SERMON TEXT: GENESIS 1:3-25 AUTHOR: DR. JERRY VINES OUTLINE I. God Forming the Earth A. Day One - Illumination B. Day Two - Habitation Possible C. Day Three - Vegetation II. God Filling the Earth A. Day Four - He made the heavenly bodies B. Day Five - He made possible multiplication C. Day Six - Domination SERMON TEXT I'd like for you to turn in your Bible to Genesis chapter 1 and we're going to talk a little bit about verses 3 through 25 today. Now of course there are several questions that immediately come to our mind when we read these verses that talk about the days of creation. For instance the first question that comes to our mind is, Are these days literal days, or are they figurative days? There are several basic positions that people have taken about this. There are those who say that these days are literal 24-hour days. A day is really not determined by the sun but rather a day is determined by the rotation of the earth on its axis one time: that's a day. So some people believe that these are seven literal days. The other view is that the word "day" here is a word that is used to refer to an extended period time. Sometimes that is the way it's used. For instance, if you will notice over in the second chapter and in the fourth verse it says, "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." There you see the word "day" is used as an extended period of time. The third view is that the six days here are really the successive days that God revealed the Genesis account of creation to Moses. On each day God revealed something different. The word that is used here for day is the Hebrew word "yom", y-o-m. The problem you run into is is that this word occurs almost 1500 times in the Old Testament and it's translated with 44 different English words. So you're facing a real problem when you try to decide what it's really all about. I personally have taken the view that the reference to day here is a reference to a literal 24-hour day. I believe personally that this is what is intended here for several reasons. One of the reasons is is because over in Exodus chapter 20, verse 11, where it has talked about us working for six days and resting on the seventh day, it uses the creation days as an illustration of that fact and it seems to suggest there that the days were literal 24-hour days. Another reason I do is because, as you notice down through these verses, for instance in verse 5, it says, "evening and morning were the first day," and there is a numerical word used there: first day. Then later on it talks about second day. Every time the Hebrew word "yom" is used in the Old Testament with a word for a number like that it is a reference to a 24-hour day. Another reason I believe it's 24 literal hours is because of the language. The language seems to imply that. For instance in verse 3 God says, "Let there be light," or literally, "Light exist, and light existed." In other words God gave the command, He spoke, "Light exist," and in obedience to the voice of God light existed. Now the question is, How long did it take God to say that? And the question is, How long did it take for there to be obedience to the command of God? I heard about a fellow who was a little nervous, he was getting ready to jump out of an airplane with a parachute for the first time. And one of the guys said to him, "Oh, don't worry about it, it's a piece of cake." He said, "All you've got to do is just jump out of the plane, count to ten, pull the rip cord, and the parachute opens." So the guy jumped out, and the guy behind him jumped out, and as the guy behind him came down by the first guy he heard him saying, "Th-th-th-th-three." And so, how did God say that? Well God does not stutter, and so the language seems to suggest that God spoke and said, "Light exist," and in obedience to the voice of God light came into existence. And then of course the thing that really settles it for me is this: how big is our God? Is God big enough to do it in six literal days? Well of course the answer is obvious isn't it? God could create the world in six seconds if He chose to do so. It wouldn't take God centuries to bring His creation into existence. So I believe what we have here in the creation days are literal 24-hour days successive. Now there's a second question that we really come to that's more important in my mind than that question and it's the question, How does this stack up with what we find in science? I mean when you compare what the Bible says here about the matter of creation, how does this stack up with what science has to say about it? From time to time I have heard people say about the Bible the Bible is not a science book. And of course we all agree with that because we all know that the Bible is primarily a book of redemption. The purpose of the Bible is to show us how we can get out of the mess we're in, sin, through the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, how we can be saved, stay out of Hell and get to Heaven. So the Bible is primarily a book of salvation, a book of redemption. But I have never been comfortable with the statement the Bible is not a science book. Well it is not a science book but we believe that when the Bible speaks on a scientific subject then what it says is true. In other words if the Bible makes a scientific statement we believe that that is a true statement. See, if you can't believe what the Bible says about Genesis 1, creation, how can you believe what Jesus said in John 3 about salvation, being born again? I believe that true Bible interpretation and true science will never contradict one another. You see, God is the author of two great books: there is God's book of nature, and there is also God's book of scripture. So when you find truth in God's book of nature it will never contradict truth in God's book of scripture. And so, really, if you find something in the Bible that seems to contradict science it means either, one, that the science is incorrect, or, number two, it means that your interpretation of the scripture is incorrect. I was watching the other night on one of the local access cable outlets Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the atheist, and she was just having a big time talking about Usher's dates for the creation of the world, he dated it at 6,000 years ago, and she was laughing and making fun of that. But I don't know anybody today who really tries to interpret the Bible who would say that the Bible teaches the earth is only 6,000 years old. The fact of the matter is we don't know how old the earth is. The Bible does not address that particular subject. The Bible just says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." So I believe that when you find truth in one area it will not contradict God's truth in the other area. Now the theory, the scientific theory, that has been the most formidable attack on what the Bible says about creation is of course the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution, as we'll see a little bit later tonight, probably has been around a long, long time. But the theory was really popularized and caused to spread by a man named Charles Darwin. Now here's what Darwin basically said; Darwin basically said that higher forms of life gradually evolved from lower forms of life. That's what the theory of evolution basically says, that all higher forms of life gradually evolved from lower forms of life. I personally reject the theory of evolution and I do so because of two great considerations. Number one, I believe that the theory of evolution is not right scientifically. I believe that modern biology, I believe that modern genetics, I believe all of the evidence is against the theory of evolution. You see, evolution, scientifically, really cannot account for two of the great facts that are stated in the book of Genesis. You see, Genesis gives us a statement of how things began, it tells us the origin of things, and Genesis says, "In the beginning God created." Evolution wants to account for the origin of things in some other way. For instance, some evolutionists believe that the earth just always existed, that there just always was a universe, that it never came into being, that it just always was. There are other evolutionists who believe that life began to exist on the earth because it was brought from some other planet. There are some who believe that a germ was riding on a meteor and it fell off on the earth and that's how life came into existence. One ingenious professor several years ago theorized that what happened was that there was a creature from another planet who visited on the earth and brought a garbage can along and that out of the garbage can a creature crawled out and it became a man. Every time I hear that I think about the two ladies who were talking and one of them said to the other, "What do you do when you're in the dumps?" And the other one said, "I buy a hat." And the other one said, "I wondered where you got them." Well I don't believe that man originated in a garbage dump. And, you see, that really doesn't solve anything because if you think that life came from some other planet, all you do, you've just shifted the question from this planet to that planet. Where did the germ come from on the other planet? And then there are some evolutionists who say that all of it is just a colossal accident, the Big Bang Theory. In other words, once upon a time there was a big bang, a colossal accident, and that everything we see in our universe came into existence. The probabilities of our creation, of our universe, coming into existence by means of a colossal big bang accident are about as probable as a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing factory. And so, you see, evolution really has no explanation for how life came into existence on the earth. Now there is another problem for the evolutionist that is found in the verses we're studying tonight and it's the little phrase which occurs in verse 11. Look down at verse 11 where it says, "and the fruit tree yielding fruit [now look at this] after his kind." Do you see that? After his kind. That little phrase occurs ten times in these verses. Ten times that little phrase, "after his kind," is found. Now the rough equivalent of that would be, "after his phyllum," "after his family." It is a statement that everything is according to family, that all life is grouped in phyllum or in family. Now what that means is is that roses always produce roses. Now there is evidence of mutation, that is, changes within families. For instance roses; there are all kinds of roses: there are red roses, and there are white roses, and there are yellow roses, all kinds of varieties of roses. You will find that mutation changes within a family. But you will never find transmutation, in other words one family becoming another. In other words a rose may become a red rose, a yellow rose, or a white rose, but there is never any evidence that a rose will become an orange. That just simply means that when you plant a pecan tree it produces pecans, it doesn't produce tangerines. After his kind. And what we have learned about genetics has taught us, really, that it's all in the genes; that any time there's a change within a species it's because the chromosomes in those genes already had the ingredients necessary. In other words it's all in the genetic code or a change cannot occur. And so there has never been demonstrated anywhere where one family, or one species, transmutated, or evolved, into another species or family. It's always "after his kind." And so I believe that it is not right scientifically. I was reading what one scientist said about evolution and why scientists continue to believe in evolution, and he says evolution is a fairy tale for grown-ups. And I think that's true. Well why is it then that people just keep holding on to the theory of evolution? Well, you see, if evolution be true and things evolved over a gradual process that eliminates a belief in a supernatural God. Well then, you see, if there is no God who created you then there is no God to whom you are accountable. In the famous Russian novel "Brothers Karamozov" one of the characters said, "If God does not exist everything is permissible." And that's true. If you don't believe there is a God to whom you are accountable then anything you want to do is all right according to your own interpretation of what is right and wrong. So I reject the theory of evolution because it's not right scientifically. But then secondly I reject the theory of evolution because it is not right spiritually. You see, evolution is an attempt to explain the existence of the world without the existence of God. When Darwin wrote his book on evolution there were two men in history who grabbed that theory immediately. One of them was the German atheist named Nietsche, and Nietsche grabbed hold of the theory of evolution and the result was German militarism and Hitler. The other was a man named Karl Marx; he took the theory of evolution and applied it to social matters and the result was Communism. And so, you see, it is an attempt to get away from God. I believe that one of the real problems and one of the real causes for the moral collapse in America is that we are a society which has been brought up on the theory that man gradually evolved. You see, if you believe that people evolved from animals, if you teach young people long enough that they came from animals, it won't be long until they start behaving like animals. And you look at all of the social theory, you look at all of the things that are being done today, and you will discover that at the root of it all is basically the theory of evolution. For instance, this whole idiotic policy of putting out condoms in our public schools is not a thing in the world but looking on young people like they were animals in heat. But, ladies and gentlemen, young people are made in the image of God and they are accountable and they are responsible to God for their behavior, and they are responsible to obey the commands of God about sex as well as all other matters in the Word of God. And so it is not right spiritually. But I want us to look now at these days of creation, and as you look at these days of creation it has been pointed out that there are thirteen steps of creation here, and in general science is in agreement with what these thirteen steps are and the order in which they appear. In other words the latest science basically agrees that these thirteen steps are the way it all came about and in the correct order. Now the question is, What were the mathematical probabilities of all of these thirteen steps being put in the book of Genesis in the correct order the way Moses has done? Well, some mathematician has said here's what the probabilities are. The probabilities of all of this being put together correctly in the right order, the probabilities of all of that happening are about 1 in 31 sextillion. Now what that is is 31 with 21 zeroes after it. Now I don't know if that means anything to you, it doesn't to me, because when I get beyond the toes on my feet and the fingers on my hands that's about all the mathematics I know. So let me give you a little illustration. Here's what 31 sextillion would be. Just imagine that there are 8 million printing presses and these 8 million printing presses are going to print tickets, we're going to have a raffle. So those 8 million printing presses print 2,000 tickets a minute for 5,000 years. When they get through you've got 31 sextillion tickets. Now your chances of picking the winning ticket are 1 in 31 sextillion. That's the probabilities of all this being the way it is and being correct. Now keep in mind this was written by Moses. Moses was the human author that the Holy Spirit used to write these creation days. Now where did Moses get this information? Now, you see, Moses was no ignoramous. The Bible teaches us that Moses had access to one of the finest university educations available on the earth at the time he lived. You remember what happened to Moses? He was brought up in the home of Pharaoh's daughter, and the evidence is, according to Acts 7:22, is that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. That's what the Bible says. Well what was the theory of origin in the day when Moses attended the University of Eliopolis? The theory in that day was that once upon a time a worm crawled out of the Nile River and became a man. That's what science said in that day. And yet when you read what he writes in Genesis chapter 1 you find something that is altogether different from what was being taught academically in that day. Well, Moses, where did you get your information? Moses got it from God. God revealed this information to Moses. Now what I want us to do is to just quickly survey now these six creation days, and when you put these six days down and look at them you will find that the first three days hang together, and then that the next three days hang together, and that they parallel one another. And you'll find that the first three days have to do with God forming the earth. You remember back in verse 2 it says the earth was without form? So for three days you see God forming the earth. And then you notice in verse 2 it says the earth was void; that means it was empty. So the next three days you see God filling the earth. God forming the earth. God filling the earth. And by the way, that's always what God does. God makes something and then He fills it. That is always the pattern of God. God makes something and then He fills it and He uses it. All right, let's look at God forming the earth. Verse 3, it says, 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. On day one there is illumination: light is brought into existence. Now there was no sun at this point, but we have come to understand that light exists in the universe apart from the sun. For instance we are now aware that there is cosmic light, radioactive glow in the universe. And those who live up in the Eastern states tell us about the Aurora Borealis, the great Northern Lights. And then all of us Southerners are quite familiar in the summer time with the lightning bug. Light in existence before the sun. Now there is something mysterious about light. We can't really explain or define what light is. Light has a tremendous speed. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Did you know that light can go seven-and-a-half times around the earth in one second? And yet light can be bent, light can be twisted, and yet light can go through a window pane and not be slowed down or stopped in any way. I heard about two nitwits standing one day and one of them turned on a flashlight and it beamed up to the top of a building, and he said to the other nitwit, "Why don't you just climb that light beam right up to the top of that building?" The other one looked at it for a moment, he said, "Oh, no, I ain't gonna do that. Sure as the world I'd get half way up there and you'd turn that light off." It's a mystery, we don't understand all there is about light. And what a beautiful picture this is for God. In First John 1: 5 the Bible says God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. And what a reminder this is of our Lord Jesus, because Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." And what a reminder this is of your responsibility and mine, because, you see, when we're saved Jesus said about us, "You are the light of the world." And we are to so let our light shine that others may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in Heaven. Day one: illumination, light. Then on day two, in verse 6, "God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." The New International Version translates that atmosphere, air spaces, expanse. And it talks here on day two about waters being separated above and below, and the reference here seems to be the atmosphere. And, you know, we have discovered that the atmosphere, that the sky above, operates on principles very similar to the waters below. For instance, weather forecasters talk in terms of high pressure and low pressure areas, those are the tides in the atmosphere. And we have learned that you can, to some extent, float in the air. Did you read in the newspaper over the weekend about these sky divers? Now those people are made of something different from me. I don't know what they're made of but I ain't one of them, I'll tell you that. These sky divers were trying to set a world record, all holding together and floating down in the air. And so, you see, God made that vast blanket of vapor up in the sky and in so doing seemed to create a vast greenhouse, a luscious greenhouse effect, to make it possible for life to exist on the earth. So, day two, we have habitation now possible on the earth. Now, you see, God is getting ready for man to live on the earth. Now in day 3, verse 9, "God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so." Now what did God call the land? Earth. And what did God call the gathering together of the waters? Seas. Now I want you to notice something: Moses says that all of the waters under the heaven are to be gathered together in one place. And did you know we have found that that is exactly true, that all of the waters, all of the seas on the earth are connected? They are all connected, they each have their distinct basins, they each have their distinct chemical makeup so that fish can survive in one basin but they cannot survive in the other, and yet they're all joined together. And did you notice that Moses used the plural word, seas, s-e-a-s? And yet in the time of Moses they were familiar with one sea. How did Moses know that? God revealed it to him. Now you notice it didn't say that the earth was all in one place, because distinct continents occur and there is now a solid surface. And now in verse 11 vegetation begins to appear. Look at verse 11: 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass [that is, seedless life], the herb yielding seed [seed-bearing plant life], and the fruit tree yielding fruit [fruit-bearing plant life]... All of these produce after their kind. So, you see, now there is vegetation. God is providing food for man to eat on the earth. Oh, what a wonderful God we have. Oh, what a loving, providing God we have. And it's so beautiful to see the different kinds of seeds that God has provided for the different plants. For instance some of the seeds have parachutes that allow them to float down, the dandelion. And then other plants have glue on their seed. You ever been out in the field somewhere and you come back in and you look down on your trousers or on your dress and you've got beggar lice? You see, seeds with glue on them. God did all of this. He made possible vegetation. So for the first three days what you have here is God forming the earth. Now look down at verse 14, because in verse 14 and following we see now God begin to fill the earth. Notice verse 14. 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 [literally it's light holders; let them be for] signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. What God is doing now is providing light holders to make it possible for man to have direction on the earth. 16. And God made two great lights; the greater light [now notice that carefully: the greater light; what's that? The sun] to rule the day, and the lesser light [what's that? The moon] to rule the night. Now isn't it interesting that Moses called the sun the greater light and he called the moon the lesser light. That's not at all what you would think if you just looked up there, for the moon looks much larger than the sun, and yet God said to Moses, "Moses, don't write it the way it looks to you. I'm telling you the sun is the greater light, the moon is the lesser light." And of course we know that the sun is a great light. We know that the sun is 90 million miles away from this earth, and the sun is 186,000 miles in diameter. If you went out to the airport tonight and you boarded a jet airplane that was going at a thousand miles per hour, did you know it would take you 10 years to get to the sun? Ten years. And yet did you notice he didn't say the greatest light? He said the greater light. If Moses had called the sun the greatest light he would have been in error. Because, you see, we have found that there are other suns, other stars, that are much larger than our sun. For instance, one of the closest of them all is Antares and Antares is so large you could take 64 million of our suns and put them in Antares. And there are others much larger than that. Look at the last part of verse 16: "He made the stars also." Isn't that a fascinating statement? He made the stars. How many stars are there? Well in 1920 astronomers estimated there were 300 billion stars. After them the eminent astronomer Sir James Jeans came along and said there are more stars in the heavens than there are grains of sand on all of the seashores on all of the earth. Now then we're at the point that no one would even dare to estimate the number of the stars. And yet I want you to read something in Psalm 147, verse 4. Keep your place here and quickly turn to Psalm 147, verse 4. I want to show you a marvelous, wonderful statement; it says these words, 4. He tells the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names. You know what it's saying? It's saying God knows how many stars there are, He knows the number of the stars, and in addition to that God not only knows how many stars there are He's got a name for every one of them. WHOOOO! What a big God we've got tonight! Amen! But isn't that something? He made the stars also. In five words God just dismisses these billions and billions and billions of stars. Now why did God do that? You know, as you go on through the book of Genesis, toward the latter part of the book of Genesis, you will run across a man called Joseph, and you will find that there are 14 entire chapters in Genesis devoted to one man: Joseph. And yet God dismisses billions and billions and billions of stars with five words: He made the stars also. Why does God spend 14 chapters on a man named Joseph and only five words on all the stars? I'll tell you why: God is far more interested in saving sinners than He is in shaping stars. The Bible is a book of redemption, the Bible is a book that tells us what God has done to make it possible for sinners like you and me to be saved and go to Heaven. Isn't that marvelous? Oh, yes. And so on day four he made the heavenly bodies. But now let's move on and let's look at day five. On day five now He makes possible multiplication. Verse 20, 20. 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. 21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: He's talking now about the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. And he said about the fish in the sea, "Let them bring forth abundantly." Literally it means swarm with swarms. The NIV translates it, "Let the water teem with life." And you know we have found that is absolutely true. I told you a few weeks ago about the little creature infusoria. They estimate that as many as a half a billion of those little creatures can be found in one drop of water, and they found that there are a thousand different species of little infusoria. And they have found that these little creatures have teeth, and they have nerves, and they have glands, and between 100 and 200 stomachs. Oh, yes, God said, "Swarm with swarms in the waters." You know, they tell me that the common mackeral lays as many as a half a million, 500 thousand, eggs at one time. You know, if evolution were true you could cross a mackeral and a hen and get rich. The fish. And then God talked about the birds in the air, and we believe that there are between 10 and 20 thousand species of birds. And oh how perfectly God has made the bird for its habitat. Its bones are hollow so that when the birds breathe the air fills the hollow bones making it possible to fly. And oh the speed of a bird. A falcon can dive at 180 miles an hour and stop in 20 feet. And the beaks of birds, all designed so that each bird can get the food that is natural to its habitat. And the nest of a bird. Why a chimney sweep makes its nest by pasting twigs together with glue. And where does the chimney sweep get the glue? It has a glue manufacturing plant in its mouth. And then I think about the black pole warbler. Did you know it lives up there in Canada and vacations every summer down in Brazil, 4,000 miles away? How does that bird get down there? God tells it to go down there. God put it in that little bird. And did you know what the Bible says? The Bible says that the heavenly Father notices every time that a little bird falls to the ground. Did you know what? When you run across a dead bird you have just missed a funeral conducted by God himself. And you know what the Bible says? The Bible says you are more important than that little bird. His eye is on the sparrow, but I've got news, friends, He's watching over you and me. Day five. Day six, we come to domination, where God wants man to dominate over the creatures of the earth. And so notice what it says, verse 24: 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle [that is, domesticated animals], and creeping things [reptiles], beasts of the earth [wild animals] after his kind: and it was so. In other words all of the animal kingdom now God brought into existence. And you know what God says later on? God says to Man, "I want you to have dominion, I want you to dominate this creation." And I think about all that God has put in the animal kingdom. Take a cow for instance. Have you ever thought what a wonderful thing is the cow? Have you ever thought about the food that a cow can provide? Listen, did you know what? I'll tell you what, I have known individuals who have drank nothing but milk for a solid year and they doubled their weight. I'm referring to babies of course but that's the way it works. And yet you can take a cow, you can skin it, and get cowhide. You can grind up its bones and get fertilizer. And you can use its hooves and its horns to make Jell-O. God put all of that in a cow. And then, you know, I think about the bee. Just the little bee. How does the evolutionist explain just a little bee flitting along. You think about it. Did you know the bee sometimes, in getting the pollen, the bee sometimes clogs up its airholes where the little bee breathes, and so the little bee on its knee has got a brush, so when the airholes are clogged up by pollen that little brush just brushes off the pollen. Now if evolution were true, if the bee evolved over centuries and centuries and centuries, when the first little bee got its airholes clogged, what kept it from suffocating? You see, ladies and gentlemen, evolution dies on the knee of a bee. And every little bee that goes, "BZZZZZZ," says, "Amen, Brother Moses." And every butterfly that goes flit, flit, flitting by says, "Amen, Brother Moses." And every beetle that goes by says, "Amen, Brother Moses." God put it all in His Word. And you know what? What God did on these six days of creation is what He does in a life. God takes a life that is broken and marred by sin and He forms it and makes it again. If any man be in Christ he is a new creation. God saves a soul, takes all the broken pieces of a life and puts it back together. Where there was without form now God gives meaning and purpose to life, and then God takes that vessel that has been formed again and fills it with His Holy Spirit and fills it with His love. That's what God does in a human life. And He always does it after his kind. Did you know that statement is true in the physical universe, it's always reproduction after his kind, but it is also true in the spiritual world? Did you know that? That's why every human being produces after its kind. Every child born is a son or a daughter of Adam. All in Adam. And so, you see, there had to be a brand new kind of birth, there had to be something altogether different, and that's why the Lord Jesus spoke that night to that man named Nicodemus and said to Nicodemus, "Nicodemus, you must be born again." And the word "again" can be translated "from above." Nicodemus, you must be born from above. What He was saying was, "Nicodemus, you have had your physical birth and it's after his kind, you're a child of Adam. But, Nicodemus, I've got good news, you can be born from above, and God can be your Father and you can be a brand new creature in Jesus Christ." Oh, wouldn't you want to know this Jesus tonight? Wouldn't you want to be saved tonight? My friends, the most intelligent, the most sensible, the most reasonable, the most wonderful thing you could do in this place tonight is to give your heart and your life to the Lord Jesus.