Let us turn to Genesis chapter 1.
Genesis chapter 1.
Genesis 1 and verse 1.
In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth, and the earth was without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face
of the deep, and the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light, and
there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was
good, and God divided the light from the
darkness.
And God called the light day, and the
darkness he called night, and the evening and
the morning were the first day.
Now that's all we're going to read for
the present.
We hope that in the moments that are
ahead of us we look at other portions
of the word of God.
Now, you remember the last time we were
speaking a little bit about the state of
things that existed before the earth as it
now exists was brought forth.
We had brought before us the eternity as
expressing for us how that the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit were in eternity
before the world began.
And then we had how the original creation
is brought before us in the first verse
of Genesis chapter one.
How long ago that was we do not
know, and it was brought into the chaotic
state which it is presented to us which
is presented to us in the second verse.
The second verse is not an explanation of
the first verse.
There are many people who seem to have
the idea that Genesis 1 and 1 is
the, you might say, the heading of the
chapter, and the following verses are the explanation
of how the earth was created.
But you notice that primarily in the things
that follow from the second verse on, it
is not the heavens that are in disorder.
It is not the heavens that are under
the judgment of God which, of course, is
expressive to us of the universe around us,
but it is only this earth upon which
man was to be placed that was in
the chaotic state so that from the second
verse down to the end of the chapter
is not an explanation of the first verse.
You know, there are some Bible teachers who
are so, you might say, influenced by the
so-called science of the day that, instead
of interpreting the science of the day in
the light of the Bible, they're trying to
interpret the Bible in the light of science.
Now, history is very useful, and science is
very useful if they're kept in their right
places, but never as authoritative interpreters of the
word of God.
It's much better to look at history and
science through the word of God, and interpret
history and science in the light of the
word of God, than it is to interpret
the Bible in the light of science and
in the light of history, because scientific theories
so-called, and I'm speaking of theories, they
change.
They change with time.
There were theories that men had about science
that were considered sound 50 years ago, but
friends today why they're known to be exploded
theories.
For instance, when I was a boy and
went to school, we had the idea that
molecules were the smallest form of matter.
Well, we know that today, atoms, and not
only atoms, but the constituents of elements of
atoms are the smallest things, and of course
we have for us in Hebrews chapter 11,
a very scientific theory that science is finding
true today, that the things which are made
are not made of things which do appear,
and that is true.
They tell us that everything is composed of
atoms, and so atoms are not readily discerned
without microscopes and other instruments that men have
to study these various things in the atom,
and so we find that the first verse
is by itself, and then we find the
chaotic state, and then into that chaotic state
why God comes in and it begins to
work, and personally I believe that the six
days that we have here are literal days
of 24 hours each.
Now, again, of course, there are those who
try to accommodate these days to periods of
time, and they say, well, after all they're
geological ages or periods of time.
Well, that might be all right for the
first and second day, but friends, if we
were to allot, you might say each of
those days say to a period of time
of about 500,000 years each.
Well, each of those days was composed of
darkness and of light, and that's all right
in the first and second day, but when
we come to the third day, well, we
find that in the third day the dry
land brings forth the fruit, and my friends,
it would be unreasonable for us to believe
that if the days are periods of time
that it abode in darkness for such a
half of that period.
Personally, I believe that when we have brought
before us God said, God said, I believe
that you and I can believe that God
is able in a very short time to
bring about what he decrees or what he
says he has accomplished.
Now, you notice that on this chart the
six days they are picturing for us the
six ages of human history.
You notice that in this eternity, in the
past eternal age, we have the eternal purpose.
In other words, before anything was brought into
being, God had an eternal purpose, and we're
not left in doubt as to what that
purpose is.
Let us turn for a moment to Ephesians
1, and notice what he tells us is
the eternal purpose for which God brought all
things into being, and which God has in
mind in all his dealings with the sons
of men.
Ephesians chapter one, and notice we have in
the eighth verse it tells us, or we
could start with the seventh verse, in whom
we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his
grace wherein he hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence having made known unto
us the mystery of his will according to
the good pleasure which he purposed in himself
that in the dispensation of the fullness of
times he might gather together in one all
things in Christ both which are in heaven
and which are on earth even in him.
Now, let us turn to the third chapter
of Ephesians, and here we have brought before
us again in the eighth verse the apostle
Paul saying, unto me who am less than
the least of all saints is this grace
given that I should preach among the Gentiles
the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make
all men see what is the fellowship of
the mystery which from the beginning of the
world has been hidden God who created all
things by Jesus Christ to the intent that
now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places might be known by the church the
manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Now, there you notice that God created all
things and that God is working all things
according to the eternal purpose which he purposed
in Christ Jesus our Lord, and what is
that purpose?
That he should head up in Christ all
things both which are in heaven and which
are on earth.
Might I say, my friends, that this creation
in which man was placed was not God's
ultimate purpose?
It was only a stage or a place
in which God was going to work and
accomplish certain things in order that he might
before eternity as well as for the kingdom
age fulfill or head up in our Lord
Jesus Christ things in heaven and things on
earth.
You know, many of us get most circumscribed
by this present life that we think that
this life is the sum and substance of
everything, but my friends, this life is only
a step in the direction in which God
is dealing and eternity as well as the
kingdom age and eternity is what God has
in mind, and that is why God's dealings
with men are divided into ages or into
dispensations.
Now, you notice in the portion that I
read in Ephesians chapter one, we have that
word dispensation.
Now, some people don't like to think of
the bible as being divided into ages or
dispensations.
You notice on this chart we have a
verse written here or printed here from 2nd
Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15.
Study to show thyself approved unto God a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly
dividing the word of truth.
We have to be able to rightly divide
the word of truth if we're going to
understand it.
Augustine was the great church father, a great
bible teacher, and he said on one occasion,
distinguish the ages and the scriptures will harmonize.
I remember when, as a young Christian, I
had an experience that impressed upon me the
necessity of distinguishing the ages.
It was during Mr. Roosevelt's civilian conservation program.
You remember when he took office?
Those of you who are older, in 1932
the country was in the throes of a
depression, and so he wanted to lift the
country out of the depression, and so he
took a number of the young men from
off the streets of the city, and he
put them into reforestation programs.
Well, I was a teenager in the city
of Chicago, and so I was sent out,
way out to Oregon, and we were working
in the forest out there in Oregon.
There were about 200 of us boys in
the camp.
I don't know how many there were that
were Christians, but the Lord enabled me to
take a stand for the Lord Jesus amongst
these unsaved fellows, and I met one fellow
that was communistically inclined.
He ridiculed the Bible, and at one time
we had a conference or a discussion about
the Bible, and he said to me, well,
do you believe the Bible?
I said, I certainly do.
He said, well, do you know that right
now you are disobeying the Bible?
I said, I am.
How am I disobeying the Bible?
Well, the Bible says that you are not
to wear a garment of mixed clothing, cloth,
and in that shirt and that pair of
khakis that you have there, you have cotton
and you have wool, and according to the
Bible, why you are not to wear a
garment of mixed clothing.
Well, that set me back because I had
never read any such verse in the Bible,
and so I wrote to my friends in
Chicago.
I didn't have a concordance.
Where is there any person in the Bible
that speaks about not wearing a garment of
mixed cloth?
And they wrote back to me, it's in
Deuteronomy, I think it was the 22nd chapter,
that the Lord told the children of Israel
that they were not to wear a garment
that had a mixture of woolen and linen
in it because he hated a mixed garment.
Well, I had the privilege of telling that
man, well, you know, that belongs to the
children of Israel, and I'm not under the
dispensation where the children of Israel were under
law.
I am under grace, and God is not
occupied with a mixture in my literal clothing
at this time, but he is more interested
that I have not a mixed garb in
my life as a believer.
In other words, that I should be out
and out for the Lord, but the thing
is that I saw for the first time
there is a difference of as to what
was true in one period of time is
not true in another period of time.
The law is Israel was not allowed to
eat pork, but you know, friends, there are
many of us that like ham or bacon
or pork chops or something like that, but
under the law these things were forbidden.
Why?
Because they were in a different dispensation, and
you notice here that we have the expression
in the tenth verse that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ.
Now, God's purpose from eternity, my friends, is
not only the salvation of men.
People emphasize that salvation is the most important
thing of all.
Salvation is important, but salvation is not the
only or the eternal purpose of God.
The eternal purpose of God from before the
foundation of the world was one, and that
is to exalt and glorify the Lord Jesus
Christ, and to make him the son of
his love, the center as a man of
the entire universe, and to have around him
a people in heaven and a people in
earth who will be to his eternal glory
and praise.
And, in all of these ages, while God
does save men, the main purpose of God
is his glory.
Now, I might mention that there is a
difference between dispensations and ages.
While they are, you might say, interlocking terms,
and while one is included in the other,
they are nevertheless not one and the same
thing.
Now, if you turn to Ephesians chapter 3
for a moment, I want you to notice
that the Bible does speak about ages.
In Ephesians 3 and verse 4, it says,
whereby when you read you may understand my
knowledge in the mystery of Christ which in
other ages was not made known unto the
sons of men as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the
Spirit.
Now, you notice that there Paul says that
there is a certain something, a mystery, which
is now being made known which was not
in other ages made known unto the sons
of men.
So, there we have brought before us that
there are past ages.
We believe, as we shall see in the
night scenario ahead of us, that we are
in this fourth age, the present age which
is the church age in which the Lord
is calling out from Jew and Gentile a
people who are called the church, and that
church is a distinct company composed of those
who are saved.
Now, this is the special mystery that Paul
speaks about in the third chapter of Ephesians
that is now being revealed which in other
ages was not made known unto the sons
of men.
So, we know that there are previous ages
prior to this age.
Some people say, well, the church?
Well, the church, why, that began when Adam
was on earth.
Why, the church goes all the way back
to the time of Adam, and from the
time of Adam to the present time, everyone
that is saved is in the church.
But, my friends, the third chapter of Ephesians
shows us that the church age is a
mystery age, that it is a special age
which was not made known in other ages,
a truth that is not made known previously,
and is now made known unto us through
the apostles and prophets.
If you'll turn to Ephesians chapter 2 and
verse 7, you'll notice it brings before us
there that in the ages to come he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Here in Ephesians 2 and 7, we find
that after this age there are going to
be future ages, that this age is not
going to terminate God's dealings with men, that
this age is not going to end with
the end of all things.
You notice, my friends, that this age is
not going to bring about the end of
the world.
It is going to be brought to an
end by the return of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who is going to take out of
this world his church, and the world goes
on as we shall see in future meetings,
and there will be a tribulation period to
be followed by the visible return of our
Lord Jesus to set up a kingdom, and
then a kingdom of Christ for a period
of at least a thousand years before the
end of all things, and the bringing in
of the new heaven and the new earth.
So, we know from Ephesians 3 that there
is a present age, that there are past
ages.
From Ephesians 2, we know that there are
going to be future ages after the termination
of this present age by the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, what is the difference?
And I might say it's a slight difference,
but I think it's a very nice difference
to notice between an age and a dispensation.
Now, they're both one and the same in
that this is the first age as well
as the first dispensation.
This is the second age as well as
the second dispensation, but the word of God
in speaking of the dispensation, what is the
dispensation?
If you and I were to look up
that word in our concordance, we would find
that a dispensation was a description of a
well-ordered or administered household, so that when
we come to the word dispensation and the
thought of a dispensation, it is this that
it is God administering the affairs with mankind
in a special, distinct way for the fulfillment
and the accomplishment of his purpose, and that
dispensation is a particular period of time or
an age which has a beginning, and which
has a character, and which has an end.
So, the dispensation brings before us that the
reason why there are different ages is because
God is dealing with humanity in different ways
for the fulfillment and accomplishment of his purposes,
and in the bout of the ultimate purpose
which he hides that he might head up
in Christ in the hope which are in
heaven and which are on earth, something that
is going to be carried on into eternity
itself.
Now, you notice that this chart, and I
might say there is, of course, a difference
in ideas as to how many dispensations there
are, and for myself I might say I'm
not dogmatic about those who say, well, there
are seven dispensations, and perhaps they do not
see how the six days foreshadow six dispensations.
For myself, I like to accept the thought
that there are six ages of human history
foreshadowed for us in the six days in
which God brought the earth out of the
chaotic state into which it had fallen as
a result of some something that happened in
the bygone recesses of time.
Those six days, the events fired in those
six days, they foreshadow for us the six
ages or six dispensations of human history.
Now, as I said, I believe that those
six days are literal days of 24 hours
each, and the reason why I believe that
they are days of 24 hours each is
because, for one thing, each of the days
had an evening and a morning.
An evening and a morning, and so, my
friends, that was the Hebrew way of computing
a solar day.
The evening and the morning was the first
day.
A second reason why I believe that these
are literal days of 24 hours each is
because it is only of literal solar days
that, with its head, numbers are associated with
them, like we have here.
The evening and morning was the first day.
Evening and morning was the second day.
Evening and morning was the third day, and
the fourth day, and the fifth day, and
the sixth day.
Each of them had a number associated with
it, thereby bringing before us that these were
literal days.
A third reason why is because, when we
turn to the later accounts, when, for instance,
in the book of Exodus, let us turn
for a moment to the 20th chapter of
the book of Exodus, where we have the
law given to the children of Israel.
Notice what it tells us here.
In the 20th chapter and the 8th verse,
it says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy.
Six days shalt thou labor and do all
thy work, but the seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
In it thou shalt not do any work,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy
manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor
thy stranger that is within thy gate.
For in six days the Lord made, and
I want you to notice it doesn't say,
for in six days the Lord created.
It says, in six days the Lord made,
and when you read the first chapter of
Genesis, you'll want to distinguish between those three
words, created, and made, and formed, and if
you'll look up those three words in your
young's or strong's concordance, you'll find that the
Hebrew word for each of those words is
different.
The word created is the word bara, b
-a-r-a, which means to bring forth
out of nothing.
The word made is an entirely different word.
It is the word asah, a-s-a
-h, which means to make out of existing
material.
So that here, notice, and I might say
that if you go all through the Bible,
you'll find a perfect accuracy and harmony in
the use of these verbs, that the Spirit
of God and the biblical writers never confuse
these various words, and you'll find here in
Exodus chapter 20 and verse 11, for in
six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that in them is,
and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
So, my friends, here in the law, when
it comes to the Sabbath day, the Lord
told the people of Israel that they were
to remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy, because in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth.
So, I believe that Moses meant to convey
to the people that it was not six
periods of time, but it was six literal
days of 24 hours each in which God
did these various things.
And, if we turn to the 33rd Psalm,
we'll find the words God spake, and it
was done.
God commanded, and it held fast.
And, my friends, if we believe that God
could make all these things in a period
of 500,000 years, or a million years
apiece, for each of the ages, why should
we think it unreasonable to believe that the
Lord would do it in the period of
24 hours each?
When the Lord Jesus was here on earth,
the Lord Jesus performed some miracles that simply
shortened the span of time.
Changing water into wine is quite a miracle.
Some people say, I remember reading this story
that Mr. Marsh wrote in one of his
books about the atheist who said to the
man, you don't believe that Jesus changed water
into wine, do you?
He says, why, he says, I certainly do.
He says, in fact, I can tell you
a greater miracle than that.
I can show you how Jesus changed beer
into furniture in our home.
Well, my friends, you know the Lord Jesus
can perform many wonderful miracles, and he did
when he changed water into wine.
Why, every year, my friends, he's changing water
into wine.
The rain falls from heaven, it's absorbed into
the vine, goes up into the cluster of
grapes, the cluster of grapes grow to maturity,
they're taken, they're crushed, they're fermented, and they
become wine.
Only it takes a period of months to
bring it about, but my friends, the Lord
Jesus just simply compressed it in a few
moments when he took that water, and there
in the containers, and he said to the
disciples, take it and draw, and the wine
was better than that which they had tasted
beforehand.
The Lord had turned it, the water, into
wine.
So, my friends, the thing that took place
in a long period of time, naturally, he
simply compressed into a few brief moments, and
brought it about by his own power.
So, when we come to this thought of
God not being able to do these things
in a short period of time, I believe
we're limiting God.
But the very moment you and I bring
in one who is almighty, why, then, of
course, there's nothing very difficult for us to
take it in that he did it in
a short period of time.
And so, these six events that took place
in those six days foreshadow for us six
ages or dispensations of human history in which
God deals with men according to his own
will and purpose, and in these dispensations or
ages we have some very wonderful lessons for
you and for me.
Now, you notice that today we were reading
from the first chapter of Genesis, and we
were reading about the first day.
God said, let there be light, and there
was light.
Now, sometimes people wonder, well, how could there
be light apart from the sun?
Because, after all, we do not have the
sun put in its place until the fourth
day.
Now, I might mention, if you'll notice carefully,
you'll notice it does not say that God
created the sun, and the moon, and the
stars.
It says he made them, or he brought
them into their place.
I believe that the sun, and the moon,
and the stars were created in the original
creation of the first verse of the first
chapter of Genesis.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth, and when the earth was brought
into the chaotic state, all that was associated
with it was brought into disorder as well.
You know, the larger men's telescopes become, and
the farther they reach out into space, the
more we are learning that this little sphere
upon which you and I are living, which
is attached to the sun by the law
of gravitation, that this little solar system which
is our solar system, is one only one
of many multitudes of other solar systems and
spheres that there are in the universe around
us.
Men are finding all the time that this
universe is beyond a limit.
They can't reach to the end of it.
So, I think that when this earth was
brought into the chaotic state, the sun was
brought into disorder with it.
That its life in relation to this earth
was affected as well, and there are some
who believe that when God said, let there
be light, and there was light, that it
was really the light of the sun that
was diffusing through the atmosphere and beginning to
come into this earth.
Now, of course, it was still surrounded, as
we know from the second day, it was
still surrounded by the atmosphere clouds of water
enveloping it, but really and truly in the
first day, God said, let there be light,
and there was light.
Hebrew scholars tell us that the real thought
is let light be, and light was.
That's just how fast it was.
God saw the light.
It doesn't say that what God saw in
this creation was good, but God saw the
light, that it was good, and God divided
the light from the darkness, and God called
the light day, and the darkness he called
night, and the evening and the morning were
the first day.
I know that foreshadows for us the first
age of human history, the time from Adam
to Noah, a period of 1656 years.
You know, some people seem to have the
idea that when God made man, that man
was so ignorant, and so depraved, and so
beast-like that he had no knowledge, that
he was absolutely in darkness.
But, my friends, when we turn to the
word of God, we find that from the
beginning, God gave man light.
Man had light.
You notice that on this chart we have
in the first instantation, man was tried with,
first of all, the life of creation.
We turn to Romans chapter 1, we turn
to Psalm 19, and we find that creation
all around bears witness to man of God.
How do we know there's a God?
My friends, it doesn't make an image where
we go.
Whether we go into the darkest recesses of
the jungle where people have never read a
book, and missionaries tell us that as they
work among these primitive peoples, these people have
a consciousness of a supreme being of a
God that sometimes surpasses the knowledge of so
-called educated people who despise the word of
God, and the testimony of the word of
God.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and
the firmament show us his handiwork.
Creation bears witness to man that there is
a God, that this God is wise, that
this God is powerful, that this God is
mighty.
There is one above and beyond us who
controls everything, who controls and directs the seasons.
But, man had more than the light of
creation.
Man has the light of conscience.
Man had within himself a conscience that told
him when he did wrong.
You know, sometimes people think of their conscience
like the little girl who says, a conscience
is that which speaks to you when Johnny
speaks to me when Johnny does something wrong.
Conscience is that which speaks to me when
Johnny, my brother, does something wrong.
Now, you know that's about all some people's
conscience.
It's very easy for them to see when
another person they think is wrong, or is
doing wrong.
But, really and truly, that's not what conscience
is.
Conscience is that inward monitor, that inward thing
within us that bears witness to you and
me when we do wrong.
And, again, it doesn't make any difference where
we go.
We find that people have a conscience.
There in the darkest recesses in Africa, there
we find people troubled about their conscience, troubled
about their sins.
They're bringing sacrifices to atone for their sins.
Missionaries will tell us that in the jungles
of Africa, a person will take a chicken
and kill it to atone for his sins,
sprinkle himself with the blood, and cover himself
with the blood because he thinks that will
atone for his sins.
The person in India who believes the river
Ganges can wash away his sins, troubled with
a burden of sin, will measure himself prostrate
along the desert reciting prayers until he finally
comes to the river Ganges and plunges into
it, hoping that as he washes himself in
that water, his sins will be removed.
They're longing for ease and liberty and freedom
of conscience.
Conscience.
Conscience which troubles people about their sins.
That was what caused Adam and the woman
to hide amongst the trees of the garden,
to cover themselves with fig leaves, and to
hide from God as they hid amongst the
trees of the garden.
What was it?
It was conscience that told them they were
sinners, that told them they were guilty, that
told they couldn't stand before God.
It was conscience that drove Abel to bring
that sacrifice to atone for his sins.
The conscience of his sins about his sins
troubled him, and we find that there were
others all through that age from Adam to
Noah who had a conscience, and they knew
that they were sinners.
They knew they needed forgiveness.
They knew that they had to meet God.
I wonder if I'm speaking to someone in
this meeting tonight, and you're trying to deaden
your conscience?
You know, one of the awful things about
America is that with all of our learning,
with all of our religion, we harden our
conscience.
We staple the voice of our conscience.
We sear our conscience until it says, the
fourth chapter of Ephesians says, people become past
feelings.
They become past feelings, and they don't listen
to the voice of their conscience.
They try to drown the voice of their
conscience.
But, you know, eventually conscience comes to the
top, and conscience brings the awful consciousness of
one's sins, and of one's guilt, and causes
the person to dread to meet God.
Man has the light of conscience, and just
as light came in the first day, and
light was in existence all the days, so
these two spheres, or degrees of light, were
given to man.
But, you know, no sooner had man sinned
than God gave him the greatest light of
all, and what was that?
That was the light of promise.
And, he returns, we see, to Genesis chapter
3 and verse 15.
You'll notice the Lord says in that 15th
verse, to the serpent Satan, but within the
hearing of the man and the woman, in
Genesis 3 and 15 he says, and I
will put enmity between thee and the woman,
between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall
bruise his ear.
No sooner man had sinned than God gave
him a promise, or God gave him a
word of light.
What was that word of light?
That word of light was concerning a coming
Savior, a Savior who would bruise Satan's head,
but a Savior who would be bruised in
turn.
And, who is that?
That, my friends, is our Lord Jesus, the
seed of the woman.
Here we find the first announcement of the
virgin birth of our Lord Jesus.
Here we find the first announcement of the
death of our Lord Jesus.
Here we find the first announcement of the
overcoming of Satan.
Here we find the first announcement of a
seed whom God would send into the world.
And, we know how this gripped the heart
of the man and the woman, because it
was after this that the man called his
wife's name Eve.
It was after the promise was given that
he called his wife's name Eve, the mother
of all.
And, it was because they laid hold of
this promise that the woman called the first
son that was born into the world came.
She says, God has given me the seed.
She thought this was the seed, but it
was not.
There was one who was to come, but
there was the hope of the coming Savior.
And, every sacrifice that they brought was an
expression of their faith in that coming Savior.
And, what distinguished all of humanity from the
very beginning of time was that those who
held on to that promise, and believed that
promise, and were looking for the coming of
the Savior, they were the children of life.
Those who refused it, like Cain, and all
who followed him in his path, why, they
were the children of darkness.
And so, we find that God gave them
life.
When we turn to the 11th chapter of
Hebrews, we find that by faith Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was
God testifying of his gift, and by it
he being dead yet.
My friends, before I can ever exercise faith,
I must hear something.
I can't believe something I don't know anything
about.
I can't believe something I don't hear anything
about.
You have to tell me something before I
can believe you or disbelieve you.
Faith is an emotion, an experience that is
the result of hearing a certain report.
Where did Abel hear it?
He must have heard it from his father
and mother, how they sought to hide from
God, how they could not hide from God,
how that God brought them out into the
open, how they had to make confession of
what they had done, and how God had
taken the sacrifice, giving them the promise, and
how it slain the sacrifice and covered them
with a garment that covered their nakedness, giving
them the promise of a coming Messiah, of
a coming Savior.
I'm sure that's where Abel heard his report
to exercise faith.
By faith, Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, and then I like
that next phrase, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous.
You know, people sometimes talk of when you
speak about knowing that you're saved, why they
talk as though that was new doctrine.
My friends, that is old as Abel.
By faith, Abel obtained witness that he was
righteous.
He knew that he was righteous.
He had a witness that he was righteous,
and not only so, and by it, he
being dead, yet speaking.
Why, that man Abel, he's speaking to people
of this enlightened spirit of Scripture, and he's
telling them the only way to God, and
the only way to obtain witness about how
to be righteous God is by means of
the divine sacrifice.
By faith, they had light.
Man had light.
Man was not in darkness.
Man had the light of creation to tell
him there was a God.
Man had the light of conscience to tell
him he was a sinner.
Man had the light of promise to tell
him of a coming Savior, the seed of
the woman who would die on Calvary's cross,
and win the pardon for them so that
they might know they are righteous.
And just as on that first day, light
was brought in in the first age from
Adam to Noah, which ended in the flood,
a period of about 1656 years, we believe,
man had no time to go living in
a much later day.