Genesis 1:26-31 "The Crown Jewel of Creation" - Dr. Steven J. Lawson

well it's good to see you this morning and we have a wonderful passage of scripture that we're going to be looking at just one quick comment uh this coming thursday morning i will be teaching our men's bible study across the street at herb's house and we will be coming to the last three verses of the book of romans and we've been in it for i guess almost four years and so if you've been a part of the men's study or even if you've never been a part of the men's study you're certainly invited this could be our climactic um study in the book of romans depending if i can get through the last three verses so um i will be gone then for the next five weeks something like that preaching in various places around the country and then be back after that and the reason for saying that please come thursday morning because i will be out for some period of time all right is the feedback okay now all right okay i want you to take your bible and it's going to be hard to find i want you to turn to genesis chapter 1. genesis chapter 1 and today we are looking at verses 26 to 27 and the title of this message is the crown jewel of creation i think you'll understand why i've given it this title genesis chapter 1 i want to begin reading in verse 26 this is god's infallible inerrant and inspired word then god said let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he created them god blessed them and god said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth then god said behold i have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth and every tree which has fruit yielding seed it shall be food for you and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky into everything that moves on the earth which has life i have given every green plant for food and it was so god saw all that he had made and behold it was very good and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day let's go to this creator god in prayer our father we have read the record of how you created man out of nothing how you fashioned and formed him and we will learn in the next chapter how you took the dirt of the earth and breathed life into him and lord we realize that we have been created by you you are our creator and you have made us for yourself you've not made us for the world you've made the world for us and us for you so father as we look into your word today i pray that you would give us great understanding and that our lives would be changed and transformed as a result of this time father we pray this in jesus name amen again the title this message is the crown jewel of creation as we come to these verses we find ourselves at the end of the sixth day this has been quite a week as god has created everything out of nothing and everything that god has created has really been a preparation for what we shall see today everything on the first five and a half days has really been to build the stage upon which human history will take place it was to build the theater in which god would set his glory on display and that god would create man and man would be at the very epicenter of what god would do out of the the vastness of the universe so vast that our minds cannot even comprehend it it is this little planet that occupies god's myopic focus because it will be on this planet where you and i live that god will carry out the drama of redemption but on this planet with all of its mountains and oceans and trees and rivers all of that was simply stage props for what god would do in mankind it would be in mankind that god would most set his glory on display and it would be in the human race that god would send his son his only son to be born of a virgin who would live a sinless and perfect life here and would die upon a cross be raised from the dead and would be ascended back to heaven it was in this human race that god would eventually send his son to accomplish the work of reconciliation and redemption and salvation so as we come to these verses verses 26 to 31 we have come to the crowning achievement of creation we have come to the crown jewel of god's creative handiwork here is the apex here is the pinnacle here is the climactic high point of all god's creation out of the entire universe man is to be the central object of what god will do here and god has created man unlike anything else in creation he has created man so that man may know him so that man may love him and so that man may worship him and carry out his purposes here upon the earth and so we want to understand these verses because they are critically important for you to understand who you are you really cannot understand who you are without understanding these verses and without understanding who you are and how god has made you there is no way for you to live your life as god intended you to live and so these verses really rise to a very high level of strategic importance they they are the crescendo at the end of this extraordinary chapter everything leading up to this has just been a prelude to put the pieces into place for god to now set the crown jewel upon the diadem of his creation so as we look at these verses there are four things that i want you to note with me and i want you to note first in verse 26 what god purposed what god purposed verse 26 begins then god said the word then is very important because it underscores the immediacy with which god now creates man there will not be an evolution of millions and billions of of years no in rapid fire succession in staccato fashion god is creating everything in one week six 24 hour days and we find ourselves on the second half of day six then god said immediately and as god spoke god spoke with sovereign commanding power everything that god now speaks will come to pass it will be irresistible it will be effectual it will come because god speaks it to be so then god said let us make man in our image and what should strike us here is that with each act of creation that has led up to this god has said let there be and this is the first time now that god rather than saying let there be god says let us make man and what we should note from this is how personal god interacts with the creation of man rather than just flinging out the sun and the stars and the galaxies in an impersonal way when it now comes time for god to create man in his own image god becomes intimately and personally involved and he says let us make man this is a very significant change and as he says let us make man which should also strike your attention it's the word us there is only one god but now the plural pronoun us and this is the first hint at the trinity this is the first hint at the doctrine of the godhead which says which is really the cornerstone of christianity what separates us from every false religion and false cult that there is one god who exists in three persons god the father god the son and god the holy spirit not three gods one god three persons who are co-equal in their essence and attributes mind and substance and mission and who are co-eternal none of whom have ever been created are brought into existence let us make man in our plural image and there is in the bible what is known as progressive revelation that what is first introduced in the opening scenes of the old testament will become a there will be a greater and fuller unfolding of that truth as the bible progresses and so here the the veil is just pulled back ever so slightly to allow us to have just a glimpse of what god is like and we know from the rest of the bible who this us is it is god the father god the son and it is god the holy spirit all in perfect agreement in what they will do they have one will they have one purpose they have one design they are in perfect communication with one another they are in perfect communion with one another they are all pulling in the same direction and together they make man in their own image the holy spirit was introduced to us in verse 2 of this opening chapter when we read the spirit of god was moving over the surface of the earth and in colossians 1 in hebrews 1 we know that jesus christ was here as well as god's agent of creation so the trinity speaks let us make man in our image the word image here literally comes from a root word that means something that is carved and the idea is like carving a statue that there is the reality and then an artist a master artist takes a block of material and carves and creates a statue that will look like the original object and that is the word that is used here and god himself is the standard god himself is the original object and as god now creates god creates man carves man if you will according to his own image and we will certainly only faintly have the image of god in us compared to the infinite reality of who god is but nevertheless unlike the mountains and the trees in the rivers and the sun in the moon we alone are made in the image of god to underscore this he then adds and moses is the writer here god the speaker according to our likeness that says the same thing just a different way it's it's parallelism it's it's synonymous parallelism and likeness is the same as image and the word likeness means a pattern or a shape or a or a form and what we learn here is that god is has made mankind to be much like him and in just a second i will i will lay this out for us he concludes verse 26 and let them rule over the word over is very important because it's mentioned five times in this one verse and three more times in a subsequent verse here and god has placed man over his creation let them rule over the fish of the sea the fish being the swimming creatures and over the birds of the sky obviously flying creatures and over the cattle grazing creatures over all the earth meaning the entirety of wherever they would be found and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth god has placed man over all of the earth in all of the works of his hand god has not made man for the earth he has made the earth for man and david writes in psalm 8 in verse 6 and 7 these words you have made him referring to man to rule over the works of your hands you have put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen and also all the beasts of the field the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea what an extraordinary purpose and plan god has for the human race and for mankind now what does it mean that we are made in the image of god i want to give you four words that begin with the word are just to help sharpen our focus what does it mean that you are made in the image of god unlike the animals well number one is the word relationship god has made you with the capacity for relationship with him and with others and this really is a mirror or a reflection of the trinity itself because within the godhead within the trinity god the father god the son and god the holy spirit there exists perfect communion in relationship and love we read that throughout all eternity past the head of the son was in the bosom of the father it is a position of of intimacy and and closeness of relationship and so as we are made in the image of god you and i have been made to know god you and i have been made to love god in ways that obviously the rest of creation has zero capacity to have a relationship with god and if you fail to understand this and live your life for god your life will be wasted your life will be nothing but vanity because god made you for himself he didn't make you for this world he made the world for you and he made you for him and so to be made in the image of god we are made to have a personal intimate loving close relationship with god we are made to walk with god and to adore god that's the first r the second is rationality to be made in the image of god means that god has given us an intellectual capacity that he has not given to the rest of creation he has given us the capacity to think critically and logically to compare things to draw to to make analysis to draw a conclusion uh to have memory uh to to have the capacity for creativity and for ingenuity he's given us the capacity for language skills and and verbal skills that too is in the image of god because god is a genius and god is a god of infinite knowledge and and wisdom we have been made like god yet fall far short of the knowledge and wisdom of god the third r is righteousness god has made us to be a moral being he has given us the capacity with a conscience to know right from wrong to know good from evil god has placed that conscience down within us it is an internal alarm system it is a moral compass by which we are able to distinguish righteousness from unrighteousness and god is holy and god is righteous and so we have been made in the image of god to be like god and to make moral choices that glorify him and the last r is the word rule god obviously is the sovereign of heaven and earth over the entire universe and as rc sproul says there are no maverick molecules in the entire universe everything exists to obey the eternal decree of almighty god in the affairs of providence as martin luther said even the devil is god's devil to carry out god's purposes so god as the not just the creator but the administrator and manager and ruler over every square inch of everything that there is god has made us in his image and he has delegated to us a stewardship to be over his creation and so we have been appointed by god to be if you will a co-regent with stewardship entrusted to us that we are to rule as this text says over what god has made and so this underscores and stresses how unique how privileged how special it is to be made in the image of god and it is something that we must not take lightly at the very center of understanding why am i here and what is my life all about and how am i to live at the center of that is understanding that we have been made in the image of god now because of sin that we will look at in future chapters that image has been greatly tarnished that image has been greatly subjected to the pollution of sin but nevertheless the image of god remains in us and salvation really is restoring the image of god in us sanctification is restoring the image of god that is in us so that we would be like god in the sense of right relationships and living a right and holy life in the sense of ruling over whatever part of this earth and a vocational calling is entrusted to you all of this is a part of being made in the image of god and let me just add this before we move on that is why murder is a gross and heinous sin because it is an assault upon the image of god and that is why the death penalty should come upon anyone who takes another life in a way that is intentional and premeditated it is to strike at god to take another life and genesis 9 verse 6 says the one who takes the life of another his life shall be taken and it is meant to be a restraint in society to protect and preserve human life which is made in the image of god this is unlike going hunting and shooting a deer or a bear this is unlike going fishing and and catching a a fish because they're not in the image of god they are made for the pleasure of man but man uniquely is in the image of god which second leads me to say this this is why the grisly industry of abortion is uh is a blasphemy against god because it is taking a human life that is made in the image of god life begins at conception and it is god himself who created that life it's not even the the husband and the wife that created that life it was god himself who is life and is the only giver of life and to slaughter that baby in the womb of a mother is to shake a fist in the face of holy god it is to spit in the face of god and bring railing accusation against god almighty who has created that life that is why any true christian would oppose murder in the womb through abortion but this also speaks to how hatred in the heart toward another person is a horrible sin against god because when jesus exposed the law in matthew chapter 5 and he said you have heard that it was said that you shall not commit murder but i say unto you everyone who has anger in their heart toward another person has committed murder already and the person against whom you are angry is someone who has been made in the image of god we must understand that we are to preserve human life we must preserve human dignity and we must understand that our neighbor has been made in the image of god and this is true of unbelievers as well as believers it also speaks to the atrocious sin of prejudice toward another race toward another person who has a different skin color or who has a a different ethnic background it is an assault against god himself who has created that person with that ethnic identity or racial background that they have it is really a horrible sin not just against that person it is high treason in the courts of heaven above so that's the first heading that i want you to see and there's a there was a lot to be said there just to give you some encouragement um it was a muffled laugh all right the second thing that i want you to see is what god produced because verse 26 is only the intentions of god verse 26 is only the the purpose of god but in verse 27 we see god carry out all of the uh the will and the intentions of his own heart and so we read in verse 27 god created man in his own image just like he said he would do in verse 26 god created man in his own image and to underscore this the word created is used three times in this one verse a blind man could see where the emphasis is being made and what this should say to each and every one of us is that man did not evolve from some lower life form that that is a lie out of the pit of hell itself it is god who created directly immediately brilliantly wisely stunningly it is god who did this my father was a professor in medical school for many many years i was a brilliant scientist and my father said steve i would be a christian i would believe in god if for no other reason than the human eye that didn't happen that didn't evolve there's no way that that arose out of the slime of of mud and and all of that there is a master artist a master creator who has designed the human eye but not just the human eye and how it functions with the brain and coordinates with the the limbs and the hands but every part of us it is god with infinite genius and limitless wisdom has masterminded the creation of man and not just on the outside with his physical body but also on the inside with his soul with his mind with his heart with his will with his conscience with his attitudes with his dispositions with his temperament that is god let us give glory to god for what he has done god created man in his own image in the image of god he created them that's just a double underscore lest anyone would try to come up with some silly crazy idea that man was not created by god directly immediately and when god created notice it says he made male and female he created them what genius was on display on the sixth day of creation as god created man and he would soon create a woman they are alike but very different there is one human race but two genders who equally share in the image of god the male created in the image of god the female created in the image of god and the difference will be functional functional differences if for nothing else to pro to procreate now there are three things that i want to say here and the first deals with gender there is much controversy today over gender and gender roles and i want us to be absolutely clear in what the bible teaches that god the creator made a male to be a male and god the creator made a female to be a female and a person's gender is fixed at the point of conception it is not determined by a person's preferences it is not determined by a person's feelings any attempt of deviation from how god made a person to either be a male or a female is rebellion against god it is an assault against the holy god of heaven and it comes from a reprobate mind a male will forever be a male regardless of what surgical procedures he has undergone he will be a male throughout the rest of his life he will be a male throughout all eternity whether heaven or hell because god made him to be a male the second thing that i want to talk about at this point is marriage god's design for marriage was for there to be from the very beginning one male and one female to come together to become one and any distortion of that such as one male united to another male or one female united to another female is strictly forbidden against god by god and god is so adamant about this that all homosexual acts and all homosexual relationships under the old testament law required the death penalty an immediate death by stoning leviticus 20 and verse 13. and those levitical punishments have been removed in this a age of grace but sin is still sin and right is forever right and wrong is forever wrong in leviticus the sin of homosexuality is called an abomination and a perversion the word abomination means disgusting and perversion means a violation of the natural and moral order and so from the very beginning god made them to be a male and a female and the male and the female are to become one in marriage and any alteration of being a male or being a female is a sin against god and any alteration of god's plan for marriage of a male and a female marrying each other such that it would be a male for a male or a female for a female is an abomination and a perversion to use god's words the third thing that i want to say here before we move on further is something about adam i need to stress this point with you the truth of the historicity of adam and when i say the historicity of adam i mean that adam was a literal human being he was not an allegorical figure he he was not a fictitious character anyone reading genesis 1 at face value would easily come to that conclusion and anyone reading the subsequent chapters could come to no other conclusion but that adam was the first man created in the image of god by god himself a real adam was married to a real eve who was deceived by a real devil and this real adam committed a real sin against a real god which threw the real world into a real condemnation under a real curse like when do you stop allegorizing wait wait when if you allegorize one it's like unraveling a sweater pulling a thread the whole bible unravels now we believe the bible exactly the way that it was written god meant what he said and said what he meant there was a real first man whose name was adam it's the foundation of our understanding the origin of man the nature of man jesus spoke of adam in matthew 19 as a real person just as real as the pharisees to whom he was speaking and when luke writes the genealogy of of jesus he begins he he has adam as the fountain of all the human race and when we read romans chapter 5 paul says in reality there are only two people in all of human history there's adam and there is the second adam jesus christ and all who are in adam die and all who are in christ live and to try to explain away adam is to explain away jesus because they are both set forward as two real men who were the federal heads of the of their own race adam of the entire human race and jesus of the race of the elect so to deny a real adam is to to deny a real jesus if you were only consistent enough in your thinking so that's why these opening verses are so critically important in one way or another the entire bible rests upon this cornerstone of genesis chapter 1. you tell me what you believe about genesis chapter 1 and i'll tell you 50 things about what you believe the rest of the bible it's that strategic and that important now this leads us to verse 28 what god pronounced in verses 28 to 30 we see what god pronounced in verse 28 we read god blessed them plural god bless the male and god blessed the female there's no differentiation in the blessing of god god has blessed both genders equally and the word blessed means comes from a hebrew root word that means to bend down and the idea is to bend down to bestow help and to give gifts and to provide support and in a and in a sense god is bending down to bless the crown of his creation he will put them in a perfect world he will put them in paradise he will give them peace and prosperity he will give them authority over the earth he will give them joy and fulfillment god bless them god is a good god and i want you to know three things now about this blessing of god that god gives to them three things it's very important for you to see this the first is the blessing of procreation he says god blessed them and god said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth that's the first aspect of this blessing that god pronounces upon the human race it's not just a command to do this though it is an imperative but it is also the the expression of this blessing that is given when he says to be fruitful we understand what that means that means to procreate and populate the earth and the blessing would be the fruit of the womb the the blessing would be the children that would come and the relationships and the love and the harmony and and all that would accompany a family unit it is a a blessing of god think about how lonely we would be if god did not institute marriage and then did not allow the procreation of of children it is the goodness of god that has established the family unit it is the goodness of god that allows children to be to be born and so he says be fruitful and multiply meaning have many children make it exponential the word multiply means to become meaning to to be numerous and fill the earth with offspring what a blessing my children our children have been to us the all the stages of life from an infant taking them home from the hospital to to this present day i will play golf with two of them this afternoon and just the sheer joy of spending time with my children my daughter works full-time for our one passion ministry and just the joy of children this is the first aspect of this blessing and for those of you who are single or for those of you who are married and are thinking through a family and when i say single i'm talking about after you're married you must understand that children are a blessing that god pronounces upon a husband-wife relationship the second aspect of this blessing is the word vocation and we see that in the middle of verse 28 he says and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth you see work was given as a blessing not a burden a blessing that you would accomplish something that there would be the satisfaction of undertaking a project and carrying it through to completion and to do it for the glory of of god that that that is a blessing that remains even on this side of adam's original sin god would bring a curse on the earth and now our work will be hard but nevertheless there is a blessing that comes from the from the perspiration and from the from the grit and the sweat of doing a job because there is a sense of fulfillment we would be absolutely bored out of our minds if we did no work there was no sense of accomplishing the works that god has foreordained for us to do and so you need to see the fact that you have a job and a vocational calling that too is a blessing from god martin luther the great german reformer in his lectures on genesis wrote that adam in his original state was superior to the animals even where the animals were strong listen to luther's lecture at this point luther writes i am fully convinced that before adam's sin adam's eyes were so sharp and clear that they surpassed the vision of the lynx and the eagle he was stronger than the lions and the bears whose strength is very great and he handled them the way we handle puppies in order to rule over the animal kingdom it implies a superior strength and capability that would far exceed even the animals how much was lost with original sin in the fall of man in his capacities but there's there's a third aspect of this blessing that i want you to see and not just vocation and procreation i want you to see in verse 29 provision that this blessing that god pronounced blessing would include providing for their needs so look at verse 29 then and i just want to underscore again the word then it just should leap off the page to us there's not a billion years between verse 28 and 29 immediately then right then god said behold the word behold means take notice of this i have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth and why has god provided that he has provided it out of goodness for man to meet man's physical needs and also to provide beauty before his eyes god is the god of beauty and and think of the the diversity in the spectrum of the plant world that as the different seasons change and we see the different blossoming of different flowers and different different trees this is an expression of god's blessing upon us we don't live in a black and white world we we live in a world with with all of the colors of of the rainbow and all of the combinations and then he says i've given you every tree which is fruit yielding seed it shall be food for you think about this the diversity of the food that god has provided that you don't just eat the same thing every day like i do [Laughter] first timothy 4 verse 4 says for everything created by god is good did you hear that everything that god has created is created for man it can be misused it can be abused it can be taken out of balance and out of place but nevertheless the devil didn't create any of this god created it all for the pleasure of man and then verse 30 and to every beast of the earth and every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life i have given every green plant for food and it was so all that god planned and all that god purposed came to pass god stocked the shells of this planet he provided everything that you and i need and they are resources that shall never run out despite what you may hear on television how good of god this leads us finally to verse 31 what god perceived until we read in verse 31 god saw all that he had made the word saw there is a hebrew word that means to inspect it means to scrutinize it means to perceive god with x-ray vision god with his omniscient eye who sees every leaf of every branch of every tree and every forest of the earth god saw all that he made again like an artist stepping back and and just looking at the at the canvas after he has put his colors onto that canvas and his god looked at the whole is what god said and behold meaning wow look at this it was very good to this point god has said multiple times let there be light god saw it it was good but when he comes to man when he comes to a woman when he comes to the male and to the female as god sees what he has made and placed into the environment that that he has prepared almost like a husband and wife preparing a nursery for when they return from the hospital to put their little baby in into this this this baby crib in a nursery god had prepared the entire universe god had prepared the planet now to place the crown jewel of his creation male and female and god saw it and it was stunningly beautiful to god it was very good they were very means exceedingly good it was greatly good it's it's a almost hyperbole but it's not hyperbole it's an expression of truth and it was good meaning it is excellent it is beautiful it is it is stunning and so male and female man and woman are the crown jewel on top of the diadem of creation so at the end of verse 31 in an almost anticlimactic way but to document this on the calendar that this took place in real time that this took place on the second half of the sixth day forever written in indelible ink in the eternal word of god and there was evening and there was morning evening referring to night time half a day was dark and there was morning which is daytime and the other half of the day was light and god has brought to completion his masterpiece and he puts man in the center of that masterpiece out of all of the galaxies out of all the solar systems out of all the suns out of all of the planets this little tiny earth would be the focus of his attention and upon this tiny earth there would be a man and there would be a woman to start the unfolding drama of human history and redemption as i bring this to conclusion if you take anything from this you need to understand that you sir you ma'am are made in the image of god that image has been devastated by sin in your life but nevertheless it is true you are in the image of god you were made with a mind to know god and to know the truth and to know his son jesus christ not merely to know about god but to actually know god in a personal relationship you were made with a with a heart to love god you were not made with a heart to love this world the world system and we are too enjoy the objects that god has made but our affection belongs to the one who made us god made you with a will that you might choose to trust him and obey him and so i want to say to every one of us here today you have a choice to make will you live in relationship with god will you live in fellowship with god or will you live independent of your creator will you try to go your own way will you live by your own rules or will you seek god with all of your heart and pursue him jeremiah 9 verse 23 says this into verse 24 let not a wise man boast of his wisdom let not the mighty man boast of his might let not a rich man boast of his riches but let him who boasts boast of this that he understands and knows me that i am the lord who exercises loving kindness justice and righteousness on the earth this should be your boast today this is that prized possession that you must treasure above everything else in your life it is that you know god and there's only one way to know god and it is through his son the lord jesus christ jesus who was born of a virgin jesus who lived a sinless and perfect life jesus who went to the cross and bore the sins of his people jesus who was raised from the dead jesus who ascended back to the right hand of god the father jesus who has all authority in heaven and earth jesus who will be the judge on the last day in the determiner of every man and every woman's destiny this jesus is the jesus you must believe in your heart you must trust with all of your heart this jesus you must follow every step of life's way you must deny yourself you must take up a cross you must follow the lord jesus christ you must repent of all self-centeredness repent of all self-focus you must die to self and live for christ this is the decision you must make your wife can't make this decision for you your husband cannot make this decision for you your children your grandchildren cannot make this decision for you you yourself must come to the place where you believe in jesus christ if you are to know god jesus said i am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father but through me so i call you this day believe in jesus christ repent of your sin follow christ you have been made in the image of god and to live any other way is to waste your life to squander your life and to live in eternity in the real place hell but jesus is preparing a place in heaven for everyone who will trust him behold now is the accepted time behold today is the day of salvation if you have never trusted in jesus christ you may never have another moment like this in your life do so this moment if you've never believed in christ let us pray our father what we have looked at today the height and the depth and the breadth and the length of it far surpasses our finite minds but thank you for giving us the insight that you have allowed us to have that we could understand how the human race began and how we have been made ingrained this in us may we live accordingly in jesus name amen

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Published: Sun Jun 13 2021