Genesis 1:26-31

Okay, well good morning everybody. I'm going to be reading Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. Now I'm through verse 31, 25 Genesis, chapter 1, verse 26. Would you please stand for any God's word? Alright, Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth as a subduet, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "Behold, I've given you every plant yielding seed, is on the face of all the earth, and every tree was seeding as fruit, you shall have them for food, and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and every meat creeps on the earth, and every breath of life, I've given every green plant for food, and it was so." And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good, and it was evening, and it was morning the sixth day. And the Lord blesses the reading of his Word. Let's pray. Lord again, we are looking to you, Father, praying that you will grant to us understanding of what we're studying today, show us the relevance of it, thousands of years after this is written, here we stand today in a totally different context, in terms of culture, even nationality, and so forth. And yet, we understand that this is the very Word of God, this is your Word. So, Father again, we ask you to open up our understanding, open our hearts to receive your truth, and to be changed by it, so that just as you have designed, we are changed from glory to glory, conformed to the image of Christ. And we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. When I was looking at these things in preparation, I wanted to do one sermon on the fact that man is created in the image of God, and so that's what we're doing this morning. But first, I was thinking, you know, I'll go through the two accounts, you essentially have two accounts of creation, first in Genesis 1, chapter 1, verse 1, running all the way through chapter 2, verse 3, and then the second one picks up there, chapter 2, verse 4, to the end of chapter 4. So, I was thinking about doing both of those back to back, and then come back, and talk about man being created in the image of God, and which would mean I would have to focus again on these verses in chapter 1. And so, in chapter 1, anyway, I was kind of back and forth on that, but I've decided to do it this way, so what we've done in the previous two weeks is try to cover chapter 1, the first creation account, and in doing that, we focused in first of all on God, the first week, and of course we do want to remember all the way through here that he is the main character, right? We don't want to forget that, but I had kind of a general outline in view for the first few chapters, which God creation, we did those two, God and creation, and then shifting the focus to man in particular as part of God's creation, focus on man being made in the image of God, and then on marriage, because there is a, there is a foundational account of, of, of, of, for marriage here, and these, in these first couple of chapters, so, so that's what we're doing, we, we talked about God, talked about creation, now we're focusing on man as a part of creation, or should say this way, man is a unique part of creation, because he's creating an image of God, and then Lord will in next week, we'll go back and look at chapter 2, now I'm just giving you a heads up, you can read ahead and be meditating on these things, but chapter 2 verses 4 through 25, and then after that Lord willing, just like we're setting one message aside now for the image of God, after that we'll set one message aside for marriage, and focus in primarily on chapter 2 verses 23 through 25. So that's just kind of a, well, they actually be a little bit more than that, but that's just kind of a heads up as to what we're, we're looking at here, there are as we said earlier, foundational passages to, here to so many things, because this is just as the book is titled, this is the beginnings, right? The beginning, and you get that course in 1-1 in the beginning, God created, and that's the real beginning of the beginning, I mean that's, that's the beginning of all things except God. And then you get to chapter, and I'm, by the way, and I'll just mention this, you can remember it as we go, but I pointed out earlier, 1-1, John 1-1 uses the same phrase as no accident, because he's pointing us to the same beginning, so he, he begins his gospel in the beginning, was the word, was with God, but he's using that same in the beginning phrase specifically, I mean, immediately his Jewish readers would recognize that as the beginning of the books of Moses, okay? So they know he's talking about the same beginning, well, similarly, and I, like I say, I'm just heads up here, but when we get to 2-4, you've got the same thing. These are the generations, or the book of generation, the book of origin, the very same phrase that Matthew begins his gospel with. So there's significance in that, it's not, it's not happenstance, not accident, they do that for a reason, because they want to point us back to what we're looking at here. So in the beginning, as we talked about earlier, God created, God created everything, and just for a little emphasis on that, let's, let's just be clear, in the beginning there was nothing but God. Nothing but God, no matter, certainly no human beings, animals, plant life, matter in any form, there was nothing but God. And then God created, created, or the way that it stated here, he created the heavens and the earth, which thinks just a way of saying he created the universe. And he created all things, or just to kind of paraphrase what John says, and John won, there wasn't anything made that was made, that was not made through him, through Jesus Christ. And God created everything, through him the worlds came into being, through him everything came into being, there was nothing but God, and then God created. Now, we went, and we did it basically in overview, I mean we just kind of went briskly through the six days of creation last week. And so I'm bringing this back now to day six. So just to put us in context, God has created the heavens and the earth and has begun to feel, form and feel. You know, verse one and two, God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void. Then during the six days, what God does is form and feel. Remember that from last week. So he gives shape to everything, brings chaos into order. You know, even things like that are just relevant for you and I. Today, as we live out life, this is the God who brought a chaotic universe into order, who set the stars in place, call them by name, set the orbits of the planets and put them into motion. And this is the God who promises to bring form, order to our lives as individuals. He does that to us as a people. You know, I mean, he creates the people in the Old Testament. You know, he creates, well, first, the first people, you know, Adam and Eve, but then he creates a nation unto himself, the nation of his people. Israel out of the seat of Abraham and that's just foreshadowing what he's what he's going to do with the church and And a kind of a first fruits of of the people of God in general God creates a people unto himself gives form to a peculiar nation right a chosen race a Royal priesthood the people of God brings order out of chaos he does that on these massive scales and then he does that even in our own individual lives So in the first six days God creates out of nothing he creates all things in the first five days I guess I should say bringing us up to the six and the first five days he creates all things and begins to Feel the earth now. He's created everything but man So let's just go back and read a little bit verse 24 Let the earth bring living creatures according to their kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds And it was so and God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds and Everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind and God saw that it was good So God has created all things except man at this point and declared all things good And I think there's a little bit of a contrast here in the in the way that God takes the next step and It is to set apart man as unique So I mentioned last week This emphasis on according to their kinds according to their kinds and so up to this point God has has designed created spoken to existence all things according to their kinds and Designed them in such a way that they reproduce according to their kinds right and and last week I mentioned it specifically in reference to the modern day belief and in macro evolution that things actually change from one kind to another and I think you can refute that here At least for the mind of a Christian. I think you can you can see here that God made things according to their kinds and that's the way they stay they reproduce accordingly And I want to look at it just a little bit different light today Because again what we're emphasizing here is the uniqueness of man so there's although we don't You know no much about how God creates other than he just could speak things into existence out of nothing and then form them into the form that he Desire for them to have but up to this point he's done that everything and here again is emphasized over and over and over everything according to It's kind according to their kind according to their kind according to their kind and there's never any suggestion that their kind Is like God's kind There's there's a total distinction made between creator and creation Their kind their kind their kind their kind as God creates but then you get to verse 26 And Moses writes for us then God said Let us make man in our image after our likeness That's astounding real thing when you when you think about it and I think it's intended to jump out at us that way God made God made or he or he said he said this and he made that and he formed them Made them according to their kinds according to their kinds according their kind and then God said And almost here Moses say as he's writing it and then God said let us make man in our image After our likeness now, let's be clear about a couple things here Man's not equal to God And so we wouldn't want to we wouldn't want to operate into that delusion for sure So so there is a distinction that remains. I mean, it's clear. In other words who's speaking things into existence? Who's forming whom God is forming man. In fact, we'll see as we go on We've already seen some of it and see as we continue into chapter two. What does God do? God creates man And then God provides for man May all of the I mean and lavishly by the way. It's just all of the fruit trees and so forth at this point Man is not a meat eater. All right, but God gives man all of the all of the fruit of the The trees all of the fruit of the vine and so forth. So God creates man God provides for man God places man You know even after man is is created and there you have you know what we call a free moral agent You know there he there he stands created before God and in the image of God He's still operating under God's Rule restraints So God God place a God's the creator right not man. So God God creates man. He provides for man. He places man in the garden This this and he's made a habitat for him and this is going to be your Your habitat and then God commands man And he does that in the form of giving him a A mandate be fruitful and multiply feel the earth and also in the form of a prohibition In the midst of the garden There are two trees right The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil and God says to man you shall not you well first I guess we were really out of put emphasis where it rightly is first. There's the you shall I mean you you can have all of the fruit of all of the trees. That's why I said earlier He lavishly provides for him But then he does give this prohibition But this one tree there in the midst of the garden the tree The knowledge of good and evil you you can't eat of that tree I'm just pointing that out here just to show Who's in charge? It's God that creates it's God that provides it's God that places man. It's God that commands So we're going to talk about the uniqueness of man, but we don't want to confuse man with God In fact, that's exactly what God had been kicked out of the garden. They confuse themselves With God we we we sure don't want that fall back into that era So verse 26 God created man Then God said let us make man in our image after our likeness Now I'll just mention briefly here. I said I've said something about this last week. I do think the plural pronouns there hint at The triunity of God We understand God to be father, son and spirit and I think you see that hinted at here I don't you know, I don't think Moses understood that when he's writing and I don't think he had that in view I'm not saying anything like that, but These are these writings are inspired by God himself and it seems to me you know It's not a coincidence that the pronouns are plural some people say well. He's talking to his His heavenly court which include which would include the angels for example But I don't know of any evidence in scripture And if you do, I mean really seriously pointed out to me, but I can't think of any place in scripture that suggests That angels are made in the image of God And here he says let us make man in our image after our likeness and so for that to be true angels would have to be made in the image of God I think What we have hinted at here is the triunity of God in other words father, son, spirit our image our likeness let us make man and that harmonizes doesn't it with John one where John talks about God creating the world, but then specifically refers to Christ as being Creator agent of creation All right, but for today What we want to notice is especially notice is phrases that the phrase their image and likeness Image and likeness I don't know that there's any real distinction that We need to take note of in those two terms probably two ways of more or less saying the same thing is just for emphasis probably The idea here is put very simply man is created in some way Like God I've already pointed out man's not God Not the truth you needed that pointed out to you but nevertheless we probably all do need reminders. But man's not God, we know that. But in some ways he's like God. There's a likeness there. He images God. So I would say for main point here, very simple, very simple, man like no other part of creation is created in the likeness of God. So that's what I mean when I'm talking about the uniqueness of man. In fact, historically man is often referred to as the apex of creation or the pinnacle of creation. Let me say something else there too, just to make sure I'm not misunderstood. When I say man, I'm referring to human beings. I'm doing it quite intentionally because that's the way the scripture speaks. So for example, you look in verse 27, so God, here's our definition for man. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. Now what is Moses confused? So therefore you got singular, him or man in the first part of that verse and then you wait a minute and now he says male and female, them plural them. Now Moses wasn't confused. The term man is representative of male and female. In other words, we do the same thing. We use terms like mankind or something like that. So when I say man, understand, when we talk about man is created in the image of God, understand what we're talking about is male and female. So men and women are both likewise created in God's image and likeness. It is true of both men and women, but it is not true of any other creature. Period. Not your favorite dog or cat. Like I heard a Theologian say just the other day, he was pretty sure that cats were the results of the fall. So I'm almost inclined to go with that. I can't prove it, but there's a lot of evidence in their behavior. So no other creature is created in the image of God. So let's be clear on those two things. First of all, when we say that man is, we're talking about male and female, men and women. And then secondly, that it is exclusive to human beings. And again, I would include in that the angels. I don't know of any place in scripture that speaks of the angels as being created in the image of God. At least we're not told that. I don't think that's the case, but certainly not any of the other earthly creation. So you've got one species. One being or kind of being out of all of creation made in the image of God. So this is the high point of God's creative work. You can see why people call it the apex or the pinnacle because man is distinct from all the rest of creation. And there is no other creature on par with man. I guess in our day, animal rights and all that kind of thing is real popular. And some of it, I don't really want to make fun of it. And some of it, I appreciate. And we are one of the things we're going to see here is that man is given care of the garden and care of the rest of creation. So we've got a responsibility to take care of animals and be humane and all of that sort of thing. But in our day and time, there is actually confusion in terms of importance, value, dignity. So we want to be clear as Christians that man is set apart. On one level, we want to acknowledge another thing should point out here, right? Man is formed. We'll see this as we go on like in chapter 2. Man is formed out of the dust of the ground. So yes, we want to acknowledge our creatureliness. We are definitely creatures, not God. And we want to put proper emphasis on that. But we also want to emphasize properly the fact that we are made in the image of God. We bear a likeness to God that no other creature bears. Now what does that mean exactly? Man is created in the image of God. I want to give you one thing straight out of the text. And I want to give you some other things to hopefully help us think about this that you would have to go to other parts of the Bible to find, but I think art even just experience. You can know it from some of them from experience. But I think they are helpful in understanding what it means to be created in the image of God. And I'm not by any means giving you an exhaustive list. I don't know that we could exhaust it, but I'm just going to give you a few. So what does it mean to be created in the image of God? Well, and this is the one that's coming straight out of the text. First of all, it means that we have dominion. So as people like to say today, we rule. Right? There's a sense in which that's true. Now, we get carried away with that and put ourself in place of God and so forth. That's dangerous. But there's a sense in which it's true that we rule. So God makes man and his own image. And again, remember, I'm referring to male and female, man and women. God's created man and his own image. His own image he created. He created him, male and female. He created them. Then in verse 28, and God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Come back to that momentarily. Fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over every living thing that moves on the earth. So you can see, again, the uniqueness because God's created all things up to this point, all the animals, all the plants, everything from the smallest critter, or like it says here, creepy thing, everything from that all the way up to the biggest animal or mammal, dinosaurs, whatever. God's created all things. And he tells man, you're going to have dominion over all of that. He puts man, man, male and female in charge of the whole thing. And I'm suggesting here that that is part of being created in the image of God. That's why man has dominion. He is reflecting, or let's say it this way, he is created to reflect. The rule, the authority of God in this way that he's got the care of all creation. So he says, be fruitful and multiply, feel the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. So he has dominion. We may get to say about that later. Even the dominion over the garden, he's given the garden the earth to kill the land and so forth. So number one, he has dominion. As I said, that comes straight out of the text there in verse 28. And I think that that is part of being created in the image of God because that kind of dominion is not given to any other creature. Secondly, now some of the rest of these are maybe all the rest of these. I'm just going to give you some things that I think are part of being created in God's image. And like I say, they're not necessarily out of this text. You'd have to go to other places to find them. So number two is we have an estimable value. There may not be a greater evidence of the depravity of man than the devaluing of human life. The fact that we have a whole industry today that exists for and on murdering babies. is, I don't know, it's just hard to even put in words to the evil, the wickedness, or that one man would gun another man down in the street for a few dollars or something like that, or less. There's probably not a greater evidence of the depravity of man. Maybe we'll talk more about that later when we get to the fall, but for now, let's just make this point, every human being at every stage of development is of an estimable value. How will you put value on the image of God? Sometimes when an artist creates a magnificent work, a painting, something of that sort, sometimes it's hard for a praiser to put value on it, because it's so great. About how much more when you think of the divine artist, creator, finishing off, topping off his work by creating a being in his own likeness and image, how much then is that being who bears his image worth? Just a few pages over to Genesis 9, and you're going to see the institution of capital punishment and the reason for it. Genesis 9.5. And for your lifeblood, I will, this is God speaking, of course, for your lifeblood, I will require a reckoning from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man, I will require a reckoning for the life of man, whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image. I don't know how you mean more clear than that. God says, "If you shed a man's blood," in other words, "you murder a man," then you must be put to death. If you are murdered, then you're murderer, must be put to death. Why? Because God made man in his own image, because murder is the ultimate assault on the image of God, and therefore it is an assault against God. You have attacked, killed his image. That is worthy of the death penalty. Now we have people today who think that it is humane to do away with the death penalty, and they think, "Well, you know, because we should value human life," and of course they're talking about the murderer. Well, of course we should value their life, but what we do is, in reality, devalue human life by taking away the death penalty, because what we're saying is that person that they killed is really not worth that much. It's not worth the sentence of capital punishment on their assailant. God says it is, and the reason that it is, and of course this is one reason, and this is why people don't understand this, because people in the world, because they don't understand man to be made in the image of God. The reason God says, "We have that kind of value," we possess that kind of value, is because we bear his image. So James says, "We shouldn't even speak against one another, because you're insulting someone who bears the image of God." James 39. You're talking about the unruliness of the tongue, the human tongue. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the lightness of God. You see what James is doing is pointing out an absurdity there. God, I love you, and then we talk about somebody else, that's scoundrel. That person who bears the image of God, and James is trying to point out the absurdity there. I mean, in a sense it would be like praising someone's looks, but then looking at their mirror image and talking about how horrifying they are, doesn't make sense. It's an attack on not just the image bear, but it's an attack on the one whose image they bear. I should point this out too, this is even after the fall. Genesis 9 is after the fall. James 39, obviously it's after the fall. Even after man has fallen into sin, we are spoken of as bearing the image of God. And that value remains attached. So we're not just talking about Adam and Eve here. We're talking about all human beings bear the image of God and therefore possess an estimable value. A couple more things. We are moral beings. So I would say a couple things along with that. First of all we're capable of doing moral acts. Now that is we actually do right and wrong. Your dog's not really capable of that. I mean I know you come home and you find where the dog jumped up on the table and ate the turkey and you think, and you go tell the dog, that was wrong. Well, in one sense it was, but in another sense it was not. In other words it was wrong, I mean because you didn't like it and maybe too because maybe the dog knew better. Maybe you trained the dog not to jump up on the table and take the turkey. And so you did wrong. You violated your training, but it was not immoral. It was not immoral because the dog's not capable of moral activity. It was not in no sense of morality. You could train them to do things, but you can't read them at all and then expect them to keep it. I heard, I audited a class one time with Gerald Bray. He's a well-known Anglican deologian and I wish I could remember it because he said it because it was funnier when he said it. But he just made the point. To make this point about morality and animals, he said, if a dog bites you, you don't get mad at it. You make it mad, but you don't think it's committed to immoral act. So you're indignant with the dog. That's what dogs do and you understand that. On the other hand if a man bites you, you have quite a different reaction. You should because we're moral creatures. We're capable of committing moral acts, doing right and wrong. I would just add along with that the fact that we know right from wrong. Now please understand me here because you know that I, in fact, just a moment ago I was talking about the depravity of man and you might be thinking, wait a minute, one minute you're saying man is depraved and you teach total depravity and the next minute you're saying we know right from wrong. Well, it's not really a contradiction there. When I say we know right from wrong, I don't mean that we've got it all. We know everything. But I'm saying that there is some sense because we're created in the image of God and God that made us with a conscience and that conscience is at least partially rightly informed. We have a sense of right and wrong. So just for example most people understand that it's wrong to murder what we were just talking about a moment ago. Even murderers understand that it's wrong to murder. They just do it. They violate their conscience. They violate the law. They know that it's wrong and there's a certain amount of that and I can't measure it. I can't put my finger on it. I can't give you a list. It says here it is. But there's a certain amount of that that is in eight. I mean it's not just because you've been told. It's because you're created in the image of God and I don't know where to draw the line with it. You know, I mean some guy may commit murder without any conscience regarding murder. But I guarantee you he has some concept of right and wrong because he's created an image of God and because as part of being created in the image of God we are moral beings. We can actually do moral actions and we can understand And sometimes the difference between right and wrong. We have an innate knowledge of right and wrong. And we have an innate response of responsibility. So that's going to be the next one. Number four, we are responsible beings. So not only are we moral beings, but we're responsible for our actions. Not only are we moral beings capable of doing moral actions, but we are responsible for those actions. And we just saw in Genesis 9 that God is clear about that. I mean, that's just one example. That's talking about murder. But you commit murder, you are to be held responsible for that. Try to move a little quicker here. So the next one is we are rational. I'm sorry, we are that too. That's another one. But we are relational. We are relational. And I think that is directly related to what we were talking about a moment ago, the Godhead, the triunity of God. God at is very nature, is very essence, is relational. Before anything else existed, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existed as a perfect unity and perfect relationship to one another. And so number six, we possess self-awareness. You know, I was trying to think, where would you find a scripture that supports that? And you could probably point to many, but let me just tell you what came to mind. Psalm 90 verse 12, the Psalm that says, "So teach us," he's praying to the Lord, "Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." "Teach us to number our days." I mean, there's a self-awareness that causes us to wonder what it's all about and how long it's all going to last. And what are we here for? You know, so many, we think of the great questions, you know, like our purpose in life. Even like we were talking about the origin of life earlier, and in chapter 1 and so forth, we don't have those kinds of discussions. You know, they don't say, "Oh, I wonder where we came from. Why are we here? Where are we going? How's all this?" What direction is all this going in? But human beings do because we have self-awareness. One more, we are eternal. Now, don't confuse that with eternality. You say, "What's the difference?" Well, I would include in eternality, no beginning. The only being that possesses the attribute of eternality is God. God possesses the attribute of eternality, no beginning, no ending. Now, we have a beginning, but no end, because God has created us to exist forever. So the starting point, then all, no ending. So in fact, the writer of Ecclesiastes says this, and Ecclesiastes 3-11, "He has made everything, talking about God. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart. God has put eternity in man's heart." And I would say that's part of being created in the image of God. Now, one more thing and we're done here. This is point number two, the main point, as far as main point is point number two. First one was God created man. The second one is God commissioned man. God commissioned man. So let's go back. All right, let me go back. You may already be there. Go back to Genesis 1. God created man in his own image, and then you get down to, again, to verse 28, Genesis 1.28, "God bless them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, feel the earth and subdue it." Now we already talked about subdueing and having dominion. So feel the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and so on. And I'll tell you then, we come back to the first part of that. So here it is. And what did he tell man? It's kind of a twofold thing, but of course they go together, you know, have one without the other. But it's be fruitful and be fruitful and multiply and feel the earth. So you got command, here's what you need to do. You need to be fruitful and multiply and then there's a goal, feel the earth. Be fruitful and multiply and feel the earth. What's going on here in just a few remaining minutes that we have here? I'm going to suggest that all of this is related. That's pretty safe suggestion, I guess, but here's how. Here's how I'm suggesting it's all related. God has created to display his glory. So now you can say God has created all things. God has created the earth, God has created the heavens in the beginning, God created the heavens in the earth, meaning the whole universe, the whole Shabban, whatever is came from God, his creative power. So God created all things for his own glory. And then at the height of the creation work there at the apex, God creates man, a creature that actually bears his image. So now if you remember that God's first goal is to glorify himself in all of his creation, which he does, by the way. Just the sign in the moon and the stars and the birds and the caterpillars and whatever, just them doing what they do, what they are created to do, brings glory to God. But then there's a more specific way to fill the earth with the glory of God. And that would be to fill the earth with images of God. I thought it was interesting. I was reading this one commentary to the other day. He was talking about how the temple theme runs throughout Scripture and he was relating it to the Garden of Eden, how what essentially is happening here. God has created a dwelling place. So he's made a temple for himself for his own glory. And the commentator said, "Anybody reading this in the ancient world, all of the ancient people, when they built a temple for whatever God didn't, I'm not even talking about, not even limited to the true God, but when they built a temple for whatever God, what did they do, what did they put in there, an image, an image of their God, right? They built a temple and they put up an image." So he was suggesting that's what God has done. He built a temple, in this case the Garden of Eden, or you might just say the earth, all the world. He built a temple and he put an image of himself there. Man, male and female. But he wants to fill out, not just have a representation there in the Garden of Eden, but fill the whole earth with his likeness. So he commissions, man, commands, man. He gives us a mandate, fill the earth. So do it, have dominion over it, yes, but not just that. In fact, there's a way to accomplish that and that is fill it. Fill it up. Fill it up. Why? Because we bear his image. So the more people there are, the more little images of God there are. Hebacchus, 214 says, "There's coming a time when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." And one way that that's being accomplished is through God's image, bears. Of course, I mean, just men in general, but then, of course, ultimately, it is those who come to the knowledge of God through faith in Jesus Christ being conformed to the image of Christ, who is the express image of God, the exact representation. So let me just close with the end by the way. One more thing, just because our culture has such a low view of children and families today, just past week ahead, someone say that they've been told they're having too many children. That should never come out of the mouth of a Christian. That's exactly what we've been commanded to do. Be fruitful and multiply. Feel the earth. Now I say you got to try to do it all on your own. I'm just saying we all do our part. Seriously, in fulfilling that commission, I wish I had understood that when we were younger. I really do. I don't discourage young people from having kids. You do. You're discouraging them. You're encouraging them to disobey God. It needs to be out of the right circumstances. Yes, but yes, have kids. They bear the image of God. One last thing. I just mentioned a moment ago. Christ is the exact representation. He is the perfect image of God. How can we be complete or perfect as it were as image bearers? Because, you know, why we've been talking about this. I mean, you may be thinking, okay, Scripture says we bear God's image, so I believe it's true, but I sure don't see it in my life. It's a mess. Well, yes, because of sin, because of the fall. And God has provided a remedy for that. A correction. A reversal of the effects of the fall. And that is through faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, what I'm about to say, this is true of every Christian. For Christians, we are in a process. The Scripture tells us. We call it sanctification. We are in a process of being conformed to the image. Same word, image. The image of Christ. So the only way to truly, faithfully, completely bear the image of God is to be made into the image of Christ, who is the perfect image of God. And if there happens to be somebody in this room today who does not know Christ, I want you to know you can know God and be a true, accurate, complete image bearer through faith in his son, Jesus Christ. You must come to him through Christ. And for those of us who know Christ who are here today, let me just say, I hope you take that as real encouragement. Because the Bible does speak of it as a process. We are being changed from glory to glory. We're taking on the image of Christ. So when you look at yourself, when you put yourself under the, you know, in front of the mirror or the word, and you say, I see so much trouble there. So many props, so much that is not like God. Take heart. Because if you're here, you are being conformed to his image. And you know what? Just like Paul said to the Philippians. When he started, he will bring to completion. He who began a good work and you will complete it to the day of Jesus Christ. Would you stand, please? God created man. Man did not create himself. Man did not create God. God created man. And God made man, male and female, in his own image. Christian, it is God who conforms us to the image of Christ. It's not our job. We're not capable of it. It's God who does it. Do we need to obey God? Absolutely. But it's God who does it. Let's pray. David, you mind leading us in a word of prayer?