The Book of Genesis (Part 1)

0:21 people who are reading through the entire Bible in a year. We're following the Read Scripture reading program. If you don't have it, you can download it for free onto your phone, read scripture, and we're just going to walk through the entire Bible this year. I love the new year because it's a chance to start off new. And for some of you, you're saying, okay, this is the year where I'm actually going to do it. I'm going to start off and I'm going to start reading through the entire Bible. For others of you, you do this every year. And you go, no, I'm reading it every year of my life because I want to know him better and better. And this is a time when I just kind of point out a few things that I got from the reading. There's no way I'm going to be able to cover all of the material. We read 20-something chapters this week.

1:15 Amazing, amazing reading. I hope you got a ton out of it. But the idea is not just that we read through it and we gather information, but our hope is that it helps you when you pray to know who you're praying to. It helps you when you worship, and it leads you to worship because you just begin to see who God is in comparison to who you are. I mean, just even this week we read that the verse that everyone knows, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

1:55 I know you know that verse, but did you meditate on it? you know like psalm 1 we read how blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the path of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers but he delights in the law and he meditates on it day and night and he's gonna be like a be like a tree planted by streams of water. It's the person who meditates on God's Word day and night that has this depth to him. And so that's what we're trying to do is every day you start the day off reading the Bible, but then throughout the day you try to meditate on it. Because I know it's a lot of reading, but think about the things that God calls you to think about. Think about the things that brings to mind. Things like in the beginning, God. That has huge, huge implications when you think that, okay, so there was a time when none of this was here. Thousands of years before me, there was God. Millions of years before me, there was God. There's only one being who has always existed, and that has serious, serious implications.

3:16 Think about the gap between him and you. In Colossians 1, verse 16, it says that all things were created by him and for him. Everything that was made was made for him. That's huge. There's a massive difference between being an accident, a random accident, and being created for someone. That means 2017, I'm not just this being who just randomly showed up here and happens to exist at this time. He says, no, you were actually made for me, for this creator.

4:14 So in Genesis, we read this creation account of this amazing being. That's why I go, what else could we be doing right now that is more important than reading about the one who made us? Seriously, think about this year. What greater thing, what do you have to do that is more important than understanding the one who made you? That's why we're reading through the Bible. and God God creates in chapter one but the amazing thing is when he creates man I mean all of it's amazing everything he created he says it's good it's good but then he creates man he says this is really good this is very good because God says in a in verse 26 that he's going to make man in his image there was something different that separated us from the animals the plants the sun the moon and stars, somehow he was going to make this creation that was in his image, in his likeness.

5:18 And in chapter 2, it talks about how he formed, verse 7, the man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And the man became a living creature. that God himself breathed life into us. Do you even think about that? Where our breath comes from, where our life comes from, and how we're completely dependent on this other being for our next breath. I mean, for some of us, God's going to decide this year, that's your last breath. I'm going to take you. You're going to come into my presence now.

6:07 I'm going to pretty much guarantee some of us who are listening, myself included, this will be it. And that's a crazy thought. Because every breath is a gift from him. But he creates Adam there and he kind of elaborates on it in chapter 2. And he's in the garden with God. Have you thought about that? I mean, everything is perfect. Can you imagine actually walking alongside of the creator of everything? Like here you are breathing and living and thinking for the first time. And the one who made you places you in a garden and he dwells there with you.

6:53 I mean, he's living the dream. This is perfect. You didn't even exist. He made you out of the dust of the ground. and now you're with this almighty eternal creator and you get to walk with him, live with him. And he gives them the first command in verse 16 where the Lord commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

7:30 So he gives him this command and says, look, everything I just made is for you. Just stay away from this one tree. But all of this, you're breathing because of me. You're thinking because of me. You're feeling because of me. You're tasting all this goodness. And here you are, my creation with me. But then you get to chapter three and we're introduced to Satan, the enemy, the serpent. and he says to the woman after after you know I skipped that part but God creates woman out of the man but but he says to the woman hey did God actually say chapter 3 verse 1 did God really say that you shall not eat of you know this this of any tree of the garden and the woman said to the serpent no we can eat of any of the fruits of the trees in the garden but you shall not eat God says, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die.

8:31 And the serpent says to the woman, you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you'll become like God, knowing good and evil. Man, pay attention to the way that Satan lied to Eve because he does the same thing today. he goes come on is God really going to cause you to die would a loving God really do that I mean did God really say that and then he says look that's not going to happen God's not going to punish you okay the consequences he's not going to follow through on that you will not surely die actually what God is doing is that he's keeping something from you he knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open. You'll be like God. Okay, this is the lie. Satan's saying, you know what? God's not that great. He's trying to keep you from things that you actually want, things that you desire, and he's doing that to somehow ruin your lives. Here's something that he says is forbidden, but it's actually a good thing. And then the woman is listening to this, And in verse 6, it says, When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit and ate.

9:59 She listened to the lie. She listened to the lie because she looked and she thought, You know what? I actually want that anyways. This was her desire. Man, this is an amazing story. It's a stunning story because you've got Adam and Eve and they had it all. you're in this garden with the creator you've got his protection you realize he made everything nothing can touch me i'm with him and he wants to know me he wants to dwell with me he just gives me this command tells me what's forbidden okay done but they go you know what maybe god is keeping something from us maybe there's something more and that looks tempting to me and maybe that to lead to good and did he really mean what he said when there would be consequences to my actions and there's the sin there uh you have uh adam and eve kind of breaking away from god he goes on and yet in god in his in his grace while he curses them and and curses the ground and the whole course of mankind changes, you know, yet there is also this covering and this of him bringing the skins to cover their nakedness as now they kind of, they not only know good, but they also know evil and they wanted it all. But even in that, God showed some grace to them while death did enter the world and they were going to die and they were banished from that garden. You know, and that's really what the book of the Bible is all about, is even though there was sin, there was going to be some sort of redemption. There was definitely a penalty for it.

11:49 But the whole idea is that one day this is going to be restored. One day, and I don't want to jump all the way to the end, but the whole point is we can be and dwell with God again. And this whole story, this whole drama will unfold and explain that. But you have this sin that enters the world and it just gets worse. Adam and Eve have kids. You have Cain and Abel and you see their sin. Well, you see Cain's sin as they both bring a sacrifice to God. One is acceptable, one is not. Cain gets angry. He murders his brother. There's just this increase in wickedness. But you get to chapter 6 and in verse 5, this is where it gets, you know, if that's not strange to you, this gets very strange because in verse 5 it says, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and the birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Now, almost all of us, when we read that, there's a sense of shock.

13:21 One, that God was grieved at that. The people got so evil that God was grieved. I mean, understand that God is not just this machine up there that feels nothing. We were created in his image. And so here he's grieved that he ever made man. But then it's also shocking that the Lord says, you know what? I'm just going to blot them all out. I'm going to destroy them all. I'm going to destroy them with a flood. I'm going to kill everyone except for Noah. Except for Noah and his family. but everyone else I'm going to blot out with a flood. Now, when I say this is strange, for us, our definition of strange is, that's not what I would have done.

14:09 Strange is, that doesn't seem like what we would have decided to do. Although we don't know because we're not in that place of God. Strange because we go, well, I wouldn't have flooded the world. I wouldn't have done it like this. I wouldn't have done. And you guys, but do you understand that's the point of why we read the Bible? Okay, key, key passage. I'm just going to jump to Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9. Just remember this passage as you read through the Bible where God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declare the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

14:59 See, God says my thoughts are not your thoughts. So the way that you think, the way that I think is not the way that God thinks. And the way that I do things and the way you do things is not going to be the way that God does things. But he explains that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. And my thoughts, your thoughts. This is foundational for you to go, you know what? God doesn't think like I do. God doesn't act like I do. But that's the whole reason why we read the Bible. Because we'll read passages like this and go, well, that's not the way I think. And it's because God's thoughts are higher. And you go, why wouldn't do that? Well, God did the right thing. See, this is where we need to humble ourselves. Otherwise, why even read the Bible?

15:56 If I can just think the way God thinks, then let me just close my eyes and see what thoughts come to mind and go, okay, God must be this way because I think this. Or God must do things this way because this is the way I would do them. No, God makes it clear. Look, my ways are beyond, like infinitely beyond yours. As high as the heavens are above the earth, there's your thoughts down there. There's your ways and here's mine. And so we read through the scriptures saying, God, I want to know your thoughts. I want to know the way you think so that I can start thinking like you. I want to see the way that you act so I can start acting like you. And that's why we have to study the Bible so we can become more and more like him. And so you learn about this God who can punish, who think about the implications of a God who at a thought can decide, I'm going to wipe out mankind.

16:56 think about who you are in comparison to that God and understand your place before him. Unlike the people and their sin, in chapter 11, you see the people building this tower and this city in verse 4. They say, come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower with a top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves. see we were created for God and then you have these people they're saying well we don't want to make a name for God we want to make a name for ourselves you've got God confusing their language you've got Abraham in the next next chapter where you go gosh why would God choose a guy like Abraham he he keeps pretending his wife is his sister and and there's there's this deception and but you look at chapter 15 when God tells him, look, you're going to have these offspring that are going to be like the stars of the sky.

18:00 And in verse 6 it says, And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. And we'll read about that more if you want to jump ahead to Romans chapter 4. It describes that in the New Testament, how it was because of his belief. You know, there were those who believed God. Abraham was not perfect, but he believed. He believed when God made a promise like that and said, look, you're going to have a child. I don't care that you're in your 90s. I don't care if you're 100 years old. I can have you bear a child. I can have your wife, Sarah, at 90 years old, bear a child. And Abraham believed this. and God says he counted it to him as righteousness. Throughout this Bible, you read about people who believe and Abraham, man, as a believer, you know, you jump ahead to chapter 22 and this just, ah, so powerful.

19:02 Chapter 22, verse one, it says, after these things, God tested Abraham. God tests him. And where he says in verse two, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. God tested Abraham. Again, here's one of those passages we read and go, oh, that's so strange. Does God have the right to do that?

19:42 That doesn't seem like within his character. No, it is within his character because he did it. See, God really believes that he is so worth it, so worth everything that when he tests Abraham, He tests him with that which was most dear to him and says, Your own son, do you believe in me so much? Am I so far beyond everything that you would even sacrifice your son for me?

20:09 I know this grates against everything that you think. For a lot of you, you're going, man, this is impossible. Why? Because you have a man-centered mindset. That's what the world teaches. It's like, God can't tell us to sacrifice that. God wouldn't do that. Well, he did. He tested Abraham. He wanted to see, am I that love of your life? It's the same thing Jesus would say. Thousands of years later, it was the same thing. He says, look, if you love your father, mother, wife, or kid more than me, you're not worthy of me. see in the beginning God there's this God who is so worth it to some people who truly believed and later you you see in Hebrews chapter 11 that Abraham when he was tested this way it says that he reasoned well God promised me that Isaac you know would be this promised child and have all these these children so it says that he reasoned that well if God tells me to do this he's got to have a plan and he has the ability to raise Isaac from the dead. Just like Romans 4 says he had this unwavering belief in the promises of God. So he's like, well, I know he can't just die and that's the end of the story. So even if I sacrifice him, God must, he's going to be able to raise him from the dead. And God's response to all of this is one, he stops him and says, hey, no, I just want to see if you were willing.

21:47 You know, verse 12, he says, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. we have to meditate on this as uncomfortable as it is because we're living in a time when people are telling you, you don't have to be that serious about God. Come on, Christ died for you. You don't have to be that. You don't have to sacrifice everything for him. and I'm reading the scriptures and looking at what Jesus said, what it requires to follow him, and it is about surrender. God wants us to be people who see him as so valuable, who long to be in the garden with him.

22:48 Say, God, anything for you. And when Abraham was tested, he passed that test. He believed, and God says, okay, I can tell. You fear me and you haven't withheld anything from me, not even your son. And so as we start off this year with the Creator, spend some time saying, God, what am I holding back?

23:17 Show me what I'm holding back. Help me understand who you are. Help me understand the gap between you and me. give me a longing to know you, to understand your ways and your thoughts.

23:38 And right now, just spend some time looking at your life, praying to God, and asking Him to show you if there's anything in your life that you're valuing, you're treasuring more than Him.