All right, let's take our Bibles
and then turn to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1, and let's
look tonight at verses 24 through 26. The scriptures declare that
the Lord God Almighty, having created the heaven and the earth,
and called into existence those things that were associated with
the first through the fifth day, now begins his work on the sixth
day. And in verse 24, the scripture
says, and God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature
after his kind, cattle and the creeping thing, and beast of
the earth after his kind, and it was so. Now, the creatures
of the sea, the fowl of the air, were created on the fifth day
and they were blessed of God to be fruitful and multiply,
fill their respective areas of the environment. And now the
Lord has been pleased, according to His wisdom, to make of the
earth the living creature after His kind, all sorts of living
creatures that move on the dry ground, some totally terrestrial,
some made to be both aquatic and terrestrial, all after their
kind, that is, they were made to be like creatures, whatever
their species, they were all made and they existed in a uniform
way, same characteristics. Now I know what, you know, we
talk about evolution and this animal right here used to have
a tail and after a while it didn't and it fell off and it was just
the remnant of it left. The scriptures declare that the
way that God made the animals is the way that the animals are
now. And I'm not saying that some
have not become extinct. Maybe they have, but the scripture
declares that when God made them, he made them after their kind. And from the wording of scripture,
it appears that God was pleased to make these living creatures
upon the earth. And actually, it names three
different categories. Now, when it says cattle, now
we think of a cow, but there's a variety of cattle. You can see Texas Longhorns,
and you can see Bramble Bulls, but the word cattle there is
actually a word that seems to indicate animals which would
be more tame, is actually the insinuation, or domesticated. There were cattle that would
include, like a sheep, a horse, Camels, animals like that that
could be domesticated. They were tamed, used by man
for different purposes such as food or clothing or work. Animals that could be taught
to not shun society of men. They could be domesticated animals. But then there was the next group,
it was talking about an creeping thing. Now those words denote
an animal which crawls or glides swiftly. That's in the definition
of it. Animals that have short steps
or animals that move in more of a flat kind of a prostrate
posture. They could include smaller creatures
that scurry like rabbits or worms or serpents or eels and such,
ants, bugs and all other smaller creatures. I began to think as
I was studying this I was looking at the end of the 25th verse
there, I'll read it in a second. And it says that after the Lord
had made them, God saw that it was good. That it was profitable,
it was useful, it was good. And just in my thinking, I started
thinking of creatures. in my estimation would be a nuisance. I started thinking about mosquitoes.
And I looked up just to see what is the usefulness of a mosquito. And I was amazed at what I found. And though it did say that if
we could just completely eradicate Mosquitoes. Animals that we think are so
useless, harmful. It was talking about mosquitoes,
that they are the major animal that pollinates. I thought that
only belonged to bees. Bees, bumblebees, whatever kind
of bees. But mosquitoes, that they were the absolute healthiest
fish food, the little larva when they're, you know, and also that
they were able to produce an enzyme that the environment needed. It said without mosquitoes, the
environment would just be completely out of balance. And I thought,
you know, when the scripture sets forth that God made them
after their kind, even in verse 25, I'll go ahead and read it
now. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, cattle
after their kind, everything that creepeth upon the earth
after his kind, and God saw that it was good, that nothing was created that was
a nuisance. Nothing was created that was
out of balance. Everything was perfect. Almighty God made the creatures
that didn't evolve, but they were instantaneously spoken into
existence by the Word of God. God made them for God's glory. for His praise and honor in their
creation, but for man that was yet to be made. Man was not yet
created, but God made all the preparations for man's need,
and He called it into being. He called it into existence,
and they were there. They were there with the ability
to multiply and to bring forth exactly their kind and in perfect
harmony. I mean, we talk about everything
working together in harmony and all the checks and balances. In the wisdom of God, think how
everything works perfectly until man thinks that he knows better.
than God. And he's going to transport this
animal from this country that has a natural predator to keep
it in balance and bring it over here and then he puts it over
here to do what he thinks is going to be the right thing.
And it's a mess. It doesn't work. You know, you just got problems,
you know, down in the South. I've grown up in there in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and I remember years and years ago my dad pointing
out what we were so wise, what men were so wise to do, to help
control erosion. And he took and brought in kudzu. And if you're familiar with kudzu,
it's a mess. It just takes over everything.
but you take it out. God made everything and placed
it where it was and God saw it was good. It was profitable. Perfect harmony. Well then in
verse 26, and here's where we'll come to the heart of what we'll
stay on for a few moments. Verse 26, and God said, let us
make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air,
over the cattle, over all the earth, over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. Now, the first thing that we
behold is the declaration by God of his tri-unity in man's
creation. And God said, and the word, the
title, the name God there is a plural word. It's a plural word for the supreme
God. God said, let us make man in
our image, after our likeness. We cannot, I've said this so
many times, we cannot enter into the fullness of the glorious
declaration of God's tri-unity. But we believe it. We don't claim
to understand it. We know that God is one God and
he has set forth himself in three persons. We know that the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, God. There is one God. And He in glorious counsel with
Himself, Father, Son, three distinct declarations of His persons.
I think about the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is
the son, the son of God made flesh and a voice from heaven
saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. You
hear him. And John said, and I saw the
spirit descend as a dove upon him. One God. You say, I don't understand it.
I understand that. but we believe it. And one day,
we'll know as we're known. But right now, God in three distinct
persons said, let us make in our image, let's make man in
our image after our likeness. So Almighty God in man's creation
did so to the eternal praise and glory of the Son in His redemptive
majesty, eternally purposed and ordained, but brought about from
the beginning of time to our understanding that the creation
was accomplished by the triune God in order that the redemption
of fallen creatures might be, Scripture says in Ephesians 2,
7, in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. What we are declaring here is
that Almighty God eternally purposed to magnify the Son. The Son was
going to be magnified in redemption. All praise unto the Son. For
all praise to be unto the Son God was going to have to speak
this world into existence. He was going to have to create
everything that man would need for his life on this earth. Then
he was going to have to make man, male and female, man. And he was going to have to bring
man into existence, give him the ability to be fruitful and
multiply, replenish the earth, and out of that, you know, all
that massive humanity, God's going to have a people. He's
going to save them. Oh, the magnitude of the glory
of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here, God, in
His infinite wisdom and purpose, He brought about the creation
of man by His triune being. knowing that man would fall.
Knowing that man would fall. And in the fall, mankind would
behold God's sovereign right and power to show mercy and compassion
to whomsoever he would. So we know, according to the
scriptures, God the Father chose the people. The Lord Jesus Christ
eternally stood as their surety to live for and die for God's
elect, establish their righteousness, be their substitute and redeemer
upon the cross of Calvary before God, answering all of their need
before God's law, that the Holy Spirit was going to call them
out, regenerating grace. But the mystery of this scripture
is found right here when God was pleased to reveal His will,
let us, make man in our image after our likeness. What does that mean? What does it mean? Well, I'm
going to go ahead and admit that I don't want to give the illusion
that I can perceive the depth of man's creation in the image
and likeness of God but there are some things that are revealed
in scripture that will give us some understanding into this
glorious truth. The Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus,
John 3, 3, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now, from that word of
truth from the Lord, we know this, that something was lost. In Adam's fall, it must be given
back, being born from above. Whatever, however man was created,
something happened in the fall that he lost. He lost something. God made man one way. And in the fall, he lost something. So I know he lost something.
Okay, what is it? But the Lord Jesus Christ said,
this is Psalm 69, four, they that hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of mine head. They that would destroy
me being my enemies wrongfully are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. So something, again, the Lord
is saying the same thing that He said to Nicodemus. He said,
I restored that which I didn't take away. Man lost something
and Christ had to restore it. So as we consider, this truth,
we must understand the meaning of the words. Words are everything
in scripture. I've said before, look them up.
Find out what does it mean. What does man being made in the
image and likeness of God? What does that mean? Well, the
image of God, the image, just the word, it means The shade,
meaning like the shadow. It's a shadow. If I'm standing
outside and the sun is shining from my back, I can see a shadow. That's not me. It's a shadow
of me. It's the shade. It's what it
is. So it means the shade, the illusion,
the resemblance. You have someone and they have
a child and you look at the child and you can see the resemblance. You see the resemblance of the
parents. You say, boy, he's got his mom's eyes or he's got his
dad's ears or something like that. There is a resemblance. It's an image. It's not exactly
them, but it's the image. That's what the image. Let's
make in the image an likeness. The word likeness, it means the
model or the similitude. So actually we got two words
that declare man to be created in the image or likeness of God. There's a, they're made, with a resemblance of the Lord
God. So to be created in God's image
and likeness means that there's some likenesses between man and
God. Not that man would be made like
God. The Lord God is singular in His
being. Isaiah 46, 9, Remember the former
things of old for I am God and there's none else. I am God and
there's none like me. So when I say that man was made
in the image and likeness of God, what I'm saying is God created
man to have some shadows, to have an illusion, to have that
similitude or that resemblance. of God. God made man that man
would be to magnify the Lord in a way, in certain ways. So
to say that man was created in the image and likeness of God
means something other than being like God. It's not God, but whatever
it was, it was tainted. Whatever it was, and I'm going
to get to what they were. It was tainted by sin, therefore
it was lost and it had to be restored. He had to be born again
to bring it back to the way man was originally created. So first, what is it about God? And let me just say this, I'm
not obviously, I'll never be able to touch all the things. I found four things that I I
would like to bring out four short things concerning man being
made in the image and likeness of God. Here, man is not like
any of the creatures. None of the creatures were made
this way. There was nothing in the creatures that would resemble
God like man. Man was the ultimate creation. First of all, we know concerning
God, Let's make man in our image, in our likeness. Well, what is
it about the Lord? Well, first of all, I know this,
that God is a spirit. The Lord said that. God is a
spirit. And they that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and in truth. Well, being spirit, God
in His being, It's not with a body. You know,
when you first start thinking, let's make it in our image, you
think, well, it's going to be something that I can see, I can
look at. You see, well, God is a spirit.
And the way that we perceive God, the Lord Jesus Christ came
and took upon Himself the form of sinful flesh. He took Himself
a body and we could see Him. But God Himself let us make man
in our image. God, first of all, is a spirit. And man was created also to be In that similitude, when God
created man, God formed his physical body and he made it from the
dust. That's what Genesis 2.7 says.
A body that one day would go back to the dust, but God did
something for man that he did for no other creatures. He made
man to be in the image and likeness of God, meaning in the similitude,
not something you could see with the physical eyes. God breathed
into man, into his nostrils, the breath of life, and man became
a living soul. Now, I read, I don't, I can't
read Hebrew, but I can just read what It says, the Hebrew, I read
wording of that man became a living soul. It actually, in the Hebrew,
it is man became the soul of lives. The soul, S-O-U-L, of
lives. That means that man had something
that animals don't have. Animals have life, they have
a temporal life. Man has that, it's a temporal
life. But also man has a spiritual
life. Man possesses, like an animal,
man possesses a life, this physical, temporal life that we have that
animates this body, stuff like that. But if this life, if this
heart stops beating, that temporal life is over. And I'm gone. I mean, this body is there and
it'll go back to the dust. But there was something about
me that wouldn't die. There's a life, there's a soul
there that is eternal. It's never going to die. Man
became a living soul. So man received something other
than that animals didn't. Animals, they share that life,
that temporal life with man. They do that. That life that
animates the body. But man received life that was
more than that animal life. He has that which is created
in the image and likeness of God. God never dies. God never dies. God is life.
And man was made like that. Man has a life that will never
end, whether it's with the Lord or whether it's in hell. That
rich man, Lazarus, you know, Lazarus died and went into the
bosom of Abraham, and that the rich man died and lifted up his
eyes out of hell. Whenever God cast a man out of
the garden, he said, let's cast him out and put a cherubim there
with a sword, lest man eat of the tree of life and live forever
in that state so that man was first created with that living
soul. That's how God is. God is eternal. Man was created that way. Man
is going to live forever. There is something about us that
will never die. Secondly, man was created without
any imperfection or corruption. That's how man was created. Ecclesiastes 7.9 says, Lo, this
only have I found, that God hath made man upright. Man was, remember, an illusion,
a resemblance, in the similitude of God. And here, when we see
man being created upright, he was created innocent. He had that particular characteristic
that the animals didn't have. He was not created as God is. God is holy. God is holy. Man was said to be created upright. God made him in his likeness
and image as a resemblance to the Lord. The word upright means
straight. He was straight and well. He was created morally good. Let me say it like that. He possessed
the righteousness that a man can possess as long as he feared
and obeyed God that man was made, he was fallible. He was a fallible
creature susceptible to fall because he fell. But God made
man to be upright. He had some honor to it. He was
created. to be one that could know God. And he was straight. That's what
the word means, straight. The Lord told Adam, though he
was straight and he had a righteousness that a man can earn, but it was
a righteousness that could fall. Because again, man after the
fall, God had to restore something to him. I'll get to that in a
second. that there was something that had to be restored. That
righteousness that man first had, he lost it. The Lord told him. He said, Of
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of
it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely
die. And what's the Lord going to
have to do? He's going to have to restore something that man
lost. Man was created upright, but man fell and lost that uprightness
before God. He was created that way. He was
created with an eternal living soul, but that soul died. It died. God is going to have
to make him new. He was created upright, but he
died. He died. God is going to have
to Do something for Him. He's going to have to give back,
restore what He didn't take away. Ecclesiastes 12, 13 says, let
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep
His commandments. For this is the whole, actually
when you look at that scripture, that word duty, it says the whole
duty of man. The word duty is in italics,
it was added. Here's what it says. Let us hear
the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments
for this is the whole of man. This is the whole of man right
here. How was man created? He was created to reverence and
respect and love and trust and devote his heart to serve and
please God and to keep His commandments. No other creature was made that
way. Only man was created to reverence, love, respect God. Cattle don't do that. Bugs don't
do that. They magnify the Lord in their
creation and His wisdom to uphold and keep man in this earth. But
they weren't made to be fearful of God, to know and perceive
God, and to keep His commandments. Man was made that way. Thirdly,
man was created to be in unity and fellowship with God. Now,
the Lord God is one God. Now we looked at that. He's one
God in glorious harmony with himself. Listen, we've read this
one many times, Proverbs 8, 22, 24. The Lord is speaking, the
Lord, and that's all capital letters there in this scripture,
Jehovah possessed me. Now here is the Son, the glorious
surety himself, before he was made flesh. He's always been. The Son has the eternal Son. The eternal Father has an eternal
Son. And here is the eternal Son,
eternally, before He was made flesh in this world. The Lord
possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works
of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, or wherever the earth was. When there were
no depths, I was brought forth When there was no fountains abounding
with water, he said, I've always been before him. I was ever his
delight. Isaiah, in the year that King
Uzziah died, he beheld something of the unity of the Godhead in
that glorious vision. Isaiah says, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, that is the sovereign, controller,
master, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, the seraphims
crying of the glorious triunity of God. Here's what they were
saying. Holy, holy, holy is the capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D, is the triunity of God. of host. Holy, holy, holy. Holy father, holy son, holy,
holy spirit. God almighty in oneness and unity. And when God made man, he made
man in his likeness in His image, and He made Him and put Him in
the garden to dress and keep the garden. That means to work
and watch over Him. To watch over the creation of
God's provision. God made man to be in unity with
Himself. God made man to be like that. To walk with God and to God talk
to Him. Just imagine this, here is Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden and God fellowshiped with them
before God made the woman out of the rib of Adam. God, the
scripture says, brought the animals to Adam and told Adam to name
all the animals of God's creation. created intelligent. I mentioned
that last week, I think. This is a picture and an illusion
of the omniscience of God. God knows everything. And God
brought these animals to Adam and said, name them. And whatever
Adam named them, that's what they are today. That right there,
that's a deer. That right there is going to
be a dog. That's a greyhound dog. God gave that intelligence
and here it is in the likeness and image of God. God Almighty,
He knows all. He's omniscient. And man was
created with intelligence. Adam knew. He was smart. He was brilliant. Brilliant man. So God in unity with Himself
made man to be in unity with God. He was made in God's image
and likeness. And then lastly, man was given
dominion over God's creation. That's what it says in verse
26. And God said, let us make man
in our image after our likeness. Let him have dominion over the
fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle,
over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth. God made man to have some delegated
authority. That relationship of man to the
rest of creation was set forth in that delegated rule. Man's dominion was over the fish,
the sea, the fowl of the air, literally the heavens. Over the cattle, those domesticated
animals, over the earth, over the creeping thing that creeps
on the earth. Man was created to be the governor. The governor
over the creation. That's what he did. He told me,
he said, let him have dominion. Let man be the one that uses the creation for whatever his
need, food, company, dogs and cats or clothing or something
So man was created in the image and likeness of God who is in
the heavens. David said, and he's done whatever
he pleases. God rules in heaven and earth. But He made man in His similitude,
in His likeness, in His image to be like that. No animal rules
over man. Man was made in God's image. So here, man's created. In that likeness, God is sovereign
and all answer to Him. But in making man to rule over
the earth, over the creatures, man has a dominion that is an
assigned dominion that he might magnify that God rules. You look
at man and his Man's at the top of the chain, you know, as far
as in this all the creation. For man's the top, but man magnifies
the Lord God Himself. You look at man in creation and
you say, I know something about God. As man was given dominion
here, there's a God in heaven. that a man is but a shadow of
Him. But that's how God was pleased
to make Him. Here's where I'm going to wrap
this up. In the fall, man as he was created
to be. Of all things that God made,
and it was good, it was good. And God made man in His likeness. as a spirit that lives forever. He's got a life about him that
lives forever. He's a picture of unity to walk
with God and to understand and to know God. All of these wonderful
things that God did for man. And by one man's disobedience,
by man's one disobedience, All mankind fell. And it was ruined. It was ruined by one act. One act of everything that God
had done. And God told Adam, He said, when
you eat of that fruit, you're going to die. You're going to
die. And he died spiritually. That life, that life of God,
that unity, it was lost. It was all gone. All of it was
gone. And if left in that state, man
now must be cast out from the presence of God forever. But in mercy, compassion, grace,
all that Almighty God, out of the mass of humanity, all that
God had everlastingly loved, Almighty God was pleased to restore
back in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that which He didn't
take away. God Almighty, in all of the demands
that He placed upon man, Christ as man's federal head, the chosen
of the elect of God, He was going to do for them what they couldn't
do for themselves. He was going to answer. all of
the demands, to fear God, fear the Lord, and to obey His commandments. That was the whole duty of man,
fear God, reverence God as God, and obey and hear the Lord Jesus
Christ, the One that loved the people, loved the Father, loved
the Son, and that the Mediator Himself, of that everlasting
covenant. In grace, in mercy, he came into
this world, made under the law, made in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and lived before God in absolute reverence. His meat
was to do the will of Him that sent him. And He went to the
cross and He was made sin to pay the debt that all of His
elect had incurred. All of God's creation and His
elect out of that creation. He died for those elect and He
paid. And then He brought out a righteousness
that they only had that it was a righteousness of a man, but
what He gave them. He gave them the righteousness
of God. What they could never have produced, He did for them. That upright man created to be
now polluted from the crown of His head to the sole of His foot,
Almighty God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ wrought
out and created in that man righteousness and true holiness. man that was in unity with God
and lost that unity by his rebellion, now found in the Lord Jesus Christ,
those that were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ,
Ephesians 2.13. And no more are God's people
now left to their fickle flesh that Adam was created a man,
but he was liable to fall. But now, in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we are found now to be kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time. The Lord gives eternal life, and now they'll never perish.
They'll never perish. He restored back that which He
took not away, but all what He gave back. When Adam was created,
if Adam would have been left in that state, man would have
always been liable to fall. But out of the fall, what God
did for man, He created him in his likeness, in his image, in
a similitude of God. But all that man could do was
not enough. And Christ came, and in magnificent
glory and obedience, He did for man what God demanded. And now,
here we are, restored. He told Nicodemus, Nicodemus,
you must be born again. But now, born of the Spirit,
we have life. Man, he had to have his sin atoned
for. When God sees the blood, He said,
I'm going to pass over you. Oh, the wonder of God's creation
of man, but all the magnificence of being recreated, given life. That old heart taken away, new
heart given, new mind, new spirit. and now kept unto the day of
redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that God might
bless this to our heart and that we might behold the mercy of
Almighty God to make us, redeem us, and make us again fresh in
regenerating grace for His glory and our eternal good.