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Yeah.
Whatever I bring my heart who have been All in all, it was the last year I created the love of God.
Quite well.
Could we look at Genesis 1?
Do you want to read to?
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, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the permanent heaven in the evening and the morning for the second day. And God said, Let the waters unto heaven be gathered together unto one place.
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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 that he sees. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind.
And the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night. And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made two great lights.
The greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good, and the evenings and the mornings were the 4th day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and foul that may fly above the earth.
In the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every wing foul after his kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply.
And fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the 5th day.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind cattle.
And creeping thing and beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. And God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, and the image of God created he him male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them.
Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is a which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you. It shall be for meat, and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air.
And to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given Evergreen herb for meat. And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the 6th day.
Where Trinity?
Does not occur in the word of God as far as I know. I haven't found it yet, but we see the Trinity in verse one. You say how?
Well, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Now God is Elohim.
And so there's a.
In the beginning, God.
It's singular, dull or plural. The word lovie is plural in the beginning, God in the plural, more than one. But in order to preserve the unity of the Godhead that they work as one. The word created is Barra Bara, and it's he created. So in the beginning, God in the plural, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For there was a consultation even in the Godhead over over man, Let us.
Make man in our image after our likeness. Who's the US? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
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In English the plural is 2 or more, but in the Hebrew the plural is three or more. They have a dual form, 2 ears, two eyes, two hands, 2 feet. That's the dual form, only two. But elohim is in the plural. That means three or more, not two or more. But three or more can't be one, and it can't be two, so it's at least three. And the seraphim in Isaiah 6 cry wholly.
Holy holy Lord God Almighty 2 Times you get the Trinity holy, holy, holy and then Lord God Almighty again, again you get it repeated. The three persons, then there's one God. And that's that's not taught in the the Old Testament as such like it is in the new. I remember talking to a Jehovah's Witness. I was staying at the meeting at the meeting room there in Fleetwood.
One time and a couple women came to the door and they were Jehovah's Witnesses. And this one woman said to me, the Trinity's not in the Bible. And I said, why? The very names of the three persons of the Trinity are in the baptismal formula, Matthew 28, baptizing them in the name, not names. The name there's one God of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And you say it's not in the Bible, it's all over the Scriptures.
A little bit later in this very chapter, it's the persons of the Godhead conferring among themselves when they said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and so on. And then it says, and then he the singular. So it goes back and forth between the plural, the US and the singular, because God is one and composed of three persons. That truth is embodied in the Old Testament.
But it's only, it's really revealed to us in the new and there are many just simple passages in the New Testament where the whole Trinity is found. And it's, it's, it's wonderful to, to see that. Now in order to reject the Trinity, I can say I'm going to call Christianity a religion. I don't like to call it that because it's a real person. But let's consider it one of the religions of the world. It's the only one.
That believes in the Trinity. The Jews don't because in order to believe in the Trinity, the Father must be God, the Son must be God, and the Spirit must be God. Now that Jehovah's Witness reject that the Son is God, and they reject that the spirit is God, so they don't believe in the Trinity. The Jews don't believe in the Trinity because they reject that Jesus is God. You have to believe that all three persons are God to believe in the Trinity, and the only ones that believe that are Christians.
The Muslim religion rejects that. And so it's, I was talking to a young man once and he was talking about a friend of his. He said he's a nice Christian, he just doesn't believe in the Trinity. I said he's no Christian if he doesn't believe in the Trinity. He's not a crow. Yeah, he's a Christian. No, he's not.
That's the fundamental we talk about fundamental truth. That's fundamental truth. If you don't believe that, you're not a Christian.
And the Ecclesiastes chapter 12, I understand there that the word Creator is also a plural word. You find it in the Darby footnote. Remember now by Creator the days of thy youth. That confirms what Brother Dawn was saying about Genesis 11.
Also in one of the songs and I just can't find it. I haven't marched my old Bible tonight.
If you have a new translation, I'm holding Miss Darby's translation. The second verse says and the earth was waste and empty. King James says without form, and then he has a very helpful note under waist.
Note B. And he says see Isaiah 3411 and 4518 and I want to turn to those.
Isaiah 3411 Did I say yes?
Where you have and it's not, If you look at it in your King James, you'll notice it's a little different. You wouldn't see it there. 3411 I read it in the Darby. And the Pelican and the bitter and shall possess it, and the great owl and the Ravens shall dwell in it, and he shall stretch out upon it the line of waste and the plummets of emptiness.
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The earth was waste and empty. There you have those two words, the same two Hebrew words that are found in Genesis 1-2. And then the other place is Isaiah 4518.
Isaiah 4518 says, and again I'm using Mr. Darby's translation for Thus saith Jehovah, who created the heavens, God himself, who formed the earth and made it. He who established it not as waste did he create it. He formed it to be inhabited. He didn't create it as waste. So.
It says in Genesis 1/2 The earth was waste.
And empty. That second verse does not describe the earth as originally created, but as having.
Gone through some judgment. I I take it that it was the fall of Satan. I don't know what else it could be. It's because only we know from Job that when the earth was created, all the sons of God shouted for joy. Sons of God are angelic beings. So the angels were created 1St and then the earth.
And when it was created, it was created perfect. I was talking to a person. See, there's the creation scientists. They say that day one begins in verse one. That's wrong. Day one begins in verse 3. Verses one and two go back. We don't know how far. I don't think it was a long time ago, not billions of years like the evolutionists say. I don't know. No one knows how far. But it wasn't created in the condition described in verse 2.
Was created perfect. God, who was light did not create a world.
Enveloped in darkness and chaotic, this earth has been covered by water two times. Genesis 1-2 Completely covered by water and at the flood.
The flood again, and at the flood everyone knows that was judgment, don't we? And it was judgment here. So as a result of judgment, the earth was reduced to this chaotic, darkened state of things, probably the fall of Satan. And then God reformed it. And it's very interesting that of the Trinity, the three persons of the Godhead, the Spirit of God is the first one mentioned in verse two in the Bible. And it says, and the Spirit of God was hovering.
The face of the waters. So we often think of the Spirit of God as the last one that we mentioned in the Trinity, but he's the first one in the Bible. And when the Lord died on the cross, he offered himself without spot to God by the eternal Spirit.
Actually, everything that God does is in Trinity because that's who God is, who is God. He's the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And so everything that He does, whether it's the creation.
Or the salvation of the lost, You get that in Luke 15. You have the the shepherd, that's the Lord Jesus going after the lost sheep. You have the woman, a picture of the Spirit of God looking for the lost coin. And then you have the Father receiving the returning prodigal, Everything that that's a picture of salvation, isn't it? And you can go over and over again and show how the Trinity is found in Scripture. And when you do that, it's a beautiful study.
We know the baptismal formula, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But that's not the order in which it's found in many passages. Sometimes the Spirit is first, then the Son, then the Father, sometimes the Son, and then the Spirit, then the Father. It it, it mixes it. Why does it do that? Because all three persons are Co equal.
They're all, it's not the Father is above the Son, who's above the Spirit. That's wrong. So it mixes it up intentionally so that when we talk about the Trinity, we're talking about the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You could say Son, Spirit, Father, whatever you say, it's the whole Trinity. And the only ones that believe that truth are Christians. And if, if, if you're in this room and don't believe that.
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You're not a Christian. That's characteristic of Christianity, isn't it? The Spirit is brought in here, the beginning, because the Spirit of God is the energy in which God has always moved, whether it's creation or whether it's many of the things that Chuck has mentioned. The energy in which God moves is the Spirit of God. That's why the whole life and work of the Lord Jesus, from his incarnation to his resurrection and his ascension back to glory.
Was one in the power of the Spirit, that holy thing that shall be conceived of the begotten of the Holy Ghost.
And all through his life, not only with his death, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, but what about the resurrection put to death in the flesh, quickened by the Spirit. And so the energy, the Spirit of God is the energy in which God has always moved. I would like to just say this before we pass on in connection with these verses that bring before us the account of creation and the count, the account now of God reforming things and making it, making it.
The earth habitable for life and for man.
And that is that God doesn't answer all our curious questions as to how things took place. And why doesn't God answer all our curious questions? Well, let let's read it. I could quote it, but let's read it in Hebrews 11.
Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse 3.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Now I accept the Genesis account of creation not because science upholds it or not because it answers all my curious questions. Now true science and the Bible always go together. True science will never contradict the word of God, and it is interesting to see how.
The two go together in science, science and the scriptures. But I accept the Genesis account of creation because through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. God has told us enough here in Genesis one and other places so that by faith, not because we understand it all or know it all. If we did, it wouldn't be faith. God wants us to accept it by faith, and so he's told us enough here so that.
When we.
When faith is in operation, then we believe what? That God is the creator of the world and of the universe. So people will tell you, well, don't accept something unless you can reason it all out and you can put it into a nice neat little formula and package. No, when it comes to being the creator and forming the world, creating the world, we accept it by faith.
Not because our minds can grasp at all. I want to add to one more passage in Jeremiah 4IN connection with these two words waste and empty without form and void. And it occurs in different ways in the in the King James, but it's always waste and empty and Darby and Jeremiah 4 verse 23. It sounds like Genesis 1-2 and I beheld the earth verse 23.
And lo, it was waste and empty, and the heavens and they had no light. Sounds just like the second verse of Genesis one. I beheld the mountains and though they trembled. Jeremiah is not talking about Genesis 1-2, but he's using the same 2 words to describe a chaotic situation as a result of judgment. And it's used three times. These two words are together, and whenever they're together, it's always judgment.
So the second verse of Genesis one is the result of judgment, and that's very important because day one doesn't start at verse one. It starts at verse three, when, as Jim said, he's reforming the earth for man. And I think that makes a huge difference.
This brother that was talking to me, he said on the phone, we had a real nice conversation until this point and he said.
You're not still holding to the gap theory area. And I knew what he meant that there's.
That there's a big gap between the verses one and two. Well, there's a gap all right, but I don't know how long it is and I don't believe it. So as long as some others have said. But what I believe on that doesn't mean it mean a thing because I don't know and none of us does but.
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The two words, when used together, referred to judgment. So the earth wasn't created as described in verse two of Genesis one. It fell into that state.
As a result of some judgment, which I think was the fall of Satan and then he reformed the earth. Verse three of Genesis one God said let there be light and there was light. All he had to do was speak the world into existence. He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. He said let there be and there was sometimes people talk about Christians even talk about the the creation is God created the world out of nothing.
There was never nothing. There was always God. He spoke and He created it. He created the material universe. Now just just ponder that for a few moments of being so, so, so powerful that He could just speak. The world's into existence in a moment. He doesn't take. He doesn't need millions of years to do it. He just speaks and there it is.
And I can't even fathom that. None of us can't. We don't have to be able to understand it and fathom it. We have to believe it because it's the word of God. And that's young people. You're going to be told lies about evolution and that it's that's nothing but the lie of Satan. You have to just go through Genesis one and just ask yourself, just say, I want to just rip my mind of all these other thoughts I've had to see what God said.
Now he doesn't answer every little question. He doesn't have to. He's just told us enough that he did it. There's one expression I just want to remark on this before I'm quiet, and that after it's kind. You'll notice all that formula. After it's kind, after it's kind, after it's kind. That refutes evolution right there. Everything is after it's kind of dogs, mate, and they get dogs. They don't get kittens, they don't get rabbits, they get dogs and the same thing a cat gets a cat.
And so on and so on. Humans get humans. We didn't come from Loki's.
Some of us may act like monkeys, but we don't come from monkeys. And it's just wonderful. We got it all in the very first chapter of our Bible.
Just the thought of what Brother Jim was bringing out, we could turn to John 20.
Says the 30th verse.
It just shows that God doesn't tell us every detail and fill out our curiosity of the things that we'd like to know. But John 20 verse 30 says many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing He might have life through His name, He has told us enough that we can know Him and we can be saved through believing what He has told us.
But is an awful lot more we're going to learn an eternity because it says in Ephesians 2 seven that he ages to come. He might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus, but he hasn't told us all yet. We're we've got a lot to look forward to. Faith accepts God at his word without reasoning it. You might tell me something and I might go and question four or five other people and I come back to you and I say, well, I've questioned these four or five other people.
And now I believe that what you told me was the truth. You say, well, you didn't have faith in me. You had faith in the other people who confirmed my word. She didn't have faith in me. And so with God, we take God at his word again, not because science upholds the Bible, not because archaeological digs confirm what we have in Scripture. I'm not saying those things aren't interesting, but we accept it. Faith accepts God at his word without reason. Just in connection with what Chuck said a minute ago, I want to just read a couple of verses.
In One Corinthians 15, which just from scripture confirms what Chuck was saying about you get kittens from from cats and pups from dogs and so on. And again, this is a complete it completely refutes evolution.
First Corinthians, chapter 15.
I'll read from verse 39, but God giveth it well. Verse 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be.
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But their grain it may chants of wheat, or of some other grain, but God give us it a body as it has pleased him.
To every seed his own body, all flesh is not the same flesh. But there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars.
For a one star different from another star in glory. Now this shows how can we refute this? This shows so very clearly that everything didn't develop from a single cell or some Big Bang back in the back in history before time. No, this shows that when God created, he created everything in order and everything after its kind. Everybody ever see a Caterpillar?
A Caterpillar has nine nerve sections in its back.
And somebody somewhere along the line taught the wasp that he had such a thing of that Caterpillar. So the wasp, he has to lay his young. He comes along and he stings like a surgeon, that Caterpillar in nine sections, and it becomes immobile. He lays the things on the tail. Smart fella.
And he eats compartment by compartment. And when he gets to the head, of course, he dies. But by then the young have gotten enough strength, they've matured, and they fly away. Now, you know, evolution is a great thing. Pretty smart. He's pretty smart.
David Campbell, The camel, too, or the giraffe? I'm sorry, the giraffe. That big tall fella like that. Why is that? He spreads his legs when he goes down. Get a drink. Well, 'cause otherwise the blood would rush to his head and he'd have a cerebral hemorrhage.
So God told him, spread your legs when you go over and I'll put a safety valve on your heart. And when you lean over like that, it will control that surge and you'll be able to live a little longer. Evolution is wonderful.
It's a wonderful thing that we have this account of creation given to us in this first chapter of Genesis, and it's a wonderful thing to read.
The end of Revelation chapter 4. But Revelation chapter 5 certainly takes us a step further, doesn't it? And doesn't necessarily appeal to our intellects. But our hearts are engaged, aren't we, as we read?
Revelation chapter 5. I was thinking of Job and the 28th chapter of Joel.
We know that Job was acquainted with many of the marvels and wonders. He speaks about the vein for the silver, a place for the gold. He knew that the Topaz was found in Ethiopia. He knew that.
A myth in verse 28 it says to make the weight for the winds, and he weighed the waters by measure.
And in verse nine, it says he put forth his hand upon the rock, He overturneth the mountains by the roots, He cutteth out rivers among the rocks, his eye sia, every precious thing. And no doubt some of these things that were mentioned, the Topaz, the gold, the silver, naturally speaking, they're valued in this world, aren't they? We think, or we use the word precious metals.
And in first Peter, we're reminded that we're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. And in Genesis chapter 24, we read of that servant who brought forth jewels of silver and gold. And what a wonderful thing to see that is. I takes note of everything is it says his eye seeth every precious thing.
No, mankind has to delve down below the surface of the Earth.
To uncover some of those veins of gold and silver, about six or seven years ago I had a chance to visit a few of their brethren from Mozambique that work in the mines in South Africa.
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And they have to go nearly three miles down into the surface of the earth in order to reach some of those difficult veins. Well, the Lord sees them. The Lord knows they're there even before.
Mankind has even attempted to discover them, and I just can't help but think of the Lord's commendation given at the end of the book of Malachi.
Says And they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it in a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and thought upon his name, That's something the Lord's eye beholds too.
He sees those hidden veins of silver and gold. But here's something else. The Lord is looking.
On and another verse in Mark chapter.
Three, the Lord is assembled with his own, and it says in verse 34. And he looked round about on them, which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren. So here the Lord I was on something else very precious. And I don't mean to diminish what we've been talking about concerning this creation.
And it's certainly a wonderful creation. We're reminded that we're fearfully and wonderfully made and that Creator God is ours, isn't he? But we also can see those wonders of redemption and how it thrills our hearts to behold that those are Bruce. I've often enjoyed that Malachi 316 when it says those that thought upon his name. You know, we enjoy coming to a conference because we can speak one to another.
As the first part of that verse says. But suppose you're alone.
Washing the dishes or whatever.
You can think upon His name and it's written down to your credit will be a reward for it. Isn't it marvelous? A thought upon his name isn't even uttered aloud. How do you get that? Perhaps foreshadowed in the second verse where it says the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. As Chuck mentioned, the Spirit of God is the first of the of the Trinity to be mentioned.
And I've often wondered why.
And.
I think we've perhaps I don't know if this is an answer and maybe my brother income correct if it's incorrect, but now we know the Spirit of God as the self effacing member of the Trinity and his function is to operate in our hearts that is the redeemed to bring praise and honor and glory to God and the person of the Lord Jesus.
The Spirit of God looked upon that earth that was void and empty and he didn't see anything so that God could be glorified in. And so we find the Spirit of God is the first one there and I think we get a second picture which is exactly the same when Noor sent out that dog.
It was God's strange work and the Spirit of God in the picture of that dog went out and looked on the waters and saw nothing. That was to the honor and glory of God and the person of Christ. Now that same Holy Spirit through not only creation, but as we've also been told, redemption can operate in our hearts that so that we honour and glory to God and to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When didn't the Spirit justify the Lord Jesus at his baptism coming down in a bodily form?
Visible form he found something that he could take delighted that is precious, but.
At that time, as in the state as Chuck has described it, there was nothing that the Holy Spirit could take pleasure in, could bring forth from glory and honor to God and to the Person of Christ. There's a very interesting passage in 2nd Corinthians 4. I'd like you to turn to it again. I'm reading from Mr. Darby's translation, but I don't think you'll notice much difference. 2nd Corinthians 4 and verse 6.
I think this confirms the fact that the condition described in verse two of Genesis one was not the original state. Verse six says because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine. That's Genesis 1/3.
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Who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? Was man created in darkness?
No, He was created perfect, without sin, in a state of innocence. He fell into this darkened condition as a result of disobedience.
So here's a passage from the New Testament showing what God did with man is the same thing he did with this world.
I think that.
I think that's very beautiful, Brother Hendricks. But in this chapter one of Genesis, we're not only reading the history of this world, we're reading the history of God's work with a Sinner.
In the beginning God created Adam and Eve, perfect in every way. But what happened? What happened? They disobeyed God and sin came into this world and man fell Into Darkness like you said. But then the time came when as it says here.
The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. There was a time in my life when the Spirit of God moved and he God said, let there be lights and there was light. And I think every one of us here as Christians can look back at the time when our eyes were opened and we saw that for the first time that we were sinners and the Lord Jesus died for us on the cross. So what we're reading here is not just one thing, it's several things that God is bringing before us.
One other thing I wanted to mention, you mentioned that God acts in Trinity.
And in connection with creation, I've enjoyed this, that there are three parts to time, past, present, and future. There's only three places that you can be in this world, on the earth, in the sea, or in the sky. There's only three kinds of matter. You might say a mineral, vegetable, animus, or animal. There's a minimum of three points on which something can stand. It can't stand on two points. That has to be a minimum of three.
One other thing I've enjoyed is that color.
Is there are three primary colors, yellow, blue and red and I understand that yellow is really the only color that we see when we see the light. And so the only one of the Godhead we've ever seen is the Lord Jesus Christ. The blue I understand is the life sustaining rate. Without it everything would die and it's been likened to the Spirit of God. The red is the heat giving ray.
Which is likened to the Father, the sustainer of all things. And so it's beautiful to see that creation has.
Stamped very remarkably on it in many different ways, especially men, spirit, soul and body. The Trinity from the Trinity also in the New Testament. The Lord what one place is my father work at hitherto and I work well actually it was the Old Testament that God the Father wrote in the Gospels. The Lord Jesus wrought, and in the Spirit of God came down on the day of Pentecost. And this is the era now the Spirit of God for the Spirit.
I have another gem I'd like to pass on concerning the Trinity that I've enjoyed, and that's Isaiah 4816.
Goes along with what our brother Heinz we just said. Brother Chuck Isaiah 4816.
Coming near unto me, hear you this I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, from the time that it was there am I, and now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me.
Of the Trinity connection with what our brother Stan Allen just mentioned in connection with the spirit of God working with man in connection with this chapter, a story comes to mind that was written about.
A German missionary some years ago. His name was Samuel Hebeck, and some of us are perhaps familiar with the little pamphlet Hebex Tub but Samuel Hebeck worked for.
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With the Basel Mission, I believe over in India.
And he never really acquired any of the Indian languages but.
He was instrumental in the blessing and salvation of a lot of the British soldiers that were.
Stationed there, and I think it was in northern India, and there was one particular Colonel that kind of had a fear of this German missionary because Samuel Hebeck was a man that told it like it was and he had a bad conscience.
And usually during the afternoon in that part of India, it got very hot and most of the officers retired to their tents and.
One of the servants of this officer indicated on one afternoon that Samuel Hebeck was approaching the tent. And this officer vowed, well, I'm not going to let him inside this tent and.
Epic approached the flap of the tent, put his head in, and he said I'm going to come in. Well, the man was speechless.
And he pointed to a shelf that the officer had in the tent, and there was a Bible there. And Hebex said, get the book. Well, the man knew what the book was.
And Hebeck said in the very.
Rough German accent.
Read Genesis One and Two.
And the officer got the book. He read the two verses.
And.
Heep, except close the book.
And he left, didn't say another word two days later.
He became back. Get the book.
And he said read Genesis One and two.
Verses one and two. This went on for nearly a week.
And.
Finally, light came into the soul of that individual and that officer was saved and.
Darkness certainly was dispelled in that case. It was such an encouraging account to read.
I don't think the word light is ever called created.
It says God said let there be light. It says He forms the light in Isaiah and creates darkness, but it doesn't say he creates. He is light, God is light, and in him there's no darkness at all. All he has to do is speak it and it's there.
There's another in the beginning in the Gospel of John. You need to turn to it. I just mentioned it, but we had in the beginning. So here was in the beginning was the Word. We dropped down to verse 14 it says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So in the beginning was Christ. Go back to that beginning of beginning. Well, however, before you go back into eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ was there in the bosom of the Father bringing infinite joy and delight to the heart of God.
And in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. There's distinct personalities in the Godhead. God the Father did not die on the cross for me. The Lord Jesus did. And so there's distinctions in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. There's his essential deity, the same, and we change. He changes. Not one of the qualities of Godhead, unchanging. And then creatorship in verse 3. All things were made by Him.
And without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The Lord Jesus Christ has life intrinsically, so to speak. We have it derivatively. We get life, eternal life, but we never possessed it before. It's when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that we have everlasting or eternal life. That expression without Him was not anything made that was made. Why is that there? It just said that He created everything.
So that we don't get the idea the Father did some things, created some things and the Son some things and the spirit some things. All three persons were involved in everything that God did and does. And so without him nothing was created. That was created in the Jehovah's Witness new translation that I have a copy of it, it, it records that second verse in the I'm going to read it in the Darby translation. It's almost identical.
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To the.
Jehovah's Witness translation.
I'll read it. All things received being through him, that's the Lord Jesus, and without Him not one thing received being which has received being.
They teach that he was the first created being and then he created everything else that verse says without him was not anything created or anything made or brought into being that was brought into being. So there and their their translation reads that way. I know the first verse they say the word was a God but forget that and go to the next verse and it refutes totally their doctrine.
It might be helpful to say at this juncture too, that God is not only the creator of the universe, but he's the sustainer of it as well, and it's important to see that. Let's just notice a couple of scriptures. First of all, in Hebrews 1.
Hebrews chapter one, and I'm going to begin at verse one, just to get the connection. Hebrews one and verse one. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time passed under the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the world. That's the first thing, and we've spoken at great length about that.
But then notice this, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Now just hold your finger here and go for a verse in Colossians chapter one.
Colossians chapter one and verse 17, and he is before all things and by Him all things. It's not simply consist, but if you notice Mr. Darby's translation, it's subsist. And I'll speak of that in a moment because the subsist is more than is something different than just consists. But it's interesting, isn't it, that in Hebrews chapter one, where the sun is brought before us, He's brought before us not only as the Creator, He was with him as one brought up. He was by him as one brought up with him. He was there when he laid the found, when the foundations of the world were laid.
But He is now the Sustainer too. Every breath we take so unconsciously is given to us by God. He gives to all life and breath and all things. He's the preserver of all men. In Him we move and live and have our being. And not only so, but the whole creation operates under the direction of this one. And so it says, He's upholding all things by the word of His power.
Think of it, brethren, when the Lord Jesus was a babe in Bethlehem's Manger, He was upholding all things by the word of His power in that tremendous to think about. Do I understand it? No, but it's true. When He walked here as the humble man, He was upholding all things by the word of His power. When he asked a woman for a drink, He was upholding all things by the word of His power. When they spit in his blessed faces. We had earlier this afternoon.
He gave them the very breath and the very spittle to spit in His face when they lifted and hid their hands against Him. He gave them the very strength to do it when they lifted the hammer and pounded the nails into His blessed hands and feet. He was upholding all things by the word of His power. And He hung on that cross as a spectacle for men and angels. He was upholding all things by the word of His power. They took Him down and laid Him in a grave. He was upholding all things by the word of His power. Just think of it. He's not only the Creator, but the Sustainer. And so we find in Colossians 1 by Him all things subsist.
Not just consist, but to subsist is to work together under the direction of someone. If I can illustrate it this way, they've got chairs here in this room. Here's a chair in front of me, and this chair consists of some metal, some hardware, some upholstery, some foam. But to subsist is more than to consist.
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Every planet is held in its orbit by the word of his power. It all works under his direction.
Rotational pull of the earth is maintained because it's working under His direction. He's upholding it by the word of His power. All things by Him subsist. Everything works in perfect order in the universe. Nothing is haphazard or by chance. It's all subsisting. If God drew His breath back to Himself, all flesh would perish again in Him. We move and live and have our being. So I say again, not just the Creator. He didn't just create it and then leave it to function on its own.
Man doesn't. Man might create a machine, but then that machine needs to work under his direction.
He is there to make sure everything is working in order. They are. The Godhead is taking up this creation and causing it to work in perfect harmony under the Word, by the word of His power.
I'd like you to say a little bit about the purpose of God and the creation. We could turn to Ephesians 3.
And beginning with verse 9, Speaking of Christ.
To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.
Who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the attempt, that now unto the principalities and power in the heavenly places, might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is a tremendous loss.
In looking into creation without looking at the purpose of God in creating things.
God has chosen to tell us why and His purposes of doing these things. This only comes out in the New Testament, and if we study creation without this, we lose one of the greatest things that God has chosen to reveal to us. God chose to tell us very little about how He created it, but He told us a lot about His purposes in doing it. They have been developed to us.
And they those purposes are only learned in fellowship with the Creator God who did that, and he has chosen to come out and form a relationship with us through the Lord Jesus Christ to give us understanding of what the wise he did these things.
And they are beautiful brethren, but they are only enjoyed in fellowship with him.
Faith in what he has revealed and I want to tell another story. I know Brother Chuck says doesn't like too many stories, but.
At a graduation of my daughter's, when a prominent evangelist gave a word and gave a nice word, and he told this story of visiting in a prison, and that he had made this part of his work in going to prison, and on this occasion he went to a very.
Secure prison, one of the most renowned in the state of Louisiana, and he looked up there, one of the most notable awful criminals in the USA who was on death row, and he chose particularly to go and talk to this man. So he went and he got access and he visited this man and he asked him this question.
Because he had committed awful, awful crimes, he said to him.
What was it in your life that led you?
To depart and to do these awful things, and the man was very frank, he said.
When I came to realize there was number God, no purpose, nothing mattered anymore.
That's when I degenerated into the state and did those things.
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Brethren, when you take away the purpose of life that God gave us.
What do you have left? What matters anymore?
These things all just become pawns or things to talk about or thanks to discard and use and whoever gets the best is the only winner in the in the in this kind of a game.
God has a purpose and He has revealed that purpose to us. And so when we take up this subject of creation.
Yes, there are these beautiful wonders of it that are that are marvelous that indicate a God made it and and it the this purpose comes out in the council of the three Elohim. There it is in a nutshell, God taking counsel with himself in these in these acts of creation.
Well, brethren, how wonderful not just to look at the creation, but now.
Through the New Testament to see why he did some of these things and the relationship he wants to have with us.
As a created being.
I hope there's another half of that story someday, Doug. That man. Which would tie in with powder in First Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 46.
It says.
That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. And then in Second Corinthians is it 5.
Where it I think it's there. We have the verse 17.
2nd Corinthians 517 Therefore, if any man be in Christ.
He is a new creature or new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. It took just as much a work of the of God to save us our souls, and I would say far more to save our souls as it did for Him to make the whole universe.
And and so we have that here, that it's a new creation.
And the Spirit of God working in the soul is something, brethren, that we have no part of.
We can't. The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters there back in Genesis. And you know, one thinks of it as you or I may have an opportunity to speak to somebody about Christ.
We can't do anything or say it say anything to save a soul.
And you know, we've all read some of these books about people, about self conversions. And I love to hear stories of conversions. And and you, you know, you ask somebody when did you get saved? And then they start 20 years before the day that they got saved. Why? Because the Spirit of God went to work in their soul 20 years before moved on the face of the waters.
And brought them to the moment when the light came in and they were saved. And so it seems to me that if you we have opportunity from time to time to speak to souls, to seek guidance from the Lord, that we don't interfere with the work of the Spirit of God in the soul. I think we get that even in this first chapter of Genesis.
I resonated with our brother Doug talked about God's purpose, and I've always enjoyed the 1St chapter of Ephesians because there we see in the opening verses of it the sovereignty of God doing things at His own pleasure. But the wonder of it is that those things that He did for our blessing, that shows what a wonderful God we have. But you read the opening verses of the first chapter of Ephesians and you get a very clear picture.
Of what motivated God?
To give his Son in order to redeem us, to create us.
It all was to the good pleasure of His own will, and we even read that in the first chapter of Genesis. He looked at His creation and He was pleased. And I often like the thought of the fact that He made man in His own image and likeness, and has already been brought out. Immediately after the creation of man, sin came in.
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And that's what pervaded this world up until the time of Christ. And Christ did that redeeming work. And I like to think too, it is not just that I might be saved and delivered from the punishment of hell, but his work on Calvary dealt with sin and the whole creation. The whole matter of sin was in those three dark hours there on the cross. And So what we've had before us today is really wonderful. But I couldn't help but think when Doug talked about.
God's purpose.
I'll just read a few of these words.
If you turn to Ephesians 1.
Verse five says, Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, what according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood for the forgiveness of sins, what according to the riches of His grace?
I'll just stop there. But it just gives a little picture of the sovereignty of God, and I think it's very humbling. No man can boast of anything.
If we get saved, it's because God wanted us to be saved. Good pleasure of his will.
And I think that's just wonderful. It's just a little picture that we might understand of the greatness of our God. And now I have to say a quote, a verse that getting a little along in life pathway that I often think of and it's in the Corinthians. First Corinthians I have not seen nor hear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things that God.
Has.
Prepared. Prepared for them that love him.
I know an expert says, but he's revealed it to us by a spirit. But even there, I often think that's something that God cannot do. He cannot make it understandable by us in our present human state on this earth, the things he's prepared for us. And I think that's just marvelous because in fact, one thought I had at the beginning of this meeting was.
When scripture says in the beginning, in the beginning, what characterized in the beginning?
I think the one thing that was characterized by the beginning was the establishment of time.
And when we get in the glory, we're going to be in an eternal state and we're in writers talk about us singing hymns of praise of him as a beginning and an ending. That's time. We cannot conceive what it will be to be in the the state in his presence without time. But it's all according to the good pleasure of his will. And that gives me such peace and joy to know that that in getting saved, which is an unspeakable.
Blessing that I enjoy and we all enjoy, but it's all according to His will. Another thing about that eternal thing, Brother **** we won't forget.
I mean, if anyone of us were asked to give a resume of this meeting, I hope I get 10%. But you know what? We're just going to hear these things and have not hear but show. He's going to show them to us and we'll never have. He'll never have to repeat it because we know. We'll know it and we'll remember it. Isn't that marvelous? When we see him, we shall be like him. Isn't that vulnerable? Yes, we'll know as we are known.
Does anyone have a thought?
Why on the second day and the first day it says it was good, but on the second day it doesn't say that, but on the third day it says it twice, and then every other day after it says it once, and then after man is created, he said it was very good. Now what that tells us is that the original creation recorded in Genesis one was very good. There was no evil there. There was no stain of sin. It was very good.
And sin doesn't come in until the 3rd chapter, but and that second day.
It doesn't say. It says well let's just pass that over again the 4th day I want to make a comment on it because time is running out. It says he made verse 16.
Now OK, the third day is verse 13, evening in the morning with the third day. Now verse 14, God said let there be lights.
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In the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night, and let them be for science, and for seasons, and for days and years.
We know what those lights are, the sun, moon and the stars. Let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made two great lights, doesn't say He created them here on the 4th day. It says He made them to perform a function which up to this point in the days He was performing, God was performing it. Now he assigns that function to the sun, the moon, and the stars. Notice.
Let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven, to give light upon the earth. And it was so. God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also, And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day, and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good evening. In the morning were the 4th day. Well, who did that? Up to this fourth day, it says.
In verse four, God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.
But now he gives that function to the sun and the moon and the stars.
They then performed what he had been doing in the first three days.
He didn't create the sun and the moon and the stars on the 4th day. That was created in verse one. From the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, that's the whole universe. But he he set them in relationship to earth. How he did this?
It's nothing for him, he just did it and he gives the son to do something, ruling the day and the moon at night, stars.
And.
God saw that it was good evening in the morning were the 4th day. Now if I was writing this, I would never have put the sun and the moon, the stars in the fourth day. It just doesn't seem to fit according to our intelligence. And that that should have been in the first day. But they didn't perform that function on the first day of the second day of the third day. God did. And then the sun and the moon, the stars, he assigns it to them. How did he do that? I don't know.
We don't have to know, but God tells us what He did. He doesn't tell us how He did it. All He has to do is speak and it's done. It's just that simple. We don't have to try to figure these things out because they're beyond us. We weren't there. And He's told us just enough so that we know this is what was done, not just how He did it and why He did it this way. It has to be done the way He did it.
It's there's not that he had a choice to do it one of two or three ways. No, it had to be done just the way he did it.
For it to function and work properly, and that's another thing that refutes evolution. Everything has to be created in its complete functional form for it to work. Anything that's going to take millions of years to get to that point would never work because everything is dependent upon everything else. It has to be a complete thing, and God did it.
And the more you think of it, the more you just stand utter awe.
At the immensity of God, our God and our God came into this world, became a man to save the likes of us. Tremendous.
Well, I thought there were three. I think so about the atmosphere above us. And then you pass the planets and then start this and then what? The 3rd heaven?
Paul says he was caught up in paradise, the 3rd heaven, at the very presence of God, wherever that might be, the Father's house. I'm just going to say something here I don't have. You know, we think that heaven is a long way off.
I believe it's just another dimension that we can't see.
He's not a long way from us right there. He's right there. He's right here in the room. He knows everything we're saying and what we do and so on. He's right here. We just don't see him. There's one passage in the Old Testament where the prophet says open his eyes and they saw that the mountain was just filled with Chariots of fire and so on. The angels in that, we didn't see it. There's so much we don't know. We don't have to know those things. We just have to believe this book.
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There's something else that's been helpful to me too in this first chapter, and that is that you've been mentioning the sun, the moon, and the stars.
When you go to the last book in the Bible, Revelation, I'll just read a verse, you don't have to turn to it. The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth. Now when you read that, some people take that literally and they think that the sun is going to be darkened and the moon is going to be turned to blood and so on. But I remember reading an article one time that stated that the Book of Revelation is a book of symbols.
And that the key to the symbols of revelation are found throughout the word of God.
And I've enjoyed seeing that in this particular first chapter, it says the sun was made to rule the day, the moon to rule the night. He made the stars also. So it seems as if the sun, the moon and the stars are symbolic of governmental authorities in this world.
Higher authorities, lesser authorities and individuals that have been placed in their position by God.
When judgment comes on this world, they're going to fall from that position. Government is going to be brought into chaos. And that's really the thought in Revelation. I only say that because you find the key perhaps to the meaning of the sun, moon, and the stars in this first chapter of Genesis. And let me add to that in Revelation 21, verse 22. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. And the Lamb is the light thereof. Days 1-2 and three, the sun and the moon and the stars were set in place, Yet God was the light. And it's going to be that way in eternity. God is the light. He doesn't need the sun, doesn't need the moon and the stars. He's the light. And well, we've got enough in scriptures that we can just rest upon and compare these precious things.
Even though we may not understand them, I have a question.
Always struck me that since we're talking about Revelation and just at the start of the eternal state, we don't have the Trinity there. We have God and we have the Lamb, but there's nothing said about the Spirit. I've always wondered about that. That may be too big a question to raise it this late in this meeting, but I think that's just an interesting thing to consider because in those last few chapters of Revelation we have God and the Lamb.
Very prominent. No mention of the Spirit who awaits. We get home and find out. I'd like to just say this at the end of the meeting. I know our time is gone, but at the last part of this chapter we have man brought before us. And man was made in a different way than the rest of the creation in the next chapter, just to sum it up in chapter 2 and verse seven. And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
And man, you and us today, we're different than the lower creation, and that is that we are responsible to our Maker. Man was created a tripart being spirit, soul and body. The animals have a body. The body is the physical. They have a soul too, in the sense that the soul is the seed of the emotions and affections, but they don't have a spirit. And you and I are responsible to God.
And that's why when man was placed in the garden and given to enjoy all the fruit of the garden at the hand of God, God said there's one thing you're not to do. And that one thing which was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was to be the recognition that Adam was enjoying all this as responsible to God, that he was responsible to his Maker. But in reaching out and eating of the forbidden fruit and disobeying God, Adam failed to recognize his responsibility to God.
And that's what man does today. He doesn't want to recognize his responsibility toward God. That's why the evolutionist will come along and tell us, well, it all just happened out of a single cell. And when man dies, he's going to die like the lower creation. If man can convince himself of that, then he has no responsibility to his Maker. But God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Doesn't say that about the lower creation.
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And so when they die, it's all over. But when you and I pass off this scene, when a man or woman draws their last breath, it's not all over. The Lord drew the curtain aside in Luke's Gospel chapter 16 to show that it's not all over When man leaves this world, as far as his biographer is concerned, it is over. But as far as God is concerned, it's not. And I just say at the end of these readings, if there's someone here and you haven't received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and not recognize that you're responsible to your Creator.
I want to beseech you to do it now. Time is short and God in His grace is giving you another few moments opportunity. And so it's important when we die, when we leave this world, there's something beyond because man was not created like the lower creation. I want to add to that.
Some people talk to their plants. A plant has life, but no soul, no spirit. An animal. I can talk to my animal. I can talk to my honey bear because he has a soul. But he doesn't have a living soul. That means a never dying soul. Only man has a never dying soul. When the animal dies, his soul dies. Not true of man. We have never dying soul. We have a spirit.
And that's what makes it so solemn. Where are you going to spend eternity? A never dying soul, Either with him or in the lake of fire. Terrible to think of those that will go to hell. Perhaps we could sing the last verse of hymn #4.
Actually 2 hymns in our Little Flock hymn book that specifically have a reference made to the 8th chapter of Proverbs. One is the 59th M.
Which speaks about wisdom, Jehovah's first delight, and brings before us creation. In that first verse and in the third verse we see he adorned the ark of heaven.
But then in verse six it says, Jesus, from everlasting days thy thoughts upon us ran. Herson was known air Adams Duff was fashioned into man. And likewise the 1St 2 verses of hymn #4 bring before us that marvelous creation.
But then we're reminded of.
The Lord's delight with each one of us.
Where we worthy of it? No, but it's God's grace alone, isn't it? Verse #3 of #4?
And could thou be lighted?
For his lighted and healthy to our dream.
I follow.
Indeed eternal.
Counselor before the world was made.
Made.
Foundation.
Nothing else were laid.
God breakfast us for last.
He would laugh, his body to die upon.
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Me.
Will soon complete the story.
And come again, and we come.
And when increasing.
Our ceaseless pray shall flow.