Genesis chapter 1. I want to
read the same text that I read last week in to you. You and
I have started through this book, and we looked last week on the
fact that God did create man. God created all things and rested
from His work. I want to begin here again in
verse 26 of chapter 1 and read down through chapter 2 verse
7. Chapter 1 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, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping things that creepeth upon the earth. So God created
man in his own image, and the image of God creating him, male
and female, creating he them. And God blessed them, and God
said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have
given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of
all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree
yielding seed. To you it shall be for meat.
And to every beast of the field, and to every fowl of the air,
and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, for in there
is life. I have given every green herb for meat, and it was so. And God saw everything that he
had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and
the morning were the six days. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day
the Lord ended his work which he had made, and he rested on
the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from
all his work which God created and made. These are the generations
of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the
day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every
plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb
of the field before it grew. For the Lord God had not caused
it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the
ground, but there went up a mist from the earth and watered the
whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed of his nostrils the breath of
life, and he became a living soul." Now you and I have been
looking at this in two different ways. We've looked at it from
the physical standpoint that God did indeed create all things. And we've looked at it also from
a spiritual standpoint. What God made physically, He
intended to teach us something spiritually from it. You and
I saw that when darkness was upon the face of the deep and
the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. And you remember
that lesson that theirs were the unregenerate centuries. Darkness
is upon the face of his heart, and what must take place first
of all is the Spirit of God moving upon the soul and giving light,
sending Christ, the glory of Christ, into the man's heart
through the preaching of the gospel. And as we look here at
this today, what I want to look at first of all, and maybe next
week we'll look at the spiritual aspect from it, but I think it's
most important, as you and I study a passage, to come to understand
what it literally means. Look at the physical aspect of
it first and be settled upon that. Through faith we understand
that the worlds were made by the Word of God, so that things
which are seen, and that's what we want to look at again today,
go back to God created man and see how he created. What character
did man have? How did God create him? I want
to dwell this morning on these two verses, in verse 26 and 27
of chapter 1, and then chapter 2 verse 7. That's what I want
to consider reading this morning. God making man. And the first
thing we find out here about this, in verse 26 and verse 27,
the scripture tells us here that God made man in His own image. In verse 27, God created man
in His own image. Now what does that mean? I think
it's so important for us to know what it means when we look at
how God made man in His image. This word image means likeness
or resemblance. God created man in his resemblance. You see in the first man something
that resembled God. I want to say two things about
this this morning. First of all is this, man was
God's cheap creature. He was higher than the other
creatures that God made. We find that out there in verse
28. That when the Lord made man,
he sent him over the work of his hand. Man is not a beast,
he's not a fowl, he's not a sea creature. but he's much more
intelligent than they are. That's why God sent him over
the other creatures to rule over them, to have dominion over him.
And James said, to the very day in which he lived, all of these
other animals had been tamed by man. Cows of the earth, or
the beasts of the earth, even those sea creatures, all creatures
had been tamed by man. Man was God's chief creature. He's superior. He's created with
a higher intellect than God's other creatures were. When God
created man, He gave Adam The ability to reason. He gave him the ability to speak. He gave him the ability to will. And he gave him the ability,
for the most part, and power to carry out what he determined
to do. As he reasoned and as he willed,
he had the strength, he had the power to do that. Now you don't
see that in animals. Animals live by instinct. But
men live by their intelligence. When a man gets grown, he realizes,
he reasons that he needs to work. He reasons that he needs to go
get a job. So he wills to do that. And then
when he does that, he goes and gets a job, and he has the power
to do that. Now that's peculiar to mankind. Animals do not have that. So
when we say here that man was created in the image of God,
his intelligence alone would tell us that he's so different
from God's other creatures. He has reason. He has a will. He has speech. He has power that
other creatures do not have. That's the first thing we see
when it says here that the Lord God created man in His own image. But there's something else here
also we have to consider, and that God made man in His moral
image. You and I can conclude from the
Scripture that there was a time upon this earth that there was
no sin. There was no sin in Adam. There
was no sin in this earth. There was no effects of sin.
Sin did not enter by Satan. Sin entered by one man. But before that one man sinned,
there was no sin. The Lord looked upon Adam as
he came from his hand and his breath, and he says about him
here in verse 31, What have I made? What have I done? I have created
a good creature, a holy creature. I want you to turn with me this
morning over to Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 29. Old Genesis chapter 1 and chapter
2. And look in Ecclesiastes chapter
7 and look in verse 29. Now brothers and sisters, I have
no hesitation this morning and calling Adam a holy creature. I'm not hesitant this morning
to say that he was a perfect creature. I don't say that he
was perfect in the sense that his Creator was perfect. He don't
have the holiness that his Creator had. To be as holy as the Creator,
you'd have to be the Creator. But he had a creature righteousness. He had a creature perfection.
And that's the way God created him. Now look here what the wise
man says about him. In Ecclesiastes chapter 7. And
look here in verse 29. And he's speaking here of Adam.
Look at this. Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man
upright. He's made man upright. He wasn't talking about all the
other animals walked on their all fours and man walked erect
in his physical being. But his moral constitution, his
heart, his soul, his being, his body, He was holy. He was upright. He was good even
in the eyes of God. He had no sin about Him. No stain
about Him. He was perfect as God could make
a creature. Now that's what I think about
Adam. When the Lord said, let us make man in our image after
our likeness. Let him resemble us. Not a perfect
resemblance. He wasn't stamped with perfection
as God is perfect. But he resembles God. God is
holy. Adam had a creative holy. God
is perfect. Adam had a perfection. The difference
is, when you talk about God, He's everlastingly holy. From
everlasting to everlasting, He's God. And He cannot change. But when you and I think of a
creature, No matter what creature he is, he's subject to change. Adam being a creature, though
he was a good creature, though he was a perfect creature, though
he was a holy creature, yet a creature is subject to change and he's
subject to sin. So what does the wise man say
here? He said, This only have I found, that God made man upright,
but they have sought out many inventions. God made Adam upright,
but what did he do? He sought out that invention
of sin, disobedience. All God's creatures have the
capacity to change because they're creatures. Those holy angels
were told they kept not their first estate, but they sinned,
They left their own habitation. God cast them down and reserved
them in darkness. And now they're called unclean
spirits. See how creatures are subject
to change. God created them holy, but it's
a creature holiness, and it's subject to change. And you know
those elect angels, they're subject to sin. Just like the angels
who fight fail, because they're creatures. Will they ever sin? No, they will never sin. But
why will they not sin? They're elect angels. God holds
them up. He keeps them. I tell you this
much, there's no preacher, no matter how God creates him, but
what will fall if God lets him fall. God created those angels
holy, and when God moved His hand and left them to themselves,
they fell. God created Adam upright, put
him in a garden that was sinless, to kill it and keep it. But when
God moved His hand, Adam fell. And brothers and sisters, the
Lord upholds us, but let Him move His hand. And you and I
follow. Because we're creatures. We're creatures. Adam chose not
to obey God. He sinned against the Lord. And
he lost that which he had. He lost the image of God. We still retain the image of
God in the sense that we still have our reason. We still have
a will. We still have power in some degree
to perform that which we will. But the problem with that is,
it's defaced. It's depraved. Our reason is
so darkened. We don't understand the things
of God now. Our will is in bondage to sin. That's been defaced. But here's
the image of God that we've lost altogether. It's not just defaced,
but we've lost it. And that's that moral image. It's been replaced by sin. We're
dead in trespasses and sin by nature. Now we're full of corruption. Back there, God looked upon us
and said we're good. And now He looks upon us and
what does He say? There's none good. Back there
we were righteous and we could enter into fellowship and communion
with the Creator. But now, what of us? We love
darkness rather than light. That's the first thing we see,
the image of God. God created man in His own image. Look back now at Genesis chapter
2 and look at something else. Look at something else. I want to say this, why this
is important for us to remember this. Why is it important for
us to remember that God created us upright in the beginning?
Well, first of all, for this reason. It clears God in the
sin of Adam. It justifies God in the sin of
Adam. Now, why do we even say that? Because you and I believe that
God has an eternal purpose. He purposed in Jesus Christ the
Lord, Ephesians 3.11, that God purposed the fall of Adam before
he ever made it. That Jesus Christ stood as a
lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And because we
believe the scripture teaches that, then we have to take a
minute to say that though God had purposed the fall, He also
purposed the means of that fall. And what was that? Adam's willful
disobedience. God never tempted Adam to sin,
neither did God put anything in him that was defective in
order for Adam to sin. I had a man tell me one time,
he said, since God purchased the fall, what He must have done
is create Adam defective so He would insure the fall. Brothers
and sisters, God created a good man. He created a righteous man
and put him under a covenant of words and said, obey me. And God created him with the
understanding and the will and the ability to do that. Everything
God required out of Adam, he had the ability to perform. He
was a good man. God did not put anything in Adam's
character that would assure his fall. He made it upright and
very good. And this is what makes Adam's
sin so offensive. And it makes it so dreadful.
Not only because he represented all his prosperity. When he fell,
everybody fell in him. And therefore that was a dreadful
sin. But what made Adam sin was so defensive was this. What he
did, he did willingly. What he did, he did knowingly.
What he did, he did when he had the strength not to do. His disobedience
was willful. That's what I'm saying. God never
tempted Adam to sin. God never created him with any
defect to make sure he sinned. God made Adam upright. Adam made
himself a sinner. Now you and I need to understand
that. We need to understand that. And
that's the first reason that we want to understand that when
God looked upon Adam, He saw in him a righteous creature.
A holy creature. Just a creature, but he was a
good creature. He was a good creature. And secondly, man is not what
he used to be when God made him. And we want to be clear on that,
because this humbles the flesh. This humbles the flesh. We're
not what we used to be, brothers and sisters. You know, every
generation that comes along, they think they're better than
the generation that just passed. Did you ever notice that? We're
living in a generation today that thinks they're so much more
enlightened than the past generation was. This generation looks back
at the Puritans and says, boy, those fellows were miserable.
Everything was sin to them. But now this generation thinks
it's so enlightened that nothing is sin anymore. What the Puritans
counted immorality, it's accepted today as being right and good. Because we live in this enlightened
generation. See what I'm saying? And the
heights that we've obtained to is much greater than the generations
past. And we're just getting better,
and we're just getting better, and we're just getting better.
And tell me what man thinks about himself. Oh, we were back there
in trees, you know, years ago. We were swinging around by our
tails. Then finally we got off in the cage, you know, dragging
our wives around by the head. We were uncultured, didn't have
any sense. But now we've gotten better.
And if we live long enough, we'll progress till we're way up here
on this higher plane. Ain't that what man thinks about
himself? But what's the fact? What's the fact? The fact was
we began back there in the garden up on this high plain. We loved
and fellowshiped and obeyed our Creator. But now we're fallen
creatures, you see. We're not advancing up. We're
still going down. We're digging towards hell with
both hands. And we're so fallen and so corrupt. We so left the state that God
created us in, now we're so dead in trespasses and sin, if the
Lord don't give us life, we're going to die for eternity. We're
so corrupt if we're not washed, we'll die in our filth. We're
not getting better, we're getting worse. Men think too highly of themselves,
don't they? They do. We're not what we were
when we came from the hand and the breath of our Creator. God made man upright. Now look at us now. We're not
better off. And secondly, here in chapter
2, verse 7. Look in chapter 2, verse 7. In
chapter 1 verse 26 and 27, God created man in His own image.
And that was good. That was holy. But we're not
what we used to be. Now we're fallen creatures. Now
look here in chapter 2 verse 7. I want you to consider something
else about man. about his creation. In the beginning,
look at it. In the beginning, he tells us
here in verse 7, he's a dual creature. Did you notice that?
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. There,
he's earthly. He's made of the clay. The Lord
formed him of the ground. Now brothers and sisters, consider
this with me just for a minute, and look at the wisdom of God
in this. That you and I, in all our complex
being, if you think of the brain and its capacity to think and
to reason, to imagine, and all the communications that takes
place between the brain and these members, and the brain and the
organs of our body, With all the technology that medical science
has today, they still know so little about our complex being,
these bodies that you and I dwell in. They're amazing. All the
messages to send, you stick your finger in a fire and immediately,
your brain sends out a message to your finger to move that finger
from the flame. It's true. It's amazing, ain't
it? I have no idea how I can take in food in my mouth. It
gets in my stomach and supplies my blood. It goes out into my
muscles and my skin. It turns into nourishment for
my body. How in the world does that work?
Man is so complex. David said, I'm fearfully and
wonderfully made. And how was he made? God, with
his own hands, took up a lump of clay and began to fashion
it, and squeeze it, and farm it, and when he was finished
with it, there stood that perfect, handsome man, with all his complexities
inward and outward. God farmed it. Now ain't that
wisdom? Ain't that amazing? He's an earthly being. because
he was taken from the clay of this earth. And yet man in his
origin is a heavenly creature. For the scripture said here in
verse 7 that God breathed under his nostrils the breath of life
and he became a living soul. Man is mortal because he was
taken from the dust. But man is immortal because he
has a portion of God in him. He is both earthly and he's heavenly. He's both material because he
was taken from the dirt and he's immaterial because he came from
the breath of God. Ain't that amazing? Man's body
will die because it's mortal. It's material, it's earthly,
but man's soul cannot die because it's immortal. He can no more
die than God can die because it's a vital part of God. It has the breath of God within
it. Man has a spirit or he has a
soul. Or He has an inward being and
inward life. And even our conscience tells
us that though these bodies die, that soul shall live on forever.
Ain't that what your conscience has always told you? That's why
man fears. God has left us a conscience.
And we know that as we get older, we get closer to eternity. And
though we lay down these bodies and they decay in the earth,
our souls shall live on. We have the assurance of that,
don't we, in our conscience. You know why we have the assurance
of that? Because it's simple. God has breathed unto us. We're
a soul now. We're a soul. That rich man died,
we're told, and they buried him, and his body began to decay.
But there was a portion of him that did not die. that did not
cease to exist. In hell, in another world, he
lifted up his eyes, being incarnate. Man is a dual creature. He's
mortal, he's taken out of this earth, but he's immortal. He
has a part of God in him. And that's the part that shall
live on. Whether a man dies a believer or an unbeliever. Saved or lost,
he either goes off into torment or he goes to be with Christ,
which is far better. But the soul of man will never
die. It will never cease to exist. And it's this part of us, brothers
and sisters, it's this part of us, this immortal soul that you
and I must seek to secure now while we have the opportunity.
It's this soul that we must seek the salvation of now. Because
if we secure the salvation of this part, this immortal part,
then there's coming a day when we've secured both soul and body
at the resurrection. But if we don't secure this immortal
part of it, then we'll not only lose that part, but we'll lose
both soul and body at the resurrection. You see that? Without a saving
interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, man will lose his mortal part
and his immortal part. Now, how do we secure this mortal
part? How do we secure the salvation of our souls? Well, you know
how? The same Lord that breathed life
into man in the beginning must breathe life into him again. We lost that life when God had
breathed it into us. We were separated from God. Now
the way to have life is restored. The same Lord must breathe into
us again and give us life. The Lord took the old prophet
Ezekiel out into a valley, and it was full of dry bones. They
had laid there for years and years, and the heat of the sun
had bleached the bones out. And the Lord said, Ezekiel, can
these bones live? And Ezekiel said, Lord, as far
as I'm concerned, they're not. But you know. And the first thing
the Lord told him was, you preach to these bones. And the first
thing you do to them is give them some hope. Tell them I'm
going to breathe upon them, and they shall live. So Ezekiel began
to preach to those bones, and bones began to come together,
and muscle began to come on the bones, and the nerves, and the
skin covered it all. But they were still there. And
the Lord said, Ezekiel, you prophesied to the wind, and you say this,
come, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. That's what must happen, brothers
and sisters. If you and I are to be restored to life, the Lord
must breathe life into us again. Look here in Romans chapter 8
with me just for a minute. Look in Romans chapter 8. Look
here in verses 1 through 3. You remember when the Lord Jesus
had been raised from the dead? 3 John chapter 20. And he found
the disciples hiding out there for a few in the upper rooms.
And the Lord came to them and remember what he did. He said,
Peace, peace to them. And remember what he did. He
breathed on them. He breathed on them and said,
Receive me in the Holy Ghost. That's a lie. What is this breath? Come, O breath, and breathe upon
these things. What is that breath? That's the
lie of Jesus Christ of Israel. That's what it is. Look at what
he said in Romans chapter 8. Look here in verse 1. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
He walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death." See what that life is? It's the
breath of Christ. It's the life of Christ Himself. Come, O breath, and breathe life. It's the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what it is. And when He
comes and brings us life, He frees us from our death, and
from condemnation, and from guilt. There's two things about this
life, as opposed to the life that Adam had. This life here
that's in Jesus Christ, the life of Christ, it's eternal life.
It's eternal life. It's not the life of a creature.
Remember, whatever God gives to a creature, he can lose it. Adam, the Lord gave Adam righteousness,
he lost it. He breathed life into him, but
he lost it, he died. But this is not the life of the
creature. This is the life of the Creator
Himself. The life of Christ, the only
Savior. I have given to them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Why? Why can't a man lose this
life? Because it's the life of someone
else who can never die. You take the life of a believer
from him, you might as well go up into heaven, climb up there
if a man can get there. Get there to the throne, go through
all the angels, the host of unjust spirits made perfect, get to
the Lord Jesus, and find some way to slay him before you can
slay the life in a believer. Because Christ is in him. And
that's life. That's life. When the Lord comes
and breathes upon a dead soul and quickens him, the life that
he now has is not the life he has of his own. It's the life
of Jesus Christ. Ain't that wonderful? Adam never
had that life. You and I do, if we're in Christ.
And secondly is this, when this life is restored, when this life
is given, the life of Christ in the heart, then fellowship
with God is restored. Look over here in Galatians chapter
4. Look in Galatians chapter 4. I don't have any idea how wonderful
it must have been back in the Garden of Eden. as Adam and Eve
came from the hand of their Creator. The scripture says that Adam
was the son of God, and he looked upon God as his father. And can you imagine what sweet
communion they had? The Lord entered Adam's presence
and spoke with him, brought the cattle to him and all the beasts
for him to name. Adam communed with his Creator.
I can't begin to enter into the communion that they had. But
I know this. When the Lord gives us life,
when the Spirit of Christ comes to us in regeneration, that fellowship,
that friendship, that communion is immediately restored. You don't have to go off and
join a seminar and learn all about this. And then, since you
know everything, then you've got communion and fellowship
with God? No. As soon, as soon as this life
comes unto you, you have fellowship with God again. Look at what
he said in Galatians 4. Look at this. Look here in verse
4. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. And what does He say? Father,
Father, that's fellowship. There it's restored. Oh, I don't
know what Adam and the Lord have there in the garden as they fellowship
one with another, but I know this much, brothers and sisters.
When the Spirit of Christ comes into a man's heart, Oh, he's
overjoyed. He's thrilled because God is
his Father. I tell you, I've had times in
my spirit just to say, my Father, my Father. I rejoice more in
those two words than I have in weeks and months of studying.
Haven't you? Can't you experience that? Father,
God is our Father. Fellowship has been restored.
He's breathed upon us again the Spirit of God, dear son. May
the Lord bless you. Father, we thank you today. We
thank you, our merciful, merciful Father. for sending your dear
son to restore that which you took not away." We disobeyed, we left you, we
fell out of life, lost all that we had. But dear Lord, you came
and restored it abundantly. More than we ever had at the
beginning. And now you've promised us we'll never lose it. The life
we have is yours. The righteousness we have is
yours. The holiness is yours. And you'll never take it away.
Oh, our Father, what a great purpose. What a great plan. Salvation. Only a wise God could
come up with such a scheme to redeem such as we are. We bless
you for it. We pray this morning that you'll
bless your word, you'll open the hearts of those that have
heard this morning, and may your precious word settle in our souls. For Christ's sake, Amen.