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Well, we're studying the doctrine 
of creation from chapter four of the Second London Baptist 
Confession of Faith. As I said, we looked at the doctrine 
of the decree last time, and we noted that the decrees of 
God are seen in creation and providence, providence which 
of course contains that central purpose of God seen in the redemption 
of sinners by Christ Jesus to the praise of his glorious grace. 
Well, here in chapter four, we have the doctrine of creation 
and three short paragraphs, but of course it is a very big doctrine. And in saying that, we don't 
just mean because of the largeness of God's creation, the bigness 
of the universe, the vast size of the world and all those sorts 
of things, but because of the nature of the discussion, the 
dialogue, the debate of the origins of things and that sort of a 
thing, whether it's a debate between naturalistic evolutionary 
humanist and a creationist, or even an intramural debate, perhaps, 
on the things of creation, or at least an in-house debate, 
if you will, between professing Christians on the nature of six 
days and these sorts of things. It's a very big topic. R.C. Sproul said on Genesis 1-1 that 
that's probably the most controversial verse. In the Bible, in the beginning, 
God created the heavens and the earth. So it's a very big doctrine. And we have three short paragraphs. But again, it's a very large 
topic to work through. And of course, we can't cover 
everything this morning. But we're going to use Dr. Sam 
Waldron's outline, his very helpful outline, to work through some 
things that we see in this particular chapter. of the confession, but 
just to introduce it a little bit. First off, we've already 
seen the doctrine of creation in different garbs as we've worked 
through the first three chapters of the confession. And first 
off in chapter one, remember that we saw the revelatory sufficiency 
and insufficiency of creation. You can turn to chapter one for 
a moment. Notice what we find there in chapter one, paragraph 
one. We see the The Holy Scripture is the only 
sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, 
faith, and obedience. Now notice, although the light 
of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest 
the goodness, wisdom, and power of God as to leave men inexcusable, 
yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and 
His will which is necessary unto salvation. It is not the case 
that we are to see creation as God's you know, 67th book of 
the Bible. There is revelatory sufficiency 
in creation. As the Confession says, it manifests 
the goodness, wisdom, and power of God as to leave men inexcusable. 
But there is revelatory insufficiency as well, because we read afterwards, 
yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and 
His will which is necessary unto salvation? As we've seen and 
in chat, you don't have to turn there, but in chapter 20 in verse 
2, we read the exact same thing. We came across creation as we 
were studying the doctrine of God over a number of Sundays 
in chapter 2. In chapter 2 and paragraph 2, 
we see God's independence relative to his creation. Notice in paragraph 
2 of chapter 2, God having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, 
in and of himself, is alone in and unto himself all sufficient, 
not standing in need of any creature which he hath made, nor deriving 
any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, 
by, unto, and upon them. God's independence relative to 
his creation. You see, creation isn't a necessary 
act of God. It wasn't the case or it is not 
the case that creation is a result of God's divine evolution and 
the universe, the world and all things are sort of God's manifestation 
of divine development over however many millions of years. Creation 
is not an emanation. not a pantheistic God that we 
worship and serve, but rather the triune God of Holy Scripture. 
So creation isn't a dependent thing. God freely creates. His act of creation was not dependent 
upon the creature. Now, there is a sense in which, 
a way in which we could say creation was dependent, but it's an ad 
extra, that is an outside of God dependence based upon his 
decree. God, before the foundation of 
the world, decreed, to create all things. And so, therefore, 
creation necessarily flows from God's decree. But with respect 
to the doctrine of God himself, there are only three things that 
are necessary acts, if you will, with respect to the triune God. 
And they are all ad intra acts, that is, inside God. And they 
are affiliation with respect to the Father, and the son, they 
are spiration with respect to the father and the son and the 
spirit, and then of course the son's relationship to the father. So those are really the only 
necessary acts, and they respect the relationship of the persons 
of the triune God one to each other. But all of that to say, 
God's independence relative to his creation must be upheld. 
by Christians. And then lastly, we see the angelic 
and human response in light of creation in paragraph two. We see in, right at the end of 
paragraph two, to him is due, that is to God is due, from angels 
and men whatsoever worship, service, or obedience as creatures they 
owe unto the creator and whatever he is further pleased to require 
of them. So we see those things, or we have seen those things 
as we've worked through the confession. So then, now getting back to 
chapter four, and maybe also just a brief note, when we were 
talking about the decree of God, and we'll get to this a little 
bit in paragraph three of chapter four, and then later on as we 
study the confession in greater detail. But creation is, again, 
part of the decree of God. It is, though, given here first, 
or we could say, Creation, what is first chronologically is last 
logically with respect to the order of the decrees of God. 
So when we come to creation here, we don't see creation as first 
logically, if we can use this language, in the mind of God 
with respect to the decree. But what is first chronologically 
is last logically. What is first logically is last 
chronologically. So here we come to creation. 
And we'll see and we'll know later that it is creation that 
serves the redemptive purpose of God in saving sinners, a multitude 
of sinners, by Jesus Christ to the praise of his glorious grace. 
Well, let's get then to this chapter, Chapter 4 of Creation, 
again using Waldron's helpful outline. And there are three 
large sections that he titles and, of course, based on each 
paragraph. Paragraph 1, the overview of creation. Paragraph 2, the 
apex of creation. And if you don't know what apex 
means, that simply means the highest point of creation. So 
we have paragraph 1, the overview of creation. Paragraph 2, the 
apex of creation. And then paragraph 4, the fulcrum 
of creation. And fulcrum maybe just generally 
or loosely means a prop or a foundation. But more specifically, it is 
the proper foundation upon which something hinges or turns. And 
so the fulcrum of creation would have specific reference to the 
redemptive plan of God seen in the covenant of works with Adam 
and Eve in the garden. Well, let's look then first at 
the overview of creation. And there are six things that 
we see. And the first one is the time 
of creation. Very simply, in the beginning, 
it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the manifestation 
of the glory of his eternal power, etc., to create all things. So the time of creation is in 
the beginning. And we are to rule out a number 
of things here with regards to this idea of in the beginning. We are to reject any sort of, 
of course, materialistic ideas of the origin of things. We reject 
the hypothesis and the theories and all these things of the evolutionists 
who reject God at the outset, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, 
and in doing that seek to propagate some doctrine of a materialistic, 
chaotic, non-divine origin of all things. We, of course, reject 
that. We must reject the pagan origin of things. They have a 
doctrine of, in the beginning, But they have a doctrine of, 
in the beginning, that sees God. And this isn't brushing every 
pagan with the same brush or painting the same picture of 
paganism. But they have an idea of, in 
the beginning, where God exists and he exists beside preexistent 
matter and formless matter and that sort of a thing. So that 
the elements that we see and the stuff of creation that we 
cast our eyes upon is the result of God tinkering with preexistent 
matter and formless matter that he fashions and shapes, almost 
like a painter that has a canvas. God was there, the canvas was 
there, God painted upon the canvas, and there we have creation. Or 
there was some sort of formless, malleable mold, and God took 
that mold and fashioned and tinkered the multitudinous things that 
we cast our eyes upon, including ourselves. We must, of course, 
reject that. in the beginning as we understand 
and of course we reject we reject the pseudo-christian origin of 
things there is in the history of the church uh... origin of 
things uh... doctrines that uh... either borrow 
from those sort of pagan notions or reject creation ex nihilo 
that is creation out of nothing that the christian uh... tradition 
that christianity must uphold so what then does in the beginning 
mean here's john calvin on In the beginning it pleased God 
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To expound the term beginning 
of Christ is altogether frivolous, for Moses simply intends to assert 
that the world was not perfected at its very commencement in the 
manner in which it is now seen, but that it was created an empty 
chaos of heaven and earth. His language, therefore, may 
be thus explained. When God in the beginning created 
the heaven and the earth, the earth was empty and waste. He, 
moreover, teaches by the word created that what before did 
not exist was now made. For he has not used the term 
yatsar, probably not the correct pronunciation, but nevertheless 
a transliteration, which signifies to frame our forms, but bara, 
which signifies to create. Therefore, his meaning is that 
the world was made out of nothing, hence, Hence the folly of those 
is refuted who imagine that unformed matter existed from eternity 
and who gather nothing else from the narration of Moses than that 
the world was furnished with new ornaments and received a 
form of which it was before destitute. This indeed was formerly a common 
fable among heathens who had received only an obscure report 
of the creation and who, according to custom, adulterated the truth 
of God with strange figments. but for Christian men to labor 
in maintaining this gross error is absurd and intolerable. Let 
this then be maintained in the first place, that the world is 
not eternal, but was created by God." So in the beginning 
we must understand that God created ex nihilo, that is, out of nothing, 
and that idea, it's almost strange to say that in a sense, that 
God created out of nothing, because we can't say that nothing is. 
that there are nothings that are. Nothing doesn't have being. So God created out of nothing. And we're simply to understand 
by that that what was present at and after creation was not 
there before God created. There was nothing before God, 
but only God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the beginning, 
there was nothing. Then God spoke, and there was. So the time of creation we see 
and we read and we understand in the beginning. And for a biblical 
understanding, you see the language out of nothing or the idea of 
ex nihilo, that specific language itself, we don't have it in the 
scriptures. But again, as with other doctrines, 
we most certainly arrive at that clear understanding by certain 
texts. And Hebrews 11, three is one 
if you wanted to make a note. Hebrews 11, 3, probably the clearest 
implicit text that we find in the scriptures. Also, Psalm 33, 
6 and 9, and Psalm 148, 5. At the end, with about 10 minutes 
remaining, we'll have a time of discussion. And I do mean 
to end then, so we can have that full 10 minutes if there's any 
questions. Maybe it's stuff with regards to creation that we don't 
cover this morning, or whatever it might be. You can feel free 
to ask those questions. So secondly, After the time of 
creation, we see the author of creation. In the beginning, it 
pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to create or 
make the world and all things therein. So the author of creation 
is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And you might think 
that an elementary observation, but it is a very important one. Because you see, we don't arrive 
at the idea of creation and go through some sort of Christian 
exercise having some generic intelligent designer, and then 
moving to the triune God of Holy Scripture. But rather from the 
outset, we are triune Christians. We are Trinitarians. And so we 
note, and we note with great force of clarity, that the Creator 
is the triune God of Holy Scripture, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Boving says, if God were not 
triune, creation would be impossible. And where he goes for that is 
the nature of the Christian God, the only living and true God, 
the nature of God as triune is a necessity or else there could 
not be creation. Because in the triune God, as 
we've noted from our studies in chapter two, we have a father 
that eternally generates the son. and a father and a son that 
spirate the spirit. There is an inner Trinitarian 
apologetic for, or we could say a theology proper apologetic 
for, the doctrine of creation. That only in Christianity, which 
maintains a triune God, can we have a doctrine of creation ex 
nihilo. If you want more information 
on that, you can read Bavink. If you want me to send it to 
you because you don't have Bob Ink, it's just a small portion 
of the necessity of the triune God for creation, I could email 
it to you. Augustine says, by this supremely, equally, and 
immutably good Trinity, all things are created. And so we can go 
to our Bibles to see here, to see the fact that Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit are active in creation. And you can actually 
go to the creation account in Genesis 1.1. Remember, as we've 
studied the doctrine of God, we've noted, with respect to the doctrine 
of the Trinity, that it is a doctrine that does not find its full flower 
in the Old Testament, but it is there in its pre-fully bloomed 
form. The Trinity is present, and one 
of the places that it is present is Genesis 1, and verses 1 to 
3, and then verse 26. Remember the doctrine of the 
Trinity in the Old Testament to quote some man whose name 
I always forget with regards to this. But anyway, the Trinity 
in the Old Testament is like a chamber dimly lighted. The 
furnishings and everything is there in that dimly lit chamber. 
But the New Testament comes along, the light shines upon it, nothing 
new is introduced, but rather we see the furnishings with further 
clarity. But nevertheless, the furnishings are there. in the 
Old Testament, and we can with dim light see the Trinity here. In Genesis 1, verse 1 to verse 
3, notice what we see, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with our 
Christian minds. We read, In the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and 
void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit 
of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God 
said, Christ is the word of God there in verse 3 the spirit before 
that hovering over the waters and God here being used perhaps 
with respect to the father in the beginning God created the 
heaven and the earth on this language of and God said, John 
Gill. This phrase is used nine times 
in this account of the creation. It is admired by Longinus the 
heathen in his Treatise of the Sublime as a noble instance of 
it. And it is most beautifully paraphrased 
and explained in Psalm 33 6 as expressive of the will, power, 
authority, and efficacy of the divine being, whose word is clothed 
with power and who can do and does whatever he will and as 
soon as he pleases. His orders are always obeyed. 
Perhaps the divine person speaking here is the Logos or Word of 
God which was in the beginning with God and was God and who 
himself is the light that lightens every creature. Remember the 
absolute and deliberate connectivity between John 1, 1 to 4 and and 
even after that, but John 1, 1 to 4 and Genesis 1 here. We have in John 1, 1 the word 
of God identified as Jesus Christ, who later became flesh and dwelt 
among us as the one who created all things. So suffice it to 
say, the triune God, the author of creation, and we see that 
in Genesis 1, 1 to 3. also notice verse 26 then God 
said let us make man in our image according to our likeness so 
we have this this first-person plural here being used with respect 
to God and as we had occasion to note in our study of the doctrine 
of God this isn't God you know, taking up counsel with his angels. This, of course, is not some 
sort of pantheon of Greco-Roman deities, but rather is the triune 
God engaging in the act of creation. And we have this language of 
us, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Much more could be said on that 
language and the understanding, the historical understanding 
of it, but suffice it to say we have there and early revelatory 
proof of the triune God active in the creation of all things, 
whether visible or invisible. Notice the purpose of creation 
as well. So we have the time of creation, the author of creation, 
and then we also have the purpose of creation. We have here in 
the text of the confession the language with regards to purpose. 
Right after you read and Holy Spirit, we read, for the manifestation 
of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness. That is the purpose of creation 
stated there. in the confession. There is, 
and we must, we must divest ourselves of the tendency to only see, 
though we'll qualify this, but to only see creation as a means 
to an end of redemption. It is a means to the end of redemption, 
but you see, we don't need to somehow, you know, say, you know, 
leaves and flowers and all of those things are ugly. I'm only 
supposed to consider creation as it respects the redemption 
of sinners by Jesus Christ, because it was just creation that, or 
it is just creation that's the arena for God's redemption. Yes, 
it is, but we are to behold the leaf, the flower, the slug, the 
worm, the sparrow, the galaxies spinning in their orbits, the 
stars of the sky, and we are to sing of the righteousness 
and of the glory and of the majesty of God in beholding his creation. 
So let's, yes, understand redemption as primary and as creation serving 
God's redemptive purpose. But in doing that, we must recognize 
that creation itself still does speak of the glory of his eternal 
power, wisdom, and his goodness when we look at vegetation, when 
we look at a cow eating in the field, we've got milk. When we think of the other type 
of cow that isn't white with black spots sitting there in 
the field, pretty soon it'll be slaughtered and it'll be on 
our plates. Praise God Almighty for that blessed reality. So 
we must, again, the purpose of creation is for the manifestation 
of His glory, His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness. As you're 
turning to Isaiah 43, 7 and 8, we note again that that is not 
just, it is primarily for his redemptive purposes, but also 
we behold in creation our blessed God, full of wisdom, full of 
power, full of goodness. Isaiah 43, I'm not sure if I 
said Isaiah 47, but please turn to Isaiah 43, because there we 
read something of this reality that the purpose of creation 
is for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power wisdom 
and goodness notice Isaiah 43 verse 7 everyone who was called 
by my name whom I have created for my glory I have formed him 
yes I have made him bring out the blind people who have eyes 
and the deaf who have ears so we see there the reality of creation 
being unto the glory of God in that statement everyone who was 
called by my name whom I have created for my glory." No doubt 
we could read elsewhere of this particular truth. I mean, Psalm 
19 speaks with regards to that. The heavens declare the glory 
of God. The firmament shows his handiwork. 
Day after day, utter speech. Night after night, reveals knowledge. And there is nowhere where the 
voice is not heard. We have the reality that creation 
speaks to the fact of God's glory. His eternal power, His wisdom, 
and His goodness. Notice also that we see the extent 
of creation. Waldron says the extent or object 
or scope of creation. We see that in the statement 
here, to create or make the world and all things therein, whether 
visible or invisible. So we don't have in the Christian 
doctrine of creation God, again, tinkering with or tampering with 
some sort of unformed material. We don't have an earth that is 
marked by, you know, voidness and stuff that, you know, rose 
up alongside God somehow and that God creates upon. But rather, 
the scope of creation is such that the triune God created or 
made the world, the universe, all things therein, whether visible 
or invisible. in the space of six days and 
all very good. So the extent of creation is 
that God created all things. And for a very good verse that 
speaks with regards to this, and there are others that state 
it perhaps more concisely, but one that states it a little bit 
more largely is in Nehemiah 9. You can turn to Nehemiah chapter 
9. There we read, and it's a verse 
that seems sort of expanded, if you can call to mind some 
of those verses in the Psalms, some of those verses in the Prophets, 
where we read of the extent of creation. This one seems a bit 
more expanded. Nehemiah 9, and when you get 
there, at verse 5, about halfway through, where we see the people 
saying, stand up. Stand up and bless the Lord your 
God forever and ever. Blessed be your glorious name, 
which is exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the 
Lord. You have made heaven, the heaven 
of heavens with all their hosts, the earth and everything on it, 
the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The 
host of heaven worships you. You see the reality, the extent, 
the scope of creation is seen here quite clearly. And as we 
noted in our study of the doctrine of God, it's very often the case 
that, more often than not the case, the very thing that differentiates 
the living and true God, the triune God of Holy Scripture, 
from the idols and the small g-gods who are no gods at all, 
of the heathen nations that surround Israel or that surround us in 
this new covenant reality is the doctrine of creation. The 
fact that God, the triune God, the living and true God, and 
him alone made the heavens and the earth and all things that 
are in them. You see, in Christianity, we don't have that uh... doctrine where we are worshipping 
a god the god of the christians well there might be other gods 
out there or that our god is the god of x y or z and there 
are other gods out there that you know the god of uh... our 
god is the god of the waters and you know the uh... muslims 
have the god of vegetation and whatever it might be or there 
are other gods that we recognize but we have specific devotion 
to Yahweh who is the god of of whatever no we have God who is 
God alone, the only living and true God, you are alone the Lord. And it is this Lord alone, this 
God alone, this triune majesty alone who has made the heavens 
and the earth and the seas and all the deep places and everything 
that dwells therein. He made all things out of nothing 
in the space of six days and all very good. So the extent 
or scope of creation, God has created all things. This idea, as well, is brought 
forth in Isaiah. If you want a couple more texts 
that speak to this reality, Isaiah 44 and verse 24, where we have 
this aloneness of God and his distinction from the idols. brought 
forth in Isaiah 44 and verse 24 we read thus says the Lord 
your Redeemer and he who formed you from the womb I am the Lord 
who makes all things who stretches out the heavens all alone who 
spreads abroad the earth by myself the exclusivity of creation while 
the exclusivity of God with respect to the fact that he is the only 
living and true God and then of course what follows is that 
he made all things by himself also Isaiah 45 in verse 12 we 
read there I have made the earth and created man on it I my hands 
stretched out the heavens and all their hosts I have commanded 
so there again and if you want you can just make a note here 
if you are making notes Psalm 96 5 and Jeremiah 10 11 and 12 
that is Jeremiah chapter 10 verses 11 and 12 speak to the reality 
of there of the prophets of the 
Psalmist first, and then this prophet, Jeremiah, differentiating 
the gods of the nations from the living and true God by using 
creation ex nihilo as that point of distinction. We notice also 
the duration of creation. This is still under the overview 
of creation. Fifthly, we see the duration 
of creation. We see here, to create or make 
the world and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, 
in the space of six days, and all very good. Now, the duration 
of creation in the space of six days is the stuff of, you know, 
full week conferences. So let us understand and let 
us understand clearly that what the confession is saying And 
what we must uphold and believe is that the triune God, Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit really did literally and historically create 
the world and all things therein in the space of six literal days. That is what the framers of the 
confession upheld, and that is most certainly what we believe 
here and what we must believe here with respect to the doctrine 
of creation. It is the fact that God made 
the world and all things therein in the space of six literal days. 
Genesis 1, that is Genesis chapter 1, to Genesis 11 is literal, 
narrative, historical, God-breathed account of the creation and the 
redemptive historical events that followed. Just as much as 
the genealogies that follow are real, true genealogies of the 
persons God created and dwelt in the 
land and that he covenanted with etc etc We have this reality 
that the creation account is literal historical and God really 
did make the world and all things therein in the space of six days 
and all very good you're Probably well familiar with some of the 
competing theories out there setting aside Those who reject 
God and creation outright we have those who would who would 
offer that the six days of, well, first off, there would be those 
who might not make any commitments with regards to the six days, 
but would say that Genesis 1 to 11 are not literal and historical. 
It is not a narrative account of what God really did, but rather, 
you know, sort of a, symbolical, metaphorical, and that sort of 
a thing. We, of course, reject that from the outset as against 
the scriptural witness. There are those, though, that 
would come to the six days of creation in the Genesis 1 account, 
Genesis 1 and 2, and would see there that the days referred 
to can be ages, that it is not necessarily a chronological day. It is not a chronological day, 
but that it is an age, the day-age theory you may be familiar with. 
of course reject that as well the text says God created on 
and through out a week of literal days and so if for more information 
in the question and answer period you can ask anything no doubt 
as we work through the confession many times will perhaps have 
occasion to come back and spend an entire session on six-day 
creation but if it hasn't been clear already God created the 
world and all things therein in the space of six literal chronological 
days altogether, successive days, and all very good. Well, lastly, 
under the overview of creation, we have here the result of creation. And it's simply seen in the statement, 
all very good, the result of creation. God is not a failure. God did not set out to do something 
that, you know, went a little wayward on him. He did not set 
out to do something on any of the days of creation and somehow 
failed. And an original intent to do 
good, he tried his best but something happened and all wasn't good, 
no, but rather the result of creation is that all was very 
good. And we see that statement, that 
phraseology repeated time and time again on every day of creation. Well, moving on then to the apex 
of creation. Secondly, in paragraph two, that's 
what we have. The apex of creation, the highest 
point of creation. And first off, we see the constitution 
of man. Again, this is using Waldron's 
helpful outline. The constitution of man we see. 
After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male 
and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, rendering them 
fit unto that life to God for which they were created. So we 
see the constitution of man, we see that God made man after 
all other creatures, and we see that he created man, male and 
female, and specifically with regards to constitution, Waldron 
is speaking about body and soul. We have the fact that man is 
constituted of body and soul. We see here the language with 
reasonable and immortal souls. The language of reasonable simply 
refers to man's reason, man's rationality. God created man 
and one of the things that man has that, besides the soul of 
course, but one of the things that distinguishes man being 
made in God's image is his rationality, his reason. As Clark might say, 
a dog can't traffic in Aristotelian syllogisms, but man can. More 
on that at some other point. Or you might be saying, hopefully 
not, more on that at some other point. But the idea here is that 
a distinguishing mark of man being created for a redemptive 
purpose unto the glory of God, being created therefore in the 
image of God, is that man has a reasonable, that is, a rational 
soul. And as we see in, I believe it's 
chapter 31, later on near the end of the confession, we have 
the fact that man is constituted not of body, soul, and spirit, 
but of body and soul alone. But again, that's more when we 
work with the doctrine of man and the doctrine of the last 
judgment. Also under the apex of creation, we have the identity 
of man. Notice the identity of man being 
made after the image of God in knowledge, righteousness, and 
true holiness. And there we see something of 
what the image of God is. You see, when we talk about the 
image of God, we're not talking about form. Because if you'll 
remember in our studies in theology proper, God has no form in the 
sense of he is without body, parts and passions. There is 
no form to God. We're not made in the image of 
God as if God is to be construed as having a head, a torso, arms 
and legs, etc. but rather in the image of God 
seen in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. The identity 
of man is such, not that we have the image of God, but that man 
is the image of God. We are not some sort of container 
identifiable by other things that the image of God is added 
to, but rather man is the image of God. And if you'd like to 
talk about those nuances and distinctions, I know Waldron 
deals with it in his Exposition of the Confession, Gordon Clark 
has some good things on it as well as other men. But there 
is a sort of a discussion, does man have the image of God or 
is man the image of God? We are to understand the latter, 
that man is the image of God. And we see here his identity 
being made after the image of God in knowledge, righteousness, 
and true holiness. And again, we have all of those 
things. Reasonable and immortal souls, 
we have those by derivation from God. God bestows those things 
upon us. We are not immortal necessarily. We are immortal by virtue of 
God bestowing that upon us as creator to creature. We have 
immortality by derivation from the one who does not have that 
by derivation, but in and of himself, the triune God of Holy 
Scripture. And knowledge, righteousness 
and holiness. We do not have knowledge with regards to ourselves, righteousness 
with regards to ourselves, or holiness with regards to ourselves, 
but rather from a creator. who gives these things to his 
creatures, specifically man, specifically and exclusively 
man. So the identity of man is seen 
there. And then the integrity of man, again with regards to 
the apex of creation, we see the integrity of man in the statement 
in paragraph two, the law of God written in their hearts and 
power to fulfill it and yet under a possibility of transgressing. being left to the liberty of 
their own will, which was subject to change. We see there the introduction 
to something that will be picked up upon later in the chapters 
on the fall of sin and of the fall of man. We'll see them picked 
up later in the chapter on free will, also in chapter 19 of the 
law of God, and in other places this law of God written in their 
hearts and power to fulfill it. But just very briefly, remember 
that there is a redemptive writing of the law upon the hearts of 
God's elect upon that time when they're regenerated. But there 
is a creative writing of the law upon the hearts of every 
man and woman, boy and girl. We see that here being referred 
to, the law of God written in their hearts. Remember, Jeremiah 
31, 31 to 34 speaks of the promise of that redemptive, I will write 
my law upon their hearts. That is the redemptive use of 
this idea of the law of God written in their hearts. But there is 
the creative idea. Later in chapter 19, we'll read 
that same law first written upon the heart of Adam was, and this 
is paraphrasing, codified upon Mount Sinai in the giving of 
the Ten Commandments to Moses and the nation of Israel. But 
yet creation, and by virtue of us being made in the image of 
God, we have the law of God written upon our hearts. That's why men, 
in their unregenerate state, suppress the truth in unrighteousness. 
That's why even in that, their consciences are pricked. They 
know that they're violating the law of God and that there is 
a judgment. to come even though they commit 
sin and approve of those who do so. So that's very briefly 
the apex of creation and now notice lastly the fulcrum of 
creation. Remember the fulcrum of creation, 
the point upon which something hinges or turns. Creation served 
the redemptive purpose to save sinners by Jesus Christ to the 
praise of God. Notice that we see something 
of this in paragraph, well, actually, let's just read this again. The 
fulcrum of creation, besides the law written in their hearts, 
paragraph three, they received a command not to eat of the tree 
of knowledge of good and evil, which whilst they kept, they 
were happy in their communion with God and had dominion over 
the creatures. There is a reason for, and we 
don't actually get to it now, but we do get to it as we get 
into divine providence, and then as we get to chapter six of the 
fall of man, of sin, and of the punishment thereof. But that 
redemptive purpose in creation, where we have creation seen, 
remember, in the order of the decrees, that which is logically 
first, is chronologically last. In this case, what is logically 
first in the order of God's decrees is that God to the praise of 
his glorious grace elected some men in Christ Jesus to the praise 
of his glorious grace to be redeemed in time by him and others to 
eternal damnation to the praise of his glorious justice. Well, 
the last thing logically is first chronologically, and that is 
creation. How do we get to the points where we have and this 
isn't to use loose terms but to borrow from Raymond, how do 
we get to the point where we have elect reference in need 
of salvation but by the creation of the world and the population 
of that world by men in order that we would have elect reference, 
that is, elect persons who require the saving work of the Lord Jesus 
Christ and reprobate or non-elect reference who are the recipients 
of divine justice to the praise of the glory of God creation 
serves that redemptive purpose and so what is first chronologically 
is last logically and we see it here and we see this it will 
be unfolded and opened up in further chapters the law written 
upon the heart of Adam and Eve receiving they did receive a 
command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil and These terms, blessings and cursings, attach the covenant 
of works, attached to this command not to eat of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil, and then, of course, the result of 
the fall and that bringing into more view the redemptive plan 
of God in Christ Jesus. But all of that to say, we see 
here the beginnings, if you will, of the workings of God's redemptive 
purpose to save sinners by Jesus Christ to the praise of the glory 
of God's grace and we see as well and this will get when we 
get to chapter 6 and when we get again to chapter 19 natural 
and positive law we see the natural law the law of God written in 
their hearts natural law pertains to that which is the necessary 
reality based upon God and his righteousness, justice, and holiness. And then we see positive law, 
that natural law is that which is then codified at Mount Sinai 
with Moses and the nation of Israel by God. But then we see 
positive law, which is usually a command given, which is confined 
to and specifically attached to a covenant epoch or era in 
redemptive history. In this case, the Edenic episode. We have the command not to eat 
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Later on, we 
see circumcision. It's a positive law. And we see 
the ceremonies, the washings, et cetera, the ceremonial law 
as well as positive law given for a people for their good and 
God's glory, but that have a divinely designed obsolescence and end. 
Anyway, moving on then. to a time of discussion and question. Remember what we've reviewed 
here. We've seen the overview of creation. We've seen in that 
the time of creation, the author, the purpose, the extent, the 
duration, the result. Again, all of these Waldron's 
helpful outline. Secondly, we saw the apex of 
creation, the constitution of man, the identity of man, and 
the integrity of man. And then lastly, the fulcrum 
of creation with respect to the creation of man in the garden 
and it serving redemptive purpose to save a multitude of sinners 
by Christ Jesus to the praise of God's glorious grace. And 
this is foundational. A lot of these things that we've 
covered will come out again as we work through the confession, 
as we work through these things of God's decree in the salvation 
of sinners by Jesus Christ. Well, let's pray and then we'll 
have a time of any question and answer and discussion. Lord, 
we rejoice in the study of the doctrine of creation, a very 
cursory, a very brief discussion but we rejoice in you our creator. 
We recognize as the scriptures declare most clearly that you 
are the God who created the heavens and the earth and the seas and 
all the deep places and all things in the world and everywhere. 
You created all things out of nothing in the space of six days 
and all very good, all things whether visible or invisible. 
We rejoice in you alone our creator and we rejoice in you alone our 
providential sustainer. We rejoice in you, our Redeemer, 
and we rejoice in Christ Jesus, that one who came in the fullness 
of the times to give his life for guilty sinners to rise again. 
And we rejoice in him, our Savior, and we pray that you'd help us 
to continue to rejoice in you this day and in our Savior, and 
that you might receive all honor and glory. And we pray in Christ's 
name, amen.