Well, the clear teaching of the Word of God is that man did not evolve from any lower form of life. God created man upright. He made him in the image of God. I heard someone ask this question the other day. on the television. And they asked this preacher, they said, was the first man a crude and ignorant savage? Or was he a highly civilized and intelligent man? Well, the preacher kind of beat around the bush a little bit because he didn't want to offend anybody in the scientific community. so called.

But you may rest assured from the Word of God that the first man was the highest and the most noble of all of the creatures that God made. We read he was made in the image of God. Such was the depth of his intelligence and wisdom. that when the Lord God brought all of the animals, or at least one of every animal, or two of every animal, before Adam, he gave names to all of them. A savage couldn't do that. A man who was, or a creature who was backwards and didn't have good sense couldn't have done that. only the man that God made. And I would remind you, God made man upright, but he sought out many inventions.

We were in Adam one time, pure and perfect, but we have been ruined by sin. There's a depth of depravity in all of us that just can't be measured. Whenever we have preached the sinfulness, the blackness, the depravity of all human beings, whenever we preach that, we have not yet plumbed the depths. Nobody knows, save God only, how horrible we are in our sinfulness. Nobody knows except Christ, who bore our sins in his own body on the tree, who tasted the wrath of God for us, the wrath of God that must reach out and punish sin.

For the wages of sin is death. but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our Savior, He tasted the bitterness of our sinfulness, and He endured the hell that we would have suffered forever. He suffered it in three hours. You say, well, how could He suffer in three hours? all of the hell, all of the fury of God, all of the wrath of God that we would have suffered forever because of who he was and is, the God-man. Only God knew what the punishment of sin would be, and only the God-man experienced that in his own soul.

God made man. He made the first man. He made Adam perfect, intelligent, and gave to him authority and dominion over all the creatures, the other creatures that God had made. Adam was knowledgeable of a multitude of subjects. And it would have been interesting to have had a conversation with him.

But I'll tell you this, one day we shall rise higher than Adam. Because you see, Adam had only a creature righteousness. We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And someday in the presence of our Savior, we will have no more effects of sin. You see, Adam started at the top and then came down. We started at the bottom and we're going up. And we will be conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It says in verse seven of chapter two, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. God formed man of the dust of the ground. He fashioned man out of the dust of the ground. In fact, 17 times in the Old Testament, The word that is here translated as formed is translated potter, or a form of that original word.

Isaiah 64, 8 says, but now, O Lord, thou art our father. We are the clay. Thou art our potter, and we are all the work of thy hand. The Lord said in Jeremiah 18, verses two through six, the Lord said, arise and go down to the potter's house. And there I will cause thee to hear my words.

Then Jeremiah said, I went down to the potter's house and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he had made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter." There's the fall of Adam right there, and our fall consequently. So he made it again another vessel that seemed good to the potter to make it. O house of Israel, God said, cannot I do with you as this potter? Saith the Lord, behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in the Lord's hand. O house of Israel.

We know, we're very much aware that we were clay in the potter's hand. He had the power and He had the right to make us into whatever kind of vessel He desired us to be. He could make us into a vessel of mercy, a vessel of honor, or a vessel of dishonor. Romans chapter 9 teaches us that. We were as clay in the potter's hand. And it was up to our Lord, up to his own sovereign will, as to what he would make of us.

We were all of the clay. None of us rising above anybody else. We were all, as it says in the original, in Psalm 14, we were all as wiggling maggots. No need for us to try to exalt ourselves above other maggots. I've seen maggots on a chicken carcass before that I've thrown out in the garbage. They all look pretty much the same to me. And I didn't desire to be like any of them.

And yet that's what I am and what you are by nature. But God, in His marvelous, eternal, sovereign grace, purposed that out of these maggots, God would have a people to the praise of the glory of His grace. And I'm looking into the faces of people who were by nature maggots, and you're looking into the face of a preacher who was a maggot as well.

God could have done with us whatever he wanted. And he did do with us whatever he wanted to do. And as it says in Romans, he was pleased to make us vessels of mercy to his glory and his honor. The first man, Adam, he was clay in the hand of the potter. who fashioned him as he pleased.

Elihu, after Job's other three friends had rebuked him and chastised him verbally, Elihu said, I'm full of the matter. I've got something to say to you, Job. And Elihu told Job in Job 33, verse six, I am formed, out of the clay. And not only was Elihu formed out of the clay, so were you, and so am I. The original matter out of which man was made was clay, or as it says here, the dust of the ground.

How humbling. We weren't made of diamonds. We weren't made of gold. We weren't made of precious stones. Dust. Dust. That's what we were made of. That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 47, the first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. We came forth from the dust. You remember when Lot was in Sodom and the Lord indicated to Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains? Abraham came before the Lord and he said this. In fact, you want to turn over there? Why not? Too far away. Look at Genesis 18. Look at Genesis 18. Verse 27, Genesis 18, 27. Abraham puts himself as being one who's just dust. There's no pride here. There's no arrogance here. Genesis 18, 27. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.

I'm just dust and ashes, and if you look up that word, it's worthlessness. I'm just worthless. I'll tell you what, if you come before the Lord bringing your petitions with that kind of attitude, You got the right attitude. I'm just dust and ashes. Don't come before God boasting of something you've done. Come before him stripped down as it were, just a poor sinner saved by free and sovereign grace, a sinner washed in the blood of Christ Jesus, but come taken the low road, the low road.

He said, I'm just dust and ashes. Man came forth from the dust and he is in and of himself worthless because of sin. And this body is going back to the dust. I will tell you this, somebody invented the saying, Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, that's not found in the Bible. That's a phrase invented by somebody. But man came from the dust, and he's going back to the dust.

In Ecclesiastes 3.20, Solomon says, all go into one place. All are dust, and all turn to dust. Again, we may try to preserve the body. There is north of Detroit what they call a cryogenic place where they freeze, you know, a body or a brain or something. Don't bring it back. Well, it's still just dust and ashes.

Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12 spoke of the division of the soul and the body, that is, death. He says in Ecclesiastes 12, seven, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, as it was. And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. When I think of the fact that we're dust, and ashes, that's where we came from.

A lowly beginning. When I think of that, I also remember this. The Lord knows what we're made of. So it says in Psalm 103 verse 14, for he knoweth our what? Frame. He remembers that we're just dust. I don't expect too much of dust, do you? You know, the Lord doesn't expect, he doesn't expect anything of us. The only reason we're in our right minds and worshiping God and rejoicing in Christ Jesus is because the Lord has saved us by his grace. That's the only reason. The Lord remembers that we're dust. And sometimes when we get to feeling sorry for ourselves, oh my, just remember, you're only dust. That's all you are. That's a worthlessness. You say, well, I've fallen far short of what I ought to be. We all have.

Can you not enjoy your standing in Christ Jesus? Nancy and I, many years ago, when we were in Winston-Salem, we sat under a preacher's ministry who, he beat us all the time, didn't he? He just wore us out, telling us how bad we were, and he didn't pour in the oil and the wine of the gospel. You see, a preacher has failed, number one, if he doesn't preach our depravity to us, and he's failed if he doesn't declare the riches of God's grace in Christ Jesus. Preacher, tell me what I am by nature, but then tell me what I am by grace.

I'm a child of God. You're an heir of the Lord. You have an incorruptible inheritance awaiting you. When you breathe your last, you're going to enter into the presence of Christ Jesus. I know what you are by nature, but can you now rejoice in the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of perfect righteousness to you? You are as accepted by God as Christ himself is. And the Lord loves you as much as He loves His Son. How much do you think He loves Christ, the Savior? Well, I'd say that's a love that can't even be measured. That's how He loves you.

So yes, acknowledge with repentance and sorrow your sinfulness, but then look away from yourself. See, there's no goodness in you. Just, you can examine yourself as much as you want to. You're not gonna find anything good there. Lift up your eyes on high. See the Savior upon the throne of glory. Your Savior.

Here in this verse, Genesis 2, 7, the dust was just dust. until God breathed upon it. The Lord fashioned the body of Adam back here in chapter two. He fashioned him a body and man stood up, but he couldn't do anything till God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And then man became a living soul. The breath of God. And that's a picture of all of us in our natural state before the Lord. Dry as dust. And God took the dust and he added the moisture of his grace and made clay. And then he breathed into us the breath of life. That's when you really began to live.

And you may not be able to go back and know the exact date that God made you alive. I don't think you have to know that. I think sometimes life kind of, the life of God in the soul kind of slowly comes in. And you slowly become aware of the sun of righteousness shining in your soul. You begin to get a glimpse of Christ Jesus and God gives you greater eyesight to see him. It isn't important to remember and to know the time of your regeneration.

I disagree with some preachers on that. I know there's some preachers who are very adamant about that. We gotta be able to go back to the time and the place when you were quickened from spiritual death. I disagree with that. I only know this. Life has been given to me. I can't tell you the day. That's not important to me.

Mr. Spurgeon used this illustration about life coming into the soul, spiritual life. He says it's like the sun that shines. He said, you know, you get up early in the morning and you see the sun just peaking up over the horizon. Well, you can say it's light. He said, it's not full light yet, but it's light. And he said, the more the sun comes up, the more light you have.

And he said, that's the way it is with a lot of people in conversion. And I'm so afraid that some people almost make an idol out of the time and the place of their conversion. It doesn't matter to me if somebody gets upset with me that I can't give you the day nor the hour. Some people may be able to, and that's between them and God, but I can't. But I'll tell you what. I like what Brother Newton said. He said, Lord, if I haven't loved you before, help me to love you now. If I haven't seen the glory of Christ before, help me to see his glory now. And I do see his glory now.

And the reason is because God breathed the breath of life into me. Adam didn't have anything to do with that, did he? I'm sure when the Lord made him, he was a fine looking man, but couldn't move, couldn't do anything. To God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. That's when he lived.

It's like those bones that Ezekiel was told to preach to over in Ezekiel 37. The Lord took Jeremiah out there to where a battle had been fought and a lot of soldiers had died and their bodies ravaged by buzzards whatever else, the wild animals. There wasn't nothing left but the bones and then the wind and the sand blew over them and then every speck of flesh was absolutely gone. He took Jeremiah out there and said, son of man, can these bones live?

And he said what any sensible preacher would say, Lord God thou knowest. And the Lord said, just preach to them then. Just preach to bones. Lance going down to New Guinea to preach to bones. I preached to bones. Preachers, God's sovereign grace preachers preach to bones. People who are by nature dead in trespasses and sins.

And then the Lord told Jeremiah and I, Preach to the four winds. The word wind is the same as spirit. It's the same as breath. Preach to the four winds. Breathe on these who were slain. Breathe. I tell you what, nobody can perform CPR except the Lord spiritually. He alone can give you life. And he does that through the preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified, the breath of God. And the thing of it is, when God breathes into your soul the breath of life, That, my friend, is a life that will never die. It can't die. You know why not? It's the breath of God. God can't die.

And next week, I'm gonna keep on going on this subject, the breath of God, and show you through the scriptures how God sets forth his breath. in miraculous ways. So maybe I'll leave you on the edge of your seats with that. And maybe you'll come back next Wednesday night. Oh, breathe on me. Breathe in me, oh Lord, of your everlasting and spiritual life. Well, let's sing a closing song, shall we? Let's go to 143.