for this book, letter for letter. In this
title Genesis is an absolutely perfect title for this book because this book of
the Bible gives us the Genesis. It gives us the beginning and the origin of so
much. It teaches us the beginnings and where we get our doctrine of God, our
doctrine of man, the doctrine of creation, the doctrine of salvation. This book talks
about the origin of the universe, the origin of sin. It defines things like
marriage, human government and it really gives us the beginning of the nation of
Israel and everything true that we know about all of these things has its
beginning in Genesis and really the rest of the entire Bible all the way through
to the book of Revelation stands on what this very important book teaches us. Now
the Bible as a whole you should understand looks in both directions into
eternity. In Genesis 1 1 we're gonna read today that it says in the beginning God
and we see that in the beginning of the Bible it looks into eternity past and
teaches us some very very important things and then as we just got done
studying as a church the book of Revelation we see that we get the look
into eternity future where we saw the new heaven and the new earth and the new
Jerusalem in Revelation chapter 21 but it's important to understand that
regardless of where we're at in the Bible the entire thing the main subject
of the whole thing front to back is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is who
the Bible is about your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has his prophetic
Genesis here in the opening chapters of this book and then everything after
everything through the Old Testament as we'll be studying over time leads up to
the first coming of Jesus Christ and then after we get through the Gospels
which tell the story of his life and his death and his resurrection the rest of
the New Testament then all leads up to his second coming that we learned about
in the book of Revelation but the foundation of understanding all of it
the foundation of understanding every detail of what the Bible has to teach us
about ourselves about who he is it all has its beginning in the beginning and
that's what we're gonna be studying today but first we're gonna spend time
worshipping God who is our Creator the one who existed before all things the one
in whom all things had its beginning our Lord and Savior God Almighty our
Creator the one who loves us dearly and loves us more than anything else we're
so excited to worship him and so we're gonna do that as a body together before
we study the word today but let's pray father we love you so much God we're so
grateful that you sent your son to die for us and Lord as we're even gonna see
in the very first verse of your word we see this mystery of the Trinity this
mystery of the Godhead Lord that you are one unified holy God yet you exist in
three distinct persons with different personalities in different ministries and
Lord we know it is a mystery to us Lord our human brains cannot understand all
of what that means Lord but God all of what that means is that you created us
you love us you knew our needs and you died for us you rose from the dead and
then gave us eternal life through our faith in you Lord God all of it starts
in the beginning here and I pray God that you would speak to us Lord and
bless us as we study your word starting here in Genesis God that you would speak
to us about all the truths and the wonderful things that you have about who
you are and who we are sin and salvation and all of it Lord that we would draw
closer to you as your people that God as we draw closer to you we become more
like you and that through us Lord your glory would shine to those that don't
know don't yet know you Lord that they would come to salvation as well but God
we want to worship you and praise your name because you were holy you were God
Almighty you were the God who always was always is and always will be and we
bless your holy name it's in Jesus name we pray amen we're gonna be in Genesis
chapter 1 today for those of you don't know where that's at it's all the way to
the left in your paper Bibles or just find it by tapping on your screen and
it's usually the first book of the Bible in the list you know this book is is
just critically important and has so many of the foundational truths and the
foundations of the truths that we believe as Christians and so just as a
brief overview of the book as we're gonna be studying through it you know
it's divided into a whole lot of neatly structured themes as we go through we'll
point out these different themes but the two broad divisions in Genesis is
typically chapters 1 through 11 and then chapters 12 through 50 and so chapters
1 through 11 refer to what commentators call primeval history right this is a
way way back and in the primeval history as recorded for us in Genesis we have
five major stories that really all have the same exact structure these stories
are the fall of mankind Cain and Abel then we have a story about the sons of
God marrying the daughters of men we have the story of Noah's flood and then
the Tower of Babel and those are the five major stories that make up what the
Bible records in primeval history for us now it's interesting is all five of these
stories are structured exactly the same way as we get to them we'll see that
there's a sin described or sin itself is described then there's a speech by God
pronouncing the penalty for that sin then you see God bring grace to the
situation and really kind of bringing in grace to ease the misery of what sin is
causing but then you're also going to see that God does indeed punish the sin
and brings consequence for sin this format is kind of what you see
throughout the entire Bible and it really is the format of all history as
we're gonna see it eventually as we study all the way through scripture but
what's amazing is throughout Genesis we're gonna see over and over again that
when man does his absolute worst and reaches his lowest his most depraved his
most sinful his most wicked God offers grace God offers a new beginning and
that's one of the major major points of this book and who our God is you know we
see that Adam and Eve sin in the first few chapters of Genesis and yet there
was a penalty for death that if you eat of that tree you will surely die and yet
God withheld the death penalty from them for eating of that tree and then in this
part of scripture in Genesis chapter 3 we're gonna see the very first
prophecy of the coming Messiah then we read about Cain killing Abel and again
Cain was banished from his family yet we're gonna read that he was graced with
a mark of protection and then God gave Seth to continue the godly line then the
earth becomes violent and wicked and that's where we read about the flood
coming but again God preserves the human race very graciously through Noah to
carry forth the promise of a Savior for all mankind then we get to the Tower of
Babel where man in his arrogance thinks we're gonna get up to heaven on our own
we don't need God we're gonna build a tower and we're gonna get all the way up
there and then we know in that story that God scatters them by changing and
scattering the languages of all the people so that they couldn't communicate
anymore and in that way scattering mankind instead of destroying them for
their arrogance then in chapters 12 through 50 of Genesis it really focuses
on what's called the patriarchal history of mankind really what we see there the
focus is in the midst of polytheistic pagan idolatry God calls this man Abram
calls him to himself to step out in faith this man eventually becomes known
as Abraham and he is given a very gracious promise by God where God tells
them that through you all the people of the earth will be blessed and then
ultimately as Abraham's line goes on it leads to the creation of the nation of
Israel which ultimately leads all the way down as the genealogy of Jesus Christ
and the Messiah who comes to save the whole world we have the promise of the
defeat of the serpent after the fall fully fulfilled and that is the promise
God gives in Genesis chapter 3 that although the serpent will will strike
him he will crush the serpent's head and that promise to Abraham then that he
would be a blessing to all the nations of the world just unfolds as we go
through the book of Genesis through all the patriarchal narratives and despite
the patriarchs repeated errors repeated sins repeated falls we see God's grace
and God's promise standing over and over again now you can say then that Genesis
really is about grace this is a book about the grace of God and really it's
summarized it is summarized by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 5 verse
20 Paul said this but where sin multiplied grace multiplied even more
that's what we see in Genesis that's a truth that we see the very beginning of
in Genesis and it's a very important truth to all of our lives because we all
sin and we all sin over and over again but we know that as God's children his
grace multiplies even more in our lives G Campbell Morgan a very famous preacher
divided up Genesis this way he said chapters 1 & 2 of Genesis are
generation right the the generation of life and man and then chapters 3 through
11 are degeneration as man falls and then you got chapters 12 through 50 which
is regeneration as God then puts his plan to save all mankind into action and
so that little layout their generation degeneration regeneration again that's
another snapshot of the human condition right we are born we are generated right
and then we're instantly born into sin it's a nature we have it's a degenerative
condition that plagues all of us but then we are regenerated born again when we
put our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior so both the Old Testament and the New
Testament affirm that Moses was the author of this book or at least the
primary author it affirms that he was the primary author of the first five
books of the Bible you know there are certain things like in Deuteronomy where
it records the death of Moses you know unless Moses was performing some cool
tricks he couldn't really record his I died so so we know that there's some
contributions by other authors but the primary writing of these books is Moses
and these five books these first five books of the Bible is called the
Pentateuch it was the Torah or for Jewish people it was known as the law
this is where they got all the foundation of who God was and what God
wanted of his people now in John chapter 5 verses 45 through 47 we see Jesus
himself affirming Moses is authorship of these books whereas he was talking to
the Jewish leaders he says do not think that I will accuse you to the Father
your accuser is Moses on whom you have set your hope now again the hope of the
Jewish people especially the Jewish leaders was the law right they prided
themselves on be people who followed the law and did everything exactly how God
wanted and the law is everything and we follow it and he's saying for if you
believed Moses you would believe me too because Moses wrote about me which tells
us that these first five books that Moses authored they're about who Jesus
Christ he said but if you don't believe what he wrote how are you gonna believe
me the idea was is although they were so dogmatic in their claim to follow the
law they were really hypocrites and we know that through the Gospels Jesus
called them whitewashed tombs right you look pretty on the outside but you're
pretty ugly on the inside and that's really again a picture of sin and what
it does to our lives so Genesis the date of this book is generally tied to the
time of Exodus when Israel was wandering in the wilderness that's when most
people believe that this book was written and and for those of you that
are really interested in time frames a lot of commentators kind of pinpoint
that in the late 15th century BC but the idea is that that as Israel was
wandering in the wilderness the context of their journey surrounding them right
they they had been led out of Egypt by Moses they had crossed the Red Sea and
now they were in the wilderness and as they were wandering in the wilderness
they were dreaming of the promise right they had been promised the promised land
that they were going to be led to this promised land that God had given to them
and and naturally you know this is speculative but but if if you were a
group of people wandering through the wilderness and and expecting this
promise that this man Moses is saying God has given to you you know the
conversation might naturally come up well who are these people that are our
patriarchs that we've talked about so much that we've believed in you know
who's who's Abraham who's who's Isaac who's Jacob you know these are the
people that initially brought us to Egypt right so what's their story where
did they come from and so Genesis is really the story of the origin of the
people Israel and how they ended up in Egypt and that's why it's kind of very
short creation and everything is really an abridged conversation about the the
primeval history and then the bulk of the book is really about where did
Israel come from and so God met Moses with his word and gave him the book of
Genesis now the situational context of Moses's writing helps us frame some of
the ideas and the purpose and the point of this book as we study through it you
know again Israel's in the wilderness and they had just escaped the the the
rampant polytheism in Egypt right Egypt was a place that that had pyramid
pyramids and temples and Sun gods and moon gods and a god for this and a god
of the river right it was very polytheistic and so in Egypt as the
people were there for 400 plus years they were inundated with this this pagan
religion that stood in direct opposition to their own monotheism that as a people
Israel they believed in God the one God and yet for 400 years as a people they
were inundated with all this pagan polytheistic religion and so now Moses
is writing to really establish the truth that instead of a single creator God
that they were following these Egyptians just made up these many gods these gods
that don't exist that had all these elaborate love affairs and all this
weird nonsense and warfare and fighting but instead Moses is saying I'm gonna
confront all of that stuff you guys have been living in for 400 years and tell
you about your God and more than just where you came from as a nation Moses
goes all the way back as led by the Holy Spirit to talk about where humanity came
from as a people that who God is in all of that and so the opening line of this
book would forever establish a true and absolute understanding of who God is
what the universe is and who we are as humanity and so in Genesis 1 1 it says
in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth now that's as far as we're
gonna get today right and we could quite literally spend weeks and weeks on this
verse but I've already had the question asked many times how long are we gonna
be in Genesis and so I'm gonna try and move through Genesis as as quickly as
possible but I don't want to gloss over the the core important doctrines of what
we learn here and so I know Revelation was long it might be longer who knows
okay so but Genesis 1 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
now when you read that you might ask yourself the beginning of what the
beginning of what that phrase the beginning is actually one Hebrew word
the beginning and in the Hebrew the word is not a time reference it's an event
reference do you understand the difference it's referring to an event a
happening it's not referencing the beginning as in time as we understand it
but there is a correlation to that that phrase the beginning the Hebrew
definition for the word is an event consisting of the start of something so
you could rewrite it and say at the starting point God created the heavens
and the earth but that would lead to the same question right starting point of
what well it's the starting point of everything it's the beginning of everything
including time as we understand it it was an event where everything began the
beginning is the event where God literally started the clock of our
universe and then that moment was followed by all of history past present
and future yet to be lived and so verse 1 of Genesis is really a summary
statement of everything we're gonna read about in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 all
the way through Genesis chapter 2 verse 3 and then even that section is an
abridged creation story you see God doesn't give us every single detail of
his creation right well we don't get into and I know some people would be
like oh that would be very interesting but he's like he doesn't get into okay
so I took this quark and I took this lepton and I put them together in this
way and I made an atom and that you write he doesn't get into all those
details it just summarizes what God did in fact there's only 630 words to
describe the origin of everything that exists Moses will go on to spend far
more time in his writing talking about Abraham Isaac and Jacob and really the
reason why is because Genesis is not meant to be a biology or a cosmology
lesson that's not the focus of this book although we're very interested that's
not the focus it's not meant to be a thorough treatise on biology or a
thorough treatise on cosmology and so very briefly what this book gives us is
the origin of all things and then it moves on to the origin of the Hebrew
nation because that's who the Messiah comes through now my point of all that
is that there was an event a moment when time began time as we understand it the
linear process that we live in there was a moment when all the forces in our
universe began when all the laws of physics and thermodynamics began when
all the quarks and leptons and neutrinos and protons and neutrons and electrons
and atoms when all of that began when all the stars and all the planets and
all the multiple thousands of galaxies we know that are in our universe began
and at the moment that everything began this is the important detail of Genesis
1 1 God already was that's the important detail in the beginning God that's what
we learned from this very first important verse that in the beginning
God before time before creation before atoms before mass before matter and dark
matter and all this stuff God already was you know in Psalms 90 verse 2 it
says before the mountains were born before you gave birth to the earth in
the world from eternity to eternity you are God and there's multiple other
verses throughout the Bible that refer to God as everlasting as the eternal one
right it says from eternity to eternity you are God right it points in both
directions the same two directions that the word of God starts with and ends
with eternity past to eternity future and we have to say it that way because
that's how we're created we understand things linear linearly and so we're
described or God is described as existing in that idea of forever past
and forever future Abraham called him the Lord the everlasting God in
Deuteronomy 33 27 Habakkuk 1 12 in Romans at 1626 God is called the
everlasting God or the eternal God it's all the way through scripture it's all
the way through scripture where we're constantly repeatedly over and over and
over clued into the fact that God always was always is and always will be when he
said I am that I am that was a statement of that I am when I am yesterday I am
tomorrow I am today right now I am that is what this is telling us now you go
all the way back to this moment this beginning and you might go well how long
ago was that right people like to debate and talk about such things how long ago
was this moment well depending on who you ask you're gonna get different
answers right some people ascribe to and believe in what's called the young earth
theory right that the earth is only between six thousand to ten thousand
years old or the whole universe is only that old and that's called the young
earth theory right that God created everything probably between six thousand
and ten thousand years ago and there's actually kind of a lot of support for
that in the earth and we might talk about some of that stuff later but other
people go now the universe is two billion years old or five billion years
old or twenty billion years old or however many billions of years we need
to get you know our evolutionary theories to work you know and um but
regardless there's even believers that that believe the universe is billions of
years old and and there they make fairly convincing cases for those types of
things but regardless the proponents of both sides of this this question they
argue and they're very passionate and they just they'll they'll tear into each
other vehemently over these things and my answer to when did the beginning
happen comes from a question that God asked Job in the book of Job and Job
chapter 38 verse 4 God was responding to Job after Job questioned God's wisdom
right this is what God says where were you when I established the earth tell me
if you have understanding you know what the answer to that question is not there
I wasn't there when you established the earth in fact nobody was except God
because God has existed always you see the problem the people that want to
argue the the beginning of everything it's it's ultimately all speculative it's
ultimately all speculative and and none of the experts were there right nobody
was there and so yeah we speculate we can draw conclusions we could you know
say well I think the evidence points here and that's fine that that's really
fine and and I'm gonna deal with some of that you know and as we move forward
but but the idea is this that that nobody was there and so because I'm
probably gonna get 10 million emails after this study to say well where do
you lean pastor Nathan I personally lean towards a young earth understanding
that's my personal event but again like much of the things we talked about in
Revelation I don't know I really don't know because when I say God when was the
beginning he goes well where were you when I established the earth I'm like
oh yeah I wasn't there I wasn't there you were there well we do know what we
do know is in the beginning God that's what we know that's what God has
revealed to us this is how God's word began begins there's no philosophical
arguments for the existence of God and in his nature it's just simply he was he
existed he existed prior to everything we know and that truth is assumed here
in verse 1 of Genesis it's just assumed thus he is the only one who could speak
with any real authority about creation because he was the only one there and so
what he tells Moses is simply this in the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth now that's exactly the point where a lot of people start with their
objections before we even get into the rest of it that's where they start they
go no no I can't accept that instead they want to say in the beginning there
was gases and and and there was space and and and in the beginning it just it
was all floating around but the problem is is if you eliminate God from our
understanding of the creation of the universe you have big problems big
problems because if they're going well no in the beginning there was gas you
go where did the gas come from well in the beginning there was just there was
space where did the space come from right you're just gonna indefinitely
ask that question and I don't care how far back in time you go to allow for all
these really really interesting theories about stuff no matter how far back to you
go you go you're always gonna have the same problem you're gonna have the same
problem until you're able to acknowledge that there has to be some first
uncaused cause if you could get to the point of acknowledging that there has to
be a first uncaused cause something caused everything something began
everything and that something had to exist before until you could do that
nothing makes sense but why do so many people try and eliminate God from the
equation well Romans chapter 1 answered this very clearly for us as Paul was
writing and he says mankind did not want to glorify or obey or even
acknowledge the existence of God even though they could look around in
creation and even though scientists are still going well you know we don't know
how that happened well it had to just accidentally evolved well you keep
backing up well then that well then that well then that and every scientist that
that denies God they'll get to a place of saying we're not sure because
everything that they hinge their beliefs on has a cause and then a cause and they
got and the only way you could get to the beginning of this is that there was
the first uncaused cause so people want to eliminate God from the equation
because mankind simply wants its sin that's what the Bible tells us in the
heart of man we want sin we want to live without accountability to anybody right
including the their creator and so they remove God from the equation because if
I could remove God from the equation I'm not accountable to God and so if I'm
just an accident of evolution that it doesn't care what I do doesn't care he
doesn't care nobody cares it doesn't matter what I do and so instead they say
well you know in the beginning you know there was gases floating in space and
then those gases eventually coalesced into a singularity that exploded in a
big bang instead of in the beginning God and personally I think it takes more
faith to believe in all of those theories and it does to believe that
there is a God and so who is this God we're introduced to here we already
talked about that he's eternal he has always existed from eternity to
eternity but the word God here is a very interesting word and some of you have
studied this you know this but it says in the beginning God that word God in
the Hebrew is Elohim it's a Hebrew word that that is referring to the
supernatural being who originated the universe and rules over the universe
that's the definition of this word in in the Hebrew dictionary right Elohim God
Elohim he is the very subject of the very first sentence in the Bible and he
dominates the entire chapter first chapter of Genesis we're gonna see that
God this word God in our English Bible which is Elohim in the Hebrew it's 35
times that he appears now what's interesting about this word is it shows
us the mystery of the Trinity the Godhead existing in the beginning in the very
first three Hebrew words of Scripture we're already told that God is triune you
see in the Hebrew in the beginning God reads this way barasheth barah Elohim
three words now Elohim is a plural word that refers to a singular entity can you
guys grasp that concept it's a plural word that refers to a singular entity so
God plural is God singular right and that's where our brains start to
shrivel up and I don't get it and some people will be like that because I don't
get it it can't be true and that's just silly there's so many things we don't
get that are true you know it's our limited human understanding is not what
defines truth God defines truth and so we have this word Elohim this plural
word that refers to a singular entity and that's where we get the idea of the
Godhead the Trinity now it is true that the word Trinity doesn't appear anywhere
in Scripture but the concept the doctrine is very very clearly taught I
know people like to argue against it and stuff and and and but it's it's very
clearly there if you study the Word of God as a whole and it starts right here
in these first three words of the beginning of the Bible on one hand the
Bible very clearly demonstrates and this was a very critical point Moses was
trying to make right considering they just came out of this polytheistic
culture that there is one and only one God see in Deuteronomy 6 for a part of
the Shema it says listen Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one very clear we
understand that that through through Scripture it's it's emphasized over and
over that there is one God and that God is one but then you also have this in
Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 and Genesis chapter 3 verse 22 God speaking says let
us in Genesis chapter 11 verse 7 when when God is gonna go confuse the
languages of all the people at the Tower of Babel it says God speaking let's go
confuse the languages of the people now it is beyond the scope of today's study
to exhaustively dig into a biblical defense of the Trinity and my point was
just to establish that it starts in the beginning but if you do want to dig
deeper into the doctrine of the Trinity I encourage you to go to Bible thinker
org that's pastor Mike's channel and he has plenty of very exhaustive teachings
defending the concept of the Trinity in the Bible but I will point out that this
is that when it says in the beginning God and it's this word Elohim and it's
referring to the God head the God plural who is one singular being we do see
throughout Scripture that all three members of the Trinity the Father the
Son and the Spirit are all involved in creation and it's really beautiful you
see in the beginning God Elohim that's that word that refers to the God head
right and that involves all three of them the Father the Son and the Spirit
and then in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 it says the Spirit of God was hovering over
the waters of a formless and a dark earth there we see the Spirit of God the
Holy Spirit and then in John chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 we see God theos the
Greek word for God as a whole with the Son it says in the beginning was the
word and the word was with God and the word was God he was God in the beginning
all things were created through him it's referring to the word that was with God
and that was God and apart from him not one thing was created that has been
created and then verse 14 of John 1 and says the word became flesh and dwelt
among us who's that Jesus Christ God the Son second member of the God head in
Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 it says long ago God spoke to our ancestors
by the prophets at different times in different ways in these last days he has
spoken to us by his Son God has appointed him heir of all things and made
the universe through him the Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact
expression of his nature sustaining all things by his powerful word and so it is
and so it was that at the beginning of time and at the beginning of everything
that exists in our universe the one and only God who exists as three distinct
simultaneous eternal persons the Father the Son and the Spirit who each have
their own will who each speak on their own they have their own love that they
demonstrate they demonstrate their own individual personhood throughout
scripture these three who yet exist in absolute perfect harmony consisting of
one substance being co-eternal and co-equal and co-powerful this God
existed and had always existed from eternity past outside of time as we
understand it not subject to the physical laws of the universe he created
but outside of all of it now belief in this really I think is a doorway to
faith right it's really the the the key to understanding the Bible I think
everything in the Bible rests on this understanding of Genesis 1 1 if you
believe Genesis 1 1 then the rest of the Bible I think is easy peasy I mean think
about it Jonah getting swallowed by a fish and then spit up on a beach well if
you believe in the beginning God a God who existed into eternity past created
everything by speaking it into existence well then Jonah getting
swallowed by a fish and spit up okay that's easy no but there's
scientifically no way a man could be swallowed by a big fish God omnipotent
omnipotent omnipresent omniscient all power knowing everything and all things
at all times God Elijah's floating acts simple Jesus walking on water well he's
God Peter walking on water well yeah God Philip one of my favorite stories in the
book of Acts is called down to go preach to the Ethiopian and as the scripture
tells us that after he baptized the Ethiopian as soon as he open came out
of the water Philip was caught up in the spirit you know what the modern word for
that is teleportation Philip teleported God just went and took him that's
impossible no it's not God everything is a no-brainer compared to this glorious
majestic first act of God in creating all things the first uncaused cause God
was who then created everything then the question I kind of want to close today
on is well what was God doing before creation in eternity past was he
twiddling his thumbs was he bored man there's no one to talk to you well no
he's a Trinity also he was talking to himself what was he doing was he
creating other universes and going nope that one's not right nope that one's not
right and then I got it right people have all kinds of interesting thoughts
and theories on this and it's all speculative but the best place to go to
find out what God was doing when God was doing what he was doing is to go to his
word and there's one thing in his word that we know for absolute fact that God
was doing before creation and it's really what the entire Bible is about
he was planning our redemption how do we know this Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4
says this for he chose us in him before the foundation of the world to be holy
and blameless in love before him but that tells us his way back before the
foundation of the world before the foundation of the cosmos before the
foundation of everything that exists all those atoms and all those planets and
all those galaxies and time and and all these dimensions that physics is is
understanding or out there before all of it God who is all-knowing knew you he
knew me he knew he was gonna create you he knew he was gonna create me he knew
your name he knew your personality he knew your ups and downs he knew your
weaknesses he knew it all and he still before everything existed said yeah I'm
gonna create him I'm gonna create her me knowing my life God you still did that
you knowing who I was gonna be all those years before I accepted you as my Lord
and Savior all those times I cursed your name you still created me and people
ask well why did he create us the Bible tells us pretty clearly that God created
us for himself God created us for his glory his pleasure what that means
Colossians 1 16 says this all things have been created through him and for
him now when I say that God created us for himself for his glory for his
pleasure it doesn't mean that that we were created to entertain him right
dance puppet right that's that's not what we were created to do we weren't
created to just provide him amusement but yeah we do know that throughout
scripture we see that God is a creative being it pleases him to create he's
pleased in creation we see that through the whole Genesis account we're gonna
study but God's also a personal being that's what he reveals to us in his word
and it pleases him to have other beings that he could have a genuine
relationship with a relationship with you that he desires now don't
misunderstand he didn't create us because he needed us all right God in
eternity lacks nothing needs nothing in all of eternity past there was no
loneliness that God had he wasn't looking for friends if God never created
you and me he would still be God fully satisfied and content in his own
eternal existence but the glory of God in God being glorified is manifest in
his unconditional lavishing on of love on us his creation it's just God
exercising his glory it's God loving because he chooses to not because he
needs to but because he wants to again he didn't need anything he didn't have
to do anything but he wanted to love you and we respond when we respond to that
love we were respond to our creator who created us and say God you love me so
much and we put our faith in him and we accept him as our Lord and Savior and we
love him back we praise we worship him back oh my goodness he is glorified
and so he created the heavens and the earth he created us to be caretakers of
the earth to live and to exist with him in a perfect loving fellowship forever
but as we're gonna see as we study through Genesis that sin caused a
separation he created you and me with a free will because what kind of love is
love that is forced right love isn't love unless it's given freely willingly
and so he created us to love us and just so that we had the opportunity to love
him back but in order for us to be able to choose to love him back he had to
give us a free will a will that could say I don't want to love you and so he
created us that way and people go well why did he do that if he knew we were
gonna choose sin why did he do that he knew we were gonna choose sin remember
he's omniscient before everything he knew but he graciously created Adam and
Eve anyways gave them that free will that they then used to choose sin which
then introduced to death and decay and corruption into all of creation and he
knew he knew that by us making that choice to choose sin it would separate
us from him forever and despite sin we see God over and over continuing to show
mercy and grace and provision and forbearance and you just you just read
to the Bible and you see all of that and in God displaying all of those things
God is displaying the fullness of his glory the fullness of who he is the
Bible tells us God is love and we see what love looks like and how God
responds to mankind the ultimate exercise the ultimate demonstration of
his glory was then at the cross where God the Father poured out his righteous
judgment on sin by pouring out all his wrath on God the Son the second person
of the Trinity Jesus Christ and God willingly demonstrated the full glory of
his nature the full glory of his goodness the full glory of his love by
taking the penalty for the sin of all mankind the creator dying for his
creation but just as we exercise our free will to choose sin in the garden
through our former parents Adam and Eve we have to exercise our free will now in
today's world to choose salvation outside of the garden to say God I choose you I
accept you I believe in what you did for me and I receive that and when we accept
that sacrifice the Bible tells us that the power of sin and death is defeated
by what he did it no longer has control on on us when we accept that sacrifice
that started in the beginning with God the plan of redemption that started in
the beginning with God through which he created all things and then created us
and then the enemy entered in and we chose sin and he said I have a plan of
redemption and I'm going to create a people and there's going to be a nation
and it's going to go through history and kingdoms and and it's going to go all the
way through to the birth of this Messiah Jesus Christ who is God himself me coming
to the earth to die for you so that I could restore that relationship that you
gave up back in the garden you see all of the Old Testament pointed toward his
death on the cross it prophesied it it spoke of it it lifted up his first
coming as the thing man was looking forward to and we have to exercise our
belief in it but when we do then we live lives in the New Testament which all
points towards his second coming that one day he's going to come back and he's
going to take us and paradise is going to be restored and it's going to be
wonderful and perfect and everything that God intended in the very very
beginning when he created all things but it's only through him that that
restoration is possible and when we choose him again it greatly pleases him
and it glorifies his name once more our created purpose to glorify him to please
him it all comes back and every time we worship him again and serve him again
and choose him again in all ways and all things we glorify him over and over and
over again and and in all of that we we live and breathe and walk in the insured
promise of eternal life with him in a new heaven and a new earth and and it's
just going to be wonderful but this whole deal started the whole deal was
planned here as shown to us in Genesis 1 1 in the beginning God the first
uncaused cause so that's how the Bible begins I know we covered a whole half of
a verse that's I think that's a new record but do you realize what you'd be
able to live through with confidence with with with with just absolute
confidence in your life if you believe in the beginning God do you realize if
you fully truly believe what this verse teaches us can you imagine the kind of
peace and stability you could have in your life that if the God you believe in
the God who died for you the God who loves you the God who wants to have a
relationship with you the one who created everything works on your behalf
is there anything you can't go through is there anything you can't have victory
in is there any challenge you can't overcome the answer is no we are more
than conquerors through him who loves us simply because of the belief that he
always existed that he spoke everything into existence and he knows me he knows
me you know in Acts 4 when Peter and John were under pressure from the Jewish
leaders and they were arrested and brought in and told not to speak about
Jesus in Acts 4 verse 24 they then went back out to the other believers and they
were praying right what do we do about this persecution how are we gonna get
through this what it says there in Acts 4 24 it says they raid their raise their
voices together to God and said this master you are the one who made the
heaven the earth the sea and everything in them when we start our prayers with
that understanding when we start our prayers with that that that concept the
Lord you existed before everything in the universe existed God you created it
all the heavens the earth the seas everything within it Lord you created me
if you did that then you could surely save me if you did that of course you
could forgive me if you did that Lord of course you could restore my life if you
did that Lord then I could believe that you hear my prayers and that you're
answering my prayers according to your will and so then Lord is your child or
if you're here today you don't know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior you
could start and say Lord as your creation on the basis of your eternal and
infinite power on recognition of who you are the one who knew me before all of
creation who loved me then who purposed to die for my sins then so that I could
be forgiven today God be glorified as I accept the salvation you offer me God be
glorified as I worship you God be glorified as I trust you and depend on
you for all things big and small because Lord in my life in the beginning was God
and today in my life is God and when I leave this earth it'll be God forever in
glory amen let's pray father we love you so much
God we see in your word that you gave us that that you were there the father was
there the son was there the spirit was there God that as you reveal yourself in
your word you were there and God you reveal yourself through your word
because you want us to know you God it brings you such glory and such pleasure
when when us created in your image Lord and we're gonna get to that what all
that means Lord when we recognize you acknowledge you accept you praise
worship you but God your glory was even manifest before that because God you
made a plan of redemption to save us through history you protected your
godly line to fulfill your promise Lord Jesus Christ was born God in the flesh
to die for us then Jesus as you went back to heaven to sit at the right hand
of the father you told us that you went to prepare a place for us and so God
those that know you today we look forward to that place the Lord as you told Thomas
Lord we are blessed those who believe in you without seeing you we are blessed in
God we have experienced your presence in our lives we've experienced your work in
our lives in God as you call us to believe in you to believe in the
impossible to pray for the impossible Lord that that relationships would be
restored that addictions would be defeated that that God hopes and dreams
would be would be realized in according to what you're calling us to do Lord
that that everything in our lives that confuses us that worries us that
challenges us Lord that we would be able to pray with the full understanding of
the truth and the power of who you are that because God in the beginning you
were there you can accomplish anything in our lives and so we trust you God we
wait on you and Lord if there's here people here watching online that don't
know you God I pray God just in the quietness of their own heart they call
out to you right now that they would say Lord I believe in you and I believe you
existed before everything existed I believe you were God you created
everything God I believe you created me and Lord even though I may be struggling
with the idea that you knew me by name before anything existed I'm gonna put
my faith in that and believe that you know me that you died for me because you
want to forgive me and restore me so God I believe I put my faith in that come
into my life and change my heart and the rest of us God that that that know you
we would just pray in the power of who you are God we know that you dwell
within us the Holy Spirit dwells within us today God is your people and Lord if
you before us who can be against us God help us to believe that help us to trust
that help us to walk in that that we would be effective tools for you in this
world God be blessed be glorified be magnified Lord with our lives we love
you so much it's in Jesus name we pray amen let's worship guys