So we're going to open our Bibles to Genesis 2 verses 4 through 7. This should be quick because it's right up front. It's a couple pages in. And just for clarity's sake, we're going to go over only verses 4 through 7 today. We'll continue into the next verses next week. But we're going to read the entire chapter so that we understand what the context is of what we're going through this morning. So Genesis 2 starting in verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed and all their hosts and on the seventh day God completed his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it he rested from all his work which God had created in making it. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made heaven and earth. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet grown, for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And so the man became a living being. And Yahweh God planted a garden of Eden toward the east, and there he placed the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that went around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. Now the gold of that land is good. The Delium and the Onyx Stone are there. And the name of the second river is Gihon. It is the one that went around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris. It is the one that went east of Asher. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, from any tree of the garden you may surely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you should not eat from it. From the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die. Then Yahweh God said, it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. And out of the ground, Yahweh God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and he brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all cattle and the birds of the sky and every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept. Then he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. And Yahweh God fashioned the rib which he had taken from the man into a woman, and he brought her to the man. Then the man said, this is one finally is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called woman because this one was taken out of man. Therefore man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. This is the reading of God's word. Less than a week ago, I saw a Mormon's advertisement on a Facebook buy and sell group for a free book of Mormon. I commented on this post, of course, for those of you who know me, I would do this. And I said, stop peddling your false religion. And then I listed out several reasons as to why it's a false religion. That was the first day. Then I saw the Mormon's advertisement, same Mormon, same advertisement in a different cities by cell group. He must have gotten kicked out of the first one. I commented the exact same way. This is a false religion. Stop peddling your cult to everybody. Here are the reasons why. That's the second day. The Mormon then reached out via messenger about why I called Mormonism a fake religion. And that he would be open to meeting with me to actually speak about this, so long as I wouldn't be contentious. I know, you're laughing for the reason. I agreed to that, though, and I arranged that he and I would meet for a meal. He wanted to bring his cohort along. You know, they always are in twos. And so I agreed to that. That was the third day. Then the Mormon, who I'll name Jay, and his fellow missionary, El, met me for dinner to talk. We had a great discussion, and throughout the hour and a half, almost two hours, I saw a lot of conviction in their faces. And that was the fourth day. Now, after all that happened in the previous days, here's an account of what happened during the dinner that we had. I asked them what they believed to be true about the Bible. I wanted to make sure that we were starting from the same understanding. They claimed that they believed the entire Bible to be true from start to finish. I then started talking to them about the scriptures that they said they believed and showed how it contradicted their Book of Mormon and the Doctrines and Covenants, which are the writings of their so-called prophets. I discussed the purpose of the Levitical priesthood and the priesthood of Melchizedek in the scriptures and what the meanings are and then showed them how their view of it is completely wrong, that those Mormons can't actually be priests doing temple work in the same way that Levitical priests did or in their view of Melchizedek. We discussed many other points at this dinner including who Jesus actually is in the Bible versus the Jesus they believe in. We talked about Hebrews 9 27 that that every man's appointed wants to die and then the judgment where they believe that every man's appointed wants to die and then they have a second chance to receive Jesus at that time before the final judgment. I then finished as I typically do when I speak to cultists and I say this as genuinely as I possibly can and say, you guys know that you will be in hell for eternity if you don't repent and believe the true gospel. I know you think you're doing God's work. I know you believe in the religion you believe in, but you are wrong. And I pray that you wake up to this fact because you will actually be in hell for eternity. Yes, I finished that way in most of these conversations. Now, the dinner then ended with a handshake. They thanked me for dinner, even took a selfie with them. And that ended the dinner and haven't heard from them since. Now, some of you may have picked up what I did here. I told a story in such a way that Moses does the same thing in the book of Genesis. This is a true story of what happened to me this past week. Now the book of Genesis is also a true story. What we see in Genesis 1, what I covered in previous sermons, is that Genesis 1 gives us overall overview picture of the six days of creation. And then into the beginning of Genesis 2 we have an overview of day 7. without a whole lot of detail. How did he make the frogs? I don't know. I mean, they're complex creatures, but, you know, the animals just poured forth by his spoken word, and it was so. What then happens though in Genesis 2, as we're going to start into today, is that the writer takes a specific view or a specific point that he wants to deep dive into and he expands upon that. So similar to how I expanded upon the dinner portion of the first part of my story and gave lots more detail about it, this is what happens with Moses in Genesis 2. So what we see from our previous sermons in Genesis 1.1 through 2.3, this is our overview of the six days of creation and day seven, which is the rest. Genesis 2 verse one specifically says, thus the heavens and the earth were completed and all their hosts. This is a statement that God is using to just, this is what happens in chapter one. Everything that was made, heavens and earth and all their hosts were completed. So the heaven was completed as much as it's going to be completed. The earth was completed as much as it's going to be completed. But then their hosts or all their hosts means everything that God planted into the heavens, sun, moon, stars, everything he planted on the earth, animals, birds, the water, the dry land, everything there is also in its completed forms. So much so that by the time we get to Genesis 2 and Genesis 2 verses 2 and 3, he's now chronicling the seventh day of his now rest. He's resting from all his creative works. Creative works are done. So when we look at the hosts that were completed in heaven and earth, those hosts were also completed. There's no evolutionary process that's continuing to go on. Everything that we understand, the kinds of animals, are completed the way they are. The kind of cats was completed. Everything that comes from our kind of cats will be more cats going forward. Same thing goes with our birds, same thing goes with our fish. Everything is after its own kind from the beginning. There is no new evolutionary process that's going to happen beyond that. Now, just so we understand about work, God's work was done in terms of creation by the time we get to day seven. But make no mistake, God is continuing to work today. We see this in John 5 verse 17, where after Jesus healed the men of Bethsaida, or Bethesda on the Sabbath, he answered them, my father is working until now and I myself am working. So Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit are continuing to work in creation, even though the creative acts of creation are done. And that's what's being stated here in these couple of verses. We also know Christ in Colossians 1 verses 16 and 17, that in him all things hold together. So everything that was already made, Christ is holding together in this creation. He's continuing to work in the creation. Now, thus from Genesis 1.1 to 2.3, this is our overall picture of the created, completed acts of God. When we start into Genesis 2-4 here in a few minutes, going through the rest of the chapter over the next several sermons, we're going to see a different view of creation. And this is going to be an in-depth view into some of the specifics, especially about day six, and most importantly, about the creation of man, the pinnacle of his creation. And so as we walk through today in verses four through seven, I want us to think about three different points of this here. Our overall thesis is that this is the personal touch of Yahweh God being spoken of in Genesis 2-4 through the end of the chapter. And our three points are going to be the personal touch of Yahweh God in the creation account, the personal touch of Yahweh God in the creation of the field for Adam, and then number three, the personal touch of Yahweh God in the creation of man. Point number one, the personal touch of Yahweh God in the creation account. Now, before we walk into our verses, there's something that has to be addressed here. There are many theologians, incorrectly by the way, who say that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are alternate creation accounts. And they go even further to say not only are they alternate, but they are conflicting alternate creation accounts. And the reason why some people do this is there are compromising Christians, a term I've used before, of people who try to take millions or billions of years and smash it into the scriptures. Trying to take humanity and humanism and, well I say secular humanism, millions of years of evolutionary thought and tries to jam them into the scriptures where it doesn't belong. And one of the ways they try to jam it in there is by just saying, well, the creation account really is just a storytelling. It's not actual historical narrative to us. And the proof of that is Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 conflict. Well, I'm here to tell you they don't conflict. And we're going to show you that this morning. We also see atheists using the exact same argument. This should actually make professing Christians cringe a little bit, that the same arguments that the atheists use, they are using. Because atheists will also say that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are conflicting creation accounts in order to dismiss Genesis and therefore dismiss the rest of the Bible. This is a very common tactic that's out there. And the reason why they do this is because they look at the creation of man, which is in Genesis 2.7 here. So again, a specific account of creation of man. And it says that Yahweh God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so that the man became a living being. They then skip two verses forward and go to verse nine where it says, and now the plant sprang up. And they're saying, aha, we got you. There's man and then the plants later. Whereas Genesis one says the plants sprang up on day three, man was on day six. Now this is really easy to reconcile as we're going to talk about here in the next couple of verses. This is not speaking of the plants throughout the world that sprang up on day three of creation. These are plants specific to a field that would house Adam and the garden of Eden. The other area that they point out as a conflict would be, again, Genesis 2.7 is where man is created. You go down to verse 19 and it says, and out of the ground Yahweh God had formed every beast of the field. So they skip over the verb tenses and they say look man was created first and now animals are created and therefore that's out of order compared to Genesis 1 and this must be conflicting accounts therefore we can throw away Genesis. But the words here, as we'll get into in a future sermon, had formed is that the animals had already been formed by the time Adam comes around. And the purpose of this passage is about Adam naming those animals that had already been formed. Not that the animals all of a sudden sprang up out of the ground. Again, that'll be for a future sermon. The reality is it's bad hermeneutics. When we're taking Genesis 2 out of its context of the way it was meant to be written, the way it was written, it's bad hermeneutics at best, it's dishonesty at worst, when people claim that there's two alternate creation accounts. Now this brings us to a point then, why did the writer do this? Well, we often see this in the Hebrew of this literary device being used. It's a type of recapitulation, which is similar to what I did in my intro. So I gave an overall synopsis of what happened. and then I dove into some specific parts of what happened that I thought were the most pertinent. We see in Genesis 1 an overall picture of creation, and now Moses points at Genesis 2 into the creation of man, because that's the most pertinent part of the creation account in Genesis 1. Now we also see some other major differences between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 that should help us out in this understanding. The focus of Genesis 1 is the glory, the majesty, and the power of God as creator. God's attributes are fully seen in the let there be statements. He is the creator is the main focus of Genesis 1. Genesis 2, we see a little change in that type of focus. The focus is still on God. But while Genesis 1, the focus was on the mightiness of the Creator, the power of the Creator, Genesis 2 now, we see a personal touch of Yahweh God. We see that personal touch with man. And And so rather than God's power being accentuated, we're going to see the more personal and tender side of God on display. And this should give us a lot of warmth about who God is. When we speak to people who are of false religions, take like the fake God of Islam, for instance. You talk to a Muslim, you witness to him and ask him, how do you know you're gonna go to paradise one day? And usually the inherent Islam will say, well, I hope I'm gonna do enough that it'll be pleasing to Allah and that I'll be able to go to heaven. It's a distant God. We can take the fake god of Mormonism, a god that they have to wear special holy underwear while they do temple work for years, and that they hope they've done enough work to please who they call Heavenly Father in order to allow him to the highest level of heaven to become gods on planets one day. Again, it's an impersonal god. This is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is a personal God that we actually can know. That if you today here are born again, you know God. He has revealed himself to you. He has a relationship with you. That's a personal God. That is the type of God we're seeing coming out here in Genesis 2. Christian, if I ask you today, are you going to heaven when you die? That should be the answer, right? Yes. Why? Because it has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with your works if you've been good enough. It's because you are good enough the moment God has replaced your heart of stone with a heart of flesh. He has placed all his love on you that he could possibly place on you. That is the personal God that we know. And he's revealed himself in the scriptures that we can know him better. That's our God. And that's what's being revealed now here in Genesis 2. Now, we can see this because the name of God changes here in Genesis 1 going into Genesis 2. See, from Genesis 1.11 through Genesis 2.3, the word for God in the Hebrew that's used is Elohim. This means powerful or mighty one creator. But some of you may not have noticed that it changes, especially if you're not reading the LSB, it changes when you get to Genesis 2.4 through the rest of the chapter. And in fact, we see this distinction throughout the rest of the Bible, is that Moses now switches from Elohim to Yahweh Elohim. Why? Because this is the personal name of God. There's a whole different understanding just in the way the name of God is changed here or used in Genesis 2. So these aren't alternating accounts, Genesis 1 and 2. We just see a different side of the creation account, more detail of the creation account, the personal side of God and his relationship to man in this creation account. Now what other textual proof do we have between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 that they're not conflicting accounts, but they are indeed one and the same? Well, when Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees about divorce and remarriage in Matthew 19 verses 4 through 6, and then of course the parallel passage in Mark 10, he said this in starting in verse 4, Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? and said for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they're no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let no man separate. Jesus quoted directly from Genesis chapter 1 and directly from Genesis chapter 2, put them together in his answer to the Pharisees. Jesus did not believe these were alternating accounts of creation. Jesus saw that they were perfectly harmonious accounts. One, overall picture. Second, detail. And so now while we won't be covering all of these points this week or even next week, from Genesis 2-4 through the end of the chapter, I do want to give us an overview of what's actually happening in this chapter so that when you decide to study this on your own and read it on your own, you can see what is going on here. In Genesis 2-4, we get the overview of what's about to happen. We'll talk about that here in a minute. In Genesis 2 verses 5-6 you'll see that the field for Adam is being prepared. So there's a special field among the entirety of the earth that's being prepared for Adam. In Genesis 2-7 Adam is actually created now. The Garden of Eden then is created in Genesis 2 verses 8-9. The description of the river system is given in Eden in Genesis 2 10-14. Adam now is put into the garden and given instructions, just as Genesis 2 verses 15 to 17. Adam then names some of the kinds of animals that were already created earlier, verses 18 to 20. God creates Eve, verses 21 to 22. So all of these things, by the way, happened before Eve is actually created. This is some of the detail we have. Genesis 1 just says male and female, he created them. There's actually a difference in time from when males were made versus when Eve was made. So God creates Eve, and then there's a description of Adam, Eve, and marriage in verses 23 through 25. That's our overall picture of what's happening chronologically in these verses. So now let's start into our text verse four. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that Yahweh God made heaven and earth. Now the word generations here can trip a lot of people up because oftentimes it means human genealogies like we see in Genesis 5 where it chronicles Adam all the way down to Noah and then his three sons. But the word generations can also mean an account of, which is how it's being used here. And the NASB 95 actually uses the account of the heavens and the earth for this verse. And so this verse deals now with what's coming next. So these are the generations of the heavens and earth when they were created in the day that Yahweh God made the heavens and the earth. These are what's coming next. So the details of the creation account in Genesis one that Moses wishes to share with us are coming out now. So in the day is a phrase we have to deal with as well. So these are the generations of the heaven and earth when they were created in the day The word here for day is Yom, that Yahweh God made the heaven and the earth. Now this is a point of contention for a lot of people. When you hear what I would again call the Christian compromisers, people like John Piper and Hugh Ross and the late Tim Keller, they did not believe in a literal historical account of Genesis, 6,000 year old earth. And there's many others that actually follow suit. And one of the ways they try to do this is to dismiss what the word Yom means in Genesis. Now we cover this in full detail about Genesis 1 through those sermons that the word Yom means day. Most of the time it means a 24-hour literal day. Sometimes it could mean a certain time period. but it always depends on the context of how the word day is being used. Genesis 1 was clear. Each day of creation, evening and morning, first day. Evening and morning, second day. Evening and morning, third day. We always knew it was a 24-hour literal day. So they come here to this passage and it says, in the day. There is no evening and morning. There is no ordinal number. And they say, aha, here is a place where the word yom doesn't mean a literal day. It means a period of time instead. So they then take that definition for Yom and try to impose it into Genesis 1 and say, look, if it doesn't mean 24-hour day here, then it can't mean one in Genesis 1, therefore we have an old earth. That's being dishonest. The context here in the day, are they right about the first part of that? Does this actually mean a time period versus a literal day of creation? Yes. Let me read it again to you. These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created in the day that Yahweh God made the heaven and the earth. So the in the day here is literally speaking of the creation account in general. It's a period of time. It's not supposed to mean an actual literal day here. So again, they're just being dishonest when they try to say that. So back to verse four again. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that Yahweh God made the heaven and the earth. So this sets the stage now for what's happening through the rest of Genesis 2. And as I said already, the word for God now is Yahweh Elohim or Yahweh God. So we're seeing the personal touch of God in creation going forward. Now, we talked about this one thread a few times already, that the thread of the creation account is God. It is about the mightiness of God in Genesis 1. It is about the personal side of the creator in Genesis 2. But there's a second thread that I talked about in previous sermons that I want to bring out again today so that we get even more clarity on what's happening in Genesis 2. In Genesis 1-1, the first verse of our Bible, it says that in the beginning God made the heavens and the earth. The subject of this sentence is God. The verb is made and then the objects are the heavens and the earth. The reason why earth is separated from the heavens in this statement is because there's something special about the earth. And it's not the earth, it's that man was going to be made and then have dominion over that earth. And so that's what happens in verse one. And then as we go on, we see day one, that light is created. It is for the purpose of the earth, but ultimately for the purpose of whom? Man, we go to day two, the atmosphere is created, benefits the earth, also benefits man. Day three, the waters are gathered and dry land appears. The earth brought forth vegetation, which would serve as food. This benefits the earth and man. Day four, the sun, moon, and stars are created. Fills up the heavens. You might say, okay, well, this is something not to do with the earth. But as you remember, or may recall, Genesis 1, 14 and 15, what's the purpose of the sun, moon, and stars? Well, it's to be for signs and for seasons, for days and for years. Let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. The stars, sun, and moon were for the benefit of man. Day five, the birds and water creatures were made. Benefits the earth, but again points to man. Day six now, we get to the land animals being created, separate from man, we're not animals. For the purpose of filling the earth, for man. And then at the end of day six is when man and woman are created. who now, before God utters the words, it is very good, gives the dominion mandate to Adam and Eve to multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, control it, rule over it. So all of Genesis 1 is about God as creator, but also about what he is doing for the pinnacle of his creation, man. This is the same thing that is going to pick up now here in Genesis 2, 4 going forward. So this is our first point, the personal touch of Yahweh God in the creation account. Now point number two, the personal touch of Yahweh God in the creation of the field for man. And as we work further into Genesis 2 here, again, we see this narrowing, this focus towards the personal relationship of the Creator God to man, the pinnacle of His creation. Verse 5, Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet grown. For Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. Now, there are some theologians who have not gotten this right, and they say that, well, these plants worldwide have not grown yet, so they either have a false view of the creation account, again, as I said earlier, it's an alternate account, or sometimes they say, well, the plants haven't grown yet because rain hasn't come down yet, and it leads to something called a canopy theory that has pretty much been debunked by both theologians and creationists. We reject the canopy theory now. Some guys still believe it hasn't rained up until the Noah's Ark and the flood. Some theologians think it has. It doesn't matter for this text a whole lot which way you go. But the point of this verse is not referring to the shrubs so much as it is the field. And so this is the field separate from the rest of the earth to which Adam was going to be placed. The shrubs of the field that did not pop up here because God didn't let it rain and because man has not been created yet, this is the field he is preparing for Adam as he comes along. And so this is the field that we're gonna find later on in this chapter that the Garden of Eden is actually planted in. where man's going to be. And that the view of this verse is that this is the special field for Adam. This is the special field for the Garden of Eden for Adam. Now, how do we know that this is about the special field for Adam and it's not about the plants over the entire earth? Well, we have one more textual clue here and that's speaking about the rain upon the earth and that Adam's going to be responsible for the Garden of Eden. We're going to find that a couple of verses later there is a special river or stream that's going to pop up and water this land. Adam was only going to be responsible for cultivating this land and have a water source provided for him. He wasn't going to be responsible for cultivating the entire earth. So when we see this again, now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth and no plant of the field had yet grown for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth. and there is no man to cultivate the ground. We have to remember the shrubs in day three of creation have already popped up. This is the special field that Adam is going to be placed in and the only ground that he is responsible for is this field. And that's how we know it's not the entire earth. Now one commentator stated it this way, the best interpretation of this passage recognizes that with Genesis 2-4, Moses shifts from the broad account of Genesis 1 to a more specific account of the creation and placement of man within the world. In this context, it makes sense for the Hebrew root for earth here to refer to a particular land rather than to the earth as a whole. This understanding alleviates the tension between 1.11-13 and 2.5 as we just talked about. Moses is not saying in chapter 2 that no plant life existed on earth before the creation of man. He is saying that in our particular land, particular kinds of plants had not yet begun to grow. The plant of the field probably refers to edible plants that a farmer cultivates. The field does not always refer to cultivated fields, but it often does. And this seems to be the best sense of this context. So again, this is a specific field that's being planted for Adam, made for Adam. Now, two more interesting points in verse five, where it says, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. If you're not looking at the Hebrew with the English, you'll miss this point. But for those of us men who are going through the series with Abner Chow, he actually mentioned this. The Hebrew word for man here is Adam or Adam. The Hebrew word for ground is Adama. So there's actually an etymological connection or a word origin correlation between Adam and the ground from which he was made to cultivate. I find that to be absolutely fascinating. Now there's one more connection to Hebrew as well. The Hebrew word for blood is dam. Thus the basic meaning of Adam is literally associated with the Hebrew words for ground and blood. Verse number six, but a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. So this special land for Adam, a stream would be made to rise up and cover the entire surface with water for him. It would cause new vegetation to grow and the need for a man to now have to cultivate these specific grounds. In Genesis 1, day three, God just caused all the plants to spring up on their own as part of his creative action. Here, he's preparing a specific field again with specific plants for Adam to cultivate and eventually eat from, as we see in verse eight of the planting of the Garden of Eden. So now with the field and with the water source being present, God now gets to the creation of Adam specifically. And so, so far we've covered points number one and two, the personal touch of Yahweh God in the creation accounts and the personal touch of Yahweh God in the creation of the specific field for Adam. And now point number three, the personal touch of Yahweh God in the creation of man. So verse seven, Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and so the man became a living being. The first five days of creation are complete. The land animals are made on day 6. The field in which Adam would be placed is now ready with a source of water to plant to the Garden of Eden. And so now here comes the creation of man. 7a Yahweh God formed the man from the dust of the ground. So Yahweh God we can picture literally forming Adam from the dust or from the clay. The Hebrew word here for formed is yasser, which often describes the action of a clay potter. It's the same word that's used multiple places in the Old Testament, including Isaiah 45, 9 through 12. And not only is the same Hebrew word for potter used here, but we also see this passage connecting the potter to the creator, who is the one and the same of the heavens and the earth. So Isaiah 45 verse 9, Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel and His Maker, ask me about the things that are to come concerning my sons, and you shall commit to me the work of my hands. It is I who made the heaven and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with my hands and I commanded all their host. And you may have even recognized a part of this passage as Paul quoted directly from it in Romans 9, 20 through 21. So here, Yahweh God, like a potter, fashioned man from the dust of the ground. Unlike the rest of creation where he just spoke and it came into existence, God actually took the dust and made man, fashioned man. The numerous passages in the Old Testament also show that this dust that Adam came from will be the same dust he returns to. It comes as early as Genesis 3.19, by the sweat of your face you will eat bread till you return to the ground because from it you were taken for you're a dust and to dust you shall return. So we see an acknowledgement here right after the fall in Genesis 3 that Adam was taken from the dust. Oh, and guess what? He's going to be returned to that same dust. Now, why am I pressing on this point about dust? Because if you thought about this, why dust? Why not the gold that was in the land of Havilah to fashion man out of? Or diamonds, or pearls, or any other what we would call precious material. Why dust? Well, I would say this, because dust displays that man has nothing to boast about. We're from the ground. We're going to return to the ground. There's nothing to boast about there. And so it's a humble material that we're made out of that causes us to have a full dependence on the personal God of the scriptures. Again, what can the clay pot say to the potter? So even though Adam and the ground are made out of the same substance, we would all acknowledge that there is a value to man. What is that value? Well, Calvin, I think, says it best. He, Moses, now explains what he had before omitted in the creation of man, that his body was taken out of the earth. He had said that he was formed after the image of God. This is incomparably the highest nobility. And, lest men should use it as an occasion of pride, their first origin is placed immediately before them, whence they may learn that this advantage was adventitious. For Moses relates that man had been, in the beginning, dust of the earth. Let foolish men now go and boast of the excellency of their nature. Concerning other animals, it had before been said, let the earth produce every living creature. But on the other hand, the body of Adam is formed of clay and destitute of sense, to the end that no one should exult beyond measure in his flesh. So there is no value to us because of dirt. The value comes in in the breath of life. Verse seven, then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and so the man became a living being. The breath of life is what separates man from the rest of the animals. It's how God made everything with breath in the nostrils alive. And so there's a difference though between the animals and humans. God took us from the dust fashioned man. He then gives life to the man by breathing into the man, into his nostrils. And through that is the image of God being breathed into man. not the animals, not the fish, not the birds. Even though the same phrase living being or nephesh haya in the Hebrew is used for the fish, the birds, the land animals and humans. What separates us is that this breath of life is comes directly from God breathed into us. And that when we understand what's being said here, this is the living soul. of man. Different than what the animals have. We have a soul that has attributes that are given to us like God in the attributes like love and justice and mercy. Imperfectly, but certain communicable attributes that we have from God made in his image. Attributes that are not shared with the animals. We are literally a special part of the creation. And so back to this verse, then Yahweh God formed man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And so the man became a living being. Some translators actually say this is living soul. And in fact, when Paul quotes from it in first Corinthians, he translates this as living soul, distinguishing this breath of life and the spirit that we have different than all the other animals. Now, as a creationist, I should park here for a moment just to get an understanding of how special we actually are and how unique and how specially designed human beings are. Our human bodies are made of 60 trillion cells as an adult. That's a phenomenal amount. Each cell within our body has millions of distinctly designed machines. that every one of them are needed to work with one another. Each one of those millions of machines has millions of specifically designed pieces for the body to work. An evolutionist wants to say that on a pond scum, these things just happened. And we say, hold on a second. How in the world did you have a heart rise up the exact same time as the blood that it takes to make the heart alive, but yet the heart still has to pump it at the exact same time? How does that occur? Magic, right? Gets even better with our bodies. If we could unfold all the tissue in our lungs, because we require a lot of oxygen. To stay awake this morning takes a lot of oxygen for our brains. If we unfolded all the tissue in our lungs, each lung would make up, surface area-wise, about half a tennis court. That's how much oxygen is required for us to live and breathe God's air. We have over 60,000 miles of blood vessel through our tissues. 60,000 miles to be able to carry the oxygen around our bodies for our lungs to take in. And then we have a heart that pumps 100,000 times a day to push the blood and the oxygen around for us to stay alive. And as one famous apologist said, God made this heart, this machine that pumps 100,000 times a day, and it can even run on donuts. Don't eat donuts, by the way. Terrible for you. But these are just some of the facts, like when we understand what's going on here in Genesis and God forming man, the pinnacle of his creation, there is so much more than just gathering the dust together and then breathing life into it. That we are specially designed creatures from the mind of God. We are then breathed into us this living soul that's part of our bodies. allows us to smile, to think, to love, to laugh. Also gives us one that allows us to do right from wrong. And before I get into all that, there's one other question that has to be addressed. Did Adam have a belly button? Now, I have to bring this one up because this is actually a common thought out there. Did Adam have a belly button? I don't know. I think it might be the second question I ask Adam before, why did you let your wife eat the fruit? Or just let him show me. I don't know. Did he have a belly button? We don't know. I break this up because it's talked about a lot in creation circles. On one hand, he didn't need a belly button because he wasn't born from a woman. So he shouldn't need a belly button. Belly buttons is where the umbilical cord attaches. On the other hand, if we cut out our belly buttons and the tissue below it, we would have a lot of trouble because a lot of muscle attachments in our abdomen actually go right to that spot. So I'm not sure which. Did Adam have one or not? Not really sure. Now this passage displayed three main points about the personal touch of Yahweh God. In the creation account specifically, the creation of the field, and then the creation of man. Now as stated here earlier, if you're a believer today, you not only serve the one true God, you have an intimate relationship with the personal God of the scriptures. one that you walk with, one that you know, one that you can speak to at any time, one that speaks to you through his scriptures, a personal relationship with God. However, if you're not born again today, if you are somebody who is not repented of your sin and put your trust in Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection, I know why you don't have a personal relationship with God. I know why you feel distant. It's because you are. It's because you don't actually know God. You view God in the same way that every false religion views their God. A distant and personal God hoping you can please through your actions. And I'm here to tell you that can't be the case. Your actions are nothing but filthy rags. There's nothing you can do to earn God's grace. It is strictly through repentance and faith that's a free gift of God. As I said earlier, the specific creation of man in Genesis 2-7 is referenced by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 45. So also it is written the first man Adam became a living soul. Paul then goes on to say the last Adam became a life giving spirit. Adam would soon fall after being created. He'd return to the dust. In fact, every one of us is going to return to the dust. Our soul will live on. Our soul is now an eternal soul that will live forever. And for those of you who are saved, your eternal soul, while you shed the dust, your eternal soul goes on to live with Jesus forever in eternal bliss. If you are somebody who doesn't know Christ in a salvific way, You're going to return to dust, your body, like everyone else, but then your soul is not going to be in eternal bliss. Your soul is going to plunge to the depths of hell for eternity. Your soul is going to rightfully be punished for all of the sins you've committed and have not been paid for. And so you're going to spend an eternity in hell for your sins to be paid for on your own. And so I beg you today, that before your body returns to the dust, it doesn't cease to exist, your soul. It doesn't just get obliterated, annihilated. Your soul will live forever. And that today is a day of salvation. Today is a day to repent and put your trust into Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. Because it's either he paid that eternal fine on the cross himself, or you're going to pay it in hell for eternity on your own. Lord, I just thank you so much for gathering us together today and just starting to work through this passage. I know we couldn't do it justice with so many details there, Lord. I just pray that You bring clarity to those who don't have clarity in this passage, recognizing the personal account of creation here, starting off in these verses and continuing through the rest of this chapter. I pray for anybody in here who does not know who you are so vividly that today they repent, they put their trust in you, that they recognize their need for their sins to be paid for, and that you have done that and give that payment as a free gift of your grace. Lord, I thank you for everything you've done for us. Thank you for everything you've given to us in this life. And I ask that for those who are still breathing in here who know you, that you continue to motivate them and burn that fire in them to go out and share that precious gospel with all the lost souls that are out there before they return to the dust and go to hell for eternity. It's in your holy and precious name we pray, amen.