What About Jesus? -- 7/9/06 (Eternal Realities)

Sunday, July 9, 2006

WHAT ABOUT MAN?

We have spent four sessions looking at the holiness of Jehovah God and the Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen that both the Father and the Son are set apart from everything and everyone else; one of a kind; in a totally different class. We have seen that truth pictured throughout the Bible.

Now this morning we must come to the obvious question: What about man? Where do human beings fit into the picture? We didn’t start with man because the Bible doesn’t start with man. In our thinking, when we start with man instead of God, we are already off base. This being consumed with self is what God is working to destroy in us.

You know the story: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Those are the very first words of the Bible, found in Gen. 1:1. The following verses give some detail about God’s creation. Then after He had created everything else, He tells us about the creation of mankind. Let’s read it in Gen. 1:26-28…
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.
Isn’t that wonderful. What a great start for mankind. What could be better than that? God created man and blessed him.

There is one question we might ask. It would seem that there is a slight problem. Man should have a great relationship with all of creation. After all, God gave him dominion over all of it. But what about God Himself? How would man be able to relate to a God who is so great that He created everything out of nothing? How could a creature possibly have a relationship with the Creator? Surely they were miles apart. Surely the greatness of the Creator would rule out any relationship with a puny, little man, who in fact was just a small part of God’s creation.

The Psalmist pondered this very question. Let’s read Psalm 8…
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8. The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Go outside tonight and look at the heavens. Take a good look at the moon and the stars. Remember that God not only made them, but He calls every one of them by name (billions of them). You too might ask the question: "What is man, that you take notice of him? Lord, you who created it all, why would you come and visit mankind?"

But now come to chapter 2 of Genesis, where God gives us a more detailed account of the creation of man. Let’s read Gen. 2:3-9; 15-25…
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 7. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil… 15. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 18. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22. And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Did you notice how personal this account is. God created everything, but when He made man, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. What a picture – the Creator of this vast universe bending down and gently breathing into man the breath of life. But that wasn’t enough. He didn’t leave Adam alone, but He lovingly made a woman, a wife, for him. And if we read on down into chapter 3, we find these words in 3:8, "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the midst of the garden in the cool of the day…" Of course, we then read that on that occasion Adam and Eve hid themselves, but the implication is that God routinely came and visited with them. We have a song that alludes to this – "In the Garden" (And He walks with me, and He talks with me…).

Here’s the point. Though there was a tremendous gap between Creator and creature, God bridged that gap. He came all the way down to man’s level and walked and talked with them in the Garden of Eden. Isn’t it amazing! This says something about Almighty God.

Why did He make man in the first place? Though that question is never answered in so many words, the scripture is full of truths that do indeed give us an answer. First of all, we find that the entire Bible (from Gen. 3 on) is focused on God working to restore a relationship with man. God desires a relationship with man. If He didn’t, He would have cast us aside long ago. And even in the story of man’s creation, we see something of God’s intent. Remember what we read in 1:26-27…
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.

What does it mean to be created in the image of God? Though that has been debated, I don’t believe the answer is complicated. It is often pointed out that man is like God in that He has intelligence, emotions, and a will. But while that is true, the same thing is true of the animals. You say, "But man is much smarter; his emotions are much more refined; his will is much stronger." That is true, but it is still only a matter of degree. Man has great intelligence, but we also marvel at the intelligence of monkeys and dolphins.

To get at what it means to be created in God’s image, let’s ask this question: "How is man different than every other thing that God created?" He was created in God’s image. That’s right. So what is specifically different about man, when compared with every other created thing? Here it is – man has a capacity to have a relationship with God. Through the prophet, God says to man, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as white as snow" (Is. 1:18). Though animals can reason, in all of God’s Word there is no record that the Creator ever invited them to come and reason with Him. As a matter of fact, the Bible doesn’t talk about that kind of personal relationship between God and the things He created. Man is the exception, and as I said before, the entire Bible is focused on this relationship between God and man. This is the key to understanding what it means to be created in the image of God. Adam was made with a capacity to relate personally and intimately with the God who made Him.

So again, we see that though the gap between Creator and creature was great indeed, God bridged that gap by coming all the way down to man. What a wonderful relationship Adam and Eve must have had with God. So the holy, righteous, and perfect God was in fellowship with the man He created. It seems that God created man for this very purpose – that He might have a meaningful relationship with him. That is not to say that God needed man; that would be far from the truth. God didn’t need and doesn’t need anything or anyone outside Himself. God chose to pour out His love on the man He created.

But when we think about a relationship between man and God, the great distance between Creator and creature is not the only problem. There is another problem that is even greater. It began in Genesis 3, which follows closely on the heels of Genesis 2! (You knew that, didn’t you!)
You know the story. God graciously put Adam in that luscious Garden of Eden. He had everything anyone could possibly want. However, there was one thing God asked of the man He created. We read it in Gen. 2:16-17…
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Of all the many trees in the garden, there was one that was forbidden. Adam had plenty to eat and enjoy without eating from that one tree. So there shouldn’t be any problem.

Was there a problem? Adam and Eve created a problem, aided by God’s arch enemy, who disguised himself as a snake. Let’s read it in Gen. 3:1-11…
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

At that point, they began to play "the blame game." Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent, but the Lord wasn’t fooled. He knew exactly what happened. Man disobeyed God’s command. The command had not been difficult to keep. Nevertheless, Adam and Eve fell for the cunning line of the enemy. They determined that it would be better to obey him than to obey God. They decided that they had a right to choose their own way. And when they did, sin entered the human race. Though the symptoms of sin are numerous and varied, the core of it is going my own way instead of God’s way.

By the way, what did God say would happen to Adam, if he ate of the fruit of that one tree? That’s right – God said he would die in the day that he ate it. Did he? Did Adam die in the very day that he ate from the tree? Either he died, or God wasn’t telling the truth. But God did tell the truth; Adam and Eve died when they ate the fruit. Remember that death is separation, and that separation is not confined to physical death. When they ate the fruit, they became separated from God. They were cut off from Him. The relationship they had enjoyed was done. Physical death would follow 930 years later, when the spirit would be separated from the body.

Now let’s go quickly over to Romans 5 to see the far-reaching consequences of Adam’s sin. Most of you have been over this a number of times, but it is a wonderful thing to refresh our minds with respect to these great truths. Let’s read Rom 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" Death entered the human race through one man – Adam. And death entered the race through that sin. Remember, when Adam ate the fruit, he died – first in his relationship to God, and then finally he died physically.

That part is review. It is that next part that we want to examine – "and death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." The question is this: "How have all sinned?" On the surface, we are led to say, "Just look at us. Everyone of us can confess sins that we have committed. We have all sinned; and we all die." However, the context reveals something deeper than this. Let’s read Rom 5:13-14, "(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come."

The people between Adam and Moses did not sin in the same way that Adam sinned. Adam broke a direct command from God, as did those who would later break the direct commands that came through Moses, but those people such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Noah and his sons did not break a direct command from God, because they had no such command. Nevertheless, they died just the same. But how could they be held accountable for sin, for sin is not imputed (held against them) when there is no law. I use the illustration of our younger son Mark. When he was about 5 years old, he decided to cut his own hair. He was so proud of himself. His mother was not proud of him. Should we punish the boy? No, we didn’t. Why? Because he didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to cut his hair. I had never said, "Mark, don’t cut your hair." What he did was kind of sickening, but we didn’t hold it against him, because he hadn’t been told.

That’s the way it was for the people between Adam and Moses. Then why did they die? Back to verse 12, "…and death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." But they didn’t break a direct commandment from God. So how did they sin? We could read all of verses 15-19, but Paul’s teaching is summed up nicely in verse 19, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Did you hear that? Many were made sinners by one man’s disobedience. Whose disobedience? Adam’s. That’s right. All people have sinned in Adam.

Simply put, we are sinners because we are descendants of Adam. Justin, why is your last name Burks? Because that was your dad’s name. You had no choice in the matter. Later on, you began to look like your dad and act like him. But even before you started looking and acting like him, you were already a Burks, because you were his son. So it is with all of us. Before we ever committed a sin, before we ever broke one of God’s commands, we were already sinners. Why? Because our great……. grandfather was a sinner. We then prove we are sinners by committing sin. But don’t ever forget which comes first. It isn’t true to say that we are sinners because we sin. Rather, we sin because we are sinners. Our problem isn’t just the fact that we have committed sins; man’s problem is that he is a sinner by nature. He is a sinner to the core of his being.

So now we see that God is separated from man in two ways. First of all, He is Creator and we are creature. Secondly, He is righteous and perfect in all His ways; we are sinners to the core.

But wait a minute, we said that God bridged that gap between Creator and creature. We say it in the fact that He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. That is true, but we also saw that Adam and Eve disobeyed God, introducing sin into the human race. Not only did they begin that great gap between God’s righteousness and man’s sin, but they also reinstated the gap between Creator and creature. There is no gap between Creator and creature, when the creature depends totally upon his creator. That was the very reason he was created. Anything else would be foolish, unheard of. It is only right that the creature should look to the Creator for everything. That is what Adam and Eve did… until they decided to do things their own way. They decided they would become independent agents, free from the domination of their Creator. And when they did, they reinstated the gap between Creator and creature. The gap between His righteousness and our sinfulness now goes hand in hand with the gap between Him as Creator and us as (independent) creatures, because a part of the very nature of sin is independence.

Now step back and look at the holiness of God and His Son Jesus. Remember that the word "holy" means "set apart." God is set apart from everything else. He is set apart from man in that He is Creator and man is creature. He is also set apart from man because He is perfect and righteous and man is sinful.

Now let me give you a few scriptures to ponder this week. We have already read the one – Psalm 8. This Psalm emphasizes the great gap between Creator and creature. Then concerning the gap between God’s righteousness and man’s sinfulness, please consider these (you will find them in your bulletin)…
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Rom 3:10-18 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15. Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16. Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17. And the way of peace have they not known: 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.