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Gen 1-3, 6-9 Jan. 13,13
CREATION: WHAT THE BIBLE’S FIRST CHAPTERS REVEAL
or SIX ESSENTIAL TRUTHS YOU WILL NEVER LEARN FROM REASON ALONE!
Children’s Time: VIDEO—The Watchmaker
Good Morning! When I was getting ready to work on the message, I realized that today would be 1313...so is this an UNLUCKY DAY for us? Of course not! Every Sunday we believers celebrate the
Resurrection for Jesus, and that’s great news. In fact, since we are starting our STORY JOURNEY today with
the CREATION of the world, we are not only blessed, we are LUCKY!
I say that, because several years ago, I started make a LONG LIST about CREATION entitled
ISN'T IT LUCKY THAT …
Now of course, as believers, we know that we are living in a wonderful world—once a PARADISE on EARTH,
personally created by God Himself.
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that
what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Hebrews 11:3 (ESV)
But we live in a world of unbelievers, and so I wrote this list to tease them…in a friendly way…I’ve made a few
copies you can pick up here if you wish after the service…after all, if you don’t believe the Bible, and all you
have is what REASON and SCIENCE can reveal about CREATION, it’s just a BIG BANG that happened some
15 Billion Years ago for reasons we don’t know…when everything that is in our immense cosmos started from
energy released from the size of a period at the end of a sentence on a page…. Everything at that moment had
to be perfect. Everything, or we would not be here to talk about it. Here’s part of my list…
ISN'T IT LUCKY THAT …

…the velocity of this BIG BANG was just right? If it was just a little greater, nothing could exist as the
formation of atoms couldn’t have occurred.

…we got all the good stuff on this Planet? The rest of the UNIVERSE is made of 99.999 % Helium and
Hydrogen. Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Carbon and other heavier atoms are EXTREMELY RARE everywhere
else in the GALAXY!

… the precise distance from the earth to the Sun is the right distance? Carbon chains (an essential
component of flexible, living tissues), which cannot survive outside of a special range of temperatures,
can because the precise distance of earth from the sun is perfect. By the way - stability of carbon dioxide
depends on alternating light and darkness.

…the earth is the right size? The size of the earth determines its atmosphere. If larger, earth would have
retained too large a percentage of gases inimical to life. If smaller, it would have been insufficient to hold
any atmosphere at all.

…we are the right size? …we aren't twice as big or we could not walk upright? The size of we human
beings is perfect. If we were twice as tall, tripping would cripple or kill us and it would not be safe to walk
on two legs.

…our moon is the right size? It’s largest satellite relative to its parent planet in our Solar System. The
resulting tides keep ocean fresh. Otherwise life in oceans would likely be minimal.

…the rate of revolution of earth is just right? Nothing gets too cold or too hot, which makes earth perfect
for renewal of animal life.

… our planet tilts just right? Due to slight angle 23% tilt of planet on its axis, not only do we have
enjoyable Seasonal variations, these seasons stop the development of micro-organisms causing disease,
etc. Just imagine if ideal conditions for the multiplication of mosquitoes was to exist always?

… the ratio of water to land is 3 to 1—just right? This Ratio assures that earth will neither be parched nor
swamped. All living things are 80 to 90% water, and depend on plenty of water. Also, isn’t it neat that
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water, the perfect solvent, unlike every other element, expands instead of contracts, when it freezes?
Otherwise ice would sink instead of float, and life on planet earth wouldn’t exist either!
I could go on and on...our Earth possesses a magnetic field around it that shields us from the harmful
solar wind. Our atmosphere would be slowly stripped away without our magnetic field. This magnetic shield is
generated because the earth is just the right size to maintain a hot liquid iron core. All our water creates
clouds over about two thirds of the earth at any one time. Clouds help control our temperature by reflecting
some of the sun’s energy back out into space. You could literally add a million points to this list! It’s all really
LUCKY, wouldn’t you agree? (OR is it all due after all to the WISDOM OF GOD AS DESIGNER?)
These are all the things that modern Physics can teach us about…but today I want to look at what we can’t
learn from SCIENCE of REASON…but only from God’s unique REVELATION. Today I want to CREATION:
WHAT THE BIBLE’S FIRST CHAPTERS REVEAL
or SIX ESSENTIAL TRUTHS YOU WILL NEVER LEARN FROM REASON ALONE!
1. I am the apple of God’s eye!
When you read the story of CREATION in Genesis, it doesn’t even pretend to be a HOW TO BOOK. You can’t
learn how to create your own universe by reading this book. You can’t take your Bunsen Burner into the
laboratory, open the Bible, and learn the science of how God created the world. Indeed, this is more like a
WORSHIP LITANY than a physics book. God creates everything in six days, and then RESTS on the seventh.
The first three days, He creates Places: LIGHT AND DARK; SKY AND WATER; finally LAND appears. The
next three days He fills those PLACES with things: SUN, MOON and STARS; BIRD & SEA CREATURES, and
finally on sixth day, ANIMALS and HUMAN BEINGS. After each act of creation, God looks a that He has
created out of nothing, and makes a pronouncement: GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. Six times, same
statement. But after creating the first MAN and the first WOMAN, and looking them over, God changes the
LITANY: READ BOTTOM OF PAGE 2ff
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Then 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 birds of the
heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. … 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and
behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:26-28, 31 (ESV)
You can almost see God rubbing His hands together! He really, really liked what He had created! The first
man and the first woman in His own image…with a soul, conscience, free will …able to freely communicate
and relate to God unlike any of the plants or animals. And that was that…we are the apple of God’s eye! All
the beauties of creation are secondary in God’s eyes to you! God’s supreme passion is you! You are the
reason all things were created! That’s a truth you need to know! That is the ultimate SELF ESTEEM
BUILDER! That is a truth that REASON could never teach you…reason might lead you to think that you are
nothing more than part of the scum on the 3rd planet of one of the smaller and insignificant stars in one of the
trillions of galaxies in the universe…but REVELATION teaches you the incredible truth that you are the apple
of God’s eye---and that’s a truth you need to remember every day of your life! Why not turn to someone near
you and proclaim this great truth: I am the apple of God’s eye!
2. I belong to a race of rebels!
(READ first five paragraphs of THE STORY page 5) “Where are you?” That’s the first question in the Bible,
and a question that God has been asking every man and woman on the planet ever since.
From this story I learn that I come from a RACE OF REBELS! My first parents got greedy and prideful.
They had it great, but they listened to a lie…a HALF-TRUTH. That’s what sin is always about…listening to
HALF TRUTHS.
There’s a story out of ancient history that reminds me of about HALF TRUTHS. The story is about
mighty, rich KING CROESUS of Lydia. Have you ever heard the saying, “RICH AS CROESUS?” This guy
was wealthy, powerful, but he was also greedy and prideful and he wanted more. He decided to cross the
River Halys and attack the king of Persia. But just to be careful, he consulted the famous Oracle at Delphi in
Greece. There he was given this famous message: “If you cross the Halys River you will destroy a large
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kingdom.” He listened to this message, and was encouraged, so he hurriedly crossed over with his army and
started a war. It was only when he was terribly defeated in battle and facing his own destruction that he
realized that he had listened to a HALF TRUTH. Yes, crossing the river would mean that a kingdom would be
destroyed—but the kingdom meant by the oracle was his own!
That’s what the promise of SIN is like. It deceives you. It always presents a HALF TRUTH. You
wouldn’t sin unless you thought that you would be gaining something—but in the end you lose everything.
Adam and Eve were told that by eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes would be opened,
and they would be able to know both good and evil for themselves. And that’s exactly what happened. Up to
then, they simply trusted God to decide what was good for them, and all they had experienced and known
about was GOOD stuff. But now they had a real EYE-OPENER—and they came quickly to know—to their
everlasting REGRET, all about EVIL as well!
From the moment that Adam and Eve were DECIEVED and then STOLE the FRUIT, they learn all
about EVIL!
Interestingly, the FIRST RESULT of SIN is that they don’t like themselves very much anymore. Their
first reaction was to COVER UP. Adam wants to hid everything—even from Eve…that’s what the FIG LEAVES
were all about. With sin comes SHAME, and I have to set a boundary between myself and God, and myself
and everyone else. This isn’t how either of them wanted it. But they got deceived by a lie!
They even HIDE from God! Up until that moment, our first parents delighted to be around God. They
stood straight and tall, open and transparent, with nothing to hide. But now everything is different… They are
separated from God, from each other, and neither of them likes themselves very much either!
But this is just a small part of the entire story. EVIL has lots of other results. How about the BLAME
GAME . Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent. Both really are blaming God: “God, if you hadn’t given me
a defective woman…God if you hadn’t allowed a sneaky serpent in the Garden…so it’s God’s fault!” This is
the game our race has been playing all these years since. If there’s any problems, tragedies, anything we don’t
like…IT’S GOD’S FAULT!
Notice, NEITHER of them can simply take RESPONSIBILITY for their actions. They both “gifted” our
planet with the VICTIM mentality…passing the BUCK…it’s his fault, her fault, the snake’s fault, society’s fault,
and finally, it’s God’s FAULT.
From this point on the Bible is the story of a race of rebels listening to lies, half-truths, ignoring God’s
decrees, doing and saying what they want, and then when things fall down all around them, instead of
admitting they were wrong, they BUCK UP, they HIDE, they BLAME someone else, and act like they are
INNOCENT VICTIMS with NO RESPONSIBILITY for the MESS they are in!
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. Genesis 6:5
But we are FOOLS to think we can HIDE from God. This is HIS WORLD and we play by HIS RULES
whether we want to or not. That’s why I live in an accursed world!
3. I live in an accursed world!
When you continue to read the STORY on page 5 you discover that no sooner did my RACE start to believe
LIES and the Devil’s HALF-TRUTHS than God started passing out the CURSES. Suddenly life gets hard, and
thorns come up out of the ground. This might shock some of you, who have been taught that God is a God of
LOVE…and that is absolutely true…He is a God of LOVE…far more LOVING than you or I will ever
comprehend…but you can’t have LOVE without LAW. You can’t have GRACE without WRATH, UP without
DOWN.
You see, we live in a world that means sense…a world where scientists can discover LAWS of
SCIENCE that make life predictable. You could say that we live in a LEGAL UNIVERSE…where for every
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ACTION there must be an equal and opposite REACTION. Every chemist or nuclear physicist knows that
every formula must balance.
As I said two weeks ago, IF YOU JUMP OFF A HIGH BUILDING, YOU DON’T BREAK THE LAW OF
GRAVITY, YOU DEMONSTRATE IT! In the same way, if you BREAK GOD’S MORAL LAWS, you simply
DEMONSTRATE the righteousness and glory of God’s MORAL LAWS by suffering the horrible consequences
of VIOLATING them! If you keep God’s commands, you are BLESSED. If you violate God’s commands, you
are CURSED! It is simply the CURSE of the LAW. It’s from God. It isn’t meant that God still isn’t a God of
love. It’s not like God has a heavy FLY SWATTER, waiting for someone to get out of line, so He can beat
them to a pulp. It’s simple because we live in a LEGAL UNIVERSE.
Because our research engineers have become HUMBLE and OBEDIENT to the natural laws of
science, we have seen more progress, discoveries, improvements and BLESSINGS in the past 100 years than
in all or recorded civilized history. And yet IRONICALLY at the same time we are so ARROGANT about the
laws governing our inner spirits and outer relationships, that we are only increasing the CURSES we face as a
world messing up our real peace and joy in life!
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Galatians 6:7 (ESV)
God has provided a wonderful TUNE for you to SING and KEEP IN HARMONY with HIM. You can
choose to sing OFF KEY…but no one is fooled…and the result is not very beautiful! None of us should be
surprised a single day of our lives when terrible things happen all around us…murder, disease, betrayal. I am
living in an accused world!
That’s what the rest of these pages in CHAPTER ONE of the STORY are all about…how terribly wrong
things can get when we CHOOSE GOD’S CURSES instead of HIS BLESSINGS.
4. I am still responsible for my right choices.
Right in the middle of this horrible, horrible mess, we meet one of the great characters of the Bible:
NOAH. READ PARAGRAPH ONE of PAGE EIGHT.
What a verse of HOPE! In the midst of this mess God found ONE MAN. Do you believe that? That all
it takes to change a home, a city, a nation, a world, is ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN, who chooses to live under
God’s Favor?
SHOW VIDEO: NOAH—SITUATION
Listen to Jesus in Matthew 24:37, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the
Son of Man.” We’re getting closer & closer to the coming of Jesus Christ because our culture is becoming
very much like the culture of Noah’s day.
Now we can learn something from NOAH: I am still responsible for my right choices. Or putting it another
way, “I am accountable to an absolute standard of truth regardless of public opinion.”
That goes against our culture today, which says, “There is no absolute standard of truth. Truth keeps
shifting all the time. It depends upon the circumstances.”
But the Bible teaches that Jesus is the truth, & the truth never changes. It is the same yesterday, today, &
forever. And we dare not change it.
ILL. However, we work in a world that proclaims majority rule. If 51% of the people say, “That’s moral,”
then it’s moral. If 75% of the people say its right, then it’s right.
The newspapers this week informed us that the pastor who was going to give the invocation for the president’s
inauguration ceremony was dis-invited. I seems that it was discovered that he preaches that marriage is
between one man and one woman, and that is not something this administration can TOLERATE, so someone
else is needed to ask God’s blessing on our nation…which makes me tremble…because it may be that we will
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be experiencing more curses than blessings in the years to come, because things don’t work very well when
we believe lies and half-truths.
ILL. Do you realize that most of the people in Germany thought Hitler was right when WW2 broke out? Do you
realize that most of the people in the south thought slavery was right when the Civil War broke out? And do
you realize that 99.999% of the people in Noah’s day thought that Noah was wrong? And they were swept
away by the flood.
Often the majority is wrong. So remember, “It isn’t about public opinion.” God’s LAWS are still on the
books. We live in a LEGAL UNIVERSE. And…
I am still responsible for my right choices.
I want to close quickly with two more TRUTHS that REASON could never show us…but that we find in this first
section of the STORY of the BIBLE…truths not about us…but about our GOD.
5. My God intervenes in our world.
People who don’t access the Bible to discover truth have no idea how ACTIVE God really is in daily life.
Philosophers speculate—that’s what they do, and years ago they came up with the idea recognizing the
perfect design of creation and the consistency of physical laws, that God was a WATCHMAKER. Reason is
enough to come up with that truth that I presented to the children earlier. But REASON would never
comprehend that God isn’t a WATCHMAKER who wound up the UNIVERSE and then walked away…reason
would never come up with a God who walks in the Garden with us, and wants to RELATE to us…and when we
chose to separate ourselves from Him, it broke His heart!
Yes, His LAW allows FLOODS and CURSES when things get out of hand. But He constantly
INTERVENES to minimize the worse things that would otherwise happen to us. He even REMOVES us from
the GARDEN so that we can’t eat of the TREE OF LIFE. Did that bother you? Actually, removing us from the
Garden so that we couldn’t eat of the TREE OF LIFE isn’t part of the CURSES, but part of the BLESSINGS!
Can you imagine stuck in this accursed world forever in a state of SIN and HATRED? Preventing us from
sustaining ourselves in this state forever, and providing us with a way of escape is one of His great actions of
GRACE!
That’s what the rest of the STORY is about…God’s relentless pursuit of us, and the amazing extent to which
he will go to get us back. This STORY begins with the creation of heaven and earth, and it ends this way:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…” Revelation
21:1
And the last chapter of the Bible assures us (Revelation 22:2) that there we will also be reunited with the tree of
life, right in the middle of NEW JERUSALEM.
Last point…
6. My God will go to any lengths to get us back!
When God found Adam and Eve in the Garden full of shame, and covered with FIG LEAVES, we are
given an amazing CLUE of just how far God will go to get us back. READ BOTTOM OF PAGE 6:
“The LORD made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21
This is an amazing CLUE-- It will take the shedding of blood!
God will do whatever it takes. The buck stops here! This is the very first CLUE of what will happen one day on
a hill far away when a cross is raised holding God’s own Son!
So what do we learn in this first section of the STORY that REASON could never reveal to us?
1. I am the apple of God’s eye!
2. I belong to a race of rebels!
3. I live in an accursed world!
4. I am still responsible for my right choices.
But I also learn…
5. My God intervenes in our world.
6. And finally, I’m invited to soak in the fact that the God of the universe wants to be with more than anything on earth—literally!
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Sermon Notes
Gen 1-3, 6-9 CREATION: WHAT THE BIBLE’S FIRST CHAPTERS REVEAL
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are
visible. Hebrews 11:3
ISN'T IT LUCKY THAT …
SIX ESSENTIAL TRUTHS YOU WILL NEVER LEARN FROM REASON ALONE!
1. I am the apple of God’s eye!
26
Then 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 birds of the
heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. … 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and
behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:26-28, 31 (ESV)
2. I belong to a race of rebels!
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually. Genesis 6:5
3. I live in an accursed world!
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Galatians 6:7 (ESV)
4. I am still responsible for my right choices.
“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Matthew 24:37
Hebrews 13:8 (ESV)
5. My God intervenes in our world.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…” Revelation 21:1
6. My God will go to any lengths to get us back!
“The LORD made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21