The sermon provides a comprehensive overview of Genesis chapters 1 through 11, highlighting them as a book of beginnings that lays the foundational framework for understanding the world and humanity. It covers key events such as Creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the scattering of nations. The speaker emphasizes Genesis as the self-revelation of God, noting that while it introduces God, it does not account for God's origins, as He is eternal. Genesis is identified as the cornerstone of the Pentateuch, which is crucial for understanding the rest of the Bible. The sermon discusses the concept of humanity being made in the image of God, the consequences of sin, and the promise of a savior. It also draws connections between Genesis and the New Testament, particularly the book of Revelation, which resolves the issues introduced in Genesis. Throughout, the speaker stresses the importance of interpreting Scripture to truly understand God's nature and man's condition.

The title of the message this morning is a summary of Genesis 1 through 11. Not an elegant title, but an accurate title. On October 6th of last year, I preached the intro sermon to Genesis 1 through 11. This will be the 39th installment, So we didn't quite make it to 40 sermons on Genesis. This is the 39th and we're leaving it today, nine and a half months.

We've averaged three and a half sermons per chapter. One chapter had only a single sermon. That was the table of nations, chapter 10. A few chapters had five and everything in between. Where did the name Genesis come from?

Well, the Hebrew of the opening word is translated in the beginning. So Genesis 1-1, first word in Hebrew, That single word is translated in the beginning. When the Hebrew was then translated into Greek, the Greek translation is origins. So This is the book of beginnings or starting points. And that's true of the world.

This is a history of the beginnings of the world. The creatures, including mankind, marriage and family, dominion, work, sin and death, difficulty in childbearing, hardships in work and providing, and work and providing, marital strife, grace, murder, sacrificial offerings, judgment, covenants, multiple languages, nations, and the promises to save. There's probably some more that I missed, but that's a pretty good list. If you care and didn't work fast enough at writing them down, want them later, ask me. But this is the book of beginnings.

This is the starting point for all these things. It really tells you about the world you're living in and explains the things you see when you look around at life, your circumstances, you're going to find the roots of why things are the way they are in Genesis 1 through 11. This book of beginnings gives us the starting point for all of these things that long list and more. But while Genesis introduces us to God and is the self-revelation of God, It does not tell us the beginnings of God. Why?

Because in the beginning, God, meaning if you go back to the beginning, God's already there. Beginnings or starting point isn't something that can describe God. Tell us more about that. No, I'm at the end of what I can tell you about that. I don't really understand it.

I just know that the Bible tells us that and the Bible is God's revelation of truth. He has no beginning. So there is no beginnings of God in Genesis. Here's a note from the ESV Study Bible from the introduction sermon on October 6th of last year. This ESV Study Bible has this note.

The first five books of the Bible are foundational to the rest, and Genesis is the foundation of the Pentateuch. So what's he saying? Well, the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are a unit, meaning where Genesis ends, Exodus picks up and where Exodus ends, Leviticus picks up and so they are completely knit together. They have a single author and it's a chronological sequence and you can't understand the Bible until you deal with this unit. So can you hear the gospel and respond to the gospel without having read the Pentateuch?

Of course you can but you can't really understand the underpinnings of these things at depth without understanding these five first books of the Bible written by Moses. And Genesis is the foundation stone of the Pentateuch. And I will go further than that and say Genesis 1 through 11 is the foundation of Genesis. So we've really been in such a pivotal point of Scripture that in some ways is the interpretive keystone to understanding the rest of Scripture. That's probably why the book of Genesis is quoted over 35 times in the New Testament.

You find Genesis all throughout the New Testament. In the first actual exposition that we did, so not the introductory sermon, but the exposition of Genesis chapter one, verse one, it was entitled The Book About God. And I had hoped to focus us there and I've just kept going back to that theme all the way through. This is the book about God. Yes, people show up in it and they're interesting and we ought to study them but more fundamentally than any of that is this is the self-revelation of God.

This is the book about God. So enjoy the stories about people but just know fundamentally this isn't about people. This is God revealing who he is and his dealings with mankind. This book Genesis but this book is the book about God. Let's ask God to help us and then we'll close out Genesis 1 through 11.

God, this time, these nine months have been a treasure to me to learn things I didn't know, to be reminded of things that I had learned in the past and to just set my feet on these foundation stones and interpretive keys for so much else in scripture. Thank you for giving us this time in Genesis 1 through 11. God, oh help it to stay with us. We want to take it with us into the future. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, our sermon will be a very brief walk through the first 11 chapters. In the introductory sermon I talked about going through a Saturday with a program called Walk Through the Bible. And here's here's the summary of Genesis 1 through 11 you get when you go through this program called Walk Through the Bible. Creation, fall, flood, scattering of the nations. So that's it.

Four things in Genesis 1 through 11. Creation, fall, flood, scattering of the nations. So you can fill out that outline with a hundred other things, but fundamentally Genesis 1 through 11 is just those four things. So as we leave this, never forget, that's what these chapters are about. Creation, fall, flood, scattering of the nations.

I'm going to go chapter by chapter now. And will this be a sprint? Yes, it will be a sprint. Will this be a long sermon? No, this will not be a long sermon.

You've already, if you've been here the whole time, I'm estimating, I've assigned 50 minutes to each sermon, which is a little generous to myself. If you were here for all of them, that means 32 and a half hours worth of sermons you've already listened on this. So we do not need a long sermon now. I'm going to summarize very briefly these 11 chapters. And I'm going to give you what happened in the chapter, just a quick summary, two key points from the chapter, I'm limiting myself greatly, And the key verse according to Jason Dome on July 13th, 2025.

Ask me again tomorrow, you might get another key verse, but today is today. All right, chapter one, five sermons in chapter 1. What happened in chapter 1? In six literal 24-hour days God spoke everything we know about into existence. So this is creation week.

Day one, day two, day three, day four, day five, day six, everything you ever know, have experienced, ever heard about was created in these six literal 24 hour days. Key point number one. In the beginning, God, you can almost stop right there. We should stop right there before going further. It all starts with God.

This is the book about God. Everything, if you're going to understand it rightly everything begins with God If you understand its position to God how it relates to God you understand it if you don't you don't and very mysteriously This one God exists in Plurality We see that already in chapter 1, verse 26. Then God said, let us make man. One God existing in plurality. This is just the seeds, a shadow of the doctrine of the Trinity.

So progressive revelation, you learn more as more is revealed, and then you get God existing in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, not three people who work great together, but one and yet three subsistences. The Puritans were made nervous by even calling them persons because you might think of them wrongly. So they usually use subsistence as three in one. So that's key point number one. In the beginning, God, it all starts with God.

He's one God existing in a plurality. Key point number two. Each and every male human being, each and every female human being is made in the image of God. Why do people need to start knowing things by knowing that? Think of all the different categories that are informed by every man that ever lived, every woman who ever lived being made in the image of God.

The key verse, chapter 1 verse 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. You start asking the big questions, you start here, the very first words of scripture, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Why am I here? Because God made me. What is this place?

It's a place made by God for mankind, His image bearers. Chapter 2, five sermons. What happened in this chapter? There's a retelling of day six of creation with more detail about the making of the image bearer, mankind made as male and female. So you get through the end of the six days of creation, then Moses goes back and gives you more about day six and this creation of man made as male and female in the image of God.

Key point number one, God reveals himself in his name. We see for the first time in chapter 2 what we see so often through the rest of scripture the Lord God Lord all caps God Jehovah Elohim the self-existing that's Lord in all caps, Yahweh or Jehovah, he's self existing, he needs nothing outside of himself to exist from eternity past through eternity future. He's nothing like you. You're not self-existing. You depend on a thousand things.

If we get outside of a narrow temperature range, you die. If you don't ever get sleep, you die. If you don't get food, you die. If you don't get water, you die. God's nothing like that.

He has everything within himself to exist from eternity past through eternity future. That's amazing. He's self-existing. And he's the divine one. He transcends all the limits of a human being Keep so that's key point number one.

God reveals himself in his name the Lord God Jehovah Elohim the self-existing divine one key point number two Woman was made as a helper comparable to man. So comparable, also an image bearer with all the wondrous capabilities that are implied in being an image bearer of God, but made to come alongside a man and help him in the mission that God is giving to mankind. Because it wasn't good that man should be alone. So in chapter 2, God proves to Adam, convinces Adam that it's not good that he's alone. Hey, how come all these animals that are naming there's a male and female and there's nothing like me?

The key verse, Chapter 2 24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." It's actually one of the key verses in the whole Bible. Not because it's about human marriage, but because about human marriage is actually a reflection about the transcendent marriage, the ultimate marriage, Jesus Christ and Him coming and purchasing a bride with His own blood. So you see Genesis 2, 24, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Quoted by Paul in Ephesians 5 where he says, ìThis is a great mystery I speak concerning Christ and the church.î Chapter 3, 5 sermons.

What happened in this chapter? Eve and then Adam were tempted and then ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, bringing the curse on the world that explains the sin and corruption and sorrow and pain and conflict and hardship and death that are now part of our everyday existence. So if you don't understand Genesis 3, then You don't understand all of these things and you think that all of it is Meaningless, but it's not meaningless actually It has an explanation and it's in Genesis chapter 3 such a pivotal chapter You do not understand the world that you're living in if you don't understand what happened in Genesis 3. Key point number one, the Word of God is a true guide, not our own senses and sensibilities. So Eve is swept away by her own senses, what she sees, and her own sensibilities, what she thinks would be good, and it pulls her away from what would have been a true guide to her, what God said.

Oh, it's so important to understand and think about these things. That's key point number one. The word of God is a true guide, not our own senses and sensibilities. Disney says, Trust your heart, follow your heart. The Bible says, don't you even think about it.

Key point number two. Human nature was fundamentally changed and corrupted by this act of treason. So eating the fruit was an act of treason against God. That fundamentally changed and corrupted human nature so that the nature that every son and daughter of Adam and Eve inherits puts that son or daughter at enmity with God. Enmity means in opposition or hostile.

It creates hostility between everyone born and this God that made them because of this fundamental corruption. The key verse, chapter 315, and I will put enmity between you and the woman. This is the voice of God talking to the serpent serpent I God will put enmity hostility between you you serpent and the woman and between your seed and her seed He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel." I like crush is a better translation there. He shall crush your head serpent. This is the beginnings of the promises of God to send a savior through the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent.

Chapter 4, three sermons. What happened in chapter 4? Cain and Abel happened in chapter 4. They both come, they both make an offering to God. God respects Abel's offering.

He does not respect Cain's offering and Cain can't stand it. He resents it and ultimately he rises up and murders his brother. God makes Cain an outcast in the world and at the end of chapter four we get a genealogy of Cain, the family tree of Cain, this murderer, and it ends with Lamech, the man who writes murder poetry. Oh, how our race has fallen. You go from Adam and Eve to one of their sons murdering the other.

It goes just like that to murder and then just a few generations later they're writing poetry about it. Murder poetry becomes a genre of literature at the end of chapter four. Key point number one. It is possible to bring acceptable offerings to God even after the events of chapter 3. So chapter 3 is really bleak and you might think, can God accept anything from us anymore?

Chapter 4 answers that question. Yes, it is possible to bring acceptable offerings to God even after the events of chapter 3 Hebrews 11 makes it crystal clear Abel's offering was respected by God because Abel brought it by faith. It made the offering acceptable to God. It wasn't the mechanics of bringing the offering, or it came would have been acceptable too. It was because it was offered by faith.

Key point number two, God is not bound to accept the offerings that we bring. This means we should think carefully about the religion that we practice because God's not bound to accept any of it. We should do the worship that He has prescribed. He tells us how to worship but we must do it by faith. You could do exactly the right thing not by faith and God would not be bound to accept your worship.

That's good to know. The key verse chapter 3 verse 7 God says to Cain if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well sin lies at the door and its desire for you Its desire is for you, but you should rule over it God paints sin as at the door knocking desiring that you would open that door so that it could devour you. Know what sin is. Chapter 5.

Three sermons. What happened in chapter 5? We get The genealogy of Adam and Eve through Seth. Seth was the son who was born after Cain murdered Abel and was exiled. They have this other son, Seth.

And then we get the family tree of Seth in chapter 5. We see in chapter 5 long lives into the 900s. Methuselah, 969 years old, Methuselah is in chapter 5. And then the life of each person in that family tree is punctuated with this phrase, and he died. God had said, when you sin against me, you will surely die.

And the serpent said, you will not surely die. Oh, did they die? Chapter five answers that so definitively. A person begot fathered another person and he died. And the one he begot died.

And the one he begot died. And the one he begot died. All the way through the chapter, you have this drum beat. And he died. And he died.

And he died. You will surely die. Ultimately, the purpose of this family tree is to get us to Noah and the generation of the global flood that's accomplished in this genealogy in chapter 5. Key point number 1, the wages of sin is death and he died. It can't be any other way.

All the sons and daughters of Adam inherit this hostility against God, hostile against God. And so they live in sin, they love sin, they cultivate sin, and they die. The wages of sin is death. Key point number two, even though the wages of sin is death, it is still possible to walk with God. How do we know?

Because in chapter 5, Enoch walks with God. By faith also, Enoch walks with God. The key verse, it's actually the phrase from chapter 5 verse 22 and chapter 5 verse 24, Enoch walked with God. This is, in chapter 5, we have this invitation in the form of Enoch to walk with God, to be close with God, to stay near God, to live in fellowship with God. Chapter 6, three sermons.

What happened in chapter 6? The death spiral of a culture where sin and rebellion against God give birth to more and deeper levels of sin and rebellion. So it's so clear in Genesis chapter 6, this death spiral of a culture that Cultivates sin and rebellion against God then it just goes deeper and wider you just get more of it In chapter 6 God calls Noah to build a floating box. Remember that's what ark means, it means floating box. So don't think of an elegant ship with a sail that you can take to the ends of the earth.

No, it's just designed to be stable and to float could have been built in the middle of Kansas Could have been built in the middle of Kansas. That would have been fine the water will find the ark God called Noah to build a floating box for the saving of his family and for each kind. Key point number one, indiscriminate marriage where the children of God intermarry with the children of the world leads to rebellion against God running unchecked in the world. The more I think about this and the more I look at that text, the more I'm convinced This has nothing to do with demons mating with people, and it has everything to do with the children of God intermarrying indiscriminately with the children of the world and that leading to rebellion against God running unchecked in the world. Key point number two, the grace of God is our only hope and all that massive sin, massive sin we see chapter six verse eight, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

This is why Noah walked with God. He was not made of different stuff. He wasn't cultivating disciplines that kept him from sin. No, he found grace in the eyes of God. God determined to save the human race and so he saved a man and had him lead his family onto the ark.

Key point number... That was key point number two, the grace of God is our only hope. Key verse, chapter six, verse five. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." That's not very flattering. That's what the Bible says about humankind.

And if you can't swallow that pill, Jesus probably has nothing for you. Because you won't feel sick. And so you won't go to the doctor. Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's how the Bible describes corrupt human nature.

Chapter 7, just two sermons. What happened in chapter seven? God called Noah and his family into the ark. God shut them into the ark. By the way, a week before the rain started.

So they probably have been working on this for decades. And now God says, okay, like all into the ark, it's not even raining yet. God shuts them into the ark, and then God wiped every other creature that lived on the land off the face of the earth with the global flood. Key point number one, God hates sin. If you ever forget that God hates sin, go back to Genesis chapter 7.

The goodness of God is actually our biggest problem. Did you know that? Oh I'm so glad that God's good. Yeah me too sort of. It just creates a massive problem for sinners.

Key point number two, even in judgment, God preserves a remnant by an act of sovereign grace. You see this happening over and over again. You see it in the global flood. You see it in Sodom and Gomorrah. Over and over again, these judgments in the Bible.

We need them. We need these judgments so bad because God is so often patient that we're tempted to misinterpret the patience as God not seeing or God not caring or both. But none of that's true. And so we're given chapters like this to show us, oh, God hates sin. If you need to know if God hates sin, you look at the cross.

The key verse in chapter 7. I cheated a bit on this one. It's chapter 7, verses 22 and the start of verse 23. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the Spirit of life, all that was on the dry land died. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.

That's really a summary of what happened in that chapter. Chapter 8, two sermons. What happened in chapter 8? The ark came to rest on a mountaintop as the water subsided. Noah sent out a raven and then a dove multiple times.

Finally the dove comes back with signs of life and olive branch and then the next time it doesn't it never doesn't come back at all. Finally God told Noah to go out of the ark and he offers a burnt offering of clean animals. Key point number one, burnt offerings of clean sacrifices are a soothing aroma to God. Wow, does this become a theme of all of scripture. Burnt offerings of clean sacrifices are a soothing aroma to God.

Key point number two. This judgment did not solve the fundamental problem with the heart of man. So don't think, oh thank goodness we got rid of all the rascals. Now Noah, this righteous man who walked with God, He'll have more righteous people who walk with God. That's actually not the history that we find in scripture.

As they're getting off the ark, we get verse 21, where God says, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. The way he describes the nature of man as they're getting on the ark is the way he describes the nature of man as they're getting off the ark. Key verse, verse 20 into a little bit of 21, then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar and the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Chapter 9, five sermons. What happened in chapter 9?

God taught us that Life belongs to him and it is precious. And then God made a covenant with every living creature and their descendants and gave a sign. Covenant not to destroy the earth again by flood and the sign of the rainbow in the cloud. Finally in chapter 9 Noah planted a vineyard which led to Noah drinking too much wine which led to Noah naked in the tent and the reaction of his sons the different reaction of the sons. Key point number one.

The image of God gives every human inherent worth. What did you do to earn the worth? Nothing, I'm just a human. Just made in the image of God and so I'm valuable. My life is precious because I'm made in the image of God.

So is everyone else's. So how should we treat people? Like image bearers Because they have inherent worth because they are made in the image of God. Key point number two. It will go well with those who honor their parents.

One brother goes in, sees the disgraceful condition, self-inflicted wounds. He made the wine, he drank too much of it. He's the one lying naked in his tent, so you could say he got what he deserved. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible looks at this one son who comes out to tell the tale of his dad in his worst moments and condemns it.

Not you got what you deserved, but how dare you dishonor your father. And the other two sons actually understand what the mind of God on the matter, what God requires on the matter, and I put a corner of the blanket over my shoulder and you put the other corner of the blanket over your shoulder and we go in backwards so we don't see our dad in his worst moment, we don't even want to have a memory of it and we cover him up. The key verse, chapter 9 verse 6, whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God he made man, the preciousness of human life simply because we are made in the image of this infinitely valuable God so that even this little bit of image makes us inherently valuable. Chapter 10, one sermon, this one sermon, the table of nations, chapter 10, all genealogy from the first word to the last. What happened in this chapter?

God told us where the nations came from. And by the way, we learned during that sermon that modern archeology backs it up. You have these 70 names and there are modern archeological finds that substantiates almost every one of these names. The chapter is known as the Table of Nations and we're introduced to Nimrod, the father of the great ancient empire. He was the father of the Babylonian empire and founded Babel, which was renamed Babylon.

And when the nations were scattered, then he founded Nineveh, which was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. One great man who was an empire builder everywhere he went. Key point number one, God raises up and puts down nations. Again, this is the book about God. This isn't just, oh, how did nations happen to get here?

No, this is God raising up nations and many of the ones that are in the table of nations, he has put down and they've never been heard of since. The key verse, chapter 10 verse 32, that's the last verse of that chapter, these were the families of the sons of Noah according to their generations in their nations and from these nations were divided on the earth after the flood. From these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood. Chapter 11, three sermons. What happened in this chapter?

Instead of filling the earth the people determined to unify around a vanity project. Let's make a tower that reaches to heaven so our name will be great. God had the final word and confused their languages. One day they all spoke the same language, the language that was spoken by Noah and his sons when they got off the ark. The next day they spoke different languages and they scattered and settled according to their language groups.

This is supernatural. Finally, we have one last genealogy designed to get us to Abraham. So that was the end of chapter 11, to get us to Abraham. We've gone from Nimrod, the empire builder, to this obscure man who never owned a foot except for a burial cave in the land that God had promised him. We would know nothing about Abraham if it wasn't for scripture.

Key point number one, man is always building, God is always building. Man unifies around vanity projects to make our names great and we build empires for ourselves and God to show us his boss brings down the empires he raises them up and he brings them down but God is always building through names you'll never know subtle ways but He takes trophies. His grace takes trophies. And so He works in these little incremental ways to do the things that actually shake the earth. We think the empires are shaking the earth.

Nothing can be further from the truth. The empires, they come and they go. You can make America great again. What will be great is the name of God throughout all eternity. Key point number two.

God has made exceedingly great and precious promises. That's what Peter says, talks about the great, exceedingly great and precious promises. And he is keeping them all. We ended with Abraham and his promise to make Abraham a blessing to all the families of the earth. The key verse, I cheated again, two verses, chapter 11, verses 6 and 7, and The Lord said, indeed the people are one and they all have one language and this is what they begin to do.

Now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come let us go down and bear confused their language that they may not understand one another's speech. Applications, I'll give you four. Number one, this is God. This tells you who God is, what God is like.

This is man. This tells you what men and women are like. Take your views only from this book. Take your views of both only from this book. All sorts of views of God have nothing to do with the self-revelation of God.

There are all sorts of views of man that have, that are totally incompatible with the self-revelation or the revelation of truth from God. Purpose now that as best as you can, every view of God that you have will be firmly grounded in His self-revelation and only there. And that every view that you have of mankind, what people are capable of, what you're like, what you need will come from this book. Two, No student of ancient mythology would mistake this for ancient mythology. It reads nothing like ancient mythology.

I haven't studied a lot of it, but I've studied enough to know it doesn't read like this. It doesn't have the details that this has. It doesn't have the places that this has, doesn't have the archaeological backing that this has, this is not ancient mythology. This is the revelation of truth from God. Number three, in the introductory sermon I quoted the John MacArthur study Bible saying that the closest companion book for Genesis is Revelation.

Not Genesis Exodus. The best companion book for Genesis, the first book, is Revelation, the last book. And As I thought about it, that's so true and that's so wonderfully miraculous. Who wrote this book? Moses?

No, God wrote this book through Moses and through the Apostle John and all the authors in between. God is the author of the Bible. So clear. All of the devastating difficulties that are introduced in Genesis are solved and resolved in the new heavens and the new earth of Revelation. Isn't that great?

If you just were to study Genesis, I think it would be very depressing if you never got around to studying to how these things are solved and resolved. But the New Testament does that and Revelation is really the capstone of that. Revelation gives us the lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world, solving and resolving all the problems of Genesis. Amen. Finally, number four, John chapter five, verse 46.

Jesus said this, John chapter five, verse 46. Jesus says, if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. We saw him in Genesis. He wrote the rest of the Pentateuch he's even more clearly in some of the other places in the Pentateuch, but oh, he's been here in Genesis. You believe Moses, you believe Jesus, because Moses was writing about Jesus.

This is the great purpose of Genesis, the bad news that brings us to the good news of Jesus Christ. Genesis gives us a lens through which to see things so that we understand, oh, we have to have a savior. It's really true that we're like this. We have to have a savior. That's it.

Next week, The title of the sermon will be Outreach and Inreach Through Hospitality. And I'll be quoting, I'm sure, Jim and Taylor from a long lost conference message that they gave together on your dining room table as a weapon for the kingdom of heaven so that's where we're headed next week we'll do next week is me on the outreach and in reach through hospitality Then the week after that will be Martin on Psalm 73, I think, if I'm remembering right. And Janet and I will be off. And then after that we'll probably have another topical sermon or two maybe and then then into Luke. I can't imagine the topical going beyond that.

So within the month we will be hearing J.C. Ryle quotes from expository thoughts etc etc. So let's give thanks. God your Word is a treasure. Where would we be without it?

What would our thoughts be if we had no way to calibrate them to truth that you've revealed from heaven? Thank you God for this book. It is a lamp to our path, a light to our feet. Thank you for scripture. In Jesus' name, amen.