How to Have a Sure Foundation

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

To face the world we live in today, we must have a firm foundation—a solid base everything else in our lives will be built upon. We need to start with a Christian worldview. And to do that, we need to start at the very beginning. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This is foundational truth.

God is Simply Presented

Recognize Him

“In the beginning God…” Notice—God is not argued, explained, nor defended. He is simply presented. There is neither an explanation for the existence of God nor did the writers try to prove His existence. The Bible is full and complete. It has all we need for faith. And ultimately God must be accepted by faith.

God said to Job in Job 38:4, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.” No one was around in the beginning to witness God creating, so there’s no way to examine it. But God is not subject to scientific proof. To look for scientific proof of God would be like taking a piano apart looking for a song.

Answers in Genesis, a creation research ministry, has said that “science has supposedly proven there is no God. However, we firmly believe that science, when properly understood, confirms the biblical account and is consistent with the God revealed in the Bible, the ‘history book of the universe.’ The Bible provides a reliable, eyewitness account of the beginning of all things and can be trusted to tell the truth in all areas it touches on. Therefore, we are able to use it to help us make sense of this present world.”

Whether or not you believe in God is not a matter of the mind the heart. Psalm 53:1 says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” When the Bible uses the word fool, it doesn’t mean one who is mentally deficient but morally deficient. God says a person with a wicked heart is the kind of person who denies God. In fact, it does not state the fool has said in his heart there is no God. It literally says, the fool has said in his heart, “No God.” Just like you might go through the cafeteria line and say, “No dessert”; the fool says, “No God. I do not want God.” But when he refuses God and says “no God,” something inside tells him that he is lying, and he knows he’s lying.

God is Sovereignly Powerful

Respect Him

“In the beginning God created…” Only God has creative power and originating power. The Hebrew word for create is Bara, “to make something out of absolutely nothing.” Hebrews 11:3 says, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” God is the One who can make something out of nothing. Man cannot create anything or destroy anything—all we can do is to change the form.

If you see a watch, you assume there’s a watchmaker. If you see a water system, you assume there’s a designer. If you see the precise atomic clocks of the universe or the complex structure of the human body, I hope you don’t believe that happened by chance. Evolutionists believe that billions of years plus time plus chance can turn frogs into princes. In school they call that fairytales; in a laboratory they call it science. Where did primordial ooze come from? If they say “a green scum somewhere,” where did the scum come from? If they say “life came from Mars,” where did Mars come from? There are two alternatives: a self-existing universe or a self-existing God. Man cannot create. He can take simpler forms and put them into more complex forms or vice versa, but he cannot create.

God is Surely Purposeful

Reverence Him

When you look at creation, there are two things you can easily see: design and purpose. Look at these three reasons why God created everything:

For His pleasure. Speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was God’s agent in creation, Revelation 4:11 says, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” He did it to please Himself. He created it for His pleasure.
For His praise. says, “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to Whom be glory forever” (Romans 11:36). “Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6), God created it all for His pleasure and His praise.
For His people. Because God was going to create a people, He made a home for them and said it was good.

God is Savingly Personal

Receive Him

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The name for God here is Elohim. It speaks of a personal God. El means a God who has unlimited power. It speaks of strength. The last part of Elohim means to swear or to make a covenant. The two words together, strength and covenant, result in a God Who is Almighty and Who always keeps His word. In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth. He is savingly personal.

Two Truths to Live By

We have a solemn obligation to God because He created us, and the Bible says “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker” (Isaiah 45:9); “Remember now thy Creator” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). We are His because of creation and because of redemption. He made us and He bought us, and we have an obligation to Him.

Not only do we have an obligation to God, but God has an obligation to us. He is a faithful Creator (I Peter 4:19). When God brought us into this universe, He did not make us to abandon us.

When God saw what He created, He stepped back and said, “It is good.” Then sin entered the world, spoiling it. Jesus came to die on the cross to pay for our sin, and as He died He said, “It is finished.”

When you give your heart to God and trust Him as your Lord and Savior, you are fulfilling your obligation to Him. You’re saying, “You made me, You redeemed me, and I surrender to You.” When He lives within you, guarding, guiding, protecting and taking care of you, He’s fulfilling His obligation to you. The God who created you did not create you to abandon you.

Are you ready to face the issues of this world? I pray these fundamental truths will help you have a firm foundation.

To listen to this message in its entirety, you may hear it when it airs on radio April 24, 28, or 29. And it will be available anytime beginning Monday, April 24^th at www.lwf.org

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