Adam and the Fall - Far Away Planet

Last evening I began to illustrate diagrammatically some of the essential truths of the Christian faith, our relationship, it's a faith relationship, without which it is impossible to please God. And we're going to continue to do that this morning, then pick up the threads again tonight. But if you remember, we began by recognizing the fact that God created on this planet three forms of life, vegetable, animal, and man.

Man, of course, being part of the animal kingdom, physiologically, and yet lifted out of the animal kingdom to become man because he was uniquely designed for a special, incredible privilege. Vested with a physical, visible, and audible body so that in that physical, visible, and audible body he can give a physical, visible, and audible expression of an invisible self indwelt by an invisible God. Bringing God out into the open where God could be seen.

And until we understand the nature of man and how God created him, we'll never understand how God intended us to function, nor will we understand what happened to man when he fell into sin, nor will we have an intelligent grasp of the remedial measures that God introduced to put things right. We call it the gospel. It's good news.

Because it's designed to restore to man the life he lost in Adam, resurrection. That's why the resurrection is the heart of the gospel, not the cross. The cross is essential, absolutely imperative.

For it was there that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree, not in the grave, on the tree. But although the cross is absolutely imperative, the cross is not the heart of the gospel. Resurrection is the heart of the gospel.

The apostle makes it abundantly clear in the first of his two epistles to the Corinthians, 15th chapter, verse 14, if Christ be not risen from the dead. My preaching is vain, no matter what I tell you about the cross, no matter how I paint the picture of his agony there, with the nails through his hands and feet, and the blood and spittle trickling down his cheeks, and the spear wound in his side, and the mocking crowd gazing at him, no matter if he's emotionally moved and stirred, if that's all I can tell you, that Jesus died, says he, then my preaching is vain, your faith is vain, it's an exercise in futility, and you're still in your sins. If then, apart from the resurrection, the preaching of the cross is vain, and leaves us still in our sins, what's the heart of the gospel? The resurrection.

And this becomes abundantly clear, of course, in the divine revelation, from the very beginning of God's word to the end. It's only because the Lord Jesus himself rose again from the dead, you and I can share his resurrection life. Because I live, said the Lord Jesus, John 14, you will live also.

But if you're going to stop existing and begin to live, it's only because I died and rose again from the dead, to share my life with you, and thereby restore to man that for which he was created, and which he lost in Adam, the life of God. Now in the vegetable kingdom, no sooner has a plant come into being, than it begins to fade and die. In the Pacific coast of the United States, of course, there are some mammoth trees, giant trees.

And I've been to see them, you can drive a car through one. They're enormous, and it's estimated that they have lived, one or two of them, for at least three thousand years. And they're still alive.

But they're dying. And you can see the marks of death, indicating that they're doomed to die. All forms of animal life are born to die.

As soon as an animal is born, it begins to die. And man, in his lost condition, in his unregenerate state, and even on earth regenerate, but still in that corruptible body which was the by-product of man's fall into sin, he was born to die. It is appointed unto men once to die.

After that, the judgment. That refers, of course, to physical death. And the longer you live, the sooner you'll die.

Do you realize that? From the moment Sonny Westbrook was born, he began to lose his hair. Can you imagine what he'll look like in twenty years? He won't need a comb, nor even a hairbrush. Just a bottle of furniture polish.

And a head brush. Because he's dying. Sad, isn't it? The son is dying.

So are you. And so am I. My father died at the age of eighty-seven. And if I live as long as my father lived, I've got eight more years to live.

That's all. And the longer I live, the sooner I'll die. If I live for another four years, I've only got four years to live.

If I live for another six years and I die at the age of my father, I've only got two years to live. And if I live for another eight years and I die when my father died, I'll be dead. And I'd like to invite you all now to my funeral.

Have a good day. I will not be there. I'll be absent from this body, but I'll be present with my Lord.

You see, man was created to live forever. Jim, if we could have the head on. I trust that it's still possible for you to see that reasonably.

If you're too far at the back, there are seats in the front. I can't bring the screen to you, but you can come to the screen. And we'll pick the story up from there.

You see, man in normality. The first man, Adam. Innocence and the fall.

But in his innocence, man was made to live forever. Because he was created to be inhabited by God. To share the life of God forever.

Man will never become God. But he can enjoy the life of God. God, of course, if you so desire, can become man, but man can never become God.

But he was created, and we discussed this yesterday evening, with a body in common with all forms of created life. But man was created not only with a body like the vegetable kingdom, he was created with a soul like the animal kingdom. Man is the spirit, soul, and body.

And the soul, mind, emotion, and will. You can't quite see that on the top, I'm sorry to say, but that's what it says. He is a trinity.

A trichotomy. Because God didn't only give man a body in common with the vegetable and animal kingdom, he didn't only give man a soul in common with the animal kingdom, he gave to man what he didn't give to any other form of created life, the human spirit. Just let's check that in the word of God.

Turn to the first epistles of the Thessalonians. And we've already quoted from this passage, but just to remind you, because I'm reliably told that we only retain 10% of anything we hear. So if I want you to remember everything I have said, I've got to say everything at least 10 times.

And I'll do my best. But in the fifth chapter, the first epistles of the Thessalonians, and the 23rd verse, the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly. And don't be frightened of that word sanctification, sanctify.

It's a very healthy, strong, robust, venturesome word. People have a sort of rather fuzzy connotation of what sanctification means. You know, you've got to have a miserable looking face and wear black stockings.

And a bun on the top of your head, then you're sanctified. But sanctification simply means set apart. Set apart.

Anything can be sanctified. Set apart for the intelligent purpose which intelligently created. When I put my shoes on this morning and walked here in them, I sanctified them.

In other words, I used them for the intelligent purpose which they were intelligently made. I didn't have to. I could have come barefoot and worn them on my head.

And you'd have thought I was a little peculiar. And you'd have been right. When I wear my glasses, I sanctify them.

I use them for the intelligent purpose for which an intelligent creator intelligently created them. Enables me to see where otherwise I would have some difficulty. But I don't have to wear them.

I use my glasses for all other possible means that they're suitable to use for. I don't know whether you've ever tried this, but they make a fantastic letter opener. Just rip the envelope.

Excellent. I travel a lot and sometimes I've given a mug of coffee, but no spoon. So I stir my coffee with my glasses.

But I wouldn't have paid what I pay for these glasses simply to open letters or stir coffee. I stick them on my nose and sanctify them. When you look at your watch, you sanctify it.

Because it's designed by an intelligent creator to give you the time, tell you whether it's late or early. Whether I ought to stop speaking or not. That's why sometimes I put my watch on the rostrum.

It doesn't mean too much, but it's designed to tell me how long I've been speaking, when I ought to quit. So every time you look at your watch, to tell the time you sanctify it. And while I'm preaching I see all kinds of people sanctifying their watches.

Using it for the intelligent purpose which it was intelligently created. Now that's what sanctification means in relation to you and to me. It means that your humanity in mind, body, soul and a human spirit is available to God for the intelligent purpose for which an intelligent God intelligently created it.

That's sanctification. And of course it is the key to true fulfillment. Because then your humanity is not being misused or abused.

And it tells us here in this fifth chapter, 1 Thessalonians, the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. Put you to the intelligent purpose for which you were intelligently created by an intelligent creator. I pray God your whole spirit, human spirit, not the holy spirit, the human spirit.

And conjunction, soul, mind, emotion and will. And conjunction, your body. Because they're three separate entities.

But part of the corporate whole of that humanity with which God has invested you and me. To accomplish an intelligent end in this physical, visible and audible body. To give a physical, visible and an audible expression of an invisible self.

But indwelt and governed by an invisible God. So that in our humanity an invisible God is brought out into the open. And all creation has the right to look at us and know what God is like.

Behaving. That's normality. Magnificently demonstrated by the Lord Jesus.

Said he, look at me and see my father. He that has seen me, see my father. Without him I can do nothing.

The father who lives in me, he does the work. So what I do he does. What I say he says.

What I am he is. Look at me and see God. But don't call me good.

Because only one is good. And I'm simply making my humanity available to my father in all his goodness. For which purpose I created you.

That you might make your humanity available to me. That as others now see the father in the son. They then will see the son in you.

That's normality. The measure of your spiritual maturity. How adult you are in terms of your relationship to God.

Is not to be measured by the number of theological propositions that you've mastered. Or how many bible verses you've memorized. Or what kind of religious experiences you've enjoyed.

All of which may be legitimate. But your spiritual maturity is the measure only in which others in you know what God is like. Then you function.

You can preach like an apologist and go home and behave like a bear. That's abnormality. You can have all the emotional experiences that are available within the religious realm.

And then go home and divorce your wife. Or rear a bunch of rebel kids. Because spiritual maturity is the measure in which others in us can see what they then saw in the son.

What God is like. This was the great discovery that Saul of Tarsus made. He says, once I evaluated.

You'll find this in the fifth chapter of the second of Paul's epistles to the Corinthians. He says, once I judged Jesus Christ on a human basis. He was the illegitimate child of a lying, faithless, ignorant Galilean peasant.

I learned that he said in my theological seminary. Where Jesus Christ was totally rejected. Considered to be a fanatical street preacher.

Didn't even go to high school. And that's how, from a human standard, I evaluated Jesus Christ. But he said then something happened on the road to Damascus.

Suddenly I was blinded by a light brighter than the sun at noonday and flung sightless to the earth. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I said, who are you, Lord? Oh, he said, I'm Jesus. That illegitimate child of a lying, faithless, Galilean peasant girl.

That fanatical street preacher who was an imposter pretending to be the Messiah. I'm Jesus. Whom thou persecutest.

It's hard for you to kick against the priest. You've never been able to forget the face of Stephen when you stood by consenting to his death. Like the face of an angel.

You were there when he said, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God for me. Lay not this sin to their charge. And then you heard his bones snap as he was stoned to death and saw his blood run in the gut.

And you've never been able to forget him. Because from that moment to this you've known deep down in your heart he was right and you were wrong. You've been kicking against the pricks.

And so Paul puts it this way, I saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And at last I knew how much he was worth. Not what I thought he had been worth on the basis of my human evaluation.

But I realized then that a man is worth no more nor less than can be seen of God in him. And in the face of Jesus Christ I saw the glory of God. In other words, as a man he was functional.

For though the Creator he deliberately chose to empty himself, make himself nothing and of no reputation, and be born a human being and be the kind of man on earth that he as God created man to be. Though the Creator he played the role of creature to the Father's total satisfaction. That's sanctification.

That's why in the 17th chapter of John's Gospel the Lord Jesus speaking to the Father for the whole of that chapter is a conversation between the Lord Jesus and the Father. He said, Father, for their sakes I sanctify myself. I set myself as man available to my Father as God to you, Father, so that they in me may know the truth of sanctification.

So if you want to know what sanctification really means, look at Jesus, who set himself apart as man, available to his Father as God, and he did it as we have already learned, Hebrews 9.14, through the eternal Spirit, for the office of the Holy Ghost is to be that member of the co-equal triune deity through whom a man makes himself available, body, soul, spirit, mind, emotion and will, to his created God and through whom the created God is prepared by his divine indwelling in the person of the Holy Ghost to make himself available to man. It's so beautifully logical, and so gloriously simple, until we mess it up. Sanctification.

But it's going to involve, Paul says, spirit and soul and body. That's man as God created him, and the only way it can be functional. What then will be the role of the Holy Spirit within the human spirit, through whom man is invaded and occupied by his creator? Well the role of the Holy Spirit within the human spirit is to gain access to the human soul and play that role in man's soul, teaching the mind, controlling the emotions, directing the will, and thereby governing his behavior.

That was the role of instinct. And the animal kingdom is magnificently protected by that built-in computerized transistor, so that when the animal kingdom behaves, it does what it does because it must. The bee, in the fantastic way in which it behaves and provides 300 items for your food table and mine, because God made him for that purpose, in pollination, is doing what it's doing, not because it loves God, but because it was made to do it and is functional, and thereby functionally satisfying to the God who created him.

But there's no moral option being exercised. The bee isn't saying, God, you created me to be a bee, and I want to be the kind of bee that you wanted me to be, see? The bee wasn't made that way. It was a mechanical, transistorized creature, functionally satisfying to God, but capable of exercising no moral options.

So it can never, therefore, be morally satisfying to God. But man was uniquely created to be not just functionally satisfying to God, but morally satisfying to God, because he would reciprocate in his love for God, God's love for him. The only way that man, you see, can evidence his love for God is by enjoying that threefold moral relationship that relates the Holy Spirit within the human spirit to the human soul.

In the animal kingdom, a rigid interlock from which the animal kingdom cannot escape. But in man, you and I were designed to be governed by God on the basis of a moral interlock. Threefold in character, love for God, reciprocating God's love for man, evidenced by dependence on God, because he was created to be functional only by virtue of the presence of the Creator within the creature, God being indispensable to his humanity.

So the only way he can be functional is by exercising that disposition called faith that lets God be God in the man. So his love for God is evidenced by his dependence on God. But his dependence on God can only be demonstrated by his obedience to God.

So this is the threefold moral relationship that lets God be God in action, in a man, and clothe his deity with a man's humanity, love for him, dependence on him, and obedience to him. That's the threefold moral relationship that lets God be God in a man, so that all creation can see in man God behaving. You see, if by the Holy Spirit, God indwells the human spirit, and he is allowed to gain access to the human soul, teach the mind, control the emotions, and direct the will, so that there's only one possible explanation for the quality of his life, God teaching his mind, God controlling his emotions, God directing his will, when you look at that man behaving, who would you see behaving? God.

And when the Lord Jesus, born a human being, allowed the Father, being himself full of the Holy Ghost, to teach his mind, control his emotions, so direct his will, that God the Father, from within, govern his behavior, the Father who lives in me, he does the work, and without my Father, I can do nothing, who would we see in Jesus behaving? The Father. But he said, by the way, as my Father sent me, I'm going to send you. When you allow me, by my Holy Spirit, to monopolize your behavior mechanism, teach your mind, control your emotions, direct your will, others will see me in you, as because I allow my Father to teach my mind, control my emotions, direct my will, you see in me him.

That's man in normality. Very simple. But it means that the presence of the Holy Spirit, God in the man, is as indispensable to your humanity and mine, as instinct is to the animal king.

Absolutely indispensable. Can you imagine what would happen if suddenly, in a bee swarm of say 80,000 bees, which is the normal average number of a swarm of bees, can you imagine if suddenly, in every bee of the 80,000 in that swarm, the rigid interlock between the instinctive thrust and the beesaw would snap, and suddenly 80,000 bees become ego-bee-centric. Each of course magnificently designed for a peculiar function within the corporate economy of the bee swarm.

Nurse bees, scalp bees, worker bees, those who manufacture the honeycomb out of wax, making that wax and others going out and collecting the nectar and turning it later into honey. But they all now are ego-bee-centric. So the nurse bees, you see, who are responsible for feeding the same egg but with different food to produce the different class of bee, they say, we're not going to feed these little suckers anymore, they can go and get their own food.

I'm going to work my fingers at the bone putting food down their necks. And the bees who are responsible for air conditioning, and they do it by flapping their wings or eating a little honey and putting the central heating on, increasing their blood temperature. Absolutely fantastic.

Some going out to get water if it gets too hot, so that by the latent heat of evaporation, they undergird the bees that are flapping their wings, air conditioning. Who taught the bees that? You see, we folks thought, we thought of air conditioning, bees have been doing it for thousands of years. And they didn't even have to go to college.

Because God made them that way. Incredible. But you see, the bees that are supposed to be flapping and producing the air ventilation, they quit flapping.

They say, we're not going to flap any all day, they can do their own flapping. The worker bees begin to march up and down with red flags and say, food for the workers, every bee for himself. Civil rights.

We're not going to be bossed around by anybody. What would happen to that bee swarm? You don't have to guess, just look around in human society, where man has lost his relationship to God, that bee swarm would die in anarchy and chaos. And of course, there would only be one possible solution to that bee dilemma.

Not incarceration of naughty bees. Not education. Or psychological clinics.

For naughty bees. There'd be only one possible solution to that dilemma, discover how a bee was intended to function, and somehow restore the interlock between the instinctive thrust and the bee swarm. Then every individual bee in its own classification would fall into line and become an intelligent part of an intelligent whole.

That's why there's only one possible solution to the human dilemma. The restoration of that threefold moral relationship between man and God that lets God once more coordinate the individual activity of the individual, boy, girl, man or woman, and mold them afresh into a corporate whole that will accomplish the intelligent purpose of an intelligent God who intelligently created it. But he can't compel it, because man was created to love God back, and love cannot be compelled.

A very beautiful definition of the human spirit is found in the twentieth chapter of the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 20, 27. The spirit of man, the human spirit, is God's lamp. The human spirit is God's lamp.

What did it take then in Bible times for a lamp to produce light? Oil. An oil in the Bible, Old and New Testament, with relentless consistency, always speaks of the person, work and office of God, the Holy Spirit. A person.

For we're told in the first chapter of John's Gospel, the first four verses, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, was God, the Logos, by Him all things were made, Jesus, the Creator. Without Him was not anything made that was made, and in Him was life. Oil.

That life, oil, was the light of man. And only with His light, by the Holy Spirit, within the human spirit, is man equipped to fulfill the function for which he was created. Only the life of the Creator God within man gives him the moral competence to discharge the office for which he was made.

By what he does and says and is, advertise deity, and bring God out into the open where He can be seen. This is the incredible privilege for which you and I were created. Amazing.

Uniquely created. By the possession of a human spirit, inhabited by the Holy Spirit, sharing the very life of God, something which no other creature on this planet can do, lifted out of the animal kingdom to become man. Then something happened.

Devil came along and said you can be a man without God. Humanism. And man believed the lie.

And embarked upon the mad experiment of human self-sufficiency. The devil said you can be good without God. You can be morally adult without the need of being spiritually alive.

If God says you will die if you touch that tree, you won't. You'll go on and you'll be alive. And of course in one sense the devil was right.

God had said in the day that you eat thereof you will surely die. Second chapter of the book of Genesis. In the very day that you eat thereof, you'll die.

But he didn't die that day physically. He got up the next morning and persuaded himself that the devil was right. He had done exactly what God said he was not to do and survived.

He still had a body. He still had a soul. A mind to think with, a motion to react with and a will to decide with.

What he didn't know was that God had withdrawn the Holy Spirit from the human spirit. He was dead. The Bible puts it this way.

Ephesians chapter 4, 17 and 18. Alienated from the life of God. Alienated from the life of God.

Dead in trespasses and sins. Strutting around, we're told in the 17th verse, in the vanity of his mind. I've double crossed God.

He told me a lie that if I ate of the fruit of that tree I'd die and I'm still alive. So the devil's right and God is wrong. Still had a body.

He could still think with his mind, react with his emotions, direct and exercise his will. But he had lost God. Alienated from the life of God.

Dead in trespasses and sins. And the hidden factor no longer operated. For remember in the divine proposition, every demand that God makes upon a man is from God's point of view completely logical.

Only from man's point of view and his fallen condition are those demands utterly unreasonable. Because in the divine logic there's a hidden factor that is absent in human reasoning. God.

So now you've got a bee, of a bee swarm in which the rigid interlock has been shattered. And man has become ego, man-centered. Self-centered.

Ego-centric. Now you'll read about this in the epistle to the Romans in chapter 5 and verse 12. As by one man, man in normality, sin came into the world.

A disposition of rebellion. An attitude that was invoked by the devil's lie which he believed. As by one man sin came into the world and death by sin.

And death passed upon all men. Now we need to pause a little bit there because there are two connotations in which you can understand the word death contained in that verse, Romans 5 and 12. As by one man sin came into the world, death occurred.

And death occurs by the forfeiture of life. The only way a person can die is to forfeit life. Death is the absence of life.

So as by one man sin came into the world and death by sin because God did exactly what he said he would do. He said to man whose glory was to derive from the presence of the creator within the creature whose authority was to derive from his submission to God's authority in other words it was a derived glory, it was derived authority for God created man to have dominion over all the works of his hands but God said though everything is yours and you may eat of every tree of the garden there is one point at which you are going to maintain your moral relationship. That one tree.

That's where you will demonstrate your threefold moral relationship out of your love for me in total dependence on me yielding, willing and grudging obedience to me. Now if at that point you shatter that threefold moral relationship in that point I'll bow to your choice because I created you a moral being and I will withdraw and in the day that I withdraw my holy spirit from your human spirit you will die.

Physically you'll still be alive like any other animal on earth but you will become an animal man spiritually you will be dead so that although man still has the kind of mind, emotion and will that God created to be governed by God incredibly clever he can put intercontinental missiles into space he can send men to the moon and let them ride around in jeeps but smart as man is he hasn't the moral capacity now to use intelligently the child of his own genius so almost everything that man has discovered of what God created he abuses and uses only to serve his own self-interest and at an ever accelerating pace man is marching to his own self-destruct and you know it 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14 1 Corinthians and chapter 2 and verse 14 in the King James it says the natural man

receiveth not the things of the spirit of God their foolishness unto him neither can he know the natural man now in the German bible it says much the same thing the natural man now in the French bible strictly translated from the original it doesn't say the natural man or in the German language you don't even have to know French to guess what that means the man as in homicide the murder of a man long animal a-n-i-m-a-l the animal man receives not the things of the spirit of God their foolishness unto him neither can he know because they're spiritually discerned and he's spiritually dead and the God of this world Satan has blinded therefore the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them so the preaching of the cross to them that perish is

foolishness so if the gospel is foolishness to you all it indicates is that you're perishing that you're an animal man who has been severed from any spiritual relationship to the God who created you so you strut across this planet in the vanity of your mind your understanding darkens because of the ignorances in you because of the blindness of your soul alienated from the life of God Ephesians 4 and verse 18 the understanding darkened through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart alienated from the life of God you see unbelievers, cynics think themselves unusually intellectually smart and view the believer with contempt all of course they're doing is advertising their ignorance the Bible tells us that unbelief is ignorance that was the ignorance that caused

Saul of Tarsus to embark upon his expedition his supreme ambition being to destroy the church of Jesus Christ until his ignorance was shattered in the day on the road to Damascus that he was blinded and flung sightless to the earth and saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle a new creation because he was reinvaded on God's terms by the Holy Spirit which the Bible calls new birth regeneration the renewing of the Holy Ghost somebody coming back whose presence was forfeited in the day that Adam fell and man died as by one man sin came into the world and death by sin, death occurring but then he goes on to say death passed upon all men now that isn't death occurring that's a state of death existing a state of death existing you see don't

confuse death occurring with a state of death existing because death death can exist when no death has occurred if I had a pen in my pocket I'd say that pen is dead would you agree with me? you'd say well yes of course I mean it doesn't have any life I don't look in my pocket and find a whole bunch of little baby pens because the pen is dead but no death occurred if I were to say well I was very fond of that pen you know it was only three days ago it died then you'd say don't be so stupid a pen can't die, why can't a pen die? because it doesn't possess life the nature of death is the absence of life the forfeiture of what was previously possessed, that's the nature of death death occurs and then a state of death exists if a little boy is knocked down by a truck and a crowd gathers round

and a passing doctor in his car sees the crowd, sees that something wrong, he steps out, comes across kneels down by the little body lying in the road and what do you think he looks for? death? no he does everything he knows as a medical man to discover some possible tiny evidence of life, because that tiny evidence of life would be that tiny evidence of hope but finally he looks up into the face of the anxious waiting crowd and he says I'm sorry this little boy is dead now he wasn't dead ten minutes ago he was alive, but now he's dead because the life he had, he's lost death occurred, but the moment death occurred, all the doctor can find is a state of death absence of life and as by one man Adam sin came into the world and death occurred that state of death passed upon all men so that

you'll read in the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis that man was created by God and he was created a liar, to share the very life of his creator, let me quickly turn to this because we only have a few moments this is the book of the generations of Adam, Genesis 5 verse 1, in the day that God created man in the likeness of God made he him, and magnificently equipped him for the fulfillment of that office by giving man himself who would teach his mind control his emotions, so direct his will that God in man would be the origin of his own image, God in man would be the source of his own activity God in man would be the dynamic of his own holy demands, and God in man would be the cause of his own effect let me say that again, this is how you and I were created God in the man, the origin

of his own image, the source of his own activity, the dynamic of his own demands, and the cause of his own effect absolutely imperative to a man's humanity, as imperative his instinct is to the animal king and for that reason because God in the man was the origin of his own image, because God in the man was the source of his own activity, because God in the man was himself the dynamic of his own holy demands because God was the cause of his own effect when you looked at that man, you saw what God then saw the glory of God reflected as it was seen in the person of the Lord Jesus, who allowed the father in him to be the origin of his own image allowed the father in him to be the source of his own activity, without whom said Jesus I can do nothing, allowed the father in him to be the dynamic

of his own demands, and the cause of his own effect he said, look at me and see God behaving Genesis 5-1 male and female created he then and blessed then and called their name Adam so when you talk about Adam, you're not just talking about the man you're talking about Adam and Eve when we talk about the fall of man it means Adam and Eve because God called their name Adam Mr. and Mrs.

Adam and Adam lived 130 years and he had a kid he begat a son whose name was Seth what did it say about him? he begat a son not in God's likeness, in whose likeness? his own likeness in other words from the moment that Madam Adam fell a death occurred every child born on earth since then has been born in the image of a fallen Adam dead that's why no boy, girl, man or woman ever born since Adam fell can, has or ever will die for their sins does that surprise you? no boy, girl, man or woman ever born since Adam fell can, has or ever will die for their sins for a very good and all sufficient and obvious reason it's too late it's too late 1 Corinthians 15 in Adam all died because the day that death occurred in Adam that state of death was passed upon all men and every boy, girl, man or woman ever born since Adam fell has been born in that state of death that occurred when Adam fell and there's one thing you can know about dead men what's that? they can't die have you ever seen a dead man die?

I mean can you imagine somebody two days after he died looking in the tomb where Lazarus lay already stinking he said I wonder when he's going to die dead men can't die it's too late and in Adam all died and no boy, girl, man or woman ever born since Adam fell can, has or ever will die for their sins because they were born dead only two things can happen to the dead stay dead and stink or come alive it's interesting to know there were only two people who didn't get concerned about the fact that Lazarus was both dead and stinky do you know who they were? well the Lord Jesus was one and Lazarus was the other because dead men don't even know they stink that's why some of you can be such stinkers and not even know it you see the Lord Jesus gave the commanding word and Lazarus came forth and

he that was dead was alive again, we call it resurrection how did resurrection take place by the restoration to Lazarus of a life possessed four days before and lost and now restored four days later that's resurrection and the Christian life begins with resurrection God restoring that life that man possessed when Adam was created lost at the fall, restored on God's terms of redemption precipitating that spiritual regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Ghost whom somebody, the Holy Spirit God sheds upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour for the Lord Jesus came that we might have restored to us the presence of a triune God in the person of God the Holy Ghost and it takes place instantly in that moment of redemption, sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise so as by one man's sin

came into the world and death occurred, so a state of death passed upon all men and we were all born dead and the moral option that is open to every boy girl man or woman still on earth is to say yes or no, to come alive on God's terms or stay dead forever well what happened? we'll examine this in greater detail tonight but the moment sin came in and death occurred and that state of death passed upon all men the human soul, destitute now of the Holy Spirit, the behaviour mechanism was invaded by a sin principle of satanic origin it's called in the 8th chapter of the epistles of the Romans the carnal mind it's an attitude it is that enmity with God is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be so from the moment man fell and forfeited the Holy Spirit and was invaded by a sin

principle of satanic origin his body was abused, misused and prostituted so that instead of giving a valid expression of an invisible God John tells us third chapter of his first epistle he that commits sin takes his character from the devil that's why the Lord Jesus in John chapter 8 turning to the religious leaders of his day who were going to crucify him, he said you are of your father the devil so much for the universal fatherhood of man of God you are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father you will do he's a murderer that's why you want to kill me he's a liar and the father of lies and that's why as the truth you reject him because your souls are dominated by an alien agency that is essentially hostile to God, is not subject to his law neither indeed can be from the

day that man forfeited the life of God he became a rebel a man who says there is no God, the bible says there's a fool, you can forgive him in his ignorance but there's something worse than being a fool and saying there is no God it's believing there is a God and ignoring him as though he didn't exist that's a rebel and that's what happened when man fell and his humanity was prostituted to give not a display of God's character but the ugly list called the works of the flesh, greed, lust, pride, hate murder, drug addiction, alcoholism promiscuous sex, all the things that have left mankind bleeding all down the centuries one simple last illustration then we'll quit would you have enough imagination to suppose that a way out in space there was another planet like ours put there by the same

God who put this one, Earth into orbit and that planet out there, in space inhabited by creatures who never knew what God was like but they've had an insatiable appetite to discover what he is like who created them as he, the same God created us, but they don't know how to find out but then somehow, someday, they learn that there was another planet to them way out in space called Earth and they learn that the God who created them put them on their planet, created a creature on the other planet Earth called Man and they learn to their excitement that when God created Man, he created Man in his own perfect image in God's absolute likeness they say that's fantastic if only we can somehow get to planet Earth, we'll see a creature called Man whom God made in his own perfect image and that when

we get there and look at Man we'll know what God is like anything wrong with their logic? no, dead on Man was creating God's image to display his glory so they mobilized all their resources and after some time they come up with a spaceship and a very carefully selected delegation, finally with great crowds wishing them farewell, get on board the spaceship and set off into space to land on planet Earth and see Man and go back and tell the good news now we know what God is like after a long, long journey through space they finally make a soft landing on Earth and their hearts are thumping with excitement as they open the door and step out onto this planet can you imagine how they would feel when they go down skid row? and so see human beings wallowing their own vomit, drunks in the gutter

they greasy, long-haired drug pushers, selling their dirty wares to put a dirty buck into their own pocket to destroy their fellow human beings they go with you maybe to your television and watch holocaust they see thousands of boys naked and girls, men and women being marched at bayonet point by their fellow human beings to the graves they were compelled to dig, mowed down by machine guns they see men throwing little babies over the parents' heads into a gas chamber so then they can make soap of their bodies they go to Guyana and they find there the graves of hundreds of boys and girls and men and women who committed mass suicide at the behest of an evil wicked man called Jones to satisfy his own ego they happen to be around when the gulf war comes apart and they see that man is that

smart he's got such sophisticated weaponry now they could lose three tanks and destroy three hundred and three thousand five hundred of the enemies hundred and thirty one allied casualties and they destroyed a hundred thousand of the enemy, that was smart lying cheating cheating promiscuous sex, dirt hate, pride and finally nauseated they say let's get out of this let's go home climb back into their spaceship and make that long journey back great crowds are there to welcome them they're going to tell them what God is like but when they step out of the spaceship and the crowd with all it's cheering waving their flags smiles all over their faces see the faces of the delegation the smile is wiped away and there's a deathly hush and the delegation say fellow creatures we've been to earth and

we've seen man man who was created in God's perfect image and likeness and we've got bad news bad news we've seen man created in God's image God's a murderer he's a sadist, he's a drunk he's a drug addict he's capable of every kind of inhumanity to his own fellow creatures he lies, he cheats he hates he kills fellow creatures we have bad news bad news now we know what God is like we've seen man whom he made in his own image and ladies and gentlemen of course now you know what sin is like it's the lies that man since Adam fell has been telling about God all down the centuries that's the nature of sin but they're stepped out of eternity into time from heaven to earth a little baby boy born at Bethlehem the remedial measures that God introduced to put things right to restore man to function

and make man man again on God's terms for whom in his timelessness he did foreknow them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son in whom others looking at him saw what God was like the truth about God because he was the truth about man for the truth about man is that God created man to be the truth about God here's the last question are you normal? if I gave you the opportunity would you be prepared to stand up right now and bear your testimony the day I was born and ever since I've given nothing but an unsullied unblemished expression of God look at me ladies and gentlemen if you know what God is like just look at me and you'll know what God is like would you be prepared to give your testimony you probably wouldn't if the family were around or your fellow workers why

not?

God created man in his own image if you and I are not prepared to stand up and say look at me and see God what we're admitting is I'm subhuman I'm an abnormality I'm an aberration from all that God had in mind when he created man in his own image well tonight we're going to enlarge upon that and discover something of God's remedial measures in that little baby born conceived of the Holy Ghost at Bethlehem nearly 2000 years ago and that's good news