Our Creator God

Sermon Transcript

- Lord Jesus, we give you all the glory, honor and praise. And Lord, we thank you that every time we open up your word, no matter where we turn, we know that we are hearing you speak and we are hearing truth proclaimed. So Lord, I would ask this morning that you'd be helpful to me and that you'd be helpful to us, and that we would allow your word to do in and through us what you intend your word to do. Lord, that we would look to you that we would place ourselves under the authority of your word, and that we would respond accordingly. And now all God's people who are gathered, who desire to hear His word, and by faith, put into practice what he shows you, would you agree with me this morning, by very loudly, saying the word Amen [Congregation] Amen

- Amen, have you ever seen somebody do something so great that your jaw just dropped and you said, wow, perhaps you have a special artist, or you've seen an artist do something when you see them do it, it's so incredible in the way that they do it, that you look at it, whether it's a statue or a painting, or something where you just think to yourself, wow, I could never do something like that. Or maybe you've seen a professional athlete, do something that you know, in a lifetime of trying that you could never do. And when you see it performed during a live event, your mouth drops, and you think, wow, that was incredible. Maybe it's an orator, maybe it's an academic, maybe someone presents a case and you see what they do, and you think to yourself, wow, that's so good. In Genesis chapter 1, when we read Genesis chapter 1 in the way that God is introducing himself to us, our mouth should drop and we should look at God and say, wow, that's amazing how great you are. This is God being put on display, from the very beginning.

Now we began a series last week called the Alpha and Omega series and the reason for that is we're gonna take a look at the beginning and the end, we're studying the first 11 chapters in the book of Genesis and then we're gonna begin in the book of Revelation, and waltz our way through those 22 chapters as well. And it's important before we get into the book of Revelation, that we understand how God created everything, what was at the start. And so I encourage you, if you haven't had a chance, go back and listen to last week's message online, because we begin to ask and answer two different questions. The first was, why should we study Genesis 1 to 11? Is it worthy that we teach Genesis 1 to 11? And I gave you three answers for why we're doing that. And the first was this, it answer some of life's greatest questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What's the problem? Where am I going? Why do good things happen to bad people? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why there's so many different languages? Why are there different colors of skin? I mean, all these different things are answered in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. So it's worthy of taking a look at. Secondly, we said, it establishes the foundation for our faith. If we can understand who God is from the beginning, we can have a great theology about God, we can have a great theology about man and who we are and how we're to respond to him. We understand what sin is what sin causes, the problem and effects of sin. We can learn how God deals with sin, we can learn about God's mercy, we can learn about God's justice, we can learn about the demonic world, we can learn about Satan. All of the major doctrines that we're ever gonna hear about in the Bible really come out of the first 11 chapters of Genesis. And the third reason I said that we should study Genesis is it's scriptural, and therefore, it's completely trustworthy. We made a case last week to show that all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training and righteousness that starts at Genesis 1:1 and it ends in Revelation 22:21. All of God's word is God's word. We took a look at how the apostles and the prophets and Jesus Christ himself believed in a literal Genesis account. So you said, why teach it? That's why we teach it.

Then we took a look at one verse last week. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1:1 and we asked the question, how is God introduced? And we said, he's introduced as the eternal self existing God living outside of time and space, that God's eternal. He's in eternity past all the time. He's in eternity present all the time. He's in the present all the time, because he stands outside of time and space, but he created time and he created space so that He could create the universe the way that he wanted to create it, which means he's self existent, he's eternal. He's not dependent upon anybody else, he doesn't need anybody to provide shelter, food, clothing, nourishment he's God. That's who he is, that's how he's introduced. He's also introduced by his name Elohim, which means strong powerful God. So there's many different names in the Bible for our God, the first introduction to God, all the way through chapter one as a matter of fact, he's gonna be introduced as Elohim the strong, powerful God, why is he introduced that way? 'Cause he's gonna do some really strong, powerful things. He's gonna be introduced and put on display as magnificent. We also said He's introduced through his awesome creation of the universe, which we're going to study and read about today. And finally, he's introduced as the only eye witness to creation, in the beginning, God, there's nobody else there. So when we study Genesis, we're taking a look at what does God have to say about the creation account, because anything that man would have to say about the creation account that goes or contradicts God's word is wrong, because God was there and He's the God of all truth and He's telling us, this is how it happened. And if it happened, the way that God describes, then He's worthy of all of our honor and praise. He's worthy of us giving him glory, that's who He is. That's why we're studying Genesis 1-11.

Now, I wanna let you know something at the outset, I told you this last week, as you hear the story of Genesis unfold, I'm going to encourage you continue to go back to the scriptures, and let the scriptures speak for themselves. If at any point in time you say, I don't agree with pastor Jeff, I'm letting you know, you don't have to, you've never had to, I'm telling you go back to the scriptures and say, is there anything in the scriptures that I disagree with? 'Cause your answer should always be no, the Scripture is the word of God. Now, let me tell you something else from the onset. I've been a Christian since 1989. I've studied the book of Genesis more in the last year and a half probably than any other time of my life. And I have conviction about what I'm teaching, conviction is not what you grip, it's what grips you. So in my heart, I am preaching with conviction that's how I'm called to preach. So if at any time today you like, and he's really strong on that, he's really hard on it's because I'm convicted that every part of God's Word is true. Which means this brave church, you have permission to take your time to study God's word, and you may not be at the same place I am. But don't hear any of my conviction as anger towards you or frustration towards you. You may hear some of that towards people that don't believe the word of God and teach something other than what the word of God teaches. Because I'm called not to defend the word of God, I'm called to proclaim the word of God, Amen.

So what we're gonna do today is we're gonna take a look at Genesis 1, all the way through Genesis 2:3, where he's gonna take a look at what does God say? So I gave you the outline for the sermon last week, if you were here, I gave you three questions. The first question was, who created the universe? Secondly, I asked you, how was the universe created? And third, I asked, do you believe this? That's our outline for today. But in order to do that, I think it's important that you hear the word and that we read the Word of God together. So I'm encouraging you open up your Bible to Genesis 1, this is not a time for you to look at me and read, this is a time for you to get your eyes on the text so you know that what I'm telling you comes right out of the word of God, you can use your phone, if you have a app on there for the Bible, you can use a Bible, you should have a Bible, come to church with a Bible, coming to church without a Bible is like going out without clothes. I mean, bring your Bible to church, you need your Bible, Now understand this, when I read this, and when you listen to this, this is a spiritual act of worship. When I'm about ready to read to you is not only opposed by non believers, but what's grieved my heart and my study over the last year and a half, is that many evangelical pastors who are born again, who truly believe that Jesus Christ is the only God who died in the cross for their sins, who rose from the dead, who are genuinely going to heaven. Do not believe what Genesis:1 says, and it grieves my heart. So understand this, what we're reading today is not necessarily an issue of salvation, but it is an issue of the authority of the word of God and I'm gonna proclaim the authority of God's word. So I want you to listen to it, I want you to pay attention. The reason that you're getting distracted is the enemy doesn't want you to hear this. And if you're sitting there saying, that's a long chapter, we got to read the whole thing. That's what I'm talking about. So I want you to listen, and I want you to picture what God is doing, and how He's introducing Himself.

So let's hear the word of the Lord this morning. God says, "in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. The Earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface 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 waters and let us 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 the 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, at third day". You're with me still with me. All right, there we go. Then God said, "let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs for seasons and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the Earth and it was so God made two great lights, the greater light to govern 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, and there was evening and there was morning, at fourth day, then God said, let the waters team was swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth and 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 Gods saw that it was good, God bless them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth. There was evening and there was morning, at 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 it's 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 upon the earth. God created man in his own image and the image of God, He created him, male and female, He created them, God bless 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 every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed, it shall be for you and to every beast of the earth, and every bird of the sky, and every living thing 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 evening and there was morning, the sixth day, thus the heavens and the 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 the work which he had done, then God bless the seventh day and sanctified it because in it, He rested from all his work which God had created and made", Amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- That's the creation story. That's how everything came into being. That's how the universe was created. If the word of God is our authority, then we need to ask these three questions based upon the word of God. First question, who created the universe?

- [Congregation] God.

- By half of you, God, let's make sure we got this, who created the heavens in the earth?

- [Congregation] God! 

- God created the universe. It says, from the very first verse, if first verse was the only verse we had, we would know the answer, because God does not lie. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth, the heavens and the Earth are a mechanism for the universe, He created it all, God created it all. But just to point out, that God wants you to understand that it was Him, He uses the word God 32 times in the first chapter to let you know, in case you missed it in verse one, it was me, I'm awesome. It's me 31 times, 32 times, and then three more times in the first three verses of chapter two. So 35 times during creation week, God says, It's me I created it all. If the Bible is your only authority for how the world was created, and how the universe was established, God wants you to know, it was Him. Now think about this for a second, first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1 in the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth, and I studied a lot of different versions of the Bible, they all read pretty much the same. Did God not create Mars? Why doesn't the Bible say In the beginning, God created the heavens and Mars? Why does it say in the beginning, God created heavens and Mercury, did God not create Mercury. In the beginning, God created the heavens and Venus. Why does he focus so much on the Earth? Let me give you the answer. The answer is the Earth is unique to every other thing that God created in the universe.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Now, let me give you an example. Isaiah 45:18 will tell you why. And then I'll show you a short little video on this. Isaiah chapter 45:18, says it like this. "For thus says the Lord who created the heavens, He is the God who formed the Earth and made it". we see the same thing that we just read in Genesis 1:1, "He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited." God made the Earth unique to any other creation that He had in the solar system, because the Earth was going to be inhabited in a way that none of the other planets would. And I could talk about this for a long time, but I wanna show you a two minute video that kinda highlights some of the main points that I'm trying to make here about why the Earth is so unique, so just tuned into the screen and check out the short little video.

- [Narrator] The Bible teaches that the Earth was specially designed by God to be inhabited. The Earth is ideally placed in the galaxy to protect us from harmful radiation. If the Earth were in the center of the galaxy, or stuck in a globular cluster outside the galaxy, radiation would be a real problem. The Earth is also the right distance from the warming rays of the sun. Our world is neither too hot nor too cold. Even the tilt of the Earth seems ideal to regulate heat. If the tilt toward increased significantly, summers would be too hot, and winters too cold. If the tilt were decreased, the equator would be too hot and the poles too cold. The Earth's mass determines the strength of its gravity. Unlike Mercury, our Earth is big enough to hold on to life sustaining gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide, but not so big that it is a toxic gases giant like Jupiter. Life requires liquid water, our planet sits just the right distance from the sun for water to flow as a liquid. In fact, three quarters of the Earth's surface is covered in liquid water. No other planet is known to have this essential ingredient of life. The Earth has just the right chemicals for life. About 99% of the universe is made of hydrogen and helium but the Earth is different. It's made of heavier elements which can form compounds essential for life. The Earth has a large moon, which keeps the oceans from stagnating and a magnetic field which shields us from harmful radiation. The Earth appears to be an engineering marvel crafted for life, the stage for unfolding God's glorious plan to dwell with man.

- Amen, so when God created the heavens and the Earth Earth was made unique to any other planet. Now for years, people will talk about oh Mars, we're gonna go to Mars, we're gonna discover life on Mars, there could be water on Mars, there are even scientists that have come together and said that there for sure was a flood on Mars, even though they've never even discovered one droplet of water on Mars. But our world they deny a global flood even though 70% of our world is made up of water. What does that tell you? God made Earth unique. It's different than anything else, and who made it God, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke, and it was Colossians chapter 1:16 and following "for by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth". That's Genesis 1:1 "visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him. And for Him, He is before all things and in him, he holds all things together". Who created the heavens and the Earth? Who created the universe? God did He unapologetically created everything. And since He was the only eyewitness, He's telling us, I want you to know, it was me, and I'm awesome. So let's walk through this, Amen. Let's give God praise.

So then, how did he do it? How did he create the universe? I mean, God created everything in the universe. That's our first point, God created everything in the universe, whether you see it, whether you don't see it, God created it all. Visible, invisible thrones, dominions rules and authorities. He established it all, He upholds it all. God is in charge of all creation in the entire universe. Then he's gonna tell us how he did it. He's gonna speak to us says the word of God, so knows what happened. In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. The Earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. So here's what God says, I created the heavens in the earth. I'm standing outside of time and space I've given a canvas for the heavens, I've given the Earth. The Earth is a spherical shape that is covered in water and the spirit of God is over it. What does it mean that it was formless and void? It means that God hadn't created anything on the Earth yet. It was formless. What did it mean that it was void? Nobody had inhabited it yet. So he's just telling you what it looked like when the heavens in the Earth were created. Nothing is in the heaven yet And the Earth is a sphere covered in water and the spirit of God is going all over the waters, waiting to hear Jesus Christ, speak the word so that everything can be formed. That's what's going on, that's how God says that this happened. Then God said, let there be light and there was a light, God saw 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. Now this is not very hard to understand. If the Word of God is your authority, and you can read, you know what just happened, God created the heavens and the earth, the Earth is there, it's formless and void. And God said, let there be light. So what you're going to see is a pattern over and over where God speaks, and things begin to form, then God declares that it's good. And then there's evening, the morning, and there's one day.

Now we usually don't get down to verse five, before people start throwing up objection flags all over the place. Because they'll say stuff like this, God said, let there be light, and there was light, but the sun wasn't even made until day four. So how can there be light? I don't know. I know that God created the light so there's ways that we can speculate I mean, angelic beings oftentimes are talked about as luminaries, maybe God created the spiritual realm and lit them up. That could be that's not what I think happened. But the Bible doesn't tell us clearly what the light is, we know, if you go into an operating room, one of the first things they do is they turn on a bright light, you go to the dentist, they turn on the bright light and shine it in your face. If you're an auto mechanic, you turn on the light, God doesn't need to turn on a light to see because even in the darkness, everything is as light to Him. What was He doing? I think he was showing off. See, in the New Testament, Jesus says what? I am the light of the world. God, Shekinah glory lights up everything. What I believe personally happened is that when he said, Let there be light, God was I, here I am. Let it be known, I am the light. And you have this sphere beginning to rotate because you have to have 24 hours to have a day. And God is showing off is like you say, well, Jeff, where do you get that? I get that from the book of Revelation, and Revelation 21 and Revelation 22, we get a picture of this in Revelation 21:23, talking about the New Jerusalem, that will come someday it says "in the city has no need of the sun, or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and it's a lamp is the Lamb", Amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Chapter 22:5, "and there will no longer be any night and they will not have need of the light of the lamp, nor of the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them and they will reign forever and ever". What do I believe the light was, I believe the light is the Lord Jesus Christ and God showing off all of the Shekinah glory. And what you see when we study the book of Revelation, and we studied the Olivet discourse, what you see before Jesus Christ comes back, He's going to turn off the lights, and there's gonna be cosmic disturbances in the heavens, and then he will appear as the light again, I believe He turned them on in the beginning, I believe He's turning them off before he comes again and one day in the new heavens and new Earth, we won't need light because the light will be with us forever and ever, Amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- So we don't need the sun to have the light because we have God, that's what he's saying. Well, I don't know if I believe that well, that's what the Bible says. Now notice, this is where we really get into trouble. God called the light day and the darkness He called night and there was evening in the morning one day. But how do you know what a day is? I mean, I have no idea. Well, a day kinda means a day. But it's used differently there Jeff, don't you see that God called the light day, so that was like a whole day. But there's even in the morning, that was one day could that have been a whole day but in Genesis 2:4, it says, "This is the account of the heavens and the Earth when they were created in the day that the Lord made the heaven and Earth" and we know it was in seven days. So confuses, Bible so confusing. It's not the word day is always based upon context. I have younger kids, when they talk about my life. They say, dad, you live back in the day. Now, they're not talking about a literal 24 hour day. Like if I said to you this, back in the day, there was a day that I spent the day studying and that evening, I had dinner with my friends. I've already used the word day, three different ways. Back in the day, there's a period of time, there was a day a 24 hour day where I spent the day the daylight studying and that evening I had dinner with my friends. You have no trouble understanding that. If I told you that there was a kid running towards me this week, and I sent him home, context would tell you what happened. There was a kid running at me because he was angry at me in my neighborhood and I sent him home. That's different than if I was coaching third base, and a kid was rounding third coming at me, and I sent him home, you can easily discern what home means based upon the context. Or if I told you I took a trunk out of my trunk and took it to the circus, and an elephant swiped it with his trunk. You understand I'm using trunk three different ways. Trunk, like a chest, in the trunk of my car in the trunk of the... Context breeds everything.

Because here's where the objections come on a six day literal creation. The objections come because people go, don't you know your Bible? With the day the Lord is like 1000 years and 1000 years, like a day. So let's talk about those texts there's two places in your Bible. So go to Psalm chapter 90. This song, Psalm, rather, not surprisingly, was written by Moses, who actually wrote Genesis 1 that we're reading. And Moses says, "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were born, you gave birth to the Earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you're God". He says the same thing there that he says in Genesis 1 God, you've always been here. "You turn back man into dust and say, return all children of men, for 1000 years in your sight, are like yesterday, when it passes by". What is he saying? He's saying, God, you stand outside of all time and space so 1000 years to you is like a day. I mean, it doesn't really matter. Peter picks up on this and talking about the second coming of Christ in 2 Peter 3:8, and listen to what he says. He says, "but do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like 1000 years, and 1000 years, like one day." What's going on here? They're using the word like, if you use the word like, or as that is called a simile, if you remember back to your English classes, and it's making a comparison. So if I say, man, that's is light as a feather. If I say that guy is as straight as an arrow, I say, man, she works as hard as a bee. I mean, I'm not describing them or I say, guys as strong as an ox, I'm not calling them an ox, not calling them an arrow, I'm not calling them a bee. I'm saying it's like that. If I say it's light as a feather, I don't mean it weighs the same as a feather I mean, it's light like a feather. So what you have in these two verses, in Psalm 90, and in 2 Peter 3 is comparison. You don't have that in Genesis 1. It doesn't say, like a valley girl would read it. And there was evening and morning, and it was like one day, I mean, it doesn't say that. It says that it was evening and there was morning, one day, every time in the Bible, that a cardinal number like one, two, three, four, five, six and seven is given with a day, you know, it's a literal, 24 hour day, God knowing that we would still be like, I don't know if I know this puts in there and there was evening and there was morning, one day, almost as if to say you can't miss this. If you can read and you just take it at face value, you would say it's a day. Now nowhere else, in the Old Testament do we have this problem? We don't have this problem in Joshua, when we read Joshua I mean in Joshua 6, God's gonna have them destroy Jericho, and God gives Joshua a plan. And He says in Joshua 6:3, "you should march around the city all the men of war, circling the city once you shall do so for six days. Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of Ram's horns before the ark. And on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priest shall blow the trumpets". There is nowhere to indicate where Joshua says no God, when you say a day do you mean like millions of years? How long are we supposed to march? They know it's a day 'cause a day means a day.

And in case you're wondering, you're still not convinced, the Bible makes it even clear for you open up your Bibles to Exodus 20:11. Here we're pointing out the 10 commandments and how God established them, who actually wrote these with His own finger. And He says in Exodus 20:11, "for in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the Earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath, and made it holy". So in six days, God created the world and rested on the seventh. Exodus 31:17, "it's assigned between me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day, He sees from his labor and was refreshed". God can't make this any clearer. If the Word of God is your authority, then the world was created in six literal days and God rested on the seventh day. That's what we just read that's what God's saying. If you say, I don't believe that, here's what you're saying. I have an authority other than God's word to come up with my conclusions, Amen. It's an issue of biblical authority. Now for some of you who say, man, I can't believe I have this pastor so narrow minded don't believe in science. Here's what you have, you have a pastor that believes in the authority of God's word from Genesis 1 all the way through Revelation 22 and I will not compromise the word of God to appease man, Amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- That's who I am. So God clearly created the universe, God created the universe in six literal 24 hour days and rested on the seventh day. That's what scripture teaches us. And we can talk about all the others and we will hear in a bit the day age theory, huge problems with that progressive creationism, huge problems with that, gap theory huge problems with that, because when I read this, I see six days. So let's just take a look at what God did. On day one, He created light, He saw that it was good. He said, there was evening in the morning, day one, awesome, day two, what happened. On day two, we see that God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters above the expanse. And it was so and God called the expanse heaven and there was evening and there was morning, on second day, what happened there, God's creating the whole atmosphere, the sky, the world, I mean, He's separating the water that's on the earth, from the waters that are in the heaven. Some people believed there was a canopy surrounding the earth, some people don't believe that there was a canopy surrounding the earth. Anyway, you slice it, God took water from the Earth and separate it from waters that were up in the heavens and how God did that creating the atmosphere He doesn't tell us. See the problem we have when we read Genesis 1 is we wanna know all the facts, we wanna know exactly how he did it. Now, have you ever seen blueprints to a house? And how intensive there are? What if God gave us blueprints for the creation of universe? I mean, how many pages would that be? And what kind of PhD would we need to know? I mean, God gives us what we need to know so that we understand that on day two, he created the expanse, or the atmosphere or the sky, and there was evening in the morning, and there was a second day.

Then on day three, God said this, let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so. So he gathers the water into one place, and he forms the land. My opinion, very likely the land was formed, not like we have continents laid out today, the land was formed as one land mass reason I believe that is, I believe in a global flood and I believe during the global flood, everything separated, we'll talk about that when we get here. But God put the waters in one place. So the seas and the rivers, all those different things are formed then on day three, then what he does is He creates vegetation and plants have all sorts of different kinds. And God is constantly talking about these kinds of plants that they reproduce after their own kind. What does that mean? It means that orange trees produce orange trees, and apple trees produce apple trees, you don't have an apple tree producing a dog. Or they produce after their own kind and God made food because we're gonna read about in Genesis 1:29-30, that everyone, animals and humans were vegetarians until after the fall, God gave us plants to eat. That was what He did. So God is now providing vegetation. He's providing plants of all the different kinds and there was evening morning, day three.

Now on day four, God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be signs notice that signs and for seasons for all the days in the year. So what does God do? He creates all the stars. How many is that? I don't even have a number in my head big enough billions upon billions. And how did He do it? In one day, and he created a sun and we know how powerful our one sun is, even though there's about 200 billion plus suns in the galaxies our one sun that's 93 million miles away, is so bright that if you look at it at just the right time, you will squint it will make you it'll cause you to not be able to look at it because that one sun is so powerful and our God made that and He created the moon and you already saw the video how he positioned them just perfectly so that everyone on Earth can experience a beautiful and habitation of everything God created for us. Think about all the stars. I was in Lake Powell, Utah this weekend and one of the nights I was looking up, we turned off the fire and you could see stars for miles, upon miles, upon miles, upon miles we saw the milky way. And while the bats were sweeping around, if you look between the bats, you could see all the stars. And we're looking at that thing and we can't even see all that God created. At night we call that outer space in the day we call that the sky. But the reality is the stars don't go anywhere during the day they're all there you just can't see them. I mean, God put everything in place. He's named all the stars, He knows them all. Just to show you look at how awesome I am. You think you're a star? Let me show you I made the stars. I mean, that's who our God is to create the sun, the moon, the stars there's even and the morning. Now that's a fourth day.

Day five what did God do? God said let the waters team was swarms of living creatures and let the birds fly above the Earth and open the expanse of the heavens. So what does God do? He creates sea creatures and He creates birds. How awesome is that? I mean, He fills the water with sea creatures and He fills the sky with birds. This is really interesting to note because if you believe in evolution, you have reptiles before you have birds but if you believe the creation story you birds before you have reptiles, so that's just, you can believe God or you can believe evolution. I believe God, God plus nothing created everything. Evolution, nothing, plus nothing created everything. It's simple, I believe in the God of the Bible. So He creates the land, He creates, I'm sorry, He creates the sea life, He creates birds there's evening and morning, that's day five. And then on day six, it really gets cool. on day six, He creates land animals. God says this, 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. So God creates all the land animals. But if that wasn't enough, guess what else He does. Then He said in verse 26, "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 the earth, and over every creeping thing, God made man in his own image, in the image of God, He created him male and female, He created them" and we should say, wow.

And as we're talking about next week, you think about this. God made entire universe, but he made the Earth specifically special, so that it could be inhabited and then on that Earth, where it's inhabited, God made human beings as image bearers of him, you are different than any other created being ever more special than angels, more special than animals, more special than trees, more special than stars more special than outer space, you are created in the image of God, and how did He create them? I mean, we read in this verse, very controversial things. He created one race and two genders. He created the human race, and male and female, that's what he created. Why do people get all fired up about that? Because they don't love the word of God. We're gonna get to race like, hey, how come there's so many different skin colors? And why are there so many different languages? You know, Genesis has an answer for that question. But I want you to see at the beginning, there's one race of people, there's one language and there's two genders. That's what God created. And God said, at the end of that day, that's very good. And he gave human beings dominion over everything that He had just created. You're different and distinct from everything else. God tells us, we're gonna be vegetarians that the animals are gonna be vegetarians and looking at this Genesis 1:31. This is God finishing his masterpiece and here's what God says, "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Not just good, now that everything is complete now that humankind is there, it's very good. "And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day."

So what did God do on day seven, that's 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, then God bless the seventh day and sanctified it because he rested from all of his work if there's anything God created, on day seven, its rest. So God has given us a pattern if this is your only authority, and you say, God, if you said it, it's true, then here's what you're going to conclude. God made everything he created the world in six literal 24 hour days, and he rested on the seventh day. That's what the word of God teaches. I'm not called to defend the word I'm called to proclaim the word and believe the word, the word of God is not just meant to be read and studied it to be believed and obeyed. This is what the word of God says and if you believe that, here's what you'll say about our God, wow, he created everything that we see, and we don't see just by speaking it into existence. And that's why the Psalms go crazy. In Psalm 19:1, "the heavens declare the glory of God." And in Psalm 33:6-9, that we read last week, "by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth, all their hosts." Verse nine, "for he spoke and it was done He commanded and it stood fast". There's no Hebrew scholar worth their salt that will not tell you that this is a literal historical narrative that means what it says it means.

And yet, we have many people who do believe in Jesus, they don't believe the word we have many people outside the church that don't believe in Jesus at all they don't believe the word. But Would it surprise you to know that it wasn't until the late 1700s, early 1800s, where this was even a debate? I mean, none of church history thought any different but here's what happened. In about the 1800s, people started coming up with different ideas, and I can walk you through the history and the names of the men that did this. The church started to compromise the word of God to accommodate the world. And that's what the church tends to do all the time. The world thinks this so we'll say that. Let me tell you this, here's the question.

Point three question one was who created the heavens and the earth? The answer was God created everything in the universe. Question two was, how did he do it? The answer was God created everything in the universe in six literal consecutive 24 hour days and rested on the seventh day. Here's the third question. Do you believe this? I believe this, do you believe this?. Here's my answer, believing that God created the world as He described as an issue of biblical authority, it's not a scientific issue. It's an issue of biblical authority, you can be saved by believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for all your sins, and rose from the dead and you've repented and trusted Christ, you're saved. Even if you say, I don't know if I believe Genesis 1, you're still saying, the Bible doesn't say, you need to believe every thing to get saved. Salvation is by grace through faith that's it. But it is an issue of biblical authority.

So some people come along, and they've said, and you'll hear them. You know when God says a day that God can create the world in six literal days and rest on the seventh, that's horse hockey, you know, I mean, really, what it is, is it's long periods of time. It's the day age theory every day was really, really long. I mean, there's all sorts of problems with that. Maybe you got the plants coming on day three, and you gotta wait millions of years for the sun to come and nourish them, where are all the plants, well, they're dead. So by the time you get to Genesis 1:29-30, there's nothing to eat. Like, how does that happen? But what you have is when men twist the Word of God, to suit their own needs, even though they weren't there, you will come up with some sort of aberrant theology. See, to believe that God created the world in six literal days and rested on the seventh is not too hard. As a matter of fact, all of the rest of the Bible fits together really nicely. When we get to Genesis 5, and you see God's birth certificate for how old the Earth is, you'll see that it really fits with the sixth day literal creation. You'll see when you get to Luke 3, and how they take Jesus's mother Mary and trace her genealogy all the way back to Adam. It makes sense if there's millions and billions of years, you got a real hard time with that. So there's all sorts of other parts of the Bible, you're gonna have to punt in order to accommodate aberrant theology.

Believing God's word, I wanna tell you something, believing God's word is never wrong. It's never wrong. Now no this the world hates the word and oftentimes the church tries to accommodate the world so that we can get them into the church never changed the Word of God to accommodate anybody. Put yourself under the authority of God's word. 'Cause there's so many things in the word, that if I wasn't a Christian, I never believe, I just wouldn't believe them. There's no way I would believe in election that God chooses us and that we don't choose Him. Unless it was all over the pages of scripture. There's no way that I would believe that man was not created for woman but woman was created for man unless it said that in Genesis 2, and in 1 Corinthians 11, why would you believe that? I mean, there's so many things in the Bible that you would not place yourself under the authority of because it doesn't go along with the word of God unless you believe the Word of God. So if you don't believe it in Genesis 1, why are you gonna believe anything else?

So I wanna give you some theological problems with alternative viewpoints, because they're myriad. They're myriad, there's what's called a gap theory, where you read through Genesis, and I don't know if you saw this, 'cause I didn't see it in here. But some people put like millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, did you read it there's millions of years there? It's not in my Bible. So where did that come from? Well, you just need to understand that Satan was out roaming around and the world was, formless and void, because there was chaos. So Satan existed long before and all this kind of stuff. Or you need to understand that there was, fossils from way back when, and that's why we have this fossil record. And I'll show you when we get to the flood, where the fossils came from, there was a global flood, that happened really fast, where fossils were formed. And we will show you science to demonstrate that the word of God is true. But let me give you some theological problems. If you don't believe in a six day literal creation, here's what you're gonna wrestle with the first is this. It challenges God's authority. If God said he created the world in six literal days and rested on the seventh, and that's the first chapter in our Bible and you say, yeah, that's what it says but it's not true. Why would you turn the page? Why go on? I mean, if I can't believe what's obvious and clear in Genesis 1, why do I want to continue to read on? Help me, if I'm sharing the gospel with somebody and I'm telling them you don't need to believe Genesis 1 that's just kind of made up myth. You need to have like a PhD in astrophysics in microbiology and all this stuff, and 40 years from now you can do it. Don't believe that. Why would you take into Genesis 2? Why not just say Genesis 1 says what it says and means what it means and God created the world in six literal days and rested on the seventh. Here's why you don't say that 'cause you're ashamed of God's Word. I'm not ashamed of God's Word. That's what God says, that's what I believe. If that's not true, there's no need to go to Genesis 2.

Number two every other theory and that's all it is is a theory it contradicts God's word. It uses what we would call theologically icy Jesus reading something into the text that's not there. You won't read millions and billions of years in Genesis 1, it's in nobody's Bible. It's in nobody's version, it's not there. I mean, we read the scriptures, God spoke, and it was done. It didn't say God spoken millions of years later, things were still forming. It contradicts God's word every single time. Evolution would say the sun was formed before the earth, God would say the Earth was formed before the sun. Evolution would say dinosaurs existed millions of years ago, we would say as Christians, dinosaurs and land animals were created on the same day as human beings on day six, It doesn't fit the genealogies if you change anything and had millions of years it doesn't fit the genealogies it just doesn't work contradicts God's word.

Number three, it does this it seeks to celebrate man. If you don't take a literal reading of Genesis 1, you're really seeking to celebrate man, why? Because no man was there, God's the only one there. So any theory you come up with it goes against Genesis 1 is really man's interpretation of what he thinks happens. And I've listened to enough of these people talk that I know 100% of those who reject the literal creation story, place their authority on man's ideas 100% of the time. If you listen to anybody's theories, they will go away from the Word of God and you will hear them talk about well, you understand science, you understand this, you understand that they will go away from the authority of God's Word 100% of the time, listen for it. I'm telling you what the Word of God says. So you can wrestle with the word of God. No one that challenge God's authority, contradict his word seek to celebrate man. it aligns with satanic ideology. Now, let me be crystal clear on this point I'm not saying that people that don't believe in a six day literal creation or satanic. I'm saying that those who don't believe in a six day literal creation have been influenced by Satan's ideology. Because when you read through the Bible, what Satan's first comment in the Bible, Did God really say that? What's Satan's job in your life to get you to doubt His word? So if God says I created the world in six literal days and rested on the seventh, what's Satan going to tell you? Did God really say that? Oh, you can't believe that. That's such a fundamental idea. You got to understand there's things out there God didn't tell you and if you really knew them, you'd be more like God, you would know everything. It's satanic ideology. Just take God in His Word, and believe what he says, and put it into practice.

Number four, it does this. It minimizes God's power. God has introduced Elohim, the strong, powerful God, here's my question to you, what shows God more powerful, that it took God millions, or maybe even billions of years to create the world, or He did it in six days and took a break on the seventh just to show you what that looks like? I mean, which God for you is more powerful. My God created everything in six literal days, and He rested on the seven 'cause that's what the scriptures teach Amen. And He's the strong, powerful Elohim God to yours. You minimize the power of God, if you don't believe them.

You also do this number six, you make Jesus and Paul liars. When Jesus is talking about creation, Jesus is talking about the creation of man or woman. He said, well wasn't this way from the beginning? If the beginning on day six is millions or billions of years after the beginning, that's not really the beginning, is it? I mean, it's not if it was the creation week, that's the beginning. And Paul goes on in 2 Corinthians chapter 4:6, and he goes back to day one and creation, to talk about the gospel. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4:6 here's what he says, "for God who said, light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." For God who said, let's go sign out of darkness. When did that happen? Day one, Paul's going back to day one in creation, to talk about what God's doing now. If you say I don't believe in a literal creation, Jesus did, Paul did all the apostles and prophets did your standing on your own.

Number seven, it creates a false timeline for the future. When we get done with this study of Genesis 1:11, we're gonna study the book of Revelation. And when you get to the end of Revelation, you're gonna hear Jesus say these words, behold, I'm coming soon. If the world's 14.3 billion years old, and Jesus says, behold, I'm coming soon. My thought is cool, who cares? I mean, billions years from now Jesus probably come. But if the world's 6000 years old and 4400 years ago, there was a flood where God showed his justice by destroying all those who didn't believe in Him. And 2000 years ago, Jesus died on the cross for the sins of humanity and rose from the dead and said, hey, the end time clock has started and behold, I'm coming soon, you know, that tells me I better have my ducks in a row today. I better be ready for his return today. Why do you think Satan wants to create a false timeline so that you're not ready for the return of Jesus Christ, which is coming soon to a city near you, by the way, you better be ready.

Number eight, it misrepresents the gospel. It places death does disease, pestilence, pain and suffering before the fall, you say, well, what's the big deal about that? Well, Romans 5:12 tells me that sin can enter the world through one man and through sin death came to all. So the Bible teaches that there was no death until sin entered into the world that God didn't create us to die. In the fossil record, you will see thrones in the fossil record, you will see fish eating fish, which they weren't supposed to do till after the fall, because they were all vegetarians. If all those things predated what God said in creation, then here's what you'd have to conclude. When you get down to Genesis 1:31. It's a summary of everything God did that week, and God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. So God sees everything is made visible and invisible, says good. If disease and pestilence and pain and suffering occurred before the end of Genesis 1:31. Then God says the disease, pain, suffering, and all of those things are very, very good. I got a problem with that God. If death already occurred, then God is saying in Genesis 1:31, God saw all that He had made, including death, and behold, it was very good, I have a problem with that God. If sin it already happened in the world, and God is looking at his world and seeing sin and saying, behold, sin is very good. If God is saying those who sin go to hell, and God is looking at hell and saying hell for human beings, is very good. And if Satan existed millions or billions of years before, and it already rebelled against God before creation, and it was seeking to steal, kill and destroy all human beings, then God is saying that the satanic being that he created, who wants to kill your life is very good. I have a problem with that. I'm not going to chapter 2. Because if the literal creation story isn't true, God has given his stamp of approval to all sorts of things that are not very good.

Which means this number nine, it depicts a horrible God. See, when man sin what had to happen? You see the death of the first animal, because he has to make skin coverings, he could have made coverings out of fig leaves why did you choose an animal because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Man was not set to die until man sin, that's the gospel. And finally, is this. This 10th one, which bothers me probably the most. It accommodates worldly ideas and hopes to see people's salvation it accommodates worldly ideas. There is nothing that God is saying that isn't true to what he's saying. Every other aberrant theology comes from those who are trying to say we know more than God's telling you. And I have a problem with that. Paul said in Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes". Jesus said in Luke 9:26, "if you are ashamed of me, and my words", his words would also include Genesis 1, "I'll be ashamed of you when I come". I'm not ashamed of Genesis 1. I'm as excited about what God did Genesis 1 as I'm excited about what Jesus Christ did on the cross. And if millions of years can be inserted into the Bible in Genesis 1, then john 14:6, which says, "I am the way, the truth and the life", you can include about 14 million other gods there too and you got to adapt that. I'm not changing the Word of God to accommodate those who say, I don't like Jesus. But if we say we believe this, then maybe those sciences won't come to our church and they won't get saved. No, how about this, maybe we had a church that actually took God at His word, actually believed it and believe it all the way through the world would actually see that God is who He says He is, Amen.

Guys, I'm familiar with the gap theory, the modified gap theory called historical creation, the day age theory of progressive creation. I've heard them all I'm not convinced or persuaded, because the word of God would teach me otherwise. But here's what I wanna do. God this morning has put himself on display. And I can tell through our reading of Genesis 1, you weren't nearly as excited about it as I was. So I wanna give God the glory that he deserves.

So what I'm gonna have you do, is I'm gonna have you stand. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna not read through the whole text, I'm just gonna tell you what God did on each day and I'll tell you there was even in the morning, day one now, I want you to cheer as if you actually believe that God did that and give Him the praise that he deserved. So I'm not talking about like a play golf clap, not bad, not bad you got to close to the hole. I'm talking about like real life. Let's praise God for what He did. So on day one, God created the light and there was evening and there was morning and there was a first day, Amen. And on day two, God created the expanse and the atmosphere and the sky and he saw that it was good and there was evening and morning it was day two. On day three, God gathered the waters, He formed land He created vegetation, he nourished the vegetation He had plants of every different kind. There was evening and morning that was day three. On day four, God created the sun, the moon, the stars, all the stars, all the planets, everything that you see and don't see in the heavens and there was evening and there was morning, that was day four. On day five, God created sea life and He had the sea creatures filling the water and birds were flying overhead. And there was evening and morning, that was day five. On day six, God created all the land animals He created human beings in his image and gave us dominion over everything that He created. And there was evening and there was morning, that was day six. And God saw all that He had created, He said it was very good. So on the seventh day, he put his feet up, not because He was tired, but He gave us rest, to show us how we should rest and how one day a week we should devote to Him. And God completed everything in seven days.

If we would add a front row seat to see everything God did, we would never get done sharing. That's why God's given us eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ, so that we forever and ever can glorify His great name, Amen.

Amen, Lord Jesus, we give you all the glory, honor and praise and Lord as we sing our concluding song day, Lord, and let us sing with the breath in our lungs that you are worthy, and you are honorable, and that you created it all and that we believe you and your word in Jesus name, Amen and Amen raise God.