The book of Genesis chapter one, if you have your Bibles this morning, Genesis chapter one, verses 26 through 28. Genesis one, 26, 27, and 28. Word of God here says, so God created man, I'm sorry, started at verse 27, verse 26. And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creepeth 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 God blessed them and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air. over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Last week, I brought a lesson on the subject of what we believe about creation. This week, I want to continue that thought with an emphasis on man and woman in general, and of course, Adam Eve in particular. Some say that what we believe about Adam and Eve, what we believe about the creation of man and woman doesn't matter. They say that this is a secondary issue, that as long as we believe the gospel, that this sort of thing doesn't make a difference. I heard one preacher say yesterday in one of the sermons I was listening to on the internet, it's alarming how many doctrines have become secondary issues. I believe there are some things that we can say are important and whenever we look at them, we say, all right, we believe these things, but we begin to line them up. All right, these are primary issues and these are secondary issues. And usually when we say those things, we mean these are things that maybe we won't make a whole lot of fuss about. But there are some hills that are worth dying on. There are some places that are worth standing for, even if it means you lose some friends. And I believe, I believe that this text is one of them. And I'll give you some reasons why. I'll give you two reasons right up front. First of all, number one reason is in John chapter three. John chapter three and verse 12. John chapter three and verse 12. Jesus says, if I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? So number one reason is if we can't take the Bible literal on earthly things, when it speaks on earthly things, how can we take the Bible at face value? How can we take the Bible literal when it comes to spiritual things. And while it is not a salvation issue, if a person comes and they say, well, I don't believe that Adam was literal. And they say, well, but I believe in Jesus Christ, he was literal. I believe that he literally died and was buried and rose again. While that, it may be that there are people out there and of course I've met them and you've met them probably. While it may not be a gospel issue in this case, it is a Bible authority issue. And so I will make the point that this is a biblical authority issue. God's Word is true everywhere, on all points, even those points that are sometimes hard to imagine or hard to understand, even on those points that science can't explain or that the university professor has a hard time with and so on. But secondly, Secondly, this can be a gospel issue. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verses 45 through 49, In 1 Corinthians 15, verses 45 through 49, the scripture here says, and so it is written, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first, which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward, that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthing. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Paul, in writing to the church at Corinth, here in this epistle, he gives them this connection between a literal Adam and a literal Jesus Christ. He brings it out as being the first man Adam and the second Adam. Because of the fall and because every one of us Whether Jew or Gentile, every one of us, we are descendant of Adam. We need the Savior. And Jesus Christ came. The Bible ties these two together very clearly. It's interesting to note that Paul did not go into any lengthy discourse explaining who Adam was. And I believe the reason for that is that this was taught to the early churches. That the early churches that were being organized in that day, whether in Corinth or Ephesus or Rome, that these folks knew something about Genesis. They were being taught that Adam and Eve were created in the beginning. I believe this is something that ought to be taught pulpits and in our churches today. So these are two reasons that I believe that this is an important issue. But we've got to bear in mind when we come into contact with someone, as with it is on any doctrinal differences, we have to bear in mind that there are some who maybe not the knowledge of the scriptures and just simply need to be taught but there are others who really want to attack the scriptures and so you've got to pray for wisdom in those cases. You know if you're dealing with maybe a believer who has never sat under good preaching or teaching, has never read the Bible, never been brought to the truth of these things, have patience with them. And you might deal with them one way in those cases, but then it's quite the other to know how to deal with someone who's maybe a professor in a school, even a Christian college, who's an unbeliever, and he's going at the Bible to attack and try to discredit the whole of the biblical narrative in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And know that there are people like that, not only in seminaries, but also in churches today. Back here in our text, there in Genesis chapter one, one of the things that we notice in the account of the creation of man and woman, we notice that they're made, created differently than anything else. If we just hone in on day six, Go back just a little bit. Verse 24, and God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after his kind, and it was so. And God spoke, and it was so. And that's the pattern up to this point, but then in verse 26, God said, let us make man in our image. After our likeness, there's a difference between a man and a woman from what there is in the animal kinds. Praise God that we're not like the apes and the monkeys. Praise God as much as we love our pets. We're not like the dogs. We're not like the bearded dragons. As fascinating as they are, right, Josiah? We're not like the fish. We're different. We're different than them. And notice, beloved, that in the account that comes from God, you and I, we did not, not only are we different from them, but we did not descend from them either. That if we were to take our family tree and go all the way back, It goes all the way back to Adam and Eve, and that's the beginning. Adam and Eve did not come from the monkeys and the apes, the chimpanzees. Our family tree is not what the evolutionist says. There are some who scoff at this and they say, well, they scoff at a lot of different things, obviously. But as I mentioned in the last lesson, that it didn't take God millions of years to do all this. This was in six literal days. But whenever you get to this, some people scoff at the idea that if God is a spirit, as the scripture teaches, how is it that man is made in the image and likeness of God? And that is puzzling. Henry Morris, who was a, He was a scientist, he was a Baptist writer, one of the early creationists of the modern day creation movement. He wrote and said that there is something about the human body which is uniquely appropriate to God's manifestation of himself. Since God knows all his works from the beginning of the world, Acts 15, 18, he must have designed man's body with this in mind. Accordingly, he designed it, not like the animals, but with an erect posture, with an upward gazing countenance, capable of facial expressions corresponding with emotional feelings, and with a brain and a tongue capable of articulate symbolic speech. And so as we go through this, we notice There is a mental likeness. God endowed man with intellectual ability, which was and is far superior to that of any animal. Notice, from the beginning, God communicated with man. He gave Adam commandments. In Genesis 1, verse 28, God blessed them and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gave him duties. For instance, in Genesis two and verse 15, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Man's intellectual gifts are further seen in his ability to design things and then to make them, to appreciate beauty, to compose glorious music, to paint pictures, to write, to count to large numbers, to do mathematics, to control and use energy for his own benefit, such as fire, electricity, nuclear power, to organize, to reason, to make decisions, to be self-conscious, to laugh at himself even, to think abstractly. No animal can do all these things. There was a moral likeness as well. God created man perfect, and even now, after the fall, in every man, there exists a need for worship. Only man can commune with God through worship and prayer. There is a consciousness that exists in man but not in the animals. Only man can truly know the difference between right and wrong. And you go through human history. and go through archeology and you study these things out and you find in every ancient city, in every ancient kingdom, you may find the lack of tools, you may find the lack of certain technologies. There's always tools, but maybe certain technologies are missing. Some groups are more backwards than others, but they have never found a group without some form of worship, some form of a belief in a higher power than them. What's all this mean? Well, it means that the Bible is true. God made man different than the animals. He's not simply another animal. There is also a likeness found in the elemental constitution of man. Turn with me to the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter five. 1 Thessalonians chapter five. Verse 23, Paul told the church at Thessalonica, in verse 23, he says, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'll not go deep into this at this point in this sermon, but very briefly, a few lessons ago, I brought out the fact that we believe in the Trinity. The Bible's very, very clear. We believe in one God. We worship one God, but within the Godhead, there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Within every man, there are also body, soul, and spirit. I know some who say that the soul and spirit are the same, and indeed, it's hard for us to divide them. However, in Hebrews chapter four, in Hebrews chapter four in verse 12, Hebrews four and 12, The scripture says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of what? Soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. You wanna know why people don't like the Word of God? You wanna know why people won't read their Bibles? You wanna know why people won't flock to this place to hear God's Word preached? It's sharper than a two-edged sword. It goes deeper than anything that's known to man. And that's why. So many Americans have Bibles, but they never touch them. That's why so many people have churches within driving distance, but they never go. The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. You and I can't get that deep, you and I can't do that, but oh beloved, the word of God can do it. A discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Yes, my friends, we are made in the image and likeness of Almighty God. And as the people of God. It ought to. It ought to make us want to know him more. Now, listen to me, because I'm not going to get there in this message, but there was a fall that happened. Adam and Eve walked perfectly. They were perfect there in the Garden of Eden as the creation of God. in the image and likeness of God. But there was sin, and that image was broken, not just chipped a little bit, but broken. If I'd have thought of it, I'd have done what I did one time in Mansfield. I brought a pot, a pretty little pot, and I smashed it. That's what happened at the Garden of Eden when the fall came. They weren't just chipped a little bit. They were broken, crushed. And the only way that they could be brought back to anything that resembled anything worth having again is when Jesus Christ stepped in. You see, rescued fallen man. We are made in the image and likeness of God. Even post-fall, through Christ, we still see that image and likeness in a great way. What we believe about creation, Adam and Eve, it's very, very important. Back there in Genesis chapter one, verse 28. We find that they were commanded to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God would later repeat this commandment to Noah and those who came off the ark. God is 100% what we would call pro-life. This is the positive of the negative command, thou shalt not murder or thou shalt not kill. We live in a time and an age when it is strange or unheard of. It is countercultural to talk about this, but God intended for man and woman to marry and have children, certainly not to kill them. And that's what abortion is, is murder. And when it comes to the laws of the land, Even if they make it quote-unquote legal to have an abortion, it's still against God's law. I believe that we're on a very slippery slope in this country. Whether it's abortion or euthanasia or whatever, the killing of babies, or the killing of old people, or the killing of those who are sick, assisted suicides, and whatever it is, these things are wrong and against God's Word. I don't want to get too off topic with that, but I do want to say God is crystal clear. He has spoken. He said, be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. And to man alone was given the command to subdue the earth, to take possession of it and to use it for his own good. And while I disagree with some of the green energy things that are going on out there, I do think that it is biblical for us if we will be good stewards of what God has given us. So I don't believe we should be wasteful. I don't believe we should litter and all those things. I believe that we should try and do our best as people to make sure that we treat this earth good. We believe we ought to treat animals good. I mean, obviously, obviously, we know that animals are not humans. So how far do we take this? Well, if we kill an animal, we ought to only kill it to eat it, to use its fur and that sort of thing. But we shouldn't, like some hunters will do, poachers and whatnot, they go out in the woods and they kill an animal just to take their antlers and leave the rest of it. That's wrong, that's not right. God has given us this world to have dominion over it. We skip on down to chapter two in verse seven. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Chapter two is not a recreation of humanity. Chapter two is giving us some more details about how Adam and Eve were created. I'm sure we've heard the phrase ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Well, that phrase is not biblical. We came from the dust. There were no ashes involved, but we came from the dust. God breathed into his nostrils, into Adam's nostrils, the breath of life. Understand something when you die and when I die This body be laid in the ground But we will continue Somewhere either heaven or in hell And That is true for every one including Adam and Eve and every one of their children and grandchildren all the way through to us. The question isn't if you'll live after you die, the question is where you'll be after you die. And the answer to that question depends on whether or not you've trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, whether you have been born again. Verses 15 through 25, God, and the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him and help me for him. And out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, to every fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found and help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, closed up the flesh instead thereof, and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall the man leave his father and his mother, shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. On the sixth day of creation, remember that's where we're at here, Adam was made, he was created first. This is important. He was given responsibility of naming all the animals. Now, just remember that in the very beginning, there wouldn't have been so many different breeds of dogs. All the dogs that we see out here and all the cats that we have out here, well, all the dogs would have come from a couple of dogs. Maybe even something similar to like a wolf or something. And then all their descendants came the different kinds of dogs through different breeding and so on. Same thing with the cats. And so, he wouldn't have had so many animals to name as what we might think of. Just like all the people groups that are alive today, we all came from Adam and Eve, and there's obvious differences in the way we all look. The same thing would have happened with the animals. So, when Adam was finished with naming those animals that he named, God, knowing what Adam needed, put him to sleep, and performed the first surgery that was ever performed. He's the great physician after all. Now keep in mind, Adam had been naming animals all day long, and when he woke up, when he woke up from that anesthesia, His eyes adjusted and he saw that beautiful woman there in front of him. He said, this one, this one finally is mine. This is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. This one is called woman because she came from man. He was excited about that. I believe he was more excited about her than what he'd been about anything else he'd seen that day. And we've seen the animals. We know they're nice, but man, he was excited. And God gave us the first marriage, the first marriage. Adam and Eve right there in the Garden of Eden. And this is another hill that when we think about what we believe about man and woman, this is another hill that I believe we have got to take a stand on. God has defined marriage. This is his, not man's. Webster's Dictionary can change the definition the politicians, the professors, the philosophers, the school teachers, the YouTube influencers, whatever you want to call them. They can do what they want, but judgment day is coming. What people say here and now is temporary. Understand something, true marriage, will always be what God says it is. That's between a man and a woman. There are those who have compromised and sold out on this and claim that Jesus did not speak on this issue, so it must not be important. I submit to you today that the whole of the Bible is important. not just the words written in red. And for that matter, he did speak in Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19. Verses four through six, the Pharisees asked him about putting away of wives. In verse 4 through 6 he said, he answered and said unto them, have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall the man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore They are no more twain but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. It's very clear Jesus believed and taught that marriage is between a man and a woman. He believed Genesis was literal. He believed that man was created at the beginning, male and female. Right there cuts a lot of things out of this world. We take a stand on genderism. There's only male and female. There's nothing else. If you're born a male, you'll die a male. If you're born a female, you'll die a female. There are no transgenders. There are transvestites. There's a difference. The difference is this, transvestites are people who dress up like the opposite sex. There's no such thing as a transgender. You can't change your gender. You can do surgeries, try to make it seem like you're a different gender, but it just don't work that way. A male, a person born as a male will never have a baby. And a female will never father a child. and dress up like you're different. And go with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13 verse four. It says, marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Marriage, what marriage? Biblical marriage, this is the Bible. Biblical marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, what bed? The marriage bed. The biblical marriage bed is undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. Let me just put it to you this way, and you can take this and you can use this when you're talking to people, when you're trying to take a stand on these things. Marriage as God instituted it, marriage as God instituted in its very best state, was perfect. It was sinless. There was no problems. It was pure. But everything else outside of marriage, regardless of what you've got, marriage outside or I'm sorry, anything outside of marriage in its best state is sin. I've had people tell me, well, we're not married. They've come and told me, well, we're married and it's not biblical marriage. They've got all sorts of weird relationships going on in this world. They say, but it's good. No, it's not. If it's outside of marriage, it's not good. Even if they use the same terminology, we take a stand on biblical marriage. Go back and read Ephesians 5, Song of Solomon, other passages. Biblical marriage is a beautiful thing. That's when man and woman is obedient to the scriptures. You say, well, preacher, my marriage isn't very good because my spouse isn't doing this or my spouse isn't doing that or whatever. Hold up a second. What your spouse does or doesn't do. You need to get in the scriptures, get in the Bible, see how you can be the best husband, see how you can be the best wife. I believe if more marriages would do that, if more couples would do that, God would bless. To sum it up, God made only male and female in the beginning. They were made in the image and likeness of God. And marriage is only between a man and a woman. We didn't really get too much into it, but it's a picture. Even in this fallen world, it's a picture of Christ and his relationship with the church. A beautiful picture. Go back and study Ephesians 5. It'll be a blessing to you. May God add the blessing to his word this morning. We'll go ahead and have a prayer and a little bit of a break here.