In The Beginning, God

Well, as I mentioned earlier, we are beginning a new series this morning in the book of Genesis,

and I joked last week with you that we would probably spend something like the next 10 years or so together in Genesis.

That's not really true, but we will take a good bit of time to go through this together,

especially so in the first three chapters of Genesis.

And we really want to take our time here because these first chapters of Genesis are foundational for our faith.

Foundational. They're significant for us.

And so if you would, please take your Bibles and open them up to the book of Genesis this morning.

If you don't have a Bible, if you didn't bring one with you, feel free to use one of those in the seat backs in front of you.

If you don't have a Bible at all of your own, feel free to take that one home with you as our gift to you.

It should be easy to find our passage this morning.

It's the first book of the Bible, the first chapter of the first book of the Bible,

and first verse of the first chapter of the first book of the Bible.

Genesis 1 verse 1.

Genesis 1:1

And so when you found it, let's stand in honor of the reading of God's Word this morning.

Genesis 1 verse 1.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Let's pray again.

Lord, Father, these words are familiar to us, but they, again, are so important for us.

And so we pray, Lord, would you speak to us today and reveal yourself to us through the preaching of your Word.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Every good builder knows that in order to build a sturdy house, you have to first lay a firm foundation.

And if you don't, sooner or later, you're pretty much guaranteed to run into some significant issues.

And sometimes you may not even know that the foundation is off.

And maybe you move into a new house and you think everything is just fine.

But then eventually you start noticing the walls are starting to crack.

The floors are starting to buckle.

The doorways are a little bit tilted.

And you realize these are symptoms of a bigger issue.

The foundation needs to be corrected.

This morning we begin a new series in the book of Genesis.

And you may be wondering, why in the world are we going to spend so much time together in the book of Genesis?

Or even you may be wondering, well, how in the world could this old book,

the very first book of the Old Testament,

how could that have any relevance to my life at all?

Well, one reason is Genesis is the foundation for the rest of the Bible.

It's the very first book.

If you want to read and understand your Bible better,

one way to do so is to really study and read and understand the book of Genesis.

Everything from the prophets to the gospels all the way to the book of Revelation,

it's all built up on this foundation.

Ken Matthews, one commentator, he says,

if we possessed a Bible without Genesis,

we would have a house of cards without foundation or mortar.

It's also true theologically.

As you think about all the major church doctrines, theological doctrines,

one of my former professors, John Currid,

he said almost every important church doctrine is found in seed form here in the book of Genesis.

It's here in this book that we're introduced to God and man,

good and evil, sin and temptation, law and grace, justice and mercy.

There's themes of kingdom and covenant, blessing and cursing.

The foundation for all of it is laid right here.

And I would argue, again, that most of these themes are established for us

even in the first chapters of the book of Genesis.

It's not only that.

It's not the only reason we want to turn to this book.

As you look around us at our culture, hopefully you see what I see.

There are cracks in the walls.

The floors are buckling.

The doorways are tilted.

And when we look outside of these walls and we see issues around us,

we ought to realize that these are ultimately, they are foundation issues.

And so really, I'm hard pressed to find a more relevant book than this old book of Genesis.

We see issues of human sexuality and identity.

The value and the dignity of human life.

We see the purpose and the meaning of life and the meaning of work and labor.

We see the institution of marriage.

All of it is right here, even in the first pages of the book of Genesis.

I truly believe that rightly understood, the truths that we'll see here in this book are the foundation of a flourishing society.

But not only for a flourishing society, but also for a flourishing church.

I truly believe that many churches and many Christians would do well to take a slow walk through the Garden of Eden.

To reinforce our foundation.

Make certain that as things have gone by, as time has passed, that nothing has shifted or eroded as time has gone on.

So here again, it's my prayer as we begin this book together.

That God would lay for us a firm foundation for our faith.

Amen?

Would you pray again with me briefly one more time as we begin?

And ask God to do that for us.

Lord, we want to see and understand all things from a God-centered perspective.

And so we pray and we ask again, Lord, would you lay for us a firm foundation for our faith?

We commit this series, this sermon, this time together in Genesis to you.

And we ask God that you would show us Christ.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I see three foundational truths here about God in the first verse of Genesis.

Three foundational truths about God.

Number one, first we see that God is the focus of all things.

God is the focus of all things.

In the beginning, God, Derek Kinner says,

It is no accident that God is the subject of the first sentence of the Bible.

In fact, this word, God, dominates the whole chapter and catches the eye at every point of the page.

It's used some 35 times in just as many verses of the story.

So we won't spend too much time here, but I do just want to make this point.

It's obvious, I think, but it needs to be said, the Bible begins with God.

As we start off this journey in Genesis, you really can't miss this, can you?

God is the main character of this book.

If you were to pick up the Bible with no knowledge of Christianity, no knowledge of religion whatsoever,

no knowledge of anything else that this book contained,

if you were to pick it up and start reading at the very beginning,

the very first person you would be introduced to is God.

These first four words of the Bible, they teach us an incredibly important truth, and it's this.

The world that we live in, it does not revolve around us.

It revolves around God.

It's not about us.

We're not the king of the universe.

God is the king of the universe.

We're not the point of this story.

God is the point of this story.

God doesn't exist for us.

We exist, along with everything else in the universe, for God.

We have to understand this, and it's easy, again, it's obvious to see it,

but it's impossible, apart from his grace, for us to really get this right.

Because all of us, myself included, all of us in our sin nature, you know what we want to do?

We want to make everything about us.

And we want to be at the center.

We want to be the focus.

We want to be made much of.

We want our desires to be affirmed.

We want our ambitions to be celebrated.

And our sin nature really doesn't like it any other way.

But here again, in the beginning, we're reminded God is the focus.

And it's his desires that are ultimate, not ours.

And it's his words and it's his glory that are the center of the universe.

And church, there's so many ways to apply this truth.

There's application for our worship services here as we gather together for worship.

When we gather together, again, in our sinful flesh, we might want to hear about us.

We might want to sing about us.

We might want to worship however we want to worship.

We might want to come in and do whatever makes us feel good.

But we ought to be reminded again, our time gathering here for worship isn't ultimately about us.

And our wants and our preferences and our tastes.

It is about God.

And we ought to come in here expecting and desiring and wanting to meet with him.

There's application for our times of private devotion and Bible reading.

When we come to this book, the Bible, we ought to acknowledge it's for us.

It's for our good, but it is not about us.

We are not the focus of the Bible.

God is the focus of the Bible.

When we have our times of private devotion, the point of those times is to meet with God.

Even as we look ahead to the great work of redemption at the cross of Christ, to the gospel.

Again, although it is for you, it is not about you and how great you are.

It is about God and how great God is.

We apply it to our own life.

And this is a big realization.

Every part of your life, your career, your marriage, your families, your ambitions.

Again, these are wonderful gifts to us, but they are not ultimately about us.

We exist to magnify the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And you remember from last week, what we saw last week from Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

The first task of every believer is to magnify the glory of God.

How?

It is by enjoying Him.

By delighting in Him.

So we have to ask here as we begin this book together.

Is He the very center of your life and your joy?

Or do you fight Him for control of that position in your life?

You hear that question?

Is God and His glory at the very center of your life and your joy and your ambition?

Or do you wrestle with Him and try to replace Him as the center of your life?

Listen to this from Jonathan Edwards.

He says,

This is the difference between the joy of the hypocrite and the joy of the true saint.

The hypocrite rejoices in himself.

Self is the first foundation of his joy.

The true saint rejoices in God.

True saints have their minds in the first place inexpressibly pleased and delighted with the sweet ideas

and the glorious and amiable nature of the things of God.

And this is the spring of all their delights and the cream of all their pleasures.

But the dependence of the affections of the hypocrites is in contrary order.

They first rejoice that they are made so much of by God.

And then on that ground, He seems lovely to them.

You see the difference?

Church, God is the focus of this story.

The Bible begins with God.

Fully satisfied.

Fully content.

Fully God before anything else in the universe is made.

And in this first introduction to the person of God,

we're told some very important truths about who He is.

And so second, second foundational truth here,

we see that God is the sovereign, eternal creator of all things.

Second foundational truth.

And we'll spend most of our time here on this point.

God is the sovereign, eternal creator of all things.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

You know, it is interesting for me to think about the context of the Israelites

as they would have first heard and received this text.

I mean, put yourself in their shoes just for a moment.

You might remember Moses wrote Genesis.

And of course, they knew these truths through oral tradition,

but they would have received this text and read it for the first time

as they were making their way into the promised land.

And you remember what that time was like for them.

We just got done studying Joshua in the Sunday school hour.

You remember what that time was like for them as they journeyed into the promised land.

They are being called out of the world.

They're being called to be a distinct people of God.

They're being marked off as His distinct people.

But you remember also how they're constantly tempted to look just like all the nations around them.

They're tempted to bow down and to worship false gods.

They're surrounded by enemies at every turn.

And so they're tempted even to fear the strength of the gods of the nations,

to fear the power of these false gods.

And you think about what these false gods were like.

All of these ancient Near Eastern cultures around them,

they associated different parts of creation with the gods.

And so they worshiped the God of the sun and the God of the moon

and the God of the stars and the God of the water.

As they looked around them, they spiritualized these aspects of creation

and they worshiped them as something divine and something powerful.

Think about how powerful and reassuring it would be for them to hear,

No, no, no, no, no, no.

In the beginning, before any of these things were made,

God was there.

Your God, the God who is creating you as His people,

is the same God who created the heavens and the earth.

These gods of the nations are no gods at all.

These gods of the nations, they're the creation of the one true God.

Everything that these other cultures worship,

the one true God has made.

He created it.

He rules over these little G gods.

They serve Him.

They exist by His will.

Why would you turn and serve any of these other things,

other created things,

when God, the creator of it all,

calls you to serve Him?

Why would you fear any of these other parts of creation,

when God is the sovereign king of all creation?

None of these things can harm you apart from His will.

This very first line,

along with everything that follows,

is a reorientation for the Israelites

to give them a God-centered worldview.

As Israel journeyed into the promised land

and prepared to set up civilization

as God's people and God's kingdom,

they needed to be reminded,

God is the sovereign king of the universe.

And you know what, church?

Here, a few thousand years later,

the church needs to be reminded

of that very same message.

You realize God has called us out of this world

to be His distinct people.

God has recreated us, the church,

as His own people.

We are marching forwards

towards the true promised land.

And all around us are false gods.

All around you are created things

that tempt you and that threaten you.

And we too need to be reminded

that there is one God

who stands before all

and He is the sovereign king of the universe.

Not only this,

but He's the eternal king of the universe.

Have you ever thought about the fact

that God is eternal?

I hope you had your coffee this morning.

This is a lot.

Stephen Sharnock,

he sums it up like this.

He says that the fact that God is eternal,

it means that He has no beginning,

He has no end,

and He has no temporal secession of time.

God has no beginning,

and no end,

and has no temporal secession.

My family went to the mountains for Thanksgiving.

We were talking about it this morning.

And as we were driving up

and going up these long and winding roads

up into the mountains,

the boys were looking out the windows

and just seeing these beautiful mountains

in western North Carolina.

It's dangerous how beautiful it is,

especially for the driver, right?

Because you shouldn't look out the windows.

But as we went up these mountains,

I was reminded of Psalm 90, verse 2.

Psalms 90:2

And it became our theme verse for the week.

Psalm 90, verse 2.

Psalms 90:2

Before the mountains were brought forth,

wherever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting,

you are God.

God.

In the beginning,

God.

God is there.

Before anything else was there.

Before these mountains,

He was there totally complete,

totally satisfied,

totally glorious,

totally content in and of Himself.

He was there.

And one billion years from now,

guess what?

God is there.

From everlasting to everlasting,

He is God.

He has no beginning.

He has no end.

But listen,

even if we could begin to understand that

and wrap our minds around that,

it's the third description

that throws me for a loop.

I don't know about you.

In Him,

there is no secession of time.

You know,

we can't,

we can't even begin to conceive of this

because we exist in time,

don't we?

And we measure everything,

by time.

We have a beginning.

We age,

and we progress.

We change.

We have a past.

We have a future.

We measure years by months,

and months by weeks,

and weeks by days,

and days by hours,

and minutes and seconds,

and we can't escape time.

We live within it.

But for God,

there is no past.

There is no future.

For God,

there is only eternally right now.

God isn't different today

than He was a hundred million years ago.

God won't be different a hundred million years

in the future as He is right this minute.

God was just as present with me there in the mountains

as He was the moment they were created,

as He will be when they dissolve.

That's what it means to be eternal.

You know,

church,

we,

sometimes I fear that we take these truths for granted.

That we know them intellectually.

We know in the beginning God.

The right response to a God like this

is that we ought to marvel

at a God like this.

The God of the Bible is beyond our comprehension.

I wonder,

are you okay with that?

Right away,

in the very first book of the Bible,

we are faced with truths

that we cannot begin to comprehend.

The truth is,

I can describe that to you.

God's eternal,

but I can't fully wrap my mind around it.

I can't fully explain it.

Right here,

at the beginning of the Bible,

we are introduced

to a God who is greater than us.

Who is beyond us.

To a God who is indescribable

and incomprehensible

and incomparable.

And we aren't dealing here

with a God that fits within the limits

of our natural understanding.

And sometimes you and I,

we get frustrated

when we come upon something

in the Bible

that we can't understand.

And can I just suggest

that maybe that ought to lead us

to awe

and wonder

rather than frustration.

God is beyond our comprehension.

We can jump into that ocean of His glory

and swim down as deep

as we possibly can

and guess what?

You will never reach the bottom.

In fact,

this is what we have to look forward to

in eternity

in Christ.

This is what we have been brought into

by the grace of God

through faith in Christ.

If you are a Christian,

listen to what you have to look forward to.

This is what it means

to be a Christian,

by the way.

To be a Christian

is to be brought

into relationship

with this sovereign,

eternal God

by faith in Christ.

And so now,

for the rest of eternity,

guess what you get to do?

You get to plunge

the depths

of the glory of God

and never exhaust His goodness.

That's what it means

to enjoy everlasting life.

I used to think

everlasting life

sounded a little bit boring.

Right?

What in the world

do you do

with all that time?

I had too small

a view of God.

It will take

all of eternity

for an eternal God

to reveal Himself to you.

New glories

will unfold

every moment,

every hour of the day.

New reasons to rejoice

for the rest of eternity.

New reasons

to worship

for the rest of eternity.

New reasons

to be satisfied

in God

for the rest of eternity.

There is no end

to His goodness.

So there's no end

to our pleasure in Him

for the rest of eternity.

An eternal God

is reason to rejoice

and to marvel,

church.

One of my favorite passages

of Scripture

is Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Paul tells us

in Ephesians 2,

you were dead in sin.

But God,

being rich in mercy,

because of the great love

with which He loved us

even when we were dead

in our trespasses,

made us alive

together with Christ.

By grace,

you have been saved

and raised us

up with Him

and seated us

with Him

in the heavenly places

in Christ Jesus.

Why?

What's the point?

What's the point?

What's the end of it?

What's this headed towards?

Verse 7.

So that

in the coming ages

He might show

the immeasurable

riches

of His grace

and kindness

toward us

in Christ Jesus.

How long

do you think

that'll take,

church?

It'll take

all of eternity

for us to drink

in the fullness

of the immeasurable

riches

of God's grace

and kindness

towards us

in Christ Jesus.

If you enjoy

God right now,

friend,

you don't know

the half of it.

He's beyond

our comprehension

and yet,

and yet,

here in the first

verse of Scripture

we see that

God,

the sovereign,

eternal King

of the universe,

He has acted

and He has

spoken

and He has

created

all things.

So we should ask,

why?

Why did this

sovereign,

eternal God

create all things?

And we see the answer

throughout the rest

of Scripture

and it's this.

He has created

all things

in order that

this infinite,

eternal,

glorious God

might be known

and His glory

magnified

in all the earth.

So third,

third foundational truth

here about God

is this,

that all things

exist for His glory.

This God

is worthy

of our worship.

That's the point

of creation.

That's the end

of all of this.

And again,

we return right back

to where we started,

don't we?

He created it all

that He might be

the focus

of it all.

God created

all things

that in all things

He might display

His glory.

God created all things

that in all things

He might magnify

the glory of God

generally in creation,

but specifically

and especially

in the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

A creation

is for us,

is for our good,

we benefit from it,

we enjoy it,

but it is not

about us,

it's about Him

and His glory.

The point of creation

is the magnification

of the glory of God

for from Him

and to Him

and through Him

are all things

to Him

be the glory

forever.

He created all things

that in all things

He might put

His glorious power

on display.

Psalm chapter 19,

Psalms 19 · chapter mention

you know this text.

The heavens

declare

the glory of God.

The sky above

proclaims

His handiwork.

Day to day

pours out speech

and night to night

reveals knowledge.

There's no speech

nor are there words

whose voice

is not heard.

Their voice goes

throughout all the earth

and their words

to the end of the world.

In them

He has set a tent

for the sun

which comes out

like a bridegroom

leaving its chamber

and like a strong man

runs its course

with joy.

Its rising

is from the end

of the heavens

and its circuit

to the end of them

and there is nothing

hidden from its heat.

Creation

is proclaiming

a message

which

it will never

cease to amaze me

how anyone

could go outside

and look up

at the sky

and think

all of this

is just an accident

and some

product of

randomness.

How in the world

could anyone

go to the beach

to the ocean

go walk in the woods

put their feet

in the grass

go to the mountains

and think

that all of this

just showed up

on its own

just random

explosions

of matter

that apparently

appeared on their own

without any real

explanation

I mean

it takes a great

leap of faith

to believe something

like that.

Creation

itself

is speaking

a message

it's telling you

that it has been

made

by a good

and glorious

eternal

sovereign

God.

Romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Paul says

God's invisible

attributes

namely

his eternal

power

and divine

nature

have been

clearly

perceived

ever since

the creation

of the world

in the things

that have been

made.

He made

all things

to demonstrate

and to

communicate

his eternal

power

and his

divine nature

that they

might be

perceived

and in

being perceived

that they

might be

rejoiced

in

that he

might be

exalted

and glorified.

But not only

this

there's a

greater purpose

here

for creation.

Ultimately

God

made

all

things

in order

that he

might

redeem

all things

through his

son Jesus

Christ.

creation

in and of

itself

it can

show forth

his power

and his

divine nature

and his

creativity

and his

intelligence

but the

gospel

of Jesus

Christ

shows us

his grace

and his

love towards

sinners

and his

heart of

mercy

as well

as his

wrath

and his

holiness

and his

justice.

As we

begin here

in the

book of

Genesis

we have

to keep

this in

view

that all

of this

everything else

that we'll

see in this

book together

ultimately

all of it

is about

the glory

of God

in the

gospel

of Jesus

Christ.

Colossians

1

16 and

17

says

by him

that is

Jesus

by him

all things

were created

in heaven

and on

earth

visible

and invisible

whether

thrones

or dominions

or rulers

and authorities

all things

were created

through him

and for

him

through

Jesus

and for

Jesus

and he

is before

all things

and in

him

all things

hold together

where is

Jesus in the

first pages

of the Bible

he is there

creating all

things

he is holding

it all

together

he's ruling

over creation

as king

of the

universe

John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

says

in the

beginning

was

the word

the word

was with

God

and the

word

was

God

he was

in the

beginning

with

God

all

things

were made

through him

and without

him

was not

anything

made

that was

made

and this

eternal

word

he goes

on to

tell us

this

word

became

flesh

and dwelt

among us

and to

all who

receive him

who

believe in

his name

he gives

the right

to become

children

of God

Jesus

is the

focus

of all

things

Jesus

is the

sovereign

eternal

creator

of it

all

and Jesus

is worthy

of our

worship

all things

exist for

the glory

of king

Jesus

Jesus

is the

lamb

who was

slain

from before

the foundation

of the

world

for the

salvation

of a

people

who are

chosen

in him

before

the

foundation

of the

world

that we

might

inherit

a kingdom

prepared

for us

from before

the foundation

of the

world

and enjoy

the glory

of God

who existed

before

the foundation

of the

world

for the

rest

of

eternity

this

is why

he

created

the

world

and this

is why

he

created

you

is this

how you

see the

world

around

you

is this

how you

understand

the

universe

and all

that exists

within it

do you

understand

all things

in the

universe

including

you

and your

life

including

you

and your

plans

including

you

and your

desires

including

you

and your

ambitions

do you

understand

that all

of it

all of it

exists for

him

and his

glory

friend

if the

walls are

cracking

the floors

are buckling

the doors

are tilting

and the house

is leaning

let's make

certain

the foundation

is solid

it may be

that you

have built

your life

on another

foundation

whatever

that may

be

if you

have

done

so

it's

my

invitation

my

call

to you

this

morning

would you

repent

and put

your faith

in Christ

would you

boot yourself

out of the

focus and

center of

your life

and instead

turn to

Christ

and make

God and

his glory

the foundation

and the center

of your life

and church

it may just

be that time

has gone

on and things

have settled

a little bit

and we need

some reinforcement

this morning

whatever that

may be

church

it's my

desire

that each

one of us

would live

with God

and his

glory

in Christ

right at the

center of our

lives

let's pray

father

worthy are you

oh lord

and god

to receive

glory and

honor and

praise and

power

and worthy

are you

for you

created all

things and

by your

will they

existed and

were created

father you

are worthy

of our

lives

we exist

for you

not for

ourselves

we're made

to serve

and to

honor you

and and

there's no

greater joy

and delight

than to know

you father

now and to

the rest of

eternity

and so we

pray god

would you be

central to

our lives

we ask this

in jesus name

amen