Creation and a Christian Mind #2

Welcome to The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello again, I'm Bill Wright. It is our joy to continue our commitment to teaching God's people God's Word. Today Don is continuing with the second part of a message we started last time.

So let's get right to it. Open your Bible as we join Don now in The Truth Pulpit. Now, let's go secondly to what is the biblical teaching on creation. We saw the theological place of creation. We want to consider the biblical teaching on creation. Let's go back to Genesis 1.1. God's manifestation of Himself, God's revelation in His Word begins with His act of creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Some say that we should not worry ourselves with how long ago creation happened, that it's really a matter of indifference. God created the heavens and the earth. Some say that He created the heavens and the earth. Some forbid discernment about the spirit of the age in which we live.

You can't avoid these things. If NASA says that the universe is almost 14 billion years old and that's not true, then we need to know that so that we have a proper understanding of the sphere and the environment and the realm in which we live. You can't begin to properly interpret your existence if you have completely wrong notions about where your existence came from and where it began. So what we want to do is look at what the Bible says and what the Bible has to say about the teaching of creation.

What does Scripture say? First of all, Scripture teaches us that creation was recent. Creation was recent.

And by recent, we mean within the past five to ten thousand years. Why do we believe that? The combined ages of the men listed in the genealogies of the Bible totals only a few thousand years. And there are some will try to be really precise on that number and get an exact date of creation. Others say, well, maybe there's a little bit of room in the genealogies that some generations were skipped.

However you view that, we're not going to worry about that here today. The point here in contradistinction to the spirit of our age is that Scripture obviously teaches a recent creation. One writer who is no real friend to the young earth view of creation admits this. In his systematic theology, he says this, and I quote, it would seem to be quite foreign to the narrative to think millions of years have been omitted from the biblical record.

And that's true. If you just open Genesis and just read through it in an unbiased way without letting secular or other writers give you a grid, give you lenses through which to interpret, if you just sit down, open the Bible, read it for yourself, read the first eleven chapters of Genesis, you don't get the impression that this is something that was set into motion billions and billions of years ago. And Scripture is to be understood in its natural sense. Now secular theories on origins require long ages of time to be viable.

You do need billions of years in order for evolution to work. And at some point, beloved, it's as simple as this. As my beloved and fellow elder Andrew Snelling said in his work, you have to realize there's a moral choice that you make at some point about these things. Andrew said this, a choice has to be made between Scripture, which is authored by God, and modern science, which is authored by men. What's it going to be for you, beloved? What's going to set the trajectory of your worldview? What's going to set the foundation upon which you interpret everything else? Is it going to be by the Word of God, which is verified and attested to you by the authority of no one less than Jesus Christ himself?

Or is it going to be set by so-called modern science, who can't get their stories straight, and can't keep them straight from generation to generation, that can't even settle on a medical practice for a few decades before its replacement? Or are you repudiated as unworthy and unscientific? Beloved, as a pastor, I just tell you, make your choice well.

Choose well. Choose well who you're going to believe. Choose well your response to Scripture that is attested to you. I'll say it again, which is verified to you by the authority of Jesus Christ himself. This word, he says, is true. It is reliable.

It is accurate in every dimension that it affirms. What we're doing here in our church over the course of months is we're building a Christian mind. We see that creation was recently interpreted and understood in the plain meaning of its pages. And so we see that creation was recent. Now, secondly, building on that point of the recency of creation, as we look at the biblical teaching on creation, we see that creation was recent. Secondly, we see that God created in six literal, twenty-four hour days.

Six literal, twenty-four hour days. And again, as we're approaching this, understand that our first responsibility is not to square Scripture according to what we thought we knew from science. That's not our first responsibility. Our first responsibility is to let Scripture speak for itself, the fullness of its teaching on these issues, and come to certain conclusions that are really unavoidable. How do we know that the Bible teaches creation in six literal, twenty-four hour days? Well, let's go back to Genesis chapter one.

I'm giving to it here today. I greatly commend to you the book by John MacArthur on these matters called The Battle for the Beginning, which deals with the different so-called evangelical views of trying to make room for day ages and gap theory and all that. It deals with all of those issues. If you're not familiar with that book and these things are a matter of interest to you, you get Dr. MacArthur's book that deals with things on an expositional, exegetical level, get Andrew's book on the scientific issues that I mentioned earlier, and you've got a library of knowledge to equip yourself for the battle for your mind. For today, how do we know that the Bible teaches creation in six literal, twenty-four hour days? Let's just read the Bible. Just read the Bible.

This is not difficult. And yeah, I get animated over this because it is so disturbing to see people visibly twist the Scripture, deny its plain, ordinary meaning because they have an agenda of worldly accommodation rather than simply standing on the Word of God alone. I do not believe that the Bible teaches creation in six literal, exegetical levels.

I believe that the Bible teaches creation in six literal, exegetical levels. There was morning, the third day. Verse 19. There was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. Verse 23. There was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. Verse 31. God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Beloved, there's no hidden codes in this.

There's no secret meaning below the surface of the text that you can figure out if someone teaches you the right philosophy. This is speaking just like you and me speak. I woke up in the morning, in the evening, I went to bed one day.

I went to bed in the evening, woke up in the morning, it was the next day. This isn't hard to understand. What's hard, where people struggle, is that to accept the simplicity of the biblical narrative, people start to realize, but this has vast implications on the way that I see the world. For academics, it has vast implications on whether they're going to be able to keep their teaching position or not, but we don't care about any of that. That's not the point. Our point is what is true?

Let the consequences be the consequences. What we want to know is what is true. Tell me what the truth is so I can live according to the truth, not according to a lie. You must ask, as you read that first chapter of Genesis, you must ask how the original audience understood that first chapter. I'm going to get to that in just a moment, but a little bit of Bible background just for the start. The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all written by Moses, all written under the authority of Scripture, so much so that in other places Scripture talks about not the books of the law or the books of Moses, but it'll use the singular to refer to the book of Moses, the book of the law.

This is so important. There's a unified authorship. There's a unified message, even on a human level, quite a part. In addition to the unification of the Spirit and what the Spirit is teaching through the written Word, unified authorship, one book, a collective work, so that, beloved, so that Moses, what he says in Genesis 1 by revelation of God, what he says in Revelation 1 must be consistent with the other things that we read in the book of Moses.

He wouldn't say one thing at the start and then contradict himself ridiculously just a few chapters later. And so as you continue reading on in Scripture, setting aside the things and the ways that it's been twisted in our modern age, go to Exodus chapter 20. Go to Exodus chapter 20, Exodus chapter 20 in verse 8, Exodus chapter 20 verse 8, the fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates.

I'll stop there for just a moment, beloved. What the fourth commandment was giving to Israel at that time was that upon which they were to structure their entire lives. Their entire life was to be regulated by the six days on, one day off cycle. This governed life for them in the Old Testament and you see evidence of the lingering effects even though it had been perverted by the time of Jesus that the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the time and the days of Jesus were following this same six day on, one day off pattern. The Sabbath to them was to be sanctified, no work to be done on it, so that 1500 years after Moses wrote this, the nation of Israel, the Jews were still living their lives by the six day on, one day off pattern.

Now Moses didn't stop in verse 10. He explains the context of the day of rest, the six days of work, and the context points back directly to Genesis chapter 1, the things that I just read in a survey form to you. Verse 11, for in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. For the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Beloved, they structured their life around this. They worked six days and then the seventh day was the Sabbath day of rest. Moses says you are to do this because this is the way that God established creation. Now their pattern is based on the fact that God followed the same time sequence of the weak life that they now knew and the weak life that they were being commanded to follow. That fourth commandment makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and the Bible is hopelessly confusing if those six days were somehow day ages with long gaps in between.

Makes absolutely no sense. You cannot hold to a unified, non-contradictory scripture and teach that kind of nonsense. No matter how sophisticated it may sound, it's clear.

And that's not all. That's not the only time that Moses made that comparison. Look at Exodus chapter 31. Exodus 31, verse 14. Exodus 31, verse 14, you shall keep the Sabbath. Actually let's back up just so you see who's speaking and who's being spoken to.

That's really important. Verse 12, Exodus 31, verse 12. And the Lord said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel and say. So Moses is giving them commandment from God that is to govern the way that they live and to govern the way that their daily lives operated.

It had to be clear and understandable and direct so that from the youngest of them to the oldest of them, from the most simple to the most intelligent and all points in between, everybody could understand what was being said and what was being commanded. So he's speaking to the people of Israel. What does God say there in verse 13?

Let's keep reading. Above all, you shall keep my Sabbath, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. He was giving the nation of Israel, I emphasize that, he's giving the nation of Israel a sign that would show that they were the covenant nation, that they belong to God. God says, this is what you are to keep throughout all your generations. What is it, Lord? What is it about these Sabbaths that we are to know? Verse 14, you shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death.

This is serious. There's a death penalty attached to misunderstanding and violating this in the nation of Israel. This is not a matter of secondary academic speculation. This governed their lives on the pain of death. God says, verse 14, whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Well, in the fear of God, if I'm an Israelite at that point, I'm trembling in my sandals. I'm saying, I need to understand this.

This is serious. Help me understand what it is so that I can obey and live because I don't want to disobey and die. And so the understanding of this was critical. Verse 15, six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever.

Oh boy, okay, well, help me understand. Verse 17, it is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel. Here it is, beloved. This pattern of life, six days on, one day off, death penalty if you disobey and break it, don't dare profane the Sabbath, is patterned after something that they can easily read and understand. Verse 17, it's a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. Distinct timeframes, distinct, understandable, measurable increments of time, morning and evening one day, morning and evening second day, morning and evening third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, Sabbath, time to rest. Now how on earth, how in heaven, how in the name of a holy God could they have possibly understood that as indeterminate day ages that had absolutely no relevance to their daily life?

It's ridiculous. Better to say, better to say I reject the Bible and believe this scientific nonsense than to say the Bible teaches that scientific nonsense. At least don't distort the word as you're telling lies, just limit yourself to the lies that you love and embrace. I'm speaking obviously not so much here in the room as to those who perpetrate these things, but, beloved, what you and I need to see is that Scripture teaches that creation is recent and that God created in six literal 24-hour days as shown by a plain reading of Genesis 1 and supported by the way the same author in the same book explained the application of those six days and the day of rest in two places that followed. The nation, God's people, structured their life around a parallel to creation and it makes no sense if they are day ages. Now people say, well, you know, the text is only poetic, it's symbolic, it's not historical narrative in Genesis chapter 1.

You cannot accommodate that with what we read in Exodus and they're simply evading the text in order to accommodate their scientific presuppositions, the controlling things that they don't always explicitly state but which are governing the way they view the world. What do we say? We gladly confess our presupposition. Our presupposition is according to a Christian mind.

There is a God who has revealed himself in at least five distinct ways. We believe in the authority of Scripture. We believe in the authority of Jesus Christ.

Those are our presuppositions and we interpret the world around them. And so what we say as we read the teaching of Scripture, what we say to science is this, is that the scientific assumptions of a natural order that has been exactly the same for millions and billions of years, that presupposition is wrong. It's contradicted by the flood of Noah. And without apology, let me say that again, without apology, without shame, gladly, boldly, we accept the authority of Christ who upheld Genesis in his own teaching.

This is the last place we'll look for today. Turn to Matthew chapter 19. Matthew 19. Again a practical question, creation drove practical issues of daily life in Israel. Now we'll see that creation drives the answers to practical questions about marriage and divorce even. Matthew chapter 19 verse 3, Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? And Jesus answered them, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Note this, Jesus goes back to Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 in order to answer a practical question about marriage and divorce. And look closely at what he says in verse 4. He rebukes them for their ignorance of scripture. He says, have you not read that he who created them, we're talking about creation in the Christian mind, he who created them, look at this next phrase, oh it's so good, from the beginning made them male and female. From the beginning he made them male and female. Watch this, he ties the beginning, man created on the sixth day of creation, he ties the beginning, the creation of man, he ties that beginning to the sixth day of creation. Beloved, the word beginning, which means the start of something, the word beginning is nonsense if the prior five days were long ages of millions or billions of years.

It's just utter complete nonsense. And so to try to turn it into something else is to deny a literal reading of Genesis, it's to turn Moses into an oath, a self-contradictory oath in Exodus 20 and 31, and it's to deny the teaching of Christ in Matthew 19. Beloved, honestly, at what point does your belief in Christ kick in if you reject Him on this most fundamental point? At what sense can you call yourself a Christian if you reject the teaching of His Word both in Scripture and in the recorded words during His earthly ministry?

If you say, nah, I don't buy that. How can anyone claim to be a Christian and so casually dismiss these things? Jesus said in Luke chapter 6 verse 46, why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?

To extend the application of those words, why would we call Him Lord, Lord if we do not believe what He says and teach what He says? You say, oh, but science! Let's have a final word about science, shall we?

Let's have a final word about science for this morning. Science is in the business of denying supernatural religion. To ally yourself with science is to set yourself against Scripture when you are doing so in agreement with their presuppositions. Yes, there is a legitimate place for science, I don't want to be misunderstood on this, but when science denies origins, when science denies the supernatural, when science denies Christ and asserts its authority over Christ, a long, long prior sacrificed its legitimacy. And beloved, if you join with science in their denial of supernatural things, you'll deny the resurrection, supernatural event.

Science says, that can't happen. You deny the resurrection, you deny your soul. Paul says if there's no resurrection of Christ, your faith is in vain.

You're still in your sins. You see, beloved, some of these teachers like to put blinders on and just have you focus on one little thing and not help you understand the implications of everything else that they're saying. One of the ways that you guard against yourselves is to build a Christian mind and to see how these things are connected to one another, and certainly the biblical basis upon which we understand them and teach them. And so, beloved, I ask you, who's your master, who's your teacher, who's your Lord? And immediately following upon that question is, good, let's talk about what you believe about creation.

Let's pray together. Father, it's staggering to contemplate the reality of a creator who had the wisdom to plan out a universe and its operation throughout eternity, staggering to contemplate a God who can speak worlds into existence and then sustain them by His own power, staggering to be in the presence of one so infinitely beyond us, staggering to contemplate that that God, that selfsame God in the person of Jesus Christ, humbled Himself, came into the world, and the Creator of the world hung on a cross for the redemption of sinners, in love yielding Himself, that His precious blood might be poured out in sacrificial death for the payment of sins, the cleansing of sins, the turning away of divine wrath for everyone who would believe in Him. Oh, the wisdom and the majesty and the power and the great mind of God, Father. We want to believe all of it, Father. We want to receive everything that You've taught and not retain a picking and choosing of what we like and what we dislike, what people will go along with and what people will mock us for.

God, literally, we do not care what people mock us for or criticize us for. Our sole desire is to please You, to know You, to obey You, to look forward to life eternal with You. To the extent, Father, that anyone in this room or under the sound of my voice has a different attitude of heart, I pray that Your Spirit would reveal it to them. Graciously lead them to the truth of Christ and Him crucified, the authority of Your Word and all the consequences that has for how we view the world around us. Be gracious to us in Christ, Father, I pray, both now and for all of eternity. Strengthen us as we walk through a world that denies these things, that opposes us, that makes things difficult. Let us walk in obedience and trust to You. Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. That's Don Green here on The Truth Pulpit, and here's Don again with some closing thoughts. Well, my friend, thank you for joining us here on today's broadcast of The Truth Pulpit, where we love to be teaching God's people God's Word.

And I just want to send a special invitation to you. If you're ever in the Midwest area, come to see us at Truth Community Church. We're on the east side of Cincinnati, Ohio.

We're easy to find, easy to get to. We have services at 9 a.m. on Sunday and 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday evening for our midweek study. You can also find us on our live stream at thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com, but we would love to see you. And if you do happen to be able to visit us in person, do this if you would. Come and introduce yourself to me personally. Fight your way through the people and tell me that you listen on The Truth Pulpit and that you're here visiting. I would love to give you a word of personal greeting. So hopefully we'll see you one day in person at Truth Community Church.

You can find our location and service times at thetruthpulpit.com. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's word.