Sin (Part I)

Okay. Well, um, I lament that we can't do this in person. Um, it's a blessing to be able to still do this though. You know, praise God that we have the, um, the opportunity and the, um, the means by which God provides that we can still meet, um, as a church plant.

Um, so I kind of want to start it today. And, um, we had talked about not talk, not starting with jokes or anything. And, uh, so I'm not starting with any jokes, but if you find any of these funny, that's that's on you guys.

So, um, so I don't know if you guys are on Facebook or anything. Um, you know, the social medias, if, if you guys have ever spent, um, a certain amount of time, any, really for a, you know, a certain amount of time for a couple of years, even you, you probably were privy to a certain trend, um, that emerged, you know, maybe earlier on more than even today.

Right. Uh, what you would see is, um, there was a time when maybe not so much right now when people would post, um, a lot of inspirational and kind of pop culture quotes and they would kind of look, uh, like flowery and really some, some nice pictures.

And you would see, um, maybe this is a time when social media was a lot more, um, positive than it is now. Uh, but you would see, I mean, you would see the trend of these pictures that existed, right.

You would see, it was like pop culture, um, inspiration. So you'd get, uh, you get this phenomenon as people walk up in the morning, um, and then he would post and then, you know, and all in, in, in, in good spirit, I imagine, but you would see people post these, um, these pictures and these inspirational quotes and they would, um, and they do it to inspire the people on their wall or, you know, the people that they could, um, communicate with online.

Um, and they would sometimes go to the effect of, you know, um, you are enough, you know, you got this, you know, or something like, uh, um, I have another one here. Um, everybody makes mistakes, go and conquer the world.

And, uh, and if you've been around long enough, I'm no longer on it, but, uh, if you've been around long enough to see it, you've actually seen somewhat of like a, like a change or a permutation of what these quotes and these inspirational kind of these pop culture things would eventually become.

So, whereas initially, I think, you know, in the earlier days, you would see people be a lot more positive and, um, uh, just really, again, with all, with the best intentions, I imagine, um, you, what you see now, maybe even more so now in the, in the, in the midst of these kind of these weird times that we're in, you see somewhat of a nihilistic motivation, you know, um, most of them, um, I don't think that I could even say, right.

They're probably too vulgar at their core, but you would, um, there's something to the extent of, you know, the world is somewhat of a bad place. So you can kind of fill in the blanks here. Uh, you got to get yours, you know, it's some kind of like, you know, you gotta, the world isn't going to give you what you deserve.

So you got to go out and get it, or you're good enough to kind of trample over, you know, the adversity, but, you know, fill in the kind of, kind of vulgarities, you know, like I said, it's not most of these things that kind of show up these days.

I don't know, maybe just my feed, if, if I even care to look at it, isn't so popular anymore, isn't so positive. It kind of gave away from this positive perspective. Again, this is only turning back the page of the internet a couple of years to now where it seems a lot more nihilistic.

Um, again, all of it still stems from the same problem. And that problem lies within us, right? Because it made us the image of, uh, or it made us the centrality of the argument. And it said, okay, well, we're going to inspire you to get what you want because you can do it.

There is, there's, you know, the pop culture will say a bunch of different things, but if you've ever stopped to think about what the Bible has said, and it says a lot about this, the message is very different.

So what does the Bible say? Well, looking at Jeremiah 17, nine, for example,.

It says this,.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick who can understand it. So that's a little different. Or you look at Romans three, uh, chapter three, verses 10 to 12. It says this as it is written, none is righteous.

No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They have become worthless. No one does good. Not even one. That's a little different than what you might get on your Facebook feed.

Now, granted it's we're in the midst of a pandemic, but the reality is even, you know, a year back when none of this was a reality, um, to post something of that nature would have been, you would be considered a downer, right?

How, you know, don't bring me down. You can't bring me down with that. That's I'm trying to, I'm trying to do what, what I can. I'm trying to get ahead. And, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm human. Like anyone else to air is human.

You, you know, there's a lot of pop culture phrases that exist, but that isn't what the Bible says. It isn't biblical to what God has said about who we are and what we are without him. Those are, those things don't, they don't, they don't mix with what the Bible says.

So, so if we're going to find out what the Bible says about humanity and sin, we have to go straight back to the Bible. So, but before we do that, let's, let's pray. And, yeah, last, let's last the Lord for guidance.

Father, Lord, we need your help tonight. Lord, daily, Lord, we are inundated with the lies of the enemy about, Lord, what we are, Lord, and who we are. Father, that, that Father, that we are made in a certain way, but that the world would distort, Lord, that we, we see, we see ourselves through a distorted lens, Lord, often higher than we ought to, Lord.

And we fulfill these self gratification with idols, Lord. We make ourselves to be higher and you lower Lord, every single day in the world does this day in and day out, Lord, to inundate us with messages and lies, Lord, from the enemy.

Father, I pray, Lord, that this night that you would be with us, Lord, that you would open up our hearts, Lord, to rightfully understand Lord who we are as image bearers, Lord, image bearers of the God who created us.

Father, that we would learn truth in this Lord, and that we would be changed by this truth, Lord, knowing that these have eternal and lasting consequences, how we view our humanity. And most importantly, our sin, Lord, in light of a righteous and Holy God.

So Father, I ask that you would help us help those listening. And I just asked her that you would bless this teaching tonight. So I pray all these things in the sufficient, all, all sufficient, powerful name of Jesus Christ.

Humanity, Sin, and the Biblical View of Man

Okay. So, um, so if you haven't already, um, gathered, we're in humanity and sin. So, um, self-admittedly, I probably could have pushed this to like four weeks with all the research and all the kind of the, the, the riches that I'd mind.

So, um, I, we're sticking to three weeks. So you just have to buckle in with me and, uh, which has gone this ride together, but there, so we're doing this for about three weeks. Um, and I have the pleasure of introducing, um, humanity and sin.

So as you guys might've gathered, it isn't, um, it's pretty clear that the biblical worldview doesn't really mince words with the, um, pop culture, the contemporary secularist view of what, uh, what, of what the world says that we are, right.

We live in a fallen world. We know as Christians. Um, and the Bible speaks specifically about that. And it is very controversial compared to what the world might say that we are, what the world says that we are sufficient in.

So we need to, we need to get a rightful understanding, but to do that, we need to understand, um, or for, for one thing, we need to understand that because the world stands diametrically opposed to what the Bible says, that, um, we need to understand that even without a savior, without Christ, before we even realize anything that in a fallen world, anything and everything we do can be totally sinful.

Ephesians, um, Ephesians two, uh, chapter two, verses one to three says, and you were dead. And you're in, sorry. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the Prince and the power of the air, the spirit that is now work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once live in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desire, or sorry, carrying out the desires of our body in the mind.

And we're by nature, children of wrath and like the rest of mankind. So you see Paul talking to the church in Ephesus about a before and after picture before we were follow following the Prince and the power of the air, the spirit is now working the sons of disobedience.

We are following this, this, this power and this, and we were sons of disobedience. And so the skeptic might say, so you immediately upon reading this. And, uh, and if, if I were to post this on, you know, if I would shout it out, people would say, the skeptic would say, well, there's good things that we can do.

What about giving to the homeless? What about all these things that we can do? We can help those in need. Aren't those good things. Uh, and from our perspective, we would say, you know, yeah, probably good.

I mean, there's blessings in helping those in need. You know, we help, um, the Lord has not, um, has not walked away from us and helping those in need. He blesses in return. But the reality is we as humans see only the act.

We see only what, what our own two eyes allow us to witness,.

But never, we,.

We never truly understand the motive or the understanding of the person who does.

The giving, right? That's what God sees.

His perspective is on a much higher understanding than ours. So even something as good as giving, or, um, you know, especially in this time of, uh, of Christmas that has typically been one of the highest times where fundraisers and things will occur, um, because people are generous and they feel the need to give regardless it outside of the will of God, even those things can be sinful.

Like for example, like the, uh, like the Pharisees in Matthew six, Jesus said of this, of them be worth practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. For then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven.

That's when you give to the needy sound, no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

That's Matthew six verses one to two. So even, even things that the world says is good and it is good to give to the needy and to give, to provide for those. And this is nothing to say of anyone who is in need and receiving of those things.

But specifically of the act itself, even those things can be sinful outside the will of God. And how can that be? Well, the, the way that it works out and the way that it, that it is sinful is that we deny the one who is worthy of all glory and honor his due.

And we make the act of giving the, uh, the chief end of why we do it, or we give the, or we, or we try to honor the individual above all else and not honor the God to whom we are accountable to. So again, outside of the will of God, even even good things can be bad things can be sinful.

Right. And that's ultimately our natural disposition, right? Like Ephesians one, chapter two, one to three says we were all walked in that manner. We were all sinful until something happened. So again, so, but I want to take us back right to the very beginning because we need to have a rightful understanding of what it means to be human or what, and what the Lord says about what our humanity is.

So, um, if you can go, if you guys can keep a finger, we're going to be here quite a bit in Genesis chapters, uh, one, two, and three. So while you guys are turning there, um, Genesis chapters one, two, and three are just amazing pieces of scripture.

Um, time and time again, I find myself in these chapters of the Bible because of just how important they are. And just these three, uh, three chapters alone, we are introduced to so many topics, many biblical doctrines, like the doctrines of the family, um, our relationship with God and fellowship.

We learned of the Trinity, the covenant of marriage, good stewardship, uh, and many more. I could go on. The list is much larger than this, but I always find myself amazed of how much is revealed in just the first three chapters of the Bible.

Um, it's important that as Christians we're well acquainted with these chapters because the Bible makes it very clear that we ought to be well acquainted with these chapters. So if you guys, um, in preparation for the next couple of weeks of teaching, I would highly suggest and recommend that you go over these chapters again, as you study and you relisten and you relearn again, that, uh, that these are very important.

Um, actually on a side note, um, there was,.

I spent,.

I think the good part of about half a year in somewhat of an evangelistic Bible study, uh, in, in, in, uh, Genesis one, two, and three. And I think that we got just at the beginning of chapter three before we couldn't, I think that happened right at the beginning of COVID.

And we kind of have to stop everything, but, but it, but we spent six months roughly in just these three chapters. And I, and even then I felt like I was rushing. There are so many, so many treasures to mine in, um, in these three chapters alone.

So I really do encourage everyone to, to study and become well acquainted with it. But first, um, so again, so turning to those chapters, I really want us to take a look at these chapters so that we understand our rightful view of humanity and what it means to be human.

Humanity Created in the Image and Likeness of God

So, um, if I can point you to Genesis chapter one, verse 26, um, in summary of, of, of the verses that precede this, uh, at this point in creation, God has brought order to the cosmos and created the heavens and the earth.

Um, he's brought forth plants, vegetation, animals, and the fish of the sea. So, so the creation, the creatures that walk upon the earth are completed. And in verse 25, um, God says this. So in verse 25, it says, and God saw that it was good.

And this is concerning all the creatures. So the birds, the fish, the, uh, the creatures in the land and the earth, all these things, God saw that it was good. And I want us to keep in mind here as well, that, that God's definition is good of good is on a much higher plane.

And as a much higher definition of our version of good, what we might use as good today falls totally and utterly short of what God says is good. So keeping in mind what, uh, what God declares is good in his creation, that really does mean that it was good.

So we need to keep that in mind that it doesn't just mean just a, like a blase form of, you know, acceptance. It is, it is ultimately good. So, so we need to know that God, when God says is good, it is good.

So picking up in verse 26, um, it says this, so verse, uh, chapter one, 26 of Genesis, it says, then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

It's interesting because when we pertaining to the, um, to the first point, it's again, if you're keeping notes, um, humanity was created by God in his image and likeness. And I think what's, what's really interesting about just this first part of verse 26 is the, the words, both image and likeness.

I think both are very similar, um, and have very similar uses, uh, usages. Often we somewhat tend to play around with it. We can use them somewhat interchangeably, but it's actually the not the similarities that are really interesting, but the actual differences in what the terms mean that we'll find that they're very nuanced actually.

Um, and the Lord makes it very clear that they are two separate things. So, um, again, just, uh, just to give you some definition of what they mean in Hebrew, both words mean just slightly different things.

So for example, image, uh, as is delineated here, uh, in, in Hebrew, the word is, and I'm going to butcher this. So you guys will just have to forgive me. Uh, Salem. I think that's how it is at Salem.

It's, um, it's, I think it's probably more throaty than how you're pronouncing it, but that means a representative figure. So to be made in his image, it means that, uh, we are a representative or we, or we are a representative figure of the one who created us.

While the word likeness in Hebrew is d'muth, which means in the likeness of. So the nuance between those two actually starts to come out as you start to explore why the differences exist. So thinking about this too, I just want you guys to think about for one second, what does it mean or what could it mean that God created us in his image?

And so maybe the, for the little ones listening, um, for those, um, trying to understand the difference between image and likeness. Well, first of image, what does it mean that we are made, um, that we are made in his image?

There's, there's, there's differences there.

What it,.

What ultimately boils down to is that God gave mankind a very special role on earth. Again, looking back at the definition, it says a representative figure. We find a little bit of our answer in the remainder of verse 26, when it says, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So when you hear dominion over all of creation, when one sense, um, you, it's not, it's not a, uh, a dominion, as we might understand right now, it's a diminutive term that is somewhat, there's a negative connotation.

There was biblical stewardship that was involved here. And this is where we get actually the biblical, this is where the biblical doctrine of stewardship is introduced. That as an image bearer of God, as a representative figure, we are, we were commanded to steward over the land.

I will get into this a little bit more in the, uh, coming in the coming, um, topic here, um, in chapter two, uh, verse 19, we'll get there in a little bit. So I won't, I won't highlight it too much right now, but, but chapter two of Genesis paints this, this amazing, this beautiful portrait of Adam and God laboring alongside one another in, in sweet labor.

It's, it is an amazing portrait. Again, we'll get into the specifics, but we get an understanding that to have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the beast of the earth, over every creeping thing, everything on earth, that we were meant to do it in a way that was Godly and Holy and with joy.

Um, we have a friend, uh, Shane and I, we, the church we go to right now, we have a friend, um, Luke, who actually, he, um, he has a really great thing. I'm probably going to butcher it some degree, but, um, but he was preaching on this topic, um, a couple months back and he said, uh, we get from this verse.

We, so again, I'll have to clarify with him later, but he said of this passage, um, that God's intention for man was that we would be gardeners, but unfortunately sin made us laborers. And I think that we can all understand that it work isn't, isn't inherently bad, right?

I mean, we get this beautiful image of God and Adam working alongside one another. You see Adam laboring in the garden of Eden, um, and planting. And anyone who knows gardening, I know we have a couple of gardeners here that really do enjoy it.

Uh, the joy that it takes to plant seed, to, um, to take care of your garden, to tend to it, to, to see the growth of what, uh, what the labors of your hands are doing for the joy of our God is actually great, great work.

And it's, it's not, and it doesn't feel like labor, right? Those who particularly enjoyed gardening know this joy. And that's where we kind of stumble into being made in his likeness. So if we are made in his image, again, a representative figure to be made in his likeness is to be like our God in, in affectation and emotion and meditation, um, that we are, we are image bearers of him.

And we have similar, um, we have similar emotions, different, uh, affectations. We're not, uh, you see, again, you get, you see the picture painted in chapter two of Genesis, um, that Adam is not just some automaton, right.

He's not just walking back and forth in the garden, you know, following the, the algorithm as he, you know, sweeps the floors or plants. And according to this pattern, you know, he has emotion. He's not like a Roomba, right.

You know, this Adam enjoys his labor. He enjoys what he's doing. So in doing so in, in enjoying the labor, we, we, we come to understand that being made in his likeness, we are made to enjoy God in his glory.

Again, because, um, because of the creation and, and God's, God's innate glory creation cannot help, but point towards the glory of the one and the artisan and master of, of, of creation itself. Romans, um, Romans chapter one, verse 19 to 20 says this for what can be known about God is made plain to them.

Because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power, divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.

In other words, all creation around, from the tiniest of cells. So all creation for you're looking at these, the smallest cell that can be studied to the largest mountain, the largest, the planets in the cosmos.

You look at the, the Hubble, the Hubble space telescope that that projects these beautiful images that we can now render into an, into a movie, into a 3d rendering from the largest, than the farthest cosmic being in the, in the cosmos to the tiniest cell on earth.

All of it cannot help, but proclaim the glories of the artisan of the creator himself of our God. Paul makes that point really clear here that it's not that anyone again in, in, in foolish and prideful, um, if prideful inclinations, we'll, we'll do this, that we will, uh, we will explain away the glories of God, but every man is without excuse that the glories that are revealed in the creation around us from this, again, the smallest cell to the largest body in the solar system, all exist to proclaim the glories of our God and to make his glories known.

Again, in similar fashion. Um, if you, if you can turn with me to Psalm 92, um, so again, this is a Psalm written, um, is, is of glory and praise, right? It, we get, we get an image again of, uh, of, of, again, not just an automaton.

We don't get someone who, uh, like a, like a dutiful stoic soldier that stands,.

Uh, stands firm,.

Ready for action that does things solely out of duty that he has no emotion and that he not, he feels not for what he does, but instead he does it because he is bound by, by duty. You don't get that sense here.

So reading, um, the first five verses of Psalm 92,.

It says this.

It is good to give thanks to the God, to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night. To the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre, for you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work.

At the works of your hands, I sing for joy. Verse five, how great are your works, O Lord, your thoughts are very deep. Again, that isn't written in a blase, mute fashion that isn't to say that, um, that duty doesn't play a role in this, but, but to be made in the likeness of God is to sing the praises and the glory of the creator alongside his creation, because by God's very nature, the creation that exists outside of man all sings to glorify God.

It all does as it is, as it is supposed to. It is only in sinful man that we see creation take a side or, or remove the glory of God or make, make himself his own idol. The rocks and the seas and the birds of the birds and the waters, or sorry, the fish and a lot of the birds of the air, all these proclaim the beauties and the praises of our, of our, of our maker.

However, it's, it's only in sinful man that we see this, this deviation that we see that we see that we make ourselves our own idol. Another example that I want to point to quickly is in second Chronicles, chapter 26.

And this is the story of King Uzziah. So if you don't know about King Uzziah, King Uzziah was one of the better Kings in the land of Judah. And it's, and it's this story that actually captures the idea of being made in his likeness that, you know, the, the, the heart of, of the Lord is captured quite well in this, in this story.

So in the earlier part in the, in his, in his reign as King of Judah, King Uzziah sought the glory of the Lord. And the Lord was pleased to bless him. Turning, sorry, I'm just going to turn to there quickly.

You see that the Lord is pleased to bless Uzziah in what he does. Again, the Lord, again, is, is honored in, in our, in our zeal, in our affectations and our working of him. If we do things all to the glory and honor of his praise, he's, he's, he's happy to bless us.

There's, there's no, no, there's no denying that. Again, it says this, sorry, I'm just trying to find my place here now. Looking at verse five, it says, he set himself to see God in the days of Zachariah who instructed him in the fear of the Lord.

And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. Again, as we come to know later in, in second Chronicles chapter 26, King Uzziah was a man blessed with great ingenuity, actually. He's one, like I said, one of the better Kings, at least he starts off his reign very well.

Again, he's blessed with ingenuity, blessed with creativity. And in the beginning, he does these things to truly and well and truly honor the Lord. We see later on in the verse, you see verses nine and 10,.

Specifically. It says, moreover,.

Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the valley gate and at the angle and fortified them. And he built towers in the wilderness, and he cut out many cisterns for he had large herds, both in Shepala and in the plain.

He had farmers and vine dressers in the hills and the fertile lands for he loved the soil. Again, you get an image of Uzziah in this, in these couple of verses that he truly well and truly does love the creation that the Lord has given him, this stewardship of being King.

And he does it with a heart to honor the Lord and the Lord blesses that. Right? So we really do get a sense of that here in these verses. Again, reading further down, just a little bit lower, we get again in verse 15.

Again, a man of great ingenuity, really, because what it says here is in Jerusalem, he made machines invented by skillful men to be on top of the towers and the corners and to shoot arrows and great stones.

So again, this is the time of war, but he's honoring God in his defense of the kingdom of Judah. And the Lord is blessing him in that. By allowing him to build these, these kind of, by the sounds of it, he was very well advanced in the art of war in this time.

And he was doing it to the proclamation, to the glory of his God. And it says here at the end of verse 15, and his fame spread far for he was marvelously helped till he was strong. It ends a little bit on a little bit of a sour note.

Because truly the Lord did bless him as he sought the Lord. But unfortunately for King Uzziah, as we later come to see in the chapter, it does not end well for our man here, King Uzziah. Growing arrogant in his pride, as is our natural disposition.

You see Uzziah becoming prideful in what he had done. He took pride in the works and did not honor the Lord in the latter reign of his, as King. And the Lord punished him as a result of that. So again, I think there's some application to be had there, but again, the point in being made in his likeness is this, that God was pleased to glorify Uzziah insofar as he sought the Lord in all that he did.

And the Lord was happy to bless people who work hard for his kingdom. It's actually pretty fitting that we, that we talked about music and that we saw those videos by Shane and his kids and how they play music.

I, maybe I just want to show by a show of hands here, maybe to the homeschoolers and maybe not Millie, but who here, have you guys started studying musical history with with the little ones by any.

Chance? Oh, good. Okay, perfect.

So you guys are kind of familiar with different eras and music and different stages in time that the different, somewhat, right? I mean, it's, trust me, my knowledge isn't all good. It's better today than it was a week ago when I started studying some of this, but you do get the sense though, that there are, I mean in these different stages of music, you learn quite a bit actually.

And Lord willing, if you don't know more about the music, like maybe musical history that you should take time to learn some musical history. And actually specifically some of the, some of the early composers that actually existed in during the, during even the Baroque era, for example.

These men, some of these musical pieces will transcend our days. So for years and years and years to come some of our contemporary music doesn't stand the test of time, even for the next few weeks, but the music in these times in these composers where they really put their hand to write music really does stand the test of time.

And that's not by accident. Many of these composers, actually, and this was super fascinating to learn about if you ever took a picture or you were ever to get like an original copy of the manuscripts that they would write or compose different pieces or different scores of music.

So you would look at perhaps Johannes Bach or George Frederick. You would, to take some of their original manuscripts, what you would find is that in the, in the margins, kind of on the sides and on the top and bottom, kind of, you know, in, in, in kind of in places where you could write a little bit more, what you would see is an indentation or abbreviation of SDG.

And you would see that kind of written in, on all the pieces of writing. So SDG, what does that mean? Does anyone know Latin? Yeah, I see a couple of hands here. So in Latin, the term SDG is an abbreviation for the term Soli Deo Gloria.

Glory to God alone. That's the literal translation of Soli Deo Gloria. So when you think about of music that these beautiful pieces of music that existed, these, many of these composers that would write scores and scores and scores of music, they wrote with a mind to honor and glorify God.

So even in their writings, they would say that these are, these are beautiful pieces and we attribute, we attribute that to these composers, but in their minds and by the workmanship and the handyman of their work, they attributed every single, every single note, every single bar to the glory of God alone.

Like I said, the two biggest composers that people will credit for this is Johann Bach and George Frederick in the 1600s would write, would write a ton of music and they would write SDG in it. And it's, and maybe there's some application there for us too, that I don't know if, you know, if, if you're a student or if you're working on an assignment, you know, to God be the glory alone, you know, that's probably some good practical advice for some of our students in university now, or anyone who's working on anything that ultimately the labors of our hand being made in the likeness of our God is to glorify God.

He's happy to bless those who work diligently for his kingdom, but ultimately all the glory goes to God alone. And that was something that many of these composers understood. So, so this is before moving on to, I guess, my second point, I do want to just make clear that, that being made in his image and likeness is something that applies in this day.

It applies today. And it's not something that's, has changed or permutated with the introduction of sin in our world. We are still made in his image and likeness unbelievers and believers alike. Luke chapter nine, verse 62 says, and no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

Again, we, I think maybe this is self-admitted. I forget how serious of a verse that is, how serious of a warning that is, that that being made in his image and likeness that we, whenever we put our hand to the plow to do the glories and the works and the labors of our God, we are still held accountable to the same standard that Adam was, that that has not changed.

We are still made in his image and likeness and we are to do it with zeal and with thanksgiving. Again, like I said, self-admittedly, I might not, I might not always do it. I might do it more out of duty than as a real heart to honor God.

But again, that verse, verse 62 in Luke chapter nine, it's a very clear warning that we are to work diligently. Again, we're still made in his image and likeness and that hasn't changed. However, Jesus Christ is the reason by which we work.

But again, we'll get into that a little bit more because Adam, Adam's circumstances were a little bit different than ours. So if you're taking notes, we're going to come to the second point here. So you can kind of maybe strike a line here or put a second point here.