Turn in your Bibles, please,
to Genesis, the first chapter. I'm going to read three or four
different verses here. The text is taken from verse
11. And God said, let the earth bring
forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth.
And so it was. Then in verse 21 it says, and
God created great whales. and every living creature that
moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their
kind, and every winged fowl after his kind, and God saw that it
was good. In verse 24, the Lord said, let
the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle
and creeping thing, the beasts of the earth after his kind,
and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after his
kind, cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth
upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good.
They're verse 26 and 27. God said, let us make man in
our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over
the cattle and over the earth and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created him, male and female, created
he them. Let us pray. Now, Father, we
are thankful for your word. It's a lamp unto our feet and
a light unto our path, the entrance of which gives understanding
to the simple. We are thankful that you, by
your grace, have saved us because of the shed blood and perfect
righteousness of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and has given us an
understanding, an unction from on high, where we understand
the things of God, the things you have revealed for our benefit
and our help. You're thankful that we can look
at this book and see our Savior on every page. We ask, Lord,
if you would be pleased this hour to meet with us by your
Spirit, to take those things of Christ and reveal them unto
us, that we may glorify His name and glorify Thee. Father, we
pray for those of our company who are sick. Remember Robert.
Also, Wayne, we're thankful that he's coming home this early.
We praise you for that and hope you'll continue to minister to
him and give him back to a good measure of help. Pray for the
others who requested prayer. Mr. Wolf has been added to the
prayer list. We ask your help for him. Ask for Peggy Lambert
that you'd continue to minister to her. The others who requested
prayer, those who are going through troubles and trials in this life,
we ask the Lord you'd be with them. Watch over us now, cause
us in our hearts to worship you, we pray in Christ's name, amen.
The title of my message tonight is After His Kind. If you notice
when I read those verses of scripture, every one of them, save the last
two, where it spoke of being after his kind, but in that verse
you saw in his image and in his likeness, which is the same kind
of language. Now, as we've seen thus far in
this book of creation and generation, the several aspects of the creation
of the physical universe all point to and picture and typify
the new creation, the new creature in Christ, which is salvation
wrought by Jesus Christ himself for his people. And salvation
is the theme of the entire book. We know that. Our Lord said to
the Pharisees, you do study the scriptures, for in them you think
you find eternal life. but they are they which testify
of me and you will not come to me that you might have life.
Since this book is about salvation, it must necessarily presuppose
a condition upon which salvation is necessary or required. This is pictured in the earth
becoming void and without form and darkness upon the face of
the deep in verse two of this book. And all that follows picture
some aspect or means employed by God in the recovery of that
ruined state of humanity, as we'll see in our studies as we
go along. Now in the creation of the flora
and the fauna, the flowers and the animals, and finally that
of humanity, one thing stands true of all. The Lord said their
seed is in them. Their seed is in them and they
produce fruit after their own kind. This forever answers the
question of the chicken and the egg as to which came first, and
likewise that a trout cannot produce a honey badger in any
way, shape, or form. The future assurance of the continuance
of a thing is found in its seed. It's found in its seed. This is the essence of life and
existence. The old adage says one can count
the seeds in an apple but who can count the apples in a seed. And that's the truth. Now this
concept of seed applies and is used to every living creature
in the arenas of the plant, animal, and human Each produces fruit
after its own kind. Our Lord uses the concept of
seed in horticultural, animal, and humanity, and in the declaration
of the salvation of the elect especially. In doing so, he also
sets forth a distinction between the old creation and the new
creation, the old man and the new man, the old covenant and
the new covenant, true and false preachers, true and false doctrine,
the spirit and the flesh, and the saved and the lost, each
producing fruit after its own kind, whether good fruit or evil
fruit, it produces fruit after its own kind. After the flood
in Genesis chapter eight, our Lord said this of what would
take place In Genesis chapter eight and
verse 22, while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and
heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. Seed time and harvest. First
thing he mentions is seed time and harvest. Now this is paramount
to our understanding that salvation is the work of the sovereign
creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout scripture, these terms
are used. When our Lord spoke of his death
and resurrection, how did he describe it? He says, as a corn
of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it must die in order
to live again. Now he uses a seed to describe
his death, his burial, and his resurrection. And the Lord's
people, his elect, that elect remnant, are called the product
of the fruit of his planting. His planting. We're gonna use
our Bibles tonight, so I want you to hold them in your hands.
Isaiah chapter 20 to start with. Or excuse me, Isaiah chapter
60 in verse 21. Isaiah 60, 21. says, thy people also shall all
be righteous. And that's true, they're all
righteous in Jesus Christ. They shall inherit the land forever,
the branch of my planting. They're the branch of my planting.
I planted this branch, the work of my hands. And the reason is
that I might be glorified. Then if you go to the next chapter,
chapter 61, In verse three, it says, to appoint
to them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the
oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness, that they might be called the trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. In Psalm
92. In Psalm 92 in verse 13. It says, those that be planted
in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our
God. And then a very familiar passage
of scripture over in Jeremiah chapter 32, when the Lord promises
that his people will never leave him. He says in Jeremiah chapter 32
and verse 38, he says, and they shall be my people and I will
be their God. And I will give them one heart
and one way. that they may fear me, that is
love, worship and adore and respect and reverence me forever for
the good of them and of their children after them. I will make
an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away
from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts
that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over
them to do them good. I will plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and my whole soul. So our Lord
is talking about planting and here he's talking about his people.
His people. When our Lord spoke of false
teachers and their doctrine, our Lord said, by their fruits
shall you know them. And then he also said, and now
also is the ax laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into
a fire. So both good fruit and bad fruit
are of the Lord and of his people. He says that they shall bring
forth fruit and their fruit shall remain. He said that in John
chapter 15. And they do that because they
are connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. For our Lord said in
John chapter 15 in verses one through six, I am the vine and
ye are the branches. "'You cannot bring forth fruit
unless you abide in me. "'He that abideth in me shall
bring forth much fruit.'" So this is the language of scripture.
So he talks about his people being those whom he has planted. He talks about their works or
their fruit being of him as they're connected to him. The preaching
of the gospel is in a parable compared to the scattering and
sowing of the seed. So we see this concept of the
seed is used in many ways in scripture. Look over Matthew
chapter 13. And now we know, and our Lord explained this to
his disciples in Matthew chapter 13 when they asked, how come
you preach in parables? Now our Lord said, the reason
I preach in parables is because these real smart fellas out here
who think they know the scriptures will never understand what I'm
talking about. because it's given unto you to understand the mysteries
of the kingdom. It's given unto you to understand
the mysteries of the kingdom. And he talked about, this is
a parable, and Matthew 13 is several parables. This is the
first one, found in Matthew chapter 13 in verse three, and he spake
many things unto them in parable, saying, behold, a sower went
forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds
fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them
up. Some fell upon stony places where
they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up, because
there was no deepness in the earth. And when the sun was up,
they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered
away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and
choked them. And others fell into good ground
and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
and some thirtyfolds. He who hath ears to hear Let
him hear what the Lord is saying in this parable. Well, the disciples
asked why he did it this way and exactly what the meaning
of that was. And if you look over verse 18 of the same chapter,
our Lord explained it to his disciples. Hear therefore the
parable of the sower. When one heareth the word, so
what is the seed? It's the word of God. When one
heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then
cometh the wicked one, that's the fowls, and catches away that
which is sown in his heart, that this is he which receives seed
by the wayside. But he that receiveth the seed
into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word and
anon, or immediately with joy, receives it, yet hath no root
in himself. but dureth for a while and then
when tribulations or persecutions arise because of the word, that's
the heat of the sun and so forth spoken of, and by and by he's
offended. He also receives seed among the
thorns as he that heareth the word and the care of this world
and deceitfulness of riches choke out the word and he becometh
unfruitful. But he that receiveth the seed
into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth
it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundredfold,
some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. Now these numbers are ordained.
A lot of people like to say, well, I want to be a hundredfold
Christian. I don't want to be a sixtyfold or a thirtyfold.
Listen, God has ordained you works from old. And if he has
ordained that you produce thirtyfold, that's 100%. 60 is 100% and 100 is 100%. But
what you see, the seed is the Word of God. He that soweth the
seed. He that heareth the Word of God. Now our Lord himself,
our Lord himself is designated uniquely as the seed. He's called
the seed of woman. The seed of woman whose father
is God. And that distinguish him from
the rest of humanity altogether. The rest of humanity's father
is Adam. He's the representative and the
federal head of all humanity. But Jesus Christ is not called
the seed of Adam. He's not produced after Adam's
own kind. What kind is he produced after?
He's produced after God's own kind. He's the seed of woman.
His father is God. And being the seed of woman,
he was not born after Adam's kind, but after God's kind. He
was born without sin. He was born with no carnal nature. This suited him for the perfect
sacrifice for he was without sin, spot or blemish. And it
says of him, he was the seed of woman, born of the woman,
born under the law to redeem them that are under the law.
The uniqueness of the seed of Jesus Christ is that he was not
accounted as one born of Adam, but he was one who was accounted
as one born of God. And he was born that way. Born
that way, born under the law to redeem us who are under the
law. That's why he was born a seed of woman. None, not one of Adam's
sons, not one of the lineage of Adam, not one that came forth
from Adam's loins, not one of those produced in Adam after
his own kind could ever, ever do anything for us toward God. Not one thing. No sacrifice they
made, no matter how much they loved us, no matter what they
did for us, how much money they gave, it didn't matter. Man is
not redeemed by corruptible things like silver and gold. He's redeemed
by the precious blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So Jesus Christ himself is the seed. Galatians chapter three
said when Abraham saw the seed in Genesis chapter 15, which
we'll look at sometime later, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness because he believed God, that seed, according to
Galatians chapter three, was Jesus Christ. So our Lord says
that the earth's gonna bring forth seed, and everything I
made is gonna bring forth seed after its own kind. after its
own kind. The gospel in its instrumentality,
we preach the gospel for one reason, to glorify God in the
salvation of his people, the elect. Now we know that gospel
message is what brings men to a knowledge of who Christ is
and what they are. The gospel itself is uniquely
separate from man. Though man preaches it, man didn't
come up with it, man didn't invent it, man cannot improve on it,
man cannot take away from it. It's the gospel itself, that
glorious message. And our Lord calls it a seed. Our Lord calls the gospel message
and the gospel in its instrumentality in the new birth is called incorruptible
seed. And it is applied to the new
birth and being born again. And the seed in that case, in
that case in first Peter, which we'll look at, means semen. And we all know what that is.
It's the male ejaculate. We know what that is. But it's
called that because of the term birth. It's used in connection
with birth because we understand that. Now, most of that is metaphorical
language. Something far greater than we
can ever grasp, this matter of spiritual birth. You know, we
can't put our finger on it. It's like the dew that appears
in the morning. It doesn't come with lightning
bolts. I saw a thing on Facebook last
night where, yeah, I don't know whether you're familiar with
a man named Benny Hinn, one of those crazy crooks that does
a healing ministry. But somebody, he was throwing
a coat around and people falling down and the spirit and all that
stuff. And then somebody put a light sword in his, superimposed
a light sword in there and looked like a Jedi on the stage knocking
everybody down. The birth of the child of God,
we understand, but we don't understand how the Spirit applies it. We
know we preach it, and that's as far as we go with it, because
we can't go any further. Now, man will invent ways to
supplement what they say, to get people to do things, to make
them some kind of physical act, but the preacher of the gospel
trusts the message that he preaches. He knows the gospel would do
its bidding, so all he does is preach the gospel, and that gospel
is the instrument used. Look over at 1 Peter. Chapter
one, look at the language. You're familiar with this. I
expect I've quoted this from the pulpit more times than I
can imagine, but it's such a wonderful setting for now. It begins with
what we know as children of God in verse 18, for as much As you
know that we are not redeemed, that is bought back to God with
the price of death, not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition of your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him
up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope
might be in God. Seeing he have purified your
souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, to see that you love one another with a pure
heart fervently, being born again. being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass. They
can't help you. And all the glory of man is the
flower of grass. The grass wither, the fly thereof
follow the way. So man can't help you. But the
word of God. Now look how this is worded.
The word of God endureth forever and this is the word. Look at
the next phrase, which by the gospel. That's how the word is
preached to you. Which by the gospel is preached
unto you. Now here our Lord says this is
a holy thing that's going on here,
a wondrous thing. You're born of this word, this
incorruptible seed. And it lives and abides forever.
You're not gonna live and abide forever. If you're a spiritual
man, you'll live eternally, but your natural body's gonna die.
Your natural body's gonna die. But you're born again, born anew,
born from above. And again, I said this in metaphorical
language, but it's a wonder and a mystery, but the word of God
says we're born of God. We're born of God. That's why we call God our father,
our father. Look at a few verses of scripture.
Let's compare some scriptures, starting with the incarnation
of the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke chapter one. Listen to how this
is worded. In Luke chapter one in verse
35, and the angel answered and said unto her, she said, how
can these things be? Now I'm gonna have a baby and
I've never known a man. How can these things be, seeing
I know not a man? And the angel answered and said
unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power
of the high shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy
thing. which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God, shall be called the Son of God. Well, he is indeed the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. But look what it says
in Romans chapter eight, Romans chapter eight and verse 29. It
says, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he, Christ, might be
the firstborn among many, what? Brethren. So this says we're born of God,
and how did that happen? Well, I guessed. The Holy Ghost
must have overshadowed you, don't you reckon? And that holy thing,
that new thing, that new creation, born, makes you a son of God. You're born of God, born of God. 1 John chapter 3, John is amazed
and wonders, he's, what manner of love is this that we should
be called the sons of God? But brethren, now we are the
sons of God because we're born of God. John chapter three, first
John three, nine, four, seven, five, verses one through four,
those all say we're born of God. He that is born of God loves
his brother. He that is born of God loves
him that is begotten, not only him who begat. He that is born
of God overcometh the world. Born of God. Born of God, now
that's not gonna make you some kind of visible glowing entity
with some kind of aura around you that the world's gonna be
able to see what you are. You're born of God and it's a
spiritual birth. A spiritual birth, but that makes
you a son of God. A son of God. What a wondrous
thing that is, finally. Man was created. We find this
last verses that I read, chapter one of verse 25 or 26, 27. Man
is created in the image of God, in the image of God, in the likeness
of God. God says, let us create man in
our image and in our likeness. Could this be a way of God saying
it's after we're created this new creature after his kind?
after his kind. Man's creation differed from
all the other things created. All other things were called
into existence by the word of God. But man's creation was different. Somehow, God came and grabbed
some clay and some dirt. You say, well, God is spirit.
He doesn't have hands. Who said who is the creator?
Jesus Christ. The Son of God is the Creator.
He's got hands. They nailed Him to the cross.
He's got hands. This is a hands-on experience.
This is a different type of creation. It's called, man's creation must
be attributed to one person, and that person is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He took the dust of the earth, the clay of the earth,
and made Him. That's what it says in chapter
2 and verse 7 of Genesis. In Genesis chapter two and verse
seven it says this, and the Lord God, notice his capital L-O-R-D,
that's Jehovah Jesus, the Lord God formed man, formed him of
the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and man became a living soul. Now the word there, the
breath of life there is called ruach, but everywhere else, and
that's the life of every creature, man and animal, breathe the ruach,
ruach. But there's another word used
in reference to men throughout the Old Testament when it talks
about the breath of man. The word is neshama, and it means
one who can communicate, can listen and hear and understand
and communicate what he's listening to, and it's only used with man
in the scriptures, never used with any other creature. Man
was formed like the potter forms the clay and makes one vessel
into honor and another into dishonor. He took the clay. So this is
a different type of creation. Here, man is said to be made
of what God has already created. Man was created in the physical
universe in the image of who? The man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who He has created, the
man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture declares that in many
different ways, it's saying it in many different ways. Let's
look at a few, Romans chapter eight and verse three. It says
this, for what the law could not do and that it was weak through
the flesh, God sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. He killed sin by his
own death is what that means, but he came in the likeness of
sinful flesh. In Hebrews chapter 12 or Hebrews
chapter two. In Hebrews chapter two in verse
16, it says, for verily he took not on him the nature of angels,
but he took on him the seed of Abraham, the seed of Abraham. And Abraham's seed we know are
believers according to Galatians chapter three in verse 29. In
Colossians, in John chapter one in verse three, it said that Christ is the creator
of all things. By him, everything that was made was made by the
Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter one in verse three. Let me read
it so I'll be correct in quoting it. John chapter one in verse
three says, all things were made by him and without him was not
anything made that was made. In Colossians chapter one in
verse 16 it says, all things were made by him and they were
made for him. But what was this likeness? We
know that Jesus Christ had children. Those who are redeemed are his
children. And he says in Hebrews chapter two in verse 14, he says,
because the children were flesh and blood, he partook of the
same, that he might redeem them from the one who had the power
of death and caused them fear all their lives. So Christ is
the God man. He is what? God manifests how? Great is the
mystery of godliness. God manifests in the flesh. In the flesh. Jesus Christ is
sinless flesh, but he is flesh and he is spirit. He is flesh
and he is spirit. He is spirit. Our Lord said,
I will send you a paraclete, one to come along beside you
and teach you the truth. And when I come to you, God is
flesh and he is spirit. You see the image of God is thus
applied to the new creation where the child of God is both flesh
and spirit. The one born of God by the seed
of God, Christ and his gospel is declared by the work of Christ
to be both flesh and spirit. Yet one whose sin has been put
away by the blood of Christ to the extreme extent that they
are perfected by Christ and God will remember their sins no more
sinless flesh and spirit before God. Now in the flesh we know
there dwelleth no good thing, but before God, because of the
work of Christ in God's economy and according to God's jurisdictions
and jurisprudence, you are without sin. And this is how God created
man in the new creation in his image, and in his likeness. The new creature, the saved sinner,
the blood-bought man, is a man after God's own kind. His own
kind. In 1 John chapter 4 and verse
17, it says, perfect love casteth out fear. No fear in perfect
love. For as we don't fear the judgment,
for as Christ is, So are we in this world, as Christ is. I know people say, I want people
to see Christ in me. They didn't see Christ in Christ,
so they're not going to see Him in you. But I'm telling you this
right now. You, before God, have been conformed to the image of
God's Son, whom He glorified, whom He chose, whom He foreknowed.
They may also call justified and glorified. Glorified. Look at Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three in
verse 20 and 21. It says, for our conversation is in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies,
that he may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
to himself. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 11,
it says, he's not ashamed to call them brethren, to call them
brethren. And in Galatians chapter 3 and
verse 29, because they are Abraham's seed, which he took upon himself,
they are called the children of God. the children of God. This is God creating man in his
own image and his likeness after his own kind. Father, bless us to our understanding.
We pray in Christ's name.