The Grand Design

Introduction

Well, good morning! Listen, it feels so good to be here…to be able to worship…to be with my family! And I don’t know what it is but I just feel God’s gonna move in a big way this morning and it just excites me. I’m excited about the message he’s put on my heart…and guys, I’m just glad…I’m joyful to be with you guys this morning.

And listen, before we get started…if you remember last week, we started things off by reading Matthew 28:19-20 together. And listen, I wanna start making that a habit of ours because if we’re gonna be a church without walls…if we’re gonna be a church that delivers the gospel, disciples believers, and deploys them back out all for the kingdom of God, we have to remember why we’re doing it. We have to keep God’s word on our hearts. And so, before we dive into our text this morning…let’s do that together…let’s read Matthew 28, verses 19 & 20 together this morning.

“19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

[Prayer]

If you have a copy of God’s word with you…open it up with me to Genesis chapter 1…Genesis chapter 1. If you were with us last week, we kicked off this new sermon series taking us through the book of Genesis. And if you remember, we really hunkered down on chapter 1, verse 1. We focused on God…the main character of the Bible…We looked at the centrality of God, and we saw the Triune God, and God as Creator, and of course we finished that up by really looking at him being this Redeemer God. And the whole purpose of that, it was to build this foundation of the gospel…of the rest of Scripture. Everything we do....everything about who we are…it revolves around God. And therefore, everything we come to in Scripture…it should also point us to God. And we looked at this idea about it not just being about any god but about a very specific God, right? We saw in the very first three words of biblical revelation that the Bible is solely about Elohim…its about the Triune God…the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit…that’s the God we worship…that’s the God of the Bible…that’s the God that brings us salvation.

But listen, while Scripture’s about this One God…it’s also about his sole work in redemption. From start to finish…the Bible, it points to Jesus and it points to his work in creation…its about his work in redemption. It’s about the gospel…the good news of Jesus Christ. And listen, our redemption…the restoration of creation…it brings him glory and so he cares about it because his glory is all that matters. And guys, every section of text…every piece of the Bible…it points to those two things…Jesus and the gospel.

I’ve been studying the practice of expository preaching for years now and every single scholar in this area, they give it the same purpose…every piece of Scripture points to Jesus and it speaks about the good news he alone brings about.

Guys, our text this morning…its no different. The purpose of the first two verses of the Bible, it’s to point us to Jesus and its to point us to his redemptive work in creation. It’s to show us his grand design....to tell us the story of his work in our lives. We see that in the very first two verses of the Bible.

And so listen, if you’re there with me…let’s stand together as we read starting in verse 1. It says this, “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

Thank you, you can be seated.

Listen, we’ve all seen pictures of the earth and our solar system, and galaxy and our universe…and for whatever reason, it just always captivates me. I mean just to think about the work that went into placing every star and every planet perfectly in its place. There’s a real beauty there. And I think about what it is astronauts must feel like as they enter into that space that so few of people and created beings have actually been…and to see things from a more God-oriented way. But listen, every time I see those kind of images…it brings me back to the gospel…God created all of that…he gave us this picture through creation…because he’s always had intentions of redeeming us. That’s God’s grand design. His purpose for creating everything…it was always to bring about redemption…it was always to create something in his image and to have relation with it…its always been about his glory. And his purpose in creation, its to remind you that when you see it, there’s redemption to be had. And guys, we see this from the very start of Scripture....we see that God always intended to come and save us from ourselves…he’s always intended to bring about redemption and salvation…it was always his intentions to rescue us…and guys, when that resonates on your heart…when you begin to realize that…there’s a real comfort there because it makes you realize that God’s grand design, it was meant to bring you security…there’s stability there when we place our trust and faith in this God.

And so listen, there’s three things I want us to see this morning as we expand on that idea: 1.) God as the Creator, 2.) God as the Transformer, and then finally 3.) God as the Sustainer. Guys, what we’re gonna see this morning, its that in the first two verses of the Bible, God shows us his work in redemption and salvation. These accounts, they point to Jesus and the change he alone initiates in us as believers.

1.) Only God Can Make You New (v. 1)

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

If you take notes…the first point I want you to see is that only God can make you new.

Listen, we talked a lot about this verse last week. We talked about God being the Creator of everything. We talked about him being the Triune God and how it was through the Trinity…through the Father, and through the Son, and through the Holy Spirit, that all things that were created, were created, right?

Verse 1, it was meant to be a summary statement for the original Israelites that were reading these opening lines. And it was verse 2, that provided more of the circumstantial causes. They didn’t argue whether or not God created everything in six literal days. They weren’t trying to make the Bible fit into their modern-day science. It was just assumed that this chapter, just like the rest of Genesis, it was met to be taken literally.

The opening lines of the Bible, they were meant to point to Jesus and tell us the work he’d do in bringing about redemption. Because listen, by the time Genesis was written, sin was already a problem and people realized they needed a way out. They needed a Savior. They needed a Messiah. Moses was showing them, God had a plan. This God that created everything…he did that by making something out of nothing. He’s the Creator…This God made in three persons…he alone had the ability to take nothing and speak something into existence. And because of that, he alone could save them.

If you remember last week…we talked a little about that Hebrew word bara (b-ra)…which simply means to create something new. It means its fresh, right? It’s different than just building something or forming something. Only God can truly create…which is why bara is only ever attributed to God. It’s the same word we’ll see next week attached to the six days of creation. Only God can do something like that.

Listen, you guys know I love Lego. I can take all those thousands of Lego bricks I have in my office and I can build and form a ton of different things, right? I mean there’s really no limitations to what I can build except maybe my imagination. But guys, no matter what I do…I can’t just speak Lego bricks into existence…I can’t give those Lego people breath in their lungs. I can’t make a fully thriving society and people made in my image. Guys, when I run out of bricks, my building, its done. I can’t make new ones…I can buy new one’s…but I can’t just think them into existence.

You see, God can…that’s why Jesus tells the Pharisees in the New Testament that he can make sons of Abraham out of stones, right? God alone is the Creator…God alone has the ability to make things come alive. We have breath in our lungs because there’s a Creator out there that wanted that to be the case. And like we talked about last week…it means we have purpose and meaning.

Moses tells his reader…this God, He preceded the beginning. He was before the beginning of everything. And it was in the beginning of our known creation that everything outside of God was created…This summary statement, it has major implications on the redemption narrative…on telling the story about how God would save his people. And its a huge foundation to the gospel story.

You see, even before Christ…even as the people were awaiting a Savior to come…God was showing them through the inspired writings of Moses that they would need to become something new. He was showing them that no matter what they did, they would have to experience something that only God could do.

You see, in a few weeks, we’re gonna talk about the fall and sin and how mankind got into the mess we got into…we’re gonna talk about the hardness of our hearts and our desires to always wanna justify ourselves and pleasure ourselves and glorify ourselves. And guys, that’s true of everyone of us…darkness and sin…its tainted every one of us. And because of that…we have to be made entirely new in order to experience salvation.

That’s why Jesus says in John 3 that in order to experience it, you have to be reborn…you can’t just be forgiven or covered…you have to let God make you a new creature in him. That’s why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” That Greek word used there for “new,” it’s literally the same meaning as the Hebrew bara. It’s to create…its something fresh…something unused. And listen, just like Moses is showing the Israelites in Genesis 1:1, it’s something only God can do. Only God can give someone new life…only God can give someone salvation and create something that’s never existed before. Only God can speak life into being.

The point Moses is making here in Genesis…its that God alone is sovereign. He’s sovereign over all things. And that sovereignty, it demands acknowledgement that God is Creator…and because of that, it leads to us humbly submitting to him.

Spiritually speaking, in our salvation…in our walk with Christ…we can’t grow in his likeness…we can’t become new creatures…we can’t experience his mercy and grace until we naturally acknowledge Jesus for who he is and submit to him in all areas of our life. We have to recognize our need to be made new and recognize that it’s only through Jesus that that’s possible.

Only God can make us new.

2.) Only God Can Transform You (v. 2a)

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” But Moses goes on and he says, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.”

Listen, because this is where things get really interesting. I’ve never seen this correlation to our salvation before…I’ve never truly understood the picture Genesis was giving us until I started studying this for our message this week.

Point number 2…Only God can transform you.

Look at verse 2 again. Moses says, “The earth was without form and void.” The Hebrew word used there for “void,” its really a rare word. It’s only used two other times in the Old Testament but in both times it speaks about “waste,” it speaks about the judgement of God. This formlessness…this emptiness…its describing chaos. That’s what these words mean together. There was chaos in the beginning when God first created the heavens and the earth.

And in Jeremiah, where we see this word again…it’s referring to a dismantling of creation through God’s judgement. Now let me explain what that means....because we know based on Isaiah 45:18 God didn’t make this world as a waste. The phrase we see here…its showing that the world, it had to be shaped and peopled before it would be pronounced “good.” And of course, that’s the details we’ll see for the rest of the chapter…the process our world went through to get to that point. But listen, God had to transform this new creation.

When he created the heavens and the earth…it had to be transformed…it had to be shaped into something good. You understanding what I’m saying? It was like God was this painter…perfecting his masterpiece. He was transforming it into his definition of good. He was adding the fine details to his work.

Listen, you guys ever been to one of those painting classes? Brittany and I, we went to one during an anniversary weekend one time…of course that was the same weekend of that great white water adventure we had…if you know, you know! But listen, in the beginning…they kind of have you just put tons of paint on the background and of course, it looks like a huge mess, right? But that’s the foundation…over the course of the class…they have you add colors and paint other things and it all kind of just comes together, right? There was chaos but you gave it clarity…you made the image clear. That’s what Moses is showing here. God created and then began shaping it and molding it.

But listen, not only was the earth “waste and void...” but according to the circumstantial clause....”darkness was over the face of the deep.” Now listen, because this is important…darkness, it’s always represented by evil and death throughout the rest of Scripture. There’s this constant theme of darkness and light…of sin and righteousness, right? And listen, it’s clear based on the context…and context is what? Its everything, right? Based on the clues here…this darkness, its not a positive thing. God’s gonna allow light to penetrate that darkness. It’s a negative thing here…It’s representing evil and the sin that would eventually come.

And listen, this doesn’t really matter…but who created evil and sin? That question’s raised all the time. Well, in the beginning there was what? There was God, right? There was nothing else…and in just a few chapters…we’re gonna see God refer to sin and evil as a noun…He says in chapter 4, sin, it’s waiting to pounce on you. It’s a thing…and we know all things were created by God. Freewill couldn’t have existed without the ability for man to rebel. Which in my mind…really demonstrates the grace of God…now, man’s still responsible for their actions…don’t hear me wrong. But all things that were created were intended for good and intended to bring God glory.

But listen, back to our point here....what God made new....what God created…he had to shape it…he had to mold it....it had to be transformed.

So how’s this correlate to our salvation…what’s this look like spiritually for us?

Matthew 4:19 “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus was telling his first disciples that when they follow him…he was gonna do what? He was gonna transform them. He said, “Follow me....and I WILL MAKE YOU!”

You see, what happens when we turn to Jesus…when we’re reborn…when we’re made new…Jesus begins to transform us…he begins to sanctify us. Because what’s made new…it has to be shaped and molded…it has to be made “good” in God’s eyes. And the beauty of the Genesis account here…its that it shows us…only God can transform you. Only God can take what’s been made new and perfect it.

I was sharing the gospel the other day with someone and they said, “But Steven, I can’t change. I can’t do those things on my own. I can’t stop these things that I’m doing.” And I looked over at him and I said, “You’re exactly right…you can’t. Only God can.”

Listen, we can cling to his promise that what he makes new…he will transform and he will perfect…which leads us straight into our last point.

3.) Only God Can Sustain You (v. 2b)

“2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

Point number 3…Only God can sustain you.

In contrast to the first two clauses of verse 2…there’s a third clause here that offers us a positive thought. It says, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Instead of this chaos that was described earlier in the verse…now there’s this life-giving water. And water oftentimes throughout Scripture, its meant to signify life. That’s why Jesus says in the John 4 that he’s the living water, right?

But notice who’s responsible for this activity in Genesis. It says its the Spirit of God…its the same verb that Moses uses in Deuteronomy 32:11 where he describes an eagle that stirs up its nest and it flutters over its young. It’s like a bird that suspends itself stationary in the sky by fluttering its wings. That’s the description Moses is giving us here. The Holy Spirit, He’s fluttering over the waters on day one like a nurturing bird. He’s sustaining what he’s created. What’s been formed and shaped, he’s maintaining that. This lifeless mass of the watery earth, it was under the care of the divine Spirit, who according to Moses, was ensuring its future development.

Guys, you understand what Moses is describing here? God created something brand new…he created something out of nothing and then as he began to lay those foundations he began to transform it. He began to shape it and mold it. And then, in order to sustain everything he was creating, his Spirit hovered over this newly formed earth.

And so what significance does this play in our salvation? Jesus says in John chapter 10, “27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

How’s this possible? Why can we find assurance in the salvation Jesus offers…in this new creation that he’s made us be? Because Paul says in Ephesians 1, “13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

And so, according to Paul…we can find security in Jesus in the work he does to make us into a new creation because he’s sealed us with the Holy Spirit…who’s the guarantee of our inheritance.

And so, just like with creation…God sustains us through his Spirit. It’s an assurance that God’s work’ll be perfected…it’ll reach completion. That’s why Paul had so much confidence when he wrote to the Philippians, “6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” How’s Paul sure about this? Because of the Spirit of God.

Our growth as Christians, as new creations…its assured to us because we’re sealed and sustained by the Holy Spirit.

And the point of all this…only God can sustain you…only God can grow you…only he can give you what you need to experience him fully.

Going back to that comment that so many of us have said at some point or maybe we’ve heard when we’ve shared the gospel…there’s nothing about your sin problem that you can change on your own. You can’t make yourself righteous. You can’t make yourself good enough. You can’t do enough good things to earn God’s favor…But praise God, that what he creates, he transforms…and what he transforms…he sustains until its perfected in him.

That’s the most important thing about this passage in Genesis…its that God created you and he created you to know him…but guys, in order for that to happen…you have to be renewed…you have to be transformed through his power.

Closing

Every head bowed and every eye closed.

Guys, here’s what God wants us to know from the very first two verses of the Bible…your new life in him…it matters....your transformation in him…its important. It’s the narrative of Scripture…all of Scripture, it was it meant to point us to Jesus…it was meant to show us our need for redemption. God, even at creation, has always cared about our salvation.

And so, I’ll ask you this morning…if you’re a believer today…how have you let him transform you since he’s made you into a new creation…how are you nurturing that relationship with him…and guys, if you’ve not being transformed…that’s the natural progression in salvation. You should be growing…you’re desire for him should be growing. You need to dig into his word…guys, there’s still time to jump into our reading plan. Get serious about your Bible…get serious about knowing him. Meet with other guys in our KNOT Groups…meet with other ladies in our KNOT Groups…get your families in our Home Groups. Connect to other people who’ve been made new in Christ…and let the Spirit of God grow you and sustain you and nurture you together.

Its a big deal…its why we see this picture at the very start of the Bible. God wants you to grow in him…he wants to perfect you. He wants to show you that your life, it has meaning and purpose…because God created it.

And listen, if you’ve not turned to him…if you’ve not placed your trust in Jesus. Guys, he created you with the purposes of you knowing him. That’s where your purpose and meaning’s found…that’s where salvation’s found…that’s where every solution to every problem you have is found…but you have to let go…you have to let him make you into something new…and then you have to let him work. The Bible says you have to repent and believe…you have to believe in your heart…and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. And spiritually…when you do that…spiritually, he renews you…you’re made new. And according to the Bible, the Spirit of God himself…he comes into your life and he dwells with you.

And listen, even now…maybe that same Spirit…he’s working in your heart…you can feel that tug…maybe he’s allowing you to feel the guilt of your sins, or the pain of whatever circumstances you’re facing…you’re hurting…you’re suffering…you’re feeling that real reality of who are you…listen to me…if that’s you…would you just look at me. When our eyes meet you can put your head back down. I just wanna pray for you this morning. Would you look at me....(thank you!)

Guys, the author of life…the Creator of everything…he has a purpose for you…there’s meaning for your life....but you have to turn to Jesus…you have to give your life to him. You have to let him make you new and transform you and sustain you because he’s the only one that can. That’s what Genesis 1 shows us. Guys, is that you? Do something about that this morning…get up…come talk to me…let me walk you through what that means to turn to him.

Or listen…whatever it is…you need to pray this morning…you need to seek God…you have some kind of problem that needs to be solved…these steps, they’re open for you. If God can create everything out of nothing, he can certainly solve your problems…he can certainly answer your prayers. And so you come this morning…And listen, if you need me…maybe you feel the Spirit leading you to get baptized or join the church or maybe he’s calling you into ministry and you wanna serve him in that way…you need me to pray for you…I’ll be down front for you. And so, you come and I’ll close us in just a few minutes.