Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 1. It's found on page 1 in the Bible. I think it's very easy to find. And you're looking at Genesis and then a few verses in the book of Hebrews. I might mention to the children I'm going to be talking about a building and then really one special part of that building. So listen and draw that if you would. Genesis 1, we begin with verse 1, going on to chapter 2, verse 3. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was formless and void. Her darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then 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 God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning. One day. Then God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters. And let there be separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters which are below the expanse from the waters which are also above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. Then God said, Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth And they gathered in the waters he called seas, and God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their time, with seed in them on the earth. And it was so. And the earth sprout forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their time, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them after their time. and God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day. Then God said that there'd be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and that there'd be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, and that there'd be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night, He made the stars also. And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day. Then God said, Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens. And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the water swarm after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. Then God said, that the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeped on the ground after its time. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he made him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Then God said, Behold, I've given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed, it shall be food for you. Every beast of the earth and every bird of the sky, everything that moves on the earth, which has life, I give it every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed and all their hosts. And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had done. He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." New Testament of the book of Hebrews chapter eleven. Fourteen twenty nine and a few Bible. Reading the first three verses here. Now faith is the assurance of things hope for the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. I'm not a builder like some who are here, but one of the things I know is that you would construct a building, a home, or whatever, One of the things you're going to begin by doing is by laying a foundation. After that foundation is laid and set into place, then you can begin to build upon it and put in the structure, put in maybe the bricks and the boards that go up and the roof that goes on. But a very critical stage is that foundation. As you make that foundation, you're really determining the size and the shape of the building. And how well that foundation is will determine to a great extent how solid that building is. And so the foundation is crucial. You can't build beyond where the boundary of the foundation is. Well, there are many areas of life. where the foundation is so crucial. You know, if we think in terms of reading and writing, well, what does every child need to learn back when they're five, six years old? They need to learn their ABCs, or they never get that. Or in math, you have to learn how to count, one, two, three. You know, for those teenagers wanting to drive, you need to learn how to use a steering wheel and hopefully how to use the brakes. In sewing, I'm not sure. I've never learned the elementary things about sewing, but I'm sure there are some things in terms of stitching and how to use a needle, if you're going to learn how to do that. being a farmer, there'd be certain things that you would need in order to do that, and we could go on and on. So you have to know those things if you're going to build and build on the foundation. Well, that same thing is true in the Bible, that there's some key things that are built and go through and are expanded more and more as it goes through the Bible. And yet, that foundation is found in those first five books, those books that were given to us by Moses, that came from God. They're called the Pentateuch. It's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And I want to take some time in the next few weeks and months to look at some of those basic themes, some of those truths that go all the way through Scripture. But the foundation is here. And really, to understand those truths and what they are in the New Testament, we really have to have this foundation in the Old Testament. We'll find ideas about God and man and salvation, about sin and who the Messiah is, about work and worship, about relationships, family. They all have their foundation in these first five books. And so it's good to remember those things and to build upon them and understand, as we maybe read in the New Testament, that that foundation, that those truths are begun way back in the Old Testament, way back in the books of the penitent. And as we open the Bible, as we turn to the very first page, the first major theme that's set before us is that of creation. And thus, our first point, the starting point of all of Scripture, is there in Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It's an incredibly majestic and powerful and meaningful statement. And just as maybe in terms of a movie, as the opening scene would set up all that comes later in the movie, or a book, the opening couple of paragraphs would set the theme for the book and what it is saying. So too, as we look here, it says before us, what are the great themes that it's foundational, that it runs through. And so it begins, we see first of all, in the beginning God. And that's maybe the most foundational, most monumental truth there is in scripture. In the beginning God. Because in some ways everything comes back to this. To the very nature of God, who he is and what he has done. Everything depends really upon this very first verse, this very first idea in Genesis. Of God. of God being there from before the beginning, being at the start and being the cause of all that goes on. Perhaps one of the most significant questions that we can ever ask is, how did we get here? You know, it's obvious as we walk around and move and breathe that we're here, we're here on earth, there is something that exists. But the question is how? How is there anything? How is there any matter How is there any beings, how is there any intelligent life in the cosmos? And men struggle and strive to come up with an explanation. They come up with theories of a Big Bang or such things to explain where matter and energy came from with the scripture. give us the definitive answer. God created it. God created the cosmos, God created the universe. He created it in the beginning. And that phrase, in the beginning, points to the fact that it was a start to time, a start to human history, to world history. There was a start to this world around us. It hadn't always existed. Time itself began at that point. But God existed before that. So it was a very different time. We don't know how many thousands of years ago it was, but there was a beginning point. A time before which there was only God. God who really inhabits eternity that dwells outside of time. He was and ever will be. God has never had a beginning. He is eternal. But the universe isn't like that. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There was a definite starting point to all that we see around us. Secondly, we can see that God created all. That this eternal God took action to create the heavens and the earth. And as you think about those phrases, the heavens and the earth, it's saying all. All that we would see around us, All that we can imagine and see in terms of this creation is here through a divine act. He created it. And it's significantly important. Why? Because the fact of creation is the basis for really what is the most important distinction that's given in the Bible. And we often think in distinctions between a male and female, or someone who is young or old, or maybe someone who lives in one area and has to group in another, or whatever it is. The most important distinction there is, is between creator and creature. And by divine act, the creator caused to come into being all the creatures. And so the two are distinct. And as the creatures, we never cross over and become the Creator. There's a boundary line, a line of demarcation between the two that is really the most significant line of demarcation there is. There's a vast gap between God as Creator and all the creative universe. as what He has created. Second, as we say from Psalm 24, this act of creation implies an ownership, that the creatures belong to God, and we're saying it. It belongs to Him. And it's good, it gives a plan and purpose to our existence. that there is a reason we're here, we're not here just by some sort of cosmic accident, that God who created us created us for a reason, and ultimately that is to glorify Him. That is perhaps a little humbling. Yet it also is an apt reminder that the One who created us has a claim on our time, on our energies, on our ambitions, our very beings, ultimately belong to Him, because He created us. Now, Rich mentioned this morning, as he talked about the psalm, that one of his daughters, I think it was Grace, probably, had made a picture. And as the Creator, she could do with it what she wanted. She could give it to Rich, she could give it to her mom, She could put it up on the wall in her room, with her parents' permission. She could give it to Pastor Roberts. She could keep it for herself, you know, whatever she wants. She was a creator, and she could do with it. Or even more so, does God, who created the universe, have the right to do with it whatever He wants, whatever He desires? And I know at times people often resent certain things that happen. Maybe a tragic death of a loved one, or a serious illness, or maybe they're born with some sort of physical limitation, and they resent God. And those things are never easy. And yet it's wrong. God is the creator, the one who gave us life. has us as his possession, and he can do with us what is best, and we should not resent him for that. Well, see, we can see that God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing, and that's really the point of Hebrews 11.3. By faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God. So that which is seen was not made of things which are visible. That this world that we see around us didn't come from some sort of visible mass, some material that was out there that was, you know, somehow came together. God created the world out of nothing by His Word. And so we see repeatedly as we've read through Genesis 1, God said, and it was so, God willed something, He spoke it, and then it was done. It came into existence. He didn't use some previous materials and organize them. He spoke and it was done. And we need to understand that this is a sure and absolute miracle. It's a miracle in the fullest sense of the word, without the supernatural activities nothing of God, there would nothing be here. God who is living and personal by His almighty power brought the universe into being. The second point to see this evening is the original status or character of what was created. You know, God spoke and the heavens and the earth came into being. But as you go on to verse 2, the first part, it tells us what it was like initially The earth was formless, and maybe it would be better translated, the matter, the cosmos that came into being, because the actual earth is described later in how it was formed. And so there's really even a struggle to try to describe this situation, this matter, this earth was formless and void and darkness over the surface as a deed. And the point to see here in all this is that the cosmos, as it first came into being, was confused and unorganized, without form and void and dark. The original condition of the universe was that of chaos, really. And as such, it would be unsuitable for anything. And then, as we read that verse, we get to the second half of it, and it says, the Spirit of God was over. What was dark and void and formless, that had no possibility of life, was changed by the subsequent power and activity of God. If the world had remained in that state, it would have been unsuitable for anything. but God's supernaturally work changing it. And specifically verse 2 tells us it was the Spirit of God, a reference in all likelihood to the Holy Spirit and that particular work that He does as the source of all order and beauty and form and cohesiveness that we see in the universe today. And that really leads us then to our third point, is there's a progression to God's creation. God just didn't create it all at once in its final form, but as you read, it took six days. And there's much that we could say about that, but I really want to bring out three points. First, in what was going on, God was bringing order out of chaos. Verse two gives a picture of a chaotic situation, a situation for us to imagine. But with each successive act, with each passing of each day, there's an increasing order and complexity to especially the earth. And so you have life, and then you have this, and then you have dry land and vegetation, and then the sun, moon, and stars, and then the birds and the sea animals, and then the beasts of the fields, and then finally man. Step by step, there's more order, more complexity. of progress, from more disorder to more orderliness. And what we might miss is that in some ways there's an increasing satisfaction on the part of God in what he's making. Now, on day one, as he praised life and says it was good. But if you look at day two, as it talks about the heavens, if you look there, there's no statement that It was good. And you can think about how life is good, but when it gets to that second stage when the heavens are being created and there's still a lot of chaos, there's no statement that it's good. And then in the third, fourth, fifth, and the first half of the six days, it's the statement that it's good. As there's increasing order, God is looking and saying it's good. And then the last half of that six today, when man is finally created, the statement, it's very good. There's an increasing satisfaction as things are becoming closer and closer, and then as things finally are completed, as it's gone from chaos to orderliness, such an orderliness that man can be there. It goes to that statement of it's being very good. And this gives God more pleasure. The second thing that we can see in all this, God is preparing a place for mankind. A habitat that would be suitable for us. And so if you look from the second half of verse 2 on through 25, really what the description here is of events taking place, of the animals and the sun and moon and all that's taking place, is an ordering of this universe so that man can dwell and inhabit it. Everything is really looking forward to that day. To man, it's really the climax and the crown of God's creation. You know, there are those who marvel that the earth, you know, is where it's located, so far from the sun, and you know, if we were closer, you know, where Venus was, we'd be too hot, and life couldn't be, and if we were where Mars was, we'd be too cold. and it would destroy all life, that if our atmosphere was some of the poisonous gases on some of the other planets, life wouldn't be possible. And we find these rich coal fields and oil fields in the earth, and they marvel that it's that way. And how did it come about? Well, it's very simple. God had planned it out. God had prepared a place for mankind to live that was suitable for us. He was looking forward to what He was going to do at the end, the crown of creation that He was going to make man in His own image. And that was the goal. And so as we read that first chapter, it's heading toward the creation of man. And this has really, I think, three very important implications for us. And I think of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, he often goes into schools in a poor neighborhood and will have an assembly and he'll get the children there chanting together, I am somebody, I am somebody, and they'll maybe have four or five hundred students all chanting that same thing. Well, there's a truth to that. Now, probably not in a way most of the students go away from that meaning, but in terms of where we are, in God's creation. We're all somebody's. We all are part of that crown of creation, that special place that this world was created for us. A second implication is that, as you would think about where we are in the, really the rest of creation is a lower creation. is looking forward to man, is to be used and enjoyed by man, that that lower creation was deliberately planned and prepared by God for man. It makes man distinct. Man alone is an image of God. Man alone can directly glorify God, can make decisions that are moral, that praise God, that exalt God in the universe. There are those who don't understand this, and it can lead to improper view of this world around us. One way it shows up is there are actually those who would see the animals as equal, even better, that animals should have as many rights as humans, or even more, some are now saying. Third implication is that really evolution is ruled out. And evolution holds that all the living things around us developed by chance, without divine plan or purpose behind it, is ruled out. As you look and read at Genesis 1, it points to the fact that God was behind every step in what was going on. J. G. Voss in his commentary on Genesis 1 states three conclusions, and I think it's good with this regard. First, the language used in Genesis 1 requires the acceptance of creation and the rejection of evolution. We're not here because of time and chance. We're here, clearly, Genesis 1 says, because God purposely created the world for us and created us to live in this world. Second thing he says, only creation that's in accord with the Bible teaching on the original righteousness and perfection of human race. We cannot really begin to discuss the issues of whether man is good or evil unless we understand that we're not just some sort of being evolved higher. The fact that we have righteousness originally, although it was lost in the fall, that we are able to go back to it, that we can look forward to perfection in heaven, comes back to the fact that we were created by God. And thirdly, he says accepting evolution means rejecting or diluting the supernatural element in the Bible. Those who reduce the supernatural element in Genesis 1 tend to do the same in all areas. And he goes on to mention things like prophecy, miracles of virgin birth of Christ, Christ's bodily resurrection, his second coming. That if we have trouble with the idea that God could create the world out of nothing, miraculously by just saying so, we're going to have trouble with the fact that Jesus could heal someone. who could raise someone from death, that the prophets could prophesy what was going to happen 700 years later and all the rest. God is either a supernatural God who created the world, or we begin to doubt that God really has any power. And thus, as we look here at the very first chapter of the Bible, is foundational, is fundamental to how we see ourselves, how we see the universe, how we see God and his actions, to how we see that there is a supernatural being who is supernaturally at work. And if you're following the outlines, I'll put in a fourth, just to give you a hint. There's maybe something being hinted at here too. If you look in the we see that repeated emphasis. There was night and there was day, and whatever day it was. We usually talk about day and night. The Hebrews talked about night and day. And why is that? Have you think about the idea of redemption, the idea of light coming from darkness, whether it would be the physical darkness that's being mentioned here, or the spiritual darkness of sin in the light of God's redemption in Christ. That it follows that pattern of darkness, then light. So as our application in Hebrews 11-3 says, by faith. by faith, we understand. We understand that God created all that we see around us, that he brought order out of chaos, that he created this world, ultimately for him to glorify himself and yet also as a habitat for mankind. would be the crown, the jewel of this creation. And we would understand that as we would live according to it. It really entails two things. One is the humility that we didn't create ourselves. We aren't here because of anything in us. We're here because of God and His creation. that it also is an indication of the special place that we have, that we have, and each one has dignity and honor because of that creation and the place that God has put us in His creation. Let's pray. I give you thanks for what we read on this first page in the scriptures that you created, that you spoke in this world, came into being, and then you brought order into the chaos. And then as a crown of your creation, you created man, male and female. You made us moral beings, those who can choose life and turn away from that which is wrong, and thank you for that. And thank you even though we sin and rebel but through Christ we can to some extent recover that ability to say yes to righteousness and to say no to sin. And we look forward to that day in heaven when we'll be perfectly able to do that. Thank you for the position that you've given us in your creation. that you've created us, that we might know you and have fellowship with you, that we might glorify you. We pray that we would be able to do that each day as we live, as we think and move, that we would glorify you, our Maker. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Turn, please, to Psalm 146. Selection A. It's attached in the stanza four, verse six, talking about the Lord. He has made the earth and heavens and seas and all that they contain. And yet, as it talks there about the Creator God, it is also talking about our response, you know. Happy is a man that chooses that God of creation, Jacob's God, to be his aid. He is blessed, his hope of blessing on the Lord, his God, his Savior. That we are to be trusting that Creator God. Let's stand and sing the seven stanzas, 146 stanzas. Oh my soul, oh my soul, the hope of days. I am the way of freedom, oh God.