-
Well, I honestly believe
-
that in all the number of times
-
that I have stepped into a pulpit
-
or stood forth to preach
-
in my entire Christian life,
-
I have never before had you open
-
to Genesis 1:1.
-
So let's open up our Bibles
-
to the very first verse.
-
Let's pray.
-
Father, once again, we need help.
-
Your people for whom Your
Son has shed His blood,
-
we need help.
-
And if You offered Him up on our behalf,
-
then You've promised -
-
You've promised to not
withhold any other good thing.
-
Not one.
-
And so, Lord, this is Your Word
-
and that's good.
-
And we're here to hear it.
-
And we pray that You would
do a good thing for us.
-
I ask in Christ's name, amen.
-
"In the beginning, God created
-
the heavens and the earth."
-
When I got home last week,
-
I was thinking - I was already thinking,
-
I'm going to go to Genesis 1:1 next week.
-
So, I opened up the doors on the cabinet
-
that holds our TV
-
and I brought up some sermons on creation.
-
And I looked at a lot of different things.
-
Ruby was listening throughout the week
-
when I would have something up.
-
I forget, maybe, two different days
-
I brought things up -
Sunday and another day.
-
Good preachers.
-
I only have limited time.
-
I want to try to hear the best stuff.
-
I brought up several messages
-
and honestly, we heard several hours
-
of quotes by Darwin.
-
And in the end, my wife said,
-
"That wasn't very profitable."
-
And I felt the same way.
-
I felt kind of empty after.
-
Honestly, I'm not going to preach to you
-
for the next hour about Darwin,
-
because I don't believe that's
what I'm called to do.
-
If somebody else thinks that
-
that's the best way to approach this,
-
I mean, we all have to figure out
these things for ourselves
-
before the Lord
-
and in mind of what God
has set forth in His Word.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
You can look at Darwin.
-
You can look at what
all these naturalistic,
-
evolutionary atheists believe and tout.
-
Obviously, we live in a country
-
where 99% of the universities
-
reject Genesis 1:1.
-
We are the church of the living God.
-
We are the church of Jesus Christ.
-
And Scripture -
-
all Scripture's given
by inspiration of God,
-
and it's the Scriptures that are able
-
to sufficiently equip us.
-
Doctrine, reproof,
instruction, correction.
-
It comes from this Word.
-
This is where we get our doctrine.
-
"In the beginning, God created
-
the heavens (it's plural)...
-
the heavens and the earth."
-
And it's plural in the Hebrew.
-
It's a basic statement.
-
Let's think about this statement.
-
We open up our Bibles.
-
If anybody - anybody in the world -
-
if you took a Bible to a Muslim
-
and you said start at the beginning -
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Ruby and I just heard the
testimony of a woman
-
who is wonderfully converted - Muslim -
-
and she opened her Bible
-
and she said it happened
to fall out at John 1.
-
We might very well guide somebody there,
-
but the Bible itself starts
-
when God first gives His first facts
-
of revelation,
-
this is what we find.
-
And what the Bible does,
-
is it starts by simply asserting God.
-
Men in their pride, they come along -
-
and believe me it's pride
-
and we'll see that from Scripture itself -
-
but men in their pride come along
-
and it's like, "prove to
me there is a God."
-
Prove it.
-
God Himself speaks.
-
He doesn't prove Himself. He is.
-
When He talks to man, He says,
-
"I am that I am."
-
He is that reality.
-
In the beginning, God.
-
It just asserts God.
-
There's no proving, no arguing.
-
First verse of the Bible.
-
That's the fact that is declared to us.
-
It declares there is a beginning.
-
Not a beginning of God.
-
It does not say that in the beginning,
-
God was created.
-
There are other verses
-
when it speaks about creation,
-
it sets God forth. Just listen to this.
-
Isaiah 40:28,
-
"The Lord is the everlasting God,
-
the Creator of the ends of the earth."
-
When it talks about God as the Creator
-
He is the one who is everlasting.
-
He is the eternal one.
-
Revelation 10:6,
-
"Him (describes God this way) -
-
Him who lives forever and ever
-
who created heaven and what is in it,
-
the earth and what is in it,
-
the sea and what is in it."
-
What marks the beginning - you see it.
-
Genesis 1:1
-
"In the beginning..."
-
What marks this beginning
-
is that the already existing eternal
-
everlasting, living forever and ever God,
-
that God starts a new creation,
-
which before this point, it didn't exist.
-
We often think about space, time, matter.
-
Can you imagine none
of this universe existing?
-
Typically what we do in our minds
-
is we empty space of everything,
-
and now we just have space
-
that goes on forever.
-
Was there anything?
-
What was there?
-
All I know is this,
-
there was a beginning.
-
There was a starting point
-
for this universe.
-
The heavens and the earth
-
had a beginning
-
and they came into existence
-
because God made them exist.
-
There is cause and there is effect.
-
And the cause is God.
-
And the effect is this thing stood forth.
-
The universe.
-
Before this beginning, it didn't exist.
-
It was not.
-
It was uncreated. And what happened?
-
God acted.
-
God acted. There was a beginning.
-
The very first truth in
Scripture about God
-
is this: God is the Creator.
-
And if you follow that
reality through Scripture,
-
it is everywhere.
-
God reminds man of that over and over
-
and over again.
-
The idea that God is a creator
is not insignificant at all.
-
His revelation of Himself
to us starts here
-
and it is repeated over and over.
-
That means it's important.
-
That means we ought to
sit up and take notice.
-
Now, this is set forth as fact.
-
Listen, "In the beginning, God created
-
the heavens and the earth."
-
That is a factual statement.
-
There is no allegory here.
-
There is no poetry going on here.
-
Brethren, listen to me.
-
When you go to the New Testament authors,
-
they assert this reality.
-
They assert that God
created in the beginning.
-
John asserts that.
-
2 Peter, Hebrews, Revelation,
-
Colossians, Ephesians, 1 Corinthians.
-
That's just to name a few.
-
You can find passages in those books
-
that specifically talk about God
-
creating at the beginning.
-
Nothing poetic, nothing allegorical here.
-
This is set forth as a fact.
-
And the New Testament
authors took it as a fact.
-
This is an actual historical event.
-
We talk about history.
-
History classes - we take American History
-
or we take World History.
-
History of our world began -
-
it had a beginning point,
-
and it starts here. This is it.
-
You open up your Bible. Bang!
-
There it is.
-
This is a historical
narrative by and large.
-
Is there allegory in here? Yes.
-
Is there symbolism in here? Yes.
-
Do we have typology in here? Yes.
-
Do we have parables in here? Yes.
-
But by and large, you
know what this book is?
-
This book is a historical narrative
-
of God's dealings with man.
-
By and large.
-
That is what you find in this book.
-
This is the book that
declares Jesus Christ
-
and His coming and rescuing man.
-
You open it up and that's
where history starts.
-
Listen, if anything existed
before Genesis 1:1
-
other than God, we are not told.
-
You say what do you mean?
-
Why are you saying that?
-
Because God is not giving us
-
the history of other realms of existence
-
or other spheres or other creations
-
or other dimensions.
-
Listen, were the angels
created before this?
-
You can't prove that or disprove that
-
based on this verse.
-
What this verse is saying
-
is these heavens and this earth
-
were created in Genesis 1:1.
-
Personally, I find it hard to believe
-
that this everlasting God
-
who has this power to create
-
basically sat still for all of eternity
-
until one day He decided to create this.
-
But all this deals with is us.
-
It deals with our universe.
-
It deals with our heavens and our earth.
-
This is where our world started.
-
Now think about this as well.
-
This is Scripture.
-
You say we recognize that.
-
Yes, but Scripture is this:
-
Scripture is breathed out by God.
-
We know from 2nd Peter
-
that what the Holy Spirit did
-
was carry men along -
-
men like Moses -
-
and they spoke from God
-
as they were carried along.
-
Scripture is breathed from God.
-
You say what is that?
-
(incomplete thought) Just this:
-
Genesis 1:1 is God speaking to us.
-
This isn't just simply
a statement about God.
-
This is a statement from God.
-
The reason I emphasize that
-
is because we could
put it in the first person.
-
God is saying,
-
"I am the Creator.
-
And the starting point in
My revelation to you, man,
-
is that I want you to know I made you.
-
And I made all of this."
-
That is the starting point of revelation.
-
First person - actually, you can find
-
verses in the Bible where God speaks to us
-
in the first person about Creation.
-
Listen to these.
-
By first person, I mean
first person pronoun.
-
I, me. That's the first person pronoun.
-
Where it's not just about
God - second person.
-
"In the beginning, God created
-
the heavens and the earth."
-
That's us seeing a fact about God.
-
By first person, listen:
-
"I am He.
-
I am the first and I am the last.
-
My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
-
and My right hand spread out the heavens."
-
That's Isaiah 48. In Isaiah 44,
-
"I am the Lord who made all things,
-
who alone stretched out the heavens,
-
who spread out the earth by Myself."
-
Grab those two words: "I alone."
-
I by Myself.
-
Nothing about big bangs.
-
Nothing about evolution.
-
"I stretched out the
heavens like a curtain."
-
I'm the one that did it.
I called the hosts of heaven.
-
They stood forth. I called them by name.
-
God seems to want to dialog with us
-
in the first person about creation.
-
Listen to this.
-
Again, this is Isaiah.
-
"To whom then will you compare Me
-
that I should be like him
-
says the Holy One."
-
You know what happens
-
when you have a world full of people
-
touting evolution
-
and basically saying that this thing
-
happened by chance?
-
You're saying that all this complexity -
-
what you're doing is you're making
-
the universe out to be an accident.
-
You're belittling it.
-
You're making it a trifle.
-
You're making it an accident.
-
You're making it something that is
-
the result of chance,
-
impersonal, accidental randomness.
-
Feeling purposeless,
-
feelingless.
-
It's just an accident happened.
-
Something blew up
-
and then at another time
-
primordial slime basically
became (incomplete thought).
-
What you are doing is you are taking
-
the absolute complexity -
-
I understand that in microbiology
classes in universities
-
the professors have to keep
reminding the students
-
that there is no design.
-
This looks like it has design.
It has no design.
-
This is so infinitely complex
-
and it seems to be designed,
-
but there really is no design.
-
They have to keep saying that
-
because there is such design.
-
Listen, when God speaks about the creation
-
He says this is a reflection of My glory.
-
He says there is something in all of this
-
that you need to see is true about Me.
-
You need to recognize My understanding
-
and My power when you look out there
-
at the mighty mountain ranges
-
and as you watch that sunset
-
and you behold these great oceans
-
and you behold the tempest and the storm
-
and the lightning and the thunder,
-
and as you watch a bird
soar through the air,
-
or you imagine how it could possibly be
-
that a man and a woman could come together
-
and produce a child.
-
Or you look at the workings
of the human eyeball.
-
Light - and it comes in
-
and I'm able to see you
-
and you can see me.
-
And we've got this eye
that's self-lubricating.
-
Cut your eyelid - it heals.
-
This eyeball is self-lubricating.
-
It adjusts to light.
-
It actually based on the amount of light,
-
you've got like a shutter in there.
-
This thing is bigger or smaller.
-
The light comes through.
-
It's actually upside down.
-
It goes through this optic nerve.
-
Your brain takes this thing,
-
spins it upright.
-
See, that was one of the things -
-
I will bring Darwin in here for a second -
-
he said the human eye,
-
if there was one thing that he thought
-
rattled him,
-
made him think that the whole thing
-
(incomplete thought).
-
When we look at this,
-
how does a worm become a cocoon?
-
And then become a butterfly?
-
How does a worm do that?
-
Creation is actually miraculous.
-
The fact that you would have a tree
-
and it knows what time of year it is
-
and drops its leaves.
-
And then the fact that they turn color.
-
Color!
-
God painted this thing
-
and He gave it color
-
and He gave us eyes.
-
And you know what, this whole thing
-
is so amazing,
-
it is so miraculous,
-
it so goes beyond our comprehension.
-
It's like the further out we look
-
and the further down we look,
-
scientists (incomplete thought).
-
But you know what? It
doesn't take their breath away.
-
Because they've so convinced themselves
-
this is all by accident.
-
They've taken all the miraculous
-
and all the marvelous out of it,
-
that it's just random.
-
(incomplete thought).
-
Long periods of time.
-
Long periods of time.
-
See, naturalists.
-
It's looking at everything that's natural.
-
It's natural laws.
-
Everything takes a long time.
-
And you take all the miraculous out of it.
-
Listen to how God speaks.
-
This is very personal.
-
"To whom then will you compare Me?"
-
Okay, you just stop right there.
-
This God speaks.
-
To whom will you compare Me?
-
Well, okay, what would we compare Him to?
-
Allah?
-
What would we compare Him to?
-
Other gods? To us?
-
To Mary?
-
What would we compare Him to?
-
Okay, we've got an
idea about those things.
-
We've got an idea about us.
-
If we're going to compare ourselves to Him
-
or our greatest minds to Him,
-
but who is He?
-
I mean, He says, who are
you going to compare Me to?
-
What is it about Him that He basically
-
puts on the table that says:
-
Look at this.
-
Who are you going to compare to that?
-
It's creation.
-
You listen to how He speaks.
-
"To whom will you compare Me
-
that I should be like him
-
says the Holy One."
-
Listen to what He says:
-
"Lift up..." remember that
eye we just talked about
-
that He made?
-
You know why He gave you that eye?
-
He says lift it up.
-
Not like you're looking at the ground
-
and look at the trees.
-
You know what He means?
-
He means, no, you're
already looking horizontally.
-
He's saying go out into the night sky.
-
That's exactly what He's talking about.
-
Because listen to what He says:
-
"Lift up your eyes on high
-
and see who created these."
-
He's talking about the heavens.
-
He's talking about the stars.
-
Listen to what He says,
-
"He who brings out their hosts by number
-
calling them all by name,
-
by the greatness of His might
-
and because He is strong in power
-
not one is missing."
-
You look out at that universe.
-
You look out at those stars.
-
You look out at the Milky
Way as it crosses there.
-
Go take your Hubble telescope
-
and look at those pictures.
-
Look at those spiral galaxies.
-
Look out into the vast recesses of space.
-
And He says, "I did that.
-
And they stood forth by My word.
-
And I called every one of them by name."
-
Now who are you going to compare
-
to that God?
-
He's dialoging with us.
-
He talks to us.
-
Have you ever heard how Isaiah starts?
-
"Come, let us reason
together, saith the Lord."
-
He wants to dialog with us.
-
He says, "Behold."
-
See, He is the invisible God,
-
but He has done something that's visible.
-
And based on the visible,
-
that which He created at the beginning,
-
He says that ought to be sufficient
-
to tell you there is none like Me.
-
None.
-
Incomparable.
-
Look at the stars. Look at it all.
-
And you know what?
He wants us to be staggered!
-
He created it so big, so complex.
-
He could have created it
-
just out to the ends of our solar system.
-
He could have.
-
But He didn't.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Did He have to create a worm
-
that becomes a butterfly?
-
Couldn't He have just made butterflies
-
produce butterflies and that's it?
-
I mean, isn't that what people do?
-
People make people.
-
Butterflies make worms.
-
He didn't have to do that.
-
That's a picture of salvation
if there ever was one.
-
A worm. "Jacob, you worm."
-
Have you ever heard that?
-
But what does Jacob become?
-
The butterfly Israel.
-
That's a picture of salvation.
-
It's recreation.
-
What's going on inside that cocoon
-
that a monarch butterfly
is now going to fly away?
-
Listen, I grew up in Michigan.
-
We had all these milkweed plants.
-
I used to see the monarch
butterfly caterpillars.
-
They're a worm.
-
They eat milkweeds.
-
These things were like
white, yellow, and black.
-
When that monarch butterfly came forth,
-
how did I know?
-
Because I'd take the leaf off
-
if I found one of those cocoons.
-
Take it inside, put it in a jar,
-
and the butterfly would come out.
-
The butterfly looked
nothing like the worm.
-
What was happening inside there?
-
It's miraculous.
-
And what God did was He
designed the miraculous all around us.
-
All you have to do is you go home
-
and turn on one of these nature programs.
-
Just one of the things
about all the unusual
-
creatures in the sea.
-
Do you ever do that?
-
And you're just blown away.
-
It's like I didn't know that existed!
-
I've lived 54 years
-
and I never knew that existed.
-
When Ruby and I went to the Caribbean
-
for our 25th wedding anniversary
-
just a few months ago,
-
I almost didn't snorkel.
-
I almost didn't.
-
But we went to a place
-
and you had 90 minutes for free.
-
So I thought yeah, let's try it.
-
Because when you look
across the top of the water,
-
it looks very boring.
-
What's out there?
-
Yeah, it's a nice blue color,
-
but you see some dark things under there
-
and it just looks like nothing.
-
Probably like scientists used
to think about the cell
-
back in Darwin's day.
-
It's just a blob of jelly.
-
That's what it looked like out there.
-
I put that face mask on
-
and I mean I wasn't but in 4 feet of water
-
and it just...
-
I mean, you had fish of
every color imaginable.
-
I think I told some of you,
-
I was swimming by this coral formation
-
and a moray eel came out.
-
I'm under water and I'm praising the Lord.
-
It's like Lord, this is phenomenal!
-
It's like from above (incomplete thought),
-
but you go under (incomplete thought).
-
This is all around us.
-
I mean this is everywhere.
-
God has created this creation
-
that is so staggering
-
and He meant it to be
-
so that when we look at it,
-
we say there is none like Him.
-
Just go to scientists.
-
Say create a machine
-
that you can put cotton
candy and potatoes into
-
and it will grow - the machine will grow
-
and be basically self-sustaining,
-
self-repairing.
-
If we get cut, it heals.
-
I mean, I recognize, my wife has been
-
struggling with this eczema,
-
but you know what?
-
She'll have it at one time, but it heals.
-
Create a machine that you can throw
-
all sorts of different kinds of food into
-
and this thing will
basically maintain itself.
-
And it will repair itself
if it gets damaged.
-
And it will self-replicate.
-
It will make more
machines just like itself.
-
That's what God has done
-
in designing the animal world,
-
the plant world,
-
designing humans.
-
You can break a bone and it will heal.
-
Our dog - this dog was a stray.
-
It's leg when it first came
-
was totally dangling.
-
The bone was totally broken.
-
We don't know what happened.
-
He got hit by a car?
-
We felt bad for it.
-
Ruby took it to the vet.
-
It was just a stray.
-
They wanted a thousand dollars.
-
We said, no, we're not
doing it. It's a stray.
-
The vet said let me tell you something -
-
she wanted her $1,000,
-
but she recognized it was a stray
-
and so she had mercy on us.
-
She told Ruby if you do nothing,
-
it will be fine.
-
Do you know that leg healed straight?
-
Those bones mended themselves.
-
See, we become so used to it.
-
And the scientific world out here
-
telling us so often:
-
it's just evolution.
-
It just all happened by chance.
-
We were primordial soup and slime
-
and lightning must have
struck it or something,
-
and life came out
-
and survival of the fittest
-
and this whole thing evolved.
-
And you know they pound that into heads,
-
pound that into heads,
-
that there's nothing special,
nothing special, nothing special.
-
When God is saying, oh no,
-
this is so spectacular.
-
And that's just My handiwork,
-
so says Psalm 19.
-
But He says it declares My glory.
-
And you do well to lift up your eyes
-
and look at it.
-
Have you ever been there
-
where you've looked
up at the stars at night
-
and your mind begins to go out there
-
further and further and further?
-
There's galaxies and there's stars.
-
The bigger the telescope,
-
the farther we can look,
-
the more we see.
-
We've never seen the end.
-
The better our electron microscopes become
-
and the smaller we see.
-
In Darwin's day, they really did think
-
that the cell was basically
-
just this little thing of jelly.
-
You've seen it.
-
If you haven't, you need to not just look
-
at what the Hubble telescope can see.
-
Look at the inner workings of the cell.
-
I'm sure many of you have done that.
-
What is happening in
each one of your cells
-
is so complex.
-
You know what, as an engineer
-
I recognize this:
-
(incomplete thought)
-
The more difficult the task,
-
if you were trying to design a machine
-
to do things like replicate itself
-
or repair itself,
-
you get into realms where the complexity
-
becomes so great
-
that it's just never going to work.
-
You're just going to run into
such problems of complexity
-
that nothing works.
-
Everything has to align perfectly.
-
Everything has to work together perfectly.
-
Do you realize that's what has happened
-
when God has designed us?
-
And not only that,
-
He breathed life into us.
-
We have a soul.
-
We have an ability to think.
-
There are such things going on.
-
Each DNA is so marvelously complex.
-
Have you ever seen?
-
You've got these machines in each cell.
-
It's like these stamping,
like these presses
-
and they're forming these bits of what?
-
I'm trying to think.
-
You've got little things that walk around.
-
Have you seen those
little things that walk?
-
You've got the DNA that
basically is in a spiral,
-
but you've got this little
machine that comes
-
and spins the thing
straight and separates it
-
and reads the code.
-
And one side, the code is written right,
-
and on the other side,
-
the code is written opposite.
-
It's written like the Hebrew.
-
And the thing actually has
to read the code on the left,
-
and it has to spin the code...
-
It's like the closer in we look...
-
And you know what God is saying to us?
-
I did that.
-
Who are you going to compare to Me?
-
I did that by My greatness.
-
I'll tell you, brethren,
-
He has created this universe
-
to put Himself on display.
-
I highly commend that you look at it.
-
Because the more you look,
-
we have a God who's interested in beauty.
-
We have a God who has
done such great things.
-
He is saying to us:
-
I am like no other.
-
Look at it all.
-
You can't comprehend it.
-
Have you ever seen these octopus
-
that basically come over
and in a moment: poof!
-
They can change color like that.
-
On the spot.
-
They can swim in front of something else
-
and just woosh!
-
They just change color.
-
Look with me at Romans 1.
-
What we observe happening
-
99% of the universities
in the United States
-
reject Genesis 1:1.
-
And more than that in Europe likely.
-
Do you know what happens
-
when you look at the
vastness of all of this?
-
The breathtaking spectactular things
-
that God has done?
-
And you say:
-
evolution did that.
-
Big bang did that.
-
It's an accident.
-
It's chance.
-
All proud man.
-
Romans 1:18 says this:
-
"The wrath of God..."
-
Listen, I want you to see
where I'm going with this.
-
More than that, I want you to see
-
where Scripture goes with this.
-
What God is saying right here is this:
-
I have wrath and I have wrath towards man,
-
and it has everything
to do with My creation.
-
You say what?
-
God's wrath to man
-
has to do with His creation?
-
You better believe it does.
-
And when man looks at that creation
-
and he says chance did that,
-
God burns with wrath.
-
"The wrath of God is revealed from heaven
-
against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men."
-
Now if we just stood right
there we might say,
-
you know, man's sexual immorality
-
and man is a thief.
-
But do you know what unrighteousness
-
He specifically has in mind?
-
That the wrath of God
is being revealed against?
-
"...Who by their unrighteousness
-
suppress the truth."
-
Ok, now if we just stopped right there.
-
Well, they suppress the truth.
-
Okay, what truth?
-
Yeah, we could deny that
we're actually sinners.
-
We could deny that truth.
-
We could deny that Jesus
is really the Savior,
-
that He really went to the
cross to die for sinners.
-
And undoubtedly sinners do
suppress those truths.
-
But look at the very truth
-
that God has in mind here.
-
"For what can be known..." -
-
what man can see to be truth about God -
-
"...what can be known about God
-
is plain to them."
-
And do you know what's amazing
-
is people in this world run around
-
and say it's not plain.
-
They say it isn't.
-
None of this is plain.
-
But isn't it interesting
God says it is plain.
-
Men say no, it's not plain.
-
God says it is plain.
-
"...Because God has shown it to them."
-
You know why it's plain?
-
Because God did do
such a thing in creation
-
that it reveals things to man
-
that make it plain.
-
For you to say chance did this,
-
that is so utterly foolish.
-
That is purposely being blind.
-
Do you know what
suppressing the truth means?
-
It means you're putting your own eyes out.
-
It means you won't see.
-
You don't want to see.
-
That's what suppressing the truth is.
-
"God has shown it to them."
-
Where has He shown it to them?
-
Excuse me.
-
Not specifically at the cross.
-
Yes, God shows things to us at the cross.
-
But what's amazing here
-
is God goes back to the beginning.
-
This is Genesis 1:1.
-
"For His invisible attributes..."
-
In other words, God is invisible.
-
We can't see Him.
-
That's true. We cannot see Him.
-
Man by his first sin put those eyes out.
-
He's invisible.
-
"His invisible attributes,
-
namely His eternal power
and divine nature."
-
So His power - eternal power.
-
Infinite power.
-
Power that He's had everlastingly.
-
His divine nature - who He is like.
-
"...They have been clearly perceived."
-
You get this:
-
What can be known about God is plain.
-
God has shown them.
-
It's been clearly perceived.
-
Where?
-
Ever since the creation of the world.
-
Well, you might say,
-
ever since the creation of the world -
-
but see, He gets even more specific.
-
The reason He alludes
to creation of the world
-
is because at the creation of the world
-
God created the heavens and the earth.
-
Those are the things that have been made.
-
And see, it's those things
-
that have been made.
-
You see, this is what He says in Isaiah.
-
He says look up.
-
The heavens declare My glory.
-
You know what it says?
-
It says there's speech day to day.
-
It's speaking to us all around us.
-
It speaks.
-
It's saying something
to us about who God is.
-
It's saying something to us
-
about His greatness.
-
And then it says this:
-
They are without excuse.
-
God's wrath is burning for this reason:
-
This creation - man can look at himself
-
in the mirror
-
(incomplete thought).
-
Some things that we so
simply take for granted -
-
a child has teeth
-
and all the teeth fall out.
-
Why?
-
Because their head grew.
-
And they need bigger teeth.
-
If you kept the small teeth in there,
-
you know what it would
look like if they spread out?
-
You'd just have these little daggers.
-
But God has them all fall out.
-
And He gives a whole new set.
-
That doesn't happen 3, 4, or 5 times. Why?
-
Because you're a child once
and then you grow up
-
and then you're an adult.
-
And then you don't grow anymore.
-
"Oh, that just evolved."
-
We can smell.
-
And not everything smells nasty.
-
I mean, we can smell.
-
We can see.
-
And God forms a rose.
-
And it's beautiful and you can smell it.
-
If you think, we sleep.
-
God designed rest into this thing.
-
Where did that come from?
-
So many things we just take for granted.
-
And God says you don't have any excuse.
-
"Although they knew God,
-
they did not honor Him as God."
-
You see that?
-
"Although they knew God,
-
they did not honor Him as God
-
or give thanks to Him,
-
but they became futile in their thinking.
-
Their foolish hearts were darkened.
-
Claiming to be wise they became fools."
-
And these people are running
around claiming to be wise.
-
They've got all their degrees.
-
They're professors at what university?
-
And you have a Ph.D. in what?
-
Oh yeah, they'll rattle those off.
-
They're very wise in their own eyes.
-
But God says they're fools.
-
And they've suppressed the truth
-
and the wrath of God is abiding on them.
-
And it has to do with what God created.
-
And I'll tell you this
-
and you know this, you can deduce this,
-
but if God made it all,
-
He owns it all.
-
And Scripture says,
-
"The heavens are Yours,
-
the earth also is Yours,
-
the world and all that is in it.
-
You have founded them."
-
Very simple logic.
-
You made them.
-
You founded them.
-
You own them.
-
God says if I were hungry,
-
I wouldn't tell you.
-
The world in its fullness are Mine.
-
I don't need you.
-
In fact, Scripture tells us we are His.
-
"The earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof,
-
the world and those who dwell therein."
-
You see, we belong to Him,
-
and He's got a right to
tell us how to live.
-
And we know full well
-
the doctrine of evolution
-
is meant to kill God.
-
But it is so suicidal.
-
I mean, think about it.
-
You're standing on the train tracks.
-
The train's coming behind you.
-
You plug your ears.
-
And you say, "there's no train there."
-
The thing's blowing its whistles,
-
and even then, those airhorns
-
get through your fingers
plugging your ears.
-
So you basically take screwdrivers
-
and you just rip your eardrums out.
-
And you can still feel the vibration.
-
So you put tennis shoes
on so you can't feel it.
-
It's stupid.
-
It's suicidal.
-
And yet, we know what
2 Thessalonians says.
-
Men love to believe a lie.
-
But how foolish is that
when death is coming.
-
It's like Charles Leiter said
-
at the Denton Conference this year.
-
You have a test and it seems like
-
it's way off in the distance,
-
and bang! It's there before you know it.
-
And I remember when graduating in 1983
-
seemed like, oh, that's so far away.
-
And now I'm so far beyond it.
-
It's like death is going to take men.
-
And it is so foolish
-
to suppress this truth.
-
But, "In the beginning, God created
-
the heavens and the earth."
-
There's one Person here. "God created."
-
You weren't there. I'm
not there. Job wasn't there.
-
Do you remember what He said to Job?
-
"Job, where were you when I laid
-
the foundation of the earth?
-
Tell me if you have understanding."
-
And I find that very interesting.
-
God is not asking Job if Job laid
-
the foundation of the earth.
-
He's simply asking Job:
-
Job, where were you
when I laid the foundation?
-
And I think we could ask anybody that.
-
We could ask all these folks
-
that run around these dogmatic natural
-
humanistic evolutionists:
-
Where were you?
-
You know what's so important
about that question?
-
Science requires observation.
-
Where were the scientists?
-
Where were they?
-
Job, where were you
-
when I laid the foundation?
-
Scientists, professors,
-
biology professors at the universities
-
that so dogmatically declare,
-
where were you?
-
You see, none of us -
-
we were nowhere.
-
Science - if it's legitimate science -
-
has to observe.
-
But you know the thing about creation?
-
It was a miracle.
-
And even if the scientist is there
-
when a miracle takes place,
-
he's got all of his instruments,
-
it doesn't work. Why?
-
Because what is the nature of a miracle?
-
It transcends the physical laws.
-
That's basically what a miracle is.
-
It's supernatural.
-
You have what's natural -
-
the natural laws,
-
the natural way things work.
-
Supernatural means outside that realm.
-
Beyond, above.
-
Creation was a massive miracle.
-
I'm just going to say this
-
as we wrap up today.
-
There's much more about this verse
-
that I want to say.
-
But Scripture says this,
-
"By faith (Hebrews 11:3),
-
By faith we understand
-
that the universe was created
-
by the Word of God,
-
so that what is seen was not made
-
out of things that are visible."
-
Did you catch that?
-
By faith.
-
It's not by science.
-
It's by faith.
-
Science has nothing to say about creation
-
because no scientist was there.
-
And creation is a massive
-
supernatural miracle.
-
And science has no answer for that.
-
Science has no more answer for that
-
that it has for the Red Sea parting.
-
Do you know that in the days of Joshua
-
God stopped the sun?
-
What can science say about that?
-
Science can say:
-
Well, we know the laws of physics.
-
If you take the earth -
-
and my understanding is
-
that out at the very edge of the earth
-
it is spinning round and round and round
-
at about 500-something miles an hour.
-
Is that right?
-
I think that's the speed.
-
If you just bang! You just stop it.
-
What's going to happen?
-
Well, just imagine
-
you don't have your seatbelt on,
-
and you're driving home
-
and dad just slams on the brakes.
-
You're only going 30 miles an hour.
-
He just slams on the brakes.
-
What's going to happen?
-
That's 30 miles an hour.
-
That's not 500 miles an hour.
-
What happens?
-
You continue going and it stops.
-
I mean, see the scientists would say,
-
oh, that's impossible!
We'd all be thrown...
-
Have we never heard
-
that He who created all in the beginning
-
sustains it all by the power of His Word?
-
Is He able to stop this thing
-
without the laws of physics
-
carrying us all,
-
launched at 500 miles
an hour out into space?
-
That's what He did.
-
Do you know in another day -
-
what was it, the days of Ahaz?
-
The sundial went backwards.
-
Or is that the days of Hezekiah?
-
That was Hezekiah I think.
-
It went backwards 10 degrees.
-
That happened. And God can do that.
-
Can science explain that?
-
Let me tell you on another day,
-
the sun just went out.
-
Remember that day?
-
How are you going to explain that?
-
How are you going to explain
-
an ax head floating?
-
How do you explain Jesus, not floating,
-
but walking on the water?
-
Brethren, we have for us our Savior,
-
the God of the church of Jesus Christ,
-
our God is the God of the miraculous.
-
He's the God of the supernatural.
-
Don't you dare let the scientists
-
try to take that away from you,
-
because I'll tell you what,
-
God being a Creator and
God being a Redeemer
-
is brought together time
and again in Scripture.
-
And we'll look at that, just not today.
-
Faith.
-
It's by faith we understand
-
that the universe was created
-
by the Word of God.
-
Charles Darwin could read that.
-
Steven Hawking could read that.
-
University biology professors can read
-
that "in the beginning, God created
-
the heavens and the earth."
-
Most of our children can read that.
-
The issues is not the complexity and depth
-
of perception needed
to read that statement,
-
understand what's being said.
-
It's plain what's being said.
-
The issue is this:
-
the issue is faith.
-
Do you have the faith to believe
-
what is being said?
-
That is the issue.
-
It's not an issue of science.
-
It's an issue of faith.
-
You either believe this or you don't.
-
But listen, to all mankind God says this:
-
He says, "Believe."
-
And He says My wrath is against you
-
if you suppress this truth.
-
But He says it, look up.
-
He says the heavens declare My glory.
-
And He says day to day pours forth speech.
-
Listen to it.
-
Day to day pours forth speech.
-
That's right there in the context of:
-
it declares My glory.
-
Listen to it.
-
Look around.
-
All of this, all of that.
-
In a moment, this God -
-
there is such power.
-
If you have ever been close
-
to one bolt of lightning...
-
Have you ever noticed?
-
Men are very confident,
-
but let one bolt of lightning
-
strike close to a man.
-
You remember what it did to Martin Luther?
-
The guy's like repenting
-
and calling upon one of the saints
-
and dedicating his life - why?
-
That's what one bolt of lightning does.
-
It's so terrifying to man!
-
Let it strike by one
of these evolutionists
-
or these biologists, by these professors.
-
It terrifies them!
-
That's one bolt of lightning.
-
God created all of this
-
by the Word of His power.
-
It says He spoke
-
and it was there.
-
And God says:
-
Your Redeemer is He
-
who created all this.
-
It's like, wow! I need
a Redeemer like that.
-
Because I need somebody to break the laws,
-
the physical laws that held me -
-
do you know there
is a law of sin and death?
-
That's a natural law.
-
It's a spiritual law, but it holds men.
-
They need a supernatural God.
-
I need a God that is so strong!
-
We have a God of the miraculous.
-
That's the God of the church.
-
The God who acts.
-
The God who can do anything.
-
And Scripture constantly
wants to bring those together.
-
He created. He's your Redeemer.
-
There's one place where He says:
-
Who are you that you fear men?
-
I am the Lord and I created all of this.
-
Sometimes we just have to stop and say:
-
who are we?
-
We are the people
-
who are in the palm of this God
-
and kept.
-
When Jesus says nobody
can pluck you from there,
-
it's like look up.
-
Look around.
-
That is no small statement.
-
We have such a God who can say,
-
"Let there be light."
-
Poof!
-
Let there be sun and moon and stars.
-
Poof!
-
That's so... poof!
-
But look out there at night.
-
Get the Hubble telescope pictures.
-
He just by the Word of His power...
-
And He says, "I am your Redeemer."
-
Who are you that you're afraid of men?
-
Who are we?
-
Well, Lord, we're pretty small,
-
insignificant and weak.
-
When He says, "Who are you?"
-
He's saying, "You are My people."
-
And it's the M-Y in there
-
that you ought to
sit up and take notice to.
-
You are My people.
-
And you need to remember who I am
-
and if you belong to Me,
-
who are you?
-
We're the people of the God
-
who created all of this.
-
We are the people who belong
-
to the God of the miraculous.
-
"In the beginning, God..."
-
Father, may we live constantly -
-
Lord, help us to live constantly
-
remembering who we are,
-
who You are,
-
where we are, what we are,
-
what we've become,
-
what You've made us.
-
We think of those people
-
who suppress the knowledge of You,
-
and specifically the apostle says
-
they don't give thanks.
-
Lord, thank You.
-
Thank You that in all Your vastness
-
of power and wisdom,
-
You didn't crush us like fleas.
-
You didn't just throw us on the dung heap.
-
You didn't deal with us and treat us
-
according to our sins,
-
and sin falls short of the glory of God
-
and we sought to desecrate
that glory by our sin.
-
With high hand, we rebelled
-
and we spit on You,
-
and we would have in our natural state
-
killed Christ just as
they did in that day.
-
And You spared us.
-
Mercy - oh, there is mercy.
-
You are a God that shows mercy.
-
You didn't just terrify
us with Your power.
-
You melted us with Your love.
-
And we thank You for that.
-
We thank You in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.