Understanding Genesis - Dr. Jason Lisle

[Music] it's good to be with you today I want to talk about understanding Genesis and that is something that's very close to my heart because it's very important and few people really appreciate how important that is so that's what I want to talk about the importance of Genesis understanding it because you know we live in a world where people have become increasingly skeptical of the Bible as God's infallible Word I'm a used to be because of our culture in the United States of America because of our Christian heritage people had a degree of respect for the Bible even if they didn't profess Christianity times are changing and one of them one of the main ways that the Bible is attacked today is in Genesis and that the case if you consider the United States we have the most churches and seminaries Christian colleges Christian bookstores Christian radio of any of any nation all these different resources available and yet for all of these Christian resources it seems like we're becoming less Christian every day doesn't it feel that way in our nation it seems like it's just astonishing but how can that be she founded primarily by Christians certainly on Christian principles with all these Christian resources and yet we're becoming a pagan nation what is going on and does this have anything to do with Genesis and I suggest it does if you think about it every problem in our society can be traced back to a broken law of God where people have decided that we're not going to do what the Bible says we're gonna do it this other way and that causes problems and why is it that people say well we're not gonna do what the Bible says they on some level they don't believe it on some level they've been convinced that the Bible is just fairytales and that really begins in Genesis that's where people have have placed their attacks on scripture those who deny God's Word you see the real issue behind all of these problems in society is the same issue as the creation versus evolution debate it's really God's Word versus man's word that's really what it comes down to you've got God's Word that teaches us about creation it also teaches us how we are to live and you got man's word you teach us something else teaches a different way to live and which one are you gonna trust when there's a conflict between the two who are you gonna go with who are you going to ultimately place your faith in and the Word of God or in the words of man those are really your two options and and this has been a problem since the beginning because when God created Adam and Eve he gave them some instructions one of them was if you eat from that tree you will surely die and their response effectively was we're not going to listen to your word we're gonna determine truth for ourselves right and they ate from that tree and they died ultimately God was right they were wrong but my point is they decided that they were going to trust in man's word rather than God's word and we haven't inherited that nature that sin nature from our forefathers we have inherited that and so I want to suggest you that the loss of biblical authority is the root of the decline of Christian America and that loss of biblical Authority where people say we're not gonna do what the Bible says because it's just nonsense that begins in Genesis that's the place where people have said no we know from science that that's wrong and so you see it used to be you could say in in the United States of America you'd say things like abortion is wrong and homosexual behaviors wrong adultery is wrong and people say of course I get that because we had that Christian heritage but today well the culture shifted today say abortions wrong homosexual behavior strong adultery strong people so not according to my rules because they have a different standard that standard is not the Bible it's not God's Word it's been replaced with another idea that stems from evolutionary thinking and by evolution I'm referring to this idea that single celled organisms eventually through you know through mutations and natural selection diversified into all the different kinds of life we see today you're related to broccoli in the evolutionary worldview as I mentioned to a group of atheist one time they didn't like that but it's true in their worldview I don't believe I'm related to broccoli I believe we're related to each other because we're all descended from Adam and Eve and that will have an impact on the way you think of other things your origins will have an impact on the way you think about other things if God's Word is true from the beginning then we have creation we have a creator and so we would expect to have laws because there's a lawgiver we're made in God's image where do we learn that well that's in Genesis isn't it where do we learn that God's the creator all that's in Genesis now this is reiterated the relic route the rest of the scriptures but it begins in Genesis and where did we find the first laws given in Genesis where God gives his first commands to Adam and Eve and where we learn about consequences for disobedience to those laws laws go back to creation they're based on a creator who has the right to make the rules because he's creator and were they created marriage where'd we get this idea of marriage one man and one woman united by God for life like us back to Genesis doesn't that God created Adam and Eve he instituted marriage in the beginning and therefore he gets to define marriage because he's the Creator God defines marriage not the Supreme Court by the way God defines marriage standards standards of behavior standards of clothing I noticed you all wearing clothes today I appreciate that I'm sure you do too there's a reason for that it wasn't originally that way right but where do we learn about why we wear clothes that's in Genesis isn't it that's the origin of clothing for human beings meaning of life why is it that human life is valuable and is objectively valuable it doesn't just say well I don't like that person therefore he has no value no he has value whether you like him or not because he's made the image of God and where do we learn that people are made in the image of God that's in Genesis Christian doctrines have their basis in Genesis folks all these things that we teach these good moral principles that Christians teach have their basis in Genesis in creation and by the way Jesus understood this he often in his earthly ministry alluded back to Genesis in some fashion when the Pharisees and Sadducees would challenge him in Matthew 19 when the religious leaders asked Jesus about divorce trying to trap him he went back and quoted Genesis 1 and 2 is the foundation for marriage he understood that but you see what's happened in our culture is there's been another set of standards that have come about because there's another foundation evolution you don't need we don't need God to explain life we don't need that we we know millions of years of evolution is the way it happened well they don't know that but that's what they say and if that's the case why would you have laws right I mean what it laws are all about protecting the weak from the strong and yet evolution is about the strong dominating over the weak that's how it's supposed to proceed so why would you have what would you have laws in an evolutionary worldview why not do what you want with sex and an evolution worldview if we're just animals animals do what they want right or why not abort babies get rid of spare cats get rid of spare kids same difference if we're just animals if we're just chemical accidents what's wrong with getting rid of a chemical accident right I mean you can see that how that way of thinking could be justified I'm not suggesting that evolution is the cause of all these problems that we have in society sin is the cause of those problems I'm just suggesting that evolution gives people a way to try and justify that sin in their minds because these standards over here these Christian standards do not make sense on that foundation because these are based on creation they're based on the fact that we have a creator and that he has given us laws that we were to obey and that there is there are consequences for disobedience we see that in Genesis so what's happened in our culture that foundation and creation has eroded in the minds of people they think well yeah well nobody believes that anymore nobody believes that God created we know that evolutions the way life came about well then why would you have moral laws why would marriage be one man and one woman for life if there really wasn't an animal Eve if that's just a fairy tale what's the foundation of marriage well marriages of the cultural trend then and the culture changes so why should the definition of marriage change and you see that's not just a hypothetical issue is it that's happening that's what we're seeing in the world today we're seeing these doctrines being challenged because their foundation has been removed in the minds of people we need to understand our foundations are under attack and if the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do even a lot of Christians unfortunately have kind of bought into this and they've said well maybe you know God used evolution somehow because there's a lot of smart people that believe in evolution and so on we get intimidated by the world but if God used evolution then that means Genesis isn't really history is that it's not literal history because Genesis gives us a different account of origins than the Darwinian evolution version and so a lot of people have said well maybe Genesis is just you know it's kind of a poetic section of the Bible it's true spiritually but it's not literally true Genesis isn't written that way it's not written as poetry you know there's verses that you love to read before you go to bed and so and so begat so and so maybe it's own so those genealogies like you find in Genesis 5 all those verses are there for a reason they're there to tell us that these are real people that live that tells us their names the names of at least one of their children sometimes how long they lived before the first child sometimes the age afterwards and so on very specific details that is not what you would include in a poem that would be ridiculous or some people have said well maybe Genesis is like a parable it's just a fictional story to illustrate a spiritual truth well Jesus often used parables right but parables aren't written that way parables usually don't have specific names anyway it's usually there was a certain man or there was a king or whatever and you certainly wouldn't have a detailed genealogy and a parable that would be pointless if you're trying to illustrate a spiritual truth you want to keep it succinct as possible so no this is not written in that style it's not written in a poetic style by the way poetry is easy to recognize in the Bible in English we tend to focus more on rhyme and meter but in the Hebrew language they focused on parallelism and so you would have a statement and you have a parallel statement like the heavens declare the glory of God the skies proclaim the work of his hands kind of says the same thing using different two different ways of saying it that is the key identifier of Hebrew poetry and you do not find that in Genesis it's not there Genesis bears all the distinctives of history if you think about it this would be a terrible poem wouldn't it so-and-so begets oh no that's not poetry its history and Jesus referred to it as such and by the way those genealogies lead up to Jesus and you can read about them in Matthew and in Luke yes and so here's my question then for Christians who say but I don't think Adam is a real person but you're a Christian oh yeah I'm a Christian I believe in Jesus but wait a min ji zhis is descended from Adam you think Adams just a metaphor how do you have Jesus being descended from a metaphor you don't have to be an expert on genetics to know a real person can't be descended from a metaphorical one right that's not going to work that doesn't even make sense it's important that Jesus is descended from a real literal Adam and so are we all why is that important well it makes Jesus our relative you are related to Jesus Christ he is your your brother his his relative and you say why is that important because according to biblical law only a relative can redeem you there's an important concept in the Bible the concept of the kinsman redeemer it's only a relative who can take your place on the cross it's because we're all of one blood the Bible says in acts 17 meaning we're all descended from Adam that Jesus's blood counts for us on the cross it's because we're related to him unless of course Genesis is myth in which case you might not be related to Jesus and then you're not eligible for salvation that's a problem people don't think these issues through why is it the blood of bulls and goats can't take away sins Hebrews 10:4 tells us that now they were used symbolically in the Old Testament the animal sacrifices to point forward to Christ so the Jews would know what to expect they understood substitutionary atonement that was just symbolic though animals don't take away sins why because we're not related to them unless of course evolution is true in which case that doctrine is gone isn't it you see Christian doctrines go back to Genesis even the gospel itself goes back to Genesis where do we learn that death is the penalty percent it's in Genesis isn't it now that's reiterated throughout the rest of the Scriptures but it's in Genesis we learned that the penalty for disobedience to God who is life naturally would be death that makes sense it's logical putting in another way which Adam is not essential to the gospel we got the first ad and that made it necessary for us to be saved and we've got Jesus Christ whom the Bible calls the last Adam who made it possible for us to be saved my point is that without the first Adam why do we need salvation and by the way that's that's an issue if you if you go around saying trust in Jesus to be saved a lot of times people in the world will say saved from what I'm basically a good person now there's someone who doesn't understand Genesis or doesn't believe it because if you understand Genesis you get a taste of the holiness of God how many sins did it take to ruin the world 1 have you sinned once yes more than once maybe you've got a problem then God can't let you into the restore the new earth otherwise you'd ruin it just like you ruin the original that's a problem for us because we've all sinned seat Genisys concept isn't it it's because of Adam we inherited a sin nature from Adam when he sinned he became a sinner and sinners beget sinners and as a result were born into the world sinning rebelling against God needing salvation it's the first Adam that makes sense of why we need a Savior the last time Jesus Christ see the Bible really is the history book of the universe it begins in the beginning God created and it tells us the important events that have happened throughout history in terms of our relationship with God and I find that a lot of people like the morality the Bible teaches but they want to reject the history and that true even even atheists like some of the morality the Bible teaches they read thou shalt not murder oh yeah that's a good one he'll take that one they don't wanna be murdered thou shalt not steal yeah Bobble got that one right but those moral concepts come out of the history why is it wrong to murder because people have been made in the image of God that's an historical fact you see and why is it wrong to steal because God is sovereign over everything and he's apportioned to people as he wills he's commanded us not to do that and so you see the morality comes out of the history but it wouldn't make sense apart from it we're just rearranged pond-scum but we're just chemical accidents chemicals do what chemicals do there's no right or wrong about it right you mix the vinegar in the baking soda and it fizzes up that's just what happens you'll get mad at and say bad baking soda you shouldn't fist up that way right that would be ridiculous chemicals just do what chemicals do there's no morality if we're just chemicals it's in the Christian worldview where historically we've been made in the image of God and where God has given us freedom to obey or disobey and we because of our sin nature we disobey Jesus put it this way speaking of Nicodemus he said if I've told you earthly things and you do not believe how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things that's a pretty good question isn't it Jesus was masterful at asking probing questions to get people to think you see the bible does talk about earthly things history science even yes the Bible touches on science talks about the days of creation it talks about Noah's Flood it talks about the confusion of tongues at Babel matters of history things that happened in time and it talks about spiritual issues morality salvation and if you say yes but I don't think that those details and Genesis are exactly right I think that's just a metaphor if God didn't get the details right in Genesis how can you trust that he got the details right on how to inherit eternal life that's what I want to know does God know how to write a book or doesn't mean all right that's the issue isn't it I think anybody who can speak the universe into existence can probably write a book I've written books it's not that hard okay I think God can write a good book a book that can be understood by the creatures that he made in his image God's not the author of confusion he's not gonna write in a way that's confusing and reflexing read you need a PhD to understand it not at all he writes clearly I know that's not to say there aren't difficult passages in the Bible but my point is the main themes of the Bible are meant to be understood and God knows how to write a book but we get intimidated right you got God's infallible word man's fallible word why is it that when people why is it people change the infallible one to agree with the the one with what they want when they want these two things to agree we want to be academically respectable so we want to believe in in evolution like all the scientists not that all of them do but a majority of probably do we want to be accepted by that so we modify the Bible didn't really mean that God created not literally it's just a metaphor for evolution and what have you the one that you modifies the one you don't really have your faith in by the way that's something to think about right your ultimate standard you don't you don't modify it because you'd need a greater standard to tell you how to modify it in which case it wouldn't be ultimate so that's that's a very revealing about the way that we think in the world today and this is not new oh the religious leaders at the time of Christ's earthly ministry oh they were masterful had reinterpreting God's Word to match their traditions and how did Jesus respond to that how did he respond to the religious leaders with modern political correctness that's not my personal opinion but if you want believe that that's okay you didn't respond that way or or you know it's not a Salvation issue so let's just agree to disagree let's all just hold hands and sing Kumbaya right that is not the way Jesus responded in his earthly ministry he responded with it is written have you not read Jesus stood authoritative Leon the Word of God and when people challenged that people had distorted God's Word like the Pharisees and Sadducees often did he would point them back to it have you haven't you read have you not read and you do realize Jesus is using sarcasm there of course they'd read it he's pointing out they hadn't applied it they weren't thinking through the issues rationally we don't think about Jesus using sarcasm but he did on occasion and he did it masterfully you can think of the war that's going on today a bit like these two cities you have the City of God creation creationist truth God's Word is true from the beginning and you have the city of man evolution secular humanism based on evolution man independent from God determines truth and how are we fighting this this war perhaps not as effectively as we could be we're arguing over issues that maybe aren't so important we're shooting billboards which is okay I mean you can point out that abortion is wrong and racism is wrong that's okay we should do that we should but my point is if that's all we're doing those issues are going to keep coming up because we haven't dealt with the root of the problem the secular thinking based on evolution and independant from God determines truth and of course the worst thing we could be doing is shooting our own foundation representing Christians who say well yeah you don't have to believe in Genesis zap and that's that's not wise it's not wise folks the secular humanists are smart they're aiming at our foundation they're saying you can't trust in the Bible because you can't trust in Genesis God doesn't even get that first chapter right that's what they claim well what's the solution then let's find his apps and billboards we should do some of that but we need to defend ourselves against these arguments for evolution that are not good arguments by the way I have yet to hear a logically cogent argument for evolution in the Darwinian sense yes animals change a bit but they don't change from one kind to another they don't they don't change on that fundamental level we need to do some damage ourselves and point out that evolution is a bankrupt conjecture scientifically bankrupt it's not something that's well supported by evidence not at all we saw that if you're able to attend to the Men's Conference that's that's you saw evidence for that how science confirms biblical creation we want to repair the damage that's been done show you you can trust in creation you can trust in the Bible from the beginning it's all the Word of God and it's all true everything the Bible affirms is true and I like how this is illustrated too because you notice we're not aiming it at the people we don't want to destroy the people we want the people to be saved we want to destroy that idea that that that's imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God secular humanism that's what we want to cast out because that is false thinking and it leads to destruction we want the people to be saved we want him to jump off swim over and join us on the City of God we wanted to be Christians and we're not bashful about that some some people try to sort of cover up their their Christian bias because they want to be neutral and unbiased but you know say you know we can talk about I'll just show you that there's a god and that from science or whatever we leave the Bible out of it but well I'm sorry but the demons believe in God and tremble it doesn't save them and a creationist will end up in hell the same as an atheistic evolutionist if they haven't trusted in Christ as their Savior we want people to be saved and so I'm very upfront about my conviction that Bible is true you say but but what if so and so what if the person I'm talking with doesn't believe the Bible well that's their problem right they should the Bible has been historically vindicated time and time again it's the Word of God they should believe it and God has written his law in people's hearts so when we when we read God's Word bells rang and we recognized that as the word of our Creator right jesus said my sheep hear my voice I know them they follow me so we're very upfront about that we want people to be saved getting people to trust in God's Word that's that's the means how much people are saying if you see so it's not an academic game it's not just I'm not out here just because I like science I mean I like science a lot don't get me wrong it's fascinating I think it glorifies God but I want to see people saved and science is one method we can use to show people that God's Word is true from the beginning because it's because science confirms it it lines up with it we're not the time scale of creation there's some controversy there although there really shouldn't be the Bible tells us that God created in six days it tells us what he did on each of those days of creation human beings are made on the sixth day and from those genealogies that you love to read forget about and so and so begat so and so you add up the ages and you find something like a few thousand years something like four thousand years between creation and Christ's earthly ministry and that was about two thousand years ago so something like six thousand years for the age of the earth the age of the universe and and boy that rubs people the wrong way because we've been taught in in the secular world the secular media most public schools teach that the earth is 4.5 billion years old the universe is 13.8 billion years old the numbers change a little bit from year to year but something like that and and and boy you know that's what that's what the science indicates right because I mean there we find fossils and the fossils were laid down over millions of years right because you'll find in the textbooks say there it is millions of years got to be true it's in the book right I confirmed it on the internet it's got to be true well just because something's in a book doesn't necessarily make it true and by the way when you dig up a fossil it doesn't come with a label telling you how old it is it's just a fossil you don't know the age of it automatically people think scientists are sort of like magicians you know they just they take the fossil they scan it with our tricorder and measure the age equals and it just tells them the age it's not the way it works there are all kinds of assumptions that go into - age dating rocks and so on and ultimately they're making a guess about the age based on certain assumptions but people get intimidate and they think but you know that most of the scientists believe in the millions of years well they have to if they're gonna believe in evolution you need that because even even they would recognize that evolutions ridiculous on a on a thousands of years timescale so they get intimidated and we want to try to fit the millions of years into the Bible then so that we can believe both right well where you gonna fit the millions of years if you're convinced that the world's millions of years old or billions years old were you gonna fit the millions of years you can't put it in between Adam and Christ because that would destroy those genealogies right and some people say well maybe there's a you know a few gaps in there by the way there's no evidence for that in the old in the Old Testament anyway for gaps in the genealogies but even if there were it wouldn't be millions he hears that doesn't make any sense so people try to put the millions of years in the creation week because that's the only place they can think to do it and there's a few different ways they try to fit the millions of years into creation week some people have said well maybe the millions of years happens before the beginning and that's pretty easy to refute because if the millions he hears happened before the beginning then the beginning wouldn't be the beginning right it would it would be the much later and that's not what the Bible teaches about with teaches us in the beginning that God created the heaven and the earth and they say well maybe the millions years happens before Genesis 1:1 and 1 between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 they get so-called gap theory we'll come back to that one of the most common is the idea that well maybe the days weren't really days at all maybe they were actually hundreds of millions of years maybe God meant to say in 6 ages he made the heavens and the earth and but for some reason he used the word day and hoped we'd figure it out well I'm sorry but the Bible just doesn't teach that the Bible says 6 days and it uses the regular Hebrew word for day but some people said oh but maybe you know days are maybe different to God right because the Bible says in 2nd Peter 3:8 that one day is with the Lord is a thousand years so maybe those days were really long right I think it's funny though that they only quote the first part of the verse what does the rest of the verse say one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day cancels that right out you see I find people only take the first part of the verse out of context to try and make biblical time longer they never take the second part out of context to try and make biblical time shorter right never heard anybody say well the Bible indicates about two thousand years between Abraham and Christ but a thousand years as his day is really only 48 hours nobody argues that it's not a conversion formula to convert from God's time to mass time by the way God is beyond time and that's really as the meaning of this verse when you read it in context it's explaining God's patience why he's delaying judgment at least for playing it from human perspective so that many many people can be saved all the people that God wants to save will be saved he's delaying judgment and he's able to do that because he's beyond time he's patient because he's beyond time God created time and so he does understand how it works he understands how to keep time God doesn't need a clock we need clocks and so God made that's one of the purposes of the universe is to keep time to be four signs seasons days and years God does understand time this is not giving you permission to take the word day everywhere you see in the scripture and make it a thousand years and by the way that would make the earth twelve thousand years old instead of six thousand what did you get you wouldn't get anywhere close to the millions of years that people think they need to add that's a scripture the Hebrew word for day is young and it's used over 2,000 times in the Old Testament of the Bible in singular and plural form the plural form is young men and I find the only place people question what does day mean is in Genesis isn't that true for some reason people don't seem to have a problem understanding what day means in other books of the Bible right have you ever had any discussions on now how long was Jonah really in the belly of the great fish oh I think those are ordinary days I think those might have been thousands of years he might've been in there a very long time right you just don't have those kinds of discussions of course not no wonder he repented right he was in there 3,000 years how long did Joshua really take to march around the walls of Jericho well I think there's Wardner days well I think they might have been thousands of years each right they might have been marching for a long time no of course not we understand what a day is so does God so to the men that God used to write his word and people say oh but but dr. Lisle the Hebrew word for day can mean a period of time longer than 24 hours well yes you want its use poetically yes it can but the main meaning of day is is day surprisingly that's the main definition of yom when it's used literally it's a day it can be used poetically so can the English word for day you might say back in my father's day that's a non-literal use of the word day or you do mean a period of time longer than 24 hours I get that but that doesn't mean they always means a long period of time right back in my father's day it took three days to drive across Texas during the day so you get the word day used three times and all but you didn't have any trouble understanding it because you used context you use the surrounding words to constrain the meaning so back in my father's day yeah okay that's a non-literal use that would be a longer period of time it took three days one of those would be ordinary days because it's got a number with it three days would be three long periods of time you wouldn't use the word in that in that sense to drive across Texas during the day that would be the light portion of an ordinary day so that's how we understand where most words have more than one meaning and you use context to figure out which meaning is relevant in the given in the given sentence in the given paragraphs and so it's the same way with Hebrew it's the same way with any language words the surrounding words constrain the meaning and so let's take a look at the Hebrew word fer de yom outside of Genesis 1 where we all agree what it means we find for example that when day is used in context with a number as in an ordered list the first day the second day the third day the fourth day it is always it always means an ordinary day it's always translated that way of course if I said he went up to his city on the third day you'd understand I'm talking about an ordinary day it's got a number with it of course that's an ordinary day and people don't bother to argue it outside of Genesis 1 in all the historical narrative sections of Scripture evening and morning even if the word day isn't there what's an evening plus a morning it's a day those are the boundaries of the day and so if I said there was evening and morning you'd know I'm talking about an ordinary day that happens thirty-eight times outside of Genesis 1 we all agree that's an ordinary day if I said there was evening that day you'd understand I'm talking about an ordinary day evening with day or morning with that you'd understand I'm talking about an ordinary day morning with day 23 times each outside Genesis 1 we all agree that's an ordinary day if I contrast a day and night if I said there was day then there was night you know I'm talking about an ordinary day an ordinary night they constrain each other so these are contextual clues that tell us that we're dealing with ordinary days and not the poetic figure of speech so day with a number evening and morning together evening with day or morning with day or day contrasted with night so let's apply these contextual Clues to Genesis 1 and see when you figure out what God meant when he said he created in six days Genesis 1 verse 5 and God called the light day so there he's defining it for you day is when it's light out that would be an ordinary day right he's defined it in the darkness he called night she of night contrasted with day that's going to be an ordinary day and the evening got evening associated with day that's gonna be an ordinary day you got morning associated with day that's gonna be an ordinary day you got evening and morning together that constitutes an ordinary day and you got a number with it gotta be an ordinary day that's pretty clear isn't it God used about every contextual indicator he could possibly have used to indicate that those were ordinary at least that first day what about the other days of creation see if we can figure out what God meant here evening morning number day evening morning number day evening morning number day evening morning number day evening morning number day that's pretty clear isn't it's kinda like God saying see they're ordinary days in the case you still don't get it they're ordinary days in case you're a little thick there weren't any days cuz you were late intellectually challenged they're ordinary days it's pretty clear people say oh but the Sun wasn't made until the fourth day and that's true but it's also irrelevant it's primarily the rotation of the earth that controls the length of the day the Sun doesn't have much to do with it the Sun just provides a source of light as long as you have a source of light and a rotating planet you're gonna have ordinary day and night did we have a source of light for the first three days and God said let there be light and there was light yeah we had a source of light and God divided the light from the darkness God called the light day the darkness he called night of course we had did you have a rotating planet yeah we had evening good morning the first day of course so there's no problem there you know all the other other units of time have a basis in astronomy but not a week where do we get the idea of a week seven days where as in idea come from hmm a day is a rotation of Earth on its axis a month is the amount of time it takes the moon to go through its phases that's where we get the word month it is a month how and the or of course the years the amount of time it takes the earth to go around the Sun where do we get the idea of seven days in a week that's how long it took for God to create and rest he tells us that explicitly in Exodus 20 and you know Exodus 20 that's the Ten Commandments we like to memorize that chapter or sections of it verse 8 remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy then he gives it gives the explanation six days you do all your labor the seventh is the Lord's etc etc verse 11 is the explanation for why we have a seven-day week why do you work six days and rest 1 because that's what God did God worked 6 days and he rested 1 and by the way uses the same word for day there in the plural form Yaman which is which is only literal it's never used in a in a long time sense so my point is if God really had created over millions of years you would have an awfully long workweek you'd never make it to the weekend literally back in Martin Luther's time there were some people who are trying to squeeze the days of creation into one day and say for various philosophical reasons they think they thought God made in an instant or in one day anyway and I want to show you how Martin Luther responds to this I think it's a great quote he says how long did the work of creation take when Moses writes that God created heaven and earth and whatever is in them in six days then let this period continue to have been six days and do not venture to devise any comment according to which six days were one day I love this last part he says but if you cannot understand how this could have been done in six days then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned than you are you spot on if you don't understand how God could have created in six days that's okay he's smarter than you are it's not a problem what about a gap people have said well yeah there's no doubt the days are ordinary days but maybe we can stick millions years in between two of them right and so in the beginning God created heaven in the earth and then there's a gap of millions of years maybe that's when Lucifer fell maybe there was a Lucifer's flood and all kinds of things and the world became ruined and they'd like to translate verse two and the earth became without form and void they really can't translate it that way in that context but you actually can't put a gap of time in between verse 1 and verse 2 based on the way it's worded in Hebrew this is Genesis 1 in Hebrew and Hebrew reads right to left so now verse 2 uses a grammatical construction in Hebrew called evolved this junk t'v and that's where you have and followed by a non verb like the earth the earth isn't it being on verb because it's a noun right so when you have and the earth that's that means you have evolved disjunctive and what's evolved disjunctive well basically it's kind of like what we'd use parentheses for in English it indicates that that is a clarification or explanation of what came before it and so you can't put a gap of time between verse 1 and verse 2 because verse 2 is not intended to follow in time verse 2 is an explanation of verse 1 so in the beginning God created heaven in the earth parentheses and the earth was without form and void etc verse 2 is describing the conditions that existed when God first created the heavens and the earth and it's explaining that the earth was empty and formless because God had not yet shaped it and filled it that makes perfect sense now the rest of Genesis is Vaud consecutive where you have an followed by a verb and said God and the original Hebrew word order and that does follow in time but my point is people want to put the millions of years and do it into a place where it's grammatically impossible you can't do that and you in and really there's no basis for that because Exodus 20:11 says in six days the Lord made the heaven the earth the sea and all that's in them so that means in the span of six days now there's a lot of science that goes along with this and if you were able to attend the conference we covered a lot of these I'll just mention one briefly the fact that we find carbon-14 and just about everything that has carbon in it even things that evolutionists believe to be billions of years old have c14 in them and that's significant because c14 has a half-life of 5730 14 got in there over but how it's a diamond it's the hardest substance you can't get new C 14 in there it's unrealistic it must have been in there when it formed and they must have formed recently lots of stuff like that fossils when you when you use carbon dating and you yes you can use carbon dating sometimes on fossils if they have enough carbon in them if they haven't fully pur mineralized but every one we tested in C 14 in it which means they're not millions years old they're not there's lots of stuff like that but my question is does it matter because historically what happened is the secular scientists came along and said the Bible is not true these we know these rock layers are millions of years old and and you got to trust me and a lot of theologians not all of them but a lot of them thought well maybe we can allow for that I mean these are smart people and we don't want this to be a stumbling block to salvation I think they're well-meaning but they thought well maybe we can allow reinterpretations of God's Word to accommodate what these secularists believe and that's a problem people say is is it really important is it a Salvation issue is that is the recent creation timescale really a Salvation issue not in the sense that you are required to believe in six days to be saved I know that the Bible tells us we're saved by grace received through faith in Christ and we don't want to add to that God fortunately doesn't require us to have perfect theology to be saved because then we'd all fall short when we but nonetheless out of gratitude for our salvation we ought to theology is correct as possible we ought to submit to God's Word and so I would argue that it's it's maybe not a Salvation issue in the sense of essential for salvation but it is an important issue the age of the earth is an important issue it's kinda like gravity gravity is not a Salvation issue but it's an important issue would you not agree right you can not believe in gravity and you'll still go to heaven you'll probably get there a lot quicker that way right it's not a Salvation issue but it's an important issue and it's the same way with the age of the earth it's important for two reasons that I'm going to give you today and perhaps many more first of all it matters because it's what the Bible teaches yes the bible does teach that god created in six days and it does give us the ages of the patriarchs such that you can add it up and you find a few thousand years maybe he can get an exact date but it's not gonna be millions of years the Bible tells us that in fact a section of Bible of the Bible that says in six days God created that's part of the Ten Commandments that was written by the finger of God in stone I think that's interesting and significant most of the places God used men to write his word it's inspired by God it's all true it's everything the Bible affirms I think it's interesting to place that people most want to compromise is the place where God didn't even use a human agent he wrote it with his own finger in stone and that's where you want to compromise mm-hmm see the same Bible that teaches that God created in six days also teaches a virgin birth of Christ that Jesus walked on water turned water into wine calmed the storm raised the dead raised himself from the dead doesn't the same Bible teach all of those things if you say yes but I don't I don't think I'm gonna believe in a six days because most scientists say that's not possible I think that's just I'm gonna reinterpret that section of the Bible I Got News for you most scientists would say virgin birth and human beings not possible turning water into wine not possible walking on water or not possible resurrection from the dead not possible you'd have to reinterpret those sections too to be consistent right are you going to allow people who don't believe in God's Word to tell you how you ought to interpret God's Word that's the question now some people have said oh but wait a minute dr. Lao that list on the right those are miracles and so that you know that we don't have to apply the standards of science to those but I'm thinking wasn't the creation of the universe of miracle if not I'd like to see you do it right of course not we need to trust what God has said in his word even if it's contrary to our way of thinking because our way of thinking can be wrong God cannot be there's another reason why you don't want to add the millions of years in and that concerns these fossils that we find all over the earth and it's again they don't come with labels telling how old they are the labels maybe you've seen fossils with labels and museums and the like but those are attached later they didn't come that way and they were attached by people who did not see the fossil form and therefore do not know when the fossil formed at least not on their own authority but people impose those ages on the fossils and it that leads to some theological problems because a fossil is a dead thing right you got dead organisms in the attract and rock layers and if you have death and you think that fossils hundreds of millions years old that means you got death before Adam sinned because we all agree human beings don't go back hundreds of millions of years even the evolutionists concede that human being is a recent right but doesn't the Bible say that death came into the world as a result of Adam's sin isn't death indeed the penalty for sin when Adam sinned it brought death into the world and because Adam was given charge over the world death even spread to the organisms that were under Adams control at under his dominion and so but see if the million see here if the fossils remains a years old that means it's not by man that came death it's by death became man those are logically contrary positions you can't have it both ways is death the penalty for sin or is it something that's what was already in the world for millions of years that's what I want to know so you have the Garden of Eden Eve's saying God's creation is perfect Adams saying God said it's very good and he's right something like that God saw and by the way it wasn't just the Garden of Eden God saw everything he had made and behold it was very good the Bible says now if you believe in millions of years if you believe the fossils are millions of years old then that means the world had been suffering with death disease bloodshed and so on for millions of years until God finally got around to finishing creating Adam and Eve and then called it very good in which case you got the Garden of Eden sitting on top of millions a year's worth of death suffering disease bloodshed and so on and God calling it very good is disease very good because we find fossils with evidence of diseases and things like cancer are right us and so on in these fossil layers that are deep down there's a whole field called paleo pathology that studies disease in fossils now were those diseases already in the world when God finished his creation it's awesome very good in which case cancer and arthritis and so on are very good in which case why would you bother praying for your sick friend but see Jesus reversed the curse and his earthly ministry temporarily at least right he healed the sick and of course he'll permanently reverse the curse at the second coming where death will be undone but my point is death suffering disease bloodshed these are things that are the result of disobedience to God not obedience to God they're not very good they were introduced as a punishment for sin and punishment by its nature is unpleasant it's something that's that we don't desire otherwise it wouldn't be punishment now some people have said oh but dr. Lisle I think it's just human death that was introduced at the time of sin I think animals have been living and dying for millions of years but I don't think you can defend that scripturally because if you think about it when Adam sinned and God confronted Adam and Eve he then sacrificed his animal didn't he to provide skins of clothing for Adam and Eve because those would be animal skins which means God sacrificed an animal or animals to provide clothing for Adam and Eve and I think it was a symbolic covering for their shame of course it's literal clothes but it provided a covering for their shame so God instituted animal death animal death when Adam and Eve sinned and we see that in Genesis and it's and you say why do animals have to suffer because Adam had dominion over them that's the nature of Authority we've all suffered when when our government officials who have authority over us do something stupid we suffer because we're under their authority that's the nature of Dominion that's the nature of authority now some people have said oh but we got you here dr. lout because we know there were death of plants before Adam and Eve sinned because they would have been eating plants or at least plant parts and the interesting thing about that is biblically plants are not considered alive and so they don't literally die isn't that interesting the the Hebrew word nephesh nephesh chi or nephesh kaya for living creature it's applied to human beings it's applied to animals it's never applied to plants plants are never referred to as Nephi Khai anywhere in scripture they're not alive in the same way that we are right and therefore they don't literally die they're just recycled back into the environment now we use the term somewhat metaphorically when we talk about you know a dead plant well even what you biologists might modern biologists might classify plants is living that's fine but my point is the Bible is using different terminology and the biblical terminology plants are not living they are food for living things granted they're self-replicating food which is awesome that God has designed the universe that way but they're not alive in the same way that we are and you know that right you know that plants are in a different category we can talk about a dead plant but it's different from a dead animal isn't it you talk about a dead battery but it's not really alive not it was never really alive in the same way that a human being or an animal is and you know that you come across a so called dead tree well that's nice I think I'll sit on that for a little while if you take a picture of it put it over my mammal that's nice if you come across a dead animal you say well that's nice I think I'm gonna sit on that for a little while take a picture of it but yeah that's different isn't it yeah we recognize the difference between animal death which is an intrusion into a world that was once good and plant death which was just part of the normal cycle to be plant death in the eternal state presumably is that plant cycle so this model is very clear God made a very good world it's not gonna be full of death and suffering even if the animals God cares about the animals - not to the same extent as those he's those creatures he's made in his image but nonetheless he has a plan for them as well there's a very good world not full of death and suffering we ruined it by rebelling against God and the world would be made perfect again in the future as a result of Christ's obedience and we can be part of that only by Christ's forgiving us of our sins and paying for our penalty on the cross you see if you God if you believe God created over millions of years of death and suffering then death and suffering or God's fault and when somebody dies you can blame God and people do by the way people who have an evolutionary worldview their friend dies and they say some God of love you are why did you allow this and there's person who doesn't believe in Genesis or doesn't understand it because if you understand Genesis you realize wait a minute death is not God's fault it is our fault we sinned against God and when that happened the world became broken we live in a fallen world it's not very good anymore it's there's still a lot of good in the world don't get me wrong God still His grace is still present in this world but it's not the very good world that it was when it began because now there's death and suffering in it there's the curse and so well if you understand that and when somebody dies you need to remember it's not God's fault it's our fault and the only reason that God did not look at all your sin as you were sleeping last night and justly kill you in your sleep for your rebellion against him is because of his grace and so when somebody dies we need to remember that's what I deserve and I deserve it a million times over because of all my sins against God I deserve an eternity of death and praise God that even though I'm gonna die physically he's gonna resurrect me and I'm gonna experience eternal life because of what Jesus did for me that's awesome that's what we should be thinking when got when we when a friend dies we need to recognize this is the horrible effect of rebellion against God it's not God's fault it's our fault and the only reason I'm able to take my next breath is because of God's grace how many breaths have you taken today you don't deserve them we live in a very entitled society right and I think that's because of evolutionary thinking I deserve free healthcare I deserve free education I understand biblically what you deserve is death and hell anything you get it's better than that is by God's grace and that that produces a different kind of attitude at the heart when you recognize that you know there's another thing though that people don't think about often when considering you know the age of the earth and things of that nature and that's the extent of the flood the Bible talks about a worldwide flood does it not in Genesis 6 7 and 8 the flood that where Noah took two of each kind on board the ark and so on and it turns out you can't consistently believe in a worldwide flood in millions of years because either the fossils were deposited primarily by that worldwide a worldwide flood would deposit a lot of fossils it's gonna kill organisms Berryman sediment and I believe that's what is responsible for the majority of fossils a few of them afterwards but most of them during that worldwide flood but if you believe in millions of years if you believe the the fossils were deposited gradually over millions of years then there's no room for worldwide flood because it would destroy any previous fossil record anyway therefore those people who believed in millions of years can't consistently believe in a worldwide flood I'm thinking of one teacher in particular who goes around he's professing christian' but because he believes in the Big Bang in millions of years and so on he teaches that Noah's Flood was a local event limited to the Mesopotamia Valley he just thinks all human beings were living in Mesopotamia at the time well what does the Bible have to say about this though what does the Bible have to say about the extent of the flight let's take a look Genesis 6:17 God says and behold I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy what a few things here and there no to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from what the local Mesopotamia Valley no from under heaven that would be under the sky that would be pretty much all of the earth witness isn't everything that is in the earth shall die it sounds like a global flood doesn't it well let's read on Genesis 7 19 through 20 and the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and all the high hills that render the whole heaven were covered 15 cubits upward did the waters prevail the mountains were covered folks that's a global flood isn't it a flood that covers the high hills that's gonna be a global flood all flesh died that moved upon the earth every creeping thing every man all in his nostrils was of the breath of life of all that was in the dry land died every living substance was destroyed God just goes on and on to explain this is global everything except those that were Noah only remained alive and they were with him on the ark Bible is very clear that was a global flood one in which all the high hills were covered by the way you can't have high hills covered by a local flood think about that what would it look like it'd look like this right water seeks its own level you can't have a local flood covering the high hills and what was the purpose of the rainbow God's promised never to send another local flood if it was a local flood that God's broken his promise thousands of times cuz we do have local floods sometimes with the rainbow reminding us that what God brings his promises no God promised never to send another global flood and he hasn't and he won't because God keeps his promises what was the purpose of the ark why would you build an ark this eyes of an ocean liner and take two of every air breathing land animal including birds by the way for a local flood that you knew was coming why not just move right that'd be a lot easier I would think I mean you knew it was coming he had a hundred year warning I'm an astronomer we have to do a little bit of astronomy here here's a picture of the surface of Mars and we've actually sent a number of spacecraft to Mars that have gone around and analyzed the rocks and so on it's pretty amazing we can do that sort of thing and they've actually based on the types of rocks that they find here they actually believe that some of these are floodplains that's interesting in fact they quote from a newspaper here says a flood of biblical proportions enough to fill the Mediterranean Sea gushed down from the highlands of Mars a billion or so years ago the latest picture from the Pathfinder confirmed Monday now the interesting thing about this is not that there was flooding on Mars because I think there is some evidence of that but I think it's funny that that secular scientists are willing to believe in a flood of biblical proportions and yet Mars does not have any water on it today it is dry he's got water a little bit of water vapor a little bit of frozen water and yet scientists are willing to believe in a flood of biblical proportions on a planet that has no liquid water and yet the same secular scientists will say about the earth which is currently 71% covered with water all you can't have a global flood on the earth that won't work isn't that interesting and counterintuitive but they'll believe in a flood on Mars and this is exactly what the Bible predicted would happen it says that in knowing the last days knowing this first that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming for since the father's fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation that's uniformitarianism everything is is today as it was before no worldwide flood it says for this they willfully forget that by the Word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water by which the world then existed perish being flooded with water so says they willing they willingly forget or they're deliberately ignorant of the fact that the world was flooded by water and that pre-flood civilization was destroyed by water that's exactly what we're seeing today so it's funny the people who who try to critique the Bible and argue against it by saying there was no worldwide flood proved the Bible's true because the Bible predicted they say that it's kind of interesting I want to sum it up with this cross series the church is preaching a message come to Jesus come to the cross and be saved that's the right message we want to be preaching that that's the gospel that's important that's what we're all about but there's been an attack in the form of millions of years that's one of the attacks on God's Word and it impacts and most of us you know what we think when we see that millions of years impact we say oh that's a miss that didn't hit the cross not a Salvation issue I don't have to worry about millions years and what we fail to recognize often is that millions of years is an attack on Genesis because if millions of years is true the Genesis isn't literal history folks they can't be Satan's crafty if he were aiming at the cross and saying there was no resurrection we understand that's important that's a Salvation issue can't be saved apart from the resurrection there's no hope but Satan's crafty he aims at our foundation and we think it's just a side issue it's a foundational issue is the Bible really true from the very first verse is it really the authoritative Word of God if it is the word of God it would have to be true from the first verse God doesn't lie he doesn't deny himself his different attacks came historically naturalism evolution eight men millions ears no global flood and they impact hmm and we think it's a miss when it's a really a direct hit it's a question of authority who are you gonna trust God's Word or man's and then these different symptoms happen news flash prayers outlawed in schools we say trust in Jesus which we should do but we're not necessarily doing what he's commanded us to do newsflash creation outlawed in schools and we say well Jesus is going to return yes he is but he's told us to do some things in the meantime like make disciples of all nations like be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks a reason of the hope that's in you the bible is outlawed in schools lucy well let's get the bible back into schools and don't get me wrong I'm all for going politically what can be done but my point is our nation won't be won back politically if it's gonna be won back at all would be by the proclamation of the gospel and that it will only make sense to people if they understand that God's Word is true from the beginning news flash Ten Commandments outlawed in schools let's well let's concentrate on the worship and search can be done lots of good things but in our culture what's happened is the Gospel message has become obscured by unbelief because people no longer believe in the Bible starting with the Genesis which is the foundation of the gospel that's where we learn that that's the penalty for sin that's where we learned that we need a Savior that's where we learned that we're born sinners rebelling against God because of the sin of our of our parents and their sins and so on well this problem this is why I founded the biblical Science Institute we want to come alongside the church we want to repair the damage that's been done so you can trust in the Bible from the beginning you can trust Genesis and when these different attacks come we want to warn you that these are attacks on the Christian faith they're not just irrelevant side issues they're not just matters of science there are spiritual issues at play here and then we show you how to defend the faith against all those different attacks with the various resources that we produce at the biblical Science Institute and ultimately we'd like to be in the background we'd like everybody in the church to recognize that these are attacks on the Christian faith and be able to defend the faith against these issues and it's not something you have to go and get a PhD to be able to do God calls a few of us very few of us to go out and get a PhD and specialize in a particular field and then bring the information back and show the rest of his people how science confirms the Bible but he's called all of us to be ready to give an answer everybody needs to do that and then the church can say come to Jesus come to the cross and be saved and people say oh I get it now I understand it's because of what Adam did Adam rebelled against God death is the penalty for sin we live in a world that's fallen I need a Savior I would ruin the new earth the same way Adam ruined the original if I were let into there in in my sinful state I need a Savior that's what it comes down to folks now the message of the gospel makes sense and to help people make sense of it we produce a number of resources we have some out in the lobby I hope you'll check that out a number of resources you can get what the book that best covers what I talked about today is called understanding Genesis and it's going to show you that yes the Bible really does mean what it says in Genesis it really is history and I'll deal with some of the arguments that well you know theistic evolution and millions years and things like that are dealt with in that in that book of this presentation you can get it on DVD if you like we have a little different title for it relevance of Genesis but it's the same presentation some other resources the altar proof of creation people have said tonight can I get one bullet proof argument that just refutes everything and this is it there is an argument that absolutely is irrefutable that demonstrates biblical creation it's very different from the kind of argument that most people have heard this book is gonna train you to think and debate the way that Jesus did in his earthly ministry and Jesus was not the sort of person you wanted to debate against he was pretty good at it and we won't be as good as he is but we can get we can get pretty close to our thinking becomes more more biblical we have DVDs on this topic as well nuclear strength apologetics showing you how to give a bulletproof argument for Biblical creation that's a two-volume set discerning truth how to spot logical fallacies and arguments that evolutionists make stargazers guide to the night scalped we're going to talk about this evening if you come back to the session we're gonna see how astronomy reveals God in the mind of God and so on this is really just how to better enjoy the night sky from a Christian perspective if you've ever wanted to know about the constellations and what you can see and when's the next meteor shower and when's the next Eclipse and things like that at this book will tell you how to how to do that if you want to get a telescope what kind you might want to get how to use it what you can see in it but even stuff you can see in binoculars like Saturn it'll show you how to find that taking back astronomy this one's more of the apologetic resource this one's going to show you how the universe confirms the Bible and not a Big Bang or billions of years keeping faith in the age of reason answers 420 alleged Bible contradictions it's kind of interesting physics of Einstein it's exactly what you think it is it's a layman's level a book on how to better understand the yeah things like black holes and and time dilation and things of that nature it's really interesting and it was glorifying to God when it's done properly very recently have produced a new curriculum called introduction to logic and it's designed for home schoolers but you could use it you know you can use it a Christian school as well and it shows how logic is rooted in the Christian worldview it teaches logic from a Christian perspective very valuable resource and there's also a teacher's guide that you can get with it as well or you can just get the book separately whatever you like we have a number of DVDs created Kosmos takes you on a tour through the universe that's pretty neat creation science confirms the Bible is true we did that at the at the conference if you weren't able to attend or if you'd like to get the DVD we have that their creation evangelism how to use creation to to better teach people about the gospel and so on even got one on dinosaurs and the Bible and kids love that one that's that's a neat way to get them excited about the Bible because the Bible does have some things to say about dinosaurs interestingly you can get all the DVDs together for a discounted price you get all the books together for a discounted price you can get all the DVDs and the books for an even better discounted price that will probably put me out of business but that's okay we want to get the information out there and and by the way we do have a free electronic newsletter you want to sign up for that that's what the sheet looks like it is totally free so please take advantage of that because there's not too many things free in this world right just salvation and our newsletter so please check that out it is electronic you'll give it in your email if you don't put in an email address you will get nothing because that's what it is for the moment later we might do we might do paper versions check us out on the web as well biblical Science Institute com that is a free resource for you I'd encourage you to check that out or donation fund it if if any of you guys have a couple million dollars you'd like to give us we'd appreciate that I was asked because you never know a bottle says you have not because you ask not right so there you go but actually most of our partners contribute like twenty dollars a month and that's what that's what keeps us going and the Lord is able to bless that the Lord can do a lot with a little they really can't remember that how Jesus divided the fish in the loaves is pretty neat and I've seen that in this ministry we're very small but God has God doesn't mind using using small ministries and small people to do to do wonderful things so I want to thank you very much for having me out to speak I really appreciate it [Applause]

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Length: 61min 38sec (3698 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 22 2019