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Sermon Notes for September 18, 2005
Understanding Basic Biblical Theology
And Its Impact On Your Life
The Creation of the World by God
“Was There Intelligent Design Behind Creation?”
Genesis 1:1-5
Introduction
A. Tough PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS.
1. Where did all of this come from?
a. the earth
b. the clouds
c. the trees
d. the oceans
e. the people
2. Was this all by chance or accident?
a. as scientist Carl Sagan once said, “The cosmos is all there is, or has been or will be.”
b. Is there nothing spiritual about this world?
c. this would be the ultimate conclusion if you believed in Darwinian Evolution
3. Or . . . was there some Intelligent Designer behind it all?
a. recently, President Bush said that “School children should be taught about intelligent design, a view of creation that challenges established scientific thinking and promotes the idea that an unseen force is behind the development of humanity.” (Washington Post; August 3, 2005)
b. there are many, many scientists embracing this position today
4. Perhaps we would agree with one who has said regarding the discussion of how life began:
a. “I don’t know.”
b. “You don’t know.”
c. “Nobody else knows.”
d. “It’s intelligent to think about it.”
B. Tough PERSONAL QUESTIONS.
1. Do you have any idea of the repercussions if there is NO Intelligent Designer behind the creation?
a. that we all came from “primordial soup”
b. that we are all here by chance?
c. that we as humans, are simply an advanced stage of the animal kingdom
2. Then . . .
a. what does that say about me as a person?
1. if I am “simply” an advanced form of the animal kingdom
2. where is the dignity in that?
Dr. R.C. Sproul – “Man in the twentieth century has been
busily engaged in a quest for dignity. It is a very earnest
quest. The civil rights movement developed the cry, ‘We are
human beings; we are creatures of dignity; we want to be
treated as beings of dignity.’ So also have others. But the
existentialist tells us that our roots are in nothingness, that
our future is in nothingness, and he asks, “Think, man, if your
origins are in nothing and your destiny is in nothing, how
can you possibly have any dignity now?’”
b. if scientific evolution is true:
1. we are nothing but organized matter
2. everything that we are and do is the result of non-living,
non-intelligent, non-purposeful matter
3. there is no real right or wrong; good or evil
4. no one has any real obligation to do anything or not do
anything
5. physical death is the absolute end of us all
6. there is no ultimate meaning for life
3. However, as we all know, you can’t think “merely” scientifically about the creation and NOT think philosophically.
a. THAT is why this topic is so important to EACH OF US.
b. WHO MADE US and WHY ARE WE HERE? You SHOULD want to know those answers.
c. let’s see what God’s Word says about all of this as we look at Genesis 1
I. The CREATOR.
A. WHAT Was In The Beginning?
1. No matter WHAT your scientific position, YOU HAVE TO START WITH SOMETHING!
a. gases
b. primordial soup
c. The Big Bang
2. And no matter how far back you go, you HAVE to start with the beginning of matter.
a. this is where scientists HAVE to be seen as “people of faith”
1. WHERE DID THE MATTER COME FROM?
2. no matter how scientific you are, you have to realize that the
creation of the world went from nothing to something. HOW
did NOTHING BECOME SOMETHING?
3. One day a group of scientists got together and decided that man
had come a long way and no longer needed God. So they
picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with
Him.
The scientist walked up to God and said “God, we’ve
decided that we no longer need you; We’re to the point that
we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why
don’t You just go and get lost?
God listened very patiently and kindly to the man. After
the scientist was done talking, God said, “Very well, how about
this? Let’s say we have a man-making contest?” To which
the scientist replied, “Okay, great!”
“But,” God added, “now we’re going to do this just like I
did back in the old days with Adam?” The scientists said,
“Sure, no problem?” and bent down and grabbed himself a
handful of dirt. God looked at him and said, “No, no, no. You
go get your own dirt?”
b. many scientists believe in the Big Bang
1. that there was an explosion of gases that began our universe
2. well, I have one question for you, Mr. Scientist,WHERE did
those gases come from for creating that Big Bang?
3. as Pastor Bill Hybels asked – “If there was a Big Bang, who
pulled the trigger?”
B. WHO Was In The Beginning?
1. The Bible as allegory.
a. if you pick up the book of Genesis and begin reading, you will see these words . . . “In the beginning God”
1. THE SCRIPTURES NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING BUT
THAT GOD WAS THERE IN THE BEGINNING!
2. the Scripture does not treat Genesis, Chapter 1 as an allegory or
an example
3. it simply states a fact; “In the beginning, God”
4. in fact, whereas there are four English words to say that, in
Hebrew, it is actually two words: reshith Elohim –
Inthebeginning God
b. there is a huge danger in allegorizing the Scripture when it does not allegorize itself
1. in places, the Scriptures use allegorical statements:
a. Psalm 114:6 - “You mountains that skipped like
rams”
b. when Jesus illustrated the bread and wine of the
Passover as His body and blood – He used an allegory
2. but Scripture DOES NOT ALLEGORIZE IN GENESIS 1 -
THIS IS A STATEMENT OF FACT
3. Biblical scholars say of this verse: “This is not poetry but
narrative prose. The whole account is written in the normal
Hebrew narrative tense. There is no question that the Genesis
account is written as history.”
2. The Bible as accuracy.
a. The author, Moses, totally assumes that God was real and was in the beginning. In fact, Moses uses a grammatical practice known as a polysyndeton to make these factual points even more clear.
1. a polysyndeton is a grammatical device of using many
conjunctions for emphasis
2. there are some 100 ands in the first chapter of Genesis
a. the conjunction “and” begins the creation of each
different day of the week
b. so . . . not only did Moses consider God to be real and
factual, Moses wanted to make this fact crystal clear,
over and over and over
b. also, in Genesis 1, God’s name is used 32 times and then 43 times if you count personal pronouns
c. notice also, that the rest of Scripture “assumes” that God created the world
1. Psalm 90:1-2 – “Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or
you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting
to everlasting you are God.”
2. Jesus’ own words - Mark 13:18-19 – “Pray that this will not
take place in winter, because those will be days of distress
unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world,
until now--and never to be equaled again.”
II. The CREATION.
A. MAN’S VIEW Of Creation.
1. Naturalistic evolution – The belief in the development of the species from the first living cell to the present diversity of plant, animal and human species.
2. Theistic evolution – A belief in the theory of evolution with God creating the first living cell.
B. GOD’S VIEW Of Creation.
1. God WAS IN THE BEGINNING.
a. there is absolutely NO DOUBT what Genesis 1 is teaching here
1. God was there in the beginning
2. There was no accident.
There was no chance.
There was a creation BECAUSE there was a Creator.
b. if you truly want to be BIBLICAL, you MUST see that God is the creator
1. and as one has said, if you do not take what is intended as literal
“literally” in Genesis 1, why would you believe what the Bible
teaches about Jesus and salvation as literal?
2. we cannot “pick and choose” what is to be taken literally unless
the Scripture tells to do so
2. God CREATED IN THE BEGINNING.
a. God created out of nothing
1. Moses did not use the Hebrew word asah, which means to
make out of something else (like a piece of furniture out of
wood)
2. no, Moses used the Hebrew word bara
a. which means to create out of nothing
b. Romans 4:17 (NASV) – “A father of many nations
have I made you in the sight of Him whom he believed,
even God, who gives life to the dead, and calls into
being that which does not exist.”
c. the intent of the Hebrew word bara was to show that
God created something THAT DID NOT EXIST
BEFORE!
b. now, let us see what He created out of nothing
III. The CHAOS Of Creation.
Vs. 2 – “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
A. The Earth Was Formless.
1. God created the “raw materials” that would form the earth.
2. But it was a wasteland.
3. There was no order, no real form.
B. The Earth Was Void.
1. There were no trees, bushes, oceans.
2. There was no living thing there.
C. The Earth Was Dark.
1. Light had not yet been made.
2. Although God could “see it” all.
IV. The CATACLYSM Of Creation.
A. The PRESENCE Of God.
Vs. 2a – “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
1. Do you notice WHO is seen in the second verse of Genesis 1? THE HOLY SPIRIT!
2. What is the work of the Holy Spirit in Scripture? It is one of POWER!
a. Luke 4:14 – “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.”
b. Acts 1:8 - “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
c. I Corinthians 2:4-5 – “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.”
3. There is something called the Law of First Mention.
a. what the Law of First Mention says is that the first time something is mentioned in Scriptures, it dictates how that thing will act every other time it is mentioned throughout the Scriptures
b. the Spirit of God is seen as a Spirit of power – so always - in the Old and New Testaments– that is His task – even from the beginning of time
4. The word for hover is an interesting word.
a. shutter
b. shake
c. flow
d. flutter
5. The Holy Spirit is preparing to do an initial work of power and of energy.
B. The POWER Of God.
1. Was creation seen in Scripture as something which took place over billions and billions of years?
2. Notice what the Scripture says, “And God said . . . let there be light . . . and there was light.”
a. FIRST of all, look at the period of creation.
1. notice how the Scripture says that He created some of the other
days
a. Day Two – Vs. 6-7 - And God said, "Let there be an
expanse between the waters to separate water from
water." So God made the expanse and separated the
water under the expanse from the water above it. And it
was so.
b. Day Three – Vs. 9 - And God said, "Let the water
under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry
ground appear." And it was so.
2. how much “time” does it appear to take God to create the
various days?
b. SECOND, look at the power of creation – And God said, “Let there be light. And there was light.”
1. God called creation into being BY HIS WORD.
a. BECAUSE HE “SAID SO”
b. the actual Hebrew does not say “let there be light;”
actually the Hebrew literally says . . . “light be.”
c. don’t we see this done by Jesus as well?
1. Mark 4:39 – When Jesus was in the boat with
His disciples, and a storm came up. What did
Jesus say . . . “Peace, be still” then the wind
died down and it was completely calm.”
2. John 11:43-44a – Jesus is standing outside the
tomb of Lazarus, who had been dead for four
days. What does Jesus say: “Lazarus, come
forth!”
3. Matthew 26:53 – In the Garden of Gethsemane,
after being arrested, Peter challenged the
soldiers. Jesus rebuked him saying: “Do you
think I cannot call on my Father and He will at
once put at my disposal twelve legions of
angels?”
2. THIS WAS HOW GOD CRAFTED THE WORLD