The joy to be able to be in the house of the Lord this morning and truly a blessing again to see you all and we have enjoyed ourselves immensely. We thank the church for your kindness to us, the very gracious offering provided for myself and our family. We are thankful for that. We have had a wonderful time with the Green family and thank them very much for all of their warmth and hospitality they have shown unto us this week. And we certainly did.

We feel like that we were kind of apart, right? I mean, not in the, you know, acceptings or anything like that, but you know, through all of the traveling down, and then when Brother David got sick and all of those things. So some of my last memories right so you know was the U-Haul we had the U-Haul right up to that door you know and got some of that stuff out and and but it's a joy This is a beautiful piece of property. It is truly a beautiful building. You know, the sanctuary, the foyer, and the fellowship area are just wonderful.

But of course those are just temporal things. What makes up this church is the wonderful people. Amen. And so we're thankful that brother David his family have a church home and again not that that means really anything coming from this guy but what for whatever it's worth it's good to see you all worshiping and serving the Lord together and we are honored to be able to be able to to be here again this morning my family and I will help you eat some of the leftovers and all the banana pudding I mean what and so I don't know what happened there but no we're looking forward to it And then we'll be traveling back home after service is here and then going back to life. So that's that.

That's kind of the way that goes. So we do appreciate your prayers for our services this morning here and then certainly back up in Mount Vernon. Excuse me, we're thankful that we've got a few guys that will take care of services for us in our absence. Well, before I announce my text and have you stand, I will say this. By God's grace, this is now my third message that I have been able and had the privilege of preaching here at Sovereign Grace.

And so, one thing about me is you don't know this yet, and that's why I almost need to get to this text today because if somebody says, oh yeah, you know Brother Justin Meyer, he's preached there for you. Yeah, well did he preach on? And I'm about to get to my text. And I didn't want you to have to be able to say no, he's never preached on that. And so David already knows where I'm going, my family already knows where I'm going, and so I would like to ask if you could please stand as we read God's word and open to Genesis chapter 1.

One of my absolute favorite subjects to preach on, you can ask. And again, anybody that, you know, brother Justin's come down, yeah, he's preached for us like three times. I've never heard him preach on creation. No, I enjoy thoroughly preaching on creation. And so, I'm going to just read the first 11 verses, Genesis chapter 1, but really only focus on verse 1 this morning.

But Genesis 1, beginning in verse 1, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light and God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness and God called the light day in the darkness he called night in the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he seas, and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit true yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so." And we'll just stop there.

And let us again go to our Lord in a word of prayer. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your love to us, your mercy, your grace, and your watch care over us. We are exceedingly thankful to be able to be in the house of the Lord this morning. We thank you, our Father, for allowing us the privilege of being here in Georgia, and we ask that you would continue to lead, guide, and direct the precious saints here, that you would continue to be with Pastor David and his family, and Lord, we just thank you for all of the love that has been shown unto us. And I ask Father that now you would open up our hearts, ears, and minds to be open and receptive to Thy Word.

And Heavenly Father, as I preach this message even in Genesis 1, if there are any here today that know you not as Savior, we pray that this would be the day of salvation that they come to know you in the full part and forgiveness of sin. I ask Lord that you would just lead us and guide us in the ways that are right and pleasing in thy sight and forgive us of our sins and these things we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, may be seated. Simply titling the message this morning, the text that started it all, or the text that starts it all. Maybe not start it, yeah, starts it all.

We'll go with starts it all because God started it all. But we'll get to that. So again, One of the things about me is that I, and the church always knows, so sometimes our Sunday School teacher, I don't have a lot of notice, maybe if he's not going to be able to teach the lesson. So oftentimes if I'm going to get in there very quickly, the church knows I'm going to turn somewhere, most likely in the book of Genesis, and even more than that, most likely a message about creation. I can't exhaust it.

There's so much depth to creation. There's so much richness to creation. You understand that I wasn't raised in a Baptist home. I wasn't raised in a Baptist church. I went to a secular public school all of my life.

And so by God's amazing grace, certainly our children have not gone to that. We've been able to homeschool them. When I say we, I mean Heather, but nevertheless she's done an amazing job. We even have a graduate. Praise God.

All right. So there's that. So I didn't grow up hearing anything about creation. That was something that I didn't know about. That was something we didn't learn about.

It's not even that it wasn't, you know, No, it is that it wasn't even taught. There wasn't even an option, right? There is one, there's one, as I was talking about yesterday, right? The media feeds you one line of thinking and that one line of thinking is evolution. That's all that I ever heard.

And so then as the Lord does his work as he does and he saves me by his grace, certainly I start learning things about nipping away the heathen holidays and all of those types of things. And then Brother Powell would have preached a message in Genesis 1 and talking about God's creation. Well, that just hooked me. Hook, lie, and sicker. I'm telling you, when you are newly saved by the grace of Almighty God, it doesn't matter what year or how old you are, when God saved you, he makes a change.

Old things are passed away, behold, all things become new. And Genesis 1, 1 became new. And from there, I just go deeper and deeper into it. So it's just a beautiful, wonderful text and again I do plan on just really dissecting Genesis 1.1 but I wanted you to have some of that context because again somebody says to you, brother Justin he's preached for you, man don't you love when he preaches on creation? They might not say that, I'm not that famous.

You'd all be like, no, he's never preached on creation here. Well, now you won't be able to say that. No, anyway, no, the Lord brought me to this this morning. All right, so I think it goes without saying, you can tell that Genesis is really one of my favorite books of the entire Word of God. Genesis 1 certainly could be my favorite chapter if I could have one.

I mean all of God's word is precious and good, but it is... The book of Genesis though, and I know your pastor has preached these things, so you're just hearing it from another, but the book of Genesis is absolutely foundational to what we believe. It really is, and there's going to be more to come on that. And it is my responsibility as I said to make sure that the people of God have a firm foundation on this. Because our world is completely wrong about the origins of the entire universe and how long we've been here.

And it's not just the secular world folks. There's a lot of people within the Christian world that have this wrong, right? The gap theory of, you know, just they fit in the millions of years because that's the narrative. They're like, well, no, God did it, but it just took millions of years. No, it didn't take millions of years.

We're about 7, 000 years old, right? They're give or take. And so, it's not just the secular lost world that is confused about the beginning, about the foundation of Genesis 1.1. And so, Genesis 1.1 really again is this text that starts it for us, it doesn't start it for God and we'll talk about that, but Genesis 1-1 is one of those vital important verses of the Bible. I say that because everything stands and falls on the truth of Genesis 1-1.

In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth. We can't get anywhere else if we don't have that beginning knowing that it is God that has done it and that's going to be the emphasis of what we give you the Lord willing throughout this message. You see beloved if Genesis 1 1 is false then the rest of the Bible is false because it's merely a book of fables, myths, and legends. We have to have that firm foundation, that understanding that God created, and then we'll talk about that. So again, just follow my line of premise for a second.

I promise you I'm not going off or wayward on you. And so again, if, and I use that word, if, if Genesis 1-1 is false, I said the rest of the Bible is false as well. All right, now if Genesis 1-1 is false, the Bible becomes a dangerous book because it leads people to believe lies. Right? Because if people can't get a firm foundation on Genesis 1-1, why are they gonna believe that Jonah got swallowed up in the fish's belly?

That's an unbelievable story. But we can know it's true because in the beginning, God created, you see. All right, so if Genesis 1-1 is false, then the gospel is a lie. If Genesis 1.1 is false, there is no God, there is no meaning in life, there is no moral high ground because nothing is right and nothing is wrong. Now certainly we know we live in a day and age today where many people think that anything is right in their own eyes.

But that's nothing new. We heard that yesterday. Somebody preached about they did what was right in their own eyes. That's not just in the 20th century folks. People have always done this.

So we've got to get back to the beginning. Genesis 1.1 is false. Man is the product of random selection and he's accountable to no one. Thus a person can do as they please. Thus a person can live for themselves.

Believe anything that they wish. Act as they feel led to act and when they die they enter into a state of nothingness that gives me no hope folks if Genesis 1 1 is false life is without purpose and no meaning and when life ends there's no there's no afterlife man simply ceases to exist if Genesis 1 1 is false you might as well leave right now. Because all you're going to hear from this point is dangerous lies. And these lies, If you believe, if you think Genesis 1.1 is false, it'll do nothing more for you than to give you false hope. And really, by the way, I don't really want you to leave now.

I'd love for you to stay for the end of the message. Okay, good. Lead you in a pointless direction. You see, if Genesis 1.1 is false, there's no heaven, there's no hell, there's no sin, there's no God, there's no accountability, and your life is that you can do as you please. And that's really the mantra.

The motto of the world. Thank you, mantra. You got it. Thanks for knowing where my brain was there. However, on the other hand, if Genesis 1.1 can be trusted, and it can, so then can the rest of the Bible.

You see, because if Genesis 1.1 is true, the Bible is a book of hope. And our hope, the definition of hope from the Word of God is a sure steadfast. It's not this, you know, I hope I get to, you know, preach, right? And I may or may not get to do that, or I hope that, you know, I don't lose my job. It's not that wishy washy hope.

The hope of the Bible is a sure-set, fast hope. But anyway, so if Genesis, since, excuse me, I changed my verbs, Since, not verb, I changed the noun, whatever I changed, I changed the word from if to since. Since Genesis 1-1 is true, the Bible is a book of hope. Since Genesis 1-1 is true, the rest of the Bible can be believed. Since Genesis 1-1 is true, life has meaning.

Since Genesis 1.1 is true, man is the product of intelligent design. Man is the creation of God himself made in his image, made for God's glory. Since Genesis 1.1 is true, everyone is accountable to God and will one day face Him to give an account of his or her life. And since Genesis 1-1 is true, you might just want to stay for the rest of the sermon because the rest of this verse serves as a foundation for the rest of the Bible. This verse establishes the truth of the word of God.

This verse establishes the truth of the gospel, you'll see. This verse establishes the fact that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Genesis 1.1 will show us that and I'm not just pulling it out of context. Genesis 1-1 promises much and it delivers on every promise that it makes. It is a simple yet profound truth.

This verse which can be and has been memorized and quoted by young children teaches truth too deep for the most intelligent of humans to fully comprehend. Genesis 1 1. And so it is, we'll start off this morning by stating this text makes a simple statement. Secondly, this text makes a scientific statement. And then thirdly and finally, This text makes a saving statement.

I told you I would talk about salvation with Genesis 1.1. This text makes a simple statement. We read again Genesis 1.1 in the beginning. God created the heaven and the earth. Simple statement.

It's made up of ten simple words which anyone can understand. And so let's take a few moments to examine the words of this text. Beginning. This word means that which is first. The beginning in simple terms.

There was nothing but God before this verse. Now when I say nothing, listen to me, I mean nothing. Now you might respond and you might say well there was darkness. No there was no darkness because darkness is something. And it's hard for us to wrap our minds around that because if you notice right what does it say and it says and the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep, but then it says, and God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, let there be light.

The first thing God created was light. We can't imagine nothing, because there's always something around us. His birth was out of nothing. We can never comprehend fully this beginning. In the beginning, God.

The word Elohim is the plural name for God used to speak of His Majesty. It offers in its plurality the first seed of the doctrine of the Trinity. Later on in Genesis 1.26 it says, and God said let us make man in our image. God, Father, God, Son, and God, the Holy Spirit working together as one. There's no other us.

So you see again we just get into how foundational what the words in the beginning God truly means. So you got to understand the Elohim Here is that plural as I said that plural name for God used to speak of his majesty It offers in its plurality the first seed of the doctrine of the Trinity So again for today what we need to know about this word is that it speaks of God as eternal supreme and sovereign Elohim also carries the idea of God being the mighty one. And so if you believe God you believe the Bible. If you believe in God, excuse me, you can believe in the Bible and you can believe the Bible is the word of God in the beginning God. That's why it's so foundational.

That's why it's so important for us to get an understanding of Genesis 1.1. The foundation of everything the Bible says is established on the existence of Almighty God. Without God, nothing matters, nothing at all. But you see beloved this morning I stand before you knowing that there is God. He was here before at the beginning and even when nothing else was there was God.

He is the agent of creation. Again, I just get so involved with, I want to try to stick to just Genesis 1.1 here because I said it's my message, but you know how much faith it would take to believe that this all happened out of random chance and processes? That's faith. It takes a lot less faith. Again, you're talking to a guy who was raised in that lifestyle who was raised with evolution who by God's grace he showed me Genesis 1 1 by the preaching of the Word of God then I got involved in it but I'm telling you to believe that we came from some prinomial swap.

Listen, if you just study the human body and all of the things that happen at the moment of conception, if you just study that, There's just no way you can deny a creator than what our bodies do. It's just mind-boggling to me. But you and I know this battle is real. You and I know that we're the crazies, right? But we get this foundation right.

Get this foundation right. In the beginning, God. He's the beginning. He is that agent of creation. He is the one from whom everything came.

He is the author of life, the creator of everything. And he is the controller of all things in his creation. In the book of Colossians chapter 1, see I'm a little calmer. Brother Lafferty, he got me all riled up or something. I don't know.

Don't blame Brother Lafferty, I know. I know. We've known each other way too long and I do miss those close times of fellowship as well. Alright Colossians chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. He is the creator of all, he is the controller of all.

For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things are created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by him all things consist." Genesis 1 1 is affirming Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 is it not? It just truly is. It's just the Apostle Paul saying it here of course speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ who we know Elohim right in the beginning God let us make man in our own image. So God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. So as Paul is teaching about Christ, he's teaching about creation.

It's foundational. It's foundational. It was foundational in many of the prophets of old in their ministries. Excuse me, and certainly the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. Alright, we could go on.

But God alone is God, and He's created, and God has always existed. So then in the beginning, God created. That segue there was in Colossians 1 when I read that and now I want to get to the word created. This is the Hebrew word, bara. It refers to a new thing.

It means to create something from nothing. In the beginning God created everything in our universe, and I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm just going to say it. Everything in our universe, every planet, every star, every animal, every human, every Molecule of dust was created out of nothing by Almighty God in the beginning God everything That we see everything I'm sorry everything that came to be was by God's creation. Now, let me explain. You see, people make objects every day, but everyone who is said to have created something always had to begin with something.

Okay? Right? The artists, they use paint or clay or marble or some other medium, their voices, whatever it may be. Poets and authors use letters to produce their words. Musicians use musical notes.

Builders use wood and steel. Inventors use plates and steel and other objects to make what they invent. No one makes anything out of nothing. No one. They don't make anything out of nothing.

They can't. No matter how many scientists try to tell me they make something out of nothing, no matter what it is, they've had a plastic dish, they've had a... Whatever it is, they've used something. They didn't just say, poof, here it is. And I'm not trying to make God a magician in that way, but you understand what that context was.

Okay? God is truly the one who created something. So I try to be careful when we make something or whatever. I try to not say I've created this because God is truly the only creator who made something out of nothing because he is God. So in the beginning God created.

God took nothing and he made everything that exists. God created all mediums used by artists. God created the languages used by poets and authors. God created the notes used by musicians. God made the materials used by builders and inventors.

You understand that music is not just a 20th century thing either. Music was abused even in the days of Genesis, right? They abused music and music can be abused but music can also be used to the glory of God. Music is not a surprise to God. I enjoy music, I enjoy good music, I enjoy the singing and the playing and all those things that we've enjoyed here.

Enjoy those things. Everything started with God, because God is the only one who can be said to have created anything. Alright, so we're almost through the text, and then I'm going to get to that second part of the message. So in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. We could spend the rest of my time here but I have other things I'd like to say.

This simply means that everything on the earth, around the earth and beyond the earth was created by God. Planets, animals, fish, trees, plants, dirt, sand, rocks, sky, moon, planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies, everything was created by God. Such a simple statement, such profound truth. In the last week and a half, my family and I, we've enjoyed kind of a double vacation. We started in West Virginia last Thursday.

We went to West Virginia and we spent some time at the Bible Conference there and we did some kayaking in the New River Gorge area and then I did some strenuous hiking. My family stayed not hiking, but I got to explore and see some of that then we of course from West Virginia we drove back home so now it's four and a half hours out up that way we went to our services Sunday and then Sunday seven o'clock we started driving back here I say that to say we have seen two beautiful glorious designs of God's creation. We're up in the hills We're looking at all of God's beauty in the mountains and then there is a beauty in God's creation on these beaches, right? One of the things that I experienced, not the, yeah, the last time I was here, when we were here in October, and I know we didn't get to come and visit with you all, but I went out to the beach, and I'm a West Coast person, that's where I grew up, and so seeing this East Coast and watching that sunrise, there is just, there is majesty and beauty behind that okay I mean from that darkness to light right you walk out to the beach and it's dark and that Sun begins to break through man I preached it my mother-in-law is one of her favorite sermons was the one is that message she told me after I came back from that trip.

God's creation, listen now, and that's just what we can see, right? We have telescopes that get us past the Milky Way galaxy and there's just stars beyond that and there's just stars everywhere. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." Alright there's so much more that could be said there. But I want to get to these two other parts. So this text not only of course doesn't make that simple statement, it makes a scientific statement.

Yeah, there's creation scientists, beloved. They got PhDs too. Hey, they do. And so the Bible is a history book, it's a poetry book, it's a science book, it's a, you know, there's so much to the Word of God so I don't fear saying that that this makes a scientific statement because in the beginning because you know science right you know when somebody says how do you know you just you know all of those things you just say, well, were you there? Now, I wasn't there in creation, but I know the one that was, and he is God, right?

And so, there is that, there is observable things that we can know from science. And we'll talk about some of that throughout this message, the Lord willing. But in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. So if we talk about the scientific statement, this is a simple statement, but a scientific statement. Because it gives us a connection for everything in our universe.

It is at this point where the Bible now comes into conflict with secular science. Not with science, just secular science. The Bible is true no matter what man's science claims. And while the Bible is not just a science textbook, it has wonderful true science in it. And as I've already said, I was getting ahead of my notes, yes, there is such a thing as a creation scientist.

The world science tells us that the universe came into existence through a big bang. Now under this theory, the universe expanded from a very high density and high temperature state. Where did those temperatures come from? How did they get started? Where did all...

I don't know. I don't... They have no explanation for that origin, okay? But we're supposed to just accept it. And what we can kind of...

And then that we came from this kind of, you know, soup, substance, essentially pond scum that became an ape, that became a monkey, that became a man. So when someone tells you that we came from apes, you just ask them who in their family tree was the ape. Oh, so your grandma was the ape. You said, what, what? I'm sorry, it must be your great grandma.

Don't you start on my great grandma. Oh, okay, it was your great great grandma. Oh, oh, so no one in your family line was an ape. Oh, I see, right? Not trying to be flippant with it.

Listen, there are still monkeys and there are humans. Evolution is the idea that... I'm not getting... Here we go. Hopefully you don't get punched by Brother Justin's explanation.

Because you could potentially get some pretty upset people when you start calling their family apes. I don't know people just I don't think they like it. But it's reckless stuff man that's the stuff that I learned. I learned I came from a monkey. I don't even like bananas.

Yes I do I like banana pudding you know that so. I'm gonna try to pull that off and I'm like I can't pull that off. Talked way too much about banana pudding. I didn't come from no monkey. I came from an intelligent designer.

Amen. That's a scientific statement. That's a beautiful thing. But it's reckless stuff. Scientists say the universe, as I mentioned to you, they say it's approximately 13.8 billion years old.

I said that in that introduction because as I said, it's not just secular world that is getting creation messed up. It's even within so-called churches. And I would even dare say there are Baptist churches that are confused about creation right now. So yes, the Bible teaches the universe was created by God, and the Bible timeline, if we take it at face value, is somewhere between 6, 000, and I said around 7, 000 years old. So between 6, 000 and 8, 000 years old.

There's a big difference between what modern science says and what the Bible says. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather trust God who was at creation because he created than no one who was nowhere to be seen at a time when Big Bang gave us some pond scum and some dust. I said it earlier it takes more faith to believe the above conditions came about by chance than it does to simply take the Bible at face value. So you say, Brothers Justin, what about the fossils? What about the fossils?

The fossils tell us there are dinosaurs. Praise God there was dinosaurs. There's behemoth. We know about behemoth. We know about dinosaurs.

We see dinosaur bones. We're creationists. We're not going to say, well, that looks like a T-Rex bone, but it's not a T-Rex. It could be a T-Rex because T-Rex is a million years old. No, listen to me.

Here's what science can prove for us. You watch this. Watch this. You're going to be fascinated, I promise. Do you know today that secular science says that DNA cannot survive millions of years?

Now that's what the secular scientists say. Now I guess you get a little bit, the secular scientists also have DNA in dinosaur bones. Isn't that great? That's what gets you excited about this, right? They can't even get their narrative right.

They can't even figure out what they're doing. But you can read a secular scientist and, no way, no DNA, they don't live millions of years. Another secular scientist is doing their fossil digging. Hey, we just found DNA. Did you?

Did you now? Great. Confirms the Bible. It Just confirms what the Bible says, okay? I live up in Ohio, as you know, Brother Dave lived up there many years.

We were doing a class one time, and one of our members, his company, they're behind, if a high rise goes up, or roller coasters go up, they need to know how deep down to dig and you know make that structure sound and all of those things and let me tell you what they found one time you brought it to the church found a seashell in Cincinnati Ohio yeah there really was worldwide flood what would the evidence be? I feel like the dead thing's buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth, right? Okay. It came from that global worldwide flood, back from Genesis 6. That's how.

You see the rock layers prove God's creation and they actually disprove millions of years. I've got sermons after sermons on all of this stuff. I'm trying to kind of again stay focused. Evolution says, I'm going to give you a few of these though. Evolution says life is a change.

Creation says God created with intelligent design. Evolution says you descended from the ape, creation says you were made in the image of God. Praise God for this RV way. But let me just say this really quick on that. I will digress for just a second listen folks you'd be ready now we've been praying about RV our RV way to be overturned but now we need to be the hands and feet of Christ because there's gonna be a lot of women out there scared and not having you know knowing what to do you ready to be a support you ready to be a help I'm serious you know we've been praying for praying for praying for praying for praying for praying for God is merciful and you know he's given that you know that the Supreme Court gave the decisions back to the states.

There could be a lot of scared girls out there. What are you going to do? Don't look at Him judgmentally. I mean certainly we are not condoning the sin. You understand?

I understand that. Be ready. Be hands and feet of Christ. Because life is precious. We are created in the image of God and so we believe it, we say it, we want it.

You know, in the beginning God created everything in the earth and life and all of the things that go on in the womb and all of those things and so we don't want to be negative. I mean, you know, again, we're certainly, we want to teach people. So you know, our rovers wait overturned, okay that's great, but we also need to teach people about the family unit and the importance of one man, one woman for life and coming together husband and wife. You know, that's an important teaching. We've got to get that out there so they're not living the promiscuous lifestyle.

Okay, okay, okay. That was a bonus. That was because of the not being timed. Just kidding. It does start in Genesis.

It's foundational. Evolution places no value on love. Creation says God loves beauty and love is meaningful. Evolution teaches survival of the fittest creation in Scripture reveal that God, he protects the weak, the beaten and the broken. Evolution says Jesus is a fraud.

The Bible says He created us, He loves His children, He went to the cross to die for sinners. The Bible boldly declares the existence of God. It also clearly says that we will face him someday. Take you over to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9 verses 27 and 28.

Hebrews 9, 27 and 28. And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that looked for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Which gets me into that third and final part of our message. This text, Genesis 1-1, listen now, makes a saving statement. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

So let's take this verse and let us go to the cross for the understanding of Genesis 1 as foundational for our understanding of salvation. I want to be clear that I do not believe that you have to be a young earth creationist to be saved. No, rather salvation is grace through faith and we're covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I do, you know, I mean certainly I, you now know where I stand on Genesis 1 but for my faith are you saved For my baby for my grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves It is the gift of God not of works with any mention both grace is salvation. Okay Salvation is grace through faith But because that is true Genesis 1 is also vital for salvation.

You see, the Lord Jesus Christ is God. He's not a created being, He has always been. He is the God, the Elohim of Genesis 1-1, the agent of creation. We read it already in Colossians 1-16. I'll not take you back there.

Now, we'll not go through all of the Old Testament stuff, but just want to fast forward. I want to tell you something that God requires the shedding of blood for the remission and forgiveness of sin. It's an Old Testament pattern all the way through the shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, listen to how Genesis 1.1 relates into this. You see, if the shedding of blood occurred before sin as would have happened if the garden was sitting on a fossil record of dead things millions of years old, then the foundation of the atonement would be destroyed." Let me say that again.

If the shedding of blood occurred before sin, as would have happened if the garden was sitting on a fossil record of dead things millions of years old Then the foundation of the atonement would be destroyed Okay Because The foundation of our atonement is because man rebelled and sinned against God. For by one man did sin enter into the world and what? Death by sin. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Sin happened when man rebelled.

And so Genesis 1 is then now foundational for all of the entire Word of God up to and including salvation. You see? Our Lord Jesus You see? Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered physical death and shed his blood because death is the penalty for sin. I want to give you good news.

Jesus saves. Jesus saves. Right? For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, thus any man should boast. We've already said that.

That's in Ephesians 2, 8-10. Right? Acts 16. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Faith cometh by hearing hearing by the word of God.

All of those beautiful things. Romans 10 let me I'll turn to that one I probably should turn all those others. I trust I didn't misquote them. In Romans chapter 10, read these to you. Thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, shall believe thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shall be saved.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Praise God. Whosoever. I don't know who the whosoever is, but I know if God elects you before the foundation of the world and you're part of the whosoever, you shall be saved. There you go.

Okay? But it all comes back to creation to the Bible to the first verse of Genesis 1 the ground Was laid here The ground was created perfect No fossils yet. No fossils It's all right here for us in the Word of God. The miracle described in verses 2 and 3, that dark, empty, formless world, the Spirit of God began to move into the darkness. God spoke and said, Let there be light.

When God spoke, light came into existence. God said, Let there be light and there was light. Dark universe instantly delivered from its darkness. Picture of salvation. A lost soul that is in the bondage of darkness and death and then it just seems right it did for me out of nowhere the Spirit of God appeared called me repent of my sins trust on the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see Genesis 1, 1 folks, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. You need to know these things And I trust that God has been pleased to add the blessing to His Word. I do thank you for your attention to the Word of God. And we'll turn the services back over to the pastor.