25-0504p Transcript

Preacher: Scott Reynolds

(1:15) One of the changes I made to tonight’s sermon was the idea of the importance (1:23) of us understanding that Genesis is literal history.

(1:30) It’s not an allegory. It’s not a day is a million years. (1:39) It’s not an allegory.

A day is a day. (1:44) It’s like Sigmund Freud said, sometimes a cigar is a cigar, (1:51) but this time a day is a day, 24 hours. (1:55) And no, it doesn’t jive with current science, (2:01) because they don’t believe there is a supernatural.

(2:06) Why would that make any difference? (2:09) Because nature did not create itself. (2:16) Nature came from a supernatural being. (2:21) And as hard as they look, they cannot get nature, (2:27) the answers in nature to show them how nature came about by itself.

(2:32) Why is that? Because it didn’t come about by itself. (2:37) That’s why it doesn’t work. (2:43) It came about because there is a supernatural being that brought it about.

(2:49) That’s why we exist. (2:52) Not because of who knows what the current mechanism is. (2:57) Okay.

So, as we open God’s word in Genesis, (3:05) and we stand on the divine proclamation that echoes through the ages, (3:10) in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (3:13) These are not mere words to be reshaped by human philosophies, (3:18) but a sacred history, a divine testimony demanding our unwavering trust. (3:26) But Genesis, one declares a young earth formed by the Almighty in six literal days, (3:32) not millions or billions of years, proposed by the world’s wisdom.

(3:38) To take Genesis one literally is to embrace the foundation of our faith, (3:44) a creation brought forth by God’s sovereign command, (3:48) its history measured in thousands of years, (3:52) affirming a reality where the spiritual and physical realms are woven together by His design. (3:59) Romans 8 tells us the natural man cannot even comprehend the spiritual. (4:08) So consider the weight of this truth.

(4:11) Genesis one unfolds a deliberate order. (4:16) On day one we have light, and we also saw there was more than light when we studied it. (4:22) We saw that there was a spiritual realm that came into being that did not exist before creation.

(4:28) We saw that there were spiritual posts that did not exist until they were brought into being in creation. (4:38) So there’s a supernatural realm. (4:41) There’s a supernatural place where God lives that did not exist before He made it.

(4:46) So when David says, I’m going to build you a house, (4:50) God says, what kind of a house are you going to build me? (4:54) He didn’t even have one before he made one, (4:58) and only he could make one that would actually work for him. (5:02) So on day one, there’s more than just light, but light starts the natural progression. (5:08) Then you have besides the earth and the water and the foundation.

(5:14) Day two, the firmament. (5:16) Day three, land and vegetation. (5:19) Day four, the sun, moon, and stars.

(5:21) The earth, and believe me, right there is totally out of sync with modern cosmology. (5:29) The earth did not come first. (5:32) The earth is not existent without other celestial bodies for three days in modern cosmology.

(5:41) So not only do you have to contort the definition of what a day is in the Bible, (5:51) you have to explain why the Bible tells us the earth came first. (5:57) Space with nothing, then the earth, and four, the fourth day later, the sun, moon, and stars show up. (6:09) Explain that one in modern cosmology.

(6:12) That’s not what they say. (6:14) And then day five are creatures of the sea and sky that we’re talking about, (6:19) and then on day six, the rest of the living things, land animals and mankind. (6:25) So this clear sequence stands in stark contrast to modern theories of gradual processes spanning eons.

(6:34) The world urges us to reconcile Scripture with these ideas, but we are called to a higher standard, (6:41) to trust the plain testimony of God’s Word over the fleeting speculations of man, (6:48) to doubt Genesis 1’s literal account risks undermining the trustworthiness of all Scripture. (6:55) Four, if we bend the foundation, which is Genesis 1, what else will we mold to fit the world’s philosophies? (7:06) And believe me, we’re in a battle of philosophies today. (7:11) So this morning we stood in awe of creation day five when God about 6,000 years ago (7:17) filled the seas and skies with life in a single day.

(7:20) Whales thundered, fish shimmered, birds soared, not over millions of years, but by His instant command. (7:29) We saw a young earth vibrant with His design through young earth creationism’s lens. (7:35) Tonight we dig deeper.

(7:37) How do these creatures, biblical to meaning, and natural whales, birds, and their lost kinds reflect God’s glory? (7:47) And how does their once greater diversity diminished by the flood call us to trust His Word and care? (7:54) So a picture of pre-flood world where oceans teemed with sea dragons, (7:59) beyond our whales and skies buzzed with wings we’d call mythical, (8:05) the flood took many, but their legacy in fossils, stories, and survivors (8:10) points to a creator of unmatched power. (8:14) We’ll explore Leviathan’s might, bird’s precision, and harmony of scripture and nature, (8:22) seeing a past far richer than today. (8:26) So Leviathan and the Tanninim, God’s untamable power.

(8:33) So you have the Tanninim, Gedolim, great sea creatures, or great dragons in Hebrew, (8:41) and there’s no fairy tale but real giants showcasing God’s sovereignty, and we talked about that earlier today. (8:48) This adds a piece from Job 41 where it says, (8:53) Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook? (8:56) Could you imagine? (8:58) Could you imagine being out in the ocean, fishing? (9:03) You throw your line out and you get a catch. (9:06) If something like that pops up, I’d throw it in the water.

(9:11) Get out of here! (9:14) Anyway, his back is made of rows of shields. (9:18) Out of its mouth go flaming torches. (9:22) His heart is hard as stone, and the mighty are afraid.

(9:28) This isn’t a crocodile. (9:31) It’s a sea dragon. (9:33) untamable.

(9:33) It’s also said that it’s untamable. (9:36) Can’t tame it. (9:37) Try to tame it.

(9:39) See what happens. (9:40) Bowing only to God. (9:43) So young earth creationism, which is a literal look at Genesis, (9:49) young earth creationism came about because somebody took Genesis literally.

(9:57) And that’s what a literal reading of Genesis will do. (10:02) Show you that it’s a young earth. (10:06) So young earth creationism sees Leviathan as a glimpse of Day 5’s diversity.

(10:12) The Canaanite kind likely included whales, blue whales, dwarfing ships, (10:19) sperm whales, battling squid, but also creatures now extinct. (10:24) The mosasaurs. (10:26) And this, you know, I’ve gotten two competing ideas.

(10:29) One says with 50-foot jaws. (10:32) Another one says that they were 50 feet. (10:35) So I don’t know what the answer to that actually is.

(10:40) And plesiosaurs with serpentine necks swarm pre-flood seas. (10:48) Fossils of these giants are found from Kansas to Antarctica. (10:56) Aren’t millions of years old.

(10:59) They’re flood relics buried 4,500 years ago when oceans churned (11:03) and continents shifted. (11:05) So why the loss of the pre-flood world was very good, Genesis 131. (11:11) It’s warm, stable seas supporting Tanninim, (11:14) and a dazzling variety perhaps forms with glowing breath because of the fire (11:20) coming out or chemical sprays, as Job’s flaming torches suggests.

(11:26) The flood’s cataclysm, torrents, mudflows, and cold wiped out many. (11:32) The ice ages are a result of the flood, by the way. (11:37) Desertization that happens as a result of the flood.

(11:41) Need high mountains. (11:42) Didn’t have high mountains prior to the flood. (11:45) But survivors like whales adapted and specialized Tanninim, like Leviathan, (11:52) couldn’t.

(11:53) So post-flood humans, they have met stragglers, inspiring tales of sea (11:59) serpents. (12:00) Have you noticed in the dragon lore how they talk about that dragons are (12:07) fading out? (12:09) That’s even in the dragon lore. (12:12) There was a time when there was all kinds of them.

(12:15) And when knights are chasing them and stuff, it’s hard to find one anymore. (12:21) You look at Chinese art, you’ve got dragons all over the place. (12:26) Until even in the 1500s or something, they have little dragons.

(12:33) So by medieval times, these faded, leaving bones and legends, the past (12:39) abundance exalts God. (12:41) Job 41.11 declares, whatever is under the whole heaven is mine. (12:47) Leviathan’s kinds once roaming in forms we’ll never know or see, points to a (12:55) creator whose power shaped a richer sea.

(12:58) Today’s whales echo that power, but fossils whisper of a grander choir, (13:06) silenced yet singing his praise in eternity. (13:10) Though the worship of fruitfulness, day five’s glory shines not just in the (13:16) creation’s might, but in its obedience. (13:19) God didn’t only form them to mean, he blessed them saying, be fruitful and (13:24) multiply and fill waters in the seas.

(13:27) This blessing was divine power enabling whales and sea dragons to fill the ocean (13:32) swiftly, fitting a young earth where life exploded in days and not eons. (13:38) So Del Tackett teaches that this fruitfulness is worship. (13:42) When a whale bears young or a plesiosaur once guarded eggs, they glorified God, (13:48) acting as sub-creators in this planet.

(13:50) What they mean by sub-creators is when God said, let there be birds, he didn’t (13:59) have to make all the birds, that he made the kinds of birds, but he didn’t have (14:06) to fill the whole earth because he tells them to multiply and fill the earth. (14:13) God created a subset, the kinds, so their multiplication wasn’t random, it was (14:21) purposeful, filling seas with splendor to reflect his abundance. (14:26) Psalm 104, 25 and 26 sees Leviathan playing in the sea, its fruitfulness a (14:34) joyful dance in Eden’s waters, to meaning kinds thrive, their numbers swelling (14:40) without loss, a living praise, the creator who empowered them.

(14:45) Though the flood diminished their kinds, this blessing held and whales today roam (14:52) vast oceans because God’s mandate endures. (14:56) It reveals his heart, not a God of limits, but of overflow, delighting in life. (15:02) For us, it’s a mirror, our faith of service and love should multiply, like the (15:09) Tanninim filling our world with his glory.

(15:12) As Leviathan once swelled the deep, let’s swell his kingdom, fruitful in every (15:18) work, Colossians 1.10. (15:22) The birds, God’s precision and creation, return to the skies and Day 5’s birds (15:30) take wing, let’s birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens, (15:36) Genesis 1.20. (15:38) Hawks pierce the air, doves flutter, penguins dive. (15:42) So each kind is distinct, not dinosaur descendants, they’re not made from (15:48) something else, but crafted with precision of woodpeckers, beak hammers without (15:53) harm, and owls' eyes glow in the dark. (15:58) The hummingbirds' wings blur at 80 beats per second.

(16:03) There are no accidents, they’re God’s engineering spoken into being. (16:09) But the pre-flood skies were far busier. (16:12) The young earth creationists see bird kinds and varieties lost to time.

(16:16) Fossils show early birds, the archaeopteryx, with true feathers, flying (16:25) besides modern types, no evolution needed. (16:28) Pterosaurs with wingspans of 30 feet, and giant kinds like pterosaurs that we saw (16:35) that were kind of scary, cast shadows over Eden’s plains. (16:40) This diversity filled a world of endless good things before the flood.

(16:45) None of these creatures were carnivores, because if they were, that would have (16:52) been a tough environment. (16:54) This diversity filled a world of endless forests and warm skies, each kind (16:59) expressing God’s bountiful design. (17:02) The flood shattered this.

(17:04) Rising waters and storms spared many birds, but changing climates, ice ages, (17:09) deserts doomed others. (17:11) Pterosaurs vanished, their fossils buried in flood mud, not eons. (17:17) Giant birds dwindled, perhaps hunted, their tales, T-A-L-E-S, their tales lingering (17:27) in thunderbird myths.

(17:30) Today’s birds, sparrows, eagles, penguins, are survivors, diversifying within kinds, (17:36) but the sky’s choir is thinner, a shadow of day five’s fullness. (17:44) Psalm 104, verses 24 through 26, it says, (17:49) O Lord, how manifold are your works! (17:52) Here’s the sea, great and wide, there go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed, (17:59) but you formed to play in it. (18:04) Leviathan was out there just to have fun.

(18:06) Wouldn’t that have been cool? (18:09) My whole existence is to have fun. (18:12) Birds in Tanninim once played in greater numbers, each wing and fin a note in his (18:19) symphony. (18:21) So the harmony of scripture and nature.

(18:25) Skeptics claim whales evolved from land mammals, birds from dinosaurs over (18:31) millions of years. (18:33) Young earth creationism shows scripture and nature singing one song, a young (18:39) earth, once far more diverse. (18:42) Let’s see how day five’s creatures prove this.

(18:44) First, Tanninim whales swim with sonar and strength, but fossils of mosasaurs and (18:52) plesiosaurs show grander forms buried in the flood, not eons. (18:56) This sudden fossil appearance with no ancestors matches Genesis' instant (19:03) creation. (19:04) The pre-flood sea, lovely health, Tanninim, kinds and varieties, colors, sizes, (19:11) traits, loss, when waters rage.

(19:15) Survivors like sharks are but a fraction of that splendor. (19:19) Second, the birds, their complex lungs. (19:24) I’ve never looked into that, but evidently it’s a remarkable system of (19:31) aspirating.

(19:33) So the complex lungs and feathers defy slow change, appearing whole in (19:42) fossils. (19:43) Pterosaurs, too, flew fully formed, no dinosaur roots. (19:47) The pre-flood sky buzzed with bird kinds, perhaps giant owls, vibrant parrots, (19:55) winged reptiles cut down by the flood’s aftermath.

(20:00) Today’s diversity, like Darwin’s finches, is variation within kinds, not new (20:05) kinds, a remnant of a richer past. (20:10) Third, global stories like dragon tales, T-A-L-E-S, Chinese serpents, European (20:19) fire breathers echo Tanninim like Leviathan, met post-flood before extinction. (20:26) Thunderbird legends or ancient art of winged beasts recall pterosaurs or giant (20:31) birds.

(20:32) These aren’t myths but memories of day five’s variety, fading as kinds dwindle. (20:38) Job’s 40s, behemoths and Leviathans suggest humans solved such wonders, living (20:44) in a young world where creation fullness lingered. (20:48) This harmony glorifies God.

(20:51) Psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of God. (20:55) Fossil creatures, legends don’t contradict Genesis. (20:59) They confirm that day five, teeming with life reduced yet radiant, we trust the (21:06) scriptures' truth over man’s tales.

(21:10) How do we respond? (21:12) First, trust God’s word. (21:15) These are similar to what we did this morning. (21:18) Genesis 1, 20-23 declares a day of creation, not ages.

(21:24) Fossils of mosasaurs, pterosaurs, and ammonites buried in the flood prove a young (21:30) earth once overflowing with kinds. (21:33) Second, Timothy 3-16 calls scripture breathed out by God. (21:38) Stand firm when doubts arise.

(21:42) Second, marvel at his power. (21:44) Today’s seas and skies are wonders but they pale beside the pre-flood world. (21:49) Wouldn’t you have loved to have seen what that looked like? (21:53) And why possibly Noah? (21:57) You know, Noah got drunk after the flood.

(22:00) Ever wonder it’s because what he knew before the flood and what he sees is (22:06) reality now? (22:08) Is that drastically different? (22:11) And he’s depressed? (22:15) So marvel at his power. (22:17) Today’s seas and skies are wonders but they pale beside the pre-flood world. (22:22) Tanninim and countless forms, birds filling every sky, God’s creativity then (22:27) sustains us now.

(22:29) If he crafted such variety, can he not handle our fears, our needs, or our (22:34) future? (22:36) And third, blessed in his care, he blessed these creatures to multiply, (22:41) preserving fish and birds through the flood’s loss. (22:44) Matthew 10-29 says not one sparrow falls without him. (22:49) If he watched over a richer creation, he watches you, guiding every step.

(22:56) Fourth, live fruitfully for his glory. (23:00) The blessing to multiply wasn’t just for creatures, it echoes in us. (23:05) As tanninim filled seas and birds filled skies, we’re called to fill our lives (23:10) with faith, sharing the gospel, serving others.

(23:14) Jesus said, by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. (23:20) So being fruitful glorifies God. (23:24) That’s why he made us to be fruitful.

(23:28) Whether in family, work, or witness, let’s multiply his love, reflecting day (23:32) five’s abundance in a world needing hope. (23:37) Finally, proclaim his glory. (23:39) The world of Leviathan and pterosaurs shouts of a creator, not chants.

(23:44) Share this with your world. (23:46) Point to fossils, waves, and wings and say, this is God’s work. (23:52) All things were created through him and for him.

(23:56) Live to make him known. (23:59) So day five’s creatures from Leviathan’s roar to a sparrow’s chirp revealed a (24:04) God of power, precision, and provision. (24:08) Once seas and skies brimmed with varieties we’ll never see, lost to a flood, (24:13) yet alive in his plan.

(24:15) Biblical tanninim and whales, birds, and pterosaurs sing his greatness. (24:20) Let’s live in awe, trusting his word, resting in his care, and proclaiming his (24:25) name from a richer past to eternity. (24:30) Let’s close with a prayer.

(24:32) Holy Father, thank you, Lord, for this day, for all the ways you’ve blessed us. (24:36) We ask that you are not ashamed for us to call you our God. (24:40) We pray everything that we do is in accordance with your will and in spirit (24:45) and in truth.

(24:47) Help us to know the spiritual. (24:51) Help us to be spiritual, a spiritual man, that we may desire to do your will and (25:01) refrain from the natural man that battles with us to take us away from you. (25:08) And we pray, Father, that you bless our efforts to be your people and be useful (25:13) to you and help us be fruitful so that we may glorify you.

(25:18) Be with us. (25:19) In Jesus' name we pray. (25:20) Amen.