Now Solomon understood what few
men do. In his great wisdom, he tells
us plainly that all the problems men and women experience in this
world are owing to the sin and fall of our father Adam. Original
sin is the origin of all evil, all sorrow, all sickness, and
all death. You don't need to turn there,
but Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7, lo, this only have I found. that God has made man upright
but they have sought out many inventions for there is not a
just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. God created our father Adam morally
upright and righteous in the image of Christ he created him
and But Adam sinned against God and sinning plunged all the human
race into sin and spiritual death so that we are all born sinners,
born in total depravity, born with an innate bias to that which
is evil and with no inclination to that which is truly good before
God. Man is born then under the curse
of God's holy law. Now let's look together at the
things plainly revealed in the opening chapters of Genesis about
Adam's creation. First, we will look at the creation
of man. We're told in chapter 2 and verse
7 that there was a consultation that took place between God and
man. I'm sorry, chapter 1 and verse
26. The three persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, said together, let us make man in our image and
after our likeness. And on the sixth day of creation,
as the crowning work of his hands in creation, the Lord God formed
man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life and man became a living soul. And we're told
in 1 Corinthians 15, 45 that Adam was the first man. I say
this because there are those who teach that there was a pre-Adamite
race. And usually this is taught to
excuse some form of racism, but there is absolutely no basis
for it in scripture. And I mention it only because
you might be exposed to it. And if you are, just ignore it.
The scripture says, the first man, Adam, that lays to rest
every notion that there was somehow a man or a race of men prior
to Adam. I can't begin to add to anything
that's, to all that's been said concerning the creation of man,
except this, Adam was indeed created by God. We do not exist
as a result of man somehow evolving from some cosmic ooze, or evolving
from the fish of the sea, or evolving from some lower form
of life. The only person who can look
at the intricacies of creation, both the physical universe and
the human body and spirit, the human mind, and say this just
happened by a process of lucky circumstances in evolution, is
an absolute fool. I've told you before, years ago,
I recall one morning while I was getting dressed, we used to live
over in Junction City, so it's been a long time ago, but when
I wanted to get pumped up for the day, I'd flip on Phil Donahue,
you know, that usually worked. One morning I was putting my
tie on, getting ready to come over to the office, and he had Carl Sagan,
that fellow from Cornell University up in New York who made such
a name in space exploration research and science and so forth. And
he was talking about the origin of man. And of course the presumption
was that man began, life began millions and millions of years
ago and all forms of human life and animal life came from the
sea. And so Donahue asked him, well how did man first evolve
from the sea? Now if I'm lying, I'm dying.
This is exactly what he said. This is brilliant, brilliant,
brilliant scientist. He said, well as the waters began
to dry up from the earth, the fish flopped. Just like this,
they flopped from one water hole to the other. And they flopped
for several million years until they developed legs and started
walking and then they started walking like a man. Oh, isn't
that brilliant? Well, you can believe that, or
you can recognize, as David did, I will praise thee, O Lord, for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. In his original state,
man was created by God, body, soul, and spirit in the image
of God. Now that means many, many things,
but let me just direct your attention to three things plainly revealed
concerning this. When the scripture says that
man was created in the image of God, it means first, and I
stress first, that man was created in God's image physically. But
pastor, how can that be? God's the spirit. He doesn't
have anybody. No, he doesn't. But God looked upon his self,
the father, the son, and the spirit and said, let us make
man in our image and after our likeness. Now there is only one
described in all the word of God who is said to be the image
of the invisible God, and that is the man Christ Jesus. So as
the Father and the Spirit and the Son agreed together in the
making of man, in the creation of man, that which was in the
mind of God is that man whom he would make in this world in
the fullness of time to be our Redeemer man. And so Adam was
created as God looked upon his son who was to come and said
let's make a man like him. And he was made upright in the
image of God. Now this is important. It's important
for a number of reasons. We'll see the primary reason
later. But man was made to stand upright and direct, with his
mind and heart and head lifted toward God. Unlike the animal
creation, he was made to lift up himself toward God, to lift
his eyes toward the heavens and to walk with God. Secondly, man
was made in the image of God morally. I mean by that that
our father Adam, in his original creation, was made righteous. He was created in the uprightness
and rectitude of heart and character, holy and righteous. We read in
the scriptures, God made man upright. Adam was free from all
error, free from all weakness, free from all mistakes, flaws,
or faults of character, as well as free from all sin. He was
perfect. He was in his will biased toward
God. His affections flowed out toward
his Creator. His thoughts were pure. His deeds
were holy. There was no sin in him, no propensity
toward sin, and no inclination to sin. To quote John Gill, he
said, this righteousness of his was a natural righteousness,
not a personal righteousness, not an acquired righteousness.
It was not something that Adam obtained by his works or by his
will, that's how he lost it. But it was rather that in which
he was created. Not the righteousness of God
that's in Christ, but the righteousness of a creature, like the angels
who were created in righteousness. Now, because man is made uniquely
in the image of God, both physically and morally, there is a sanctity
placed upon human life that is not placed upon any other aspect
of God's creation. If a man kills a beast and it
belongs to another man, he pays for the beast. If a man kills
a beast and he wants to eat it, he eats it. That's fine. No problem.
But the scripture says, who so sheddeth man's blood? By man
shall his blood be shed, because in the image of God he created
man. And therefore there is a special
sanctity placed upon human life simply because man is created
in God's image. Now thirdly, and this is what
I want to get to principally concerning Adam being made in
the image of God. He was made in the image of God
typically. As I said before, he was made
upright physically, made in the image of that man who was to
come, the Lord Jesus Christ. But that which is most prominent
in the scriptures is the fact that God Almighty always deals
with all the human race with two men, just two men. He deals
with all men on the basis of two men, two covenants, and two
works. The first man, Adam, and the
last man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam. Now look at
the scriptures. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
15 and verse 45. Adam was created by God specifically
to be a type, picture, and representative of the last Adam, our Savior.
The first man was created because God was determined to send the
second man. And this is so very important.
Everything God does, everything. Everything from the first time
God said, let there be light, and there was light. To the creation
of the world, to all the dispositions of providence, to the ultimate
destruction of the world, and the judgment of all things. Everything
God does, he does for the glory of Christ as our mediator, substitute,
and redeemer. He created Adam to be a type
and picture of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and to make room for
Christ to come as our Redeemer. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 45. So
it is written, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul,
and the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Verse 46. Howbeit that
was not first, which is spiritual, but that which is natural and
afterward that which is spiritual. Though Christ was forever our
surety, he did not exist as a man until time came for him to be
born in this world, born of a woman made under the law. So that which
is first is that which is physical. That which is later is spiritual. Look at verse 47. The first man,
Adam, is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. As we were lost by the work of
our father Adam, by his sinful work of disobedience, without
us doing anything, as we were lost by the deeds of a representative
man, so God made way for us to be saved by the work of the second
Adam, another representative man, without us doing anything. Sometimes folks argue with the
fact that God made Adam to be the representative of the human
race. Oh, how I rejoice that we fell in a representative.
The angels, you remember, sinned, each one, having left their original
estate and having sinned individually. They were held and are to this
day held in chains of darkness until the day of judgment, preserved
in chains of darkness until the time of their destruction. But
we fell by a representative. That gives hope in itself. Maybe
we can be saved by a representative. And indeed, that's the purpose
of God. Look at 1 Corinthians 15 verse 21. For since by man came death,
since this is the way we were made sinners, since this is the
way we were brought to death and destruction, by man came
also the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now, obviously, the
only way you can interpret that statement in scripture is one
of two ways. You must say, since all died
in Adam, everyone in the human race, and all are made alive
in Christ, then all the human race must be saved. And we know
that's not so. The scriptures plainly tell us
that's not so. So how do you interpret the text? How do you
understand that word all? We were talking about it the
other day, Bobby. How do you understand it? You must understand it in
this way. This is the only way the scriptures
will allow it to be interpreted. All who were represented in that
man Adam died in him. And all who are represented in
the second man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord from heaven,
they're made alive in him. All of the human race died in
Adam. He represented them all. All
the elect race, all the race of God's chosen, all those who
are referred to as the seed of Abraham, who are referred to
as the seed of Christ, they all are made alive by the doing and
dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's see if this is not
what Paul says plainly when he starts to deal with the doctrine
of justification in Romans chapter 5. Turn over there if you will.
Romans chapter 5. We're going to read beginning
at verse 12, and we're going to skip verses 13, 14, 15, 16,
and 17. And we'll do so with good reason.
Not because they're not inspired. They are inspired. But those
verses, you will notice, are in a parenthesis. They're in
brackets. You know what a parenthesis is? If you remember English grammar,
you who went to school long enough ago when they taught English
grammar, a parenthesis is something that's interjected into a sentence
to explain the meaning of what has gone before or of what shall
follow afterwards. This is what the parenthesis
is. Verses 13 through 17, Paul is explaining what he has just
stated in verse 12. But you take the parenthesis
right out of the sentence and it doesn't change the meaning
of anything. Okay, let's read verse 12 and move right on to
verse 18. Wherefore, this is how justification
is accomplished. Wherefore, as by one man, Adam,
sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed
upon all men because all have sinned. When? When Adam sinned. When he walked in the garden
and lifted his fist in God's face and said, I'll take over,
we sinned in Adam. Verse 18, therefore, since that's
how we died, since that's how ruin came, since that's how we
were made sinners, Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation, again, all who were represented
in him, the whole human race. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. Verse 19, for as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, Even so might grace reign, look at it now, through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. This is how God deals
with men, these two representatives, Adam and the second Adam. The
first representative man, the second representative man. The
first substitute man, the second substitute man. Adam represents
one race, Christ another. A people chosen out of that fallen
race. Let me see if I can illustrate
it again. When the UN meets, we have a Secretary of State. who meets at the UN and represents
all the peoples of the United States. You say, well, I don't
like that. Too bad. That's the way it is. That's
just the way it is. That's the law. The decisions
that Secretary of State makes The words the Secretary of State
speaks, the actions made, the contracts made, we are responsible
for because the Secretary represents us. Now, there is another Secretary
who comes from the Soviet Union, what used to be the Soviet Union,
comes from Russia, sits down at the UN, and he represents
all people too. Not all of us. No, no, no. It
would be ludicrous for anyone to think he represents all of
us. He represents all those people who representatively, who legally
stand in him, so that they are responsible in light of law for
everything that he says, does, every contract he makes. When
we stood before God and our father Adam, God said Adam's the representative
of the race. We don't have a choice in the
matter. Well, that's just the way it is. That's just the way
it is. Adam represents us because God
said that's the way it is. And when Adam sinned, we sinned
in him. When he died, we died in him. When he fell, we fell in him.
When he was condemned, we were condemned in him. So that we're
all born in spiritual death in sin. The Lord Jesus Christ stands
as a second representative man. And all who are in him obeyed
God's law in him. to the full satisfaction of justice,
for the establishing of righteousness, that God might be just and the
justifier of all who believe, and those who lived in him, died
in him, rose in him, and sat down in heaven with him. in a
representative man. You see, this whole business
of redemption, grace, and salvation is first and foremost a work
of righteousness. It is a work by which God declares
himself righteous in both punishing sin and in forgiving sin. Now,
man being made in the image of God, physically, morally, and
typically, he is given a crown. God placed a crown on his head.
The scripture says, what is man that thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man that thou visitest him, for thou madest
him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory
and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet. Now, when we talk about Adam
being crowned above all creatures, this is what the scriptures tell
us. Back in Genesis chapter two, verse eight. The Lord God planted
a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he
had formed. God planted a garden in Eden
for Adam. For Adam. And David, God made
this earth for you and me, for he made it for his son. Everything. Then we're told in verse 9, God
gave Adam everything he needed in the garden. everything to
support his life, maintain his life, and keep him in comfort
and in happiness. Out of the ground the Lord God
made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and
good for food, and the tree of life also in the midst of the
garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And a river
went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was
parted and became into four heads. God put in the garden a tree
of life. That's a picture of Christ. He's described in the
book of Revelation as the tree of life and the paradise of God,
from whom we draw all life, sustenance, and strength. The Lord God put
a river in the garden, a river with four heads by which the
garden of Eden was watered and all the earth was watered. Again,
a picture of Christ and the everlasting love of God in Christ, the spirit
of God flowing in our hearts, the word of God, the grace of
God. These things represented in that
river, which had four heads. John Gill suggested, and I think
very properly, the river of God's grace in Christ has four heads.
Sovereign election, effectual redemption, irresistible grace,
and eternal life. No wonder the psalmist said there
is a river. The streams whereof make glad
the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most
High. And Adam was placed in the garden
to dress it and keep it. Look at Genesis 2.15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. Now you who have studied history
a little bit have run across the term, the Puritan work ethic. Puritans were known for a people
who had a tremendous work ethic. They understood that man was
created, even in innocence, to work and honor God by his work. Not for his pleasure, not to
indulge himself, but for work. So that that man Adam, even in
innocence, worked without toil, fatigue, or labor. He worked
without the sweat of his brow. He worked without getting scratched
by thorns and thistles. He worked and worshiped God as
he worked just as much as when he walked with God in the garden
in the cool of the day. Now this is what that means,
Gary. You and I worship and serve God in our various spheres in
life as we walk before him consciously doing what we do for his glory. That's what Adam did in the garden.
And God gave Adam dominion over all his creation. God made Adam
king over all the earth. He gave everything in the earth
to Adam for him to use and enjoy as he saw fit for the glory of
God. Then he brought every living
creature to Adam and said, you name him. You name him. What
a brilliant man Adam must have been. Even Plato was overwhelmed
by the brilliance of that mind that gave names to all things. saying it must have been more
than human, more than human as we know it. And then the Lord
God made him help meet for Adam. Look in Genesis 221. The Lord
God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he
took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof
And the rib which the Lord had taken from man made he a woman
and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone
of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall
be one flesh. And they were both naked, the
man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Here is God's crowning
work for Adam in innocence. He made him a wife, made a woman
for him. Now, Adam and Eve were brought
together by God in the first marriage. This was not one of
our modern verbal commitments. This was real commitment. And
even in the thing done afterwards, Adam represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. A deep sleep was given to Adam
and Eve was taken from his side just as we were born from the
side of Christ as a result of his falling under the wrath of
God and dying as our substitute. Eve was created for Adam, not
Adam for Eve. Eve was to be obedient to Adam
in all things, even as the church was created for Christ, not Christ
for the church. And we are to be obedient to
him in all things. And Adam was in all things responsible
for Eve, even in the fall. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ
willingly became responsible for all things with regard to
his church. Everything, everything. As Adam
willingly became sin and died under the wrath of God because
of his love for Eve, so the Lord Jesus Christ willingly took upon
himself our nature and our sin and died under the wrath of God
because of his love for us. As Adam, by his disobedience,
brought Eve into death, sin, death, and condemnation, so the
Lord Jesus Christ by his obedience to God as our representative
man, has brought righteousness, life, and everlasting salvation
to his bride, his church, whom he loved with an everlasting
love. Okay, I trust that's beneficial to you, and Lindsey will either
pick up here or move on to the lessons you had before you next
Lord's Day.