1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:07,320 And as you find your seat, let me invite you to open your 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,480 Bibles to the book of Genesis. We are starting a new series 3 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:15,520 this morning in the book of Genesis. 4 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:18,160 I, I usually try to alternate between the Old Testament, New 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:23,320 Testament and we did Numbers and then we went James and then now 6 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,440 we're back in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis. 7 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:33,240 Somebody asked me this morning, how long do you plan to be in 8 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,360 Genesis? And I said, my, my hope is 2 9 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,640 years or less, but I will be in it for as long as the Lord wants 10 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,920 us to be in it. But this morning we'll be in 11 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:46,720 Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 to 23. 12 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,120 I won't read the text upfront because as I go through it, I'll 13 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:54,920 read it. So if you will open with me. 14 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,200 In a word of prayers, we ask God to please speak to us through 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:05,840 His Word. Father, we are thankful for your 16 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,200 word and opportunity to to gather as a church and as we 17 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:12,080 start this new journey in the book of Genesis. 18 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:19,440 God, I pray that you would give us everything that we need over 19 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,000 the next year, two years or 10 years, however it long it may 20 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:29,680 be. God, you see where we still need 21 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,880 sanctification. You see it perfectly where we 22 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:38,560 are blind and, and, and have blind spots and, and are unaware 23 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,680 of the, the, the areas of our life that need to be refined. 24 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,640 We know that you see perfectly. And so Lord, we pray that you 25 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:49,080 would please give us what is needed to have sanctification in 26 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,160 those areas. Would you use this book? 27 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,560 Would you use the text this morning, Lord, to sanctify us, 28 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,280 to make us more like Christ? God? 29 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:02,200 Would you give us a greater vision of you, Lord, as even as 30 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:06,760 we consider your creation, we consider the stars and the 31 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,600 heavens and mountains and trees and rivers and rocks? 32 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,120 Give us, please give us an awe of you, God, that that 33 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:21,480 transcends what we are capable of in and of ourselves. 34 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:24,880 I pray this now in the name of Jesus. 35 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:31,760 Amen. Over the past 15 years that I've 36 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,680 been here in Seattle, 2 of the topics that I have been asked to 37 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:45,320 teach on the most are Creation and Eschatology, Genesis and 38 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,720 Revelation, the first book of the Bible and the last book of 39 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,560 the Bible. I have actually wanted to preach 40 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:56,640 on Genesis for several years. It's it's a phenomenal book, but 41 00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:59,680 I haven't, it's been, I haven't done it in 15 years. 42 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,800 I never have in my whole life for two reasons, 2/2 of many 43 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:07,600 reasons. Number one, it is quite long 44 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:12,240 based on word count. It's actually the second longest 45 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,440 book in the Bible based on word count behind Jeremiah. 46 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,320 And #2 there has been more written on the topic of 47 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,720 evolution than I ever care to read about. 48 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:29,200 But being that we are a new church, if you're busy with us 49 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,520 this morning, we're called Grace and Truth Baptist Church. 50 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,040 We formerly were called Chinese Southern Baptist Church. 51 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,040 We just started this new church January 1st. 52 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,800 Being that we are a new church, this is our genesis. 53 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,400 I thought it would be befitting to finally teach on this book. 54 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:49,320 I, I, I won't be going through all of it. 55 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,240 There are sections here, there's genealogies and, and, and, you 56 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,840 know, other sections that I probably won't spend a whole lot 57 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:59,760 of time on, but we'll hopefully attempt to be led by the Spirit 58 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:02,240 as far as far as what God wants us to focus on. 59 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:08,600 Let me say upfront, especially in the first few chapters of 60 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,240 this book, I may leave you wanting. 61 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:16,640 I may leave you wanting. I have no desire to get into the 62 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,800 dozens and dozens and dozens of theories of how to interpret the 63 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,600 first few chapters. I think that's better left to 64 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,880 seminary class. But I will do my very best to 65 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:30,960 give you some of the main proponents. 66 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,160 I'll give you what I hope that the Spirit has led me, that this 67 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,120 is what you, the church body, need to hear. 68 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,840 And if you would like to dive deeper, let me encourage you to 69 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:46,320 take a seminary course. There are online courses you can 70 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:47,560 take. You don't have to be a seminary 71 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:49,200 student. Anybody can sign up for them. 72 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,440 You can take a biblical class on the book of Genesis if you would 73 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,960 like to dive more into that. One thing I want to remind us of 74 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:04,720 is that we must remember that the Bible is not primarily 75 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:14,360 concerned with how things began with Adam, but how things were 76 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:22,600 finished with the second atom. We often get so hung up on how 77 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,400 things began, but that's not what this book is about. 78 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,680 This book is about how things were finished with the second 79 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:33,880 atom. I want to remind us of that as 80 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:41,360 we go through this, but I want to give you your time's worth 81 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:43,720 here. So well, let's dive in. 82 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,960 We got a lot to get to Genesis 11. 83 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:53,280 I'm going to be doing expedition application together because it 84 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:56,160 just, it seemed to fit well that way. 85 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,600 So let's look at this section by section. 86 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:06,400 Genesis 11 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the 87 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,560 earth. We can just pause right there. 88 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:16,120 What a glorious verse. One of my favorite things to 89 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:20,080 watch is documentaries. I love watching to see how a new 90 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,720 company, how a company began. Do you know what? 91 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,560 Like how did Amazon begin? How did Coca-Cola begin? 92 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,440 Or maybe seen a documentary on a movie star or an athlete. 93 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,600 Like how did their career begin? How did they get their start in 94 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:34,280 acting? How did they get their start? 95 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:41,120 And music or you know, movies, whatever sports here we are 96 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:45,480 told, how did this world begin? Right? 97 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,560 We, we, we look at this world and we think, how did we get 98 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:53,880 here? Where did all this come from? 99 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,760 How did we get all of this beauty? 100 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:04,000 We see right here we're told where it all began. 101 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:09,360 And I want to begin the sermon by breaking down verse 1 into 4 102 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,880 parts, four parts. Let's let's start with the first 103 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:16,280 part in the beginning. In the beginning, the name of 104 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:19,280 this book, Genesis is actually a Greek term. 105 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:21,000 It's not a Hebrew term. It's a Greek term. 106 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:25,440 It's it which it's translated birth or genealogy. 107 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,160 It's a term that reflects beginnings. 108 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,000 It it, it's meant to tell us what is the beginning of 109 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:33,200 something. And I think one of the main 110 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,800 questions that people have surrounding this topic is this 111 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,720 when was the beginning? The Bible says in the beginning, 112 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,720 when was the beginning? You wish, you know, they would 113 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,720 say in the year, you know, like, but we don't get that. 114 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,160 So when was there are two main theories that are out there. 115 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,000 You've heard of them as old Earth and young earth. 116 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:58,240 I'm sure you've heard this before, young Earth. 117 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,960 Some people will attempt to trace the timeline in the Bible 118 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:05,320 through the genealogies though the there be people have 119 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,080 actually sat there and traced all the genealogies and they 120 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:11,440 come up with around maybe 6000 to 7000 years old, right. 121 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:13,560 This earth is around 6007 thousand years old. 122 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,040 Some will assume, some scholars will assume that genealogies are 123 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,800 missing, that we're missing generations in those 124 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,080 genealogies. They'll come up with around 10 125 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,160 to 15,000 years old. So young earth can be anywhere 126 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:29,520 from 6 to 7000 or 10 to 15,000. That's young earth. 127 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:35,080 The other theory is old Earth. Now old Earth is not derived 128 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,880 from the Bible. Anybody who has an old earth 129 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:39,360 view does not derive this from the Bible. 130 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,760 It's derived from science. Scientists place the earth at 131 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:47,160 around 4 1/2 billion years old, give or take. 132 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:51,120 Now which do I personally hold to? 133 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:54,760 I actually hold to a young earth. 134 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:59,920 I believe that the earth is only around 10 to 15,000 years old. 135 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:04,200 I understand I'm probably the minority and this science driven 136 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,800 culture, but I actually believe the earth is only around 10 to 137 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,680 15,000 years old. Some people will say how can you 138 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:14,040 possibly have that view with all the scientific data? 139 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:22,680 How could you, our pastor have this view with all the science 140 00:09:22,680 --> 00:09:25,320 that is out there? My answer is usually twofold. 141 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:27,960 A Science has been wrong many times. 142 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:33,760 I don't have any. I mean, we used to think that 143 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:35,240 the Earth was the center of the universe. 144 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:41,200 Science has been wrong many times. 145 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,000 I don't have any problem believing that science is wrong. 146 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,720 BI also don't have any problem believing that perhaps maybe the 147 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,320 Earth is 4 1/2 billion years old. 148 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:56,720 Maybe God made it that way. Maybe when he made it, it was 149 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,520 old. Remember when Jesus turned the 150 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:03,320 water into wine, it was old wine. 151 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:09,880 Maybe he made it old. Now that's for me. 152 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,000 Which theory should you hold to? Right? 153 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,680 Like what should you hold to? I can't tell you that there are 154 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:22,600 well respected conservative evangelical scholars who hold to 155 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,600 old Earth, and I don't think it's radical. 156 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:27,880 So, you know, if you're here and you're like, what? 157 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:29,920 You know, Pastor Matt, can I be a member of this church and hold 158 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:31,800 to an old earth view? Yes. 159 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:34,560 I don't believe it's radical if you hold to an old earth. 160 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:39,080 Is there a way to reconcile old Earth with the Bible? 161 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:42,440 In other words, if you hold to it all, if you genuinely believe 162 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:44,880 the earth is 4 and a billion years old, can you reconcile 163 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:47,560 that with the Bible? Yes, Yes you can. 164 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:49,200 It is. You say how? 165 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:51,360 Here's one way. Here's one way. 166 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:52,720 Maybe not the only way, but one way. 167 00:10:53,200 --> 00:11:00,440 It is possible to believe that God created all matter and all 168 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:06,160 energy in verses one to two. That in verses one to two God 169 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:08,840 made all matter and all energy and verses 1 to 2. 170 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:13,200 And then the six days of creation is simply the ordering 171 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:19,200 and structuring of things. So God could make all matter and 172 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:24,680 energy and then have just let it sit there for 4 1/2 billion 173 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:28,520 years. Remember a day in the Lord's 174 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:32,840 like 10,000 And then he decided to actually structure it to make 175 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:36,640 things that would allow for the earth to be billions of years 176 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:40,120 old and for the six days to be literal. 177 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:42,720 So you could reconcile it that way. 178 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:45,960 Now, I don't reconcile it that way, but you could reconcile it 179 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,840 that way. Now, before I close this 180 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:54,160 discussion on the age of the Earth, there are two truths that 181 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:56,640 we need to keep in mind. Make sure you hear these two 182 00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:01,960 truths. A The age of this Earth is a low 183 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,480 second tier issue. Let's talk about first tier 184 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:07,880 issues, second tier issues, and 3rd tier issues. 185 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:11,240 And even on those tiers, there's a spectrum of each tier. 186 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:17,240 The age of this Earth is a second tier issue and it's a low 187 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:19,960 second tier issue. This is not something we should 188 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,440 divide over. This is not something that we 189 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:27,920 should break fellowship over. And B second truth, I want to 190 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:33,840 encourage you all, don't get so hung up on the age of the earth 191 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:39,760 that you miss the awe of God's creation of it. 192 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:46,080 Second part, first was in the beginning. 193 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:48,720 Second part, I want to break up God. 194 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:53,040 Just that word, God. In the beginning God. 195 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:57,040 Often the most emphasized word in verse one is beginning. 196 00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:59,600 We want to know when the beginning was, but let's be 197 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:05,000 clear that the most important word in verse one is God. 198 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:08,840 This word is important for two reasons. 199 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,600 A. It assumes God's a sayity. 200 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:14,440 There's a sayity. Now I understand you may not 201 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:18,160 know what that phrase means. A sayity is the doctrine that 202 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,560 teaches many things, but one of which is this. 203 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:24,440 God has self existence. God is uncaused. 204 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:27,680 God's a sayity means that he has always existed. 205 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,680 He is the only thing that is the only one who has has always 206 00:13:31,680 --> 00:13:35,720 existed. He is uncaused in the beginning. 207 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,240 God. Now just stop and ponder that 208 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:43,440 for a moment. There was a time when there was 209 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:49,800 nothing except God. There was a time that all that 210 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:54,200 existed was the Trinity, and that's it. 211 00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:00,000 God has always been there. He has always existed. 212 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:04,600 That's the first reason that this matters. 213 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:09,760 Second reason, it testifies that God did all of this. 214 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,120 The universe didn't create itself. 215 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,640 The universe is not eternal. Scientists, when they often, you 216 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:24,160 know, many scientists may be atheist or maybe agnostic. 217 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:27,160 And then when they try to figure out where, where, where did 218 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:29,280 stuff come from, right? Things don't come from nothing. 219 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:31,200 So where did it, where did matter come from? 220 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,600 Where did energy come from? Where did it start? 221 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,120 The only conclusion you can get is you make the universe 222 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:39,840 eternal. The universe has always existed. 223 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,080 That's not true. The universe has not always 224 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,120 existed. God has always existed. 225 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:53,560 Energy has not always existed. God did all of this. 226 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,120 Regardless of whether you believe in an old earth or a 227 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:03,840 young earth, you must believe in an infinitely old God and we 228 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,960 must believe that God did all of this. 229 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:11,960 Those things are second. But what what is not a second 230 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,640 tier issue is, is that you believe that God created this 231 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:20,800 and that he has always existed. 3rd part I want to break down. 232 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,760 In the beginning God created. I want, I want to focus on that 233 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,320 word created in the beginning God created. 234 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:31,560 The Big Bang theory will not work with the Bible. 235 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,760 The Big Bang theory will not work with the Bible. 236 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:43,120 The Bible clearly tells us that God was active in this creation. 237 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:48,280 It's not as though God made trillions of atoms and then over 238 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:54,160 billions of years we just arrived at this universe that 239 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,440 God made all the atoms that exist and then we just somehow 240 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,400 got here. I remember one of my professors 241 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:07,320 in college saying that would be as crazy as taking one of 242 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:12,280 Shakespeare's plays, cutting up every single letter in the play, 243 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:19,320 putting it in a giant container, throwing it up in the air, and 244 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,200 then when it fell back down, thinking it would form back into 245 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:27,880 the original play. You could throw it up in the air 246 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:33,280 for four and a half billion years and you would never arrive 247 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:37,000 back at that original play. We all know this to be true. 248 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:43,640 And let's be clear, the universe is far more complex than a 249 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:48,760 Shakespearean play. The human body alone is far more 250 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:51,120 complex than a Shakespearean play. 251 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:58,640 We didn't arrive here over 4 1/2 billion years by just chance. 252 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:04,319 God did this. God created this. 253 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,839 Now if God did the creating, what did he create with, right? 254 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:13,880 If I create a ceramic bowl, if you, if if you see a ceramic 255 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:15,720 bowl in my house and somebody says, where'd you get that bowl? 256 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,640 And I said, I made it right. You don't assume I just said 257 00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:22,839 exist. You assume I use some clay, 258 00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:25,440 don't you? You assume I use some kind of 259 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:29,880 material to make this bowl. What did God create with? 260 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,040 This is where we get the doctrine called ex nahilo. 261 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,200 Ex nahilo, it's a Latin term, means out of nothing. 262 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:43,760 God created out of nothing. He did not need clay to make 263 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:46,560 this world. He did not need energy to make 264 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:51,200 this world. He created out of nothing. 265 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,280 Brothers and sisters, let that doctrine of ex nihilo be a great 266 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:02,760 comfort to you. Let it be a great comfort when a 267 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:09,840 trial seems impossible, when the womb has been called barren, 268 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:18,280 when the cancer diagnosis is terminal, when the marriage has 269 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:24,520 felt hopeless, when the addict has been labeled unredeemable, 270 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,720 when the dream is considered unreachable. 271 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,640 Do not lose sight of this reality. 272 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:45,760 God made this out of nothing. He can take your nothing and 273 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:55,040 make something out of it. That's what He does. 4th part in 274 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,680 the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 275 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,320 The heavens and the earth. The Bible is clear that God made 276 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,040 everything. The only thing that wasn't made 277 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,120 is the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy 278 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:09,280 Spirit. The three of them have existed 279 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:11,960 for all of eternity, but everything else has been 280 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:14,520 created. Heavens and earth are hand 281 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,600 deities to refer to this whole universe as we know it, John 282 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:19,760 writes. All things were made through Him 283 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:24,000 and without Him was not anything made that was made. 284 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,800 John 14. Now before we move on to verse 285 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:34,720 2, this this verse one does raise two last questions that I 286 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,480 want to raise now. One scientific and one 287 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,920 philosophical, one scientific, one philosophical, scientific 288 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:43,240 question. There's a question that 289 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,760 everybody wants to ask. Did God use evolution in his 290 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:50,440 creating process? When God made this world, did he 291 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:53,840 use evolution in his creating process? 292 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,600 There was an article published a few weeks ago. 293 00:19:57,760 --> 00:19:59,880 Some of you may have seen, I'm not sure, there was an article 294 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:04,000 published a few weeks ago entitled This Creationism is Not 295 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,840 as Common as You Think. That was the name of the 296 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:08,600 article. Creationism is not as common as 297 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:11,880 you think. Pew Religious Landscape survey 298 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,440 asked this question. Here's the question. 299 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:18,400 Which statement about the development of human life on 300 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,200 earth comes closest to your view? 301 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,960 And they give you 3 statements. Number one, humans have evolved 302 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,480 over time due to processes such as natural selection. 303 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:33,880 God or a higher power has no role in this process. 304 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:36,880 That's the kind of a pure evolution view. 305 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:43,160 Statement 2 Humans have evolved over time due to processes that 306 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,960 were guided or allowed by God or a higher power. 307 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,600 This is kind of a intelligent design view, sort of. 308 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:56,960 And then three humans have existed in their present form 309 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,000 since the beginning of time. This is called the creationist 310 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,640 view. Of the 37,000 respondents that 311 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:13,680 took this 37,000, 33% took view. 133% had a pure evolution view. 312 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:20,520 Many of these were evangelicals. 48% took view 2, the intelligent 313 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:25,760 design. Only 17% took view 3, the 314 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:31,480 creationist view. I am not going to wade in the 315 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,960 Muddy Waters of evolution, but here's what I'm going to say. 316 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:40,520 Church family, I want to warn you, although there are some 317 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:45,320 parts of evolution that are true, we see, you know, birds 318 00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:48,080 adapting to their environment and so forth and so on. 319 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:53,240 Although there are some parts that are true, most of it is 320 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:59,160 godless. Most of evolution is godless. 321 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:06,920 It's void of God. Be careful. 322 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:12,480 That's the scientific question. Here's the philosophical 323 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:16,640 question. Why did God create the heavens 324 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,680 and the earth? Never stop and wonder that. 325 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:23,640 Yeah, I mean, the philosophical question is why is there 326 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:27,520 something rather than nothing? Why does something exist rather 327 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:31,120 than nothing? Let's be first clear why God 328 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:34,840 didn't create the universe? It wasn't because he was needy. 329 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,800 It wasn't because he was lonely. It wasn't because he was bored. 330 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:41,480 He wasn't up there in the heavens. 331 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:43,440 And he said, you know what? It's been trillions and 332 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:45,840 trillions of years. Why don't we make something? 333 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:50,440 He wasn't needy. He wasn't lonely. 334 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,160 He wasn't bored. Paul says he is not served by 335 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,480 human hands as though he needed anything. 336 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:01,800 So why did he? Why did God make this universe? 337 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,600 We're only given one answer in Scripture, Isaiah 43. 338 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:09,360 Six to seven. Bring my sons from afar, and my 339 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:11,040 daughters from the ends of the earth. 340 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:18,640 Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my 341 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:27,720 glory, Everything on this planet, everything in the 342 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,880 heavens, down to the most distant star that exists from 343 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:35,280 the black Ant, all the way to the peak of Mount Everest. 344 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:39,480 All of it was created to bring glory to God. 345 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:50,560 All of it. Verse 2 told you we got a lot to 346 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,680 get to. I'll move faster, don't worry. 347 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:59,440 Verse 2 The earth was without form and void and darkness was 348 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,720 over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering 349 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,880 over the face of the waters. Now what does this first 350 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,800 statement mean? The earth was without form and 351 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:10,880 void. What does that mean? 352 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,160 There's no consensus on to what exactly these two terms mean, 353 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,680 but based on my research, I think the best answer is this. 354 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:22,240 This is my best answer I could get from reading way more about 355 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:27,560 this than I ever wanted to. God initially made a planet. 356 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,400 He initially made a planet, but not the planet as we know it. 357 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,000 So what it says the earth was without form and void. 358 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:39,400 He made the earth, but it's not the planet that we as we know 359 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:40,680 it. It basically was a desert 360 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,120 wasteland. It was an uninhabitable desert 361 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:48,080 wasteland. As much as Elon Musk thinks that 362 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:52,040 we're going to live on Mars, I'm sorry, Mars, along with all 363 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:58,000 other planets are uninhabitable. So, and I think they always will 364 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:03,720 be. So there is a planet that exists 365 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:09,760 without form and void it. Is it like our Earth exists? 366 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,280 Like the other planets exist? They're uninhabitable. 367 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,520 Darkness was over the face of the deep. 368 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:19,560 What's interesting here is that darkness is given an identity. 369 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,920 Did you notice that? I mean, up at this point we 370 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,480 don't even know what is. You know, imagine if you had no 371 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:27,840 concept of what darkness was and somebody said darkness, you're 372 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,200 like, well, what is that? Darkness is given an identity 373 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:33,160 here. Here's another philosophical 374 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,320 question. Did God create darkness? 375 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,880 It's interesting question, isn't it? 376 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,400 Scholars and philosophers debate over this, but the Lord says in 377 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:49,000 Isaiah 45, seven I form light and I create darkness. 378 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:55,480 Since God is light, we have to assume that in some sense God 379 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,680 does in fact create darkness. Why? 380 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,200 Darkness would not exist if God didn't create it. 381 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:05,960 If if God is light, there's only light. 382 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:11,800 So for darkness to exist in some philosophical sense, God has to 383 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:17,000 create it. The Spirit of God was hovering 384 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,280 over the face of the waters. What is that? 385 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:22,840 The Spirit of God here? Does this refer to the Holy 386 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,400 Spirit? If you have the NRSV 387 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:29,320 translation, it says the wind from God was hovering over the 388 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,080 Why does it say wind from God? The reason is because the Hebrew 389 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:37,120 word for spirit here ruah. It can be translated capital 390 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:41,320 spirit or lowercase spirit, or wind or breath. 391 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:43,160 They all use the same Hebrew word. 392 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:47,200 But I think we should understand this as capital spirit, meaning. 393 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,480 I think this is, yes, I think this is the Holy Spirit. 394 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,160 The Holy Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the 395 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,400 waters. Now I want you to notice this. 396 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:58,840 Darkness was over the face of the waters. 397 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:02,680 There was darkness over the face of the waters, but what else? 398 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:07,160 So was the Spirit of God. Did you catch that? 399 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,640 Darkness was over the face of the waters, but so was the 400 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:15,520 Spirit of God. Even in complete darkness the 401 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:20,840 Spirit of God was there. Remember what the psalmist said? 402 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:26,120 Psalm 1391112 If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and 403 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:30,240 the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to 404 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,840 you. The night is bright as the day 405 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:41,040 for darkness is as light with you, brothers and sisters, even 406 00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:47,320 in your darkest hour, the Spirit of God is with you. 407 00:27:53,460 --> 00:27:59,820 That's verse one and two. Now we get to day one, day one, 408 00:28:00,980 --> 00:28:03,980 verses 3 to 5. This is day one, verses 3 to 5. 409 00:28:03,980 --> 00:28:10,900 And God said, let there be light, and there was light. 410 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,520 And God saw the light was good. God separated the light from the 411 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:17,920 darkness. God called the light day, and 412 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,480 the darkness he called night. And there was evening. 413 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,400 There was morning. The first day. 414 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:30,880 God said, let there be light. These are the first recorded 415 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,880 words of God. Now surely the among the Trinity 416 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,160 they had spoken to each other, but for our vantage point, these 417 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,440 are the first recorded words of our God. 418 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:46,040 Let there be light. It's a adjust of command, which 419 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,040 is a way of saying when you translate adjust of command, you 420 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:51,360 say let there. It's almost like a it's a 421 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:53,800 command, but it's like an Invitational command. 422 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:59,280 God says let there be light. Isn't it interesting that the 423 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:04,760 first command that God gives is that there should be light? 424 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:11,120 Everything about that John tells us that God is light. 425 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,600 It's as if God is telling us something about himself with 426 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,800 what he commands. First He wants us to know, like 427 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,800 this is who I am, let there be light. 428 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,000 And I want you to notice what happened when God said let there 429 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:31,400 be light. What happened there was light. 430 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,840 If I were stuck in the darkness and I needed light, I could say 431 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:43,200 all night long let there be light and there would never be 432 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:48,200 light. But when God says let there be 433 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:54,160 light, there is light. I like what Charles Hodges 434 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,720 writes. If the special work of 435 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,600 regeneration and the narrow sense of the word be the effect 436 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:04,360 of Almighty power, then it cannot be resisted any more than 437 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,760 an act of creation. The effect follows immediately 438 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,640 on the will of God, as when He said, let there be light, and 439 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:16,960 light was. In other words, we see the 440 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:21,720 effectual calling of God here. When God says let there be 441 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:27,920 light, light Harkins to his bed, it does not refuse him. 442 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:31,240 And the same is true for you and me. 443 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:36,160 Prior to salvation, we were blind. 444 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:42,920 All of us were blind. We were in complete darkness. 445 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:47,520 And as Paul writes in Second Corinthians 4/6, for God, who 446 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:51,520 said let light shine out of darkness, has shown into our 447 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:55,240 hearts to give light the knowledge of the glory of God in 448 00:30:55,240 --> 00:31:01,920 the face of Jesus Christ. When we were saved, God spoke to 449 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:06,840 our souls and he said let there be light. 450 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:15,680 That's what salvation is. He speaks to the darkness of 451 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:22,560 your soul and he says, let there be light and there is light. 452 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:32,040 And you see for the first time God looked at the light and what 453 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:39,040 did he say? He said it's good, God solved 454 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,240 the light was good. This is the first of seven times 455 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:46,560 in this chapter that God will declare what He creates to be 456 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,200 good. Let there be a reminder. 457 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:51,320 People often you look at this world, they say what a crummy 458 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:55,400 world it is not a crummy world. It is a good world. 459 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:06,040 We made it crummy. Notice God determines what is 460 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,240 good. If God calls it good, it is 461 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,080 good. And he said the light was good. 462 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,160 Did you notice He didn't call the darkness good? 463 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:21,400 He didn't say the darkness was good. 464 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:28,960 He said the light was good. You see, the world loves 465 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,600 darkness. We love the light. 466 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:41,520 We are people of the light. God separated the light from the 467 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:45,200 darkness five times. In this chapter we see God 468 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,720 naming his creation. He calls the light day. 469 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,520 He calls the darkness night. He calls the expanse heaven. 470 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:56,120 He calls the dry land earth. He calls the water seas. 471 00:32:56,440 --> 00:33:00,520 In chapter 1, we see God naming His creation, but after chapter 472 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,760 1, God will entrust naming to man. 473 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,360 Two lingering questions that people will ask about this. 474 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:12,480 Number one, how can God create light when he hasn't made the 475 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:17,520 sun or the other stars yet? How can he create light? 476 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:21,000 God doesn't need the sun or the stars to have light. 477 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:27,400 He is light. He is the source of all light. 478 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:31,520 God is not dependent on the sun. The sun is dependent on God. 479 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:37,240 And #2 second question, is it possible that day here is 480 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:41,160 metaphorical and not literal when it says day one and then 481 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,560 all these days, it's possible that those are metaphorical days 482 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:45,920 and not literal days. This is how some people will 483 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,440 attempt to reconcile old Earth with Genesis 1. 484 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,680 Some people will say that each day was like a billion years or 485 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:56,240 so, you know, and so that that they day was meant like an age 486 00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:58,560 and therefore that's how they reconcile old Earth here. 487 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,560 To be sure, day can take a metaphorical interpretation. 488 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:05,720 Let's be clear about that. When people say in that day, 489 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,360 well, that day in that sentence can mean like a long time. 490 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:13,760 You say in that day, that could be like 100 years or 1000 years. 491 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,920 But given that the narrator, I don't think that it will work 492 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:21,679 to, to, to make this metaphor. I, I, I just personally don't. 493 00:34:21,679 --> 00:34:24,120 And here's why. Because the narrator says there 494 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:26,639 was evening and there was morning. 495 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,080 There was evening and morning the first day. 496 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:38,800 I think we are to understand day here as we know it as one day. 497 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,080 That's just my interpretation. It's OK if you take a different 498 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:46,000 one. I think we should take these as 499 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:51,239 literal 6 days, Day 2 versus 6 day. 500 00:34:52,199 --> 00:34:54,880 And God said, let there be expanse in the midst of the 501 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,200 waters. Let it separate the waters from 502 00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,560 the waters. And God made the expanse and 503 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:02,120 separate the waters that were under the expanse from the 504 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:04,000 waters that were above the expanse. 505 00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:06,960 And it was so God called the expanse heaven. 506 00:35:07,240 --> 00:35:10,760 And there was evening and there was morning the second day. 507 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:16,280 Now, before day 2, it appears that there was no separation 508 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:20,360 between the waters on the face of the earth and the sky above, 509 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:22,520 right? There was no separation between 510 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:25,360 the waters on the face of the earth and the waters in the sky 511 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,960 above. So God created an expanse, or 512 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,400 you could translate this canopy. He created a, a canopy, if you 513 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:37,160 will, and there would be waters below this canopy and there'd be 514 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:41,880 waters above this canopy. All right, God called this 515 00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:46,600 expanse, this canopy heaven. We call it the sky, right? 516 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,720 We look up the sky. That's the expanse. 517 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:53,960 So we have waters on the surface of the Earth through like, you 518 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,920 know, seas and oceans and rivers and lakes, streams. 519 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:02,600 And we have waters above the surface of the Earth, in the 520 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:09,000 atmosphere, through clouds. God makes oceans and seas below, 521 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,240 and he makes cirrus and stratus and cumulus clouds above. 522 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:20,200 What we see from day 2 is that God is a God of order. 523 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,960 He's a God of order. Yes, sometimes we have tidal 524 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:29,560 waves, sometimes we have monsoons, but for the most part 525 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:34,520 the oceans are not rising into the sky, and for the most part 526 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,000 the clouds rain with a sustainable amount of water. 527 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:45,080 There is an order to this. God has ordered things. 528 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:49,320 Well, one of the things I love, if you've ever seen the movie 529 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,560 Interstellar, I was one of my favorite movies. 530 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:54,560 I love it because they go to these other planets and like 531 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:55,840 they go to the first planet they go to. 532 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,640 It's just covered in water. And you look at that, you're 533 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:01,080 like, why is that not our planet? 534 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,920 What like why? Why is our planet not like that? 535 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:11,640 Why? Why do we have such order in our 536 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:14,920 planet? Because God has designed it that 537 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,320 way. God is sustaining it that way. 538 00:37:20,720 --> 00:37:22,520 Look at day three, verses 9 to 13. 539 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:27,000 And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered 540 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,440 together in one place, and let the dry land appear. 541 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:34,080 And it was so God called the dry land earth, and the waters that 542 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:35,800 were gathered together he called seas. 543 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,520 And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth 544 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:42,680 sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit, trees 545 00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:45,600 bearing fruit, and which is their seed, each according to 546 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:47,320 its kind on the earth. And it was. 547 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:51,360 So the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed 548 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:54,680 according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit and 549 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:56,920 which is their seed, each according to its kind. 550 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:01,120 And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there 551 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:07,320 was morning the third day. Now, before day three, it 552 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:10,920 appears that there was no separation between water and 553 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,680 land. So on day two, he separates the 554 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,000 water from below and the water above. 555 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:18,960 But then on the water on the surface of the earth, there was 556 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:22,240 no separation of water and land on the earth. 557 00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:25,880 That's at least how I read it. Perhaps waters covered all the 558 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:31,480 land on the earth, But God says let the waters be gathered 559 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,800 together in one place. That's pretty cool. 560 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:37,560 If you, if you ever like put water on, you're like 561 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:39,800 countertop. You can't just take your hand 562 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:42,240 and like just gather, you know, like in like you stay right 563 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:44,560 here, right? It just, it just spreads. 564 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:50,040 But God has the ability to just say you're going to go here, 565 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,760 you're going to go here and you're going to go here. 566 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:59,880 And so God forms the Pacific Ocean, He forms the Atlantic and 567 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:02,760 the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, the Arctic Ocean. 568 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:06,640 He forms the Nile River, he forms the Amazon River, he forms 569 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:10,200 the Mississippi River, he forms the the Philippine Sea and the 570 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,080 Coral Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. 571 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:17,680 Again we see God is a God of order and his creation. 572 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:21,760 Yes, from time to time we do get floods, but for the most part, 573 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:25,280 the oceans and the rivers and the seas, they stay in their 574 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,320 place. Why? 575 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:34,000 Why do they stay in their place? I love how God describes this in 576 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:38,240 the book of Job. God says to Job, who shut in the 577 00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:41,920 sea with doors when it burst out from the womb. 578 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:45,960 When I make clouds it's garment, and thick darkness it's 579 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:50,200 swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it, and set bars and 580 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:55,800 doors, and said thus far you shall come, and no farther, and 581 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:59,760 here shall your proud waves be stayed. 582 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,600 You see one of the things that climatologist don't understand 583 00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:12,120 is that God is controlling this, not man. 584 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:21,600 God is in control not man. God called the dry land earth 585 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:25,320 and he called the waters that were gathered together seas and 586 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,240 for the second time God called it good. 587 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:33,520 Now, even though it was good, God always wants to make things 588 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,160 better. God is an artist. 589 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:39,480 He's at. I would argue he's the most 590 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:45,280 creative being in the universe. He loves and enjoys beauty. 591 00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:51,200 And so when he looked at the land, he said this needs some 592 00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:55,000 decoration. He decided to decorate the land, 593 00:40:56,640 --> 00:41:00,400 he said, let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed 594 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:06,320 and fruit trees bearing fruit. Notice according to its own 595 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:08,200 kind. Did you see that? 596 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:11,640 Now we don't have time to get into that, but I'm actually 597 00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:14,560 going to argue that when he says according to its own kind, that 598 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:16,560 actually argues against evolution. 599 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:25,200 Each according to its own kind. Scientists estimate that there 600 00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:29,000 are roughly 400,000 different types of plant species on Earth. 601 00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:32,880 400,000 different types of plant species. 602 00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:37,240 God made redwoods and oaks and pine trees. 603 00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:40,560 He made roses and cherry blossoms and orchids. 604 00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:43,840 He made orange trees and lemon trees and apple trees. 605 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,200 He made tea leaves and coffee beans. 606 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:51,080 He decorated this world with all kinds of vegetation. 607 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,920 You know what's interesting is that God made food before he 608 00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:56,680 made anything to consume the food. 609 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:03,720 Not only did God give us food, He gave us an abundance of it. 610 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:06,960 He gave us an abundance of variety. 611 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:10,360 God could have just given us mana. 612 00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:13,480 That's all. We, you know, we eat mana the 613 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:15,240 rest of our lives. We have nothing but mana. 614 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:20,800 Aren't you thankful that God made all kinds of vegetation? 615 00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:27,120 It's as if God wanted us to see in His creation His goodness. 616 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:33,800 Every time we drink coffee, we taste the goodness of God. 617 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:40,560 Every time we eat a mango, we taste the goodness of God. 618 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:52,320 God saw all that he made, and he said it is good day 4 verses 14 619 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:56,840 to 19. And God said, let there be 620 00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:00,120 lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from 621 00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:03,560 the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for 622 00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:06,920 days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the 623 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:08,520 heavens to give light upon the earth. 624 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:11,800 And it was so. And God made the 2 great lights, 625 00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:14,560 the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to 626 00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:17,800 rule the night. And the stars, God set them in 627 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:20,720 the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule 628 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:23,600 over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from 629 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:27,040 the darkness. And God saw that it was good, 630 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:31,160 and there was evening and there was morning, the 4th day. 631 00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:36,360 So it appears that God takes the general concept of light. 632 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:39,320 So you know, the idea of like God made light, He's already 633 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:43,480 made light, but now God takes the general concept of light and 634 00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:47,000 it gives it a particular form, a particular form. 635 00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:51,680 And a particular form comes in two great lights. 636 00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:56,440 The greater light, what we know is the sun to rule the day. 637 00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:00,680 The lesser light, what we know as the moon and the other stars, 638 00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:03,840 which we yes, we all know the moon doesn't shine, It just 639 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:09,800 reflects the moon and the stars to rule the night. 640 00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:16,360 Their purpose is twofold. A to separate the day from the 641 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:22,400 night and B to keep time. Look what God said. 642 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:28,440 Let them be for signs and for seasons, for days and for years. 643 00:44:28,720 --> 00:44:32,880 Now this raises 2 interesting philosophical and theological 644 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:39,360 questions A why did God want day and night and B did God create 645 00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:42,960 time here? And if so, why did he create 646 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:44,960 time? Let's take this one at a time. 647 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:48,200 Hey, why did God want day and night? 648 00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:53,720 Everything about that? Like, like what I know, I mean, 649 00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:56,560 I'm not a big fan of the night. I know our, our culture. 650 00:44:56,560 --> 00:44:58,320 Y'all love the night. Y'all stay up late. 651 00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:01,040 Y'all, you hate the day. Like the sun comes up. 652 00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:07,520 You're like, oh man, more sleep. God, God could have given us two 653 00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:10,160 sons. We have one son that we rotate 654 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:13,120 around, but God could have given us two sons, one on each side 655 00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:18,320 and, and, and, and, you know, it would just always be, it would 656 00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:21,000 always be day. Why did you give us night? 657 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:26,520 It? Why did it? 658 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:28,960 I mean, even if it was day, it would still be cloudy in 659 00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:32,120 Seattle. But why did he want us to have 660 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:36,560 night? It seems to me that God wanted 661 00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:40,160 us to have rest built into our existence. 662 00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:44,320 God could have made us so that we never need sleep. 663 00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:50,520 I know some of you, like y'all love sleep. 664 00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:53,040 Many of you love sleep. I, I I hate sleep. 665 00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:56,440 I, I if I could choose to not sleep, I would choose not to 666 00:45:56,440 --> 00:46:00,200 sleep. I I I'd rather not sleep. 667 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:06,880 I do it out of necessity. Why did God want us to have 668 00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:10,120 sleep? I think to feel our weakness. 669 00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:16,720 I think to feel our limitations. And so my guess is that God made 670 00:46:16,720 --> 00:46:19,240 night for this purpose because he knew he was going to build 671 00:46:19,240 --> 00:46:23,080 sleep in and he knew he would build night in for this purpose. 672 00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:24,720 That's my guess. B. 673 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:29,040 Did God create time here? And if so, why did God create 674 00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:31,680 time? God said that one of the 675 00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:35,480 purposes of the sun and the moon is to be for signs and for 676 00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:37,960 seasons and for days and for years. 677 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:41,040 So did he, yes. I think we can argue that God 678 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:44,040 created time here. Time is just is it's just a 679 00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:48,520 concept, right? I think God did create time 680 00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:49,440 here. But why? 681 00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:54,520 Why did God create time? I mean, I don't, I don't know if 682 00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:55,720 we'll have time in heaven, right? 683 00:46:55,720 --> 00:46:58,880 There's no sun in the heaven. There's no earth rotation. 684 00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:01,880 So I mean, I'm sure we'll have a progression, right? 685 00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:03,760 We'll have a earlier and a later, but will we have a 686 00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:08,040 concept of time in heaven? I don't know why did God give us 687 00:47:08,040 --> 00:47:10,120 time. I think there are many reasons 688 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:13,520 to this, but I'll give you 1, the Psalmist writes. 689 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:20,200 Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of 690 00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:24,920 wisdom. I think time is a framework that 691 00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:32,960 God uses that we would know our finiteness when we embrace this 692 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:37,760 reality that I am finite, I am not eternal, I will not live 693 00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:40,920 forever. It is then that we get a heart 694 00:47:40,920 --> 00:47:46,320 of wisdom once again. God saw the sun, He saw the 695 00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:50,920 moon, He saw the stars, and he considered time and he said all 696 00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:54,040 of it is good. Day five, last day. 697 00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:55,160 We're going to look at this morning. 698 00:47:55,440 --> 00:48:00,600 Look at verses 20 to 23 and God said, let the water swarm with 699 00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:04,600 swarms of living creatures, let birds fly above the earth across 700 00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,600 the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea 701 00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:10,520 creatures and every living creature that moves with which 702 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:13,920 the water swarm according to their kinds, and every winged 703 00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:18,600 bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good and God 704 00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:25,160 bless them saying be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters 705 00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:27,760 and the seas and let birds multiply on the earth. 706 00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:31,320 And there was evening and there was morning the 5th day. 707 00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:36,040 On the 5th day God made creatures of the Seas and 708 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:40,280 creatures of the air. To date, we have discovered 709 00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:48,480 around 242,000 different marine species. 242,000 Many scientists 710 00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:51,760 think that this may only be 10% of what's actually out there. 711 00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:56,200 Because the oceans are massive. That is only. 712 00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,760 So. Not only did God want incredible 713 00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:05,720 variety with vegetation, he wanted the same variety in the 714 00:49:05,720 --> 00:49:09,600 oceans. There are some weird creatures 715 00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:14,280 in the oceans. My my wife loves going to 716 00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:17,040 aquariums and seeing all these different species. 717 00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:19,600 She like really nerds out on it. I don't know if you guys know 718 00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:21,840 that Lauren is a huge science nerd. 719 00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:24,320 She she loves it And I'm like, that's weird. 720 00:49:25,240 --> 00:49:27,200 That's a weird looking creature. I'm sorry, I don't know how you 721 00:49:27,240 --> 00:49:31,120 like, but here's what I will say. 722 00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:37,640 If you ever watch blue planet where they go into the ocean, 723 00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:42,040 all you have to do is is watch that for like an hour and 724 00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:45,640 you'll. There is limitless creativity in 725 00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:52,000 our God. The the the oceans, the colors 726 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:56,680 and the variety. It testifies to God's 727 00:49:56,680 --> 00:50:01,360 creativity. God made everything from the 728 00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:07,240 blue whale to the coral reef. In addition, God created the the 729 00:50:07,240 --> 00:50:11,000 birds to fill the sky. Isn't it interesting that God 730 00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:14,240 wanted animals all over? He wants animals in the waters. 731 00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:17,280 He wants animals on the land. He wants animals in the sky. 732 00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:24,200 There are about 11,000 different types of birds, which includes 733 00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:25,800 the woodpecker in my neighborhood. 734 00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:32,120 That's driving me nuts. Now what's interesting is that 735 00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:36,680 God gave them a blessing. He gave them a blessing in the 736 00:50:36,680 --> 00:50:41,960 form of a command. God bless them saying be 737 00:50:42,120 --> 00:50:47,320 fruitful and multiply. I want to draw your attention to 738 00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:49,360 that phrase. God bless them. 739 00:50:51,600 --> 00:51:00,400 Animals and humans do not reproduce because of science or 740 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:05,040 Mother Nature. We reproduce because God has 741 00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:12,680 blessed us to reproduce. That's why we're able to 742 00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:16,000 reproduce. God has blessed us to be able to 743 00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:20,480 do this. God commands all marine life, 744 00:51:20,720 --> 00:51:25,720 fill the waters and the seas. He commands the birds to 745 00:51:25,720 --> 00:51:31,360 multiply on earth. There is a woodpecker in my 746 00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:36,280 neighborhood that has perched itself on top of my neighbor's 747 00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:38,680 metal vent that's on top of their house. 748 00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:44,240 All morning long he hits this metal vent driving me nuts. 749 00:51:46,160 --> 00:51:47,960 My wife and I were going for a walk the other day. 750 00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:50,520 I thought he was looking for food in the wrong place. 751 00:51:50,520 --> 00:51:52,200 I was like, brother, you're looking for food in the wrong 752 00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:53,280 place, you're not getting through that. 753 00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:58,160 So I researched it. Turns out he wasn't isn't 754 00:51:58,360 --> 00:52:02,640 looking for food, he's looking for a mate. 755 00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:07,880 It's a mating call. He's being obedient to the 756 00:52:07,880 --> 00:52:19,680 command God gave him. After God saw all the creatures 757 00:52:20,120 --> 00:52:25,400 in the skies and all the creatures in the seas, God once 758 00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:31,160 again said it was good. So as we close, we have a 759 00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:34,280 planet. We got a planet. 760 00:52:35,520 --> 00:52:38,360 We have oceans and rivers and seas. 761 00:52:39,200 --> 00:52:45,960 We have clouds, we have land, we have all kinds of vegetation, we 762 00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:50,480 have a sun and a moon and stars. We have all kinds of marine 763 00:52:50,480 --> 00:52:53,120 life. We have all kinds of birds in 764 00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:55,560 the sky. But God is not finished yet. 765 00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:03,560 He waits until the 6th and final day of creation to reveal His 766 00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:08,160 image. God has not yet revealed His 767 00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:15,040 image on the 6th and final day He will, which we'll get to next 768 00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:15,920 week. Let's bring.