Friends, I greet you once again in the name of Christ our Savior and our Lord. And we rejoice in this privilege of listening to him speak to us about the origin of the universe, the creator of the world, the Lord Jesus, the Word incarnate. I might mention that we do have on the book table three new items that you might like to look at. We hope to bring even more tonight as we head back to Orange Park today to kept up on some things there. We have three copies of Acts and Fact Bulletin. This is Henry Morris' Institute for Creation Research in California. There are several different ones there for you to take for your home collection and just write to them and say, put me on your mailing list. And every month you'll get a very fine bulletin updating you on what's happening in the world of biblical and scientific creationism. That's an excellent excellent resource. Also, we have a booklet called The Significance of Genesis one to eleven, which is the message I gave at the retirement of Dr. Morris as president of the ICR in San Diego. And we trust that will be of interest to you, summarizing what the Bible really says about those opening chapters. What the Lord Jesus said about them. And there's a set of videotapes there we haven't had on display yet called the Bible and miracles. Last night we talked about miracles and the distinction between miracles and providence. And this is a series of six hour-long videos on the miracles involved in providing for us God's written revelation, the Bible, the miracle of, in other words, of inspiration. producing an inerrant scripture in the autograph. And then the false miracles of the charismatic movement today, the signs and wonders movement that are not genuinely from God, we believe, in the light of this measuring stick of what's true and false. And then we have two videos in that series on apologetics, how we may defend the Bible. which was our message the last two mornings. Trust that those will be of interest in help to you. And now, friends, the basic New Testament statements on biblical creationism. Aren't you thankful it doesn't say by rare... brilliance and mastery of scientism. No, by faith. What is faith in the Bible? It's not closing our eyes to reality, hoping that these beautiful stories might be true that our grandmother taught us when we have deep suspicions that they're not true. That blind credulity, isn't it? No. Biblical faith is opening all our eyes to God's total realities about himself and his creation, taking God at his word because of who he really is and trusting him. As the one who can't lie, he can't deceive people, he always speaks the truth. And it's understandable. Theologians call this the persecution of Scripture. God didn't give us the Bible to obscure the truth, to make it impossible to understand truth. but to reveal truth. And so by that kind of faith, we do what? We understand. There's no guessing, no doubting, no debating. God says, I'm telling you something that you to understand. And so by the end of just one hour this morning, God expects us all to understand some things. And of course that adds to our guilt for suppressing, rejecting, ignoring, and distorting these truths, doesn't it? Because God... The Holy Spirit is interacting with our spirit that Christ created in His image and likeness, and we are totally capable, therefore, of understanding basic divine truth. In this world in which we now live, which is the so-called New Age, Generation X, or whatever you want to call it, all truth is questioned. All ultimate standards of morality are being denied. And therefore we have to start from zero, as it were. And God says, well, you may now begin with Genesis one-one, and I will thereby introduce myself to you. So by faith you understand what? That the world was prepared by the word of God. And that obviously refers back to Psalm thirty-three, doesn't it? Verse six, by the word of the Lord were the heavens made. and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth, for he spoke and it was done. He commanded it stood fast. An instantaneous response of a vast, complex universe to the mere spoken word of the second person of the Triune God, who by virgin conception and incarnation became the God-man and thus qualified to be our Redeemer. It was by his mere spoken word that it happened. He didn't have to go through committees or get congressional approval or overcome opposition or wait billions of years for the program to be launched. That's what happens in our system of government, you see, and so-called efficient organizations. No, no. He operates totally differently on a different level, called the divine level, which puts our struggles to get things done into the realms of murky darkness and despair. Well, when God spoke that word, friends, the result is that what is seen, like sun, moon, and stars, and earth, atmosphere, and oceans, and plants, animals, and people, what is seen, we realize, was not made out of things which are visible. It all ultimately came from the invisible resources of an omnipotent, omniscient God. So there's a Latin expression we like to use. X nihilo, which means out of what? Out of nothing. Well, of course, really, out of nothing comes nothing. But the point is, out of nothing material, out of nothing physical, God, the ultimate eternal reality, brought a universe instantly into being. Now, I trust that we all understand and believe this. That's why we're here. Notice now how it becomes even more difficult, though, as God begins to narrow down some things here. He says, now, I want you to understand that it was through the second person of a triune God that that universe was created. In the beginning was the Word, the Logos. And we know who that was because verse fourteen says, the Word became flesh, humans. And we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. That's the person referred to as the word here. The Logos means the one who communicates the mind of God to the mind of man. He is the mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus. That's the word. And the word was with God. He's a different person, you see, than the Father. But he's not less than the Father in the realm of of being, he is equally divine. It's a distinction among equals. And the word was God. He was also God. Now that's a deep mystery, but God has been explained that to us, isn't he? As Jesus said, I and the Father are what? One. One being. Even though the Father is greater than I in the management and administrative structure of the Godhead, nevertheless, I and the Father are one God with the Holy Spirit. He was in the beginning with God. Now here's the point, friends. All things came into being by Him, by the second person. In fact, just to be absolutely sure we understand the point. The Holy Spirit says that apart from Him, the second person, nothing came into being that has come into being. Now the New Testament says this over and over and over again. And for example, in Colossians one, we all remember that amazing sixteenth verse, don't we? That through Jesus Christ, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. You say, well, what things did Jesus Christ create that are in heaven and that are invisible? Well, then he proceeds to name four of them. Thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, and those are angels, friends, that are heavenly invisible beings. and Jesus created them all instantly by his mere spoken word at the dawn of day one of creation week. Now that's a big theme of Colossians, isn't it? The angels. Because chapter two says that the Colossians were guilty of the awful heresy of worshiping angels. So the opening chapter of Colossians says, don't you dare do that because they are mere what? Creatures. Just like you and I, there was a time when they did not exist There was a moment when they came into existence, and Jesus, their God, created them, including Satan, the greatest of them all. But there's an infinite chasm between God and the greatest creature that can never be bridged at all. And of course, Hebrews one, two, makes it clear also that through Jesus, the ages were made. that is, the times, not just mass energy and space, but through time. He designed the whole universe in advance. He planned the whole thing from the beginning, including the end. He has never been taken by surprise as to how things have turned out, has he? Even the bad things that happen. And only God knows how bad the bad things really are. But Joseph said it correctly by the Holy Spirit, didn't he, about his bad brothers and the bad things they did to him. You meant it for evil, but what? But God meant it, planned it, see, from all eternity for good. And that's something God will not fully explain to us this side of heaven, if even then. How God, who is holy, can use bad things to accomplish good purposes. And of course the worst thing that's ever happened in the history of the universe was the crucifixion of his son. But that horrible event was pre-programmed, pre-ordained, as the Apostles said in their wonderful prayers in the book of Acts. You see, so that God was not taken by surprise or greatly shocked. He was grieved but not shocked at how his son was crucified. So friends, We have to realize, don't we, that through the Lord Jesus not only was the universe created, but all of history was created in advance. This is awesome for our finite minds to even believe, to say nothing of comprehending. Well, that brings us to something even more difficult to fathom, especially in our generation. And that is, dear friends, that this work of the creating of the universe through the Son of God did not happen billions of years ago. That's the kind of generation we live in. If you have a problem of how anything came into being, just throw a billion years at it and here it comes. How do you get a frog to become a prince? Give him a billion years and here we all are. It's a magic wand. Which one waved at a big geologic or astronomic problem solves everything? It's a God, you see. that people worship. Time. Time. Well, the Lord Jesus said some things about this. Notice. The fact that men and women and various human activities were present from the foundation of the earth, not billions of years after the earth, you see, came into being. But at the same time that the earth came into being, people were functioning. Did you know that? I didn't used to believe that even as a young Christian. Well, look what the Lord Jesus said. He said, from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Not five billion years after creation. He said, a time of tribulation will come such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation. And friends, you don't have tribulation unless you have people. See, like Cain murdering Abel and so on. And the curse. The tragedies that the curse brought. occurred when? At the beginning of the creation, not billions of years later. The Lord Jesus went on to say, in order that the blood of all prophets shed since what? Since the foundation of the world may be charged against this generation, and that means the blood of Abel, see. And Abel was murdered when? At the foundation of the world. Well, the Apostle Paul, who had the mind of Christ, confirms this. He said, since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, and that means there had to be people there to see these things. And the Apostle John agreed, the devil has sinned from when? From the beginning. The beginning of what? Of everything that exists in the created universe. Now friends, that's very difficult for late twentieth century Christians to handle because a vast majority, like ninety-nine percent of all professional, reputable scientists in the great institutions of higher academic learning have been trained from childhood to believe that the human race is very recent in its appearance on this planet, which has been here for billions of years. And we just hear this endlessly. And God says, say that again, please. Have you checked my instruction book, what my son said, what my apostle Paul said, my apostle John said? Well, friends, that's why we need to say with the Lord, Lord, please help us now. Please help us. And so we go back and back farther and farther into the marvels and mysteries of written revelation, don't we? Now this is extremely difficult to believe. If you have been born and raised and influenced and in the twentieth century AD, you have been deeply affected by uniformitarian evolutionary thinking. Unless you never read a newspaper, never look at anything, never talk to anybody, you will be deeply influenced by this mentality. But God says to Israel, three thousand, five hundred years ago, six days you shall labor and do all your work, Israel. Why? For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them. and rested the seventh day. Now notice this, all that is in them. What does that include? Well, it must include not only the galaxies or their stars and the planets and moons of our solar system and all the gravitational force fields and the electromagnetic spectra, but friends, it must include some invisible things in those heavens, don't you think? All that is in the heavens? would include all the angels. You see, that's why we know that angels were not created millions and billions of years before the earth was created. They were created at the beginning of day one, within the six day period. Now they were the first creatures. We know that because Job thirty eight seven says that they were on hand to rejoice and sing together when they saw the earth being created. So moments after angels, six hundred plus million of them presumably were created, including Satan, Lucifer, they were rejoicing because they saw planet Earth appearing. And that was the place where they would function. Hebrews one fourteen says they're ministering spirits, you see, that's what they were designed for, to minister to those who should be heirs of salvation and friends, that's only happening on planet Earth. That was their focus, their center of activity planned by God. So moments after angels were created, apparently then, Jesus created the earth right before their eyes, and they rejoiced and sang together. Now, on the basis of comparing all these passages together, you see, we begin to get a big picture of God's message of creation truth. Now this is a marvelous statement on the qualification of the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world. You ready? Jeremiah ten, ten to twelve. Two thousand, six hundred years ago, God said through Jeremiah, The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and the everlasting King, and His wrath, the earthquakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation. Now here's a special message God said to Jeremiah, I want you to tell the nations, the Goyim, the Gentile. And this is the only verse in the whole book of Jeremiah written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Aramaic, the language of the Gentiles of the fertile crescent of the Near East. Listen to this one. Thus you shall say to them, the God that did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens. Why? Because there is no God worth worshiping who doesn't meet this stringent test and qualification. To be a God worthy of being worshipped, you have to have done what? You have to have created the heavens and the earth. By the way, that eliminates a lot of competition among the gods. In fact, there's only one person left that qualifies then to be worshipped, and his name is Jesus Christ the Lord, through whom all things were made and apart from whom there was nothing ever made that was made. So the one hanging on the cross, paying in full the penalty that you and I could never pay, was the one through whom the universe was created, you see, and all his competitors, Buddha, Allah, name them all, and the biggest one today whose name is Time to Chance by Evolution, will what? Will perish from under the earth and from the earth and from under the heavens. Jesus alone remains as the one whom the Father approves to be worshipped. Now, friends, how did He do this work of creation? A few thousand years ago, we don't know exactly what the date is. We've tried in our Bible chart, you may have noticed, on creation to Abraham to suggest some possible chronologies there. Ten thousand, nine thousand, eight thousand. We can't be absolutely sure because we're not sure how long the time was between creation and the flood and the flood and Abraham. We know who the patriarchs were, but some of those patriarchal connections, friends, are ancestral and not parental, just like in Matthew one. So-and-so, begat, so-and-so, begat, so-and-so, and sometimes begat means to become the ancestor, and son-of means to become the descendant of. That's why the opening verse of the New Testament says Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham and if you didn't know the Old Testament you'd think Abraham was the grandfather of this person only to find out to your amazement this is a thousand years between each of those names now we know for sure that they're not millions of years here friends but we're saying exactly how many thousands we're not really sure but the fact of the matter is that when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke the word Out of absolutely nothing, one planet appeared. Nothing else had ever appeared. The angels didn't appear. They were invisible spirit beings. But the first physical object in the universe was this planet, shrouded in total darkness, covered with three hundred and thirty million cubic miles of liquid water. It was perfect. It was uninhabitable. Nobody could live on a shoreless ocean in total darkness, but it was perfect. Perfect water, perfect air, perfect shape, perfect rocks and minerals. But it was uninhabitable until the sixth day when God finally said, let us make men in our image and after our likeness and put them on a fully furnished, finished, completed world. Everything was perfect at each stage, but it was incomplete to last. until God finally said, everything is now very good. All right? So step by step, God fills and furnishes a perfect but incomplete world. And on day one, he creates the light and the night-day distinctions. And on day two, he creates the vapor canopy and the atmosphere beneath it. On day three, he lifts up the continents and covers them with magnificent trees and flowers and shrubs and every kind of plant the world has ever known except two special ones that Adam, of course, had to nourish and irrigate in the garden that couldn't survive without rain or irrigation. And then on day four, he created the sun, moon and stars and the planets and the galaxies. On day five, he filled the air with flying creatures and the oceans with marine creatures. Day six, the marvelous land mammals, and finally, of course, the crown of creation, Adam, and finally, Eve. You say, well, there's something wrong with this order of events here, this creation time block. Are you suggesting, sir, that the sun, moon, and stars did not appear till day four? You mean the Earth was the only object... physical object in the whole universe for three days. How could you even have days if there was no sunshine? Well, God must have known we had asked that. So he said, well, on day one I created a special temporary localized astronomical light in reference to which this planet went through three night date cycles until that temporary light was replaced by the sun on day four. But why? Why wait till day four to have the sun? and its beautiful night reflector, the moon, and eight other reflectors called planets, and their moons, the solar system, as we know it. Why wait till day four? Well, friends, there's a theological problem here. Who were the first people who read this chapter? The Israelites, fresh out of Egypt, where they had spent four hundred years being influenced, indoctrinated with a idolatrous, blasphemous, sun-worshiping religion. And the Israelites were so poisoned by this that they never recovered. The Exodus didn't sanctify them spiritually, and they all died in the wilderness except Caleb and Joshua because of that poisoning. And the rebellion and unbelief that it brought about. Now friends, the sun worship was an enormous thing in Egypt. Every morning as that great ball of fire rose over the eastern horizon, millions would fall down and worship the sun god. See, if you're an idolatry, you have to see what you're worshiping. That's why God hates idolatry. He says, you will have no other gods before me and you will... you will worship me only. And no man has ever seen God. You will worship me anyhow by faith in my word. And so, friends, as the Egyptians had huge temples and had priests and offered sacrifices to the sun, just like the Babylonians did and the Assyrians and the whole world was sun worshippers. Even the... Native Americans at that time, North and South America. Everybody in the world was sun worshippers, idolaters. I'm sure you realize that. And why not? Isn't this the most spectacular visible object in the universe? So brilliant you can't even look at it without endangering your eyes. And of course today we realize, don't we, that in a sense, careful here, that wasn't so stupid after all. You know what would happen to us if the sun suddenly disappeared? In eight short minutes, this planet would be plunged into total permanent darkness. The temperatures would sink hundreds of degrees below zero. The atmosphere would solidify. We would no longer go in orbit but go in a straight line lost in space forever. And that would be the permanent conclusion of Park of the Palm's Bible conference. Don't you think, therefore, that we ought to do everything necessary to keep on good terms with the sun and make the sun feel good about us? A strong relationship. Oh, but there's a problem. The sun is not alive. It's not a person. It can't think. It doesn't know what you... Friends, the sun is a completely non-personal being. And that's the absurdity you see of idolatry. There's only one God in the universe. And God says, I want you to understand this, dear Israel. And that's why I postponed the creation of the sun to day four, so that you'd realize that I don't need the sun to help me create the universe. The sun is not eternal. It's not ultimate. It's not divine. It's not a person. You don't worship the sun. You worship me. And thus you see Genesis begins just the way the book of Revelation ends, with no sun or moon, only God. In the Revelation you end up with only Jesus providing the light for the eternal city as the lamp, and you only need him, that's all. The sun is temporary, non-essential, non-ultimate, non-divine. You say, well, no intelligent educated person in in America or Canada would ever worship the sun, would they? Are you ready for this bad news? Every textbook of every school that is tax supported in America today is dedicated to sun worship. You say you can't be serious. Well, just open any of them that your children or grandchildren may have. And every book, friends, that tells about where the world came from starts like this. You ready? Billions of years ago, solar radiation bathed the primeval seas with this radiant energy and coalesced lifeless chemicals into a self-replicating complex organism that diversified to all the forms of life as the sun continued to bathe this planet through billions of years. And finally, people evolved. And as long as the sun shines on this planet, life continues. When the sun burns out, life is finished forever. What you just heard was the sun worship service. Because, friends, believe it. Anything that explains your ultimate origin, your continued existence, and your destiny is your God. That's where America is today. And presumably Canada. We won't mention the other nations of the world. Just think of the fact The whole world lies in the evil one, and he doesn't want you to think, dear friends, that Jesus Christ created the universe and also created the sun, moon, and stars. That is never mentioned in any textbook ever, is it? Of course not. Please show me a book that says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Just find one. They're gone. They're all gone. All rubbed out, suppressed, eliminated, destroyed. You know what I think? What little this may be worth? I'll give you my opinion. My opinion is, I hate to say this, God owes an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah if he doesn't wipe us out real soon. Why? We have had vastly more privileged truth, light, revelation than Sodom and Gomorrah ever had. They had a very pitiful missionary whose name was Lot. Think of what we've received and what we've done with what God has given us in the realm of truth. Look at where we are today. And I say, Lord, spare us just long enough, please, to tell some more people who you are and what you said about yourself in the only book you ever wrote. Please help us in your mercy. Now you see, friends, Israelites should have known that God created the sun and moon and star. You say, where? If Genesis wasn't written yet, how would they know? Well, they had another book that they'd had for hundreds of years, written long before Genesis, the book of Job. And you know what Job said? Chapter thirty-one. He's defending himself against his accusers. In fact, let's turn to it. Job thirty-one. It's an amazing statement. In fact, the whole book of Job is an amazing statement about how great God is and the great things God has done and what we're supposed to do about that truth. Are you ready? Job thirty-one, verse twenty-six. Now among the many things that Job says to defend himself, here's one of them. If I have looked at the sun when it shone, for the moon going in splendor. And my heart became secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, a form of worship, see, what would happen to me? Just imagine, I'm out in the wilderness and nobody's watching, and it's totally dark, and here comes a beautiful moon sliding across the darkness of the sky, and silently within my heart, not even expressing it with my lips. I just say, oh God, how great thou art. I mean, everybody else is doing that. The Babylonians had a moon God, and so did everybody, as well as a sun God. What difference did it make? What I do with my own heart and my own private, you know, experiences? Oh, it makes an infinite, eternal difference what you think about the moon. by night and the sun by day. You ready for this? That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment. Why? For I would have denied God who is above. That's why. God will not tolerate sun and moon worship for one moment. And Job knew that. And so did everybody else from the beginning of the world, Adam and Eve knew that. There are many things God must have taught the patriarchs that aren't even recorded in Scripture, see. Where did Job learn this? See? God taught the original people of the world who he was and how he used to be approached. I mean, how did Adam and Eve know how to offer sacrifices? You see, with Cain and Abel at the entrance of the garden, God told them all kinds of things that aren't recorded specifically that he assumes we realize. And here's one of them. And here it is. You don't worship. the sun or the moon ever. And I'm sure that his three friends with all of their stupidity would have agreed with him. You don't do that. So Israel must have understood that, dear friends. And therefore, when they sank deeper and deeper into the blasphemies of sun worship idolatry, God finally confronted them through Moses and said, Here is the way it is. And you are now going to be locked in forever to this time block And here's the order of events and here's the significance of why I did some things first and some things later. Well, friends, this is very heavy on our modern world because God is saying to us today, if you don't repent and turn around and listen to me and honor me in the light of what I've said in my word, I will hold you eternally accountable and responsible. And that could mean the lake of fire forever. I don't want that. Do you? I really don't know what's all involved in all of that, but I don't want it. I don't have to know any more about it than what Jesus told me. I do not want that. So I say, Lord, help me to start with Genesis one and get my mental, spiritual act together as to what is number one and where it all fits together in reference to you. as the one who created the universe instantly to your beloved son at the very beginning of a six-day time block, as recorded in the chronological sequences of the historically valid and theologically significant opening chapter of Genesis, where Christ the Lord is honored as the one friend who really did it all, and for the glory of God the Father. Let's pray. Father, these are awesome things that you've entrusted to us. And we'd have to say, we have many questions, Lord. But help us, Father, to ask those questions reverently, patiently, prayerfully, and not with arrogance and pride of heart. Help us, by the Spirit of God, to emerge from the morass of modern idolatrous paganism, which is beautifully clothed in academic grandeur, but nevertheless is an offense to the Lord. Rescue us, Father, deliver us, purify, cleanse us from these contaminations in which we are absolutely immersed today. And our children and grandchildren as well. And, Father, we feel so helpless to do anything about it. And so we turn to the instruction book you've entrusted to us, and we read things like this. The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So, Father, we don't need more parades and confrontations and placards. We need to get down on our knees and say, Lord, help us to be effective. to master mind the two-edged sword of Holy Scripture and to trust you for opportunities to make this truth known to people you bring across the path of our experience. Even people who come to this beautiful place, who perhaps even are born-again Christians but are deeply ignorant, really, as I once was for years as a Christian, of the basic fundamental realities of this precious book. Guide our hearts and minds We pray, for we ask in Jesus' name and for His sake.