 The final of our sermon this morning is in the beginning, in the beginning, and we're looking at God's originating work in creation. In his Institute of the Christian Religion, John Calvin referred to creation as a glorious theater. It's an interesting way of thinking about it, isn't it? It referred to God's creation as a glorious theater, a magnificent theater, he says, of heaven and earth replenished with the numberless wonders that David certainly expressed that same wonder, that same amazement with the created order. And we can imagine, can't we, David, on one of the many nights that David would sleep under the night sky on the Judean countryside, looking up at that magnificent sky with numberless wonders with an immeasurable innumerable host of stars writing the 19th Psalm. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork, the Psalm 8. David considers the heavens the work of God's fingers. In the immeasurable expanse, David saw a magnificent theater filled with numberless celestial wonders. Each one a display of God's power, each one a display of God's wisdom, God's precision, God's care, and collectively only truly beginning to manifest the glory of God. Described as God's silent splendor, this magnificent theater of the heavens, David says, day unto day pours out, or gushes forth speech, night unto night reveals or declares, proclaims knowledge, the heavens bursting forth as it were, in a proclamation of praise to God. There is no speech nor language, David says. Their voice is not heard, and yet, David says, their line, or the sound of their voice. It's a beautiful word picture, isn't it? Their line or the sound of their voice has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In other words, it's not a single place you can go in all the created order where their testimony is withheld from man. A silent but resounding splendor, all testifying to the glory of Almighty God. And yet, as much as the firmament above the great expanse of heaven shows his handy work, the glory of God is also magnified in a microscope, something that David didn't have the benefit of, and the creation, and the order, and the pattern, and the wisdom, a miracle that is atoms. They are just as much a work of his fingers. In other words, staggering simplicity, staggering complexity, staggering expanse, staggering power, staggering scope, staggering beauty, which ascribed to chance or evolutionary process is an absolute absurdity. Impossible, right? No matter how many billions of years you ascribe or multiply to do it, it is the fool who has said in his heart, there is no God. Listen to Calvin again, meanwhile then, considering these things, being placed in this most beautiful theater, let us not decline to take a pious delight in the clear and manifest works of God. That's what we're going to do this morning. So not the chief, it is in point of order the first evidence of faith to remember that wherever we turn, all which meets the eye is the work of God, and at the same time, to meditate with pious care on the end, or on the aim, which God had in view in creating it. Wherefore then, in order that we may apprehend with true faith what it is necessary to know concerning God, it is of importance to attend to the history of the creation as briefly recorded by Moses. Genesis chapter 1 verse 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The first ten words in the first verse of the Bible are fundamental to how we view the world. It's fundamental to how we understand things, how we view things, how we look at the world in which we live, how we look at ourselves the way that we were created. It's fundamental to our worldview, fundamental to how we view God, fundamental to how we view God's word. The first ten words of the Bible, fundamental. It's absolutely critical to our faith that we have a thoroughly and robust, biblical understanding of God's work in creation. Now considering the first verse of the Bible, there are at least three fundamental assertions that we should make from these opening ten words. The first is this. Creation begins. Creation begins. In the beginning, God created. In other words, the created order begins to be. It's important. The very word Genesis speaks to origin or coming into existence, coming into being. Genesis 1 speaks to the origin now of the heavens and the earth. The beginning of the created universe, the beginning of space and time, the beginning of God's creative work. The philosophical naturalism, which is a fancy way of saying worldly philosophy, worldly wisdom, can only give us three basic explanations for the origins of the universe. Philosophical naturalism only has three bullets in their gun. One, some believe that the universe is an illusion. Some believe that the universe is an illusion. The best alternative that they can imagine to avoid the existence of God is to say that nothing exists. God certainly doesn't exist, and all of this is simply an illusion. Now think with me. The illusion is produced and the illusion is experienced. If the illusion is produced, if the illusion is experienced, it's produced and experienced by someone, and think, if the illusion is produced and experienced by the same person, then congratulations, you are eternal, you are God, and you are completely delusional. You're the only one who's produced the illusion, you're the only one who experiences it. Bad philosophy, bad logic, bad science, absurd conclusion. It is the fool who is said in his heart, there is no God. Second, there are many who believe that the universe itself is self-existent and that the universe is eternal. They believe that matter is eternal, or that energy is eternal, but here's the question we have to ask ourselves. Here's the question, why is it that there is something rather than nothing at all? Why is it that there's something? Matter is eternal, if energy is eternal, why is it that there's something rather than nothing at all? Everything points to the fact, everything in creation points to the fact that the universe had a beginning. And if the universe had a beginning, then we can point back to a first cause. The universe is running down, so it must have had a beginning. The universe is running down, it must have had a starting point. The universe is expanding from a single point, so it must have had a beginning. Albert Einstein assumed the universe was eternal until his work proved that the universe had a beginning, and it left Einstein saying, I want to know how God created the world, because the universe had a beginning. Good science will eventually point you to God. If there is a beginning, then there is a cause. It is the fool who said in his heart, there is no God. Third, there are those who believe that the universe came into being through its own power. They believe the universe came into being through its own power. That the universe and all that we see came from nothing. Self-creation, self-generation. In other words, we have an effect without a cause. In their unspoken effort to deny the existence of God, sometimes that's spoken, right, particularly the reason why they come up with these excuses. This group, this group of people who believe that the universe came into being through its own self-generating power, through spontaneous self-generation, will stand there, clenched fist, straight faced, and tell you that everything came from nothing. That's what you're left with. Everything came from nothing. Now if you know the song, sing along. Nothing from nothing leaves, right? Better philosophy, better science in a pop song. Nothing cannot and nothing will not produce something. It is the fool who is said in his heart, there is no God. I heard someone say once, if you say that nothing exploded and created everything, the world will applaud you and give you a PhD. But if you say that God spoke by the word of his power and created everything, they will call you the idiot. Genesis chapter 1 verse 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The created order had a beginning. That which had a beginning must have a preceding cause or it would never begin. If there was ever a time when nothing existed, then nothing would now exist. Do you see? The first cause then, the first cause of all things must be eternal. The first cause of all things must be self-existent. Having no beginning, standing above, standing outside, standing beyond, transcendent to that which is created. Having the very power of being within himself and with the incomprehensible power to bring life out of death and to bring something out of nothing. The atheist then barges in and says, well, chance, what about chance? Chance is not a thing. Chance is not a power. Chance doesn't do anything. No. Here in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1, we are introduced to the one who is eternal. We're introduced to the one who is self-existent. We're introduced to the one who is omnipotent, the one who has the power of being within himself to bring forth from nothing something. There's no apologetic for his existence given in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1, no explanation given. The Bible simply proclaims that he is in the beginning God. Then, so then, the second fundamental assertion that we must make from the opening ten words of the Bible is, God exists. God exists. There must have been God before the creation of all things in order for all things to come into existence. In other words, God is eternal, not matter and not energy. God is self-existent, not the universe. There was never a time when God was not. So then in the face of atheism, in the face of naturalism, secularism, humanism, all competing for the heart and mind of man, the first ten words of the Bible assert unapologetically that God is. The truth isn't subject to the logic of man, although the truth of God's existence is alone logical. The truth can't be fully understood through man's reason, although the truth of God's existence is alone reasonable. And it is God alone who has the power to speak into the void and to call forth the heavens and the earth out of nothing. God exists and God is created. Lastly, the third fundamental assertion that we must make from the opening ten words of the Bible is this. Thirdly, God creates. God creates. Genesis chapter one, verse one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Not by accident, but by divine fiat and not the car, but the command. Not by chance, but by divine imperative, by divine decree, not by lengthy, gradual, evolutionary processes, but suddenly by the breath of his mouth, by the speaking of his word through the agency of his word, which Scripture says is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In staggering power, if God is omnipotent, God has all power, then God can certainly speak the universe into creation. And it doesn't take eons upon eons to do it. If God has all power, God can do that in six days, or he can do it in any length of time that he decrees or determines. He just so happened to determine that it would be done in six days, and on the seventh day he would rest. In staggering power, ex nihilo, out of nothing, out of nothing, the sculptor has a substance to work from or to work on. The inventor has a set of raw materials. The artist works on a canvas. The creativity of the artist mediated through canvas and through color. Not so with God. Not so with God. God creates without a medium. He creates without the raw materials. And by his sheer power and wisdom, the universe is brought forth out of nothing. And not just the universe or the material or the energy is brought forth out of nothing. God brings forth the created order, the cosmos. He orders the cosmos. Time and evolution do not produce order. They produce what is called decay or entropy. Time and evolution do not produce order. That's the second law of thermodynamics. First law of thermodynamics, energy, the first law. Energy can be transferred or transformed, but it cannot be created or destroyed. Think with me. Where did all this power come from then? First law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can be simply transformed or transferred. Where did all the energy come from in the first place? God created it. Having created it, it's constant. If you took, think, and the extraordinary power that it takes to create in this way. If you took just the atoms contained in a paper clip, in a paper clip, and you converted those atoms, each atom into pure energy, a paper clip would yield about 18 kilotons of TNT, about the equivalent of the Hiroshima explosion in a paper clip. Extraordinary power. Two pounds of coal converted to pure energy would fuel New York City for a year. Incredible power in the universe. But the second law, the second law of thermodynamics says this, that every system is not given to increasing order, but to increasing entropy or decay. Second law of thermodynamics, things are decaying. We can say, I look in the mirror, and I know that things are decaying. Evolution doesn't lead to increasing complexity. Evolution doesn't lead to increasing order. Evolution leads to increasing decay and increasing disorder. Yet despite this inviolable law, everywhere we look is staggering complexity, staggering structure, staggering beauty, staggering order. Mind-blowing complexity, irreducible, irreducible complexity. Where does this order come from? It comes from God in creation as He orders the cosmos. Look at Genesis chapter one, beginning in verse two. In verse two, the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Notice the Lord Jesus Christ in His agency in creation. Verse two, we see the Spirit of God in His agency in creation. Now notice in verse two, notice the description of the earth at the beginning of creation. Three terms here used to convey that it was disordered and unstructured. Where did all the order and structure come from? It comes from God. Notice the earth was, verse two, formless, void and dark. Sounds like a scary place. Certainly negative, chaotic, formlessness, emptiness, void, darkness even sounds threatening. What happens then, verse three? Then God said, let there be light and there was light. God speaks order into the chaos. Light is inexplicable apart from our transcendent, omnipotent God. Light is inexplicable apart from God. Outside of time, outside of space in the created order, God says, let there be light. God brings forth light to vanquish the darkness. God brings forth life to fill the void. God brings forth order in place of the chaos. Look at verse six. Then God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. Verse nine, then God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear. Verse 11, then God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, the fruit that yields fruit according to its kind. Verse 14, then God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night. Verse 20, then God said, let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures. Let birds fly above the earth. Verse 24, then God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind and it was so. Verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and God reaches into the dust to create man in his own image for his own glory. Genesis chapter two, verse seven, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. All this created by God with a word of his power, the word of his power. Job 38, verse seven, God says to Job while God was laying the foundation of the earth that the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy. Awesome, isn't it? As the magnificent theater of God's glory is filled with numberless wonders, the innumerable host of angels are seen as bursting forth in songs of praise and shouts of joy. One said it's like this, God we're creating and God turned to the angels and said, wait a minute, look at this, let there be light and the angels erupted in joy and praise. Wait a minute, we'll see this, let there be firmament in the midst of the waters and the angels erupted into joy and praise. And yet in the midst of all that praise, that proclamation of God's wonder and glory and awesome power, what does man do? What have you done? What have I done? How does man respond? The crown of God's creation, the apex of God's creation, how does man respond? I refuse to accept that. I know better. We are so wise, we have science. You can't argue with science, evolution, evolution, that's the truth. We've measured the age of the earth. We can measure it and we've measured the age of the earth and it's 13.787 billion years old. And you know what? We've narrowed it down to a 20 million year margin of error. We know, we know how old the earth is. And two reputable labs can't even give the similar age from a same rock they're looking at. You know that radioisotope dating based on false assumptions? Isotope dating is based on false assumption. It is wildly irregular, wildly erroneous. Notice the common refrain in those verses from Genesis chapter one. According to its kind. According to its kind. According to its kind, with a seed in itself. According to its kind. In other words, God has made His creation wonderfully adaptive. But there is no such thing as macro evolution. There is zero evidence for it, zero proof for it. Simply doesn't exist. The pride and arrogance of man is staggering, staggering at any cost, at virtually all costs. He vigorously suppresses the truth of God in His own sin and ignorance. Romans chapter one, verse 19, what may be known of God is manifest to them. It's been shown to them because God has shown it to them. Since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, easily understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. Such that they are without excuse. Why? Because although they knew God, they knew God. They did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful. They thought they knew better. They became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. It is the fool who is set in His heart. There is no God. And the fool will say it with such confidence, with such confidence. Of course we're descended from apes. Of course the world is 13 billion years old, and you're an idiot for thinking anything different. Listen to the rest of the Lord's answer to Job, in Job chapter 38, verse 1, listen. Then the Lord answered Job, out of the whirlwind. And the Lord said, Who is this? Who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man. I'll question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning star is saying together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? With all of our scientific prowess, we can no better answer the Lord today than Job could some 4,000 years ago. Whatever knowledge we have, whatever scientific discovery that we enjoy, we have because God has placed us in the gracious position of being able to find Him, as Paul says in Acts 17, to be able to grope for Him and find Him though He is not far from each one of us. And yet rather than acknowledging the obvious and submitting Himself to God, man in his utter arrogance, in his pride, has convinced himself that what is actually stupid is true. All of this happened by accident. Matter and energy are eternal. The universe has always been here, and it's been here for billions and billions and billions of years. Of course, everything came from nothing. No, in the beginning, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Psalm 96 verse 5, the Lord made the heavens. Psalm 102 verse 15 of old, you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. Psalm 121 verse 2, my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. You see the connection there? My help, my aid in time of need is the Lord who in omnipotent power made the heavens and the earth. Psalm 124 verse 8, our help is the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Psalm 146 verse 5, our hope is in the Lord, our God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. Psalm 147 verse 4, He counts the number of the stars, He calls them by name. It is our Lord and mighty in power, His understanding is infinite. Psalm 148 verse 1, praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights, praise Him all as angels, praise Him all as hosts, praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you stars of light, praise Him, you heavens of heavens and you waters above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord for He commanded and they were created. Praise the Lord. Creation testifies of the power of God. Creation testifies of the wisdom of God, the providential care of God, the covenant faithfulness of God, testifies to the love of God, testifies to God's eminence and testifies to God's transcendence. Creation is a glorious theater, a magnificent theater of heaven and earth replenished with numberless wonders, all declaring the glory of God. I think with me, if creation is a glorious theater, then what is the grand play? If creation is a glorious theater, then what is the majestic production which takes place upon the stage of history? Why was the theater created? To what end? For what purpose? Creation is the stage on which is displayed the drama of redemption. Creation is the stage on which is displayed God's salvation, God's glory in redemption, God's glory in saving His people. And the star of the production is the incarnate son of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the climax of the historical drama, the lead who is God Himself, the lead steps onto the stage that He has created, steps into the theater which He built. He steps into creation, becomes a man Himself, fully God and yet fully human. Listen to Hebrews chapter 10, listen to beginning at verse 5, therefore when He, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, He said, sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure, then I said, behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God. The Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself steps into creation, takes upon Himself the dirt of our humanity, lives a perfect sinless life on the earth in His creation as a man goes to the cross as a perfect sinless sacrifice and dies there, sheds His blood to redeem His own. Creation is the stage on which is displayed ultimately the drama of redemption. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3, and I want us to look at this together. Ephesians chapter 3, creation is filled with numberless wonders. It's interesting to me that of all the numberless wonders that creation is filled with, many of those we don't see. In the outer reaches of space there are an immeasurable number of stars. I don't even know the name for the number that they even estimate for all the stars that are out there that we can't see, we don't know anything about. And they are for the delight that have got Himself. We see them sometimes, some of them twinkling in the sky, most of what we see twinkling in the sky through telescopes are actually other galaxies filled with trillions of stars. But they are known to God, and God delights Himself in the created order that He made by His own power, all for a grand and glorious theater in which God redeems people. For what purpose? For the glory of the sun. We'll see that. Look at Ephesians chapter 3, look with me beginning at verse 8. Paul says this in verse 8. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Riches of Christ are unfathomable, they are incomprehensible, they are unsearchable, infinite. Paul considered it a great privilege to be able to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable, unfathomable riches of Christ. The phrase in verse 8, who am less than the least of all the saints, is an indication of how Paul felt about his unworthiness to be given that privilege. We are clay privy pots, and deposited with us, weak, frail, fragile clay pots deposited with us is an immeasurable treasure. A treasure is the gospel of the unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are unfathomable. We need to see the preaching of the gospel more the way that Paul does. As an unfathomable, immeasurable privilege. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to make all see, to bring to light, in other words, what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages, from eternity, that word means eternity, which from eternity has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. Multiple places in the scriptures, it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as the agency of God's creative work. What a tremendous privilege it is to be given the everlasting gospel to preach. Listen, you and I have been given that privilege also. We have been saved by the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been given that gospel to preach among the Gentiles. It is a tremendous privilege. Paul says, I'm unworthy, I'm unworthy, the least of all the saints, and yet I've been given this treasure. Now what is Paul's charge then in verse nine, in preaching of the gospel? What is Paul's charge? To make all see, to make known God's formerly hidden, mysterious purpose. In other words, God had a purpose that was decreed before the ages. It was decreed in eternity past. It was a mystery not fully understood. And Paul is now to declare how that purpose or plan was put into effect, how that purpose or plan was decreed and why. Notice in verse nine, God is the one who created all things through Jesus Christ. We know from our discussion of John one, Hebrews one, and now here, that God created all things through Jesus Christ. He is the word. Christ is the word through which God created the heavens and the earth. As creation had a purpose. His creation has an intent. God created all things through Jesus Christ with this goal or this aim, this purpose in mind. Verse 10. To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through, that's what that word by there means, means through the church, right? The manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church through the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. When Paul speaks of that in verse 10 through the church, Paul's not speaking there in that place of evangelism. It's interesting. It's not speaking of evangelism through this preaching of the gospel on the part of the church. No, it's through the existence of the church. Through the existence of the church, the manifold wisdom of God is made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places. Through the existence, you could say, of a redeemed body. In other words, if you are genuinely converted, you have turned from your sin, you have trusted alone the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, He has caused you by a spirit to be born again, then you are proof, you are evidence of the manifold wisdom of God to all the principalities and powers. The church, the existence of a redeemed body, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, a regenerate church is evidence of the manifold wisdom of God given shown to principalities and powers in the heavenly places. It's amazing, right? In all that, verse 11, is according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Jesus Christ, our Lord, according to his eternal purpose. He created in order to manifest the gospel, that his manifold wisdom might be shown through a regenerate body to all the principalities and powers that God has redeemed his people to the glory of his own name and to the glory of the Son. According to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom, verse 12, we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. Verse 11, God had an eternal purpose. For the accomplishment of that divine purpose, he created the heavens and the earth. Interesting to think about it, isn't it? Created a magnificent theater on which his glory would be displayed. Most chiefly, his glory in redemption, his glory in redeeming a people to his name. That grand theater in which he displays his wisdom and power, he displays his redemptive purposes, his redemptive plans, he displays also his grace and mercy and justice and love and all of that through the very existence of a people, a redeemed people, the church. Turn with me to Colossians chapter one. Flip a few pages to the right. Colossians chapter one. Look there in Colossians chapter one, beginning at verse 15. Paul says in Colossians chapter one, verse 15, listen. He is, the Lord Jesus Christ is, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. And when it says firstborn, that doesn't mean the Lord Jesus Christ was created. It means the Lord Jesus Christ is first, a first to be raised from the dead, the first fruits of all those who would believe in him. He is the preeminent one. This is the law of progeniture. It's the firstborn had the rights of preeminence. He is the preeminent one, the ruler, the one who has sovereign rule over all creation. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn, the preeminent one, the supreme one, the ruler, sovereign ruler over all creation. Why? Verse 16. Because by him, all things were created. There it is again. All things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him, and notice what Paul says at the end of verse 16, and for him. All things were created through him, all things were created for him. It's amazing, isn't it? He is before all things, verse 17, and in him, all things consist, and he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he may have the preeminence. He is the preeminent one, the firstborn from the dead. God raising him from the dead in omnipotent power. Recreation, you could say. All that God had done in creation has been for the glory of the incarnate son. Everything, everything it says there, everything, from all the way from in the beginning, Genesis chapter one, verse one, to now I saw a new heavens and a new earth. Everything for the glory of the incarnate son. Everything is meant to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. In eternity past, entirely and supremely satisfying within the Godhead, God determined to give a love gift. God the Father determined to give a love gift to God the Son. The gift to God the Son that would glorify God the Son, a people, an elect people, a chosen people, a redeemed people. Then God determined to create the grand theater on which his plans and purposes for redeeming this chosen people would be played out. He determined to create the world, determined to create the heavens for his glory and then determined to redeem his own people for his own glory. God the Son in his infinite immeasurable love for God the Father took on flesh and became a man in order that God the Son might die and redeem the gift that he'd been given by God the Father. The spirit of God in love for the Father, the spirit of God in love for God the Son in time applies that redemption. The person in work of the Lord Jesus Christ, he applies that redemption to all those chosen before by the Father and given as a love gift, God the Son. So that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can testify to all that he is God and that he is good and merciful and just and gracious and loving and patient and kind and compassionate and forgiving all for the sake of his own name and his own glory. That's why God made the world and all things that are in it. Now God created you, God created me to glorify him and yet what has man done? A grand theater filled with innumerable celestial wonders and what do we do? We indulge upon his creation our own lusts and we sin against him, we rebel against him and we say to ourselves, listen, I know better, I'll not have that one to rule over me and we become futile in our thoughts and our foolish hearts are darkened, professing to be wise, we are abject fools and yet the Lord in grace and mercy decreed from eternity past to redeem those who would so rebel against him and he's made provision for their sin in the person and work of his own Son. He sent his own Son, God the Son into the creation that he had made to take on the form of a man coming in the likeness of men, not counting equality with God, a thing to be grasped but he made himself of no reputation, became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, to redeem that gift of God the Father, to be given to God the Son, so that he might redeem those to himself and raise them up with him on the last day and who then will inhabit eternity praising and glorifying God the Son and God the Father? Who will do that, the redeemed, the church, that body that God has redeemed to himself to show in the ages that come the exceeding riches of his grace in Christ Jesus, to the glory and praise of his grace to show principalities and powers that God is glorious and God is good and God is just and God is gracious and God is merciful. He's made provision for your sin. Will you continue to use and abuse all that God has done for the sake of your own sin? Will you turn your back on all that God has done to save you from your sin? Won't you turn to him in faith and trust him alone? Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, be forgiven of your sin, be made a new creation, be an inhabited in eternity of the new heavens and the new earth with the Lord Jesus Christ, God's people are God's people to help. Turn now to the gracious and glorious Savior, trust in Christ. All praise, honor, and glory be to the one who has created us and knew in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen, amen. Let's pray. As we consider the work of God in creation and the purpose for his work in creation, let's consider our place in it and let's turn from sin, trust Christ and glorify our God, amen. Let's pray. We'll pray together and then you'll be dismissed. Father in heaven, we acknowledge you as our sovereign creator and Lord and we pray now, Lord, that you would by your spirit work through your word to embolden our faith, to conform us into Christ's image, to give us, Lord, a measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and transform us now, Lord, from glory to glory. Help us, Lord, to live more fervently for you to understand our place in all of this. You in great grace and mercy have redeemed us and we thank you, Lord, for the blessed joy and privilege of life and most of all, Lord, for life eternal in Christ Jesus, our Lord. I pray, Lord, that you would by your spirit convert sinners, that you would turn them, Lord, from the foolishness of their thoughts, the foolishness of their ways and you would redeem them, shed abroad in their heart the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, your great love for us, most evidently seeing at the cross and save them for your own namesake and build up my brothers and sisters in their faith, Lord, and help us to live for you more fervently, serve you more faithfully, love you more ardently for your great names sake and for your glory. For the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that we pray all these things, amen.