In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So that's the whole sermon text for next Sunday. We won't start any expositions this week, but when we start the expositions next week, We'll start with just a single verse and then we'll pick up steam from there. We're not going verse at a time through 11 chapters. Today we have our introduction to Genesis.

Oh God, Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. And how we need it, how we need you to throw light on the world that we're living in and show us things that we could never know unless you had revealed truth to us. We find that so often our inclinations are very different than the reality that your Word reveals and yet as we live decade after decade we find that you're right and our initial inclinations were so wrong and would have plunged us into destruction. I thank you for the book of Genesis. I thank you for all the doctrines of Scripture that are here in seed form and then are further developed in the whole council of God throughout scripture.

Pray that you would use this time that I look back on this time would be one of just rich learning of great Bible truths. Ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. So this introductory sermon since we've had the public reading of four chapters will be short. I think I can be in and out in a half an hour and then we'll start the expositions next week.

First, some facts and figures. We're studying the book of Genesis. Where does that name come from? The original Hebrew is from the opening word. So there's a single beginning word of scripture, we translate it in the beginning.

And that's the Hebrew text is titled from that first word. The Greek translation of that Hebrew word is translated origins. So in the beginning in Hebrews, or if you, it's called the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of that. In Jesus' time, often they were working, because Greek was the worldwide language at the time. It was close to what English is today.

Many would be working from a full Greek text, meaning Greek Old Testament, and in the early church, Greek New Testament. And the translation of that first Hebrew word is origin. So this is the book of beginnings, in the beginning, or origins, the book of beginnings, or starting points. That's how the book is named, Genesis, the book of beginnings. Who wrote Genesis?

Moses wrote Genesis for 1, 800 years. That wouldn't have been controversial. Everybody would have just understood that. Today, in academic circles, that is no longer controversial at all. Most academics don't think it is.

So, evangelical academics still thinks it was written by Moses, but many academics are outside of that in mainline denominations, and they don't think Moses wrote it at all. The Old Testament is sacred scripture to both Jews and Christians. So you take an Old Testament into the Jewish community and they're happy to see it, It's sacred scripture to them too. And until the 1800s, the overwhelming understanding was that of course Moses wrote Genesis. But in the 1800s, what I would term the scholarship of unbelief began to question Mosaic authority and to offer alternative theories.

By the way, there's been a stacking of those theories. There's really no end to those theories. These theories were offered not based on any new information. It's not like in the 1800s this whiz bang thing was found and now we know that Moses didn't write it. But it was really arising out of a different view of what the Bible actually is.

So why after 18th century is there a different view? It's not new information, it's a different view of what the Bible is. Evangelicals still, hopefully, believe that the Bible actually has one author that used a number of different human authors through history, But it's really God behind it all, perfectly inspiring it. If you hold that view, then you say, Moses wrote this. If you don't hold that view, you have all sorts of alternate theories to pick from.

Let me start here. Genesis is the first part of a literary unit. In other words, Genesis is a standalone book in the sense that it's always been a distinct book, but it is part of a literary unit in that it's clearly part of what we know as the Pentateuch. Pentateuch means five scrolls. And So it's the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Here's a note from the MacArthur Study Bible. Pentateuch means five scrolls. The five independent Books of the Pentateuch were written as an unbroken unity in content and historical sequence with each succeeding book beginning where the former book left off. What he's saying here is you have Genesis, but The very end of Genesis is completely woven together with the very beginning of Exodus. The very end of Exodus is completely woven together with the book of Leviticus, and the same with Numbers, and the same with Deuteronomy, where one ends off, the other picks up right at that point.

And so there's no other way to look at it as a unified group of books that were written together and always intended to exist together. The ESV study Bible has this note. The first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, are foundational to the rest, and Genesis is the foundation of the Pentateuch. So what is the ESV pointing out? Well, the whole Bible is built on the foundation of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, these first five books of the Bible.

And the Pentateuch is absolutely dependent on this first book of the Bible, Genesis. I think That's a helpful way to look at it. The Pentateuch is a foundation for all the rest of scripture, and Genesis is the foundation for the Pentateuch. The whole Old Testament attributes the authorship of the whole Pentateuch to Moses. So you don't find anything else in the Old Testament, and you find a lot of this in the Old Testament, that Moses was the author of this five-book block of Scripture.

Examples, Exodus 17 verse 14, then the Lord said to Moses, write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. So Exodus 17, 14 has God commanding Moses to write these things down. So Moses didn't think, hey, neat things are happening. I should record this, you know? Dear diary, this is not how we got the Pentecost.

God was saying, write this down, intending it for it to be a heritage for the people of God forever, throughout human history. Another example, Numbers 33, verse 2. Now, Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. And these are the journeys according to their starting points. So Everywhere that the people traveled between liberation from Egypt and the Exodus to the time that they came into the promised land, God said, write all this down.

He commanded Moses to write it, and he wrote it down, and that's what we have in the Pentateuch. Joshua chapter 8 verse 31. Joshua chapter 8 verse 31. As Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, etc. Etc.

I won't read the rest of the verse, because I'm not speaking about the point of that. The point is that in the time of Joshua, they had this book, the Law of Moses. And they had these things that were written, that were to help them navigate coming into the Promised Land. Ezra chapter 6 verse 18, they assigned the priests to their divisions and the Levites to their divisions over the service of God in Jerusalem as it is written in the Book of Moses. So the Book of Moses would have been the Pentateuch and these first five books of the Bible.

They are the books of the book of Moses. Nehemiah 13 verse 1, more of the same. Nehemiah 13 verse 1, on that day they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people and it was found written that no Ammonite or Morabite should ever come into the assembly of God. So the worship of God has these parameters, these definitions, these commandments, and it's found in the book of Moses. This is the Pentateuch.

Jesus attributes authorship of the Pentateuch to Moses. So does that matter? What could matter more that Jesus says Moses is the author? Mark 12 verse 26 Jesus says, but concerning the dead that they rise Have you not read in the book of Moses, just plucking this language right out of the Old Testament, have you not written in the book of Moses in the burning bush passage how God spoke to him saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. So here Jesus quotes from Exodus chapter 3 and he calls it the book of Moses.

Luke 24 verse 27, and this is after the resurrection, Luke 24, 27 is after the resurrection when Jesus is appearing to disciples on the road to Emmaus. It says, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he, Jesus, expounded to them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So Jesus was pointing out in the Pentateuch and in the prophets, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, when you have liked to have been along on that walk I would have. Finally, John 5, 46. I'm just picking from a smattering, actually.

There's more, but the last one I'm giving you is John 5, verse 46. Jesus says, For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me." So Jesus, again, is drawing on Moses as the author of the Pentateuch and saying, I'm all in here in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. You can find me in all of those books. If you believed Moses, you would believe me because the Pentateuch talks about me. Paul says, Paul writes, But I say, did Israel not know?

First, Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move you to anger by a foolish nation. Paul is quoting Deuteronomy 32, 21, and he's saying, Moses says Deuteronomy or 2 Corinthians 3 15. 2 Corinthians 3 15, but even to this day when Moses is read a veil lies on their hearts. He's talking about the Jews and how even though Jesus is so plainly in the Pentateuch, they can't see it.

There's a veil over their hearts. Even to this day when Moses is read, meaning when these first five books of the Bible are read to them, they can't see Jesus because there's a veil over their hearts. So the Old Testament testimony is that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, and Jesus's testimony is that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. And so our testimony should be that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Let me note this, Genesis is quoted over 35 times in the New Testament.

So if you want to know the importance of Genesis, just find all the New Testament authors who were saying, we need this, and reaching back into Genesis and pulling from it over 35 times. Listen to this from Victor Hamilton, New International Commentary on the Old Testament. I think probably in the coming months we're going to hear a lot from Victor Hamilton of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament. I think probably in the coming months we're going to hear a lot from Victor Hamilton of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament. He says this, until the rise of source criticism in the 18th century, that's what I've called the scholarship of unbelief.

So until the rise of source criticism in the 18th century, that's what I've called the scholarship of unbelief. So until the rise of source criticism in the 18th century, the unity of Genesis was taken for granted with an occasional disclaimer to be heard only here or there. A concomitant of this position was the teaching of the mosaic authorship of Genesis and the rest of the Pentateuch. It is accurate to say that those in the 20th century, So now fast forward to the 1900s. It is accurate to say that those in the 20th century or the 1900s who have advocated that position are in the minority.

So he's now saying for 1800 years, everyone said it was Moses. Now it's actually flipped so that the majority opinion is that it wasn't really Moses and they have all of these theories about who and when. To argue for the Mosaic authorship of Genesis was akin to arguing for the flatness of the earth. So they're saying, now if you say Moses wrote the Pentateuch, you're a flat earther. Welcome to the New World, right?

Turning to the Christian tradition, one notes that it is the evangelical wing of Protestantism that continues to provide the majority of voices who support the mosaic character of Genesis. Let's hang on to it with all of our might. When was Genesis written? A note from the MacArthur Study Bible. Genesis was written after the Exodus, circa 1445 BC, but before Moses' death, circa 1405 BC.

So somewhere between 1445, before Jesus' birth, to 1405. That's a 40-year span. That's the wilderness. Somewhere in the wilderness, wanderings definitely before they went into the promised land. So the mid to early 1400s before the birth of Jesus.

Why was Genesis written? A couple of thoughts. I told Mike Bennett I would be quoting him. This is Mike Bennett from Men's Bible Study this week. Genesis is our introduction to God.

Amen to that. Why was Genesis written? To introduce mankind to God so that we didn't worship the Sun or the stars or a piece of wood or a rock. None of those things are responsible for what you know in life. God of scripture is responsible for what we know in life.

Genesis is our introduction to God. But as the book of beginnings, it is also our introduction to a lot of things. So Genesis introduces us to all sorts of things. Note from the MacArthur Study Bible. Genesis 1 through 11 reveals the origins of the universe, i.e.

The beginnings of time and space. And many of the firsts in human experience, such as marriage, family, the fall, sin, redemption, judgment, and nations. We're going to be introduced to all of these things and more in Genesis 1-11. As a note, one thing we won't learn the beginning of is God. Genesis has nothing to say about the beginnings of God because God is from everlasting.

In the beginning of Genesis, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning of all that we know and see and experience, God was there ready to create the universe. Fully God and ready for the creation of the universe. Imagine that. So we won't be learning about the beginning of God.

Genesis never comments on it. There's nothing to say. Other than, he is from everlasting. I've already quoted Jesus in John 5, but Let me do it again to make a point here, John 5.46. If you believed in Moses, you would believe me, for he, Moses, wrote about me, Jesus.

This is the great purpose of Genesis. So beyond anything else, It is to give us the bad news. You're not ready for anything until you know the bad news. What has happened to humanity which explains all the things that are around us. We don't need more information.

We don't need more education. It won't fix mankind. The things that are wrong with us are way deeper than just you getting handed a pamphlet with better information. And the good news. Genesis introduces us to the bad news in Genesis chapter 3 in the garden, and this calamitous, this plunging our race into destruction, and the good news.

This should be our lens for every week. How do we find the revelation of who God is and especially where are the promises that sinners can cling to that God fulfills in the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. We'll be undertaking Genesis 1 through 11. We plan to stop at 11, at the end of 11.

Do you think we can do that? We think we can. We'll see. We think it'll take something like a year, maybe a little less than a year. What will we find in Genesis 1 through 11?

Has anybody ever done a walk through the Bible? We did it so long ago at Hope Baptist. And there's been so many new people since then. Well, a walk through the Bible tells you memory devices for how you learn the sequencing of the Bible. And I think the only thing I remember from our doing Walk Through the Bible, that you just repeat these things over and over again, and it helps you to realize the timeline of the Bible and the sequence of scripture, and walk through the Bible, Genesis 1 through 11, is four things.

Creation, fall, flood, scattering of the nations. And we probably said that a thousand times and now I can't forget it. So we'll probably say that a thousand times. Creation, fall, flood, the scattering of the nations. That's the four-point summary of Genesis 1 through 11.

Now consider one last thought from Victor Hamilton of the New International Commentary. This is so important. He says this, the word myth is found only in the later books of the New Testament. So Victor Hamilton is inviting us to consider the word myth. He says, you don't find any scripture until very late in the New Testament.

So right at the end of scripture. The word myth is found only in the later books of the New Testament. Writing to Timothy, Paul urges him not to pay attention to myths. Timothy, 1 Timothy 1, 4. Timothy, don't pay attention to myths.

Later, Paul predicts that the time is coming when people will find myths more attractive than the truth. 2 Timothy 4 verse 4. Paul is warning Timothy, a time is coming when they won't want the truth, they'll want myths. Paul instructs Titus to reprove or rebuke those who are absorbed with Jewish myths, an aberration which detracts from sound faith. Titus 1.14.

Titus writes Paul, these people are absorbed with Jewish myths. Get away from that. Peter declares to the recipients of his epistle that the basis of certainty behind his message is that he was quote, an eyewitness of his majesty, of Jesus' majesty, and not cleverly devised myths. Second Peter 1.16. So the point is this.

Genesis is no myth. In scripture, myths are a bad thing. And scripture never indulges in mythology. And if you've studied mythology, Greek mythology or Roman mythology, and you've read this, They're nothing alike. This does not read like anything you study in Greek mythology or Roman mythology.

Genesis is no myth. Scripture is against mythology. That's not what this is. Let me close with this. And this is so profound.

I never really thought of it in these terms. I might have had some sort of a vague notion of this, but this really crystallized it. The closest companion book to Genesis is Revelation. The closest companion book to the Genesis, the first book of the Bible, is Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Listen to this.

Note from MacArthur, steady Bible. I read a lot more than that. He was just the most quotable this week. Give me a break. MacArthur, steady Bible note.

The first book of scripture corresponds closely with the final book. In the book of Revelation, the paradise which was lost in Genesis will be regained. The Apostle John clearly presented the events recorded in his book, we're talking about Revelation, as future resolutions to the problems which began as a result of the curse in Genesis chapter 3. So, problem, solution, These are the bookends to the Bible. His focus is upon the effects of the fall, in the undoing of creation, and the manner in which God rids His creation of the curse effect.

In John's own words, there will no longer be any curse. Revelation 22 verse 3. If you know Revelation, you know chapter 22 is the last chapter of the last book of the Bible. This is what John says, there will no longer be any curse. Problem solved.

Not surprisingly, in the final chapter of God's Word, believers will find themselves back in the Garden of Eden, the eternal paradise of God, eating from the tree of life, Revelation 22, 1 through 14, at that time they will partake, wearing robes washed in the blood of the Lamb, Revelation 22 verse 14. So heaven is set forth in Revelation 22 as the reclaiming and perfection of what Adam and Eve entered into the garden. Heaven's actually going to be way better even than paradise from the early book in Genesis. I made it under a half an hour. God, please bless our weeks and months in Genesis.

Please Let your Holy Spirit run free, teaching us, establishing us, especially in the precious promises. As the bad news is set forth and we see the explosion, the destructive explosion of sin on earth as Genesis proceeds. Let us find such comfort and confidence in the expressions of your grace in these chapters and the promises that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Thank you for it. In Jesus' name, amen.

Again.