In this lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia introduces the new series studying Genesis 3-11 and then discusses the Seven Cs of History, a biblical outline of history from Answers in Genesis useful for understanding ourselves as humans in light of history’s most key moments.
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good morning welcome to Sunday school and to our new Sunday school series what’s our new series you see it on the screen at the top I’m calling it the consequences of sin corruption catastrophe and confusion now as you may have heard by my explanatory email or even in the announcements this is not merely going to be a series that is a sober look at how sin damages our lives this is rather a study of the most some of the most profound chapters in the Bible Genesis 3-1 where we read the accounts of the Fall the flood and man’s Rebellion at Babel in many ways this study is the continuation of one that we’ve already done back in the beginning of 2023 we did a series called The Creation foundation and that was a study on Genesis 1 and 2 and our new study is going to be important for many of the same reasons that that first study was important just as you cannot properly understand our world yourselves or God without an understanding of creation what Genesis 1:2 reveals so you can also not properly understand the world yourself or God if you do not know what happened soon after creation what happened in the beginning in response to man’s sin man’s sin has literally reshaped the world and everything evil everything frustrating everything that is tragic that you and I experience or hear about or read about every day it goes back to man’s ancient sin and God’s holy response to it now if you were to live wisely in the world today if you’re going to have your eyes actually in your head then you not need to know about where you came from but what also happened to make your race the human race and your world the Earth broken and in need of restoration but don’t think that the stud is going to be merely depressing because while reading these God breathed accounts of the consequences of man’s sin even though it will reveal indeed the [Music] profound it will reveal in a profound way the Wrath and Justice of God these accounts will also reveal these accounts do also reveal the amazing patience and Grace yes even the love of God God for a rebellious creation a rebellious creation that does not deserve such gifts from God so I pray that you will come away with this 11 week steud not only with a greater reverence for God and a greater aversion to sin but also a greater love for God who is the only savior of sinners now as with the Bible’s account of creation the Bible’s account of the Fall the flood and Babel are widely disbelieved or reinterpreted in a way that makes the Bible’s meaning fit with man’s prevailing theories about how our present world came to be and why people do what they do therefore as with our previous creation series we will be doing some apologetics in this course answering some common questions and objections to what the Bible records and also explaining how to interpret scientific and historical data in a way that fits with what God’s trustworthy Bible says rather than the other way around trying to fit the Bible into man’s theories no we want to fit the data we see into what the Bible presents now by the way though I have made this material that I presenting to you my own this new study that we’re going through is actually part of a much longer series that we did in the past at Calvary from Answers in Genesis called the answers Bible curriculum which is why I have that little icon there on the screen that green and it says answers if you haven’t heard of Answers in Genesis they are a Christian apologetics organization focused on defending God’s word in Genesis and also helping the church develop and apply a truly biblical worldview Answers in Genesis produce the answers Bible curriculum a multi-year Chronological Study through the Old and New Testaments not only as a way to teach Through the Bible but also to model proper Bible steud and to provide good answers to the apologetic type questions that kids teens and adults often have regarding what the Bible says so it was a pleasure to teach through that curriculum before here at Calvary and I trust it was edifying to for the church and I don’t want to just move on from that and never go back to it but it is quite a long stud of four year study it’s quite a commitment so rather than planning to just do that whole study all over again the plan is to do sections of that valuable curriculum interspersed with our other Sunday school Series so this is really a part of that speaking of the time with Answers in Genesis you may have noticed that my title for this series when you include the subtitle is highly alliterative the consequences of sin corruption confusion and catastrophe got all those C’s well this alliterative title was not born from my own cleverness I’m borrowing from a BAS basic outline of human history created by Answers in Genesis indeed as we begin to look at the fall the flood and Babel in this section of the Bible I want to take one lesson first to orient you and the ancient events that we’re going to study into the wider timeline of man’s history and future and we will do this by looking what Answers in Genesis calls the Seven Seas of History that’s the title of today’s lesson but let me pray before I go on Lord God your word is trustworthy and we’re so glad for it because otherwise we would not know why the world is the way it is or how we’re supposed to respond to it and respond to you thank you for giving us this light in the darkness but you don’t teach us this merely so that we may know but so that we may know you and come into a right relationship with you so God I pray that you help me to explain this well this hour and help us to apply it in Jesus name amen if you didn’t already know one of the things that I love and imp passionate about is history it is part of what I studied in college but it’s also what I’ve been fascinated with since my youth I love history not because not only because it’s interesting and sometimes entertaining but also because it explains a lot about why the world is the way that it is today if we can know why the world is the way that it is and how it got that way we can act more skillfully in the world history therefore is very important to us well the Bible besides being Supernatural revelation of God himself it is also a history book it does contain yes other genres such as poetry prophecy epistle that is letters but even these genres draw on or explain the implications of what actually happened in the past what was actually said in history the Bible to be sure is not a book of Feelgood stories or fables or moral principles it is a presentation it is an explanation it is a reaction to history the true history of God creating and revealing himself to mankind how if history in general can help us better understand the world and why it is the way it is today much more so does the history of God’s Supernatural Bible help us understand understand why the world is the way that it is and why we are the way that we are to this end Answers in Genesis has created a historical outline that identifies seven moments in history that have had or will have the most profound effects on all people and these seven moments can be identified with words all starting with a letter C hence the title of the outline the Seven Seas of History obviously this outline is not exhaustive it’s not a total list of all historical events or even all the major historical events of the Bible but the seven C’s does give us a good framework for understanding what is happened in history and for explaining that history to those who do not know Jesus Christ so in today’s lesson we’re going to learn the seven C’s historical outline we’re going to give approximate dates to those main events in history and then we’ll compare this outline with the outline that is often asserted by our supposedly wise secular culture and we start at the beginning but the very first C of the seven C’s oh dear uh can somebody just uh put the computer in the proper way for there but the first C you can guess is creation creation according to a plain reading of Genesis 1 which is the way we ought to take that text God made thank you God made our whole universe okay good God made our whole universe every kind of living creature and the first two humans in a period of 6 24hour days and God declared this creation when he had finished creation creating to be very good and he rested on the seventh day this is when Humanity this is when our race officially begins so obviously this is an important event in our history and note that the way we started was part of God’s very good creation even perfect creation but when exactly did this happen can we set an approximate date actually we can and I don’t mean based off of a fossil record because the Bible itself gives us indication to the timing of creation so please take your Bibles and turn to Genesis 5 genesis 5 where you see a genealogical list we’re not going to read through this but I want you to see it I want it to be in front want it to be in front of your eyes Genesis 5 we’ve talked about this before in our previous series on creation but notice what is included as details in this genealogy it doesn’t merely tell you who’s the descendant of whom but it gives specific information about how long each person lived and when each person in the list sired a certain descendant when they gave birth to a particular son now this list in Genesis 5 it begins with Adam and makes its way to Noah and his sons so if we think about it using this information provided by Moses by the spirit of God how could we figure out how much time passed between Adam and Noah yeah just add up the years add up the years you start with how long a father lived before he bore a son or a particular son then you add how long that son lived before he bore his son and then you add up how long that son lived before he bore his son and so forth until you come to the end of the genealogy now when we do this and when we combine the information from this genealogy with the genealogy given in Genesis 11 which gives the same kind of information but from Noah to Abraham rather than from Adam to Noah we just add up all the years between a father and his son we can conclude that Abraham lived about 2,000 years after Adam furthermore if we examine the genealogies involving Abraham and if we look at other time clues in the Bible and if we consult some extra biblical sources for information coinciding with those biblical dates we can also conclude that Abraham lived about 2,000 years before Christ so then between Adam and Abraham is about 2,000 years and between Abraham and Christ is about 2,000 years and as best as we can tell Jesus Christ was born around 4 BC therefore according to the calculations I’ve set before you about how long ago from today did Adam live about 6,000 years about 6,000 years that’s why Answers in Genesis says and I agree that our first SE creation took place around 4,000 BC God created the world around 6,000 years ago 4,000 BC now different theologians in the history of church have sought to even more precise than that but I’m just going to say approximately 4,000 BC this is when God created the universe God created time God began unfolding the history of his kingdom and the story of redemption now I know some Evangelical theologians will claim that the genealogy is given in Genesis Genesis 511 and specifically they have gaps and so they cannot be trusted to provide chronological information but this is not the case I say this primarily or they say this rather they say this primarily because other genealogies in the Bible especially those in Matthew and Luke they do contain gaps they have names skipped or left out of this family tree but the genealogies of Genesis 5:1 are unique they are the only genealogies in the Bible that contain specific time information we can therefore put them in their own category they could be called chronog genealogies in fact if you look through the rest of the Torah rest of the five books of Moses Moses keeps on giving these time details how long so and so lived how long it took for people to get from one place to another it’s almost like he wants the people of Israel to know exactly where they stand in the history of the universe and I believe that’s no accident this is this is the work of God’s spirit because if you know where you fit then you can act that much more wisely that much more skillfully in this world and wasn’t just true for them that’s true for us as well I will say that even those Evangelical commentators who allow for gaps in these early genealogies they generally conclude that no more than 10,000 years could have passed between Adam and Abraham because you couldn’t infer more gaps than there are actually names in the list that would be kind of silly what’s the point of the genealogy then this is why if you research what is a young Earth creation perspective it’s usually def def as believing that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old so even if you do believe in the gaps you’re not going to be able to fit the Bible into billions of years millions of years but I think we can do better than 10,000 years there’s no reason to infer gaps the plain sense of the text is actually 6,000 years old by the way if you’re curious as to how this young Earth conclusion from the Bible could possibly fit with modern scientific findings that support an old Earth view of millions or billions of years well then go back and listen to our previous lesson from the creation Foundation series called the age of the Earth where we looked in that into more detail that’s of course on our church website now again this original creation it was very good it was free of death it was free of disease it was free of pain and suffering and sin but all this quickly changed with our second C which is corruption corruption this is the event that we also know as the fall man Rebels against God for the first time and sin enters the world now how much time went by Between the creation of man and his fall into sin we don’t know exactly the Bible does not give us clear indicators about this but most Evangelical commentators suggest that sin entered the world soon after the close of the creation week I will bring up some reasons for thinking this in a later class but this is likely the case so this would mean that the corruption took place also around 4,000 BC man’s Act of rebellion against God not only impacted our first parents Adam and Eve but also the rest of the created Universe Romans 8:20 to 22 says Romans 8:20 to2 two for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in the hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God for we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the Pains of childbirth together until now so God’s entire perfect creation was quickly marred by man’s sin it wasn’t just man who was affected it was the whole creation man died spiritually and became cursed and the whole universe became subject to death corruption and futility so obviously this moment corruption taking place also around 4,000 BC was an extremely important moment in the history of mankind but of course it didn’t end there sin unfortunately incre increased in the earth as mankind multiplied and also found more and more ways to deny God’s authority to disregard his loveliness wickedness increased to such a level that God in Genesis 6 declares that he is sorry that he made man and he plans to wipe them out but one man Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord and that brings us to our third SE which is catastrophe catastrophe and this would be around 20 350 BC around 2350 BC or 1650 years after creation and we get that by just looking at the time information again from the genealogies Adam to Noah God sent a global flood to judge Mankind and God designed this flood also to destroy all air breathing landd dwelling creatures this is indeed a catastrophe this is not a hyperbolically described local flood as some evangelicals claim today this was a worldwide event this was a worldwide flood it completely covered all land on Earth even the highest mountains according to Genesis 7:19 to 20 and the results of this globe impacting event they extend to All Humans even today worldwide geology was fundamentally altered by this event even today scientists observe Rock layers that extend across whole consonants that are filled with billions of dead things and while scientists interpret the meaning of these layers according to their assumptions according to their presuppositions we know the trustworthiness of the Bible and these geological findings are actually consistent with what we would expect from a worldwide deadly flood Humanity survived only because of God’s grace to Noah but the diversity in the gene pools of mankind and of the different animal kinds were probably probably drastically reduced by this event I’ll talk more in later lessons about how all the animals fit onto the ark how the flood reshaped the Earth and other details related to the flood but you get the basic event described right now so certainly the catastrophe of the flood was another important event in the history of all men but so is another event that came soon afterwards only about 100 Years After the flood another event fundamentally change the relationships between all humans everywhere and that is our fourth SE confusion so we have creation corruption catastrophe confusion not learning from the flood and without a heart change to love and obey God Noah’s later descendants soon gathered together to build a city and a tower for their own Glory this Rebellion 2 with like the ones previously it would end up affecting all Humanity because to inhibit man’s Rebellion God broke Mankind’s one language into many forcing different families to scatter across the globe by themselves this scattering by language further separated Gene pools and the result were various people groups that not only spoke different languages from each other but also had separate cultures and traditions and even increasingly looked different from one another this is the origin of the different people groups that we even see today now where specifically did Noah’s descendants go Genesis 10 gives us the details in a section sometimes referred to as the table of the Nations this wasn’t like oh yeah and then they dispersed actually the Bible the history of the Bible tells us oh and this is where shem’s descendants went here’s where Ham’s descendant went here’s where J’s descendants sent and when you see the peoples emerging from those areas that’s because they are from those three sons of Noah now I mentioned that the episode at Babel probably took place about a hundred years after the flood why do I say that well turn over to Genesis 10:25 so this is part of the table of the Nations notice this is different from the chronog genealogies No Time information but we do get a record of Where The Descendants went and we do see an interesting detail about a particular descendant in Genesis 10:25 we read about pelg Genesis 10:25 says two sons were born to Eber the name of the one was pelg for in his days the Earth was divided and his brother’s name was Joan now the name Pelle means division and since the Tower of Babel is discussed in the very next chapter and Genesis does not talk about any other kind of world division the division most likely meant here is that pel is a reference to the division of the Tower of Babel it took place in his days now if you just glance at verses 21 to 25 notice how many generations after Shem one of the sons of Noah Pelle is born we have um arac shad and he became the father of Sheila and Sheila became the father of Eber and Eber is the one who gave birth to Pelle so AR pakad Sheila Eber pel four generations if we allow 20 to 40 years per generation the episode of Babel would have happened approximately how many years after the flood between 80 and 160 years and it’s likely these Generations were shorter rather than longer in increments so the confusion of Babel probably took place around 2240 BC again I’m not going to be super dogmatic about that but we’re not talking a ton of time here probably just about hundred years so with this we’ve covered the first four seas of the Seven Seas of creation all extremely important events for mankind that invations felt by all of us today and we’re only in Genesis 11 that fact should make us appreciate a few truths one there is much important history that happened way before we were even born thousands of years ago events were happening that dramatically affect how we live today two the beginning of Genesis is important to get right as I alluded earlier the first 11 chapters of Genesis are some of the most attacked in the Bible most questioned in the Bible yet these 11 chapters describe some of the most fundamental information regarding our Origins and the world we live in indeed much of the relevance of the Gospel message is tied up in a correct understanding of human Origins and history if Adam didn’t really exist If the fall never really happened if the flood was just one big exaggeration or if Babel was just a myth then not only does this misinformation have massive implications about the Bible’s inherency and Clarity but it also reeks havoc on the gospel message and it leaves us without answers to some of life’s most basic questions why is the world like this why am I like this what is the solution to man’s woes today this is partly why we’re going through this series why we’re building on the answers Bible curriculum because we want to uphold Genesis 1-11 along with the rest of the Bible as accurate as clear and as relevant history but now our fifth SE is going to jump very far ahead in time the fifth SE is Christ appearing around as I said 4 BC Christ appears more than 2,000 years after the confusion of Babel and there’s a lot of other Old Testament events leading up to Christ in particular with the nation of Israel in fact we could probably do a whole separate lesson on the Seven Seas of Israel we have the Covenant with Abraham Commandments with Moses the camping in the wilderness wandering Conquest with the promised land Crown the time of the Kings and captivity and Exile in Babylon is that seven or maybe that’s six but the culmination of what God was doing was when the Christ came through the seed of Israel Galatians 4 Galatians 44 to5 says but when the fullness of time came God sent forth his his son bornn of a woman born under the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as Sons this event the coming of Christ by his Incarnation would have worldwide implications as well and function as the Fulfillment of many promises made to Abraham and to his descendants through Jesus all the families of the Earth would be blessed Jesus the son of God came to Earth to save his people from their sins the sin really that was brought into the World by the first Adam as the last Adam Jesus became a new representative for mankind freeing all those who believe in him Jesus lived a perfect life a sinless life on the earth and then became a righteous substitute on man’s behalf on the sixth sea the cross probably taking place around ad30 the cross why did Jesus have to die on the cross was there another way well the answer to that is definitely no as Jesus experienced in the garden revealed he said father if possible take away this cup praise that three times and the answer is there’s no possibility of taking away this cup not if it’s going to bring about salvation the cross was necessary to reconcile us to God Jesus had to suffer the full holy and boiling anger of God against sin in himself as God Jesus was able to bear and pay for the entire infinite penalty but as man Jesus was able to stand in the place of Sinners who believe in him and act as their representative and so doing he took Believers sin paid it all and gave them his righteousness by his life by his death and his resurrection let’s hear how Colossians 1:1 19-22 puts it Colossians 1:1 19-22 says for it was the father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile all things to himself having made peace through the blood of his cross through him I say whether things on earth or things in heaven and although you the Gentiles you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind engaged in evil Deeds yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and Beyond reproach even from the very beginning before the foundation of the world it was God’s plan to send Christ to the Cross to redeem of people for himself the major moments of human history the other fores we have already discussed they all point to Christ and his cross one way or another Adam points to Christ the fall points to Christ the flood points to Christ Babel points to Christ they all point to the need of another human representative a perfect human to bring Redemption amazingly though the first Adam brought death into the World by sin the last Adam Jesus brought life into the world for all men who would believe in him Jesus death on the cross was probably the most major event in human history of course I know there’s a little bit of debate between the Incarnation the cross and Resurrection but certainly these things all together they are the most Monumental events ever to happen nothing in time was more Monumental to to humanity than Christ his cross his resurrection but just as the other Seas all point to Christ in his works so too does the last sea which technically is in history since it’s still in the future but God has revealed that this is so sure of happening that he can actually talk about it like its history and we can think of it that way too if Christ redeemed a bride for himself on the cross then keeping with that wedding metaphor what does the bride wait for in the future the consummation the consummation is our seventh SE we sometimes talk about Christ’s second coming as if it is one moment in the future the second coming which I’m now using the term consummation to describe rather than one particular event it it is a series of events it is a package of events that all have to do with the summing up of all things in Christ Christ will one day come back to gather his own in the Rapture and keep them forever with him he will also judge wickedness in the earth in the Great Tribulation and at that tribulation end descend to Earth himself and destroy all those who still rebel against him Christ will then restore the Earth and set up an Earthly Kingdom in Israel for a thousand years reigning in perfect righteousness and Justice as the descendant of David Christ will then quash a final rebellion led by Satan at the end of 10,000 years and then commence the great white Throne Judgment at that point the old Earth and old Heavens pass away in great heat according to the scriptures and every person is judged according to the records God has kept of that person the wicked are thrown into the Lake of Fire forever while the righteous are LED with Christ into a new Earth with new Heavens different from the old version not only in their perfection but also because God himself dwells on the earth with his redeemed bride in the New Jerusalem this is where all history is going to the final consummation God’s people dwelling with God and enjoying him forever while God’s enemies suffer Eternal destruction so here we have our basic outline of human history we have creation around 4,000 BC we have corruption around 4,000 BC we have the catastrophe of the flood around 2350 we have confusion at Babel at 2240 we have Christ around 4 BC we have the cross around ad30 we have the consummation that is going to take place someday soon in the future we need to understand God’s history with mankind if we really want to understand reality but unfortunately many deny this history and come up with a substitute history let’s now consider our secular cultures Viewpoint of the seven C’s of History starting with creation what’s currently the most popular idea for How the Universe began the big bang the Big Bang was supposed to have taken place around 13.7 billion years ago or the Earth taking coming into being around 4.5 billion years ago in the secular view there never was a Creator the universe and life were created by chance matter was created with a bang and life evolved from molecules to proteins to single cell organisms eventually to mankind more specifically current El evolutionary theory is that man evolved from apes or an aplike ancestor thus different people groups we see in the world today they are the result of different evolutions of man what about the next one corruption what is the secular view of sin and Corruption there’s no such thing no such thing from an evolutionary perspective there has always been death disease and struggle behaviors like violent rage selfishness or adultery they are not sins they are mere products of our biology they’re evolutionary holdovers they are disorders of the brain they are socially unacceptable Behavior but they’re not sins much if not all we do they suggest is merely a product of our genes our upbringing and our social economic circumstances ultimately it’s relativism relativism there’s no such thing as right or wrong then catastrophe what is the secular view of the flood never happened or if it did it was local and insignificant confusion if the flood is a myth then so is Babel and the spreading out of the peoples from the Middle East the differences of people in language culture and appearance they are explained by Evolution and the process of natural selection according to M chance people evolved differently and lived in different parts of the world what is the secular view of Christ yeah just a good man now some people don’t believe he even exists but for most he was a good man moral teacher good example but definitely not God and not the Savior that we need from our sins as for the cross jesus’ death on the cross was not about delivering Mankind from sin or the wrath of God it was a tragic accident the Jews and Romans putting to death an innocent and good man or it was the sad end of a zealous but deluded effort at reform in Judaism or it was the noble sacrifice of a man who set forth a positive moral example for people to follow but no more than that as for the consummation with such different views of these significant historical events it’s only natural that the secular view of the future would be quite different what according to secular thinking happens to people when they die that’s it you cease to exist you return to dust you have no soul there’s no afterlife meanwhile while mankind will continue to evolve without you and what about the end of the universe two main views see the end coming either with a whimper or with another bang the whimper is something called heat death the universe gradually grows colder and colder until everything is static and dead and the bang is the idea that the universe will again begin to contract and squeeze back together into a huge crunching ball until this super pressurized collection of matter explodes again and spawns Another Universe by way that’s not a very hopeful future is it it’s a very different view of history is it not as I said earlier your view of history is going to inform how you think how you believe you ought to live in the world today did any surprised that people who believe in the secular Viewpoint act the way that they do as if sin is of no consequence as if life is really all about satisfying various Desires in the present because as soon as you die that’s it now thankfully God and His Mercy gave us the true history of the universe gave it to us in the Bible so that we do not walk about like Blind Men we have a lamp to guide our feet and a light to guide our path are you thankful for that I pray that you are let’s now consider a few questions of application few specific points of application how do the moral and social issues of our society relate to man’s attempted revision of God’s history what do you think what’s one way mark [Music] yeah yeah so that’s a great that’s a great example the great alarm over climate change what used to be called global warming that goes back to how you view history because if you believe the Bible then okay I’m concerned about climate change but I’m not panicked because ultimately I know that God is the one who created and he maintains the universe but if you believe oh this is all by chance it’s very lucky that we’re alive on this Earth today and it could all go wrong with just the slightest thing changing your history the way you view history really affects even the major issues of our society today what’s another example yeah Glenda yeah that’s definitely right Glenda ultimately man does not want to acknowledge who God is with this particular question though we’re trying to think of what are specific social or societal issues that illustrate that did you have one mic [Music] right okay so you’re actually broaching two valuable examples there one is if you don’t believe the Bible’s history about Jesus then Jesus becomes just one to affirm your lifestyle in the pursuit of the things you enjoy in this world even uh whatever love relationship that you think is best and if you don’t believe what the Bible says about creation and you don’t pay attention to the words about corruption then any kind of sexual expression today is legitimate and that is of course lgbtq is one of the hugest issues of our world also thinking about Jesus in terms of social movements Jesus has been when you just rip him away from what the Bible declares about Jesus he becomes the justifier of all sorts of things he he becomes a justifier of Marxism he becomes a justifier of uh racism he becomes a justifier of uh various political movements because you rip him from his history he can now become whatever you want him to be Magna did you did you have something yeah and OD Domin yeah yeah yeah yeah Magna that’s interesting point so referring to in what has become popular in academic circles today you don’t use BC and AD anymore it’s BCE before the Common Era or a AC after the Common Era literally trying to write Jesus and and Christianity out of History supposedly you know this is just to be more academically objective but it is kind of symbolic of what is ultimately happening in man’s heart we want to remove God from our understanding of history but you can’t do that because he is there and he he’s the one who’s orchestrated this history and told us about it Jody a thought yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so Jody making the point kenam also makes it the president of ansers in Genesis that pretty much every societal issue that we face today is due to not believing or not applying what the Bible says and even specifically what Genesis 1-11 says so you mentioned abortion you mentioned lgbtq you mentioned marriage you know even I’ve been watching a documentary recently on the Cold War even communism that is an illustration of the Folly of disbelieving the scriptures because in theory something like total socialism communism would work except for corruption the heart of man this will never work in this universe because man’s sinful heart and then you know people are trying to implement these various ideas we’re going to create the perfect society and they can’t understand why it doesn’t work well it’s because you haven’t paid attention to the scriptures or you’re not willing to believe it there’s more we can say in this issue and I appre appreciate your thoughts already but let me let me go to two other application questions which of the following are you most likely to find in the world those who hold to a completely secular worldview those who hold to a completely biblical worldview or those who hold to an inconsistent mix it’s going to be the last one isn’t it probably the mixture this is because people are made in the image of God and they all experience General Revelation so they know the truth about God even as Romans one says they seek to suppress it in unrighteousness so this is why you get these inconsistent outcomes where someone can Embrace Evolution but also believe in God someone can dogmatically assert that there is no such thing as dogmatic truth or you can have people who deny God but still believe there is such a thing as right and wrong that doesn’t make any sense but even in Rebellion people cannot completely rub out God’s fingerprints on themselves or the universe they will live inconsistently so part of our Evangelistic Mission so part of what we can do as Christians is graciously call out people on their inconsistency and draw their attention to the truth by the scriptures that they already know about God about themselves about the world but suppress we can say the Bible reveals why the way or the Bible reveals why you live the way you do and it starts in the Book of Genesis one other question which of these seven events the seven C’s do people in the church challenge the most and why is that what do you think Mike yeah creation is definitely one but probably another one right up there the catastrophe of the flood usually those things go together if you question the Bible’s account of creation you’re going to question the account of the flood now why is that yeah this is considered settled science among the people of our culture which is actually ironic because when you when you talk to actual scientists they say oh actually there’s a lot of problems with our theories and this doesn’t quite work the the big bang or evolution of those things but popularly this is considered settled science oh come on man we have the fossil record billions of years is so obvious do you live in the cave are you in the anthol because how can you not acknowledge this and so there’s a ton of pressure on Christians like I don’t want to be backwards I don’t want to I don’t want to lose influence with the world I don’t want to be thought of as stupid okay I’m want to pay attention to this evidence maybe maybe I need to reinterpret the Bible because what the world is saying it it seems it seems pretty strong and so God’s account of creation God’s account of the flood they seem to be challenged quite frequently in the church if not rejected people will take the view well I’m not really sure you know I one of the systematic theologies I really enjoyed reading in seminary is the one by Wayne gudam it’s called Systematic Theology it’s so readable so worshipful and he on most issues is quite solid but when he gets to talking about creation he says and I I always remember this he’s like well the Bible would lead you to believe in literal 6 day 24-hour creation but the scientific data would lead you to believe something else therefore who can say I’m like what come on you’re so saw on all these other issues you’re going to be wishy-washy on this because the world with its anti-biblical presuppositions its anti-biblical assumptions says something different than the Bible it’s he’s not the only one like that though has a very high amount of pressure from scientists and from society to acknowledge their theories to make the Bible fit those theories rather than the other way around many evangelicals don’t want to be labeled as backwards naive un unscientific or unsophisticated and it’s not just this issue right the struggle is real pressure from society is real in so many areas yes with issues of Origins but also with the lgbtq movement Society is saying you’re unloving unless you recognize this unless you recognize that this is just the way people were born or we feel even when it comes to women preachers women pastors today are you misogynist are you stuck in the past stuck in Tradition don’t you understand that you’re interpreting the Bible wrongly that was just [Music] cultural we are not una affected by these pressures but we must respond to them rightly and how do we do that by going back by studying the scriptures and holding to what it says speaking teaching God’s perfect and reliable scriptures and not just the scriptures in general but also even the definitive answers on Origins marriage family man’s condition and the world’s condition that all have their basis in the Book of Genesis so we want to hold to Genesis as much as we do the rest of the scriptures especially because it’s not like this is ambiguous it’s not like this is unclear if you just start with this it’s quite clear it’s when you start with something else and then you look at this you’re like oh that that’s kind of unclear no it’s not really it’s just when you bring other things into it now we’ll fill in more of the details on Genesis 3-1 as we move forward but right now let’s remember the seven se’s frame framework so creation corruption catastrophe confusion Christ cross consummation this will help us properly remember our history and look forward to where our history is heading dwelling with God dwelling with Christ forever got a little bit of time for questions and comments what do you have based on what you’ve heard today yeah mark [Music] [Music] yeah that’s uh that’s a good point mark so just repeat the scope’s Monkey Trial which I believe was about whether Evolution could be taught in schools um in 1925 William Jennings Bryan who took the case of the Bible believing position he argued in a such a way or the way the trial played out it really seemed to make Christians look like fools those who would say that um you shouldn’t Teach an evolutionary View and this movie that later came on came out about it Inherit the Wind you said also promoted that image so it’s sad that something like one trial and the discussion around it and then the movie made about it could seem to have such an impact on the minds of people in our culture so it is indeed the case and I’ve heard this from people who who’ve worked in in science and I’m sure Ian you could probably testify this that if you are a scientist and you say that you affirm the Bible’s account of creation then you are going to be ridiculed you you might even be pushed out of your scientific position because that is that is considered so foolish that is considered so backwards so there’s definitely a lot of pressure on on Christians today um other thoughts comments Glenda okay so Glenda pointing out that in church aside from attacks on creation and and uh catastrophe you also have attacks on Christ even whether he’s 100% God whether he’s 100% man at the same time or um whether he’s just one or the other and that too is tied into do you believe the scripture do you believe that this is true history and one of the sad developments of the 19th century and afterwards is the popularization of higher criticism among biblical Scholars which basically says you can’t believe the Bible text you can’t believe that this is the person who really wrote it you can’t believe that uh that this was written at the the time that it reports to be so you have all sorts of supposedly Christian Scholars looking at the gospels and saying oh Jesus never really did that Jesus never really said this we can tell based on oh uh they wouldn’t have used this word at that time or uh Jesus based on the character of the things that we know he really did say and how do they know that he wouldn’t have said something like this and it just becomes basically a version of Thomas Jefferson cutting up the Bible for the parts that he didn’t like didn’t think were reasonable didn’t agree with and when you do that well then you can create a Jesus who’s not God or who’s not man or who is something else but yeah that’s still a pressure that’s still a problem in the church and it goes back to are we going to hold to the scriptures or are we going to set up some other standard especially man’s reason man’s autonomous reason I should say rich yeah yeah yeah so rich is pointing out that in the Catholic Church which you would think would not allow higher criticism into its teaching but apparently it did your own experience and I’m sure that’s true in other places as well and Protestants too this is the sad thing and you see this happening again and again and again Christian history Christians genuine Christians will take a worldly idea and they say well we don’t want to be backwards we don’t want to lose influence let’s integrate this into Christianity this is going to help the gospel and you know what happens it doesn’t help the gospel it impedes the gospel and usually destroys the church you look at different places like Germany the UK and increasingly in parts of America you say how did Christianity lose such a foothold here why why are people increasingly atheistic church is being closed down a lot of it goes back to it’s because the church thought it could gain influence from the in the world by adopting the world’s ideas and that’s not just an abstract thing what we’re talking about right here with creation catastrophe confusion corruption that’s that issue playing out in real time are we going to hold to these issues are we going to become wishy-washy or are we actually going to side with the world that is a step in the direction of losing the gospel losing true influence and allowing the church to die out uh hostway h yeah yeah way making two really good points and one is that a lot of people believe Evolution secular ideas about Origins merely because that’s what they were taught and they were taught it was settled science they were taught that the evidence was overwhelming and they didn’t question that and it does make a certain degree of sense I remember there was somebody who was um close to our family for a long time and we would talk to him about the gospel and one of the things he kept keep going back to is he’s like but science has proven that creation didn’t happen the way that the Bible says it’s like but no science hasn’t proven that have you have you actually investigated further especially with the perspective of start with the Bible and then examine the science but the second part of what you said host ways how valuable that is when you actually do that you realize oh there are assumptions driving the interpretation of secular scientists today which actually go against reality especially as the Bible explains it there’s the data that supposedly proves the secular view is just be it’s only um it’s only consequential if you accept the assumptions but if you come with different assumptions biblical assumptions then suddenly the data doesn’t prove Evolution or the Big Bang at all it actually fits with the scriptures and so that’s why we do want to be able to speak to one another and even have courses like this where we say well let’s take a step back you’ve heard these things about creation you’ve heard these things about corruption you’ve heard these things about the flood it seems like the world has a airtight case but let’s examine it more carefully according to the scriptures and we’ll find out the Bible is trustworthy its accounts can be accepted you’re not a neanderthal if you accept this but you are going to be exactly as Jesus said you’re going to be you’re not going to be considered Wise by the world that’s the fundamental problem that so many institutions run into when they’re trying to gain influence in the world they’re like we want to be wise in the world’s eyes but God just told you they’re not going to see you as wise unless you believe exactly what they believe but you can’t do that and be Jesus disciple I like what one of my Seminary professors said stressing warning us about going the way of liberalism as as theologians he says lordship before scholarship lordship before scholarship you want to be truly faithful be ready for the will not to agree with you and ridicule you and we want to show more how we can do that together as a church uh in this course that’s it for our time today thank you so much for your participation next week we begin our look at the fall Genesis 31-7 how our parents gave up everything for a piece of forbidden fruit let’s pray Lord we thank you for your word which is trustworthy we thank you God that you open our eyes you give us the glasses to see the world correctly rather than accepting the world’s glasses and we see everything in a distortion Lord I pray that you continue to build in us a conviction that your word is trustworthy we can stand on it and it will show us how to live in this world thank you God that it doesn’t merely inform us but like I prayed in the beginning it points us to you it brings us to you so I pray that’s where we would go they would not merely fill our minds and say I affirm all these true things but also I know and love the true God in Jesus name amen thank you everyone