WEBVTT 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:04.080 Thank you, Grace. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:07.440 Well, we've got our work cut out for us, don't we? 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:19.600 I'd like you to, if you haven't already, to turn in your Bibles or take a Bible from the pew in front of you to Genesis chapter one. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:30.000 Today we are beginning a series that will take us through the first four chapters of the Bible. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.719 I've been planning this series for a while. 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:37.679 I was actually talking with Scott Sondrill about it. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:46.479 And uh Scott has been uh leading a Bible study through the first couple of chapters, and I think you've spent, what, four years on it so far? 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:48.479 Yeah. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:56.000 See, I wanted to begin this series about six months ago, but Scott said, no, I've got to get through chapter four before you begin. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:14.799 So as we start with Genesis chapter one, I'm uh kind of reminded of I'm just old enough to remember uh uh Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:23.040 Um you read you begin with A, B, C. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:26.959 When you sing, you begin with. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:53.280 All right, and in a similar way, if we want to understand the world around us, if we want to understand anything about us, if we want to be able to find our way through life, we have to begin in the beginning. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:56.799 And in the beginning, God. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:07.599 I'm sorely tempted to just say that about twenty times. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:09.919 In the beginning, God, and then sit down. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:18.879 That's what we must take away from the very beginning of the story of beginnings. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:20.960 In the beginning, God. 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:23.360 God created the heavens and the earth. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:32.800 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:34.639 In the beginning, God. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:51.919 And there is a sense of anticipation that is created, uh, and especially in the minds of the first readers, uh, with the words that are here, and the spirit hovering, and in the beginning, God, and it was empty, and it was formless, and it was void. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:59.280 And something dramatic and incredibly important is coming. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:04.879 But the core for us to see today is very simple. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:13.520 We begin with God, begin at the very beginning, a very good place to start. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:24.719 And the only place we can go to understand the world around us is here, who God is and what God has done. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:38.719 We have very simple words here, a very concise non-technical statement about something that is incredibly complex and profound. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:45.759 It has been said that the way this begins is simple enough for a child to understand. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:50.800 And my goodness, if we don't teach the creation story to our children, we're in big trouble. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:57.360 And they don't have you don't have to be sophisticated, don't have to be intellectual, you don't have to have all of the theories worked out. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:01.120 You just have to understand in the beginning, God. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:03.039 God was there. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:08.879 God created all that is all around us. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:39.199 Simple enough for a child to understand, profound enough for the philosophers and the scientists of the world to wrestle with, and flexible enough for all science and all true science, all true truth to fit into, we don't have to be afraid of what science says to us relative to this. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:43.759 We don't have to be ashamed of this relative to what science says. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:55.360 All truth finds its origin of God, and all true science, all true philosophy, all true worldviews correlate completely with what we read here. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:00.560 And we begin at the very beginning, and in the beginning, God. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:09.839 So we're going to take the next three months or so and work our way through this. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:22.160 Um the the the very the very beginning of this, these verses give us, they give us an orientation. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:27.839 They give us a way of understanding what's going on around us. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:33.120 How do you make sense out of life? 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:38.720 The only way to make sense out of life is here, in the beginning, God. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.399 Life makes no sense without God. 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:48.959 How do you deal with the beauty of a sunset or the miracle of a new birth? 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:51.199 Uh, an expectant mother? 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:57.759 How uh what parent looks at a newborn child without a sense of awe and wonder? 00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:58.800 How do you explain that? 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:00.800 You mean we did that? 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:02.800 No, you didn't do that. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:06.720 In the beginning, God, it all goes back to God. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:12.240 How do you handle the things of life that are so difficult? 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:16.399 What do you do when the report says cancer? 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:20.639 What do you do when you wrestle with early onset of Alzheimer's? 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:22.639 How do you deal with those kinds of things? 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:27.519 It makes no sense unless you're rightly oriented to reality. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:39.600 And giving us an orientation to the way things really are is what these opening verses of scripture is all about. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:47.040 This provides for us a framework for understanding reality. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:58.240 It is more than just a framework for understanding reality, but it is not less than that. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:09.680 We find here, the most important thing we find here are not arguments against the theory of evolution. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:18.240 The most important things we find here are not ways of combating different worldviews. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:23.920 The most important thing we find here is God, who God is and what God has done. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:25.839 In the beginning, God. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:35.519 And I need to help you understand how I'm approaching this series of messages. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:39.120 Um I am likely to disappoint you. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:44.160 Probably already have. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:52.079 The difficulty is we tend to approach this and we're looking for answers to all of the questions that come to our mind. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:08:01.759 The questions about creation, the questions about life, the questions of different conflicting worldviews. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:09.839 The reality is that what we find here is given to us for a purpose. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:17.680 And it is not to win arguments or convince people of conflicting ways of life and views of the world. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:25.759 This is given to us to make sense that we might make sense out of the reality around us. 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:27.920 It's an orientation. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:35.600 You cannot and will not make sense out of life without beginning with God. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:39.039 It's really just that simple. 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:58.080 The problem is that virtually every word, every phrase, every truth that is revealed here has become a battlefield for conflicting worldviews and conflicting understandings of reality, conflicting belief systems. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:00.720 Please hear me. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:15.440 What I want to emphasize is although you can use this to respond and do apologetics and those kinds of things, that's not what it's given for. 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:19.279 This is not given to answer all of our questions. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:21.919 This is not given to win arguments. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:29.279 This is given to understand the most fundamental thing of reality, and that is God. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:32.799 In the beginning, God, and God created the world. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:37.360 Nothing that exists comes from any other source than God. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:41.360 All that exists, all that is not God, God created. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:57.919 And unless we understand this aspect of reality, uh, we will be likely to misunderstand this section of scripture. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:07.440 This is not designed as a science textbook whereby you can establish creationism versus uh evolution. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:13.440 You may you may try to use it for that, and there's some validity in that, but that's not what it's written for. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:22.799 This is not given to us to put Darwin in his place. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:26.720 That's just not what it's for. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:43.360 You see, if we approach it as a means of answering the questions or giving answers, the right answers, to all of the questions around us, while we may find some benefit in that, that's not what it's revealed for. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:52.639 It's revealed to orient us to the world we live in and to the God who created the world. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:11:00.960 And to fail to understand that uh is to run the risk of misusing the scriptures. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:16.240 The Bible is not given as a science textbook, it is not given as a marriage manual, it is not given as a manual for how to raise children, it is not given as a way of figuring out the age of the earth. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:24.399 The Bible is given to us that we might understand who God is and our place in this world that God has created. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:38.320 And the difficulty is we come to the scriptures and we try to use what God has said for our purposes, and there's some benefit in that, but not if we miss that for which it is given. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:43.440 What we have here is an orientation to reality. 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:54.399 And the reality is God is, has always been, and everything that is not God finds its source in God and is created. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:12:02.639 So again, you may want me to do all kinds of things in this series. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:03.679 Uh, sorry. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:23.840 Um I'm going to do, I'm going to do the best I know how of trying to help us get a sense of what the scriptures are intended for and mean as we go through these passages, which is a battlefield with landmines all around it. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:28.399 So just try to understand where I'm coming from. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:42.879 And there's other resources we can point you in the direction of all kinds of things, but we're not going to point you in any direction in these messages other than what it says and what I believe it was intended to say to us. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:13:08.000 So, just as a simple example, um, there have been many efforts based upon the Genesis account and other historical accounts in the Old and the New Testament to put together a chronology of history and to go back and try to determine when various things happened. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:14.639 And one of the most interesting studies has been to try to determine on the basis of scripture when the world was created. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:19.200 A lot of work has been given to that. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:38.399 Uh, in the 17th century, um gentleman by the name of James Usher spent a lot of time trying to come up with a chronology, and after years of work, he concluded that the first day of creation occurred on October 23rd, 4004 B.C. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:52.240 There was another scholar, a believing scholar as well, in Oxford, I believe it was at the time, John Lightfoot, who spent a lot of time trying to come up with a chronology, and he said, now wait a minute, Usher, you weren't quite right. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:55.039 It's not the 23rd of July 4004. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:59.679 I'm sorry, 23rd of October 4004 BC. 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:04.559 It's actually the 23rd of October 3992 BC. 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:08.960 Now, two problems there. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:19.679 One, the the basis of establishing those chronologies, with all respect, is relatively a little bit shaky. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.480 But more important than that, is that why God has given us the Bible? 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:31.200 Is that why God has revealed Himself, that we can establish the day of creation in history? 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:38.879 And I want to submit to you, no, that's that's not what this is all about, or efforts to do things like that. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:50.559 So let me suggest to you that the Bible is given to us to orient ourselves relative to God and to reality. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:55.759 Um this is the way I'd like to encourage you to think about it. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:06.320 I believe that we have, particularly in the early chapters of Genesis, what I would call a compass and a topographical map. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:09.440 Uh bear with me on this. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:16.799 Years ago, I was a young associate pastor in a church in northern Indiana working mostly with the youth. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.600 I realize many of you will find that hard to believe. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:25.840 But uh there was a couple in the church, some of the parents, who were into wilderness backpacking. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:27.679 And boy, we had a wonderful time. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:40.480 We took these kids in the high school youth group on a three-day wilderness trek through rugged, hilly, wooded terrain where there were no trails. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:42.720 Zero, no trails. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:53.840 And what I discovered is that if you have a compass, and if you've got a good topographical map that gives the lay of the land, you can get home. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:20.000 What God is giving us in this portion of Scriptures, I believe, is a compass that points to North, and the true North is our God, and then the lay of the land, an understanding of how creation, how things came about, and how God is working with us today. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:28.240 So the approach I'm going to be taking is focusing more on the compass and the topographical map. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:33.519 The fact of the matter is that today the focus is on the compass, the true north. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:36.720 That's what verses one and two are all about. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:48.320 And then three in the rest of the passage all the way through, will help us understand the contours of this, that which God has created. 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:52.080 So let's just focus a little bit. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:57.600 Genesis is the book of origins, the book of beginnings. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:05.039 The word Genesis itself, our English word of Genesis, is taken from what we kind of view as a title of this book. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:07.119 It's actually the first words. 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:16.799 It's Genesis is a transliteration, letter for letter, of the Latin and the Greek translations of the Hebrew here. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:17.839 That's all it is. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:21.839 And it means origins or beginnings. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:27.759 When you think of Genesis, it's an explanation of where this came from. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:30.480 Some of you are in college. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:35.759 You might be studying a college text on uh, let's say, the history of American democracy. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:43.440 And you might find a statement that the genesis of democracy in North America is found in the Enlightenment. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:48.799 Whether that explanation enlightens you very much is another issue. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:59.039 Or if you're not into college textbooks but you're into the Game of Thrones, you might ask yourself, what's the genesis of the Game of Thrones? 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:20.720 And if you get behind a little bit, you'll find that almost certainly that is a fantasy built around European, particularly British history in the Middle Ages and the War of Roses, and the bloody conflict between the House of York and the House of Lanchester. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:22.240 That's the genesis of it. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:22.720 All right. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:25.200 The question is: what's the genesis of this? 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:26.240 What's the origin? 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:28.960 What gave rise to it? 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:46.240 We find here an explanation of origins of the universe, of mankind, of marriage, of sin, of alienation, of murder, of forgiveness, of salvation, and of God's chosen people. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.960 Those are some of the main themes that we'll find in the next couple of chapters. 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:52.079 The origins. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:54.559 How did this come about? 00:18:55.279 --> 00:19:00.559 You look around in the world and you see the disaster that is there. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:01.759 You see the conflict. 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:04.000 Where did this kind of thing come from? 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:06.559 The problems within our own human hearts. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:07.920 Where does that come from? 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:11.519 How did that how do we understand that? 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:17.279 And the origins of all of that are found in Genesis. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:28.799 But what chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 are saying is there is a genesis of everything, but there is no genesis of God. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:31.759 God has always been. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:34.799 In the beginning, God was. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:38.319 There is nothing before the beginning. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:41.680 Begin at the very beginning, you begin with God. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:47.200 There is no genesis of God, no creation of God. 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:51.759 It's a spurious, false question to ask, well, where did God come from? 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:54.799 God is, and he always has been. 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:58.319 He was, he is, and he ever shall be. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:05.200 And everything else is created, but not God Himself. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:17.839 Without that understanding and that underpinning and that framework and that orientation, we wander and stumble and get lost. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:20.799 And life makes little sense. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:28.960 Verses 1 and 2 point us to true north. 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:40.799 Verses 3 through the end of chapter 3, really the end of chapter 4, maybe really chapter 11, but we're certainly not going to get that far, is giving us the topography that we need to find our way home. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:43.680 Without it, we are lost. 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:52.400 Without it, we wander and we stumble, and ultimately we die. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:57.759 So let's just quickly look at some of this from the first couple of verses. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:05.519 He, in the beginning, God, he is the central reality behind all that is. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:08.240 This is a self-revelation of God. 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:12.559 We would have not known any of this had not He explained it to us. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:16.160 Had He not chosen to reveal Himself. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:23.039 What we can search out about God on the basis of our own human thinking is incredibly limited. 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:32.000 What we have here is someone who is uncreated, essentially other, who has chosen to reveal Himself to us. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:41.519 And that self-revelation is the most important thing we can ever get our minds around to the extent than we can get our minds around it. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:42.960 He is who he is. 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:53.839 Thirty-five times in this chapter, the name of God is used. 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:58.559 God in the beginning, God, God created, God did this, God said that. 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:01.039 The chapter that Was read before you. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:07.839 Thirty-five times God is the subject of all of the verbs that are there. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.160 Thirty-five times in this chapter alone. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:12.079 God dominates this chapter. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:14.000 God controls this chapter. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:16.720 It all flows from who He is. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:20.640 If we miss God, the rest of the scriptures make no sense. 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:22.240 Our lives make no sense. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:24.240 Our futures make no sense. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:30.960 This is foundational central reality behind all that there is. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:37.039 And to miss this, I've already said it, is to miss what's most important. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:53.039 If we miss this, we will travel through life without him as our north, as a fixed point of reference of truth, and we will wander and we will stumble and we will get lost, and ultimately we die. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:59.519 This is at the core of what we must know about truth. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:01.119 Okay? 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:05.119 And that's why it's given to us. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:10.480 So he is the central reality behind all that is. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:17.759 And he is revealed in this passage as the triune one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:23.680 Now, what we find here are some preliminary hints about this. 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:34.240 Some preliminary hints that as we read the rest of the scripture, as we look back to these early verses, we can say, oh, that's what he meant. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:41.039 For example, the name of God is a plural. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:48.079 In the Hebrew language, the im, the I-N-M ending, is the way you make a noun plural. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:50.319 We make a noun plural by adding s. 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:51.680 In the Hebrew it's em. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:58.079 And you would translate this gods, but God is one. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:05.039 But there is a complexity to the oneness of God. 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:08.319 God is one, but he is not solitary. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:12.720 He is not just unitary. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:18.240 There is a complexity about this of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:21.279 There's a hint of this. 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:27.519 Some have explained the plural of the name of God as the plural of majesty. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:30.079 And what that means is this. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:35.839 In our language, we don't use it anymore because we don't do much with kings and queens. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:44.079 But in the in the history of the British monarchy, I think it was Queen Victoria, who spoke of herself in the plural. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:48.480 For example, we are not amused. 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:52.400 We, and she meant I am not. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:25:01.359 There's this majestic, glorious sense of high and lifted up ones that expresses itself sometimes in the plural. 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:07.119 But what we find here is not just a figure of speech, a way of speaking. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:13.119 We find there is a reality to God that has a plurality in it. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:20.319 In verse 2, we read of the spirit of God working in creation. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:29.599 The word for spirit in the Old Testament is ruach, in the New Testament it's plima, which means at one level just breeze or wind. 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:33.519 But there is more to it than that is also the spirit. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:45.519 Now, if we just read the verse 2 in isolation, we probably wouldn't come to see it as an expression of the third person of the Trinity. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:58.640 But as we see, this what is in now in preliminary seed form blossoms, and we see that there is a Spirit of God, there is the Father, there is the Son, there is the Holy Spirit. 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:08.079 And this in a very preliminary way, we're seeing something about God that will be developed throughout Scripture. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:15.039 We read that Jesus is intimately involved in creation. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:25.440 We already saw, Scott helpfully turn to John chapter 1, that all things were made through him, the Word, through Jesus. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:31.519 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:41.920 All of creation, there is the agency of Jesus, the Christ, the second person of the Trinity, that is revealed in the Scriptures as the creator. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:27:00.079 Colossians 1.16, speaking specifically, explicitly about Christ, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities, all things were created through him and for him. 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:02.960 The second person of the Godhead. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:12.240 Now what we see is a triune, glorious God that is the genesis of all that is. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:34.960 We see him here as the eternal and self-existent source of all that is. 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:40.160 The technical term for this is creatio ex nihilo. 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:47.599 If your Latin is better than mine, you would understand that, or you might be able to pronounce it better than I do. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:49.440 Creation out of nothing. 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:51.279 That's what's pictured here. 00:27:51.599 --> 00:28:02.480 God was, always had been, and then God spoke, and all that is came into being, created it out of nothing. 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:15.279 Hebrews 11:3 says, by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible. 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:18.960 The created world we see around us came from somewhere. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:20.319 It was created. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:24.559 And the source of that is God. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:27.359 He created out of nothing. 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:30.559 Revelation 4.11 affirms the same thing. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:37.759 Now, the the fact of the matter is that we can get creative, but we don't get creative the way God is. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:39.599 God created out of nothing. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:44.799 When we create, we are actually rearranging what God has already created. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:54.000 Whether it's manufacturing something or whether it's developing thoughts and ideas, we don't have anything that hasn't been given to us. 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:57.359 It all finds its source in God. 00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:05.200 And God's creativity is fundamentally different from the creative processes that we know today. 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:12.960 There was a time when everything else besides God was not. 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:18.160 And there was never a time that God was not. 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:51.119 And this puts a whole different picture of reality that is not pantheistic. 00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:54.319 God existed and then he created matter. 00:29:54.400 --> 00:30:01.440 There is a huge distinction between that which is material and God who spoke and brought it into being. 00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:03.680 Polytheism, multiple gods. 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:05.359 There is no other God. 00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:08.240 Every so-called God is not a God. 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:10.559 Paul talks about that in the New Testament. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:12.720 There is only one true God. 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:20.319 And with that there was the ability to withstand and understand the errors of polytheism. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:25.039 In our day, relativism, that there's no such thing as absolute truth. 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:29.440 God spoke absolutely and brought everything into being that is in being. 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:49.039 And in its core form, relativism is insufficient if we understand that God is the source of all things and the author and the one who, when he speaks, what he says is true. 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:52.079 Materialism, all that matters is matter. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:54.079 Well, no, not all that matters is matter. 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:57.519 In fact, the things that matter most have nothing to do with matter. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:07.920 If we just live a materialistic existence, we miss the whole point and we wander and stray and get lost. 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:21.200 Secularism, that basically we can understand all of reality without bringing God into focus. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:26.720 David Hawking, David Hawking, I think, don't need God to explain the universe. 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:28.079 That's such a baloney. 00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:30.880 An incredibly intelligent man. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:41.440 But what he says leaves out the very fundamental core of reality. 00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:53.279 What we have here is a reminder of what our true North is and the contours of the universe. 00:31:54.559 --> 00:32:01.920 Just to quickly wrap this up, I'm going to skip over verse 2 for this week and touch on that next week. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:14.000 The world was empty and void because what we see God doing is filling and fulfilling that which is empty and void through the creative process. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:19.279 How that relates to the first couple of verses, is there a big gap between verse 2 and verse 3? 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:21.039 We'll touch on some of that next week. 00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:25.440 I want to focus on something that we quickly quickly skip over. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:31.680 The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:35.599 You see, we're so quick to get on to debate different worlds. 00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:36.400 What does that mean? 00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:40.400 The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:45.519 Well, this is a phrase that is just filled with anticipation. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:48.640 Emptiness, void, and God. 00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:52.319 God is moving, God is doing something. 00:32:52.559 --> 00:33:00.480 And God is tenderly hovering over this His creation and us His creatures. 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:02.240 He is involved. 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:05.039 There is a beautiful picture here. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:16.160 The only other time this word for hovering is used in the same grammatical form is in Deuteronomy 32, 11, and it's comparing God. 00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:17.759 Listen to the comparison. 00:33:18.079 --> 00:33:31.839 He is like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters or hovers over its young, spreads out its wings, catches them, bearing them on his pinions or the wingtips. 00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:48.240 It's a picture of God who is there, he is involved, and as it says here, he stirs up his nest, he flutters over his young, he spreads out his wing, he catches them, he catches us, he bears us on the tips of his wings. 00:33:48.480 --> 00:34:02.000 And it's a picture of a God who is self-existent and self-sufficient, but our God is not self-absorbed. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:08.559 At its very core, that's what I get out of that picture of God. 00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:14.719 You see, we who are not self-existent and are not self-sufficient become self-absorbed. 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:18.400 That's just the way we function. 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:27.199 But God, who is self-existent and self-sufficient, is not self-absorbed. 00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:35.519 He is involved, he cares, he was even before the universe took shape when it was still formless and void. 00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:43.119 He was there, he was involved, this wonderful, tender picture of our God. 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:50.079 Just quickly, let me uh say this is the God who is. 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:52.239 There is no other God. 00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:55.920 This is the eternally existent one. 00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:00.000 This is the way he reveals himself in just a few words. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:08.239 The central reality, the triune one, the eternal and self-existent source, the one who cares and is involved with us. 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:16.159 The God that we meet at the beginning is the God that each of us will meet at the end. 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:17.280 It's just that simple. 00:35:17.519 --> 00:35:19.199 God is unchanged. 00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:23.920 I came across a good preacher story that I want to share with you. 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:25.760 I'm not sure it really happened. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:31.440 But it goes like this: there was a man who was climbing a mountain. 00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:38.559 Uh, he was reaching the summit of the mountain, his foot slipped, and he started to slide down the side of the mountain. 00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:40.880 And there was a branch. 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:47.199 He reached out and he grabbed the branch for all it's worth, and he said to himself, Oh, I've been able to save myself. 00:35:47.519 --> 00:35:54.239 Until he realized that he's only going to be able to hang on for a very limited period of time. 00:35:54.800 --> 00:36:01.039 Now, this man was not particularly religious, but he figured if there was ever a time to be religious, this is the time to be religious. 00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:06.159 I mean, your feet are dangling over the precipice, you're going to splat at the bottom of the mountain. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:14.079 And so he looks up and he calls out and he says, Is anyone there who can help me? 00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:33.679 And he didn't really expect to hear anything, but at least in the story, God responded, and he was greatly surprised with it, with a deep voice saying, Yes, I am here and I will help you, but you must first let go and trust me. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:38.400 There was a long, pregnant silence. 00:36:39.280 --> 00:36:41.360 Is there anyone else up there? 00:36:43.519 --> 00:36:47.440 You see, that's we want God on our terms. 00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:50.800 We want the God who we want, who do things the way we want. 00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:56.880 Parenthetically, after the first service, someone came up and reminded me that may not just have been a preacher's story. 00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:08.480 If you're familiar with the movie Goodwill Hunting, the bar scene, uh, the leading uh woman in that tells that story, um, probably also apocryphal. 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:11.360 But you see, we want to approach God in our terms. 00:37:11.440 --> 00:37:15.679 And God is not approached in a way that is anything other than who he is. 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:19.440 God does not exist to answer our questions. 00:37:19.679 --> 00:37:27.519 God does not exist for us to have a happy marriage, God does not exist to be able to win all of the arguments. 00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:34.639 God is, and we exist because he is, and our lives are in function of who he is. 00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:38.239 He is not in function of us, we are in function of him. 00:37:38.719 --> 00:37:45.199 We hang on, and we only encounter and relate to him as he is. 00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:56.800 And right from the very first couple of sentences in the Bible, we are confronted with a God who is different from the God we might want. 00:37:57.679 --> 00:37:59.760 But this is the God who is. 00:38:01.039 --> 00:38:06.400 And as we meet him in the first couple of verses of the Bible, we shall meet him at the end of our lives. 00:38:06.559 --> 00:38:07.840 It's that simple. 00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:19.039 And so I would encourage you to approach God as he is, the God who is, not the God that you want him to be. 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:32.159 This is our God, the central reality, the triune one, the eternal and self-existent source, the one who hovers and tenderly cares as an and is involved with us. 00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:35.039 This is our true North. 00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:43.440 And without that, if we miss that, we miss the foundation for everything. 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:51.599 So all I'm wanting to say this morning, with all of these multiple words, is in the beginning, God. 00:38:53.679 --> 00:38:56.719 Perhaps the most important phrase in all of Scripture. 00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:59.039 Everything flows from that. 00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:06.159 Let me ask you to stand for the benediction and we'll wrap it up here. 00:39:14.079 --> 00:39:42.480 Now, my friends, go into the world in peace, have courage, hold on to that which is good, honor all men, strengthen the faint-hearted, support the weak, help the suffering, restore the wandering, comfort the grieving, and share the gospel. 00:39:42.800 --> 00:39:50.079 And oh my friends, may the grace and the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all this week and forevermore. 00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:52.239 God bless and amen.