Jacob Jackson
May 16, 2021
Note: The transcript below is automatically generated and will contain errors.
Transcript:
Good morning to everyone this morning. Especially our visitors. We have we have quite a few of you this morning and we really really appreciate that. We’re also missing a few so you almost exactly offset those numbers. And so we really appreciate that. We would be quite spare if it were not for all of you. And so if you wouldn’t mind get out your Bible and be ready to turn we’re going to hit quite a few passages this morning. We’re going to talk about something that is extremely important to all
All of us it’s something that the world lies about to you on a constant basis a constant basis. And in fact much of the world view and much of the belief system of many including those who profess to be Christians is based on the lives of the world of this that is things that contradict the word of God. And so there’s a question that all of us must answer and that is
Do we believe the things that are written in this book? Do we believe the words that are written in this book? This question is this question confronts? Every Bible student every Christian every one who confesses to know God the only way that you can know God these days is through his word. So this question is confronted.
All of us at one time or another do I really believe this this question must be answered.
Bye everyone and it will be answered either now or in the future even on the day of judgement.
Even those who don’t profess to be Christians, but maybe their Bible curious if you will, they’re curious about the word of God and they want to know a little bit about it. Eventually. They will have to answer the question. Do I believe what is written in this book? Either? The Bible is true or it’s not
Either it’s the word of God.
And he spoke the truth or it is a lie.
If it contradicts the knowledge of the world then we have to answer the question. Is it true or is it not?
There are many things in here that are not entirely intuitive whether they behavioral whether they be be Behavioral or or other some of which we’ll look at this morning.
But whenever you read it, you have to make a choice about your faith. Do you believe it or do you not you see your faith informs your beliefs? So as you read this and you choose to believe it that is Faith your faith informs your beliefs. Do you have faith that God sent his word and this is it?
If you do then the words that are in here are true because he is not a liar.
If you do not have that faith if you are willing to put other things above this.
Then your faith is in something else.
Turn with me to Romans chapter 10. Let’s read verse 17.
Romans 10:17
To make this point this is a memory verse all of us. Probably memorize this from the very beginning to Short from very early on in Bible class is very short verse very easy to live very easy to remember. It has kind of a ring to it Romans 10:17. So then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by stop there for a moment.
This verse is a principal.
It’s a truth, but it is a principle and this verse can be applied to many things.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by what?
The words that you listen to the most that is where your faith will be this for this verse says so then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If you want to have faith in the word of God, then you must read the word of God. You must listen to the word of God and your faith will grow but if you listen to other things more than the word of God, then that’s where your faith will be.
Whenever I was in graduate school, I read thousands.
thousands of scientific journal articles thousands
Many times I was reading much more of that than I was the Bible.
And it’s challenging. It’s challenging because as the word says
The thing the words that you listen to that is where your faith will be. And so if you find words they contradict the word of God and you choose to believe those over the word of God. That’s where your faith is.
So then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is how we grow faith.
This is why if I give a lesson about science, which I map to do is all of you know.
I don’t try to prove the Bible with science. If you try to prove the Bible with science, then you’re then you’re giving the authority of the Bible over.
To science. You’re putting it in authority over the Bible. We want to grow our faith by reading the word of God not the knowledge of men. The thing that you listen to is the thing that you will grow your faith in and so the question is this morning do you believe this is the true?
Word of God the truth if you don’t it’s because you’re not reading it enough.
Let’s be let’s be very blunt right at the beginning.
But the real point, I’m trying to make here is how do you grow faith in other people?
Whenever they have a worldview or they have a belief system that is false because it is contradictory to this. How do you convince people?
To grow faith in the word of God. It’s very simple in my Bible. It’s two lines. So then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If you want to know the truth of for example our Origins, which we will discuss momentarily, then you will go to the word of God.
Because that is the true word that is the truth. The only thing that we can know of a certainty and this Earth is the word of God. It’s the only thing that we can know.
We have faith we have faith in all kinds of different things. In fact, it takes Faith to exist here.
We in order to be married to someone you have to have faith in them.
We put our faith in all sorts of things that we don’t directly know. We believe that there was a year 1776 and we believe that certain events happened that year the shape the world around us today.
You believe that your parents are your parents?
Even though you don’t remember anything about the day that you were born or the time that you spend in the womb or even the very conception of your very life.
You have faith that all of those things happened the way you’re told they happened, but there’s no way for you to know for certain.
Not even a paternity test or maternity test is 100% certain.
There is no way for you to know anything other than the word of God. So if you’re going to try to teach people the truth because maybe there’s some misunderstanding you identify a belief or a teaching that someone has that does not line up with the word of God.
The only way to convince them is with the word of God. Now that doesn’t mean that you’ll go to the same place to teach the same to teach very different things and there are different people and so I submit to you this morning. There are two kinds of people there. Are those who already believe the Bible is the word of God and there are those who do not
and there are those who do not but they claim to
and so it can get a little tricky.
So don’t listen to what people claim listen to what they actually believe. Okay, listen to what they actually believe. Yes, I believe
That the Bible is the word of God, but I don’t believe that the days of creation are actually days.
Which we’ll look at in a moment. Yes, I believe in the word of God, but I think I know a better way to structure the church. I think I know a better work for the church and better things to spend the church’s money on than what the Bible tells me. Yes, I believe in the word of God, but
I don’t think it contains everything. We need to know about the church. For example.
The word but negates everything before it. I believe in the word of God, but it doesn’t tell me everything. I need to know to be pleasing to him. And so I have to come up with these new and different things that I think are good.
Listen to what people actually believe look at what they actually practice not what they claim.
They may claim to trust in the word of God, but in reality they put the they put the knowledge of men above God’s word. Why do you have?
and I’m sure actually organized church because my preacher said it’s okay because I because the Bible doesn’t say not to
completely negating the authority of the scriptures for example
If you have someone who believes the bible really is the word of God, but they don’t profess baptism is necessary for salvation. You can show them scriptures that say you need to be baptized in order to be saved. If they believe that the word is truly the word of God, then they will admit that and they will change.
They will change their ways. But if they do not they’ll say well I you know, I know it says that but
this is what I believe my pastor said instruments of Music in the assembly.
The Bible never spoke anything about this. Do you believe that the instructions that God gave us is enough for your salvation.
To be pleasing to him.
If you do, then you don’t need instruments of Music in the assembly. If you don’t then you will turn to that for the gratification of the flesh.
Because it’s a knowledge of men food pantries for the general benevolence. Whenever the scriptures clearly State who it is that can and cannot have the benevolence of the church other Ministries Divorce Care children’s church and the list goes on and on and on theistic Evolution. Do you believe the word of God or not? Do you believe that God created Adam and Eve the first people on this Earth?
I believe the word of God, but science tells me.
That the Earth is 4 billion years old the solar system. The universe is 13 billion and man very happily managed to evolve in that amount of time.
Homosexuality. Yes. I know that God condemns it multiple times in his word, but I think that he would want everyone to be happy and love the person of their choice.
Do you believe?
The word of God, you cannot look at this page and say I believe this page turn over to this one and say but I don’t believe this one.
God wants you to be all in all the way either you believe it or you don’t.
There are two kinds of people the first believe in the scriptures you can take them to the scriptures and you can use it to convince them. It’s usually pretty straightforward.
They already believe they already have the faith in the sufficiency of the scriptures.
These essentially already have a faith. They just need it to be honed and deepened with the word of God because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You can start with the words about Jesus and his Apostles. Usually with these types of people for example, turn with me to Acts chapter 2.
These people already have a knowledge of the word of God. I’m talking about my metaphoric people and also
The people here in Acts chapter 2 they already have a knowledge of the word of God. So what does Peter do on this day? Look at verse 16
of Acts chapter 2
At the very beginning of Peters sermon here. He says.
For these are not drunk as you suppose seeing it is but the third hour of the day, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.
So he goes straight to scripture and says here. This is exactly what the scriptures say.
It shall come to pass in the last days. Saith God. I will pour out my spirit upon All Flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And your young men shall see visions and your old men shall see dreams and on my servants and on my handmaids I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they will prophesy.
And it shall come to pass verse 21 that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
He quotes scripture to show them that what they’re seeing to that what they thought they knew whenever they crucified. Jesus was wrong.
There is a truth written in words God’s word.
And they need to adapt to it verse 25. He quotes scripture again for David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the lord always before my face for he is on my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad moreover. Also my flesh shall Rest In Hope
And so on and so forth and finally we get down to verse 38.
Now, I’m sorry verse 37 now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles men and Brethren. What shall we do?
These men these people who already knew the word of God as soon as it was quoted to them and showed to them how they had aired from it. They were pricked in their hearts.
I think that this is the way America was in time past and not so very long ago people believed in the word of God and it was fairly easy to take them and say listen.
your church
Your faith is not built on the word of God.
Repent and change your ways.
Be baptized whatever it may be and they would do so.
But we’re moving away from that more and more even in churches even churches that claim the name of Christ.
Don’t believe in the sufficiency of scriptures don’t believe that it contains all the answers.
So we have the second kind of person these this second kind of person does not need to be reminded of the scriptures like the first person they need to be taught the scriptures. They don’t know the scriptures they have it’s the first person hasn’t applied the scriptures to themselves yet. The second person doesn’t isn’t aware of them.
Turn with me to Acts chapter 17.
We see the second type of person here.
Acts chapter 17
look at verse 22 beginning then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said you men of Athens I perceive in all things ye are too superstitious.
You’ve heard me talk about this before many of the modern translations say religious.
But the actual Greek word here means to be religious.
But not understand why.
Well, it just so happens that the English word superstitious means.
To have a religion but not know why so the best translation is superstitious here. But either way it works these people were religious.
But they didn’t know why they were.
And so this person this second kind of person he could be someone who doesn’t believe in God at all.
Or it could be someone who claims to believe in God but doesn’t actually have the faith doesn’t actually know God because they haven’t been taught the scriptures. They haven’t read them. Their faith is not grounded in the word.
They do not know why there are many people in Church of Christ just like this.
They don’t know why Church of Christ instead of Baptist Church or Catholic church, and they don’t know why there are many different kinds of Church of Christ.
And many churches they call themselves Churches of Christ. Don’t know why they call themselves Churches of Christ.
How many Churches of Christ are no different from all the denominations around them?
In reality, that’s almost all of them. That’s why we call them mainstream Churches of Christ.
And so these people who claim to know God.
Who claimed to be able to worship him but don’t in the way that he wants to they may simply not be taught.
Or they may not believe that the word of God is true and all sufficient. And so that’s where that’s the kind of people that Paul is talking to here. Although he’s talking to people who don’t even know about the God increasingly more and more. This is the situation that we encounter in our lives today as we go to school as we go to work people who never grew up reading the Bible who never grew up hearing sermons whether it was in a denomination
Nation or in a faithful Church. It doesn’t matter. They know nothing about God all they know are the things that are anti-god that they have been taught.
most likely in school or in the media
or elsewhere
and so these are the kinds of people that Paul is talking to here. This is most likely the kind of person that you’re going to be talking to out there in the world. And so we want to know
how it is to deal with these types of conversations in Acts 2 Peter started with the prophet Joel and moved on to David and that was enough to prick their hearts, but in Acts 17 Paul starts at the very beginning and that’s just what we’re going to do for the rest of our sermon this morning.
Whatever you talk to these people who do not know God. They do not have a faith in God. They do not understand.
Where we came from?
Then you are going to have to build up this faith in these people. Look at verse 23, he says here for as I passed by and beheld your devotions. I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God whom ye ignorantly worship Him declare I unto you.
God that made the world and all things therein seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and Earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands neither is worshipped with men’s hands as though he needed anything seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things.
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the Earth and hath determined the times before appointed and Bounds of their habitation. He starts at the very beginning because the one question that everyone wants to know is how did I get here?
The unifying this is so-called. I’m not saying this as truth. This is the so-called unifying.
Theory in science in all of science is the theory of evolution.
All scientists will tell you that the theory of evolution is what ties all of the Sciences together. It’s the answer to everything because it answers how we got here.
And so if you want to build up Faith in people, the first thing you need to do is build up their faith in how we got here and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God you go to the word of God. That’s how you do it. It’s the only way there will never be a scientific proof that proves that God created the Earth.
The word of God is the proof.
in an order where in order to start where Paul did you will need to understand what the word of God actually says, so turn with me to Genesis chapter 1
And we’ll read the very first verse their Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 in the beginning. God created the Heaven and the Earth.
Now this verse here. This is not something that happened before the rest of the verses. This is an overview of the things that are about to be said.
Before he gets into the details he’s going to tell you this is how it all happened in the beginning. God created the heavens and the Earth in the beginning.
A couple of notes here about Hebrew Hebrew does not have a word for p Brew language does not have words for abstract things such as a beginning or create and so they use very tangible things. But these things will have double meaning so for example in the beginning the word beginning there is the word forehead if you were going to say if you’re going to call out someone’s head or draw a picture of the head. This is what it would be if you’re going to draw
Summit of a mountain you would use I’m sorry. If you’re going to write in the Hebrew the summit of a mountain Summit the word you would use the same word. If you were to write Chief such as most important.
This is the word that you would use here. And so the rider here Moses is saying that the most important thing the chief thing in the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Whatever you’re trying to convince someone that God exists. You must go here first because this is the chief thing.
The chief thing at the very beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Hebrew doesn’t have a word for create. The word here is to fatten he fattened it that is will read in the next verse. It was nothing, but he fattened it he filled it up.
A more literal translation here would probably be shaped in the beginning God shaped the Heaven and the Earth.
God shaped it whenever you fatten something you make it full you enhance the the angles or the curves on it. We call that shapely right shaped its shaped god-shaped the Heaven and the Earth. Another thing here the word Heaven. This is a fancy word. It simply means sky.
Sky and Earth Earth here is land.
Look at me down in verse 9 beginning he says and God said let the waters under the heaven be gathered unto 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 called he seas and God saw that it was good in the Bible Earth always refers to the land not a planet but the land.
So whatever you read Earth think of land.
So we have here the very cheap thing at the very head at the beginning. God shaped the sky and the land.
Why is the land important we’ll talk more about that a little bit later. But Paul said in his sermon that we just read that he is appointed for man to live on for man to live on land.
So the sky and the land those are the two things that men are most concerned about God created them.
In the chief moment in the chief time at the beginning.
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 face of the waters. So the this is again verse one is an overview. It doesn’t happen before verse 2, he starts with an overview and then he begins to start filling out the details here. He says the earth that is the land. It was without form. It was void. It is it didn’t have volume.
We saw that earlier that he fills it and we’ll look at that later and darkness was upon the face of the deep because there was no light. There was no sun. There was nothing it was just water at this point and the spirit of God moved upon the waters. All there was was water.
The spirit of God moved over it and he moved over it as a wind literally that’s what the Hebrew word here for spirit means and God said let there be light and there was light. How could there be light before anything to emit? The light the sun wasn’t created yet. The Stars weren’t created yet. Nothing to emit light was created yet. How can there be
Light will think about these people in this time. This is a culture very unlike ours the Hebrews I’m talking about very unlike ours. This culture was not hung up on gaining as much physical knowledge as possible like are called like our culture is our culture wants to gain physical knowledge through modernism and through naturalism. That is studying the natural things. This is the chief.
chief
and the highest pursuit in our culture today to be a scientist to study the physical world.
All Nations have a culture and a theology ours is called science. This is the thing that we put above almost everything else if not everything else.
Think about what we do with science in order to have authority over things that God created as we’re reading about here. We name them even if we have no idea what they are such as gravity.
No one has any idea what gravity even is but we name it.
Adams and so forth all of these things that we do not understand because we weren’t there whenever they were created. We do not have the knowledge of God, but we name them and pretend like we have authority over them.
The Hebrews didn’t do that. They didn’t need to but there is one physical thing physics. I’m talking about physics the study of physics that everyone can experience and that is light.
Light is the most important is the most important physical thing. Why because it’s the main source of energy.
It’s what gives us food plants plants that the animals eat animals that we eat plants that we eat. It’s how we Mark time day and night and we’ll talk about that a little bit more here.
Light the Hebrew word here is or or and it is precisely where we get our word order.
Order and God is a god of order. He wants all things to be done decently in order those who are disorderly 2nd Thessalonians. We withdraw from them.
so the first thing that God did here was he created or
the Hebrew word here can mean either physically light or it can mean abstractly order just like beginning or creation or these other things. So what God did on this day was he created the physics that create the laws the physical laws that we the natural laws that we see around us and that we exist in the laws that we exploit to build this building to breathe to eat.
All of these things he created on this day.
He created physics here and God called the light day and the Darkness he called night. If you have light it’s going to be day. If you have the absence of light it’s going to be called night and the evening and the morning were the first day.
Another thing that’s going on here is we have the evening in the morning as the first day what this is is this shows us there is movement now movement marks time.
We Mark things by whether they move slow or whether they move fast because we live in a 4D World 3D three directions plus the fourth direction is time. We live in a 4D World in time things move that are alive.
If you look at a movie if you watch a movie and they freeze time what happens everything stops moving?
All of the physical constants all of the physical things in the world the laws that we have God created on this day including time.
And this is important because this is exactly what the writer is trying to tell us by the evening and the morning were the first day. Now. This is an idiomatic expression in the Hebrew the evening and the morning were the first day if you were wanting to say that something spends. This is what you would say evening in the morning were the first day in Hebrew because they don’t have an abstract word for this. This is how you would do it what this implies is something like a fan blade something flat and spinning.
The evening and the morning were the first day imagine that you look up and you see a fan ceiling fan blades turning half of a revolution is the evening to the morning and the other half is the morning to the evening one 24-hour day in other words.
This is from the perspective of the Observer on the earth as this Revelation. As this vision is being given to Moses. He would be standing on the earth looking up and seeing.
the evening in the morning revolve
and so we have here the institution of time.
The institution of time the revolving of the sky like a ceiling fan.
and so
turn with me to Exodus chapter 20.
Exodus chapter 20
are these really 24-hour days?
Well Moses thought they were his readers thought they were and God is attempting to communicate that.
Look at Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8.
Beginning remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. Thy God in it Thou shalt do shall not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy manservant nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates for in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the sea and all that is in that that in them is and rested the seventh day where
The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
here
God is telling his people these two things are equal the seven days of the week.
And the seven days of creation.
Six days where he worked and the seventh he rested.
He’s equating these things together saying.
You’re going to do this because they are the same.
If he had meant something other than days there would have been a man. Any number of ways. He could have said it but instead he said these things are equal. God equates the days of creation with the days of the weeks. These are literal 24 hour days in Genesis chapter 1. So on the first day, we have the institution of physics and all the laws of nature including time and we have the first day.
That was enough work for that day the next day beginning in verse 6. God said let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters.
God said let there be a firmament 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.
What is the firmament? Well remember first that heaven here means sky. So this is something in the sky.
And there are actually many scriptures in the Bible that talk about this. There are a lot God wants us whenever we look up.
As Moses did is he was recording this we look up and we see this he wants us to understand what it is. Turn with me to Daniel 12 and verse 3.
Here we get a clue.
What is the firmament?
Daniel 12 verse 3 and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.
And they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars forever and ever the firmament is bright and it shines.
If you want to test this you can go out there and look up at the sky right now. It’s bright and it is shining turn with me to Job chapter 37.
Job chapter 37
and verse 18 He says hast thou with him spread out the sky which is strong and as a molten Looking Glass again, the firmament is strong.
And it’s a mole. It’s as bright as a molten Looking Glass. Imagine that you have a reflection you shine a light edit so bright that is so bright. It’s going to reflect back at you.
You might as well be looking at the light itself. The firmament is.
The firmament is spread out in the sky it is strong.
And it is bright like a molten Looking Glass.
Psalm chapter, I’m sorry the 148 song. There are no chapters in Psalms almost slipped up the 148 Psalm and verse 4.
The firmament holds back the waters that are above the heavens Praise Him. Ye heavens of heavens and you Waters above the heavens. So the firmament has a job and that is to hold back the waters above the heavens the heavens.
And finally Isaiah 40:22.
completing our description here
Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 22 he says
it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof as Grasshoppers and stretch it out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in what does it tend to do?
It keeps the waters from coming in just like the previous verse the tent keeps the water out. This is like a curtain. It’s a dome. I have a tent it’s called a Dome Tent because it’s shaped you get inside of it and it keeps the water out.
So this is a description of the firmament that God created on the first day above this. There are Waters and above that. We don’t have time to get into all of the verses. Unfortunately this morning, but you can look them up on your own above. That is the Throne of God.
So this is what the firmament is and he spent an entire day doing it. He spent the second day doing it and the evening and the morning were the second day verse 9 and God said let the waters under the heaven. So again the contrast of the waters above versus the waters below let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and he called the dry land Earth and the Gathering Together of the waters called he seas and God saw that.
It was good.
God created the earth. That is the dry land here on the third day turn back to job. There are a lot of questions about how this occurred Joe chapter 38.
Much work has gone into this in the scientific community.
Talking about how that geology the the geologic forces of the Earth have have shaped the topography and the rocks that we see around us.
The story that you get from science is that it has nothing to do with with God. It’s computer. It’s completely in purely a random process.
Purely a random process, but that’s not the way that the Bible talks about it.
Job chapter 37 Verse 18. No, I’m sorry, Joe 38:14.
Talking here about the Earth. If you look at verse 13 and verse 14, he says it is turned as clay to the seal and they stand as a garment the Earth was turned as clay to the seal. If you take a glob of clay and you push a seal into it. You’re going to get low areas and high areas.
And the areas that stand out above they stand up as folds in a garment garment is generally smooth and flat, which the Earth is almost all of the earth is relatively flat.
And by Earth, I mean dry land.
Because I’m using the Biblical term.
And the places that aren’t are remarkable we call those mountains people go there to spend time there because they’re special right lower places that role like folds in a garment and then you have lower places. You’ve dropped some water into that seal that you pressed out and it holds the water because as you pressed it the Earth came up around it to hold it.
So we have a description here of what it was like.
to create this
turn to 2nd Peter chapter 3.
We have more clues as to what this was like second Peter chapter 3.
verse 5 it says
for this they willingly are ignorant of
you could apply that too many scientists today that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the Earth standing out of the water and in the water.
So my my version I’m sure your says something different. If you’re using a more modern version my version kind of obscures this it’s not entirely clear what he’s saying, so I’m going to read you a different version.
That the heavens were of old and the Earth out of the water and by means of water compacted together by the word of God. This goes perfectly with the passage there in job where he smushed it out like clay under a seal. How did he do it with water? And when did he do it at the beginning on day three?
There’s a lot of confusion about when land was created. This verse tells you it was at the beginning.
On day three those what he says here. He says the Earth out of water and by means of water compacted together by the word of God out of water and by means of water.
This is all this is a great overview of what I was taught whenever I studied geology.
I think about it the word of God knew about it for a long time before we had the knowledge of men.
This is a great description of modern geology and the modern understanding of geology and God did it on day three.
God knew the Bible knew that the land was quote shaped by water.
Remember that word from one verse one created shaped God shaped it and he did it by water on day three. This is the whenever you are trying to convince someone.
about
The truth of God’s word you can take them and say listen God knew what he was talking about.
These things are all consistent with what we see around us today. So moving on we’re going to go to kind of a last Point here this morning. We’re going to skip the rest.
While it’s interesting and there’s a lot that could be said about it. We want to really focus on us verse 26 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 interestingly.
He says that he created man in his own image. It’s the same word that means to be filled or fattened. You could read this and God filled man with his own image the image of with the image of God filled he him male and female field. He them God gave us his image for us.
This is a passage. This is a type. This is an idea that’s repeated multiple times through through the Bible Genesis 5 verse 1 Genesis 9 and 6 and so forth.
This is the explanation for why you are different from the animals because God filled you with his very own image.
Turn with me to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 7.
We see how this is important.
1st Corinthians 11 and verse 7
it goes to the very way that we behave ourselves for a man indeed ought not to cover his head forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man whenever he created image of God in us. He also created a hierarchy.
There is hierarchy in the godhead just like there is hierarchy in the godhead. There is a hierarchy in men Colossians chapter 3.
Read with me from there Colossians 3:10 beginning.
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him where there is neither Greek nor Jew circumcision nor uncircumcision Barbarian scythian Bond nor free, but Christ is in is all and in all Christ is in us. We are filled created with the image.
This image comes this image is is enhanced with the knowledge of him that created him renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created him whenever we live the way that God wants us to be whenever we fill ourselves up with Christ. Then we project the image that God would have us to be the ideal the ideal person the ideal way to live.
2nd Peter chapter 1 and verse 4 tells us how to do this.
Whereby were given to us exceeding great and precious promises. Actually. Let’s read verse 3 according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge just like we read in Colossians of him that hath called us to glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust to live up to the ideal to really Shine the image of God. You will escape
Escape the corruption of the world.
Because the world corrupts the image of God.
Whenever it defies him and chases after its own lusts.
notice here what he says in Colossians that he says that there’s neither Bond nor free or or Greek or otherwise
Men divide not God.
Men are the ones that divide God unites evolutionists say that there are many species of mankind for example, Neanderthals.
and others
Well, the species is defined by science is something that is read as an organism or a group of organisms that are reproductively isolated.
Like dogs and cats you can’t cross a dog. You can’t cross a cat. You can’t cross a dog in a horse or a pig and a human. It’s not possible.
God doesn’t tell us that he says there is one kind in so far is there was people that we call Neanderthals.
Which probably there was they were not different than us.
They interbred with so-called humans. And in fact science tells us that all of us have at least 30 percent of our genome contributed from neanderthals. And so we cannot be reproductively isolated but science divides.
Into races into species of mankind and we’ll go back and read and check in Acts chapter 17 in just a moment.
All of this is based on the theory of evolution that there are multiple species of humans.
And they know all of this through genetics genetics is a fairly new science and it is always been from the very beginning interpreted through Evolution. Even in medicine today where they use genetics. It’s always interpreted through the lens of evolution.
It’s such a new science. There are a lot of assumptions and a lot of them that you have been told.
You just assumed to be true, for example the double helix, if I were to draw a double helix up here, you would immediately think DNA because it’s so ubiquitous but no one actually knows that that’s the shape of DNA.
The only way that Watson and Crick elucidated it was by looking at refraction angles and x-ray diffraction.
But there’s no picture of it. No one actually knows for for for certain and the double helix is only one possible solution. It is non unique.
There are in fact thought now to be multiple different ways that shapes for DNA and yet you’ve been told that with total and complete certainty because science knows if we can put a name on it and show you then you’ll believe it.
We need to be careful with what they tell us because they want to divide us and they want to prove to us that the Bible is not true. Turn with me back to Acts chapter 17, and we’re almost done.
Just a few more minutes.
Acts chapter 17
neanderthals humans evolution
races black white
Look at verse 24.
God that made the world and all things therein seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and Earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
Neither is worshipped with men’s hands as though he needed anything scene he gave to all life and breath and all things and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the Earth land the land.
Men dwell on the land. We may we may take excursions over over the waters or into the air but we always go back to land and we dwell on the face of the land Look up the word face don’t have time. It’s very interesting for the implications of Science and what we believe and have determined the times before appointed in the bounds of their habitation one blood he made science divides God unites.
Science supposes to know and they base all of these things.
on a creation story that directly contradicts the word of God
as we read about in Genesis chapter 1. So what is the answer? Well, we have a responsibility to continue reading in verse 27 that they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him though. He be not far from everyone of us share with people the word of God and then share them that he is there.
And it is our responsibility to seek after him find him because he is not far from any one of us and in whom we live and move and have our being we would not exist if it were not for him.
Science doesn’t know how we exist.
It’s all a mystery. But God does God does.
As certain also of your own poets have said for we being his offspring for as much then as we are The Offspring of God, we ought not to think that the godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone Graven by Art and man’s device and the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent your responsibility is to know who God is to seek after him and repent.
repent why verse 31 because because
he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance unto all men and that he hath raised him from the dead. Your responsibility is to seek after him your reward.
Is that he will raise you from the dead or he will judge you your choice. The choice is ours this morning.
each and every one of us
Are we going to accept the reward are we going to seek after him or we going to turn to his word and say I believe this?
Are we going to spend time in the word so that our faith can be bolstered?
I believe this is the word of God. It knows he knows where we came from because he put us here. He appointed the time and place for you to be here and for me to be here and he wants you to be with him whenever the firmament is rolled back like a scroll and we can see Jesus coming down.
He wants you to be able to meet him in the sky to be raised with him.
To be raised with him.
To live eternally in the heaven where he is even this very day. So this morning I hope that you found that to be useful. I hope that you can hope that it explains the creation by walking through very carefully and very slowly. It is your responsibility to seek after God and he will reward you with a life beyond anything you could possibly imagine.
If you need assistance with that this morning, we pray that you would make it known while we stand and sing. The song has been selected.