Sermon Tone Analysis

In The Beginning God…

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Scripture Text:          *Gen 1:1-5 **KJV*

Today, I trust that God will open our eyes to the beauty and magnificence of the Scripture.

There are jewels (precious stones) to be discovered, gems to uncover, if we will but dig a little deeper into His Word!

Are you afraid of Scripture, or do you delight to hear God as He speaks.

People believe the Bible until they find out what’s in it.

Today, let’s take a fresh look at the opening passage of the Bible to see if God will allow us to uncover some of those precious stones.

*Gen 1:1-5 *KJV                 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness /was/ upon the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

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 eveninga and the morning were the first day.



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1)  Introduction

a)      The opening verses of Scripture deal with a work of creation performed by God (and God /alone/).

Note: /all/ miracles in the Scripture were performed by God alone.

b)      This represents the /first/ miracle performed by God.

 

(cf.

*John 2:1-11 *KJV  records the first miracle performed by Jesus.

This miracle was also a /work of creation.

/Is it not amazing that the first recorded work of God in the Old Testament and the first recorded work of Jesus in the New Testament were both /works of creation/.

i)        Verse 1 “third day” – the miracle took place on the /third day./

So what is so significant about the /third day/?

I think that this adds distinction between the miracle of Jesus and the Creation work of God, because the work of God in Creation was initiated on the /first day/.

Jesus work was on the /third day/!

So what do you think of when you think of the “third day”.

The third day is /resurrection day/ (which represents new life).

ii)      Verse 1 “marriage” – the miracle took place at a wedding (which represents a union; taking a bride).

iii)    Verse 2 “Jesus was called” – the miracle took place after inviting Jesus to participate in the wedding union.

He “was called to the marriage”.

iv)    Verse 3 “no wine” – the miracle took place after a need was revealed.

There was no wine for the celebration (wine is a type in Scripture which represents the Holy Spirit of God).

Note: when mans efforts are exhausted, the /wine/ (Holy Spirit) is brought to the marriage by the workings of Jesus.

v)      Verse 6 “six waterpots” – the creation work of God took six days.

Is it a coincidence that the first recorded creation work of Jesus would be to make six waterpots of wine.

I think that Jesus was speaking volumes by his actions, saying “look at me; look at the similarities of the Creation work of God”.

I think that he was announcing to the world that He was God come in the flesh.

By creating six waterpots of wine, this tied Jesus to the Creation work of God himself.

vi)    Verse 7 “fill the waterpots…to the brim” – Jesus made sure that they were filled to capacity…to the brim.

(i.e. they were not /under/ filled nor were they /over/ filled).

They were perfectly and completely filled.

Just like you and I were perfectly and completely filled when Jesus arrived where we were, and performed a great miracle of salvation (a work of creation) in our lives.

It was the third day for us…resurrection day…the day that Jesus raised us from the dead and created a NEW LIFE in us.

(*Eph 2:1-10*) KJV

          1And you /hath he quickened/, who were dead in trespasses and sins;                                                                                        2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:                                                                               3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desiresa of the flesh and of the mind; and /(we)/ were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

                                                      4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,       5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)                                                                                             6 And hath raised /us/ up together, and made /us/ sit together in heavenly /places/ in Christ Jesus:                                                                                                     7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in /his/ kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.                                                      8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: /it is/ the gift of God:                                                                                                          9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordainedb that we should walk in them.



 

(*II Cor 5:17*) KJV                       17 Therefore if any man /be/ in Christ, /he is/ a /new creature:/ old things are passed away; behold, all things are become /new/.

(*II Cor 5:17*) THE MES             17 Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new.

The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!

Look at it!

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2)  Overview of Passage

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a)      Back in Gen 1, let’s look at what this passage is NOT!

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i)        It is not a fairy-tale story

(1)   It defies and refutes evolution science.

When God made man, He made him as a /mature/ human being.

(*Gen 1:27*) KJV              27 So God created man in his own image.

(*Gen 2:7*) KJV                7   And the LORD God {“Yaweh”-covenant name of God} formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

(a)    Illustration: Sixty (60) seconds after God created Adam, a mature, fully grown man that had the appearance of say…30 years old….how

old was Adam?

He was 60 seconds old; but, he looked like he was 30 years old.

In other words, God created Adam as a fully mature creation.

Instantly after Adam was created, he had the appearance of a man that was much older that he was in reality.

(b)   Illustration: Adam walks over to a tree that God had created 10 minutes ago, and he decides to cut it down.

He counts the rings and finds that the tree is 87 years old, but in reality it is only 10 minutes old.

(c)    Is it beyond God to create something mature, and give it the appearance that it has been here for years?

I think not!

ii)      It is not a story that was cleverly devised from the imaginations of men.

(1)   Illustration of probabilities (in general):

Trying to predect the score of a foofball game (let’s say, between the Houston Texans vs. the Dallas Cowboys), would be fairly easy to guess (or predict) a winner.

The chances are 1 in 2.   But if I ask you, “what will the final score be?”, then the prediction becomes much more complicated.

Assume that football scores are not greater that 50 points.

If you predict that the Cowboys will have a score of 42, then you have a 1 in 50 chance of predicting the correct outcome.

BUT, to predict BOTH scores accurately, the mathematical probility becomes virtually impossible.

Probability to win                                           1 in 2                      2

            Probability of correct Dallas score                  1 in 50                x50

            Probability of correct Houston score              1 in 50                x50

                        Probability factor                                1 in 5,000        5,000

 

(2)   Illustration of probabilities that Jesus, the Messiah : 

(a)    would be from the tribe of Judah                                     (1 in 12 tribes)

(b)   would be born in Bethlehem                                             (1 in 200 villages)

(c)    preceded by a messenger                                                  (1 in 20)

(d)   would enter Jerusalem on a colt                                        (1 in 50)

(e)    would be betrayed by a friend                                          (1 in 10)

(f)    would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver                         (1 in 100)

(g)   that the silver would be thrown into the temple               (1 in 200)

(h)   would be silent before his accusors                                  (1 in 100)

(i)     would be spit upon and beaten                                         (1 in 10)

(j)     would be wounded and whipped by his enemies             (1 in 25)  

(k)   would be pierced in his hands and feet                            (1 in 100)

(l)     would be stripped of his raiment                                      (1 in 10)

(m) would be crucified among thieves                                    (1 in 100)

(3)   Using just these few of the hundreds of prophesies concerning Jesus, the probability is 1019   (ten to the nineteenth power) or 10 followed by 19 zeros; i.e. 10 Billion Billion.

(4)   These prophesies were given 500 years before crucifixion was even invented.

(5)   No, it is not a story that was cleverly devised from the imaginations of men, it is the infallible Word of God.

iii)    It is not /solely/ a story of creation.

If God in His infinite wisdom chose to open the Bible with the most important subject that exists, what would that be?  /[audience participation]/ What is the most important subject of the Bible?

Salvation!

The salvation of man!