1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,960 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 00:00:04,180 --> 00:00:09,180 From its very first verse, the Bible makes it clear that all of creation has a creator. 3 00:00:09,620 --> 00:00:16,100 In today's study of Genesis 1, we'll consider some of the implications that are found in the opening words of Scripture. 4 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,020 In our day, there's a tension. 5 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:29,380 A tension that exists between people who say that I am a man of faith 6 00:00:29,380 --> 00:00:33,060 And someone right next to him saying, well, I am a man of science. 7 00:00:33,420 --> 00:00:35,620 Maybe as a Christian you've tried to express something. 8 00:00:35,860 --> 00:00:36,880 Maybe about creation. 9 00:00:37,260 --> 00:00:38,980 You've tried to express something maybe about Jesus. 10 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,780 And someone has said to you, well, I'd love to believe what you do. 11 00:00:41,860 --> 00:00:43,100 I just don't have enough faith. 12 00:00:43,340 --> 00:00:47,040 And what they're implicitly saying when they say that is you're kind of a rube. 13 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:48,980 You believe stuff that can't be proven. 14 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:51,320 I, however, look at the facts. 15 00:00:51,460 --> 00:00:52,840 I, however, look at the science. 16 00:00:52,900 --> 00:00:56,060 We have a tension that exists, especially in our academic settings, 17 00:00:56,060 --> 00:01:01,200 between those of faith and those of science. 18 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:03,140 Now, what I would submit to you, though, 19 00:01:03,140 --> 00:01:05,360 is that that tension has not always been the case. 20 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,540 What I would say is that tension is a false dichotomy 21 00:01:08,540 --> 00:01:11,320 that's been drummed up by those who have opposition 22 00:01:11,320 --> 00:01:12,580 to that which we believe. 23 00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:15,040 However, if you were to look back at history, 24 00:01:15,300 --> 00:01:18,480 you would find that science and faith were not combatants 25 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:19,540 in the way they are in our age, 26 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,980 but rather we see that there was a synthesis 27 00:01:21,980 --> 00:01:24,340 and understanding between the two. 28 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,900 If you were to go back and look at the fathers of modern science, 29 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:30,780 one of the fathers of modern science was Galileo. 30 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,920 Galileo was actually called the father of science, and he said this. 31 00:01:33,980 --> 00:01:36,640 When he looked out at the world around him, Galileo said this. 32 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:42,700 The laws of nature are written by the hand of God using the language of mathematics. 33 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,800 So Galileo, the father of science, didn't necessarily say that science and faith are at odds. 34 00:01:47,900 --> 00:01:50,580 Rather, he said that science supports faith. 35 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:52,900 Now, Isaac Newton said roughly the same thing. 36 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,680 Isaac Newton says this, the most beautiful system of the sun, the planets, and the comets 37 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:02,320 could only proceed forth from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. 38 00:02:02,540 --> 00:02:06,720 If you were to go back to the scientific revolution, which came after the dark ages, 39 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:12,200 the scientific revolution between roughly the 13th and the 17th centuries was inherently theological. 40 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:16,400 The people who led the scientific revolution were inherently theological. 41 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:22,360 And that's because they saw that science is just theology that's played out in the natural realm. 42 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:25,480 Now, for what it's worth, that's the testimony of the Bible also. 43 00:02:25,900 --> 00:02:27,840 You see this as Psalm 119. 44 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:34,540 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 45 00:02:34,940 --> 00:02:40,820 Day to day, they pour out speech, and night after night, they reveal knowledge. 46 00:02:41,460 --> 00:02:42,520 Psalm 111, verse 2. 47 00:02:42,660 --> 00:02:46,760 Great are the works of the Lord, studied by those who delight in them. 48 00:02:47,060 --> 00:02:50,580 Do you see any sense there that the Bible is setting up this false dichotomy 49 00:02:50,580 --> 00:02:53,940 by which faith is to compete against science, 50 00:02:54,020 --> 00:02:56,660 or do you see that they're supposed to work together? 51 00:02:57,420 --> 00:03:00,440 What we see through a telescope, what we see through a microscope, 52 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,960 both tell us the same thing, that there is a creator. 53 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,360 And if we're intellectually honest, we would acknowledge that. 54 00:03:06,460 --> 00:03:09,820 However, we're not always intellectually honest, 55 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:12,800 especially in a lot of modern academic settings. 56 00:03:12,900 --> 00:03:15,400 But what I would submit to you is that that has not been the norm 57 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:17,280 across the centuries. 58 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:24,580 For centuries, both biblical authors and writers and churchmen and scientists in the centuries after the time of Christ 59 00:03:24,580 --> 00:03:30,460 saw that the Bible's narrative of creation matched up with what they saw when they looked through telescopes, 60 00:03:30,580 --> 00:03:32,100 when they looked through microscopes and the like. 61 00:03:32,100 --> 00:03:37,780 They found the biblical narrative of creation that starts in Genesis 1-1, in the beginning God. 62 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:43,600 They said that seems to match with what we see in the world around us because the alternatives are not an option. 63 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,180 The alternatives to a theistic understanding of creation that says God created everything 64 00:03:48,180 --> 00:03:50,220 is to say that everything always existed. 65 00:03:50,340 --> 00:03:51,560 And we know that not to be true. 66 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,140 Even Einstein and Hubble figured that out through the telescope, the Hubble telescope, 67 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,100 when they saw that certain things were traveling away from one another. 68 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:01,160 There's something called a red shift when stars and planets and galaxies 69 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,320 seem to be traveling further away from one another. 70 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:06,240 And they realized that this meant that there was an expanding universe. 71 00:04:06,380 --> 00:04:09,540 It's not a static universe that had always been the same from eternity past. 72 00:04:09,900 --> 00:04:13,180 So one view over and against a theistic understanding of creation 73 00:04:13,180 --> 00:04:16,820 is to say the universe has always been there, but that's not really what anyone believes. 74 00:04:16,980 --> 00:04:21,280 So what the secular world has adopted instead is the belief that there was a beginning. 75 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:23,100 However, guess what the beginning was? 76 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:25,360 It was a big bang. 77 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,080 At one time, there was nothing, and then there was something. 78 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:30,020 At one time, there was nothing. 79 00:04:30,420 --> 00:04:34,080 One time, nothing existed, but then, then, there was something. 80 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,880 Now, sometimes they described as, you know, there was this point of singularity 81 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:39,800 that everything expanded out of, right? 82 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:42,700 Some big bang by which everything came into existence. 83 00:04:42,780 --> 00:04:44,380 And they say that's the means of existence. 84 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,180 The problem is it's the most unscientific claim you can make. 85 00:04:47,620 --> 00:04:48,020 Why? 86 00:04:48,340 --> 00:04:51,340 Because it violates what we call the precepts of intelligibility. 87 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,340 You cannot say that something came from nothing. 88 00:04:54,740 --> 00:04:58,340 If you see a chair, if you see a baptismal here, what's your conclusion about this? 89 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,120 Did this just beam in this morning? 90 00:05:00,220 --> 00:05:01,840 Did this just appear magically on its own? 91 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:06,340 No, you look at this and you say, no, clearly this has been fashioned and formed. 92 00:05:06,340 --> 00:05:07,840 This has been designed. 93 00:05:08,300 --> 00:05:10,620 This bears all the marks of design. 94 00:05:10,860 --> 00:05:12,160 Therefore, it is designed. 95 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:17,460 And it is a better scientific conclusion, whether you see a baptismal, whether you see a chair, 96 00:05:17,540 --> 00:05:21,960 whether you see the human hand and all its complexity, to determine that that complexity 97 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:27,760 was designed by a designer. If you look outside these doors, if you look inside these walls, 98 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:33,920 you see the breadcrumbs that should trace back to a divine baker, to one who formed everything. 99 00:05:34,060 --> 00:05:38,180 However, the secular world doesn't want to bend the knee to the baker himself. The secular world 100 00:05:38,180 --> 00:05:42,360 doesn't want to bend the knee to the authority of something that transcends them, and so they don't. 101 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:48,560 And so, what do they choose? Well, frankly, they choose anything. Anything that avoids having to 102 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,840 bend the knee to a God that's external to them. If that means, big bang, something came out of 103 00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:57,200 nothing, okay, never mind, that's a blind eye to everything their scientific principles have 104 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:00,860 underheld across the centuries. They'd rather believe that, or they'd rather trace their 105 00:06:00,860 --> 00:06:05,200 ancestry to gorillas or what have you. They'd rather do any number of things rather than to say, 106 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:12,420 in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Why? They don't want to say it, 107 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,300 because that means that this God is in charge, 108 00:06:15,540 --> 00:06:18,400 and this means that this God, if he had the ability and the will 109 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,220 to decree the universe around them and even their own existence, 110 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,700 then that means he has the will and the authority to tell them how to live. 111 00:06:25,740 --> 00:06:26,660 And it's far better. 112 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,160 It's far better to say, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. 113 00:06:29,620 --> 00:06:31,840 I'm a function of chance. 114 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:34,440 I'm a function of macroevolution. 115 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:36,180 I'm a function of any number of other things. 116 00:06:36,180 --> 00:06:39,520 Rather than that, because if I see that God exists, 117 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:44,440 then I see that I find my purpose and utility through his will, and I don't want that. 118 00:06:45,020 --> 00:06:48,240 And that's why the secular world has turned its back on Genesis, 119 00:06:48,900 --> 00:06:52,480 neglects to teach it or to treat it as even a viable option. 120 00:06:52,860 --> 00:06:56,600 If you believe Genesis 1-1 in academic settings, you're the rube. 121 00:06:57,340 --> 00:07:01,240 I submit to you, the person who says that something comes from nothing is the rube. 122 00:07:01,540 --> 00:07:02,760 We'll bear that out as we go. 123 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,460 All right, this morning again, we're in Genesis chapter 1. 124 00:07:06,540 --> 00:07:09,780 I'm going to work through some select verses, and I'm going to start with the first two verses. 125 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,480 A whole sermon could just be done on these first two. 126 00:07:12,620 --> 00:07:15,180 We'll look at some others, but let's start with Genesis 1 and 2. 127 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:16,920 Let me reread them, and then we'll work from there. 128 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:19,060 Genesis 1, verse 1. 129 00:07:19,180 --> 00:07:23,560 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 130 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:26,080 And the earth was without form, and it was void. 131 00:07:26,180 --> 00:07:28,900 And darkness was on the face of the deep. 132 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:33,520 And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. 133 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,520 When I went to seminary the first year, 134 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:43,000 The most imposing and impressive theologian I've ever encountered was my first seminary instructor. 135 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:44,500 His name was Dr. Bud Powell. 136 00:07:44,660 --> 00:07:47,080 Dr. Powell was a man of enormous stature. 137 00:07:47,180 --> 00:07:48,260 He was just a big man. 138 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:50,000 He had a big, big white beard. 139 00:07:50,100 --> 00:07:51,300 He was an impressive figure. 140 00:07:51,580 --> 00:07:56,880 But as impressive as he was just in the space he filled, he was very impressive also in terms of what he knew 141 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:59,140 and the way in which he could share it with the class. 142 00:07:59,260 --> 00:08:02,880 So my first class, I walk in, and I'm not knowing what to expect. 143 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:08,400 and the professor, Dr. Bud Powell, he goes up to the whiteboard and he writes a very simple phrase. 144 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:13,620 And yet he said that this simple phrase is a foundation for all right orthodoxy, all right 145 00:08:13,620 --> 00:08:23,320 theology. And it's this phrase. He said, there is a God and you are not him. There is a God and you 146 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:27,780 are not him. I looked at that. Now, face value, that seems kind of intuitive. There is a God and 147 00:08:27,780 --> 00:08:34,640 you are not him. And yet, how much philosophy is undone, comes to its knees if you believe that to 148 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:40,240 be true. There is a God and you are not him. Well, that's what we see in Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, 149 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:47,600 God, prior to the beginning, prior to creation, there was a creator that transcended, that was 150 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:53,200 sovereign over, that was external to that which he made. Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created 151 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:58,660 the heavens and the earth. Now again, as we said before, the alternatives that are posited within 152 00:08:58,660 --> 00:09:03,640 the intellectual community are that something came from nothing, which as we said is a logical 153 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:08,120 fallacy. It also is a side note. Earlier I mentioned something called the precepts for 154 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:13,460 intelligibility. In order for life to make sense, in order for your life to make sense, certain 155 00:09:13,460 --> 00:09:18,600 things have to be true. In order for your life to make sense, there has to be laws that govern it. 156 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,600 In order for your life to make sense, you have to come to terms with things like love 157 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:24,200 and your emotions and the like. 158 00:09:24,380 --> 00:09:29,940 Well, whether you're talking about love or goodness or morality or what have you, these 159 00:09:29,940 --> 00:09:34,760 things have no value in a universe where there is no God. 160 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,880 These things are just abstract things we've kind of made up to pass the time and to feel 161 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,060 a little bit better if there is no God. 162 00:09:41,420 --> 00:09:43,900 But if there is a God, then suddenly all that makes sense. 163 00:09:44,180 --> 00:09:45,480 See, the precepts for intelligibility. 164 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:49,620 your life makes sense, the things you do, the things that you don't do, the things you find 165 00:09:49,620 --> 00:09:54,760 to be good, the things you find to be legal and right and appropriate, those things only find any 166 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:59,860 real basis outside of you if there is something greater than you who appointed those things. 167 00:10:00,140 --> 00:10:05,140 If there is no God, if there is no creator, if there's nothing outside of us, if all we are is 168 00:10:05,140 --> 00:10:12,200 goo that went through the zoo to you, if that's us, if that's who we are, morality is nothing. 169 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:19,080 it's a facade goodness is nothing evil's nothing you see in order for your life to make sense 170 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:24,860 in order for it to make sense when you stop at the stoplight down the road your life makes sense if 171 00:10:24,860 --> 00:10:30,800 there is a greater external source of what's right and wrong and good and bad and like a greater 172 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:36,220 source of morality and apart from that so much life doesn't make sense with that said there is 173 00:10:36,220 --> 00:10:40,860 a god you're not him you find that there in the opening words now let's take those opening words 174 00:10:40,860 --> 00:10:45,800 at face value. Let's say there is a God. Let's say we agree that this is true. Now, what are some of 175 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:51,740 the implications of there being a God? Well, the first one I've already mentioned. If there is a 176 00:10:51,740 --> 00:10:57,260 God, then this God is external to that which he has made. He's not part of what's been made. Now, 177 00:10:57,300 --> 00:11:01,840 that's an important distinction to make because many civilizations don't make that. Many civilizations 178 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:07,960 look at the world around us and say, this is all God. God's not external to creation. He is creation 179 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:13,200 to the degree it's a he at all. Everything is God. Now, that's been promulgated in virtually 180 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,800 every, I don't know, it's the concept of the force in Star Wars. It's the circle of life 181 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:21,660 and the Lion King. The idea that everything is God. We're all part of God. The rocks and 182 00:11:21,660 --> 00:11:27,860 the trees, they're all my brothers and sisters. The Bible looks at that and says, not the 183 00:11:27,860 --> 00:11:33,220 case, but that is one belief system that exists, that everything is God. With that said, Genesis 184 00:11:33,220 --> 00:11:38,460 1.1 stands overt against that. It says, in the beginning, God created everything else. Everything 185 00:11:38,460 --> 00:11:44,620 else finds its utility from something that is external to it. God is not part of creation. He's 186 00:11:44,620 --> 00:11:49,660 outside of creation. God is not part of time. He is outside of time. So that's one of the implications. 187 00:11:50,340 --> 00:11:55,120 The second implication is that if God created the world, then he also created the rules that 188 00:11:55,120 --> 00:12:00,240 govern it. If God created stars and galaxies and cosmos and water and oceans and all these 189 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:05,240 different things, then he governed the rules by which it operates. He is the one who says that 190 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:10,580 the oceans may come yea far and no further. He is the one who has appointed every star and exactly 191 00:12:10,580 --> 00:12:15,940 where it belongs. He's the one who has given every star a name. If God exists, this is not the God 192 00:12:15,940 --> 00:12:20,040 of the deists that just kind of created the universe by spinning a top and then ran away from 193 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:25,400 it. Rather, this God, if he exists, he is intricately involved with all that he has made, and all the 194 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:31,320 natural laws that govern it flow from his, his will and instruction. Thirdly, if God made the 195 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:36,520 world, then he has authority over the people that inhabit it. This is the sticking point for so many. 196 00:12:37,180 --> 00:12:42,320 There are folks who don't mind the concept of God in the abstract. God in the abstract doesn't 197 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,860 offend some folks, which is why people talk about thoughts and prayers, something bad happens, 198 00:12:46,940 --> 00:12:50,700 thoughts and prayers, you know, it's just this abstract thoughts, abstract prayers, and an 199 00:12:50,700 --> 00:12:55,700 abstract God. People really don't have a huge problem with the idea that somewhere, someplace, 200 00:12:56,040 --> 00:13:01,260 there is a divine genie of some kind that might come through for you when you need him most. 201 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:08,660 People don't mind that. What they do mind is when this God puts his will and his laws and decrees 202 00:13:08,660 --> 00:13:13,320 right in front of us in something like the Ten Commandments, and then he says, you, the people 203 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:18,140 I've made, are going to follow these rules. And if you don't, there's judgment. See, people don't 204 00:13:18,140 --> 00:13:24,020 mind God in the abstract. They do mind God in the particular, a God who has authority. And we see 205 00:13:24,020 --> 00:13:29,140 absolutely in the first page of God's Word that He does have authority over all that He has made, 206 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:33,920 including the people thereof. And He gave Adam and Eve laws to begin with that we'll start to talk 207 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:38,300 about two weeks from now. Finally, if God made the world, then every part of that world finds 208 00:13:38,300 --> 00:13:44,020 its purpose in His will and not theirs. Let's say you go home and you go to the silverware drawer. 209 00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:47,440 Now, typically, most of us have three things. 210 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,860 You have a spoon, a fork, and a knife. 211 00:13:49,980 --> 00:13:52,780 Now, do you use each one interchangeably? 212 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:56,600 If you're having a bowl of cereal, do you say, hand me the knife, please? 213 00:13:56,680 --> 00:13:57,300 Is that what you do? 214 00:13:57,800 --> 00:13:58,480 Well, of course not. 215 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:00,340 It would be a dangerous, maybe even a deadly thing to do. 216 00:14:00,380 --> 00:14:03,520 We don't do that because the knife's utility is different from the spoon. 217 00:14:04,220 --> 00:14:06,540 And for what it's worth, the spoon is different from the fork. 218 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:08,540 I don't eat my soup with a fork. 219 00:14:08,620 --> 00:14:09,060 Why not? 220 00:14:09,060 --> 00:14:11,280 Because its utility is not designed for that. 221 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,580 In the same way, you and you and you and you and you and all of us 222 00:14:14,580 --> 00:14:17,300 are formed differently, with different utility. 223 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:19,180 All the creatures are formed with different utility. 224 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:21,600 The cow is not the duck, and the duck is not the cow. 225 00:14:22,300 --> 00:14:23,700 The cow could look at the duck and say, 226 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:25,560 I wish I could fly like the duck, but he can't. 227 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:26,260 Why not? 228 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,380 Because he finds his purpose, his essence, 229 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:31,940 in the will of the one who formed him. 230 00:14:32,020 --> 00:14:34,360 He can want all day long to be like the duck. 231 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:35,060 It doesn't matter. 232 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,360 In the same way, you and I can want whatever we might want 233 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,320 to be true about ourselves, about the universe, 234 00:14:41,420 --> 00:14:48,660 about reality around us. However, we find that our purpose, our utility, not only of ourselves, 235 00:14:48,780 --> 00:14:53,640 but also of everything around us has been ordained by the one who formed us in the same way that the 236 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:58,620 metalsmith who formed the fork formed it for a different utility than the spoon. In any case, 237 00:14:58,660 --> 00:15:02,260 the point is this. There's more implications we could draw out, but even in the first verse, 238 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:08,740 even the first verse, you begin to see that theism, that theism posits something about our 239 00:15:08,740 --> 00:15:14,780 origins. It's a bell you can't unring. Theistic belief system that says we do not come about by 240 00:15:14,780 --> 00:15:18,820 chance, but through the will of a creator immediately means that the whole of creation 241 00:15:18,820 --> 00:15:24,660 has to bend the knee to that creator, whether it likes to or not, which is why the attack on 242 00:15:24,660 --> 00:15:29,240 Christianity, the attack on scripture has been one that has attacked Genesis more than any other 243 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:34,260 book in the whole of the Bible. That's why our academic institutions have gone to great lengths 244 00:15:34,260 --> 00:15:39,900 to eliminate verse 1 because they know the consequences that flow from it and to everything 245 00:15:39,900 --> 00:15:46,000 else. All right, let's look at verses 3 through 10. Verse 3, then God said, let there be light, 246 00:15:46,220 --> 00:15:52,940 and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the 247 00:15:52,940 --> 00:15:57,620 darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. So the evening and 248 00:15:57,620 --> 00:16:02,360 the morning were the first day. Then God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, 249 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:04,320 and let it divide the waters from the waters. 250 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:06,660 Thus God made the firmament and divided the waters 251 00:16:06,660 --> 00:16:08,080 which were under the firmament from the waters 252 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:10,860 which were above the firmament, and it was so. 253 00:16:11,260 --> 00:16:12,700 And God called the firmament heaven, 254 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,620 and so the evening and the morning were the second day. 255 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:17,940 Then God said, let the waters under the heavens 256 00:16:17,940 --> 00:16:19,420 be gathered together into one place 257 00:16:19,420 --> 00:16:21,680 and let the dry land appear, and it was so. 258 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:24,080 You notice every time he says something, it's so. 259 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:25,340 We call that divine fiat. 260 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:26,620 God speaks. 261 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:28,880 He's not waiting for anyone to validate what he says. 262 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:31,000 He's not waiting for a consensus of the angels. 263 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,880 God speaks, and it was so. 264 00:16:34,300 --> 00:16:35,620 So we see there in verse 9, 265 00:16:35,700 --> 00:16:39,200 And then God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. 266 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:41,920 And God saw that it was good. 267 00:16:42,860 --> 00:16:45,240 Not only does God create everything through divine fiat, 268 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:49,500 by which he says something, he speaks, he breathes out, and then it exists. 269 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,400 Not only does he do that, but that which he created was good. 270 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:56,840 We see that repeatedly within these first number of days of creation. 271 00:16:56,940 --> 00:16:58,940 He saw that it was good. 272 00:16:59,620 --> 00:17:02,340 Now, again, I've mentioned it a couple times, but I wanted to reiterate it. 273 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:06,520 What's the agency by which we see everything that exists in the world around us? 274 00:17:06,540 --> 00:17:07,000 The agency. 275 00:17:07,140 --> 00:17:09,380 And what I mean by that is, what was the cause? 276 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:10,600 What is the means? 277 00:17:11,100 --> 00:17:12,140 Is it chance? 278 00:17:12,220 --> 00:17:13,000 Is it Big Bang? 279 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:14,120 Is it something like this? 280 00:17:14,220 --> 00:17:15,460 Well, not according to Scripture. 281 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:21,400 The agency by which God created things was not a divine erector set or chemistry 282 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,720 that he kind of wove everything together in a specific way. 283 00:17:23,780 --> 00:17:24,820 Rather, we see he spoke. 284 00:17:25,120 --> 00:17:26,480 He spoke, and it was. 285 00:17:26,900 --> 00:17:31,460 He spoke and through, again, divine fiat, that's a way of saying that just through the nature of 286 00:17:31,460 --> 00:17:37,140 his decree, it came into existence. And further, not only did it come into existence, but it came 287 00:17:37,140 --> 00:17:42,560 to an orchestrated existence, an organized existence. God spoke and he created things 288 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:48,220 in an orderly fashion to build upon one another. God is a God of order. There's a lot we can learn 289 00:17:48,220 --> 00:17:52,400 about the attributes of God just by looking at the way in which he created things. Furthermore, 290 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:54,180 I'll add one addition. 291 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:56,360 Not only did he create everything in order, 292 00:17:56,460 --> 00:17:57,780 not only did he create everything good, 293 00:17:57,840 --> 00:17:59,380 but he created everything just beautifully. 294 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:02,220 When you look at the complexity of the world around us, 295 00:18:02,340 --> 00:18:03,900 let alone in the Garden of Eden, 296 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:05,360 which must have been something else, 297 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:08,020 God can do anything, 298 00:18:08,020 --> 00:18:10,040 and he chooses to do beautiful things 299 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:12,760 because he is a good and loving 300 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,500 and beautiful, majestic, all-powerful God. 301 00:18:15,860 --> 00:18:17,240 That which he produces is good. 302 00:18:18,140 --> 00:18:19,480 And even God said it was good. 303 00:18:20,380 --> 00:18:21,640 God looked at that which he made, 304 00:18:21,700 --> 00:18:29,020 he said, it is good. Now, how long did it take? Not a trick question. What do you think? 305 00:18:29,740 --> 00:18:33,860 If you ask people, even in some church communities, how long did creation take, 306 00:18:34,340 --> 00:18:39,540 there could be some equivocating. Well, you know, it says he took six days, 307 00:18:40,360 --> 00:18:48,900 but maybe a day doesn't mean a day, right? If you talk about how long did it take for God to 308 00:18:48,900 --> 00:18:52,480 create the heavens and the earth, how long did it take? Well, the biblical narrative says it took 309 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:58,400 six days. It took six days and then God rested on the seventh day. However, here's something that 310 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:03,240 happens. We look through radiometric devices, we look at carbon dating and the like, and we look 311 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:08,700 at a rock and we say, well, that rock appears to be quite old. That rock says it's a million years 312 00:19:08,700 --> 00:19:13,960 old based on the tools that we have to understand it. That's a million-year-old rock. And if we look 313 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:19,300 back at the history of scripture, we see a history that goes back roughly 6,000 years. And therefore, 314 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:24,700 if God created everything at the beginning of that 6,000 years, and when it says a day is 24 315 00:19:24,700 --> 00:19:28,900 hours, that no, it's not really 24 hours. It's got to be something else. I've got to find a way 316 00:19:28,900 --> 00:19:35,140 to harmonize my understanding of how old this rock looks like it is versus the biblical narrative. 317 00:19:35,140 --> 00:19:40,400 And the way that many do that is to take the biblical narrative and just kind of say, yes, 318 00:19:40,460 --> 00:19:45,860 God created the world in six days, but a day really isn't a day. A day could be as long as 319 00:19:45,860 --> 00:19:52,320 God wants it to be. For a day is like a thousand years before the Lord. Could that be true? There's 320 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:57,220 many wonderful Christians who are smarter than I who believe exactly that. Others insert a gap 321 00:19:57,220 --> 00:20:03,600 between days one and two. Others do different things to try to come to terms with how this rock 322 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:07,740 can look like it's a million years old if the biblical narrative is talking about creation 323 00:20:07,740 --> 00:20:13,840 some 6,000 years ago. How do you work that through? Now, if I was to ask for different 324 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,700 thoughts, we'd have a lot of different thoughts even in this room. This is certainly true in the 325 00:20:17,700 --> 00:20:21,940 broader church, and it's really, if you ask folks beyond that, you get all sorts of different 326 00:20:21,940 --> 00:20:27,920 interpretations. I'll tell you what I think for what little that's worth, but I'll tell you where 327 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:35,880 my conviction is. I look at this text, and I take it at face value. If Scripture says that God 328 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:41,000 created things in six days, on the seventh day he rested. I tend to look at that as six 24-hour 329 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:46,520 days. Now the question then becomes, all right then, if that's true, then explain the rock to me. 330 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:52,040 Explain this rock. Why does everything we know in terms of studying it make it look like it's a 331 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:58,120 million-year-old rock? Explain that to me. If God created everything in six 24-hour days some 332 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:04,000 6,000-odd years ago, explain that to me. So here's my explanation. It's shared by many in the Reformed 333 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:08,820 world. I tend to find it to be the best alternative. There are other alternatives that may be plausible 334 00:21:08,820 --> 00:21:14,300 as well, but here's what I believe. When God created the heavens and the earth, when he created 335 00:21:14,300 --> 00:21:19,540 Adam and Eve, when he created the trees that gave Adam shade, that he did so in such a way is that 336 00:21:19,540 --> 00:21:24,640 the first things that were created were created at what we might call an age of maturity. There's 337 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:28,400 no sense that Adam was created as an infant. There's no sense that Adam was created as a child. 338 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:31,900 There's no sense that the fish in the sea were created as caviar. There's nothing like that. 339 00:21:32,300 --> 00:21:36,800 What we see is that God created a fully formed world. 340 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,460 The trees that were there in the garden that Adam and Eve walked in the cool of the afternoon, 341 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:47,040 trees that if you were to cut into them had rings that appeared older than the trees necessarily were. 342 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,880 If you looked at Adam, you would say Adam was not created as a child, 343 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:55,520 he was not created as an infant or something, an embryo or something like that, but as a mature adult. 344 00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:00,980 So we look and we say God created all manner of different things at some midway point in its existence. 345 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,640 And we call this the apparent age theory. 346 00:22:04,020 --> 00:22:06,980 It suggests that there was an appearance of age. 347 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,940 Adam, when he was one day old, was not a 30-year-old man, 348 00:22:10,980 --> 00:22:12,960 even though he may have had the appearance thereof. 349 00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:14,940 The same was true when Eve came from the rib. 350 00:22:15,340 --> 00:22:17,860 Eve didn't come from the rib as an embryo and then an infant and a child 351 00:22:17,860 --> 00:22:20,380 and only grew up to be his helpmate. 352 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,340 Now that, what I've just said, is broadly understood within Christianity. 353 00:22:24,340 --> 00:22:27,160 It always has been that Adam was created fully formed. 354 00:22:27,740 --> 00:22:29,820 So with that said, I see that as a precedent. 355 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,500 I see it as a precedent by which God created everything else. 356 00:22:33,780 --> 00:22:35,520 From the stars and the light that they shone, 357 00:22:35,580 --> 00:22:37,440 to the trees that grew up, to Adam and Eve himself, 358 00:22:37,740 --> 00:22:40,820 I see a God who is more than happy to create things 359 00:22:40,820 --> 00:22:43,040 at a point of midway maturity. 360 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,960 Now, if you look to the New Testament, you'll see this again. 361 00:22:46,540 --> 00:22:49,640 Do you remember the miracle of Jesus with the water and the wine? 362 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:50,800 What's the miracle? 363 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,320 He's at a wedding, there's the water, and he turns the water into wine. 364 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,380 If you were to drink the wine, it would have tasted like the best wine you'd ever drunk. 365 00:22:57,860 --> 00:23:01,100 It would have tasted like wine that had been aged and fermented 366 00:23:01,100 --> 00:23:02,720 because that's what you have to do to wine. 367 00:23:03,100 --> 00:23:05,160 And the scholars who know more about wine than I do 368 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:07,400 say that such wine as Jesus had created 369 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,420 would have had to have had at least a year and probably two years of fermentation 370 00:23:10,420 --> 00:23:14,620 in order to have that sort of taste that it had at that particular point. 371 00:23:15,300 --> 00:23:18,740 If you talk about Jesus when he created the loaves and the fish, 372 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:20,000 think about that. 373 00:23:20,260 --> 00:23:21,860 They're all sitting around there on the hillside. 374 00:23:21,980 --> 00:23:23,000 Thousands are all hungry. 375 00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:25,320 The disciples go, all right, Jesus, everyone's hungry. 376 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:25,960 What are we going to do? 377 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:27,680 We should send everyone to go get food somewhere. 378 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:29,200 And he goes, nah, we're good, we're good. 379 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:30,260 Who's got what? 380 00:23:30,300 --> 00:23:31,840 And they said, well, this kid, he's got some loaves, 381 00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:33,060 a few loaves and a few fish. 382 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:34,660 She says, bring it on over here. 383 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:35,700 Now, what did he do next? 384 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:36,840 What did he do? 385 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:39,360 Well, we know he multiplied the food, right? 386 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:40,140 He multiplied food. 387 00:23:40,180 --> 00:23:41,900 We don't know exactly how it happened there, 388 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,380 but we know he multiplied from a little basket of food, 389 00:23:44,620 --> 00:23:47,360 enough food to satisfy everyone that was there. 390 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,760 And if you were holding a piece of bread in your hand, 391 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,100 it had the appearance of something much older than itself. 392 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,520 If you cut into a fish, it wasn't caviar that he gave them. 393 00:23:55,580 --> 00:23:56,480 You understand this? 394 00:23:57,020 --> 00:23:59,780 Jesus himself created things with the appearance of age 395 00:23:59,780 --> 00:24:02,680 that were entertained and enjoyed by those he gave it to. 396 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:07,740 There's biblical precept that suggests that God was more than willing and able 397 00:24:07,740 --> 00:24:10,260 to create a universe that had the appearance of age 398 00:24:10,260 --> 00:24:12,780 even if it didn't have the antiquity that comes with age. 399 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:14,440 Even if it didn't date back a million years, 400 00:24:14,660 --> 00:24:16,740 there's nothing to say the rock couldn't look older than it was. 401 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,780 And we know that to be true because he did this numerous other places 402 00:24:19,780 --> 00:24:20,960 in the Old and New Testament. 403 00:24:21,260 --> 00:24:24,340 I'm not saying that that is the only way to understand this text, 404 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:25,560 but I'm saying it's a reasonable way. 405 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:28,980 And the reason I like it is because it keeps Genesis 1 intact. 406 00:24:29,820 --> 00:24:35,020 It doesn't cause you to insert, you know, parenthesis and gap theories and age and do all sorts of other stuff. 407 00:24:35,020 --> 00:24:43,060 I can take it for what it says and apply its lessons, and I can point to other points of Scripture and say this is the reason why I believe this to be true. 408 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:51,580 With that said, when we look at these days, we look at them as an orderly account by which God built and created the universe around us. 409 00:24:52,140 --> 00:24:56,920 And I'm inclined to see them as being days in the current understanding of the word. 410 00:24:57,460 --> 00:24:59,740 I'm going to skip ahead with our balance of our time. 411 00:24:59,820 --> 00:25:03,340 I'm going to look at verses 26 through 28, and then we'll wrap up for today. 412 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:05,040 And then we'll go into chapter 2 next week. 413 00:25:05,100 --> 00:25:06,760 Next, we're going to talk about life in the garden. 414 00:25:06,860 --> 00:25:07,520 What was that like? 415 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:11,900 But let's finish up for today by looking at verses 26 through 28 of chapter 1. 416 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:19,720 Verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. 417 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,240 As a side note, this is the first proof text for the Trinity. 418 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:24,900 Who's the our here? 419 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:26,680 At this point, there's just God, right? 420 00:25:26,940 --> 00:25:31,560 But God says, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, 421 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:35,000 and let man then have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the earth, 422 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,940 over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creepy thing that creeps on the earth. 423 00:25:39,300 --> 00:25:41,920 And so God created man in his own image, in the image of God. 424 00:25:41,980 --> 00:25:43,700 He created them male and female. 425 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:44,420 He created them. 426 00:25:44,460 --> 00:25:45,300 There's a whole sermon there. 427 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,620 Verse 28, then God blessed them, and God said to them, 428 00:25:48,700 --> 00:25:50,680 Be fruitful and multiply. 429 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:53,160 Remember, he has the authority to tell them what to do. 430 00:25:53,500 --> 00:25:57,220 That's one of the implications of him being the boss, him being the creator. 431 00:25:57,660 --> 00:25:59,620 He tells them, he says, be fruitful and multiply. 432 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:01,600 Fill the earth and subdue it. 433 00:26:01,700 --> 00:26:04,280 Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, 434 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:07,180 and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 435 00:26:07,940 --> 00:26:13,000 Verse 26, if you ever suffer from low esteem, verse 26 is for you. 436 00:26:13,460 --> 00:26:16,140 It says, you and I are made in God's image. 437 00:26:16,700 --> 00:26:19,120 There's nothing else in the universe that can say this. 438 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,400 Something that's interesting, pagan cultures do this all the time. 439 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:27,920 They look for the majesty of the wolf or the African lion or the elephant or fill in the blank. 440 00:26:28,300 --> 00:26:29,820 And that's why people have spirit animals. 441 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:31,980 And this is why the pagans always bent down to animals. 442 00:26:32,380 --> 00:26:35,600 The pagans have always, you know, they were half man, half hippo, you know, half whatever. 443 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:40,460 They would look at the created realm and they would find something about that, 444 00:26:40,620 --> 00:26:45,280 the creatures that had a greater value than the people made in the image of God. 445 00:26:45,340 --> 00:26:48,080 They would sacrifice the people made in the image of God 446 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,760 to the idol dressed up like a creature, 447 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:52,800 something that existed in the world around them. 448 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:54,560 With that said, what you notice in these verses 449 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,260 is that you and I are made in the image of God. 450 00:26:57,420 --> 00:26:58,640 You and I are made in God's image. 451 00:26:58,740 --> 00:27:01,420 And that's why we say that there's a sanctity of human life. 452 00:27:01,540 --> 00:27:03,820 Because unlike the hippo and unlike the rhino 453 00:27:03,820 --> 00:27:05,620 and unlike the giraffe and unlike the rocks 454 00:27:05,620 --> 00:27:07,080 and the mountains and the trees and the oceans 455 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:08,340 and the breeze and all that stuff, 456 00:27:08,620 --> 00:27:11,360 you have a likeness to the God of all creation. 457 00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:13,900 And there's nothing else in creation that can claim that. 458 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,800 The people who say we're all, you know, the rocks and trees are my brothers, nonsense. 459 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,860 I like rocks and trees and I look at the planets through the telescope 460 00:27:22,860 --> 00:27:24,680 and the eclipse and all that's really cool, right? 461 00:27:24,700 --> 00:27:25,540 That's all really cool. 462 00:27:25,540 --> 00:27:31,020 And yet all of it is pale, pale compared to those who populate the earth 463 00:27:31,020 --> 00:27:32,280 who are made in the image of God. 464 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,420 Even the most homely individual who's ever lived is made in the image of God 465 00:27:36,420 --> 00:27:38,660 and there's nothing else in the universe that can say that. 466 00:27:39,500 --> 00:27:41,720 And so we should esteem human life. 467 00:27:42,100 --> 00:27:46,060 Those supporters of abortion, euthanasia, and these other things are striking at the very core 468 00:27:46,060 --> 00:27:50,820 to what the Bible starts with. You and I are made in the image of God. That begins with the smallest 469 00:27:50,820 --> 00:27:57,000 of us through the most aged of us. We're in the image of our maker. Now, verse 28 goes on to say 470 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:03,980 that we who are made in the image of God have a authority that he's invested in us over everything 471 00:28:03,980 --> 00:28:09,440 else in the world around us. You are made in the image of God, and you are granted dominion over 472 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:15,440 everything else that exists. All the animals, the birds that fly, all this stuff. You have dominion 473 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:20,580 over that. Is that dominion to be executed wisely? Yes. Are we to be good stewards of God's creation? 474 00:28:20,740 --> 00:28:26,980 Yes. However, make no mistake, we are granted dominion over that which God has made. And that's 475 00:28:26,980 --> 00:28:31,920 why one of the cruelest ironies of the pagans, which Paul addresses in Romans 1, is that they 476 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:35,660 would trade all that in. They would trade in the image of God. They trade in God himself in order 477 00:28:35,660 --> 00:28:41,440 to bow down and worship the things that they were given dominion over. Romans 1, professing to be 478 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:46,900 wise, they became fools. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like 479 00:28:46,900 --> 00:28:53,220 corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. There have been men and women, 480 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:58,640 they're probably still on the globe today or still some would do this, who would make up an image, 481 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:04,560 an idol of a creeping thing and then bow down before it. Those made in the image of God will 482 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:10,120 bowed down before an idol made over that which they have dominion over. It's irony that we have 483 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:14,740 done so. In closing this morning, again, there's so much that we're going to consider when we get 484 00:29:14,740 --> 00:29:19,480 into life in the garden, then we move to the fall two weeks from now. But in closing this morning, 485 00:29:20,340 --> 00:29:26,580 you know what nihilism is? Most of us have heard nihilism. We think that's bad, right? Nihilism 486 00:29:26,580 --> 00:29:32,580 is bad. So nihil, N-I-H-I-L, it's a Latin term. What do you think it means? Nothing. I think I 487 00:29:32,580 --> 00:29:37,060 heard it over here. It means nothing. To be a nihilist is to have the view that there is 488 00:29:37,060 --> 00:29:42,060 nothing that's important, nothing that matters, no value in anything. To be nihilistic, that's 489 00:29:42,060 --> 00:29:46,900 to embrace nihilism. Now, secular humanism does that. It doesn't always recognize it as doing 490 00:29:46,900 --> 00:29:51,220 that, but that's what it does. Secular humanism, that thinks we all came from nothing, is inherently 491 00:29:51,220 --> 00:29:54,720 nihilistic. Some philosophers are just more honest with themselves that that's what they're doing. 492 00:29:54,720 --> 00:30:00,160 But if you ascribe there to be no God, no creator, no cosmic right and wrong, none of that, 493 00:30:00,580 --> 00:30:03,720 If that were true, then nihilism would be correct and nothing would matter. 494 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,220 However, verse 1, chapter 1, 495 00:30:07,580 --> 00:30:10,920 posits a God who does the exact opposite of nihilism, 496 00:30:11,580 --> 00:30:14,880 but who created the world ex nihilo, 497 00:30:15,140 --> 00:30:17,400 which is what theologians say means what? 498 00:30:17,860 --> 00:30:19,000 Out of nothing. 499 00:30:19,420 --> 00:30:20,140 Ex nihilo. 500 00:30:20,500 --> 00:30:21,100 Ex nihilo. 501 00:30:21,100 --> 00:30:24,500 God created the world, the universe, the creation, the seas, the bees, 502 00:30:24,620 --> 00:30:26,660 all these different things out of nothing. 503 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,400 Secular humanism, nihilism, wants to go back to the nothing. 504 00:30:31,100 --> 00:30:32,480 Find no value in anything. 505 00:30:32,740 --> 00:30:34,040 Embrace the nothingness. 506 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:35,180 That's what nihilism does. 507 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:38,960 Creationism, the idea of an intelligent designer. 508 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:41,560 Christianity, faith in Jesus Christ 509 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,660 is a faith in a God that looked at the nothing and said, 510 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:46,800 I will bring something out of this, 511 00:30:47,100 --> 00:30:49,140 of my own volition, my own fiat, my own decree, 512 00:30:49,140 --> 00:30:51,780 and what I bring out of it will be good 513 00:30:51,780 --> 00:30:53,520 and will be in my image. 514 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:55,660 The world has become nihilistic, 515 00:30:55,980 --> 00:30:57,980 and that's why we do so many of the things that God hates, 516 00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:00,800 like embrace abortion or euthanasia or whatever, 517 00:31:00,980 --> 00:31:03,580 fill in the blank, whatever weirdness is going to come next decade. 518 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:05,300 That's why we embrace these things, 519 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:07,640 because the culture around us is increasingly nihilistic. 520 00:31:08,460 --> 00:31:10,940 To that, we must fight by quoting Genesis 1-1, 521 00:31:11,500 --> 00:31:13,640 in the beginning, God. 522 00:31:13,860 --> 00:31:16,840 We start with that premise, which Genesis 1 begins with, 523 00:31:17,140 --> 00:31:18,660 then we work our way forward. 524 00:31:18,660 --> 00:31:20,520 But we must never give up that ground, 525 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,320 not in the culture around us and certainly not in our churches. 526 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:24,360 Let's pray.