Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz19950813.htm

THRU THE BIBLE SYNTHESIS
"Part I: Genesis - The Sources Of Calamity And Good In Our Origins"

Need: "With all of the complexities of problems in the world, where can one sensibly go just to START to find solutions? Why? How?!"
  1. All that is wholesome comes from the Creator God Who is good!
    1. All that exists that is wholesome was made by the God of the Bible:
      1. God created all that exists in the universe, Gn. 1:1-27; Jn. 1:3.
      2. He instituted all that is wholesome in relationships, Gen. 2:17-24.
        1. God made humans the rulers of His entire created earth, 2:8-15.
        2. God made the man to be the leader of his wife, Gen. 2:17-23.
        3. God made the man to leave his parents and to cleave to his wife, forming a monogamous, heterosexual, intimate, permanent union in starting a new, sovereign family unit, 2:24; Mt. 19:3-6.
        4. God gave humans the spiritual task of preferring the tree of life over the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Gen. 2:9,16-17.
    2. All that God created and instituted was very wholesome, Gen. 1:31.
  2. Conversely, all that is calamitous originates with sin against God!
    1. Satan, the chief created angel, sinned in proudly trying to usurp the role of the Creator God of the Bible, Ez. 28:11-19 and Is. 14:12-15.
    2. Therefore, he was cast out of his office in God's heaven, Rv. 12:4a.
    3. He came to usurp the order and rule of God on the earth; he tempted Eve thru the serpent who in turn urged Adam into sin, Gen. 3:1-6.
    4. The results of this rebellion against God was devastating for man:
      1. Marital disharmony resulted from humanity's sin, Gen. 3:7, 12.
      2. Mankind's discord with God came from this sin, Gen. 3:8, 23-24.
      3. Mankind's strife with nature arose from sin, 3:13, 14-15, 17b-19.
      4. Pain and sorrow in reproduction resulted from this sin, Gen. 3:16.
      5. Physical death arose from sin, Gen. 3:19b; 2:17 with Rom. 5:12.
      6. Employment difficulties arose from sin, Gen. 3:17c-19a.
      7. Environmental hardship came from sin, Gen. 3:17c-18; Ro. 8:20.
      8. Family strife and murder came from sin, Gen. 4:1-15.
      9. Extended family alienation came from sin, Gen. 4:16.
      10. Humans turned to urbanization to create a shield against the effects of sin's curse, Gen. 4:17. Thus, urban problems arose in history .
      11. A host of sexually aberrational behaviors arose by sin, Gen. 4:19.
      12. Various inventions came from Cain's sons to compensate for their inability to r aise crops; this led to marketing troubles, Gn. 4:20-22.
      13. Communal atrocities arose because of sin, Gen. 4:23-24.
      14. Thus, man's society inevitably turned self-destructive, 6:1-2,11-12.
  3. Since the Creator God is good, He checked man's self-devastation with a point-by-point program to save him from his sin!
    1. God cleansed the earth with a flood to restore order on earth, 6:3-14.
    2. He promised never to destroy the earth again by a flood, Gen. 9:9-17.
    3. Yet, sin lingered in the flood's survivors, 9:20-27. Nimrod, a godless descendant of Noah led a world witchcraft union at Babel (a zodiac on the tower's top, (Waltke, Th.D., DTS & Ph.D., Harvard)) to meet man's fears in stead of trusting God and scattering from e/o over the earth, 9:1;10:8-10;11:1-4. Thus, God spread man out via languages, leaving him insecure enough to have to trust in Him, 11:6-9;10:25!
    4. Rev. 17:5-6 shows that by Satan's influence, Nimrod's error began to apostatize the nations by stealth; seeing this, God privately thus chose a counter Noahic descendant, Abraham, to form a nation to be used by Him (see "IV" below) to usher in His rule and defeat sin in man, Gen.12:1-3 and Rev. 12:1 with Gen. 37:5-11.
    5. However, sin in Abraham and his family so harmed relations that his family unit nearly dissolved and ended God's program, Gn.13-41!
    6. Yet, in His eternal wisdom and grace, God countered this challenge by relying upon the unconditional nature of His promises to Abraham to preserve his program thru the ages, Gen. 15:13-2 (as a sample). In Genesis, God's ULTIMATE solution to sin, the "thread of redemption" begins its marvelous journey through the Bible:
      1. When man sinned, God graciously killed animals and gave their skins to replace man's futile self-help fig leaf clothing, Gn. 3:7,21. This anticipates the substitutionary death of Christ, the Lamb of God, the Second Adam and seed of Abraham to replace our futile works with His righteousness, Jn. 1:29; 1 Cor. 15:22; 2 Cor. 5:21.
      2. Christ's Calvary defeat of Satan, the serpent is forecast in Gn. 3:15.
      3. The Abrahamic Covenant predicts salvation, Gn. 22:18; Ga. 3:13ff
      4. As are all others through history, people in Genesis were justified by God through faith alone, Gen. 15:5-6 with Rom. 4:9-12.
Application: To handle ANY calamity and head toward wholesome solutions, ALWAYS START with (1) faith in Christ as Savior from sin to receive eternal life, Jn. 3:16. With this step comes the indwelling Holy Spirit's presence to live above sin and the world and the devil, Gal. 5:16-23; 1 Jn. 5:4, 2:14. (2) Then w e confess any sins we do and rely on the Spirit to obey Scripture, 1 J. 1:9; Ga. 5:16ff; Ro. 8:3-4. (3) Next, we wait by faith on God to fulfill His Abrahamic Covenant through Jesus Christ and usher in permanent blessing for the world!

Lesson: All that is good started with God. All that is calamitous comes from sin. What rescues man from calamity is salvation through Christ!