Pastor Jeff discusses the foundational aspects of the Father in the context of the Trinity, emphasizing that God is the architect of creation, outlining His design for humanity. He highlights the importance of understanding our identity as beings made in the image of God, which establishes our relational capacity, creativity, and moral responsibility. The pastor reinforces that God created two genders for the purpose of marriage and family, designed to reflect His glory and intention for human relationships. Ultimately, he calls the congregation to recognize their need for Jesus, who redeems and cleanses us from our sin nature, encouraging all to respond to God's offer of salvation.
Sermon Transcript
Good morning. Would you help me welcome all of our brave campuses that are worshiping with us today?
So great to have you all. A couple quick announcements. Number one, June 9th through the 13th, we're doing what we call high five. High five is where we put on an incredible ministry for our kids ages K through 5, kindergarten through 5th grade. And here's what I want to let you know.
It's one of the greatest things we do. You can tell by the video. It takes hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of volunteers. And in case you're wondering, well, who does that? You do.
And so today is the day you can register, help, be a part of this. Even if you would say, I'm not great with kids, we got roles for you too. And as a staff, we love this because we see many kids come to Christ, many families get changed. It's one of the greatest things we do. So please invest, sign up, be a part of that today.
Number two is this. Just want to let you know, as your pastor, I love that we're a praying church. That's who we are. We gather the first Tuesday of every month at 6:30 on all of our campuses to seek the face of the Lord and pray. We're a praying church.
We do it as a staff all the time. But as you know, we've not continued our Saturday morning prayer times every single week. And I've had several people come to me, like, when are we going to do every week? And so part of what I prayed about during 21 days of prayer and fasting is what's the best time? How can we get our entire staff there?
What's a consistent way to do it? And what the Lord's laid on my heart. And what I spoke to our staff about and what we're starting this march is on the first third. I'm sorry, every Thursday, starting the first Thursday of March, which is March 6, and every Thursday going forward, we're gonna meet here at 6:30 in the morning. You can pray with any pastor, any of our staff.
We will be here. We'll be in all campuses. So you can go to your campus. We will not be online. We'll only be here.
We'll be interceding for people. We'll teach you how to pray. It's gonna be very organic. I'm super fired up about it. And so for those of you that say prayer is my thing, it should be your thing.
Come on Thursday morning. Starting the first week of March, we'll be here every single Thursday, Thursday. And with that, that's Enough announcements for right now. Let's. Let's continue our worship as we go before the Lord and get ready to hear his living and active word among us.
Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you so much praise and thanks for who you are, your character. We thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, and the gift of your Holy Spirit, who indwells every single believer in Christ. Lord, we ask this morning that you would have your way as we continue our series on the Trinity. Talking about the Father.
Father, would you be honored in the way that your Word is proclaimed? Would you be honored in the way that you're discussed and talked about? May we receive everything that you desire us to know today? Because, Lord, we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you're speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear.
And so now, for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and and who will by faith, put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word Amen. Amen. This morning I want to talk to you about the framework of the Father. I want to talk about the framework of the Father. We started talking about the Father's compassion, and last week we talked about the glory of the Father.
But today I want to talk about the framework of the Father, the fact that he is the architect, the engineer, the designer, bringing order to everything that he's created. Not only is he the gives the framework, but he's also a framer. He's also involved in everything that he creates. And it's important for us to understand who the Father is and what his desire is, what he's set up, how he's designed us, how he's designed the world in which we're to live. If we're to operate according to the way he wants to live, and what I've discovered through His Word and through years of walking with him, the more oriented I am with what his design is for how I'm supposed to live.
And the more I'm aligned with that design, the greater joy I have and the greater glory he receives. But when I'm not aware of what he wants and I'm not aligned with what he wants, it causes pain and frustration because God set the framework for everything he wants. And it's important for us to understand that theologically, if we're really to experience who our God is and what our God wants. It's really true in any area of life. If we don't understand how something works, then we can't operate it effectively.
Case in point, the rotary phone. Anybody know what a rotary phone is? That's here. All you over 50. Thanks for waving at me.
Right? There was a phone back in the early 80s. My grandma had one. It was called a rotary phone. And if you want to watch a funny video on YouTube, you can watch this video where these parents tell their two high school boys, hey, you have four minutes to dial this number.
And they hand them a number, and you can watch for four minutes how these boys have no idea how to use a rotary phone. It's hilarious. But it's only hilarious because I know how it works, you know, and if you dial like 91 1, I mean, it's gonna take a year to dial 91 1. But that's how it was designed. And if you don't know how it was designed or what its purpose is, you can't make it work.
If we don't understand how the Father designed the world or how he designed us or what it is that he designed and how he wants us to operate, we can't make it work. And that's why for many people, even as believers, sometimes they're frustrated, saying, it's not working, it's not what it's supposed, how come this isn't. And sometimes that's because of sin in our world. But many times it's because we don't understand what God authored and what he engineered and what he architected and what he designed. So today I want to talk about the framework of the Father as we continue our series about the Trinity talking about the Father.
And to do that, we're going to be in the most controversial passage in the entire Bible. So welcome today, please turn to Genesis chapter one. And in Genesis, chapter one, we're going to roll through today. I'm going to give you five truths about what our Father has framed for us and what his framework looks like so that we can truly understand who he is and what he's done. So if his framework is his design, structure and order, what he frames is his active work in building and establishing that.
Because God didn't just design it or order it, he's authoring it, and he's in the middle of it. So let's start with the first one. The first is that the Father framed the heavens and the earth. Let me read to you the most controversial passage in your entire Bible in The beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. You get that?
You believe that. It's not hard to believe anything else about the Bible. In the beginning. Tell me who. Say it again.
In the beginning, here's why. God. Because no one else was an eyewitness to creation. Only God was an eyewitness to creation. Only God can tell you what God saw.
Only God can tell you what God did. Only God can describe how things were put together, because God was the only one that was there. God, the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Co. Eternal Godhead was there in creation. That's why when the Bible opens and God is giving his revelation to us, he wants us to understand from the very beginning that in the beginning, it's all about Him.
In the beginning, he's the only one that can describe it. In the beginning, he's the one that wants to tell you how he framed things and what he did. So from the very first words off the pages of your Bible, he says, in the beginning, God. And what did God do? He created the heavens and the earth.
He created everything. So the Father has framed what he wanted established. It's interesting that when you read the Bible, it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It doesn't say in the beginning God created the heavens and Mars, although He did. It doesn't say in the beginning God created the heavens and mercury, although he did.
Why does he say in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth? Because the Earth is going to be the primary space where human beings are going to occupy, and earth is going to be created in a unique way as that terrestrial ball where humans can live and dwell and find meaning and purpose. So the Father is telling us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So the Father is the One who's authoring it, designing it, structuring it, engineering it. But we also know that Jesus was active in creation too, don't we?
Because John, chapter one, verse one says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. So what we find is through further revelation, Even in Colossians 1:15, that all thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities were created by him and for him, that's Jesus. So what we have in the creation story is at the beginning, as the Father's designed it all, that the Son is the One speaking it all into existence, Jesus is doing the talking. It's created by His Word, and the Word is the Father's Word.
Because Jesus only does what he sees His Father doing. So the Father's authoring all this. Jesus is speaking all of it. And where's the Holy Spirit at this time? Notice verse 2.
The earth was formless and void. It means that God created the heavens, and here's the earth. But it's formless. It hasn't been created yet. There's no mountains, no landscape, no vegetation.
It's formless and it's void of life. It's empty. And where was the Spirit? And darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.
So where's the Holy Spirit? He's right there. So that as the Father designed it and the Son speaks it, the Holy Spirit's ready to make it all happen. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the co Trinity, the co Godhead. Three distinct persons, one distinct God, is all there at creation.
And he's telling us this. Before you open another page of your Bible, before you read another verse, he wants you to know, I'm the one that's made it all. I'm the one who authored it all. I'm the one who saw it all. So if you don't believe what we're about, ready to read in Genesis 1, it's because you have a different authority than the Word of God.
And I caution you, if you do, because one day you're going to stand in front of that God who told you this is how I did it and you didn't believe it. It's important that we understand. If we read through Genesis 1 and we say, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I believe that. I don't know if that's literal.
I don't know if that's true. How can you believe John 3:16? Like, what makes John 3:16 more authoritative than Genesis 1:1? It's either all true or it's not. So he's saying he created the heavens and the earth.
That's what he said. Now we see in further revelation. This is really the universe, everything we see and don't see. Because In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1, he says it like this. I'm sorry.
Hebrews chapter 11, verse 3. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by what? By the Word of God. That word worlds can be the word universe. So by faith, we understand the universe was prepared by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
Even the New Testament authors were like God Made it all. How do you make it? By his word. That's why he's here. Evolution is not a science.
Evolution is a theology. And the theology of evolution says this. Nothing. One time came across nothing, and they bumped into each other. And therefore we have everything.
That's evolution. It's unprovable. It's a theory. Here's true theology. That's biblically true.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Period, end of story. That's how it works. And so we need to understand that the framing of the world, the universe and everything in it. God is the author, the engineer, and the architect of.
He wants us to know that because if this is the Father's world, the world is the Lord's and everything in it, Psalm 24 says, then we need to understand that he was the one who created it. Now, if you read through Genesis chapter one, verses one through 25, 26, you're going to realize that God creates in a certain order. He has a certain way he does it. Let's read through day one. In verse three, it says, then God said, let there be light.
And there was light. And God saw the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning.
One what day? One day. How long's a day? It's a day. It's 24 hours.
That's how long a day is. And God goes to great lengths because he wants us to know that on every single day, whether he's creating light and darkness or whether it's creating the sun, moon and stars, or whether it's creating humankind, at the end of every day, he works all day on something. And then after he works all day, the Bible says, then there was evening, and then there was morning. And then it goes on to call it a day, and then it tells you which day it was. You can't get any more clear than this.
If you just take the Bible at face value, you're going to see that God created the world in six literal days and rested on the seventh. And that's what I believe, because that's what the Bible reveals. So notice verse five, he says, and there was evening and morning one day. And verse eight says there was evening and morning a second day. And verse 13 says there was evening and morning a third day.
And verse 19 says there was evening and morning a fourth day. And verse 23 says there was evening and morning a fifth day. And verse 31 says, and there was evening and morning a sixth day? Well, how do I know that a day is really a day? Because everywhere else in your Bible, that's what it is in Exodus, when God is spelling out the Ten Commandments and he's telling them to remember the Sabbath day.
Here's what he says in Exodus 20, verse 11. For in six days. There's that word again. The Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Now think about this. God's giving the command to Israel, remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. There was not one Jew ever in history that pondered. Now, is he talking about a day, or is he mean like a million years? Like, how long is this Sabbath day?
No. For in six days, he created the heavens and the earth, and he rested on the seventh day, and that's why he blessed the Sabbath day. God did not rest because God was tired. FYI, he didn't create 6 days and was like, ah, I am worn out. No, he rested as a model to his people to say, if I can create everything in six literal days and take a day of rest, I'm modeling something for you that you can get your work done in six days as well and give me one of your days so you can honor me and refresh in me.
That's what he was modeling. So everywhere in the Scriptures, he talks about the fact that the world was created in six literal days and he rested on the seventh. Or how about Exodus 31, verse 17? It's a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days, the Lord made the heaven and the earth, but on the seventh day, he ceased from labor and was refreshed.
It's everywhere. It's everywhere. Well, Pastor Jeff, I know some theologians, and they're a lot smarter than you. And they don't believe that I believe that. They're just wrong.
The Bible doesn't say you need to be super smart to understand what God says. It means you need to be obedient to what he reveals, and you need to believe what he tells you. And I, for one, am not gonna stand in a line in heaven. And by the way, even if you don't believe the world was created in six literal days, but you believe Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead, you'll still be saved. So it's not an issue of salvation.
But here's what it is an issue of. It's an issue of authority. Of the word of God. And if you don't believe this, you don't believe in the authority of the Word of God. Your authority.
If you don't believe God created the world in six literal days, your authority comes from someone or somewhere else. And here's the hard part. I'm just telling you as your pastor, if you're going to read Genesis 1 and I tell you, and you read it and say, well, seems like God created in six little days. Yeah, it seems like that. But day here really means millions of years.
Okay, well, I guess I'm not smart enough to read the Bible then. Yeah, you're not. You need an expert like me to explain it to you. That's arrogant. Now, if you can read the Bible and you can read chapter one and you can see what it says, you can actually believe what the Bible says.
Because God's revealing to you what he did. And that's what's going on here. He's telling you this now. I mean, even if you think about the day age theory or all the different theories, and they're all out there, and if you're interested in this, I did a whole series called the Alpha and Omega series about three or four years ago. You can walk through this.
I spent way more time than we're doing here today. But here's the reality. I mean, just think about it. If God created vegetation on day three, and he didn't create the sun till day four, but that's millions and millions of years. All the vegetation would have died.
Like, how does the vegetation stay alive? Well, it stays alive because God creates his son on the next day to take care of the vegetation. I mean, it all fits. The only reason you don't believe is because the enemy says to you the same way he said to Eve this. Did God really say that?
And my answer is, yes, he did. Amen.
And even the most pagan people in the world go to church, don't believe in God. It's obvious to them. Cause Psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of God. You know, there has to be a creator. I mean, you see the stars at night, you see the mountains up here in Colorado.
You go to the oceans, you. You see all this. And certainly you don't say, yeah, I don't know, it must have just happened. I mean, have you ever driven down the street and seen a car and like, where did that come from? I don't know, but I just popped up.
Or you go to a neighborhood that's new and say, how did that get there? I don't know, I was driving by one day and poof, there it was. I mean, we would never say that. But then how can we say about the universe the most complex thing that's ever been created with all the finite little pieces and all the things that fit together and make it go that. Yeah, that just kind of happened.
Here's why we say that. Because we don't want to believe that our Father is a good God that framed it all, and that's what the enemy doesn't want you to know. Or how about Romans chapter 1 in verse 20? For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse. Even people that will say, I don't believe in your God.
You're without excuse. Because if you just open your eyes, your creation and your conscience will tell you there is a God. There is a God. And our God says, it's me. I'm the one that created it.
I'm unapologetic about it. The very first words on the page, in the beginning, I created the heavens and the earth. I created the universe. I created everything in it. And he goes to great lengths to tell us how he did it.
Now, he doesn't tell us everything that we want to know about everything. But good science will always back this, just so you know. And when we talk about science, I mean, sometimes we're about observable science. The only reason observable science doesn't work in this case is because God's the only one that was an observer to creation. So we have to believe.
By what? By faith. So by faith, we believe that God created the universe. That's what Hebrews 11:3 says, by faith. I believe God created the universe.
Can't argue it. Can't tell you every finer thing or how. I can't. I can tell you he said it. I can tell you it's true.
I can tell you it fits with every other part of Scripture. Amen. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So he formed and framed and fashioned the heavens and the earth. Second thing he did was this.
The Father framed humanity in his image. He framed humanity in his image. This is wonderful. I mean, look at. This is beautiful.
Notice verse 26. Drop down to verse 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Now, there's no way of knowing if all we had was Genesis chapter one, that there's a trinity God. Further revelation reveals that.
But it is interesting to me that he says, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. He's talking about himself as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And God created us in his image. And here's what you need to know. After every single day that the Lord created on day one through five, at the end of the day, there was evening and there was morning day one.
And God saw all that he had made and said it was what? Good. It's good because every time God creates something, it's good because God's a perfect creator. So on the day he made the sun, he said, that's good day. He separated light from darkness.
That's good day. He created the planets. That's good day. He created animals. I mean, it's all good, but it's different because after day six, when he creates, what does he say?
That's very good. That's very good. So he made mankind in his image. He. He made us as male and female, different than all the other parts of his creation.
He created the animals. He loves the animals. He created trees. He loves the trees. He created everything, but he created us in his image, which means this.
You are the crown of God's creation in all of the wonderful things that God's created. The waterfalls, the oceans, the. The scenic scenes that you would go see from God's perspective. When he looks out, he sees all that too. But he looks at you and says, no, that's the crown of My creation.
And for many of you, you need to hear that, because many of you come into church and you feel like I'm unvaluable, I'm unworthy, I'm no good, I'm lousy. And we learned last week from Psalm139 that what you are fearfully and wonderfully made because the Father fashioned you inside your mother's womb. So you're more valuable to God than anything else that he created. And that's what you need to see. And you were created in his image.
And here's what that means. It means a lot of different things. I'll share four of them with you this morning. Because there's no way. It doesn't mean you look like God.
We don't look like God because the Father is Spirit. He doesn't have a body. He doesn't look like us, but we're created in his image. And here's some of the things that that means. Number one, is this.
We have a relational capacity unlike any other part of God's creation. You have a relational capacity. You can love, you can communicate, you can build community. You can choose who you want to do it with. There's something about being human that craves relationship.
By the time you're young, you crave a relationship with your mom and dad. You crave relationships with your friends. You crave relationship as you age. And even as you're doing that, there's this feeling inside of you where you crave relationship with the Almighty. Where you go around asking yourself questions like this.
From the time you're young, is there a God? How do I know if there's a God? How do I know which one the right God is? How do I know I'm on the right track? Does God really care?
Does God really love? Because you're the crown of his creation. You were created in his image. No other part of God's creation asks questions like that. I'm the son of a veterinarian.
I can tell you on full authority, dogs and cats do not walk around and ask those questions. Why was I born in this litter? How come my sister's not being nice to me? Why did my mom only live seven years in dog years? That's only 49.
I mean, dogs don't do that. Cats sometimes do it, but you know what I'm saying. But animals don't do that. It's normal for us to do that. Why is this relationship so hard?
Why is it when I invest, they don't invest back? How come we can't just get along? How come the world can't seem to fall? How. Why is.
Why is God silent to me when I'm calling out to him? Does he not care about me? Why does he seem to care about everybody? Those are relational capacities that you've been given because you're created in the image of God. And here's what was going on before the foundation of the world.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have always had, still have, and will always have perfect community with one another. They relate to one another. The Son submits to the Father. The Holy Spirit submits to the Father and the Son. And in beauty, they all live together and love each other and care for one another.
And to be created in his image is for us to model that and to experience that. And there's a desire deep down for that level of relational capacity. And when we don't hit it, there's something that seems like we're off. How about a second one? Intellectual and creative ability, the ability to think and invent and to reason and create.
We see everything God created in the world, and it's magnificent. Nobody can replicate that. But then there's inventions that take place in our world that we take for granted that are incredible. And we use these inventions all the time, like a pen or paper or being in a shelter that has a roof over our head. But at one point in time, those were just ideas.
And somebody had to design it and think it and do it. Well, who gave them the ability to think and create that? And who gave them the ability to engineer that? And who gave them. God does.
That's why we can think. That's why we can create. I mean, down to the littlest thing that you've never given any thought to, like the straw. Somebody had to create that. Like, man, it's so hard just to lift the drink all the way to my mouth, and it gets my lips wet.
And I'm gonna create a device whereby you can put it in the liquid and suck it up, and it'll be wonderful. Right? I mean, that's an invention. And have you ever thought about. I mean, I think about this all the time.
If I were to go back 200 years in time and try to explain everything I use today on a regular basis, they would lock me up. Let me tell you about air travel. Let me tell you, I could be anywhere in the world, you know, in 24 hours. Hey, let me tell you about a cell phone. You can talk to anybody anywhere at any time.
Well, Jeff, explain to us how that works. I don't know, but trust me, it's a real thing. I mean, do you realize how many things we use? All the time vehicles, all the different. They're all created.
Why? Because we were created in the image of God. It's why we come up with different designs and different ways to build a house. Cause we can think and create and feel. We have that capacity because we're created in the image of God.
When we're in a situation we can't kind of find our way out of, we can think, we can create, we can come up with a new path in ways nobody else in creation can. Number three is this. Not only do I have relational capacity and intellectual and creative ability, we have an eternal nature. We have an eternal nature. God has set eternity in the heart of men.
It's what Ecclesiastes 3:11 says. You know it, you've known it from the time you were young. There's more to life than just this. There's something inside of you that says, there's got to be more than this. And here's why.
You believe that because no matter who you are, you will live eternally. You've been given a soul that will live eternally. Where that soul goes is dependent upon what you do with Jesus Christ. But I'm here to tell you that you have a soul. And that's why you think about eternal questions.
That's why you wonder about God. That's why you hope you get it right. That's why you want to know what's the right religion out there. All those questions that you ask is because you have eternity set in your heart by almighty God. Amen.
And let me give you a fourth one. There's so many, but let me give you a fourth one. You also have a moral responsibility. You have a moral responsibility. I mean, even kids that are 4 years old, 3 years old, 5 years old, they know when they're told, don't do this, and they cross the line and break it, something goes off inside of them like, I did wrong.
I'm gonna get punished. I deserve to get punished. What is that? How come everybody feels that? Why is it true in every single culture?
You can go around the world with anthropologists, and there's no culture that believes in cold blooded murder. Like, what I mean is just walking up somebody you don't know and just shooting him in the head with a gun. There's not one culture, Isaiah, that we're cool with that. Not one. Why?
Because something inside the heart of man says that's wrong, shouldn't do that. Why? Because you're moral agents. There's a moral responsibility. And even people that say things like this, that are atheists, say, well, if God's so good, then why is the world so bad?
Hmm? Why do you say that God is good? Well, what is it inside of you that you think God's good? Because there's something inside your heart as a moral agent that you know he has to be. Now, the Bible reveals that he is, and he certainly is.
He's a good father. He's good to us in every way. He's good all the time. But we're moral agents. That's why in the book of Micah, chapter six and verse eight, it says, he has shown thee, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of the love to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.
I mean, we're moral agents. That's why we have moral responsibilities. That's why we get chafed when people don't act morally around us and somebody hurts us because they've been immoral or somebody hurt somebody we love because they've been immoral, whether they spoken bad about them, physically hurt them, something goes off in us. That's not right. Well, why is it not right?
Because God's a moral agent of what's right. And so even deep down, fundamentally, although it's been marred by sin, we still have this understanding. We're created in his image. Now, here's what I want you to understand. Think about this.
As wonderful as the world is and as the scripture is pouring out, pow, pow, pow. Look at all that he's created. Look at all. Look at how great it is. It's good, it's good.
It's good, it's good. It's good, it's good, it's good. When he creates male and female in his image, he's like, that's very good. You're the crown of my creation. Because I want to relate to you like I relate to myself.
I want you to experience the things I've experienced. I want to pour my life into you in a way that you and I can work together. And what we see at the beginning is Adam was walking with God in the garden. I mean, there's this fellowship, there's this desire. And deep down is what we all crave.
Why? Because it's the way God fashioned us. It's the way God framed us. It's the way he set it up for us. The Father framed the heavens and the earth.
He framed humanity in his image. In my role as a pastor, as many times I get called to somebody's bedside who's not gonna make it much longer. And even people that are hardened atheists when it comes to a place where they realize they might not have till the afternoon to live, they're very wanting to talk about who this God is and is he real and can I know Him? There's something you can say as hard as you want until it comes time to die. And then you realize I've been playing a game all along.
Cause I know that there's more to it than this. I'm here to tell you right now that there is. He created you in his image, and that's why he loves you. Let me give you a third one. Not only did the Father frame the heavens and the earth and humanity in his image, but the Father framed two genders for oneness in marriage.
He did that. Notice what he says in verse 27. God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him. Male and female.
He created them. This is God. Talking. Not me. I'm just telling you what he said.
He said from the beginning, I created humankind with how many genders? Two. What are they? Male and female. It's not rocket science.
It's not complicated. It's fact. Now, what's the purpose that he created us for? Because here's what we see. They're both created in his image.
So if you're male, you're the crown of God's creation. If you're female, you're the crown of God's creation. Both are completely equal in the sight of God. And he's the one that chose what gender you are. Because Psalm 139 says, he made you fearfully and wonderfully made.
He put you together inside your mother's womb. So if he put you together as a girl inside your mother's womb and you came out as a girl, you're growing to a woman. And if you put you together as a boy in your mother's womb, when you come out, you're going to grow into a man. And that's the way God designed it, and that's the way he created it. And there is no other way around that.
And if you try to do it another way, it just means you don't get what the Father has framed. That's what the Father framed. And it's important that we get this because what's the purpose of this? Well, the purpose of that is for marriage. Flip over to Genesis chapter two.
Genesis chapter two, verse four through the end is really highlighting day six, which we're taking a look at in Genesis chapter one there at the end, and we see how God created man. In verse seven it says, and the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And the man became a living being. And if you don't go, ah, you don't understand what just happened. God took dust from the earth that he created and went, there's Adam.
I don't care what AI software you have, you'll never do that. You'll never. And even if you say you can get someone close, you can't put a soul in there. You can't create a man. You can't do it right and notice what happens.
So he puts the man in the garden to tend the garden. Verse 15 says, the Lord took the man and put him in the garden to cultivate it and keep it. So what's man's responsibility? Work, Work, tend to God's creation. Provide care.
Super easy. Back in the day. Before sin, I mean, I feel like all he had to do is. I mean, it was like, talk about miracle. Grow.
I think all he had to do is walk through. That's good. That's good. Voom, voom, voom. Easy.
Sin enters the world. Now, there's thorns and thistles. You gotta pull weeds. You gotta do all. Now, work is hard.
Work is still hard. But men are still called to do what? Work. Because prior to the fall, it's what God called man to do. Now, at this time, Eve's not there.
And during this time, God gives a command to Adam. He says, you can eat off all the trees in the garden you want to eat. I provided everything that you ever want to have. But here's what I want to tell you. But from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you shall not eat.
From the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. That's verse 17. So Eve's not there, Adam's there. Take note of that. So then God said, it's not good for man to be alone.
I'll make a suitable helper for him. So he has Adam name all the animals. So Adam goes around because he has got dominion and authority. He starts naming the animals. And every time he names them, whatever he calls that animal, that's what it's going to be.
But it was more than just naming the animal. It was him knowing that he has authority and dominion over the animals. Isn't it interesting how if you watch movies today, Hollywood tries to make animals more important than people or trees. More important than people or what? Why?
Because it goes against the created order of God. People are the most important part of God's creation. They are. You are. That's how God sees it.
So God's created these two genders. He's got Adam now working in the garden. He's created him. He's perfect. He just gave him the command, do whatever you want.
Just don't eat the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And by the way, I'm gonna get a helper suitable for you. Because Adam's naming all the animals. He saw like a Mr. And Mrs.
Cow, and he saw like a Mr. And Mrs. Horse. But for him, there's no suitable helper. There's no match for him.
So God causes him to fall asleep, takes a rib from him, which really means he took out of his side, like the fullness of him, and fashioned into flesh a woman. And then he brought her to the man. And Adam's mouth is dropping, and he's like, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman. And this is why God gave gender.
Now, I just did a wedding a couple weekends ago. I read this all the time. This is what my wife and I do in premarital counseling. This is the verse we go to all the time. You get this, you get your marriage.
You get this wrong, you mess up your marriage. Notice verse 24. It says, for this reason, a man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. For what reason? What reason?
What reason? You talk like, what's the reason for marriage. Here's the reason. Because God created you, male and female. That's the reason.
The reason you leave your father and mother and cleave to your wife. The reason the two of you become your own family. The reason the two of you become one is because of your gender. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one put us under. Why?
Because here's what takes place in a wedding. Usually as an officiant, I'm there, husband's right there. The bride starts walking in, he starts bawling. I'm passing them tissues. She's walking down the aisle.
And you have one and one, and they're walking in. But when we do the vows and we do the ceremony, they leave. They're not walking out as one and one, they're walking out as one. Because why? Because God put them together.
God puts male and female together in marriage. He does not do that with two men, and he does not do that with two women. So you can have all of the pomp and circumstance you want. It's just not marriage. Because you weren't formed and fashioned for the other.
Now, this is not me talking. This is God. If you're mad, read your Bible, take it up with him. And here's why I'm telling you that. Cause some people will push back and say, well, I know some people.
And they're two guys living together. They're two gals living together. They're trans, and they're super happy. Okay, so what? That's not how you were designed.
That's not how you were created. I mean, think about this for a second. If you went to a baseball game and they decided to use a football as the ball of choice that day, it probably wouldn't go so well. Or if you went to a basketball game and they decided to use a golf ball for the ball of choice, it wouldn't go so well. Or if you went and played golf and they pulled out a basketball for you to play, it probably wouldn't go so well.
My score would probably be similar, but. And even if you had somebody walk away from the event and say, that was so fun. I really like playing basketball with a golf ball. It doesn't mean that's what it was designed for. And we have to get away from what other people's feelings are and go back to what the father's intention is.
And, like, tell them, this is what God designed you for. Cause this is where joy comes from, and this is where hope comes from. And this is how you glorify him. So I'm not here ranting against people that don't do it God's way. That's not what I'm doing.
I'm proclaiming what God's design is so that if you would choose to live by it, you would experience the greatest joy and God would experience the greatest glory. Amen.
Need to say this because for some of you are like, okay, if God created our gender for marriage, where's my spouse? I've been waiting a long, long time. Where's my spouse? I don't know. Do you know that sometimes God doesn't do everything the way you think he's going to do it?
Sometimes he's like, hey, just wait a little longer, wait a little longer, wait a little longer. But I want to tell you something. Your value does not come from your spouse. Because you were created in the image of God long before you ever got married. I didn't get married till I was 34.
I had value in the Lord for 34 years before I ever got married. Now I'm married. I have value in my marriage, but I'm married till death do us part. If Kim precedes me in marriage, I still have as much value in the Lord as I do today. If I precede Kim in death, she still has as much value in the Lord.
If she's not married, marriage doesn't give you value. God gives you value. And if you're hungry and you desire to get married, pray for it. He may have someone out there you don't even know. He may not.
And that's okay. But your value doesn't come from your marriage. Your value comes from God. And if you can't get that right, don't ever get married. Because if you think the other person's gonna bring your value and you're looking for them to make you happy, you're gonna have the most miserable life you've ever had.
You think you're Miserable as a single. You don't even know what misery is. And there's some people here that, if they felt confident, would yell amen, but they're not gonna do it.
Your value comes from the Lord. Amen. And God makes you one with that person. It's not that Kim and I just share a house or share a bed or share a family or we're one. God sees us as one.
He looks at us as one. If we're not relating well, even our prayers can be hindered first. Peter 3. 7 says, we're one. If you're married, you're one.
So God created two genders for oneness for the purpose of marriage. Amen. And then he gave this. Let me give you number four. God formed and framed and fashioned the family to rule on the earth.
He created family. That's the purpose of marriage, is that family would be created. Notice at the end of verse 26, he says, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle and over the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Verse 28. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
So listen to that. Listen to me. God blessed them. God blesses marriage. And what is.
What is his command to the married couple? Be what? Fruitful and multiply. Why? Because God loves children.
Because if you read through your Bible, children are always a blessing. They're not a curse. God wants married couples to have children. Now, realize there's a lot to say on this topic. Like, well, how many kids should I have and what should I do?
Between you and the Lord, you figure out, but the purpose of your marriage is that you'd have family. Purpose of your marriage is that you'd have kids. Well, when we're ready, that's when I know we're ready. Friend, you will never be ready to have kids. You won't be ready financially.
You won't be ready emotionally. You won't be ready spiritually, you won't be ready. There's never gonna come a time where you're sitting around and be like, man, I got nothing to do. Let's have some kids.
Just have them. It's amazing how God shows up in that. I mean, blessed are you if you have children. God loves children. Now, I need to say this because there's some here that Said, I would love to.
I can't. It's been told to us. We're unable to. Okay? And I get that now.
About a year and a half ago, I stood up here and I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray over wombs that couldn't have children. And as I was even praying, I was like, I hope you're not doing the wrong thing. All that kind of stuff. Since that time, 19 women have come to me and said, thanks for praying. We have a child now.
So just because a doctor says you can't doesn't mean it's over. God may have other plans now. There's others of you that love Jesus and love God and trust him and are faithful. You can't. But here's what I found.
God always has a plan if you do things his way. Do you know, in our city right now, there are tons of kids who are looking for foster parents that would invest in them. Do you know right now in our culture, there's unwed teenage girls that are wondering, what am I going to do that would love to give their baby to a Christian family? I mean, you don't know what God might do if you stay open. And I know Christian people who haven't been able to have kids who said, God, we want to have kids and we want to have a family, but it is not working out.
What do you have for me? And God has taken them a different path. That has been a huge, huge blessing for them. Why? Because as Christians, we're called to love kids.
We're called to love the next generation. We're called to invest in them. That's why if you're here today, you should sign up to work at high five right now. Shameless plug. Right?
You, you, you. You need to. Not because it's enjoyable, not because it's, like, your favorite. Because God loves kids and he honors us when we bless the next generation. He loves that.
Amen. And it's the family that's the strongest unit that God wants to work through in our culture. To have what? To have dominion and to have purpose. Well, what does that mean?
It means that we live under the leadership of the Lord and do things his way, in all things. That dads do what dads are supposed to do, moms do what moms are supposed to do, and kids do what kids are supposed to do. And we work together to be a representative, although not perfect, but increasingly an example of what it looks like to have Christ at the center of relationships. Does that mean it's easy? No.
To do it God's way is sometimes harder. But when we do it God's way and we submit to his authority and we say, God, since you created the world and you created family and you created marriage, we want to do it your way. And not only that, but I'm not only living out what God wants, but I'm speaking out what God wants. Because here's the thing. I think some of us as Christians, okay, I'll live it, but I'm going to stay quiet because the people that I'm around, they don't agree with it.
So I'm just going to do it and I'll be a model, but I'm not going to tell people why I do it. Friends, you're called not only to live it, you're called to tell people. Well, they don't agree with me. Nobody agrees with you. I mean, outside the walls of this building, a majority of people don't believe anything I'm telling you today.
That doesn't mean, shut up and don't tell anybody. It means that you can do it with kindness and love. Hey. The reason I only spend time with my wife alone and don't call other women on the phone unless she's there or email or text or do a bunch of things with other women without their husband or my wife being there, it's because I value my wife. Now, that may seem weird to you.
Reason I don't ride in a car alone with somebody that's not my wife or with my daughters is because I value my wife, not because I'm scared of what would happen to me. And I'll tell people that. Some people think that's weird and antiquated and stupid. I think it's honoring to the Lord and to my wife. Do you see what I'm saying?
So when you do the things you do, you can tell people, here's why I do the things I do. Here's why I'm not coming to your supposed wedding. It's not because I don't love you, but I think it's dishonoring to my father. And he's not showing up at your wedding, and he's not going to be there because God doesn't honor two men or two women getting together. So I can't go.
But I do love you, but I can't go give my approval to it. And by being there, I'm going to give my approval to it. That's why I'm not going. But I love you. That's hard.
That's what it means to take dominion over the world. Why? Because you're more important than the animals. You're more important than the plants. You're more important than the trees.
You're more important than the planets. And you have a moral responsibility, not only to live the gospel, but to do what? To share why you do it. Amen. So let me give you this fifth one.
God not only framed and fashioned the family to rule the earth, but then notice what he does. He framed the goodness of provision. The goodness of provision. Why? Because he's generous.
Notice the following verses 29 and following. Then God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that's on the surface of all the earth. And every tree which has fruit yielding seed. It shall be food for you and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and everything that moves on the earth which has life. I have given every green plant for food.
And it was so what is God saying? I'll take care of you and all the animals. Even the New Testament. The Bible says my God will supply all of your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. He will resource what you need when you're walking with Him.
That's what he does. And notice what it says here. And God saw all that he had made and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and morning, the sixth day. It's good.
Why? Because he's good. He's generous. He always provides everything we need. He didn't just create the earth and say, good luck with the oxygen.
He didn't create the world and say, good luck finding food, good luck finding a spouse. I'll give you everything you need to honor me if you go after me. That's what he said in James 1:17. It says, Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights. Matthew 7:11 says, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more?
Your Father, who is in heaven will give good gifts to those who ask him. He's good. When you're living in alignment with his purposes, you get the greatest joy, God gets the greatest glory. And you'll see him provide for what you need. Maybe not everything you want, maybe not everything that you desire, but everything you need for everything he wants to accomplish, he's going to give you.
I mean, this is our God. I mean, think about this. It's incredible. This is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. He framed the heavens and the earth, the whole universe.
He put us in his image, and made us the crown of his creation. He created two genders for marriage so we could have family, be fruitful and multiply, and then let our families rule on the face of the earth so we'd be representatives of him. And then he does it by being good enough to give us everything that we have. But isn't it interesting? After God does all that, in the very next chapter, we blow it.
I mean, he gives us everything and we blow it. God told Adam, I'm telling you, don't eat off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day you eat off it, you will surely die. Then after that, he creates Eve. How's Eve gonna know?
Well, see, Adam's gotta tell her. Adam's gotta tell her. And what happens is the serpent used the same scheme to Eve that he's giving you right here. What does he come and ask her? Did God really.
You don't believe God's word, do you? I mean, did God really say that? Do you really believe you're gonna die? Do you really believe that he's the only one that can provide for you? Do you really think if he created this perfect world that he would cause you to suffer?
Do you really think a loving God would ever cause anyone to die? I mean, come on. The reason is he doesn't want you to know both good and evil. He's holding out from you. He doesn't have the authority to do anything.
He's saying he's not good. He's not great to you. He's not giving you all your best. And what happens? Eve says, fruit looks good, desirable for my appetite.
I'll know both good and evil. She eats and Adam eats, who's standing right there with her. And sin enters into the world. Now, it's really interesting because a lot of people have a lot of statements for, well, why did that happen? And why was she deceived?
And she was probably deceived because she was like, you know women, they're the emotional ones. That's not why she was deceived. She was not deceived because she was the emotional one. Here's why she was deceived. She was deceived because Satan gave her a better argument to deceive God than Adam gave her to believe God.
See, it's always the man's job to bring the Word. It always has been since the garden. It always has been in the New Testament, it always has been until Jesus gets back. And when man doesn't do a good job presenting what God wants Then everybody does their own thing. That's why I tell you all the time, if you don't go to brave church, just pick a church where the word of God is heralded so you can hear what God wants and do what he says, right?
And that's what's going on here. Adam had every opportunity to tell Eve, and she had heard some of it. Like, we shouldn't touch it or play with it or, no, no, just don't eat it. And while the Satan, while Satan threw the serpent, is talking to Eve, Adam standing right there with her like some buffoon, not saying, don't eat. You eat, we die.
Stop it. She ate. Guess what? He's like, don't hog it, baby. You know, give me some.
So he eats it and sin enters into the world. And here's the problem. And here's the problem. And here's the problem. And we miss this in church.
Listen. We think that because sin entered the world, we do bad things. And you do, and I do. We don't always align with what God wants. But that isn't the problem of what happened.
What happened when sin entered into the world, you didn't start doing bad things. You became a bad thing. Like your heredity became bad. Like you have a sin nature now that you can't escape from and you can't get away from it. And it came to you in conception because Adam and Eve passed it on to their kids and their kids and their kids and their kids.
And it came to you. So before you even came out of the womb, you had a sinful nature. And from the time you breathed your first breath until now, you've had all sorts of ways that you've demonstrated that you have that sin nature. And the problem's not all the bad things you've done. Jesus didn't die on the cross for all the bad things you've done.
Jesus Christ died on the cross for the bad thing. You are. You are by nature a child of wrath. See, even pagans don't have a hard time believing they've done something wrong. Have you ever sinned?
Yeah, I've sinned. Hey, Jesus died for that. Oh, really? What do I have to do? Just pray this prayer and then he'll forgive all those things you've done wrong.
That's it? Yep, that's it. Okay, I'll pray that. That's not the gospel. The gospel is, here's why you've done things wrong.
Because you're wicked at your core, and you are a rebel against the Father and you Want to live your life your own way. And if you continue that, you will have a Christless eternity in hell. But the Father is so generous and provides so much that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And Jesus Christ came here and he was born of a virgin, so he didn't have a sinful nature and he lived perfectly as the God man. And he died on the cross not just for the sins that you had committed.
He died for your entire sin nature, that you could be cleansed from the inside out from everything. And if you'll turn from your sin nature and turn to Christ, he will save you to the full today. And here's why I know that's a problem. Because there's a lot of people who think they're Christians because they prayed some prayer for God to forgive their sins. And then once they become a quote unquote Christian, then they wonder, well, what about the sins?
I just sinned. And what about. It's not about your sins, it's about your sin. Yes, Jesus suffered physically. He was beaten, he was whipped, he was hung on the cross, put nails in his hands and his feet.
Yes, he was physically tormented. But the worst part about what he endured was not the physical torture. It was the fact that your sin and my sin was put on him on the cross. And God poured out the full measure of his wrath on his son for everything we deserved. And that punishment was way worse than a physical death.
There's been people that have died horrible physical deaths. There's not one person that's died for the sin of humanity and the heredity and the sin that we've caused. Jesus has. And I want you to think about that today. Because as the Father's framed everything and he set up everything, he's so generous and loving and kind and good that even when you haven't gone the way that the Lord wants you to go, what has he done?
He sent his son, Jesus. Because you couldn't get to God on your own, it took God coming to you in the person of Jesus for you. And his goodness and provision is still there. Think about this. Think about this.
When Adam and Eve first sinned, what did they do? They started hiding themselves. Genesis 2:25 says, they were both naked and they felt no shame. And it wasn't just physically. In their marriage they felt no shame.
But even emotionally, there was no secrets, no hiding, no nothing. First thing that happens when sin enters the world, they cover up their differences and they dive in the bushes. So God comes for Adam. Adam Adam, where are you? He knew.
Did you eat off the Tree of the Knowledge of Good? The tree I told you not to eat off? Yeah. He knew. What was he doing?
He was asking him to admit his sin. And then what did God do? What did God do? God made garments for them. Out of what?
Animal skins. How did he get the animal skins? Blood had to be shed from the very first sin. And in the Old Testament, we see an elaborate shedding of blood in a system where goats and cows and everybody else has to die pigeons. So that sin can be covered.
But when the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, comes, he doesn't come to cover sin. He comes once and for all to cleanse our sin from all unrighteousness. Amen. Amen.
So before we end our services today by taking communion, I want you to think about where you stand with Jesus. Do you recognize that he came for you today? Do you believe that he died not just for the bad things you've done, but for the bad thing that you are in your sin nature, that he's willing to wash that all away and take what has the darkest darkness and make it as white as snow though your sins like crimson. He makes it white as snow. He died once for all.
And if you'll turn from your sin by repenting, that's what repenting means. I'm turning from my sin and I'm turning to Christ. He will wash it away, and he'll do that. Now, before we take communion, I want to make sure you're prepared. And for others who would say, I know that because When I was 13, I trust that.
When I was 18, I trusted that. When I was 25, I trusted. I was 36. I was sitting there, I knew that I was dead and I knew I needed to be made alive. I have.
If that's you, then I want you to think about this as you prepare your heart to take this supper. Think about all that Christ forgave in you. The longer I live, the more I see the depth of my own depravity. The more I walk in the holiness of God, the more I see it. And the question is not how could a loving God send people to hell?
The question is, how could a holy God ever allow a rebel into his presence? Here's how. Because he loved you so much, he sent His Son, Jesus, who died the death you deserve to die. And he punished him with the punishment that you deserve. And then he rose from the dead so that you'd never have to experience it.
Because Our Father's love for you is so great that good. So as you hold this cup today, hold it in your hands. I'll come up after the song. We'll take the elements together as the body of Christ. But let me pray for you.
Father in heaven, thank you for your word today. Thank you for all you're doing. Thank you for the way that you have revealed yourself to us today. Father, give us the grace to believe the things you've shown us. And, Lord, there are some here today.
I know there are. Who would say, I didn't realize that I was a rebel against God. I thought God just wanted to forgive my sin and I could move on with my life. I didn't realize I was dead. And today I want to be made alive.
And if that's you, here's how you can pray. Say, father, thank you for the gift of your son, Jesus. Thank you for his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Right now, I turn from my sin and I turn to Christ. I confess you as my Lord and Savior.
Come into my life. Wash me completely clean. Father, we praise you for the work you're doing here. We praise you for those of us who know you. Lord, reveal our sin.
Show us how you've cleansed it so we can be prepared to take this meal together. We give you all the praise for the blood and only the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen.