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Genesis 1:31

May 14, 2010 by Michael Coughlin

Genesis 1:31

And God saw every thing that He had made and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

What a simple verse, truly! But as always, God’s text is packed with meaning, and in this case, utterly under attack for centuries now. Sadly, it is professing Christians who have likely done the most damage with attempts to put meaning here that is not inherent in the text. Notice I did not call those attempts “well-intentioned,” as a truly well-intentioned attempt at interpreting the Bible will start with a biblical worldview and a belief that scripture is the ultimate authority.

This verse follows a pattern of verses in Genesis 1. Once on the first day, twice on the third day, and once on both the fourth and fifth days, God looked upon His creation and calls it (or some aspect of it) “good.” (Gen 1:4,10,12,18,21) During the sixth day, God refers to His creation again as “good,” before He made man (Gen 1:25). But when God declares creation very good, He declares it “complete.” The word used for very has a slightly different connotation than we are used to in English where it is comparative. It is more a description of completeness, or done-ness, to be understood as superlative, exhibiting without reservation the idea of “wholly” or “exceedingly” good, in this case. It is now that we apply proper hermeneutics to infer that sin could not have existed at this point in creation. For creation to be wholly good, by God’s standard of Goodness, sin could not have tainted creation. Since death is the result of sin, we also can know with certainty that no death had occurred, based on properly and reasonably interpreting the Bible.

Secondly, the other pattern that was followed for this chapter was the “evening and the morning were the nth day” phrase. One of the favorite arguments of people who want to reconcile (or compromise) the Bible with evolution and an old age for the Earth is that the Hebrew word Yom, used for day, can also mean a long age. But when have you ever referred to an evening and a morning as anything but a 24 hour day? When have you ever referred to 6 consecutive periods of an evening and a morning as anything but 6 days? You wouldn’t, because it defies reason. God didn’t do this either. God described what occurred, and the order in which it occurred. One reason that He chose to do it this way, I believe, is to intentionally contradict the “wisdom” of man. Evolution and Big Bang theories say the sun came before the earth; dinosaurs (land animals) before birds; and death before man ever existed. Genesis 1:1-31 deliberately and directly contradicts these ideas. Ex 20:11 aids to confirm this. 2 Peter 3:3-7 even prophesies about today’s “scoffers” and believers in uniformitarianism!

Dear reader, God created the world in six consecutive 24 hour days, and then rested. Since the first sin, man had no true rest! God painted a beautiful picture on that seventh day of the rest we have available to us in Christ. If you will give up the strivings of your own hearts, the works of your own hands and lay it all at the cross and follow Him, you can enter that rest spoken of in Hebrews 4:10-11. All those who thirst, come…John 7:37-39.

Filed Under: Creation, Gospel, Memory Verses, Theology Tagged With: Adam, apologetics, attributes of God, Bible, Creation, God, Gospel, Holy, people, savior, Scripture, sin

The Grace of God – Part 2

May 4, 2010 by Michael Coughlin

You can listen to my teaching,

“The Grace of God – Part 2” in the player below.

This was presented at Berean Baptist Church, Sunday April 18, 2010.



If the player is not working or you would like to download the teaching, use the link below.

The Grace of God: Part 2

Filed Under: Gospel, Love, Theology Tagged With: attributes of God, Bible, catholicism, Christ, church, Forgiveness, God, Gospel, Grace, Holy, Love, Mercy, savior

John 14:6

May 3, 2010 by Michael Coughlin

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

THIS IS WHY I DO WHAT I DO. Many of you know that I do the work of an evangelist. I am actually super excited because I just received 2 boxes of 10,000 tracts that my church designed and ordered from Custom Tract Source and on the same day, we launched our new improved website, Berean Baptist Church and I got to be a part of both those things. Each of these activities is designed with one ultimate goal: to glorify God by pointing to Christ and His finished work on the cross. Our chief aim is to edify believers and herald the gospel to the lost.

Why do we do this? BECAUSE JESUS IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. NO MAN WILL COME TO THE FATHER BUT BY HIM. I believe John 3:18 (along with the rest of the Bible 🙂 ), so EVERY person I see I can safely assume they are going to hell! Why? Because we are all born at enmity with God. There is no way other than Christ. So we tell people the truth. If I err and preach Christ and His Glory to a brother or sister, then they shall rejoice! So I am NEVER WRONG to preach Christ crucified. I fear that with all our boldness in our current apathetic culture that some of us today that seriously herald Christ’s Gospel would be put to shame next to Paul or Peter or Stephen. I pray for a heart like God gave those men.

Finally, on a theological note, I want to make 2 points. Point 1 is that God does not hear the prayers of the wicked. (In the sense that they do not have His ear). Proverbs 28:9 combined with John 14:6 make it pretty clear to me. Any unsaved soul can ONLY talk to God through Christ, and the first prayer honored by God of any man is the prayer of repentance and faith in Christ alone. So please, dear Christian brother or sister, don’t ask your unsaved coworker for prayer! You may thank them for well-wishes…but you do not cover their prayers, and you ought not let them believe you see any effectiveness in their prayer, as you can with your brothers, James 5:16. Secondly, I will make the claim that I believe every encounter with the living God that anyone has had since Genesis 1 was through Christ. Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is and has always been the only mediator between God and man. From creation to the crossing of the Red Sea, to the protection of Daniel’s friends in the furnace to Calvary and today. Praise Him for His character and deeds.

Filed Under: Gospel, Memory Verses, Theology Tagged With: apologetics, Bible, Christ, God, Gospel, Grace, Jesus, savior

Psalm 19:1

April 28, 2010 by Michael Coughlin

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament sheweth His handiwork.

Like so much of scripture, what a simple, yet profound thought! Whereas we humans, myself included, find brevity so elusive, God can proclaim His glory in two short sentences and refute millions of people’s false beliefs in 12 simple English words.

God’s glory is declared by the heavens and the firmament (sky or expanse). Is this personification or do they really talk? Either way, as we dig deeper into outer space and view the complexity of God’s creation, the vastness of the expanse and the beauty beheld, we are continuously convicted of the knowledge of our Creator and His eternal divinity. (Romans 1:19-20) The mere fact that the heavens cannot contain Him, (1 Kings 8:27), while they are far beyond our comprehension is enough to stifle our pride at least momentarily. The sky exhibits to us a clear picture of design, beauty, power and greatness. They are, indeed, the works of His hands. (Ps 104:2, 5).

Possibly more awe-inspiring is my understanding that the complexity contained in our bodies is mathematically even greater than what the heavens declare. There are over 3 billion base pairs in EACH STRAND of DNA in your cells. Look at the human brain’s synaptic connections. There are more potential connections between the billion or so neurons in the human brain than there are atoms in the universe. God’s design is seen everywhere, and His Glory is not hidden but, rather, suppressed (Romans 1:18). This verse is a great foundation for your trust in the scriptural account of creation, so that you can be ready to proclaim God’s Glory as well as the heavens, using His handiwork as a visual aid, and transitioning form there to man’s accountability as a creature and then to the Savior; maybe even for someone you love who is dead in their trespasses, maybe even today!

Filed Under: Creation, Memory Verses, Theology Tagged With: apologetics, Bible, Christ, Creation, God, Jesus, savior, Scripture, sin

The Grace of God – Part 1

April 28, 2010 by Michael Coughlin

You can listen to my teaching,

“The Grace of God – Part 1” in the player below.

This was presented at Berean Baptist Church, Sunday April 11, 2010.



If the player is not working or you would like to download the teaching, use the link below.

The Grace of God – Part 1

http://www.archive.org/download/TheGraceOfGod-Part1/01TheGraceOfGodPartI.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: Gospel, Theology Tagged With: apologetics, attributes of God, Bible, Christ, Forgiveness, God, Gospel, Grace, Jesus, Mercy, Righteous, savior, Scripture, sin

The kind of man I look up to now…

April 15, 2010 by Michael Coughlin

John Newton lived 82 years and preached and had an active ministry until beset by fading health in the last two years of his life. Even then, Newton never ceased to be amazed by God’s grace and told his friends:

My memory is nearly gone;

but I remember two… things;

That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.

Filed Under: Gospel, Love Tagged With: Christ, God, Grace, Jesus, savior

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