Made In The Image Of God

1
Made In The Image Of God

• Gen.126 Let us make man in our image, after our
  likeness..

2
Man Is Capable Of Speaking

• The phrase, and God said occurs ten times in
  the first chapter.
• Psalm 336-9 By the word of the Lord the heavens
  were made, And all the host of them by the breath
  of His mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea
  together as a heap He lays up the deep in
  storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord
  Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe
  of Him. 9 For He spoke, and it was done He
  commanded, and it stood fast.

3

• God spoke to mankind.
• Genesis 128 Then God blessed them, and God said
  to them, Be fruitful and multiply fill the
  earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish
  of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over
  every living thing that moves on the earth.
• Man speaks to woman.
• Genesis 223 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.
• Man speaks to God.
• Genesis 312 Then the man said, The woman whom
  You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree,
  and I ate.

4
What The Experts Say..

• As Werner Gitt observed in his book, The Wonder
  of Man
• Only man has the gift of speech, a characteristic
  otherwise only possessed by God. This separates
  us clearly from the animal kingdom. We are able
  to use words creatively, but we are unable to
  create anything by speaking, as God can do.... We
  are able to express all our feelings in words,
  and we can enter into trusting relationships like
  no other beings on Earth. In addition to the
  necessary software for speech, we have also
  been provided with the required hardware (1999,
  p. 101).

5

• The renowned language researcher from MIT, Noam
  Chomsky, has championed the idea that humans are
  born with a built-in universal grammara series
  of biological switches for complex language that
  is set in place in the early years of childhood.
  This, he believes, is why children can grasp
  elaborate language rules even at an early age.
• Powerful support for Chomskys theory emerged
  from a decade-long study of 500 deaf children in
  Managua, Nicaragua, which was reported in the
  December 1995 issue of Scientific American (see
  Horgan, 1995). These children started attending
  special schools in 1979, but none used or was
  taught a formal sign language. Within a few
  years, and under no direction from teachers or
  other adults, they began to develop a basic
  pidgin sign language. This quickly was modified
  by younger children entering school, with the
  current version taking on a complex and
  consistent grammar.

6

• Speech is a peculiarly human trait. In an article
  titled Chimp-Speak that dealt with this very
  point, Trevor Major wrote First, chimps do not
  possess the anatomical ability to speak. Second,
  the sign language they learn is not natural, even
  for humans. Chimps have to be trained to
  communicate with this language it is not
  something they do in the wild. And unlike humans,
  trained chimps do not seem to pass this skill on
  to their young. Third, chimps never know more
  than a few hundred words considerably less than
  most young children.... Evolutionists have no
  way to bridge the gap from innate ability to
  language relying on natural selection or any
  other purely natural cause. Why? Because language
  is complex and carries informationthe trademarks
  of intelligent design (1994, 1431).

7
Negative Uses

• Psalm 123 May the Lord cut off all flattering
  lips, And the tongue that speaks proud things,
• Psalm 1533 He who does not backbite with his
  tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does
  he take up a reproach against his friend
• Psalm 3413 Keep your tongue from evil, And your
  lips from speaking deceit.
• Psalm 391 I said, I will guard my ways, Lest I
  sin with my tongue I will restrain my mouth with
  a muzzle, While the wicked are before me.
• Proverbs 617 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands
  that shed innocent blood,

8

• Proverbs 152 The tongue of the wise uses
  knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours
  forth foolishness.
• Proverbs 1520 A wise son makes a father glad,
  But a foolish man despises his mother.
• 1 Timothy 38 Likewise deacons must be reverent,
  not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not
  greedy for money,
• 1 Peter 310 For He who would love life And see
  good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
  And his lips from speaking deceit.
• James 35-8 Even so the tongue is a little member
  and boasts great things. See how great a forest a
  little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire,
  a world of iniquity.

9
Positive Uses

• Psalm 3528 And my tongue shall speak of Your
  righteousness And of Your praise all the day
  long.
• Psalm 3911 I said, I will guard my ways, Lest I
  sin with my tongue I will restrain my mouth with
  a muzzle, While the wicked are before me.
• Psalm 4511 My heart is overflowing with a good
  theme I recite my composition concerning the
  King My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
• Psalm 7124 My tongue also shall talk of Your
  righteousness all the day long For they are
  confounded, For they are brought to shame Who
  seek my hurt.

10

• Psalm 119172 My tongue shall speak of Your word,
  For all Your commandments are righteousness.
• Proverbs 1020 The tongue of the righteous is
  choice silver The heart of the wicked is worth
  little.
• Proverbs 1514 The heart of him who has
  understanding seeks knowledge, But the mouth of
  fools feeds on foolishness.
• Proverbs 2123 Whoever guards his mouth and
  tongue Keeps his soul from troubles.
• Proverbs 3126 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
  And on her tongue is the law of kindness.

11

• Ephesians 429 Let no corrupt word proceed out of
  your mouth, but what is good for necessary
  edification, that it may impart grace to the
  hearers.
• Colossians 46 Let your speech always be with
  grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how
  you ought to answer each one.
• James 39-10 With it we bless our God and Father,
  and with it we curse men, who have been made in
  the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth
  proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these
  things ought not to be so.
• James 126 If anyone among you thinks he is
  religious, and does not bridle his tongue but
  deceives his own heart, this ones religion is
  useless.

12
What Can I Do?

• Read the Bible about this subject!

1 Peter 22 as newborn babes, desire the pure
milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.
13
What Can I Do?

• 2. Meditate On The Teachings!

1 Timothy 415 Meditate on these things give
yourself entirely to them, that your progress may
be evident to all.
14
What Can I Do?

• 3. Pray Always!

1 Thessalonians 517 pray without ceasing, 1
Thessalonians 525 Brethren, pray for us.
15
What Can I Do?

• 4. Encourage/Correct One Another

2 Timothy 316 All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 42
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of
season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all
longsuffering and teaching.
16
Man Can Write, Improve His Education, Accumulate
Knowledge, And Build On Past Achievements

• Exodus 3118 And when He had made an end of
  speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses
  two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone,
  written with the finger of God.
• Revelation 119 Write the things which you have
  seen, and the things which are, and the things
  which will take place after this.
• John 547 But if you do not believe his writings,
  how will you believe My words?

17

• Various writing systems have been devised by man,
  who is now able to record thoughts and ideas. The
  invention of writing is one of the greatest
  achievements of the human intellect. The human
  memory span is brief and the storage capacity of
  the brain, though vast, is limited. Both these
  problems are overcome by recording information in
  writing. Written information can communicate over
  vast distances written records may last for many
  years, even centuries. Only nations possessing
  the skill of writing can develop literature,
  historiography, and high levels of technology.
  Nations and tribes without writing are thus
  restricted to a certain level of cultural
  development. Written language offers the
  possibility of storing information so that
  inventions and discoveries (like medical and
  technological advances) are not lost, but can be
  developed even further (1999, p. 103,
  parenthetical comment in orig.).

18

• AV translates as write 206 times, writing
  once, describe once, and write once. 1 to
  write, with reference to the form of the letters.
  1a to delineate (or form) letters on a tablet,
  parchment, paper, or other material. 2 to write,
  with reference to the contents of the writing. 2a
  to express in written characters. 2b to commit to
  writing (things not to be forgotten), write down,
  record. 2c used of those things which stand
  written in the sacred books (of the OT). 2d to
  write to one, i.e. by writing (in a written
  epistle) to give information, directions. 3 to
  fill with writing. 4 to draw up in writing,
  compose.

19
On A Personal Level

• We can improve our education, accumulate
  knowledge, and build on past achievements.
• 1 Peter 22 as newborn babes, desire the pure
  milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
• 2 Peter 318 but grow in the grace and knowledge
  of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be
  the glory both now and forever. Amen.
• Romans 154 For whatever things were written
  before were written for our learning, that we
  through the patience and comfort of the
  Scriptures might have hope.

20

• Ephesians 415 but, speaking the truth in love,
  may grow up in all things into Him who is the
  headChrist
• Colossians 219 and not holding fast to the Head,
  from whom all the body, nourished and knit
  together by joints and ligaments, grows with the
  increase that is from God.
• Romans 921 Does not the potter have power over
  the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel
  for honor and another for dishonor?

21
Man Is Creative

• Genesis 111 In the beginning God created the
  heavens and the earth.
• Man is creative also, on a different level.
• Like God, man also is able to create and invent,
  although he does so on a distinctly different
  level. Consider the creativeness in Picassos
  paintings, Mozarts music, or Goethes writings.
  Man has built spaceships that can travel 240,000
  miles to the Moon he has manufactured artificial
  hearts for the sick and he continues to
  construct computers that can process billions of
  pieces of information in a fraction of a second.
  Animals cannot do such things because they lack
  the inherent creative ability with which God has
  endowed man (Lyons, Thompson).

22

• In reference to some of the work of animals
  (beavers, spiders, birds..).
• In his Great Texts of the Bible series, James
  Hastings commented It may possibly suggest
  itself here that some of the lower animals are
  producers no less than man. And so they are, in
  virtue of the instinct with which the Almighty
  has endowed them.... But they are artisans only,
  working by a rule furnished to them, not
  architects, designing out of their own mental
  resources. They are producers only, not
  creators... (1976, 153-54).
• Consider mans creativeness in literature, art,
  science, medicine, technology etc.

23
Creativeness A Help Or Hindrance

• Genesis 114 And they said, Come, let us build
  ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the
  heavens let us make a name for ourselves, lest
  we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole
  earth.
• 1 Kings 1232 Jeroboam ordained a feast on the
  fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast
  that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the
  altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the
  calves that he had made. And at Bethel he
  installed the priests of the high places which he
  had made.
• It can be a problem!

24
It Can And Should Be A Help

• Acts 1539 Then the contention became so sharp
  that they parted from one another. And so
  Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus.
• Acts 936 At Joppa there was a certain disciple
  named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This
  woman was full of good works and charitable deeds
  which she did.
• Acts 2126 Then Paul took the men, and the next
  day, having been purified with them, entered the
  temple to announce the expiration of the days of
  purification, at which time an offering should be
  made for each one of them.
• God made us to be creative!

25
Man Can Reason

• Even though apes, dogs, and birds can be
  trained to do certain things, they cannot
  reason and communicate ideas with others so as to
  have true mental communion. The intelligence of
  animals is unlike that of humankind.
• Are chimps intelligent? The answer is yes. Do
  chimps possess the same kind of intelligence as
  humans? The answer would have to be no. Humans
  are more intelligent, and they possess additional
  forms of intelligence. What we must remember,
  also, is that the greatest capabilities of the
  apes belong to a handful of superstars like Kanzi
  and Sheba. Even these animals lack the empathy,
  foresight, and language capabilities of all but
  the youngest or most intellectually challenged of
  our own species (Lyons, Thompson, 02).

26

• 1. There is induction, which is simply a
  gathering together of available evidence.
• 2. There is deduction (Scripture abounds with
  examples), which is the marshaling of evidence in
  such a way that conclusive results can be
  obtained (see Mark 34, et al.).
• 3. There is the use of empirical data (see Luke
  1254-56), which is simply a direct experiencing
  of an object (for instance, a door) or an event
  (such as the weather outside).
• 4. There is credible testimony (see John
  2025-31, 1 Peter 18-11, 1 Corinthians 151-8,
  et al.),which is testimony from witnesses who
  either are known to be trustworthy, or whose
  testimony cannot be justifiably doubted.
• 5. Intuition (Matt.1224-28), which is different
  from a mere hunch.

27

• 6. There is metaphysical deduction, a term that
  refers to a deduction made from things that can
  be observed to things that potentially may never
  be seen (see Luke 17 20-21 and Hebrews 113).
• God wants us to use the reasoning skills that He
  gave us!
• Does God exist?
• Is the Bible infallible?
• Did Jesus live, perform miracles, and die on a
  cross at Calvery?
• Did He come forth from the grave on the 3rd day.
• Did something significant happen on Pentecost?

28
Lets Reason With God!

• Isaiah 118 Come now, and let us reason
  together, Says the Lord, Though your sins are
  like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow
  Though they are red like crimson, They shall be
  as wool.
• Romans 120 For since the creation of the world
  His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being
  understood by the things that are made, even His
  eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
  without excuse.
• Psalm 191 The heavens declare the glory of God
  And the firmament shows His handiwork.
• Hebrews 34 For every house is built by someone,
  but He who built all things is God.

29
Man Has Free-Will

• God has free-will.
• Psalm 1356 Whatever the Lord pleases He does, In
  heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep
  places.
• Romans 915 For He says to Moses, I will have
  mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will
  have compassion on whomever I will have
  compassion.
• Man has free-will!
• 1 Timothy 24 who desires all men to be saved and
  to come to the knowledge of the truth.

30

• Genesis 216-17 And the Lord God commanded the
  man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may
  freely eat 17 but of the tree of the knowledge
  of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the
  day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
• Joshua 2415 And if it seems evil to you to serve
  the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you
  will serve, whether the gods which your fathers
  served that were on the other side of the River,
  or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you
  dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve
  the Lord.
• John 539-40 You search the Scriptures, for in
  them you think you have eternal life and these
  are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not
  willing to come to Me that you may have life.

31
We Get To Choose!

• Arctic Tern Travels from Arctic to Antarctic
  each year (22,000 miles).
• Salmon Find there way back to the place they
  were hatched (thousands of miles).
• Rely on instinct for survival.
• God gave us the ability to plot the course of our
  own life! We dont act like it sometimes! Fate,
  destiny, etc.
• Revelation 2217 And the Spirit and the bride
  say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come!
  And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires,
  let him take the water of life freely.

32
Man Can Choose Right or Wrong

• Of all the creatures on Earth only man has this
  ability.
• Animals do not have an innate sense of right and
  wrong.
• God established good, right, holy, etc.
• Genesis 1825 Far be it from You to do such a
  thing as this, to slay the righteous with the
  wicked, so that the righteous should be as the
  wicked far be it from You! Shall not the Judge
  of all the earth do right?
• Psalm 11939 Turn away my reproach which I dread,
  for Your judgments are good.
• Psalm 11968 You are good, and do good Teach me
  Your statutes.

33

• Micah 68 He has shown you, O man, what is good
  And what does the Lord require of you But to do
  justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with
  your God?

Do Not Neglect This Power!
Colossians 325 But he who does wrong will be
repaid for what he has done, and there is no
partiality.
34
Man Possesses A Conscience

• Romans 214-15 for when Gentiles, who do not have
  the law, by nature do the things in the law,
  these, although not having the law, are a law to
  themselves, 15 who show the work of the law
  written in their hearts, their conscience also
  bearing witness, and between themselves their
  thoughts accusing or else excusing them).
• Our conscience can be a safe guard if it has been
  trained in harmony with Gods word.

35

• Acts 231 Then Paul, looking earnestly at the
  council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in
  all good conscience before God until this day.
• 1 Timothy 113 although I was formerly a
  blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man
  but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly
  in unbelief.
• 1 Timothy 115 This is a faithful saying and
  worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came
  into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
  chief.

God Has Given Us A Great Blessing In Our
Conscience! Allow It To Work !
36
Man Can Experience Emotions

• We also have a unique capacity for worship, love,
  fellowship, and emotional experience.
• 1 John 416 And we have known and believed the
  love that God has for us. God is love, and he who
  abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
• John 1335 By this all will know that you are My
  disciples, if you have love for one another.
• 1 Corinthians 1614 Let all that you do be done
  with love.
• 1 John 48 He who does not love does not know
  God, for God is love.

37

• Exodus 3210 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My
  wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume
  them. And I will make of you a great nation.
• Matthew 2112 Then Jesus went into the temple of
  God and drove out all those who bought and sold
  in the temple, and overturned the tables of the
  money changers and the seats of those who sold
  doves
• Ephesians 426 Be angry, and do not sin do not
  let the sun go down on your wrath,
• 2 Corinthians 13-5 Blessed be the God and Father
  of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies
  and God of all comfort,
• Luke 636 Therefore be merciful, just as your
  Father also is merciful.

38
God Gave Us These Emotions!
Gracious
Compassionate
Love
Merciful
Tenderhearted

• We would want to cultivate these emotions in a
  healthy way.
• Express these emotions to God and towards our
  family, friends and even enemies!

39
Man Has A Religious Inclination

• In their text, Infidels and Heretics An
  Agnostics Anthology, Clarence Darrow and Wallace
  Rice quoted the famous skeptic, John Tyndall
  Religion lives not by the force and aid of dogma,
  but because it is ingrained in the nature of man.
  To draw a metaphor from metallurgy, the moulds
  have been broken and reconstructed over and over
  again, but the molten ore abides in the ladle of
  humanity. An influence so deep and permanent is
  not likely soon to disappear... (1929, p. 146,
  emp. added).

40

• Regardless of how primitive or advanced he
  may be, and despite living isolated from all
  other humans, man always has sought to worship a
  higher being. And even when man departs from the
  true God, he still worships something. It might
  be a tree, a rock, or even himself. As one writer
  observed, evidence reveals that no race or tribe
  of men, however degraded and apparently
  atheistic, lacks that spark of religious capacity
  which may be fanned and fed into a mighty flame
  (Dummelow, 1944).
• No animal yet has stopped to build an altar, sing
  a hymn of praise, or pray.
• Given by us from God as the impetus to find Him!
• Matthew 56 Blessed are those who hunger and
  thirst for righteousness, For they shall be
  filled.

41
Man Has An Immortal Soul

• Ecclesiastes 127 Then the dust will return to
  the earth as it was, And the spirit will return
  to God who gave it.
• Luke 338 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the
  son of Adam, the son of God.
• Acts 1729 Therefore, since we are the offspring
  of God, we ought not to think that the Divine
  Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something
  shaped by art and mans devising.
• Hebrews 129 Furthermore, we have had human
  fathers who corrected us, and we paid them
  respect. Shall we not much more readily be in
  subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

42

• Genesis 93-6 Every moving thing that lives shall
  be food for you. I have given you all things,
  even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat
  flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5
  Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a
  reckoning from the hand of every beast I will
  require it, and from the hand of man. From the
  hand of every mans brother I will require the
  life of man. 6 Whoever sheds mans blood, By
  man his blood shall be shed For in the image of
  God He made man.

43

• And what a tremendous difference that fact
  should make in our lives! As Poe and Davis put
  it
• Whether people are an aspect of God or creatures
  of God has profound implications for human
  existence on earth. If people are the result of
  the creative activity of God based on Gods
  intentional, self-conscious decision to make
  people, then creation results from the purpose of
  God. People have a purpose, and this purpose
  emerges from the Creator-creature relationship.
  If, on the other hand, people are aspects of
  a...unity of which all things are a part, but
  which lacks self-consciousness, then life has no
  purpose. It merely exists (Lyons, Thompson, 02).

44

• In his book on the origin of the Universe, The
  First Three Minutes, Nobel laureate Steven
  Weinberg wrote
• It is almost irresistible for humans to believe
  that we have some special relation to the
  universe, that human life is not just a more or
  less farcical outcome of a chain of accidents
  reaching back to the first three minutes, but
  that we were somehow built in from the
  beginning.... Yet the more the universe seems
  comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless
  (Lyons, Thompson, 02).

45
Profound Implications

• If we have an immortal soul
• Matthew 1028 And do not fear those who kill the
  body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear
  Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in
  hell.
• Matthew 1626 For what profit is it to a man if
  he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
  
• Revelation 69 When He opened the fifth seal, I
  saw under the altar the souls of those who had
  been slain for the word of God and for the
  testimony which they held.

46

• Luke 1219-20 And I will say to my soul, Soul,
  you have many goods laid up for many years take
  your ease eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But
  God said to him, Fool! This night your soul will
  be required of you then whose will those things
  be which you have provided?