Document1 - 1
Today we start a new series, and we’ve been announcing it for a while now. I want to take a moment to talk about where
we’re headed with this series and why we’re doing it to begin with. We’re going to follow along with a book called The Story. It’s a
book that takes the actual biblical text and breaks it into 31 chapters, but it takes out all the chapter and verse markings that we’re
used to in our English Bibles. Because the Bible was written as one story. The book of Genesis was written as one story, the books of
the Old Testament, the Gospels, the letters of Paul, Revelation; none of them had chapter and verse markings in them when they
were originally written. But it goes deeper than that.
The Bible isn’t just a compilation of 66 books that were written by different people over the course of hundreds of years.
The books of the Bible weren’t chosen at random or thrown together haphazardly. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV) — 16 All
Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. The Bible
is the Word of God, written by men, but inspired and breathed by God himself – the Bible is not 66 separate books that just happen
to be in one volume; the Bible is one comprehensive story. It’s a story that tells of a loving God who watched his creation stumble
and fall and betray him over and over again, and yet worked tirelessly from the very beginning to redeem his fallen creation. It’s the
story of a rebellious people and a loving and forgiving God who longs to be with them. This is God’s story, and it’s our story.
Over the next several months, we’re going to dive into this story as a whole, not just bits and pieces of it – we’re going to get a bird’s
eye view of the whole narrative of the Bible so that we can see the whole picture come together as one, overarching story of God
and his people
My prayer as we begin this series is that as we study the Bible, as we study the story of God’s love and redemption for us,
that we would all, myself included, come to know and love the Bible more, and that we would begin to look at the Bible as more
than just a compilation of small books, but as one complete story about God and his love for a creation that rebelled against him
What better place to start studying the whole of the story of the Bible than at the very beginning, so please turn with me to Genesis
1:1 (ESV) — 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There’s a lot that we can learn about God just in that one
verse. Genesis doesn’t tell us why God created the heavens and the earth, but just in one sentence, we learn of God’s enormous
power and strength. This is a God who is creative, who brings new things into being that have never been in existence before. If you
remember back to science class, you might remember the conservation of mass. It’s a physics law that states that matter can neither
be created nor destroyed. That’s why you have to balance the sides of equations in chemistry class. You can combine and rearrange
the elements, but you cannot create or destroy them.
Well, what we’re talking about here in Genesis is the God who created the laws of physics. He’s the one who made it and
set it all into motion. He did create matter from nothing, with nothing more than a spoken word. There’s a Latin phrase that we use
to talk about that called ex nihilo, which means from nothing. This is the creator who did that, who made the heavens and the earth
with just a word and laid the foundation for all that was to come.
Then we see God fill this new heaven and new earth with everything that we know and love about our world, and he does it
all with his spoken word. On day one, Genesis 1:3–5 (ESV) — 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God
saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. God creates light, something that came purely from the mind of
God himself. Can you imagine a world where there was no light whatsoever? That’s what creation was like before God created it
with those four words, let there be light.
And God goes on to do the same thing with everything that filled creation. On day two, Genesis 1:6–8 (ESV) — 6 And God
said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the
expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And
God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
On Day three, Genesis 1:9–13 (ESV) — 9 And 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 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he
called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees
bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation,
plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God
saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
On day four, Genesis 1:14–19 (ESV) — 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the
day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the
heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the
lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule
Document1 - 2
over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was
evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
On day five, Genesis 1:20–23 (ESV) — 20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds
fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that
moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, 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 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
On day six, Genesis 1:24–25 (ESV) — 24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—
livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the
earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its
kind. And God saw that it was good.
Now a sermon on creation could go in many several directions – I could stand up here and talk about the disagreements
between biblical scholars about how long creation took, whether or not the days of creation were twenty-four hour days, or
whether they were thousands or millions of years, I could explain why the theory of evolution has it wrong, I could talk about our
mandate as humans to take care of the world that God has entrusted to us. But we’re going to head in a different direction today.
You see, I think we tend to get hung up on all those different things when we study the creation account, and I’ve seen some
Christians get into some knock down drag out fights about whatever theory of creation they are in favor of. But I think all those
things miss one of the most important parts of this creation story, and that’s the part I want to talk about today.
Because after God creates the creatures of the earth, he does something very special, even more special than all the
amazing things he has already done. Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV) — 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and 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.
All of these other things that God has done have been incredible, creating planets, stars, plants, animals; it’s been
awesome, a show of power unlike anything we can even imagine, where the God of the universe spoke into being all the things we
can even conceive of. But then God steps it up a notch. He creates man, not just as another animal on the face of the earth, he
creates man in his own image. The Latin term for that is imago dei.
God creates man to be the pinnacle of his creation, the very best of this already incredible creation that he has made, but
not just that, he created him in his own likeness. He modeled man after himself. There is so much that goes into being created in the
image of God that I’d need a whole series to talk about all the implications of that alone. In Genesis 2:7 (ESV) — 7 then the LORD God
formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
God doesn’t just speak a word to create man, he uses the dust of the earth, something he has already created, and forms the man.
Then God himself, the creator of the universe, the one who had made everything in existence with his spoken word, breathes into
this lifeless form of a man and gives him life from the very breath of God. Man is made in his image, shaped by the hands of God,
given life by the breath of God himself.
Being made in the image of God sets humanity apart from the rest of creation. We were created with rational minds, the
ability to reason and choose, with free will. We were created with a creative ability, just like God himself has. We were created to be
in fellowship, just like God. That’s why God created the woman to be man’s companion, because he said it is not good for the man to
be alone, he needs to be in fellowship, he needs companionship. We are spiritual beings because God is a spiritual being. We are
morally responsible because God is a moral being.
J.I. Packer talks about being made in the image of God as reflecting God’s glory. We are not God, we are an image of God,
we are a reflection of God, we are a snapshot of God. Think about the difference between a photograph of yourself, and you. There
are many things that a photograph of yourself can tell you, there are many things someone can learn about you through a
photograph. But a photograph cannot fully describe who you are, what you believe, what drives you, or describe your emotions.
Your reflection in a mirror can show you what you look like, it can show you how you move, or whether or not you have
something in your teeth. But your reflection cannot comfort a loved one, it cannot enjoy the things you enjoy, it cannot take joy in
the relationships that you take joy in. Likewise, we are reflections of God. We will never be God, we can never do the things God
does, we can never fully know the depth of his joy or his love for us, we can never fully represent who and what God is. But we are
reflections of him, we are snapshots of God, we are made in the image of the creator of the universe. That is what gives us meaning,
Document1 - 3
that’s what puts humanity at the pinnacle of creation, that’s what gives us purpose to our lives. To bring glory to God, to more fully
reflect the nature and glory of our creator.
If you pay close attention throughout reading Genesis 1, you will notice a theme throughout – God creates something, and
then he sees that it is good. He created light, and called it good, he created dry land, and called it good, he created plants, and called
them good, he created the sun and moon, the birds of the air, the creatures of the sea, and the animals of the land, and he called
them all good.
It wasn’t until after he created mankind in his own image that he looked at his creation and called it very good in Gen 1.31. All of
these other amazing things that God created out of nothing, all these other things that have come into existence for the very first
time, they’re all good, and God says so. But once humans are created, God looks down on his creation, complete with humanity that
he created in his own image, and he calls it not just good, but very good.
Can you imagine what it must have been like for Adam and Eve, in that perfect creation? Everything is brand new, they have
this incredible garden, and not to mention world, to explore and experience. Everything is new, everything is perfect, everything is
exactly as God created it to be. And one of the most incredible things about the Garden of Eden, is that Adam and Eve get to walk in
the garden with God, they get to speak with God as you and I speak with each other. I think we often skip over that part to get to the
juicy stuff later on, But take a second and think about what it would be like to walk and talk with God the way that Adam and Eve
did.
God had made this perfect place, this incredible creation that was unlike anything ever done before, and gave it to Adam
and Eve to control, he walked with them, he talked with them, God was right there among them. And he only had one rule. Genesis
2:16–17 (ESV) — 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Well, we all know what comes next. The serpent tricks Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, and sin is brought into this
perfect creation. Now we like to blame Eve for the whole fiasco, but notice where Adam was. Genesis 3:6 (ESV) — 6 So when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one
wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Adam was standing right by
her side the whole time she was being tempted by the serpent, he stood by and did nothing. He did nothing as she reached out and
took the fruit, he did nothing as she bit into it. The first time we see him actually do anything, is when he takes the fruit from her and
bites into it himself.
Sin enters the world with one act of rebellion, one act of selfishness, one act of greed. I don’t think they had any idea what
would happen when they disobeyed God. The serpent tried to convince them that they would not die as God had told them, but that
they would just become wise like God, and apparently they bought into that lie. But what happened, is they messed up God’s
perfect creation. They brought death and destruction down upon everything that God had created. Before sin entered the world,
there were no illnesses, physical or mental, there was no death, there was no sadness, there was no depression, there was no worry.
They were able to have a one on one, personal relationship with God himself. And they threw it away for their sin.
It’s easy for us to sit here and think, ‘How could they have been so stupid?’ It’s easy to pass the buck and blame Adam, or
Eve, or the Serpent. That’s certainly what they did. They tried to push the blame off on anyone else. The very first sin, and already
people are blaming others for their mistake.
It’s easy to push the blame off on Adam and Eve, but the reality is that we are just the same. If we had been in the garden
instead of Adam and Eve, we would have done the very same thing, we would have committed the very same sin. Sometimes we
might think, ‘Well, I could have followed that one simple rule.’ But if that were true, then we would do it in our lives here and now.
The truth is that we are weak, and we continue to break God’s law, we continue to rebel against him every day of our lives. How
could we possibly think we would be any different from Adam and Eve? Adam and Eve may have been the first, but we are just as
guilty as they are, every one of us is a sinner.
We have messed up God’s creation. We have messed up God’s perfect plan for us. We have been banished from the garden
and broken our relationship with our creator, we have marred the image of God within us with our sin. What a sad picture, this
perfect, awesome creation , this perfect, awesome creature created in the image of God, marred and degraded by the presence of
sin in the world.
God is a loving God, but he is also Holy, and he is just. He cannot be in the presence of sin, and so he can no longer be in the
presence of Adam and Eve, so they are banished from the garden. He is also just, and so he cannot let sin go unpunished. Adam and
Eve and the rest of humanity will later pay the price of death for their sin, but God has a more immediate punishment in mind.
Document1 - 4
He curses the serpent for his part in the fall of mankind, he curses the woman with pain in childbirth and being ruled over
by her husband, and he curses not only Adam, but the ground itself because of Adam’s sin, work will now be hard and painful for
Adam. It’s easy to see God as cruel or as a disciplinarian. Some see him as a cosmic policeman waiting for us to mess up so he can
make us pay for our mistakes. I mean, they only committed one sin, right? Couldn’t God just give them a mulligan, give them one do
over now that they realize how important it is? Well the answer is no, he can’t.
But in the midst of God’s curses, he’s already giving a glimpse of the redemption he was planning for mankind. I told you
before that we were going to look at the entire Bible throughout this series as one comprehensive story of God and of us. Well this is
where that story begins. It begins with a God who created mankind in his own image, only to watch them mess up right from the get
go. And right from the start we see God planning for the redemption of those people.
That’s the overarching message of the entire Bible, God’s plan of salvation for humanity. The story of Jesus doesn’t start in
Matthew 1, it begins here, in Genesis 3. Specifically in his curse to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 (NIV) — 15 And I will put hostility
between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Now we
all know that the serpent in this story is Satan, the tempter, the deceiver, the one who leads people astray. But in God’s curse to the
serpent, he also mentions the woman’s offspring. He says there will be hostility between the offspring of the serpent and the
offspring of the woman. And that’s where we see God’s plan of redemption begin. Because the offspring of the woman is ultimately
Jesus.
When Jesus was killed on the cross, it seemed as if Satan had won, it seemed like he had finally beaten the woman’s
offspring, he had killed the son of God. He was a serpent striking the heel of the woman’s offspring. But when Jesus rose from the
grave three days later, Satan had clearly lost. Instead of defeating the Son of God, he was defeated himself. Instead of striking the
heel of the woman’s offspring, he was crushed by him instead. If you have seen the movie The Passion of the Christ, you may
remember seeing this played out on the screen in front of you. Throughout the film, the character of Satan who stays in the shadows
has a large snake with him, crawling around at his feet. During the scene of the resurrection, when Jesus finally steps out of the
tomb, the snake is there as well. And with his first step out of the tomb, Jesus’ foot lands squarely on the head of the serpent and
crushes it.
In Genesis 3, just a few chapters into this great story of the Bible, and we’ve already seen humanity mess it up. Humanity
has brought sin and death into the perfect world that God created, and brought death upon all humanity. But in the very act of
punishing Adam and Eve for their sin and disobedience, God is already giving them hope for their redemption. God is already giving
them hope of a day when the serpent will no longer hold sway over them, when sin will no longer hold sway over them, when they
will finally be free of the consequences of their sin and disobedience. He’s giving them a hope of a Savior who will defeat the
serpent, who will conquer Satan for good.
Already, in Genesis 3, at the very beginning of this story, God gives humanity the hope of Jesus.
That’s the kind of God we serve, that’s the kind of God in whose image we were created, that’s the kind of God who has worked
without ceasing for the redemption of all humanity that has done nothing but rebel against him again and again. That’s the kind of
God who sent his own son to die for you and for me, so that we might be free from sin and once again enjoy the relationship with
God that he has wanted all along.