God's Story in Scripture

The year: 1977. As a wide-eyed five year old boy, I entered into the theater with my parents, excited to see this movie that I’d heard so much about. The previews were over. The theater was dark. On the screen, blue-green words appeared over a black background - “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....” I jumped in my seat, when all of a sudden the opening strains of the sound track resounded and the bright lettering of the movie’s title hit the screen - Star Wars. If you’ve seen the movies, you may be familiar with the consistent beginnings. The Logo enters in suddenly and fades away to the distance. Then words begin scrolling up the screen - Episode IV (“I” “V”) and some story. Not being much of a reader at the time, I tried to read the words, but they were moving by way to quickly - so it just seemed like gibberish. Finally, the words close out on a star-lit space, and then the action begins. And yet, what was the beginning for me was somewhere in the middle of some grander story. As a five-year old I didn’t understand it. How could the first movie be episode IV (4)? Were there movies that I missed?

Over the next several years, I must have watched that first film dozens of times. As each film came out, I was excited to see what would happen next. The individual stories began to piece together into a bigger whole. Episodes IV, V, and VI completed, but there was more to tell. After what seemed like an eternity, Episode I finally released - the back-story began to be told - and yet even that seemed to have something preceding it. Every story seemed to pick up somewhere in the middle of something. There was a grand story that has taken over 40 years to tell - and it seems like it’s still being told.

Each week, as you and I come together to worship. We enter into this place living out a larger story, actors in a grand plot that extends beyond our lives. As we open the scriptures each week, we investigate and seek to apply the truths that we discover - and yet each of these truths, the stories that we read and study are part of a larger whole. They are subplots in the midst of a grand story.

Today, we’re going to begin a long series of sermons that seeks to understand God’s grand story as it is revealed in scripture. Today, we’ll do a very high level overview of the broad story of scripture - the summary if you will. Next week, we’ll consider the Old Testament - and the story that it seeks to tell and then each of the following weeks, we will dive into a book of the bible - considering the book and it’s story in the broader story and what we should do about it.

Star Wars has taken over 40 years to reveal. The pages of the Bible took nearly two thousand years to compile, but they tell part of a story that will last an eternity. (I promise, this sermon series will not last an eternity).

Just as we find with every great story, in God’s grand story, we find peace, conflict, resolution. There is struggle, triumph, joy and sorrow.

Taking one sermon to overview God’s grand story through scripture is an exercise in futility. While God’s story is a simple story of creativity, love, rebellion, and restoration, it’s also a complex story that has divided families and churches. It’s complicated in how it weaves through biblical history and beyond.

There have been many words that people have used to summarize God’s story -

Creation

Fall

Redemption

Restoration

Variations of these words summarize God’s story - some have more words, others have fewer. For us today, we’re going to expound on that a bit and hopefully make this a bit more memorable.

The folks at Answers in Genesis have come up with seven words that all begin with “C” as a means of helping us summarize. These are not a perfect summary, but I do think that these seven words provide a helpful way for us to remember God’s grand story through scripture and what we should do about it.

As we go through these, I’m going to introduce some motions - simply as a means of helping us remember.

So let’s begin at the beginning with...

Creation (Genesis 1:1)

(Motion: hands upward and outward)

The opening words of scripture state that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This simple summary statement points us to some very clear truths.

First of all...

God existed before the beginning. As a spiritual being, God exists outside of the confines of the physical universe. Jesus said in John 4:24 that “God is a Spirit.” His existence is not limited by time and space. The Apostle Paul, when speaking to the people in Athens said: Act 17:24 - “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man....” While Paul was addressing the idolatry that he found in Athens, but much more than being confined to a temple, God is not confined by our universe or time.

Millard Erickson, in his book Christian Theology, writes,

“God is infinite. This means not only that God is unlimited, but that he is unlimitable. In this respect, God is unlike anything we experience.” He goes on to say, “God is the one who brought space (and time) into being. He was before there was space.”

In order to create the physical universe, God must exist outside of it and beyond it.

God’s work in creation also helps us see that

God’s creative work is intentional. When you and I set about to create something - a piece of artwork or music or an instrument or floral arrangement or even a meal - we do so intentionally. We have an idea of what the outcome might be. We may have to make adjustments along the way, but there is an intentional design to how we create things. I think this is true of God’s creative work in the universe.

There are many theories of creation:

The Day-Age Theory - where each of the days of creation represent a long period of time - maybe even thousands of years.

The Gap Theory - suggests that the earth existed and then was destroyed at some point and laid dormant until God re-created things. These first two theories support tend to align well with the age of the earth that scientists seem to promote.

The Flood Theory - suggests a young earth - 4000-8000 years - more along the lines of a literal 7-day creation. When the global flood happened in Genesis 6-7, then the vast amount of water on the earth caused drastic geological changes in a quick period of time, giving the appearance of an old earth.

There are other theories that we could get into (which include things like a guided evolution). It’s difficult to know for sure how to mesh the biblical account with scientific discovery. I tend toward that final theory (Flood Theory) for a variety of reasons. I’m lean toward a more literal reading of scripture. Unless something is clearly hyperbole or allegory, I’m going to assume that when the Bible speaks about something, it’s speaking truthfully and as accurately as possible. I know we may not all agree with that point of view, and that’s fine. I just want you to know my point of view. I’m going to do my best to teach and preach what the Word says and how it applies to our lives.

I know that people have written books on this subject and we may at some point dive into some of the finer details of Creation and various points of view, for our purposes today, I think it’s important that we settle on the fact that God, who exists beyond our physical limitations, created everything intentionally - with logic and precision.

Because God did that...

God, as creator, orders His creation

God placed a hierarchy of thing in place. He gave humans the responsibility to steward His creation.

God gave humans a mandate...

Creation mandate: Genesis 1:28

Genesis 1:28 ESV

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

He also gave them authority and responsibility to lead and steward His created order. Psalm 8:3-9 meditates on this by stating...

Psalm 8:3–9 ESV

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

So he told humanity to be fruitful and multiply and to take care of his creation. God also gave them a choice - obedience or rebellion.

Which brings us to our next “C”...

Corruption (Genesis 3; Romans 5:12)

(Motion: Downward and outward)

He gave them every plant for food, except for one. In Genesis 2:16-17 God gave Adam a clear choice...

Genesis 2:16–17 ESV

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

All of the plants and trees were available for eating - except one. Have you ever noticed that sin is like that. We have all of these blessings, but the thing that we want is the thing that we should not have.

Genesis 3 tells of how a serpent came to the Eve and deceived her into thinking that by eating of the forbidden fruit that she would be like God - knowing good and evil. After buying into the deception, she and her husband bite into the fruit. In that moment, sin entered into the world. Sin’s corruption brought death.

The Apostle Paul writes...

Romans 5:12 ESV

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Because we are all descended from one set of parents and those parents had no children before their sin, every descendent of Adam and Eve entered into this world with a sin nature - a nature that is bent toward rebellion from God.

Our society today likes to downplay sin and minimize consequences. What we have to realize is that even that is sin. We like to say things like - “I’m not that bad” or “I’m not as bad as .....” or “It was only a little lie.” We like to compare our selves with others. We will always find others who are worse than us. The problem with that is that our model for comparison is off. When we compare ourselves against the holiness and goodness of God, we can see that we are sinful.

We don’t have to teach our children how to be bad - they come by it naturally.

Redemption’s glimpse - even in the midst of Adam and Eve’s rebellion and the curses/punishment that followed, God introduced his plan of redemption. He gave some insight into a future descendent of the woman who would content against the serpent.

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Notice - it’s a descendent of the woman - not that man. Some people call this the “Protoevangelium” the first “announcement of the Gospel.” (ESV Study Bible Notes, p. 56). God seemed to be pointing forward to a day when Jesus Christ would come, born of a virgin woman, born of divine birth, who would break the curse.

Throughout God’s story, we will find strains of redemption, this is the first.

So this corruption that entered into the world continued to progress and spiral downward. The next couple of chapters of Genesis summarizes the murderous decay in society.

Because of the corruption that was happening is God’s creation, God ordained a...

Catastrophe (Genesis 6:5)

So we started with Creation (up and out), Adam and Eve rebelled, introducing Corruption (down and out) - which leads us to the Catastrophe

(Motion: bring hands inward to a clap)

Genesis 6:5 ESV

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Listen to that again - the wickedness of man was great, EVERY intention of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY.

Being the all-knowing God that He is, God could see that there was no goodness in society at that time. With the exception of Noah and his family, humanity had decayed to the point where there was no goodness, no desire for redemption, no willingness to repent.

So God determined that He would start over. He commanded Noah and his family to build a big boat, an ark, as a means of salvation. So Noah did as the Lord commanded, built a big boat, put two of many kinds of animals, and seven of other kinds of animals in the boat. Once they were safely inside the boat, God caused rain to fall and waters to rise from beneath the surface of the land (aquifers and wells) - and flooded the entirety of the earth.

Genesis 7:17–24 ESV

The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

God started fresh with Noah and his family and the animals that He had preserved in the ark.

Roughly a year after the flood began, the ground was dry enough to walk on and all the inhabitants of the ark exited. Noah built an altar and worshiped God. God promised to never destroy the earth by a flood and sealed that promise with a rainbow. He then

After making his promise to Noah, God reiterated the creation mandate - to be fruitful and multiply.

Genesis 9:7 ESV

And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

And so Noah and his family did as the Lord commanded. His children had children and population began to increase again. Unfortunately, the corruption of sin as still in the world.

God wanted them to spread out, and fill the earth, but many people began to gather in one place and build a tower. As a result, a time of Confusion began.

Confusion (Genesis 11:1-10)

(Motion: Hands over mouth)

Genesis 11:8–9 ESV

So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

The remainder of the OT takes place in this time of confusion. People are spreading out into language groups. The plain things about God (Romans 1:19-20) are resulting in various forms of worship and idolatry. As we will learn over the next couple of weeks, we will see the calling of Abraham, the establishment of the nation of Israel, the religious expectations, the united and divided kingdom, etc. We see this constant struggle of a nation wrestling between being like everyone else and being the people of God.

Throughout this time of confusion, God continued to provide a means of redemption. God established a sacrificial system of worship in order remind people of their sinfulness, but also as a means of point forward to a day when there would be a permanent redeemer. We’ll see that more in the coming weeks and months.

So we’ve seen (with motions) Creation, man’s Corruption, which resulted in a punishing Catastrophe, continued rebellion brought a period of Confusion as languages were confused and God’s people wrestled between being a people set apart for Him and being like everyone else.

Galatians 4:4–5 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Which brings us to our next “C” -

Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21)

(motion: arms in a cradle position)

In Genesis 3:15 - God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise or crush the head of the serpent. That seed is Jesus Christ. As we mentioned before, Jesus was born of a virgin, which was foretold in the many of the prophets - but specifically Isaiah 7:14 during the time of confusion

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Because He was born of Mary but not of Adam, Jesus had a human nature, but not a sinful nature. He was born fully God and fully man. He laid aside his glory in order to live among us, in part as a perfect example, but ultimately as the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins...

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

From the time of man’s rebellion, God has provided a means of salvation. It has always required a response from man, but God’s redemption was initiated by Him - which is unlike most religious activity. Most religions do things to try to appease a god or petition a deity for something. God, in His holiness requires holiness, but understands that we are fallen.

In Genesis 3, God foretold the coming of the seed of the woman

in the Flood, God gave Noah insight into His plan and instructed him to build an ark of salvation.

in the law that he gave to Moses, God instructed the people of Israel how to live as a covenant community and gave them a means of atoning for their sin with the sacrificial system

Through the prophets, God foretold of discipline that would come because of their idolatrous rebellion and also told of a time when they would be restored

Throughout the Old Testament, God foretold the coming of His anointed one, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would be the perfect, permanent sacrifice. He even provided a means of calculating the approximate timeframe from the book of Daniel - which I think is why the Apostle Paul talked about Jesus coming “in the fullness of time” or when time was pregnant.

Throughout God’s story, God initiates His redemptive plan, we respond.

Which brings us to our next “C” -

Cross (Romans 5:8)

(motion: arms out forming a cross)

Do all the motions - creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, Cross.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We celebrate the cross at Easter. At the cross we see God’s justice and His love collide as He pours out his wrath toward sinful people on his Son, demonstrating a deep love for us as he pays the price for our sin.

To many, this doesn’t make sense, how can someone else pay for my sin? Every sacrifice is a sort of propitiation or replacement, but all of the animal sacrifices fell short - they were all temporary pictures of the permanent sacrifice to come.

The Bible says - without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22).

Jesus innocent blood that was shed on the cross became the one, perfect sacrifice. He was like us as humans, but unblemished, sinless.

the Bible also says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)

Jesus died on the cross, but he didn’t stay dead. Three days later, he conquered the power of sin and death so that you and I might be be born again to a new life.

Let me read through several passages that may help us to paint a better picture.

Romans 5:17–19 ESV

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Ephesians 2:1–9 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God initiated our means of redemption. Will you respond? Will you repent of your sin? Will you turn and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior? Will you follow in obedience to our creator God? This salvation can be yours by faith!

After Jesus rose from the dead, completely paying for our sinful rebellion, He gave his followers a mandate - just as God did at creation and after the flood.

Resurrection mandate: Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We live in this age. We live in the shadow of the cross and follow the mandate of the resurrection, to make disciples in people from every nation, tribe and tongue. Our job is to boldly and lovingly proclaim the message of salvation that is available to all through Jesus Christ. As the reign of God is manifest in the lives of His people, His Kingdom will expand throughout the earth.

Matthew 24:14 ESV

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

which brings us to our final C - Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross...

Consummation (Revelation 21:3-4)

(Motion: hands extended forward, fingers intertwined)

At a time of God’s choosing, when all of His prophecies have been fulfilled and our evangelization of the world is complete, Jesus Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead. He will establish a new heaven and a new earth. People from every nation, tribe and tongue will join in praising God.

Revelation 21:3–4 ESV

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

There is a lot of debate as to the timeline of the end and the details. What is clear is that there will be a time of complete, of consummation. What is clear is that we have a job to do now!

Concluding thoughts

Much of God’s story in Scripture centers around the conflict that we experience as we decide whether or not we will obey God. Will we fulfill his mission and purpose or will we fulfill our own?

Have you responded to God’s call for repentance? have you received Christ as your savior, trusting in His finished work on the cross for your salvation?

What are you and I doing now in light of the mandate to go into all the world? Are we going to our neighbors, friends and family? Are we willingly going beyond our community for the sake of the Gospel? Are we praying for as supporting missionaries as they go forward?

God started it all at Creation

Adam and Eve rebelled, introducing Corruption into the world

Because of the greatness of humanity’s corruption, God ordained a Catastrophe with a global flood

The ongoing rebellion against God’s mandate brought Confusion to languages

As humanity continued to rebel, God, at the right time, sent forth his son, Jesus Christ to come into the world to be the perfect sacrifice for us on the Cross that we deserve.

He sent us forth with a mandate to make disciples of people in all nations until the time of Consummation when people from every nation tribe and tongue will worship Him together.

Let’s pray.

Lord’s Supper

1 Cor. 11:23-26

Benediction

2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.