Well, this morning we're back in the book of Genesis 1. You know about heart. I think you do. In the beginning, God created heaven and the earth. Last week, we first saw that the Bible does not begin by trying to prove the existence of God. It just simply says, in the beginning, God created. That's one of the most profound statements ever made. It forms the very basis for everything else that follows in the Scripture. The existence of God is just a basic fact. And sadly, many miss out on the basics. The proof that the Lord is there is seen in so many different ways. But yet, as God has revealed Himself through so many different ways, people continue to reject Him. We saw how that statement In the beginning God, it refutes atheism, and materialism, and humanism, and polytheism, and dualism, and pantheism, and all the other isms that are out there. Today I want to focus on the fact that this message tells us here in verse number 1 that in the beginning God created. In the beginning of what? The beginning of time. Well, what about before time? Before time, before creation, there was only God. See, time began when God created the earth. The earth is spinning. It gives us our days and weeks and months and years. Even before the sun was shining, time began with that spinning of the earth. In eternity past, I want us to see that before creation, there was only God. And I know this is beyond what our feeble minds can comprehend. But we need to be able to realize that if we could figure everything out about God, He wouldn't be God. than you and me. He's bigger really than... I don't know how big your thoughts are of God. I have some pretty high thoughts of God myself, but it doesn't matter how big your thoughts of God are. God's bigger than that. He just is. I want you to see first of all that in eternity past, God dwelt alone. Yet God was not lonely. God dwelt alone, but God was not alone. Genesis 1-1, in the beginning, God. He was it. There were no heavens to declare His glory. We know that the psalmist said in Psalm 19-1 that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show with His hand He worked. This was before that time. There were no heavens. There was no firmament. There was no earth. There was no earth to engage God's attention. Matthew 6.26 tells us that God cares for the fowls of the air. Matthew 6.28 says that God cares for the lilies of the field. Matthew 10.29 tells us that sparrows don't fall on the ground without His knowledge. Yet, all of these things, none of them existed prior to Genesis 1.1. Matthew 10.30 I've always found it interesting, tells us that the very hairs of our head are all numbered. There's less the number up there right now than there ever has been on my head. But God knows how many hairs that I have. But there was no hairs to count because nobody was here. There were no There was no universe to be upheld by the Word of His power. You know, God is upholding everything by the Word of His power. If He didn't do that, the whole universe would collapse. His power holds it all together. Hebrews 1 verse 3 tells us that He upholds all things by the Word of His power. There were no angels to sing His praises. You know, God created the angels. He created angels. But when did He do that? Well, after what we see there in verse 1, God created heaven and the earth. Somewhere in those six days of creation, God created And we know that by comparing Scripture with Scripture. I don't have it on your handout there because I added a few Scriptures if you want to write it in. Exodus 20. In verse 11. Listen to what it says. Exodus 20.11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and how everything was made in those six days. We know that Paul tells us in the book of Colossians, in chapter 1, talking about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is God. He's deity. And He was the instrument that God used God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. God the Son was the One who created. And it says in Colossians 1, 16, For by Him, Jesus Christ, were all things created. What does all mean? All means all. That's all it all means. All things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." So there were no angels. It was just God. There was nothing and no one but God. And this was the case for eternity past until Genesis 1-1. when time began, which is a concept that our mind has a hard time fathoming, because we are creatures of time. God is a creature of eternity. He is God. He alone is God. So in eternity past, God dwelt all alone. The second thing I want us to understand is that in eternity past, God was in need of nothing. God didn't need anything. God was alone, but understand, He was not lonely. Well, God got lonely so He created everything. No, that's not the way it was. There was no need for fellowship outside of Himself and the Holy Trinity. I've got a couple more verses to give you on this point A there. If you'll write down Proverbs 8. In fact, go ahead and turn to Proverbs 8. Proverbs 8. I want us to read some verses here that speak of the time before creation. Proverbs 8 and verse number 22. Proverbs 8 and verse number 22. So the Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way before His works of old. This is speaking of the wisdom of God. from the beginning wherever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth, Then I was by Him as one brought up with Him. I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." The wisdom of God. Think about it. Look at John chapter 17. This is another one that's not there. John 17. And this is the prayer of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ just prior to going to the cross. He was praying for us and He's praying for His disciples. We're included in His prayer that He prayed. because He prays for those that would come after the disciples. Now, in John 17, look at verse 5, at what Jesus prays here. He says, And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. had glory with the Father before the world was. He was with the Father. But that glory was not manifested to anybody because there was nothing to manifest it to. And I'm getting ahead of myself. But look down at verse 24 also. Verse 24. Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me, for Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world. There was love between God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the three Persons of the Trinity. They had no need of anything else. God was alone, but He wasn't lonely. God was self-contained. There was no need. for a universe. God was self-sufficient. There was no need for anything beyond Himself. He didn't need angels at that point. We know that the Bible says that angels were created actually for our benefit. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs? And we are that. So we need to thank God for that. But listen, there was no need for angels. He didn't need a universe. He didn't need man. God was self-satisfied. God was in need of nothing. Third point I want you to get this morning. God's creation added nothing to God that was essential. It didn't add anything to God. God does not change. Malachi 3.6. For I am the Lord, I change not. If it added anything to Him, He would have changed. But He didn't change. God's essential glory cannot be increased beyond what it ever has been. When He created the universe and all that is in it, His glory did not increase. His glory was just manifested. It was brought forth. All of the glory that God ever had, He had before He ever created one thing. God's essential glory. Understand this too. God's essential glory cannot be decreased beyond what it ever has been. Not only can it not be increased, it can't be decreased. Nothing that you do or I do can ever take away from God's glory. Think about that. You say, well, there's people that don't give God the glory yet. Understand that we may fail to manifest His glory, but we cannot diminish His glory. Whether you recognize His glory or not, He's still just as glorious a God that He ever was and ever will be. God's glory was simply manifested by His creation. It didn't make Him any more glorious than what He already was. God's glory that is manifested by His creation is also manifested to His creation, especially mankind. We can view the reality of God's glory by the things that He created. It's amazing. When you think about how vast the universe is, And by the time the scientists think they've seen the farthest reaches of the universe, they figure out, we ain't seen the end of it yet. We haven't seen the end of it yet. And you think of all that's in the world that God created, what does mankind want to do? Often they want to give credit to evolution. Processes of time. credit to God. God created. If you look at the details of creation and you understand just how complicated just a single living cell is. My understanding is that a single living cell is more complicated than the largest manufacturing facility that you can find on earth. Just a single microscopic cell. It's got a lot more going on. It's a lot more complicated than the things that we know being able to look at what man's able to do. God's able to do more. When we glorify God, and we ought to, when we glorify God, we add nothing to Him. Rather, what we do is the glory that He already has manifest to others. That's what we should do as believers. We're to manifest the glory of God to others. Look at Nehemiah chapter 9. Now, I'm not going to suffer through all these names at the beginning. I'll just say then the Levites, and we're going to skip over all those other names, and we're going to go down there to Sid. Then the Levites said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever, and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Think about the many ways that you can praise God this morning. And bless God. He's worthy of so much more. Basically, what that's saying. Look at verse 6. Thou, even thou art Lord alone. Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that's therein. Thou preservest them all, and the host of heaven worshipeth Thee." When we glorify God, though we add nothing to Him, rather what we do is we make the glory that He already has manifest to others. And understand that we come together to worship together, and we ought to do that, because we're commanded to do it. We ought to want to do it. We can worship individually. I hear people all the time saying, well, I can worship God out on the golf course. I can worship God out on the river fishing. Yeah, you can and you should. But God wants you here and worshiping Him with God's people together as well. God gains nothing even from our worship though. Now, He deserves our worship, but He doesn't need our worship. We need our worship of Him as well. It's the way it goes. He is glorious enough in Himself without even our worship. There was nowhere that His glory needed to be manifested prior to His creative acts. But when He created, He manifested His glory in His creation. Here's the fourth thing. God's creation was purely a sovereign act on His part. Didn't need to do it. Didn't have to do it. No reason to bring it forth. God was under no constraint or obligation to create. Nothing said He had to. It was caused by nothing outside of Himself. He just determined, I'm going to create. And He did. God had no need to create outside of His own good pleasure. Ephesians 1.11 says that He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. And then what I read there in Colossians 1.16-17, all things were created by Him and for Him. And He's before all things. By Him, all things consist. Fifth thing here, God's move to predestinate and elect to Himself was according to the good pleasure of His will. Ephesians 1.5, having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. It pleased Him to do it. It was His will to do it. Nothing else caused Him to do it. Number six, the life and work of Christ added nothing to God's essential being or glory. It only manifested God's glory. When Christ came to the earth, He didn't increase God's glory. It just added to a manifestation, how God manifested, how He showed us His glory through His Son. Jesus Christ manifested the glory of the Father to us. Let's consider some of what we know as the fundamentals of the faith concerning Christ. Let's just pause for a moment and consider Christ's virgin birth and how miraculous a thing that was. As glorious as it was, it only manifested the glory that God already possessed. God was already glorious before that. It just manifested His glorious nature. Consider Christ's virtuous life. The fact that Christ did not sin. Jesus Christ came to make His heavenly Father known. In other words, He came to manifest His Father's glory and He did just that. He manifested the glory of the Father by His life. Consider Christ's vicarious suffering. We're talking about Him suffering in our place. He suffered for you and He suffered for me. The punishment that we deserve for our sins. Now understand that that manifested the glory of God's love that He already possessed. 1 John 4.9 says, And this was manifested, the love of God, toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Him sending His Son into the world just manifested glory that He already had. Think about His resurrection. His victorious resurrection. Consider that. It manifested the very power and glory that God already possessed. It didn't add anything. It just showed what power that God already had. You might write down Romans 1-4 beside that. added to the notes after I had already printed everything out. Romans 1.4 says that Jesus declared to be the Son of God with power and it was by the resurrection of the dead that He did that. That's what that verse says. Romans 1.4. Consider Christ's visible return. Now when He comes back here to take us home to be with Him. That's going to be a glorious thing, too. But He's not coming all the way to earth to do that. We're going to meet the Lord in the air. And we'll be forever with Him. But there has come a time, His true second coming, when He comes back at the end of the tribulation period, coming back to earth to reign, rule in the reign for a literal 1,000 years. Now when Christ comes back in that visible return, it will manifest the glory that God already has. It will add nothing to His glory. He said it was going to come in power and great glory. It's going to happen. He said it would. These all manifest God's great glory, but listen, they did not and do not make Him any more glorious than He already was and eternity pass. So why have I said all of that that I have said both last week and this week? What's the significance of all that we have seen? Number one, and this is not in your notes, okay? If you want to, if you want to, all right, there was no room, no more room, so I couldn't squeeze this in on you. For one thing, we must see that God is unique in His excellency. That's what we need to see. No one is more glorious than God. God is unique in His excellency. Listen to Exodus 15-11. Exodus 15-11 says, Who is like unto Thee, O Lord among the gods? Who is like Thee? Glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. God's unique in that. He's unique in His excellency. He is alone in His majesty. He is by Himself in His perfection. He sustains everything that He created, but He is independent of all His creation. God is not in His creation. He is independent of His creation. He gives and continues to give to all good things out of His treasure. However, He Himself is enriched by no one. He's not enriched by anyone. We must see that God is unique in His excellency. We must see that our lives are an open book to this magnificent God. Okay, so God's magnificent. We've seen that. What does that mean to me? It means that you need to realize that your life is an open book to this magnificent God. Hebrews 4.13 says, neither is there any creature that does not manifest in His sight. Listen. But all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. God sees it all. God knows it all. Even the thoughts and intents of the heart, He knows. He knows what you've been thinking about while you've been here. He knows every good thought and every bad thought. Number three thing. Let's understand that we will all stand before the Lord one day and acknowledge Him for who He is. Let me have you turn to one last scripture. Isaiah 45. Isaiah chapter 45. And I want to read I want us to read here in verses 22 through the end of the chapter. Isaiah 45, verse 22. The Lord says here, Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself the Word is gone out of My mouth, and righteousness shall not return. that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength, even to Him shall men come, and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. Come stand before Him one day, Romans 14 verses 11-12 says, As it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Here's the fourth thing I want us to walk away with. We must understand that Satan desires to block the manifestation of God's glory. He does a pretty good job of doing that. He don't want men to see. the glory of God. And the glory of God is so easily seen, but yet He's able to block that from men's lives. He desires to block the manifestation of the glory of God from the lives of mankind. And we find that in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 3 and 4, where it says this, it says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, Bless the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Corinthians 4, verses 3 and 4. Fifth thing, we must see that mankind's only hope is to be born again of the Spirit of God. Jesus Himself said in John 3, 3, as He was talking to the religious and upstanding citizen who was a Pharisee, Nicodemus. He told him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus had the same problem that we all have. The problem of sin. Being born of Adam the first time. Because we were born of Adam the first time, we must be born again by the Spirit of God. A God such as this cannot be found out. by just searching with our sinful, flawed intellect. He can only be known spiritually. The problem is mankind comes into this world spiritually dead. God can only be known as He reveals Himself to sinful man. Through creation, conscience, the canon of Scripture, Christ, and His comforter, the Holy Spirit. We saw that in the first message last week. Here's the last thing. We must see that after being born again, we who are so undeserving of all that God has done, and continues to do by the way, He not only has done great things, but He continues to do great things for us. We have the privilege to serve this wonderful, glorious God. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5 verses 17-21. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. And when you get born again, you become a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to it that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We are, my friend, to wholly surrender to Him who has sought us and bought us. said in 1 Corinthians 15.10, He says, But by the grace of God I am what I am. And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 1 Corinthians 4.7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou but thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? All that God has given to us, our salvation and the ability to serve Him comes from Him. Amen. It's nothing for us to get big-headed about. It's all what the Lord does through us. Allow the Lord to use you in your life. If you're not saved today, come to a saving knowledge of Him. this great God. He deserves your worship. He deserves your submission to Him. He deserves for you to take advantage of His great grace that He gave to the world through His Son, Jesus Christ. If you haven't received Christ, receive Him. If you have received Him, get busy for Him. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much Thank you.