This episode unpacks the remarkable power and undeniable purpose that characterize God’s creation as described in Genesis 1:1. Join us as we reflect on the fundamental questions of existence and the intricate balance between God’s sovereign hand and the inherent design evident in every corner of the universe. As we delve into the scriptural understanding of God’s creative and redemptive plan, learn why acknowledging God’s singularity and omnipotence is crucial to embracing a truly Christian worldview.
00:22:02 Obligation and Redemption through Creation
SPEAKER 01 :
We’re glad to bring you this message from Loveworth Finding Ministries with Adrian Rogers. We trust you’ll be blessed as you apply these biblical truths to your daily life.
SPEAKER 02 :
Now, thus far we’ve been just kind of circling the woods a little bit, but now we’re going to begin to start at the beginning place and build outward to try to tell you how we can have a firm, a full, a true ministry. Foundation to face this world in which we live. There’s no better place to start than in the starting place, which is the most red verse in all of the Bible. Now, the most loved verse in all of the Bible is John 3, 16. But the most red verse in all of the Bible, R-E-A-D, is Genesis 1, 1. More people have read that than any other verse because more people at some time or another have said, let’s see what this book is about, and they start at the starting place. Now, that’s a good place for us to start, so I want you to open your Bibles tonight as we’re talking about a Christian worldview. The starting place is Genesis 1 and verse 1. In the beginning, God… created the heaven and the earth. This is foundational truth. Now, if you want to understand truth, you’ve got to enter in to the temple of truth. And in the temple of truth, the key is on the front door. It is Genesis 1.1. And very frankly, folks, when we come to Genesis 1.1, we come with a teacup. to a notion of truth. We do not have the ability nor the time nor the insight to exhaust this one verse, the truth of this one verse. But there are four thoughts about God that I want to give you that come out of this one verse that will be foundational and we’re going to come back to the early verses of Genesis and we’re going to talk about what the Bible has to say about humanism, what the Bible has to say about New Ageism, what the Bible has to say about evolution, what the Bible has to say about animal rights. It’s all going to come right out of the book of Genesis. And it’s going to begin and come back to this one verse. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, in all philosophy, really, there’s only one great question. Did God make man or did man make God? Now, God made man. And what you see here in this one verse, first of all, is a God who is simply presented. God is not argued. God is not explained. God is not defended. God is just simply presented. Amen. In the beginning, God. Now, it might surprise you to know that the Bible writers never tried to prove the existence of God. If you try to prove the existence of God, you’re going to do something that the writers of the Bible never attempted to do. And the Bible has all that you and I need for faith. It is full and it is complete. And there is no explanation in the Bible for the existence of God. God is simply presented. And God must be accepted by faith. Now, if you live very long, a skeptic will come to you and a skeptic will throw this challenge down to you. Prove there’s a God. Don’t endeavor to do it. Do not endeavor to do it. You’ll be endeavoring to do something the Bible does not endeavor to do. And you just simply say to that skeptic, I cannot prove to you that God exists. And when you say that, he will smile and back back like he’s won a victory, but he has not. You say to him, now prove God does not exist. And he can no more prove that God does not exist than you can prove that God does exist. You see, we are finite. God is infinite. And the finite can never prove nor disprove the existence of the infinite. The scientists have moved heaven and earth trying to prove how the world and the universe came into existence. But science can’t do that because science is limited to the study of phenomena and processes that are now existing. The scientist has to have those things that are now existing to go into his laboratory. And if he does not have that, he must remain silent. That’s the reason God threw out this question to Job. And I’d like to throw it out to every scientist alive today. Job chapter 38 and verse 4 says, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if you have understanding. What he’s saying is you weren’t around when I did it. And so there’s no way that you can examine it. Now you see, folks, we must learn this, that we’re not the only ones who are believers. Everybody, all almost six billion people who live on the face of the earth are believers. Everyone. Some believe in God and some don’t believe in God, but all are believers. We believe there is a God. They believe there is no God. We accept by faith there is a God. They must accept by faith there is no God. They can no more prove that God does not exist than we can prove that God does exist. Now, when I said we don’t have proof, I didn’t mean that we don’t have evidence. There’s incredible evidence. I mean, if you have a creation, common sense tells you you must have a creator. That, as we’ve said before, nothing plus nobody equals everything is the creed of the atheist. I mean, it’s pretty stupid, really. Excuse me. I’m not supposed to say that. It’s pretty non-intelligent. Amen. Now, you know, to look for scientific proof of God would be like taking that piano apart looking for a song. God is not subject to scientific proof. Now, whether you believe in God or not is not a matter, therefore, of intellectualism. It’s not a matter of the mind. It’s a matter of the heart. The Bible says in Psalm 53, verse 1, The fool hath said in his heart… There is no God. Now, when the Bible uses the word fool, it does not mean the man who is mentally deficient. It means the man who is morally deficient. The word Nabal or fool does not deal with intellect. It deals with integrity. It deals with morality. And what God is saying is that a man with a wicked heart is the kind of a man who denies God. And how did they get to be fools? Well, the Bible tells us in Romans 1 verse 22, “…professing themselves to be wise.” They became fools. And they must maneuver themselves into not believing in God. Romans 1 verse 28 says, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. And so when the Bible says, The fool has said in his heart, No God. What it literally means is, The fool says, No God for me. It literally doesn’t say, The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. But it literally says, The fool has said in his heart, No God. Just like you might go through the cafeteria line and say, no dessert. And the fool says, no God. I do not want God. But when he refuses God and when he says there is no God, something inside tells him that he’s lying and he knows that he’s lying. A trucking firm whose headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia, gives a test to all of the prospective employees. It is a lie detector test. And one question on that lie detector test is this. Do you believe in God? Now, not everybody said they did. There were some who said they did not believe in God. But everyone who said they did not believe in God, the lie detector said, he’s lying. He’s lying. Everyone. Because down in the human heart, there is that residual thing that the Bible says, “…God hath dealt to every man a measure of faith, and Christ is that light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” So in the beginning, God, he is just simply presented. A God who is simply presented. Don’t get into the difficulty of trying to prove that God exists. You can give evidences for God. But the proof that God exists is beyond you. But God does exist. And he is a God who is simply presented. Now here’s the second thing I want you to learn about this God. He is a God who is sovereignly powerful. Look again at this verse. In the beginning God did what? He created. He created. His mighty power… Paul says in Romans, is seen through the creation. Only God has creative power. Only God has originating power. The Hebrew word for create is bara, B-A-R-A. And it’s used about 50 times. And it means to make something out of absolute power. NOTHING. JUST TURN TO ROMANS CHAPTER 4 FOR A MOMENT. LET ME POINT THAT OUT AGAIN. IN, IN ROMANS 4, YOU’RE GOING TO SEE IT, AND THEN WE’RE GOING TO LOOK AT HEBREWS 11. LOOK IN ROMANS 4 AND VERSE 17. PAUL IS TALKING ABOUT THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM. AS IT IS WRITTEN, I HAVE MADE THEE A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS, BEFORE WHOM HE BELIEVETH, EVEN GOD, WHO QUICKENETH THE DEAD, AND And calleth those things which be not or nothing as though they were. What that simply means is God is the only one who can make something out of nothing. And then turn to the book of Hebrews, if you will. And look with me in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 3. There again we have the same idea that God makes something out of nothing. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen are not made of things which do appear. That is, God is the one who makes something out of nothing, the only one who can. Man cannot create anything and man cannot destroy anything. All man can do is to change the form. Now, people talk about the laws of nature. There are no laws of nature. They’re God’s laws that nature obeys. Science simply discovers those laws. Science does not create those laws any more than Columbus created North America because he discovered it. You see, in the beginning, God made something of nothing. An eloquent black preacher said, and I quote, God stepped from behind the curtain of nowhere and stood upon the platform of nothing and spoke a world into existence. I like that. You see the handiwork of God and what he made. A tiny cell, one cell. Paul Doty of Harvard University said that one human cell, just one of them, is more complicated in its existence than all of New York City. Much smaller than the cell is the atom. A billion hydrogen atoms put side by side is not as thick as the page on this Bible that I have. It’s so small. The atom is mostly space. I read not so long ago, if you were to take all of the emptiness out of everything, squeeze all of the nothing out of it, you could put the entire earth and its remains in a two-gallon bucket. It’s incredible. You think of the smallness, the intricacy of what God made. God made it out of nothing. And then think of the incredible size of the universe. Who made all of that? How did it happen? By chance? No, God did it. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. If you see a watch, I hope you assume there’s a watchmaker. If you see a water system, I hope you assume that somebody designed it. If you see a building, I hope you assume an architect. And if you see the precise atomic clocks of the universe… I hope you don’t believe that happened by chance. If you see the hydraulic cycle in nature, I hope you don’t believe that happened by chance. If you see the complex structure of your body or any human body or any organism that God has made, I hope you don’t believe that that happened by chance. We’re going to talk about evolution in this life view. But the evolutionist believes that billions of years plus time plus chance can turn frogs into princes. In school, they call that fairy tales. Laboratory, they call it science. Man cannot create. All man can do is change things. He can take simpler forms and put them into more complex forms. or vice versa, but He cannot create. So what you have in Genesis 1-1 is a God who is simply presented. He is not argued, He is just presented in the beginning God. Then you have a God who is sovereignly powerful, the God who does what He alone can do, and that is to create. When we get to evolution, one of the questions I want all the kids to ask their teacher when they get to school, where did all this primordial ooze come from? I mean, regardless. If they say, well, you know, there was green scum somewhere. Where did the green scum come from? They say life came from Mars. Well, where did Mars come from? Where did it come from? You’re cast on two alternatives, a self-existing universe or a self-existing God. And it’s much easier to believe unless you’re a materialist. that God created the heavens and the earth. Now, here’s the third thing I want you to learn about God. Now, this is foundational. A God who is simply presented, not argued, presented. A God who is sovereignly powerful. The God who made it all, He is the creative God. The third thing, a God who is surely purposeful. Why did He do it? Well, when you look at creation… There are two things that you can see in creation very easily. One is design and the other is purpose. Now let me give you three reasons why God did it. First of all, God created everything just for his pleasure. He’s God and he can do whatever he wishes. And the Bible says in Revelation chapter 4, verse 11, speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was God’s agent in creation, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created. He did it. TO PLEASE HIMSELF. HE CREATED IT FOR HIS PLEASURE. THE SECOND REASON HE CREATED IT IS FOR HIS PRAISE. PUT THESE SCRIPTURES DOWN. ROMANS 11 VERSE 36, FOR OF HIM, SPEAKING OF GOD, AND THROUGH HIM AND TO HIM ARE ALL THINGS TO WHOM BE GLORY FOREVER. And Psalm 150 verse 6 says, Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Everything that God created is to be one grand peon and crescendo of praise. The trees are to lift their branches and say praise the Lord. The flowers are to unfold their petals and say praise the Lord. The birds as they spread their wings are to praise the Lord. The stars that nestle in the bosom of the sky are to say, praise the Lord. As Niagara Falls rolls and rolls and rolls, it is to say, praise the Lord. God created it all for His pleasure and for His praise. The third reason that God made it all is for His people. So you and I would have a place to live. Because God was going to create a race and God had a place for them to stand and sleep and eat and work. So He made it for us, a home. And when God made it, God stepped back and said that it was good. And let me say that all of God’s creation is good. Don’t you ever become an aesthetic. Don’t you ever think that material things are bad. Don’t ever think for one moment that this earth and materialism is bad. It is not bad. Materialism is bad if it becomes your God. But to love the world that God made is not bad. God created it and God says it is good. And God put Adam and Eve in a garden and God said to them, help yourself of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. And the devil wants you to think negatively about God’s creation as if God doesn’t love you, but God does love you. And put these verses down, speaking of God’s creation for his people. Psalm 37, verse 4, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 84, verse 11, for the Lord thy God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 17. Charge them that are rich in this age that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Why did God make strawberries? For us. For us. I mean, He is a good God. Why did God create this world? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Why? For His pleasure, for His praise, and for His people. Now here’s the fourth thing I want us to learn about God tonight. Not only is this God… a God who is simply presented. And not only is this God a God who is sovereignly powerful, and not only is this God a God who is surely purposeful, but this is a God who is savingly personal. Now, He is savingly personal. Look, if you will, in this verse again. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Now, the name for God here is the name Elohim. Elohim. And it speaks of a personal God. The word El, E-L, means a God who has unlimited power. It’s the word that speaks of strength. So he is El. And then the last part of that word Elohim, Allah, comes from a word which means to swear or to make a covenant. Put those two words together, strength and covenant, and what you have is a God who who is almighty and who always keeps his word. Now think about it. In the beginning, Elohim, the one who is almighty and who always keeps his word, created the heavens and the earth. That means he is savingly PERSONAL NOW A FEW YEARS AGO A MOVIE CAME OUT CALLED STAR WARS I DON’T THINK I’VE SEEN THE MOVIE BUT I THINK I’VE READ ENOUGH ABOUT IT TO KNOW THAT THAT MOVIE IN A SOME WAY GIVES A TACIT RECOGNITION OF A SUPREME BEING BUT THE SUPREME BEING IS CALLED IN THAT MOVIE THE FORCE THE FORCE YOU SEE THAT’S IMPERSONAL BUT IN THE BIBLE GOD IS NOT THE FORCE God is a person who has intelligence, emotion, and a will. Now, we’re going to be talking about a Christian worldview. And Genesis 1-1 decimates every other worldview except the biblical worldview. For example, one worldview that some people have is atheism. There is no God. Well, you can’t believe in Genesis 1-1 and believe that. Another worldview is polytheism. Many gods. But you can’t believe Genesis 1-1 and believe that. Another worldview is fatalism. That everything is just going to happen. There’s nothing we can do about it. You can’t believe Genesis 1-1 and believe that because here is a loving God who is all-powerful and always keeps His word. Another worldview is pantheism. That is that the universe and God are the same. That everything is God. And pantheism, of course, as we’re going to see, comes out of Hinduism. They believe that God is in everything and everything is God. And so you’re God and I’m God and the animals are God. And, you know, this is the basis of New Ageism that we’re going to talk about, that everybody is a God and we’re becoming a God and it’s all wrapped up in a reincarnation and all of that. And And so everything is God. Well, don’t feel too good about that if you believe in pantheism. That doesn’t elevate you. That degrades you. Because if everything is God, then dirt is God, and God is dirt, and you are God, and you are dirt. I mean, think about it. You see, this does away with atheism. It does away with polytheism. It does away with fatalism. It does away with pantheism. It does away with materialism. The materialist says that the universe has always existed. That’s much more difficult to believe than Genesis 1-1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Materialism is the eternality of matter. So we have a God that is in this book who is presented. He is the God with whom nothing is impossible and who always keeps his word. But now one other word about this God who is savingly personal. It is the word Elohim, which is a plural noun. It’s plural. So what it literally says is, in the beginning, gods created the heavens and the earth. You say, well, now wait a minute, Pastor. I thought you said there’s only one God. There is. But look, if you will, in verse 26. Verse 26. And God said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness. One God who presents himself in three persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God reveals himself in the opening verse of the Bible as a triune God. Now, folks, we have a God who is simply presented. We should recognize him. We have a God who is sovereignly powerful. We should respect him. We have a God who is surely purposeful. We should reverence him. We have a God who is savingly personal. We should receive him. All of that. is right here in Genesis 1-1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, since Genesis 1-1 is there and it is foundational, I want to leave you with two basic thoughts, two basic truths to live by. Truth number one. We have a solemn obligation to God because he created us. And the Bible says in Isaiah 45 verse 9, Woe unto him that striveth with his maker. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1 says, Remember now thy creator. We have an obligation to God. We are his and twice his. Isaiah 43, verse 1, But now thus saith the Lord who created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. We’re his because of creation and because of redemption. He made us and he bought us and we have an obligation to him. Not only do we have an obligation to God, but folks, God has an obligation to us. I’M NOT BEING SMART MOUTHED WHEN I SAY THAT. THE BIBLE CALLS HIM IN FIRST PETER FOUR AND VERSE 19 A FATEFUL CREATOR. NOW WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? IT MEANS THAT GOD DID NOT MAKE US TO ABANDON US. YOU KNOW ONE OF THE WORST THINGS THAT A MAN CAN DO IS TO FATHER A CHILD AND ABANDON THAT CHILD? Did you know that? Folks, I want to tell you, when God brought us into this universe, God did not make us to abandon us. When God made the first creation and he stepped back and when it was finished, God said, it’s good. But then sin came into the world. It was not good anymore. But then the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on this cross. TO PAY FOR OUR SIN. AND WHEN HE HAD FINISHED, AGAIN HE SAID, IT IS FINISHED. IT IS DONE. AND NOW THERE IS A NEW CREATION FOR ALL WHO WILL BELIEVE. AND SO WHEN YOU GIVE YOUR HEART TO GOD, WHEN YOU TRUST HIM AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR, WHEN YOU RECEIVE CHRIST, WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES INTO YOU, YOU ARE FULFILLING YOUR OBLIGATION TO HIM. You’re saying, you made me. You redeemed me. I surrender to you. Then when he comes into you to guard you, guide you, protect you, and take care of you, he fulfills his obligation to you. And I want to tell you that the God who made you, the God who created you, did not create you to abandon you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Do you know the Jesus Adrian Rogers spoke about? You can know abundant, eternal life through Jesus Christ right now. Say yes to Jesus. Ask him to save you. Fully trust in Christ today. You might pray something like this. Lord Jesus, I know I’m a sinner and my sin deserves judgment, but you died to pay the penalty for my sin. So I repent of those sins now, Lord. I ask you to forgive me. Come into my life. Make me a new person in you. Thank you for saving me, Jesus. And help me to live for you from now on. Amen. And today, if you give your life to Christ, you’ll want to learn how to walk with Him each day. We want to help you with materials that will encourage and strengthen you as a new believer. Just write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee, 38183. In Canada, you can write us at P.O. Box 152, Maple Ridge, B.C., V2X7G1. And if you have more questions about what it means to begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, visit our website, lwf.org. Click on the Discover Jesus link on our homepage for more information. If you’d like additional copies of this message or information about other resources, just visit our online bookstore or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you, and may God richly bless you.
This episode unpacks the remarkable power and undeniable purpose that characterize God’s creation as described in Genesis 1:1. Join us as we reflect on the fundamental questions of existence and the intricate balance between God’s sovereign hand and the inherent design evident in every corner of the universe. As we delve into the scriptural understanding of God’s creative and redemptive plan, learn why acknowledging God’s singularity and omnipotence is crucial to embracing a truly Christian worldview.
