and we talked about this couple weeks ago and i wanted to spend a little more time on it today and we'll finish the hour with it uh... it says in the lord god for man of the dust of the ground and breathe into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul This is where we're going to talk about our situation, how we are made in the eyes of God, and how we represent the image of God. As mentioned in Genesis 1, 27, Adam was made in the image of God. He had a body, he had a soul, and he had a spirit. He says he was made a living soul. That's key. We'll talk about that as we get to the close here. But unlike the angels, man became a living soul. Now the angels, you know that the angels, the Bible says they have bodies. There's a different kind, there's a flesh kind, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, just real quick, I think it's there. 1 Corinthians, I'm doing this by memory, but 1 Corinthians 15, so if you find it, I'm talking about, yeah, I found it, about different kinds of flesh. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 39. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial. That's us, we're terrestrial. But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars, for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in corruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. All right, so you can read on, we won't do it right now, but all I'm telling you is angels have spiritual bodies. I believe Adam had a spiritual body at the time when he was created, but he was a living soul. He was different from the angels. He became a living soul. God breathed into his nostrils, it says, the breath of life. The breath of life comes from God. Now, we breathe oxygen, and you might call that the breath of life, but in Adam's case, he didn't have a mama, right? His daddy, he was the son of God, the Bible says. His daddy was God, so he had to get his first breath from God to quicken that body and make him alive. Now, we're gonna find out, I'm gonna change the board here. I'll do it now. This is the first time I'm ever going to flip this board in front of you. I tried it for the first time last night when I came here. Please. Okay. Yeah, the gingerbread man. That's you, by the way, not the gingerbread man. Not the Pillsbury Doughboy. It's possible that Adam had a body like the risen Jesus. You know when Jesus rose from the dead, He had a new body, right? I mean, you don't tell Thomas to reach into my side with a natural body, right? You don't just appear in the upper room with a natural body out of nowhere, right? And so, you don't just disappear and go to the third heaven and come back with the same body you had before, right? When Jesus was here on earth, it was very interesting about Jesus. He had our bodies, He had this body. and it suffered pain. The Bible says that He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities. In all points was tempted like as we are, yet without sin. And He knew the pain of the cross. He knew the pain of emotions. He knew the pain of being in this body. But He had a different kind of blood, didn't He? If you don't know, you say yes. He had a different kind of blood because He didn't have Mary's blood. Because the blood comes from the father. You know that, right? You know a little biology? The blood comes from the father. People always say, I'm a little bit of German, I'm a little Hispanic, I'm a little bit of Dutch, and I'm this and that. Well, what's your father? Because that's what you are. You might look like your mother, but you're of your father. And Jesus had God's blood in his veins. If he didn't, well, he had to have pure blood because according to Acts chapter, what is it, 20, 28, where it was God's blood that was shed on that cross. right and so when he shed his blood he shed it was able to take care of us and our need for a better blood we need a transfusion by the way our blood will kill us it is killing us is why we don't live forever but Jesus I believe would have lived forever I don't know what he would have looked like in his forever body I don't know what Adam would look like in his forever body I believe that Adam was made as a as an adult man I tend to believe that he was at at the same age of Christ at 30 31 32 33 right in there as that's a fully mature man that I get from the Bible. But anyway, the Bible tells us that Jesus is the image of God. Now, we went over those verses the last time we taught this. I gave you the references on your paper. But Jesus is the express image of God. No man has seen God at any time, right? Isn't that what the Bible says? Well, yeah, but then how can Jesus be God? See, that's what your critics will say. But the Bible says no man has seen God at any time. But you've seen the image of God. You've seen Jesus Christ. And you haven't seen the Holy Spirit of God, but you've seen Jesus Christ. He's the image of God. Now the Catholics run with that and say, well, since Jesus was an image, and I've read this in their writings. Boy, they try to rest the scriptures. Since Jesus was an image, then it's not a problem for me to have an image of Mary, or an image of Saint Jude, or an image of whatever. Well, no, you're taking that a little too far. Jesus was the image of God. He was what we see, the visible manifestation. God was manifest in the flesh, right? And so, Jesus had a body like us, but He was the image of God. Now, it says about Adam that He was made in the image of God, right? So, now, if He was in the image... Now, Jesus was not in the image of God. He had a body, soul, and spirit. But I believe He was more so in the image of God. after his resurrection. Right? In his glorified body. There's a natural body and there's a spiritual body. We just read that, right? It is sown in corruption, it will be raised in incorruption. Right? Christ was raised in incorruption. I believe that's where Adam started off. Adam was created in the image of God. Genesis 1, 26, and chapter 2, verse 7. He had a body, he had a soul, and a spirit. But, he didn't have a body like ours. Alright? You might want to look at, let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We can't spend... I don't have a lot of time. I was hoping I'd have enough time for all this. But 2 Corinthians chapter 4... No, don't do that. Go to Colossians chapter 1. I'm sorry. Go to Colossians chapter 1. Don't look at that one. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15. it's just talking about jesus christ there i i i i i thought i had different that's talking about jesus and we'll get that will get the adam in a second uh... but who is the image of the invisible god the first born of every creature all right that's talking about jesus christ now when adam will get to this next week but when adam ate the fruit in Genesis 2.17, the Bible says, "...in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Right? So we know that he died spirit. His spirit died. He died spiritually. He didn't die physically, because he lived 900 plus years. Alright, so his spirit died, but his flesh and his blood changed. That's where I want you to go. I want you to go to Philippians. You're right close to it. Just turn a page left, and you'll be at Philippians. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 21. This is the way the Bible describes our body now. Who shall change our vile body? Did you know you're vile? I know you probably have cologne on this morning and you hopefully took a shower and you dressed up, but did you know that the Bible says that your body is vile? right? It's dying. It's corrupt. "...that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is even able to subdue all things unto Himself." So we're going to have a body fashioned like unto His glorious body. So it's no stretch for me to think that when Adam was made, he wasn't made with a vile body. Right? A very creation of God, a son of God. He's not going to be made with a vile body. He's going to have a body probably like the risen Jesus Christ. Fashioned like unto His glorious body. But go over to Romans chapter 7 and read about the body that we have here today. The body that you live in, that vile body that we just read about. Romans chapter 7. You know this passage. We quote it all the time. But Romans chapter 7 and verse 5, Paul's talking here. And he says, for when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. So the motions of sin work in our members. Right now, we talk about you being a born-again in the Spirit. We'll get to that here in a second. And you are. If you're a born-again Christian, you're saved. Your soul and your spirit are a different man than this outside body. This outside body is warring against you. It says right there that they work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. So this body is against you, this body is pulling you down, this body is thinking some other thoughts right now than the Bible. This body is hungry, this body is sleepy, this body is thirsty, this body wants what it wants, right? And so go over to the end of the chapter, look at verse 24, and Paul says this about himself, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? So that's the body we have now. So what happened is, and we can go to Leviticus chapter 17. If I get there first, just listen to me. I may not. Leviticus 17, 11. It says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. Now, I'm just going to stop right there. Here's what happened. Adam was made, I think, I believe, like Jesus Christ. He was made in the image of God. The Lord told him, don't eat of that tree. That was the gospel. That was the gospel for him. Don't do that, and you'll live. Right? You say, well, then what about the tree of life? Well, that's a different subject. There'll be a tree of life in the future, and there'll be people get a chance to take of the tree of life. I don't know why Adam didn't have a chance to take. I don't think he had a chance to take of it. That's more my leaning. I don't think he had a chance to take of it right away, and there was a time when he could have, but not after this. We'll deal with that another day. He took of this tree, his spirit died, and his flesh and his blood changed. So don't think that Adam looked exactly like us. He didn't. There was something unique about Adam. We're not going to talk about that today. But there was something unique about Adam. And what happened is his body changed and him and Eve were ashamed of themselves. They looked at each other a lot differently, didn't they? When they ate of the tree. Not only did their spirit die, but their body suffered a consequence. It changed. It looks like you now. And their blood, the life of the flesh is in the blood. Well, Jesus had God's blood. Would Jesus ever die from God's blood? No. But what kind of blood? If the life of the flesh is in the blood and we die, then that's a clue to tell you that the life that you have is temporal. The life that's in our blood is dying. The life that's in our blood is diseased. It's diseased with what? Sin. We have a problem with sin. And sin is our problem. So people die of cancer, they die of sin. People die of AIDS, they die of sin. People die of whatever... No, they die of sin. Right? And that's what causes all those things. And the Lord told Israel, if you do my commandments and follow what I do, then I'll keep all these diseases from you. Right? And so it's a sign of sin. So what happened is, man is now born, Genesis 5, verse 3, in the likeness of Adam. We've talked about that before. Adam had a son. He was born in His likeness after His image. That's no mistake in the Bible. So people say, oh, we're all made in the image of God. We're all creations of God. We're all loved by God. No, that's not true. You're made now in the image of Adam. You should know that. Thanks a lot, God, for making me this way. I would rather be born to live forever. I hesitate to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I kind of envy the people who die at birth because they never get to see this body they never get to see this life they never go through the trouble troubles and trials you know the Bible says about babies who die right they go straight into the arms of the Lord they go straight to heaven they're innocent and so all they've ever known was that they're like the angels all they've ever known is heaven it's a glorious thing to think about when you when you really you know it's a sad thing for us but thank God I mean, some of us, if you get saved later in life, you think back to where you could have went to hell the way you were living. You could have went to hell the way you were believing. And we saw a testimony of a man getting his degree up there, and he came to the pulpit, and he was talking real different, and he had his head kind of down, but he says, when I grew up, I didn't grow up in a Christian home. He said, I think he was a black guy, he was Indian or something, he has dark skin, and he said, I would paint my face white and put black signs on it, and he says, and I would have on one sleeve, Antichrist, and on the other sleeve, something else. And he said, my whole family was atheists, and I followed Marilyn Manson, that was my idol. And I lived like that, I dressed like that. And here he was graduating from Bible school. But what if he would have died in that condition? He would have went straight, I would rather, I really would, I think about it sometimes, I would rather trade this life for being in heaven, any day of the week. And so, don't worry about the babies who die, but this is what happens to us, we're born this way. So we have a dead spirit, number one, we have a dead spirit, and that's why there's X's in here. That means no fellowship with God. If you look at these references, 1 Corinthians 2.11, don't just turn to them later for sake of time, talks about, you know, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. So you're a natural man when you're dead. When you're born this way, you're born dead. And if you live this way, if you follow Marilyn Manson or whatever you do, You're an atheist? You're dead. You have no fellowship with God. And that's a problem. What also happened is the reason his body changed, the reason our bodies are like this, is because the soul is attached to the flesh. I tried to make the soul now like there's no space, there's a few spaces there, but the soul is attached to the flesh. Right? It's been stapled to the flesh, if you will. And Bible tells you in Matthew 16, What shall a prophet of man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? You can lose your soul. How do you lose your soul? The soul is eternal. There's one thing about you that is eternal, is your soul. And you know what? It's either going to spend eternity in heaven or it's going to spend eternity in hell. Now, the reason it's going to spend eternity in hell is because the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18, 20. We've talked about this in Bible Institute, where in the Old Testament you talk about a man and it's talking about the soul, the soul, the soul, and it's referring to the man. And because Adam was a living soul, right? You're a soul. That's who you are. You know that's who you are? You're a soul. Your personality, what makes you laugh, the things that make you tick, that's your soul. See, your soul, now your spirit is what communicates with God. Your spirit is what fellowships with God. Spirit is what actually keeps life in your body. But your soul is who you are. And so man is a living soul. That soul is inside of a body. Now Adam had a spiritual body and his soul was detached. He had a spiritual flesh. I would like to see it. I will see it. I will be it one day. You'll be it one day if you're saved. But his soul was detached. It wasn't affected until he ate the fruit, and then it became attached to the body. Now it's subject to whatever the body does. You go to Leviticus 5.2, and if you touch anything that's unclean, if you touch it with this skin, you are defiling your soul. your soul is unclean alright and so what happens is the Lord came and he came to this world and this is all on your paper but I'll just refer to this now you must be born again was his command now people think that's strange people hear that and they oh what are you one of those born-again's or oh what kind of Christian are you are born-again Christian are you a different they don't understand that phrase but that's what Jesus said you must be born again why do I need to be born again to gain access to God I want you to look at these. I want you to go to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. We are out of time, but I want you to see this. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 18. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. You see that? You should have that underlined in your Bible. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, look at verse 17. You should have this underlined in your Bible too. But he that is joined unto the Lord is what? One spirit. So what happens when you get born again, is you get access to God because your spirit and his spirit now are back in fellowship. Right? You have fellowship with God now. And the natural man received not the things of the spirit of God, but you're not a natural man anymore and you can receive the things of the spirit of God. And so you have access by one spirit unto God. And so you've been baptized with the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians 12, 13. That is the right definition of 1 Corinthians 12, 13. or what it means to be baptized by the Holy Ghost. When you get saved, you are baptized with the Holy Ghost. The moment you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Holy Ghost came and dwelt inside of you. And now your spirit is back again. It's alive again. It has access to God again. And it doesn't mean you spoke in tongues. It doesn't mean that you healed anybody or that all your diseases are gone. It means you're saved. It means you're born again. All right? And just like in Genesis 2, God breathed back into you the breath of life. Just like He did in that. And God breathed in the man the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Now, you can't be a living soul if it's stuck to your body. Alright? If that soul is still stuck to your body, it's subject to the body, right? So, what has to happen? Well, the operation of God. I want you to turn to it. I want you to see it. Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. Because I want you to see the wording of it here. Genesis chapter 2 verse 11, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. You put off the body. You see how it's separated again? It may be a terrible drawing, but you see how it's separated again? It's not attached. All right. And so, uh, but it says in verse 12, buried with him in baptism. So your other religions say, see, baptism is spiritual circumcision. That's why we baptize your baby, because we want to make sure they have spiritual circumcision because they baptized the babies. Right. Didn't they in the law, they bet or they circumcised the babies. So we, so we circum circumcised spiritually the babies through infant baptism, misunderstanding of the passage. All right. What is baptism? It's right here. 1 Corinthians 12, 13, when you get saved, look it up, when you get saved, you're baptized with the Holy Ghost. It has nothing to do with water. And so wherein you are also risen with Him through the faith of, what does it say? The operation of God. So God did an operation on you. He pulled out His knife and He sliced that soul away from your body. He freed it up so that you could be no longer affected by the sins of the body. Right? So that inside man is, that spirit is born again and the soul is saved. The soul is saved from the body, the spirit is born again, it has free to have fellowship with God, it's free to talk to God and receive the things of the Spirit of God, even while you're on this earth. although it be limited, because the Bible says, for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face, right? It'll be better when we get there. But the soul is once again set free from the body and can no longer be touched by sin. And 1 Corinthians 15.50, look at that, and we'll close. 1 Corinthians 15.50. Isn't this an interesting statement? It's talking about the rapture. 1 Corinthians 15.50, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is in heaven, right? The kingdom of God is within you, and it's not the millennial kingdom that we talked about there in Genesis 2 and verse 1 and 1 through 3. That's the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven, I mean. So it says here, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Go down to verse 53, for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So you know what's going to happen when the rapture happens? That soul inside of you and that spirit inside of you gets to leave this body because flesh and blood, right? Adam's blood changed. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So you're going to leave your body behind, and you're going to leave your blood behind. Because there's something wrong with your blood. You have the blood of Christ now, and when you get up there, you'll no longer need your old blood. So when the rapture happens, you know what's going to happen? There's going to be a bunch of bodies, and there's going to be a bunch of blood all over the place. Of people that have been saved and are gone out of here. Because that can't go with you. That has to stay behind. So aren't you glad you're saved this morning? I'm glad I'm saved. I'm glad I'm not following false religion. I'm glad I'm not observing a Sabbath day. I'm glad I'm here on a Sunday. And I'm glad that, by the way, this gives you eternal security. That body can no longer touch that flesh. It's been spiritually circumcised away from that flesh. It can no longer be defiled by the sins of this body. So, although you may sin today, and although you may do wrong today, and you may feel guilty of it, and you should repent of it, that does not mean you're going to hell, because your soul has been circumcised away from your body, and you're eternally secure in Jesus Christ. All right, let's pray. We're done. Lord, thank you. Thank you for the time. Thank you for the lesson. Lord, thank you for the word of God. Thank you for how plain it really is. Lord, religion has a way of really complicating this. And Lord, but the Bible has a way of clearing it all up. And so thank you for that. And we ask that you bless the time ahead of us now in Jesus' name. Amen.