Well, hello and welcome to our third broadcast in our series in the Book of Genesis. Stay tuned. We're looking at Genesis chapter 1, verse number 1, and it says there, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Now, if you can believe that, as we said before, you can believe all the rest of the Bible. So let me ask you a question. Do you believe the Bible? A simple yes or no there. Maybe you said no. Let me ask you another question. Why don't you believe the Bible? There's got to be a reason why you don't believe it. Now, either we do or we don't, and we do have a choice. You don't have to believe it if you don't want to. I chose to believe it. I do believe it, and I will believe it until I die. But that's my choice. Your choice. It's up to you. Genesis 1, in verse 1, says, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now that word God is an interesting word in the Hebrew, it's Elohim, and it's what they call a unicleral noun, and it's referring to the Trinity, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For instance, in Colossians 1 and 16 in the New Testament, it says, for by Him, referring to Christ, where all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. That's what the Bible says. So in the beginning God God created the heaven and the earth. Now that word created is another interesting word. The Hebrew word is bara, and it means to make something out of nothing. Sometimes God created something out of something, and when he created the heaven and the earth, as we know it today, referring to the atmosphere around our globe, and the earth itself. The word there is vara. It means to make something out of nothing. And that corresponds with the New Testament Hebrew 11 verse number 3 verse that says, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. That is, God made them out of nothing. And so in Genesis 1 we read in verse number 3, God said, let there be light. And there was light. He just spoke it, and there it was. You have that phrase, God said, in Genesis chapter 1. We find that phrase ten times in that one chapter. God said, and it was so. God said, and it was so. As a matter of fact, you'll find the phrase God said over four thousand times in the Bible. So, in the beginning, God created the heaven, and the earth, the heavens, referring to the solar system around our earth. Now, Genesis 1 and 2 says, And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. Now, there's a lot of controversy about whether there is a gap between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, and I know what I believe about that, and I'm not going to go into it today. I'm going to just say this. that anybody who argues about that has got a gap between their ears. There are some really, really good people on both sides of this position. Some say there is no gap, some say there is a gap, and there's some real good men on both sides, and quite frankly, anybody who says today, well, they're all dumb and I got it figured out, truth of the matter is, it's as much of a pride problem as it is anything else. If we cannot honestly say on situations like this, I might be wrong, then you have a problem. I was at a meeting one time with a bunch of fundamental independent Baptist preachers, which I am one of those, by the way. Somebody said something about what he believed about the gap theory, and he, in fact, he said, there's no gap between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. And the whole building, amen, like they were talking about the virgin birth or something. Well, you know what that is? That's just stupid. That's what that is. What we need to realize is a lot of people spend 45 minutes in a Bible class somewhere in some college and learn what they think they know about the gap theory, and they happen to get that information. from their favorite professor in some school, and then they trumpet it for the rest of their lives, having never spent any time studying it for themselves. And I've spent way too much time on this. It's not that important. I've studied it for years. I have an interesting view about the gap theory, but I'm not going to bother with it on this program because I don't think it's that important. And so we read in Genesis chapter 1 verse number 3, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. Just that simple. And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day. There you have it. Just that simple. Six literal days, the Bible says, Exodus 20 and verse 11, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Exodus 31, 17, again, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed. Now, sometimes in the Bible, when the Bible speaks about a day, it's referring to an era of time, but when you see the word day in the Bible and it has a number with it, it is always referring to a specific 24-hour day. And so we read in verse number six, and God said, there you have it, just that plain. God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters, and God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day." Now, it's very interesting here that after everything that God did on every one of these days, He said that it was good. He said that seven times. But interestingly enough, when it says He divided the firmament above and the firmament from below, it says here in verse number seven, God said it was so. He didn't say it was good. Well, that's probably because we're told in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse number 2 that wherein in time past he walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, referring to the devil, who being in the atmosphere around us. You remember when an angel had to come through that atmosphere to bring Daniel a message. He had to wrestle with the devil. It talks about it again in Ephesians 6 and 12, where we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. that were high places that has been translated heavenly 16 times heavenly places or celestial it's been translated that twice and so on the third day we read in verse 9 and god said let the water under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and god called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters he called seas, and God saw that it was good. Verse 11, God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in itself upon the earth, and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and the herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind. And God saw that it was good, and the evening and the morning were the third day." Now, that hardly needs anybody to explain that. It's very simple. You either believe it or you don't. And then in verse number 14 we read, And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. God said it, and it was so. And God made two great lights. Now this word is not that word bara that we saw in the first verse. But this word means to create something of something. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And he made the stars also. Interesting. Five little words for the whole universe out there, except for the moon and the sun. Five little words. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good, and the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And then on the fifth day we read in verse number 20, God said, there you go again, God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly, and the moving creature that hath life, and the fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven, and God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, every winged fowl after his 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 fowls multiply in the earth, and the evening and the morning were the fifth day." It can't get any more simple than that. God said, and it was so. It's interesting that he said here in verse number 20, God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly. Let the waters bring forth abundantly. How many species of different creatures are there living in the sea? Well, according to scientists, they say some 230,000 are recorded so far, but they say there's millions more to be discovered. God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly. And then on the sixth day we read in verse 24, And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beasts of the earth after his kind. And it was so. Verse 25, God made the beasts of the earth after his kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. And God saw that it was good. 26. God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, Male and female created he them. There you have it. We didn't come from a couple of pieces of seaweed that washed up out of a swamp. You'd have to have a male and female piece of seaweed coming up there at the same time and then they decided to have some little baby seaweeds and here we are. That is stupid. That's just plain stupid is what it is. It's much easier just to believe the Bible and what the Bible says here. God created man in his own image In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And then verse 24, we read, And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth. And God said, verse 29, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat. And it was so, and God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good, and the evening and the morning were the sixth day. And so in Genesis 2 and verse 1 we read, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth, when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, And there was not a man to till the ground, but there went up a niche from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." And so we have in Genesis 2 and verse 7, it says, And the Lord God formed man, of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." And there you have it. Now, you either believe the Bible or you don't. You want to believe some nonsense that we came out of a swamp? You go ahead and believe that, but you won't believe it five seconds after you're dead. You will believe what the Bible says then. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils. the breath of life. Be with us again tomorrow for another broadcast. We'll try and make it plain and we will try to make it simple.