The sermon 'Created in the Image of God' by James Lundquist explores the profound theological concept of humans being made in God's image, as depicted in Genesis 1. Lundquist discusses the 'imago Dei,' explaining that humans reflect God's attributes such as love, mercy, and holiness, though imperfectly. The sermon emphasizes the unique value and dignity of human life, arguing that issues like abortion devalue God's image. Lundquist elaborates on how sin has marred this image but asserts that redemption and transformation through Christ, the perfect image bearer, help restore it. The sermon calls for Christians to reflect God's holiness by living lives that honor His image and maintain moral judgments, highlighting the importance of compassion and care for all human life. The message also touches on various societal issues and stresses the need for Christians to uphold the sanctity of life in all circumstances.

Our sermon text is Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 and 27, but I'll be reading the entire chapter. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light and there was light and God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night.

So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' Thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven, so the evening and the morning were the second day. Then God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so.

And God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind whose seed is in itself on the earth and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass the herb that yields seed according to its kind and the tree that yields fruit whose seed is in it in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good so the evening and the morning were the third day.

Then God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it was so. Then God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.

And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Then God said, let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens. So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth, so that evening and the morning were the fifth day. Then God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind. And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, 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.

Then God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth and every tree whose fruit yields seed to you it shall be for food also to every beast of the earth to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life. I have given every green herb for food, and it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.

So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Rigidly, not as rigidly, but we believe in the sequential exposition of Scripture. There are times when we do topical messages, and this is one of those. It's the first time we've preached on this topic exclusively. It comes up in other areas of Scripture we've been on, but This is the first time we've dedicated a message to this topic created in the image of God. It's a big topic.

I'm not expecting, hopefully you're not expecting, that this will be cleared out completely here. It's a big topic and may We have more weeks on this in years to come. So why now though? It's not sanctity of life Sunday. Why now?

Well, it's because we've partnered with Love Life this week, and I'll talk more about that at the end of the service. We've partnered with them with a couple key activities coming up this week, especially Wednesday and Saturday. And so we want to kick off the week with a life topic. And creating the image of God is definitely where this all starts. If you've come expecting just red meat of anti-abortion, this is not the message.

This is not the message here. This is not exclusively focused on anti-abortion. It's going to have a prominent place for sure, but it's not the prominent, it's not the main focus of the message of being created in the image of God. It's one of the effects when we hate God's image, you get abortion and many other things that I will talk about. Let's pray and then we'll start looking at this text and these topics.

Well, God, it is fearful in many ways to try to even think of and explain that we can be created in your image. We've got here it is before us, So Holy Spirit, I believe in the power, in your power to make clear passages, your power to change hearts, change minds, change thinking, to conform us to your image. It's there. So please be so gracious and merciful to us that we would honor your image in the way this is taught, in the way this is preached, in the way this is received, in the way this changes us. So please bless this time.

Will we worship you during this time? Will we praise you? Would you be glorified? In Jesus name, Amen. In Jesus' name, amen.

Genesis 1, 26 and 27. Then God said, let us make man in our image. According to our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle, 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.

My first point is, what does it mean to be created in the image of God? What does that even mean? That's where we have to start at before we can even look at what that means to us. What does it mean? The image of God, you may have heard this said as imago Dei, the imago Dei.

That's Latin for image of God. We have a church in our area called imago Dei. It's a wonderful name for a church. Image of God. So what is the image of God?

And here we have terms of image, of likeness, and they're really interchangeable. You really hear many times for emphasis here. You can think of likeness and image interchangeable the four times that it's mentioned here in these verses. In Exodus 20, Exodus 20 verse 4, the second commandment, God had Moses write, You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. God's image cannot be contained in anything we can make.

Can't be. And also, since God is Spirit, we are commanded not to make images of any kind, not to have them. We preached on this when we went through the Ten Commandments a couple years ago, very forcibly on Jason and I in complete agreement on images, and don't have any. Don't make any. You don't have any.

You're trying to contain God in a box and it can't be. So what do we need to do to understand his image? We need to look at his attributes. We need to look at God's character. What does God tell us about himself?

A couple years ago we went through the booklet as a church, The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink. Remember the attributes? We went through the attributes of God's holiness. That's his overarching attribute.

Everything is holy, in this case, holy knowledge. He has holy supremacy. He has holy sovereignty. He has holy power, holy grace, holy mercy, holy justice, holy wrath. When we look at God's image, we have to look at what is His character.

What is He? We might look at our surface, but you're looking at His character, at His attributes. He is holy, infinitely perfect in all of these ways. We are not. We also have the fruit of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit. That has to be God's attribute. Those are coming from God, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are all not just describing God, but who He is. Who He is.

We are not perfectly infinite in all of these as God is. So how then are we created in that image? How is that possible? Genesis 1, we have in the beginning God created. It was an intentional, ordered decision by God to create.

There is a pattern, let there be, or Let the, nine times leading up to verse 26, let there be, let the waters, let the land, let the birds. Then in verse 26 he changes the pattern and says, Let us make man in our image. And we get a holy, holy, holy glimpse at the Trinity here. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, in discussion, let us in agreement make man in our image and action. Together to create the crown of his creation.

Everything up to this point was prepared for this moment. The crown of his creation. Men and women created in his image. So how do we define image? An image is a representation, a reflection, or as a verb, to make a representation of the form.

Matthew Henry says, man was not made in the likeness of any creature that went before him, but in the likeness of his creator. Yet, still, between God and man there is an infinite distance. We must remember that. We must remember who we are in relation to God. So God created us then, taking the definition, and what was there, He created us to image Him, to represent Him, to mirror Him, to reflect Him, to reflect His glorious, holy attributes.

That's what we are created to be in his image. Well, God's attributes, there are many we cannot possibly reflect, can't we? We cannot reflect his omnipotence. We cannot reflect his omnipresence. We cannot reflect his omniscience.

We cannot reflect his infinity. We cannot reflect his self-existence. We can't do that. Don't even try. But there are many that we can.

And we are to with the strength of the Holy Spirit filling his people. All the fruit of the Spirit, that's commanded to us. So that one there, just look at that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithlessness, self-control, throwing grace and mercy are all infinite ways that we not can, not just can, but are to reflect God's glory. Reflecting His image to this world, to one another. Think of that, What a weighty, weighty thing, but what a glorious thing to be created that way.

Nothing else, even close to that. R.C. Sproul, some people I highly commend to you on this topic. The reformers are great. Of course you can read that.

History can be a little tough there at times, depending on where they are and what they thought of people sometimes. But more modern day, R.C. Sproul. Read him on this topic, on creation. Wonderful book on not even a chance.

Wonderful book there. But his stuff on creation, on abortion, on this. John Piper, wonderful on this. Al Mohler, wonderful on this. Another gentleman, Matt Chandler.

He preaches on this topic every year. And you know what? Every year he generally says the same thing. He'll throw in some new things here and there. He generally says the same thing.

Why? Because it's such an important topic. And we need reminded often. Another person to read on history is Wilberforce. Wilberforce, this was the driving thought behind him on getting rid of slavery in England well before the United States did.

Mr. Wilberforce. But R.C. Sproul, back to him. R.C.

Sproul says, we are able to participate, so he's talking about image and who we are and how we can image God. He says, here we are. We are able to participate in thinking, to participate in thinking, reflecting, deciding, learning, knowing, reasoning, rational. We have a will, we have emotions, unlike anything else, and all this leads to we are able to make decisions of a moral kind. Think about that.

You can argue some of these little things here and there about animals and I'll debate them with you. So I want to have a higher view of God. But you put this all together, it enables us to have moral decisions on how we image God. Think of it from Proverbs 3. Let's take this example from Proverbs 3.

Proverbs 3, and I'll personalize this, so I'm changing some of the pronouns. Trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and lean not on our own understanding. In all our ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct our paths. Let's just take that. Compare it to the rest of creation.

Rest of creation, animals, they do not have a personal relationship with God. They do not trust in the Lord. They do not lean on Him. They do not acknowledge Him. They do not seek God for wisdom, they do not pray for the souls of others, they do not consider eternity, they do not fear or serve God.

None of the rest of creation does that. None of the rest of creation organizes meals, and food drives, and clothing drives, and fundraising, and benevolence. Other animals don't care about other animals suffering due to war, or famine, or hurricanes, or loss of a job. Animals don't care about the fatherless or the widows. We do, because we've been created in the image of God.

Animals do not have eternal souls that need redeemed. Second Peter, when all is said and done, this world will be burned up in fervent heat. All that's left that I can get from Scripture are humans. You have angels, yes, but from what was created here? Humans.

Either in heaven or hell. If you're a Christian, you'll get the new heavens and new earth. If not, it's hell for all of eternity. But that's the difference. That's a huge difference.

We create his image and we get to worship. We get to have this personal relationship to trust in him and lean not on our own understandings and acknowledge him and have him direct our paths. Now, we've also been given a purpose, a purpose different than the rest of creation that we see in verses 28 and 30. Then God blessed them, blessed Adam and Eve in this case. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.

Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed to you it shall be for food. And to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food, and it was." So, we've been given a purpose, unlike the rest of creation, we've been given the purpose to have dominion over the rest of creation, to rule over the rest of the creation as rulers exercising authority on behalf of a king. Kings have princes or an old English word, visroys, that have been given authority on their behalf. And that's what God's done with us.

Over the rest of creation. He's created everything and then he creates this little speck of a speck of a speck of a speck and creates all this in six days and then at the end of the six days creates us to rule over everything. Pretty amazing. Does he need us to do that? No way.

Did he need to create all that for him to be more glorious? No. Did he need to have image maker? Nope. But he did it for his glory.

Did it for his glory. And in order to rule and have dominion, this requires moral judgments by using the imageable, or we might say communicable, attributes of God. Remember the fruit of the Spirit. Mercy, grace, justice. This is a serious weight.

Hopefully you're seeing that this is a serious weight requiring humility and reverence in order to reflect His glory. We can do that. It's amazing that we can. It's amazing that we can. Our value, our worth, our dignity is just from being.

Just because you were made. You didn't earn it, you didn't do anything for it, but because God made you in His image. You have value, you have work, you have dignity. When I'm at the abortion clinic, one of the things that eventually comes out of my mouth at some point, I'll say something along the following. I want to tell you, all that can hear me, why I do not like the phrases, blue lives matter, black lives matter, all lives matter.

Because you more than matter. You're not a rock. You're not a piece of dirt. You're not an object. You have been created in the image of God.

That is of far more value than any piece of matter. I understand the sentiment behind it, but I prefer to say Blue lives are created in the image of God. Black lives are created in the image of God. All lives are created in the image of God. That's why I care for you.

That's why I'm out here saying something to you. Because you have so much value, so much worth, so much thing to give to you by God. And that baby inside you that I want to proclaim the glory of God in making humans, making people, men and women. All people are image bearers of God. No one has greater value or worth or dignity as an image bearer based on color of skin, nationality, mental capacity, Physical ability, body type, vocation, wealth, male, female, beliefs, and age.

All people. If you think I left out a category, You're missing the point. All people, our image bears, and that of itself gives you so much value, so much worth, so much dignity. Because of that, we are to treat each person as such. It's not just my words.

If you want to flip over to a few chapters of Genesis 9, Let's read about the value God puts on his image bearers. Genesis 9 verse 6, this is also repeated in Exodus 21. Exodus 21, whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. If you have any question that image bearing ended when Adam and Eve sinned, this should tell you it didn't. Because God commands capital punishment for capital crimes.

The death penalty for murdering is image bears. He repeats it in Exodus 21. We are still and always will be image bears. Let me go over to Exodus 21. There's another part of Exodus 21.

I want to read Exodus 21, 22 through 25. So that was the murder of, right, death, Pilny, for the murder of those that have been born. Let's look at verses 22 through 25. If men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as The judge is determined. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life.

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. There is even the death penalty if you do anything that causes a baby in the womb to die. Also remember this first, if the world wants to bring back to you foot for foot, life for life, eye for eye, say yes, I'm glad you're on my side on anti-abortion. Bring that up to them because that is the context here. Make sure they know the context of what they're quoting if they bring that up to you.

Do they have that? But look at the high value God places on life. Not on anything else is this kind of value placed. Not on anything else. So we saw in Genesis 9 the value of those that are born, and the next is 21, the value of those that have not been born.

So when do you become an image maker? Make sure we have that because then that becomes a discussion. Well James are not an image maker yet until the first trimester of this or that. Well, let's go to Psalm 139 and I'll take you to a couple of other places to help us with this. The answer is at conception.

The answer is at conception. There's not a woman that knows when that happens in their body. You don't know. God knows. Psalm 139, 13-16.

For you formed my inward parts, you covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed, and your book, they all were written, the days fashioned for me, and as yet there were none of them." It says here that God, before you're even formed, before the seed of man, before a seed of woman come together to be formed, God knows you.

And when that happens, and when He forms you, He forms you at that moment of conception, and you are given a soul, you are human, you are created in his image at conception. In Psalm 51, 5, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Now, David is not talking about his mother's sin. He's talking about at conception our nature is towards sin. That's his focus there.

But at conception you are human and your nature is bent towards sinning. Jeremiah 1.5, before I formed you in the womb I knew you. God forms you. Before you were born I sanctified you. God is the one that has set you apart to reflect his glory.

You're not formed yet but he's the one that forms you. At conception He has formed you, numbered your days, sanctified you, set you apart. So we're talking about sin. We are in a broken world. There are issues in our broken world when it comes to being image-bears.

Before I get into this section, some hard things will be said here. Be patient with me. We'll get to the cross. We'll get to the cross. But know this, as I'm going through this, if this was anybody here, my purpose, especially if you're a Christian, my purpose is not to condemn you.

You have been forgiven. You have been saved. The work is finished to redeem you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. If you're not a Christian, you can be saved, you can be forgiven. I'll get to the cross.

Issues in our broken world. John Piper. Sin defaced the image but does not cease the image. Our issue is our sin is in love with ourselves, not the God we reflect. It's the ultimate issue with all of our sin.

I want what I want, I want to do what I want, and I'm not concerned with, don't care, or actively rebelling against God's image. I don't care what I'm saying about God's image, ultimately, in any of our sin. Let me go through a few. Talk about abortion. This will be the largest one.

I've got quite a few, but let me just go through abortion. So why is abortion sinful? People have many answers. I'll tell you it's not because it's murder of the innocent. It's not why it's sinful.

No one's good, no not one. We just read in Jeremiah and Psalms that they're not innocent as far as sinlessness goes. Abortion isn't wrong because they haven't had an opportunity to do things. That's not our argument. Abortion is wrong because the baby is an image bearer of God.

And there is God that has given the highest value, worth, and dignity and says, do not, do not murder my image bearers. Do not. So much even in Exodus 21 where it could be an accident. It wasn't your reason for wrestling with a woman or doing anything. God says That's the result.

Death penalty. We would say that's manslaughter. God says it's murder. Because you weren't thinking of the possible effects. We're very poor.

I said it several weeks. We're very poor at trying to predict the outcomes of our actions. The law of unintended consequences. But there are consequences to our actions. So who's guilty of this?

Not just the mother. We put a lot of weight on the mother. It's not just the mother. It's anyone that helped in any way with an abortion. Paid for, counseled it for, give them a ride, didn't speak up, were silent when they were given an opportunity to say something, especially if you're given an opportunity to say something specifically to someone you know is considering this, or it might be going through their mind.

The father, married or or unmarried, doesn't matter. You're responsible. This baby has their own distinct DNA at conception. They have their own blood type. God has created them in His image and given them a soul.

At eight weeks they can suck their thumb, they can feel pain. All the organs are working. They Did some research. When was the earliest surgery that's done on a baby? At 22 weeks we're doing surgeries on babies.

At 16 weeks we're doing blood transfusions. We're doing complicated surgeries for spinal, what's the, what is it, spinal bifida, thank you. That's complex, very serious surgery, very, We're doing that on babies in the womb often. How is this possible? It's possible because human doctors have learned the human body and how to do operations on humans, you're not calling a veterinarian to do this.

They didn't study this body. A doctor did. You wouldn't call. The hardest core abortion person, if they needed surgery on that baby, they're not calling a veterinarian. They're not calling their dentist.

They're calling a human doctor. Why? Because that's a human. Well, James, what about rape and incest? What about it?

So we're going to determine somebody's worth based on somebody else's actions. That's a lie. If you're going to use that argument, then you're going to say that the person that was raped should die too. If you're going to kill the baby, then kill the person that was raped. Kill the lady that was raped.

That's insane, right? Anybody here, if there's anybody here, hear this. If you've been in this, hear this. You're not responsible for other people's sin and how they treat you. You're not.

You're not. Christ is there to forgive you, Forgive them, but to comfort you. My words got completely messed up there. Please forgive me for that. You're not the one that needs forgiveness.

You need comfort. You need peace. You need care. And Christ is there to do that and put people around you to do that. Well James, what about the danger of a mother?

One, I'm not God. Two, I'm glad I stand in a time when I can say this, we have huge medical advances. Hear what I just said. The life of a mother, that baby can be taken out 22 weeks. I'm not saying the baby is guaranteed to survive, but 22 weeks.

So maybe we can wait until 30 weeks to help out the mother. Through a C-section to protect the mother and the baby, this really can happen. The current premature birth survival record, premature birth, not intentionally taken, but premature is 21 weeks. That's pretty amazing. So please, it's the life of the mother or the life of the baby?

We have such medical advances now. Harder to preach this 100 years ago to say this, but I'm so glad where we are now. I don't have to be concerned with what they said 100 years ago. Say, this is where we are now. All right, James.

Doesn't look human. I've had this happen to abortion clinics. Somebody bring up a picture of a pig. All right, and Say, well, look at that. Which one's the human?

Which one's the pig? So we're going to determine somebody's value and worth based on how they look, whether they have a deformity or not, based on tests of Do they have chromosomal deficiencies or where they've ordered wrong or have extra chromosomes or other infirmities? If dignity was based on looks and ability, well kill the main. Kill those burned. Kill those lacking physical abilities.

Kill those that lack intelligent abilities. And who's going to define what intelligent ability is worthy of living? I don't make it to many people's standards, that's for sure. Physical ability. Well, the baby's just depending on another, James.

Well, it's a parasite. Right, you've heard this one. Alright, So let's kill every child up until they're about 10. Let's kill all the elderly. So we've all heard these.

Well, the quality of life won't be a productive part of society. How dare anyone determine what productivity is worth living for? How dare you, how dare anyone determine when that baby's in the womb or for many, many years you know what that child is going to do anyway and what they're going to be? Well, James, I've heard this one at the abortion clinic. The foster system is a mess.

So we solve it by killing babies? That's how you solve governmental problems is kill people? Really? All right, well James, if it's illegal, it'll still happen. So does drunk driving, so do murders, so does human trafficking, so does all illegal activity.

So we kill people So the illegal activity doesn't happen? No! Not the way the laws work. The laws are work to protect people, to protect life, and we get that from God in His Word and in His Law. We protect life.

Do all we can to make much of life, because God says it's worth making much of, because you are created in the image of God. And His glory is worth reflecting and not ending. So ultimately, all murder are lies. When someone murders, they are lying about God's value of his image-bearers. Suicide and self-abuse.

Anybody here has ever had an issue with that? Thought about it? Hear this. You have the highest value God can give, and that's enough. It's more than enough.

God gave you purpose, value, worth, and dignity. And if anybody's lying to you that you don't, If anybody's just on you that you don't, that you're not worth the air you're breathing, they're lying to you about God. They're lying to you. Well, that doesn't solve your concerns. Concerns go to the Word of God, listen to this message, and come talk.

Come talk. We'll find care for you. You will find care and compassion. Suicide and self-abuse. God gave us a purpose in Genesis 1 to steward His creation that is fruitful and multiplies.

This is the big world. We are to be fruitful and multiply to subdue the whole earth. It takes a lot more people than just Adam and Eve to subdue. So they were to be fruitful and multiply and have the meaning over his creation to image him in the way we care and use it. Abuse.

In abuse we are lying about God's character of love, goodness, and patience. When we have marriage difficulties, we are lying about God's character and His gracious gospel. Turn to James 3. Turn to James 3. James 3 is about the tongue.

Listen to what God says here. James 3, 5 through 10. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles? And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.

The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed. It has been tamed by mankind, our dominion. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude and the likeness in the image of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing, my brethren, these things ought not to be so." James is using Us being created in the similitude, in the likeness, in the image of God is the reason we do not sin with our tongue. It lies about God being truthful. It lies about God being caring, of God being gracious, of God being merciful. Lying, gossip, cursing, demeaning is reflecting a lie about God's glory.

Sin, ultimately any sin is lying about God. So if you didn't think you were in this list, you're in this list, I'm in this list ultimately. Any of my sin is ultimately lying to you about who God is. Because I'm creating His image, you're creating His image to reflect His glory. And sin lies about God's glory.

So our image needs restored, doesn't it? Needs remade. So my last point is Jesus, the perfect image bearer. Jesus, the perfect image bearer. Colossians 1, 15, He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God. You can turn to Hebrews 1, read verses 1 through 4. Hebrews 1, 1 through 4. God, who at Hebrews 1, 1-4, God, who at various times and at various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who being in the brightness of his glory, of God's glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." Notice the difference. We are created in the image of God.

God tells us in Colossians and Hebrews, Jesus is the image of God. We are created in the image, created. Jesus is the image of God because Jesus is God. Jesus is holy, omniscient, holy, omnipotent, holy, omnipresent. Jesus is infinite, holy, perfectly infinite in all of his attributes because he is God, because he is the express image of God.

We are born sinful as disfigured, marred image in the image of God. We need our image restored. And it's only through salvation. Only through salvation do you have any hope of your image, your marred image, my sinful image when I'm born, of being, have any hope of reflecting God's glory well. All image bearers, sinless and sinful, all image bearers, saved or not saved, have a duty to reflect the glory of God.

And they do reflect the glory of God in many ways, and have value just from being. But, if you want any hope of perfectly reflecting the glory of God, that's only going to come through salvation. It's only going to come through knowing God is holy, we're not. And that Christ who is God, the expressed image of God, came, lived the life we couldn't live, died the death we deserved for sin, taking on the wrath of God, conquered death and sin, rose from the dead, and for all who repent by faith, repent and believe in Christ alone for salvation, you will be saved. And there is no sin.

I talked about a lot of sins. There's no sin that's not redeemable. There isn't. You think you're not redeemable, you're not reading Scripture. You think you're not redeemable, You're not just looking around this room at some of our histories.

That's the world. You're not looking at Paul from Scripture or murder. You're not looking at David in adultery. You're not looking at Rahab, a prostitute, all redeemed, and Many more. Many more.

All sin. I don't care how. I do care. But your sin, no matter how big it is, compared to what you think, compared to somebody else, All sin takes the same amount of mercy and grace and sacrifice of God, of Christ, to redeem you. Whether you think you're such a nice person, the worst thing you've ever done is stole a dime, or whether you've murdered somebody, you still need the same amount of grace and mercy and being bought by the blood of Christ to redeem you.

Now as One forgiven, redeemed by Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit. If you're saved, you're filled with the Holy Spirit. You are now being transformed and conformed into the image of God, into Christ. Romans 8.29, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. I've quoted so many verses from Old Testament and New Testament.

You see how this image bearing is all throughout scripture and what God thinks of his image? You should have that weight by now, if you didn't earlier. It's a weight, but it's a weight of glory. It's a glorious weight to have, a privilege, an honor, but one that we should take with reverence. He also predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son, to perfectly reflect his glory for all of eternity.

Second Corinthians 3, 18. Last scripture, last point before applications. 2 Corinthians 3, 18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord. We look in that mirror and we see an imperfect image.

We might see an awful image and some days we are more prideful than others and we think we see a better image, or some days we are really down ourselves and condemning ourselves and think we see an unredeemable image. But if you are Christ, that image is being transformed from glory to glory moment by moment, day by day. And at salvation, at the moment of salvation, there is a ton of transformation. The Holy Spirit fills you. You are given a new heart, a new spirit within you, a ton.

Nothing compared to what you will be even then. Day by day, drip by drip, moment by moment, you're being transformed into the image of Christ who perfectly reflect the glory of God. And on that day, when we either die or Christ returns, no matter how much progress you've made, how much progress God has made you have throughout your life, whether you were saved a second before that day or whether you were saved for 50 years or 70 years, 100 years before that day, in that day, instantly, change in a moment, perfectly conformed, done. Applications, two of them. Applications, two of them.

First one. We should have a ton more than anything else rejoicing and weeping over lives of image bearers, of all bears of all humans for all kinds of reasons. We should have, we should start with godly sorrow, and weep, And repent when my sin tells you you about the glory of God. Now, I say that knowing, I've said it to you before, I'll keep saying it again, you are a gracious people. And a forgiving people, not just to me, no, no, no, no, no, no, That's not to each other and to others.

Heard how you pray for one another. Heard how you serve one another, care for one another. But we still repent and weep over how our actions affect others, but especially what it tells them about God. Rejoice over God gifting someone with faith, with a new heart, with a new spirit, repentance and belief in the Gospel. Weep over effects of Sin.

You see all throughout the world trials and death wherever image bears are being harmed. You should weep at that. Pray. Rejoice and weep at the death of a Christian being completely conformed to Christ. We weep over miscarriages.

Weep over them. Those are image-bearers. Also deep sorrow for the parents. The family. And we rejoice at all, all pregnancies.

We should rejoice at all pregnancies, births and adoptions. I say rejoice. We should rejoice in the pregnancy of Nostazze's first child. That great celebration of rejoicing should be just as much as we rejoice at the Johnson's 10th child, as much as we rejoice at the Santhels tenth adoption, all in between, much rejoicing. The end.

Reading from Ephesians 5. Second application. Ephesians 5, 1, and 2. Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. We are image bearers of God, so be imitators of God.

Walk in love as Christ, Image Him in your treatment of self and others. We are all created in the image of God to reflect His glory. Let's pray. Our Father, our God, Son, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, What an amazing, could be hard to understand, hard to apply, weighty, wonderful glory to know you have created all people in your image to reflect your glory. You would save us to know that there is a glory to reflect.

How amazing God, thank you for salvation. You would fill me with glory. Without that, I have no hope of intentionally reflecting your glory. May we think much of you, your image and your glory. And all that we think, say and do, be imitators of you, be conformed to Christ.

Please. In Jesus' name, Amen.