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Our scripture reading this evening
is from the book of Genesis, the book of Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1, and we shall
read from verse 6, the second day of creation. And 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. And God said, let the waters under the heaven
be gathered together onto 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 called
he seas. And God saw that it was good.
And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, 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 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 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 years And let them
be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light
upon the earth. And it was so. And God made two
great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser
light to rule the night. 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 God
said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature
that hath life, and 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, and 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 fowl multiply in the
earth. And the evening and the morning
were the fifth day. And God said, let the earth bring
forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping
thing, and the beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so. And God made the beast of the
earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything
that creepeth upon the earth after His kind, and God saw that
it was good. And 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. May God add his blessing to that
reading of his word. Well, I'd just like this evening
to continue in this short two-part study, really, of this first
chapter in Genesis. We examined really only the first
day last week, and we spoke about how even the first words of scripture,
in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, are
so vehemently attacked by the forces of unbelief. The atheists
of today will shout down even that first sentence, in the beginning
God created, they will not have it. And we spoke too about How
the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And that was how the earth would
have stayed. There was nothing in it that
was able to create life. No merit in and of itself. The Spirit of God had to move.
And that is a picture of conversion. There is no merit in us. There
is nothing good in us. There is nothing in us that would
desire God at all that would come to His salvation. unless
the Spirit of God moves in our hearts. And then in verse 3,
we saw how God said, let there be light, and there was light,
and then there was immediately that division between the light
and the darkness. And we liken that, well, it is
an illustration of the church and the world. There must be
separation between the church and the world. The church is
always different. The light is separate from the
darkness and then in verse 5 at the end we read and the evening
and the morning were the first day and I just like to start
this evening really by saying that we when we read this chapter
we get so caught up in looking at the works of creation within
the days themselves that we actually forget most of the time to remember
that the day itself is a creation. A day in and of itself is a creation. The evening and the morning were
the first day. What a wonderful creation it
is. We are set in a world that is
bound by time and time is divided into days, evenings and mornings,
the first day. And really when we look at this
chapter, there is much in it to instruct us how to live each
day. When we look at God's example,
how God works from day to day, well there is so much to teach
us about how we ought to carry ourselves daily in our daily
lives. We see in this account that in
each of the six days something is achieved. A work is begun,
a work is completed. In the first day, the light is
divided from the darkness. In the second day, the firmament
called heaven is created that separates the waters from the
waters. On the third day, the land appears
and the sea is gathered together and so forth. There is a work
that is very clearly achieved, achievement in every day. There
is purpose. God sets out a purpose for each
day and carries it out in that day. We read in verse 3, God
said, let there be light. He has purposed that there be
light and there was light. The day will not end unless there
be light. Verse 6, in the second day, let
there be a firmament. God lays out his purpose and
the day will not end until that purpose is fulfilled. And so the very first lesson
that we have to learn from this, well, it's a question. Are our
days full of purpose? Do we set out to achieve something
every day, a work that is begun, a work that is completed? Are we diligent in our workplaces? Are we focused on achieving things? Or are we like the world, that
delights in having lazy days, not really achieving very much,
saying that they will get things done on certain days, but leaving
it to another day, leaving things half done. We as Christians are
called to follow the example of the Lord, I believe, through
these verses. He purposes to do something and
the day will not end until that purpose is complete. We must not either be those who
promise people that we will do things, and then we do not do
them. Oh, we'll get certain things
done by this time, but we have not achieved what we set out
to achieve. Are we unreliable? Are we unfocused? Do we leave our duties unfinished? That is not the example that
the Lord here sets. The world loves to waste time. to waste their days in triviality,
in slothfulness. But we have an obligation to
plan our days and to approach our days with purpose, because
the day is a creation. It is a day that the Lord has
made. It is a gift to us. And that
is how we approach it. We honor each day that God gives. And when we look at these six
days, well, there's progress made every day. God is continually
improving on the work of creation. There is steady progress. There is a great plan, but God,
each and every day, continually improves on that work. And again,
very simply, is that how we approach each and every day? Continual
improvement in our daily lives. Improvement in our spiritual
lives. Are we constantly striving to
be better people? To be those who are kinder, more
generous, more sympathetic? Are we those who are striving
to be better husbands, better wives, better parents, better
children? Are we striving every day to
improve ourselves, to improve our Christian lives? This is
the pattern that God has set before us. Continual improvement. There are many who don't. They
say, well, I'm good enough. I'm a Christian. I'm saved. I've got faults. Yes, but I'm
not that bad. But they don't strive to ever
improve themselves at all. They just think people have to
tolerate them as they are. This is the way I am. I'm not
going to change for anyone. There's no striving for continual
improvement. for continual progress, that
work of sanctification. We are meant to be lights in
this world, and so we must continually look to personally advance. And not just individuals, but
churches can be like this too. There are some churches, once
they reach a certain stage, then they just stop. They say, well,
we've got as many people as we want, We're quite comfortable.
We're in a nice group. We're not really going to bother
with evangelism anymore. We're not really going to bother
with Sunday schools. We're very comfortable where
we are. But that's not the pattern. That's not the right attitude.
We have to continually improve, look to continually strengthen,
to reach out to increasingly more people. We should never
be in a comfort zone. We should be ready to work, to
spend, and be spent until, well, that eternal Sabbath, until that
eternal rest when we shall go to be with the Lord in heaven. That will be our rest, but until
that time we must work and we must strive to grow, to grow
the church, to advance in our own lives. And these are very
important lessons for us. But let's move down to verse
9 in this chapter. And God said, let the waters
under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and
let the dry land appear. And it was so. This is the third
day, by the way. And God called the dry land earth,
and the gathering together of the waters called he seas. And
God saw that it was good. And then we read in verse 11,
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, 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 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. Well this, on the third day,
is our first sign of life. This is life in its most basic
form. It's inanimate life, plant life. But we see here in these verses
particularly, verses 11 and 12, that which distinguishes life,
that which characterizes life, and that is the ability to yield
seed, to yield fruit, to reproduce. That is that distinctive characteristic
of life. And of course, it's the same
with human beings, with man. Indeed, they have that mandate
from God to go forth and to multiply. They have that God-given gift
of procreation. And that is the distinctive sign
of life. All organisms who possess life
will have this capacity to yield seed. to yield fruit. All life has the ability to produce
after their own kind. And well, we can apply this spiritually.
What is the sign of spiritual life? Well, the sign of spiritual
life is that you will produce fruit. You will be fruitful in
your life. Every child of God everyone who
is called, everyone who yields their life, everyone who repents,
surrenders to Christ, well, they will produce fruit, fruit of
the Spirit. We know of that in Galatians. We read of the fruit of the Spirit,
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, these fruits will be made manifest in every
believer. That character change, that inward
change, that is the sure sign of spiritual life, that fruit. And I do stress that inward change.
I have known people who have outwardly repented and have done
all the right things. They've stopped going to clubs.
They've stopped watching unworthy TV programs. They've stopped
the habits maybe that they used to do erstwhile in previous times. But inwardly there was no fruit.
There was no character change. There was no fruit of the spirit. And so there was no real sign
of spiritual life. There was no fruit of that kind.
And that is so essential. that sign of life, spiritual
life, fruit of the Spirit, but also fruit through his labours. We cannot rule that out. His
works, a Christian's works, will bear fruit. And a Christian,
well, he will desire to lead others to Christ. He will desire
to sow seed in that respect. He will desire to share the Gospel,
to urge others, to exhort others to seek Christ, so that they
will begin to see their need of Him, so that they will begin
to seek after Him, and long for Him, and desire to know Him,
so that they will become Christians too. And so, this is the analogy
that we have here. Every Christian will have that
great desire to share the Gospel, to produce fruit after His own
kind. He has been saved Now He desires
that others be saved as He is saved, fruit after His own kind. These are all the illustrations
that we have and we must apply them to our own lives. Are we
like this? Are we truly saved? Do we have
the fruit of the Spirit, that love, that joy, that peace, long-suffering
and so forth? Are we willing to sow seed so
that fruit may be born in our labors? in our evangelistic labours. Well, obviously, it is only God
who can truly save a soul, but it pleases Him to use us as those
who truly sow seed and bear much fruit. And a true Christian in
that sense will indeed reap a rich harvest. And well, time is very
quickly moving on. Let's move down to verse 14. 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
years. And let them be for lights in
the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And
it was so. And God made two great lights,
the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule
the night. He made the stars Also, well
this, of course, is talking about the sun and the moon, the fourth
day of creation. Now it is often made mention
of that there was light before the sun, and of course there
was. God himself was the light source. He is eternal light. He does
not need the sun to produce light. He is light in and of himself. but He has made these two lights. And really the thing to notice
here in these verses is the purpose of these lights and the way they
are described in their roles as it were. Verse 16, God made
two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the
lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. There
is that principle of ruling And in verse 18, it's there again,
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. God has put these two great lights
in place to rule, and indeed they do rule over us. The sun
and the moon, man is powerless to prevent the sun from rising. He is powerless to prevent the
sun from setting. powerless to prevent the onset
of the twilight of the night of the kingdom of the moon as
it were he has no power over these things so in that sense
they do indeed rule over us but when we read these words we remember
that there is one who is greater than these one who has created
these things one whose power infinitely dwarfs the sun and
the moon We remember that He has set these rulers over us. He has set them and He can remove
them whenever He sees fit. God is above all. It is almost
to magnify the greatness of God. We see these two great forces
of nature, unimaginable to us in their power, and yet we know
that there is one greater, one who is over each one of them
and who is almighty. even these mighty rulers of nature. And we apply these, of course,
to earthly rulers, to earthly governments, where we see so
many terrible things in this world, in this day and age. We
see governments, dictatorships in other countries, full of corruption,
and all the people, the inhabitants of those countries, are powerless,
it seems, to do anything against them. We see even in our country,
the governments just passing through laws, passing through
things that are totally anti-Christian, things that the people don't
really want. And man appears to be so powerless
because of those rulers who are above us. But well, for every
Christian, when we read these words, we remember that there
is one above them. He has set those rulers in place. Yes, He has allowed it. But God
is above them. God is ruling in heaven. God
will overrule one day. And nothing that those rulers
can do can ever thwart His glorious will. And so we take comfort
in these things, just as man is powerless against the sun
and the moon. Well, we appear to be powerless
against these rulers. but we trust in God and he is
above all and over all and so these things are comforting for
us when we read them do not fear men do not worship men fear God
he is sovereign he reigns and these things are so wonderful
and well there's so much else I would like to say but really
I ought to Just bring it to a conclusion in this part, else it will go
on for way too long. Let's just move right down to
verse 26 and the introduction of man. Verse 26, the sixth day,
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 well man is brought into the scene and he is made in God's
own image. He is set apart from the rest
of God's creation. Just as God is set apart from
us, God is holy. We are set apart from the rest
of his creation. Man in his innocent state, well,
he is morally upright. He has a clean conscience at
this stage. He has the power of reason, far
greater than any of the animals. He has a far superior intellect,
you know, out of all of God's creation. Man is the only one
who can truly appreciate the wonder of God's creation. Man is the only one who can truly
understand that God has created this world. No plant can understand
this, of course. No animal can grasp the wonder
of creation. It is only man's privilege. It
is only because of his faculties. He is that man of reason. He is able to create, even in
his own right, made in God's own image, who is the supreme
creator. Man, of course, is born with
a soul, born with a soul that houses our personality, that
houses our characters, our affections, Our emotions, our conscience
is housed in the soul. And these things, well, they
are so monumental. The preciousness of a soul. A soul is so precious. A soul, we read in the New Testament
certainly, is more valuable than the whole of creation put together.
What does it profit a man if he gained the whole world? and
lose his own soul. It is the highest faculty, the
highest of creation, the highest order of creation. And yet we
see in this day and age utter ignorance of the soul, utter
neglect of the soul. We have never lived in a time
that extols everything else in creation. Everything else is
exalted above the soul. Man is even more concerned with
protecting the earth, the environment. Man is even more concerned with
protecting his body. Never have we lived in times
where we can have perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect skin. And yet the soul is totally neglected. There is nothing on offer. for
the soul. And yet this is the highest thing
in creation. And well, I cannot speak a great
length on this, but let us just close with these thoughts. The
world, while it was created in a magnificent way, with the wonderful
plant life, with the wonderful variety of fish and birds, the
seas, the mountains, But really the world was just a shell. It was just scenery, unless man
be put into it. It was meant to be a home for
man. It had no meaning if man was not put in. But man, with
all his faculties, with all his talents, with all his abilities,
man would have been just a shell, really just an animal, if he
did not have a soul. if he did not have that faculty
breathed into him by God. And yet the soul with all its
tremendous faculties that we cannot even truly comprehend,
the soul, well the soul is just a shell. The soul is as good
as dead if we don't know God. So everything begins and ends
with God. God has created this world God
has created man, God has created the soul, but none of it has
any meaning if we do not return to God. Look to Him, yield to
Him. The soul's greatest privilege,
greatest duty is to commune with God. It is not simply to enjoy
each other as humans here below, to enjoy this earth. It is so
that we would look upward and commune with Him and know Him,
and love Him, and that is the greatest faculty of the soul. Well, how are our souls this
evening? Are our souls exercising that
great privilege to know the Lord, to love Him, and to claim His
salvation in Christ, Christ the lover of our soul? Oh, may these things truly bless
us. As I've said, I could only really
skim through so much of these, but I hope it will encourage
you to read these verses more carefully and try and extract
for yourselves the deeper meaning, the profound meaning, the lessons
that God longs for us to see within these words. Well, let's
come before the Lord in prayer. Let's close in prayer.
Genesis principles for life
Series Genesis Bible Studies
Helpful and challenging principles for godly Christian living derived from the creation of all.
| Sermon ID | 541514324810 |
| Duration | 30:26 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Bible Text | Genesis 1 |
| Language | English |
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