Sermon notes August 10th, 2025
Genesis 1
Genesis 1:1 New King James Version
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- These first four words of the Bible “In the beginning God” form the foundation for our faith. Believe these words, and you can believe all that follows in the Bible.
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
- One of several conservative interpretations of the Genesis account of creation is, the creation-reconstruction view. “The key word is view,” I’m not teaching it, it’s not something that I will be dogmatic about, because I simply don’t know the whole story and neither do you. This view says that between verses 1 and 2 a great catastrophe occurred, perhaps the fall of Satan. Why now, why do I want to talk about the fall of Lucifer? I could wait until we get to Isaiah or Ezekiel, but I believe it’s important to see that Satan (Lucifer) been trying to rob God of His Glory from the biggening. Let’s look at this in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Revelation and Jesus Himself in Luke:
Isaiah 14:12 New King James Version
12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ (PRIDE)
Ezekiel 28:11-12 New King James Version
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
- Ezekiel … appeared to have the situation of his day in mind with his attention riveted upon the ruler of Tyre, the embodiment of the people’s pride and godlessness. Much like Jesus said about Peter Matthew 16:23 “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Understand God was using Ezekiel to warn us about what he was seeing in the king of Tyre. But as he viewed the thoughts and ways of that monarch, he clearly discerned behind him was the motivating force and personality who was driving him in his opposition to God. (Spirit of Lucifer is pride)
Ezekiel 28:13-19
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.
16 “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.
17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.
18 “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you.
19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.” ’ ”
- If pride is deadly enough to destroy a most powerful and wise the most beautiful being, how much more should we mortals take heed not to walk independently of the Lord!
Revelation 12:9-12 New King James Version
9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God, day and night, has been cast down.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Luke 10:11-19 New King James Version
11 ‘The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.’
12 But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city.
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.
15 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.
16 He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”
17 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”
18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
- A possible interpretation of Jesus’ words is as a warning for us against pride. It is as if He were saying: “Yes, you are quite heady because even the demons have been subject to you by My Name.
- But just remember—pride is the parent sin. It was pride that resulted in the fall of Lucifer, and in his being cast out of heaven. See that you avoid this peril.”
Genesis 1:3-5 New King James Version
3 Then 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 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So, the evening and the morning were the first day.
- On the first day God commanded light to shine out of darkness and established the Day and Night cycle. This act is not to be confused with the establishment of the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day. In 2 Corinthians 4:6 the Apostle Paul draws a parallel between the original separation of light from darkness and the conversion of a sinner.
2 Corinthians 4:6 New King James Version
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- Now Paul is saying here that the same God who originally commanded light to shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts. This is very beautiful. In the first creation God commanded the light to shine. But in the new creation, God Himself shines into our hearts. How much more personal this is!
- Then God shines into the heart of this person, showing him that he is a guilty sinner and needs a Savior. “The material creation in Genesis began with light and so also does the spiritual creation. God ‘shines in our hearts’ by the Holy Ghost, and then spiritual life begins”
Genesis 1:6-8 New King James Version
6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
7 Thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So, the evening and the morning were the second day.
- Prior to the second day, it seems that the earth was completely surrounded by a thick layer of water, perhaps in the form of a heavy vapor. On the second day God divided this layer, part covering the earth with water and part forming clouds, with the atmospheric layers (firmament or “dome”) between. God called the firmament Heaven—that is, the expanse of space immediately above the earth (not the stellar heavens, nor the third heaven, where God dwells). Verse 20 makes it clear that the heaven here is the sphere where the birds fly.
Genesis 1:20
20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”
Genesis 1:9-13 New King James Version
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
- Then God caused the dry land to appear out of the waters that covered the face of the planet. Thus, the Earth and the Seas were born.
- Also, on the third day He caused vegetation and trees of all kinds to spring up in the earth.
Genesis 1:14-19 New King James Version
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 So, the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
- It was not until the fourth day that the Lord set the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens as light bearers and as means for establishing a calendar.
Genesis 1:20-23 New King James Version
20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”
21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
- The fifth day saw the waters stocked with fish and the earth stocked with bird-life and insects. The word translated birds means “flying ones” and includes bats and probably flying insects.
Genesis 1:24-25 New King James Version
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
- On the sixth day God first created animals and reptiles. The law of reproduction is repeatedly given in the words according to its kind. There are significant variations within “kinds” of biological life, but there is no passing from one kind to another.
Genesis 1:26-31 New King James Version
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
- The crown of God’s work was the creation of man in His image and according to His likeness. This means that man was placed on earth as God’s representative, and that he resembles God in certain ways. Just as God is a Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), so man is a tripartite being (spirit, soul, and body). Like God, man has intellect, a moral nature, the power to communicate with others, and an emotional nature that transcends instinct. In contrast to animals, man is a worshiper, an articulate communicator, and a builder.
- The Bible describes the origin of the sexes as a creative act of God. Evolution has never been able to explain how the sexes began. Humanity was commanded to be fruitful and multiply.
- God gave man a mandate to subdue creation and have dominion over it—to use it but not abuse it. The modern crises in the earth’s environment are due to man’s greed, selfishness, and carelessness.
Genesis 1:29-31
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.
- It is clear from these verses that animals were originally herbivorous (ur-biv-ruhs) and that man was vegetarian. This was changed after the Flood.
Genesis 9:3-4 New King James Version
3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.
4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
- Were the six days of creation literal 24-hour days, or were they geological ages? Or were they days of “dramatic vision” during which the creation account was revealed to Moses? No scientific evidence has ever refuted the concept that they were literal solar days. The expression “the evening and the morning” points to 24-hour days. Everywhere else in the OT these words mean normal days. Adam lived through the seventh day and died in his 930th year, so the seventh day could not have been a geological age. Wherever the “day” is used with a number in the OT (“first day,” etc.) it means a literal day. When God commanded Israel to rest on the Sabbath day, He based the command on the fact that He had rested on the seventh day, after six days of labor (Ex. 20:8–11). Consistent interpretation here requires the same meaning of the word “day.”
- A difficulty, however, is that the solar day as we know it may not have begun until the fourth day (vv. 14–19).
- As far as the Bible is concerned, the creation of the heavens and the earth is undated. The creation of man is undated also.
- However, genealogies are given, and, even allowing for possible gaps in the genealogies, man could not have been on the earth for the millions of years demanded by evolutionists.
- We learn from John 1:1, 14, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 1:2 that the Lord Jesus was the active Agent in creation. For the inexhaustible wonders of His creation, He is worthy of endless worship.
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So, the evening and the morning were the sixth day.