Made in His Image

And we have a very busy service this morning, and I am really looking forward to it—the singing, the message I've been working on—and then we will celebrate two ordinances of the church: communion and baptism. I am so excited about that; I've been dreaming about this day long before he was even born, and I thank God for that.

Let's go into our service now, and I will open us in prayer this morning. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for allowing us to come into Your house. We are here to adore You, Lord, to set our focus on who You are. We are here to leave distractions at the door. We are here to worship. We are here to offer a sacrifice of praise to You, Lord, giving You the fruit of our lips, our life, our heart, our all. We recognize how great, how awesome You are.

Lord, I thank You for each person who has come here; I don't believe they're here by chance, but because You want them to be here. May they see Your beauty, Your worth, Your glory. May they experience You like they've never experienced You before. May they see that Jesus is real, that the Gospel is powerful, that it can change and transform their lives. I pray that You would set our hearts ablaze as believers, that we would not be able to keep the Gospel to ourselves, that we would live our lives on mission for Your glory, God.

As we enjoy this time of worship and fellowship, Lord, may we see You in all Your glory. May we lift You high. May lives be touched. May strongholds be torn down. May the lost hear the Gospel and be saved and set free. May Christians be conformed to the image of Christ. We pray that Your name would be hallowed in this place. Jesus, we recognize that You are preeminent. You are supreme. You are King. We want to bring You glory and honor this morning. All this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

I want to reflect on the divine design of humanity, created in the image of God, and consider how lives like Cleo’s—marked by years of faithful presence here—mirror that sacred reflection. His 94 years are a testament to the purpose God has etched into every human soul, a purpose that calls us to spiritual renewal and alignment with His will. Let us see in Cleo’s life a glimpse of the glory we are meant to embody, and let that ignite a longing in our hearts to be transformed by the renewing work of the Holy Spirit.

Our congregational hymn this morning is *I'll Fly Away*. If you want to follow along in the hymn book, it's page 601, and we'll do all three verses. *I'll fly away to a home on God's celestial shore. I'll fly away.* *When the shadows of your sleep have gone, I'll fly away.* *I'll fly away to a land where joy shall never reach. I'll fly away.* Thank you for that.

Turn in your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 1. We will finish Genesis chapter 1 today. We've been in there for several weeks, and I trust that you've received a blessing from it. I know that I have. There is so much for us to learn and unpack in Creation Week. Today, we move on to day 6, and we will look at the apex of God's creation. God's creative work has come to its pinnacle. On day 6, God creates the crown of His creation: mankind in His own image.

We have read about God framing the created kingdom—'in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.' We have read about God forming the created kingdom—lights, limits, and land. Then, we read about how God fills the created kingdom; He fills what He had formed. He fills the sky with birds, the space with planets, the sun, moon, and stars. He fills the sea with fish, and the land with animals. Now, He will fill it with man.

In verse 26 of chapter 1, it says, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. Then God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish and over the birds and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of the earth. Every tree whose fruit yields seed to you, which shall be for food. And every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life. I have given every green herb for food." And it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.

Now we come to the pinnacle. God makes man in His image. Keep this in your back pocket: Verse 26 says, "Let us make man in our image." "Us" and "our"—two key words in that sentence. We're also going to be looking at chapter 2, where in verse 7 it says, "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 being." Chapter 2 is not a separate account of creation week; rather, it focuses the microscope on the creation narrative and tells us how God created man in His own image.

God takes dust and begins to mold it into the shape of a man. Then He breathes into this form’s nostrils the breath of life, and he becomes *nephesh*—a living being with body and soul. It is interesting that God created man out of the dust of the earth, because the same elements found in the dirt are found in the human body: oxygen, potassium, nitrogen, magnesium, calcium, iron. We came from the dust. But we are not merely dust, nor are we merely physical bodies. We have a soul. Unlike animals, whose bodies return to the dust when they die, our souls are eternal. Ecclesiastes 12:7 explains that our spirit returns to God who gave it. Our soul will live eternally either with God or separated from Him.

Notice, the means of his coming alive is the breath of God. Before, he's just a hunk of clay, just dirt, until God breathes into him the breath of life. In Hebrew, the words spirit and breath are the same word: *Ruach*. This means that God's Spirit is the one that initiates and brings spiritual life and renewal. John in his Gospel, in John 3, connects these two passages. Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus about entering the kingdom of heaven, and He says, "You must be born again." In John 3:5, He says, "Unless one is born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Jesus is reaching back to Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. It is through the Holy Spirit that we go from being spiritually dead in our sins to being made alive in Christ. To those who believe in Christ, God gives His Spirit and He imparts new life. That's called being born again. That's called being regenerated. It's God's breath that gives physical life to the first man, and it's God's Spirit who brings eternal life to us.

Think about this: in making man, God didn't just speak him into existence. God spoke everything into existence up to this point: "Let there be light," and there was light. "Let there be sun, moon, planet," and they were. "Let there be stars," and they were. But here, when He makes man, He begins to form him. God gets His hands dirty. He plays in the dirt. Anyone ever made mud pies as a kid? That's what God does. He gets personal when He's making Adam. Friends, we serve a personal, intimate God who handcrafted you, who made you by His own design. And then He breathes into him the breath of life.

Now let's talk about this physical body. The Bible says in Psalm 139:14 that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are not just a machine, not just a process of evolution, friends. We are the design, the masterpiece of our Creator. Let's start with DNA. What is DNA? It's the instruction manual for building and operating all living things. DNA is found in every single cell in the body and it contains genetic information that determines how your body will grow, develop, and function. So DNA is like a blueprint that's in every single cell. Did you know DNA is long? If you were to unpack all the DNA from just one cell, it would stretch out six feet long. If you could take all the DNA from your entire body and line it up, it would reach from the earth to the sun and back 600 times.

Your DNA is also unique. It's what makes you, you. Your fingerprints, the color of your eyes, your hair—you are you. There are 3 billion base pairs of DNA in every single cell, and each base pair is like a little letter that makes up the entire word. In other words, God has written you like a book, and He's written out your life like a book as well. And it's a beautiful story. You have 46 chromosomes—23 pairs, 23 from mom, 23 from dad—and they come together and they make up your physical traits and even your personality.

DNA can also repair itself. The human genome consists of 3 billion base pairs of DNA. So if we stretched it out, it would be six feet long. But if you were to write it in a book, it would contain enough books to fill the Grand Canyon 50 times. And that's all inside of you. Did that happen by chance? No. You were designed by a grand designer.

God formed this from the dust of the ground. In the human body, there are 37.2 trillion cells. Each human cell can perform over 2,000 different functions. Consider the heart. The heart beats approximately 100,000 times per day, pumping about 2,000 gallons of blood throughout the body. And it has its own electrical system. You know what happens when it goes out of rhythm—bad things happen.

What about your brain? Your brain has approximately 86 billion neurons. And the speed of these neurons firing is about 120 meters per second. What about the human eye? The human eye can distinguish about 10 million different colors. And the retina contains 130 million light-sensitive cells. It is a sophisticated machine. It is one of the most advanced optical systems in the universe. Then think about your immune system. What keeps us from dying over the common cold? It's because you have an immune system. You have blood cells. You have white blood cells. You have antigens.

Then think of the human skeleton. 206 bones. And every 10 years, your skeleton is completely replaced with new bone tissue. Do you know how strong bones are? Think of the femur. It's stronger than steel of the same weight.

Then think of your skin. Your skin is your largest organ. We're seeing everybody's organs. Look around you. Did you know that every minute, 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells die and are replaced by new cells? So guess what you're breathing in? Look to your neighbor. You're breathing them in.

Then we have the reproductive system. We're able to make more of ourselves. Think of the liver. If it's partially removed, it can grow back to its full size in a few weeks. Did this just happen? Is this the product of random chance and biological processes over millions or billions of years? Absolutely not. You are a work of art. You were designed by God. No wonder you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Going back to verse 26, God says, "Let us make man in our image." The familiar pattern—"God said"—we're used to hearing that, but then something changes. He says, "Let us." Once again, we see these Trinitarian overtones in the Scriptures. God's not talking to the fish or the animals or even the angels. He's talking to the persons within the divine Godhead—"Let us make man in our image." He's speaking to the Son and the Holy Spirit.

But what happens because of the Fall? God made us in His image. But because of the Fall, mankind is now trying to recreate God in their image. We want to shape and fashion a God that aligns with our personal preferences, a God that we can manipulate or control for personal gain, a God who serves us rather than we serving Him. Friends, we are made to worship God. We are made to serve Him. We are made for His purposes, not He for ours. We don't have the right to negotiate His truth or to shape Him to fit our desires. He alone is our God. And because He is our Creator, He reserves the right to be worshiped, to be obeyed wholeheartedly.

From this text, we learn that God doesn't simply make us as He's made everything else. He makes us in His image. He shapes us according to His likeness. What does that teach us? It teaches us several things. Number one, our existence is intentional. If you want to write these down, our existence is intentional. God intended to make you and I. We're not a mistake. We're not a product of random chance. God made Adam a fully functioning, mature, rational, relational being, not some primitive, grunting humanoid struggling to master basic survival skills. He was neither a caveman nor a Neanderthal. He was an intelligent, rational being. Therefore, friends, you are not a mistake. You were meant to be here.

Number two, it teaches us that all life is sacred. All life comes from the breath of God, and therefore, every life is precious. That is why murder and other crimes against humanity, including abortion, are an attack upon the image of God.

Number three, every life has value and purpose. Friends, you have value and purpose because of your Creator, because the life that you have, the breath in your lungs, comes from God. Therefore, every single person has inherent worth and dignity. You will never see a person whom God does not love. You will never meet a person who is not made in the image of God, even though that image is marred by sin. Every life has value and purpose.

It also means that we are spiritual beings. Unlike the animals, human beings have an eternal soul. It's not just an outward physical matter. God is spirit, and so the image of God is that spiritual part of us that lives eternally.

Also, we are moral beings. We are created with a conscience. We know right from wrong. I like to think of the conscience as God's fingerprints that He has left upon His creation. We all have a standard of conscience—that is, a standard of right and wrong. Even atheists have a standard of right and wrong. If I were to go up to an atheist and say, "Can I kill you?" He'd say, "Absolutely not." Why? It's wrong. Who says it's wrong? Against what standard are you judging? It's against the standard of the law of God, known as the conscience, written upon the heart of everyone.

By way of application, friends, your identity and mine are found in being a follower of God. Some of you need to listen closely this morning. We live in a day where finding our identity is all the rage. Oftentimes, people try to find their identity, their worth, who they're related to, what job they have, what school they get into, and how much money they make. Friends, none of those things define you. What defines you is not how you look, what you have, or your reputation. You are defined by being an image-bearer of the Almighty God. And your eternal identity is not found in what you've accomplished or what you possess, but who you are in Christ. Paul, in his epistles, always refers to believers as "in Christ." Because of your union with Christ, God looks at you and He sees His Son. So your worth is found in who you are in Christ. You are made by a God who loves you, and we were created to know Him and to love Him and find our true selves in Him. So stop looking everywhere else for your purpose and your identity and find it in the One who made you for Himself. Friends, in Christ you are more loved, treasured, and valued than you could ever imagine. That's good news because you are an image-bearer.

What else does it mean to be made in God's image and God's likeness? I've alliterated these for our ease. Number one, we mirror God's image by reflection. We are called to reflect our Maker. Humanity is not divine, obviously, but we have what theologians call some communicable attributes of God that He shares with mankind, such as love, compassion, mercy, and even righteous anger. Therefore, Adam was to be a reflection of his Creator by possessing these attributes.

Number two, we mirror God's image by rationale. We have a mind. We have emotions. We have a will. We are designed to think, to reason, and to rationalize. We have the intellectual capacity to communicate with our Creator. Therefore, we are rational beings. Therefore, we are to love God not only with all of our heart but with all of our soul, mind, and strength.

Number three, we mirror God's image by our relations. We are made for community. We are made by a personal God. Who likes to have friends? We are made for community. It's not good for mankind to be alone. God made us for community. In fact, we are introduced to the concept of community within the Trinity when God declared, "Let us make man in our image." For all eternity there has been intra-Trinitarian community among the persons of the Godhead. But when God makes man, He extends this relational capacity to His creatures. And He says, "I'm going to make a creature who can walk with Me, who can talk with Me, who can join in the dance, who can join in this divine fellowship, this community." Friends, we are created with the need for relationships. And God has provided for our need through marriage, through family, through friends, through the Gospel. It's through the Gospel that God invites His creatures into an eternal relationship with Him. That's why God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. And friends, He will walk with you in your soul. He wants to walk with you in your daily life this morning.

Now, Gospel application: when Adam and Eve sinned, that fellowship was broken. God can no longer walk with them in the cool of the day because sin offends an infinitely holy God. He sent His Son in the likeness of man, and in the flesh He condemned sin. He sent His Son to die the death that we deserved. Now those who are estranged from God can be brought back into fellowship. That's the New Testament word *reconciliation*. When two warring parties are joined together and become friends again. Friends, Jesus wants to reconcile you to God this morning. Maybe your relationship is separated because of sin. And there's this great barrier between you and God. The bridge is the cross. God came to you in His Son. He came on a rescue mission to reconcile you to Himself and to make peace.

We're also made in His image to receive provision. God planted them in the Garden of Eden. He gave them all the fruits and herbs of the field. And friends, God still provides for us today, doesn't He? He gives the sun and rain to the just and the unjust.

We also mirror God's image by ruling and by utilizing dominion over God's creation. Think of Adam and Eve as God's co-regents. They would rule over God's kingdom with Him. They would share in His rule by taking care of the earth. They were to be stewards of God's creation. What does that mean? It means they were to utilize the resources. They weren't to exploit the earth but to protect it. They would enjoy fruits. They would work and till the ground. They would create and invent for the good of mankind and for God's glory. They were to survive but to thrive upon this earth. Likewise, God has created you and I not to survive, not just to get through this life, but to be fruitful and to multiply. God blessed them. God said, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion over all things." They were to act as stewards of God's creation. Man is God's co-ruler and they were co-creators. They took the raw materials God gave them and worked them for the good of mankind.

Now what happened after the Fall? Man begins to work by the sweat of his brow. Now we have punching the time clock and we have a horrible boss, and people think, "Man, I hate work." But work was never part of the curse. Man was working before the curse. It was the toil and the labor that came after the Fall. But mankind was called to cultivate, to irrigate, to grow his crops, pick his fruit, take care of animals, oversee creation. But what does God do in the Gospel? He uses work, doesn't He? And now work can be performed as believers to the glory of God. Paul writes us in Ephesians 4:28, saying, "Let him who stole steal no more, but let him work with his hands so he can have something to give to those who have need." God also says, "If a man will not work, let him not eat." That's God's opinion. If you're able to work, you should work. Why? Because we serve the Lord Christ. Paul writes in Colossians 3:23 and 24, "And whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the reward of your inheritance." So that means through your character, your honesty, your integrity at work, and through the quality of your craftsmanship, you are a direct reflection of your Creator. And you can adorn your work with the Gospel, and people can say, "That person—whether man or woman—is honest, they're hardworking, they must love the Lord." You are a witness by your work.

So let's think about this. Mankind has the special capacity to think, to build, to design, to invent, to rule over God's creation. I want to ask you a question. When's the last time you saw a monkey composing a symphony? When's the last time you saw a kangaroo paint the Sistine Chapel? When's the last time you saw another creature launch itself into space? You haven't. Why? Because those things belong to man. We are an intricate and complex creature made from dirt, but we live by the life of God.

Man also shows God's image by exercising dominion and by being a protector. Subdue the earth. Who are they to subdue it from? In chapter 3 there's going to slither up a wily, subtle adversary. And it's Adam's job to protect his family and protect the garden from this serpent. And as we'll see he does not do a very good job at it. But friends, we are called to be protectors. Protectors of our church. Protectors of our country. Protectors of our homes and families. We're called to oversee what God has given to us.

We are also to mirror God's image by reproducing. God blessed man, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." So friends, we see that we're not just relational, not just rational, but also sexual creatures.

Turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 2. We're going to look at Genesis 2. The Bible says, "The Lord God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.'" And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them. Adam—his name means "man"—it's close to the Hebrew word for dirt. Man, brought from the dirt. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. But this creature made from the dirt is over all these other creatures. God gives him special responsibility to name the animals. And by naming the animals, he proves that he has authority over them.

So Adam gives names to all the cattle, to the birds, to the beasts of the field. But Adam notices something. Every creature has its mate. There are perfect pairs. But for Adam, there is not found a helper comparable to him. So what does God do? Verse 21, The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. The first surgery was performed by God in the Garden of Eden. He had divine anesthesia, I reckon.

Verse 22: The rib which the Lord God had taken from man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 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." Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. These are sexual creatures.

Friends, sexuality is a gift from our Creator. During the time when I mention the word sex in church, everybody is like, "Ah!" or the kids are like, or the older people are like, "No, what's he gonna say?" There's nothing wrong with that. God created us as relational, as rational, and as sexual creatures. And it is a gift from God. In fact, our gender and our sexuality are another reflection of our Creator. Why is that? Because certain characteristics of His attributes are present in both genders. Both genders reflect aspects of His character such as strength, beauty, valor, and elegance.

Also, we learn that both genders are equally valuable and they're complementary to one another. Notice Eve is going to be called a helper suitable for Adam. She is compatible. So those of you who are not married, you need to take this as a spiritual application. You need to marry someone who is going to be spiritually compatible with you. If you're married, you're following Jesus. Get you a spouse who's following Jesus as well. Else you're going to be pulling in two different directions. Don't be unequally yoked. They were designed not to compete but to complete one another. The difference in men and women also reveals God's good and perfect design for gender, for marriage, for sexuality. And God's way is wholesome. It is fulfilling. It is rewarding. And it ultimately exists for the glory of God because through human sexuality and through marriage, we reflect His own faithfulness, His own fellowship, His own intimacy, His own fidelity to our most sacred human relationship, and that is marriage.

For the first time, we see that something is not good. All through chapter one, God creates and it's good. God creates and it's good. But now, something's not good. What is not good? It's not good for man to be by himself. It's not good for Adam to be alone. Adam's noticed all these suitable creatures but there's no one suitable for him. So what does God do? God creates someone for him. Someone who would be soft. Someone who would be nurturing and kind. She would be a wife. She would eventually become a mother. He would be strong. He would be protective. He would be a leader. He would be a loving husband and eventually a loving father.

God causes this deep sleep to fall on Adam. He takes one of his ribs out. He closes the flesh in its place and he makes woman. The word "woman" comes from the Hebrew word meaning soft. She's soft. She's elegant. So when God brings his bride to Adam, Adam sees her. He's like, she's like me. She's got hands and feet. She's got eyes, ears, nose. But she's different than me. She's soft. She's beautiful. I think if my dad told the joke, he said that whenever Adam saw Eve, he said, "Whoa, man." She's different in all the good ways. Praise the Lord—she's awesome.

She is different by design. But throughout the Genesis narrative we've seen the complementary contrast. We've seen the contrast between Adam and Eve. We see light and darkness. Sky, water, land, sea. But now we have male and female. They are different yet they are complementary. Notice also how many genders God created? Two. God created them male and female. Not one. Not three. Not four. Two. Male and female. And there's no plus sign at the end of that.

Woman was derived from man, because the Hebrew word for man is "ish," and the Hebrew word for woman is "ishah." "Ish" is man, "ishah" is woman. Woman comes from man, out of man. Adam sees her, and he recognizes this is part of myself. She's beautiful. She's me, but yet she's distinct from me.

Let's talk about what God created Adam. That means man has headship. 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 11, Ephesians 5. Adam was created first and Eve was taken from him. What does headship entail? Ephesians 5 tells us it entails leadership, it entails protection, provision and priesthood because Adam is to be the spiritual leader of his home. He is to be willing to lay down his life for the sake of his wife. And this marriage not only exists for protection, provision and priesthood, but also as a picture of the love that exists between Christ and his bride the church. Adam is to love his wife selflessly, sacrificially and likewise a wife is to be like Eve, not from his feet to be trampled upon but she was taken from his side, near his heart to be by his side to be held close to be loved that they might serve God together.

Furthermore, marriage, friends, is not a human invention. For those who want to say it's just a piece of paper and it doesn't mean anything, you're wrong. The first marriage is here—it's a divine institution established by God. Friends, let me say this: God, who created marriage, reserves the sole right to define what marriage is. Amen. And according to Genesis 2:24, it is a monogamous, lifelong covenant between one man and one woman. Friends, it wasn't Adam and Steve or Eve and Eva—it was Adam and Eve. It was the first plan for marriage. It's the first institution that God blessed, before civil governments, even before the church. God creates the family because the family is the foundational unit of society. You take away marriage, you take away the family. Society crumbles. The church crumbles. It's built upon men loving their wives as Christ, who are also carrying the Gospel into the next generation. God blesses marriage, and God gives them the creation mandate that they are to reproduce after their kind. They are to reproduce little image bearers. The result of this two becoming one? He is seeking godly seed. In other words, you and I are to bear and reflect God's image by reproducing godly seed. We are to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

And then Adam is to leave and cleave. Number one, he's to leave. That means, friends, once you are married, your spouse becomes the most important person in your entire life. It doesn't mean that you neglect or hate your family. But, friends, when you get married, your spouse is the most important person in your life, not your mom or your dad. It's your spouse. Forsaking all others, we bind ourselves to our spouse. And then they are to cleave. That means to be stuck like glue. You are to cleave to them alone.

Now, this is a beautiful foreshadowing of Christ and the church. In Jesus, the last Adam, in 1 Corinthians 15:45, we see Jesus fulfill that. Just as Adam entered the deep sleep of death before Eve was formed, Christ entered the deep sleep of death and was laid in a garden tomb. And just like from Adam's side, God brought forth Eve, so Christ's side was pierced upon the cross and blood and water flowed. From his side came the means of our redemption. And we—his bride—now await the glorious day when he will return and take us to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Finishing up, guys, we mirror God's image by being renewed. Theologians call the image of God the *Imago Dei*. We reflect God's likeness when we walk in fellowship with him, when we serve him with excellence in our work, when we fulfill the creation mandate, when we are protectors and stewards of God's gifts, including our times, talents, and treasures. But friends, we've been marred because of sin. Sin has messed us up. It's because of sin that there's war and famine and death and disease. It's because of sin that there's disharmony in the home. It's because of sin that there's murder and rape and stealing. So, though that image is still there, it must be redeemed.

Friends, you must be renewed. In the words of Jesus, you must be born again. You must be redeemed. And the Bible says that when we get saved, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 24, that we take off the old man and we put on the new man, made in the image of him who created him in true righteousness. Therefore, friends, it is believers who bear the image of God in righteousness. And one day we'll see him as he is, and we'll be changed. We will have a glorious life and a glorious body, just as Jesus' body. Because God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. So friends, you must be renewed this morning. You must be reconciled to God. You must be born again. You must have that image renewed. You must have Christ's righteousness applied to your heart, because you have no righteousness of your own. God can make you new. He can give you the image of his Son. And one day you will bear a glorified body.

Let's wrap this up. Christ is the perfect image of God because, as Colossians 1:15 says, he is the image of the invisible God. He is the perfect representation of the Father because he and the Father are one. Christ perfectly fulfills the creation mandate by filling the earth and subduing it because he is the rightful, righteous, and just King who rules over his creation. He also fulfills the creation mandate by filling the earth. Who does he fill the earth with? With believers. And then believers reproduce after their kind. We go and make disciples. Disciples make more disciples. And we fill the earth, so we see the spiritual aspect of the creation mandate.

Jesus is the second Adam. Whereas Adam fell into sin, Christ succeeds. Christ obeys. Christ subdues creation. Christ rules over things with his divine authority. And Christ is the model for human salvation. He lives a perfect life. He died a sacrificial death. And he rose from the dead. And he reconciles, redeems, and renews the image of God in those who will believe.

So I'm going to give a time of invitation before we go into our communion. If they'll give us a hymn of invitation. Maybe this morning you see that you are not where you need to be. You see that your life is marred by sin. Let me tell you, Jesus Christ, the perfect image of God, can renew. You can be reconciled and made new. So this altar is open. And if you want to pray where you're at, confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. And you'll be saved. Confess that you're a sinner. Believe Jesus lived and died in your place, rose again, and that he will save you and set you free if you will call upon his name. This altar is open.