Day One: Let There Be Light | Genesis 1:3-5 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 09/13/2026

This morning I am truly excited about

the message that we have um that is

before us. And uh last week we mentioned

that we're going to be looking at um the

first day of creation and the first

thing that is mentioned that God says

let there be. Notice this this morning

at I think about 7:15 a.m. I'm not sure.

7:16 a.m. Um this was sent to me by a

member of our church. It said, "Look

what the on my Bible app, look what the

passage is today." And God said, read it

out loud. And God said, "Let there be

light." And there was light. Kind of

interesting. Um I I was felt encouraged

by that. We've been in this study uh for

the not last few weeks and many of you

have commented on how helpful it has

been. Well, is Genesis history. This is

a film series that we're looking at on

Wednesday nights. We started the first

part of it this last Wednesday. I

promise you if you missed this last

Wednesday, just jump right in this

Wednesday and you'll be able to pick up

right where we left off. It's really,

really good. Many were blessed. It is

talking about many of the physical

things in our universe um with that that

point to the great validity of what

we're reading and studying in Genesis

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. I want to encourage you to

come Wednesday night. The kids will be

doing a wana. The youth will be doing

their their youth group pizza in their

youth group and we will be in here as

adults. Some of you have not yet started

doing that as a habit. I want to

encourage you to be here on Wednesday

nights. It's a rich time.

Today we come to day one. Let there be

light. Now, I have a little warning um

on this one. I need you right now to go

ahead and fasten your seat belts because

we are going to cover a lot and we are

going to fly this morning. And it's not

only just in the amount of the material

that we cover, but also the heart issues

that are here. You know, we could just

look at these verses and just say, "Wow,

yep. God created light. Isn't that

great?" Um, and pretty simple, pretty

straightforward. But there is so much

like like is the case throughout the

word of God. There is so much here. And

in our study, there's a lot here. Many

of you have already been challenged in

what you believe. And so this morning, I

really look forward to what we're going

to cover. Um, we are going to move fast,

so you need to warm up your pen and get

ready. If you're visiting with us, uh,

this will be a little bit out of the

ordinary cuz we're going to, um, take in

quite a bit. Well, the first two verses

that we look at are a review. Notice

Genesis 1 and 2. These are the first two

that we saw. This is in the box on the

top of the page there. We've already

studied the first words of the Bible.

Look what they say in verse one. It

says, "In the beginning, God in the

beginning, God created the heavens and

the earth." Verse two, "The earth was

without form and void, and darkness was

over the face of the deep." And we

studied this last week, "And the spirit

of God was hovering over the face of the

waters."

So there in the darkness is God's

presence. There in the darkness is the

third person of the trinity. The Holy

Spirit mentioned here that the Holy

Spirit of God is there hovering over the

waters. He's not distant. He is there in

the midst of it all. He's in the

darkness when we can't yet see all of

the process. But God wants us to know

that he's in the middle of it. Notice

verse three.

And God said, "Let there be light." And

there was light. Verse four. And God saw

that the light was what?

>> Good. And God separated the light from

the darkness.

God called the light day, and the

darkness he called night, and there was

evening, and there was morning,

the first day.

pretty simple, pretty straightforward.

But let's review a little bit about

where we've been, where we've been

challenged so far. First of all, this

review is a little bit different than

we've ever done before. That's okay. But

there's some key concepts I want you to

see. And listen, there's some key

concepts for some of you that this could

be the difference for you. Hearing it

said perhaps this way with the Holy

Spirit speaking to your heart, maybe

this helps. That's my prayer. That's my

hope. Notice with here number one,

everyone eventually makes decisions

about what they believe. Everyone

eventually makes these decisions. Letter

A, some believe God's word and interpret

the universe by it. So they read the

word and then they look at the world and

they say this is what happened. Others

take what they see in creation and try

to interpret God's word by it. So they

do just the opposite. They look at

creation and they say, "Well, this is my

this is my presupposition about

creation, so that must mean that the

Bible means this or that can't possibly

mean that the Bible says this because

this is what I see here." Do you see the

difference? There's there's a

difference. Some say, "Well, wait a

minute. This is the word of God, and so

I can come to this, yes, in faith of

this." But others say, "No, this is the

world around me. So I have faith in what

I think this to be true." And so both

are involving faith. Notice this with

me. Letter B. This this affects whether

you believe Genesis is historical. Fill

that in. And literal, historical or

literal, or whether you believe Genesis

is allegorical

or figurative.

So, some would say, well, I I believe

that what Genesis says is true. I'm

learning how it integrates with the

world that I see. I'm interpreting the

world through it as I trust it. And then

others would say, well, wait a minute.

No, this must be an allegory. This this

must not be this must be just figurative

language. And what I would say to you

that there's that there's nothing in the

Bible that indicates that Genesis is

merely allegorical or figurative.

Notice letter C here. Of course, a third

option is to reject Genesis altogether.

Um, and we need to be very careful as we

do that. And this morning, I would say

to you, for some of you, as you're

looking at this, as you're reading this,

it's my prayer that as we study this,

that you that you will have an open mind

to what God is saying and what we

interpret in the world around us.

Letter D. All three beliefs, you need to

understand, all three beliefs require

faith.

You have to have faith to have any one

of these. All three were required for

you to trust in something. Only one of

these beliefs though claims to lead to

eternal life.

Only one truly claims to lead to eternal

life. And this is a glorious overarching

message of the whole thing. You see,

notice letter F here. As I prayed and

thought about these statements, I really

had this one on my heart. Letter F. in

investigation of the whole of scripture

as you take the whole Bible notice this

its content its language so the language

in which it's written its literature the

type of literature is type of genre it

is its inspiration by God it's

transmission through time that means

that God has brought it through time to

where we are today in 2026

it's preservation that's part part of

that transmission through time. He has

preserved it for us.

It's coherence as it fits together.

Listen to this. It's logic. Now, a lot

of people will read certain things and

they would say, "Well, I don't

understand that. That's obviously

illogical." But that would be assuming

that you have the heavenly perspective

on everything.

But is it possible that his ways are

higher than your ways and his thoughts

are higher than your thoughts?

So there is a logic to this. There is a

a perfect logic of God as we see that

being unfolded in the scripture as we go

from book to book as event to event and

as purpose to purpose. So it's logic

ultimately its message underline this

one ultimately its message of what?

redemption

fit together like lock and key. The

longer I'm alive, the more I study the

Bible, the longer I preach the Bible,

the more I spend time on the earth, the

more deeply I am convinced

of its thoroughgoing

coherence in every way. It fits together

like lock and key. It is. It It never

ceases to amaze me at how God does that.

You see, once you begin to see it, you

cannot what?

Unsee it. Once you begin to see it, you

can't unsee it. And some of you would

say, "Well, I've never begun to see it.

I have to be honest. That's the reason

I'm here. I'm, you know, I'm there's

part of the reason I'm here." Whatever

it may be. I I want to encourage you

with this. I want to encourage you to

say, would there would be room in your

heart to say to God this morning, Lord,

would you would you let me see it?

Would you let me see what the pastor is

talking about that God's word fits

together like lock and key? That there

is an overarching message that is truly

truly

valid and overwhelming for the human

heart and for the human need. I believe

that that's the message of the Bible.

Letter G. Genesis is presented by God

through Moses as historical, not

figurative. I just want to be real clear

about that. I I believe that God

presents to us his word as a historical

account of what has happened.

And it takes less faith to believe that

to believe otherwise.

Letter H. When you come to believe that

God is the prime mover or origin of all

things, it's not any harder to believe

that Genesis is literal.

It's not any harder to believe once you

believe that God can create what we call

by fiat or by his word, by his by his

will, by decree. Once you be begin to

believe that God does create something

from nothing,

well then it's a matter of coming to see

what he says about what he did that

helps us with evidence on what to

believe.

Notice this letter I. There is far more

evidence to believe in the Genesis

account of creation than the materialist

theory of everything from nothing or

complexity

from chaos.

There's far more evidence to believe in

the Genesis account than in the

materialists account. Again, both

require faith.

Both require faith. All things

considered, once you get down to

rational explanations,

statistics,

logic, and the overall message of the

Bible, then the biblical account

biblical account is far more believable

than the ideologies of evolutionary

cosmology or evolutionary biology.

So the idea that there was some type of

spontaneous combustion which they now um

don't hold to anymore. They used to for

many decades they held to the idea of

spontaneous combustion that something

blew up. I mean then there was a gradual

uh leading up to um the the coming

together of material that would

eventually

um yes explode that would eventually

um kick off a series of events that

would start the universe in its outward

expansion.

But all of that still has to come from

somewhere from something. So you're

bridging the gap from everything

um from nothing or complexity from

chaos.

Um notice the last statement that is

here. Believing the universe created

itself out of nothing through purely

natural processes requires as much, if

not more,

blind faith than believing in an eternal

creator who has reliably and repeatedly

revealed himself and his extremely

coherent plan.

See, it's not just that the creation

gives evidence to his existence. Listen

to this. He says, "Oh, your physical

existence is just a small part of it."

And I know you're turning over the

sheet, and that's cool. You got to, but

listen to what I'm saying. Listen to

what I'm saying. This is an amazing

statement. There is so much more than

our physical existence. There is so much

grander a view when we look at the fact

that it's not just that he created us

physically, but listen to this. He

created us relationally and spiritually.

And his relationally and spiritual

creation that he has made for us is for

his joy and our good. This is an amazing

truth for us. So yes, you've turned the

page over so rightly we go on. Genesis

Genesis 1:1

1:1 gives the foundation that God

created all things. In the beginning,

God created the heavens and the earth.

This is the great overview. This is the

first subject of the Bible is God. It

says in the beginning, God, he's the

subject. This is the first action of the

Bible. This just makes total sense when

you look at the whole thing. The first

action of the Bible is that it is

creating. God is creating.

And then look at that last statement.

God and his work are the beginning and

center of everything. That's the point

of Genesis 1:1. Genesis 1:2 shows us

Genesis 1:1 Genesis 1:2

that God's creating work was a

purposeful process. Fill that in. It was

a purposeful process. He didn't just go

everything exists.

He's he's letting us in to see that this

is how he works. That he's a God with

purpose.

He has kind intentionality in everything

he does. He reveals what we need to know

concerning this creative process. He is

forming and he's filling. We're going to

see that as we go on. He starts with a

watery mass and he goes from there.

That's what we see in verse two. There's

this watery mass in the dark. But as we

said even at the beginning, God's spirit

is there in the darkness. He is there in

the midst of it. He is at work.

And so now we come to this idea where

God comes and says, "Let there be

light." And there was light. Notice in

verse three with me, I'll read it again

uh there in the box in the middle of the

page. And God said, "Let there be

light." And there was light. And God saw

that the light was good. And God

separated the light from the darkness.

He called the light day and the darkness

he called night. And there was evening

and there was morning. What? The first

day. First of all, let's look and see

God's method of creation. God's method

of creation. And here it is. And God

said, can you circle that? Can you just

circle that? So, if you go back and you

look at your notes, you say, "Okay,

what's his method of creation?" Oh, it's

his word. You see, God created by divine

decree.

as any sovereign king can do, as any

sovereign ruler can do, he can say

something and then by his authority and

his sovereignty over his realm, it is

done. Well, here we see the ultimate

sovereignty. We see the ultimate

authority and the ability to command and

something happens. He creates something.

You notice this with me. God's voice

declared his will which created what he

wanted. That's what we see here. God's

voice declared his will which created

what he wanted. Now, there's some

important things for us to recognize

here. No time was required.

No time was required. No evolution was

needed. It was instantaneous.

Look what it says there. And God said,

"Let there be light." and then finish

it. And there was light. This is what

happened. God said it and it occurs.

This is an amazing truth. You see,

[snorts] this was accomplished by his

word. And John's gospel, this is on your

outline, John's gospel reveals that the

second person of the godhead or the

second person of the trinity is also

called the word.

The word or the logos is the living word

of God that creates and brings life. You

see the explosive creative resurrection

power of the son is at work from the

beginning.

The word

that God spoke was the word that would

become flesh, Jesus. The light which God

creates represents the light of the

light of the world. This is our Lord

Jesus Christ there at the beginning with

the spirit in the midst of all of this.

So the first part is God's method of

creation is God said. Second there is

there let there be light is what he says

and there was light. Now I think that

this is really interesting. I love this

part of the message because I think a

lot about I love physics. I love

science. I I really really do. Um it's

interesting that the very first thing

that the Bible tells us that God created

is light. Um to me that's one of the

most elemental things in existence is

the idea of light. The ability to see

something. I want you to imagine a

universe

with no light.

Imagine a universe with no light. Um,

it's interesting that science cannot

understand light

much less explain how it came about.

Light, you say, well, it's physics. It's

basic physics. How do you explain

physics? Well, physics are very

intricate

and it's like mathematics that

mathematics are are are very very

intricate. And what I love about the

idea of mathematics is any mathematician

will tell you no one invents math,

we discover it.

And that is the same thing when it comes

to physics. No one invents physics, we

discover it.

So here we see that the most elemental

aspect of our existence, one of the most

elemental aspects of our existence and

certainly the one that God sees deemed

to create first is light.

And notice this, the one who is

unccreated light, because the Bible says

that he is light and he is not created.

So he is the uncreated light brought

created light into existence.

So the unccreated light brings created

light into existence. Look at 1 John 1

and verse 5. This is the message we have

heard from him and proclaimed to you.

Say it out loud that God is light and in

him is no darkness at all. So this is

this is his essence in his being. He is

he is light. There's other things that

God tells us about who he is. It says in

the scripture that God is holy. It says

in the scripture that God is love. Um

and so we see this God is light. Look at

John 8:12. This is another fortifying

John 8:12

verse on that. Look what it says again.

Jesus spoke to them saying I what does

he say? I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in

darkness but will have the light of

life. And so there is this physical

light.

There is this light that is the reality

of God's essence. And there is this

light of life. There is a spiritual

light. But here, let's be real clear.

This verse is talking about physical

light.

God creates it.

This next statement here, the bullet

point, the one who dwells in

unapproachable light

illuminated, he lights up his creation

with a brilliant object lesson about his

glory. So he gives us physical light so

that we can begin to imagine his

character and who he is in his glory.

You see, he gives physical light so that

we might see not just physically but so

that we might see spiritually who he is.

So a lot is happening in these verses. A

lot is happening when it says let there

be light and there was light and the

light shines in the darkness and the

light is separated from dark to light.

There there's much here for us to begin

to realize the importance of physical

light and all the things that the

scripture eventually will reveal to us

that this physical light that we enjoy

points to something far greater. It

points to the nature of God.

And this is why I say the message of the

Bible is so comprehensive

philosophically,

scientifically. I mean it all fits

together like lock and key. This is this

to me is amazing. I mean this this can't

be any other way except God in his

perfect ordinance would say I'm going to

begin with light and I will create light

in beginning my universe that I'm doing

in this and as this is that the

beginning of this process you will begin

to see who I am now. That reality

convinces me that this is worth

believing.

This helps me believe it. It's not just

a random order of events. It's not just

a super simple shallow account of what

God did. No, it has this massive

spiritual and philosophical reason

behind it. Aside from the physical,

I I hope that that comes across to you.

We we talk about this this light, this

physical light that he gives us is a

brilliant object lesson. It's a it's a

[snorts] great revealer of something

glorious. In fact, his glory. Look at 1

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

Timothy chapter 6 and verse 16. The God

who alone has immortality. This is this

is being written to a young pastor and

it's exalting. It's kind of like the

doxology in the midst of this letter. It

says, "The God who alone has

immortality, who dwells in

unapproachable light, whom no one has

ever seen or can see, to him be honor

and eternal dominion. Amen."

This is this is the great glory and

grandeur of God that is the

unapproachable. Now, what's amazing and

you can put out there to the side

Revelation 21 and 22. Just put out there

side Revelation 21 and 22. What we find

when we discover the last scene, the

final scene when we get to heaven, that

heaven has no need for the physical su

because it has the s o n and he lights

the city.

>> Amen.

>> So there is a beautiful picture that

this is the god who dwells in

unapproachable

light. There's a center core of who he

is that gives off the light. It would be

like us trying to come near the sun that

we would be consumed in a physical way.

So what is light? What is light? You use

it every day. Um you experience it at

every moment.

If light is anything, it is a mystery.

First of all, it is a mystery. There are

certain things that we know about it.

There are certain things that we explain

about we can explain. But ultimately,

it's a mystery. The best physicists

struggle to explain it. The greatest

mathematicians and physicists like um

Albert Einstein and many of the others,

Hawking and and everybody else, they

they struggle to to really deal with it.

And many of them have said, "We've

barely scratched the surface of

understanding

all that there is in light and all that

it does and all that it can do."

You see, one of the great questions is,

is it a particle or is it a wave? You

say, "What in the world?" We're not

going to get too much into it, but I do

have to tell you this. When I was a

ninth grader at South Broward High

School, my brother was a freshman at

Georgia Tech in Atlanta. And for those

of you who don't know, Georgia Institute

of Technology, Georgia Tech, is a very

high level engineering school. Um, a lot

of the space program came from uh MIT

and came from Georgia Tech um through

the years. I mean very very uh high

elite school of engineering in Atlanta.

And I remember as a freshman um I

shouldn't say this kids cover your ears.

I skipped school for a few days

and I went up to see my brother. Um, I

went up to see my brother and hang out

with him in class. And I remember the

very first auditorium class I went into.

And I remember it was a deep auditorium,

so it was steep. You, everybody could

see the professor really well. And there

were these uh, whiteboards up there. And

yes, it was in the days of whiteboards.

They had good technology at Georgia Tech

then. It wasn't blackboards, but

anyways, they had whiteboards. I got up

there and do you know what the

discussion was on that day?

Is light a wave or is light a particle?

Which is it? And the professor on one

whole set of boards explained how light

operates as a wave and on the other

whole set of boards explained how light

operates as a particle. And he he said

there is a dual duality here that we

cannot explain but we are learning to

use it. We are learning the way it acts.

We are learning what it does, but we

cannot explain because it perfectly

yields both of these. And so here we

begin to see this glorious picture of

this complex and beautiful thing that

God has given us that is absolutely

essential for life. Photons move like

particles. Yet light can move and

transfer energy like waves.

Light waves can behave like particles

and photons can behave like waves. This

is very strange. Light is a form of fill

it in energy

that comes in many different frequencies

and colors.

How many of you have ever seen a prism?

Have you ever seen a prism? Has anybody

ever shared with you one of these? Um

it's it's they're very hard to

photograph because most cameras cannot

capture obviously the different spectrum

of lights that is there. But light comes

into one side of the prism as white as

all together and then a prism Newton

discovered divides the light and

separates it into the spectrum of light

so that we can see in all of its

different frequencies. These are in

different frequencies and these are

useful in different ways and essential

in different ways.

Did you know that all radios

basically use a form of light?

It's energy on the electromagnetic

spectrum.

Night vision simply uses light that is

invisible to the human eye. You know, I

often think about different things I

would love to show Leonardo da Vinci.

Have you ever studied Leon? Leonardo da

Vinci was ahead of his time, right? He

was amazing scientist. He was an amazing

inventor. He was way ahead of his time.

And there's been different things that I

would love to be transported back in

time and sit down with Leonardo and I

would love to put a set of night vision

on him and let him look into a dark room

or a dark night. And I think he could

probably figure it out if you explained

it a little bit to him. I think that he

would get it. But night vision, it's

invisible light that actually is there.

From eyeglasses to fiber optic cables to

lasers to LEDs all affect our lives

constantly.

In fact, did you know that light is the

fastest thing we know? It goes 186,000

miles, not per hour, but per second.

This is amazing.

That's eight times around the Earth in

one minute.

So, it goes around the Earth eight times

in one minute. Uh, excuse me, excuse me.

1 second.

That's a big distance.

Light travels so fast in 1 minute. It

goes 11,180,000

miles in one minute.

I want you to think about this. light is

so amazing that in two years, two

months, 23 days, it goes it it would

take a Boeing 747 that much time to go

that far in one minute. What light can

do, listen to this, what light can do in

one minute would take 2 years, 2 months,

20. You've thought you've been on a long

flight before.

Can you imagine not getting offered?

Well, let's keep going here.

In a year, light travels 5 trillion87

billion625,370

miles in one year.

5.8

trillion miles in one year. Now, that

would be 1,173,100

years on a Boeing 747.

Now let's think practically a little bit

about this. Here we have the earth and

we have the sun way off in the distance.

How long does it take for the light of

the sun to reach the surface of the

earth? At the speed of light, it takes 8

minutes to get here. So the light that

you see outside right now, it left the

sun 8 minutes ago

going 186,000 m per second. eight

minutes click by and it finally gets

here. Now, let's kind of think the other

way here. What if we were in a 747, a

really special 747, and it could go in

space? Wouldn't that be cool if you had

a 747 just take off and go into space?

And if we were going to say, "Okay,

well, how long would it take a 747 to do

what light did in 8 minutes?"

it would take 19 years to get to the

sun.

Now, there's some things that we see

here. Number one, we see the speed.

Number two, we see the distances.

This is this is amazing.

And you think, are there any 19 year

olds in here? Any 19-year-olds?

Whoever's 19, you guys, you're 19. Your

whole life you've been on an airliner

and you're still not there yet.

Isn't that amazing? [sighs and gasps]

Friends, when we look at the magnitude

of God's creation and what he's given us

in this and in its finite nature,

actually, there's so much more. One of

the last things that I'll just mention

to you is as you approach the speed of

light, it's very interesting to me that

time stands still. Who came up with

that?

>> Einstein. It's called the theory of

special relativity.

That as you approach the speed of light,

which he determined is impossible,

there's no way to reach the speed of

light. And he proves that that it it you

can get closer and closer, but you can

never reach it.

He said, "But as you get close to it,

time stands still." Now, all of this is

of massive cosmic importance. And listen

to this. It points to the grander and

the mystery and the listen to this, the

unapproachable light

of God because the Bible tells us that

he is light. So God gave us this

physical thing to understand more about

him.

This is amazing. It begins with this.

And see these are the kind of things

that when I look at this and I study

this, I think I think how can I not

believe this? This is amazing that he

would give priority to this issue for us

to understand him better.

So many people when they study the book

of Genesis and they study the creation

accounts, they make it all about us.

Instead, what God is doing as he lays

this out, he's making it all about him.

>> If we'll take the time to look,

>> what was this light that Genesis 3 does

talk about? Look what it says in verse

three. And God said, "Let there be

light." And there was light. And God saw

that the light was good. And God

separated the light from the darkness.

And he called the light day and the

darkness he called night. There was

evening and there was morning, the first

day. Well, this is really interesting

because of the way the order of this

goes. But notice the first bullet point

here. This is unclear exactly what this

light is. It's unclear exactly what what

made the first day.

Fill it in. It was not the sun.

That didn't come until verse 16.

The elemental components of God's order

are not merely associated with or bound

by our solar system, the stars, or any

cosmic bo body. God is beyond this

physical universe. And he's saying,

"I've made light and I'm making the

world, and I'm going to have light and

dark on the world before there's ever a

sun."

Why? Because I can.

And not just because I can, but because

I'm going to show you that I am beyond

even the physical universe that you

know.

God is saying it must be good for humans

and earth to have light and have

darkness. That is my plan. And so he can

do it with or without the sun.

And that's what we see him do. We know

that God made a separation between light

and darkness. That's what he says here.

He separated the light from the

darkness. He called the light day and

then darkness he called night.

Notice this.

So light is not synonymous. This is very

important. Light is not synonymous with

the sun.

Light came before the sun.

And it's tricky because pagans were

worshiping pagan deities like the sun ra

and numerous other ones. And God's point

is this. The son is not god. The one who

the son was made by the one you worship.

>> The son is not god.

The son was made by the one you worship.

You worship the one who made the son.

Now just think about it with me. If you

look back through human history and you

look back through all the stories of

various um

various pagan belief systems, so very

often worldwide, people will worship the

sun

because it's powerful, because it's

necessary, because of a lot of things.

It's brilliant.

It has an seemingly endless amount of

energy. People will worship the moon.

People will worship the rain. People

will worship the tide. People will

worship the sea. People will worship the

creatures of the sea.

And all the time, God is making the

point to us and making the point to

Moses. He's making the point to his

people. Don't worship the creation.

worship the creator who made the

creation.

So there's a very good reason that light

existed before the sun was called into

place.

He's beyond it.

Number three, look what it says. And God

saw that the light was good.

this statement and its repeated refrain

in chapter one because over and over and

over again we're going to see that it

was good. And so what is being stressed?

What's being stressed is number one the

divine origin and number two its

perfection of all that was created.

So it's like God is the first evaluator

of his creation. Nobody else is stand

there is around standing there to say,

"Boy, that's good." And so, you know

what God says? It's good.

He wants us to know it's good. He wants

us to know that it's right. This is

prior to the fall. When anything is

corrupted, he's saying light is good.

You see, God always does all things

well.

And that would be even declared after

Jesus healed a deaf man who couldn't

speak as well. Look in Mark 7 and verse

37. This is what they proclaimed after

Jesus healed him. He has done all things

well.

He even makes the deaf hear and the mute

to speak. You see how I see just I'm

telling you the power and the glory and

the majesty of God's grand plan fits

together from Genesis 1 to Mark 7. We

see over and over again that this is a

God of purpose and this is a God who has

something far more important than your

physical life.

He's interested in your spiritual

eternal life. And this is just our

little aquarium to figure it out in.

He is at work. Now it's more than that.

He he is glorified by it. But we must

see that the physical is not his first

focus.

He is ultimately pointing over and over

and over again to the spiritual. This is

why two chapters are devoted to physical

creation. And there are over 1,187

chapters devoted to your spiritual life.

Look at the next statement that is

there. What God wills, he makes.

And what he makes fulfills his purpose.

That's what he does. He does exactly

what he intends. And it all has a

purpose for him. None of this or

anything else comes from anyone else.

God creates completely by himself. God

does not need help in any of that. And

he does it perfectly.

I'm going to ask if you would to read

number four together. Read number four.

This is straight the scripture that is

there. Let's read number four. And God.

>> So what is he doing here in this verse?

He's revealing to us God's ordering

work. This is his ordering work. He has

an order in which he does things. And we

see that in every different aspect of

life in physical life to spiritual life.

[snorts] This is anticipated in verse

two and it's now happening. In verse

two, we see watery mass. We see the Holy

Spirit is over the waters. We see it's

all in darkness. Why do we see that?

Because God is revealing to us he is

going to do he he's working a process.

This is in his grand majesty and in his

wisdom he does that. So this is part of

that process. He he defines light and

darkness. He calls the light day and he

calls the darkness night. Now it's

interesting what it says there. Look at

the second line there. God called the

light day and the darkness he what

called night. Who gets to do that? You

see this is God's naming work. God's

naming work is representative of his

authority and his dominion.

When you name something, the idea is you

have the authority to name it, to do

that. His dominion, it's being

exercised. We see this throughout the

earth. Different civilizations name

different places and different things.

Different different um colonies would

name different villages and towns. Or

the king would change that. when you see

the king of England and he's looking at

the 13 col colonies he says well that

will be Charleston that will be new

Charleston that will be New England that

will be New York as opposed to York and

England he's calling it New York and so

the king is ordaining these things he is

ordering these things he is naming

things

and we see this this picture of

authority and power and God says says,

"I'll name one of the most basic things

in your life day and night."

That's a lot of power. That's a lot of

authority.

And he gave it to us for good reasons.

Don't miss that God is also

establishing, this is important, time

itself under his sovereign ordering. So

who is this God who can create physical

universe and physical matter and light

but he also is ordaining time because

light goes with time.

We even see that as we study light as

Albert Einstein did in that

theory of relativity.

And so the picture is is that time is

all the the these massive aspects of our

lives are being found in God is God says

let there be light. Number five, it ends

with this. And there was evening and

there was morning what?

>> The first day. So Genesis begins by

defining a day

as the oscillation of light and

darkness. He doesn't define the day as

how how long it takes for the earth to

turn

in order to be seen by the sun. It's not

in reference to the sun. He begins the

day in oscillation of light and

darkness. This rhythm is recognized

throughout chapter 1 in the six days of

creation.

And there was another day. And there was

another day. And there was another day.

The reality of a day that is time of

light and dark existed before the

creation of our sun or of any star.

That's part of the big point that's

here. The sun is not created until day

four or verse 16.

So here we see that God is ruling and

reigning far above even the solar

universe, the solar system, the the

system of cosmic um entities and bodies.

So what does all this mean? What can all

this mean to us? Carefully consider what

all this means. And I pray that God just

speaks to our hearts about this and

deepens our faith. Number one, before

anything existed, God was there. We saw

that in verse two

in the beginning, God God was there

before all that was there. Number two,

when everything was formless and void,

God was there.

When everything was formless and bored,

so in eternity past, he was there. When

he begins

the formation of this world, he was

there. Our confidence is not in the

things made

but in the God who made them.

The sun is not needed for there to be

light.

Creation is not needed for God to be

God.

In fact, we see that God is going to

start it all over again.

>> [clears throat]

>> We see that God can make a creation and

God can renew a creation. God can cause

an old heaven and earth to pass away and

for a new heaven and earth to come. Read

your prophecy. It says it. He did it

once. He'll do it again.

This is a God who truly is beyond the

bonds of time

and space.

This is a God. Number four, most

importantly, as creation depends on his

word and will, so does redemption.

Because it's obvious we need it.

Apparently, something went wrong in all

of this, right? Apparently, there is a

poison. Apparently, there is a curse.

And what God says is, "I am the God of

redemption. I have the power to create

and I have the power to recreate.

This is why the psalmist would say this,

create in me a new heart, oh God. He

used the word create. Create in me a new

heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast

spirit within me. Cast me not away from

your presence, and take not your holy

spirit from me. The spirit is there.

Restore

unto me the joy of your salvation

and give me a willing spirit. This is

the heart of God in all of creation. He

has the power to do it.

He has the power to save. Look at 2

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6 as we

close out. For God who said,

"Let light shine out of darkness, I love

it, has shone in our hearts."

>> This is what he does.

He shides, he sheds his light abroad in

our hearts that we might live as unto

him. Now, my question is, have you come

to faith in Jesus Christ as your only

hope? Have you come to see that he is

the Messiah provided by God? that all of

this creation can make sense and can

mean something

because this is the God who creates and

this is the God who recreates. This is

the God who saves. Amen.

>> Let's stand together for prayer.

Father, I thank you this morning for

this word. I thank you for giving us

Genesis 1.

I thank you that this can help us see

you.

And I pray that that's exactly what it

would do. I pray that even right now as

the blood rushes out of our um abdomen

down to our legs and we feel a little

lightheaded and we're thinking about

what's coming next. Lord, I pray that we

would not miss this moment.

That we would see the eternal beauty of

your word,

the intricate nature of your word

and your heart

that we would know you. For those who

have not yet believed, Lord, I pray that

your Holy Spirit would give grace to

believe. I pray that you would say,

"There's something to this.

[music] I pray that you would give the

voice to say,"Lord, would you help me to

see you? Would you help me believe?"

And that this would turn into a

beautiful story of submission to a great

and loving God.

Lord, I don't understand everything

about you,

but I am sure grateful for what I do

understand about you.

And I pray that my friends here would

come to know you

through the grace of Christ in Jesus

name. Amen. And would you lift up your

voice and