“ Our Biblical Worldview”(3) God the Creator, the foundation of our worldview 09/19/2021

First Baptist Church Leominster

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out through Sunday school but and I know your bulletin says

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New Testament but we're going to the Old Testament and so turn to Genesis 1 1 please and pastor or day fare will lead us reading

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Genesis 1 1 through chapter 2 verse 7 and of course this is in the beginning

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God creating all things thank you did our pastor is full of surprises

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Genesis 1 in the beginning

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God created the heavens and the earth the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the

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Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters 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

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God called the light day and the darkness he called night and there was evening and there was morning the first day and God said let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters let it separate the waters from the waters thus the heavens and the earth sorry and God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse and it was so and God called the expanse heaven and there was evening and there was morning the second day and God said let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so God called the dry land earth and the waters that were gathered together he called seas and God saw that it was good and God said that the earth sprout vegetation plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit in which there is seed each according to its kind on the earth and it was so the earth brought forth vegetation plants yielding seed according to its own kind and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed each according to its kind and God saw that it was good and there was evening and there was morning the third day and God said let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth and it was so and God made the two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars and God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth to rule over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness and God saw that it was good and there was evening and there was morning the fourth day and God said let the waters swarm or swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens so God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarm according to their kind and every winged according to its kind and God saw that it was good and God blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let the birds multiply on the earth and there was evening and there was morning the fifth day and God said let the earth bring forth creatures according to their kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kind and it was so and God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind and God saw that it was good then

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God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heavens over the livestock and over the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them and God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdued and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth and God said behold

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I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth and every tree with seed and its fruit you shall have them for food to every beast of the earth and every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth everything that has the breath of life

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I have given every green plant for food and it was so and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day then the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them and on the seventh day

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God finished his work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done so God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it

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God rested from all his work that he had done in creation these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the

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Lord God made the heavens the earth and the heavens when no brush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant on the field had yet sprung up for the

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Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land there was no man to work the ground and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground then the

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Lord formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature let us pray our

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Father in heaven we read your word and we think of all that you have done and we think of all that you are doing and all that you will do and we're thankful Lord to be a part of this you're such a great marvelous awesome

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God you loved us with a love that has no end you loved us as you love your own son and so we come this morning

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Lord we hunger to learn more about you you this great creator

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God and we ask you to bless the word as it's preached we give thanks

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Lord for our pastor and for his faithful preaching and all praise and glory to you for Christ's sake amen the first two messages of this new sermon series that we started gave emphasis we gave emphasis to the biblical teaching that God is the creator of all that exists it really wasn't my intention when

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I began but that's what happened and so on the first Sunday we considered

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Romans 1 how God has displayed through his creation the indisputable truth that he exists and there are certain aspects about his nature that are clearly witnessed by his creation so that as Paul said all are without excuse all humanity who live upon this earth have been exposed to this witness of creation that bears witness to its creator

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Romans 1 18 and following right for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness then the reason is given the cause because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and his

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Godhead so that they are without excuse God has borne witness to his existence in everything he has made and then last

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Lord's Day we gave attention also to God as a creator from considering Hebrews 11 there we read by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the

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Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible and I think that yes that's

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Hebrews 11 3 now that the first two Sundays brought our attention to God as a creator of all things should not be surprising really for us for really the entire

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Bible is based upon the truth that God is the creator it's not to be restricted just to the few passages we read it is a theme that is throughout the entire

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Word of God yes God is also known through his work of the redemption of his people but creation is the foundation for all that follows in the history of his creation in that God had purposed and created in all things and so it's our starting point for a biblical worldview and that's our intention of course in this series to consider a biblical worldview how do we see and understand the world in the light of the

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Bible Herman Baving once wrote the purpose and goal of creation is to be found solely in God's will and glory it is especially in the

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Reformed tradition that the honor and glory of God was made the fundamental principle of all doctrine and conduct a doctrine of creation is one of the fundamental building blocks of a biblical and Christian worldview creation is neither to be deified nor despoiled but as the theater of God's glory it is to be delighted in and used in a stewardly manner it is

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God's good creation the doctrine of God creating all that exists is instructive and reassuring for the people of God again to quote

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Baving from the very first moment true religion distinguishes itself from all other religions by the fact that it controls the relationship or the relation between the creator and his creature the idea of an existence apart from and independent of God occurs nowhere in Scripture God is the sole unique and absolute cause of all that exists he has created all things by his word and spirit there was no substance or principle of any kind to oppose him no material to tie him down no force to circumscribe his freedom he speaks and things spring into being he is the unrestricted owner of heaven and earth there are no limits to his power he does all he sees fit to do from him through him and to him are all things the world is the product of his will and it is the revelation of his perfections and finds its goal in his glory and so it is in the record of God's act of creation in which we see the elements and the nature of a biblical worldview and so in Genesis 1 and 2 which

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Dave just read for through chapter 2 verse 7 we learn first and chiefly what

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God is like and how he relates to his creation but we also see how his creation particularly the pinnacle of his creation that is mankind is to regard and know him and how you would have us to relate to his creation as well as to one another as his as his creatures and so these matters are central to a biblical worldview first obviously how we understand the nature of God and how are to relate to him as our creator but secondly a worldview entails how we are to regard and relate to his creation itself in which he has placed us how we relate to things and then thirdly how we are to understand who we are as his human beings and how we are to regard and treat one another as his creatures and so we want to begin to wade through some of these matters here in Genesis 1 and we felt the need to read to verse 7 of chapter 2 and here we're going to see a number of truths regarding God and regarding human beings as well as the world in which he has placed us.

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Dave read this passage for us so let's look at page 3 if you're following in your notes toward the middle of the page we confess as true the statement of the

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Bible in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth Genesis 1 1 this is a faith statement on our part now it's a reality it's a fact but it's faith that we believe this statement it is where we begin our consideration and analysis of all things this is in accordance with the first place of the first statement of the ancient

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Apostles Creed I believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth

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Genesis 1 1 states the fact and so we begin with the truth that God is

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Hebrews that God exists and that he created all things we understand that God created all that exists out of nothing he spoke and things happen this is commonly known as creation out of nothing the

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Latin phrase God called all matter and all life into existence to his creative and all -powerful word reveals that he's an infinite

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God we assert that there was a beginning of all that physically exists prior to creation the blessed triune

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God alone existed he brought all things into existence when he issued his decree to create we would say time itself came into existence when he issued the decree to create and so the things we see were not made from previous things that were visible we have faith in God who spoke all into existence in the beginning

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God created the heavens and the earth we believe that the Word of God declares it evolutionists confess a faith statement also they would say in the beginning

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God did not create the heavens and the earth their faith rests in the idea that the physical universe itself is eternal there are no beginning in their understanding materials believe in the eternal nature of physical things now granted they try to push back history to what they refer to as a big bang they call that a beginning but if press they admit they must go back further and so throughout eternity they claim there have been an infinite number of big bangs resulting in an expanding and then a contracting universe a cycle repeating itself eternally this faith claim of theirs is both philosophically and we would say scientifically untenable it's nonsense we would argue known science repudiates the notion that matter could be eternal in nature we alluded this to last week the whole fact that entropy things wear down they wear out would suggest that material cannot be eternal there had to have been a beginning and we understand

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God as in the beginning creating the heavens and the earth and so although we readily admit that our belief in creationism is by a strict definition not based on science for its born of faith similarly as evolution it's born of their faith having said that we certainly recognize however that both faith claims of creation and the faith claims of materials evolutionist can be examined scientifically that is through observation and consideration of what exists scientific evidence may be gathered that will lend itself either to support or repudiate both creationism and evolution and we believe in creationism and we also happen to believe that our world and the universe when examined fully and honestly give ample evidence to support creationism and if we wanted to take time we could show that we have in the past by the way science cannot and should not be the ground of our faith but it may affirm our faith certainly faith is not grounded on science faith is grounded on the

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Word of God faith is not opposed to science and some matters of faith can be affirmed by science creationism is one of them and in the last generation there's been a great work among scientists of really of every field who have believed in actually an early earth an early history of the earth and creationism and it was their scientific discipline that led them to that conclusion we have books about that now this morning we want to consider the creation account itself of Genesis 1 and the beginning of chapter 2 from three perspectives first and this will be the most more lengthy of the three will consider what the creation account reveals about God the

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Creator and then secondly we'll consider what the creation account reveals about nature created things and then thirdly we will examine what the creation account reveals about mankind and so first what does the creation account reveal about God the

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Creator we read over it you've no doubt read it many times before but what is the creation account about the first act recorded in the

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Bible is God creating the world in the first and second chapters of Genesis we read of God creating all that exists and when we consider the teaching of the

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Bible respecting God as the creator of all that is we can conclude certainties about God's nature and about God's purposes in history and the record of creation was not given merely to explain how things came into existence we might wrongly think that as we read over Genesis 1 and 2 actually the primary role of the creation account in Genesis is to tell us about the

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God who brought these things to exist and so it's appropriate for us to ask what the creation story tells us about God and so consider the following doctrines suggested by the

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Bible's teaching that God is our creator and all of these are taken from Genesis 1 1 through Genesis 2 verse 7 and maybe a few other few places as well first of all clearly the

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Genesis account of creation shows forth God is preeminent he's first above all things from an examination of the creation in Genesis 1 and 2 we could say of God worthy art thou

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O Lord our God to receive honor and power for thou didst create all things because of thy will they existed and we were created declares the angelic host in heaven in Revelation 4 clearly the

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Genesis account of creation describes God in these terms the central figure of the creation narrative is

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God in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and so here the

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Bible opens up begins with God and God remains the chief character throughout the biblical story even on to the end of the book of Revelation the

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Bible is a book about God chiefly in those portions of Scripture where direct reference to God is not present say like the entire book of Esther nevertheless

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God's existence and control of the affairs on earth is assumed and depicted his providence is everywhere found in the book of Esther it's often been said that history recorded in Scripture is his story as a truism history is the record of his dealings among the creatures of his making but it's important to stress that God is outside and above the created order

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God alone is eternal everything else had a beginning in time and so we believe what the psalmist confessed before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting you are

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God the Bible presents God as one who is different than all created things and who owe his own volition his own will that brought all things into existence

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God is the one who initiates action he acts upon things outside of himself

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God has never acted upon by anything God is the sole active actor on the stage as things are brought into being all other things are passive consider in Genesis 1 and 2 the dominance of God as the main subject of each sentence and then the verbs that depict him as acting and they're all active verbs and so we read that God created not just once but several times

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God said many times God saw God separated

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God called God made God placed God blessed God completed

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God rested God sanctified God formed God breathe into Adam God planted he placed the

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Lord God caused to grow the Lord God took man and put the Lord God commanded the

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Lord God brought the Lord God caused he took he closed up and the Lord God fashioned in these first two chapters of Genesis God is a subject of active verbs 61 times he is the main character and in addition to these they in the direct discourse of God that is the speech of God in these chapters we have 24 imperatives in other words 24 commands where he's speaking commanding in the form of decrees which

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God declared should transpire in contrast when you consider

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Adam he's the subject of one active verb in which he gave names to animals and that's not even in the passage we read that's down in chapter 2 verse 20 the point is this the

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Bible is chiefly a book about God and his dealings with mankind it records how

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God brought man into existence and tells of God's purpose for man the Bible records

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God has taken the initiative to bring mankind into covenant relationship with himself the

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Bible does not chiefly center on man in his pursuit to know God but it declares that God comes to man reveals himself and brings his salvation to him

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God as creator reveals that he is preeminent and so let the

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Bible's way of application let the Bible point of view a theocentric world

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God is a center be considered by those who advocate new methods of reaching modern man by assuming and treating man even unsaved man as though the world were anthropocentric as though the world centered around him fallen man as though man was the primary actor on the stage around which for which all things exist why even

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God's there to bless you and so it's not man's felt needs that need to be identified and met but rather it's

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God's revealed will that must be declared and man must be shown that he must believe and he must submit to it those who place man in the center do view life really a hundred to eighty degrees out of synchronization with the biblical perspective we live in a theocentric universe

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Christo centric universe all pretenders and usurpers to God's throne must be brought low and made to submit to his rule

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God is preeminent secondly certainly the

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Genesis account of chapters 1 and 2 show forth God is all -powerful creation was by Theon an authoritative verbal decree let there be

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God issued the words and the results were immediate and complete all efforts to find geological ages in between those days and fruitless and useless and really denies the whole intent of Genesis 1 to show the ease and the rapidity of which

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God in which God created all things the results after God spoke were immediate and complete as we view the creation as it now stands and consider the ease in which the worlds were brought into existence as well as the brevity of time in which creation was recorded to have taken place we recognize an all -powerful

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God clearly the writer of Genesis was attempting to show the power of God in the manner in which

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God brought creation about to his spoken word the expansive world and universe came into existence in a relatively brief period of time it seems quite clear that for worlds to appear immediately by the word spoken the degree of God's power is portrayed as limitless he's infinite in power it didn't strain at God at all to create everything that is he could have made it twice as large and it wouldn't have required any more effort he's infinite in his power

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Thomas Watson back in the 17th century wrote to create requires infinite power all the world cannot create one fly he had a way with words so God's power is evident because he needs no instruments to work with he can work without tools and because he needs no matter to work upon he creates a matter and then works upon it and because he works without labor he spoke and it was done

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God as creator reveals he is infinite in power and again

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Paul declared in Romans 1 everybody can see that if you just open your eyes and look at the creation not a person in the world hasn't had that witness before them thirdly

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God is all wise the Genesis account of creation assumes a cosmos ordered in wisdom as the wise man would later pen the writer of Genesis would affirm

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Oh Lord how many are thy works in wisdom thou has made them all the earth is full of thy possessions there is the sea the great and broad and which are swarms without number animals both small and great here are the words of Psalm 139 thus you shall say to them the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens he the true

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God has made the earth by his power and here it is he's established the world by his wisdom and has stretched out the heavens at his discretion when he utters his voice here's a multitude of waters in the heavens he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth he makes lightning for the rain he brings the wind out of his treasuries that God is the creator reveals he is infinite wisdom and fourthly clearly the creation account of Genesis 1 and 2 reveals that God is good and gracious clearly

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God is portrayed as an all good and gracious God in his work of creation the whole earth is filled with the goodness of the

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Lord Psalm 33 5 with the utmost care God wrought his work and observed and pronounced its goodness as we read repeatedly in Genesis 1 how can these things be good if a good

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God had not created them can good fruit come forth from a corrupt tree Jesus said no and neither can good works come forth from anything but a good

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God that he could create all things good shows his power that he would create all things good shows his goodness

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God would not have his creation in a state of chaos rather he would have all his creatures to be good for he himself is good and of course the writer

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Genesis shows that the goodness of God was manifest to mankind all things were made for their benefit even the lights in the expanse of the heavens were for signs and for seasons for days and years all the

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God created he gave to man freely being fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it rule over the fish of the sea over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth he said to man

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I have given you every plant yielding seed that's on the surface of all the earth and every tree that has fruit yielding seed it shall be food for you a good

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God who made all things good graciously gave to man all that he made

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God has shown goodness and graciousness toward man and that he made for man a garden paradise filled with every good thing that could make him happy that's after the passage we read for out of the ground the

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Lord God caused to grow every tree that's pleasing to the sight and good for food God showed his goodness and that he created a woman because he saw was not good the only thing not good in God's creation that man was alone and woman is the last thing mentioned which

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God gave to Adam making his existence perfect and complete a good

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God would have all things good for his creatures that God as creator reveals that he is infinitely good and gracious and he's good in everything he is and everything he does in history and then fifth certainly

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God is infinite and unsearchable this is implicit in the opening two chapters of Genesis although God created and gave all things to mankind it's apparent that man knew relatively little of God himself for God whose attributes are infinite cannot be known except to the measure by which his works reveal him and we might say that since the creation of all things was an easy thing for God the act of creation does not reveal the nature of God fully or who he is essentially a wise man would later say but will

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God indeed dwell on the earth behold the heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee and so the creation itself reveals of his nature its infinite and unsearchable.

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Sixth clearly Genesis 1 reveals to us that God has an inalienable right to rule over all that he has made this is

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God's world it exists because he brought it into existence he has a right as creator to rule over it as its

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Lord here in Genesis 1 and 2 his authority is not asserted it is assumed because all things were created by God he's free to dispose of them as he pleases and because God made man he has the right to govern man as a potter fashions clay

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God fashioned Adam from the earth as a potter has the right to do what he wills with the product of his hands so God has the right to determine the fate of man whom he has made

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God is the sovereign of all he made with the right to govern all things according to his will because God owns all things he may dispose or distribute them as he wills he may give all things freely to man or if he chooses to do so he may place man in a garden if he chooses to do so he may give him freely all things to eat and enjoy freely if he chooses to do so but God can also place a limitation or prohibition on his creatures if he chooses

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God said to Adam from any tree of the garden you may eat freely but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat that was a continual sign to Adam and Eve that he was the

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God and they weren't they had to obey him and God is also free to impose a penalty upon the violation of his rule for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die and so God as a creator reveals he has the inalienable right to rule but we can take that a step farther in number seven

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God indeed is the sovereign ruler over his creation it's one thing to say

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God has the right to rule it's another to say that in fact he is the sovereign ruler of all that he has created but this too is implicit in the creation account

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God rules over all absolutely he's the

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Lord he's the Supreme King of Kings and Lord of Lords he determines what exists what lives where they live as the scripture says he's made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth and has determined the time before appointed and the bounds of their habitation where they live throughout scripture

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God has set forth as the king over all the world because he is the creator of the world that's what we have in Psalm 95 oh come let us sing to the

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Lord let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving let us shout joyfully to him with Psalms why now we have an explanatory clause for the

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Lord is the great God and the great King above all gods in his hand or the deep places of the earth the heights of the hills or is also the sea is his for he made it and his hands formed the dry land oh come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the

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Lord our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture the sheep of his hand and so yes

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God has the right to rule over all in fact he does rule over all as King the one fact that he's the creator assures the second that he's the king over his creation and all should recognize and acknowledge this even earthly Kings remember

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God revealing to Nebuchadnezzar after seven years of insanity no you didn't make all these things

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I'm the one who caused you to reign Nebuchadnezzar and those who fail or refuse to acknowledge

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God as their maker he will judge he holds all men accountable as to how they live before him now they behave toward one another this is his world and you're responsible to him for how you live one of the functions of a good

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King is to act as a judge punishing sin and avenging injustice that's what leaders of nations are supposed to be doing since God is

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God of all the earth he is the judge of all the earth and because God is good holy he's a just judge he'll judge faithfully and rightly shall not the judge of all the earth do right you bet he will

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God sees all the wickedness of all men and will call each one to account for his action his eyes on all his creation

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God watches with concern over those say who are poor and helpless and he views it his responsibility to avenge them his people who are in covenant relationship with himself or under his protective eye he'll bring retribution upon all who would do them harm and furthermore since God is the creator of the heavens and all the earth there's no escape from him and one day when the

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Lord Jesus shows himself the day of judgment comes people be crawling upon them at calling upon the mountains to fall on them rather than have to face

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King Jesus as judge. Eight, God has a purpose in all that he does and for all that he has created

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Genesis tells us that God gave every detail of creation a valuable role to fill in his order of things the lights in the heavens have a purpose and that they are to be for signs for seasons for days and for years the sun and moon were to govern the day and night the dry land was to sprout vegetables plants yielding seed fruit trees were to bear fruit the waters were to provide a place or that all manner of living creatures could live man also had a role to fill he was to be fruitful and multiply fill the earth subdue it rule over the fish of the sea over the birds of the sky over everything that moves upon the earth he gave man to be his really

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Lord over his creation we were to be as God's ruling on behalf of the true

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God we were to be as kings ruling over his kingdom not just subduing things for our own sake but subduing things for his sake bringing things under subjection to him and it's within this purpose or the will of God that his creatures are free to move and function freely and so God as creator reveals there's a role and purpose for all things that exists and he has a purpose for you and a purpose for me as well and ninth

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God is a God of righteousness and justice we see this exclusively in respect to man man alone is given a warning of accountability the

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Lord God commanded the man saying from any tree of the garden you may eat freely but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for the day that you eat from it you shall surely die so the

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Lord essentially told man this far no more he established a law which was to govern man's conscience and limit his actions and the consequence of transgression was clearly indicated

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God is a good God infinitely so but he's also a just God and we don't put justice of God against goodness of God God is a just God because he's a good

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God justice is a manifestation of God's goodness when

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God gave his law to Adam respecting the one tree no provision for pardon of consequence for transgression was suggested he declared that death would result and so that God's the creator reveals that he is a

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God of justice 10th certainly the creation reveals that God is a holy

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God holiness is an attribute of God which describes his otherness that is how different and distinct he is from his creatures he's not like you and me he's distinct and unique from everything that he's created that God is holy means that he is of a completely different kind of essence than that which he created we could have gone off and showed how this repudiates pantheism the theology of Star Wars that every living thing has a life force

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God within them that's pantheism Genesis 1 repudiates the

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Star Wars theology God is separate distinct from creation

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God is a part and wholly different his essence is completely different from which from that which he created and moreover it's implied in his holiness or the otherness of God that he's infinitely pure and therefore the consequences of violating his commands are certain and severe and eternal we might add that God is the creator reveals he's a holy

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God and similar to this idea might even be identical

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God is a transcendent spirit being he's separate different far off as it were it's clear that God is apart from and it's different from all created things he has made

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God is spirit transcendent in nature there is the biblical truth of a great distinction between the creator and all that he is created and this creator creature distinction must always be held in our understanding of God and his relationship to the physical universe the

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Lord Jesus told the woman at the Samaritan well God is spirit and although God is fully personal

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God does not exist as a physical being is not subject to space and time as are all his creatures we're not talking about the incarnation now of course with the human nature and body of the

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Lord Jesus but God and his eternal essence is of his spirit God is everywhere in his fullness continually

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God is infinite in his being as infinite in all of his attributes he's outside of the physical creation he is also immutable that is unchangeable in his nature and purposes and so the

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Lord Jesus declared that the true God God who is spirit must be worshiped in spirit and truth this means worship in spirit means worship from a heart renewed by the

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Holy Spirit God's not worshipped through man -made rituals or ceremonies that is idolatry he's to be worshipped in truth that in that God himself was prescribed how he's to be approached and worship you're forbidden to be creative in your worship that's what got you know that the two sons of Aaron killed when they brought strange fire before the

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Lord they thought they would be creative in worship no no God is a holy God he's prescribed how he's to be approached and worship and so ultimately there's only one way which the true

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God is ordained that mankind worship him and that's through the mediation of his son Jesus Christ through faith in Jesus Christ God invites finite sinful creatures like you and me to come to him and repentance and faith and live before him as his people.

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Twelve, God delights in his creation and he desires it's good God pronounced everything he created to be good it's not merely an assessment of quality after days work rather a note of God's satisfaction is conveyed in his observance of what he created

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God saw that it was good his Sabbath rest after the week of creation should not be regarded as a day of rest of recuperation like you and I enjoy one day out of seven hopefully he didn't need to recuperate from his labor

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God's infinite power was not strained in his work of creation his Sabbath was a time of reflection to contemplate and enjoy the work which he had performed

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God delights in his creation and it may be assumed that he delights supremely in man when he lives in a manner which is in accordance with God's will for him it pleases him when you do his will

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I might add this too just as God is pleased with what he did when we do manual labor when we do work and whatnot we should be pleased by what we're able to accomplish as well there's great satisfaction in doing work well.

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Thirteen, God works and communicates his will by his word we consider the role of God's word earlier when it suggested the power of God here our point of emphasis is the word is the means of God's working it's his instrument apart from the creation of man and woman

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God spoke all things into existence it was his word which he used as an instrument to affect his work we see in our creation account

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God's word is presented as absolutely authoritative and powerful all his words are effectual all of his words are presented before man as absolutely authoritative and binding

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God doesn't mistake make mistakes and what he says and he means what he says and he enforces what he says.

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Fourteen, God's goal or purpose for all that he's created is for his own glory

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God's ultimate desire and design through all that he's made all that he brings to pass in history are the display of his glory in other words what he's like and who he is the creation is a stage on which

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God's nature and works are displayed before people and before angels also he reveals who he is and what he's like through bringing his justice in the overthrow and punishment of evil through bringing his chosen people out of their state of sin to enjoy eternal life in his presence and so his people who come to understand and experience his love, mercy, grace, wisdom, justice, power, and salvation that he brings to them they respond to their

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God with adoration giving God glory with thanksgiving for all that they've seen and received those who are the objects of his judgment and wrath also serve to show forth his power his wisdom and his justice in their overthrow and unending punishment because the

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Bible sets forth the glory of God as the central goal of history of God in history the

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Protestant reformers were insistent to maintain as a foundational principle of Reformation theology solely

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Deo Gloria glory to God alone that's the reason and ultimately the purpose for all things and so we see this creation account reveals a whole lot about God doesn't it that's its purpose not just to tell us how things originated but it reveals

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God who he is what he's like in bringing things into existence quickly let's run through what the creation account reveals about created things here's a second major aspect of the creation account of him and by him and in him are all things what is the creation of God tell us about the world in which we live first all things belong to God the earth is the

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Lord's and the fullness thereof is a reality which is unquestionable in the light of Genesis 1 and 2 we talk about ownership and yes we have responsibility but in reality we're stewards aren't we even the clothes on your back belong to God ultimately he's granted to you wonderfully he may freely give all things or he may deny things they're his to give or withhold and as creatures we should recognize our stewardship of his creation although we're allowed we're given permission to use things for our good we have a responsibility to manage what is his as good stewards this would suggest the importance of conservation in order not setting a thing aside so that human beings cannot enjoy or make use of them but to conserve respect regard and put to use that which

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God has created but in a responsible way we need to continually acknowledge his ownership and continually feel gratefulness and continually express thankfulness for any and all that God has given us secondly all things find fulfillment in the purpose that God has given for them or is established for them all things were designed to be used for man's well -being and used to be used by him in service to God and when the proper role of created things is perverted man ceases to be served by things but rather begins to serve them rather than man having dominion over created things due to sin created things have dominion over him and that they consume his attention and affection idolatry is a great sin in several respects first it replaces

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God as supreme ruler with a substitute God you love something or someone more than you love

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God and second idolatry is a failure to live in accordance with God's order he would have us rule things but idolatry is things ruling us flee from idolatry three all things are witness to God's glory the signature of God is upon everything that exists everything betrays his ownership and reflects his craftsmanship and greatness and therefore nature should be a source of understanding about God who made them the psalmist wrote of the testimony of God's greatness in nature the heavens declare the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of his head day to day for his fourth speech night to night reveals knowledge don't you think about God when you go out and look at the stars when you look at the

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I sent out a link to the men's group the other night just absolutely incredible video showing the relative size of things from the earth if it were 1 .2

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centimeters comparison to the objects in heaven the stars in the universe it's absolutely incredible and then an accompanying video went just the opposite to the very smallest of things and then brought it up it's incredible it all reveals to us the glory of God and so the

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Lord is stamped on everything is his power his wisdom his presence the creation is glorious to behold this is a quote by the way from Thomas Watson the

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Puritans used to speak about the creation like another Bible a second volume which stood alongside the

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Bible and testified to God Watson wrote the creation is glorious to behold its pleasant and profitable study some think that when

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Isaac went abroad into the fields to meditate it was in the book of the creatures he looked at the creatures and was thinking of meditating about God the creation is the plowman's primer the travelers perspective glass magnifier a telescope through which he receives a representation of the infinite excellencies which are in God the creation is a large volume a book in which

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God's works are bound up this volume has three great leaves or pages in it heaven earth and sea for all things should be enjoyed and appreciated

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God reflected on the works of creation saw that they were good and so too we should reflect upon his works and enjoyed them there should be thankfulness for the goodness of God and having given us such a wonderful world to live in when my family lived in Germany for a time we had occasion to see for some of the world's renowned works of arts firsthand in the museums and the museum the old

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Museum of Art and then the newer one as well but my favorite place in Munich was the world -renowned

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Deutsches Museum which specializes in science and industrial exhibits

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I could spend weeks there it was at its absolutely unbelievable the odds by productions of human ingenuity and industry but no human inventor or manufacturer could devise and produce a mechanism as intricate and complex as the universe which we have to explore and examine and so we should affirm and we should have voice and amen to the

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Lord's own assessment of his creation as we reflect upon it God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good we're coming into the beautiful fall season already and it's beautiful isn't it and then lastly we'll close with this what the creation account reveals to us about mankind and this is the third object or subject of the creation account man's identity his purpose a relationship to his maker first man is the most valuable and important of God's creatures as it denied in this world all things are equal my animals even have equal rights with human beings not according to Scripture man is the most valuable and important of all creatures four things testify to this signify this first man was created on the sixth day he was the last of God's creative works we won't well yes

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I do want to read this comments of John Gill all creatures were made for his sake to possess and joy and have dominion over and therefore he was made last of all that is man were provided for him when made the earth for his habitation all creatures for his use the fruits of the earth for his profit and pleasure light heat and air for his delight comfort refreshment with everything that should be wished for desired to make his life happy second second reason to shows the superiority or supremacy of man man alone was created as a result of divine deliberation let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule when

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God approaches the most excellent of all his works he enters into consultation this sets apart the creation of man is significant even above all the other things

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God had previously created and then third perhaps most importantly man was created the image of God what does this mean it's a matter much discussed we're going to have to deal with it more fully at a later time but it basically signifies man's unique ability to know

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God and recognize and reflect the glory of God in our own existence link with this idea that man is

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God's representative on earth to rule over his creation on his behalf God sent man in the world as a sign of his own sovereign authority in order that man should uphold and enforce his

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God's claims as Lord earthly monarchs to have the habit of setting up images of themselves in their kingdom as signs of their sovereign authority it was in that sense that Israel thought of man as the representative of God you are his image he is set up to reflect him and what he is like this necessitates that man was created originally like God and that man is pure and rational capable of thinking intelligently and rationally and living in a manner consistent with God's holiness you and I have a soul we have a capacity to think and reason spiritually to think about God no other animals does that you know your dog may seem to have some wonderful human qualities and I know we grow attached to them but when they're lying there on the carpet you know they're not thinking about God and creation in the future they don't have the capacity

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God gave you that capacity you're far above any other animal God gave you caused you to be in the likeness of God the image of God and that brings privilege and responsibility and then fourth man's importance in the creation has shown that all things were submitted to his rule man was to reign over God's creation on his behalf and so these four points suggest

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God's regard for mankind and the graciousness which he has toward him secondly man is a living soul the record of God making man in Genesis 2 records this lifeless figure

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God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the result of this divine infusion of breath into a body was an atom became a living soul the nature of the soul is another whole issue to be discussed and debated perhaps questions are asked what is the essence of a soul well it's created is for example we could ask the question is the soul created by God on each occasion that a body is formed in the womb or is the soul derived from the parents

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I don't know how to answer that frankly the Genesis creation account is not concerned with such issues however the point is this man owes his existence and his nature to God who has infused life into him and so when

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God breathed in the man's nostrils he imparted his spirit to man so that he might live the

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Spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty gives me life Job wrote the man is a living soul suggests his personhood not only is a man a creature as are all living things that God created but everyone also is an individual person you are unique this means that a human being may think and act independently of God so you have the capability of cooperating with God or acting independently of God that is sin against God personhood therefore involves responsibility to act react and respond to God Adam and Eve before their fall had a free will they didn't have to sin they could choose to do good or not to do evil man is dependent on God thirdly the life that man enjoys continues to be a gift from God that he may withdraw his pleasure

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God the Word of God says that his your breath the breath in your lungs is in his hand he can he can take it away immediately none of us are guaranteed that we're gonna be here next

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Lord's Day we all ought to be living in the light of eternity we're dependent upon him for man owes his allegiance and obedience to God man's faithfulness to his maker should be unwavering absolute fidelity allegiance submission should be rendered to his maker he owes his existence to God he should render his life in service to his

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Creator and fifth man owes praise and thanksgiving to God one of the great sins listed in Romans 1 is unthankfulness we ought to be a thankful people expressing thanksgiving to God six man's purpose is to know

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God and do his will if we desire to experience the fullness of life here an eternal life hereafter and seventh man should recognize his accountability to God the conclusion when all has been heard is fear

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God and keep his commandments because this applies to every person for God will bring every act of judgment everything which is hidden whether it is good or evil

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God did not establish this world for you and I to usurp his authority and do whatever pleases us he created us for a purpose and of course lastly we see that man was created without sin

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Adam and Eve had no propensity to sin they had no sin nature God had created them innocent and sinless they were holy persons having been created in the image of God they possessed a free will they were free moral agents you and I are sinners we sin because we love to sin that's our problem they didn't have to of course that all changed with Adam's fall as we read in Genesis 3 and we'll have to consider that but from this creation account we see much that reveals the nature of God of the things he created of man's place in his creation however it's really in the record of God working through history speaking to his people through his prophets through his son

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Jesus Christ that we can fully see the will of God respecting these things the creation account is but the beginning of history for God's people as one rightly wrote in the

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Bible the story of creation does not stand by itself as though it were a pre -scientific attempt to explain the origin or evolution of nature rather as indicated by the position of the creation stories at the very beginning of the

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Bible creation is the starting point of history it sets the stage for the unfolding of the divine purpose and inaugurates a historical drama within which first Israel and in the fullness of time the church were destined to play a key role and thus the creation stands in an inseparable historical relation to the narratives that is the

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Bible story that follows next Lord's Day Lord willing we'll give more specific attention to the creation of mankind and how we're going to live according to a worldview set forth in the

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Word of God I pulled off my one volume out of six for Herman Bavinck last night

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I've had it for a few years and the whole book is on God and creation now looking through this

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I thought how impoverished we are and how pitiful it is that I try to present something and you know one one

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Sunday morning which is set forth in such wonderful ways this is an in -depth matter and again creation is not just limited to Genesis 1 and 2 is described and depicted throughout all of the

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Bible you cannot deny that God is the creator or it does serious serious devastating result to your theology to your understanding of God and who you are as the creatures amen well let's pray thank you father for your word help us our

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God to see you reflected through the words through the pages of Holy Scripture and help us our

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God to know you more clearly and fully you've put it within our souls our God for it did not come naturally we were born in sin it came to us supernaturally a desire to know you our

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God and to know your will a love our God for you a love for your son and a love for one another as your people help us our

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God we pray to go forth from this place characterized as Christians Lord with a biblical worldview seeing you evidenced by everything that you have made and help us our

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God to be a thankful people also always rendering to you thanks for all things our

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God and most of all for our salvation that you've given us through your son the greatest gift

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God's unspeakable gift to us our father when you gave us your son Jesus Christ to be our