The sermon titled 'Jehovah Jireh, The LORD Will Provide' by Jason Dohm focuses on God's role as a provider, as illustrated in Genesis 1:29-31. The speaker draws parallels between Genesis 22, where Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son but is provided a substitute, and Genesis 1, where God provides for mankind. The sermon emphasizes that God had already created a system of physical provision before mankind was created, highlighting God's foresight and provision. This system, created by God, ensures continuous provision through plants that reproduce. The sermon also discusses the pre-sin state of creation, where animals did not kill for food, and contrasts it with the current state, influenced by sin. The creation is described as 'very good' because of the integrated system and the addition of mankind, made in God's image. The sermon concludes by stressing that all provision, physical and spiritual, comes from God, and believers should not worry about their needs as God provides abundantly.

The title of the message today is Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide actually Plucking a phrase out of Genesis 22 our plan is to bail out long before Genesis 22 So we'll never get there at least in this series but in Genesis 22 God has called for Abraham to offer up his only son. Of course, this is figurative of what God would do in sending Jesus. And so, God sends Abraham to Mount Moriah, and he's just about to sacrifice this only son that he loves so much. And as he's about to do it, God says, don't do it. I provided a substitute and there's a ram caught in the thicket.

And so Abraham takes the ram and sacrifices the ram in place of his son that he loves, Isaac. And he Names the place the Lord will provide. And really what we have before us in our text today is God as a provider. Abraham learned that God was a provider. He would provide everything that's needed.

And we're being taught this here in Genesis chapter 1. Here in our text we see God as the provider for mankind. He blesses mankind with the things that we need. He reveals himself as a giver. So that's really the summary of our text is God revealing himself as a giver.

Praise God for this text. Let's pray and then look at it closely. God, you are Jehovah Jireh. You are the Lord who provides. We have needs and you have the provision for every need and treasures infinitely beyond any of our needs.

Our needs never strain your resources in any way. We rejoice in you. Make us happy today to consider again that you are a giver. So many good things. Every good gift comes from above.

We amen that. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, let's take it verse by verse. We're in Genesis chapter 1. Follow along as I reread verse 29.

And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and Every tree whose fruit yields seed to you it shall be for food." Here in this verse, God provides food for mankind. So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, mankind fills in the blank. God provides food for mankind. This is the end of day six of creation week. God has made mankind and because we are a creation in his image, God speaks to mankind.

Earlier we've seen that God has made things and He's made pronouncements over these things, but we bear the image of God, and so God is speaking to us. He speaks over other creations. He speaks to mankind. What is this pronouncement? Here's the pronouncement.

See or behold or look and consider this. I have given you every herb or every green plant and every fruit tree for food. So all the green plants and all the fruit trees have been given to mankind for food. What are we going to eat? Well, this is what we're going to eat.

Behold, I have provided for you, in essence is what God is saying. Look and consider this. I'm feeding you, this is in essence what God is saying. So God made mankind on day six of creation week. He made mankind in his own image.

He made mankind male and female but God's physical provision for mankind was already waiting for us. So earlier in creation week, there's no mankind, but the provision for mankind is already being created. It's actually created on day three. Then day four comes, then day five comes, and then day six comes. He creates mankind and the food for mankind, our physical provision is already there waiting for us.

God created an ongoing system of physical provision. When I say physical provision I mean there are things that our bodies needs. This is what we're talking about. The things that our body, our physical bodies need. God created an ongoing system of physical provision.

He created food. Our bodies need food. God has made food for us. And He made it for mankind days before he created us. The earth is here and he's filled it with food and mankind is not even there yet.

So now we're here, mankind is here, needing the ongoing system that God has already put in place. That system is in place and functioning to generate more. That generates more. That generates more, and so on and so forth, when mankind is created. So when mankind is created the system's in place and it's in place such that what he's created has in it To reproduce itself in a way that will reproduce itself in a way that will reproduce itself until the end of time Look at what the text says every herb or every green plant that yields seed Every tree whose fruit yields seed So this physical provision, this source of food grows with seeds within itself which will produce more.

Plants that will produce more. Plants that will produce more. And what it produces will grow seeds within itself, which will produce more, and so on. I feel like I belabored this. You get the point.

Listen to Psalm 136 verse 25. This is a very concise summary. Psalm 136 verse 25. God gives food to all flesh for His mercy endures forever. His mercies are new every morning.

You woke up, you needed physical provision again and here it is, physical provision again. God gives food to all flesh for his mercy Endures forever. It's the mercy of God that set an ongoing system in place so that we always have the physical provision that we need Or how about this maybe better yet Psalm 145? Verses 15 and 16 Listen to Psalm 145 verses 15 and 16. The eyes of all look expectantly to you, God, And you give them their food in due season.

You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing." So the psalmist raises the eyes of all living creatures upward to God, looking expectantly to God, knowing we have need and we need to receive from God. And God gives us all our food in due season. The season comes and we have food again. God opens His hand and He satisfies the desire of every living thing. We desire this ongoing provision.

We crave it. We need it and God satisfies it. Listen to Matthew Henry. He's no psalmist, but he's not bad. Listen to Matthew Henry.

God gives us all things richly to enjoy, not only for necessity, but plenty, plenty, dainties and varieties for ornament and delight. How much are we indebted? How careful should we be as we live upon God's bounty to live to His glory? Now, let's unpack that. There's actually a lot there.

God gives us all things richly to enjoy, Meaning he gives an abundance. It's richly. We're not just scratching out the most meager provisions. He's actually made it an abundant earth that produces more than we need and It is to enjoy for us ritually to enjoy and and he says Not only for necessity So do we have necessity? Of course we do our bodies need food they won't last long without food Okay, but is it just necessity?

No, he gives us plenty and dainties and varieties For ornament and delight meaning it looks good and it tastes great. He says how much we are indebted, how careful we should be as we live upon God's bounty. Are we living upon God's bounty? Are we living from the abundance that He's given us? Of course we are.

So then we should be careful to live to His glory. If you live out of His abundance, you should live to His glory. We're incurring a debt. Every meal we eat, we're incurring a debt to live to His honor who's given us such bounty to enjoy. Think of this.

Somebody said this at men's Bible study. God made us with taste buds. God have to make you with taste buds? No way. But not only do we need it, when we take it in, so often it tastes great.

We enjoy it. It's actually a pleasure of life. There are so many foods that we enjoy. There are so many foods that are delicious to us. How would you even explain delicious to someone without taste buds?

Well, It's great. What would you say to somebody without taste buds about the deliciousness of some foods? But God made us this way. So it isn't just a bare utilitarianism like we're oiling a machine. Time for the oil change.

But he's given us foods that are delicious. No, God is providing for us something that can be a great daily pleasure to us. God made us this way, not just so that it's bare utilitarianism, time to change the oil, we need oil, you know, on the joints. That's probably a Wizard of Oz reference, I guess. One note, no meat yet, no mention.

Green plants, fruit trees, no meat yet. Mankind is not yet authorized by God to kill other living creatures for food. That will happen after sin enters the world and after the flood in Genesis 9. So we actually will make it to Genesis 9. We'll get to God authorizing mankind to kill other living creatures as a source of food.

But we're not there yet. Sin has not come into the world and this We're not authorized to do that yet at this point in human history Okay verse 30 Follow along as I reread verse 30 Also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food. And it was so. Here in verse 30, God provides food for the other living creatures. There's two blanks on the handout if you're taking notes that way.

Living creatures fills in the blanks. God provides food for the other living creatures. Green plants are also given for food to all the other living creatures on land. Nothing is said here of the fish, I don't know. This is talking about all the other living creatures besides mankind on land.

The ESV and the NIV translations translate it, in which there is the breath of life. They're translating, all of the translations are translating a two-word Hebrew construction. And so the ESV and the NIV actually reflect that very well in which there is the breath of life instead of saying in which is life. They say in which there is the breath of life, this two word Hebrew construction. So it is every other, meaning besides mankind, every other living breathing thing on earth.

And this is a good working definition of what the Bible is classifying as a living being, living, breathing being on land. Again, this is before sin has come into the world, so animals are not killing each other for food. So we've all had our minds filled with documentaries from the savanna in Africa and it's fascinating and horrifying all at once. All that's not happening yet. The fascinating and horrifying things that we see in the nature films about the savanna in Africa are not happening yet.

Animals are not killing each other or food. We can't imagine that because we've never lived in a world like that. But this is the world that God created, actually, before sin comes into the world. It is sin that brought death into the world. I love the Ken Ham presentations.

He'll show you the skull of an animal that has horrifyingly long and sharp teeth. And then he'll show you the actual picture of the animal and it will be 100% vegetarian, Like a vegetarian bear, there are some that are strictly vegetarian, or a bat. But when you see the skull, you're like, that is a predator. That is a killer when you look at the skull. But then he shows you the animal, you say, oh, That animal is 100% vegetarian.

And then he asked this question, what does it mean that this animal was made with sharp teeth? And his answer will be, it just means that they were made with sharp teeth. That's all it means. You're reading too much into it. Because we would normally think, we would see this skull with the horrifyingly long and sharp fangs and we would say, that means God made it to be a predator.

And Ken Ham just says, no, It just means that God made it that way. That's all that it means. Even today we have these animals with horrifyingly long sharp fangs and they just eat fruits and vegetables. Not all like that, but There are some like that. Isaiah 11 describes the land of the Messiah, Jesus' land.

Find this in Isaiah 11, particularly verses six through nine. In that land, the lamb dwells safely with the wolf. So If we were looking on, we would see this lamb coming close to the wolf and we would hide our eyes. And when we moved our hands, we would find The lamb is dwelling safely with the wolf. The wolf never makes the moves that we anticipate.

The leopard lies down with the young goat. The calf and the lion lie down together. The cow and the bear both graze. What's that bear going to eat? We're waiting for him to pounce.

What's he going to eat? He's just grazing with the cow in Isaiah 11 heaven in Jesus' land. The lion eats straw like the ox. I wonder if they stalk the straw. Pounce.

It's just straw. Pounce. It's just straw. The nursing child plays safely by the cobra hole in Jesus' land. And Then we read this in Isaiah 11 verse 9, They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.

There's nothing that hurts or nothing that destroys. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The wolves and the bears and the leopards and the lions have the knowledge of the Lord. It seems like that's what it's saying. They don't hurt or destroy anymore.

The Bible ends with these words, yes, come quickly. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. And John sort of gives at the very end of Revelation, the last words of the Bible are John giving his amen to that. Yes, come quickly Lord Jesus. Give us grazing lions.

The earth that we know that is red in tooth and claw, blood-stained fangs and claws, is not the earth as God created it. It's not how God made it. Verse 29 begins with the repeated hallmark phrase from Creation Week. We've been seeing it all Creation Week. And God said.

And verse 30 ends with the other repeated hallmark phrase from Creation Week. We've been seeing it every day of the week. And it was so. And God said, and it was so. When God speaks it, it inevitably becomes the established reality.

God says, and it is instantly the established reality. No one can overthrow it as reality. And it was so. Verse 31. Follow along as I reread verse 31.

Then God saw everything that He had made and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Verse 31, we see that the combination of everything that God created is very good. So if you're filling in blanks, combination fills in the blank. The combination of everything that God created is very good.

As with the other days of creation, God observes what he has created. He looks out over his work. But this time, God is seeing it all. The day one work, the day two work, the day three work, the day four work, the day five work, the day six work. Now he's looking out over the whole week's work.

All this creative work of Creation Week and indeed and indeed in undeniable objective truth in reality it was very good. So day after day we see God creates, he looks out over it, and it's good. He creates more, he looks out over the new work, and it's good. And again, and again. And day six, He looks out over the length and breadth of the whole week's creative acts and indeed it was very good.

I think there are two reasons why this is pronounced very good, why the very is added. Number one, the crowning act of creation, the image bearers, mankind in the image of God has been added in this final day of creation. That makes it extra good that the image bearers of God have been added. Creation was good, but it needed something in the image of this great God to make it very good. Number two, you know what people mean when they say of something with this, one plus one equals five.

Now, most of us have gone far enough in math to know that one plus one does not equal five, it equals two. So why would anyone ever say that? What do they mean when they say that? If you've heard it many times at all, even just from context you get what they mean. They mean that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

There is something about the integrated system That makes the value of that integrated system greater than just adding up the individual component parts So I've got these individual component parts. They each have a value We had this to this this this this this and we get a sum but then when you put them together the integrated system is more than just adding up the component parts. With creation week Every individual thing is good. You go back to day one, go back to day two, go back to day three, and you just think about, just think about the things that God created, light and land and seas and the separation and a firmament with water above in vapor and water below and fish and grass and different kind of animals, things that creep on the earth, insects and then mankind, if you look at any one of those things you'd say that's good But when you look at the integrated system, it's very good. It's just it's hand and glove it works together perfectly There's something about the combination of them that's better than just adding up the component parts.

Here is what someone at Men's Bible Study said, creation is very good because God is very good. Bingo! Creation is very good because God is very good. Bingo! Creation is very good because God is very good.

Friends the very goodness of creation is just a reflection of the incomparable goodness of God. It's just this dim, dim, dim reflection. Find the most magnificent things that we can find and oh, There are things that are so magnificent. When we went to Colorado last summer, we saw things that were so magnificent. We saw a couple of moose.

Not confident about the plural of that, so I just said a couple of moose. It's not moosing. A couple of moose. We saw towering valleys. Towering mountains that created wonderful valleys.

So just think of the most majestic, most magnificent thing, such a dim, dim, dim reflection. But it is a reflection of the very goodness of God. So enjoy it, savor it, marvel at it, all of that is right, but never forget it's just a damn reflection of this great God who could do it. There's no one like this God who could do that. As you're enjoying it, savoring it, marvel at it, don't forget that.

So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. All of these markers from Old Testament Hebrew usage that this was actually a day as we know a day. It was a 24-hour day. It just has all these markers in Hebrew. It's just pointing.

Literal, literal, literal, literal. It's a day like you think of a day. No special meaning, no linguistic tricks to be wrought here today. Applications, I'll give you three. Yes, we're already at applications.

I'm going to start talking slowly so I make it to at least 30 minutes. Number one, Our provision doesn't come from Mother Nature, it comes from Father God. There's no such thing as Mother Nature. Now God made green plants and fruit with seeds in it so that it is quote unquote self-propagating, but it's that way because God made it. You just have to go upstream one more step till you get to the first cause, the actual cause.

God is the provider. God is the giver here. Okay, this is not Mother Nature. There's no such thing as Mother Nature. It's what we think of things that God has made to function in a predictable pattern but it's really all attributable to God.

If God didn't sustain it another day, it would last another day. Number two, Jesus tells us not to worry about provision, not to worry about provision. Turn to Matthew 26. So coming attractions. Martin McCorkle in a few weeks or a month or something on a Sunday afternoon is actually going to bring us into Matthew 6.

I'm only going to touch on it now so I'm not stealing your thunder. I'm only going to touch on it now, but he's going to actually talk about the faithful provision of God and how that should cause us not to worry. We'll touch on it now. Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 and 26. Matthew 6, 25 and 26.

Jesus says, therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Skipping to verse 31, verses 31 through 34, Jesus continues, Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat?

Or, What shall we drink? Or, What shall we wear? For after all these things do Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. All these things shall be added to you.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. God made the world, pre-sin, pre-fall, God made the world so that we would depend on Him. That's not bad and a result of the fall. That's good to look to God for the things that we need. God made the world for us to depend on Him.

This is so good for us that we would just depend on Him. God doesn't want us to worry. We don't need to worry. Look at when God made provision for man and when he made man. Okay, he was ahead of the curve.

He made provision for man on day three and he didn't make man until day six. He already knows what we need. He's already providing for these things ahead of our need. That's number two. Jesus tells us not to worry about our provision.

We don't need to worry. Three, food is simply representative of our need. So it's a stand-in, it's a poster boy for all sorts of needs. Does food our only need? No way.

We have a lot more needs than that. We have a lot deeper needs than that actually. Food is just representative that God made us needing things, but God is a giver. God provides for everything that he made us to need let me quote Jesus from Matthew 4 verse 4 Matthew chapter 4 verse 4 Jesus says it is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He's quoting, he says It is written, he's quoting Deuteronomy 8 verse 3, and he's quoting it to the devil.

He's been fasting for 40 days. Imagine how hungry you would be after 40 days, and the devil says, if you're the Son of God, make these stones bread. You know you want bread. Jesus says there's things that I need so much more than bread. After 40 days of fasting, He's fixed upon his real need.

I need God to speak. We need God to speak more than we even need this physical provision. And God has spoken. He has provided spiritual nourishment as much or more as the physical nourishment. In John chapter 6, Jesus said that the Israelites ate manna in the wilderness and they died.

God gave them physical provision, but that didn't keep them alive forever. They ate the manna from heaven no natural processes at all like food from heaven just appearing okay and they ate it and they died But Jesus said he is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and never die John 6 50 He has given us food he's given us delicious food taste buds receptors so we can take pleasure in in Eating but we're gonna die God sent Jesus from heaven that we could have this spiritual bread from heaven that we can eat of it and never die. That is the person and work of Jesus Christ. That is a perfectly worthy substitute who can actually, because he has no sins of his own, stand in the place of sinners and pay all their debt, leave them with no debt. That's number three.

Food is simply representative of our need. It's one thing we need. We need a lot more than that. We need things that are deeper than that. God provides all of it.

God is a provider. God is a giver. All good things. Let's pray. God you ought to be worshipped for your goodness.

Your mercy endures forever, so there was food for us this morning. Thank you, God. There will be food for us tomorrow morning, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now. You are so good. You are so faithful.

You are a giver you are the Lord who provides We look to you We're happy to depend on you because you're so dependable unfailingly dependable. Thank you God for who you are We pray in Jesus name. Amen