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Stepping into Genesis

January 23, 2022 Speaker: Brian Wilbur Series: The Book of Genesis

Topic: Biblical Theology Passage: Genesis 1:1– 50:26

STEPPING INTO GENESIS

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: January 23, 2022

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

INTRODUCTION

This morning we embark on a new journey, namely, a journey through Genesis, which is the very first book of the Bible. This first sermon in this new series is an introductory sermon titled ‘Stepping into Genesis’. And I want to begin with the ‘why’ question: why preach through The Book of Genesis?

PAY ATTENTION TO ALL SCRIPTURE

The first reason to preach through Genesis is the necessity of paying attention to the entirety of the Scriptures. It is so important to teach “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). This is what the Apostle Paul did, as he summarized his ministry in his farewell address to the elders of the Ephesus church:

“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:24-27)

This is what the apostles did, and this is what the church’s pastors and teachers must also do: proclaim the gospel of God’s grace, proclaim the kingdom of God, proclaim “the whole counsel of God”. To declare and teach “the whole counsel of God” means to faithfully communicate the full scope of God’s will for His people, so that people are established in the truth, strengthened in their faith, and transformed into fruitful servants of the Lord. David Peterson defines “the whole counsel of God” as “the whole plan of God for humanity and the created order revealed in the Scriptures and fulfilled in Jesus Christ”.[1] We want people to know the entirety of God’s plan and how they fit into it.

There are a number of legitimate strategies to pursue in order to proclaim and explain the full scope of God’s will. One strategy is to spend significant time in different portions of Scripture, in order to get an increasingly informed understanding of all that God has revealed. If we only teach from a few favorite books, or if we only teach from Paul’s letters, or if we only teach from the New Testament, then we are unwisely limiting our doctrinal diet.

Of course, we have to take the long view. To teach the full scope of God’s will from all the Scriptures is not the sort of thing that is done in a few weeks. You can give a helpful summary or overview in a few weeks, but in-depth teaching of all that God has revealed takes years, even decades. In 2018-19 we devoted over forty sermons to Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Then in 2019-2021 (with a lengthy interruption during half of 2020), we devoted over fifty sermons to The Gospel of Mark. In addition to these two major sermon series, there have been a smattering of other sermons – most of these other sermons have also come from the New Testament, although there are some Old Testament sermons and some topical sermons in the mix as well. Overall, about 80% of my sermons at SPBC have been from the New Testament, about 10% have been from the Old Testament, and about 10% have been topical. It is not all about percentages, of course, but this does illustrate how we often do give much more attention to the New Testament than to the Old Testament. This lopsided preference for the New Testament is understandable, but we should think about what we are doing.

One of my favorite theological authors – Dr. Daniel Block – likes to call the Old Testament by a different name – he likes to call it the First Testament. Indeed, what we call the Old Testament is not old and obsolete, but is first and foundational and vibrating with life. One Old Testament man prayed this way – “In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches…. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word…. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!” (Psalm 119:14, 16, 40). The man who prayed that way had his head on straight. The folks who haven’t discovered such delight in the Old Testament testimonies, statutes, and precepts are the ones who are out of touch.

As Christians we must have a very high view of the Old Testament Scriptures. With these Old Testament Scriptures in mind, the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:

“… from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:15-16).

Although the New Testament is also God-breathed Scripture, when Paul wrote those words he was thinking primarily of the Old Testament, for the New Testament books were only in the process of being written, copied, and distributed. Paul knew that the Old Testament is God speaking forth holy words for our good.

The Apostle Peter tells us to “pay attention [to the prophetic word] as to a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19), and then he goes on to say

“that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Here again, Peter was thinking especially of the Old Testament. Old Testament Scripture is divine speech. By God’s will – and not man’s will – God’s words were written down by men who were “carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Devout and thoughtful men were the instruments of writing, but God is the ultimate Author and He is the One who caused His faithful and reliable words to be written down for our benefit. Holy Scripture, including the Old Testament and therefore including The Book of Genesis, is God speaking to us. Genesis is the light of divine truth shining forth into our darkened world. Genesis is “able to make [us] wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15) Genesis is able to profit us – to do us much good, to cause us to flourish – because God breathed it out in order to teach us, reprove us, correct us, and train us in righteousness.

So the first reason to preach Genesis is the necessity of paying attention to the comprehensiveness – the full scope – of Scripture. In order to hear and understand the whole counsel of God, we need every part of Scripture: we need the penmanship of Luke and the psalms of David; we need the writings of the apostles (like Peter and Paul) and the witness of the prophets (like Isaiah and Jeremiah); we need the history of the early church in The Book of Acts and the history of Israel in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles; we need the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and we need the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). As we tune our ears to what God has said in different portions of Scripture and how He has said it, we will get to know God better and we will better understand His plan for the universe and for our own lives.  

GENESIS PROVIDES US WITH FOUNDATIONS

Of course, we could legitimately turn to any portion of Scripture and say, ‘This book is God-breathed and is given to us for our transformation.’ Very true! However, there are reasons why it is especially important to give focused attention to The Book of Genesis. So, the second reason to preach Genesisis because it serves a unique foundational role to the entire Bible.

If you want to know how any book works – especially historical books that have an unfolding storyline and that document the development of this storyline over a significant stretch of time – then you need to know how the book starts. If I handed you a book and said, ‘This book is just tremendous, and it pays rich dividends to those who read it with understanding. But feel free to skip the first two-thirds of the book – you know, Chapters 1-39 – and even within the final third of the book, all you really need to focus on is Chapters 43 and 45. But do feel free to read the final chapter, Chapter 66, if you’d like. But it might make your head spin!’ Does anyone have a problem with an approach like that?

The reality is that New Testament Christianity has deep theological foundations, and many of those foundations are found in the rich soil of the first book – The Book of Genesis. Why does this world exist? Why is the world the way it is? Why are we here? What is man’s role within the world? What are the opportunities and responsibilities set before us? What are the dangers and hardships to expect along the way? How are we supposed to relate to other creatures? How are we supposed to relate to each other? How are we supposed to relate to God? Who is God? What is He like? What does it mean to live under His blessing as opposed to the alternative, which is to suffer under His curse? What is wrong with the world, and what is the remedy? What is God’s design for men, for women, for marriage? What is the significance of Adam, of Noah, of Abraham, of Israel, of Judah? What about the covenants and the promises? How does the first book set the stage for, and point forward to, the Messiah?

To illustrate the significance of Genesis for a proper understanding of the Christian faith, just consider these few examples. The New Testament begins, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1) Abraham is one of the pivotal figures in Genesis, as Abraham’s history spans over more than a dozen chapters. In Mary’s prayerful song recorded in Luke 1, she concluded with these words: “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” (Luke 1:54-55) Later, when Paul takes time to explain the doctrine of justification by faith in Romans 4 and Galatians 3, Abraham is Exhibit A. If we have the same kind of faith that Abraham had, then we are true children of Abraham and therefore beneficiaries of God’s promises to Abraham (see Romans 4:16-17 and Galatians 3:7). What does it mean to trust God and to walk with the God in whom we trust? To answer such a question, we do well to study the life of Abraham, and to imitate his faith.

As we walk through Genesis, one of the things I plan to do is to show you how the foundation that we encounter in Genesis is built upon in the New Testament. Do you remember when the Pharisees asked Jesus a question about divorce (Mark 10:2)? Jesus answered their question by referring to instruction in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. I want to pay attention such things, so that we can see how the New Testament is grounded in the revelation of the First Testament.

STUDYING THE FOUNDATIONS IS TIMELY

While it is always valuable and worthwhile to revisit the foundations of our faith and make sure that we are faithfully adhering to those foundations, I would add that it is especially timely right now to study these foundations. Why? Because our society’s drift from our Judeo-Christian influences has been profound. We were once a nation that was significantly influenced by the Bible, both the First Testament and the New Testament. There is a remarkable testimony to the legacy of Moses at the meeting place of the United States House of Representatives in the United States Capitol. In the House Chamber, over the gallery doors, there are 23 portraits of significant lawgivers from various eras of human history. Which of these 23 figures is portrayed at the center? The Architect of the Capitol government website says, “The 11 profiles in the eastern half of the chamber face left and the eleven in the western half face right, so that all look towards the full-face relief of Moses in the center of the north wall.”[2] How easily we memorialize Moses on a wall in the mid-twentieth century; how easily we trivialize Moses in our actual moral and legal decisions in the twenty-first century.

Be that as it may, the days of a Christianized west are long gone: the influence has been cast aside, the heritage has been denigrated, and the past Christianization has been rejected and, slowly but surely, continues to be reversed. And the sad reality is that the drift that happens ‘out there’ in the wider culture has a way, sometimes very subtly and imperceptibly, of facilitating similar drifting ‘in here’ within the Christian community. Therefore, it is doubly important to set forth the foundations: to make sure that we understand what the foundations are, and to make sure that we are thinking and living upon those foundations.

And if in the course of studying these foundations you come to realize that your life is totally out of sync with the God-breathed words of Genesis, then you’ll have a choice to make: walk in repentance, or walk away. Go God’s way, and live under His blessing (accompanied by the world’s disapproval). Or go your own way, and suffer under His curse (while the world cheers you on). The choice is yours. But know this: “whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

What we want this church to be is a church that is established in the faith, grounded in the truth, and rooted in the foundation, so that what we produce is good and righteous fruit that is pleasing to the Lord. And let’s be clear: it is good and righteous fruit that presents a clear witness to the world. The perishing people of this world, so in need of the Savior’s grace, don’t need a church that appears to be as confused and sloppy and uncourageous as they are. Do we have in our midst the clarity of God’s Word? Do we have in our midst the ministry of the Holy Spirit? Do we have in our midst grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? Then let us be transformed so that we might present a clear and compelling testimony to the Oxford Hills.

THE PREACHING PLAN

There are several things I would like you to keep in mind as we begin this journey in The Book of Genesis. But first, let me say something about my tentative plan for preaching through the book. Genesis is not a short book. The Gospel of Mark has 16 chapters and we unpacked it in 56 sermons, which means that on average each chapter generated 3 ½ sermons. If I were to preach through Genesis at the same pace, then its 50 chapters would generate 175 sermons. Now I honestly don’t expect to preach Genesis at the same rate – I think that moving through the material at a faster rate is a good way to go. But it is still a long book that will result in many sermons. So, in order to keep our journey fresh and digestible, I plan to preach through Genesis in four sections. The first section (about 11 chapters) tells us how the world began and how it got off course. The second section (about 13 chapters) tells us about God’s dealings with Abraham. The third section (about 12 chapters) tells us about God’s dealings with Jacob. And the fourth section (14 chapters) tells us about God’s preservation of Jacob’s family through Joseph. What I propose to do is to preach the first section, then take a short break and return to the New Testament for a number of weeks. Then we will return to Genesis and walk through the second section, followed by a break; then the third section, followed by a break; then the fourth section, after which we will be done. And when we finish that fourth section, I would guesstimate that another presidential election will be in the rearview mirror – but how far in the rearview mirror, only time will tell.

FIVE THINGS TO REMEMBER AS WE WALK THROUGH GENESIS

Now I’d like to encourage you to keep five things in mind as we walk through The Book of Genesis.

The Bible Has a Central Storyline

First, remember that the Bible has a central storyline that begins in Genesis and culminates in Revelation. The Bible is not a hodgepodge collection of interesting religious thoughts. Instead, the Bible recounts the unfolding of God’s activity within history and how God is working His plan from start to finish. Genesis 1 recounts the creation of heaven and earth. In Genesis 2 we are told that “[the] tree of life was in the midst of the garden” (Genesis 2:9) that God had planted in Eden. In Genesis 3 an intruder shows up in paradise: the crafty serpent deceives the woman, the man exchanges the truth for a lie, and the chapter concludes with God banishing the man from the garden, and henceforth the tree of life is inaccessible. From Genesis 3 onward, the Bible unfolds God’s plan to redeem sinners and restore the glory that was lost when Adam fell. This plan of redemption culminates in Revelation 20-22. In Revelation 20, the devil – that ancient serpent – is “thrown into the lake of fire”. The intruder shall intrude no more. In Revelation 21, “the first heaven and the first earth” passes away and “a new heaven and a new earth” emerges in its place. In Revelation 22, the tree of life is present and accessible in the holy city: “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:2) And now, at the dawn of eternity, those who have been redeemed are not banished from God’s garden but instead abide in the very presence of God forever and ever: “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.” (Revelation 21:3) Not everyone gets in, of course. Sinners who remained in their sin “will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” But sinners who were rescued out of their sin and were transformed by God’s grace will inherit eternal life as the beloved sons and daughters of God. So as we turn to the opening pages of the Bible, remember that we are being introduced to a storyline that runs straight through the entire Bible and culminates in the final pages of the Bible.

The Center of the Bible’s Overall Message is the Messiah

Second, remember that the center of the Bible’s overall message is the Messiah. The entire Bible, including The Book of Genesis, bears witness to the Messiah, the God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 24:27 says, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted to them [his disciples] in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Seventeen verses later, Jesus said to His disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44) Did you notice the two references to Moses? These references to Moses point to the body of work associated with Moses – that body of work is the five books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible.

In The Gospel of John, Jesus told the misguided Jewish leaders, “You search the Scriptures [Old Testament Scriptures!] because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40) Later in the same chapter Jesus said to these same people, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.” (John 5:46) Ponder what Jesus is saying here: the Scriptures bear witness about Jesus; Moses wrote about Jesus.

The truth is, if we are blind to the glory of Jesus, then we are alienated from God, we remain in the domain of darkness and death, and we miss the heartbeat of the Scriptures. What is the heartbeat of the Scriptures? “[To] make [us] wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15) If we miss that, then all the historical data and doctrinal instruction will do us no good. The historical data and doctrinal instruction is really there, but its glory and power is hidden from unbelievers.

This is what Paul says about Jews who read the Old Testament without trusting in Jesus: “to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” (2 Corinthians 3:15-16) And when the veil is removed, what do we see? We see the glory of the Lord: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

My primary purpose in preaching is that in and through the proclaimed Word you would see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my primary purpose in preaching involves an utterly impossible goal, unless the Holy Spirit shows up and shows you the glory. And if the Holy Spirit shows you the glory, then everything else will fall into its proper place. So as we step into this new series, remember that The Book of Genesis is written to show you the glory of Jesus. Let’s earnestly pray that all of us would see it and be satisfied by it.

The Scriptures Direct You on the Path of Love

Third, remember that God’s intent for the Scriptures is that the Scriptures direct you on the path of love. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all that you are and have (Matthew 22:37). The second most important commandment is to love your neighbor with the same amount of energy and thoughtfulness by which you take care of yourself (Mathew 22:39). These two commandments are foundational to all of God’s instruction: “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:40) Jesus made a similar statement in the Sermon on the Mount: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12) While we don’t want to turn The Book of Genesis into nothing more than a series of inspirational moral lessons, the truth is that the moral lessons are there. That is certainly one of the things that Paul had in mind when he told us that “Scripture is … profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16) So as we walk through Genesis, expect to find foundational moral instruction to obey, expect to find normative patterns to conform to, expect to find the Holy Spirit highlighting positive examples for us to imitate and negative examples to avoid. Come to the Word as a humble learner who is teachable, open to correction, and eager to do life God’s way.       

The Scriptures Must be Taught in the Home

Fourth, I want to remind us how important it is that the teaching that takes place in the church must also be taught and reinforced and discussed in the home. In Genesis 18, the Lord made this statement about his call upon Abraham: “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:19) That single verse is loaded with significance, but for now I just want to point out that Abraham had a solemn responsibility to disciple the members of his household and bring them into practical obedience to the Lord’s way. Father Abraham was to equip the members of his household to be practitioners of righteousness and justice. Even though Abraham’s role as the progenitor of a great nation that would bring blessing to the whole world is unique, his basic fatherly responsibility to disciple his household is not unique. This same disciple-making responsibility is placed upon all fathers in Deuteronomy 6: “Now this is the commandment… that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to posses it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments…. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Deuteronomy 6:1-2, 5-7) The New Testament reiterates this instruction: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) Not to be forgotten, godly mothers – laboring alongside their husbands – will also seek to impart the ways of the Lord to their children: “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.” (Proverbs 1:8-9)

Now here’s the thing: it is true that what happens in this pulpit has a formative and pacesetting role for the church family. However, what happens in this pulpit is no substitute for what must happen in your home. This 90-minute or 2-hour worship service is pivotal for our edification as a church family, but the ‘make it or break it’ of rubber meets the road discipleship is your home life. The foundations set forth in The Book of Genesis must be expressed and explained and wrestled with and worked out in your household. So Dads especially, and also Moms, and grandparents as well, as we voyage through Genesis let yourself be renewed in the foundations with the mindset that you are being equipped to talk about these things at home with your children and grandchildren. Let these sermons generate lines of thought in your own mind that bear fruit in stimulating discussion around the dinner table or in the living room.

Are You Going to Trust God?

The fifth and final thing I would you to remember is that the fundamental question that confronts us whenever we hear God’s Word is whether or not we are going to trust the One who is speaking. Beyond the preacher who is proclaiming the Word, and even beyond the inspired human authors who wrote down the Word, we must reckon with God, for in the Scriptures He is the One who is speaking to us. And the question is: will you trust Him? Will you trust Him when He tells you how the world came to be and how He designed the world to work? Will you trust Him when He tells you how your life is supposed to work? It is at just this point where the crafty serpent attacks: “Did God actually say…?” (Genesis 3:1) The enemy’s tactic is to distort God’s words and cause confusion in your mind. The enemy brokers in confusion as well as suspicion, for he will pressure you into doubting the trustworthiness and goodness of God. As we come to the Bible’s very first book, let’s be resolved to enjoy the simplicity of trusting God and resting in His Word. After all,

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;

the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;

the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:7-8).

 

ENDNOTES

[1] David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009: p. 567.

[2] See https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/relief-portrait-plaques-lawgivers

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