So we're going to go to our notes. We have four pages today. We're going to finish up page one, a little bit about creation and some of the significance. And then we're going to do with the design of man and page two and three, and then the composition of man. We're going to start that on page four and we're going into some interesting stuff there. Now, somebody said last week was like drinking water from a fire hydrant. And that's the way it's supposed to be. So don't feel like one of the great things you have to learn in education is you don't have to get everything the first time. And you just got to keep getting volumes. OK, just keep getting volumes and volumes and eventually some of it's kind of like sticks to you and gets in your brain. So read, read, read, read, read, study, study, study, study, study, take and take and take and take in and just keep going that way. And eventually you'd be surprised at what you do know. And that's the best way to study. So we're going to review a little bit here. Man is a created being. So we study the origin of man. And of course, let's fill in those blanks. One B is natural evolution. Number two is theistic. evolution, which is also called poetic creation, poetic creation. Number three is progressive creation or the day theory. Number four is the ruin restoration theory, also called the gap theory. And then number five is the recent birth creation, sometimes called intelligent design and sometimes called special creation. And you'll find different descriptions of those. And I'm sure you could divide it up in a lot of different ways. But that's the way I did. So that's what you got to remember for the quiz. All right. Let's say, what are some key biblical truths to help us sort through these five? And I just put down three of many, many that we could deal with. As you go to chapter one, two, three, et cetera, in the book of Genesis, you're going to have two words that are used quite often in the beginning. God is the word. created, which is the wrong Hebrew word. So you have this Hebrew word. And then you also had the Hebrew word, which means to make or made. All right. So in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then you have the word made and he made and he made and he made. All right. So, for example, in the rule and restoration, the gap theory view, the first verse that he created out of nothing. Then there's a gap of time when that creation rebelled against God, and ultimately God destroyed it. Now he's going to recreate it. So from that point on, he just makes. So we make things, but we thought him create things. All right. So God created in verse one, but then he made from that point on. And the key there is there's a gap. Is that a good truth? Is that a good analysis? Genesis one, twenty two. Twenty one says this. Oh, God, what's the next word? created great sea creatures. So he created great sea creatures. And we find that after verse one of chapter one, he is still creating. All right. And there he created great sea creatures. And in verse twenty five of chapter one and God. What's the word made? What did he make? He made the beast of the field. All right. Beast, according to their kind. So God created sea creatures and he made beast of the field. What does that tell you? These evolved. No, I mean, is that what it's trying to say? There's a difference in what he did with sea creatures. He created them. And then the beast of the field, he just made them. In other words, they evolved or there's a gap or whatever. Just stick that in your mind. So he uses created sea creatures. He made beasts of the field and created is used after Genesis one, verse one. All right, let's go to chapter one in verse twenty six and twenty seven. This is even more confusing if you're trying to distinguish between these two words. This is in chapter one, verse 26 and 27. Then God said, let us make man. All right. In our own image, according to his likeness, our likeness, et cetera, et cetera. Verse 27. So God created man. So what did he do? Did he create man or did he make man? And the answer is both. All right. So how do you distinguish those two words? Are you created many made man? All right, let's go to chapter five verse one. Now we're way after the fall and everything else. This is the book of the genealogy of Adam in the day that God created man. He made he what him. I just said he made him In that day that God created man, he made him in the life of God. So here's the thing. You have the word created, you have the word made. Here are just three. We could go to some other verses. We don't have time to do it. I've already proven it, I think. Is there a distinction between these two words or are they used interchangeably? Interchangeably, right? Now, there is a little bit of a distinction, too. I can create something out of nothing, and I can also say I made it. Would that not be true? If I all of a sudden created something here, you could also say I made it. So you can use both words for the same thing. The point is, I think if you accept Bara and created and use it as it's used throughout Genesis one and five and Isaiah fifty forty three says the same thing. He created man and he made man, et cetera, et cetera. You realize there is somewhat used interchangeably. And if that's true. It is thrown out this part of the gap theory. Their basis is that he created verse one, but after that he made. That's not true. The Bible doesn't say that. It also throws out whatever other of the first four or five that you see at the top there of those theories of the origin of man. God created it throws out what? Natural revolutions out the door. All right. How about this theistic evolution? Yeah, OK. How about progressive? Well, it doesn't really deal with that a lot. But he does say in the gap theories, three of the five are thrown out, just if you accept Iran created as being two different words, but somewhat used interchangeably, and that in the end, God created everything, heavens and earth, man, beast, everything. He created it all. You can't believe in natural evolution, you can't believe in the gap theory on that point alone. So that's one important biblical truth. Does that make sense? It's really quite simple. You don't have to be real smart to figure that one out. Number two, be the meaning of the word Yom or day is one of the views that is very, very popular. Science can be wrong, just can't be that wrong. So there has to be day ages or the ages each had a 24 hour day that started it. And then So on day one. Which is a twenty four hour day and then an age that follows it in day two isn't twenty four. You know right after day one it's after thousands and thousands of years. So let's look at the word you own which means day is especially in chapter one throughout chapter one where it goes. You know first day second day et cetera et cetera et cetera. There is a he defines it in any at the end of each of these is in the evening and. morning where the first day, the evening and the morning where the second day, the evening and the morning where the third day he goes out of his way to do that. Why would he do that? If it's a geologic age, we're going to talk about a geologic age. I'm just going to call it a day. And at the end of my description, I'm going to say to you now the evening and the morning where the first day, it doesn't seem like he would do that. If it really was a geologic age. Maybe I could understand that one day was the Lord's a thousand years and they doesn't always mean twenty four hours and you know if you want to really argue hard, but then if he says evening and morning, lots it in for me. It's tough for me to understand other than a twenty four hour day number two. There are many arguments. I just listed three. God rested on the seventh day. All right. And that's used as the basis of Exodus twenty verse eleven. What's Exodus twenty verse eleven. Six days of the labor and do all your work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt not do any work. Why? For in six days the Lord God created heaven and earth, and the seventh day he rested. So if a day is a geologic age, it took him six geologic ages to create the world, so he rested for a geologic age, and therefore, how long is your Sabbath? Enjoy, my friends. If you just get through the first six geologic ages of your life, you can make it to the seven. No, it just seems like they have answers for that. But it just seems like the natural reading of the text would say it was six days and seven arrested. And so six days you work and seven, you know, does the word day in this part of the verse mean 24 hours and then a little bit later in the same verse, it means geologic age. Can you do that? Or would you just naturally assume that if you use the word day and it means 24 hours here, it would mean 24 hours here. So, we are to rest on the seventh day. God rests on the seventh day. My day is 24 hours. His is the geologic age. He uses the same word. It doesn't seem like it would be natural to understand it that way. The third argument, God divided the day from the night. Chapter 1, verse 14, 16, and 18. What does that tell you? Which part of the geologic age was light and which part of it was night, you know? It seems like he's saying there was a dark part and a light part. And no evolutionist or day-age theorist believes that the geologic ages, each of those ages had a long, long period of light. And in a long, long period of, you know, 20,000 years of darkness and 20,000 years of light, all of them assume that the earth was rotating. It's 24 hours, 24 hours, 24 hours. So, so he divides the day from the night. Just all of those. There are some other ones as well, but I won't go into them here. So exegesis would lead one to conclude the days are 24 hours. Now, if a day age person was here or a gap theorist was here, I just kind of made a real simple for you not to believe in them. They would have a better argument. I just want you to know that they would come up here and you go. He's got a point. So just don't swallow it, because I said it really study it. But in my opinion, as I understand the exegesis of it, you conclude a day is 24 hours. One of the ones that's not listed there every place. That the word day is used. With a numerical adjective to begin at the beginning of it, for example, first day, fourth day, that's a numerical adjective that precedes the word day everywhere. In the Hebrew language that you have a numerical adjective in front of the word day, it always refers to a 24 hour day. This would be the only place in all of Hebrew literature where that would not be true, if in this case, in Genesis one, the first day means the first geologic age. So there's other supports like that. You'd have to do a lot of concordance drills to figure that one out. But people have done that. OK. Number two, B. Number three, B. The meaning of Tohu Wabohu. Which means. Unformed and unfilled. And Isaiah 34 verse 11 and Jeremiah 4 verse 23 use both words to whoever who and if you took the time to read them, they do not speak about creation. Remember, the argument is Tohu Wabohu, it means the judgment of God upon the earth. Remember Genesis 1, the beginning of God created, verse 2, and the earth was Tohu Wabohu, unformed and unfilled. The gap theorists say at that point it had faced God's judgment because every place the word Tohu Wabohu is used, it means judgment of God and darkness is there and it means judgment. Well, here we have two places where Tohu Wabohu are used. It's not talking about creation. And it is not talking about judgment. And in other places such as Job or Deuteronomy, Tohu is used alone, not with Tohu Wabohu, but just Tohu unformed. And it's describing the desert or the empty places. Every time you go to the desert, does that mean this is a place of God's judgment? Look at this. No, it's just the desert. It's an empty place. And so on, Tohuwabohu just means it wasn't formed and it wasn't filled. And so it took six days or God used six days to do that. Why does it matter? Well, it eliminates naturalism, which is natural evolution or rationalism. God did create and he did it through his son. So I cannot just be a naturalist in life. I'm just a rationalist. I'm just a scientist. I don't get religion mixed up in my life. You know, you can't be that anymore. If you believe in creation of man, you cannot be a pure naturalist anymore. A fatalist, which says life just happened. And, you know, you know, the Islamic way of thinking Allah wills just it just happens. I can't help it. No, it's all moving according to a plan. God created and did this. He's working a plan, working a plan according to the counsel of his own will. Ephesians 1.11. He created and it's all according to the counsel of his own will. There is a God, so we are not naturalists. He is in control, so we are not fatalists. We cannot be an atheist. It eliminates atheism. A fool has said in his heart, what has he said? There is no God. You've got to be a fool to believe that. Next time somebody says that you say, oh man, are you a fool? They probably won't like that. So don't try that one. And it also eliminates pantheism, pan, awe, theism, God, God is all, all is God, the New Age thinking. By the way, the New Age thinking really has infiltrated the church. It really has, and it just. I just got a book. You take all the phrases that are used in and I hate to even mention it, but anyhow, very, very, very, very, very popular book today. Many, many churches have gone to it. You know, if you take the phrases that this pastor uses and put them next to new age, they are like Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam in the form of Christianity and churches all over Waterloo and all over America are going to do our church this way. It is pantheistic. God is always got its new age is what it is. All right. So, when they saw that God is there, he did create. We are not fatalist. We're not atheist. We're not pantheist. We're not naturalist. What does it establish? Romans one twenty percent. The creation of the world's. It has been evident that God exists. His Godhead and his eternal power. I mean, how can you look at the world and not say intelligent design or God? God does exist. It establishes dependence in him. All were created and all things are sustained. Colossians 1, 16 and 17. So I am totally dependent upon him in the day God steps out of the picture. I cease to exist. You know, I am not only created in that sense, but I am sustained because of him. Dependence. Romans 9 21. The potter can say to the clay, I'm going to do anything I want. Right. And the clay can't look back and say, you can't make me that you can't do that to me. You know, it's his responsibility. He's the potter. I'm the clay. He's a creator. I'm the created. Boom. End of discussion. He wants to make you tall or short or whatever he wants to do. He wants to make you the way he wants to make you put you where he wants to put you. You say, I'm just the clay. I am responsible to respond to him. Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory, which what's the definition of glory? The wonder of the the spectacle of the glory, you know, whatever they declare the wonder of God and the firmament shows his handy work, what he can do. And so those are very important. So it establishes worship. And finally, Genesis 320, Eve was the mother of all living. So one of the unique things about us as creationists is that we do believe that all of man is a unity of mankind. All right, we all come from the same. Genetic pool, all right, of two people, and then ultimately no one is buddies. You know, so there is a unity and many of the naturalists do not do that. What about the light years? All I can say is, by faith, we believe. That God created the worlds, and so there's some stars out there, 500,000 light years away, and we're seeing the light. How did that happen? He must have created it that way. All right. But by faith, I believe it. I don't have a real good explanation for everything that's thrown at us. What about the Grand Canyon and those kinds of things? Coal and stalagmites, stalagmites and all those things that prove the earth has to be at least so many thousands and billions of years old. Second, Peter three, six, the world that then existed. It's the next word starts with P. Perished. That world perished. It was destroyed by the cataclysmic event called the flood. And so, we now live in the next world. There is the pre-flood world, there's the existing world, there's a world to come, etc., etc. So, there are actually five worlds described in scripture. This is the world that then was. So, that explains the Grand Canyon. A lot of those things can be explained if you accept a Genesis flood. So, somebody has a quote by Gish. I bet you Reuben does. Grab that microphone and read it, Reuben. When it comes, that ends this on the origin of man. We are created beings. We are responsible, dependent. We have to worship. We are united. There's no ethnic cleansing amongst us as Christians. Is there the world that does not believe that they have ethnic cleansing? We're going to go into a you know, those are the tutus and we're the whatever's and we're going to kill them off. You cannot do that when you believe we are created by God. All right. Ruben, read Gish's famous little quote. We do not know how God created, what process He used for God to use processes which are not operating anywhere in the natural universe. This is why we refer to divine creation as special creation. We cannot discover by scientific investigation anything about the creative process used by God. That's a very important statement from Gish. Gish and Morris were with the Creation Research Institute and eventually became Answers in Genesis. That is a very important statement. We do not know how God created or what processes he used. And so sometimes we try to become so scientific in our explanations that we think we got it figured out. You do not have it figured out how Grand Canyon formed. And neither do I. I can give you some options. All I know is it's there, and God did it. And a flood may very well explain it, but it could have been God just dragged his fingernail through there. I don't know. He could have done anything he wanted. We really, at the end of the day, only know for sure what the Bible teaches us. And that's truth. And that's what I give to people. And that's what you give to people. So it was great to read Gish's. We cannot discover by scientific investigation anything about the creative processes of God. So, man is a created being. And that seems very simple to us, because probably you, I assume many of you were born in Christian homes and were taught that from your birth. But if you are not, if you were trained in the other world, the rest of the world, it's a real shock to you when somebody says, I've had people say, you don't really believe in creation. One guy said, here, you're just too intelligent. I love that. You're too intelligent to believe in creation. And one guy said, you're just you're just too rational. One of the professors of you and I said, you know, I really like you. You're very rational, intelligent. You really couldn't believe in. He just couldn't get it. I'm like the rest of the Christians, we have a low IQ. Any questions on the first part? Where did we come from? Origins? Significance? What does that mean to you? Anything? Alright, you're real dumb. Let's go on. There you go. We are, aren't we? By faith, I believe it. Oh, I have to get my notes here, but the created world. After that, there was a fall, you remember, so then 2 Peter 3, 6 says the world that then was, which is the world between creation and the flood. So pre fall, it must have been whatever between the fall and the flood. It must have been different. Then, according to 2 Peter 3, 6, the world that then exists, perish. So now we're in the present world, right? The last two are the tough ones. All right, we're going to go into the millennial world where the lamb will lie down with the lion. And it's just going to be different than my world. I know that. And then there's going to be the eternal existence and maybe world is not the right word for that. But our final state, it will still be different than millennial kingdom. OK, great. So we're right in the middle. All right, let's go on. Not only is man a created being, the second thing we got to understand about man as we study the Bible is that he is a what? Or an image bearer or an image bearing being. So this is the design, if that's the right word, of man. Let's go to Genesis 1, 26 and 27. Kind of going to have camp there for a little while and hopefully we can get this down. Genesis 1, 26 and 27, God said, what did he say? Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. So the two words that are used here and throughout scripture is this. When you think about us, I'm an image bearing man. So it's image and likeness. So we have the image of God, the likeness of God. How are, have these been understood? What does that mean? First of all, you tell me without looking at all my notes, your image and likeness of God. What does that mean? Means we're smart. Animals are dumb and we're smart. Just like God, I'm as smart as God. What does it mean? You know, it's a really tough question to answer. And you study this subject in commentaries on Genesis 1, you recognize we have really struggled to really nail that one down. And I know I do. It's like, I think I got it and then I don't. So someone said that means we talk. Animals can't talk. All right, image and likeness means I talk, means I can paint pictures, I'm artistic. Is that what it means? What does it mean? All right. Here are some that have been given by the early church fathers, and they made a distinction between image and likeness. Image was the rational part of man. retained after the fall. I'm making this real simplistic. If you read a hundred guys, you probably come up with a hundred things. All right. But just in broad, general strokes. So image means the rational part of man, which was retained after the fall. Likeness was the moral part of man, and that was lost at the fall. So we were created with the image and likeness. Then the fall happened, we kept image, we lost likeness. We're going to have to read some verses and see if that's true or not. And but anyway, rational and moral. So we have a rational part of us. We have a moral part of us. Dogs and cats don't make sense in one sense. But is it true? Many understand that they're not distinct. They are synonymous synonyms. There is no discernible distinction. Hebrew parallelism would be going into effect here, just as in all languages. Sometimes you say something, you say it again or use a different word. And Martin Luther was the one who said image, which is likeness, should be likeness there. And so one side says they are so distinct, one was lost and one is kept at the fall. The other said they are just interchangeable, doesn't really matter. Image is likeness, likeness is image, and there's no distinction. Is that right? Sounds logical. Let's ask this question, what does it not mean? All right, here are some some options. It means that I look like God. You know how tall God is? Six foot one. Right? And if you could see God, he'd look just about like you and me. His body just like mine. Maybe it's a little higher, a little shorter, whatever. But, you know, my body is like his body. You think that's true? Why not, Ken? He is spirit. John 4, 24. God is spirit. He doesn't have a body, my friends. It does not mean that our bodies are patterned after God's body. All right. Some people have tried to make it. I don't I think that's a slam dunk. That's why Christ in Philippians, chapter two, had to take on the form of a man, didn't he? And it was found in fashion as a man form and fashion. He didn't have a body. He was spirit. And then he did. So Jesus Christ now he took on the form of man and for all of eternity will have a body, but God is spirit. So it does not mean that our bodies look like God's bodies. Our bodies are patterned after his. That's why monkeys look like they do, and elephants look like they do, but not people. We have two eyes right here. We have a nose, we have a mouth. His God has two eyes and nose, a mouth and ears, and he's got hands and feet. Some of them prove it by some of the Old Testament passages in the Psalms. The ears of the Lord, the eyes of the Lord are always upon you and whatever. So therefore, he must have eyes and ears and his feet in his hands and whatever. Well, you and I know that's not what the Psalms are talking about. He is spirit. So it doesn't mean our bodies are patterned after God's interesting. Ecclesiastes 729 says man was made up upright for the only animal that walks like this. So, it means we're image and likeness of God means that we're upright beings. We don't run on all fours. Is that true? That's what it means when it says your image and likeness means you walk on two feet. What do you call that, a peda? Something? No, a two-footed thing? What is it? Bi-ped, thank you. I had ped without the bi, thank you. Alright. Is that what it means? This means yes, this means no? How many think image like this means we all walk on two feet? Because God walks on two feet. No. The word upright in Ecclesiastes, by the way, doesn't mean we were made upright. In other words, we were made to walk on two feet. It means we could translate it to be righteous. It has nothing to do with standing on two feet. It means everything about being upright, about being righteous. We're a moral creature. We know good and evil. I mean, we're supposed to be upright people. Number three, it does not mean we were, are or ever will be equal with God. Psalm 50, your thoughts are not. You thought that I was altogether like you. All right, Psalm 50, if you read it, it says you thought that I was altogether like you. God is speaking. I am not like you. You're not equal with me. You never were, never will be. Isaiah 55, my thoughts are. Not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. I mean, how many times has God has to say in the scriptures, you guys aren't as smart as me. You're not as good as me. You're not as perfect as me. You guys are not like me. All right. Jeremiah 10, 6 and 7, in as much as there is none like you. God is is there's no one like God. All right. So it doesn't mean we were like God and then we fell. Adam and Eve, really, they were just like God. It doesn't mean that we have all of that stuff. So what does it mean? The word image means to. Carve. Right, so I can carve an image to have a shape or to shape. To outline or silhouette. So it means something about I'm going to. Susan shares if she was here, give it to her house. She carves. And what's so interesting, she's she's carved little birds like she has one, I think it was a cardinal. It's beautiful. The wings are real thin wood. It's just incredible what she's done. She's won at the state fair and whatever. Here's Joey running around with his carving that he's thrown to the air with this, you know, marvelously done. It looks just like a cardinal. It's just phenomenal. Is it a cardinal? No, it's just a bunch of wood, and she happens to have the skills to carve it and makes it look like a cardinal. And so when you look at it, you say, what a wonderful cardinal. And you're not lying, right? I mean, in one sense, you just you didn't lie when you said, oh, because, you know, it isn't a cardinal. It's a piece of wood that looks like a cardinal. It represents a cardinal. When I look at it, I think cardinal, right? And if you did an ego, I'd look at it, say ego, or if I did whatever. And so we are image of God. We represent God. When you look at us, when people look at you and people look at me as I walk through my world some way, I'm like a carving of of God, not very good one, but still I'm his carving and people recognize or should recognize something about God in me. And that's the way we were initially designed, and to some extent still are. I represent God. Every day I walk through my world, I represent God. I represent God. I represent God. I represent God. That word, by the way, is used in Genesis 9, 6 and 1 Corinthians 11, 7. We're going to go to them later. We are still image. In some ways, that is still true. You still represent God. Some days you don't look very good. Someday you're carving is not real hot. Another day, she just spit an image and looks really good. You did him well. The second word likeness, I think, remember earlier, whether the how do they understood the early church fathers that are this far apart? Luther said they are exactly synonymous. I think they're somewhat distinct, although very close. Likeness means to be similar. So if I take a carving, I could carve a cardinal and Sue could carve a cardinal. Hers, you would look at and say, Cardinal and mine, you look at and say, wow, you probably wouldn't even say bird would. What was that? You get that caught in your router or what? You know what happened there? So image, we represent God likeness. How similar are we? You know, how close is it? So we are likeness. It means to be similar or comparable. And that word is used in Genesis five one and James three nine. For example, that word is also used in Ezekiel one verse five indicates that idols had likeness to the gods. That word is used there that they represented. So if you're going to represent the sun by a carving. How would you do that? Would you would you carve a dog? No, you wouldn't carve a dog, you'd carve a sun, right? If you wanted to have a carving that represented, you know, a falcon or an eagle, you wouldn't do a pig, you know, you do something that looks like it, it's similar to, right? And that's what Ezekiel says, that the car, the gods, and you read that you study the gods of the other worlds and history. If they thought that God was the sun, they would have a carving or a picture of the sun. If they thought that God was a ball, it would be a carving of a ball. There was a likeness, similar or comparable. So we are to resemble God. We're not only to represent him, we're to resemble him. And now we're getting on shaky ground. How can I represent him and how can I resemble him? Because he's infinite and I'm finite and he's perfect and I'm imperfect and all that kind of stuff. But just think of it in a broad stroke. As I walk through my world, as Adam and Eve were created, they were supposed to represent God and resemble God. And that's still what's supposed to be true of me. I represent God every day of my life, and I'm supposed to look a little bit like him. Does God lie? Does he steal? Does he this? Does he that? And what the things that he does, that's what I'm supposed to do and things that he doesn't does. That's what I'm not supposed to do. Right. I'm supposed to resemble him so people can look on. The world can look on and say, you know, I understand you're good. He's honest. He's loving, he's compassionate, he's you know, the list goes on. We were created as an image bearer of God. We therefore reveal the qualities of God. Therefore, we are not like other created life forms. By the way, there's a book out. This is the God that the day has made. All right. All of the religions make their gods. This is a God that the day has made, but that is not what the scripture says is the day that the Lord has made. All right. He is who he is. We're supposed to rise to his representation and resemblance. By the way, that's why the Ten Commandments, God says again and again, I don't want any graven images. I don't want you guys to try to carve something that looks like me. Why not? He's already got something that's supposed to look like him. He's got a much better plan than some little thing that sits on a shelf somewhere. There's my God. Our God's a bull. You know what he says? He's got a I have a living image. It's you. And I don't need any inferior images. I just want you to be my image. I want you to be my likeness. And so very it was very Strongly stated, no graven images. I don't want to use stuff made of wood and silver and stuff. I got you. OK, so that's very, very important. And in the Romans, of course, the problem was they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the image like as that created by man. And it's just degrading the God to have that. So what next page? What are some ways that man represents and resembles God? You walk through your world. People look at you and what way can they do you represent and resemble God? Well, let me just take a second here. And you can't see this, but if you could see it, it talks about the attributes of God. And this is a partial listing. Typically, the attributes of God, what we think of as his attributes or characteristics are divided in a lot of different ways. And every commentary has a different. But typically, you ultimately come up with those which are in communicable and those which are communicable. All right. In communicable means They can't be communicated or passed on to you and me. For example, God is everywhere present. Guess what? You're never going to be that. He's all-knowing. Guess what? You're never going to be that. He's all-powerful. You're never going to be that. He is absolutely sovereign. Guess what? You're never going to be that. So there are certain qualities or attributes that are not communicable to us. They're incommunicable. And then there are other attributes which are communicable. such as righteousness, goodness, love, patience, mercy, grace, et cetera, et cetera. There are not all. Not everybody sees those as true, because probably we never can be as righteous as God is righteous or as whatever as God is. And so but in a small way, we can be like him. But let's just think about what are some ways man represents or resembles God. These are just some that are often listed. I think it is not exhaustive. We just struggle with this. And I'm not sure you can come up with a perfect list. I don't think I can. But here's some very common ones. First of all, we resemble God or represent God because we are personal. We have emotion, will and intellect. We are people. All right. And I know your dog, you think, has an emotion and a will. I know he has that and intellect. I'm not so sure about that. But anyway, The truth is, every one of these, as you look at the other creation, you can say, well, maybe in a little way they have intellect and will, whatever. But we are personal. We have feelings. We have actions. We have thinking. Somehow we are like God and represent God in that way. The next one is we are eternal. or immortal. Of course, God is eternal from eternity past eternity future. We had a beginning point. All right. But from that point on, we're going to we're going to listen. Exist for all of eternity. Dogs die. End of discussion. They're not going to be in heaven. All right. I know that bothers you. Some of you, but your dog's not going to be in heaven. Of course, some people believe they are. Anyway, we are immortal beings. First Corinthians, fifteen, forty four about the resurrected body, some mortal race, immortal, et cetera, et cetera. We are spiritual beings. In other words, we have the ability to walk and talk with God. And so did Adam and Eve in the beginning, and we still can. And dogs and cats and skunks and fishes don't walk and talk with God. So we're spiritual, we're moral beings. We know good and evil. Does a dog know good and evil? No, he just knows if I do that, my master's going to hit me, and therefore I don't think he wants me to do it. I don't like what happens when I do do it, so I'm not going to do it. And I'm not sure he is able to morally comprehend, oh, that was wrong. I hurt somebody. You know, they just do what's natural. My dog used to chase garbage trucks. You know, he didn't know that was wrong. I got run over by it. But anyway, there are verbal. We are verbal. He really didn't get run over by that. He got run over by the trailer behind it. The amazing thing, he survived. That was a tragedy of the day. My dog got run over by a garbage truck trailer and he lived. What do you do with them then? Anyway, we are moral beings. He was. We are verbal beings. We have the ability to speak. We are able to communicate with others and with God. We have the capacity for that. We are creative beings. We're artistic. We can create music and art and whatever. We build buildings and we have some flair to them and whatever. So those are some of them. And as you go that you really, really struggle with, is that inclusive? Is that really true? Are we the only people that have emotions? Don't dogs have emotions? So to me, you still really, really struggle with that. And you still try to figure out what it is that we are unique about. I think right here now we're going to go that later on, so I think we could expand on it. I think, David, you have something that David I'm sorry, John Wickham wrote, Dr. John Wickham wrote about Man is a crown of creation. Just read it for us. The physical difference between man and apes are enormous, as careful observation clearly shows, but if physical differences are great, the mental, cultural, spiritual differences are little short of infinite. Of all living beings on this planet, only man is self-conscious as a person, is sufficiently free from the bondage of instincts to exercise real choices and to have significant purposes and goals in life, has complex emotions including sadness and joy, appreciates art and music creatively, can make real tools, can be truly educated rather than merely trained, can use oral and written symbols to communicate abstract concepts to other persons and thus enjoy true fellowship, can accumulate knowledge and attain wisdom beyond previous generations and thus make genuine history. can discern moral right and wrong and suffer agonies of conscience, can recognize the existence and rightful demands of his Creator through worship, sacrifice, and religious service. Only man will exist forever as a personal being either in heaven or hell. OK, very good. We all struggle with what is the in what way do we represent and resemble? And we try to do all that. In contrast to that statement, you have the work entitled The Naked Ape. And this man who wrote about it, Desmond Morris, just to remind you and me at the end of the day, no matter how smart you think you are, no matter how intelligent and artistic and whatever, you're just a naked ape. And as Francis Clark said, you know what man is, he's junk. That's all man is, and therefore you can treat man like junk. Wouldn't you like that philosophy of life? Man is basically a naked ape and he's junk. So treat him that way. He's really not much better. The Bible says that we are an image bearer of God. We are not junk. We are not a naked ape. We are not something you can treat like junk. It is not that we are just nothing. We are the crown of creation. We are we are special. There's something unique about this. There's something spectacular about us. Psalm 8, remember, he said, What is man that you are mindful of him? The son of man, you visit him. You've made him a little lower than the angels. You're crowned with glory and honor. I mean, we're we're something here, guys. And if you don't believe that and you accept evolution, you're next and naturally come up with your just junk. You're just a bunch of chemicals. And some people think you're good looking chemicals and some people don't, but you're just a bunch of chemicals. And if I want to shoot you, I can just shoot you. Because what does it matter if I destroy some chemicals? And God says, no, no, no, no, no, no. You are the crown of creation. Our time is up, so we're going to stop there. Let's just take a moment to think about that. What what impact does that have for your week this week, knowing that you're not junk? You're the crown of creation. Your image and likeness. God. Have any impact on you? What if you're a secular evolutionist and you believe you're just junk? How will we walk through our world differently this week? Pardon me? Yeah. We'd have no regard or little regard for ourselves or others. Why treat it with respect? Why worry about it? Why? Who cares if 30,000 Iraqis died? Good. I don't like them anyway. I don't care. Do you care? They're just Iraqis. They're just junk, just chemicals. Let them die. Did you know there was an earthquake and a whole bunch of people died? Who cares? Who gives a rip? We need less people on this earth anyway. Let's get rid of them, right? They're just junk. That's one radical difference, right? What else? Yeah, just leave this with you. You are supposed to represent God this week. People don't see God. He has said that again and again in scriptures, no man can see me. So people, you know, they walk through the world and see what he made, but they can't see God. And so he says, I want you guys to represent me. We're not going to have little things on shelves. Buddhas with big belly and, you know, in corners of buildings. We're going to have you walking around. You represent me. Make sure you look like me. You're not just image. You're likeness. I want you to be like me. I want you to be holy. I want you to be righteous. I want you to be loving. I want you to be compassionate. I want you to be merciful. I want you to be honest. I want you to be. That's who I am. Make sure you look like me. As you walk through the world. And that suddenly makes life real somber to me. Doesn't it? How did I treat people? What did I say about people? What did I do? Did I look pretty good like God? Or not? Your image and likeness. Make sure you act like it this week.