Charles Spurgeon

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

“THIS is, no doubt, a literal and accurate account of God's first day's work in the creation of the world, but the first creation is not the subject of this morning's discourse—we would rather direct your minds to the second creation of God.”

So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.

“You will find those words six times upon the first page of Scripture. God spoke and said, "Let there be a firmament." "And it was so." He said, "Let the dry land appear." "And it was so."”

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

“WE understand, of course, that this verse refers to "that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan." The Samaritan Version reads, instead of the word, "serpent," "deceiver," or "liar." If this is not the genuine reading, it nevertheless certainly declares a Truth of God.”

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

“THIS IS THE FIRST gospel sermon that was ever delivered upon the surface of this earth. It was memorable discourse indeed, with Jehovah himself for the preacher, and the whole human race and the prince of darkness for the audience.”

Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

“THIS was not the penalty which might have been pronounced upon Adam. This curse does not fall directly on him— it glances obliquely and falls upon the ground whereon he stands—"Cursed is the ground for your sake."”

So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD,

“CAIN was of the Wicked One and slew his brother. "The way of Cain" is not hard to describe. He is too proud to offer atonement for his sin. He prefers his own way of sacrifice. He presents a bloodless oblation.”

“Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen?

“SINNERS are not all of the laughing sort—Cain's mind was angry and his heart was heavy. The short life of the vicious is not always a merry one. See, here you have a man who is utterly without God, but he is not without sorrow.”

And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

“To what a shameful pitch of presumptuous impudence had Cain arrived when he could thus insult the Lord God!”

“What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

“The first shedding of human blood was a very terrible experiment. Whether Cain's murderous blow was premeditated or not, the sight of a bleeding human corpse must have been a terrible novelty to him.”

When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah.

“THE three passages of Scripture which I have read are all the authentic information we have concerning Enoch. It would be idle to supplement it with the fictions of ancient commentators.”

And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

“GOD in infinite Grace had entered into Covenant with Noah that He would preserve him and his family alive. The tenor of that Covenant you will find in the 18th verse of the 6th chapter.”

And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

“NOAH was a very different man from the rest of those who lived in his time, for the Grace of God had set a division between him and them. They forgot God and Noah feared Him.”

But the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, because the waters were still covering the surface of all the earth.

“THE sending forth of the raven and of the dove have furnished ready materials for numerous allegories with which Divines in different ages have sometimes edified and more frequently amused their hearers.”

In Noah’s six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth.

“NOAH knew that God would, in due time, let him out of the ark. He was quite sure that the Lord had not put him into the ark to make a great coffin of it—that he and all those living creatures that went in with…”

When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is…

“PETER tells us that Noah's ark and Baptism are figures of salvation. He puts the two together as pictures of the way by which we are saved.”

And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for…

“AFTER the Flood, when men began to multiply and increase in the earth, it was not very long before they began to turn aside from the living and true God.”

I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

“THIS was to be the double result of Abraham's coming out from his own country and his father's house. Those Orientals clung with great tenacity to their native homes.”

And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan.

“IF you desire to know the character or a child, you will probably learn much about it from observing the father. The young bird flies and sings as its father did before it.”

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine—since he was priest of God Most High—

“What a splendid type is Abram, in the narrative before us, of our Lord Jesus Christ! Let us read this story of Abram in connection with our Savior and see how full of meaning it is.”

After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

“You have probably heard a great many sermons on the first part of the text, "I am your shield," so, on this occasion, I am going to leave that portion in order to more fully consider the second part—"I am your exceeding great reward."”

And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

“WE might use this text, if we chose, as a picture of the ease with which faith repels all attacks that are made upon Christ, the great sacrifice of the new Covenant.”

In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

“THE Amorites had indulged in the most degrading sin. God had observed this, but He did not at once execute vengeance upon them.”

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

“BELOVED, all Scripture is the Word of God but some Scripture is expressly so. Much of its teaching comes through inspired men but some of it was spoken by God's own mouth, directly and without instrumentality.”

Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you?

“THE angelic messengers of mercy were not only earnest to bring Lot out of the city, but in their great kindness they reminded him of an important matter which, in the alarm of the tumult without and in the surprise of their fearful tidings, he…”

But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters.

“EVEN as Lot lingered in Sodom, awakened sinners are apt to tarry long in their sin and unbelief. Some few are suddenly brought to Christ, and, like Saul of Tarsus, within a few hours enjoy complete Gospel liberty.”