FORDOCHE
03/15/98

	CREATION OF MAN
	AUTHOR: DR. JERRY VINES  

OUTLINE 
I.  God Creates Man  
II. God Crowns Man  
III. God Claims Man         

SERMON TEXT: GENESIS 1:2631

we're going to talk about the creation of man tonight.
  
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, and over the cattle,  and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that  creepeth upon the earth.      
27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God  created he him; male and female created he them.      
28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,  and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and  have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl  of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon  the earth.      
29. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing  seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every  tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;  to you it shall be for meat.      
30. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the  air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth,  wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for  meat [or food]: and it was so.      

31. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it  was very good.  And the evening and the morning were the  sixth day.       


There are three great questions
    that need to be answered:  

Question number one: 		Who am I? 

Question number two: 		Where did I come from?  

Question number three: 	Where am I going?  


The question:	 Where did I come from? 

is the question that is our theme 
   as we're looking at the CREATION OF MAN.  


There are really two competing views 
   about where man came from.  


One of the views is the VIEW OF EVOLUTION.  

Evolution teaches 
   that man evolved from lower forms of life.  
   
If you talk to an evolutionist 
   and ask him where a man came from 
      he may replay something like this:


"Well, once upon a time there was a pool of green scum, and in that green scum there was a paramecium.  

The paramecium became a tadpole, 
   and then the tadpole became a monkey, 
      and then the monkey became a homo sapien, 
         as you see me right now."  


That is the evolutionist's explanation 
   of how man came into existence.  


Now if evolution be true, 
      then of course there is no need for a God.  

You don't have to have a God with a view like that.  


And if that be true, then it means that man is not a sinner, and it means that man does not need a Savior, 
      and it means that there was no need 
         for Jesus to come into the world 
            and die on the cross.  
            
That's one view of how man came about.       


And, by the way, it is this view 
   that creates most of the problems 
      we face in our society today.  


We have raised a generation of people 
   who believe this view of life, 


      and if you believe this view of life 
         then all you think about man is: 
            that man is just a higher form of the animals, 


            that he has no accountability to God, 
               and that there are no morals, 
                  that there is no ethics, 

         and that anything a man wants to do is all right 
            if it is all right to him.  


Did you read all of the articles in the paper today 
   about violence, 
      about crime? 
      
The paper was literally filled with it today. 

We are reaping the fruits today 
   in a society which has taught 
      that man is his own authority, 
         that man is simply an animal 
            that evolved from lower forms of life, 

and therefore 
   he has no accountability for his behavior whatsoever.  


That's one of the views.       


Now of course the other view, 
   and the view you and I hold, 
      is the view of creation.  


We believe that the Bible is true when the Bible says: 

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."  


And we also believe it is true in verse 26 that God said: 

"Let us make man in our image."  

We believe that once upon a time 
   man was much higher than he is tonight.  


We believe that God created man in His own image 
   and from that lofty creation man fell, 
      to the point that man, many times 
         lives below the level of the animals.  


In fact I really think when you think about it, 
   evolution is an insult to the monkeys.  

Did you know there's not a monkey anywhere I know of that gets drunk and goes home and beats his wife?  

I have never heard of a monkey 
   leaving its children with another monkey 
      to go somewhere.  


It is an insult to the animals 
   to say that man came from an animal 
      because man has fallen lower than the animals.  


Let’s look at what God says about the creation of man.  

The only person who was present 
   when God created man 
      was God himself, 


   and we know the origin of man not from science 

   but we know the origin of man from the Bible.  


God has revealed how man came into existence.       


Look first of all in verse 26 
"And God said, Let us make man in our image."  

You will notice there it says, "Let us make man." 

This may be an early reference to the Trinity.  

We believe that God is one God 
   and yet He reveals himself in three persons: 
      God the Father, 
      God the Son, 
      and God the Holy Spirit.  


God said, "Let us make man in our own image."  

Now you will notice here immediately 
   that man is to be made  
      in the image 
         and in the likeness 
            of God, 

and so that tells us that MAN IS UNIQUE, 

   that man is different from all of the creation thus far.  


Now, of course, there are resemblances 
   between man and the animals.  


There are those who observe those resemblances 
   and on the basis of the resemblances 
      between animals and man 
         they teach that man came from the animals.  


When you go through all of the attempts of anthropology
   to find the missing link 
      you will find that most of the links are missing, 

   there is no evidence whatsoever on the earth 
      to prove that man evolved from an animal.  


God created man 
   to relate to the Creator 
      in His image 
         and also to rule over the creation.       


Now you will notice what it says.  
He says:
 "Let them have dominion 
   over the fish of the sea, 
      and over the fowl of the air." 


In other words 
   God determines 
      that man is to be different from animals.  


Did you notice the word "over"?  

Let them have dominion 
   over the fish,
   over the fowl, 
   over the cattle, 
   over all the earth, 
   over every creeping thing.  


There man is established in dominion. 

I'm convinced in my own mind 
   that if Darwin had access to the information 
      we have today ABOUT GENETICS 
         he would never have believed in evolution.  


There was an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel 
   who discovered the PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY, 
      we call it GENETICS. 


And he found that every living creature 
   has a certain chromosome count.  


      Man has one chromosome count, 

      other animals have other counts, 

and he discovered 
   that everything that a person will become 
      is already found in their genetic makeup.  


And so there is a difference between man and animals.  

So, you see, God creates man.       

Verse 27.  God created man in His own image, 
   in the image of God created He him; 
      male and female created He them.  

MAN DID NOT COME FROM THE ANIMALS.  


Look over at the third chapter.  

I want to show you what it says 
   in Genesis the third chapter and in verse 19; 
      here's what God says to the first man, Adam:

19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, 
till thou  return unto the ground; 
for out of it [that is, the  ground] wast thou taken: 
for dust thou art, and unto dust  shalt thou return.  


Man was not taken from the animals, 
   but the Bible says man was taken from the dust.  


God molded a man, 
      breathed into that dust the breath of life, 
         and man came into existence.  

you are here because God has created you.  


I want you to notice in verses 28 and following 
we see, secondly, that GOD CROWNS MAN.  


I want you to see the lofty place 
   that God gives to man in His creation.  

It says in verse 28 that God blessed man and said, 
   "Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth."  


Now the Bible teaches very clearly in First Corinthians 15

There was a first man 
   and the Bible says his name was Adam.  

And it was the responsibility of Adam and Eve 
   to fill the earth.  


But notice not only that they are to FILL THE EARTH:
   but also to SUBDUE AND DOMINATE the earth.  


Look at the rest of verse 28; he says: 
"have dominion over the fish of the sea, 
over the fowl of the air, 
and every living thing that creepeth upon the earth." 

You see, God established man as the leader, 
   God gave to original man and woman 
      lordship over the physical creation.  


We can only imagine the tremendous powers 
that God had placed within the man that He had created.  


The Bible tells us 
   there was another man who came into the world.  


Adam was known as the first man, 


   The Lord Jesus Christ, 
      was known as the second man, 
         or the last Adam.  


Jesus, accomplished and fulfilled 
   everything that Adam could have done 
      if sin had not caused man to fall.  
      
And so when you look at the Lord Jesus Christ 
   what you see is what man would have been able to do 
      had sin not caused him to fall.  


Jesus subdued the physical creation.  

The Lord Jesus came and stood on the deck of the ship and He looked out at those tossing waves 
and He looked out at those howling winds 
and Jesus said, "Peace! Be still."  

And when He did those winds and those waves 
laid at the feet of the Master like whipped puppies.  

He subdued the physical creation.  


	In fact Jesus could walk on water.  


Jesus had dominion over the fish of the sea.  


One time Jesus got in the boat of Simon Peter 
and He said to Simon, 
"Launch out into the deep for a catch of fish."  

And Simon seemed to be saying to the Lord, 
   "Lord, I'm a fisherman, you're a carpenter.  
      I know my business better than you do; 

   Lord, we've been fishing all night 
      and there ain't no fish to be caught out here."  

And yet Jesus said, "Didn't I say unto you, 
'Cast out into the deep'?"     And so Simon Peter said: 
"Lord, at thy word we'll cast in the net."  

And you know what?  
Fish came from every corner of the Sea of Galilee.  

They came over the salty super slabs 
and the fishy four lanes 
and they had a traffic jam in Galilee 
because the fish were obedient to their Creator.

He had control over masses of fish.       


But you know what?   Jesus could control one little fish.  

One time it was April 15th (TAX TIME)
He said, "Simon, I'll tell you what you do.  You go down to the Sea of Galilee and you throw in a hook, and the first fish you catch you will find in that fish a golden coin.  Take it out and go pay our taxes."  

The second Adam, had dominion over the fish of the sea.  

And that's what Adam would have had 
   if sin hadn't entered into this world.       


But that's not all.  
Man is to have dominion over the fowl of the air, 
the birds of the air.  

remember old Simon Peter 
   and the time the ROOSTER CROWED


Man also was to have dominion over 
every living thing that moveth upon the earth.  


The Lord Jesus Christ was getting ready for His triumphal entry and the Lord said, "You go and you find a donkey upon which none has ever ridden before." A wild donkey.  Have you ever ridden a wild donkey?  I have. Before the days Six Flags and the Scream Machine and all of that we didn't have a lot to entertain us, and I used to ride wild donkeys.  I'll tell you what, it was really wild, too.  You ain't lived till you've been thrown by a wild donkey.  And so the Lord said, "Go get that donkey; he's wild, never been ridden."  Can't you see that donkey now, come down there jumping and leaping and kicking up its feet and all of that?  Nobody can ride a wild donkey.  And yet the Lord Jesus Christ sat upon that donkey and all of a sudden that old donkey's ears just lowered down in submission and he never flinched a muscle.  You know why?  God said man is to have dominion over every living creature.       And you know what, dear friends?  One of these days when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back into this world, one of these days all us who have been born again and saved by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're going to come back with Him and the Bible says He's going to rule and reign on this earth, and the Bible says we're going to rule and reign with Jesus Christ, and we'll do the things Jesus did when He was on this earth that Adam could have done if sin hadn't entered into the world.  God creates man.  God crowns man.       But then I want you to notice not only that but God claims man.  Notice what it says in verse 31: "God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good."  Now as you read the first chapter of the book of Genesis you will discover that six times up to this point it makes the comment that God saw that it was good.  Six times God saw it was good, but now that He has created man and crowned man, given him lordship over the creation, it says the seventh time that it was very good.  The Living Bible puts it this way, that it was "excellent in every way."  In other words when God saw the man that He had created, the apex of His creation, the zenith of His creation, you see, man is the finest product that ever was created off the assembly line of God's creative process, man is the zenith of it all, and God says, "I claim that man; he is very good."   You see, man, dear friends, is the marvel of the universe.  On the walls of the Library of Congress there is an inscription which says there is only one temple in the universe and it is the body of man.  And the psalmist said, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  Oh, the wonder of God's creation of man.       You ever thought about what a physical marvel is a man?  When God created a human being what a physical marvel that was.  Have you ever thought about that?  You think about all the human cells in a human body.  They tell me that there are as many as 300 trillion cells in your body.  You think about that.  And every one of those cells has a specific design: it has an outer wall, it has an inner substance called cytoplasm, and then it has a nucleus; and in that nucleus are the genes and the DNA and all of that. And all of those cells have an assignment; every cell in your body has an assignment.  Some of your body's cells are supervisors and they supervise the project; they send the signals to the other cells and tell them what to do.  And then some of the cells in your body are the carpenters, and those cells build the bony structure of your body.  And then some of the cells are the plumbers, they're the ones who lay the pipes for all of your body. And then some of your cells are the electricians and they are the ones that lay all of the communication lines, the nerves, that go through all of the parts of your body.  And then some of your cells are power plants, and those are the muscles that cause your body to be able to pick things up.  And then other cells of your body are chemical plants and they produce the glands and the secretions that are a part of your body.  And all of those cells, working in perfect harmony, and when their job is completed and a little baby cries, and a man or a woman is born.  What a marvel. What a marvel is the body.  How it's made.       And then how a body matures.  Isn't it a beautiful thing to see the way a body matures?  I mean you take a little boy, he is just a little baby barely able to crawl, and then that little one gets up on halting feet and learns to begin to take a few steps. And that little baby becomes a little boy, now able to run and leap, and hit a baseball and kick a football, and catch a ball. And then that little boy becomes a man, now strong and able to work and to move.  And then there's that precious little baby girl and she becomes a little girl, able to run and to laugh.  And then she becomes a precious child, a precious girl, and now a precious mother.  The body begins to grow.  Those little hands begin to grow and those feet and those legs begin to grow, and then all of a sudden it just stops.  What tells the body to grow for a period of time and then just to stop?  And yet the fact of the matter is, even though the body gets to a certain size and it stops creation is still going on.       For instance, your eye is constantly recreating itself and yet it never has any intermission in its ability to see.  And your heart is constantly rebuilding itself and yet it never misses a beat.  And your lungs are constantly rebuilding and replenishing their cells and yet you never miss a breath.  What is it that causes the body to grow to a certain place and then it stops? Don't tell me it's blind chance.  I want to tell you, friends, it's God, it's God, that's who does it.  The physical marvel of God's creation.  God claims us.       And then there is the mental marvel of God's creation.  Think of the mental marvel of man.  Think of the tremendous powers of man to think.  You see, animals can be trained, but people can be taught.  You can train a dog, but you can teach a child.  There's a mental difference between the two.  For instance, have you ever tried to teach geology to an elephant?  Or have you ever tried to teach astronomy to an eagle?  Have you ever tried to teach theology to a dog?  Man has the ability to think.  Man has the ability to innovate and to create.  If evolution were true, if man were in the process of an upward evolution, at what point did man evolve to an appreciation for music, and to an interest in art? At what point did man get interested in literature and in those kinds of things?  Man's tremendous mental ability.  The memory that God has given to you.  Did you know that there are some Jewish people  who have memorized the entire first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy, verse by verse?  We've had him here in this church many years ago, Angel Martinez, the great evangelist; he memorized the entire New Testament.  The powers of the mind of a man; no animal has that.  There's a difference between a man and an animal.  God claims us, he's very good.       And then of course man's tremendous spiritual capacity.  God said, "Make him in my image."  What that means is that man has a Godconsciousness.  Someone said man is incurably religious; that is exactly true.  There is something about us in the image of God that calls out for God, that desires to know God, that desires to worship God, that desires to have contact with God, that desires to communicate with God.  Listen, friends, you have never seen a group of donkeys, you've never seen a group of dogs form a church, you have never seen hippopotamuses having a baptism, you have never seen cows with tears in their eyes on their knees calling out to God for forgiveness and salvation.  But a man has the capacity to want to know God and to have God.       Why are you that way?  Why is it that there's something down inside of you that lets you know there's more to life than the things you see around you?  And why is it that there's something inside of you that lets you know that there is a God who really exists and that you need to get to know that God?  I'll tell you why.  It's because the Bible says that God said, "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness."  God has made you with a capacity to know Him.       I want to summarize the whole story of man in three quick words and then we'll give the invitation.  Here's the story of man in three words.  Number one, creation.  God created man in His own image.  God created man in that lofty position.  Creation.  But the second word is the word "degeneration."  You see, the Bible says that from that lofty height sin caused man to fall.  I used the illustration some time ago, it will fit again tonight.  If you were walking through the woods and all of a sudden you saw a mass of wreckage, you saw a wing over here, and you saw a tail over here, and you saw a cockpit over here, and you saw steel, and you saw electrical wires and all these kinds of things that resemble a jet airplane, and about that time you saw a jet airplane flying overhead, which would be the most logical to suppose?  That once upon a time that jet airplane in the air was down in the woods all scattered out like that, and somehow by some colossal miracle these pieces all came together, assembled themselves, organized themselves, and now the jet is flying.  Is that logical?  Or would it be more logical to suppose that once upon a time all these pieces were together in a jet airplane and something happened tragically and caused the jet to fall?       And, ladies and gentlemen, when I see gang warfare and gang crime in Jacksonville, and when I see murder in Jacksonville, and when I see teenage pregnancies in Jacksonville, and when I see broken homes in Jacksonville, and when I see lives wrecked and ruined in Jacksonville I don't say that it's an unfortunate bump on man's evolution upward, I say something happened and sin has caused the problems, and sin has caused man to fall.  Creation. Degeneration.        But here's the third word that summarizes it all: regeneration.  You see, man has the capacity to know God.  Man was made in the likeness of God, and the New Testament teaches that there was a time when God came down and was made in the likeness of man.  When Jesus was born He was not made in the likeness of an animal, He was made in the likeness of a man.  And so, you see, this great God who made man in His own likeness came down and was found in the likeness of a man, and this Godman, the Lord Jesus Christ, died on an old rugged cross outside the city of Jerusalem. And, my friends, Jesus died on that cross for you, and Jesus died on that cross for you, and Jesus died on that cross for you, and He died on that cross for me; He never died for an animal, He died for people like me and like you.  And the good news is if you'll come to the Lord Jesus and repent of your sin and invite Him personally into your heart and into your life He'll save you and He'll make you what you were created to be: someone to know Him and to serve Him and to be like Him. ?

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