There is no doubt in my mind
that there is only one God, and that we have been created by that God in his
own image. I want those among us who don’t know that we were created in God’s
image, to have no doubts that we were created in his image by the end of this
service.
I want everyone else among
us to know that there is more to being in God’s image than just our outward
physical appearance, to be aware that there are spiritual aspects to our image
that we must continually monitor, and that we should be constantly polishing
that image through fasting, prayer, bible study, and church attendance. There
are three distinct points that I intend to make to you today time permitting.
v
Point 1 Is that we are
created in God’s image.
v Point 2 Is that Christ was created in God’s image.
v Point 3 Is to ask you if “You” are in God’s image; or in the
world’s image.
Point
1: Created in God’s image
Genesis 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. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
These two scriptures
explicitly imply that we are created in God’s image. Some people would imply
that when God said “Let us make man in our image” that he was referring to
the rest of the post-catholic version of the godhead known as the trinity. If
we read this scripture again, we see that God made man in "His Own Image" and not in the image of any other
Now Christ was not yet born
at this time; and the Holy Ghost had not been manifested as such yet, so there
is no reasonable possibility for this to be the case. The greatest likelihood
of accuracy is that God was speaking to the angels that were in his presence.
If you should doubt that the angels are made in the image of God and man, you need
only look back to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
If you will remember, God sent angels to convince Lot and his family that they should leave Sodom and run for their lives to the hills. Barring the rapture taking place first, the church may have to do the same thing to escape the destruction of this modern day Sodom and Gomorrah that we live in.
If you doubt for a minute that we live in Sodom and Gomorrah just read the newspaper. I read where a football player from a major college had to retract a non-politically correct statement; words to the effect of: he was glad that he was at a college where men liked women and women liked men. The university of course quickly distanced itself from this man’s position, and it soon became his former position. I just wish this player would have shown the guts to stick to his original position! My position is that he ought to be a short order cook when he graduates because he can waffle with the best of them.
But let's get back to the story of Lot. The angels that God sent, looked to everyone like they were men. We know this because the homosexual men of Sodom wanted to have carnal relations with them; they thought they were men just like themselves.
Lot wanted to try and save them by offering up his daughters in their stead. Why were they fooled? Because they looked like men! Many times over and over throughout the Old Testament there are stories of angels that appear as men.
Angels
appeared to Abraham to tell him that his wife would bear him a son in a season.
Here’s part of that story in Genesis:
Genesis
18:1-4 And
the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door
in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them,
he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I
pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and
wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
It should be obvious to
anyone that Abraham initially thought that these angels were ordinary men, and
he was offering up the hospitality the region was known for in that era. People
in that day and age were quick to offer a total stranger a place to stay under
their own roofs, and share their own food with them. It wasn’t until later that
he discovered these were not just ordinary men.
Please notice that he
offered them food, water to wash their feet, and a shady place to sit. He
assumed they were men and he wanted to be hospitable and make them comfortable.
He didn’t realize at this time, however, that he was speaking to God himself.
However God only accounts for one of the three supposed men.
Who were the other two?
Jesus wasn’t born yet so he couldn’t be one of them. The Holy Ghost is a spirit
and so would have no flesh, so we must assume these other two were angels. They
had to be angels; there is just no other logical explanation. What is also
logical is that these angels also looked like ordinary men. We also need to
remember that it was immediately after this incident that the two angels
appeared to Lot. I believe these two angels were the other two 'Men'
that were with God when He visited Abraham.
Since scripture, and
especially Old Testament scripture is so explicit about there being only one
God. We can come to no other conclusion but that in Genesis 1:26-27 God was talking to the
angels or that he was speaking to himself in a plurality of majesty, which is
very common in the Hebrew language.
In the English language we
use the superlative tense; the greatest, the smartest, the prettiest, and so on
and so forth. In the Hebrew you would use a plurality of majesty to accomplish
the same task. By thus doing, God signified his supreme power and position over
the world; and all the existing elements formerly created by he, and he alone. Now let's look at:
Deuteronomy
6:4 Hear, O
Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
There is only one God so
it’s not possible that God was talking to another God. If, as some would have
us believe, there are three distinct, co-equal, co-eternal gods, this scripture
would be false and the bible itself unbelievable due to error. Folks, there are
no errors in the bible just misinterpretations on the part of others,
regardless of their well meaning and honest intentions.
There are of course, many
more scriptures I could use to explain the doctrine of Oneness to you this morning
but that's not the topic that I'm preaching on today. If you want to talk after
church today; come see me and I’ll do what I can to explain our church's doctrinal
position to you. Better yet we can set up a time to sit down together and go
over it thoroughly because this is a topic of intense proportions. We don't
have time to do that and get out of this service at a reasonable hour.
Now let’s go to the New
Testament:
1
Corinthians 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the
woman is the glory of the man.
Many people try to say that
the passage which contains this verse of scripture only speaks about authority,
and the chain of command thereof. Untrue!
This passage does talk about authority and the chain of command thereof. But it
also speaks of right motives, right dress, submission, and that man is indeed,
created in the image and glory of God.
Now scripture teaches that
God is true and every man a liar, so whose report will you believe? Personally,
I’ll believe the plainly written word of God almighty over man’s vain
philosophies any day of the week! This scripture also says that man is in the
image and glory of God.
Man was, and is, continually
being created in the image of God with every single baby that enters this
world, each and every day. How can people condone abortion when they're
destroying something that is created in the image of God and gives proof
positive that we are created in God’s image?
The devil wants to destroy
everything that looks, talks, or walks like God. That’s why he wants to kill
unborn babies. That’s why he wants to destroy us so badly. Because when he
looks at babies, when he looks at us, he sees the image of God and it
infuriates him to the very core of his existence! I don’t know about you but if
I have to tick someone off, I’d much rather it be the devil than God!
Point
2: Christ created in God’s image
1
Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in
the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Also without controversy, God was manifest in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
¨
Who was justified
in the spirit!
¨
Who was seen of
angels!
¨
Who was and still
is being preached unto the gentiles!
¨
Who was and still
is being believed on in the world!
¨
Who was received up
into glory!
¨
And who is coming again for a church
without spot or wrinkle to take them home with him to their mansion up in
heaven!
I don’t know about you today, but I have no doubt that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. I have no doubt that was he created in the image of God. The question is, do you believe it today? Do you understand the greatest mystery of the entire bible? Do you know in whom you have believed? If you don't, you need to come to this altar at the end of this service and stay there until you do!
1 Timothy 3:16 says, “Great is the mystery of Godliness”. I’m so glad that in these last days God has revealed this mystery to us. A mystery is just something that is hidden until the time that God wishes it to be revealed. The book of Revelation is unfolding before our very eyes with each passing day. The mysteries contained in it are being revealed to us because we’re the generation that’s to experience the things contained in it.
There is no longer a mystery concerning the Godhead. It never should have been a mystery! The church got carried away with the doctrines of men and their vain philosophies. They tried to reconcile scripture with their theories of spirit and flesh, reality and the supernatural. They based their theories on existentialism, philosophy, and Gnosticism. They refused to keep their doctrines totally and completely based upon the Holy Scriptures.
We can’t base anything we believe on anything but the Holy word of God as given to us in the scriptures! The scriptures have to be the one, the only, and therefore the final authority for any doctrine upon which we as the people of God can base our beliefs. Let's look at:
Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Here again the scriptures
are very explicit; Jesus Christ is the image of God almighty. He is
the image of the invisible God. If you want to see God you have to look at
Jesus. Don’t marvel that God is invisible because John 4:24 tells us that God is a
Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. You
can’t see spirits; you have to look at flesh.
When we get to heaven the
flesh that we see will be the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ll have spiritual eyes that
will see things that we have never seen before in the flesh, but we’ll see
Jesus Christ in the flesh because he was God manifested in the flesh. We won’t
have to use our spiritual eyes to see him. These plain old ordinary eyes we
have now, will do the job for us quite well!
There will also be no doubt
in our minds at that time that we're looking at God because every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Lord is the name used
for God over 6,000 times in the Old Testament. I don’t think it was a mistake
when Thomas called him “My Lord and my God”.
We also know that Jesus
Christ looked like a man when he walked this earth. He was manifest in the
flesh! He looked just like an ordinary man when he walked upon this earth. If
he had looked like the King of Glory that he truly was, no one would have tried
to kill him. It says in:
Hebrews
1:1-3 God,
who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the
brightness of his glory (meaning Gods’ glory),
and the express image of his person (meaning Gods’ person), and upholding all things by
the word of his power (meaning Gods’ power), when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high; (This
designating the position of power in God almighty, because the right hand is
always used in the bible as symbolic of power)
Now some people try to use this passage to say that Jesus and God will be sitting on separate thrones when we get to heaven. But the Apostle John said in:
Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
You may notice he didn’t say
he set down next to the father in his own throne. He said that he was set down with the Father in the Fathers’
throne. Now either he’s God manifest in the flesh, or he’s just a lapdog. But
he is, and always will be, God manifest in the flesh as the previous scriptures
have dictated, and I believe that the previous scriptures have made it plain
that Jesus Christ is God himself manifest in the flesh. This scripture
therefore dictates that when we get to heaven we will see God on his
throne, and it will be on the flesh of Jesus Christ that these eyes will be
staring!
Let’s look at some more
scriptures describing heaven and the number of thrones we’ll see.
Revelation
4:2 And
immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one
sat on the throne.
You will notice
it said “A” throne meaning singular,
one and only one. And it said I saw “one”
sitting on the throne. You won’t see Jesus as a lapdog sitting on the lap of
the Father, You will see the Father and it will be Jesus because Colossians 2:9 said that all the fullness of the
Godhead dwells in him bodily.
Jesus can sit in
the throne of his father, and there only be one on that throne because he is the father. Again I’m not trying to
give a complete dissertation of the Godhead, but it’s kind of hard not to
discuss it, with the topic I’ve chosen this morning.
Now I want to get to my last Point
POINT 3: Are We in Christ’s Image or the World’s Image?
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Each and every one of us
needs to follow after Christ to the point that when people see us, they see Jesus
instead of us. We can’t be like Frank Sinatra and do it “My Way”. We have to do
all things Gods’ way. It’s either his way or the Hellway! You heard me right!
Either you do it Gods’ way or you’ll end up in hell. No ifs, ands, or buts
about it!
We need to be real to the
people in this world folks. As the old saying goes “You’re the best
Christian someone will ever see”. What kind of Christian do you want them to
see?
There’s a lost and dying
world out there saints of God, and we need to let them see the real Jesus.
¨
Not the plastic Jesus on the dashboard.
¨
Not the hypocritical Jesus of the anything goes charismatic crowd.
¨
Not the self-righteous minions that claim to serve Jesus and only serve
themselves.
¨
Not the Jesus that most of us
show to the world.
¨
They need to see the bona-fide Jesus that lives, and breathes, in the
real Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
¨
The Jesus that cares for the wounded soul.
¨
The Jesus that comforts the hurting and broken hearted.
¨
The Jesus that forgives our sins.
¨
The Jesus that saves our souls from a burning hell.
¨
The Jesus that’s preparing a home for us way up in heaven!
When I taught Sunday School; there was a sign in my classroom hanging on the wall that says: “How I act, is my best witness for Jesus”. I ask you today saints of God:
¨ How are you acting today?
¨ Are you giving your all to the savior,
¨ Or are you giving the flesh control of your life?
¨ Are you daily conforming yourself into the image of God?
¨ Or are you in the image of the world?
¨ Who's the final authority in your life today?
¨ Is it you or is it Jesus?
The passage in Romans 12 that we just read says it’s “our reasonable service”, not some impossible task. God has given us the power to live overcoming lives, or he wouldn’t have asked us – No, He wouldn’t have commanded us live as over comers!
Please bear with
me as I need to read a rather long passage of scripture.
Romans 8:1-11 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
That's why it's so important to be filled with the Holy Ghost. We can’t be living in the flesh if we want to go to heaven. Our witness won’t encourage anyone else to go to heaven either. We’ve been created in newness of life. The old sin nature has passed away.
Raising the dead is fine, just as long as it’s not the old man of the flesh. Just as long as it’s not the sin nature that Jesus killed when he filled us with the Holy Ghost. We need to be sure that the sin nature is being purged on a daily basis. That the spirit of Christ is renewed in our hearts each and every day!
We can’t live for Jesus with a carnal attitude; we have to be conformed to his image in a spiritual sense and not just a physical one. We’ve already seen that we’re created in the image of God. The fall in the Garden of Eden changed our spiritual appearance to that of the devil. Christ died for us that we might be restored to the image of God not just in a physical sense, but in the spiritual sense. We’re involved in spiritual warfare today folks and the devil wants to destroy us.
Tell me folks: Are you going to fight for Jesus today or live like the devil? We need to heed the admonition of the Apostle Paul and put on the mind of Christ. We need to heed his suggestion and put on the whole armor of God each and every day! I ask you today saints of God:
¨ Are you walking in the flesh today?
¨ Or are you walking in the spirit of Christ?
¨ Are you showing the world the love of Jesus?
¨ Or are you just showing off?
¨ Are you living the gospel before the lost?
¨ Or are you just plain lost?
¨ Are you willing to die for Christ?
¨ Or will you live for the devil?
¨ What’s your answer today?
¨ How do you plan to live for Jesus today?
¨ How do you plan to live for Jesus tomorrow?
Because if you don’t plan to live for Jesus today you’ll live for the devil. You won’t do it intentionally, but it will happen! Plan your life around Jesus; make him the focal point of everything you do. Take time to make time for Jesus
¨ You have to plan a time to pray or it will never happen.
¨ You have to plan to be in church or you’ll never attend.
¨ You have to makeup in your mind each and every day that you fully intend to serve Jesus the way He would have you serve him.
If we don’t do it, the devil will distract us from our purposes, and our witness will fall short of the effectiveness that Christ intended for it. We won’t necessarily sin, but our acts of Omission will glare back at us as greatly as our acts of Commission. Whom do you plan to serve today, Jesus or the devil? Now let's look at:
1 Corinthians 15:45-49 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
The first man was the natural man, the man of the flesh, the man who gave in to the flesh and sinned in the Garden of Eden. He didn’t protect his soul from the devil. He took God's presence for granted.
He didn’t protect the soul of his spouse either. He took her for granted. Don’t take God for granted today folks. Don’t take your loved ones for granted today. Don’t take anything for granted any night! Don’t be a man or a woman of the flesh. Be a spiritual being like the second Adam.
Be a servant of the most-high God. Serve Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Bear in your body the image of the heavenly. Not just in the physical image of God, but in the spiritual image of God.
Develop that personal, intimate, eternal relationship with God that he desires of his children. If you don't have a personal relationship with God, develop it through prayer and fasting, otherwise he might say 'depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you. I don't think anyone in this room really wants to hear God say those words to them. I know I sure don't!
Church:
¨ Are you a living image of God today?
¨ Or are you still living in the flesh?
¨ Have you taken on the spirit of Christ?
¨ Or are you still trying to live with one foot in this world, and one foot in a heavenly world? It won’t work folks, it just won’t work!
It’s all the way in or all the way out folks. There’s no walking the fence when it comes to salvation. You’re either living for God or living for the devil. No ifs, ands, or buts about it!
I realize that we can all fall short of the glory of God. If we could earn our salvation Christ wouldn’t have had to come and die for us. But we need to live for God like there’s no tomorrow, no next week, no next year, just today. We’re not promised next week, next year, or even tomorrow. We only have now in which to serve God. Will you serve him today?
William Bennett, a former Secretary of Education once said, “The most serious problems afflicting our society today are manifestly moral, behavioral, and spiritual, and therefore are remarkably resistant to government cures”. We can’t depend on the government to save us from hell, only Jesus can do that. We need to be more like Jesus Christ each and every day!
¨ What’s your spirit like this morning?
¨ Will you be like Jesus today?
¨ Are you showing the world the Holy Spirit, or your own spirit?
¨ Are you in the image of God?
¨ Or in the image of the world?
If the musicians will come at this time, I’m closing.
¨ I want each of you to take a long, hard look inside your heart today.
¨ I want you take a long, hard look at your life.
¨ Have you been serving Jesus Christ?
¨ Or have you been serving yourself.
¨ Or worse yet, serving the devil?
¨ When you look in the mirror do you see the image of God?
¨ More importantly, when people look at you who do they see?
¨ Do they see you?
¨ Do they see the devil?
¨ Or do they see Jesus Christ?
¨ I hope for your sake as well as theirs, that they see Jesus Christ!
If you want to serve Jesus today then I want you to come to this altar. I don’t care if you’ve done anything wrong, or if you’re completely pure in heart.
You either need to pray through or you need to help someone pray through. We need to bind together this morning as one body, and lift each other up. We don’t need hand clapping, foot stomping music to scare the wits out of the devil. I believe those things are good, in fact I believe they’re very good.
But I think we
do more to "scare the devil out of Satan"
when we’re on our knees, than at anytime when we’re on our feet. The bible says
that we were created in the image of God, so for one last time I want to ask
this question: Are You in the image of God?
Please, let us all come down to
this altar and pray this morning.