Well, for the preaching of God's word this morning as we continue in our worship, I invite you to open up with me to the very first book of the Bible, the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis chapter one. We'll be looking at Genesis one, one and two. Today we begin a new sermon series through the book of Genesis. If you're new or newer here at CRBC, it's our regular practice to preach consecutively through books of the Bible, although since the summer, at least, we've been more topically focused. Beginning today, we're probably gonna spend the next year, year and a half working through every passage of the book of Genesis. We're gonna mine the depths, as it were, to try and profit and dig up the riches of this book and apply them, of course, to our own day and time, the best that we can in the Holy Spirit. But today, it's just simply an introduction to the book. And with this, let us just listen to the first two verses, to the Word of God, which we'll consider this morning. Genesis 1, 1 and 2, this is God's Word. In the beginning, 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 Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Amen. The Word of the Lord. Bow with me again in prayer. Almighty God, we bow before you as maker of heaven and earth. And we know and hear and believe that you have created all things by the word of your mouth. Father, we praise you and we thank you that you have revealed these truths to us. And Father, we know that if you have spoken these things, that you have revealed these things, Do you not also wish for us to understand and know these things? So we ask for your Holy Spirit. We ask that you would open up your word to us. We ask that you would press it upon our hearts. We ask, Father, through the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that your Spirit would be poured out for the glory of your name. Answer our prayer. Hear us now, we ask in Christ's name. Amen. The Book of Genesis derives its name from the Septuagint, which is the Greek version, the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament. There's a Greek word there, genesis. It appears over and over throughout the Book of Genesis, and specifically in how the Book of Genesis is structured around these genealogies. If you've read through it, you've probably seen the phrases, these are the generations of, and there's, you know, a list of names. But the word Genesis means origin. It means source. And as we can see even from the opening line in the beginning, the purpose and function of Genesis is to provide us an origin story. Every story has a beginning. Often I'm asked, how did Christ Reform Baptist Church begin? How did you come to be? and I go back to the beginning and I tell them the story of our church plant nine years ago. When we're trying to get to know new couples, for example, we often ask, how did you meet? How did you fall in love? What is the story of your relationship? What is the story of your family? Because we know that every marriage, every family has a story, has a beginning. We see this, of course, even from the earliest days of elementary school. We teach our children about the founding fathers. We teach them about the Declaration of Independence. We teach them about the Constitution. We explain to them the origin and beginning of our nation. Even in our new member testimonies here at CRBC, we ask new members to tell us the story of the origin of their Christian life. How did you come to know the Lord? Tell me about your conversion. Every story has a beginning. And understanding the beginning, understanding the origins, helps us make sense of the whole. We study our nation's history, for example, so that we might understand politics and culture and the laws of our land. We want to know the story of how married couples met because it helps us understand who they are, their personality, their experiences, their values. the same is true in regards to listening to the testimonies of believers. How someone came to know the Lord, who they were before, who they are after, has massive implications for how we then understand who they are today. The Bible is no different. What if Scripture started with the book of Leviticus? With all the list of rituals and sacrifices and laws, I mean, isn't Leviticus hard enough to understand as it is? We'd probably think, in that case, that salvation is a matter of ritual. We'd probably think, if the Bible started with Leviticus, that certain basic bodily functions and facts of life, like touching a dead animal, were inherently sinful. What if Scripture started with the death of Christ? We wouldn't know why He died. We wouldn't know what it means. We wouldn't know how important it is. You see, we don't serve a God who just shouts from the heavens and says, this is what you need to believe. Here are the facts. That's all you need. No, we serve a God who reveals truth within history. Not just an abstract collection of facts, but a story. Because stories are powerful. And in this story, the history is truth, and the truth is the history. In this way, God is a God who condescends. He condescends to give us the background. He condescends to give us the origin of all things. He condescends to give us the big picture. The full story. So that we can make sense of the world. So that we can make sense of our God. So that we can make sense of the Christian life. This is the purpose of the book of Genesis. Genesis was written by Moses for the nation of Israel coming out of the land of Egypt. They needed to know who they were. Father Abraham, ultimately. They needed to know the promises that God had made to Father Abraham because that was the foundation and the ground for the exodus and for the promised land. They also needed to know That even Abraham and the nation of Israel are just one part of God's plan and purposes for the entire cosmos. God was at work in the world long before Abraham. Long before Israel. And of course, He is at work in the world long afterwards as well. In the same way, Genesis was written for us. So that we know where we came from. so that we know where we're going, so that we have kind of a structure and substance to interpret the promises of God, so that we can make better sense of the life around us, that we can make better sense of the gospel and the world around us. I said before, origin stories serve as a window through which we understand and engage the world. Our understanding of origins, where we came from, who we are, where we're going, they fundamentally shape the direction of our lives. As one man put it much more eloquently, the road to tomorrow leads through yesterday. We can't get to where we need to be in God's purposes and God's plan without a clear understanding of where we came from. without an understanding of the bigger picture of what God is doing in the world. And so, in this sense, Genesis is a book of origins. It is a book of many origins. Of many beginnings. We see in the book of Genesis the beginning of the revelation of our Creator God, the Trinity. The three persons of the Godhead are present right away. Genesis contains the beginning of the universe. The material world. The spiritual world. All that the world contains. Genesis contains the beginning of humanity. Our purpose. Our makeup. Made in the image of God. It contains the beginning of marriage as well. It contains the beginning of work. What we were created to do. Who we were created to be. Genesis contains the beginning of civilization and culture. Of nations and languages. Genesis also contains the beginning of sin. Of the judgment and anger of God against sin. The beginning of death, of sorrow, of tears, of misery, of pain, of confusion, of uncertainty. It contains the beginning of murder. The beginning of strife. the beginning of deception, the beginning of false doctrine, of false worship, the beginning of sexual immorality, of greed, of covetousness, of jealousy. And yet it also contains the beginning of our God condescending to make covenant with man. The beginning of Israel. the setting of the stage for the Messiah to come and accomplish our salvation. In other words, most gloriously, the book of Genesis also contains the beginning of the gospel, where it all began. In this way, Genesis is an origin story, but it's not just one among many. It's a divinely authorized origin story. And origin stories play a foundational role in the Christian life. How much more so does God's divinely authorized origin story, should it play a foundational role in our lives? I mean, just to be perfectly blunt, it's not really possible to function in this world without some account of the nature of reality and humanity and our purpose and place in the world. We all wrestle with questions of who am I? Who is God? What is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of the world around me? Is this all there is? Is there any hope in the midst of suffering and misery and pain? What does God want from me? Why has God put me on this earth? Everyone, no matter their religion, no matter their worldview, everyone lives based upon some sort of understanding of origins. Everyone's life is shaped in some sense from an understanding of who they are and what their purpose is, or lack of purpose, and where they are going. Genesis is God's answer to these questions. Genesis is the only true origin story in a midst of a world of counterfeits. Let me just say as well, life will never make sense to you until you know and you believe the fact that you were created by God for His purposes. That's what the book of Genesis as a story of origins shouts to us. Life will never make sense until you know and believe that you were created by God for His purposes. That's what we're gonna see today. That's what we're gonna see every Sunday throughout this series. And that's how I hope that God uses this book to lead us into everything we need for life in godliness. With all that being said, I know it's a lengthy introduction, but I want to use our remaining time to illustrate this by pointing to three things. I want to consider how Genesis lays the foundation for God, Scripture, and salvation. It's a story of origins. It's a story of beginnings. This shaped everything else. Let's see how it shapes our understanding of God, Scripture, and salvation. So first in this point, have you ever considered how much of what we know about God we learn from the book of Genesis? Quite a lot. It should be obvious right from the beginning, pardon the pun, but as we read in the beginning, God does not, excuse me, Genesis does not argue for the existence of God. It simply starts with God. And it shows how everything centers around Him and falls into place once He and He alone acts. In the beginning, God was. In a world of beginnings, there is only one being who does not have a beginning. He does not have a source. He does not have an origin. He does not have a beginning. That means He's not dependent upon anything. or anyone, and in the beginning, God alone stands alone. This is so central to our understanding of who God is. God brought all things into existence because he himself is existence. So right away from the opening verses, we learn from Genesis that God transcends the physical creation. That means He owns it. That means He's Lord over it. That means He's King over it. He's not a part of this material world. He's not dependent upon this material world. He doesn't need this material world. And the material world also is not an extension of His being as if creation is divine or eternal. Rather, He is Lord. and He speaks all things into existence. Not only are we told this right away who He is, but also we learn from this right away that God alone has the right to rule and govern His creation. Why do you think this is important? We talk about issues of ethics, or justice, or purpose, What do we do with our lives and why? How do we use or abuse His creation? How do we relate to other people? Right away from Genesis 1-1, we learn that the air we breathe, the food that we eat, the nature we enjoy, the people we interact with, they're not yours. They're His. It all belongs to Him. You're enjoying borrowed capital, as it were, in everything that you do. Don't you see how this should change how we view and interact the world around us? I mean, don't we all, and especially in our day, struggle maybe with the sin of entitlement? Genesis 1-1 puts a firm and definite end to all sins or feelings of entitlement. Because everything in life is a gift of God that He graciously gives us to enjoy, and everything is His. You know, this also explains why God has a right to judge His creation. You know, don't miss how in the garden, the very first thing Satan challenges was God's right to judge. "'You will not surely die,' he told Eve. Right away, an affront to His sovereign Lordship, as Creator of all things, as Creator, then thus ruler and King of all things. And of course, in our day, we're still surrounded with the same lies. Who are you to say that God will judge me? Who are you to say that I'm in sin? Who are you to say that I can't love who I want to love and do what I want to do? It's not harming anybody. If God spoke all things into existence by the word of His mouth, that He owns all things. And if He owns all things, He rules all things. And if He rules all things, He has the right to judge all things. And so, what foolishness is to think that God speaks the entire cosmos into existence by the word of His mouth, and then He also says, sin brings death. And sin brings the anger and judgment of God. What kind of fool wouldn't listen to that? And I know, I'm a sinner too. I know the temptation. I know the feeling that, oh, is God really that strict? I mean, there's a lot of other people who are sinning in this way, and not only are they sinning in this way and seemingly getting away with it, but they seem to be decent people, and they seem to have good lives. God seems to bless them even though they sin. Will God judge? Maybe He doesn't really care about this. Maybe he's indifferent to it. Maybe he's just all love. If you hear the message of Genesis, then right away you must hear the fact that God as Creator has the right to judge His creation. And if this God of Genesis 1-1 is the true and living God, which He is, then He cannot break His Word. He will not break His Word. and sin brings death. This is just one aspect of how understanding God as creator, as revealed in Genesis 1.1, is fundamental to proper living. Imagine if we had no creation account in scripture. Maybe we just see God appear to Moses in the burning bush. We would be tempted to think, is this one of the pagan gods of the ancient Near East? Is this one of the Egyptian gods? You see, Moses wrote Genesis to show Israel that God of Scripture is not like the pagan and Egyptian gods. In fact, the creation account of Genesis chapter one is a specific polemic against these gods. There were lots of origin stories in the ancient Near East. Israel would have been familiar with many of them and their explanation for how the universe came to be, but the Genesis account, even taking the language of these origin stories and paralleling them in many ways, speaks truth to them. In this sense, God is confronting alternative narratives. We learn this right away. There's no conflict. involved in the creation of the world. Unlike those stories of that day, there are no battles against the forces of chaos. There's no struggle of the gods to create or to govern. Neither is creation out of some sort of need or desire of the gods. We simply find a careful and wise, serene picture of God ordering space and time through His Word and Word alone. It takes no effort. No struggle. It's just a spoken word. This is a God who has no rivals. This is a God to whom there are no threats to His authority. But this is also a God that's good. He creates not out of necessity, but out of love. And He blesses the world, and He fills it with the potential of life and enjoyment, and He declares it is all very good. This is how Genesis shows us who God is. It's how Genesis confronts the unbelief of Walt's doctrine of that day. And of course, it's the same in our day as well. What are the alternative origin stories of our day? Evolutionism, chance, randomness, which leads to purposelessness, meaninglessness, It's no wonder that adopting these lies that people have no qualms with things like adultery or homosexuality or abortion, the murder of infants. It's no wonder, it's no wonder that our society believing these lies is plagued with feelings of inadequacy, feelings of having no meaning or purpose in life, no end goal in life. Just floating around from one pleasure and one distraction to another, just waiting to die. It's because they've replaced the one true origin story with an origin story of their own making, of a lie. They've replaced the truth with the lie. And this is a tragedy not just of misunderstanding origins, but it's a tragedy of not understanding properly God and who He is. What hope do you have through the day-to-day trials and troubles of life if everything just came about randomly? If everything is just an accident? If everything is just a process of evolution? What hope do you have? What hope do you have if all this came to be from a God that we don't really know? Maybe He hasn't revealed Himself. Maybe He's so distant from His creation that He's uninvolved, like the agnostics say. What would life then be? In that case, life would be, to quote Shakespeare, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Nothing. It's all about the moment. Just make sure that you're happy today. That's really all you get. But this is not the God of Genesis. God is not just transcended above creation, but He's also present, imminent, involved in His creation. Because He creates Adam and Eve and He desires a relationship with them. He makes a covenant with Noah and with Abraham. There's a divine relationship. And this shows us how God is a personal God and a relational God. Even with wicked Cain, the first murderer, he kills his own brother. God shows him a measure of temporary common grace. And we see this play out throughout the book of Genesis. Not just a God of creation, but a God of providence. Particularly in the life of Joseph. Guiding him through the betrayals, through the slavery, through the circumstances. We see, oh, this is not just a God who calls all things into existence and walks away at the fall. but a God who continues to exercise His Lordship over the created realm, over the circumstances of life, for our good, because He loves us. We see in Genesis a God whose plan and purpose cannot be thwarted, not by Satan, not by the nations gathering to build a tower to heaven, not by the wicked, And you know what? God's plan and purposes, also we see in Genesis, can't be thwarted even by the sins and failures of His own people. Shouts to you. If you're a child of God, God has made promises that even you can't mess up. This is who God is. And this is what Genesis confronts us with right away. And this is what Genesis presses home as God, Creator of heaven and earth. All things exist by Him and for Him. And if this is true, you can't just walk away and say, well, that was a pretty cool story, bro. That's a nice origin story. That's just one perspective among many. That's not an option here. You either have to accept this God as the one true God and let this govern your entire worldview, or you've got to reject it in favor of another origin story. This is a God who is at the center of all things. Don't you think that has massive ramifications for how you live your life? That's what Genesis proclaims to us right away. Secondly, and moving quickly, Genesis also lays the foundation for everything we know about Scripture. for everything else in Scripture, we might say. Just like Genesis 1, 1, and 2 present us with a revelation of God that serves as the context for which we understand everything else that's revealed about God, in Genesis we find the seeds of every other doctrine of Scripture. All the Bible's teaching on humanity, human beings made in the image of God, is grounded right here. Just the fact that we can know God and have a relationship with Him, just the fact that we can understand His law and be held accountable is all dependent upon the creation account of man being made in the image of God and different from the animals. This is why the Bible, at every other point, upholds the inherent dignity and worth of all human beings, whether that's male or female, both made in the image of God, whether that's the infants or the elderly, whether that's the mentally and physically handicapped, whether that's red and yellow, black and white, they're all precious in His sight. God, Scripture upholds the inherent dignity of all human beings. And so, all of the ethics, all of how we treat one another, all of how we live based upon relating to one another, really comes back and is founded upon these central truths. Man, made in the image of God, male and female. The same can be said about creation. Is this created realm good or bad? Like, you know, many other religions argue that creation pulls us down, that there's something inferior about it. But Genesis says, no, God gave us everything to enjoy. Creation is inherently good. And that's fundamental to a biblical worldview. It's grounded right here in the opening chapters of Genesis. This helps us understand the nature of sin. It's not in the matter of food and drink. It's not in the matter of what we touch or what we don't touch. It's not in the matter of aseity and strictness of the body or forbidding marriage or forbidding foods. This helps us understand creation is good. It's the heart that's evil. We're the ones that have turned creation and used it for sinful purposes. This goes back to the fact that when we think about sin, what Genesis says about sin is the source of everything the Bible teaches about sin. Why are things so messed up in the world? Why is there so much pain and misery? Is God standing by, idle, with his hands in his pockets, watching as we just fall apart? Why is there trouble at every turn? Why don't things ever seem to go right? Why is there so much frustration? Why is there so much exasperation? Why is there so much sorrow? Why is there so much hurt? And we may be tempted to think, is sin and misery and death just a part of this creation? It's Murphy's Law, you just gotta live with it. as the other alternative origin stories teach. Are these things just to be endured? It's the circle of life. Everybody's got to deal with it. Survival of the fittest. We'll all see our day in the grave. Even worse, is sin and misery God's fault? Did He create the world this way? Is God indifferent to our pain and suffering and sorrows and questions? Genesis sets the record straight right away that sin entered the world through one man's disobedience to God. It's not God's fault. It's our fault. And now we live in a world that should not be. Or the world as it should not be, I should say. Because sin and death and evil and sorrow and misery and tears and pain are an evil intrusion upon God's good creation. Nothing else in Scripture makes sense apart from that. So surprise them when we get to the New Testament. We find that it repeatedly goes back to Genesis. When Jesus teaches on marriage, He goes back to Genesis. When Paul teaches on male and female roles in the home and in the church, He goes back to Genesis. When there's teaching in the New Testament about foods, about clean and unclean and defilement and the heart, it goes back to Genesis. Paul on Mars Hill witnessing to agnostics. He appeals to the creation account in Genesis. Jesus teaches on the Sabbath. He bases it upon Genesis. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Without Genesis, it's been said we just would have a house of cards with no foundation. We can't understand Leviticus, for example, unless we understand Genesis. We can't understand the fall of Israel and the exile without Genesis. Even when we get to the New Testament, you know that both Matthew and Luke have a very central, important genealogy right up front that comes from Genesis. And the other two Gospels, Mark and John, they both begin by echoing this very same phrase, Genesis 1-1, in the beginning. It's not by accident. If you want to understand, believe, and apply the truths of God, we need to start from the top. With the fundamentals, with the basics, with the foundation. Because that gives us the context to understand everything else in Scripture, and that's what Genesis gives us. Well, third and finally, we'll close with this. Genesis lays the foundation for our understanding of God and our understanding of Scripture. And building off this, of course, Genesis also lays the foundation of our understanding of the Gospel. I've already hinted at this. But I want to kind of bring it together maybe in a sense to bring it to a conclusion. I hope you know and you agree that you have to have a proper knowledge of God in order to understand the gospel. Is God an angry tyrant? Is He thirsting for revenge for those who break His laws? Is He just watching and waiting for us to mess up? Is He unreasonable in expecting perfection from us? Is He bloodthirsty and desiring or requiring the death of His own Son just to forgive us? Is God so strict that He doesn't give second chances? What do we get in the book of Genesis? Over and over again, how good and patient and loving God is. That He's willing and eager to forgive. that as Pastor Kim mentioned earlier, a God from Ezekiel who always makes the first move, both in creation and in salvation. He made the first move in your life. You aren't seeking for God. He invaded your world. He came and condescended to you. He doesn't wait for his people to come to their senses. He doesn't stand by silently until we make amends. We see in Genesis, God is a God who pursues sinners. He chases after us. And He will absolutely ensure that His plan of salvation and redemption will be accomplished come what may. Think of how Adam and Eve felt going from paradise to plunging the entire cosmos into sin and cursedness and misery. Imagine what they felt standing outside the garden thinking, what in the world is this place? What have we done? And yet before they can make the first move or even say the first word, God says, by the way, in the midst of me leveling curses, I'm going to give you a promise. You know the woman who took and ate the fruit? Well through that woman a seed is gonna come and he's gonna crush the serpent's head. Think of Noah watching the world literally, utterly wash away around him. Think of the fear and terror of that. But God makes him a covenant. I'm gonna preserve you, don't you worry. And I'm gonna bless you. Think of Joseph sold in a foreign land by his own family. Betrayed by those closest to him in the worst way. And then he faithfully serves a master who betrays him as well. And then a king who forgets him and betrays him. Left to rot in a dungeon. Think of what he's thinking in that moment. Why am I even alive? And yet God uses all those things for good. This is the God of Genesis. This is the God of patience, of loving, and pursuing sinners. And this is the God who acts in Genesis that shows us the context and prepares the way for us to understand the Gospel. It's no wonder then we learn about the life of Christ by looking at the life of Adam because Christ is a second Adam. We look at the life of Abraham and we understand justification by faith because Abraham believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness. We look at creation account, and Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 and 6 says, let light shine out of darkness. The God who said that has also shown the light of the Gospel through the knowledge of God in our hearts. We learn about the Gospel in our hearts from looking at creation. We learn about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 from considering how God first made the world. Even the book of Revelation, that idyllic picture at the end, the consummation of all things is all framed after the language of the Garden of Eden. Everything central to the Gospel, God, man, sin, redemption, covenant, salvation, renewal, consummation, they all find their root in Genesis. They all find their context in Genesis. And in this way, brethren, of course, I hope you know, above this all stands one preeminent figure. The full and final revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was present and active in creation. Jesus took on Adam's role and responsibilities. Jesus crushes the head of the serpent. Jesus fights our battles. Jesus accomplishes our redemption. Jesus guides history and the plan of salvation. He, as truly God and truly man, stands above all. And that's why Colossians 1.15 states, that He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him. " To know Christ, you need the greater context of creation. as revealed in the book of Genesis. Because he is the agent of creation, he is the purpose of creation, he is the goal of creation, and he is our brother. And the very best part of this is the one who is the agent and purpose and goal of creation came and gave his life for our salvation. He loves his children and he has promised to wipe away every tear and every sorrow and everything that we have messed up. I don't take my word for it. Listen to how John Calvin put it. He says, we see the world with our eyes. We tread the earth with our feet. We touch innumerable kinds of God's works with our hands. We inhale a sweet and pleasant fragrance from herbs and flowers. We enjoy boundless benefits. But in those very things of which we attain some knowledge, there dwells such an immensity of divine power, goodness, and wisdom as to absorb all our senses. the intention of Moses in beginning his book with the creation of the world, is to render God, as it were, visible to us in his works. Genesis renders the invisible God visible in his works. And this is for the ultimate purpose of rendering the invisible God visible through his Son. the Lord Jesus Christ. So to truly know the message of Genesis is to know God. It is to know God's Word, and it is to know God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, as we began considering origins, where did it all come from? Why are things this way? Where is it all going? What's amazing about Genesis is that not only does it answer these questions, but it answers them in a way that should take our breath away. Because ultimately, Genesis shows us that God's plan for the end comes before and precedes the beginning. In other words, the purpose and goal of creation from the very beginning was to bring about the end, the exaltation of Christ, the union between Christ and His people, and our enjoyment of that in the new creation. And nothing opens up the Gospel quite like this. If salvation was not plan B, God's reaction to the unexpected incident of man's sin. But that He actually planned and purposed something much greater than this world from the very beginning. You know that whatever happens in your life doesn't take Him by surprise either. Don't you know that He has both the power and the heart to turn bad things in your life for good? Don't you know that He will guide and direct all things towards that glorious end? And don't you know that no matter what happens, He will be glorified, and every time He's glorified, we benefit tremendously? That's what Genesis preaches to us. The God, the Scriptures, the Savior, the salvation. And that story shapes and directs our life more than anything else in this world. May God give us grace in the next weeks and months ahead to see Him and His Scripture and His Savior, our Savior, through the book of Genesis, that we might love and enjoy our God and bring glory to Him. Amen. Let's pray.