Well, this is now the third week that we have been considering man in our study that I've entitled Systematic Theology for All. And if you remember, the foundational texts for a correct understanding of who men are, who you are, are Genesis 1, verses 26 and 27, and God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let Did them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth? So God created man in His own image. In the image of God created He Him, male and female, created He them. And then also Genesis 2.7, And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. If you do not base your understanding of who you are and who other men are on these texts, you will be in error as far as your understanding of who man is. Remember that these texts infallibly and inherently declare and teach you who made man. God. The living and true God revealed and declared in the scriptures. And based on the context of these verses, You know when God made man. He made man on the sixth day of creation. We also know how God created man. Out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. So from this we realize that man is a unique creation of God made from the dust of the earth on the sixth day of creation. He is not and never has been related to or did he descend from or evolve from the animal kingdom. Apart from having God as their creator, that is the only way in which men are related to the animal kingdom. God is our common creator, but we are not related to animals because we descended from them or evolved from them, despite that constant evolutionary mantra that you hear in our culture today that demeans man and dishonors God and His Word. Man is not a descendant of monkeys. And as I appreciate, if I make incorrect statements, I like being corrected because I want to be truthful. I made a comment in one of my earlier lessons about the reality that we're not descended from, or Neanderthal man is not one of our descendants. Well, Neanderthal man may very well have been a man. The point I was making when I made that comment was that a fossil is either a man, a fossil of a man, or it's a fossil of a monkey, or a fossil of a chimpanzee. It's not some transitional form going between the two. Like you may have recently heard the foolish evolutionary scientists are saying they found some fossil up north that apparently some fish with with fingers. They're all agog about this. Oh, well, this is an evolutionary link. It's a missing link. Just wait long enough and we'll find out what it exactly is. And they're grasping at straws to hold on to this foolish and false idea. Man is not a descendant of monkeys. And the influence of this horrendous and false teaching is clearly seen by the fact, and sadly you may have heard them or know of them, that there are so-called Christian teachers and preachers who have caved into this godless philosophy of unbelieving scientists and teach that there is no conflict between the Bible and the demonic teaching of evolution. For example, you may have heard this, but the heretical head of the Anglican Church adds to his other heretical views by saying that the doctrine of biblical creation should not be taught in public schools in England. What a thing for a so-called leader in the church to say that the biblical doctrine of creation should not be taught to children. Teach them that they're the product of evolution so that you have the rampant immorality that you have in our culture today. But don't tell children the biblical doctrine that they're made by God on the sixth day of creation and they bear His image. The scriptures are crystal clear. also as to why all men, whether elect or reprobate, have been created. Man has been created for the glory of God. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11.36. So you want to know if someone has a correct understanding of reality, ask them or even ask yourself, why does man exist? Why do you exist? You exist for the glory of God. Man exists for the glory of God. But I also began to address a couple of weeks ago the challenging and important question which explains why a correct study of theology must also include a correct study of man. And that question is, what is man? What does it mean to be man? Not just the fact that you are a unique creation of God, but what is it about man, what is it about you that makes you unique? Not a descendant of Charlie the chimpanzee. For a correct understanding, you again must return to those texts I opened with. And God said, let us make man in our image. and after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him, male and female. He created them. Man is a unique living creature of God, creation of God, made from the dust of the earth, and who is uniquely made in the image and the likeness of God. This is a very interesting question. What does it mean to be an image-bearer of God? What does it mean to be made in the likeness of God? What is the image or likeness of God in man? Man uniquely bears the image of God. Animals are not image-bearers. What is that image? Now, we ended our study last time by clearly showing what the image and likeness is not. It is not anything related to our being physical. Any attempt to equate the image of God in man with something physical is unbiblical and wrong. God is eternal, everlasting spirit, therefore the image of God cannot be something physical because God is not physical. saying or teaching that the image of God in man is physical is heretical and false, even if the governor of this state is a part of a cult that teaches that God the Father has a body. Remember, Jesus Christ took perfect humanity into union with his eternal deity in the incarnation, clearly showing that the image and likeness of God in man cannot be anything physical, because if It was, there would have been no need for the incarnation. So what is it that differentiates man, who has physical existence like the animals, from animals? What is the image of God? Well, simply put, the image of God in man, the likeness of God in man, is man's ability to think. Your ability to think. The fact that you have a mind, not instincts, is the image of God in man. God is an infinite, eternal mind. He knows all there is to know and shares, not His knowledge of all things, which is an incommunicable attribute, His omniscience, but His ability to think, His ability to reason. It is His mind. See, animals have been given instincts by God. But no animal has been given a mind to think God's thoughts after Him. To be able to reason, to be able to reflect, no animal engages in rational thought and reflection like man does, and is able to do. Now, from the standpoint of strength, and speed, there are more than one kind of animal that's faster than you and stronger than you. I wouldn't want to try and outrun a cheetah. I wouldn't get very far. I wouldn't want to have to go up against a tiger. I would lose. But there are animals that are stronger than you, that are faster than you. But no animal is able to engage in logical thinking. No animal is able, although some human beings may have difficulty doing this, no animal is able to balance a checkbook. No animal is able to reason whether something is right or something is wrong. They simply respond by instinct. If they learn something, by repetition. No animal engages in theological reflection. Psalm 8 put it. Psalm number 8. The statement there. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth who have set Thy glory above the heaven. That's theological reflection. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of Thine enemies that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, and the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou hast visited him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and all the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth." But notice, when I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of? That's theological reflection. That's man looking up into the night sky You don't ever see a cow looking up into the night sky. All he's concerned about is whether he's got grass in front of him to eat. Animals do not engage in theological reflection. Morality, or immorality, is due to the fact that men are thinking in accordance with God's mind and revealed will, or thinking in rebellion against it due to the fall of Adam, which we have yet to consider. Now, some animals have been able to be taught things by repetition. You put a mouse in a trap thing long enough and put food at the end, he'll eventually figure out the quickest way to go there because by instinct he wants the food. But he isn't reflecting upon that route. But think of it, no animal reflects on why things are the way they are. I know of no animal zoologist. A zoologist is one who studies animals. Animals are in zoos, being studied by man. You take your children there, you take your nieces, your nephews, your grandchildren, your grandsons there, and you say, oh wow, look at that bird, look what it's doing. That's man marveling at what God has created. No animal is a botanist studying plants. Man studies plants in order to improve them, or in some cases, make them worse than they are, more detrimental to us. But no animal tries to improve the grass he's eating. He's just hoping it's there. There are no meteorologists. There are no animals out in the woods acting as meteorologists or engineers. No animal reflects on why things are the way they are. No animals build automobiles or computers. Such Abilities require the ability to think, and to reason, and to plan. Yes, many animals can build things, but that's due to the instincts that God has given them. Just take the honey bee, for example. It can build a beehive, and it's a fascinating thing. It's a wonderfully architectural design. But that is all it builds. There are no honeybees thinking about ways of improving the hive. The hive that the honeybee builds today is the same hive the honeybee built a thousand years ago. instinct, not intellect, controls what animals do. And the truth of this is revealed and declared in so many passages of scripture. Just listen now to a number of them that show us that it's man's mind, his intellect, that differentiates him from the animals, and that is that which defines him as the unique image-bearer of God. Psalm 32.9, Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee." See, only men understand things. Job 32.8, "...but there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding." Why can you understand things? Why can you teach your children things? Because They, like you, have been given a mind by God. See, you can't go up to your dog if you have a dog. I can't go up to my dog at home and tell them if there was some meat on the floor and that meat had rat poison in it because I put that rat poison in it because I wanted to catch the rat who was presently trying to take the eggs from our chickens. And I couldn't go up to our dog and say, don't eat that meat because it's got rat poison in it. She'd wag her tail and say, well, you're talking to me, pat me, pat me. That's all it would do. But I could go up to my children and I could say, don't eat that meat because it's got poison in it. And having been taught what poison is, and what sickness is, and what illness is, and what death is, they would understand it. They would know. They could learn. But you can't go up to an animal and tell them there are certain things they should do and should not do. That's an ability that man has. You can teach a child a warning. No animal is called upon by God to reason with him. God doesn't call the cows to reason with Him. But, that is what He calls men to do. Is that not true? Isaiah 1.8, Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Reasoning involves the ability to think. considering sin correctly requires the use of your mind correctly. It means agreeing with what God declares in His Word, which is a revelation of His mind. Adam was to keep the Garden of Eden, not because of instinct, but due to a clear command God addressed to his mind. The fall of Adam required him to what? Rebel with his mind. It required him to rebel with his mind against the clear command of God. You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was a clear command given to Adam, thinking, yes, well, God, my creator, he's made me, he's given me all these things, he tells me not to do this, I shouldn't do this, I'm thinking about this thing, the devil comes and says, ha ha, God really said, and rather than listening to God, and sinfully and rebelliously uses his mind and says, no, I'm going to take. The fall of Adam required him to rebel with his mind against the clear command of God. He had to reason incorrectly that listening to the lie of Satan was better than listening to the truth of God. What does Paul say in 2 Corinthians 11.3? But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. What does Paul say was the condition of believers prior to regeneration? What's the condition of a believer prior to being reborn by the Spirit of God? Colossians 1.21, and you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now is reconciled. See, unredeemed men, fallen men, use The image, that's why it's a fallen image, wickedly. They think wickedly. They reason in wicked ways. What does Paul say is the reason non-believers do not think about Christ and His gospel. 2 Corinthians 4, 4, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them. Why do men not reason correctly and see the truth that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most glorious thing that you could ever hear? Because their minds have been blinded by the devil. Consider as well, Romans 8.7, the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Why do men reason that sin is acceptable? Because they think with their minds in opposition and in warfare and in rebellion against God. But how are believers to use their redeemed minds? Romans 12.1 or 12.2, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Ephesians 4.17, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. Ephesians 4.23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The Scriptures are clear that the image of God in man is His ability to think, to reason, to think God's thoughts after Him. What can you derive from that? Well, I want to have you consider a number of things before we close this morning. Five in number. Truths derived from the truth that the image of God in man is His mind, His ability to think, his ability to reason. First, you should never demean correct thinking. You should never demean correct thinking. You should never demean your ability to think or the mind. Some people will say, well, you're just too logical. That's the right use of the mind. That's thinking correctly. You can be too illogical. You know, you can be too illogical because you're not thinking correctly. People say, well it feels right, therefore it must be right. See, that's illogical thinking. That's rebellious thinking. People will say, well I base what I do on how I feel. The majority of people who are basing what they do on how they feel will end up in hell. Because you should base what you do on what the Word tells you Not how you feel, because my dear people, there are many things that can make you feel very good that are very, very evil. Never demean correct thinking. It was incorrect and rebellious thinking that resulted in the fall of man. It is incorrect and rebellious thinking that is the reason for all the problems that men have today. Men rebel against God in their minds. Disobedience is an action of the fallen image of God in man. It is man using his mind, which is the image of God in man, in rebellion against God. See, it requires an intellect that can think, that can understand what sin is, and choose sin rather than God. That's rebellion. See, animals can't sin, because animals don't think. Sinning requires warped thinking. That's the result of the fall. That leads me to my second point. Realize that morality or immorality, that which is moral or that which is immoral, that which is right or that which is wrong, is a result of being able to think. See, man can agree with what God says, and that's thinking correctly, that's showing a renewed image, or man can disagree with what God says and be in rebellion against God. Your ability to say something is right or something is wrong requires the ability to think. And what Determining whether you're thinking correctly or incorrectly is, well, if what you think is wrong is in accordance with what God says is wrong, then you're thinking correctly. But if what you say is right, and God says it's wrong, then you're thinking incorrectly. That's rebellious thinking. See, but that requires the ability to think and reason. Thinking that sin or sinning is not a big deal, that's rebellious thinking. as well as evidence of a warped image of God and man. See, no man thinking correctly would see sin and rebellion against the God who holds his life in his hands as a minor and insignificant thing. See, it's man's ability to think in accordance with the mind of God or in rebellion against the mind of God that makes what he is thinking, saying, or doing moral or wicked. See, that's why the Proverbs says that even the plowing of the wicked is sin. Why? Because it never enters into the mind of the wicked that he should be plowing to the glory of God. And we're to do everything to the glory of God. And not to do everything to the glory of God is sinning. But that never enters into his mind. And even if it does, For the majority, that probably never enters their mind. But to some who have been instructed in the truth of the word of God, and they may have heard the catechism question, what is the chief end of man to glorify God and enjoy Him forever? And they've heard that and that reality. But when they're out plowing in the field, and that may cross through their mind and say, I'm not plowing to the glory of God, I'm plowing because I want to make a profit and have some money to spend on my lusts. That's using their mind in an incorrect and an ungodly way. It never enters their mind. See, your ability to decide. Like I could list a number of things here this morning. Is it right to steal? No, it's not. I could go up to my dog at home and say, is it right to steal? She wouldn't know. I mean, she takes food off the table when nobody else is around, but that's simply instinct. I mean, food's more important to her than anything else when she's hungry. But I can't reason with my dog, but I can reason with my children. I can reason with you and show you from the scriptures that stealing is wrong. It's the breaking of the 8th commandment of God. That requires your ability to think that, it requires my ability to reason with you. Thirdly, the fact that man's ability to think and reason is the image of God in man is the reason that God takes man's sin and rebellion against him so seriously. When men reason, when men think, that sin is acceptable, when men think that sin is no big thing, that it is not only rebellion against God, but it gives an incorrect image of God. We're image bearers. We should think the way God thinks, but when we think in a way that is a denial of God's holiness and of God's righteousness, it assaults His holy glory. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. See, how many foolishly today think that because they do not think something is wrong, that it's not wrong. They are the determiner of what is right and wrong, not God's Word, not God's revealed will. They foolishly think, well, because I don't think it's wrong, then God doesn't think it's wrong. God's word clearly declares something, thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, God's told me that it's alright. That's radically rebellious reasoning and thinking. Because notice what Psalm 51 says. Psalm 50 verse 21 says, These things hast thou done, and I kept silent, though thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself. But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. You don't say, well, because I think it's right, God must think it's all right. Rather than saying, no, what does God say is right, and may my thoughts judgment day will reveal to all men the folly of thinking that sin is not serious. It is a very dangerous thing to be made in the image of God and then not to think in accordance with what God thinks. Then the fourth thing, man's being given dominion over the animals is due to being the image bearer of God. Your ability to have dominion over animals is not because of your superior strength, because I could bring any number of animals in here this morning and they would quickly defeat me, and probably most of you here as well. It's not your superior strength or physical ability that enables you to exercise dominion over the animals. It's your ability to think and reason. Not only the fact that God has put the fear of man on animals, but your ability to think and reason. You can what? Have you ever seen an animal make a gun? I've seen men make guns and go out hunting. I've never seen a fish make a man rod, but I've seen men make fishing rods to catch fish. I've seen men be able to create things to close animals in that are much powerful and much stronger than they are. How is that possible? Because God has given men a mind to be able to think, to be able to look at this creation and have dominion over it in such a way to control animals that are much bigger and stronger than He is. The last thing I want to say this morning, and I just want to Keep coming back to this, but I think it needs to be re-emphasized and re-emphasized because you're constantly going to be confronted with the opposing view in our culture today. But you should hopefully see this as another reason. Correctly seeing what the image of God and man is should give you another reason why it is so utterly demeaning to man and dishonoring to God to consider man as just a different but improved form of animal. No animal is an image bearer of God. No animal thinks. When men think that animals are just as important as man, it shows rebellious, irrational, Ungodly thinking now. I know we can you know you have the pictures of having animals dressed up and all that that's The humor there, but there are people that actually believe That animals should be have equal rights with human beings That's a denial of what an animal is and it's also a denial of what a man is animals do not think that Animals are not image-bearers. Animals do not think about whether or not they are superior or inferior to man. They respond to things according to the instincts that God has given them. But when image-bearers of God use their minds, which is the image of God in man, to view and say that man is no different than the animals, that's clear evidence that the image of God in man is now a rebellious, fallen, and foolish image that needs to be renewed. by the grace and mercy of God, in order to reason and think correctly. The only way you can think correctly, is if you are renewed in Christ. If you were reborn in the Lord Jesus Christ. No man outside of Christ, no man in Adam, still dead in trespasses and sins, thinks correctly. Only Christians can think correctly. I know some people would take offense at that, but it's true. If you're a Christian, your mind has been renewed by the grace of God, and you can actually think correctly. You can actually think in a way that honors God. The non-believer can't do that. You can, believer. But the subject of the fall of the image-bearer of God, the fall of man, is a new subject. And that's a subject, Lord willing, I'll bring before you next week. But may how you use your mind show that it has been renewed and regenerated by the grace and mercy of God. You are not still a fallen image-bearer of God, but a renewed image-bearer of God. May you know that blessing this morning. Let's pray.