WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.799 I'll just start by saying we're starting, as Derek said, we're starting a new series 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:14.439 in the doctrine of creation and the implications on the way we live in the world, the way we 00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:16.760 see the world around us. 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:21.320 And this topic throughout this semester will lead us into many other related topics like 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:28.600 creation and, I mean, yeah, creation in science, creation in culture, maybe gender, all these 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:29.600 sort of things. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:33.200 It makes sense of a lot of related ideas that it will explore. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:37.880 But tonight we're just going to kind of lay a foundation of what the doctrine of creation 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:42.160 actually is and why it matters for all of us here today. 00:00:42.160 --> 00:00:45.799 And if your experience maybe was anything like mine, which I'm not sure any of yours 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:50.840 was because I grew up on the other side of the world, many times when I would see a church 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:56.760 doing a series on creation, I would expect to show up and I would see expect to see like 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:03.719 pictures of dinosaur bones, maybe bones even in the service, talks about carbon dating, 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:08.799 the age of the earth, maybe tracing genealogies through maps, figuring out how old actually 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:13.400 is the earth and how long are these days. 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:17.039 In other words, much of our time, at least in the, in where I grew up and I think a lot 00:01:17.039 --> 00:01:24.640 of our churches spent defending a biblical view of creation, of defending the, what the 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:30.560 Bible has to say about creation and figuring out, trying to defend that it's actually true. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:36.400 And at least in my experience, less time has been spent articulating how God's creation 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:41.240 of the world actually informs the way we live in the world and the way we see the world 00:01:41.240 --> 00:01:45.840 and the way we make sense of who we are as humans. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:51.480 So unfortunately there will be no dinosaur bones tonight. 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:55.240 And I'm not going to get into debates of the age of the earth, I know very little about 00:01:55.240 --> 00:01:57.159 carbon dating. 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:00.359 My goal is much more modest tonight. 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:04.520 I just want to attempt a concise definition of the doctrine of creation. 00:02:04.520 --> 00:02:10.599 So just try to define what is actually the doctrine of creation and just explain it and 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:15.000 unpack it a little bit and maybe just give you a few biblical examples of why this is 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:20.480 actually really, really practical and important for us as the church to understand as we live 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:21.479 our lives. 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:22.479 So that's all we're going to do. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:25.719 So first let's try for a definition. 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:29.199 And this is where if you have your Bibles, I'm going to ask you actually not to open 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:31.199 it up to Genesis 1. 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:34.399 I'm going to ask you, which you probably think we're going to spend the whole time in, open 00:02:34.399 --> 00:02:36.239 to the other side of your Bibles. 00:02:36.239 --> 00:02:44.839 Let's start in Revelation just to keep things spicy and turn to Revelation chapter 4. 00:02:44.839 --> 00:02:49.919 And I think this passage, by kind of starting at the end, it'll help us to inform our definition 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:52.159 just a little bit. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:56.359 And what's happening as you're turning there in Revelation chapter 4 is John is getting 00:02:56.359 --> 00:02:57.359 a glimpse. 00:02:57.359 --> 00:03:01.560 It says John chapter 4, I mean Revelation chapter 4 verse 1. 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:06.879 He's looking and beholds a door standing open in heaven. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:16.319 So he sees a doorway into heaven and he sees the throne room of God himself. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:24.799 And if you look down at verse 10, what he sees around the throne of God are the 24 elders. 00:03:24.799 --> 00:03:32.319 And these 24 elders are basically just a representation of the church, the global, historical, unified, 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:38.439 small sea Catholic church, not Roman Catholic, but unified body of Christ representing the 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:42.959 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles gathered around the throne of God. 00:03:42.959 --> 00:03:45.680 And what are they doing in verse 10? 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:47.760 They're worshiping him. 00:03:47.760 --> 00:03:52.080 And the question is what is the content, what's going on in heaven? 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:54.040 What are they worshiping him for? 00:03:54.040 --> 00:03:55.240 For all of eternity. 00:03:55.240 --> 00:03:56.560 What are they worshiping him for? 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:59.719 And verse 11 makes that really clear. 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:01.920 They say worthy are you. 00:04:01.920 --> 00:04:09.879 This is the whole church, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:11.200 And then you see that word for. 00:04:11.200 --> 00:04:13.360 This is why. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:18.400 You created all things. 00:04:18.400 --> 00:04:24.040 And by your will, they existed and were created. 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:30.560 So I just kind of want to look at what they're praising God for and pull out just three things 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:34.080 that will help us to construct a definition of the doctrine of creation. 00:04:34.080 --> 00:04:38.160 The first thing is the most obvious thing that we can all say, which they're saying 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:41.319 is that God created all things. 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:42.759 God created all things. 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:44.399 And this is what our catechisms say. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.639 God created all things from nothing. 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:48.639 And they're praising him. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:50.120 And how does he create all things? 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:57.159 He says by your will, his will, he spoke the universe into existence by his very willing 00:04:57.159 --> 00:04:58.159 it into existence. 00:04:58.159 --> 00:05:04.680 He spoke and from nothing, everything came into existence within the space of six days. 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:06.439 And then he rested. 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:07.439 That's the first thing. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:10.240 So the first thing that we would say when we construct a doctrine of creation is that 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:13.360 God created everything. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:17.040 And look again at verse two, I mean, sorry, at verse 11. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:24.160 And he says by your will, they, which refers to all things existed or exist and were created. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:28.680 And if you look at that word, exist or existed, in other words, it's not just a doctrine of 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:34.240 creation is not just that God created everything, but that those things exist. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:38.519 In other words, that those things, he's upholding them. 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:39.800 He's preserving them. 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:42.879 He's sustaining everything that he's created. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:48.520 So it's not as if he just creates and then lets it run its course, but he creates it. 00:05:48.520 --> 00:05:50.800 And then it says by your will. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:54.840 In other words, the will of God is involved not only in the act of creation, but in the 00:05:54.840 --> 00:05:59.920 sustaining, the preserving, the watching over a creation itself. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:02.040 So those are the two aspects I would say. 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:06.480 And the third one is, is maybe even more obvious. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:11.400 But if you just think about what's going on here in Revelation chapter four, it's that 00:06:11.400 --> 00:06:15.360 the doctrine of creation is a matter of worship. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:16.480 It's a matter of worship. 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:18.360 It's a doxological matter. 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:20.319 You might use the big word for that. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:25.480 In other words, this is a doctrine not primarily to be debated among scientists, not to create 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:26.480 divisions. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:32.759 It's, it's, while those things can be helpful, this is a matter that we worship God for. 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:33.960 This is what will be in heaven. 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:39.560 This is what the church in heaven triumphant now is doing is there worshiping God for being 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:43.680 the creator. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.599 And what I mean, so anyway, I just want to talk about basically those three things. 00:06:46.599 --> 00:06:50.359 What it means for him to create, to sustain his creation and what it means that work, 00:06:50.359 --> 00:06:52.120 that creation is a matter of worship. 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.120 So that's what we're going to talk about. 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:58.439 So just to reiterate creation has at least maybe three aspects in the definition that 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:00.399 I'm, that I'm going for. 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:07.479 God's actual creating of the world from nothing and his upholding of his creation by his will. 00:07:07.479 --> 00:07:09.839 So let's look at those things in order. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:13.879 First the very active creation and why that matters for us. 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:17.479 The very active creation and why that matters for us. 00:07:17.479 --> 00:07:21.759 And my goal here tonight is to think as practically as we can about the doctrine of creation, 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:25.839 because I think it actually really helps us make sense of things. 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:30.439 And in order to do that, we have to ask how does the fact that God created the world influence 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:32.919 the way that we live our lives? 00:07:32.919 --> 00:07:40.000 And I wonder if you're here and if someone, if someone in this room were to come to you 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.399 and want to go out to coffee with you and said, you know, I'm really struggling in my 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:46.120 Christian life. 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:49.959 How many of you the first instinct you would have would say, turn in your, let's, let's 00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:52.759 turn in our Bibles to Genesis chapter one. 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:55.039 And let's think about creation. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:56.160 I'm probably not many of us. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:00.280 That's never really been my instinct before. 00:08:00.280 --> 00:08:05.680 But the doctrine of creation is actually what God uses, at least in one instance, to interact 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:08.640 with someone who's hurting. 00:08:08.640 --> 00:08:12.240 Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to another place that you probably aren't going to expect 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:13.240 that I ask you to turn to. 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:14.840 And that's the book of Job. 00:08:14.840 --> 00:08:21.920 If you turn to the book of Job, in particular Job chapter three, just to give you context, 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:26.520 because you probably all know Job chapter one and two is when Job's life utterly falls 00:08:26.520 --> 00:08:30.080 apart within the space of about 20 verses. 00:08:30.080 --> 00:08:34.560 Job loses everything he holds dear, essentially. 00:08:34.560 --> 00:08:42.399 He loses his, his children, he loses his, his animals, his home, he loses his health. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:49.240 And we look in Job chapter two, and we see Job sitting on top of the ashes of his burnt 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:55.720 life, basically, scraping his wounds with, with, with broken pots. 00:08:55.720 --> 00:08:58.960 I mean, this is as low as you could possibly get. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:02.560 And then you look at chapter three and Job opens his mouth. 00:09:02.560 --> 00:09:08.960 And what does Job actually say in chapter three? 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:16.200 He says, after this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:19.840 He cursed the day of his birth. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:20.840 And let's just keep reading. 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:26.560 And Job said, let the day perish on which I was born in the night that said a man is 00:09:26.560 --> 00:09:27.920 conceived. 00:09:27.920 --> 00:09:30.840 Let that day be turned, be darkness. 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:34.360 May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. 00:09:34.360 --> 00:09:37.040 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. 00:09:37.040 --> 00:09:39.280 Let clouds dwell upon it. 00:09:39.280 --> 00:09:44.720 Let the blackness of the day terrify it. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:46.399 Have you noticed about that? 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:53.560 Do you notice the imagery of light and darkness coming through of, of darkness rolling in? 00:09:53.560 --> 00:10:00.600 In verse nine, Job calls for the darkening of the stars, the darkening of the dawn, for 00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:04.879 the closing, he says, of the eyelids of the morning. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.240 What is Job, what is Job cursing? 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:11.000 What is Job asking for? 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:14.799 In some ways he's almost saying, I want creation to be undone. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:18.159 I want the morning sun to be darkened. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:19.799 I want the dawn not to come. 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:24.159 I want what was light to become darkness. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:27.200 You see, God says, let there be light in Genesis one. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:32.960 And Job says, let gloom and deep darkness roll in. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:37.960 And you remember how the creation account ends in Genesis one with rest. 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:41.440 And look at the last verse of this chapter. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:45.120 Job says, I have no rest. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:47.120 I have no rest. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:50.560 In other words, creation isn't working and I want it to be undone. 00:10:50.560 --> 00:10:53.720 I want it to be reversed. 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:58.639 And just notice that Job isn't talking about creation just in general. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:01.480 He's talking about the day of his birth. 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:02.480 Look at verse three. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.879 He said, let the day perish on which I was born. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:08.799 Let that day be darkness. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:15.320 In his pain, Job in essence became the center of his universe. 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:22.360 He wanted to undo all of creation because it was no longer very good for him. 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:27.639 And I wonder if you've ever been confused by the way God answers Job in the book of 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:29.080 Job. 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:34.240 If you turn to Job 38, I've often been confused because I feel like God isn't really 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:36.960 answering the questions that Job is asking. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:38.240 I mean, just think about it. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:42.240 If you lost all those things in your life, if you lost your children and in your career 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:47.480 and all of these things, and then someone started to talk to you about sea beasts and 00:11:47.480 --> 00:11:52.960 billy goats, you might feel like you're not really being heard at this point in your life, 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:57.759 maybe, is an understatement. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:03.840 But if we remember that Job's wish was that creation would undo itself, God's answer will 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:09.399 actually make more sense of why he speaks to Job the way he does. 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:14.000 And the first words out of God's mouth are in reference to Job's call for the darkening 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:15.000 of Genesis 1. 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.280 Look at what God says to him in chapter 38. 00:12:17.280 --> 00:12:24.360 He says, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:30.080 And God starts to talk to him for chapters and chapters about creation. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:33.960 He gives him ultimately a doctrine of creation. 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:40.400 He asks him the first, the second question he asked him is in verse 4, where were you 00:12:40.400 --> 00:12:43.320 when I laid the foundation of the earth? 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:47.120 And the dominant question of God's speech is who? 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:49.440 Who was actually there in the beginning? 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:52.120 Who stands at the center of all of creation? 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:54.800 Who controls all of creation? 00:12:54.800 --> 00:12:55.920 Is it you, Job? 00:12:55.920 --> 00:12:58.800 Are you really the center of the universe? 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:07.599 Who stands at the center of the universe? 00:13:07.599 --> 00:13:10.919 In other words, what does the Lord do to Job? 00:13:10.919 --> 00:13:12.199 He dissenters him. 00:13:12.199 --> 00:13:16.359 He moves him out of the center of the stage of the universe. 00:13:16.359 --> 00:13:19.799 And the Lord says, I created this. 00:13:19.799 --> 00:13:25.639 He gives him a doctrine of creation that says in the beginning, God, I was in the beginning. 00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:27.639 I stand at the center of all of this. 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:31.919 In essence, he tells Job, Job, if you want to make sense of your pain, if you want to 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:36.159 make sense of yourself, you cannot begin with yourself. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:41.080 You need to move yourself out of the center of the universe and begin with Genesis one 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:43.639 in the beginning, God. 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:48.279 You need to begin with God as the creator of all things. 00:13:48.279 --> 00:13:52.159 In other words, what I'm trying to show by this is the doctrine of creation is immensely, 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:53.159 immensely practical. 00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:59.919 But God used in the hardest, most painful of counseling rooms of history because Job 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:05.240 needs to be reminded that to make sense of pain, to make sense of life in general, he 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:11.759 needed to remember to start with the view of God as creator and sustainer, not himself. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:14.079 And how does the speech of, how does the book of Job end? 00:14:14.079 --> 00:14:16.360 How does the speech of God end? 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:21.319 It ends with Job falling on his face, Job repenting in dust and in ashes. 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:25.400 It ends with Job bowing down before God. 00:14:25.400 --> 00:14:30.280 It ends just like Revelation 4 is, is portraying. 00:14:30.280 --> 00:14:35.400 In other words, this is where it's all leading is to looking at creation and bowing before 00:14:35.400 --> 00:14:41.440 God in worship and saying, you are the center of all of this, not me. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:47.240 Again, like I said, the doctrine of creation is a matter of worship, not of debate. 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:50.920 It's a matter of who sits at the center of your universe. 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:54.439 So anyway, back to our definition and then we'll move on. 00:14:54.439 --> 00:14:59.240 The doctrine of creation is not just that God created the world out of nothing. 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:03.559 As God tells Job, he did, but it's that he sustains and upholds his creation. 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:04.719 So that's the second point. 00:15:04.719 --> 00:15:08.279 We'll just move to the second part of our definition, sustaining. 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:09.279 Okay. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:13.199 Now we can finally move to Genesis chapter one. 00:15:13.199 --> 00:15:15.839 Genesis chapter one. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:21.399 And as you know, all throughout the creation account, the word that keeps being repeated, 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:26.200 there are several words that keep being repeated, but the one I want to talk about is the idea 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:28.240 of the word good. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:34.360 God keeps creating something and then immediately after creating it, he says, it's good. 00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:40.639 And then he ends his creation, culminates it, crowns it by saying, very good. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:44.480 And the word good, as simple of a word as it is. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:49.800 In writing class, they say never use the word good, but the word good becomes dominant 00:15:49.800 --> 00:15:51.159 for the book of Genesis. 00:15:51.159 --> 00:15:59.960 It kind of becomes a main anchor for the book of Genesis, the idea of goodness. 00:15:59.960 --> 00:16:03.560 And the reason it does that is because you don't have to read very far in Genesis to 00:16:03.560 --> 00:16:07.639 see the unraveling of this goodness. 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:10.440 The serpent challenges, what is the serpent challenge? 00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:12.759 He challenges the goodness of God. 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:14.799 What does the fall do? 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:17.960 The fall of Mars, the goodness of man's heart. 00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:19.319 What does the murder do? 00:16:19.319 --> 00:16:20.480 It corrupts. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.360 It puts blood on man's hands. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:29.120 You see corruption is seeping to every corner so, so, so, so quickly. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:34.000 It's like whiplash after reading Genesis one and seeing good, good, good, and you turn 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:41.600 to three chapters and there's blood, there's corruption, there's lies. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:49.120 The question becomes God's creation was good, but will he sustain his good creation? 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:53.240 Will God uphold the goodness of his creation or not? 00:16:53.240 --> 00:16:58.000 Will he uphold his goodness in the midst of sin? 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:04.079 But another key theme in creation and in the book of Genesis, another repeated word in 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:10.000 the creation account is, anyone have any ideas what the other word is? 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:13.079 Blessing. 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:17.400 There's the idea of blessing, also permeating the book of Genesis. 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:19.319 When God created man, what did he do? 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:21.480 He blessed him. 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:23.799 And what did, what happened when the seventh day came? 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:27.960 God blessed it, the day of rest. 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:34.359 And I think we can become so, I can become so callous to the idea of blessing because 00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:38.240 you think of blessing, you know, your meal, you bless this, you bless this, you bless 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:39.240 this. 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:41.960 You can use some of the weight of the biblical idea of blessing. 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:48.039 But when God blesses something, it means that that blessing will work itself out effectively 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:49.240 in the life of that thing. 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:52.720 It means something for God to bless someone or something. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:58.480 You see, God blesses Adam and he blesses Noah and he blesses Abraham. 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:03.319 And his blessing is tied with the idea of being fruitful and multiplying and filling 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:07.960 the earth and expanding to the corners of the globe. 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:13.920 And it's interesting that God also blesses the seventh day of creation, the day of rest, 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:15.559 the Sabbath day. 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:22.000 And it starts this idea that you'll see all throughout the Bible, this eschatology that 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:26.720 God's rest will permeate the whole earth until the new heavens and the new earth and 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:33.079 we enter, as Hebrews would say it, you know, the eternal rest of God. 00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:34.360 And what do we see? 00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:39.479 We see God working goodness back into creation. 00:18:39.479 --> 00:18:45.719 He's massaging goodness back into the created order by blessing things and by blessing people 00:18:45.719 --> 00:18:49.439 and by blessing the seventh day. 00:18:49.439 --> 00:18:54.759 And we see God working goodness back into his fallen creation. 00:18:54.759 --> 00:19:01.559 And Genesis 50, the verse that we probably all know, Joseph says to his brothers, the 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:02.799 very end of the book. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:04.919 What does he say? 00:19:04.919 --> 00:19:11.480 You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:16.799 Do you see how Genesis is now bookended with good and good? 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:24.079 And it's the idea of God not relenting on the earth, not relenting on man. 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:30.639 And that verse is more than just a defense for the sovereignty of God or something like 00:19:30.639 --> 00:19:31.639 that. 00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:36.920 And God is working goodness still, even after all that's happened. 00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:44.160 The idea of goodness reemerges and goodness bookends the story of Genesis. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:50.080 And I just wondered, I wondered this when I was in seminary, of why does Genesis spend 00:19:50.080 --> 00:19:53.880 so much time on the character of Joseph? 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:59.360 I mean, we spend like 12, 13 chapters on someone who's actually not directly in the 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:05.079 line of the Messiah, why are we spending so much time on Joseph? 00:20:05.079 --> 00:20:09.839 And I think it's because in the book of Genesis, Joseph is supposed to be a small taste of 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:13.599 what Adam was intended to be. 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:14.599 Adam just think about it. 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:18.479 Adam fell to temptation and he eats the fruit. 00:20:18.479 --> 00:20:19.479 What does Joseph do? 00:20:19.479 --> 00:20:22.599 Joseph withstands temptation and he flees. 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:25.919 Adam was supposed to cultivate and expand the garden. 00:20:25.919 --> 00:20:26.919 What does Joseph do? 00:20:26.920 --> 00:20:31.880 Joseph cultivates the kingdom of Egypt and he cultivates the land and he protects the 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:35.440 people when the famine hits. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:37.120 Adam was supposed to protect his wife. 00:20:37.120 --> 00:20:40.680 He was supposed to look after her and care for her and protect her. 00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:41.680 What does Joseph do? 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:42.759 Joseph protects his brothers. 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:43.759 He protects his family. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:46.840 He protects foreigners. 00:20:46.840 --> 00:20:49.560 But as you all know, Joseph dies. 00:20:49.560 --> 00:20:55.279 And the book of Genesis ends with Joseph in a coffin in Egypt. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:59.839 And he might have been a taste of what Adam should have been, but he was just a small taste 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:05.039 of a better Adam and a better Joseph who would bring in a better new creation. 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:07.839 He would bring in a new creation. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:12.119 But the point is, the point of all this is, is what God created as good, God is recreating 00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:18.279 and upholding and sustaining and preserving despite sin entering the world. 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:19.279 And how does he do that? 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:23.039 He does that through blessing his people and entering into covenant with them and working 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:27.799 good, massaging good, even through evil. 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:33.319 So if, I mean, if we think forward to Jesus, which we always have to do at the end of Luke, 00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:36.039 right before Jesus goes up into heaven, what does he do? 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:42.920 He reaches out his hands and he blesses his disciples, which we can so easily read over. 00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:47.319 But if you think again back to Genesis, the idea of blessing, the idea of creation, what 00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:49.200 is he doing? 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:50.599 He's blessing them. 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:54.639 He's working goodness despite sin. 00:21:54.639 --> 00:21:59.639 We're returning to the goodness of the garden, but even better. 00:21:59.639 --> 00:22:03.879 And he's working goodness back into the timeline of redemption. 00:22:03.879 --> 00:22:04.959 So why does this matter for you? 00:22:04.959 --> 00:22:06.799 I said this would be practical. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:07.919 That wasn't very practical. 00:22:07.919 --> 00:22:10.079 Why does this matter for you? 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:14.319 Because Paul says, and you think about this in Ephesians one, that we are blessed with 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:18.240 every blessing in Christ, blessed with every blessing. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:20.559 It's like a compound blessed with blessing. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:26.639 Blessing on top of blessing on top of blessing is ours, which means that God has covenanted 00:22:26.639 --> 00:22:30.639 with us, his people to effectively bring about good in our lives. 00:22:30.639 --> 00:22:36.359 Just think of Romans eight, all things work together for good. 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:40.759 God isn't done working goodness, which is that idea of sustaining and preserving his 00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:45.319 people and his creation and bringing us to a better garden. 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:52.039 So God upholds us, sustains us, preserves us and works for our good. 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:57.319 And this reality all flows out of a doctrine of creation and recreation. 00:22:57.319 --> 00:23:00.599 Okay, last point. 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:07.399 I've hinted at multiple times the idea that the doctrine of creation is a matter of worship. 00:23:07.399 --> 00:23:10.159 And we've seen that just in small little ways. 00:23:10.159 --> 00:23:11.159 But what does that mean? 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:16.080 That the doctrine of creation is a matter of worship. 00:23:16.080 --> 00:23:24.080 Hebrews 11 three, you don't have to turn there, but Hebrews 11 three says, by faith, we understand 00:23:24.080 --> 00:23:27.400 that the universe was created by the word of God. 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:30.360 I always love when the Bible just tells you how something works. 00:23:30.360 --> 00:23:33.400 It just says, this is how you understand something. 00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:40.759 And it says, by faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God. 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:45.240 And I think a lot of us practically would probably replace that we'd take out the word 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:48.359 faith and we'd put in the word reason. 00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:52.480 By reason, we can understand it or we could put in by science, we can understand it. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:24:00.000 And I don't mean to speak poorly of those things, but the Bible says it's primarily 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:01.000 by faith. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:04.160 That doesn't mean those other things aren't helpful, but it's primarily by faith. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:07.879 This means that we can use all the scientific proof we want to try to convince people of 00:24:07.879 --> 00:24:08.879 Christianity. 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:13.160 I can, I could bring a whole skeleton of a dinosaur into you. 00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:18.040 I don't know what good that would do, but it could be here, you know, but believing 00:24:18.040 --> 00:24:21.920 that God created the world is a matter of your heart. 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:24.760 It's a matter of faith. 00:24:24.760 --> 00:24:27.840 And Paul, in a cool way, explains what that means. 00:24:27.840 --> 00:24:33.440 He kind of takes, he takes that idea of worship and says, here's how this works. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:38.160 This will be the last passage I ask you to turn to Romans one. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:39.200 And then we'll be done. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:42.960 Romans one. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:48.360 Paul explains how this all works. 00:24:48.360 --> 00:25:01.519 Paul says in Romans one in verse 19, he says, for what can be known about God is playing 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:06.759 to them, playing to people because God has shown it to them. 00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:17.160 For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power in divine nature have been clearly perceived 00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:22.039 ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. 00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:25.799 So they are without excuse. 00:25:25.799 --> 00:25:28.039 You notice that clearly perceived. 00:25:28.039 --> 00:25:29.039 You can see them. 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:32.640 You just, we can see the glory of God and creation. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.539 You can see it as you walk home this evening. 00:25:35.539 --> 00:25:36.960 We all see the sunsets. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:37.960 We see the clouds. 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:38.960 We see the rain. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:39.960 We see the stars. 00:25:39.960 --> 00:25:44.680 Psalm 19 tells us they're shouting the glory of God to us. 00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:47.000 And the question is, what do we do as they shouted us? 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:51.799 What do they do as the mountains proclaim the glory of God? 00:25:51.799 --> 00:25:55.440 God's creation declares his invisible attributes. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:56.759 That's a crazy way of thinking about it. 00:25:56.759 --> 00:25:59.639 Calvin says it's something like, I don't have the direct quote in front of me, but he says 00:25:59.639 --> 00:26:05.119 something like God's creation was him putting on outside clothes that we could see what he's 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:06.119 like. 00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:11.000 As you look around, you get a taste of the attributes of God. 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:12.719 So the question is, what do we do with that knowledge? 00:26:12.719 --> 00:26:17.519 What do we do as the mountains declare the glory of God to us? 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:22.159 And Paul says, we all, everyone in this room, we do two things. 00:26:22.159 --> 00:26:26.479 There are two verbs to describe what we do with the glory of God. 00:26:26.479 --> 00:26:28.919 Does anyone know what those two verbs are? 00:26:28.919 --> 00:26:29.919 The right in this passage. 00:26:29.919 --> 00:26:34.239 The two main verbs, he says, this is what you do with the creation of God as it proclaims 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:49.680 itself to you. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:51.440 The first one is in verse 18. 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:55.319 The first thing we do with it is we suppress it. 00:26:55.319 --> 00:26:59.359 So we're suppressors by a very nature. 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:01.079 And what does it mean to suppress something? 00:27:01.079 --> 00:27:07.199 Dispress is the idea of holding down, of burying out of sight, obliterating from memory, pushing 00:27:07.199 --> 00:27:08.199 deep down. 00:27:08.199 --> 00:27:10.879 It's the idea if you've been in a pool and you have like a beach ball and you just try 00:27:10.879 --> 00:27:15.039 to push it under the water with all your might, but it pops up and you lay on it and it pops 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:16.359 out the other way. 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:20.720 That's what we do with the glory of God that proclaims itself. 00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:25.759 We try to push it down naturally because what is it, what is it, what is the glory of God 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:26.759 tell you? 00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:28.000 What does creation tell you? 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:33.720 It tells you that God is the creator of all of this and it tells you what he's like and 00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:37.519 it tells you that you are a creature. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:41.680 And that means he created you and that means that he can tell you what to do. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:44.160 And like that should give us all shivers, that last line. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:47.480 None of us likes the idea of someone telling us what to do. 00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:48.960 What does our culture say? 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:50.359 Who am I to tell you what to do? 00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:51.759 Who am I to tell you who you are? 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:54.039 Who am I to tell you how to live your life? 00:27:54.039 --> 00:27:55.039 Guess what? 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:56.160 God will tell you all of those things. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:57.559 He tells you who you are. 00:27:57.559 --> 00:27:58.960 He tells you how to live. 00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:00.759 He tells you what to do. 00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:03.919 And he has the right to do that because we are his creatures. 00:28:03.919 --> 00:28:05.119 We're his creatures. 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:11.039 And so people shove that down inside because they don't like that idea. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:16.960 One theologian even compares this suppression to what, and probably we're expecting to hear 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:23.200 this name in church tonight, what Freud described as repression, the unconscious blocking of 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:29.279 emotions of impulses and memories from your mind, and Freud says that we do this. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:31.400 He's just observing that we do this as humans. 00:28:31.400 --> 00:28:32.400 Why? 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:33.400 For two reasons. 00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:36.200 We want to protect ourselves from guilt and pain. 00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:40.799 And God's ownership over a life introduces guilt into our life because it means we're 00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:43.960 accountable to somebody. 00:28:43.960 --> 00:28:48.160 And this is what our hearts are masters at doing, which is why many people don't realize 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:50.360 that they're even doing it. 00:28:50.359 --> 00:28:54.000 Our hearts, our suppressing hearts are sort of like hybrid cars. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:57.439 They're so quiet at doing it that you don't even hear it coming. 00:28:57.439 --> 00:29:01.399 It is just naturally what it does to the glory of God. 00:29:01.399 --> 00:29:04.599 And you can barely even hear it working, but you suppress truth. 00:29:04.599 --> 00:29:08.000 And then every once in a while, that car will squeak a little bit or that car, maybe you'll 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:15.119 hear a sermon or you'll see a sunset and something in your heart will say, there's a creator. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:16.959 There's a God. 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:22.840 And the suppressing factory in you will just break down just a little bit. 00:29:22.840 --> 00:29:25.039 And something in you will say, there's a God. 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:28.200 And the question is, will you bow your knee and worship to him? 00:29:28.200 --> 00:29:32.960 Or will you continue to push that beach ball down inside of you? 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:39.200 And when we do, when we suppress, our lives become empty because our hearts are made to 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:44.360 worship God and be filled with adoration for his power and his glory. 00:29:44.359 --> 00:29:48.159 So we need to do something to deal with the emptiness. 00:29:48.159 --> 00:29:52.879 Just think of Augustine's quotes are hard or restless until they find their rest in 00:29:52.879 --> 00:29:53.879 you. 00:29:53.879 --> 00:29:57.719 So the second verb that Paul says we do, and this will be our conclusion. 00:29:57.719 --> 00:30:08.599 The second thing we do with the creation of God, anyone know the second verb? 00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:10.799 The second verb is in verse 25. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:11.959 It's the verb exchange. 00:30:11.959 --> 00:30:13.799 And it actually comes up twice. 00:30:13.799 --> 00:30:15.440 So we suppress and we exchange. 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:17.799 We're suppressors and exchangers. 00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:21.599 We exchange God himself for lies. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:26.079 It's like you trade him in and you choose lies instead. 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:32.839 You say, I would rather have lies than I would have the glory of God that takes ownership 00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:33.839 of me. 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:38.680 And it's so refreshing that the Bible just tells you straight up, they're lies. 00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:40.440 They will lie to you. 00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:43.920 Something you do other than worship God is a lie. 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:45.279 And so we live our lives. 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:50.160 I mean, how many of us for years, maybe years, maybe even tonight, we realize we're living 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:52.039 our life on lies. 00:30:52.039 --> 00:30:56.320 We're building castles of lies that we build our lives upon. 00:30:56.320 --> 00:31:00.960 And the thing about those lies is they will in some way look like God himself because 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:04.480 our heart was designed to worship God. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:11.920 So those lies will attempt to mimic exactly what creation gives us, which is eternal power 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:15.279 and divine glory. 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:18.960 So those lies will tell you this will make you powerful. 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:20.819 This will give you control. 00:31:20.819 --> 00:31:25.279 This will help you control and keep yourself safe and give you power over people. 00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:28.400 And this will help you to be in some ways a God. 00:31:28.400 --> 00:31:29.720 This will help you live forever. 00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:31.480 This will make you immortal. 00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:37.960 And so we'll follow lies, all of our life, that will give us those things. 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:40.640 We'll buy a new car because it makes us feel powerful. 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:44.960 We'll buy a bigger house because it makes us feel in a small way like a God. 00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:49.160 We want to move up the ladder at work because it gives us a little bit more control. 00:31:49.160 --> 00:31:55.799 We want to get that surgery or work out more because it makes us feel we'll be young forever. 00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:57.759 And Paul tells us what we already know. 00:31:57.759 --> 00:31:59.039 Those are lies. 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:00.640 That car won't grant us power. 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:02.200 It's a lie. 00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:03.759 That house won't make you a God. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:05.600 It's a lie. 00:32:05.600 --> 00:32:07.520 Exercising won't grant us immortality. 00:32:07.520 --> 00:32:08.520 It's a lie. 00:32:08.520 --> 00:32:12.960 But our hearts don't stop trying to fill the void. 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:17.800 And that's why Calvin calls to heart a never ending idle factory. 00:32:17.800 --> 00:32:21.920 Our heart is just a factory that keeps producing new ways to fill the emptiness of our life. 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:26.160 It never stops trying to fill life with meaning. 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:27.160 And we all do this. 00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:31.960 We all in little ways exchange the glory of God for other things on a daily basis. 00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:34.920 But we need to remind ourselves that these things are lies and that they will promise 00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:38.519 us things that they can't deliver. 00:32:38.519 --> 00:32:41.880 So in conclusion, if we're looking at the doctrine of creation, it protects us from 00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:42.880 lies. 00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:43.880 It protects us from emptiness. 00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:48.759 It protects us from living our whole life chasing after meaningless things because it 00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:53.480 just simply says worship God for his glory and his beauty around you. 00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:58.599 And that will help you as it helped Job to make meaning a pain. 00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:03.720 It'll produce goodness in your life and it means that you'll be going toward a new garden. 00:33:03.720 --> 00:33:10.200 And the only way to find meaning in the midst of pain in daily life is back to the very beginning 00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:15.279 to join with the elders of Revelation for the chorus of heaven. 00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:21.680 And to say with the church of all ages, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:30.519 and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. 00:33:30.519 --> 00:33:54.879 And that's just an introduction to the doctrine of creation.