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[0:00] of the Bible. It's said that if you're ever going to write a book, and I've been writing a book for, you see, John Walling can write a book in a couple of weeks, but I've actually been writing my book probably for 40 years. I'm still on chapter one. And if it ever does get printed, then they say that the most important thing is the very first sentence or two in the book, because you've got to grab the person's imagination so they'll carry on. And so I just thought this was quite appropriate for tonight, because the first sentence in this book, the Bible says this, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And ever since those words were written, there's been an awful lot of talk, discussion, controversy, and all sorts of other things about what that exactly meant, and what was the purpose of it, and so on. And tonight, hopefully, you're going to get the answers, or at least attempting to answer all the questions that are given. And as I say, fortunately it's not me, but we've got Professor Andy McIntosh with us tonight, who's Professor of Thermodynamics at Leeds University, but more than that, I know that, because we get his prayer letter, that he's all over the world.

[1:25] In fact, if I ever want to contact him, then I can send an email, and I don't know where it comes back from, but it could be South Africa, it could be America, it could be anywhere in the world, because he's going talking to people about the very topic that we're going to be thinking about tonight. So you have with you a world expert, I think it's fair to say, on this topic. And so it's a great privilege to have him with us tonight, and so Andy, I'm going to pass it over to you.

[1:56] Thank you ever so much. I hope you don't mind me having my tea. You can't keep an Englishman from his tea. And that's what I like to say when I'm in America. They sort of smile rather wryly, and I remind them of about what happened with 1776 and a few other issues.

[2:15] But they're quite... And I'm going to just ask, do you want the lights up, or are you going to leave your tongue? Maybe you could, so I think most people can see that, but we could, perhaps we'll just turn these ones off, yeah. Yeah, that's probably better, yeah. And I can still see her. That's very good.

[2:35] Yeah. So, we're going to think about the creation and the cardinal truths tonight. And tomorrow it's going to be more on the science and all through the other nights. So if you're going to come, we're going to be talking about the bombardier beetle tomorrow, and a few other things, which are great evidence for design. Then we're going to deal with the fossils on Wednesdays. So any questions you've got on that sort of area, if you can't make it for those other nights, you'll have to get the DVDs, which I will mention towards the end on those topics. But do try and come on these other nights. And then on Thursday, we're going to be considering the human body, mind, and matter. So there's got a few other things lined up on the other nights. Can I just say that, before I forget, that I'm connected with truth in science. And we've got a little cards here for advertising truth in science, which Juliet will be here tonight, and she'll be here on Thursday. But on other nights, you'll also be able to look at the bookstore, of course. But tonight, you have the, these cards, which are available, and they will be available each night, on truth in science. And there's also a description of the work of truth in science, which works in schools, or tries to provide information that schools can use. And we're very concerned about the way things are going in our schools. Although, let me say that I know most of you tonight are Christians, although I'm not going to necessarily assume all of you are, that, may I say though, for the Christians here, that the big issue is believing our own book. That really is the big issue.

[4:29] Although I was talking with somebody earlier, who said to us, who asked me, are we really winning the battle? I said, well, which battle are you talking about? Because obviously in the country, I don't expect that the government, which is mainly not representing Christian thinking, will be in agreement with me. But I do expect that the Christians who believe in the Bible should be in agreement.

[4:55] And that is the biggest issue. The battle is actually primarily in the evangelical church today. And I'm very concerned, actually, that the evangelical church does not believe its own book.

[5:09] And that is the big issue. God has promised to bless us if we believe in the scriptures. In fact, that is one of the most vital issues of all, that we believe in the word of God.

[5:23] God, there's a scripture in John 10, verse 35, which says this, the scripture cannot be broken. That's in the middle of an argument that the Lord is having concerning his deity. And who is he arguing with?

[5:39] He's not arguing with the people who are rank unbelievers in the Bible as it was then, which was, of course, the Old Testament. They weren't rank unbelievers. They claimed to believe, actually, Moses and the prophets, which I've referred to here in Luke 16. But so they were people in John 10 who were actually arguing with the Lord about his deity. And in the midst of that argument, he says, the scripture cannot be broken. And it's a very important statement. I want to ask you tonight, do you believe that the scripture cannot be broken? Do you believe in the authority of the word of God?

[6:27] Just this last week, just yesterday, sorry, we had a sermon at my own church in Milne Road, where Julian Hurst is a godly pastor, one of the pastors there, gave a wonderful sermon on Joseph.

[6:42] It was a lovely address on Genesis 40. And he brought up quite rightly how that Joseph was tested right to the limit. Because, you know, there was two men whom he spoke to and interpreted their dreams. God gave him that wonderful ability to do so. And one man was very encouraged after this, the baker was very encouraged that, you know, the dream was all good for the butler. So he said, you know, what's going to happen to me? Because this is my dream. And of course, he was going to be hanged.

[7:17] And you know what happened. It says right at the end of Genesis 40, that the butler, whom he thought could put in a good word for Joseph, the butler forgot him. And everything looked dire for Joseph.

[7:36] It says in Psalm 105, which isn't on the screen, but you'll find that the commentary on Joseph in Psalm 105, is that the word of God tried him. The word of the Lord tried Joseph. Because, you see, Joseph had been given the word of God. And he knew from his earlier dreams that he had had, that there would come a time when all the brothers would, and Jacob and Leah, would bow down before him. He knew that would happen.

[8:08] And yet we said, what's happening, Lord? Now, you see, you need to ask yourself the question, do you believe in the scripture? Because the scripture cannot be broken. On another occasion, in Luke 16, the Lord was speaking basically through the words of the account that he gave of Abraham.

[8:30] It's actually Abraham in the story speaking. And he says to the rich man, who was saying, well, you know, send something back to my brothers. And Abraham says, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded. No one rose from the dead. What's that emphasising? It's emphasising the truth of the Old Testament.

[8:53] The big problem in the evangelical church today, not just in this country, but right across the West at least, and to a certain extent in the East as well, but it's mainly in the West, is that the church in America, the church in Europe, the church in England in particular, does not believe in the Old Testament, and does not believe that this really is the word of God. That is the big issue today.

[9:23] And I'd like to ask you whether you really do believe in the scriptures. This is what we're up against. We know this is the enemy. So I'm going to quote now the enemy, right? But we know this is the enemy, but it's not the real enemy. The real enemy is in the church. But I just want to show you what we're up against.

[9:43] And you all know this, but I'll just give you one or two things to wake us up as to the fact that your children, your young people going to university will meet this. But the amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics. You're all startups. You couldn't be here if stars hadn't exploded because the elements, the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution weren't created at the beginning of time. They're created the nuclear furnaces of stars. And the only way they can get into your body is if the stars were kind enough to explode. So forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here today. Okay. Now you might not like that and of course we don't. And it's pretty in your face.

[10:37] But I'm waking you up as to what's going on in the world. Most of us are aware of it, but some of you may not be aware of just how awful it is for people to be exposed to that when they go to university.

[10:48] This one's more subtle. Listen to this. Evolution is unique amongst the sciences because it strikes people in the solar plexus of their faith directly. It strikes them in the idea that they're specially created by God because evolution says you're not. It says that there's no special purpose for your life because it's a naturalistic philosophy. We have no more extrinsic purpose than a squirrel or an armadillo. And it says that morality does not come from God. It is an evolved phenomenon. And those are three things that are really hard for humans to accept, particularly from the brown earthman religious tradition. So he's more subtle, but he's more dangerous in some ways because he comes across all nice lovey-dovey. But actually he's saying that these Christians, and he's particularly thinking of Christians, who come to university, we've got to get it out of their system that they're created by God.

[11:43] We've got to get it out of their system that they have a special purpose in life. We've got to get it out of their thinking that morality, and this is the most dangerous one of all, it comes from God. It's an evolved phenomenon. Now you see, if you think that this issue is not important, you need to think again. It's a vitally important issue. You're going to meet it all the time in your evangelism if you're going to meet the everyday sorts of people who are listening to the media today.

[12:17] The evolution is the one thing, of course, you're not allowed to challenge. It's basically another religion out there. Now let me just make a caveat here, because I don't want you to think that I'm overstating the issue. Basically, think of the Titanic or one great ship making its trip across the Atlantic. You can think of it as the Titanic. Let me make a statement. The creation of itself is not a salvation issue.

[12:47] I know that. I know full well that you can have people who believe, I think they're incorrect, that God used evolution, but they're genuinely saved. So I'm making this very plain, because many people misunderstand the position that I'm taking, right? Because if we don't say that, we are overstating the case.

[13:11] Because clearly, the Lord didn't say in Romans 10 and 9 that you've got to believe in creation, get it right, to be saved. He said to believe in the Lord Jesus and that he rose again from the dead, and thou shalt be saved. Believe in your heart and state it openly that you believe that. That is the condition for salvation. Do we all accept that? But do you see that having said that, that there nevertheless is a huge danger. You've still got to be aware of the fact that it says that there are some dangers which are not immediately obvious because icebergs have a huge thing underneath, which could still hold you and cause a shipwreck. And I'm going to suggest to you that mixing evolution and Genesis can cause shipwreck. Because Paul talked about this. He's talked about people making shipwreck of their faith. You're aware of that, aren't you? Paul spoke of this. And people make shipwreck of their faith when they don't believe the scriptures. Comes back to what we were saying earlier. If you don't believe the word of God, it says in Matthew 11 that the Lord couldn't do many mighty works there because of what?

[14:32] Their unbelief. Do you want to see revival in this country? Come on! Do you want to see revival? Do you want to see many people becoming Christians?

[14:44] Yes. Yes. Well if you want to see many people becoming Christians, you know what the key is? The church has to believe its own book. Now that doesn't guarantee revival. If you read Brian Edwards who's spoken here at the same spring convention, but Brian Edwards used to be the pastor at Hook Evangelical Church, headed up FOAC for a number of years. But Brian Edwards in his book on revival makes this point that everywhere that revival has taken place, it's always been without fail.

[15:20] There's no exception to this. That everywhere revival has taken place, it's been where people have believed the totality of scripture. That doesn't guarantee it because God is sovereign. And it's God's affair whether he brings revival or not. But we can simply say, Lord, we believe your word and we're waiting on your Holy Spirit to bring that revival based on the solidity of belief in the totality of scripture. Now do you see how important this issue is? Because to not accept creation is basically saying, Lord, I'm going to actually worship an idol as well as worshipping the Lord. That's how bad it is.

[16:01] Because you're really worshipping an idol of this religious viewpoint. That there was an old earth, that there was a big bang, old universe, big bang, then an old earth which began somewhere like four and a half billion years ago. And life began in the sea. Oh yes, God somehow was in there, you know, but you basically, you parked God on the side of the plate. You basically said, God, you're irrelevant.

[16:27] But that's really what you've done, which is a very dangerous thing to do. Because you're effectively saying, I do not believe in Genesis 1.1, which says, in the beginning, God. It doesn't say, in the beginning, the universe, and by the way, God was there as well. It actually says, in the beginning, God. You can't get anywhere without God being there. Do you see? Now, this is what evolution has done. And this is what many Christians have absorbed into their thinking. But it's quite incorrect. It's an idol. It's an idolatrous belief. It's another religion. And I don't mince my words. You can tell that I'm not mincing my words. But I'm deliberately not mincing my words, because this is a vital point. I accept that you can still be believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and somehow tacitly absorbing that. In fact, I did the same. When I became a Christian, I never particularly thought about evolutionary issues, not that they were as quite as severe as in your face and in one's face as they were when I was converted in 1969.

[17:43] Boy, that sounds a long time ago. Let me ask you, some of you, when you were converted, I won't do it now, but I'm sure some of you were converted even before that. But 1969 was a long time ago.

[17:55] And when I became a Christian, I didn't immediately grasp the significance of believing in the totality of the Bible. It was only later that I realised, if the Bible's true, where does it start being true?

[18:09] That's an interesting question, isn't it? Where does it start being true? Does it start being true at Genesis 12, when Abraham comes on the scene? Or does it start becoming true a bit later on?

[18:22] And was Exodus really through a wall of sea, wall of water on either side as they cross the Red Sea? You see, you have lots of questions, not just in Genesis, but in Exodus as well. Where do you start believing in miracles? And you have to realise that actually, if you believe in the Bible, you believe the Bible from Genesis 1 verse 1. Let me just briefly talk about one or two things which are major. Sorry, let me start again. I'm going to spend a bit of time talking about those things which are major. And then I will bring it to an application at the end. That's going to be the plan of what we're going to do. So we're going to consider why this is so important. I've laid the groundwork for that. But now I'm going to show you from the Bible why it's so crucial. Let me just put up here something which I'm sure all of you will be aware as to its importance. You probably had sermons here. Maybe Pastor Peter has actually given you sermons on the sayings of Christ on the cross.

[19:37] Let me just put them up. And you'll see in a moment the significance of this as to our subject, which is why it relates to creation. I'm going straight to the heart of the Gospel, which is when Jesus died on the cross. You know that he uttered seven sayings. You know that he went up on the cross roughly at nine o'clock in the morning. You know that the sun went out roughly at 12 o'clock noon from our point of view because the crucifixion is described in terms of some of the details in Mark 15. And you'll find other references here if you're taking notes in Matthew 27 and Luke 23.

[20:20] Jesus, when he died on that cross, had basically some sayings with the people, such as the thief on the cross, his mother and John. And then right at the beginning, and apparently it's said repeatedly, he says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

[20:44] When we come to the last four sayings, they actually come right at the end of a further three hours of darkness. So you've got nine o'clock in the morning, a lot of conversation going on and people taunting Christ. He was probably crucified in a thoroughfare, not on a hill far away, as the lovely hymn, which I do like singing by the way, but I think that hymn is not quite right. It wasn't on a hill far away. It was right actually in the middle of a crowd such that the Romans would be making sure that people didn't lynch Christ off the cross. But we know that they were able to spit at him. They were able to taunt him. They were able to be hurt. And Roman tradition or the tradition is that Romans crucified the people who had upset them in a thoroughfare to say, this is what happens if you resist the iron fist of Rome. If you see the film Spartacus, you can see that actually being done with that English, from their point of view, rebel. And so we don't know exactly where he was crucified, although there is some tradition that it could be not far away from where Jerusalem bus station is at the moment, just in front of Golgotha. But nobody's quite sure. The point is that Christ then endures three hours of darkness and he barely says anything in that three hours, that second three hours.

[22:25] In fact, nothing is recorded. Whether he did, it's certainly not recorded. Then it says, at the ninth hour, these last four sayings are stated. And these are very important. They're very relevant to our subject.

[22:42] My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? What's happening there? Well, he's enduring that which would have taken me in eternity in hell itself. And he's just endured it in the three hours of darkness when all my sin is laid upon him. So we know that Jesus took the price for my sin.

[23:10] He is enduring there what we would call death spiritually. Do you understand me? Because he's separated from God his Father. Not that he ever ceased to be the Son of God, but it's as though God the Father turned his back on his own Son and he cries out a distant word for God. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Then he says, I thirst. Then he says, it is finished. One word in the Greek is recorded here, tetelesti, done. Then he cries, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.

[23:45] And he says, at that point, he physically dies. And we have recorded in John 19 verse 30, that he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost. Now, why am I stressing the events on the cross? Because we've just agreed, I think you all have followed me here, that this is effectively spiritual death.

[24:14] But he has just cried here, it is finished. Question, why didn't Jesus get off the cross? At the point where it says, it is finished. Why did he have to go through what then became physical death, as he deliberately gave up the ghost? In fact, when we have it recorded in John 19 verse 30, the original language says that he dismissed his spirit. He physically separated his spirit from his body.

[24:55] What I want you to see is that there are two deaths at the cross. There's the spiritual death when he took my sin. But there is the physical death where he says, I'm going to now die and I will lay down my life.

[25:14] And it says in John 10, no man can take it from me. I lay it down and I take it again. We know that three days later, he gloriously took that life again and he was resurrected.

[25:27] The reason I'm dwelling on this is because there is no death before the fall. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, he died because death had come into the world.

[25:48] Question, where did death come into the world? Now do you see the connection? Now do you see why we've gone to the cross straight away? You see, many people try to tell us that God took some ape-like creature coming down from the trees and breathed into that creature and made him into a human being called Homo Divinos.

[26:16] You'll be shocked to know that John Stott taught that towards the end of his life. That great preacher of the gospel, whose book Basic Christianity was a great help to me when I first became a Christian.

[26:30] So I have no doubt as to John Stott's credentials in terms of his love for the gospel. But in terms of connecting it with creation, he went terribly wrong.

[26:43] Other great men have gone terribly wrong on this issue. He's not the only one. So now do you see that unless we get a teaching of creation correct, we'll misunderstand what happened at the cross.

[26:59] Jesus Christ physically died because both physical and spiritual death came as a result of sin. You see, the original creation was good.

[27:13] It was good. It says all the way through Genesis 1, it was good. The land and the sea, it was good. The plants and the trees, it was good. The light, it was good on the fourth day. The fish and birds, great, it was good.

[27:26] The land, animals, it was good. And then finally it says in Genesis 1 verse 31, God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good. You're getting the point.

[27:37] There was no death. So this raises the issue, what is death? Well, I've already explained that the teaching of the cross immediately tells us an awful lot about what death is.

[27:50] But let's now just see it written in black and white in some of the letters. You see, notice I'm going to the New Testament and the New Testament is always the way to actually unfold the teaching of the old.

[28:06] You've heard this phrase before. The New Testament is always the way to do.

[28:38] As in Adam all die, so all in Christ shall be made alive. There is no doubt here that in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is primarily speaking about physical death and physical resurrection.

[28:50] Now, of course, it includes spiritual death. But he's basically saying that Christ brings physical life. So the reason why Christ had to go through the physical death as well, which he did both, of course, voluntarily.

[29:06] He laid down his life. He laid down his life. He laid down his life. He laid down his life. He laid down his life. He laid down his life. He laid down his life. He laid down his life. He laid down his life. He laid down his life.

[29:16] Now, the next slide, there's a lot on it. But I'm going to put it all up all at once and just comment on some aspects of it. Some of it we've already dealt with.

[29:28] For instance, at the bottom, you'll see the reference to the two deaths that I've just spoken on. But I do just want to stress to you that in Genesis 2, it says, In the day that you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die.

[29:46] Now, those who disagree with me, like Dennis Alexander from the Faraday Institute, and there's a big organisation called Christians in Science, which promotes the idea that God used evolution, and they promote it big time, right?

[30:01] And those people will say, but, and you can't be right, because in the day that Adam sinned, he didn't physically die. But they've misunderstood what death is.

[30:13] At the bottom of this whole issue is, what is death? And death, of course, is both spiritual and physical. And Adam did immediately lose fellowship with God, because very shortly afterwards, God says, Where are you?

[30:32] And he says that to the whole of the human race today. There was an immediate spiritual death, and then 900 odd years later, Adam died physically. But even the principle of physical death was already beginning in Adam's life, in the sense that he was immediately a dying person.

[30:54] I'm born as a dying person. Each one of us is born dying. Just this last week, Juliet and I had the sadness of going to a funeral, where a six-year-old had finally died from Batten's disease.

[31:14] And very poignant to see the brother there as well, who's got the same disease, and sadly he will probably go the same way. You see, we're born, in different measures, dying.

[31:27] And that's what we've got to understand. The principle of death came in immediately, and physically, eventually he died. So he did die. Something shriveled inside him.

[31:38] He was away from God. And of course it refers explicitly, in Revelation 20 and other verses, to explicitly it refers to the second death, implying that it's two deaths.

[31:50] My point is this. Jesus took both aspects of death. Where did both deaths come from? The four. Were they there before? No. That's the point.

[32:01] Otherwise, why did Jesus die on the cross? Why did Jesus die on the cross? He died to take away my sins. And how did he take away my sins?

[32:12] By dying. If death had already been there, then why did Christ have to physically die? Do you see the point? You would just simply say that if he was just taking spiritual death, then why did he go through physical death as well?

[32:34] The only way to connect properly the cross with creation is to understand that there was no physical death before the fall.

[32:44] So the biblical teaching then is that the Lord took our sin and sin brought death into the world.

[32:56] And therefore, therefore, the Lord had to die on the cross to take away my sin. That is the true teaching of the scriptures.

[33:07] Just to show you the extent to which the enemy has got into the evangelical church. I mentioned Dennis Alexander just now, who's very much the leader in the Faraday Institute and Christians in Science.

[33:26] Some years ago, he wrote in that wonderful neutral newspaper, The Guardian, he wrote, Evolution, Christmas and the Atonement. And he said, we are not descended from Adam and Eve, but still Jesus was born to save us.

[33:42] The Genesis narrative tells the story of humankind going their way rather than God's way. Nowhere does the Bible teach that physical death originates with the sin of Adam.

[33:53] Nor that sin is inherited from Adam. Has he forgotten 1 Corinthians 15? Has he forgotten Romans 5, which I haven't put on the screen, but Romans 5 clearly teaches that Adam brings death and Christ brings life.

[34:13] It's very, very clear. That was a terrible thing to actually write in the newspaper. You see why I'm very concerned about the evangelical church.

[34:26] Let me now come on to the next point, which is that creation is by God's word. We have in the scriptures, God speaking everything into existence.

[34:41] God said it was so. God said it was so. It was so. It was so. My point here now is, how long did it take? How long did it take?

[34:53] Well, in order to understand this, we look first of all, at examples of the same person using the same means in other parts of the scripture.

[35:05] Well, we need to ask the question then, well, who's doing the speaking? In Genesis 1, who is doing the speaking? Well, actually, it tells you, not immediately in Genesis 1.

[35:16] It simply says, in the beginning, God. And it says, God said. But it gives you clues. For instance, it says, the spirit of God was, was, moving upon the face of the waters in verse 2.

[35:31] And then it says, in Genesis 1, verse 26, it says, let us make man in our own image.

[35:44] So, there is a suggestion immediately of plurality, because it's mentioned the spirit, and it says, let us make man in our own image. Now, we need to understand when it comes to the Trinity, that you need to be very careful never to split it up.

[36:01] Because that's not the way to understand God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We don't worship three gods. We worship one God and three persons. If you turn to Hebrews 1, which is a wonderful book, it says this, who being the brightness of his glory, speaking of Christ, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power.

[36:26] So, the Lord Jesus is the express image of the Father. If you turn with me, and these aren't on the screen, but if you turn with me to John chapter 4, I only read this the other day, and I was so blessed by it.

[36:43] Sorry, the end of John chapter 3. John 3, verse 35, it says, the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. Wow.

[36:54] The Father, in other words, delights that the Son should be, as it were, his perfect expression and representative.

[37:06] So, when the Lord Jesus said to Philip, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father, we begin to realise that, as it says in the book of Colossians, that the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him.

[37:20] That's Colossians 1, Colossians 2, sorry, verse 9. But in Colossians 1, it says, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. By him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible.

[37:34] John 1, verse 3 says, without him was not anything made that was made. So, who is primarily the creator in terms of the New Testament scriptures? It is, it is, Christ.

[37:49] So, the one who is the primary agent in Genesis 1, it's all God. It is always God. It's God the Holy Spirit, it's God the Father, but the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ.

[38:04] We could say it also is true of the Holy Spirit and of course God the Father. But it's the delight of God the Father to do everything through the Son. It's the delight of the Holy Spirit if you read John 14 to 16 to always elevate the Son as well.

[38:19] So, the one doing the speaking is undoubtedly according to John 1, verse 3, because it clearly says without him was not anything made that was made, it's Christ. So, once we've understood that it's Christ and then we understand from Hebrews 11 that everything was framed by what?

[38:36] The Word of God. So, it's the Word of God which is the means by which Christ spoke everything into existence. Now, having established that, now come with me fast forward from creation to the time of Christ.

[38:53] You notice just as with the first point I revolved everything around the cross and what Jesus did. Now, in this second point I'm revolving everything around Christ and not what he did at the cross now but his miracles.

[39:11] miracles. And we're going to prove, are we, that they took millions of years or even millions of seconds? No. Same person, same means using the Word, how long did he take to heal the man who was the centurion's servant who was healed at a distance and he says, I've not seen faith like this, no, not in all Israel.

[39:34] How long did it take? Done in a moment. In fact, I was reading John 4 this morning and it says at the end of John 4 the healing of the nobleman's son.

[39:48] They actually looked at their, well not at their watches but they asked the time of day when Jesus said the word and the nobleman's son was healed and he says, wow, it was exactly the time when he said it. And it says the whole family believed.

[40:02] Immediately they'd understood the power of Jesus' voice again at a distance. There's two occasions where Jesus heals at a distance. And these are very powerful examples.

[40:16] But then there's another case, I won't do all these but Mark chapter 4 it says there was a storm on the lake of Galilee and were the disciples looking at their watches wondering how long it's going to take for that storm to die down?

[40:28] You know what the answer is. It was stilled immediately Jesus said it. And these other examples you can see Mark 2 the man sick of the palsy immediately he gets up.

[40:41] So you see friends there is no doubt that creation with the same agent which is Christ as when he did the miracles using the same means his voice just as Christ literally healed with his voice creation therefore I'm suggesting to you strongly was immediate.

[41:07] Let me just deal with these other two points and then I'm going to bring you to some implications. Adam was made from dust.

[41:18] We dealt with no death before the fall. We dealt with creation by God's word. You know you need to grasp also that Adam was not made from pre-existing living material.

[41:30] I can prove that from scripture because it actually tells me in Genesis 3 after the fall had taken place and you know that after the fall there was a bit of a tribunal taking place.

[41:47] You know what happened? And God is actually calling them all to account and he says to Adam well what happened then?

[42:00] And he says it was her. So he gets her on the scene Eve and she says it was it. So he then gets it on the scene which is the serpent.

[42:13] And he says upon your belly you shall go. Which would indicate that the serpent lost its legs and there is some indication actually that that is what's happened.

[42:27] You'll have to go and look up John Mackay's talk on the serpent and it's very interesting. He talks about serpents and lizards and he shows evidence that they've actually basically some have lost their legs and some haven't but some have become snakes but that's another talk.

[42:48] The woman he says you're going to know pain great pain in childbearing. Do you realise if it weren't for modern medicine probably a third of the ladies here wouldn't be present because they would have been lost in childbirth.

[43:05] Before the advent of the NHS and even before that the rise of good hospitals many ladies died in childbirth. Although primates do have difficulty and it's not that it's only with humans humans have the greatest difficulty and it's one of the most dangerous things that a lady can do is to get pregnant and to have a baby.

[43:29] Today we barely think about it particularly the fellas we sort of take it for granted but actually many ladies lost their lives because the baby was run the wrong way and they breached babies and all the other things that can go wrong with childbirth.

[43:44] God says it in Genesis 3 then he comes to the man and of course he also says that there's going to be difficulty with the leadership in marriage and the other things which are taught there which are picked up in 1 22 then he comes to the man and he says you're going to know difficulty in getting your bread and the sweat of your face and if you look at the theme of sweat in the Bible it always speaks of that which is difficult and it's always a reminder all the way through Leviticus they weren't to wear things which sweat you know it's a reminder of the curse it's a reminder of the thing then the thorns came up and when we also see thorns we see thorns at the cross where Jesus has the crown of thorns on his head thorns again symbolising the curse but he didn't curse man he cursed the angels but he didn't curse man he could have cursed it but he didn't curse

[44:46] Adam he says you're going to know death dust you are and unto dust you will return and this is an important scripture you see God had said that he'd formed man from the dust of the crown and then he says in Genesis 3 19 Adam you are dust and you're going to go back to dust does that mean that you are an ape like creature and you're going to go back to an ape like creature obviously it doesn't mean that although you might say that some of us do behave a bit like apes sometimes and maybe you might be thinking of your teenage sons or whatever you know when you ask them a question you know you think oh that's going back to apes no but you know for well joking apart that actually we do go back literally to dust well if we go back to dust what does that mean concerning the beginning we came from dust there's no way around it scripturally if you believe Genesis that that is talking to us today then you cannot spiritualise that because he says you are going to go back to dust and we know that that is not spiritual therefore the first reference must be physical as well do you see there's no way around the logic we were not created from pre-existing ape-like creatures and the last point to bring to your attention maybe just to show you that there is a problem before we go to that last point

[46:23] Tim Keller famous person from New York and I like a lot of his books the book on idolatry that Julius and I have read together the book on the cross of Christ King's Cross is an excellent book but look at this in his book The Reason for God he says we aren't completely sure how the author expects it to be read Genesis 1 is a passage whose interpretation is up for debate among Christians even for those with a high view of inspired scripture I think Genesis 1 has the earmarks of poetry and is there for a song about the wonder and meaning of God's creation Genesis 2 is an account of how it happened oh dear dear dear he's putting a division between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 but there isn't any division Genesis 2 is just simply a magnifying glass on what the detail of how Christ how God but particularly Christ made Adam and Eve in the beginning we have to be very careful about the books of leading evangelicals today so the last point is this concerning the four issues which are cardinal and that's the flood was global how do we know that the flood was global well it actually says it doesn't it in

[47:40] Genesis 7 it says all the high hills were covered but we also know that not only in Genesis 7 does it describe all the high hills were covered but it actually tells us that in Genesis 9 that there is never going to be a flood again and it says I'm going to put a rainbow to show to you that I'll never bring a flood again now supposing that flood were local just just around the Middle East you've got to ask yourself the question how can you have a local flood anyway which covers all the hills would it look like this you know it's very difficult to conceive of a local flood because if you ever you're going to say that all the high hills are covered you've got to wherever you reach a higher hill you've got to say that that's covered because the waters are reaching it because the waters will always reach the place where the edge is so you really can't conceive of anything different to simply everything is covered and what's the point of building an ark if there was a high mountain where no one of his family could go to but coming back to this matter of Genesis 9 what do we make of the tsunami in 2004 11 years ago that doesn't make sense if in fact a local flood was prophesied never to occur ever again on the basis of that promise in Genesis 9 what do we make of

[49:22] Sendai in Japan in 2011 it says clearly the water shall no more become if you're going to say this is local a local flood to destroy or flood no it doesn't fit the only way it can make sense is that it was a global flood and if that doesn't convince you let me just draw your attention to Luke 17 do you see how always it really comes back to the New Testament once you put the New and the Old together it tells you how to understand Genesis because the Lord who surely is the greatest expositor of the Old Testament wouldn't you have loved to have been on the road to Emmaus as the Lord explained everything to these disciples are you going to say that he didn't know what he was talking about you'd be a fool to say that wouldn't you if you're a Christian you've got to bow to the words of Christ and he says as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be also in the day of the

[50:32] Son of Man clearly talking about the second coming is the second coming going to be to everybody obviously it's everybody or therefore the flood was to everybody at that time he's drawing a direct comparison between the flood and the final judgment and if you're still not convinced go with me to 2 Peter chapter 3 where it says the world that then was being overflowed with water perished and 2 Peter 3 if you look at it carefully says that the word that brought creation is the word that brings the flood and it's the same word that brings the end of everything what did I start off by saying I said scripture cannot be broken 2 Peter 3 stresses the word of God I said earlier that creation was by the spoken word of God there's two strands here in fact there's three which are running all the way through this talk

[51:43] I've been stressing the living word Christ I've been stressing the spoken word and I've been of God and I've been stressing also the written word of God the three words if you like the living word the spoken word the written word of God none of them can be broken well what does this mean then in terms of some of the issues that I know some of you might be burning with saying he hasn't dealt with this we'll come to them you might be saying well what about those days but if you think about it carefully I've left very little wriggle room left because if there is no death before the fall why are you trying to put in evolution when evolution requires death and suffering in order to get advances so-called leading up to primates and eventually to human beings and if you realise that creation is in by an immediate response to the word of God there is no room for a progressive idea is there and if you realise that Adam was made from dust not from any pre-existing material evolution has gone out of the window and if we realise that there was a global flood that would explain immediately why if you go down the coast here you'll see loads of ammonites at

[53:22] Port Mulcair and if you go along the railway line not far away from here the old railway line you'll see loads and loads of ammonites in fact if you look carefully you'll find some dinosaur teeth do you think it might be relevant of course it is so if you're still not convinced about the days of creation you say well maybe they could be a little bit longer than a 24 hour day I'll tell you why not because the word used is yom and the Hebrew word yom is very similar to our word day every time all the way through Genesis 1 it says evening and morning day 1 evening and morning day 2 and so on now why is that day a 24 hour day I will admit that it's possible that there might be a minute or so difference between the rotation of the world 6,000 odd years ago and the now there might be a slight slowing down actually not the other way around so there's a slight lengthening possibly now but look essentially it's a solar day that is it's to do with the spinning of the world on its own axis why is it that well number one you need to realise that Genesis 1 is historical literature even the liberal scholars admit that at least most of them

[54:47] I will admit that there are some who are trying to argue that somehow it could be taken as poetry that's only arisen in the last ten years or so due to the immense pressure from theologians thinking that they've got to compromise with the evolutionary scientific community but for a long while most liberals were accepting actually that Genesis 1 was written as historical literature and certainly it shows every indication of that being the case the only possible exception is the repetition in Genesis 1 verse 27 which is a mark of Hebrew poetry but all the rest of it is just narrative this happened that happened evening and morning day one this happened that happened evening and morning day two and so on the word young can sometimes mean an indefinite period bit like I might refer to the day of Queen

[55:50] Victoria I love to do that when or the day of George III I love to speak about when I'm in America they don't know who on earth George III was but as soon as I say George Washington they're with me and of course it's just used in a way like it is used in Genesis 2 verse 3 where it says God bless the seventh day sorry pick a pun verse 2 Genesis 2 verse 2 on the seventh day I'll get it right in a minute verse 4 these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens so that word day is used in an indefinite sense in Genesis 2 and it just simply means in the time when they were created now why does it not mean that in Genesis 1 this is the reason because evening and morning is used that's important everywhere you get evening or morning or evening and morning with the word day yom in the

[57:02] Old Testament there is no exception to this it always means a 24 hour day a classic example is Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 verse 16 where it says that he stood there as this giant before the armies of Israel morning and evening for 40 million years or 40 thousand years now you know it doesn't mean that the evening and morning is the giveaway because it tells you by the use of morning and evening that Goliath stood there as the sun was rising he stood there as the sun was setting for almost six weeks and then before it got to the end he lost his head as you know due to the might of God using David what's the other reason that it's evening and morning because there is not only evening and why it's an ordinary solar day it's not just because of the evening and morning it's because it says a number an ordinal number evening and morning number one evening and morning number two evening and morning number three day one day two day three everywhere where you get a list of yoms with a number in it it always means except possibly for this exception in

[58:20] Hosea 6 but even that could be a prophecy some people think it is of the resurrection of Christ but there's no other exception other than that possible one it always means an ordinary solar day so I've shown you exposition really if that's a word from exposition of the scriptures using the fact that it's Christ speaking and the fact that he he was using his voice that it was immediate but I've also shown you exegetically from looking at the actual words used that there is no way around the fact that it was an instant creation now let me just say something very carefully here those of you who get my prayer letter will know that I've mentioned some leading thinkers today I've already put one on the screen Tim Keller I've mentioned John Stott but I have to lovingly mention

[59:25] John Lennox because I know many of you including me respect John for his great withstanding of atheism and I applaud him I'll be the first in the queue to say well done John but on this John is not right because John in his later book Seven Days That Divide the World argues most uncharacteristically and frankly unbiblically for a gap in the days of creation and it leads to a nonsense because in Exodus 20 verse 11 it says remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth what is the Lord instituting there there's no doubt he's instituting the seventh day rest now

[60:26] I personally think that that day is moved to the first day and we have a Sabbath now on the first day of the week but even if you don't accept that that's not crucial because we all know that the Jews kept a seventh day literally and they still keep it today if you go to Israel you'll find most of the Christians and I'll worship on the Saturday I don't particularly mind it may be you know you may wonder well can't we sort of keep both like they used to do in the time of the early church and Caesar's household you know would keep both or try to but that's immaterial the main point is this that the Jews at that time kept literally a seventh day so we know that in the same breath the Lord is giving the reason for in six days I made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day in other words there is no way you can put a gap in between the days which is sadly what dear

[61:34] John tries to do and I was aghast when I read it let me not in any way impound his character in terms of his love for the gospel and the fact that he valiantly withstands atheism but I don't agree with John when it comes to weakening the argument for a six day creation and if you look through his book you'll find that Exodus 20 verse 11 is never mentioned it's one of the most notable omissions in that great man's writings so may I encourage you therefore to see that we must keep to exactly what the scriptures say now just let me deal with one issue here which is people often struggle with how on earth then are you going to cope with the stars and the lights made before the sun and the moon light but actually even though these were made on the fourth day and light was made on the first day there isn't an issue when you realise this the objection then is that and the answer is this in Matthew 17 what did

[62:54] Jesus shine with on the mountain transfiguration light where did the light come from anybody make any suggestion was it the sun and the answer is could be was it the moon no way Jesus shone with what his own glory in revelation 21 what is going to be the light of the new heaven that we are all going to be part of what's going to be the light it tells you Jesus will be the light of that place so do you see that the scriptures make it abundantly plain that the Lord does not need the sun and the moon in order to provide light now exactly what the light was I haven't tried to suggest I'll speculate that it might have been the Lord's light himself shining on a rotating earth but I don't really need to go further all I need to say is that

[63:59] God can provide light I've just proved it without the sun and the moon so let that be left with God he hasn't revealed every single fact he's revealed sufficient that you should believe in the scriptures so my dear friends I want you to see that this is vitally important and that Genesis 1 is real history this is the true history of the world the Bible through Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 has Adam to Noah to Abraham to David to Christ as a genealogy this is repeated in 1 Chronicles chapter 1 the early verses obviously the early names and then they're repeated yet again all the early names in Luke 3 we have no way that we can put a razor blade into those early genealogies that is

[64:59] God's clock of history and we need to keep to God's clock of history remember what I said at the beginning that which really is vital to keep to is a belief in the scriptures when you look at the world population do you realise that it only takes 150 generations to get back to the flood according to the bible because 4500 years is roughly when the flood took place in terms of the number of years ago it was roughly BC 2500 somewhere in that region roughly 30 years a generation means that there's 150 generations to get back to Noah that seems off the wall according to modern thinkers today but now look at the world population just over 7 billion today if you go back to the 1940s it was about 2.5 billion if you go back to the

[66:04] Napoleonic wars it was about 1 billion if you go back to our civil war it was about maybe 2 thirds of a billion time of Christ about half a billion and you can see that the tale is consistent with us coming out of the ark roughly four and a half thousand years ago everything is telling you that the bible is correct so if we say there was eons of prehistory what are we doing well we are breaking god's clock we are breaking god's word and what did I say to you at the beginning god's word cannot be broken well we're in Whitby I'm going to show you something about Whitby did you know there's a lovely monument in another part of Yorkshire on Egton Moore of Captain Cook your famous hero from

[67:06] Whitby and it says in this lovely quaint old English in memory of the celebrated circumnavigator Captain James Cook a man of nautical knowledge inferior to none in zeal prudence and energy superior to most regardless of danger he opened intercourse with the friendly isles and other parts of the southern hemisphere he was born at Martin October 27th 1728 and massacred at Owyhee that's the old spelling of Hawaii February 14th 1779 to the inexpressible grief of his countrymen while the art of navigation shall be cultivated among men whilst the spirit of enterprise commerce and philanthropy shall animate the sons of Britain while it shall be deemed the honour of a Christian nation to spread civilisation and the blessing of the Christian faith among pagan and savage tribes so long will the name of

[68:07] Captain Cook stand out amongst the most celebrated and most admired benefactors of the human race and then there's a comment in this article about the fact that these sentiments may disturb modern sensibilities let me make a point pagan and savage tribes who are the pagan and savage tribes today how many people have we slaughtered before they're born seven million how many have been slaughtered in America before they're born over 50 million do you think that we need to turn this on its head do you think that one of the reasons we are not gripping our nation anymore could be to do with the fact that we do not advance on the authority of scripture anymore the government takes no notice of the church today why because they are divided if an enemy is divided the people opposing that enemy have won now I don't expect the liberal Christians to agree with me but I do expect the evangelical

[69:49] Christians the ones who are really believers the ones who know the Lord Jesus Christ to believe in the totality of scripture that's what this message has been about do you believe the book we need to advance in this nation against paganism and savagery in our own nation now I don't believe that we go about it like Captain Cook did you know with his fleet of men who were armed of course and sometimes had to defend themselves and in the end he lost his own life as you know in Hawaii but it's a principle is it not that we advance with the gospel we advance with a firm belief in the scriptures I've got friends who are witnessing to the gospel of Christ in Papua New Guinea do you know where they start

[70:50] Genesis they start by telling them where they're from they start by telling them about Adam and Eve they start by telling them about how Adam rebelled and they suddenly get it they understand where all the savagery that they experience in their tribes where people kill each other due to hatred and vendettas and all the rest of it they suddenly get it they say oh we're wicked people and they repent and they're turning to Christ do you know what's happened to our nation today God hasn't given up on his people but he does expect us to believe and shall I tell you what doors are opening the average man who's Caucasian from an English background doesn't want to know Christ today but I tell you people who do people in the prisons are turning to Christ some of my friends in fact there was one here earlier Mike Burkett he can't stay but he was telling me how he goes into your prison I've been with him my friend

[71:56] Gerard Crispin and others of you may know him but there's many others who are going into prisons and they're seeing many turn to Christ shall I tell you what God is also doing to our country he's bringing into our country people who come from countries where they're fleeing from persecution and he's opening our doors to all these people that we might evangelize them and they are turning to Christ not all of them but some are you'll find that there's much more openness with people fleeing from persecution coming to our country they say I want to know my own wife is speaking to somebody who's very open who's from such a country as she's beginning to establish a relationship with her and there is a thirst to actually find out what this book's about now do you see the irony of what's happening God says okay England you don't want the gospel I will actually use my church to reach people who do want the gospel that's always the way he works and the centre of gravity of the gospel today is no longer in England it's not even in

[73:05] Europe it's in Africa and Asia that's where the centre of gravity is it's in the persecuted countries shall I tell you where the church is growing you wouldn't believe this did you know it's growing in North Korea you read Barnabas Barnabas Aid you know the organisation which deals with the persecuted church even in the gulags where you're not allowed anything like a bible in North Korea you're not even allowed even a scrap of paper with a bit of bible written on it if you do your whole family goes to the gulag but did you know that in the gulags which have about 80,000 Christians in them the church is expanding that is a real shame to us we've got a complete bible and we don't believe it shame on the English church shame on the American church that we refuse to believe what God has said

[74:10]  Amen