and music, focusing on God as our Creator. That is the subject that I want to speak to
you about this morning in our look at the Word of God. Over the weekend of Good Friday and Resurrection
Sunday we took a look at Romans, chapter 5, and we talked about Adam and the reign of
death, and Christ and the reign of life. We, on Friday night, particularly at our Good
Friday service, talked about how that Adam fell and tore the whole human race down from
its place of innocence and glory into corruption and sin; and as a result, death followed.
In thinking about that, I thought it might
be helpful to us to go back, even before the fall, back to the very beginning and talk
a little bit about the theology of creation itself. So I want you to open your Bible to the 1st
chapter in the Bible, Genesis, chapter 1; Genesis, chapter 1; and I want you to listen
as I read this chapter to you and a couple to you and a couple of verses into chapter
2. Familiar in general to us; but listen specifically
to the words as they are the very words of God Himself, the only one who was there at
creation who has given us His own account of what He did, and then by the Holy Spirit
inspired Moses to write them down accurately. This is God's own declaration concerning creation.
"In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness
was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the
waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there
was light. 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,
one day. "Then God said, 'Let there be an expanse in
the midst of the water, and let it separate the waters from the waters.' God made the expanse, and separated the waters
which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called expanse heaven.
And there was evening and there was morning,
a second day. "Then God said, "Let the waters below the
heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear,' and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering
of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, 'Let the earth sprout vegetation,
plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with
seed in them,' and it was so.
The earth brought forth vegetation, plants
yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their
kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a
third day. "Then 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 for the lights in the expanse
of the heavens to give light on the earth,' and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater
light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
God placed them in the expanse of the heavens
to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the
light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a
fourth day. "Then God said, 'Let the waters teem with
swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of
the heavens.' God created the great sea monsters and every
living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every
winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God bless them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.' There was evening and there was morning, a
fifth day.
"Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth
living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth
after their kind,' and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their
kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after
its kind; and God saw that it was good. "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds
of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creeps on the earth.' God created man in His own image, in the image
of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the
sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' Then God said, 'Behold, I have given you every
plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has
fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to
every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have
given every green plant for food,' and it was so.
God saw all that He had made, and behold,
it was very good. And there was morning and there was evening,
the sixth day. "Thus the heavens and earth were completed,
and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work
which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done." That is a very clear presentation of creation.
I want to talk about that this morning, but
I don't want to talk about it in some polemical way. This isn't an argument or a defense of Scripture,
this is a declaration of the truth for the purpose of worship, for the purpose of worship. To deny God any place in His creation that
He deserves is to strip Him of glory and worship. That is a very serious act.
We are warned in the Ten Commandments not
to take the name of the Lord in vain, not to do anything that diminishes His honor and
His glory. Taking away the glory that belongs to Him
as the Creator is taking His name in vain. It is diminishing Him, and it strikes a blow
against the worship that He deserves. Now let me just remind you that the Bible
is history, the Bible is history, and where there is poetry it rehearses history in a
poetic sense, such as in the Psalms.
The Bible is not theory, it is not myth, as
such; it is history, it is fact, it is reality, it is truth. And what I just read you is the only account
of creation that exists, and it is the creation account from the only one who was there, the
Creator. That's very important to understand. The Bible bases all its truth on history,
not on myth and not on fantasy, but on history.
When it comes to origins and considering how
the universe came into existence, this is all we have, this is all we need. Now let me approach it a different way. Whoever created the universe - we'll create
a hypothetical - whoever created the universe and everything that is in it understands it. Would you agree? Whoever created it understands it.
Whoever has the wisdom, intelligence, and
power to create the universe and all that is in it understands it perfectly, understands
every minute aspect of it, and is not waiting for man to advance scientifically to explain
to Him what happened. Since the Creator designed it and created
it and sustains it, He understands it. He knows that the earth is spherical, not
flat; that it turns on an axis, is not static; that it is suspended on nothing; that it sweeps
through space in a fixed rotation and a fixed orbit in its own solar system, and at the
same time is dragged by the center of this solar system, the sun, through the entire
space as the whole orbiting set of planets and sun that we know has an orbit of its own
that runs from one end of heaven to the other. Whoever made this knows that, and that's why
He says in Psalm 19 that the sun has an orbit from one end of heaven to the other.
Whoever made the world as we know it and the
universe knows the galaxies. He knows the staggering reaches of space and
the countless stars and galaxies. He knows them all; made every one of them,
so He knows them. He knows their components.
He knows their location. He knows their movement. Whoever made this planet knows the cycles
of air and water. He knows the facts of chemistry and biology,
physiology.
He understands atomic structure. So we would assume that whoever made this,
if He were to give us a description that we could understand of His creative act would
get it right. And that's exactly what you have in Genesis
1, and expanded upon in Genesis 2. What the Creator tells you about creation
is exactly what happened.
He is the Creator, after all, He knows. And by the way, whoever - hypothetically still
- is intelligent enough and powerful enough to design, create, and then sustain the incalculable
complexity of the universe and all life that is in it is certainly intelligent enough to
do the relatively simple task of authoring an accurate account of His creation. If the Creator wrote down His creation and
how it was done it would be reality. And if the Creator always spoke the truth,
if the Creator is truth and cannot lie, then all the more are we to trust what He says.
And only the Creator could give us this information,
and no one could know if it was accurate or not by any observable means or any repeatable
means, therefore any scientific endeavor. No one was alive until the sixth day. The only account we have is the one by the
author of Scripture, who is the Creator. And, oh, by the way, whoever created the universe
would not say the moon is 50,000 leagues higher than the sun and has its own light.
He would not say the earth is flat and triangular,
composed of seven stages: one of honey, one of sugar, one of butter, and one of wine. Nor would He say that the earth sits on the
heads of countless elephants who produce earthquakes when they shake. That's what the Hindu holy book says. So we know the Creator didn't write that book.
Hinduism offers us a ridiculous lie. And, oh, by the way, the Hindu Upanishad says,
"The sun is the source of all energy in the universe." We know that's not true. The Creator would never say there are only
thirteen members of the body through which death can come, but that's what the Taoist
holy book says; so we know whoever wrote that is not the Creator. The Creator would never say that earthquakes
are caused by wind moving water and water moving the land, but that's what the Buddhist
holy book says; so we know the Creator didn't write that book.
And, oh, by the way, the Creator would never
say that Adam fell that men might come into existence, and that they might have joy; but
that's what it says in 2 Nephi, chapter 2, in the book of Mormon; so we know God didn't
write that book. Also says in the book of Mormon, Alma 7:10,
that Jesus would be born in Jerusalem. The Creator would never write that, He would
know Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem. Whoever created the universe would not say,
"Man is not made up of matter.
He is not a composite of brain and blood and
bones and other material elements. And man is incapable of sin, sickness, and
death." That's what is in the science and health and
key to the Scriptures in the Christian science holy book, which is neither Christian or science. It is like Grape Nuts, they aren't grapes
and they aren't nuts. So that's enough to make the point; we know
that the Creator didn't write any of those books.
If we have a divine Creator - and we do - and
He is a communication genius, and He is holy and true, then we assume that when He says
this is the account of creation that we can take Him at His word. So interesting to me that Genesis 1 is not
muddled, it's not confusing, it's crystal clear, because the true Creator is infinitely
intelligent, but He can reduce His intelligence down to logical, clear information and communicate
it. He can do that all the way down to the nucleus
of a cell, which operates because it is encoded with communication. This communication in the macrocosm is what
causes all the bodies in the universe to move inexorably on a defined orbit.
The whole universe and all that exists in
the universe depends on the information from this divine information genius. We would expect then if information is His
thing and He's absolutely true that He would give us true information about creation and
not say absolutely absurd and ridiculous, if not idiotic, things. And so when we come to origins and want to
understand creation, we can only go to the account that He has given us in Genesis 1. And if you want a summary of Genesis 1, try
Exodus 20:11 which says in six days He made everything, in six days He made everything.
And to let you know; they were days, they
are numbered and even identified as a morning and an evening. Scripture opens in fact, if you go back to
Genesis 1:1, with a really astounding statement. On the surface it's very simple: "In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth." But, again, this is an illustration of God's
communication genius and how He can say everything that needs to be said with an economy of words
that is just stunning. It was 1903 when Herbert Spencer, a well-known
scientist, died; and he had been hailed for his discovery of categories.
He had come up with, "What are the categories
of the knowable?" He said there are five categories of the knowable. In other words, everything that exists fits
into one of these categories: time, force, action, space, and matter. Everything that exists is within those categories:
time, force, action, space, and matter. Discovery of Herbert Spencer.
Look at Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning - " that's
time " - God - " that's force " - created - " that's action " - the heavens - " that's
space " - and the earth - " that's matter. All categories of the knowable are in the
very first statement of Scripture. The Bible says that God created everything
that exists out of nothing in six days, out of nothing. So nobody gets past the first verse of the
Bible without facing the test of submission to God, submission to His word, submission
to His authority.
This is where we start worshiping Him, right,
as Creator. And we don't need to muddy the waters by introducing
into this chapter some things that confound its directness and steal worship from our
God. So I want to give you three words to think
about this morning. Number One word is "fidelity, fidelity." That means loyalty, trustworthy, faithful.
Fidelity - having fidelity to the revelation
of God, being faithful to the revelation of God. Either you believe what Scripture says or
you don't, I understand that. You can believe it or not believe it. You can accept it or you can reject it, but
you cannot alter it, you cannot alter it, you cannot change it.
You say, "Well, what about science? What about science? Don't we have to apply science to the Genesis
account to be intellectually honest?" Let me tell you something; that is the dumbest
thing that anybody ever attempted to do. You say, "Well, why are you saying that?" Because there is no such thing as the science
of creation. Did you get that? I know there are organizations called creation
science. There is no such thing as creation science.
There is no such thing as the science of creation. I want to help to deliver you from needless
doubts by saying it. Science came into existence as a result of
creation. Science has nothing to say about creation.
All science is based on observation, verification
by repetition. You observe it, you verify it by repeating
it. Creation had no observers. It can't be verified because it can't be repeated.
It is not observable; it is not repeatable. It did not happen according to any laws that
we know about. It did not happen by a way that is predictable,
repeatable, or fixed. In a word, creation was a massive, supernatural
miracle.
And if you just let it be what it is, you're
going to get science out of it; and science belongs out of it. There is not, in the Genesis account or any
other place in Scripture, any implicit or explicit reference to this as some kind of
poetry, some kind of allegory, some kind of illustration, nor is there anything in this
account at all or anywhere else in Scripture that implies any kind of process. This is six days. There's no evolution here.
There's only one historical account of creation. I'm happy to say it's from the Creator; this
is it. You say, "Well, wait a minute. Don't animals change?" Sure, they're changing within species.
Once they're created, don't plants develop? Sure, there's all kinds of things that happen
once they're created. But observing what happens, we don't see evolution
to start with; but even if we did, we can't read it into pre-science and the miracle of
creation. What's going on in the world in terms of life
says nothing about creation, nothing at all. There is no information about creation that
is scientific, there is only the testimony of the Creator, and this is a miracle beyond
imagination.
And we read the New Testament and we say,
"Isn't it wonderful when Jesus healed somebody." That's a miracle, but that miracle literally
is a tiny piece of sand on the sands of the earth compared to the massive miracle of creation. Trying to read science into creation, trying
to read science into a miracle is really impossible. Go to the Old Testament. Remember the story about the axe head that
floated? What's the scientific explanation? There is no scientific explanation; axe heads
can't float, that's a miracle.
Or the sun standing still; what's the scientific
explanation? "Oh, the scientific explanation is the earth
stopped rotating." You can't explain that scientifically. What's the scientific explanation for God
parting the Red Sea? There is no scientific explanation for that,
and then folding it back over top of Pharaoh and his army. What's the scientific explanation of Jesus
walking up to the tomb in John 11 and saying, "Lazarus, come forth"? Do you want to explain that scientifically? What happened to him? Do you have a scientific explanation of how
a guy who's been dead for days and already stinketh, as it says, all of a sudden walks
out of a grave? Or maybe you'd like to give us a scientific
explanation of Jesus creating fish and bread, bread that came from no grain and was in no
oven, and fish that didn't have a momma and daddy fish. How do you explain it? What is the scientific explanation? The point is there is not scientific explanation.
If there's a scientific explanation, it's
not a miracle. You have to see creation as a miracle, and
you have - and I'm so thankful you do - the record of the Creator who did the miracle. Now, if you like, you can choose Charles Darwin. You can let him be your god.
You can deny the God of the Bible His place
and you can make Charles Darwin your god. And you'll have a lot of company. Oh, you'll have a lot of high brow company,
since Charles Darwin's view dominates 99 percent of the universities in America and 99.9 Percent
of the universities in Europe. In the last decade, 93 percent of the National
Science Academy members were self-described atheists, 93 percent; 98.7 Of evolutionary
biologists are atheists.
Does it make sense to be an atheist, to believe
that nobody times nothing equals everything? Does that make sense? "You're a professor where? You have a Ph.D. In what?" No, moving from God to Charles Darwin is an
apostasy from the Christian faith. It follows not the influence of Darwin primarily,
but it follows the influence of Russo, Descartes, Marx, Niche, John Dewey and humanism. It is a philosophy.
Evolution is the product of the developing
philosophy of atheistic humanism that needs to get rid of God and then explain what can't
be explained, apostate science looking for pseudo reasons to reject Christianity and
the God of the Bible. It is not motivated by the intellect, it is
motivated by immorality. You go back and you read about Russo, Descartes,
Marx, Niche, and those, you will read of the most black, wicked, wretched, immoral, dissolute,
depraved, debauched lives. They came up with a philosophy that would
eliminate God so they could live the way they wanted to live; and once God was eliminated,
then somebody had to come up with a way to explain the universe.
And now there was an apostasy from the Christian
faith. Charles Darwin was the devil's agent, and
so he came up with a convenient explanation for the universe for an apostate world. They all know that if God can be separated
from origins, if God can be separated from creation, then He can be separated from morality,
He can be separated from ethics, He can be separated from behavior. And if God is separated from ethics and morality
and behavior, then there is not ultimate judge of our behavior; there's no sin, there's no
guilt, there's no judgment, there's no punishment to fear; live any way you want to live.
And that's how those philosophers lived, and
that's how Darwin lived, free - live any way you want; there's no Creator. So make your choice. Do you want to worship God: holy, omniscient,
true; or do you want to worship Charles Darwin who is the stooge for atheistic humanism? By the way, Charles Darwin was a very strong
advocate for eugenics and genocide. He was a twisted individual by all accounts.
One of his biographers said, "By his own admissions
he was a sadist and he took great enjoyment in torturing and killing animals. He especially loved to kill birds by pounding
on their heads with a hammer. From the time he was 17 years old, he dedicated
his summers in autumns to killing animals, not for the meat but for the sheer delight
of killing. While in our day - " this biographer says,
" - this might bother a member of PETA, it should be particularly troublesome to the
Christian who believes Proverbs 12:10, 'The righteous man regards the life of his animal,
but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.'" And by the way, as he made his plans for the
voyage on the Beagle where he was supposed to be discovering these evolutionary things,
Darwin included several guns in hopes that he might "be able to kill some cannibals." Even as a child he would beat puppies simply
from enjoying the sense of power.
Entire books have been written on the subject
of Darwin's psychological problems. Listen to this; he suffered from depression,
agoraphobia - that's fear of crowds - insomnia, vision alterations, hallucinations, malaise,
vertigo, shaking, tachycardia, fainting spells, shortness of breath, trembling, nausea, vomiting,
dizziness, muscle twitches, spasms, tremors, cramps, colic, bloating, headaches, nervous
exhaustion, skin blisters, tinnitus, and sensations of loss of consciousness and impending death. According to Darwin's own testimony, his problems
began at 16 years of age, and by the time he was 28, he was virtually incapacitated
by mental illnesses. These maladies were so chronic that Darwin's
scholar Michael Ruse concluded that he lived as an invalid for the last 43 years of his
life.
You don't assault God and get away with it. Contemporary atheists confirm that the road
to atheism always begins in a biology class with Charles Darwin, and it always appeals
to sinners running away from God, running in the direction of their lusts and sin. Creation cannot be understood any other way
than by believing the revelation of the Creator. If you want to choose Charles Darwin, you
can have him; but Charles Darwin is not a hermeneutic to interpret Genesis 1 and 2.
Creation, as I said, has no connection to
science as we know science. Science, as a reality, was created by God
at the creation. Science is simply the observation of the way
things are, and they are the way they are because He created them that way in six days. You can't explain to somebody the science
of the resurrection of Lazarus, the science of the bread and the loaves, the science of
an axe head that floats, the science of the parting of the Red Sea; it has no scientific
explanation.
The miracle of creation is just the most massive
of all miracles. It is not explicable by any observable, repeatable,
fixed laws. So all you're left with is fidelity, to accept
the truth, believe the truth, be faithful to it. Somebody says, "Well couldn't God have used
evolution?" That question is intrusive, irritating, and
irrelevant.
If you want an answer, He did not, He did
not. He made everything in six days. Why are you questioning what God has said? If God came to you and said, "I made everything
in six days," what would you say to Him? "Well now, listen, God. There are some things you need to know about
science." Listen, you've been answered.
Turn to Job 38. Turn to Job 38. This is a wonderfully important portion of
Scripture. Job's been having some trouble and he's trying
to sort it out, and he's got some friends who aren't much help, and collectively they're
questioning God.
I love the Lord's answer, chapter 38: "Then
the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 'Who is this that darken counsel
by words without knowledge?'" What a great statement. "You're not helping, you're just making it
worse. All right, gird up your loins like a man,
and I will ask of you; you instruct Me!" You love the sarcasm of that? "You're going to tell Me? Gird up your loins like a man and tell Me. By the way - " verse 4 " - where were you
when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set
its measurements? Since you know.
Who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning
stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" The angels. "And who enclosed the sea with doors when,
bursting forth, it went out from the womb; and I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness
its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it and set a bolt and doors, and I said,
'Thus far you shall come, but no farther; here shall your proud waves stop'? Where were you when I made the seas and set
their shores? "Oh, by the way - " verse 12 " - have you
ever in your life commanded the morning? Have you ever done that? Or caused the dawn to know its place?" Verse 16, "Have you entered into the springs
of the sea and walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this." I mean this is absolutely God shutting the
mouth of anybody who argues with the creation account. "Oh, by the way - " verse 19 " - where is
the way to the dwelling of light? Where did I find that? Where did that come from? And darkness, where is its place, that you
may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? You know, for you were born then, and the
number of your days is great! You must know this, you're 64 years old,"
or whatever number. "By the way, have you entered the storehouses
of the snow - " in verse 22 " - and seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserved
for the time of distress? And by the way - " verse 24 " - where is the
way that the light is divided, or the east wind scattered on the earth? Or who cleft a channel for the flood and a
way for the thunderbolt to bring rain on a land without people, on a desert without a
man in it?" And then in verse 31, "Can you bind of the
Pleiades?" He's getting into the constellations.
"Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its
season, and guide the Bear with her satellites? Can you lift up your voice - " verse 34 " - to
the clouds, tell the clouds to rain, send forth lightnings? Who has put wisdom - " verse 36 " - in the
innermost being, given understanding to the mind of man?" Chapter 39, verse 1, He keeps going: "Do you
know the time the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer, count
the months," et cetera, et cetera? "Have you determined the gestation period,
the pregnancy period for animals?" And He goes through all these animals. And by now, this should be enough, and it
is. Chapter 40, He says, verse 2, "Will the faultfinder
content with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it." "Speak. You want to argue with Me?" Then Job answered the Lord and said, "Behold,
I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth," which is a nice
way of saying, "I'm shutting up." In verse 6 the Lord says - answered Job out
of the storm and said, "Now gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you instruct
Me.
Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified? Do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like His? Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity,
and clothe yourself with honor and majesty." Get a Ph.D. "Pour out the overflowings of
your anger; look on everyone who is proud," and so forth and so forth. "Who in the world do you think you are? Put your hand over your mouth." You can't argue with God about creation, certainly
not from a scientific standpoint. There's no science in creation; creation created
the laws that we call science.
And besides, to be an atheist, even believing
in evolution is like mental suicide. How could you possibly believe personality
comes out of non-personality, complexity comes out of simplicity, and simplicity comes out
of nothing? And how can you give yourself a degree, Romans
1, "Professing yourself to be wise, you've just become an absolute fool"? Remember the story of The Emperor's New Clothes? "You think you're dressed and you're naked." Well, some of these scientists now, some of
these atheistic scientists are beginning to realize that they've got to come up with something
else other than sheer random evolution, so they come up with what they call ID, intelligent
design. They don't want to say who the intelligence
is, because they don't want to get to the biblical God. But it seems as though there's some intelligence
out there.
That's a big leap. You would think that would be the most obvious
thing that any scientist would ever come up with. They don't want to say it's God, but it's
becoming overwhelmingly clear as we now get into electron microscopy and get down to the
very tiniest part components that make up like. But the complexity and the information coding
is so sophisticated that the idea of randomness is completely insane; but still an unwillingness
to embrace God.
So for us, look, we want to worship God, right,
as Creator; we need to start with fidelity trust in Scripture. We contacted a national ministry - and I'll
quickly add this. We contacted a national ministry claiming
to be Bible based - and they say they are Christ-proclaiming, gospel-centered - a letter
to the president asking for their position on origins. You'd know this ministry, but I'll spare them
the embarrassment.
The letter came back and it said this: "Our
ministry takes no stand; we avoid secondary issues. Our efforts are designed to bring people together
based on the historically essential doctrines of orthodox Christianity. Creation is one of those secondary doctrines
we believe falls into the category of nonessentials like eternal security." Amazing. Secondary doctrine; God is Creator? I would suggest you ask any so-called Christian
ministry, especially a Christian college or seminary or church, "What do you believe about
Genesis 1 and 2?" There are 106 colleges in this association
in America of the Christian college coalition; we think 5 of them believe in the Genesis
account, over 100 do not.
That's all you need to hear before you decide
where to send your young person. So fidelity. I'm going to give you a second word. I have to do this quick because we're running
out of time.
Second word is "simplicity." And I don't need to say much about it, simplicity. The Genesis account, by all honest considerations
is very simple, very plain, very clear, very perspicuous, very uncomplicated and unmistakable. We teach that account to little children,
don't we? Nothing complicated about it. It's not poetry, it is not Hebrew poetry,
it isn't structured that way in its original language; it is a simple account of creation.
John 1 says that, "The Word was God. The Word made everything that is, and without
Him nothing was made that was made. He is the Creator." That's what Colossians 1 says. That's what it says throughout Scripture.
Deuteronomy 4:32 talks of the day that God
created man on the earth. Isaiah 40:28, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator
of the end of the earth doesn't become weary or tired." He's the Creator of the ends of the earth,
Isaiah 42. Many scriptures; I don't have time to give
them to you. One scripture I do want to call to your attention
is in the book of Revelation, it's in chapter 14, because I think we need to remember this.
In the time in the future when heaven itself
preaches the gospel, heaven itself will preach the gospel. Right now we're the preachers of the gospel
- men and women on earth - but heaven one day will preach the gospel. In Revelation 14:6, "I saw another angel flying
in midheaven - " this is during the time of the tribulation " - having an eternal gospel
to preach to those who live on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people." Here's the gospel, the gospel that heaven
itself preaches. And here is what the angel says with a loud
voice: "Fear God, give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship
Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters." You fear God, you give Him glory, you worship
Him as the Creator.
Okay, one final word - and I left out all
the good stuff. One final word: "priority, priority." What do I mean by that: "What is the reason
for the creation? What is God's priority in His creation? What's His purpose? Why did God create this entire world?" Listen to Ephesians 3, verse 9, here's the
answer: "To bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden
in God who created all things." Why? "So that the manifold wisdom of God might
now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose
which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord." Do you understand what you just heard? He created all things so that He might through
the church manifest His glory to the angels in accordance with His eternal purpose. What's His eternal purpose? The whole creation exists so that God can
redeem humanity, take His redeemed church to heaven, and by that redeemed church give
testimony to the angels of His mercy and grace and redemption.
All of creation exists so that God could redeem
sinners to take them to heaven for His own eternal glory. And by the way, when He's done with that redemption,
when redemption is complete, He will destroy the whole universe. The Old Testament says it, the New Testament
says it, the book of Revelation describes it, 2 Peter describes it in detail. The elements will melt with fervent heat;
there will be an atomic implosion of the whole creation.
We're not responsible to take care of the
planet in that sense; it's a disposable planet. If you think we're messing it up, wait until
you see what Jesus does to it. It is a disposable planet. We're not here to preserve the planet, we're
here to proclaim the gospel.
It will not end until it's God's time to end
it. His purpose will be accomplished He says in
Isaiah; and when that's done, it will go out of existence, and He will create a new heaven
and a new earth. Give Him glory as the Creator and understand
that He's established this creation as a place where He can redeem His people for His own
eternal glory. Let's bow in prayer.
"Father, we thank You for this time together
this morning, such wonderful and encouraging truth that has been brought to us by Your
faithful Word. We're so thankful that we don't have to struggle
to understand reality, because it's all disclosed for us in Your precious Word. We worship You as our great Creator. We worship You as the author of Scripture.
We worship You as the Redeemer, the Savior,
who created this entire universe to put on display Your glory; and then to even enhance
Your glory by redeeming us to take us to heaven, to display to the angels, the eternal, holy
angels Your majesty and Your glory as demonstrated through Your grace and mercy, something angels
never did experience. But they will, along with us, praise You for
it forever. We worship You as our Creator, our Redeemer,
the author of history and the consummator of history, the one who will bring it to pass. Because You have said it, You will bring it
to pass.
To that end we pray for Your glory in Christ's
name. Amen..
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