"The Genesis Account"
Genesis 1:1
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Introduction: Today we are celebrating a very important day and a very important document. Yesterday was the birthday of the founding of this great nation and when we celebrate we need to read and remember the Declaration of Independence which is the account that establishes the reasons and motives for our serration from England. This morning I'm going to read a portion of the Declaration: (Reading)
Since this is also a Christian worship service I would also like to read a portion of another document, one that is much older. Our country's Declaration of Independence bares the stamp of this older document. Of course I'm referring to the Bible. You cannot read the Declaration without acknowledging the profound influence that the Word of God had upon the men who wrote it! In the very first paragraph they mention "Nature's God" and in the second they acknowledge their "Creator." You cannot explain the birth of this great country without considering the God of the Bible! The Declaration is the record of the birth of a nation. The Bible is the record of all of creation. Listen as I read from the opening verse of Genesis:
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
I. The Sovereign that Formed Us
a. He formed the first man
The opening verse of the Bible states that God is our creator, that we are formed "in His image." For 5 thousand years this truth was not in dispute. In or about the middle of the 19th century this was called into question. For most of the 20th century this view was the conventional wisdom about the origin of man but in the last several decades there has been an increasing scientific debate about the theory of Darwinism. More and more reputable scientists in a wide variety of fields of study are challenging this theory in favor of intelligent design. You and I have a choice this morning. We can hold to the truth that God is our creator or we can reject this truth and open ourselves up to all kinds of speculation. What will you choose?
b. He formed the first marriage
The Bible teaches us that God ordained, ordered and organized the first marriage and declared that it was to be the pattern for all men and women and that when it functions properly it symbolizes Christ and His church.
Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Just a few days ago 5 Supreme Court justices overturned 5 millennia of truth concerning the design and the Designer of marriage and substituted their own plan for marriage and the home. We have a choice this morning. We can accept God's plan for the home or what these five judges have decreed is the law of the land. What will you choose?
II. The Sin that Deforms Us
The Bible speaks of the:
a. The disobedience of man
From the Genesis account we also read of what we refer to as "the fall of man." What did he fall into? He fell into sin and rebellion against the word and will of God.
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
The Bible teaches us that all men have a depraved nature, that because of our depravity we all choose to sin against God. The fundamental difference between the secular world view and the Biblical world view is that the world believes man is ascending to a place enlightenment or nirvana and the Bible teaches that man is descending, to a place of ever increasing depravity and destruction. You have a choice this morning. You can believe what the Bible says or you can embrace a secular world view. What will you choose?
b. The destiny of man
The Bible also speaks of the destiny of man. We are all going to die.
Gen 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
No matter what you may believe or think about what happens when you die or where you will go when you die there is one thing that is inescapable and inevitable. You are going to die. In this you do not have a choice! You have an appointment with the "grim reaper," that you cannot avoid. The world teaches all kinds of afterlife experiences from reincarnation to annihilation but that is not what the Bible teaches. God's Word teaches that all who die have an ever-living soul and will meet God in eternity. You have a choice about what you believe about the after-life. What will you choose?
Finally, the Genesis account speaks of a Savior. We find Him here and in every other book of the Bible in both type and shadow. To find Him we need to retrace our steps and read verse 15 of chapter three.
III. The Savior that Transforms Us
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed... shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
I see three things about the Savior who transforms us. First:
a. He is a suffering Savior
Notice that the serpent "strikes" the heel of the woman's seed. In order to "bruise" the head of the serpent the seed must suffer. He is wounded and this certainly is what Isiah describes for us in the Bible.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
You have a choice this morning to believe that Jesus died for your sins; that He died in your place; that He was punished by God for all our sins. What will be your choice?
b. He is a seeking Savior
The Bible teaches us that men do not seek after God, that they do what Adam and Eve did when they sinned.
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
We have a good Shepherd who seeks for us because we are sinners and we are lost without Him. Jesus told his disciple that he came to "...seek and save that which is lost..." You have a choice this morning about what you believe about your spiritual condition without Christ. What will you choose?
c. He is a satisfying Savior
The Bible teaches that only God came satisfy the innermost longings of the human soul. Nothing else can! Millions have tried other things but not one single time in all of the history of man has that longing been satisfied by human effort, intelligence or ingenuity, not once. Jesus said:
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Joh 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
You have a choice this morning. Will you choose what the world has to offer or what Jesus is offering right now.
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
You have a choice this morning, what will you choose?
