Take your Bible and turn to Genesis chapter 1 once again. Genesis chapter 1, if we were to sum up our time we've spent already in Genesis chapter 1, I think we could sum it up by saying that it has showed us the God of Genesis 1 who is purposeful, majestic, sovereign, and glorious, As we have seen His invisible attributes, think Romans 1, we have seen them clearly and brilliantly showcased in these first six days. And we have gazed upon creation, and I hope you've been able to see something beautiful as you've gazed upon creation. But as magnificent and beautiful as this creation is with its sun and its moon and its stars that are filling the sky, It's vast seas that are teeming with life and it's waves that are crashing onto beaches. It's riveting mountains that are rising into the sky and it's exquisite plants and trees with radiant colors. It's intricately designed creatures moving all about. Nothing in all of creation comes close to the majesty and the glory and the beauty of its creator. Nothing in all of creation, as magnificent as we've seen, surpasses the God of Genesis 1. This creation in verse 31 there that we considered last week is very good. Why is creation very good? Because the God of Genesis 1... The God of Genesis 1 is the standard for all that is good, and He created everything there in Genesis 1 and determines it is very good. As we noted last week, we saw there the final brush stroke, we saw the last note, we saw the capstone was His creating man in His own image. So, think about the scope of what we've considered there in Genesis 1. It stretches from eternity past of the eternal God speaking creation into being from nothing there in verse 1, and at the end of Genesis 1 is His final brush stroke, the man who bears His image. And everything that you see in between those verses there is ordered in creation by the God who governs and upholds and directs. This is a creation there that by the end He has allowed man to rule and to subdue, a creation that is very good, a creation that then must have been absolutely stunning and beautiful because the God who created it is stunning and beautiful. It is designed this way and ordered this way. This is why we have to get Genesis 1 right. because it orders the world in which we live. And it shows you what is truly good and beautiful and lovely when a world that you live in has fallen, we'll see that in Genesis 3, and is attempting to redefine for you what is good and what is lovely and what is right. When you remove the God of Genesis 1 by denying His existence, or His authority, or even all that He did here in Genesis 1, then everything begins to unravel, the beauty, the fullness, the richness of the God of Genesis 1 and all that He created there You think of Romans 1 as exchange for a lie, and it comes with suppressing the truth about God. Not only...not only do people with darkened hearts worship and serve, as Romans 1.23 says, corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals and crawling creatures. When you eliminate God and you suppress the truth, then you begin to twist and pervert the image-bearer that is the crowning achievement of creation, the final brushstroke. and things begin to become incredibly twisted. Then we go from what is beautiful and good and truly satisfying to what's corrupt and dishonorable and what is an abomination to this good God. There is an impact that comes as a result of Genesis 3. We're going to get there in a while, but before we get to day seven even in Genesis 2, I want you to revisit with me verse 26 through 31 again this morning. Look at verse 26. 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. 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 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, and to 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 made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." Verse 26 through 31. provides for you an objective source of truth, showing you what's truly good, showing you what's truly beautiful, showing you what's truly God-exalting, and it's showing you who you are. The most verses in Genesis 1 have to do with you as an element of creation, which means that you don't have to go on an inner journey to figure out who you are. It's already been answered for you by an objective source of truth that's outside of you, that's perfectly good, that's been answered from the moment that man was created. You talk about a radical message for today, that is so objected to in our world today. Verse 26 through 31 ought to be an anchor for you. It ought to be an anchor to all to cling to these verses here as you're blown about by the relentless winds of worldly ideologies. And why this is sort of heavy on my heart and why I want to revisit this is particularly for the younger people that are in here today, because you are being bombarded with a heavy burden that's being laid on your shoulders by a number of influences on a daily basis that's calling you to believe a lie. And I hope that by the time we get finished with looking at those verses there in the opening chapter of the Bible, that burden is lifted. We're simply going to be doing this from Genesis 1, 26 through 31. We're going to be drawing implications. to help us to understand ourselves, to help us to understand our relationship with one another, to help us to understand our relationship to God, and to help us to understand our relationship with creation. And the outline is simply this. We're going to ask that question, who am I? And we're going to let Genesis answer it. Not someone else, not someone on TV, not a celebrity, not someone with academic credentials. We're going to let Genesis 1, as God has revealed in Scripture, answer the question for us, who am I? So, who am I? Number one, I am created. by God." I am created by God. Friend, you are created by God. Is that true? Look at verse 26, let us make man. Verse 27, God created man in the image of God, He created him, male and female, He created them. The God of want, Genesis 1, is your Creator. This is where you came from, and everything else that follows is from this. Your Creator chooses to create you in His image. He chooses to create you to rule and subdue. He chooses to create you to multiply and fill the earth. He chooses to create you male or female. He chooses to create you as the crowning achievement of all of creation. You didn't do that, and nobody else did that either. He can do all of those things because He is your Creator. And this must be settled forever in your mind, and settled forever in your heart, and lived out in your life because it's settled forever in Scripture. Genesis 5.1, it's repeated, in the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. In Genesis 9.6, whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. Why? For in the image of God, He made man. Deuteronomy 4.32 refers to God creating man. Psalm 100 verse 3, know that the Lord Himself is God, it is He who made us and not we ourselves. Psalm 139 verse 14, I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, wonderful are your works. It's clear in Scripture, you know that I suspect. The question is, will we believe it? During our small groups on Wednesday night, Jacob, preaching from the Psalms, mentioned that Satan attempts to make us think contrary to God's Word. It's the old ploy, and we're experiencing that in the world in which we live. If that were true then, would he then not attempt to make us think, surely you were not created by God? Surely there must be some other answer to where you came from. Surely you're the product of evolution. Surely the species called man evolved into what you know today after millions of years and your ancestors having crawled out of some primeval sludge pit along with everything else. Meaning that somewhere along the way, it wasn't God who created you, but it was you that created God. All of that ties together and all of that stands in contrast to Genesis 1. All of that is in complete contrast to God's word. And you're told that not only is that true, but that's actually supposed to be beautiful and lovely and good and a worldview that you would want to embrace and you'd want to apply to all of your life. But friend, if you think about the impact that worldview has had, it has been deadly. And it has produced rotten fruit. Karl Marx devised his economic and social theories as a follower of that worldview. is a follower of Charles Darwin. He inscribed a copy of Das Kapital to Darwin, writing, quote, from a devoted admirer. He referred to Darwin's The Origin of Species as, quote, the book which contains the basis in natural history for our view. What is the fruit of that view? What is lovely about that view? Well, in 1997, there were multiple authors who contributed together to create a book entitled The Black Book of Communism, and they argued at that time that that worldview, a Marxist ideology, had led to the death of more than 94 million men, women, and children. Ninety-four million image-bearers dead because of that worldview. And most people say that's a low estimate. And if you think that goes back to 1997, surely that number has soared well past a hundred million at this point. Do you see what embracing the lie that's opposite to Scripture and what Scripture teaches, where it leads to what's dangerous and deadly, what leads to darkness? And Scripture is clear that you see there in Genesis 1 in its proclamation. There's no room for question here. There's no argument, there's no debate, you are created by God. I think we can illustrate that also with what we see within creation that's helpful as to understanding why that's important. Within creation itself, value and worth is often ascribed to objects based on their creator. A book deal is worth far more if the author is well-known and has proven himself or herself as a writer. A painting is often way more valuable and in demand because of the artist whose name is on it. A sculpture commands a higher value because of the sculptor. Anonymity is not helpful to value. One of the first estates, I've told you this, I think, in the past that I ever administered contained a number of paintings, hundreds of paintings that were bequeathed to a well-known art museum. And I called the art museum and I said, hey, you have received all of these paintings from this guy. And they asked that question, who is the artist of the paintings? Oh, it's the guy that lives in Lubbock, Texas that died and had all these in his garage. They didn't even ask to see what they looked like to see if they were good. We don't want those, you can keep them. I said, what do I do with them? They said, well, actually you can sell them in a state sale and somebody else can paint over them because they have value as a canvas. They were worthless. Genesis 1 matters because it tells you that every human has dignity and worth because of your creator. He is the artist. He is the infinitely majestic and glorious God. You are created by God, so you have value. If you take away that you are created by God, then what value do you have that's manifest in the worldly ideologies that we see around us today? So who am I? I am created by God. Number two, who am I? I am fashioned in God's image. I am fashioned in God's image. You are made in God's image according to His likeness. Verse 26, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. We looked at this last week. Verse 27, God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created Him. This is repeated in Genesis 5.1. Again, Scripture is clear on this. In Genesis 9, 6, it cites this as the reason why when a man takes the life of another man, the murderer can be subjected to capital punishment because he murdered an image-bearer. This person that he murdered is distinct from all the rest of creation. It is the death of a creature that is a representative of God on earth. Remember from last week, that word image is the Hebrew word selem, copy or representation. Those words image and likeness reinforce one another. They are describing then the most important truth about you and what it is that makes you different from all of creation. Image and likeness, the most important truth about you. What is that? Ontologically, you are a living person. You have a conscience. Volitionally, you have a will and you can make choices. Intellectually, you can think and reason and judge and draw conclusions. Emotionally, you can laugh and you can cry and be angry and love and adore and admire and be hopeful and be thankful and experience joy. Relationally, you can develop real friendships, committed lifelong relationships with others, including God. A consequence of you being made in the image of God. Functionally, then, you're equipped to fulfill the role of being God's representative in this world to rule and to subdue. You are made in the image of God. You say, well, my cat's really smart. This always comes up whenever I bring this up. You know, my dog thinks this way or whatever. Brent, if you died, he would eat you after a few days. Right? Your spouse is probably not going to do that. Why? Because there's something different onologically, volitionally, intellectually, emotionally, relationally, and functionally. There's a difference. This is because you're made in God's image. And importantly, scripture is very clear once again that while the fall of man into sin in Genesis three may have distorted man being made in the image of God, it doesn't mean that you lost his image and that you no longer bear his image in some way. An example of that's found in James chapter three verse nine. You remember in that section there of James, he's warning against the danger of a man's tongue. It can defile the whole body, he says, and set on fire the course of your life. And then he says this, James chapter 3 verse 9, with the tongue, with it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in the image of God. He doesn't say, well, unless they're saved or not. He looks at all men and he can say, you don't curse men. You treat them with dignity and respect because these are image bearers. Distorted and affected by sin? Yes. Image lost? fashioned by God in His image. This has vast implications. Because all men and women have been made in the image of God, all people have dignity. All people are worthy of respect, the old and the young, the image-bearer that's in the womb or the image-bearer that's outside of the womb. The image bearer that can walk or the image bearer that's confined to a bed or dependent upon insulin or dialysis or an umbilical cord or medication, whether the image bearer's mind is functioning at a great capacity or whether they are at a far diminished capacity than they once were. Because men and women are image bearers, they are to be treated with dignity and respect as those who have been made in God's image according to His likeness and being His representatives on the earth. Does a secular worldview want you to think contrary to God's Word in that regard? Does it want you to think differently about what Scripture is telling you that you are made in the image of God? The answer to that, of course, is yes. Because if there is no God, then there is no image to be fashioned after, which our society is perfectly fine to accept. We're fashioned in God's image. If that is a fundamental truth of how you're made, If that's fundamental, that you're fashioned in the image of God, and yet you deny that truth, do you think it might just show up that you were looking to fashion yourself in the image of another, in some other way, because you're denying what's fundamentally true about you, and yet you've denied God, so you're groping in the darkness of a depraved mind, looking for something to fashion yourself after? While it's bizarre that someone would identify as a cat or a dog, what it does is it shows us that they're groping for something, that they're looking somewhere else to find. And while that's frustrating and ridiculous, friend, I hope you would look at that and see that's incredibly sad. They believe themselves to be something else that's not created in the image of God. Certainly it's a devilish ideology that would want someone to believe that, that would encourage that, just like it's a devilish ideology that would want to slaughter unborn image-bearers, stripping them of any dignity in the eyes of the world. The text is clear. You are created by God, so you are valuable. You are fashioned in the image of God, so you have a value that is surpassing every other created thing in all of creation. You possess a dignity that no other creature in all of creation possesses. Number three, who am I? I am designed. I am designed by God to be distinct from all the other creatures. Or, I am designed by God to be distinct from all other creation. God doesn't make man and simply lump him in to the creation of all the other created things that are living creatures on the land, verse 24 and 25. There is a pause, he evaluates everything, he says this is good, and then he makes man. In fact, if you survey again Genesis 1, more time is dedicated to the creation of man than anything else in all of creation. When the living creatures of the sky and water and land were created, they were created, would you note, throughout Genesis 1, after their kind, because there were many kinds of creatures in the water, right? There are many kinds of fish. Creatures in the sky, after their kind. There's many kinds of birds. There are creatures on the land. They fall within the three categories. Within those three categories, you know there are many kinds. But when man was created, there's one kind. He's distinct from everything else in creation because only He is made in the image and the likeness of God. Only He then is blessed to subdue and to rule because only He's equipped to do so, and only He comes as the final creative act. distinct from all other creative acts. Louis Burkhoff wrote, man is represented as standing at the apex of all the created orders. He is crowned as king of the lower creation and is given dominion over all the inferior creatures. Genesis 1 then, as you're thinking this, who am I? I'm designed by God to be distinct from all creation. Genesis 1 is critical to setting your relationship to creation in order, to see that the relationship is God purpose-designed and intended it to be, that this is the relationship that's good and beautiful and lovely as you gaze upon a sinless creation there in Genesis 1. And yet, even this truth strikes at the devilish lie that's being propagated. trying to give you a lower view of man as it regards everything in creation around us, to put you on par with all creation or to put you somewhere lower, that all of this creation would even be better if you just didn't exist. You can find numerous articles talking about the benefits of man being extinct. And what would be the first thing some of those articles say? Oh, the sky would be bluer, there'd be less noise, there'd be less this and this and this, and everything would be better if you were just gone. We must view man as Scripture describes man as revealed by God here. He is superior to creation. Is he a sinner in need of a Savior? Absolutely. Is he unrighteous? Yes. Is he born blind to spiritual realities? Yes. Is his heart more deceitful than all else and desperately sick? Absolutely. And yet, while distorted by the fall in Genesis 3, God designed man to be distinct from and superior to all of the rest of creation. Does a secular world attempt to make you think contrary to God's word in regard to that truth? Yes. They would have you think that you possess no more worth or dignity than any other creature that you could find all around you. That sort of thinking leads to that idea man would be better, everything would be better if man was extinct so that creation itself then might flourish. That sort of thinking leads people to concluding that, well, the well-being of animals is just on par with or even superior to the well-being of people. And if you think that doesn't exist, then let's make it a little more personal and let's bring it a little closer to home. That sort of thinking pervades our country, and it's reflected in how you spend your resources. A study by one university that came out within the last year reported that in our economy where people are finding it difficult to buy groceries, and I suspect you can relate to that, they're not finding it so difficult to just give their resources to taking care of their pets. The pet industry had an overall economic contribution of $303 billion in 2023, which was an increase of 16% from 2022. This article noted, weekly sales of pet care products through February 2024 are growing three times faster than any other category of fast-moving consumer goods. People might go hungry, but you're not going to let your cat and dog go hungry, right? People might suffer and be displaced, but you want your pet to be comfortable. Friend, it's a dark and distorted world where people's affections are greater for creatures than they are for their Creator. It's a dark and disturbing world where people's affections are greater for creatures than they are for other people. That is not lovely or noble or honorable, but frankly, it's disturbing. And it ultimately, at some point, leads to worshiping the sun, the moon, the stars as objects of creation. This leads to worshiping the creatures. Again, if you go back to Romans 1.23 where they've exchanged the truth for a lie, they are worshiping, as Romans 1 notes, creatures. And it says this shows the foolishness of man. It shows hearts given over to impurity as they exchange the truth for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. What is beautiful, good, and lovely? It's found in Genesis 1, and it's found by embracing the truth. You are designed by God as distinct from all the rest of creation, which needs to be balanced with number four. Who am I? I am designed by God to be different from God. I am designed by God to be different from God. Genesis 1 orders our understanding between the two extremes where man is tempted to go. Either man thinks very lowly of himself, where they're on par with or subpar to creation, or they think themselves way too high and they've determined that a man is a god. Either extreme leads to what's unlovely and destructive and dark. Now, of course, I think it would be the creature that's made in the image and likeness of God who's tempted to think of themselves as God. But Genesis 1, again, is very clear. You are not God. No man is God. It helps us to see the difference between man and God. You did not exist in eternity past, only God did. You see that in Genesis 1.1. You're not self-sufficient, only God is. You're not omniscient and omnipotent, only God is. You did not create the heavens and the earth, only God did. You did not create the light, the moon, the sun, the stars, only God did. You did not create yourself, only God created man. You did not give yourself the mandate to rule, only God did that. You did not bless mankind to multiply, only God did. You are not to be worshipped, only God then is to be worshipped. There's only one God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, do we act contrary to what Genesis is teaching? Yes. Think about what Scripture shows us. When it deals with idolatry, what do you see the craftsman doing when he's making the idol? The idol often has features of either animals or men or a combination of both of those. So that in a sense, you're worshiping men. You've created your own men to worship. Listen to Psalm 115 verse 5 about idolatry. They have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear. They have noses, but they cannot smell. They have hands, but they cannot feel. They have feet, but they cannot walk. They cannot make a sound with their throat. Men are tempted to fashion idols that look like who? Men. But then remember that man can also make gods of men. The Caesars of Rome were deified. The Roman Catholic Church treats Mary as though she is a deity, praying to her, worshiping her. The world in which we live, is filled with celebrities and cultural icons and political figures, or in some cases, victims that we elevate to some sort of deified status. Some men even consider themselves to be God. We find that in Scripture, Daniel chapter 4 verse 30, Nebuchadnezzar there walking on the roof in Babylon expressed his thoughts, is this not Babylon the great which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? He sounds like he is the one that's omniscient, he is the one that's omnipotent, he did all of this And judgment comes and He goes to graze in the field with the livestock. It's only, you remember, after it says that His reason returned to Him was He able to understand that He was not God so that He could say in Daniel 4.37, I praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven for all His works are true and His ways are just and He is able to humble those who walk in pride. He was finally able to reason, I am not God. Sinful pride keeps us from seeing the beautiful truth presented in Genesis 1. Man, while bearing the image and likeness of God, is not God. Friend, there is so much heartache and frustration and pain that could be prevented by embracing that truth. I cannot be perfect. I cannot be omniscient. I cannot be all powerful. I am not sovereign. I am not God. And yet we wrestle with all those things. Why didn't this turn out the way I wanted it to? Because you're not God. Who am I? You were designed by God to be different from God, and that's lovely, and that's good, and that's right. You were never designed to be a God, and any attempts by a man to act as though you or any other man is God is going to lead to misery and heartache and darkness. Who am I? Number five, I am defined by God. I am defined by God, and you can add beside that male or female. He determines who you are. He establishes your limitations that you live within. Verse 27, male and female, He created them. Again, this may be the most shocking message that goes out from here, your gender is fixed, right? It's permanent at conception. You don't choose it, your parents don't choose it, God does. It's not determined subjectively by searching within to determine whether you're a male trapped in a female body. Can you imagine the pressure of trying to figure that out? That's, again, devilish. He makes you male, He made you female, and then because we live in a very sinful world that you already see all the way back in Deuteronomy chapter 22, He has to say this, the way in which you love God and love others is by presenting yourself in the way in which you were made. Deuteronomy 22 verse 5, a woman shall not wear a man's clothing nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. That comes right after he's talking there. It says, probably in your Bible, sundry laws, random, all these different types of laws. It comes right after talking about if your neighbor's donkey runs away. What do you do? Do you steal it? Do you kill it? No, you love your neighbor by taking care of it and helping them return that property to your neighbor. This is loving, to present yourself as God created you as opposed to causing confusion for your neighbor. in the world around you. To do otherwise here of what we're told in Genesis 1 is a rejection of how God's created you, God's designing you, God's defining you. And friend, you know it is not lovely. The whole gender dysphoria issue and the treatment of it is so dark and twisted and destructive to men and women, and it leaves them in an impossible situation, and it leaves them with pain for year after year after year. It is a total and complete lie that you're being fed. Friend, do you have such a low view of women that you think you can make yourself into a woman? It took the one true and living God to create a woman, and there were no hormones involved, there was no surgery involved. He divinely designed the woman. He looked all over creation, we'll get there, that was, well, you already see it, was very good, and he found nothing in all of creation like her. Nothing suitable. Genesis 2.20, the Lord had to fashion her. And he had to bring her then to Adam. She is divinely designed. Every woman is divinely designed. Men can cut and mutilate and give hormones and do whatever else, but man will never create a woman. Only God can do that. It's a devilish doctrine that proclaims what is contrary to Scripture. Friend, you can't choose your gender. It's completely opposite of Genesis 1 to think that you can. Why would you tell someone that? Why would you encourage them to walk down that path of destruction? Why would you lie to them by telling them that they are not fearfully and wonderfully made, but you may have been wrongly made? That is unloving and wicked. to propagate such a lie. If you were born a man, be a man. You can't be anything else. And if you were born a woman, be a woman. You can't be anything else. Why would you want to be? Only because there's rebellion in your heart against your creator and his beautiful design for you. The lie of our time is that you are your most true self when you act outwardly in accord with what you have determined to be true inwardly. So, you must go on an inward journey to find yourself and define yourself. That is another contrast to Scripture. Your Creator tells you who you are. You don't have to do that. You're not going to like what you find. It's not going to be good what you find. He's the one that defines you. You're most true to yourself. And you find most true joy and true satisfaction when you embrace how He has made you and what is true that's found in Genesis 1. You are defined by God and you are established within the limitations that He set, and this is good. And embracing His defining you is where true joy and true satisfaction is ultimately found. Number six. Who am I? I am mandated by God to rule the creatures. Mandated by God to rule the creatures. This is another expression of your relationship to creation, to God, to one another. Verse 26, and let them rule over the fish, over the birds, over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps. Because man was created in the image of God, then man receives this mandate to rule, radah. You have dominion over, you govern over, you even dominate is the word that's used there. So man has a privileged status over creation. You are not, once again, just another animal amongst all those created there in the natural world. Isn't it interesting that when Nebuchadnezzar blurred the distinction between him and God, the judgment was that God blurred the distinction between him and the cattle. So the Lord has the king grazing in the field, not ruling over the creatures. A king grazing, note that. He's acting like one of the creatures in the field. This is not a sign of, well, Nebuchadnezzar really appreciates the environment. He really has sympathy for the cattle that are out there. This is a sign, Daniel says, of him losing his mind and his ability to reason. You are mandated by God to rule creation, not act like creation. not act like the creatures. Whether that's grazing in the field or acting like, I don't have an ability to have relationships, I don't have an ability to reason, I have no ability for self-discipline, so I'm going to go act like a dog by the decisions I make and the things that I do. It also means you rule the creation. You don't worship the creation. You don't fashion creatures into gold and worship them, or worship Mother Nature, or worship the planet, or the stars, or the moon, or the sun. You are to rule them like you see man doing in Genesis 2, as the creatures are brought to him, and what does he do? He names them. That's a very godlike activity. It's because he's a representative of God. You are mandated to rule the creatures of the earth. This is good, this is beautiful. Number seven, who am I? I am authorized, authorized by God to subdue the earth. Verse 28, subdue it, that is the earth. Subdue is the Hebrew word kibosh, bring it into bondage. Make it a servant. Subdue is to conquer, to overcome, to bring under control. This is what you find in Genesis 2.15. Then the Lord took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and to keep it. That was a punishment. That wasn't a consequence of sin, that's Genesis 3. This is what man was created to do, called to do by his good creator. Plant fields, tend gardens, cultivate the ground. And you know if you've left the confines of right where you're sitting at this moment, that man can create beauty and cause it to flourish when he brings it under control. You know that some of the most beautiful places on the planet are called gardens. It's not just because they have squash and onions growing there, right? But they have beautiful plants and flowers. The opposite of this, to subdue, is not good. It's described also in Scripture as judgment. It's what you see with Nebuchadnezzar grazing in a sense, but Isaiah 5, Israel is described as a well-cared-for vineyard that produces only worthless grapes, literally bitter berries. What was the judgment? Do you remember Isaiah 5? I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed. I will break down its wall, it will become trampled ground. I will lay it waste, it will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up." And that happens. It's no longer a beautiful vineyard. It's no longer subdued, the land, in such a way. It will be overrun because Israel did not live by faith in God's good design for His people. To subdue the earth then is good. Even at creation, would you note Genesis 1, even at creation, there's a sense in which something must be subdued. Not leave it alone, not leave it a wilderness area, not keep people out of it, but subduing it as a way that man represents God, putting it in order, putting creation in order, making it beautiful, acting as a representative of God in this way. You are mandated to subdue the earth, and by doing so, to act as God's representative on earth, putting creation into order, causing it to flourish, making it fruitful as a source of food, making it beautiful, and altogether, then this becomes a place of beauty, displaying the beauty of your creator. Who am I? I am, number eight, blessed by God to multiply. Blessed by God to multiply. Verse 28, God blessed them. What's the blessing? He said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Again, a radical truth in today's world. It's a good thing for people to get married and have children and be a family, no matter what the Surgeon General says. It's a good thing for people to get married, have children, and be a family. This is not bad or weird or unusual to desire this. In fact, it's how God made you from the beginning. If creation were a garden filled with mankind, then this is the most exquisite flower, the one made in the image of the creator. He wants it to flourish. He wants it to be everywhere, filling the earth. Satan attempts to make us think contrary to God's word. And our society has bought all in and believed the lie. What kind of response would a young man or woman get if asked, what do you want to be when you grow up? And they said, I want to be a mom. I want to be a dad. I want to have a family. I suspect the response would be, don't you want a career? Don't you want a big paycheck, a large house, status, vacations? Don't you want freedom from responsibilities? Don't buy into that ugly lie. A house full of image bearers is like a garden of the most beautiful flowers in creation. It is a blessing. It is a blessing. It's clear that you are blessed by God here to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill the earth. That's not oppressive. It's not a curse. It's not a judgment or condemnation. This isn't bizarre as Western society seemingly has come to think that this is bizarre. It is here a blessing. It's only in a fallen world that depraved minds come to a conclusion that a blessing is actually a curse. It's only in a fallen world where depraved minds take what is a blessing and make it to a place of idolatry and says, the family is God, everything else must be sacrificed, and we worship the family. You have both extremes. You are blessed by God to multiply. This is beautiful, this is good, this is right. It's surely going to come with challenges of sleepless nights, dirty diapers, and runny noses, but it is going to come with joy because it's a blessing. It's going to come with satisfaction because it is a blessing as you embrace one of the primary purposes for man in creation, what makes creation beautiful. Number nine, who am I? I am supplied. I am supplied by God through creation, verse 29 and 30. He gives you the plants of creation for food. The psalmist responds, Psalm 145 verse 15, the eyes of all look to you and you give them their food in due time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. They ought to put Psalm 145, 15, and Genesis 129 over the front of every grocery store door. Because it's His providing for...you don't walk in there and find something that's not in creation. Everything in there is made. It's coming from fields. It's being what's flourished and fruitful. They're presented for you to eat. Because He created you, because He fashioned you in His image and likeness, because you're distinct from all the other creatures, He intends that creation is to supply you with food. And it seems reasonable to conclude from verse 29 through 30 that then He cares in this way for His image bearers. From the beginning, he never intended the relationship to be what you find amongst the idolaters who think contrary to God's Word and make man a servant, always about the never-ending work of supplying God's needs. They're always working to bring food to their God, always trying to meet God's needs. No, remember Genesis 1.1, he's perfectly clear. He's not like any other of the created gods. He is independent. He is self-sufficient. He doesn't need anything from you. You are supplied by God through creation. He knows you have needs. He created you. He cares for you. He designed creation to supply you. Last, number 10, who am I? I am governed by God. I am governed by God. I belong to Him, I'm owned by Him, I'm responsible to Him, I'm accountable to Him. If man was created by no one, as everyone wants you to believe, you're responsible to no one, you're autonomous. But throughout Genesis 1, 26 through 31, God acts and speaks as though He owns you, He governs you. He tells you how you're made, verse 26. He tells you what to do, verse 27. He tells you the scope of that role, verse 26. He tells you how you were created once again, specifically male, female, verse 27. He blesses you. He tells you what the blessing looks like, be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, rule, verse 28. He tells you how He provides for you, verse 29. He tells you how all this turns out, verse 31, very good. He's the one that's in charge. The big picture is He governs, upholds, directs all things. Who are you? You are gods. You are accountable to Him to reject that, to believe what's contrary to Scripture is an act of rebellion. It's sinful. Takes you all the way back to Romans 1, doesn't it? Depraved minds. that are twisting what's good and calling it evil and taking what's evil and saying, this is lovely and beautiful and good. When there is hope for a depraved mind, it's found in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would trust in Him, that He would give you a new heart, that He would give you eyes to see, ears to hear what is truly good and beautiful and right as God designed it, forgiving you from all of your sins so that it doesn't have dominion over you, that you're not in bondage to it so that it doesn't demand that you think in the way that a sinner thinks so that you see what is destructive and dark and think, that's good, that's lovely. Hope is found in the Lord Jesus Christ to see how God ordered all things and to see that is truly beautiful and to want to embrace His design instead of the design your once sinful heart embraced and all the destruction and ugliness that came with it. And this is Genesis 1, and it provides the answers to life's big questions. One of the reasons I just wanted to focus on this is I'd read an article a while back by Sinclair Ferguson, and he said the number one poem that's written by people in high school is entitled, Who Am I? That's the theme that's most written about in schools. How are you going to answer that question? I suggest to you Genesis 1 answers that question for you. Why am I here? Why am I able to reason and feel? What is my purpose? Who am I? Genesis 1, 26 through 31 answers all of that. You are created. You are fashioned. You are designed. You are defined by God. You are mandated by God. You are authorized by God. You are blessed by God. You are supplied by God. You are a creature who is governed by God, and you know it is joy. If you're a Christian, You know it's joy because you know this is lovely. Friend, you don't have to look inward for the answers as if they're within you, inside that there's some objective source of truth instead of a desperately sick heart. No, no, no. The answer to who I am comes from outside of you, from the words found there in Genesis 1. That which is beautiful, lovely, good, and soul-satisfying for the creature made in the image of God is found in Genesis 1. It's found in how the God of Genesis 1 designed man and how man relates to one another that's being described there, how man relates to creation, how man relates to his God. Your response then to what you read in Genesis 1 here is frankly, simply this, believe. I urge you to believe it. That's next week. I'm getting ahead because that is a response, maybe the biggest response to Genesis 1 that you would believe. Friend, we live in a world that's attempted to do away with Genesis 1, and I think you can see that it isn't beautiful or lovely. Christ offers hope. Through Christ, you can believe. Through Christ, you can know what's beautiful, lovely, good, and embrace God's good design of how he made you. Father, thank you for defining us. What a disaster, as we have seen in our own world, if we were to just define ourself. What a mess we would make of it. And yet, the way that you describe making mankind is incredible and beautiful and purposeful. I pray, Father, that when we look upon Genesis 1, that we would see something that, yes, it's strange because it is sinless, but that we would see something that's beautiful and right and good. And as we considered at the very beginning, the catalyst for all of Genesis 1 is you, who is sovereign and majestic and glorious, that we would recognize that the beauty that we see here is also because of you, because you're beautiful, you're perfect, and this is the way you design things. Where we see ugliness and disaster, it's because we've brought that into the world. So Lord, help us to embrace what you have designed and what you have created in your way. I pray that you would do what no man can do because no man No man is God. I can't make anyone believe. Nobody in here can make anyone believe. I pray that you would make men and women in here to believe the truth that's found in Genesis 1, and that because they believe it, that they would see what's genuinely beautiful, and that they would be able to distinguish the truth from the lie, and that that would lead them to worship the Creator. Lord, I pray that you would deal with hearts this morning, draw them to Christ. I pray that you would deal with men and women who have heavy burdens this morning because they have been fed lie after lie after lie. and that you would remove the veil from their eyes and the heavy burden that they've been carrying, that they would see the truth and embrace it and find joy and satisfaction that was never found in the lie, that this would be glorifying to you. In Christ's name, amen.