Creation.

Opening:

It is a beautiful thing to open the Word of God on the Lord’s Day.

Introduction of the Passage:

This morning we are going to be in Hebrews 11:3. We are studying what is commonly called the Hall of Faith. One of the central themes of the Christian life is as it says in Habakkuk, “The righteous shall live by faith.” But what does that look like? Well, God in His graciousness inspired this chapter which is a definition of faith and a list of the lives of Old Testament saints who lived by faith. Our goal is to study what it means to live by faith.

Last week we covered the definition of what faith is. Faith is the absolute assurance of things hoped for and the convincing evidence of things we do not see. Now, the author of Hebrews, who I take to be the Apostle Paul, is beginning to expand on this definition. And He starts by addressing the creation of the universe.

So would you stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.

Reading of the Passage:

Hebrews 11:3 “3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

Behold, the Word of God. Let’s pray.

Prayer:

Our gracious Heavenly Father, we commit this time to you. We ask you to open our hearts to the truth’s of Your Word. May we submit humbly to what You have said. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.

Introduction:

One thing about me is that I love nature. One of my favorite things to do back home was to just disappear into nature. I love going and hiking or biking up a mountain. I love to scale rock walls. I love to find the darkest place I can and just look at the stars. I could spend hours just looking at pictures taken by our telescopes peering into deep heaven. I love the thought of exploring the universe and discovering things yet unknown.

I love nature. I love the natural world. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 25:2 “2 It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” And think of how true that is in regards to nature. God has concealed so much in our universe. He has hidden them. But we find glory in searching out the mystery that God has sown throughout the worlds. My mind is often filled with Psalm 19:1 “1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

Need:

But even these are to be accepted by faith. We as Christians often wonder how unbelievers can look at the beautiful complexity of creation and still vehemently deny God. How can anyone look at our world and the heavens above us and yet deny God? Well, these must be accepted in faith. And that is central theme of this verse.

Text Idea:

The Apostle tells us that by faith we understand that God is the one who spoke the universe into being.

Sermon Idea:

To summarize the entire message this morning into one sentence it would be, By faith we understand that God created the universe, exactly as He said He did.

Interrogative:

But with this comes many questions.

Transition:

So let’s dive into this verse. And believe me, there is so much to be learned here. The first thing we see is that there is much to be learned about God in this verse. So let’s look at:

What We Learn About God.

Hebrews 11:3“3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

Explanation:

As we dive into this single verse we notice really one character. God. God is the divine author of the universe. He is the one who made all things. But as we examine this text, we notice some incredibly important revelations of who God is and what God has done. The first thing we see is that God is not created.

God Is Not Created.

God is not part of the created order. God is not a result of creation. He is not part of our Universe. God is a completely other being. He existed before all creation. As John 1:3 says “3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” As Genesis 1:1 says “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Notice this, in the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. God is there. He is beyond time, beyond matter, beyond space. He is not limited to or bound to the grips of reality. He created all. He is uncreated. There was never a time when God was not.

God is not a created being. As the Athanasian Creed says so beautifully, “The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal.”

This is beautiful language that is emphasizing that God is not created. The Bible again and again uses the language of saying God created all and nothing was created outside of what He made. God is eternal, uncreated. He is not made. This is what the word “holy” means. It means “other.” It means God is not like us. We are created. We have a beginning and end. He, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has neither beginning nor end. He is the creator. We are creation.

And we see the unfathomable power of God, the complete other-ness of God in how He creates. He created Ex Nihilo.

God Created “Ex Nihilo.”

Ex Nihilo is a Latin phrase I want you to learn to help you remember this. It means from nothing. Out of nothing. It is a central theological concept. God did not begin with matter. He did not stumble upon the universe and shape it. He created it out of nothing. That is what the Apostle is saying here. When he says that all we see was not made out of the visible. Paul is not saying that God created out of invisible matter. He is saying that God created out of nothing. This is also stated in Romans 4:17 “17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” God calls into existence things which do not exist.

God is so powerful that He created with no building blocks. He had no matter to use. He created out of nothing. Many people can take existing matter and make incredible things out of it. I know incredible wood workers. I know incredible artist. They can take wood or paint or clay and make works of art that are incredible. They can create beauty but they must always start with the raw materials. God did not. God made the raw materials.

There is an old joke about a Scientist well in the future and God talking. The Scientist is bragging. He says, “you know God, we are so advanced that we can do anything you can do.”

God just says, “oh really?”

The scientist replies, “yes, we have learned how to create life. We can even make life from the dirt, just like You did.”

God says, “show me.”

So the Scientist reaches down to pick up some dirt. But God stops him and says, “no no. That’s mine. Make your own.”

See, God created out of nothing. He had no building blocks. And how He created is even more incredible. God broke no sweat in the making of reality.

God Spoke Everything Into Existence.

Think of what this means. God is not created. God created all things out of nothing. God spoke and it happened. This is power beyond what we can even imagine. God simply spoke. Think of the account in Genesis 1. Think of Genesis 1:3 “3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” God just said, “let there be light.” And light sprang into being. What was nothing became something. Photons sprang into being at the mere Word of the Lord.

Genesis 1:6 “6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”” The Earth was formless. God had spoken and the Earth sprang into being. A void of water. And then God spoke and the sky sprang into being. The atmosphere, which was nothing came into being.

Genesis 1:9 “9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.” God spoke, and where there was only water and heavens, land became a reality. God spoke. It was so.

Genesis 1:11 “11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.” Again, God spoke, and it was so. Where before there were no such things as plants, at the mere uttering of God’s voice, vegetation sprang into being out of nothingness in obedience.

Genesis 1:14–15“14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.” Think of this. God created light on the first day. He ordered that light to become the sun, moon, and stars on day four. At the mere speaking of God, the stars of the heavens, the planets, the great nebulae and galaxies form in an instant.

The account goes on. At the mere word of the Lord, what was not became real. What was nothing became something. He speaks and life is formed. Living beings fill the seas, the sky, even the land. Why? Because God spoke.

Argumentation:

Think of what this means. Think of the implications of this. God merely speaks and reality forms. The universe springs to being. And how long did it take? Did God labor for millennia? No. Six days. God took six days and formed the entirety of the universe by merely speaking. Think of what this teaches us about God. God is truly All powerful.

God is All Powerful.

Words honestly fail me to communicate this. Who am I to articulate this? How can I put into words the absolute power of God? How can speak about this God who created reality itself by merely uttering a command. The words fell from the lips of God and instantly whatever He commanded came to be. How do we fathom this God?

There is no other way to put it than He is all powerful. All power is His. He quite literally has ALL power. Who among us could speak and have what was nothing become something? Who could speak and command light to come into being? Who could, at the sound of their voice command life to exist? There are no words to express this. The only appropriate words are those repeated day and night in the throne of God by the burning ones, the Seraphim. These beings of six wings, these burning ones, utter the only appropriate response.

Isaiah 6:3 “3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!””

What else can we say?

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!””

This is the only cry. This single verse from the Apostle ought to cause us to echo this cry completely. It ought to leave us uttering this day and night. There are no other words.

Transition:

We could end right here and it would be enough. But there is even more we can learn from this verse. We learn not just about God, but about nature. So let us examine now:

What We Learn About Nature.

Hebrews 11:3“3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

Explanation:

Now, I am going to try to cover this quickly, but there is much here. Where we learned God is eternal, we learn that the universe is not eternal.

The Universe Is Not Eternal.

This may seem self evident, but for a very long time the prevailing scientific theory was that the universe always existed. That it had no beginning. When the atheistic scientists examined the universe, they postulated that the universe, reality, had no beginning. It was not until the invention of much better telescopes that this changed. The witnessed the expanse of the universe. They saw that stars are moving away. And this means that if everything is expanding then previously it must have been closer. This means that the universe must have a beginning.

In fact, the perpetual existence of the universe is still the prevailing “scientific theory.” The atheistic scientific community holds that at the beginning of the universe, there was the “big bang.” That ridiculous theory posits that all the matter in the universe was compressed into a single speck. All the atoms in the universe were packed into a speck as small as the tip of a pen. And that speck began to spin and eventually exploded and poof, the universe happened. We don’t have time for me to break down all that is clearly wrong with that.

But they still hold that in the beginning, matter. All matter and energy has always existed. But the Bible teaches that all the universe has an origin. God spoke. Creation is not eternal.

Beyond this, this verse teaches us that:

The Universe is Created, Not a Result of Chance.

Blind evolution did not guide the universe into being. The clear record of Scripture is that God spoke and it was created. It was created by God. The origin of the universe is not a result of chance. It is a result of God creating ex nihilo, out of nothing. And this is proved by the orderliness of the universe.

The Universe is Created Orderly.

I love the King James Version. I truly do. And it renders this verse so wonderfully. The incredible translators of the King James render this verse as “3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God...” That word “framed” is so perfect there. It communicates something so often lost in the word “created.” You see, that word “created” in the Greek speaks of something being made on purpose. With intent. With reason. It speaks of an orderliness.

The universe was created in an orderly way. This is why Romans 1 speaks of all people knowing there is a God. All people know this simply by seeing the World around us. It is ordered.

Let me demonstrate this. We recently had the blessing of seeing the total solar eclipse. Do you know why this happened? Yes, the moon passed in front of the Sun. But I mean specifically. Did you know that the Sun is exactly, and I mean exactly, 400 times bigger than the moon? And did you know that the moon is EXACTLY, and I do mean EXACTLY, 400 times closer to the earth? Because of this, we are the only known planet in existence that could ever see a total solar eclipse. Our Sun is perfectly placed. Our moon is perfectly placed. One degree difference and we would never see it. It is ordered.

Did you know that the Earth is in what is called “the Goldilocks zone?” This means that if the earth was a mere 1 degree closer to the Sun we would boil to death. If we were 1 degree further away we would freeze to death. If the Sun were 1 degree bigger or smaller, we would die. If the moon were any bigger, we would have tidal waves that would drown the world due to the tide. Truly the heavens declare the glory of God. Our world is ordered.

Argumentation:

And here is a basic scientific principle. Order does not come from non-order. Order does not come from chance. Order cannot come from chaos. The modern atheistic scientific claims violate this basic scientific principle. They claim that the incredible order of the world came about through blind chaotic chance. This is why Psalm 14:1 says “1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.” These men and women are utter fools.

They look at the heavens, the earth, the clear handiwork of God and deny Him. Why?

Transition:

Why is this? Our verse answers this. What are the first two words of our verse? By Faith… Here is the truth of this verse.

By Faith, We Understand That God Created the Universe Exactly as He Said He Did.

Explanation:

Why are these supposedly smart people so blind? They reject faith in God. Romans 1 answers this so clearly.

Romans 1:18–23“18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

Verse 18 tells us something vital. It says they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They know the truth, but they suppress it. They hold it down. Everyone knows that God exists. This is why Romans tells us that they know about God. It is revealed to them in creation itself. It is, and I quote, “CLEARLY PERCEIVED.” But in sin, they reject God. No one is ever convinced of atheism because of evidence. They reject God because of their sin. They hate God because of their sin.

Sir Julian Huxley, one of the world's leading evolutionists, and a grandson of one of the men who was responsible for Darwinian evolution theory being so widely accepted once said “I suppose the reason we leaped at The Origin of Species was because the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores.” This man is here openly admitting to exactly what Romans 1 says. It was not evidence that lead to the spread of this vile theory. No, it was sexual perversion. It was the fact that God as creator means that we are answerable to Him. And this is unacceptable. If there is no God above us, then we can live however we want.

It is not evidence that makes people atheists. Evidence makes people acknowledge and submit to God.

This is why Paul tells us in our verse that it is by faith we understand. It is by faith we understand the universe. It is by faith we understand that God created everything EXACTLY as He said He did.

Here is the reality. There was only one present at creation. And He told us exactly how He did it. God has spoken. Only one question remains:

Will We Accept the Word of God, Or the Word of Man?

Will we, by faith, believe God? Or will we trust in the word of men? Will we by faith submit to what God has said? Will we by faith recognize that God is the one who made everything? Will we by faith submit to what God has said?

And I know what you must all be thinking. In our day, countless Ivy League theologians have told us that Genesis 1-6 is unreliable. We have been told that it is meant as a metaphor. Adam never really existed. He is a poetic picture. That’s all. Noah is a fictional character. The flood never happened. It’s just an ancient story.

But here is the reality. Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets, Jesus himself and the Apostles all claim the creation account is historical. They all make reference to Genesis 1-6 as historical fact. Not one time in all of Scripture do they reference it as a poetic fable. Every reference in the Bible to the creation account, it is referenced as historical fact.

This means to deny that God created exactly as He said He did is to accuse the Bible of be in error, all the prophets and apostles of being liars, and most terrifying of all, it is to accuse Jesus Christ of directly lying.

By faith we accept that God created the World, exactly as He said He did. By faith we accept the Word of the Lord over the word of men. “Let God be true, and every man a liar.”

As for me and my house, we will stand on the Word of the Lord. God has spoken and that is reliable.

Conclusion:

The central point of this single verse is that by faith we understand that God created the World out of nothing, exactly as He said did.

Visualization:

God is the divine author of the universe. He spoke, and it came into being.

Reiteration:

God spoke reality into existence. The Word of God has revealed this to us.

Application:

But what do we do with this? First:

Bow to God, the All Powerful Creator of All.

Are you living in submission to God? Or are you living in rebellion? Are you humble before your Creator?

Think of what this truth means. God created all. God is the All powerful Creator. He is the Author and originator or all. This means by direct consequence that He is the one you have sinned against. Who have we sinned against? We sinned against the one who created all. We sinned against the one who spoke reality into being. We have all sinned against the one who has given us life.

He would be just in casting us all into eternal torment. That is what we deserve. But that same God, who made everything, humbled Himself. He became a man. He lived the perfect life, never sinning. He then died the death you and I deserve. He then rose from the grave. What grave could hold Him? The one who made the stone of the tomb He was laid in could not be contained by it. He rose to life, and He offers us all forgiveness. He offers us total forgiveness.

We who have sinned against Him, we who have blasphemed His name are offered forgiveness. Think of that. Just think of blasphemy. We have take the name “God” and used it as a slur. “Oh my God” is one of the most disgusting phrases imaginable. Imagine using the name of the One who spoke the universe into being as a curse. And yet we have all said that, to our everlasting shame. And yet, He offers to us, to blasphemers, forgiveness. He offers us pardon. How?

By faith. By trusting in Him. All of us are completely forgiven through faith in Christ. By simply trusting in Christ’s death for us, we are forgiven of every sin we have ever committed or ever will commit.

If you are here, and you are burdened by your sin, look outside. Look at the trees. Look at the stars. Look at the vast beauty of our world. The one who made that offers you hope. The one who spoke that into being offers you salvation. If you are burdened by your sin, I tell you the truth, go to Him with it. Lay your sin down at His feet. The one who made you offers you forgiveness. If you will repent, if you will turn away from your sin, and turn to Him. If you will but place the weight of your life in the hands of Christ, you will be saved.

If you repent of your sins and place your faith in Christ, you will be saved. You will be forgiven. There is a word. Justified. Justified literally means “declared righteous.” We are justified by faith. Romans 5:1 “1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are declared righteous by faith in Jesus Christ.

Take peace in this. If your faith is in Christ, the one who spoke the universe into being has spoken and declared all your sins forgiven. And the declaration from God is infinitely trustworthy.

But there is one more thing we must do. We must:

Rejoice in the Glory of God Displayed in Creation.

As you go from here, you will see plants growing in the fields. You will see trees. Tonight the stars will be shining in the heavens. Look at creation. Our God spoke that into being. Today, time will pass. God spoke that time into being. Look at the dirt. Actually look at it. Pick it up. Each grain was created by the Word of God. Pluck a blade of grass. Really look at it. See the intricacy of it’s design. The pattern of it. The orderliness of it. Our God spoke and the grass was formed.

As you look, something is going to happen. I guarantee you that if you really look and you ponder the God who made all of that, something in your being will leap inside you. As you see that leaf on the tree, there is something that is going to be bubbling up inside of you.

Praise. Praise to the God who created it all. If you know God, and you really just simply look around you, there will be a desire within you to rejoice. A desire to praise God. There will be a sense of awe at the God who made all of this. What you will be feeling is the desire to join in the song of the Seraphim around the Throne. As we by faith understand the God who spoke the universe into being, the only words our hearts can adequately say are “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

When we by faith understand that God spoke the universe into being, ex nihilo, the only response is praise.

Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer:

Offering:

Offertory Prayer:

Benediction:

Psalm 33:6–9“6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”