Sermon Tone Analysis

Today we start a new sermon series that I am really excited about!

The series is entitled:

“Faithful & True: A year-long chronological series focused on the redemptive plan and story of God in the Bible.”

Over the last few months I have developed some hopes that I have for us as a church this year as we preach and study through the Word.

I am praying and hoping that, Lord willing, when we finish this series at the end of the year the following will have occur.

I am praying and hoping for us…

To see, know, and love God more and more for His covenant love, undeserving grace, and overwhelming mercy.

Everything we read and study in the Bible should result in an increasing vertical relationship with God and impact our horizontal relationship with others.

To learn the primary story (Meta-narrative) and themes of the Bible so that you better understand the Word and therefore better know the Lord.

Each book of the Bible and what it contains is a part of bigger and complete revelation from God to man.

To see and celebrate the truth that Christ is at the center of all that God is doing so that He can be at the center of all that you are doing.

Without a solid understanding of the whole of Scripture it can be hard to see how the OT points us to Christ.

One of my hopes is that we will all see how the promises God made from the Garden of Eden, to the dry land after the flood, to the plains of Ur where Abraham left from, to the crossing of the Red Sea with Moses, to the crossing of the Jordan with Joshua and Caleb, and the to building of the temple all lead to Christ.

The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself and His redemptive plan to us… and that is of massive importance as we come to the first chapters of the first book of the Bible: Genesis.

Without the Bible we do not know God and His gospel of salvation.

I know that can be a tough statement to consider, but the Bible itself tells us that this is true.

Romans 1 teaches us that creation in and of itself does not provide a saving knowledge of God.

But, according to Romans 1 creation provides a sufficient witness to condemn man.

Romans 1:18–25 (CSB)

“18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.

20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made.

As a result, people are without excuse.

21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude.

Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever.

Amen.”

Paul points out that God’s wrath is poured out on all people who suppress the truth of God and His righteousness.

He states that what can be known about God is evident because He has shown it to them.

He has demonstrated His eternal power and divine nature through creation from the very beginning.

As a result Scripture says in Romans 1:20 that, “People are without excuse.”

This means that regardless of what anyone man has heard, he is condemned by God because of his unrighteousness.

And, because of his unrighteousness/sin mankind has exchanged the truth for a lie, claimed to be wise, and instead is foolish.

Because of sin mankind worships what has been created instead of the creator.

In fact, that’s one of the things I believe undergirds the beginning of Genesis.

Genesis introduces us to the beginning, and in the beginning there was God.

Moses writes in Genesis 1:1 (CSB), “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

What was true in Romans 1 was true in Egypt when God delivered Israel, and it is true today.

Moses testifies in the Genesis to who God is.

Throughout the book of Genesis Moses introduces the God who made everything, explains why things are the way they are, and shares why God was doing all that He was doing.

Quick Intro to Genesis:

Genesis was written by Moses.

Moses wrote Genesis after the exodus of Israel from Egypt and before he died.

(1400’s BC) Moses writes Genesis to establish who God is, what He has done, the promises He has made, and to preserve the good news for all generations.

The Israelites had been living in Egypt for hundreds of years.

The Egyptians had a pantheon of gods and goddesses, and the 10 major ones are:

Geb- God of the Earth

Ra- Sun God

Nut- Goddess of the Sky

Hapi- God of the Nile

Heket- Goddess of Fertility

Khepri- God of Creation, movement of the sun, and rebirth

Hathor- Goddess of Love & protection

Isis- Goddess of Medicine & peace

Seth- God of Storms and Disorder

Pharoah- Ultimate Power of Egypt

We will examine these 10 again, and I definitely encourage you to take some time and consider the connection between these 10 gods and the plagues that freed Israel from Egypt.

In the same way that God used their gods against them with the plagues, Moses teaches the Israelites that the real God is the maker of everything the Egyptians worshipped.

The book of Genesis is one of five books that Moses wrote.

These are the first five books of the Bible and they serve as a foundation to the revelation of God to us.

These books are know as the Pentateuch and together they provided God’s people with information, instructions, and inspiration that prepared them for the promised land, and ultimately the coming of the promised Messiah.

Genesis teachings us about creation, but it is not about creation.

Genesis is about the God of creation.

Now, there is no denying that Genesis is the beginning of the Bible and that at the beginning of the Bible we have what happens at the beginning: Creation.

But, there are 50 chapters in Genesis and only the first two are dedicated to the creation account.

I would guess that many know more about these two chapters than the rest of the book.

It’s possible that many people know Genesis 1-2 better or as well as they know any passage of Scripture in the Bible.

But, familiarity does not mean centrality.

The central theme to the book of Genesis is Jesus, because Genesis is the beginning of the God’s story, and Jesus is at the center of God’s story- The Gospel.

Now I know that Jesus is not named in the book of Genesis, but He is the reason for the book.

Everything that starts in Genesis is completed and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

I love how D.A. Carson points to Revelation 21 as a filter through which to consider the

Revelation 21:1–5 (CSB)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:, Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them.

They will be his peoples,, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.”

He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

To a people who had lived in captivity as slaves in Egypt, Moses writes to them about the beginning.

And through the beginning they are better able to understand their place in God’s story as they make their way to the promised land.

This is true for us, the better we understand the beginning and the end of Scripture the better we are able to understand our place God’s story as we make our way to the promised land of eternity.

Genesis is the beginning of a story that spans all of Scripture.

This is a story that has a beginning, a problem, a solution, and an ending.

This story is known as the Gospel, and it can be divided into four corresponding categories known as Creation, the Fall, Redemption, and Consummation.

Creation

Genesis 1-2

God was, is, and will be

God made the world and all that is in it.

God made the world the way that the Bible says.

There is one Adam, there is one Eve, and all the world is one human race with Adam and Eve as first parents.

Fall

Genesis 3

Sin came into the world through Adam.

I know that serpent tempted Eve, but Adam was present and Adam was responsible.

He sins by abdicating his role and by eating the fruit.

This is why the world is stained by Adam’s sin and not Eve’s.

The serpent (Satan) tempted them to sin, but he did not make them sin.