Great Doctrines of Salvation

Courtney is going to teach next week. I'll hand these out afterwards. He's going to teach off of those. This is actually Lesson 2 in the Identification Truths. Lesson 1 was actually the Introduction. And we talked about why God created. And the next question was, what does after it's kind mean? And where I get that from, let's turn to Genesis Chapter 1. 21 through 25.

I think I do. There aren't very many people here on reconciliation. I'm not sure. These here are the ones for next week. That was the introduction. Let's see what's in the back of there. I can get that. Alan, I made an extra copy. Does everybody have a copy? Why don't you, yeah, would you do that? I don't know what happened to them. You handed them out. And then I probably set them down someplace. Kids made airplanes out of them. OK. Genesis one twenty one through twenty five. Somebody read that. Anybody.

And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves with which the waters formed. after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind, and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, until the water is in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And it was evening, and there was morning of the fifth day. Okay, I'll move to 24 and 25. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind, and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. And God saw that it was good. Okay, what does after its kind mean?

It's the same, the dog is a dog and the cat is a cat. Pretty good answer. A couple of things here. Number one, this is another one of those verses that from a biblical standpoint shoots the evolutionists in the ear. Because you're not evolving from a cat to a dog. So, if God created you as a fish, you're going to be a fish. You're going to be dinner.

Is there some sort of evolution in the natural world? Yeah, a little bit. Variations. There's variations, but there's not changes of species. when he gave creatures a very interesting gift, he gave them the ability to recreate themselves, to procreate, right?

What's cool about it is that they can only procreate under their own time. You see that? You don't ever see a dog cat or a cat bird. Well, you see cat birds, but you don't see elephants that can fly. And the reason is that If they're not the same species, they can't cross procreate. It has to be the same species.

So every living creature that God created can reproduce itself, but only after its own kind. You okay with that? Now, you might say, well what does this have to do with identification? The next question is, did God create after his own kind? Yeah, it's us. How'd he do it? He created us. Why are you after God's kind? What makes you like him? Because he said so. He said he created us after him. Okay.

When he created Adam, what did he say? If you look at Genesis 26, let us make man in our own image. according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.

And if you go to Genesis 2.7, then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and man became a living soul or a living being. Genesis 5, go ahead.

I don't understand where that says that God made man male and female but then it was later that God made Adam. Made Eve, yeah. Made Adam, yeah. Because I thought Adam was the first man. He was. but it says theories to make in men and women. Well, it's interesting, there's no question I think that God created Adam first, right? And here's a couple of things.

One, God did not create Adam out of nothing. He created Adam out of existing material that he already had, the dust of the earth, right? And so he takes the dust of he breathes into Adam, the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul. In Genesis 1 it talks about that it created him, in Genesis 2 he talks about how he did it. Interesting question, male and female he created them.

Where did Eve come from? So you think all of Eve was in Adam? No. Have you ever thought about that? What do you mean by that? Did Adam, when he was first created by God, possess all of the characteristics of male and all of the characteristics of female?

No, I don't think so. No, he took the bone and then created a woman. Is Bruce part of me? Are you a part of him? Well, I don't think so. Yeah, you are. Well, I mean... What? Think about it now. Just think about how did he start. He creates Adam, and here he says male and female, he created them. Okay? So, and I'm going to jump ahead 10,000 years.

And when you and I go home to be with the Lord and we get resurrected bodies, are we going to be male and female? No. We're not. Because there's plenty of verses, Paul says that in Christ Jesus there's what? There's no male or female. All are one in Christ. Souls floating around? Floating around. Well, you know what I mean, souls. Here's the thing.

Why did God, why did, in Genesis, why did God say he created Eve? Why did he do it? Because what's his face that's lonesome? What's his face? Adam. Adam was lonely. Somebody to complete him. Yeah, somebody to complete him. And he looked around, you know, and all of a sudden, bless you, he was given the authority to maim all the animals. And he noticed, you know, I wanted to take him to notice that there was all, there were two of everything. and there were these male and females and he couldn't find any females that matched up with him and God said it wasn't good that man should be alone, right?

So it's very interesting how he creates Eve because there's no discussion about how he created a female cow he didn't take a female cow out of a bull it seems like he created both male and female in all of the animals, right? But he takes Eve out of Adam. So what does he take out of Adam? A rib? Yeah, but what else does he take out?

How come she's so different yet the same? And then he creates this thing called marriage and he says to them, and the two will become one flesh. See that? They join together and they become one flesh in marriage. So what do you think was, you know, how much of Eve was taken out of Adam?

A hundred percent. I think so. I think so. It doesn't say there was anything else. Yeah. The same essence. It doesn't, I mean, you know. In our contemporary society you'd think, well maybe Adam was a little effeminate. No he wasn't. He was a totally perfect being. Except for one thing. He was alone.

So God takes what we know as femaleness out of him and creates a whole other being. For what purpose? To be a helpmate to Adam. How cool is that? So it creates a whole other entire being. So you can't say that God is only male or only female. He's both. So on the next one it says be fruitful and multiply. So then if there was no Eve, then Adam could multiply by himself? That's the whole point. He couldn't. He couldn't. Because he doesn't have the ability to create like God creates, just speaking things. Well then why would God say, be fruitful and multiply? After he said male and female, he created them. But then you're saying that was just one...

Well, what I'm saying is that Genesis 2.7 explains how God created man, or how God created Adam. Oh, okay. Genesis 1 talks about the creation itself, that he did create, because he did, he created Adam, and then he created Eve, out of Adam. You see that?

Well they had to agree that same day, because on the 6th day man was created. Yeah, on the 7th day God rested, so Eve got on his team. Anybody else have a question? So Eve didn't come along on the 8th or 9th day? That's right. She didn't come along a couple of weeks later. Yeah. So, now. Mike? Yes.

On this thing about completeness, I've heard people when they're single say, oh I need to find somebody to marry to complete me. Well I've always thought, well that's ridiculous because then you're looking to somebody else to fulfill When in Christ you are complete. We're talking natural world here, not spiritual world. Which is going to lead to the spiritual world. Now, Genesis 5, 1-3.

This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and he blessed them and named them man in the day when they were created. And when Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son of his own likeness according to his own image and named him Seth. Now this is after Cain and Abel. So the point that I'm shooting at is this.

When God created Adam, he created him in his own image and his own likeness, didn't he? Remember what he says? So what made him like God? What about him? Because he created other living beings that were not created in God's image and likeness. But when he created Adam, who was a human being, he was in the image and likeness of God. What about him made him like God? I was just going to say probably everything that we are. I mean everything that we have. We have emotions and we have thoughts and intelligence and feelings and so all of it, I guess.

When God breathed into Adam's nostrils, the breath, and that word is plural, of lives, more than one, then Adam became a living soul. He got at least two lives. What kind of life? He got a human, physical life, he got a soulish life, and he got spiritual life. So you could say that the physical life isn't really God-like, other than Christ is a human being. Soulishly though, it's God-like because there's intelligence, and there's emotion, and there's will.

Can't forget about the will. God has a will. He makes determinations. He has emotions. We've talked before that all three persons of the Godhead have emotions. And God has omniscience, has a mind. So he creates man with all of those qualities. Now they are not deity qualities in that My and your man or Adam's mind was not a mission, he didn't have all knowledge, but boy he had a lot. He was perfectly suited, intelligence wise, for the environment that he was in.

And that's demonstrated by the fact that God said, well Adam, why don't you name the animals? You give them names. I'm going to give you dominion over this thing, you do it. It's like me telling my son, John you're smart enough to do this, you do it. Adam, you're intelligent enough. I created you as the head of this thing. You decide what they need to be called.

And he did. He understood his environment. He was smarter than any man that's ever lived since him. Because he was created perfect. And so was Eve. And spiritually, he was like God in that he had a spirit. And God at this point has not, his son hasn't appeared on the scene, so he's what? He's spirit. So Adam has a spirit, which means what? He has a direct connection with God on a spiritual level. When the word of God says that Adam walked in the cool of the evening with the Lord, does that mean that, you know, they're walking down the lane arm in arm and God is Is it the pre-incarnate Christ he's walking with? No, I think he's spiritually alive and can have spiritual communication with the God of the universe.

I think he can. So, here's Adam and Eve. They are created after God's likeness. Everybody alright with that? God is essentially a spirit and therefore man who is similar to God possesses a spirit. Man resembles God in certain respects without being equal with Him. Man's likeness to God is what truly distinguishes him from the rest of creation. Man is a personal being with the power to think, feel, and decide. He has the ability to make moral choices and the capacity for spiritual growth or decline. In the beginning man loved God and was a holy creature. So I would say Adam's likeness to God is not physical but it's in personhood. God is a person and man is a person. But what is a person? Would you say your cat's a person? Some people think they are. No. Is your dog a person? My dog has a personality. Trust me, he's not a person. Even though we treat him like a person at times. Yeah, well you do. You try to humanize your pets.

I mean, Donna goes down every morning to let the dog out and she talks to him like, did you have a nice night and all of this. And out he goes and he comes back in and every time we leave the house she goes and tells him that we'll be gone a while and we'll be back. And he kind of looks out like, I got it. Because it was 2.30? And I keep saying, he's a dog.

All he knows is that you're gone and he's going to sleep. Mike, when you use that word kind and God created us for his kind, he's unique, he's heavenly, infinite, we're earthly and finite. So when you use that word kind... I think kind has to do with spiritual likeness.

And that's really where the likeness was. The fact that God's a spirit and so am I. So was Adam. Everybody got that part straight? I mean, you wouldn't think that all of this identification truth would be in Genesis, but there it is. There it is. Now, question four. Did you finish with the person thing? Yeah, let's talk about what is a person.

It says that God is three persons, yet one God. I don't expect anybody in this room to be able to explain what that is. But each, there are three members, three persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, yet they're one God. But each one is a unique, different person with a unique, different mission or a role that they have in the creation. Is that like there can be so many persons in the family, but yet it's one family? Sure, it's a good way to look at it. all with the same life. So a person is a unique individual created by God with body, soul, and spirit. Each one is unique.

But don't you say the Holy Spirit is a person? It's unique, but there are a lot of them. You mean the Holy Spirit? No, there's just one. If there's one in everyone, it would kind of be the same. Oh, I see what the question is. Does the Holy Spirit indwell each one of us? Yeah. Yeah, he does. He's omnipresent. He can be everywhere. Yeah, he can be everywhere, but he can personally indwell you and me. I don't know how he does it, but yes, he can. But is that after you've accepted Christ as your Savior? Yes. Not before. Not before. So each individual is a unique person. Oh by the way, created when? When were you created? When Adam was. How about, I forget what the Old Testament is, the guy that wrote it said, you knew me personally before you ever started. I was created in Christ Jesus before the world ever began. He knew me as a unique person then. As a soul. Isn't that so? Yeah. And I knew my substance, knew all about me.

Here's when you were created, when God determined in his mind. When he thought of you, that's when you were created. Now you didn't show up physically until whenever you showed up on the planet, but God knew you. Every human being. So why would he create and know what was happening before it happened? You know, let's get a bomb, put it in the middle of the globe and forget about it.

That's a great question. Because actually the answer to that question is six or eight weeks of identification trips. And the issue is that when it comes to the initial answer of that, is if God is going to create me like himself, He's going to give me a will. That's an incredible freedom and liberty that I have, but it also has incredible responsibility tied to it.

Because God didn't want persons to be robots, then they wouldn't be persons. Or they wouldn't have will. See, God the Father loves God the Son willfully. He wills to do it. And God the Spirit loves God the Father willfully. He wants to do it. He wills to do it. So if we're going to be created in the image and likeness of God, guess what? God wants us, of our own will, to love him and to receive his love.

If he made it any other way, he couldn't say, well, I kind of made you like me. I gave you everything but will. Because I wanted an orderly creation, I didn't want anybody to screw it up. There'd be no glory or fellowship. That's right. And there wouldn't be creatures who willfully love God.

When Adam fell, he made a will choice, didn't he? He chose against God and for Eve. When Eve made her willful choice, The description of it is there. She brought information that was given to her by another creature that God was a liar and that if she ate this fruit she would become wise. And it looked good to her and she thought, why not? We don't know why Adam ate it, but he did. But it all matters that he did eat it and he exercised his will.

Now think about this. One of the characteristics of being God-like is being in charge, is having dominion, to be in control. Was Adam in control? God gave him dominion over the whole creation. So when he falls, guess what's going to happen? The whole creation is going to fall with him. So this is the cesspool you're talking about that we ought to put a bomb in the middle. He has dominion and it falls because he falls. See that? And then you introduce into the world all these billions of negative wills. Yeah. And God knew ahead of time that Adam was going to screw it up. You can't say he knew ahead of time, he knew now. There's no time. Sure he did.

So, let's talk about reproduction, because we'll get to the answer to your question. There's a biological reproduction by which organisms generate new individuals of the same kind. We call that procreation. And it's referred to as the law of fixed progeny. And so, under that, every living organic creature But we can manipulate things. I mean, we manipulate fruits and trees and stuff all the time, right? And you can manipulate a fruit tree, but you can't manipulate a tree to become a snake. Because it's a different biological order.

So, question number five. Who or what was God's blueprint for creating man? Because we were formed out of his own image. Okay, but if God is just only a spirit, then where did he come up with this body idea? He thought about it. Huh? I don't know, he thought about it. Did he have anything to do with the body that he knew Christ was going to be formed in? Sure did.

It all has to do, who's the prototype man? Christ. Is it Christ or is it Adam? If Adam is made in the image and likeness of God, who's the prototype? The Lord Jesus Christ is. You see that? You have to think about this without time. Right? The Lord Jesus Christ is the prototype. Now let's look at some verses.

Hebrews 1.3, And he is the radiance of his glory, and the exact representation of his nature.

Colossians 1.15, And he's the image of the invisible God.

He's the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by him and for him. Who's he talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ, who happens to be a man. And he is before all things. and in him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning of the firstborn from among the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

So, another principle is that the image and likeness of God that man was created in is really the Lord Jesus Christ himself, because he is 100% God, and he's 100% man. Okay? Now there's a big difference though between Christ and Adam before the fall.

Adam is not holy. What is he? He's innocent. What's the difference between holy and innocent? Anybody want to take a stab at that question? Adam's not holy. God is holy. Adam is innocent. means he's really, really smart but he's kind of naive. I guess I would say that he didn't know the difference between good and bad. Okay. So it would be innocent. That's exactly right. He didn't know the difference between good and evil. Now we could say he certainly didn't know evil, right? Until he sinned. You okay with that? Did he know good? It was all good. He'd need the contrast. What was the name of the tree that he wasn't supposed to touch? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Did you see that? Interesting it's called that, right?

So, Adam is this innocent creature, and we look at innocence as a baby that hasn't had any experience. Well, in a sense Adam's like that. He's in this perfect environment called the Garden of Eden. He's given dominion over it. He's supposed to run it and take care of it. And he's brilliant. But he doesn't understand good and evil. He just knows God. He doesn't know. But when he takes a bite out of the tree, what happens? His mind is opened. And he knew the difference between good and evil. Contrast. And he also knew what sin was.

So what would you say the definition of holy is? Holy in the Greek means to be set apart, but if God says that you're holy, what does he really mean? Or if God says I'm holy? Godly. What's that? Godly. I think it means this, that he loves the good and hates the evil. God righteously hates sin and evil and he loves good.

Adam didn't do that. because he was innocent, didn't know the difference. So it sounds like maybe that might have made him a little vulnerable. Well, yeah probably. And one of the reasons identification truths are so important to us is that when we begin to understand our identity with the resurrected glorified Christ, we ain't going to be innocent. And he's not going to be subject to fall like Adam was. So we aren't heading back to the garden.

So what would the term representative man mean? If you look at God made Adam the representative or the federal head of the human race. He put him in charge. He was responsible not only from a willful standpoint but also from a personhood standpoint and a human characteristics of Adam would be instilled in the whole race through the inherited oneness of nature. So when Adam recreates or begets a son That son is just like him.

Physically, right? How about spiritually? Yeah, just like him. And soullessly and emotionally, just like Adam. Exactly like him. Now, it's interesting that God or Adam didn't procreate before the fall. That would have been interesting. I hope I'm not laboring this point. In what respect was Adam's likeness to God?

He had personhood. He had mental and moral attributes. He had volition. He could love. He knew truth. He knew faithfulness. He knew justice. He could reflect. He could taste. He had the power of comparison. He could say, well, let's see, there's a difference in these two. That's a power. He had the power to admire things. He could look at things and think, this is really cool.

He had the conscious awareness that he knew stuff. You and I have the awareness that we know stuff. Does your dog have an awareness that it knows stuff? Yes. A little. A little, but it knows that you don't want it to do it. Well, the funniest story of that is if you've ever been to Palm Springs, and they have this desert zoo down there.

It's a really cool place. Well, they have this emu that they bring out and train it. And the trainer said, the great thing about an emu is that you train them today and tomorrow he's forgotten everything. And this emu, they train them every day because he forgets what he learned yesterday. They're really dumb.

Adam was aware that he could know things and he could feel the pleasure of knowing stuff. There's a pleasure in knowing things. He could feel that. He had the power to impart knowledge to others and knew he was doing it. He could plan the future events. He could discover the efficiency and final cause of things. He could enjoy the pleasure of discovery. Imagine him walking around the garden and going, Whoa, that's cool. He had imagination. And he could know the Creator. He could know the Lord.

This is the same stuff we can do. As believers. Even as human beings. But that's right. That's the characteristics that we have that Adam has. He could see this distinction after the fall between right and wrong, which we can certainly do. He was aware of the fact that he had integrity, he was well-ordered, and he was balanced in his passions. There weren't any out of control. So let's talk about his fall. What happens when Adam falls? The first question is, did God's opinion about Adam change when he fell?

Genesis 6-5, and the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So the next time someone you really care about and you think, oh that's such a great person, they're going to come to the Lord, forget it, read this verse. God saw, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth. And this is the part that just gets me, and that every single intent of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. What an indictment. That's like Romans 3. None seek after God. No, not one. All have fallen short. All are evil outside of Christ. Okay, but when you have... once you start believing... Once you're in Christ, it all changes. Yeah. And contrast that with question 9, Genesis 1-31, And God saw that all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning on the sixth day.

So did God's attitude of Adam change when he fell? I don't think so. It's on the next line it says, And the Lord was sorry that he had made man out of the earth. So it's not like it wasn't unplanned. He just saw what he knew was going to happen. And then he was like, oh, sorry I did that. But see, like Monique says, he knew before he created that that's what was going to happen.

Yeah. Yeah, it's a puzzle, really. I don't get it. I mean, I know I'm supposed to get it. And it's like, well, gee, I'm already past creating. I guess I'm going to have to live with it. Well, then I'm going to wipe them out. I'm going to wipe them off my hands and ears. He was saddened because of the perfection being lost.

Because he's a perfect God and through the redemption of Christ it will be that way even greater again. Was he truly saddened or did he... Was it emotional sadness? Well, what I'm getting at is he knew ultimately that the fall of man would be for his glory through the sacrifice of Christ. It's interesting that he knew ahead of time. But it still had what looks like an emotional effect on him. Isn't that something? Well, he loved man. He was happy about it. Yeah, he loved man. And he created man so he could love him and be loved back. And all that goes away.

And what's interesting is that the Word of God teaches that the depravity of man can't be written by man. Why? Because he doesn't have a sufficient perspective to form a worthy conclusion. You can't write about your own evilness because you don't have the right perspective, but God can. Imagine him saying that the intents of your heart and the thoughts of your heart were only evil continually.

I have to tell you, I read that verse and I think about my mindset before I was a believer. It fits. It fits. I was always trying to be as creative as I could, just sin. But you didn't really. care that it was sin. No. You know why it changed and why I think different. So yeah, all the time. Oh yeah. I'm thinking hey this is it. But we didn't know the difference between right and wrong. Well I knew my Catholic upbringing but I thought there's no way I can live up to that so I might as well go big.

But in your condition you're still in that position. Oh you mean if I'm God was saddened because of what happened with Adam. Which demonstrates that he gave Adam a free will. But wouldn't he be saddened on a daily basis now? Yes. However, he's been satisfied about it all because of the work of Christ. And now he looks at all humanity through Christ. The first man he dealt with all humanity through the first man Adam, right? And they were all like him. But when Christ is raised from the dead, now he has a new man in which he can look at the earth and his creation through, and he is satisfied with the work of Christ.

God's opinion about man, Genesis 6.5, and then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. I already read that. Man is wholly inclined to evil. The corruption of his nature is total.

The last question would be then how much of the original blueprint of Adam was left after man's fall? The material element was still there, right? Because he had a body made out of the dust of the earth, right? Man still had a soul, didn't he? Sure. What about his spirit? He died. His spirit died. Now, what's the definition of that? Separated. What? So here's what's interesting.

If God is the source of life, spiritual life, and he's essentially a spirit, and he gives spiritual life to man, and man exercises his will and sins, and God told him, in the day that you sin, you will die. In dying you will surely die. Which means you're going to be separated from me, and I'm the source of life. So it doesn't mean that a spirit ceased to exist, It meant that his spirit was separated from the source of spiritual life, which was God.

The other thing that starts to happen there in 6 and 7, it's not only that God saw that wickedness was greedy, but he started to plot what he was going to do about it. He was sorry he had made man, and he was thinking in terms of destroying man. And that started setting up the whole sequence of Grace and Noah and that thing that just happened all the way through the Old Testament.

Yeah, that's exactly right. Now, to try to finish up so Courtney can start fresh next week, why is every human being like Adam? because like begets like. What term would you use to explain this likeness? How about identification? We, every human being who is not saved is identified with Christ, or with Adam.

Right? You alright with that? So, when the Lord Jesus Christ shows up on the planet, why couldn't Joseph be Christ's father? Because it wouldn't have been like beginning like. That's right. Do you see that? The reason Joseph could not have been the Lord Jesus Christ's father is because he would have been like his father.

John 3.6 the Lord Jesus said that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

1 Corinthians 15.22 says for in Adam all die, every one, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

So that's the setup for the identification truths. You see that? It all happened in Genesis. The identification principles were laid out by God in Genesis 1. Now, as we go forward now, what we're going to see, when God begins to work, he sends Christ. Christ not only pays the penalty for the whole man as a race has to change in order for any man to be acceptable to God. That's what identification leads to. Okay, let's close.

Father, how we thank you for your truth. Actually, the horrible identification that we read in Genesis is to be Those same principles are going to stay in effect as we study the Lord Jesus Christ and his death, burial, and resurrection. Thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy. And we pray in your Son's precious name. Amen.