The Sacred Image: Finding Your Worth in Christ

• Resurrection of Christ 00:00:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the resurrection as the foundation for understanding life and its value, contrasting it with other religions where leaders are dead.
• Image of God (Imago Dei) 00:06:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that human value comes from being made in God's image, which was perfect in Adam but is now marred by sin, yet remains in all humans.
• Social and Political Critique 00:01:15 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor critiques modern society's valuation of life based on political affiliation or race, contrasting it with the biblical view that all humans have equal value.
• Abortion and Euthanasia 00:08:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor links the theological concept of the Image of God to practical ethical issues like abortion, euthanasia, and end-of-life decisions.
• Creation and Dominion 00:09:06 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites Genesis 1 to explain that humans were created with dominion over animals, distinguishing human life from animal life.
• Sin and Death 00:11:39 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor discusses how one sin expelled man from the garden, resulting in spiritual death and the loss of the perfect image of God.
• Image of God 00:12:25 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines the image of God as primarily righteousness and holiness, noting that while man lost this after the fall, a residue remains in all humanity.
• Sanctity of Life and Capital Punishment 00:14:23 ▶️ 📄
  > Using Genesis 9, the pastor argues for the infinite difference between human and animal life, supporting capital punishment based on the command that 'whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed.'
• Universal Human Dignity 00:15:30 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor emphasizes that the image of God applies to all humanity regardless of race or ethnicity, citing Genesis 9 and the universal moral law found in conscience.
• Incarnation and Christology 00:19:11 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that God took on human flesh in Jesus Christ to honor the human race, contrasting this with other religions where God does not become man.
• Eternal Life and Judgment 00:22:06 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor connects the image of God to immortality, stating that all humans will live forever in either heaven or hell, making the state of one's soul paramount.
• Opposition to Euthanasia and Socialism 00:23:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor applies the value of human life to oppose euthanasia (specifically in hospice care for unbelievers) and socialist/communist ideologies that reduce individual value to state utility.
• Value of Human Life 00:25:41 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that human life is valuable because God honored it by assuming human nature in the incarnation and glorifying it through Christ's resurrection and ascension.
• Predestination and Conformity to Christ 00:27:09 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that God predestined believers not merely for salvation, but to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
• Sinful Nature vs. Christ's Authority 00:28:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the natural, sinful desire for self-exaltation (symbolized by a child hoarding toys) with the humility required to follow Christ, who sits at the right hand of God.
• Born Again vs. Born of Adam 00:30:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor distinguishes between being a 'child of Adam' (spiritually dead) and being 'born again' through the Holy Spirit, which restores the image of God.
• Impossibility of Self-Salvation 00:31:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that finite humans cannot traverse the infinite distance to a holy God on their own; only Jesus, the infinite God-man, could bridge this gap.
• Virgin Birth and Sinlessness 00:34:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that Jesus' virgin birth was necessary to ensure He was without the sin of Adam passed down through the father, making Him the only qualified Lamb of God.
• Justification by Faith 00:36:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites Abraham as an example of being made righteous through faith in God's promise, paralleling the believer's reception of Christ's righteousness.
• Future Glory and Conformity 00:37:05 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the future state of believers as being like Jesus, seeing Him as He is, and enjoying eternal bliss without sin or temptation.
• Satan's Deception 00:37:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor warns that the devil offers 'quick ways' to glory, similar to his temptation of Jesus and Adam, which must be rejected in favor of God's way.
• The Devil's Temptation 00:37:59 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the devil's strategy of offering a 'quick way' to achieve god-like status, referencing the temptation of Jesus and Eve.
• The Nature of Sin and Self-Actualization 00:39:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor identifies the core of the satanic lie as self-centeredness ('It's all about me'), contrasting it with God's design.
• The Deception of Partial Knowledge 00:41:29 ▶️ 📄
  > Using 1 Corinthians 13, the pastor argues that the devil's promise of perfect knowledge is a lie, as believers only know 'in part' until Christ returns.
• The Value of Human Life 00:44:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the devil's 'cheap' offer with the true value of human life found in being chosen by God and united to Christ.
• Resurrection and the Body 00:50:01 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that God will raise the physical body regardless of how it is disposed (e.g., cremation), emphasizing God's power over matter.
• Social Ethics (Abortion, Racism, Sexism) 00:52:24 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor applies the doctrine of human value to social issues, asserting that every human is valuable because they are made in God's image, regardless of race, gender, or religious affiliation.
• Rebellion and Judgment 00:53:27 ▶️ 📄
  > Using Romans 1, the pastor describes the state of humanity that rejects God, leading to a 'reprobate mind' and moral decay, contrasting it with the believer's hope.
• Eternal Inheritance and Reigning 00:56:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the fate of the unbeliever with the believer's inheritance, citing Revelation 3 and 22 to show that believers will reign with Christ in the New Jerusalem.
• Call to Salvation 01:01:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor issues an urgent invitation for those who have not accepted Christ to receive the gift of salvation and the resulting eternal value.
• Sanctification and Conformity to Christ 01:02:47 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor prays for the congregation to be conformed daily to the image of Jesus Christ, anticipating the future state of seeing Him and being like Him.
• Evangelism and Salvation 01:03:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor extends a prayer for those who do not understand the value of human life or have not received Jesus Christ to bow the knee, receive the gift of salvation, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
• Eternal Worship and Communion 01:03:23 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the ultimate goal of the believer's life: enjoying perfect communion with God, reigning with Him, and giving glory, honor, and praise forever.

• Sermon Illustration 00:05:32 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the empty tomb of Jesus with the graves of Muhammad, Joseph Smith, and Buddha to highlight the uniqueness of the Christian resurrection.
• Sermon Illustration 00:09:26 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the example of baby seals to illustrate the absurdity of prioritizing animal life over human life, noting that animals do not have complex societal structures or moral agency like humans.
• Sermon Illustration 00:13:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the flood story, noting Noah's ark resting on Mount Ararat on the same day Jesus rose from the dead, and God's subsequent permission to eat meat with the prohibition against eating blood.
• Sermon Illustration 00:17:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites Bill Clinton and the Human Genome Project's discovery that all humanity descended from a few ancestors, using this to support the biblical account of Adam and Eve.
• Sermon Illustration 00:20:25 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor presents a hypothetical scenario where a neighbor and a dog are both falling off a cliff, asking if one would save the dog without hesitation to illustrate the satanic view that animal life is superior to human life.
• Sermon Illustration 00:22:35 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the historical exploration by Europeans in the 1800s who found a uniform moral law in cultures without written scripture, proving the existence of an innate conscience.
• Sermon Illustration 00:28:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses an analogy of a child in a nursery refusing to share a toy truck to illustrate the natural, sinful human desire for self-exaltation and control, contrasting it with the humility of Christ.
• Sermon Illustration 00:38:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the temptation of Jesus on the high mountain, where Satan offered all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship, to illustrate the devil's strategy of offering shortcuts to glory.
• Sermon Illustration 00:38:06 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the biblical account of the devil tempting Jesus on the mountain, offering all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship.
• Sermon Illustration 00:38:51 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the temptation of Eve in Genesis 3, where the serpent promises she will be like God if she eats the fruit.
• Sermon Illustration 00:42:56 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses an analogy of cheap Chinese products that look good but fail to work or fit, illustrating how the devil's promises are deceptive and ultimately worthless.
• Sermon Illustration 00:48:56 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the cultural trend of cremation and lack of funerals with the biblical view of the body's value, noting the irony of caring for the body while alive but discarding it after death.
• Sermon Illustration 00:50:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of cremation to illustrate God's power to resurrect the body, stating that even if a body is burned and its molecules scattered, God knows where every molecule is and can bring it back together.
• Sermon Illustration 00:50:24 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Adam and Eve hiding behind a rock to illustrate humanity's attempt to hide from God, noting that God will still bring them back for judgment.
• Sermon Illustration 00:59:43 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the 'tree of knowledge' eaten by Adam and Eve with the 'tree of life' available to believers in the New Jerusalem, highlighting the restoration of access to eternal life.

• Pastoral Charge 00:26:47 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor instructs the congregation to physically or mentally turn their Bibles to Romans 8:28-29 for further study.
• Pastoral Charge 00:27:47 ▶️ 📄
  > Repent if one does not desire to be conformed to the image of Christ.
• Pastoral Charge 00:33:01 ▶️ 📄
  > Repent from hating political figures or others, as this is identified as satanic behavior.
• Pastoral Charge 00:45:28 ▶️ 📄
  > Reject the devil's deception and the world's self-centered narrative.
• Pastoral Charge 00:45:11 ▶️ 📄
  > Live in a manner consistent with being the body of Christ.
• Pastoral Charge 00:57:44 ▶️ 📄
  > Open the door of one's heart to Christ to receive Him and share fellowship.
• Pastoral Charge 01:01:07 ▶️ 📄
  > Accept the gift of salvation before leaving the service.
• Pastoral Charge 01:02:21 ▶️ 📄
  > Accept the abundant life offered by Christ through faith.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] If you would turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. As you turn there, I welcome you all in the name of the Lord Jesus, especially visitors. So glad that you're here.
[00:00:19] Last week, of course, was Easter. We had a crowd overflowing. And here at the beginning of our service, I was wondering if we were going to have a crowd at all. But we're glad that you all came and are filling in the gaps there.
[00:00:33] As we ministered about the resurrection, of course, for Easter last week.
[00:00:41] Brother Jeffrey, if you would just turn me down just a little bit.
[00:00:46] And what we, of course, focused on was the glorious resurrection of Christ and on life that Christ gives to all who will believe.
[00:00:55] Today, we're going to be focusing on life again, but we're going to ask the question of the value of human life.
[00:01:03] And we've phrased the sermon, And what's the value of your human life?
[00:01:08] If we were to put it on a scale, would there be different values here?
[00:01:12] Would some be very small, some be very great?
[00:01:15] Well, that seems to be what society tells us.
[00:01:18] Depending on your color, depending on your religion, depending on your political affiliation, depending on what side of the aisle you're on, You're either worthy to be praised, or in this toxic society of America today, I'll
[00:01:38] use a word against them, if we don't like what you say, it's okay to kill you.
[00:01:45] Isn't that where a lot of America has gotten to today?
[00:01:49] Isn't that the idea that spurred on the assassination of Charlie Kirk?
[00:01:55] And it could go either way.
[00:01:56] It could be conservative to liberal, liberal to conservative, whatever.
[00:02:00] or it doesn't matter the direction.
[00:02:02] We're not talking about the direction here.
[00:02:04] We're talking about the truth of the value of human life.
[00:02:08] Is human life really valuable?
[00:02:11] Some say no more than the baby seals.
[00:02:15] Save the baby seals and kill the baby human.
[00:02:19] And that's what the abortion industry has done for over 70 million Americans since 1973.
[00:02:27] Lord have mercy.
[00:02:28] Help us now, Lord, as we look to your word.
[00:02:32] In 1 Corinthians 15, since we were talking about the resurrection, let's start there.
[00:02:37] In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we're going to begin reading in verse 42.
[00:02:43] 1 Corinthians 15, verse 42.
[00:02:46] So also is the resurrection of the dead.
[00:02:48] It is sown in corruption.
[00:02:50] It is raised in incorruption.
[00:02:51] It is sown in dishonor.
[00:02:53] It is raised in glory.
[00:02:54] It is sown in weakness.
[00:02:56] It is raised in power.
[00:02:58] It is sown a natural body.
[00:02:59] It is raised a spiritual body.
[00:03:01] There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
[00:03:03] And so it is written, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul.
[00:03:08] The last, Adam, was made a quickening or a life-giving spirit.
[00:03:13] That refers to Jesus Christ.
[00:03:16] Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural.
[00:03:19] And afterward, that which is spiritual.
[00:03:21] The first man is of the earth, earthy.
[00:03:24] The second man is the Lord from heaven.
[00:03:27] As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy.
[00:03:30] As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
[00:03:34] And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
[00:03:42] Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
[00:03:49] Behold, I show you a mystery.
[00:03:51] We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed.
[00:03:53] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.
[00:04:02] For this corruptible must put on incorruption.
[00:04:05] This mortal must put on immortality.
[00:04:08] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, when this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
[00:04:21] Oh death, where is thy sting?
[00:04:25] O grave, where is thy victory?
[00:04:28] The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
[00:04:32] But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:04:41] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounded in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
[00:04:51] Let's pray.
[00:04:52] Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your holy word.
[00:04:55] help now, Lord, as we marvel in this glory of the resurrection, in the future prospect of bearing the full image of your very Son, Christ Jesus. Help us, Lord. May our ears and our hearts and
[00:05:08] minds be open to the voice of your Spirit, that we might understand aright the worth of every human, and especially those who you have chosen before the foundation of the earth to be conformed to
[00:05:20] the image of your precious Son, Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray. And thank you, Lord.
[00:05:25] Amen.
[00:05:26] And so the idea of the resurrection, no other religion has this.
[00:05:32] You know, every other religion, their leader is dead.
[00:05:35] In Islam, for example, Muhammad is buried in a tomb in Medina.
[00:05:40] There are people who visit that tomb.
[00:05:42] Joseph Smith is dead.
[00:05:43] He's in the ground.
[00:05:45] Buddha is dead.
[00:05:46] He's in the ground.
[00:05:47] But in Christ, the tomb is empty.
[00:05:49] He has raised.
[00:05:50] and this is a beautiful and wonderful thing because Jesus Christ we believe was 100% man and 100% God his spirit is the spirit of God his flesh is true human flesh and God blessed humanity
[00:06:06] in the resurrection of Christ and gives us hope you see the whole value of human life depends on whether or not we are made in the image of God what is our value In Christianity alone do we have the blessing to know that man was created in the image of God.
[00:06:27] God is infinitely worthy.
[00:06:29] God is the creator of the heavens and the earth.
[00:06:31] We give him all praise and all worship.
[00:06:32] Yet God and man, though there is an infinite separation and holiness in many other ways, yet there is something between God and man that is common.
[00:06:45] Man was made perfect.
[00:06:47] Man was made sinless.
[00:06:48] Man was made righteous and holy.
[00:06:51] He was made in the image of God without sin.
[00:06:54] And that image, though we see in the fall when man sinned, it was horribly effaced and terribly marred.
[00:07:02] There is still something of the image of God in every human on the face of the earth.
[00:07:08] Even the Democrats, yes, and the Republicans.
[00:07:11] Whites and blacks.
[00:07:13] In every child, no matter where they are.
[00:07:16] Not like in India or Hinduism where these people are of this caste and they have this worth, and then these people of a low caste, they don't have much worth.
[00:07:26] You know, not in other religions where we have, for example, the Arab male is the pinnacle of salvation.
[00:07:34] No, that's not the case.
[00:07:35] Every human on the face of the earth has value because they have the image of God.
[00:07:41] But there is a difference.
[00:07:42] The image of God in man was immediately given to Adam in perfection, but it was not retained long in that way.
[00:07:53] And so what most people have of the image of God is just a faint echo.
[00:07:57] But let's go back and see how man was created, Genesis chapter 1, and remind ourselves of what this image of God means.
[00:08:07] Because what's the point of this?
[00:08:09] This isn't just a theological exercise.
[00:08:12] When we talk about abortion, this is extremely important.
[00:08:15] When we talk about euthanasia, this is key.
[00:08:17] When we talk about racism, this is key.
[00:08:19] When we talk about capital punishment, this is key.
[00:08:22] When we talk about end-of-life decisions, this is key.
[00:08:25] When we talk about you in the medical profession, this is key.
[00:08:28] When we talk about socialism and communism, which when a person is no longer useful to the state, pull the plug, this is key.
[00:08:36] This addresses so much of the horrible challenges that we face.
[00:08:43] In our own nation today, it could be answered in this one place.
[00:08:48] Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 to 31.
[00:08:52] God creating man.
[00:08:55] And God said, let us, us, plural, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
[00:09:01] Let us make man in our image.
[00:09:06] Some have said, you know, we are a body.
[00:09:08] We have a spirit and a soul.
[00:09:12] Tripartite.
[00:09:13] And God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[00:09:15] One God.
[00:09:15] Interesting.
[00:09:16] We won't go there for now, but be aware of that.
[00:09:19] Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the baby seals.
[00:09:26] It doesn't say that, but the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
[00:09:35] man has dominion over the animal. Now, the liberal wildlife activist that loves baby seals or whatever more than humans, they can do whatever they want, but the fact of the matter is we don't have groups of baby seals meeting and using computer analysis and trying to decide
[00:09:55] how they'll sustain the human population, okay? There is a tremendous difference between animal life and human life. Granted, some greater difference in some than others, but we know that there is a tremendous difference. God created man in his image to have dominion
[00:10:12] over the animals and over the creation. Verse 27, and God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him. Male and female created he them. In Christianity, in the Bible, God created
[00:10:25] both man and woman in his image. Therefore, woman is not less than man, as is the case in some other worldviews. Both are equally created in the image of God. Verse 28, And God blessed them, and God
[00:10:42] said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that
[00:10:52] moveth upon the earth and God said behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in the which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed to
[00:11:04] you it shall be for meat and every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air and everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life I have given every green herb for meat and
[00:11:14] it was so and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and the evening the morning with a sixth day. Man was created in God's image. He was very good. He was holy. He was
[00:11:26] righteous. He was perfect. He was without sin. And by the way, there was perfect communion between God and man in paradise, which is a picture of heaven to come. But how many sins did it take
[00:11:39] for man to be expelled from the garden? One. Anyone here besides me sinned at least one time?
[00:11:48] Well, if you've sinned at least once, how do you expect to go back to that garden?
[00:11:52] How do you expect to enter heaven if you've sinned once?
[00:11:55] The Bible says if you've sinned once, you can't go to heaven.
[00:11:58] That's what it says.
[00:11:59] Didn't they get kicked out for one sin?
[00:12:02] Why?
[00:12:03] Because God had told them, don't eat of this one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
[00:12:07] The day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.
[00:12:11] And they did die spiritually, though not physically.
[00:12:13] That took another 900 years.
[00:12:15] But they died because they disobeyed.
[00:12:19] Now, this image of God was, as they died spiritually, what is the image of God?
[00:12:25] The Bible tells us that primarily it has to do with righteousness and holiness.
[00:12:31] Righteousness and true holiness.
[00:12:33] Something of the attribute of God.
[00:12:35] But when man lost that, he essentially lost the majority, if you will, of the image of God.
[00:12:41] But never completely, because we see in Genesis chapter 9 that it is repeated that man has been created in the image of God, and this is tied in to our value of human life.
[00:12:55] This is so key.
[00:12:56] Genesis chapter 9, let's take a look there.
[00:12:58] After the flood, you're all familiar with the flood story, and Noah.
[00:13:04] And after the flood, the ark comes to rest on Mount Ararat, the 17th day of the first, well which becomes the first month which happens to be the same day jesus rose from the dead
[00:13:15] very interesting we won't go there for now but genesis chapter 9 beginning in verse 1 they come out of the ark and what does god do god blesses noah and his sons and says unto them be fruitful
[00:13:28] and multiply and replenish earth hey that sounds like what he told adam and eve to do right and listen and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth
[00:13:37] and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea, unto your hand they are delivered.
[00:13:45] Remember when God created the heavens and the earth, did he allow them or suggest to them that they should kill meat and eat meat?
[00:13:52] No, they're eating herbs and vegetables.
[00:13:54] But now they're going to start eating meat, we'll see.
[00:13:58] It says in verse 3, Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, given as the green herb have I given you all things.
[00:14:08] So, before they could not eat meat, you weren't supposed to kill animals and eat meat, now that's opened up, before they were just eating vegetables and things from the earth.
[00:14:20] Now, but there is a prohibition.
[00:14:22] What's the prohibition?
[00:14:23] Verse 4, but flesh with the life thereof, which is in the blood thereof, shall you not eat.
[00:14:29] And surely your blood, here it is, the value of human life, your blood of your lives will I require at the hand of every beast when will I require it and at the hand of man at the hand of
[00:14:43] every man's brother will I require the life of man life of man not the life of animals here after the flood you can kill animals now and eat them but you can't kill man is there a difference
[00:14:59] absolutely an infinite difference as a matter of fact it says in verse 6 whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed.
[00:15:08] That's pretty tough, isn't it?
[00:15:09] That's capital punishment.
[00:15:11] We should still have it today.
[00:15:13] But why?
[00:15:14] Oh, come on, be nice, Pastor Joseph.
[00:15:17] That's a big, meany, conservative view.
[00:15:19] No, no, no, this is the biblical view.
[00:15:21] But why?
[00:15:22] The very next phrase tells you.
[00:15:24] For in the image of God made he man.
[00:15:30] Doesn't say white man.
[00:15:32] Doesn't say black man.
[00:15:33] It doesn't say Arab or Chinese.
[00:15:36] It says man.
[00:15:37] And this is the key to all of our problems, really, that we face today.
[00:15:42] It's so many.
[00:15:43] Well, it really is all because the image of God is tied up ultimately in He who was the express image of God, the Son of God who came for us to die on the cross for our sins.
[00:15:54] That is Jesus Christ.
[00:15:55] But here it is, this idea that the value of human life is precious only because we are made in the image of God.
[00:16:05] We've completely lost that, folks.
[00:16:07] We've completely lost it.
[00:16:10] False religions never had it.
[00:16:11] We had it in this country for a long time.
[00:16:16] We must protect human life, regardless of who it is.
[00:16:20] Certainly there were sinners.
[00:16:22] Certainly there were wicked people who perverted that over time.
[00:16:24] But remember our declaration and our constitution.
[00:16:30] Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
[00:16:34] These inalienable rights that God has given to us.
[00:16:37] What's the first?
[00:16:38] Life.
[00:16:39] Who gave them to us?
[00:16:40] Not the government.
[00:16:41] God.
[00:16:42] Why?
[00:16:43] Because life is a gift of God.
[00:16:46] Eternal life through his son.
[00:16:47] And our life is valuable because of the image of God that is inside of every human to a certain degree and that's why it says here he doesn't say just to the people that follow me
[00:16:58] all man because the next the very next verses are all of humanity is now in this this group of people that's hearing this remember the flood has happened everybody's died the only people left is
[00:17:10] noah and his wife his three sons and their wives that's it and and so all of you and me came from these. If you don't believe me, go ask Bill Clinton and the Human Genome Project in the 90s
[00:17:24] where they decided we have spent millions of dollars and millions of hours and we've unlocked the DNA code and we've found out an amazing discovery that all of humanity came from just a couple people. I could have told them that for five bucks. I could have done better. I could
[00:17:43] have given them the names, Adam and Eve. But anyways, the Bible says that. Atheistic science now says that. And the truth of the matter is that the fact that all humanity bears some, some residue of the image of God, just the residue, just the tiny bit of impression of residue
[00:18:08] makes your human life valuable.
[00:18:11] How much more valuable to Christ if you have the full image of God that is restored to us in and through being saved, being born again, and receiving the very Spirit of God inside of us.
[00:18:27] And that's what we want to talk about today.
[00:18:29] The value of human life.
[00:18:31] By the way, the image of God I mentioned, if you want to look briefly in Ephesians and Colossians, there's a couple verses there, parallel passages. Say, what is the image of God? A lot of people get confused. Does this mean
[00:18:43] God, you know, Adam looked exactly like God? He was the same height as God. He had the same features, the same skin. No, no, we're confused here. God is a spirit. A spirit does not have
[00:18:56] flesh and bones, does he? God is a spirit. Now, there is something about the human form.
[00:19:03] There is something about the human form that is analogous to God.
[00:19:07] But God is not a man in and of himself.
[00:19:11] But when God came to earth as spirit, he took on human flesh in Jesus Christ.
[00:19:19] Interesting.
[00:19:20] He didn't come as an elephant.
[00:19:23] He didn't come as a dog.
[00:19:24] I'm talking now about Hinduism and other religions.
[00:19:27] He didn't come as a rock.
[00:19:28] He didn't come as a tree.
[00:19:30] He came as a man.
[00:19:33] He is the God-man.
[00:19:35] How could God better honor the human race and show the value of the human race that when he comes, he comes in.
[00:19:43] These religions that believe that God did not come in Christ, that Jesus is just a prophet, that he's not really God.
[00:19:51] Well, then no wonder we can kill whoever we don't like.
[00:19:54] Kill the Jews, kill the Christians, kill the this, kill the that.
[00:19:57] It doesn't matter.
[00:19:58] Because after all, they're just humans.
[00:20:00] But if God has come and blessed humanity with his presence, now the human race has an honor and dignity that is far greater than just animal life, which unfortunately I fear most Americans, whether they admit it or not, have sunk down to such a point of view.
[00:20:25] We have seen anecdotally, they've studied, they've asked young people, generally young people, but it could be old people too. Your neighbor, oh yeah, I don't like him. Your dog, yeah, I like him. If your dog and neighbor, you know, were both torn off a cliff, who would you
[00:20:45] save? Oh, I'd save the dog without hesitation. I'd save the dog. You see, this is completely satanic and Lord have mercy. Real quickly, we were going to Ephesians and Colossians.
[00:20:58] What is the image of God? Ultimately, we find a hint of it in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 23 and 24. Let's go there. Ephesians 4, 23 and 24. And that you be renewed in the spirit
[00:21:12] of your mind and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. After God, there's your image. And again, in Colossians, you'll see the actual word image. In chapter 3, we find it, really you could read verse 1 through 10, but look at verse 10,
[00:21:34] or verse 9 and 10. Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
[00:21:46] And so, in other words, there is righteousness, there is holiness, there is no sin. The image of God has to do ultimately spiritually, okay? Holiness, righteousness. This is the key to the image of God, and this is why people say that Adam and Eve lost it. But there is something more
[00:22:06] there. It has to do with immortality. Every person here will live forever. You may live forever in eternal death or an eternal life, but we're not going to cease to exist. When death comes, we will
[00:22:18] be judged. And there's an ultimate judgment. We will either live eternity in heaven or eternity in hell. There is no escape. And that is also part of the image of God. Now, continuing on, unbelievers, as I mentioned, have this. And one of the ways we see it, you can go look,
[00:22:35] but for time's sake, we won't read it now, in Romans chapter 2, verse 13 and 14.
[00:22:39] Everybody's got a conscience. Some of them, it's been seared. It's not too good. But it's there in the 1800s, Europeans began to go and explore the whole world.
[00:22:53] And as they went to cultures that had no conscious knowledge of the scriptures, you know what they found that was uniform throughout the world, wherever they went?
[00:23:03] Even to places that didn't have any scriptures or any written language, they found a uniform moral law.
[00:23:11] Pretty much everybody said, more or less, to just kill somebody is wrong.
[00:23:16] To commit adultery is wrong.
[00:23:18] To steal is wrong.
[00:23:19] And a lot of it lined up straight with the Ten Commandments.
[00:23:23] But they didn't have the Bible.
[00:23:24] How did they get that?
[00:23:27] The moral law, the universal moral law in the conscience, in the heart of man.
[00:23:32] You can go back and read Romans 2, 14 and 15 and see that mentioned.
[00:23:37] And so, you see, Christianity stands alone in this.
[00:23:41] And that God graces humanity by coming and taking on the form of a man, yes, and human flesh itself.
[00:23:52] And again, as I mentioned, if we get this, if we understand this and receive it, then we have the answer to racism and abortion, euthanasia, assassination culture, capital punishment, and then these socialistic, communistic ways that people want to go, which reduces
[00:24:09] the value of the individual as to what you can do for the state and those of you who are in health care once they're no longer considered very useful uh is there some cases where well you know
[00:24:24] it's time to just pull the plug on these people they really can't do anything and they don't have an advocate there they don't have somebody saying what did you do nurse what'd you do take care of my husband, take care of my, you know, they're old, they're tired, let's just let
[00:24:41] them go. Do you know that if they're not saved, you're letting them go into hell forever and ever and their blood might very well be on your hand. I think hospice is great. I think hospice does a
[00:24:54] lot of good work, don't get me wrong, but there's a fatal flaw in hospice and that is for an unbeliever, someone who is not saved, let's just make them as comfortable as we can for these last
[00:25:07] couple weeks. Let's give them enough morphine to where they're unresponsive. But if they enter into hell as soon as they die, what good was the two weeks? Now that's difficult to say, but isn't it
[00:25:25] right? We should do all that we can. We don't want people to suffer, but I'd much rather them suffer two weeks of excruciating physical pain than an eternity of hell? How about you? And so the value
[00:25:41] of human life is extremely important. God not only honors human nature by the incarnation, by God assuming a human life, a body in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and then growing into maturity, but he also, he honors us by taking part in the human race
[00:26:03] but he glorifies the human race in the sense of after he dies on the cross for us on the third day rising again from the dead defeating death, hell and the grave giving us hope that there is life after the grave
[00:26:18] and not only that, on the 40th day earth couldn't hold him, he ascends up to the do you know that right now a human sits at the right hand of the very throne of God reigning over the entire cosmos is a human, the God-man, Jesus
[00:26:38] Christ.
[00:26:40] The value of human life, brothers and sisters, is so important.
[00:26:45] It's so crucial for us to get this right.
[00:26:47] Turn with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 8, just one, well, two verses, 28 and 29.
[00:26:52] And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose.
[00:27:02] Now look at verse 29.
[00:27:04] For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate.
[00:27:09] This is before we were created.
[00:27:11] Before we were created.
[00:27:12] Before our parents knew about us.
[00:27:14] Grandparents.
[00:27:15] Before Adam and Eve knew about us.
[00:27:17] God chose you to set His love upon you.
[00:27:21] For what purpose?
[00:27:23] Well, so I can be saved and go to heaven.
[00:27:26] Well, yes, but that's not what the Scripture says.
[00:27:28] The Scripture says he did this for what purpose?
[00:27:31] For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to what?
[00:27:36] The image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
[00:27:43] He wants you to be just like Jesus.
[00:27:47] And if you don't want to be like Jesus, repent.
[00:27:49] Because Jesus is perfect, Jesus is holy, and Jesus is right and true.
[00:27:54] But remember, Jesus is at the right hand of the very throne of God.
[00:27:59] If we're really honest, our sinful self wants to be there too, right?
[00:28:05] If you're at the right hand of God, who's going to tell you what to do?
[00:28:09] Nobody, right?
[00:28:10] You tell everybody what to do.
[00:28:12] You reign.
[00:28:14] And by the way, every natural person, I don't care where they're from, we're born with mine.
[00:28:20] No, you can't have it.
[00:28:21] Boom.
[00:28:22] That's the nursery, right?
[00:28:24] We don't usually find kids in the nursery when they're real small.
[00:28:27] Oh, dear brother, I am so sorry.
[00:28:30] Please take my toy truck.
[00:28:32] You play with my...
[00:28:33] Oh, I'm esteeming you more highly than myself.
[00:28:35] You don't see that, do you?
[00:28:36] Why?
[00:28:37] Mine!
[00:28:37] Boom!
[00:28:39] That's the natural, sinful, fallen nature.
[00:28:43] But God is at the right hand.
[00:28:45] Christ is at the right hand of the Father.
[00:28:49] Isn't this where we really all secretly want to be?
[00:28:51] And by the way, we may not admit it, Because most people follow the satanic trinity.
[00:28:58] You know what that is.
[00:29:00] Me, myself, and I.
[00:29:02] Yeah.
[00:29:04] By the way, Satan wants to help us get there.
[00:29:08] Beware.
[00:29:08] We'll see that before the end of the message.
[00:29:11] Now, this idea of being conformed to the image of Christ is a process.
[00:29:16] And notice, he whom he foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his dear son so that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn among many. What? You mean I get to be
[00:29:30] a brother of Jesus Christ? Hallelujah! That's the value of human life. Born again, a brother of the Son of God? Yes, that's what the Bible says. The value of human life. 2 Corinthians chapter 3
[00:29:47] explains just a brief, very brief snapshot into this process of being changed more and more to the image of Christ.
[00:29:57] So when we're born, we just have a faint, faint image of God in us, just a remnant left over, the immortality of the soul, the natural moral law that everybody knows something about good and bad,
[00:30:13] but not much more than that.
[00:30:14] When we're born again, there's a download, if you will.
[00:30:18] And it comes with the Holy Spirit.
[00:30:21] When we're born again, the Spirit of God comes.
[00:30:23] And you see, here's that idea we started out.
[00:30:25] We don't have time to break it down, but in 1 Corinthians 15, it says, look, every one of you, all of us, are following or underneath one or the other head.
[00:30:34] Two individuals head the whole human race.
[00:30:37] Adam, we're all under Adam, and you're born.
[00:30:40] If you're physically born, you're a child of Adam.
[00:30:42] I'm a child of Adam.
[00:30:44] The other head is Jesus Christ, and that's why we talk about being born again, because if we're born of Adam, we're born outside of heaven, outside of paradise. We've been separated from God, and there is no way that we can traverse that with ourself. God is infinite. God is holy.
[00:31:04] God is high and pure and perfect. And the distance between heaven and earth, if you will, is infinite in the sense that we cannot traverse it. One sin got us kicked out of heaven, and all of us admit
[00:31:15] that we've sinned. Let's raise it up a little bit, two or more. And so we can't make it. It's impossible to make it. You can't traverse. You're a finite individual. I'm finite. We can't traverse
[00:31:27] an infinite distance. Therefore, the infinite one himself must traverse it. And that's why Jesus says to Nicodemus, from now on, you will see angels. You'll see this ladder to heaven. Angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
[00:31:45] This is the only way between heaven and earth.
[00:31:47] Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[00:31:51] No man comes to the Father except by me.
[00:31:53] And that is why you're either born of Adam, and that's it.
[00:31:57] And you're spiritually dead, because in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.
[00:32:01] Or we're born again, and now we're sons and daughters of the Most High God, brothers of Jesus Christ.
[00:32:07] We have a new spirit, and the image of God is being restored.
[00:32:11] And St. Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 tells us this.
[00:32:19] And that process looks like this.
[00:32:22] As we look to Christ, as we behold Christ, but we all, St. Corinthians 3 verse 18, with open face, beholding as in a glass or a mirror the glory of the Lord, we're changed into the same image, the image of Christ.
[00:32:37] from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
[00:32:42] And we become more and more like Christ.
[00:32:44] More and more.
[00:32:45] More and more humble.
[00:32:46] More and more loving.
[00:32:47] More and more holy.
[00:32:49] More and more righteous.
[00:32:50] More and more caring for others.
[00:32:52] More and more recognizing the value of human life even in the people that we dislike.
[00:32:58] This business of I hate the president.
[00:33:00] I wish somebody would kill him.
[00:33:01] That's satanic.
[00:33:02] Repent.
[00:33:03] I don't care if it's Trump or Biden or Obama or whoever else.
[00:33:06] George Washington.
[00:33:07] That's satanic.
[00:33:08] That is not of Christ.
[00:33:10] Okay?
[00:33:10] It's not of Christ.
[00:33:11] You need to repent.
[00:33:12] Because you are a murderer.
[00:33:15] God says if you hate someone in your heart, you're a murderer.
[00:33:18] And you're going to hell.
[00:33:19] That's what Jesus says.
[00:33:21] This business of, well, you know, there's some kind of scales.
[00:33:23] And, you know, I'm pretty good, you know.
[00:33:26] At the last day, if I did some good deeds, we'll throw it on there.
[00:33:31] And somehow I get...
[00:33:32] No, no, no.
[00:33:33] Your God is too small.
[00:33:35] You have a little false God.
[00:33:36] The true God of heaven will not allow sin in His presence.
[00:33:40] It would ruin it.
[00:33:41] And so we must be completely cleansed and completely holy and completely righteous in the image of God.
[00:33:48] And the only way we get there is by Him saving us, cleansing us, washing us, taking our sin upon Himself and on the cross.
[00:33:56] That's the whole purpose.
[00:33:58] Why did God put His Son to death on the cross?
[00:34:00] Because the value of the life is in the blood.
[00:34:03] And the wages of sin, God demands.
[00:34:06] God is just.
[00:34:07] Not like these judges in these cities today.
[00:34:10] People go and kill people and then they're out on the street goofing off, drinking.
[00:34:14] No, this is a righteous judge, a holy judge.
[00:34:18] He will not allow things to pass.
[00:34:20] No, you are going to be judged exactly righteous, holy, and pure.
[00:34:25] And who is able to stand before this God?
[00:34:27] No one except the God-man.
[00:34:30] And that's why in all of humanity, not even Muhammad claimed to be virgin-born.
[00:34:36] Not Joseph Smith.
[00:34:38] Not Moses.
[00:34:39] Not Elijah.
[00:34:41] No one claimed to be virgin-born except Jesus.
[00:34:45] And not only does Christianity teach it, but the Jews believe it.
[00:34:48] Even the Muslims believe that.
[00:34:50] But why virgin-born?
[00:34:52] Because he's the only one in all of humanity that was without sin from the virgin's womb.
[00:34:58] For the sin comes to the spiritual head of the family which should be the father.
[00:35:03] Jesus Christ is the only man in the history of humanity that did not have the sin of Adam and Eve passed upon him because he alone is virgin born.
[00:35:13] He alone is the Lamb of God that is slain from the foundation of the world who lived the perfect life in righteousness and true holiness who dies in our place for those of us who would believe
[00:35:24] who takes the punishment that we deserve.
[00:35:26] What's the wages of sin?
[00:35:28] death. And it's your sin.
[00:35:30] Jesus didn't sin. Why did he have to die? It's your sin.
[00:35:34] And it's my sin. And it's sins of all who would truly believe that put him on the old rugged cross. And that is what kept him there. He didn't have to go. But he did it as a
[00:35:44] picture of love. For God so loved the world.
[00:35:48] Why? Because he sees his image in humanity.
[00:35:53] That he gave his only begotten son the express and perfect image of God, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life in his image.
[00:36:03] So he takes our sin and punishment upon him, and he gives to us and whoever would believe his righteousness, his holiness, and salvation by faith.
[00:36:14] And this is the way that Abraham was made righteous.
[00:36:17] How did Abraham get righteous?
[00:36:19] He believed God's promise, and God accounted to him for righteousness.
[00:36:23] the faith of Christ inside of us what a wonderful and glorious thing the Bible tells us that when we see Jesus we who are believers what's going to be our relationship to him amen 1st John chapter 3
[00:36:37] talking about that process and the end of that process if you turn there to 1st John 3 just the first three verses behold what manner of love our God is a God of love but what is love
[00:36:49] the love of the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.
[00:36:58] Sons by adoption.
[00:37:01] Therefore the world knows us not because it knew Him not.
[00:37:05] Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.
[00:37:17] We shall see Him as He is.
[00:37:19] Praise God.
[00:37:21] We shall be like Him and He's God.
[00:37:24] We don't become gods, but we become holy.
[00:37:26] we become righteous, we become without sin, we're in perfect joy and perfect peace, we're without temptation, we are in a state of eternal bliss and worship and joy and peace, and it is so wonderful
[00:37:40] and far greater than we can even hope, ask, think, or imagine. Oh, how delightful, how wonderful, how marvelous is my Savior's love to me, what he's set up for you and for me. We shall see him as he is.
[00:37:52] Now, before we end, remember I mentioned earlier that the devil wants to give us a quick way to get there.
[00:37:59] He does that.
[00:38:00] He did that with Jesus, didn't he?
[00:38:01] Remember?
[00:38:04] Remember the temptation?
[00:38:06] The devil takes him to a high mountain.
[00:38:08] He shows him all of the kingdoms of the world and the power and this and that.
[00:38:12] He says, all of this has been given unto me.
[00:38:15] I have authority to give it to whoever I will.
[00:38:18] Jesus, bow down now and I'll give it to you.
[00:38:21] Hey, that's a quickie there, isn't it?
[00:38:24] Jesus knows better.
[00:38:26] Worship the Lord your God.
[00:38:27] Him only shalt thou serve.
[00:38:29] And get behind me, Satan.
[00:38:31] So Jesus quotes scripture.
[00:38:33] Jesus doesn't go for it.
[00:38:34] But guess what?
[00:38:35] The devil pulled the same thing on us.
[00:38:38] And if you'll wake up and listen, he's trying to pull the same thing on you right now if you're not careful.
[00:38:45] Turn back to Genesis chapter 3 and note the original temptation.
[00:38:51] Genesis chapter 3, just the first five verses.
[00:38:55] Now the serpent, who is the serpent?
[00:38:58] Was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
[00:39:02] And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
[00:39:07] And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of it,
[00:39:15] neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
[00:39:17] And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods knowing good and evil there's the
[00:39:32] temptation same temptation for christ look i know you you sorry little people devil want to be like god i got a quick way to do it come over here and eat this fruit and you'll be like god isn't that
[00:39:46] what everybody wants anyways isn't that again the satanic trinity what i everybody does what's right in their own eyes. It's all about me. It's all about my desires. I'm happy to be nice to you
[00:39:57] until your desires contradict mine and then look out because it's all about me and my self actualization and self-realization. And it's all about what I want to do, the career that I want, the money that I want to make, the way I want people to respect me and honor me. It's all about
[00:40:15] me. And that's what the devil said. You're right. And I got a quick way for you to get it. And Eve fell for it. But guess what? She didn't really get it and instead she got death. And guess what?
[00:40:34] Every one of you are going to die as well.
[00:40:38] Unless the Lord returns first.
[00:40:39] We spend our life trying to get ahead or get to the next marker. If I could just make this amount of money or if I could just get this job or if I could just
[00:40:48] marry this person or if I could just get here or get there or accomplish this or accomplish that. And before you know it, we're old and gray and we're not really satisfied with what we really didn't get. And then guess what? You die. That doesn't sound
[00:41:02] too fun, does it? That's what you're going to have for the rest of your life unless you know Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible says. Now notice, look what the devil offered. If you, your eyes
[00:41:17] will be open. God's trying to hold you down. Your eyes will be open. You'll be like a God.
[00:41:22] and then you'll know the difference between good and evil.
[00:41:27] He's a liar.
[00:41:29] He was a liar from the beginning.
[00:41:29] Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
[00:41:32] Remember the love chapter?
[00:41:34] I'm not going to read the whole thing for you.
[00:41:36] We've been studying it in our sermon series.
[00:41:38] But look what God says about love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 beginning in verse 8.
[00:41:45] 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 8.
[00:41:47] Charity never fails, love.
[00:41:50] Love never fails, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail.
[00:41:53] whether they be tongues they shall cease whether they be knowledge it shall vanish away look verse nine for we know in part humans in the day of paul knew in part i thought i thought the devil says if
[00:42:05] you eat this fruit you'll know perfectly you'll be like god doesn't happen no we know in part and we prophesy in part verse 10 but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in
[00:42:17] part shall be done away when i was a child i spake as a child i understood as a child i thought as a child when i became a man i put away childish things now we see through a glass darkly but then
[00:42:29] when christ comes face to face now i know in part but then shall i know even also as i am known that's some pretty good knowing how well does god know you he says when he comes back if you're a
[00:42:45] child of god you'll know him just as he knows you wow that's some knowledge that's the thing that satan tried to offer but couldn't they got sold a bill of goods it's kind of like god forbid but
[00:42:56] it's like those chinese things sometimes sometimes they're good sometimes not so good hey really good price real cheap look at all you're gonna get and then you get it doesn't work right doesn't fit right not so good at all what did i do waste look satan is cheapening your life uh he said look
[00:43:13] here's a cheap quick way to get get everything that you really want as a matter of fact he gives us nothing. The only thing cheap is our life becomes cheap. We consider our life only on our accomplishments
[00:43:24] and people are committing suicide, right?
[00:43:26] Life left today. People get old and they're not able to do much anymore. They don't think they're worth anything and they're committing suicide. And God forbid our healthcare industry help it. Certainly in Canada and Europe already
[00:43:38] assisted suicide. Kill them.
[00:43:40] Get rid of them. They're a load on the system anyways.
[00:43:43] Lord have mercy.
[00:43:44] Where are we? No, brothers and sisters, the devil offers an all cheap way for us to get all of these things that we desire. And in the end, we get none of them. And the only thing cheapened is our value of our human life and the way we look at others.
[00:44:04] No, Christ gives us the true riches. Christ gives us knowledge. Christ gives us not just that.
[00:44:11] Listen, brothers and sisters, the believer in Christ, what does he receive? First of all, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4, God has known us before the foundation of the earth and he sets his love upon us. That's pretty important. You mean God loved me before I existed? That's what
[00:44:26] the Bible says. That's valuable human life, isn't it? You say, well, how can it be valuable? It doesn't exist yet. It does in God's mind and it did when it came about. And so he loved us then
[00:44:37] and he'll love us who are chosen unto eternity. But the answer is, have you chosen him? That's the question, actually. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4, it tells us that God chose us before the foundation of the earth to be, to be what? To be holy and without blame. There's the image of
[00:44:54] God. He chose us to be holy and without blame. Holy in righteousness, before him in love. What a beautiful picture. Ephesians 1, verse 22, Christ is the head and the church is the body. The value
[00:45:11] of human life, we become the body of Christ spiritually. That's valuable, isn't it? Isn't that wonderful? You're the body of Christ? Well, then start acting like it. People who don't know what I'm talking about say, this is crazy. This is weird. Well, guess what? You're being invited,
[00:45:28] invited not to fall for the dupe of the devil, because that's what the world is peddling today.
[00:45:33] You deserve it. Have it your way. Do what you want. It's all about you. And before it's too late you realize it's not anything about me and it's too late for me to make any differences
[00:45:42] and then we're given all eternity in hell to have remorse of how we refused to receive the greatest gift that was ever conceived the very image of God stamped upon us.
[00:45:58] The life of God given to us as a free gift. Salvation and joy and holiness and righteousness and peace for eternity given freely to all who would believe.
[00:46:11] And on judgment day, but you didn't tell me enough, or Pastor Joseph wasn't a good enough preacher, or whatever.
[00:46:18] I gave you, I offered this to you for free.
[00:46:22] And you refused.
[00:46:23] You refused.
[00:46:25] Time and time and time again, you refused. And there'll be nothing left to say, but woe is me. God forbid.
[00:46:34] God forbid. But if you're a believer, the value of human life, Chosen before the foundation of the earth.
[00:46:39] The value of human life, part of the body of Christ.
[00:46:42] He's the head, we're the body.
[00:46:44] Part of human life, the value of human life.
[00:46:47] Ephesians 5 says, spiritually speaking, we're going to be married to Christ.
[00:46:52] A wonderful and beautiful thing, spiritually speaking.
[00:46:55] And by the way, in Ephesians 5, it quotes Genesis when Adam and Eve, Eve is made.
[00:47:01] And Eve comes and it says, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and the twain, or the two, shall become one flesh.
[00:47:10] And then he says in Ephesians 5, and by the way, I'm talking about the church and Christ.
[00:47:16] The church and Christ become one.
[00:47:19] I in you, and you in me.
[00:47:21] Communion.
[00:47:21] We don't become gods, but we have God inside of us.
[00:47:24] He changes us, and he conforms us.
[00:47:27] A wonderful life, an exciting life, a tremendous adventure.
[00:47:31] Every day becoming more and more like the God who loved us and gave himself for us until we see Him and with joy we embrace.
[00:47:40] And when we see Him, we'll be like Him.
[00:47:43] And then this wonderful marriage supper of the Lamb that is in Revelation chapter 19.
[00:47:47] The bride has made herself ready and clothed herself with white linen garments, the righteousness of the saints.
[00:47:54] Again, referring to the image of God.
[00:47:57] What a glorious and wonderful thing.
[00:48:01] But before we end, that's not where most of us are, is it?
[00:48:06] Marriage used to be a big deal.
[00:48:09] Now, I guess it's a big deal if you've got a lot of money.
[00:48:13] Have a cigar bar and open drinks and this, that, and other things.
[00:48:17] A big band to show how much money you've got, you know.
[00:48:21] But most people today, I understand, aren't even getting married.
[00:48:24] Why?
[00:48:25] Because there's no value to human life.
[00:48:28] We're just like animals.
[00:48:30] Do what the animals do.
[00:48:32] Do you see two dogs out in the front yard get married?
[00:48:35] No.
[00:48:35] Then what do they do?
[00:48:37] They do what they do.
[00:48:41] Brothers and sisters, hasn't humanity dwindled down to yard dogs like animals?
[00:48:50] There's no marriage.
[00:48:51] We don't need to get married.
[00:48:52] We just lived together.
[00:48:52] It's fine anyway.
[00:48:53] Who knows?
[00:48:56] Funerals.
[00:48:58] Not many funerals anymore.
[00:49:00] We don't need a funeral.
[00:49:02] After all, that mean Pastor Andy, he'll try to tell us that we're going to hell.
[00:49:06] We don't want to hear that.
[00:49:08] Let's just have a cremation and get out of here real quick.
[00:49:10] Let's not have a service.
[00:49:12] Let's do cremation and just not have a service.
[00:49:14] Have you been seeing that trend?
[00:49:16] Less and less funerals because people don't believe.
[00:49:20] They don't believe there's any value to the human body.
[00:49:22] Isn't it amazing?
[00:49:23] Isn't it ironic that in this human body, we cry and we pray when we're sick.
[00:49:27] Oh, Lord, help me feel better.
[00:49:29] Help me feel better.
[00:49:30] And then when it's time to die, the hell with that body.
[00:49:33] Burn it up and throw it in the ground.
[00:49:35] Right?
[00:49:36] Isn't that strange?
[00:49:38] You're so concerned about your body.
[00:49:40] and the moment you die, you want to burn it up and throw it away and hide it and not do anything with it.
[00:49:47] But God doesn't look at your body that way.
[00:49:49] He created all of you.
[00:49:51] God forbid, my body, ah, medical science can have it.
[00:49:55] To hell with it.
[00:49:55] No, no.
[00:49:57] God thinks much more of you than you do of yourself.
[00:50:01] No, God created all of you, spirit, soul, and body.
[00:50:04] And God is going to raise you up.
[00:50:07] What's he going to raise?
[00:50:07] The spirit's already in heaven.
[00:50:09] The soul's in heaven.
[00:50:09] The body.
[00:50:10] So what if I burn it up?
[00:50:12] That might be hard for him.
[00:50:13] Nothing is too hard for God.
[00:50:15] He knows where every molecule is going.
[00:50:17] You can burn it up.
[00:50:18] The conversation, the conservation of mass and matter, he knows where every molecule is and he will bring it together.
[00:50:24] And if you have refused and you've tried to hide from God like Adam and Eve behind the rock, ah, get cremated.
[00:50:30] I won't have to deal with that.
[00:50:31] He will bring you back together much to your sadness on judgment day and ask you, why haven't you honored me and recognize what I've done for you in Christ.
[00:50:42] But those of you who have received him, how wonderful, how glorious.
[00:50:46] He's given us a three-thirds salvation, not two-thirds.
[00:50:50] He's interested in our spirit, our soul, and our body.
[00:50:53] And he's going to raise it up just as he did Christ's body.
[00:50:56] And you say, well, I don't want this body anymore, Pastor.
[00:50:58] I'm kind of done with it.
[00:51:00] Guess what?
[00:51:00] It's going to be beautiful and perfect and holy.
[00:51:04] The corruptible shall put on incorruption.
[00:51:06] The mortal will put on immortality.
[00:51:08] Oh, how wonderful.
[00:51:09] Well, I'm afraid of death.
[00:51:10] Don't be afraid of death if you're a believer.
[00:51:12] Death is swallowed up in victory.
[00:51:15] Oh, grave, where is the sting?
[00:51:16] I don't want to think about that.
[00:51:17] That's okay, because for the believer, the grave is simply a portal into everlasting bliss, into the very presence of the kingdom that God has prepared for us, where His Son, the Prince, has gone before us
[00:51:29] to prepare a place for us, a beautiful place in heaven forever with Him.
[00:51:35] We're not to fear death.
[00:51:36] We're not to allow that to come over us because we understand the value of our life is so great that God the Father gave His Son to die for us.
[00:51:46] He who gave His only Son, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?
[00:51:52] Our life is valuable, yes, but not because of us.
[00:51:57] We are a pile of dust, literally and figuratively, but because God loved us and gave his son to die for us.
[00:52:12] He has made us valuable through the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
[00:52:24] Marriages, this affects marriages, doesn't it?
[00:52:27] It affects funerals.
[00:52:29] How about abortion?
[00:52:32] How about the assassination culture?
[00:52:34] I don't like them, just kill them.
[00:52:38] How about racism?
[00:52:41] Every human is valuable.
[00:52:45] Sexism, male and female are valued.
[00:52:48] He created them in the image of God, male and female he created them.
[00:52:52] At the end of the day, there's two choices, brothers and sisters.
[00:52:54] One is just deny that there's a God or that he really gives us any eternal value and we dwindle down to a lump of flesh.
[00:53:05] We're no different from the animals, God forbid.
[00:53:10] A worthless animal, a tool of the state who will be disposed of when you are rendered no more useful to your slave masters.
[00:53:21] This is where most of humanity has come to.
[00:53:25] I want to take us to two passages and then we're done.
[00:53:27] The first one is to describe just what I shared with you.
[00:53:30] Romans chapter 1.
[00:53:32] We look at the end of the chapter.
[00:53:35] Romans 1, 21 and following.
[00:53:41] Because that when they knew God, talking about humanity, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise and they became fools.
[00:53:56] Listen, brothers and sisters, there's only two kinds of people.
[00:53:58] Either those who submit to God and pray and receive Christ and allow Him to change us into His image or those who shake the fist, at least inwardly, refuse to submit and try to conform God
[00:54:11] into the image of what we want Him to be.
[00:54:15] And that's the picture right here, isn't it?
[00:54:19] Verse 23, And they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like a corruptible man, birds, four-footed beasts, creeping things.
[00:54:30] Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, to the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature
[00:54:41] more than the Creator who is blessed forever.
[00:54:43] Amen.
[00:54:44] When we give up on what God has done for us and on seeking to be conformed to His image.
[00:54:49] And when we reduce Him down in our minds to an image of something we can control or pleases us, what happens to that culture?
[00:54:59] Exactly what's happened to America today.
[00:55:01] Take a look at the next verse.
[00:55:03] Verse 26, For this cause God gave them up to vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.
[00:55:11] And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one towards another, men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error
[00:55:22] which was meat.
[00:55:24] Is that America today?
[00:55:26] And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient being filled with all unrighteousness the opposite of the image of God
[00:55:39] fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God,
[00:56:02] that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
[00:56:13] Is this a prophecy of America in 2026?
[00:56:18] Unfortunately, that's where most of America is.
[00:56:21] And I'm afraid a lot of even the church.
[00:56:24] Now we end with the contrast, which is found in Revelation chapter 3.
[00:56:31] The second option is to believe and trust the God who created you in his image, who came as a man to save you, who made you his child by the spirit of adoption, and who has given you an inheritance in Christ,
[00:56:49] an eternal inheritance, and has deemed fit to espouse you to his only begotten Son.
[00:57:03] Revelation chapter 3.
[00:57:11] Have you received the invitation?
[00:57:14] If not, listen carefully.
[00:57:17] Listen carefully.
[00:57:24] Revelation chapter 3, verse 19.
[00:57:28] Christ said, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
[00:57:32] Be zealous, therefore, and repent, Christ says.
[00:57:35] Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
[00:57:41] Is he knocking on your heart this day?
[00:57:44] If any man or woman hear my voice and open the door, I'll come in to him.
[00:57:51] I will sup with him and he with me.
[00:57:54] Now listen to the promise.
[00:57:56] What is the value of the human life that God has chosen to save?
[00:58:01] Remember what Satan offered Jesus?
[00:58:03] You'll reign over everything.
[00:58:05] What's he doing right now?
[00:58:07] Reigning over everything, but he didn't get it through Satan.
[00:58:10] What did he offer man?
[00:58:11] You'll be like God.
[00:58:13] You'll have knowledge and you'll understand the difference between good and evil.
[00:58:17] Look what God says.
[00:58:19] To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.
[00:58:26] Believers who overcome, Christ will allow them to sit in his throne.
[00:58:30] at the right hand of God.
[00:58:33] Even as I also overcame and sat down in my throne, sat down with my Father in His throne.
[00:58:42] What more do you want?
[00:58:44] Can you ask for anything more? I'd like to reign over the heavens and the earth.
[00:58:51] Okay, it's available.
[00:58:55] Got anything bigger than that you'd like? There is nothing higher. This is what God offers you.
[00:59:02] Say, well, I didn't really like your offer. It wasn't big enough.
[00:59:06] Can you conceive of anything greater?
[00:59:08] and we end where the Bible ends.
[00:59:10] You say, well, he can't go any further than this.
[00:59:12] Revelation 22.
[00:59:14] You're right.
[00:59:15] There is no chapters after that, so you know we must be at the end of the message.
[00:59:18] Revelation 22.
[00:59:21] This is where we end.
[00:59:23] The first five verses.
[00:59:26] And he showed me a pure river.
[00:59:28] This is heaven.
[00:59:30] Of water of life, the new Jerusalem, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river
[00:59:41] was there the what?
[00:59:43] The tree of life.
[00:59:44] Remember, Adam and Eve didn't get to eat of that tree.
[00:59:47] They ate of the tree of knowledge and good and evil.
[00:59:49] They sinned and they were cast out so they would not eat of that tree and live forever.
[00:59:54] But we who are believers, the tree of life is for us.
[00:59:58] Praise God.
[01:00:00] Here it is.
[01:00:01] The tree of life, yeah?
[01:00:03] And it says, the tree of life which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations.
[01:00:12] and there shall be no more curse praise God but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it and his servant shall serve him gladly and listen to this just two more verses
[01:00:23] and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their forehead and we'll end with this and there shall be no night there and they need no candle neither light of the sun
[01:00:35] for the Lord giveth them light and they shall reign forever and ever.
[01:00:45] The value of human life, if you're a child of God, if you've received Christ by faith, you are called to reign over the heavens and earth with Christ for all eternity.
[01:01:00] There is nothing higher.
[01:01:01] There is no greater call.
[01:01:04] There is nothing that can give more value to human life.
[01:01:07] Is there anyone here who has not yet accepted this tremendous gift, greater than we can hope, ask, or think, God forbid, don't leave here without it.
[01:01:17] And at the same time, those of us who have, let us remember that even those who are on the other side of the aisle, on the other side of the earth, of different religions, and on the other side of the battlefield,
[01:01:30] may very well be people that Christ loved and died for.
[01:01:35] They all have at least some of the image of God.
[01:01:38] Their value of their life is precious.
[01:01:40] We should fight for the baby in the womb, not just Christian babies, but Muslim babies and Hindu babies and atheist babies, because they have a value of life from God.
[01:01:56] But how much more, infinitely more, is in store for each and every one of you who will receive abundant life through salvation in Jesus Christ, who said, I have come that you might have life
[01:02:10] and have it more abundantly.
[01:02:15] Are you living the abundant life?
[01:02:18] If not, it's your own fault.
[01:02:21] Receive it today by faith.
[01:02:23] Amen?
[01:02:24] In Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
[01:02:27] Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your word.
[01:02:30] Thank you for this wonderful life that you've given us.
[01:02:34] Thank you, Lord.
[01:02:35] We know that humans are nothing of value except the value you have placed upon us in making us you in your image thank you for saving us those who are saved and conforming us daily more and more
[01:02:47] to the image of your son Jesus we long for that day that we see him and will be like him and will be at his feet worshiping the Lord Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for all eternity
[01:02:57] and we do pray that there be anyone here today or watching through the internet or in the future who does not understand the value of human life who has not yet received that greatest gift, the most valuable human on earth,
[01:03:10] the God-man Jesus Christ, to die for their sins, that they would bow the knee, that they would receive this wonderful gift, and that they too would be filled with your Spirit and would enjoy this wondrous value
[01:03:23] that is placed upon us and in us through the Holy Ghost, that we might worship you, love you, and enjoy perfect communion with you, reigning with you and under you and a side of you in your throne forever and ever.
[01:03:40] To God be the glory, honor, and praise.
[01:03:43] Amen.