Amen. Right, so it's the book of Genesis, our new Bible study, and I don't know, I was
thinking, should I have given you a recap of Matthew 28 last week? Well, I'll let you
off. Basically, it's summarised like this. He lives. You won, yeah? Okay, and that's
Matthew 28. But we're on to Genesis chapter 1, and it's our new Bible study, the book
of Genesis, and like I said, it's 50 chapters, so that's about a year or so. It's time to
commit to that season ticket, eh? This is the first game of the season on Genesis. Many
of us encourage new believers to start in John, don't we? And then some new believers
and people who haven't read the Bible ignore that and start in Matthew, and others will
ignore all of that and start in Genesis, won't they? And some would say, well, it is the
first book of the Bible, and fair enough, yeah. And on a surface level, look, again,
it's not a difficult book to read through, but there is a lot in there as well. And the
study out, we're going to hopefully learn a lot of stuff going through this over the
next year. I'm excited about it, and I'm hoping we're all going to learn plenty as we go through
it. So we're going to get started. We're in Genesis chapter 1, and let's look at verse
1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. I'd like to pray before we
continue with this. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this book of the
Bible, the book of Genesis, Lord, and the many truths we can get out of there, the many
just moments of history we're going to look at. And Lord, help just this whole study,
this whole year of Wednesday evening Bible studies to just be done according to your
will, just fill me with your spirit, Lord. Help me to just preach this book accurately
and boldly and clearly. Help me to preach what you'd want me to preach, not to preach
what you wouldn't want me to. And starting tonight, Lord, with this first chapter, what
a great chapter of the Bible, a fundamental chapter of the Bible. Help me to preach this
just clearly, accurately, boldly. Help everyone to have a tent of his. Lord, in Jesus' name
for all this. Amen. Okay, so in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. You
heard it right, didn't you? God created it. And I say that, obviously, because there are
a lot of supposedly respectable intellectual people that think they know better, aren't
they? And they would look at this and say, no, the first sentence in the Holy Bible is
wrong. Because that's ultimately what they're doing, aren't they? I mean, if you're discrediting
the first sentence, you're discrediting the rest of the Bible. And if the Bible isn't
correct about who created the world, then how can we trust it about anything else, right?
And that's why there is a pretty, you know, a multi-pronged attack on creation, on that,
and there's many angles it comes from. And it seems like just anything will do as long
as it's not what the Bible says. And they keep coming out with new figures and new so-called
facts and new so-called science truths and everything else. And like I said, some of
these people appear to be intellectual people. And they believe that basically mankind has
become so much wiser, don't they? That so much more learned has developed, you know,
such advanced scientific methods now that we have the real answer. And the thing is,
there are those that believe that, and those that just believe that that must be the case
and don't even really know what they believe as long as, well, someone intelligent said
that that's not the case, so I'll go with that, yeah? And what they believe is this.
They believe that in the beginning, wait for it, nothing created the heaven and the earth.
I mean, that is honestly what they believe. And it is laughable, isn't it? And fortunately
for most, look, rational, normal people dismiss that. They do, don't they? And I think it
surprised me when I first really started soul winning and talking about this a lot
more after I was saved, just actually how many people out there just completely dismiss
that nonsense? And at first, because I think you're led to believe I'm just going to be
constantly debating this, seems to be everyone must believe this, but look, I mean, that's
a bit of a jump, isn't it? To go to nothing created everything. I mean, you've either
got to be a complete moron or you've just got to be willing to believe like a complete
moron. And there aren't actually that many. Now, it might be that obviously generally
we're going to go to places where we consider them to be more receptive, which will generally
be less prideful places, less wealthy places, and people at least there are still a bit
more grounded in truth, aren't they? Whereas as the pride goes up, sadly, this just appeals
to the prideful, doesn't it? I'm much cleverer than that. I'm much, much wiser than people
that believe this archaic old book and everything else. But it's so foolish, isn't it? It is
so foolish what they claim to believe these people. So like I said, the prideful self-styled
intellectuals, they are out there, but is it because they really believe that nothing
created this world? Do you think that's what it is? Do they really believe that? Do they
really deep down believe that? Do they really believe that an explosion created order? Because
that's what they kind of cling to, isn't it? Apparently, I think the Big Bang's still the
kind of the most popular scientific, well, what do they even call it? A hypothesis, really.
It's a theory, isn't it? It's a theory. And that seems to be it. Do they really believe
that though? Because what does it do? It goes against the real observable science of is
it the second law of thermodynamics? I mean, how are you going to create order out of that
sort of chaos of an explosion? Do they really believe that a load of logical impossibilities
become feasible when you have millions and millions or billions and billions of years?
Is that the missing ingredient? That suddenly things which can never be observed, have never
been observed before suddenly become real because we've added the missing ingredient,
the secret millions and billions that solves it all? No, what is it? It's a convenient
excuse to reject God. That's really what it is. It's just a convenient excuse to reject
God. And it's one which appeals to those types of people that believe they're cleverer than
that. They're more intelligent than people of years gone by that they actually are much
wiser. And it's funny because it really seems that people are getting more stupid. I mean,
that's what I see out there. I just see people getting more and more stupid. And just because
there's some advances in certain forms of engineering and things like this, that doesn't
mean that on a whole mankind isn't getting more stupid. And to believe this, you've got
to be pretty thick, to believe that literally nothing created everything, that an explosion
of nothing created this world, which could not exist without everything being perfectly
aligned. And we're going to look at that in a bit anyway. But OK, it's an excuse to reject
God. And it's not because of some amazing new technology, OK? It's wilful rejection
of the creator. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 2, though. Turn to Jeremiah 2, because this isn't
anything new, OK? It's a wilful decision to reject the creator. And this has gone on from
time long gone before. People have always found ways and reasons to reject the creator
and to worship something else. And these people ultimately worship something else.
Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 26 says this. Jeremiah 2, 26. As the thief is ashamed when
he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed. They, their kings, their princes and their
priests and their prophets. So what is it that should make them ashamed? That's basically
an embarrassment to them. Well, look at verse 27. Saying to a stock, which is basically
a tree stump, thou art my father, and to a stone thou has bought me forth, for they
have turned their back unto me and not their face. But in the time of trouble, they will
say, Arise and save us. And what do the majority of these atheist types do in the times of
trouble? They call unto God, don't they? I'll tell you what, all those guys that claim they
don't believe in God, when the chips are down, who are they calling out to? They're crying
out to God. And then what happens? They get even angrier because God doesn't just grant
them their wishes, because they're rubbing their proverbial lamp and going, you know,
I'm begging you for this. Why aren't you just answering, answering what I say? And let's
be honest, most, many of these people, if you talk to them on a door, so you knock on
a door and they'll go, you know, you start talking to them about the Bible or about,
about salvation, they'll go, well, I'm an atheist. And when you try and say, well, blah,
blah, blah, they go, well, you know, I'm not happy with how X, Y, and Z happened, or God
did this, or well, when you see what happened in my life, you would feel the same. And really,
what they're really saying is, I don't like God. I'm rejecting God. I've got the hump
with God. So I'm going to claim atheism. And that's for me, I don't know about you guys,
majority of people that claim they're atheists, that sort of stuff that comes out afterwards,
isn't it? It's God hatred, God rejection. Okay. And who is it always the God of the
Bible? They'll go, oh, I'm just so angry with, you know, Allah. I'm so angry with whoever,
it's always God, isn't it? It's the God of the Bible. I'm angry. I'm mad. So I'm going
to choose atheism. And they turn about, but then, and also, because even while they've
turned about, they still call out to him. They'll call out to him, but then claim that
they don't believe, but really it's because they don't like him. They don't want to
believe. They don't want to put their trust in him. They don't want to acknowledge him.
Verse 28 says, but where are thy gods that thou has made thee? Let them arise if they
can save thee in the time of thy trouble, for according to the number of thy cities
are thy gods, O Judah. Let Stephen Hawking arise and save them. And I'm not trying to
make a joke there about that. Is he dead now, Stephen Hawking? Okay, definitely not arise
in saving anyone. Richard Dawkins, the drooling pervert, let him arise and save him, right?
I mean, that guy is sick and twisted, isn't he? I think I've talked about that before.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, or any of these other guys. What's one of them? Michi Okaka? I'm
trying to remember his name, yeah. They arise and save him because they're the gods they've
made. Because most of these people, really, they don't even know half what those guys
are. They just say, yeah, he says it doesn't exist, so I'm going with him. That guy's
really intelligent. That guy sounds really clever. That guy's got like doctorates in
this and that and everything else. And that's really what it comes down to, doesn't it?
They're their gods. They're the gods of this world, or at least the atheist so-called
of this world. And they've made gods of these so-called intellectual clowns. And
yeah, you know, they're wordy. I'm sure they could have had some good knowledge of
these guys if they'd applied it to the right thing instead of god-hatred and god-rejection.
And what else? They make gods of money. And it's money as well. And for a lot of these
people it's kind of, well, you know, if I want to succeed, I want to worship money,
make money my god, then I kind of need to reject god. So atheism's quite handy and
I can just chase money, chase money, chase money. And with one of my other gods, you
know, just hang off the words of, like I say, some idiot. Sometimes it's not even a scientist.
Sometimes it's someone like Ricky Gervais or Stephen Fry, another drooling pervert.
In fact, they all are, aren't they? At least the false prophets in the atheist world.
Turn to Psalm 53. Because, look, the majority of these god-doesn't-exist types, I believe
they know deep down that they choose this religion of atheism instead. Okay, so for
the majority, that's what they choose. However, well, as you turn now, I'm going to read Jeremiah
10.8, which says, but they are altogether brutish and foolish. The stock is a doctrine
of vanities. It's just a doctrine of emptiness. It's nonsense. Most of these people, I think,
deep down know that. And when you start to prick them with the word of god and everything
else, they know it's true. That's why they usually just turn and go, well, I don't like
god in one way or another. But then you've got the false prophets, the false prophets
of atheism, haven't you? The Dawkins, like I said, the Gervais, the Stephen Fries, all
these people, all these false prophets of atheism. And these god-hating preachers of
lies are worse, aren't they? These aren't just people that kind of know deep down. They
have got to the point where they hate god so much, they'll claim it's the version of
god from the Bible they don't believe in. But look, these people, their heart's so hard.
I believe there are people being talked about in places like Psalm 53, and I think it's
Psalm 14 as well. Psalm 53 one says, it's the psalm of David, the fool have said in
his heart there is no god. The fool. The fool have said in his heart there is no god. Corrupt
are they, and have done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good. To say in your
heart, that's not just saying out with your mouth because you don't like it. To say in
your heart there is no god is a rejected heart, isn't it? That's a rejected heart,
it's a foolish heart that's been darkened. And what a surprise, aren't they always just
super weird, these people? It all comes out in the end, doesn't it? There's nothing that
shall be hidden, is there? When you see these people and eventually it comes out, Dawkins
has come out with all sorts of weirdness, that he thought that mild pedophilia was okay.
I mean, that guy's a sick, twisted pervert. And the rest of them are, because they've
been given over to a reprobate mind. But go back to Genesis 1, because for normal rational
people, the creation is evidence of the Creator. That's one of the things I kind of try and
say just in a nutshell on the door, if I think I might get a chance, I just go, well, I think
I've said it tonight, so I said, well, I had a few tonight, funnily enough, in preparation
for this. Having said I don't see them so often, I'm starting to get them a little bit
more, I must admit. But I had, maybe it's because we're doing local area stuff, they're
a bit more middle class around here. And I had, you know, someone say, well, I don't
believe, and I said, well, you know, I think, you know, many would just say the creation
is evidence of the Creator. And I think this one kind of, it was polite, you know, we're
just polite with it. But for most normal people, that's the case, isn't it? And, you know,
I've used analogies of this, it often doesn't really get you anywhere, does it? But things
such as, you know, if I, I used to say this to people, and people that I'd have a bit
more time with, people I used to coach would say, look, if I had a robotic arm, yeah, and
it was a perfect robotic arm, but it was nearly as good as a human arm, although that would
be impossible for me to make. And I had this robotic arm, and it was doing, it was picking
things up, moving things, turning things, everything else, playing sport, the rest.
And I said, and you said to me, where did you get that from? And I said, it just made
itself. You know, this is what I say to people, you'd call me an absolute nutter, wouldn't
you? And would it be any difference if I said, ha ha ha, but you're missing out on something,
it happened over millions of years. It's ridiculous. I mean, it's laughable, isn't
it? It's laughable. And most normal people still don't believe that, okay, don't believe
that rubbish, or at least don't claim to believe that rubbish. The word, and here's the thing,
the creation is evidence of the Creator, and the Word of God, it is evidence that the Creator
is the God of the Bible, okay? So you've got, you've got, you've got the creation is evidence
of the Creator, and then the Word of God is evidence as to it's the Creator of the Bible,
it's the God of the Bible, okay? And everything else just pales in comparison, doesn't it?
It's ridiculous. The other so-called holy books, there are impersonations out there,
but nothing compares. You're in Genesis 1, but Romans 10 to 17 says, so then faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It's the Word of God that does it, isn't it?
The Word of God is unlike anything else. Like we read, I think we, I quoted the other week,
and I think again, it's from, from the book of Jeremiah. It's like, his word is like a fire,
and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces, and that's the Word of God, and there's nothing
like it, is there? And it is evidence as well, but ultimately it comes from faith, doesn't it?
Comes from faith, and that comes from the Word of God. Verse 1 said, in the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth, and just a heads up on this, because there's a lot of false doctrine
that comes out of the book of Genesis. Heaven can mean the sky, can mean what we know of as space,
and it can mean the spiritual place as well, okay? So it can mean sort of one of those three things.
Its literal meaning is up high, okay? That's basically what heaven means, this up high,
in the heights, yeah? And, and for me, he, he created everything up high, and everything down
on the earth in the beginning, okay? That's what we're, that's what we're seeing. He just basically
created everything, yeah? So there were no billions of years of the universe first, okay? It was all
created together. Everything you see up high, and everything you see down low, was all created
in the beginning, by God, okay? Then verse 2 then says, and the earth was without form, and void,
and darkness was upon the face of deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of waters,
and God said, let there be light, and there was light. So we've got the Holy Spirit moving,
and where did the light come from? Where did the light come from? Well, turn to John chapter 1,
because there was no sun, moon, and stars yet, was there? They came on the fourth day. You're turning
to John chapter 1, John 8 12, John 8 12 says, then spake Jesus again unto them, saying,
I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life. So in Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 to 3, where you just were,
we have the Trinity, don't we? With the Holy Spirit in verse 2, and the Word of God, the light of the
world in verse 3, yeah? But they're all equally one God, aren't they? John 1, and, and, well,
John 1, and where you are in verse 1, it says, in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So the Word being Jesus Christ, as we know from
verse 14, and other places in the Bible, the same was in the beginning with God. So how does that
work? It's very profound, but basically it's because he was with God the Father, and he is
God the Son. 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, and the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehendeth it not. Now John here is showing us that Jesus Christ was not only
that light in the beginning, but it was also for me a picture of something then. And bear in mind,
you go, oh yeah, but that was kind of written afterwards, and well, no, it wasn't, because
his Word is from everlasting, isn't it? And, and it was forever settled in heaven. Verse 6 says,
there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness
of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent
to bear witness of that light. That was a true light which lighteth every man that cometh into
the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. So Jesus
Christ was that light which shined in the darkness. And back in Genesis chapter 1 then in verse 3,
where it says, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light,
verse 4, 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. So you don't have to turn it, but John 12 46 says, I am come a light into the world. It's
Jesus talking that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. So the light
represents Christ, and, and I think it's pretty obvious, isn't it? The darkness represents the
unbelieving world. Okay, now don't get me wrong, this, this is creation, this is what happened,
but there are pictures even in Genesis chapter 1 of that light, and we see it like explained to
some degree then in John 1, that, that light basically being Jesus Christ, and then the
darkness being the unbelieving world. What did God do? He divided them, didn't he? And there's
this point of this division, and look, the world, the world wants to try and merge them back together,
doesn't it? So God divided the light from the darkness, but the world kind of wants this sort
of dull day and bright night, doesn't it? It wants to merge it all together and turn it back into this
sort of just ecumenical world religion type thing, this ecumenical type Christ, but God divided the
two. There's a division between Jesus Christ and the unbelieving world, okay? No matter how, how
they try and worldly off Jesus, and how they try and sound and act religious and holy the world,
there's a clear distinction, isn't there? And, and when it comes to real Jesus, he's as different to
the world as light is from darkness, isn't he? He's as different from the world, and from the
worldly versions, and from the world's religion, and from the world's so-called version of Jesus
Christ, all their false so-called religions in Christianity and others, as, as light is from
darkness. And if we believe we should be divided from the unbelieving world too,
well if we believe that, as we should, because the Bible says that, we should then therefore be as
different as Jesus Christ is, shouldn't we? Yeah, but, but here's the thing with that, the day and
night still exist together though, don't they? They still exist together. We still have to live with the
world, but we should be distinguishable, shouldn't we? So we still have to live with the world,
however we should be distinguishable from the world. Look, light, light and dark still has to
be there in the world together, but they separate, they're divided, aren't they? And, and how do we do
that? It's not because we're trying to be distinguishable, but because we're trying to live
how God wants us to. And you live, the more you live how God wants you to, the more you're just
going to be divided from the darkness, from the unbelieving world. Romans 12 to 2, you'd have to
turn there says, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
So God in fact divides us, but it's not automatic, is it? And a lot of, a lot of false versions of
Christianity will claim that you just automatically become Christ-like because you got saved. You're
just going to automatically change. No, it's by us conforming more to Jesus Christ and how we do
that through his word. It's through the word of God. Yeah, and that's how we then will divide from
the darkness as well, but we make a conscious decision. Are you going to be more Christ-like?
Are you going to follow Christ? If you are, you're going to be like that light of the world
and that clear division from, from the darkness. Now it's all through his word, isn't it? And what
does his word say in verse six back in Genesis one? His word says this, and God said, let there
be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. And this is
where those that want to believe in some almighty pointless conspiracy, because it would be a
pointless conspiracy. They'll say something like, look, there's something firm in the sky.
It's a firmament. It's firm. Yeah. And then they're coming out, you know, it's actually,
we've all just been lied to. There's just been this massive multi-billion bank conspiracy to,
to, and I don't know what they actually, I think the Christian ones think it's because they're
trying to discredit the Bible. You know, all the flat earth stuff is what I'm talking about and
all that kind of stuff, but it's not because the Bible doesn't say that. So what's the point in it?
What does it achieve? Because it doesn't discredit the gospel and it's the gospel that we're
preaching and it doesn't discredit the Bible when you actually understand what firmament is,
because they'll say things like it's a barrier, won't they? It's a firmament. You're taken away
from the word of God. But is that what firmament means? If it did mean a barrier, look at verse 20,
how do birds fly in it? In it. Verse 20 says, and God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly
the moving creature that had life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of
heaven. I mean, how on earth would a bird fly in something that's a barrier and that's firm and
it's some sort of lid or whatever else they want to call it, a dome or something else, yeah,
that NASA's been lying to you about for however long. What does firmament mean? It means an
expanse. It's a wide extent, a space. God divided the waters with an open space that we call the
sky. Now, what waters did he divide? Some suggest that you might have heard, have you heard like
where they'll say, oh, there must have been this canopy of water pre-flood, yeah, okay, so many
people have kind of talked about this and gone, oh, I think, and then they talk about that's why
people live longer and I don't know. But for me, it's the same canopy we have post-flood and it's
called the atmosphere. That's what we're talking about. That's the separation. It's the waters from
the waters and we have a lot of water up in the air called the atmosphere. One estimate of the
volume of water in the atmosphere, and again, these are estimates at any one time, and this
seemed quite a popular one, is 3,100 cubic miles. So that's 3,100 miles that way, that way and that
way, yeah, a cube, yeah, that's a lot, okay, that's a lot of water in the sky. Now, this is only a
fraction of the total water on the Earth if you can compare it to the vastness of the oceans,
but it's a lot of water still, isn't it? 3,100 cubic miles, that's a sizable amount in the
atmosphere. What's it for? Why did God separate? Why did God give us this atmosphere which is
full of basically water vapour at least? Well, according to National Geographic,
the atmosphere protects life on Earth by shielding it from incoming ultraviolet radiation,
keeping the planet warm through insulation and preventing extremes between day and night
temperatures. The sun heats layers of the atmosphere, causes it to convect driving air
movement and weather patterns around the world. Sounds pretty important to me, to you, that
atmosphere sounds pretty important. It must have been an accident, right? Just an accident, that
explosion just caused an atmosphere, yeah, sure. Well, verse 6, it said, and God said, let there
be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. Now,
the reason that it's nothing compared with the vastness is because then the waters go to much
greater depths than ones on the Earth, but when you're talking about just on the surface of the
water, and bear in mind it talked about the Holy Spirit being on the surface of the waters,
and then we have that separation, and then you have the water which acts as the atmosphere,
and it says, basically, when it says let there be a firmament, he created an open space in between
the waters. Here's a quick thought that I had on this, and I'll be interested in what you think
after this. I haven't really had time to go into it in depth, but if the light being divided from
the darkness represented believers in the world, and that's what we see from John 1, don't we,
yeah, and other passages, could the waters being divided represent the living water, the word of
God being divided from the words of men, maybe? I don't know. Think about it, that's what water is
constantly picturing in the Bible. Ephesians 5 26 said across the church that he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. Verse 2 here said the spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. John 6 63 says it's the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth
nothing, the words that I, 663 this is, the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are
life. The words of God, well the inspired preserved living words of God are often pictured by water,
maybe there's a picture there, that division of that, but that's about as far as I've got with
that. But have a look, have a look if you want to be interested in what you think. Verse 7
in Genesis 1 says and God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the
firmament from the waters which are above the firmament and it was so. And God called the
firmament heaven and the evening and the morning were the second day. So this is the sky, right,
it's not talking about God's eternal dwelling place. So day one was heaven and earth, night
and day, day two was the atmosphere, okay, that's where we're up to. Verse nine it says and God said
let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place let the dry land appear
and it was so. And God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters called
the seas and God saw that it was good. So it's not that peace of land broke off, anyone ever heard
these theories before where they think like the continents were previously joined in? Well not,
the waters were gathered into the seas, okay, that's not how it worked. But anyway verse 11
says 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. So day one was heaven and earth, night and day. Day two was the atmosphere, day three
was the dry land and vegetation. And notice it's constantly bringing forth after its kind, you know,
we're going to see that again in a second. Verse 14 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 years. Now remember that firmament means expanse, wide extent, a space, yeah.
We had a firmament or space dividing the waters called heaven meaning heights or
elevation, yeah, or up high you could say. For us we're looking at that as the sky
of what we call it now. However, as with the firmament, okay, the atmosphere isn't a barrier
though, is it? Okay, so remember they want to make, these people who want to come out with
all this crazy stuff want to make out like the firmament is a barrier. No, it's just that the
sky separates the water there and the water down here, right. So there's an expanse between the
seas and the atmosphere which is the sky but the open space continues beyond the atmosphere,
doesn't it? Okay, so that's what we're seeing here in the firmament of the heaven. So in the open
space up high we're now seeing the lights because there was no, right, well there's nothing beyond
the waters that have been divided which we know of as the atmosphere. So basically you've got
this expanse up high, we call it space, which God put stars in which also divide the day and the
night, yeah. Okay, so that's what we see up there. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the
heaven to give light upon the earth and it was so. So what are these a picture of? If we're looking
at pictures here we'll turn to Daniel chapter 12. If Jesus Christ is the light the stars represent
his children shining forth that light, don't they? And that's what we see in Daniel chapter 12 and
verse 2. You can look at Daniel 12 and verse 2. Daniel 12 says, and many of them that sleep in the
dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt
and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn
many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. So the brightness of the sky and they that
turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. Proverbs 11 30 says, the fruit of the
righteousness is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. I believe the wise here are those
soul winners that will shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars forever and ever. If you're a soul winning Christian you were being
pictured on day four of the creation of the world, that's what I believe. That's pretty cool isn't it?
If you're a soul winning Christian, if you're out and you're turning many to righteousness
you were being pictured on day four of the creation. That's amazing isn't it? And look
that's what it's about really isn't it? That's look people go on about shining their light and
then they try and take it to well I don't see you shining your light because you're not you know
saying that all queers are welcome or whatever else it is you know because you're judging
or some other kind of kind of fake unbiblical standard they put on you but what really is
shining the light it's going forth and preaching the gospel isn't it?
Because he's a light of the world it's preaching Jesus Christ yeah.
Anyway let's go back to back to Genesis 1 with that in mind then it says in verse 16
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 so the sun and the moon and and by the way just on this the moon
reflecting the sun's light doesn't stop it being a light anyone ever people try to attack this
it's like oh the bible got it wrong it's calling the moon a light but that's like saying that my
old solar paneled security light wasn't actually a real light because it was powered by the sun
it was still a real light it's quite a good light actually as well and I didn't have to wire it all
up so I was quite pleased with that yeah okay it's still a light the moon's still a light even
though it's uses the sun's light right anyway. Okay so we've got those two great lights and
I need a bit more time if there is a picture there I'm not sure I know obviously
is it Joseph's dream where the moon and the sun picture his mother and father
there's something in there isn't there if anyone's got something there preach it next time you preach
okay and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth so it so
again the firmament of the heaven in space here yeah not not installed in some firm dome cover
okay not like stick-ons on the dome okay this is in the firmament it's an open space yeah
and I think with a lot of these people if they could just get over the firm part of the word
firmament and I think they would you know probably most of their doctrine would collapse wouldn't it
but anyway and to rule over the day and they should have done that with verse 20 shouldn't they
where the birds were flying in it anyway 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 so that division is important we're
seeing that division that light from the darkness God saw that it was good yeah and again like we
said in that picture God likes that division okay verse 19 in the evening and the morning were the
fourth day so day one was heaven and earth night and day day two was the atmosphere day three was
the dry land of vegetation day four was sun moon and stars and in verse 20 says and God said let
the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly
above the earth in the open firmament of heaven so as mentioned obviously a few times out of
firmament isn't firm it's the sky and the birds flying it then verse 21 and God created great
whales and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly
after their kind and every winged fowl 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 so were the sea creatures and the fowl or birds morphing into new creatures
no they were brought forth abundantly after their kind which is another way of saying after their
individual species yeah which again is an easily observable truth you would think wouldn't it
you would think so fish birds animals yes adapt to their surroundings but where are all the
where all the cross-betweens then so it's and you know it does get i know it's not like i said it's
not as mainstream as people would like you think however it is a bit annoying isn't it
where'd you get this rubbish we would be seeing it everywhere everywhere there'd be all these
cross between creatures because because they'll go well it was over billions of years well why
is it not still happening there oh what a coincidence it just stopped happening
whilst we're here to observe it that's what they believe don't they or at least well it's so
gradual you can't actually see any example of it well where are all those ones that are in this
gradual change and if it was so gradual man there would be some pretty weird creatures wouldn't there
some pretty lame creatures out there as well which are just in this gradual change which just doesn't
seem to have done anything at all over the last six thousand years but anyways nowhere nowhere
do you see these types of cross streams because it's ludicrous there is no such thing verse 23
says in the evening in the morning with a fifth day so day one was heaven and earth night and day
day two was the atmosphere day three was the dry land of vegetation day four was sun moon and stars
day five was sea creatures and birds okay now look at verse 24 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 beasts of the earth after his kind and cattle after their kind
and everything that creeped upon the earth after his kind and god saw that it was good so all after
their own kind again this is the the land animals now isn't it i mean 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 the air sorry and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth so notice the us let us make man in our image after our likeness
who's he referring to is it is it the angels some people try this one i had i i don't know if i've
ever told you about this before i had this this damnable heretic two of them come to my door many
years ago i was recently saved and showed me this verse they came and i should have just cast my eye
to be fair at the door i did ask them do you believe in in in the trinity do you believe in
grace we fell yeah yeah yeah yeah i said okay come on in then yeah they said oh we've uh this
is what they asked they said could uh there was a lady and she said could her protege this young boy
show this um a study he's done on god the mother now in my mind initially i just thought oh they're
just going to be trying to show you know kind of his his kind of uh his parenting attributes or
something else you know okay yeah come on in and i used to live in a very heavily korean area and
there was kind of this this cult amongst them which was believing this anyway came into my house
and um and sat down got out their bible and started showing me that this proves that there
was actually god the father and god the mother and really it's back to the queen of heaven roman
catholic idolatry really isn't it you know but this is like there is a god the mother look our
look let us make man let us make man no image and even i was recently saved fortunately my king jay's
bible so firstly i started pointing out some of the errors in their false bible so i was kind of
on that kind of gravy train at the beginning i quite enjoyed that you know and like like pointing
that stuff out and then i was like but he's clearly talking talking to the son isn't he
yeah it's the father talking to the son and they she looked shocked the the kid who i don't think
had been given over i mean she was she was a rep for about all day long she started getting angry
then started we started around and i kicked her out but the the the lad the lad with her he was
kind of like she was translating what did he say about this shirt his english was shaky but what
he said he was really interested and i was showing him the differences in the bibles between their
bible and i had this little list at the front of my old bible with all the differences and
so anyway it's quite interesting point being though they took this verse and people just love
to take a verse and just run with all this craziness don't they and let us make man in our
image must be it must be it must be some lady up there must be god the old mama up there you know
she was there stirring the kind of soup and then you know had a little chat with god well no
because if you turn to uh in fact have a look at genesis chapter five while you're in genesis and
genesis chapter five verse one says genesis five one says this is a book of the generations of
adam in the day that god created man in the likeness of god made he him so we're made in
the image of god however remember there are three persons of all one god aren't there
first john five seven says for there are three that bear record in heaven the father the word
and the holy ghost and these three are one so we made the image of god we're not identical though
are we he said in the likeness of god okay so look it's not that we're identical well obviously
because we all look different don't we but we're made in his image and i was thinking about this
well remember when goes uh moses so he asked to see god the father and he spoke of not seeing his
face he spoke of covering him with his hand of only seeing his back parts yeah so god the father
at least we're in the image of god the father and god the son yeah okay and i don't know exactly
it would be interesting exactly how they look right but we're made in their image yeah we're
made in their image um and obviously no other animal or no animal we're not an animal no
animals made in their image yeah we're made in the image of god we're very different to animals
aren't we and we have a soul and we're going to see that in the next chapter verse 27 says so
god created man in his own image in the image of god created him male and female created them so
we're back in genesis 1 and verse 27 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 sea
and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth so that command
wasn't just pre-fall was it because we saw it given to nowhere post-flood as well mankind was
commanded to be fruitful and multiply to replenish the earth and subdue it yeah what does it mean to
replenish anyone ever heard the false doctrine coming out of the word replenish before yeah
a couple yeah so so the add to god's word types who dream in millions of years to to yoke up with
the world yeah they want to claim that the world was already filled with dinosaurs or something
okay basically what these people are they're compromises okay they're compromises that can't
just stand on the word of god so have to somehow try and merge in the madness of the world into the
word of god they can't just take the word of god for what it says so what they do is they go
okay oh replenish let's jump with that now we could try and fit in the nonsense of evolution
because all those clever people can't be wrong could they i mean wow how could they be wrong
i mean they've been at university for years how could they be wrong so then they're like oh let's
just add in you know sort of some some millions of years somewhere and that's what's replenish
because the it must have already been ha you know uh what's the word for it habitated got that wrong
something like that okay it must have already had people on it okay let's go a bit easier here
okay and now it must you know something's changed and now we've got to replenish it that's
that's the billions of years in fact he probably made it with a big bang as well didn't he
okay but is that the case no the word is defined here okay it's defined here because it's the first
time it's used where we're day six and mankind has just been made along with animals right
okay so we we're clearly day six he's just made it clear what what a day is yeah the evening and
the morning okay so we're up to day six and he's just made mankind and here's an interesting thing
is that modern dictionaries seem to now have replenishes being to refill yeah to so if i and
most of us would think of replenishes oh it must have had something there before now we're
refilling it but webster's 1828 which is a much older dictionary says replenish now it says the
verb transitive and basically that's a verbal doing word with a direct object afterwards okay
like like here with the earth being the object okay that's what we've just seen yeah replenish
the earth that's a transitive verb uh then and the meaning number one is to fill to stock with
numbers of abundance it's just to fill it's not to refill okay when it's a transitive verb so that
gives an example the magazines are replenished with corn the springs are replenished with water
okay they're filled with water that's how that word was until now it's kind of changed
changed meaning it even gives an example of genesis 128 multiply and replenish the earth now
then another not in use uh way it used to be used is to finish or to complete
no one would have thought that would they replenish means well it used to you mean that
so words do change your time don't they now replenish is a verb intransitive so this is
when there's no direct object after them is when it means to recover form of fullness
so had it said be fruitful and multiply and replenish then it would have meant right from
when it was previously full it's now empty now you refill so it's actually just based on what
the word used to mean however even if it didn't so say you're like no i'm not buying that rubber
in yeah websters must have just got it wrong you know all the modern dictionaries say what it means
well even if it did mean to refill you can't then add a whole history of mankind or or maybe it's
not mankind a whole history of the world or a history of like angels and battles and then like
all these kind of like your sci-fi geek can come out of you and you can just start creating all
this weird and wonderful doctrine that sounds so exciting and everything else no you basically
just go well well the site of the life cycle is life and death we constantly replenish don't we
so that's what we're doing on a day on a yearly basis aren't we in this name in fact on a daily
basis i think it's on a minute on a by minute basis in this nation someone dies and someone's
born okay and you are ultimately replenishing however for me it's just what the word used to use
yeah and hence it's really we see it just clearly explained by the context there because we're on
day six and he said to be fruitful multiply replenish the earth okay so point being though
with all of that and why do people the other the other thing that people want to go to and
or at least avoid in this avoid this part of the verse and the thing that we see a lot over there
is the overpopulation myth anyone oh i think everyone's heard the overpopulation myth so this
is and this is quite big out there isn't it the world's overpopulated we're running out of natural
resources that oh you know what are we going to do if we don't slow down you know then we're all
going to die or something else yeah but but god said be fruitful and multiply he said replenish
the earth so and it's something that i've looked into before and it seems i don't know
maybe i'm slightly wrong on england but you could fit the whole of the world's population into france
with a nice parcel of land each yeah they'd have a nice parcel they could be self-sufficient
in france the whole world's population it's quite a big place france yeah but you could fit everyone
together if you wanted to smell each other's armpits in in a much smaller area yeah but
if you wanted your own little pasta land and you wanted your own little homestead you could probably
all have a small parcel of land you might be limited on what you had grazing there um in
france yeah i think is nonsense okay it's absolute nonsense however it's out there and it and people
believe this don't they and they buy and then and then you have like these so-called knowledgeable
world leaders talking about we need to cut the world's population and coming out with all these
bizarre and wicked ways of doing it yeah absolutely crazy and again it just goes completely against
the word of god doesn't it so straight away in this first chapter of the bible we're just seeing
so much which just basically cuts through that breaks like a hammer the rock in pieces
that that just burns up so much of this worldly nonsense so much of the theories of the world so
much of the the the stuff being pushed on us the propaganda being pushed just smashed because god
said he said be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth he said to subdue it as well and and
with that with that you know be fruitful multiply don't let anyone shame you for having lots of
children because that's what they like to do right now i mean we look we don't have
lots by by many standards but but we all constantly you see them they look at you
look at your kids start looking at all of them look at my wife and then some will just sneer
you know they're looking usually they're probably the ones with one kid or none yeah and and but
people do and some will even ask or some will even say wow you know and it's not like oh wow
how great you know lots of kids which is how we should be shouldn't we you know like great lovely
lots of kids god said be fruitful and multiply but instead it'll be some sort of derogatory comment
but you have your hands full you know and this sort of thing and it's it's terrible isn't it
really but that that's the world out there and again and really it's just a lot of the times
just because people are bitter and twisted and angry and nasty because of you know the decisions
they've made in life or haven't made in everything else but we don't need to be shamed by that do we
now he also said subdue okay which is to conquer overcome and and obviously there's a colon there
which means we're going to see an explanation of it after the colon he said and have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the
earth so we're commanded to be basically in charge of the animals to fill the earth
ourselves no we're not the biggest parasite yeah that's another one we hear don't we and again
genesis chapter one just smashes it you know the biggest parasite on earth is a human being
in fact i bet david atta has come out with something like that hasn't he
oh yeah yeah i've heard it yeah i bet he will have done something along those lines and what
a pest we are and and is it parasite did he use that word it'll be something like that won't it
some sort of scourge on the world some sort of plague or something else and but god told us god
told us we're in charge and he said to fill it and he said to subdue it and look and there's there's
some you know obviously we don't want to go too far with this yeah we're in charge but a righteous
man does regard the life in his beast yeah okay the righteous man with god the life is beast we
shouldn't just be cruel and horrible to animals because that's a bit weird if you are isn't it
yeah however the tender mercies of the wicked is cruel okay so those who who think that they're
just so loving and kind to animals what do they usually put down here when they put the animals
up there human life yeah they're these people are full of wickedness aren't they these people are
like someone smacked their dog you know quick get them they should be killed hang them fight
fire in prison ruin their life and it's what the hell is wrong with you what is wrong with you
looks like you know what uh it's hard to raise a dog without now and again giving them a whack
yeah because they're animals yeah they need discipline like our kids need discipline like
everyone else needs discipline it's madness isn't it but people do don't they put the dogs up there
and it's like all cuddles and kisses i love animals so much and then people down here
you know horrible pests pests on his people and everything else tender mercy tender mercies
load of old nonsense isn't it and all the people i know that worship animals and put them up here
usually are pretty wicked people as well and they're always god haters god rejectors and
everything else we don't want to even be compared to those sorts of people do we now
we should still we should still regard the life of our beast so shouldn't we but we don't have to go
go crazy with it so we've got this crazy overpopulation myth smashed we've got the
the you know we're the parasite with a plague smashed by the word of god again okay we're told
to have that dominion we're told to fill fill the earth we're told to to have dominion over the fish
and sea the fowl of the air over every living thing that moveth upon the earth then verse 29
and god said behold i have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the
earth and every tree in in the 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've given every green herb for meat and it was so so we
started off being able to survive it seems on what seemed to be a vegan diet okay but this changed
post-flood okay and obviously i've preached on this before we look at that uh in several chapters time
but it changed okay but at the beginning yeah we were able to and you could argue with this as well
look of course he does say the animals shall be for meat but i don't think some people go like
really far with this and then it's like they they want to act like anything that's not like animal
product is bad for you or something well they seem to do all right before like pre-flood and nowhere
nowhere in his line did come from a pre-flood line right okay so i don't think that suddenly
we're unable to digest anything that's plant food at all people always just love to go on extremes
don't they suddenly have this extreme diet and everything else it's just balance in life isn't
it and if you eat healthy and natural and good quality natural foods you generally start to
crave what is good the problem is that we eat a load of junk and then you get addicted to it
it's not great with the junk yeah but look there was it seemed to be vegan now it's an
interesting point some people believe that regardless if you think about it uh what what
what was what was able farming animals wasn't he what was he farming animals for maybe people were
eating meat he didn't say you're not allowed to eat meat did he he just said that this shall be
food for you yeah something we'll look at in a few chapters time and it says in god saw everything
that he had made and behold it was very good and the evening and the morning were the sixth day
everything was very good right everything was very good it was the perfect creation did anyone see a
gap in there anywhere i see a gap was it uh what's that what's that wicked reference was it the
scofield reference bar that tried to propagate a gap uh with a load of other false doctrine
yeah how do people still just take anything that guy said seriously whilst propagating the whole
you know pre-trib uh nonsense as well but but there is no gap it just last point on this if
you just read this chapter yourself you studied out this chapter you slowly read through this
chapter you would never see any of this stuff would you of of these millions and billions and
trillions and whatever gazillions they want to make up next just to make it sound more believable you
know if we just keep adding on some years i'll finally con everyone and up you'd never see it
and and and like i said earlier what is it's compromising it's compromising not being strong
enough to just stand on the word of god and say i don't care what these synagogue of satan just
absolute god hating just reprobate jews are pushing on the world yeah i don't care because
i know what the word of god says but instead you start merging that and just trying it then you
what else are you going to merge into the bible the whole lot you just start changing it to what
they say no we stand on the word of god the word of god's very clear it was a six-day creation
and when we add up the numbers we're going to see that it was a little over six thousand odd years
ago as well that's when the world was created that's when mankind was created as well it was
and it was all in six literal days that's what the bible says i'll have my hat on that thank you very
much and not on whatever reprobate theory comes out next on that let's pray
father thank you for um well just the clarity we get from your word just you know the the
clear truths we get from your word uh help us not to be swayed lord help us not to be
pushed around by these winds of false doctrine this all these compromising liberals sort of
just just you know buddying up with the world so-called christian types that want to add in
the world's nonsense into your perfect word help us just stand strong in the word lord
um help stand strong on the doctrines of the bible which includes a six-day creation
lord help me um help me to preach through this this um this book just just clearly and
accurately lord and help everyone to just you know really want to want to just get grounded
in what is you know the the first book of your holy bible um help me to do that over the next
sort of year lord and help everyone here now to to go away just just hopefully strengthened by
your word lord and and get home safe and sound to have a good week help everything to go great this
weekend uh for us to all return safe and sound on sunday for another day in your house jeez