Genesis 1-11 “Remember, Rejoice!”
Intro: 8 Sundays, 11 chapters; very important in building a Christian worldview
-Gen 1-11 is not MYTH, but historical and from God:
-Tells us truth about what really happened and who God really is.
-WORLDVIEW QUESTIONS ANSWERED:
-Why is there something rather than nothing? -What is our place in the universe?
-What is wrong with the world -What is the solution to man’s problem?
-Who is God and what is He like?
TODAY: 1 Remember, 2 Rejoice
1-2:3 CREATION. Why is there something, rather than nothing?
Secular worldview: We don’t know why there is a universe, but the world came about by time and chance.
Bible: God created it all for His glory!
-In the beginning, God created the heavens the earth! (1:1)
-God has no needs, but created it all for His glory
-“AND IT WAS GOOD”: Amazing order and design
-Humans are made in God’s image and called to rule over this world.
–Rejoice: Ps 19:1 ‘Heaven declare the glory of God!’: See Creation and let it lead you worship Creator
2:4-25 HUMANITY. What is our place in this world?
Secular: We are the accidents of evolution. There is no order to this world except for the order we create.
Bible: We were wonderfully created by God, and made for relationship with God and each other.
-Adam in the Garden: work to do and law to keep
–Not good for man to be alone: God made a ‘helper’ fit for Him.
-In beginning: Adam and Eve in wonderful relationship with God and each other.
–Conversation with an ATHEIST: Longing for community.
–Rejoice: You and I get to know God and do this in community w/others! –App: No place for lone-ranger Christianity.
3 THE FALL. What is wrong with the world?
Secular: Lots of answer: not enough empathy or education; big corporations; religion;
Bible: SIN. Our relationship with God is broken.
-Adam and Eve believed the lie of Satan and sin and death entered the world
-We live under the judgement of God and consequences for our sin
–Question: Is this how you see the world?
–App: Let this lead you to compassion to the lost and joy in your savior.
3:15 THE PROMISE. What is the Solution?
Secular: We are the solution to humanity’s problems.
Bible: Only God can rescue us from our great dilemma of sin.
–Gen 3:15 “Proto-evangelium”
-God will make things right again!
-Jesus, the Snake-crusher, who “tasted death for us” (Heb 2:9)
–Rejoice: God takes the initiative to make things right again and rescue his people
–App: Remember that Jesus in our Savior in midst of sin and suffering.
4-11 KNOWING GOD IN A FALL WORLD
Roughly 2,000 years of time is covered in these sections.
-We see God act in judgment and grace as His people know and follow Him in this Fallen World.
4 Cain and Abel
-Tragic murder of Abel.
-Key verse: 4:7 ‘Sin is crouching at the Door’
-We too know this experience of temptation and sin crouching at door of our hearts.
-God’s Grace in providing another son to carry on the promised Seed: SETH
-Wonderful Scene of worship: 5:26
-This is how humanity was made to be: worshipping God in community with each other.
5 10 Generations, 1,600 years
-10 Generations to get to Noah
-Highlight is Enoch: ‘Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him’ (5:24)
-The Christian life is one of WALKING with God.
6-9 THE FLOOD
-Great wickedness in the land (6:5-7), but God shows grace to Noah (6:8-9) who also walks with God
-In great faith, Noah built a massive boat and God brought the animals on the boat
-A world-wide flood destroyed all the people and life on the Earth, but Noah and family were spared
-In the gospel, Christ takes our judgment for us and shows us grace.
-God showed kindness to Noah and family and waters receded. Promised never to flood world again
-God instructed them to ‘be fruitful, multiple, and fill the Earth’ (Gen 9:1)
-Sadly, we see that sin remains in the world, even after the Fall (Noah’s sons)
-The Flood reminds of the reality of God’s JUDGMENT on this world
-Another judgment is coming at the Return of Christ.
10-11:9 THE TOWER OF BABEL AND TABLE OF NATIONS
-From Noah’s 3 sons and their wives, came about all the nations of the world
-We learn that the spreading out did not take place out of obedience, but a refusal to obey God
-The people built a tower and a city, ‘to make a name for themselves,’ and ‘lest be dispersed’
-God graciously confuses their languages, so that they have to spread out over the world
-God graciously thwarted the people’s sinful plans, and He does the same today in His providence
-In the gospel we are saved from living for self so that we might live for Christ: S.D.G.!
11:10-32 The LINE OF SHEM UP TO ABRAHAM
-The promised seed will come through Shem and through Abraham
-God has a plan to bless all the nations of the Earth, and it come through Abraham’s descendant
-The rest of Genesis (12-50)
-We’ll look at this in the new year.
CLOSE: 1st CREATION Pointing Forward to the New Creation
-In the gospel God brings about the beginning of the New Creation
-Christ comes to Earth to rescue us from our sins by taking the judgment in our place
-When we come to new life in Christ, we are part of the New Creation: 2 Cor 5:17.
