Getting A Worthy Conception of God

WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:10.230 Well, we begin this morning preaching a series through the book of Genesis and 2 00:00:10.589 --> 00:00:17.550 we begin, rightfully, in Genesis one, verse one. So let us 3 00:00:17.589 --> 00:00:34.619 hear God's Word Genesis One, verse one. In the beginning, God created 4 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:55.880 the heavens and the earth. You may be seated. You have in genesis 5 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:03.159 one one, a very simple sentence in the beginning. God created the heavens 6 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:07.030 and the earth. If you're a still young and you're just learning to diagram 7 00:01:07.230 --> 00:01:11.150 sentences, this wouldn't be a bad one to work with. It's very simple, 8 00:01:11.189 --> 00:01:18.859 very easy. You have a very clear actor, a very clear verb, 9 00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:25.900 very clear action being done. As you take this simple sentence, though, 10 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:32.140 it is something also that is not only simple in its form but simple 11 00:01:32.219 --> 00:01:38.329 in its truth. It's very understandable. It's something that is very obvious, 12 00:01:38.370 --> 00:01:44.530 isn't it? In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But 13 00:01:44.609 --> 00:01:49.200 even though it's something that's very obvious on people still of course suppress this truth. 14 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.560 Paul says this in Romans one. He says they suppress it in unrighteousness. 15 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:59.040 He says that something that we all know deep down. It's something that 16 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:01.510 in many ways, you don't even have to argue. For, though of 17 00:02:01.549 --> 00:02:07.549 course you can and probably should, but at the same time he recognizes that 18 00:02:07.709 --> 00:02:12.750 it's something that because of who we are as those been have been created by 19 00:02:12.870 --> 00:02:21.139 God. It's something we know innately, naturally, it's in us. Paul, 20 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:23.819 I'll quote him from Romans one, eighteen and nineteen. He says what 21 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:30.610 can be known about God is plain to them, for his invisible attributes, 22 00:02:30.050 --> 00:02:37.889 namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived. They've been 23 00:02:38.169 --> 00:02:45.039 clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been 24 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:47.680 made. You see what he's saying there. He says that people don't come 25 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:53.000 to a recognition of God and his creation of the world at a certain point 26 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:59.469 of time in their lives. He says they know this from their very birth. 27 00:03:00.229 --> 00:03:02.750 He says men have known this ever since the creation of the world. 28 00:03:02.949 --> 00:03:07.909 And in what? In the things that have been made, which is everything 29 00:03:08.270 --> 00:03:15.979 that we know and interact with, including in ourselves. To know ourselves is 30 00:03:15.819 --> 00:03:23.099 to know ourselves as created beings, as those who have been created by God. 31 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:30.210 And yet, in something that's so simple and so obvious, wrapped up 32 00:03:30.210 --> 00:03:36.729 in this single sentence are all the foundations of true religion. The honor and 33 00:03:36.810 --> 00:03:43.000 the glory of the only true God and our most honorable position under him, 34 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:47.520 as those who are called to rule under him, to live under him and 35 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:55.990 for him. Peter Martyr Vermigli, a reformer, said that should God as 36 00:03:57.150 --> 00:04:01.590 Creator be taken away, this truth, this doctrine taught in this first verse 37 00:04:01.669 --> 00:04:06.509 of the Bible, should God as Creator be taken away, the first sin 38 00:04:06.669 --> 00:04:13.379 will not stand out, the promises of Christ will collapse and all the power 39 00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:17.660 of religion is sunk to the bottom. That's what I mean when I say 40 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:25.449 it serves as this very foundation for everything that we believe, that God is 41 00:04:25.610 --> 00:04:29.490 God, who is above us, who is above everything, that he has 42 00:04:29.569 --> 00:04:35.170 a right to rule us and that we belong to him. And so is 43 00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:41.639 we begin hearing God's word from Genesis. We begin with a due consideration of 44 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:46.160 the beginning, the beginning of the beginning. But, as we see, 45 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:53.790 true knowledge and worship of God is Creator is really impossible. Apart from a 46 00:04:53.949 --> 00:05:00.149 second work that he does as savior. This verse comes to us in a 47 00:05:00.269 --> 00:05:06.180 very particular and a very saving context. But for the moment let's just consider 48 00:05:06.420 --> 00:05:14.180 the beginning. As you consider this first sentence, it's worth noting that God 49 00:05:14.420 --> 00:05:18.420 could have started the Bible in any number of ways. He could have told 50 00:05:18.459 --> 00:05:24.050 us about the account of creation in a number of ways. For you, 51 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:29.449 those of you who enjoyed a right enjoy writing and reading, this will be 52 00:05:29.610 --> 00:05:32.730 something probab maybe a little bit fun to think about. Think about the various 53 00:05:32.769 --> 00:05:39.560 ways God could have constructed on this first book. He could have started by, 54 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:44.879 I'm giving sort of present daytime. I remember Moses is is writing this. 55 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:48.839 Here he's a speaking to Israel as they're about to enter into the promised 56 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:55.310 land, having been rescued from Egypt. This is sort of the contemporary moment 57 00:05:55.509 --> 00:05:59.430 in which this book has been being written. Moses could have started there. 58 00:05:59.470 --> 00:06:03.189 He could have started an exodus right and then sort of flashbacked to genesis. 59 00:06:04.779 --> 00:06:10.860 Or God could have given a different perspective altogether. Instead of giving it from 60 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:15.259 God's perspective, he could have given this whole account of the creation of man 61 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:21.730 from Adams perspective or he's perspective. He could have told a story within a 62 00:06:21.850 --> 00:06:29.250 story. Abraham could have sat down by a camp fire and then revealed to 63 00:06:29.490 --> 00:06:33.800 his sons in a vision how things began. All kinds of different ways, 64 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:40.240 literarily speaking, this book could have began, but God chose to begin it 65 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:46.279 in this way, with this particular simple, clear sentence in the beginning. 66 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:51.550 God created the heavens and the earth. Well, not only could God have 67 00:06:51.829 --> 00:06:58.269 done other things literarily, but he could have also done different things topically. 68 00:07:00.350 --> 00:07:04.100 People have often wanted to know other things than what this book starts with. 69 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:13.500 In the early church, people often tried to find find theophanyes or pre incarnate 70 00:07:13.579 --> 00:07:17.689 expressions of Christ in this first verse. I'm thinking trying to find ways to 71 00:07:18.209 --> 00:07:23.930 make those first three words in the beginning to refer to Jesus Christ himself. 72 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:30.519 Others have really sought to find and wanted to find in these early stories what 73 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:34.759 happened before the creation of the heavens and the earth. What about the angels? 74 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:40.480 Where's that back story right? Why didn't God start there with the fall 75 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:45.029 of Satan and the fall of the angels and give us the details about that? 76 00:07:46.110 --> 00:07:48.430 We've often wondered that. In people throughout the history of the church have 77 00:07:48.550 --> 00:07:54.829 constructed all kinds of stories and things to fill that out, because in many 78 00:07:54.870 --> 00:08:01.500 ways we've wanted to start there. That's we haven't started there either. Today 79 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:05.860 we don't think so much about Christology or angels. Perhaps we should think more 80 00:08:05.220 --> 00:08:11.939 about those things. Today we wish this was a scientific explanation of the events 81 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:16.769 of creation. We want to focus in on the secondary causes. What's the 82 00:08:16.009 --> 00:08:22.730 way, the actual principles and the things that brought these things about. Sometimes, 83 00:08:22.810 --> 00:08:26.800 when I hear speakle people speak about the beginnings of the Bible, about 84 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:31.120 Genesis One and two, I think that they'd be much more pleased if it 85 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:39.759 began with equations and formulas, with geographic and geologic data, with biologic detail 86 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:45.110 and and it all kinds of explanations that answer the things that we really want 87 00:08:45.149 --> 00:08:52.509 to know about the creation of the world. In the past it's been various 88 00:08:52.590 --> 00:08:58.820 spiritual topics. Today it's various science scientific topics that we want instead of what 89 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:03.460 we have now. This is not to say that the Bible has no relation 90 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:09.889 or that the beginning has no relation to Christ. It absolutely does. We 91 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:16.690 just read in Colloshan's one hundred and fifteen that Christ in him all things were 92 00:09:16.769 --> 00:09:22.809 created through him and for him everything that was made visible and invisible. And 93 00:09:22.009 --> 00:09:26.480 of course the angels are involved in the beginning of creation as well, and 94 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:31.519 we read that in other portions of scripture and likewise to the Bible, is 95 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:35.960 very related to the natural world as we know it and have known it it 96 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:43.269 and it clearly is related to the beginnings of things. It says God created 97 00:09:43.350 --> 00:09:46.870 the heavens and the earth. In many ways. That's what this is about. 98 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:54.779 It's about creation. It even gives us some of the details of God's 99 00:09:54.860 --> 00:10:00.700 creating the world in the this and the following chapters. But the point is 100 00:10:00.820 --> 00:10:07.809 this. We want to take the Bible on its own terms. It's critical 101 00:10:07.929 --> 00:10:11.889 that we take the Bible from the perspective that God has given it to us. 102 00:10:11.929 --> 00:10:15.769 It's not to say that these things aren't related or that there are other 103 00:10:15.850 --> 00:10:18.850 places that talk about them or they're there are certain tasks that we have in 104 00:10:20.009 --> 00:10:26.200 synthesizing things together, but first and foremost is to be quiet, be still 105 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:33.559 before the Lord and to listen. God does not give us a backstory on 106 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:39.429 the angels, nor does he give us a scientific textbook. He gives us 107 00:10:39.429 --> 00:10:46.309 a theological perspective and we shouldn't be disappointed about that. We shouldn't be disappointed 108 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:54.100 about that. So how does God begin the book? Well, God begins 109 00:10:54.940 --> 00:11:00.659 the Bible, the Pentitud Genesis, in this way, as I've said in 110 00:11:00.779 --> 00:11:05.570 the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and he begins in a 111 00:11:05.649 --> 00:11:09.330 way, in this particular way, so that we would have, what to 112 00:11:09.450 --> 00:11:18.289 borrow from Vermigley again, a worthy conception of God. God begins this way, 113 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:22.440 begins the whole book in this way so that we would have a worthy 114 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:28.000 conception of God, that our idea of God, our knowledge of him, 115 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:33.429 our understanding of him, that everything that we would think about when we think 116 00:11:33.470 --> 00:11:39.190 about God would be founded on some very core and essential truths immediately from the 117 00:11:39.230 --> 00:11:46.620 beginning. And that worthy conception is summed up very simply that God is the 118 00:11:46.820 --> 00:11:56.220 creator of everything. This is made us very strikingly, of course, in 119 00:11:56.659 --> 00:11:58.779 as you have it there in your in your bibles, but it's even a 120 00:11:58.820 --> 00:12:03.929 little bit stronger in the Hebrew. This word created is a word that is 121 00:12:03.929 --> 00:12:09.850 used only of divine creating. There are other words for creating, making, 122 00:12:09.129 --> 00:12:13.889 fashioning, forming that could have been used, but here Moses, by the 123 00:12:13.970 --> 00:12:20.000 inspiration of the Holy Spirit, picks this particular word. God did God creating. 124 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:26.120 God did this divine creation activity. It's a way of sort of taking 125 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:33.629 this fact God created and then underlining it when read God created father, son 126 00:12:33.750 --> 00:12:39.149 and Holy Spirit created everything. And when we hear that, when we hear 127 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:45.940 that he created not just something but the heavens and the earth, we have 128 00:12:46.139 --> 00:12:54.899 something that is really quite marvelous. Every single aspect of all of creation is 129 00:12:54.059 --> 00:13:00.250 comprehended in this. Again, to Collote quashians one hundred and fifteen. All 130 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:07.049 things were created in heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible. We're often 131 00:13:07.090 --> 00:13:11.889 impressed by the creation and the works of other people. You know, if 132 00:13:11.929 --> 00:13:15.039 I say, if I introduce you to my friend and I say this is 133 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:16.240 my friend Bob, and you say Oh, nice to meet you, Bob, 134 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:20.639 and I say no, this is Bob, this is Bob who made 135 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:26.159 this building and wrote this book and did these things in business, you're Oh, 136 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:31.110 Bob, I see. We're impressed at the way people do, the 137 00:13:31.230 --> 00:13:35.190 way they work, the things that they produce. We put it on our 138 00:13:35.269 --> 00:13:39.990 resumes. We are it's the way in which we establish our credentials. This 139 00:13:41.230 --> 00:13:46.259 is what I have done. In the beginning. God created the heavens and 140 00:13:48.299 --> 00:13:54.740 the earth. He didn't create a family, or he didn't create a country 141 00:13:54.059 --> 00:14:01.409 or a or or a robot or even a mountain. He created everything, 142 00:14:03.570 --> 00:14:11.519 everything that could be created. God created it immeasurable power, bewildering imagination and 143 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:18.159 wisdom. One commentator puts it that way. You look at the things that 144 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:24.039 have been made the you not just the tangible things that you can eat and 145 00:14:24.350 --> 00:14:33.029 smell and collect and walk on and live in, but laws, principles, 146 00:14:33.870 --> 00:14:41.980 rules everything that we see. There's so many ways that you can consider this. 147 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:45.860 Read a little bit of the book of Job to feel the weight of 148 00:14:45.980 --> 00:14:50.659 this on your heart. God pummels job with question after question. Were you 149 00:14:50.779 --> 00:14:56.090 there when I set the courses in the sky? Were you there when I 150 00:14:56.330 --> 00:15:01.049 created this monster creature in the sea? Or were you there when I when 151 00:15:01.049 --> 00:15:07.120 I did, when I set the Sun and its courses? We not only 152 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:16.480 weren't there, but we didn't do it either. People give their entire lives 153 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:26.389 to studying the tiniest sliver of God's creation. One recently published PhD just the 154 00:15:26.509 --> 00:15:33.710 title the royal of Vitamin D receptor in insulin secretion and Beta selffunction. Someone 155 00:15:33.870 --> 00:15:41.139 just gave a significant portion of their life to study the role of the Vitamin 156 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:46.620 D receptor in insulin secretion and Beta selfunction. That's not in any way to 157 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:52.129 make fun of them or or demean them. It's just to show how much 158 00:15:52.289 --> 00:15:58.970 we can devote and put into the tiniest, tiniest of subjects and not even 159 00:16:00.169 --> 00:16:04.600 begin to understand how they relate to a whole vast system of the world. 160 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:15.799 It's amazing, it's mind blowing to consider what God has done. In the 161 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:23.389 beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Well, this worthy conception 162 00:16:23.509 --> 00:16:30.710 of God should leave us to a humble conception of ourselves. A worthy conception 163 00:16:30.870 --> 00:16:37.419 of God should lead to a humble conception of ourselves. Who can begin to 164 00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:45.820 compare to the awesome power of God in creating the apple, in creating a 165 00:16:45.620 --> 00:16:53.450 fish? But not only these particular points of creation, but the way in 166 00:16:53.570 --> 00:17:00.879 which they were created, to consider that the things were created in all wisdom 167 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:10.519 and all righteousness. Some of us are very handy and are able to make 168 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:14.759 good things. I was talking with someone this morning and she told me that 169 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:18.150 her father does woodworking. Perhaps some of you are familiar with that and are 170 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:25.109 able to take bits of wood and craft them into find pieces of furniture. 171 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:30.619 Others of US can barely hang some blinds in our house. We we find 172 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:34.299 that we lose the screw and we miss the parts and we can't get it 173 00:17:34.420 --> 00:17:41.700 quite level. And here God is creating all of these things that we see. 174 00:17:44.059 --> 00:17:45.809 But not only that, not only does he create them, but he 175 00:17:45.930 --> 00:17:52.410 creates them in wisdom and righteousness. I've not always been very holy in hanging 176 00:17:52.529 --> 00:17:59.960 blinds in my house, get angry and frustrated over such a simple and silly 177 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:07.000 thing. But God goes about creation with masterful power, great ease and ability. 178 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:12.910 You see this in some ways among us humans, people that play tennis 179 00:18:14.750 --> 00:18:22.029 or the violin or can do math proofs with such ease and ability that we 180 00:18:22.150 --> 00:18:29.579 go how do they do that? And that's just human creative power and ability. 181 00:18:29.619 --> 00:18:34.220 All the more true with God. But he does it with this righteousness 182 00:18:34.299 --> 00:18:41.490 as well, with holiness. We often create things that not only in anger 183 00:18:41.049 --> 00:18:48.569 but in pride, in selfishness and unholy ambition. God does it in perfect 184 00:18:49.329 --> 00:18:59.680 righteousness and he creates us. He creates us in a relationship with him, 185 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:06.720 between a ruler and the ruled. Again, going to Claushan's one, remember 186 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:11.470 how the the Apostle, says that Jesus not only created all these things and 187 00:19:11.630 --> 00:19:15.990 through him all things were created, but it also goes on to say whether 188 00:19:15.150 --> 00:19:21.789 thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him or 189 00:19:21.869 --> 00:19:26.539 for him. It's a reminder that God's work of creation has this particular aspect 190 00:19:26.859 --> 00:19:32.380 of rule. The fact that God has created means that he also has a 191 00:19:32.460 --> 00:19:37.500 right to rule over us. We belong to God as those made by him, 192 00:19:38.289 --> 00:19:44.410 as those who are rightly owned it by him. Now mankind balks at 193 00:19:44.450 --> 00:19:49.089 this, but it's because we impute to God the unrighteousness that people display. 194 00:19:51.170 --> 00:19:55.000 But, as I've said, God created the World And Holiness and righteousness and 195 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:59.960 his rule is that way as well. When he established his rule, in 196 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:03.680 our authority over man, it was not so that he could act as a 197 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:11.109 tyrant or act in evil ways or according to injustice. Everything the opposite. 198 00:20:11.950 --> 00:20:17.589 He God acts and relationship to man that he has made in holiness and goodness. 199 00:20:18.470 --> 00:20:22.819 The creatures that he loved and made and cared for were done so by 200 00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:29.900 his tender and holy hand. Mankind was made to dwell with God, to 201 00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:34.380 serve him, not as a slave under an evil master, but as a 202 00:20:34.460 --> 00:20:40.250 vice regent, as a King under the king of Kings, to govern all 203 00:20:40.890 --> 00:20:47.490 that he had made. This should humble us. This worthy conception of God 204 00:20:47.930 --> 00:20:52.799 would humble us. It should give us a humble conception of ourselves, instead 205 00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:57.839 of doing what Romans talks about and exchanging the glory of God for Creatures, 206 00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:06.630 in Worshiping after them and worshiping them and worshiping ourselves and our abilities in our 207 00:21:06.750 --> 00:21:11.990 pride. When we hear a verse like Genesis One one, it should cause 208 00:21:11.990 --> 00:21:18.539 us to worship God. But, as I said at the beginning, this 209 00:21:18.819 --> 00:21:29.140 relationship between a worthy God and humble creatures requires a saving act of God in 210 00:21:29.259 --> 00:21:34.130 order for us to enter it. That's not because God failed in the way 211 00:21:34.250 --> 00:21:40.210 that he made things. God made things in such a way that we're good 212 00:21:40.650 --> 00:21:45.569 and we're holy. But here we remember that at the beginning of the world, 213 00:21:45.089 --> 00:21:49.079 though made good by God, it was also made evil by man. 214 00:21:52.079 --> 00:22:00.920 When man, particularly Adam and Eve, rebelled against their creator, they sought 215 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:06.710 their own way, they sought to be kings above the king of kings, 216 00:22:07.109 --> 00:22:11.829 and in this rebellion, in this rebellious act, they took everything that should 217 00:22:11.829 --> 00:22:18.819 be comprehended in genesis one one and tore to shreads. In the beginning, 218 00:22:18.900 --> 00:22:22.539 God created the heavens and the earth. He is worthy and we are to 219 00:22:22.660 --> 00:22:26.460 worship him and serve him. But in the rebellion of sin that they committed 220 00:22:26.940 --> 00:22:32.849 and in the rebellion of sin that we commit, we confess and we do 221 00:22:33.049 --> 00:22:37.690 exactly the opposite. We say no, I want what I want. No, 222 00:22:37.970 --> 00:22:41.170 I am in charge and I rule and I am good. It is 223 00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:48.119 my ways that are worthy of worship and praise and not yours. They did 224 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:56.200 not conceive of God in a worthy manner and they fell into sin and the 225 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:03.630 relationship ever after between creature and creation was torn apart. Because of God's holiness, 226 00:23:03.190 --> 00:23:08.349 because of God's goodness, he could not bear, he could not dwell 227 00:23:10.109 --> 00:23:15.180 with this sin and he cast man out of the Guard and away from him. 228 00:23:17.740 --> 00:23:22.539 But God, acting not in his justice as he did in casting in 229 00:23:22.579 --> 00:23:29.009 them out of the garden, but in His grace, sought to save them, 230 00:23:29.970 --> 00:23:34.329 sought to redeem them and bring them out of this and this is why 231 00:23:34.369 --> 00:23:41.250 the Bible exists. Adam and Eve knew how the world was created. We 232 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:45.359 know how the world is created. God doesn't need to tell us this us 233 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:52.559 in the Bible, but he does, because not only does he want to 234 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:56.309 confirm what is true in our hearts by virtue of his creating us, but 235 00:23:56.470 --> 00:24:03.589 because he's setting the stage for a saving message. He's setting the stage with 236 00:24:03.750 --> 00:24:07.589 his rule and his authority and our sin against it, so that he can 237 00:24:07.750 --> 00:24:14.779 tell us about how he is saving us again, about how he brings us 238 00:24:14.940 --> 00:24:22.420 back to himself through that same creative power that he began the world with the 239 00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:26.690 beginning of the Bible, Genesis One. One begins in this way because it's 240 00:24:26.690 --> 00:24:33.970 setting the stage for that message, for a Gospel Message. And again. 241 00:24:34.130 --> 00:24:37.799 You see this all in Collossians one hundred and fifteen through twenty. Well, 242 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:41.720 we read that Jesus not only created all the world and everything in it, 243 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:49.240 being the unruler of it, but even goes on to save it by becoming 244 00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:56.509 the head of the church, the body, through his death on the cross, 245 00:24:56.150 --> 00:25:03.910 reconciling all things to himself. That is the message of Genesis, it 246 00:25:03.549 --> 00:25:08.539 is the message of the Bible. This message that the one whom we rebelled 247 00:25:08.579 --> 00:25:17.180 against was not only immeasurably powerful in his creative acts but also saving acts, 248 00:25:17.859 --> 00:25:22.529 is very good news to us because it means that when we suppress these great 249 00:25:22.650 --> 00:25:29.450 truths of genesis one one in unrighteousness, we can turn to that same God 250 00:25:29.690 --> 00:25:37.640 of Genesis one one for forgiveness, not in his creator power, but in 251 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:45.960 his creator savior power, Jesus coming into the world as a man and his 252 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:53.470 Holy Spirit coming to change our hearts, to create in US new life, 253 00:25:55.549 --> 00:26:03.230 to cause us to be born again and unto a hope that is described as 254 00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:11.900 a new heavens and a new earth. I tell you that this morning because 255 00:26:11.900 --> 00:26:18.609 until you are changed on this particular point, until you recognize God's saving power 256 00:26:18.730 --> 00:26:23.170 in Jesus Christ and find all your hope and your forgiveness there, until you 257 00:26:23.250 --> 00:26:29.849 can see your sin being atoned for on the cross, until you can see 258 00:26:29.890 --> 00:26:37.039 God's righteousness being given to you on the cross, the no amount of reflection 259 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:42.839 on the creation of the world will bring about the worship God desires and requires 260 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:51.470 of you. You can go wander the forests and explore the seas all your 261 00:26:51.549 --> 00:26:59.269 life, you can go earn Ph ds and spend your entire career engage your 262 00:26:59.390 --> 00:27:04.980 mind fully in every way in studying God's created world, but you will never 263 00:27:06.940 --> 00:27:15.890 give him the worship and the due consideration and a worthy consideration of him unless 264 00:27:15.890 --> 00:27:22.569 you first come to him through the cross, unless that brokenness of that relationship 265 00:27:22.650 --> 00:27:29.049 in one we which in which we were first made, is healed. You 266 00:27:29.130 --> 00:27:34.079 must come to see by faith the Gift of God in Christ in heaven before 267 00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:41.720 you can properly thank him for the many gifts on earth. As Calvin puts 268 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:47.670 it, I'm paraphrasing, it's not the earth which nurishes us, but it's 269 00:27:47.710 --> 00:27:52.710 Christ who gives us eternal life. It's not this by ultimately, by the 270 00:27:52.829 --> 00:27:56.910 sun that we will see, but by the Glory of God in the Gospel 271 00:27:56.990 --> 00:28:00.660 that we will see, not only in this life, by faith that which 272 00:28:00.740 --> 00:28:07.140 we can't see, but also forever, by faith in what we will see. 273 00:28:08.579 --> 00:28:15.329 This is how much we must consider all things. And so, whether 274 00:28:15.410 --> 00:28:22.009 you are getting your Ph d in economics or your studying God's world at the 275 00:28:22.089 --> 00:28:27.599 very beginning of your life and you're five years old and your learning about all 276 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:33.359 kinds of interesting facts about the way God made this creature and that creature, 277 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:38.680 put your hope in the savior. First, trust in the one who save 278 00:28:38.920 --> 00:28:44.230 you. Come to the creator of the world through the savior of the world, 279 00:28:44.309 --> 00:28:49.309 and as you do this, God's creation will open up before you, 280 00:28:49.829 --> 00:28:53.390 not only in a way that you can see, but in a way that 281 00:28:53.549 --> 00:28:59.900 you can worship him for it and live rightly before him in the world that 282 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:07.259 he has given you. Moreover, when we do this, when we receive 283 00:29:07.420 --> 00:29:11.890 this good, not good news, by faith, God promises to prepare for 284 00:29:11.970 --> 00:29:17.089 us a place, this new heavens and a new earth, that we might 285 00:29:17.210 --> 00:29:23.359 do this worshipful action, that we might dwell with God in peace and unity 286 00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:32.400 and pleasure forever and ever. And so, as you look at creation, 287 00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:37.829 consider him who made it. Bow Before His Majesty, but do so as 288 00:29:37.910 --> 00:29:41.029 you bow before the cross. Let us pray